A Pleasure to Meet You, Heaven
Beneath the clear moon, the darkness that had clotted together began to writhe.
"Kuuuuh……."
"Ghk."
Correction. It was so revolting that comparing it to a worm would have been an insult to the worm. Who in the world had sculpted a thing like this? The shape of the darkness twisted one way, then another.
"This is worse than the original."
In the source it had worn the form of a tiger-monster, and that had been nothing more than straightforwardly gross. This one dangled tentacles. Watch the body bloat and shrink, and you had to wonder whether a creature like that was even permitted to exist.
"I don't have the words for it." There was no describing the thing with human eyes.
"Mr. Phantom!"
Dan Miryu came on with his face set hard.
"You really didn't have to come……."
"Are you joking right now?!"
A vein stood out on Dan Miryu's forehead.
"Do you have any idea what kind of chaos is going on out—"
"Move."
Dan Miryu was shoved aside.
"You too!"
Mi Soryeong planted a kick in me. The force of it sent me tumbling a good two turns across the ground.
"Oh, God…… Yumin……."
Mi Soryeong gathered Hong Yumin up in her arms. Every limb was gone, her eyes sunken into deep hollows, and Hong Yumin did not so much as stir.
"Mr. Phantom……. How did this happen……?"
Mi Soryeong growled. Cold sweat broke out under the heat of that anger.
"I didn't do it."
"Shut up and answer me."
They say that once anger crosses a certain line, it turns cold. Mi Soryeong had crossed it. Perhaps because he had never seen her like this, even Dan Miryu—furious as he was—swallowed whatever he'd been about to say.
"I'd love to explain in detail." I pointed behind them. The revolting darkness was stretching itself awake. "But we have to do something about that first."
"And what is that supposed to—urk!"
Halfway through the sentence, Mi Soryeong clapped a hand over her mouth. One look at the darkness and her face went white all at once.
"Honey!"
"I-I'm fine……."
Dan Miryu caught her and held her up.
"Mr. Phantom, what is that?"
"Hm."
I turned back to the darkness. Dozens of eyes were looking this way.
"Centuries of Heaven's filth, condensed."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"In short."
The darkness lowered itself to the ground and let its tentacles spill.
"It's just a monster."
"I—will—kill!"
Black flame flared. In the beginning it had been the punishment of great Heaven. What crawled forward now had fallen all the way into a monster.
"Mr. Dan, wake Hong Yumin. She's the only one who can kill that thing."
It was her task, and it was right that she should be the one to end it. The only thing that could stand against Heaven was Heaven itself.
"……And you, Mr. Phantom?"
"Same as always."
The monster crashed down over me. Every time the darkness that made it up touched my skin, every kind of scream poured through my skull.
"I'll buy us time."
"I'll help as fast as I can."
"Take your time."
Even the Stone of Resurrection likely couldn't do much against a monster like this. This was a punishment handed down by Heaven, and a thing's nature does not simply go elsewhere. Whether the very idea of killing would work on it was an open question. In the original, Hong Yumin had killed it herself.
"Kuuuuh."
The darkness spread. Wherever that smoke-like flutter touched, everything rotted.
"Rather than helping me—" I caught the monster and shoved it back. "—you'd do better helping Hong Yumin."
Dan Miryu let out a sigh.
"You seem strangely at ease."
"It's a great deal weaker than I expected."
The original had been hopeless. Then again, back then it had fed on Hong Yumin's power and on every chaos loose in the world. Of course it had been stronger than this.
"It doesn't look particularly weak to me."
Just watching seemed to drain him. Dan Miryu's face had gone gaunt.
"That's normal."
"So it seems."
He swayed. Light spilled from the necklace, and the color returned to his face.
"Honey, let's go."
"……Yes."
Mi Soryeong rose with Hong Yumin in her arms, and her eyes never once left her.
"It's all right. She's still alive."
"How is she even alive like this……."
Mi Soryeong's voice broke.
"How much it must have hurt……."
"……Mr. Phantom, please hold out for a little while."
"Yes."
Dan Miryu led the two of them away. Hong Yumin, at least, was seen to.
"Geoooi—giiiii—seoooooh—"
The monster poured something out of itself. It was grudge, so thick and clinging that a mere touch stained you through. It flooded the ground beneath my feet, climbed, took my clothes for handholds, and crept this way an inch at a time.
"Ugh. Disgusting."
I kicked. It did not come off easily.
"Filthy."
"Kuuuuuh."
The monster's body swelled larger and larger. It was adapting to the living world.
"Kill, kill, kill, I'll kill, you, you……."
Countless mouths spoke at once. The moment the sound spread, the air itself vanished—only for an instant.
"……!"
The shock of the vacuum lasted a heartbeat. Then the wind roared in and flung me.
A shriek of air. A crash. I couldn't tell where I had been driven in. Up or down. Forward or back.
"So it wasn't weak."
Rotten or not, a punishment of Heaven was still a punishment of Heaven. I shook myself off and stood.
"Wow."
