Prologue
It was raining so hard that the house we had once lived in together looked as if it might be washed away.
That was the day I made her a promise.
“Let’s meet again in ten years.”
Her voice, heavy with moisture, kept echoing in my ears.
We stared at each other for a long time, etching every detail of the moment into our memories, as if the words themselves had become a landmark we would follow back to one another.
I didn’t want to forget the way she looked at me then, her eyes trembling as she held my gaze.
And then she was gone. She left me behind, taking everything with her.
I stood there for a long time, watching her back disappear into the rain.
Keeping that promise was not easy.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
Before I knew it, the Demonic Sect’s men had come close enough to touch, and I was dragged into a deep, damp cave in the midst of despair.
Maryeongwan.
A place where children were snatched up and turned into seeds of demonic practitioners, where resentment and screams seemed to linger in the air.
“Only one of you gets out.”
Through a tiny hole in the ceiling, I could see the dark sky.
With a body stained by blood and demonic energy, I thought of her.
Was she waiting for me on the other side?
I had to survive.
Even if she would be disappointed in what I had become, I had to live long enough to see her again.