Proof
"Lee Hyun, why are you going this far?"
Danri Yeon broke the deep silence and asked.
...
I didn’t want to answer. My eyes kept catching on the bodies scattered everywhere.
In the end, they’d all look the same before long anyway.
"My brother and I are illegitimate children of the Danri family. Our mother was a commoner."
When I stayed silent, she went on.
"We were nothing more than the result of our father’s one-night amusement. Since we were unwanted, everyone cursed us."
"Sister..."
Danri Myeong tried to stop her, as if she were exposing a wound she wanted hidden.
"Myeong, just bear with me a little longer. We spent our lives being treated worse than slaves, barely surviving instead of dying. Someone like me can’t understand you at all."
She drew a breath, then continued.
"Won’t you tell me? What exactly is out there, beyond this place, that made you like this?"
I had clearly decided to ignore her. And yet, for some reason, my mouth opened before I knew it.
"There’s someone I’m meant to meet. Someone who is my whole world."
Yes. Yiryeong is waiting for me. We promised each other ten years from now.
"I’m ready to do anything for her. So something like this doesn’t matter..."
As my words trailed off, I looked ahead—and the world was dyed entirely red. The more I stared at it, the more my stomach churned.
I couldn’t bear it any longer. In the end, I bowed my head to the ground.
"It should be nothing...!"
"So you really weren’t a monster after all."
That was what Danri Yeon said as she looked at me falter.
As if she’d been waiting for this moment, my mouth refused to close, and my true thoughts spilled out.
"How much longer am I supposed to keep doing this...?"
"If I leave Maryeongwan and kill every child in the other caves too, what’s waiting for me after that?"
Would Yiryeong be waiting for me?
Then if I clear away everything standing between her and me, can I meet her again?
"If I trample everything, turn them all into corpses, and return to her, would she even welcome me? She’d surely be disappointed."
My body and my heart were both exhausted.
To have grown this weak in only half a year since coming here—I hated myself so much I could hardly endure it.
"I think I get your situation. There’s someone who’s worked this hard for you. That person would definitely be happy."
Danri Yeon said this to me as I writhed in pain.
"So save those petty worries about whether they’ll be disappointed in you until after you’ve met them, all right?"
"What...?"
"She’s right, sister. Hey, if you really feel even a little guilty toward these people, then shut up and think about getting out of here."
"Yeah. If you killed them all for her, then at least go meet her so you don’t feel so cheated."
They were right. Once something had already begun, I could only see it through to the end.
Like on the very first day I came here, Yiryeong and Yiryeong alone filled my mind. Yes, whatever it took, I had to meet her.
Suddenly, all the worry I’d been carrying felt foolish.
"Ha-ha..."
"Sister, it looks like he’s finally gone crazy. Should I kill him?"
"...Just leave him alone."
Looking at them, I realized a new problem had surfaced. I no longer had the courage to swing my sword at them.
Kugugung.
The massive boulder blocking the cave entrance was shoved aside.
So they’d finally come.
It had been about three months since only the three of us remained in this vast chamber.
The old man and the masked figure. Those familiar silhouettes walked in through the opened entrance.
The old man slowly swept his gaze around the cave.
Corpse upon corpse piled in the corners, rotting away. Blood, dried hard in pools like a lake.
The stench of blood and decay that burned the nose.
This was the place where we had lived for so long. The old man seemed to realize what had gone on in here.
"...Well, well."
He looked away from the corpses and fixed his eyes on us.
For the first time, confusion flickered across that face which had always looked down on everyone.
"The three of you did this?"
"Yes. We were short on food. Wasn’t this what you wanted?"
In the end, there had been enough, but unlike before, wall-passing pills were nowhere near enough to keep twenty children alive for more than half a year.
He must have intentionally given us too little to stir up conflict. He probably hadn’t expected results like this, though.
"No, there’s no problem at all. The more I look, the more I like it."
The old man’s mouth stretched into a grotesquely long grin.
"Then I suppose I should reward you for this amusing little game."
When the old man extended his hand toward the corpses, familiar energy began converging from all directions.
That again. A martial art that absorbed demonic energy along with innate vital force.
I even doubted whether that thing could properly be called a martial art. It was only the second time I’d seen it, and I still couldn’t get used to it.
When the surging energy finally subsided, a familiar sphere lay before us.
A pill forged from human flesh. Just like before, it was black enough to swallow every trace of light, only now it was more than twice the size.
"Absorb it slowly later. It’s not something you can take in all at once."
The repulsive danhwan was disgusting, but its effect was undeniable. If I could endure the nausea, it would be a great help to my inner power.
