A Foolish Question
Plop, plop—.
Cheon Yeon-hwa was still sitting by the stream, idly swinging her feet. If this water had been the blood of her enemies, perhaps she could have understood it. But dipping her feet into a peaceful stream? That was something she had never even imagined doing.
“…What a foolish child.”
She wasn’t sure who those words were meant for. The Heavenly Demon simply stared quietly at her own hand. A very light cut, sustained during the sparring match earlier. To her, such a wound was less than a scratch. If her hand had been half-severed, that would be another matter. Even back in the Demonic Cult, not a single subordinate had ever made a fuss over an injury like this.
Yet that man—her one and only disciple—had worried even over something so trivial. He had examined it carefully, insisting that it mustn’t become infected. It was absurd and slightly bewildering, but… not entirely unpleasant.
“Truly a fool.”
Was she speaking to her disciple, or to herself? Cheon Yeon-hwa smiled as if it didn’t matter either way. Her gaze shifted to the ring on her finger. Whether it was a cheap trinket or a crude ornament made no difference. The simple fact that her disciple had given it to her, thinking of his master, was enough to satisfy her.
“….”
Cheon Yeon-hwa lowered her hand and rolled her eyes slightly. Whoever it was had clearly tried to approach quietly so as not to disturb her. But from a while ago, their presence had been loud enough to shake her senses.
“Why don’t you stop lurking there?”
“….”
“Will you keep acting like a thieving cat? This seat absolutely detests people who hide themselves.”
At Cheon Yeon-hwa’s words, the one who timidly revealed herself was none other than Iris. The very woman who had nearly been sent to the afterlife by the Heavenly Demon once before.
“Grandmaster.”
“Come and sit.”
“I….”
“This seat detests repeating itself.”
At those words, Iris swallowed hard and cautiously approached. She perched herself lightly on the very edge of the rock where Cheon Yeon-hwa was sitting.
Whoosh—.
When Cheon Yeon-hwa stretched out her hand, a long pipe flew straight from the distant pavilion with a sharp whistle. The Heavenly Demon caught it skillfully, lit it with practiced ease, and took a slow drag, letting the smoke linger at her lips.
“Let me make this clear. This seat does not welcome you.”
“….”
“I will not apologize. Nor do I expect you to understand. Even if you claim to be nothing at all, I trust my instincts. That is why this seat finds you unwelcome.”
“…I am sorry, Grandmaster.”
“There is no need to be sorry. This discomfort is the fault of both this seat and you.”
A brief silence fell between the two women. Cheon Yeon-hwa smoked her pipe with leisurely grace while Iris seemed to be wrestling with some internal dilemma. Finally, as if having made up her mind, she clenched her fists and spoke.
“Forgive my rudeness, but there is something I wish to ask Grandmaster.”
“It may not be rudeness you risk, but death itself.”
“….”
“Are you truly certain?”
“…Yes.”
“Then ask. Pose your question with the courage to even risk death.”
Plop, plop—.
While idly splashing the water with her toes, Cheon Yeon-hwa waited for Iris’s question. She had grown slightly curious about what the girl wanted to ask so desperately.
“Grandmaster… do you truly cherish your disciple—my master?”
Bang—!
In an instant, Cheon Yeon-hwa shot to her feet, sending water exploding outward in every direction. Even though the stream was flowing, the force of her aura halted its current completely.
“What is the intent behind that question?”
“I was simply curious.”
“That is not a question born of simple curiosity.”
Even under Cheon Yeon-hwa’s sharp interrogation, Iris offered no further explanation. Her eyes trembled slightly, but it wasn’t from fear. It was only the anxious impatience of someone waiting for an answer.
“Tsk.”
Eventually, the Heavenly Demon clicked her tongue and sat back down. Only then did the stream’s water begin to flow vigorously once more.
“Just as my disciple cherishes and loves all of you, I too cherish my disciple.”
“….”
“Is that answer sufficient?”
“Yes. It is more than enough. Thank you. And… I am sorry.”
“….”
At Iris’s reaction, Cheon Yeon-hwa stared at her piercingly. It was no ordinary gaze—this was the full intensity of the Heavenly Demon’s eyes boring into her. Yet Iris, though shaken, somehow maintained her composure.
“How absurd. You possess no talent, yet you act as if you carry the weight of experience.”
“….”
“If you were simply arrogant, I could understand. But you… I truly cannot fathom what you are.”
Cheon Yeon-hwa kept clicking her tongue. She stared at the still-silent Iris for a long moment before speaking again.
“You asked a question, and this seat answered it. Is that not so?”
“It is, Grandmaster.”
“Then this seat shall ask one as well. I do not expect an answer, but I still wish to ask.”
“Please inquire.”
At Iris’s reply, Cheon Yeon-hwa’s crimson eyes sparkled as she spoke.
“You cannot have lived very long in this world. So why do your eyes look so sorrowful and empty?”
“We haven’t been able to reach the Fifth at all lately.”
The moment those words left Garam’s mouth, my mind went blank. The Fifth… right. It had to be her. The one who had declared she would defeat me somehow, that she would one day surpass her master. The Brawler Hero who had gone down the mountain with such fierce determination. She had even earned the nickname Limitless among the people.
A bit hot-blooded and always charging straight ahead. You could call her steadfast, or you could call her simple-minded. Either way, as my disciple and as a Hero, she hadn’t been a bad one.
