The Fiery Farewell Beneath the Stars
She lowered her head.
From within her bosom, she pulled out something.
“This is what came from the body of So Cheonpa, the head of the Unwol Jiju. When I performed the seven repetitions of the ritual, it rolled out from my bosom… If this is true, I cannot simply stand still right now.”
What she held in her hand was a red ring.
“Fortunately, I have already received cooperation from Jegal Sea regarding the final remaining seal related to your trial—the greatest obstacle. If you return now, Jegal Sea will immediately explain everything related to that matter.”
I stared at her, but her eyes already shone with firm resolve.
“From now on, I will depart to take measures that allow me to unlock every chain when necessary. At the same time, I’ll also investigate the ring and pay a visit to the Unwol Jiju branch in the northern region.”
“…What is it about that that you ask? And only moments ago you said clearly that the chains must not be removed.”
“It’s to prepare for the coming storm. I’ll prepare, but I’ll try to remove everything as much as possible, hoping that the worst case never arrives.”
I had heard similar words before.
From Pahwanggun of Cheonsubaekryeonsa as well.
“Will it take a long time?”
“…Perhaps very long.”
Even I, who was dull-witted, could feel it.
Something enormous was in motion.
Right now, it was only a faint tremor, but in this jianghu, countless things were constantly unfolding.
I didn’t know what it was, but I guessed it had to be related to the Guardian.
The hellish rock wall from Yuk-bi-dong flashed through my mind.
Up until now, every detail of my own path had been carved into that hellish rock wall as if she had known it all along.
From there, I had spoken with Mumyeong.
Whether human fate truly existed.
And from there, I had set the direction of my life.
—People simply live the life they draw for themselves. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Are you truly leaving right now?”
—Boom!
At the massive explosion, we turned our heads.
Fireworks began to soar across the dark sky after sunset.
A gigantic firework bursting from the heart of Shaanxi Province illuminated the darkness like a wave of light.
“…”
The spectacular fireworks burst, filling the night sky.
That brilliance was enough to make one forget the flow of our conversation.
Eun Seollyeong stared blankly at the fireworks.
Each vivid explosion cast a devastatingly deep black shadow on her back before vanishing.
“Even in that beauty, nothing has changed.”
She walked forward as if in a trance.
On a hill overlooking Shaanxi Province, amidst the grass, lay a pile of fallen stones.
At its end, she sat down quietly.
Watching the fireworks against the backdrop of Shaanxi’s nighttime scenery.
“Those fireworks are exactly as I saw them in my childhood.”
Her words grew distant and then approached again with the sound of each explosion.
“Back then, there was Mother, there was Father, there were friends… I laughed, I cried…”
—Boom!
Another firework burst.
“Now, everyone who truly knew me before I became the Guardian of Mount Hua is gone. Even the disciples of Mount Hua, even that person who made the Covenant of the Sacred Mountain…”
—Boom!
Every time the fireworks burst and then faded, Eun Seollyeong’s silver eyes looked up at the sky, blinking.
“I’m just a stone statue worn smooth by time. I’m merely someone chasing impossible wishes, someone who wants to die.”
“…”
I followed her to the end of the pile of stones she sat on and opened my mouth.
“D-don’t keep saying you want to die like that. It’s hard on the person next to you who’s trying to save you.”
“Ah.”
For a moment, Eun Seollyeong seemed to have forgotten my very existence.
Still staring at the fireworks, she suddenly looked at me, her silver eyes widening slightly in surprise.
“Of course I’m not particularly smart, nor are you or Jegal Sea… Well, you might not know, but So Yeomgyo and so on. Compared to the others, I’m lacking, but still, one thing I can say is—”
I hesitated and spoke.
“I heard something somewhere in the past. It wasn’t something I made up. I just copied it. But in reality, it’s also a phrase I recalled whenever I tried to kill myself because I was so tormented and in agony back then.”
“…”
I didn’t know what she was thinking right now.
It was perhaps my meddling.
But in other times, on other topics, I would have kept my mouth shut.