After I tucked the danhwan into my robes, the old man turned as if his business here was done.
"Nothing changes just because the number of you has gone down! Keep learning the manuals I gave you before and show me results."
That was what the masked man said after the old man left. Learn more of that trash martial art, he said.
Just when I’d finally figured out the direction of my sword and found a way forward, I didn’t have time to stand still.
I needed a superior martial art to complete the swordsmanship I held only in my imagination.
Then I would have to prove it. My worth.
Crack.
Spiderweb cracks spread beneath my feet.
Using light-foot work, I shot toward the cave entrance at speed.
"What the—!"
The masked man reached out to seize me, but his movements were obvious as daylight.
I had also reached First-class. There was no reason I should lose to that clumsy grab.
I twisted in midair, shook him off, and burst outside. I caught the shocked expressions of those left in the cave.
Turning my head forward, I saw a dense forest stretching out ahead.
Trees rose so high they seemed to pierce the sky. I would have to find that old man somewhere in all this.
There. Far ahead, through the trees, I could see him strolling along leisurely.
Just as I started toward him, something slammed into my body.
Pow!
A knee wrapped in demonic energy drove into my side.
Staggering to the ground from the pain, I looked around. Demonic practitioners, each and every one of them dripping with demonic energy, were bursting out from all sides.
Every one of them was stronger than I was. Some looked to be at the Peak realm, but that was still fine.
Steadying my breath, I twisted my body and thrust out my sword.
I took each and every form from the swordsmanship Yiryeong had shown me.
I created feints with the most overbearing sword strikes, then hid the true path of the blade inside the gaps between them.
The sword, infused with demonic energy, sliced a long line through the air, but I felt no sense of cutting anything.
They had retreated instead of trying to answer a sword style they’d never seen before.
It didn’t matter. I had never swung it to cut in the first place.
Having bought myself a moment, I moved to use light-foot work again.
More precisely, I tried to.
Crash.
In that instant, my body was slammed into the ground. Someone’s foot came down on my head.
"What are you doing?"
I couldn’t raise my head, but it was the old man’s voice.
Success.
"Proof."
The sound of the old man laughing rang through the mountains. After laughing for a long time, he asked me,
"And what was the reason for that strange sword technique? Tell me what you want."
"Show me the Demonic Sect’s sword techniques. Let me complete mine with them."
"And why should I believe that of you?"
The foot resting on my head lifted away. As I pushed myself upright, he said to me,
"I can see your talent, but how do you intend to prove your loyalty to the cult?"
"That’s unnecessary, isn’t it? You’re the one who wants me to grow stronger more than anyone."
At those words, the old man’s mouth split wide.
"You can decide whether I’m the talent the Demonic Cult needs."
"That won’t be possible."
Just as the unexpected answer began to darken my vision, the old man continued.
"I’ll show you the sword techniques. No—I'll open the entire library for you. I had planned to open it to you lot eventually anyway. But you’ll only be allowed in once. When you come out, you’ll return to the cave and compete all over again."
So that was what he meant. It made no difference to me either way.
"Fine. Then guide me to the library right now."
"Very well."
He gestured to one of the demonic practitioners.
"Cover this one’s eyes and take him to Mahwa Library."
The moment he finished speaking, a hood settled over my head.
Darkness where I couldn’t see a thing.
Through that blackness, I walked with my eyes fixed straight ahead. Whenever my direction changed, someone’s hand corrected me at once.
As I was led toward the library whose location I did not know, I thought back to what I had just done. It had been the plan I’d spent the last three months shaping.
My reason had been to obtain a superior martial art, but that wasn’t all.
My true purpose was to etch my existence into their minds.
The Demonic Cult had treated us like livestock for the past half-year. If we obeyed, did as we were told, we received rewards; if not, we were killed.
They were trying to tame us. Probably to make us submit to the Demonic Cult.
If I submitted to them, I might get out of the cave, but my goal of meeting Yiryeong would be reduced to nothing.
Outside Maryeongwan was the Demonic Cult. What I needed was a bargain struck from an equal position.
This wasn’t a carrot dangled after a whip like some dog or pig.
Becoming one of the people the Demonic Cult wanted was only the beginning.
For that, I had to carve into their heads the fact that I could never be tamed.
As I was thinking this, a voice in my ear snapped me back to reality.
"We’ve arrived."
The hood was pulled off, and dazzling light struck my eyes. After waiting a moment, my vision returned.
A massive structure stood before me.
It was vast beyond belief, as befitted a library that housed countless demonic arts.
Mahwa Library. That was the name carrying the clue that would fill my sword.
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