“What do you mean, Garam? You can’t reach the Fifth at all?”
“We disciples who trained under Master occasionally keep in touch. Even though it’s irregular because of our schedules, we usually manage to contact each other at least once every one to two months. Not all of us, but at least one person nearby always gets word.”
“And?”
“It’s been about two to three months now. She hasn’t sent any news to anyone.”
“…Are you saying something happened to the Fifth? To Iris?”
“I don’t know for sure. She sometimes gets caught up in long missions and goes silent for a month or two, so I didn’t think much of it at first. But now that it’s been three months… I’m starting to get worried.”
“….”
Goddammit. A curse slipped out before I could stop it. When someone goes silent, it usually means one of two things: they’re too busy to respond, or they’re in a situation where they can’t.
If it’s the former, she’ll just get an earful from the other disciples, but it won’t be a big deal. The real problem is if it’s the latter.
This can’t be happening. There’s no way she got caught up in something serious…
This isn’t a game. If you die here, you don’t come back. In a game, death might cost you half your levels and some gear, but you revive. Here, death is the end. There’s nothing after it.
When you consider that my disciples aren’t just my people but the Heroes who must save this world, losing even one of them is like having flesh and bone ripped away. We no longer have the luxury of time to raise another Hero.
Iris was supposed to be the last one. After her, we were finally ready to prepare for Season 2. And at this exact moment, my fifth disciple—the Brawler Hero, the Limitless Airis Freesia—has gone missing? What if it’s not just a disappearance? What if she’s been completely taken out of the fight?
This would be a devastating loss not just for me, but for the entire world. The Fragments of the Demon God are exactly that—fragments. Killing one doesn’t mean the world suddenly becomes peaceful. It’s not some fairy-tale ending where everyone lives happily ever after.
Since the game truly began in earnest during Season 2, no one knows exactly how many or how powerful those Fragments will be. A power vacuum right before that moment is absolutely fatal.
That was exactly why I had emphasized the bond between my disciples when I sent them down the mountain. It was so that if one of them was ever in danger, the others would help.
Thanks to the connection system, the kids who trained under me naturally cooperate with each other. There’s no way the other disciples would have ignored Iris if she was in trouble, and Iris herself wouldn’t have tried to handle something beyond her ability alone!
Dammit, dammit, dammit.
Without realizing it, I started biting my nails as the worst possible scenarios flooded my mind. The image of everyone meeting their end because we couldn’t stop the Fragments of the Demon God. And me, cursing everything until my very last breath.
“Master!”
“…Ah.”
Garam’s call finally snapped me out of it. I took a deep breath to ease the tightness in my chest and cleared the fog from my head. It was true that contact had been lost, which was a problem. But since we didn’t know the exact reason yet, it might not be the worst-case scenario. Maybe Iris had gone deep into monster territory to exterminate threats and simply couldn’t send word.
“Don’t worry too much. You know what kind of person the Fifth is.”
“…Yeah. I know her too well. That’s the problem.”
“Nothing will happen to her. And even if something does, she’ll smash right through it like always.”
Garam’s comfort wasn’t empty words. As a Hero, her close-combat ability was nearly on par with Garam’s. And unlike Garam, who specialized purely in overwhelming offense, Iris was also excellent at defense. My fifth disciple, Airis Freesia, was what you’d call a perfect all-rounder—a true hexagon.
Still, there was one thing that worried me.
“Garam. What I’m worried about isn’t Iris’s skill level.”
“Then what?”
“That fiery temper of hers.”
“…Ah.”
Just like Iris, Airis also… Wait, was it because their names were so similar? Anyway, it was that damn character setting again. I seriously wanted to grab the developers by the collar and ask, “What kind of drugs were you on?”
“You know her specialty. She charges in first, always goes straight ahead, and if that doesn’t work…”
“She makes it work. Right?”
“Exactly.”
Dammit, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. Why does she have to keep pushing until it does? While I was struggling to teach the other disciples techniques one level above their current ability, with Airis I had to scream at her just to focus on learning the basics first. The damn girl kept saying she wanted to learn something stronger than what she was being taught right now.
The fact that the emotion she felt toward me was pure competitive spirit said everything. She didn’t completely lack respect, but she was determined to defeat me one day. And once she did, she wanted to enjoy the victor’s rights… or something like that.
I don’t even want to know what those ‘victor’s rights’ are.
As I scratched my head roughly, Garam suddenly grabbed my hand.
“What?”
“You told us, Master. To cherish even a single friend.”
Cherish even a single friend? A single friend? One… Ah. A single hair.
“You still remember that?”
“Both me and the others. We gave you so much stress in the beginning. The least we can do is worry about you.”
It was true. In the early days, the stress had been so bad I actually started losing hair. Thankfully I had thick hair to begin with. If not, I might have been desperately clinging to the few strands I had left by now.
“Don’t worry too much about the Fifth. The Fourth already contacted us saying she would go look for her.”
“The Fourth is reliable. Both in personality and skill.”
“Right?”
“Still… since things have come to this, I think I should go too.”
“Huh?”
I never planned to stay cooped up in these mountains forever anyway. I had been thinking of going out sometime to see my disciples’ faces. Now that I had a proper reason, there was no reason to hold back.
“Shall we go see the kids after so long?”