The Sea (1)

He pressed on, deeper into the cave.

The doors had flung themselves wide, the things beyond them cowed into opening them by his presence alone. Perhaps that was why nothing rose to bar Bihyung's path.

No. Strictly speaking, I can't even say the doors opened.

Put precisely, the domain of the anomaly that had composed this space had been broken.

Bihyung's presence was great enough to stand beside Lilith's. True, that being could not yet draw out the full might of her true body, having spent it to save Senior Eunha—but even so, it meant he had reached a point where he could more or less fight to a draw with one who had already accomplished myth. That presence had crushed the anomaly's domain and shattered it. The doors of the space hung in tatters, and the laws the creature had kept were long since broken. Bihyung was simply trampling the wreckage beneath his feet as he went.

How long he walked, he could not have said.

All at once, the world before his eyes went black.

"A curious space. One step behind us a faint light still lingers, and yet this place might as well be called pitch."

Bloop. The sound of water tangled through Dueogsi's words, like sea-foam breathed from drowning lungs and thinning away into nothing. His voice grew smaller and smaller. No—it only seemed to.

"This is the place."

Bihyung lifted an arm. It felt as heavy as if a plumb weight had been hung from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it, the very limit of unnatural motion, like forcing a body to move underwater.

"It's the sea."

"The sea, yes."

Bihyung and Dueogsi arrived at the same conclusion.

"The nature of the Bermuda Triangle, then?"

If so, this was no ordinary sea. It could fairly be called the deep. After all, how could a place where nothing showed but pitch black be a common stretch of surface water?

"To think there's treasure in a place like this... I can hardly believe it."

"There is. Quite a lot of it."

As he spoke, Bihyung called on his Fire Art and shaped a flame.

"Hm. Ordinary fire doesn't seem to light our surroundings."

Just as Dueogsi said, the dark barring their way refused to lift.

Even with my presence unleashed, it's like this. Which means this space has no mind to kill us.

In other words, there were no rules. It was simply dark, and that was the end of it.

"Find it yourselves. That's the sort of space this is."

Then there was no reason to keep wasting his presence.

"We'll look on our own. Call if something turns up."

"Understood."

Dueogsi nodded and departed. Bihyung turned to Eodugi, who moved with his shadow, and gave his orders.

"Don't leave my side. If something happens, I won't be able to come save you."

"Yes, Lord!"

And so, with Eodugi, he began searching the dark for whatever lay hidden there.

But what was this?

"Lord, Lord! There's something over that way!"

Bihyung could not see a hand in front of his face, yet Eodugi seemed to read the terrain as if it lay plain before his eyes.

"...What's there?"

"Some kind of ship? A vessel's hull, broken, pointing up toward the sky. It's old, and thick with moss besides!"

"......"

The words left Bihyung speechless.

His own senses were the Five Great Communions—a technique for governing the senses, potent enough to have been graded 5th Rank and then some. Only after he focused those senses and brought them fully to heel could he make out, more or less, the shape of the hull. Eodugi described it with absurd ease, and in greater detail than Bihyung himself could manage.

...What is this kid?

"Eodugi. Be honest with me. You're not hiding your strength or anything, are you?"

"What? Why would I hide my strength! If I had any, I'd have offered it to you ages ago, Lord!"

The shadow rippled. Eodugi was clearly bouncing around in there, worked into a frenzy. Fair enough. Given his nature, he might boast and preen over something, but he did not seem the sort to conceal an advantage. For all his dark exterior, he was a transparent dokkaebi.

...Wait. Dark?

The thought brought back the day he had first met Eodugi. The little one had definitely called himself a dokkaebi of darkness.

"...Eodugi. You still haven't evolved on your own, have you?"

"Nope! I haven't yet, Lord."

"So you're still a darkness dokkaebi?"

"...? That's right, Lord."

"Then maybe that's why you can see in here. The same attribute—darkness?"

This space was not merely dark. It was a room steeped in that attribute. It would grant a reward, but it would not simply hand one over—a room crammed full of that twisted, contrary temperament. The darkness did not merely veil the eyes; it blanketed the space ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠entire. And yet it seemed to do nothing at all to their darkness dokkaebi.

