Chapter 15
Chapter 15
Chapter 15
The Witch's Chapter (1)
In the autumn that had spread across the entire mountain slope, at the rural home in Yangpyeong.
Na Yuri sat on the sofa, listening to the conversation between her younger brother Na Uram and their parents.
"Five years and six months?"
Their parents asked again in a tone that couldn't hide their worry.
"Mother, Father. Please trust me."
A long persuasion followed, and eventually, the parents gave their permission.
Na Yuri had just been sitting there quietly, listening to the process.
"You have to come back healthy. Understand?"
After persuading their parents, Na Uram gave Na Yuri a look.
Na Yuri went outside first, and soon Na Uram followed.
"Two thousand days."
Na Yuri understood the meaning of those words.
"I'll protect the family."
"I trust you and go."
The words ‘I trust you’ sounded alien to Na Yuri.
'Trust me?'
Those were words she had never heard even once, except from her parents.
'To hear such words from the Heavenly Demon.'
In fact, Na Yuri's relationship with Na Uram wasn't entirely comfortable.
There was still lingering resentment, but it had become an awkward situation to express. It was because she had received help in the battle against the Grim Reaper.
'I can't bring myself to say thank you.'
The sharp tension had subsided considerably after the battle with the Grim Reaper, but they still weren't close enough to call each other friends. For that, their encounter in the past life had been too much of an ill-fated relationship.
"Do you have anything more to say?"
"No."
Hearing Na Uram's simple answer, Na Yuri went to the research lab.
As she entered the research lab, the Grim Reaper appeared behind her.
—A peculiar relationship indeed.
"Don't talk to me unnecessarily."
—Don't forget that I'm in an unjust position too. To think that another would interfere with a summoning contract.
"It's not a rule I decided. If it had been impossible, you wouldn't have been able to intrude in the first place."
The Grim Reaper had become Na Yuri's slave by contract, but couldn't erase his doubts.
Originally, others cannot intrude on a summoning contract. Yet that impossible thing had happened.
'Is it possible because we're twins?'
It was unjust, but there was nothing the Grim Reaper could change.
Na Yuri left the Grim Reaper alone and moved to the laboratory. It was a space filled with various reagents and notebooks.
—What are you trying to make?
The Grim Reaper followed and asked.
"Did you not only grow in power but also change in personality? Why are you so curious?"
In the past life, the Grim Reaper never appeared unless the Witch summoned him. But in this life, there were many cases where he spoke first.
—Because the master wants it.
"What?"
—Have you forgotten that our souls are connected? The you of the past life didn't have desires clear enough for me to feel. But in this life, it's different. You want to talk with someone, you want to be with them. The one who changed isn't me, but you.
The Witch didn't bother to refute.
"Then watch quietly. From now on, it's delicate work."
—What are you trying to do?
"I told you to be quiet!"
The Grim Reaper hurriedly shut his mouth.
Only then did the Witch catch her breath and begin mixing the reagents.
From late night until noon, Na Yuri didn't come out of the laboratory.
She was placing an ice lens and engraving a magic circle on a silver ring. The Grim Reaper peeked his head out from behind, stealing glances at the work.
"Won't you go away?"
As the Grim Reaper moved away, Na Yuri continued the magic circle work with an ice awl.
But suddenly, a message arrived on her phone.
Since the only people who contacted her were family members, she checked messages without fail.
—Mom's labor pains have started.
The Witch put down all her equipment and rushed out of the research lab.
5 PM.
Na Yuri tightly held her mother's hand as she entered the delivery room.
"I'll make it so it doesn't hurt."
Her mother shook her head, enduring the pain.
"I gave birth to you all in pain, too. That's how you love them more, and they become more precious."
In the end, her mother entered the delivery room, embracing the pain.
After the time of waiting ended, Na Yuri saw the baby the next morning.
She looked at her younger sibling beyond the glass wall, together with her exhausted mother. Father and Na Uram were also stuck close as if they would pass through the glass wall.
A newborn who couldn't even open their eyes yet.
At first, it just didn't feel real, and no emotions arose.
But every time the baby flinched, it felt like Na Yuri's heart moved with it.
"It's a little sister. Isn't she pretty?"
Her mother asked, tightly holding Na Yuri's hand.
