What Are You Plotting?

And in that same instant, Bihyung felt it — as though one layer of the world that made him up had given way and collapsed.

This is... the Spiritual Realm? No. Something was different. The awareness that had begun to climb even past the Spiritual Realm had, before he knew it, arrived beneath a vast blue firmament.

He had never seen this place. Even so, he recognized it by instinct.

The Heavenly Intent Realm.

One of the three boundaries that composed the world. Bihyung had set his foot upon its very threshold.

He was still glancing about when a message rose before his eyes.

And with that, the single horn of the Dokkaebi Gamtu budding from Bihyung's brow suddenly began to split. Before he knew it, a pair of horns jutted from his forehead.

"...This is a yokai, no two ways about it."

Yeah. There was no way he could unfold this bloodline out in public.

So once the Gamtu's ability is mastered, I can come and go from the Heavenly Intent Realm too? He hadn't known that. The Heavenly Intent Realm was a boundary even the old hands had never entered — a place they could not enter. He had only ever been aware that it existed. Not in his wildest dreams had he imagined a single bloodline would be enough to step inside.

The Heavenly Intent Realm... And looking at that power, Bihyung had exactly one thought. So what am I supposed to use it for?

The Spiritual Realm, at least, he had some notion of how to use. The Heavenly Intent Realm gave him nothing at all. The Spiritual Realm had been closely bound to the material world from the start; enter it, and you could strike an opponent's spiritual body directly. His ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flesh still lagged too far behind for him to make much use of that, but it was a method he would be able to use someday. The Heavenly Intent Realm, though, was the gathering of every will in the world. Seizing that, and wielding it himself — he simply could not picture it. Not even if he grew without end.

...And the prologue of the legend has been written. So why is this the only thing I'm seeing? He wanted to know why he had been brought here.

He was turning that question over, looking around, when it came.

Huh? Convulse how?

The question did not last. All at once the whole of the Heavenly Intent Realm began to shudder, and space started to split apart. ...Seriously, why was it doing this?

Kehehe—!

Behind the mutterings of the heavenly divinities came the laughter of a monkey.

Thump. His heart slammed, fiercer and more violent than at any moment before.

The Great Sage Equal to Heaven. The divinity who had gifted him a single passage of legend. That legend, dissolved into his presence, had not yet been made flesh — and perhaps because of it, the thing seemed overjoyed at the appearance of its original master.

And then, with a splintering crack, a portion of the Heavenly Intent Realm collapsed, and a silhouette showed within the break.

Black all over, like a shadow. And yet the light of the eyes, and the curve at the corner of the mouth, were clear enough to know at a glance.

He said it through a chuckle, and it felt as though he meant it — as though he were genuinely delighted.

He shook his head as if the whole thing were absurd. But Bihyung saw it anyway: the corner of the Great Sage's mouth, lifted in plain satisfaction.

"No. I got dragged here before I even had a chance to check."

A sullen answer. The Great Sage only laughed and tossed one back.

"The process of understanding?"

The Great Sage's shadow stirred the space of the realm with one hand as he went on.

And the divinities—

"Granted?"

He giggled as he said it, and he looked for all the world like a brat in the middle of raising hell. Then his grip seized one side of the Heavenly Intent Realm.

The space of will drew out, long and thin — and tore. Through the gap, another space showed itself.

Krrrr... Kraaaah!!

The violet sky was sullen, and everything living beneath it was savage. Beasts, every last one of them, carrying a primal killing intent that set the skin to prickling.

The Great Sage looked on and grinned.

Even as he spoke, his hand was already stirring other places, busy tearing space open again.

The last space he flung wide was one Bihyung himself had once called down through a pact.

The Heavenly Realm.

He said it and walked in, and there — as if it had been waiting all along — sat a table, a few simple sweets, and tea. The Great Sage dropped into a seat and drained the cup in a single shot.

He was still giggling when, as if some other personality had stepped into the same skin, he turned grave all at once. He stared straight at Bihyung. Then, slowly, he drew his rank upward.

A rumble. The space of the Heavenly Realm began to shake, and within it the Great Sage's Fiery Golden Eyes glimmered with a far, wavering light.

"Yes."

There were no exceptions to that. It was a law laid upon this world — its very foundation.

But today, the first exception had been born.

The rank let go. The presence that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been choking everything around them vanished, and what remained was, for some reason, a faint sheen of moisture in the Great Sage's eyes — and, set against it, a mouth bent in a brilliant smile.

