Proclamation
"From now on, you will be staying here."
Behind the wooden plaque engraved with the words Socheon spread a rather grand estate.
Its pavilions were arranged in a wide circle around a carefully tended garden.
It wasn’t the sort of manor one usually imagined, yet it possessed a strange beauty.
Inside, hundreds of servants were waiting.
Every one of them would move for me alone. That was what it meant to be the Young Cult Leader of the Sungmu Cult.
"Young Cult Leader, please rest comfortably. I will come to see you again once the investiture ceremony is ready. It should take about ten days, I expect."
With those words, the middle-aged elder who had guided me away receded into the distance.
It was an excellent residence, but I still found it a little off-putting. If I stepped inside one of those pavilions, it felt like some unpleasant memory might rise from the dead.
I had thought I’d erased every last memory of the Danri siblings, but perhaps that wasn’t something a human being could do so cleanly after all.
In the end, I waved off the servants who were about to attend me.
"No need. I have somewhere to go, so don’t trouble yourselves."
It was just as well. I needed time to adjust to this changed body anyway.
*****
With every step I took, the world around me changed at a rapid pace. The mountains vanished behind me in an instant, and before long the entrance to the estate came into view.
"Hoo..."
I let out a light breath and moved my body here and there, feeling the unfamiliarity of my limbs settling into something I could finally call my own.
Spending the last ten days racing across Xinjiang had helped considerably.
After washing up with the servants’ help, I emerged to find a familiar middle-aged man approaching from far away.
"Young Cult Leader, have you been well in the meantime?"
"Nothing happened. Is the preparation finished?"
"Yes. All the disciples are waiting for you, Young Cult Leader."
All the disciples. There were certainly a lot of them gathered here.
·
·
·
Far away, on the stairs that stretched so endlessly they seemed to have no end, three seats stood waiting.
Beneath them, eighteen elder seats and ten clan chief seats lined the way, and at the very bottom, eight more seats were arranged in a single row.
From there, the Black Lotus Leader, wearing an eyepatch, waved at me.
As I walked along the long red carpet, cheers flooded my ears. The fervor was on an entirely different level from the day the choice of the Young Cult Leader candidate had been decided.
In the midst of climbing the stairs through the swelling roar, I stopped. It was because a fierce gaze had slammed down on me from above.
When I looked up, the people seated on the immense platform came into view.
The Cult Leader, the Left Protector, and a man I had never seen before.
They were looking down at me.
I didn’t like that, so I climbed the countless stairs one by one until I stood at their eye level.
Then the unfamiliar man seated to the right of the Cult Leader suddenly burst into laughter.
"Ha ha. Young Cult Leader, you really are an interesting one."
His voice was calm, almost gentle, yet it cut clearly through the thunder of cheers.
"Haa... He’s always been like that, so please understand him, Chief Military Advisor."
The Left Protector let out a quiet sigh and rose to his feet. In his hand was the sword I had requested.
In that instant, I felt the flow of energy in the world being drawn toward his neck.
Now that I had reached a similar realm, I could see it. That was a technique entirely different from the one I used.
When I reached Talma, I had not bothered to build up inner force in the usual way; instead, I caught hold of the drifting current of energy and used it as it passed.
But he concentrated the thick demonic energy flowing from his dantian into his throat. As that overwhelming mass drew in the natural qi of heaven and earth, the demonic energy swelled even further.
When he spoke, it felt as though the ground itself was trembling.
"I won’t speak at length. This man is the new Young Cult Leader. In these days when our war with the Orthodox Faction draws ever closer, I’m pleased to introduce the sharpest blade of our cult, one that will trample those dogs beneath our feet."
The war with the Orthodox Faction—so much time had passed that I had nearly forgotten it.
But the Left Protector kept speaking, and after a while his words no longer reached my ears.
This was not simply an investiture ceremony for a Young Cult Leader. It was a declaration of war against the Orthodox Faction, a preparation for the coming conflict with the Demonic Sect.
I didn’t care what happened to a war, but if it involved the Orthodox Faction, then Yiryeong would surely be there too.
What if she got caught up in it and was injured? If—no, when—if Yiryeong were to die...
The rising panic made normal thought difficult.
I took a moment to steady my breathing and clear my head, and another path revealed itself.
Right now, I was the Young Cult Leader of the Sungmu Cult. If anything, it was precisely from this position that I could do something.
Even if I couldn’t reveal myself to Yiryeong, I could still help her.
While I was lost in thought, the sword filling my vision shattered my reverie.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary sword.
"Even after all the craftsmen of the cult worked on it, it still gave them trouble. Take it. From now on, you are the Young Cult Leader of the Sungmu Cult."
When I accepted it, cheers that seemed to shake the world beat against my eardrums.