She was staring blankly at her younger sister and couldn't answer.
"What's my little sister's name?"
Only after a while, still staring blankly at her younger sister, Na Yuri asked. Father came over and told her.
"Yuna."
"Na Yuna?"
At the name similar to her own, Na Yuri smiled without realizing it.
"Thank you for the gift."
It was the best gift in her life.
Three days later, at dawn.
It was the day Na Uram would enter the Hell Gate.
Na Yuri came out of the research lab before Na Uram left.
'Who is it?'
A van that celebrities ride in was parked in front of the house, and a woman as pretty as a picture was waiting for someone in front of it.
'Has he already gotten a girlfriend?'
Thinking it didn't matter anyway, Na Yuri took her position in front of the entrance.
'What?'
Suddenly feeling a sting on the back of her head, she turned around to see the woman in front of the car glaring at her with fierce eyes.
Na Yuri didn't hold back and approached her.
"Who are you?"
"Cult Leader's older sister?"
With that one phrase, Na Yuri knew that Na Uram had told her everything. Otherwise, she wouldn't have used the word Cult Leader.
After staring at her for a moment, Na Yuri could suddenly remember who this pretty woman was.
"So Iryeon?"
She was such a famous person that even Na Yuri knew of her.
"That's right. In my past life, I was the Mountain Gorge King. I died at your hands."
So Iryeon boldly revealed her past life.
In her eyes as she said this, there was a murderous intent that seemed ready to explode.
"I don't know who the Mountain Gorge King is. Anyway, if you're thinking of revenge, come at me anytime. I'll accept it."
"I'll let it slide because you're the Cult Leader's older sister."
"Let it slide?"
Kwaaa!
A cold aura exploded from the Witch's body.
So Iryeon's posture, which had been leaning leisurely against the car, instantly transformed into a battle stance.
"This is exciting."
"Not for me."
At that moment, Na Uram came out, opening the front door.
Na Yuri ignored So Iryeon and went to Na Uram.
"What's the occasion?"
"Take this."
Na Yuri held out her hand to Na Uram. On her hand lay a silver ring.
"What's this?"
"The Ring of Blood Ties. I'll put one on the youngest too when she grows up."
"Did you have this hobby too?"
Na Uram received the ring with a surprised expression.
"It's not just a ring. Only blood relatives can use it, and we can know when each other is in danger. We can also teleport to each other."
It was a ring she had made while staying up for several nights.
She had engraved a magic circle on the ring and covered it with compressed ice to make it look silver.
"Why are you giving me something like this?"
"I feel like I owe you. You save my life once."
Na Uram was about to put the ring on his left index finger with a suspicious expression, then suddenly asked.
"There are no other functions, right?"
Na Yuri's eyebrow twitched.
She suppressed her irritation and raised her own hand to show him. She was wearing the same ring.
"It doesn't seem like you're deceiving me."
Only then did Na Uram put on the ring with relief.
'Hm?'
As the ring entered his hand, it tightened around his finger as if seeping into his skin.
"Don't worry. It'll come off easily when you want to take it off. It won't come off unless you intend to."
After confirming he had put on the ring, Na Yuri turned around with an expressionless face and suddenly disappeared.
"The Ring of Blood Ties."
After Na Yuri left, Na Uram looked at the ring for a moment.
"Cult Leader."
Only when So Iryeon called him did Na Uram turn his gaze.
"I'll take you to Hell."
At those words, Na Uram answered while gritting his teeth.
"Thank you."
"Not at all."
Na Uram departed for Hell in So Iryeon's car.
One month after Na Uram left.
Na Yuri was completely absorbed in her younger sister, Yuna.
"Look here."
Above Yuna, whose only expression was still just waving her arms and legs around, floated a small piece of ice.
The hexahedral ice sparkled like a light whenever it received light, stimulating the baby's curiosity.
"Do you like it that much?"
Her mother watched this and asked with a smile.
"Yes, she's so pretty."
Na Yuri liked it even more that her younger sister wasn't a reincarnator.
Watching the pure baby's appearance, she could forget even the fact that time was passing.
"Mom, can I teach her magic?"
"It's okay if you promise not to force it."
"Yes, I'll never make Yuna do anything she doesn't like either."