The world had turned upside down. No—it only looked that way. Sky had become ground, and ground had become sky, and in the middle of it the monster hopped. Darkness streaming out behind it as it bounded, it was almost cute for a second. The result was not.
The monster charged.
"Ah, hell……."
"Kuuuuuuuh!!!"
Smoke poured from its mouth, and the smoke melted me whole, ground and all. The monster trampled over what was left. Boom, boom, boom—the savage kicks stamped a crater into the earth. I reached up and caught its foot.
"Brute force isn't exactly my specialty."
Crunch. Crunch. Trees, earth, smoke, whatever had been bracing me—I shoved the clutter aside and got to my feet. Unease flickered in the monster's eyes. In those eyes, I could see myself. The mask had taken on my expression.
"So this thing moves?"
I touched the mask. My fingers met black paint.
"Huh. Is this a phantom thief thing too?"
Well, it looked stylish, so it could stay. The mask split in a wide grin.
"Let's play for a bit."
"Kraaaaah!!!"
The monster seized me and slammed me down. The world was warped badly enough already. With my body floating and spinning, my head was a wreck, and the screams inside it did not help. A complete set of mental illnesses, neatly bundled.
"Hong Yumin, please hurry."
Stay with this thing much longer and I was actually going to lose my mind.
"I think I'm going to be sick."
"Kieeeek!"
Thunder split the air. And why was there lightning? Just because it counted as Heaven, it got to throw the forces of nature around too? Hong Yumin did it. The protagonist did it. Everybody and their dog did it. Unbelievable.
In the spinning world, I caught sight of the moon. The moon seemed to be smiling.
"Have I actually lost it?"
The moon, smiling. There wasn't even a rabbit up there. Had I been hit too many times? And a phantom thief didn't know how to fight a monster in the first place…….
"Grrrrrrr!"
"Hey—hey! Spit, you bastard! Spit!"
"Don't you eat me, you little shit!"
Hong Yumin's eyes opened with a shudder.
"……."
She stared up at the sky, dazed.
"Yumin!"
Mi Soryeong pulled her into an embrace. Hong Yumin felt her own shoulder grow wet.
"……."
She looked to Dan Miryu at her side. He was working Life.
"Don't move yet. The energy in your body has been badly damaged."
A boom. A howl. She turned her head toward the noise, and black smoke shot up with a mound of earth.
"……I must go."
Hong Yumin pushed Mi Soryeong away.
"Where do you think you're going in that body!"
"I must go. I have to……."
Hong Yumin staggered to her feet.
"Yumin. Please!"
"……I have to."
Water ran down her cheek.
"Over there. I have to go."
"You go like this and you'll die!"
"Soryeong……."
Only at the word die did Hong Yumin turn her gaze.
"Thank you. For holding me dear."
"Why are you saying that……."
"Thank you."
Hong Yumin smiled as brightly as she could manage.
"I was happy…… I was……."
The blast hit.
"Everyone, get clear!"
Dan Miryu seized them both and leapt far back.
"Gaaah!"
The phantom thief came rolling in.
"Ah, there goes a phantom thief's whole reputation."
"Mr. Phantom, are you all right?!"
"If we ignore the world spinning, I'm fine."
Phantom fitted his bent arm back into its socket.
"Why is the arm on backwards again?"
Wait.
"Oh. My neck's on backwards."
Crack.
"There. Now I can see."
At that grotesque little scene, Dan Miryu's eye twitched.
"What kind of phantom thief does that?"
"A trick. A trick. Snap your neck and you're supposed to die. What sense does it make that I'm still alive?"
I'm hardly a monster.
Phantom settled his mask back into place.
"Anyway, the mood in here is strange. Did Hong Yumin say something useless?"
He looked at her with a pitiful face, as if he already knew everything.
"Learn one scrap of truth and your face goes to ruin. Did someone break your heart?"
He turned the request on Mi Soryeong.
"Ms. Mi, hit her once so she comes to her senses."
"All right."
"Kehuk!"
"Did you have to drive a full straight into her solar plexus?"
"She was talking nonsense. This much is the minimum."
Aigoo. I think I see why Dan Miryu lives under her thumb.
Phantom scratched his head and looked at Dan Miryu.
"More to the point, what happened to the monster?"
"It's coming."
"Did it get even more disgusting?"
The monster crawled in, decorating its body with human limbs. Tossing the forces of nature around here and there was the charming part.
"You're certain it can be killed?"
"If Hong Yumin gets her head on straight."
Phantom walked up to Hong Yumin, who had collapsed clutching her stomach.
"Get up. Your wrong is on its way."
"My wrong……."
Hong Yumin looked at the monster. Light returned to her eyes.
"How long do you mean to stay like this? You've seen all of it, haven't you."
"Yes……. I……."
"If you're about to spew some bullshit about having committed a great sin and paying it back with your death, then stay curled up for the rest of your life."
Phantom looked into Hong Yumin's eyes. The mask reflected in her pupils was perfectly calm.
"With what face do you talk about sacrifice to the people who gave themselves up just to keep you alive?"
When she had never truly sacrificed anything herself.