As I poured energy into the sword, what had clearly been one blade split apart, and dozens of thin swords appeared.
The bright point seated in my mind responded to my will and trembled faintly, and the swords rose into the air.
The scarlet swords spread across the blue sky, and the sun began to set.
⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎
Inside a dark room where not a single shaft of light could enter.
With difficulty, I forced my body upright, and I felt moisture tracing down my cheek.
Tears dripped one by one onto my chin and soaked into the bedding.
"Ah..."
Last night, I had met the boy in my dream. Hyun, running toward me just as he had when he was little.
The grief was so sharp I could barely contain the sobs spilling out of me.
"Huk..."
I buried my face in both hands, hoping no sound would escape, but it was no use.
I swallowed my cries and wiped away my tears, yet the sorrow only grew deeper, with no sign of stopping.
It was all because of me.
Because I could no longer see Lee Hyun.
Because I no longer even knew whether that child was alive or dead.
Knowing all that, I hated myself for not being able to run to the Demonic Sect at once.
Then the door opened, and someone rushed toward me.
Warmth surrounded me in the form of arms, but I was not someone who deserved to bask in that kind of comfort.
"Unryeong, what is it this time... Don’t cry. Today’s supposed to be a happy day."
Hye-rin was right. Today was the day the Murim Alliance would issue its declaration of war against the Demonic Sect.
Seven years. It had been seven years since the day Lee Hyun disappeared.
And all that time, the alliance had never managed to unite. They had lacked a cause.
Most of the missing were children from neglected homes or the sons and daughters of lesser families.
If even one child from a great clan had been among them, it would have been different.
But today, at last, the Orthodox Murim would stand together as one.
Only now—only now—could I go and save Hyun.
So much time had passed. What had Hyun been doing all this time, and where was he now?
I did not even consider the possibility that he might be dead.
I knew, better than anyone, from the time I had spent with him: he was not someone who would die so easily.
Hyun was alive. I was certain of it.
·
·
·
Led by Hye-rin’s hand, I stepped outside and bright sunlight spilled down over me.
Was someone as sinful as me really allowed to stand beneath this light?
Even now, Hyun was surely still trapped in the Demonic Sect.
I had given him a name that meant escaping the darkness, and yet I was the one who had cast Lee Hyun into it.
"Well now, looks like our Unryeong’s face has gone dark again."
A playful voice came from beside me, but I wasn’t angry.
Namgung Seonwu walked up quietly and linked arms with Hye-rin.
In the seven years since then, the two of them had become lovers.
It was obvious I’d only get in the way between them, and yet Hye-rin and Namgung Seonwu had stayed with me because they were worried about me.
There was no way I could be angry with them.
As Hye-rin adjusted Namgung Seonwu’s clothes, she said, "Seonwu, you came at just the right time. You did get everything ready, right?"
"Of course. We’re supposed to represent the alliance, aren’t we? There’s no way I’d do a sloppy job."
He was the one who would be giving the speech at the alliance today, in his capacity as the young master of the Namgung Clan.
Depending on the outcome of that speech, whether the martial artists chose to join the campaign would be decided.
"I just hope... a lot of people will volunteer."
"Unryeong, don’t worry. We’ll definitely be able to save that person."
⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎
When he stepped onto the high platform, the endless sea of people spread out below came into view.
A child eating danggo in his mother’s arms.
A man with hair so long it was almost unnatural.
An old woman barely managing to stand with the help of a cane.
Not only the martial artists gathered from every region, but ordinary people who had never learned a single martial art had also chosen to stand with the Murim Alliance.
Beside me, Namgung Seonwu continued his speech in a powerful voice.
If they simply stood by until the Demonic Sect invaded the Central Plains again, the tragedy of the past would only repeat itself.
The Murim Alliance would no longer stand idle while the Demonic Sect ran wild.
It would wipe away even the smallest trace of them from Xinjiang.
He dragged out the fear buried deep in the hearts of every martial artist. And then he declared that now was the time to eliminate the source of that fear once and for all.
When his speech ended, cheers rose from all directions. From children to the elderly, everyone was shouting in one voice.
The heat of that fervor reached the high platform. Hearing the roar ringing in my ears, I realized it then.
There would be no shortage of people willing to strike the Demonic Sect.
It was almost over now. Only one step remained before I could reach him.
I would stand at the very front of these people and bring down that detestable Demonic Sect with my own hands.
And I would bring Lee Hyun back from them, no matter what it took. The boy who had waited for me so desperately for seven years.
As for that promise to see each other again in ten years—what did it matter now?
No, maybe it had been my selfish promise that had driven everything to this point in the first place.
Which was exactly why I had to meet Lee Hyun. I had to meet him and kneel in apology until that child forgave me.
If I could only earn his forgiveness, I would do anything.
Anything at all.
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