Her parents knew about the twins' characteristics.
Na Uram had never said it directly, but Na Yuri hadn't hidden the truth.
She had honestly told them that she had memories of a past life, and that they had each learned magic and martial arts there.
However, she didn't tell them that they had been enemies in their past lives.
The permission for Na Uram's Hell training was also because of this understanding.
—But we're still Mom and Dad's son and daughter. This doesn't change.
Na Yuri's words made her parents' hearts happy now.
"Yuna, try catching this."
A white light floated above the baby's eyes. The baby showed curiosity and reached out her hand, absorbing the light.
"Well done."
The child laughed. Then Na Yuri also smiled brightly.
'Yuri is laughing like that.'
Her mother found Na Yuri's laughter amazing.
Thus, the small child's laughter spread to the entire family like an infectious disease.
Na Yuri fell asleep on the bed for the first time in a long while, instead of in the research lab.
It was to properly relieve her accumulated fatigue.
Two hours after falling asleep.
Na Yuri's silver ring emitted a red light.
As she reflexively opened her eyes, the light from the ring disappeared. Instead, the silver ring gradually turned a deep red color.
Na Yuri removed the ring without delay.
Then the ring shattered into light, creating a magic circle on the floor, and sucked in Na Yuri's body.
Na Yuri, who had been in the bedroom, reappeared inside a log cabin filled with acrid energy.
'Oh no...'
Na Uram was sitting cross-legged in the center, performing Ki circulation.
She was shocked when she saw Na Uram's face.
Age spots had bloomed all over his clean face, and most of his skin had melted away, emitting a foul odor.
It wasn't the appearance of a living person.
His breathing was faint, and his whole body was trembling. If it weren't for his cross-legged posture, she would have intervened immediately.
'What should I do?'
She couldn't make a decision easily.
'In this posture, no one used to touch them.'
She had fought with the Heavenly Demon Cult for a long time in her past life. She had seen this appearance when scouting with summoned creatures.
'If he dies like this...'
Unlike herself, she had many thoughts.
'Let's save him first and see.'
Having made her decision, the Witch first expelled the poisonous energy that filled the log cabin.
She made a hole in the log cabin and created wind to push all the poison scent outside. Then she created clean mana in the air around Na Uram.
It was to allow clean mana to enter his body without giving direct stimulation.
'He's good at moving mana.'
She trusted Na Uram and injected mana.
"Hup!"
Na Yuri, who had been casting magic, quickly closed her eyes. It was because Na Uram had explosively sucked in the mana.
'Dangerous.'
If the clean mana is depleted and turbid mana is inhaled, he'll receive a shock.
Na Yuri concentrated her mind and put effort into purifying the mana.
As the energy that had been shaking for a moment found balance, Na Uram's breathing began to stabilize.
The treatment continued for six hours. Only then did Na Uram stop absorbing mana.
Na Uram and Na Yuri opened their eyes simultaneously.
Both had exhausted expressions.
After a moment of silence, Na Uram opened his mouth first.
"Don't do that anymore. I was in the middle of training."
"Do you know you were on the verge of death?"
"I know. I started with extreme poison from today, so it's natural."
It was the 100th day since Na Uram had started his training. During that time, he had prepared to adapt to poison, and from today, he officially started using extreme poison.
"So, are you confident you won't die?"
"I won't die."
"Alright."
Na Yuri got up, leading her exhausted body. She was thinking of returning right away.
At that moment, Na Uram asked quietly.
"Have you ever seen the ocean?"
"The ocean?"
Na Yuri shook her head.
"Go look before you leave. It's right in front."
Hearing those words, Na Yuri left the log cabin.
In an instant, a wind different from usual swept past her body. The salty wind gave her a wondrous experience.
The log cabin was built in the center of a small, uninhabited island.
She walked on the dirt, chasing the wind. Then she saw the ocean spread out before the white sandy beach.
In the distant sky, a blue light announcing dawn spread, and whenever waves rippled, white spray made a cheerful sound.
Na Yuri watched that scene for a moment.
Then, the sun rose in the distance. Darkness receded, and the sky turned blue.
"Wow..."
Na Yuri was truly amazed and lost for words. It was a sight she would never forget until she died.