At those blunt words, Hong Yumin fell silent.
"Did you want to become happy?"
"Or did you only wish for happiness?"
"You've understood the truth. Shouldn't you be different now?"
The mistake had ended long ago. All that remained was setting it right.
"What would Lord San-gun say if he saw you?"
"Lord San-gun……."
Hong Yumin's eyes widened. It was different from before. Her gaze had hardened, just a little.
"Still haven't come to your senses?"
"No. No……."
Hong Yumin rubbed at her face.
"Thank you. I have come back to myself."
"Not entirely satisfying, but……."
Phantom turned his head.
"Mr. Dan looks about to die, so I'll hand you off."
"Don't just stand there watching—help me!"
Dan Miryu, the Stone of Resurrection opened to its full power, was holding the monster off. Not a transcendent for nothing. Against that thing, he was enduring with everything he had.
"Yumin."
"Soryeong……."
Mi Soryeong came to Hong Yumin's side.
"Please wait. We have to film the melodrama."
"What?!"
Boom!
With one man's sacrifice left running in the background, the conversation between the two women went on.
"If something's hard, tell me. I'll help you as much as you need."
"……You have already helped me so much."
"I can help more."
Mi Soryeong smiled, small and sure.
"I don't know what happened. But there will always be a place for you to come back to."
"……."
"Go, and come back. You have to tell me later. All right?"
Hong Yumin looked at Mi Soryeong and smiled.
"I suspect the telling will take quite a long time."
"We've got time."
"Then I shall go, and I shall return."
Hong Yumin turned her back.
"Pulled yourself together?"
"Somewhat."
Energy spread from Hong Yumin's body. Pure, seasoned, and yet still fragile. It was hers.
"I have lived for hundreds of years."
Heaven stirred.
"And still my mind is no different from long ago."
The monster's movement stopped. Dan Miryu, who had been driven hard, slipped free at once.
"Youuuuu."
The monster looked at Hong Yumin. The grudge pouring off it was of an entirely different density than before. She faced her wrong.
"I'll burn you—burn you—burn you to nothing!!!"
Fire caught on her body. It caught without so much as a second's delay, and flesh burned.
"For a punishment sent down by Heaven, you are rather poor."
Hong Yumin let out a short laugh. The fire died, empty and vain. She closed her hand. Formless power seized the monster, and under that tightening force it could do nothing at all. The creature was lifted beneath her palm.
"Return to the place where you belong."
Hong Yumin raised the monster into the air. It thrashed in a frenzy, and that frenzy meant nothing before an immortal who stood with Heaven at her back.
"The end of a long punishment has come."
She would cut this ill-fated bond.
"I make my report to Heaven."
Heaven split open. It had come to reclaim a punishment that had lingered upon the earth far too long. The monster went rigid, as if it had sensed the end of its own existence.
"Be gone, wraith."
Celestial light crashed down. When the pure-white radiance ended, the monster was gone.
"Haa……."
Heaven acknowledged it. For a punishment, it had taken far too long.
"Ah……."
Where the monster had vanished, a tiger stood in magnificent bearing. Both eyes were strong and true. Its fur was like gold. It carried a dignity that even Heaven regarded with awe.
Hong Yumin—no, the girl—went to the tiger.
"L-Lord San-gun?"
"Krung."
San-gun licked her. Tears welled in the girl's eyes.
"I'm sorry. It was very hard, wasn't it?"
She forced a smile and threw her arms around San-gun.
"It's all right. Now I—I……."
"Krung."
San-gun comforted the girl as if he understood every word.
"Can't you stay with me?"
He shook his head.
"But Lord San-gun sacrificed everything……."
It was too cruel. They had only just met again, and already they had to part.
San-gun reached out. A soft paw pad touched the girl's cheek.
"Krrung."
It's all right.
"Hnnn……."
The girl wept aloud. As he always had, San-gun remained at her side.
"Sniff……. Lord San-gun. I'll do my best, and I'll live well on my own."
"Krung."
Well done.
"You have to be well too, Lord San-gun."
"Krung."
I will.
San-gun's body rose. It was time to part. A single tiger had borne Heaven's punishment for far too long. By rights he ought to have died, and yet he had endured for the sake of one person's happiness. In recognition of that merit, Heaven itself meant to take him.
"Go well, Lord San-gun."
"Krung."
Hong Yumin remembered.
That cannot be avoided.
In the end, it had come. Had Heaven known all along? She had overcome her wrong. Parting, she could not overcome. Hong Yumin saw San-gun off with a lonely face, and San-gun smiled, warm as ever. Heaven gathered him in.
An instant before he vanished—
"And who decided that?"
Parting cannot be avoided.
Skrrt. Skrrt.
■■ cannot be avoided.
"Your games with fate end here."
The phantom thief, displeased with the ending, crashed in.
Under Heaven.
No.
Under the moon.
Phantom descended. The world was dyed black.
"A pleasure to meet you, Heaven."
I am a phantom thief.
Phantom Thief Phantom.
"Do take care of me."
The phantom thief smiled.