"Want to come out? You might even meet the conditions to evolve."

"Huuuup! I—I really think it might be possible, and I'm astonished, Lord!"

Eodugi fussed and scrambled out of the shadow in a hurry. The ball of black fur was dark enough already, and with the surroundings pitch as well, Bihyung could not tell where he was. Then he felt something small scampering busily up his shoulder. Eodugi.

"Well? Feel anything?"

"Mmm... I still can't quite tell, Lord!"

The answer was so cheerfully blank that the wind went out of him—but only for a moment. Using Eodugi as his eyes, Bihyung ransacked the treasury.

"If you dig in the sand beneath that ship, there ought to be something, Lord!"

"There's a box over there—is that a fortuitous encounter too?"

"Ah! Lord, Lord! There's a chain with a strange pattern over there!"

Eodugi pulled the weight of one man. No—of ten.

"But Lord, what about Dueogsi?"

"Dueogsi's senses are sharper than mine. He's probably rummaging just fine on his own."

He had created the Five Great Communions, true, but even they fell short of Gwigakdo. Dueogsi had been nerfed as well, so he could not wield Gwigakdo in full. Even so, his experience in handling the senses stood far above Bihyung's own. Bihyung only had to do his part.

He and Eodugi pressed deeper still, and before long they reached the heart of the abyss.

"See anything?"

At the question, Eodugi hummed in thought.

"Mmm... The nearby treasures have been picked clean, Lord. But... there's been one thing catching my eye for a while now."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"What is it?"

"Over there! To the east, something like a mountain range! A huge round rock keeps drawing my eye... It feels a little ambiguous to call it treasure. That sort of feeling, Lord."

As Eodugi finished, the rock was cracked all over and wreathed in a turbid light. Just looking at it, the grade did not seem especially high—if anything, it left a rather unpleasant feeling. Anyone would have had trouble taking it for treasure, or for a fortuitous encounter.

But Bihyung thought otherwise.

That might be the one.

Hearing the description, he decided it matched what the villains were after.

A bad feeling, and a turbid light around it.

So far, among everything gained in the Bermuda Triangle, there had been no treasure worth the villains' greed. He had asked Dueogsi as well, and the other had found nothing of the sort. That much was certain. Then this might be the key.

"Yes. Boss."

He called, and before long Dueogsi drew near.

"Over there?"

The moment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he arrived, Dueogsi looked toward the rock Eodugi had indicated and asked. He should not even have been able to see it, and yet he spoke as if he could. Apparently he had felt what Eodugi felt.

"Yeah. Eodugi says a bad energy hangs around it. What do you feel?"

"Mmm... The little one's right. A bad energy does hang there. The sort one might call malice."

It was faint for now, but it could not fool Dueogsi's senses.

"That is surely a kind of evil qi."

"Evil qi?"

"The energy gained by those who cast aside their own existence... as I understand it."

"Hearing that, the villains will covet it even more."

"Yes. If they mean to cast off being human, a thing like that would be no different from a supreme elixir."

Then he would claim it first. These were not just anyone. He had no intention of standing by and watching villains prosper. With that single resolve, Bihyung followed the way Eodugi guided him, and soon stood at the heart of the vast mountain range, where the turbid, spherical rock rested.

...It feels even bigger than I thought.

About three times the size of an ordinary grown man—and that was only the height. From that alone, one could roughly guess how enormous the rock truly was. Slowly, Bihyung reached toward it. At last his hand settled lightly—no, with rather more force than lightly—and heaved the rock up.

KUUUUNG—!!

A violent tremor rolled outward.

"What?"

The source of the tremor was none other than the space around Bihyung's grip. The air shivered in spreading rings, like ripples struck across still water, and within that tremor rested a single club. The instant Bihyung's dokkaebi club touched the rock, it began to heave violently.

Does this have something to do with me?

The thought flashed and died. He realized at once that it did not. Countless alerts split one side of his vision.

Once the name of the Ruyi Jingu Bang, that Lore opened its eyes. At the same time, the world around them began to ripple and change.