And so he could be certain.

The moment the conversation ended, he was back in the training ground, as if none of it had happened.

In truth, calling it a conversation was generous. It had been closer to sitting through a lecture delivered entirely one way. His form was wrong, his punches weren't thrown like that, how long was he planning to leave the Ruyi sitting around, and on and on. The parts that actually helped amounted to a scrap of advice about the Ruyi, the Fiery Golden Eyes, and the legend.

And so he had come back down, pockets full of tips worth their weight in gold and jade.

Wow. But why was everyone looking at him like that?

Something pattered onto his head. From the feel of it, it had fallen from the ceiling. Bihyung tipped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his face up — and for a moment doubted his own eyes.

...Why was that open?

What. A huge hole had opened, sudden as a blow, in a ceiling that had been perfectly intact, and clear sky showed through it. That was probably why every face around him had gone stiff with shock. But what in the world had happened?

"B-Bihyung..."

At Mina's voice he turned. She couldn't even hide the tremble in her pupils as she pointed past his shoulder.

Huh?

...Seriously, what now.

He looked back and found space rippling outward like a wave. Among everything he possessed, the only thing that looked like that was the Dokkaebi Bat. And right now there was exactly one object stored inside it.

"...Ah. Don't tell me."

Apparently, overjoyed at meeting its master, the Ruyi had gone and caused an incident.

"......"

"......"

"......"

The silence stretched, and Bihyung couldn't get a word out. Which stood to reason. The instant the accident happened, the Academy had gone on alert, and a great many people had converged on this spot. His homeroom professor had been among that crowd, and the students that man cherished had been standing at the scene — so how thoroughly must Bihyung have been torn apart?

But that was Bihyung's mistake.

"Cadet Bihyung... nah. Bihyung. That enormous pillar just now. What was it?"

...He'd seen the Ruyi. Well, of course he had. The thing had punched a hole big enough to take out half the ceiling. There was no way he'd missed it.

"It's the true form of my weapon. The one I told you about before."

"Huh? So you've achieved Sinbyeong-hapi?"

"No. It isn't that... the circumstances got complicated, and it went on a rampage."

"Yeah? It fine now?"

"Yes. There's no problem."

In fact, the Ruyi — sunk once more into sleep inside the Dokkaebi Bat — didn't so much as stir when called. A disposition so foul it wouldn't spare a word for anyone but its master. Nasty to the bone.

As expected. The weapon of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven. Hadn't the man himself admitted its personality took after his? Bihyung didn't particularly want to speak that way of the one who had advised him — no, the yokai — but Sun Wukong's notoriety was simply that enormous.

"Yeah? Went berserk and still hit that hard... once you can actually handle it, that's gonna be disgusting, huh?"

But why wasn't he getting yelled at? This was already the second time since enrollment that he'd wrecked a training ground. It wasn't a pane of glass. Why did the place break this easily?

"You're not going to scold me?"

"Hm? Why would I scold you?"

"...Pardon?"

"You didn't pull some underhanded stunt and commit terrorism, and you didn't hurt anybody el— okay, you did cause some damage. Interrupted class, tripped the Academy emergency order, and on top of that I'm about to get dragged in front of those stiff-necked bastards on the Elder Council."

But.

"You really gonna call that your fault?"

"...Isn't it usually my fault?"

"Class getting wrecked is on the handful of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠professors who couldn't keep their heads. The emergency order? Back in the day they wouldn't have called one over something like this. Those old fossils just got older, and their hearts got smaller. That's all."

Which left one thing.

"You think I'd chew out a student who got stronger just 'cause getting summoned is a pain in the ass?"

Professor Shinhoo grinned as he said it.

"Congratulations. Dunno what you did, but you feel even stronger than you did a minute ago. Picked up some enlightenment, huh."

He clapped Bihyung on the shoulder and got to his feet.

"If it's to that extent... oughta be enough, yeah? Good. While I'm at it, I'll have it out with those Elder Council bastards."

"Have what out?"

"Tell you now and it kills the fun... just wait a little. Won't be a bad story for you, either."

With that, Professor Shinhoo broke into a snicker. It was a rather wicked laugh, and before Bihyung knew it the thought had risen on its own.

What is this man plotting?

One of these days, I really need to sit him down and dig through the professor's past.