Because I knew I was never the type to give advice to others.
In this world, there would be far more people better than me, and if one was a transcendent being like the Guardian beside me, there was nothing to say.
But on this topic, I felt like speaking.
“If you live long enough, one day you’ll say, ‘It’s good that I endured and survived without dying then.’ And living while enduring hardship is exactly for that day.”
“…”
Eun Seollyeong’s eyes trembled faintly.
“That’s why I haven’t died until now. And… honestly, for someone like me from the countryside, seeing fireworks in person—not just hearing stories from storytellers—is the first time in my life.”
“…”
I smiled awkwardly against the backdrop of the world that brightened and darkened with the fireworks.
“As beautiful as I imagined. It’s good that I didn’t die and endured until now. And if I’m a little greedy… I want to see that beautiful scenery again.”
I touched the stone statues, which were already crumbling under the weight of centuries, worn smooth by countless years.
“Next year, the year after, I want to keep seeing them. And in this world, there will be countless things even more wonderful than fireworks that I haven’t seen yet. To do that, I’ll have to live earnestly without dying.”
Eun Seollyeong looked at me.
“Something I’ve thought since long ago is—”
Eun Seollyeong turned her gaze from me and looked up at the sky, speaking bluntly.
“You’re certainly not a good talker.”
“Ah, yeah. If you were that smart, you would have succeeded long ago.”
I grumbled.
Looking at me, Eun Seollyeong let out a soft chuckle.
It was a expression I had never seen before.
But before I could even memorize it, it vanished instantly again.
I stared at her appearance.
I asked the question I had been interrupted by earlier, when the fireworks’ noise cut it off.
“Are you truly leaving right now?”
“Yes.”
Eun Seollyeong nodded without the slightest hesitation.
Far in the night sky, fireworks scattered with the starlight.
Her eyes were already gazing at that distant place.
People each head toward their own unyielding life purpose.
As each person’s thread of life intertwines, reality itself is woven.
“Then… farewell.”
A gigantic firework burst.
Eun Seollyeong hesitated for a moment.
Then she added faintly.
“…Rather than saying ‘I would have died,’ I’ll try not to say it anymore. And so on.”
I looked at her side profile.
The fireworks had ended.
Only starlight remained in the night sky.
Same as when I first met her, the legendary Guardian of Mount Hua in the jianghu.
Eun Seollyeong paused and said.
“The word ‘farewell’—I’ve lived through such a long time, but—”
Eun Seollyeong took a short breath.
“It’s a word that never becomes truly familiar.”
“I may not be a good talker, but instead of ‘farewell,’ how about this expression?”
Eun Seollyeong looked at me with a hint of curiosity.
I turned my gaze away.
I looked at the nighttime scenery spreading from far away in Shaanxi Province.
After a long silence, I said.
“Take care.”
“…”
Eun Seollyeong’s eyes blinked.
“You seem to be mistaken about something right now, but this isn’t a simple process of going to a neighboring village—.”
“I’ll remember.”
Eun Seollyeong’s breathing stopped.
“Even if everyone stops caring about how your story ends and no longer watches over you.”
It was the words I had said to myself.
“I’ll watch over you. Even if you remain forever trapped in darkness, even after the peak and the curtains fall, even if no one in this world cares what happens to you, the moment you live as you please.”
It was the words I had said to Mumyeong.
The words I had shouted to myself while struggling in the darkness during the hellish training in the valley.
“I will remember you, now, this scenery at least as much as anyone.”
Eun Seollyeong’s eyebrows trembled faintly.
“It’s not a winter that will never end, but a winter that promises spring.”
The wind blew.
The grass swayed.
“…”
It was a whisper so faint it seemed to scatter on the wind.
I looked beside me again.
Next to me, there was only empty space as if no one had ever been there.
“…”
The burning light of the sunset also faded.
The bright light of the fireworks disappeared too.
Where she had stood, and where she had sat moments ago, there was no trace of Eun Seollyeong.
From the empty place, the night wind blew, and the grass swayed.
On the low hills, only a ruined shrine remained.
In the courtyard of the grass-overgrown shrine, countless gravestones and stone statues lay collapsed under the moonlight and starlight.
As if no one had ever been there except me from the beginning, as if everything had once been a dream, they stared at me in silence.
I alone stood in the dark forest.
“…”
Far away, the lively sounds of the city center came faintly on the night breeze, accompanied by the bright lights of Shaanxi Province.
I felt the silence within the noise.
Utter emptiness and loneliness.
“…”
I stood up, dusting myself off.
After hesitating for a moment, I walked toward the shrine.
On one side of the half-ruined shrine, a weathered signboard showing Mount Hua flickered into view.
I looked at the dusty wooden floor.
I raised my palm and pressed a handprint onto the dust.
Next to it, the faint imprint of Eun Seollyeong’s fingertips remained.
I descended the mountain path.
When going up, there had been two of us; on the way back, it was just me.
To avoid unnecessary thoughts, I quickened my steps.
I entered Shaanxi Province.
“Excuse me, but are you the one called Baek Mu-seong who is staying with Jegal Sea?”
I stopped walking.
I looked up.
In front of me stood a man.
A martial artist in a blue robe with long black hair.
He had a handsome face with neatly groomed eyebrows, as if drawn with a brush, and a scar on his neck.
His palms beneath the robe were callused.
He stood casually, but the heel of his foot was slightly lifted from the ground.
A high-level expert. Far beyond even So Jeongmun, whom I recently fought.
Mumyeong said briefly.
Seeing my eyes, he showed a deliberately surprised expression.
“Is something wrong? Your expression doesn’t look good at all.”
“Who are you?”
The man spread both his hands wide.
It meant he had no intention of attacking.
Showing such a gesture itself indicated that my current aura was extremely sharp.
“I don’t know the reason, but I don’t look happy. Sorry for talking to you out of the blue.”
I remained silent, staring at him.
He hurriedly added.
“In fact, I could have met you after Jegal Sea introduced me from the Jegal Family, but I wanted to meet you quickly, so I was rude.”
“Jegal Sea?”
The man performed a polite bow.
“I am also a guest of the Jegal Family like you, Baek Mu-seong of the Oho-samhwa. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
There was no hostility in his appearance, at least no intention to draw a sword against me.
“Nice to meet you.”
I bowed as well.
“Is something bad happening? Your complexion doesn’t look good.”
His eyes were endlessly calm.
I answered calmly.
“…No. It’s just because it’s night and I have many thoughts.”
“If it’s all right, may I change the place? Honestly, I’m so nervous that Jegal Sea might notice I met you first right now. I have to be careful about the Unwol Jiju surveillance too.”
Baek Mu-seong scratched the back of his head and laughed heartily.
I tilted my head.
“You said you’re a guest of the Jegal Family. Why do you feel nervous that Jegal Sea might discover it? And about the Unwol Jiju…?”
At my question, Baek Mu-seong clicked his tongue and sighed deeply.
“I’m not as smart as her. Honestly, even talking with her a little, I feel like I’m being manipulated, and I can’t do anything about it. My head spins like a top. It would be better if I just fought with the demonic path.”
I nodded.
She was truly brilliant.
Even when I first met her in the Ju Family, the feeling of being outmaneuvered by our conversation was vivid.
Normally, when people talk, they focus only on the topic at hand, but she thought two or three steps ahead, planned, and conversed.
That was why, even with ordinary topics, I felt my nerves tingle subtly.
Probably the man in front of me was voicing the same thing.
“I understand how you feel… but—”
The man smiled brightly.
“I knew you’d understand! Then, today’s night air is perfect for a drink. If you’re fine with it, can I spend some time with you? I know a reliable inn for security matters that I often visit.”
The man pointed to one side of the bustling street.
“And since we met, I’ll give you this too. Jegal Sea and I made a promise beforehand, so here it is.”
What Baek Mu-seong took out from his bosom was the Oho-samhwa seal, the final key to my punishment trial.