Chapter 46
At first, I thought it was just my imagination, but the sound repeated at irregular intervals.
No way! Is Father looking for me?
That seemed the most likely explanation. Who else would go around knocking on these walls?
I shot to my feet and hurried toward the noise. But a shelf soon blocked my path—the same one packed with recovery pills I'd examined earlier.
After inspecting it closely for a while, I noticed a spot beneath the shelf where the dust looked swept toward one side.
It looks like it opens somehow...
I pushed and pulled at the shelf for ages, then absentmindedly lifted a porcelain jar. With a clunk, the wall and shelf slid smoothly aside.
It opened... blood?
I recoiled instinctively from the foul stench. But I swallowed hard and stepped inside anyway.
Groping my way up some stairs, I emerged into a stone chamber. Compared to the warehouse-like space I'd just left, the ceiling was low and the room far smaller.
A stone table in the center held a jumble of items scattered haphazardly. As I drew closer, I realized with a jolt—it wasn't a table at all. It was a coffin!
Approaching the stone coffin, my shoe stuck to the floor as if glued. Glancing down absentmindedly, I gasped in horror.
Half-dried bloodstains. No, it was a full pool of blood, gathered around the coffin.
Circumnavigating the pool carefully, I headed behind the coffin—and froze on the spot.
"......!"
There was a person. Slumped against the coffin with their head bowed low, utterly motionless.
I reached out to check their pulse, but the instant my fingers brushed their skin, a chill seeped in—no need to feel for a heartbeat. Death had already claimed them.
Dead for quite some time now.
The corpse, head still drooped and body already stiffened, clutched a sword tightly in its hand.
That was when I leaned in to examine the blade more closely.
"Th-is... way."
"......!"
"No... need... to panic. I... called... you here."
The voice was ragged, like the speaker was on their last breath.
It came from the wall opposite the coffin, shrouded in half-shadow. I couldn't make out the face clearly, but the shock of white hair and beard marked him as an elderly man.
I asked cautiously, not bothering to hide my wariness.
"Did you call for me, sir?"
The old man tapped the floor silently with his hand.
Tap, tap, tap.
So he'd been the one making the knocking sounds I'd heard.
He looked at me and spoke.
"Yes... you must be Baek Ri-yeon."
My eyes widened.
He coughed harshly and continued.
"Heh heh... why the shock? Weren't you... searching for me?"
"I was searching for you, sir?"
Searching for whom? The thought hit me immediately.
"No way... the Manshin-ui?"
"Heh heh. That's right."
I clenched my fists tight.
As I thought... he's alive!
I rushed toward the Manshin-ui. But up close, his condition looked dire.
"Are you all right, sir?"
I reached to support his shoulder—and yanked my hand back in shock. My palm was smeared with blood.
"Treatment... I'll fetch some medicine!"
He shook his head faintly, barely perceptible.
"No need... no need. Cough, cough... I'm done for already. My spine... it's shattered."
My mouth fell open.
Heh heh. He muttered to himself.
"Truly... a qi cripple."
"Pardon? How did you... And how do you know my name?"
The Manshin-ui's gaze drifted to the corpse behind me.
"That one... a warrior of the Namgung Clan."
"No way... Cho Choong?"
The Namgung Clan warrior who'd vanished after heading to Bagua Village.
"Kekeke... who can say. No time... to hear his name."
I bit my lip.
A Namgung Clan warrior should be highly skilled... who could have done this?
"Sir, do you know who attacked?"
Nothing like this had happened before my regression. I needed to know who'd done it—and what had changed to make it happen.
In response, the Manshin-ui asked a question of his own.
"What of the village... above?"
"Uh......"
Should I tell him? He already looked so frail—would the shock make it worse?
He spoke calmly.
"Tell me... the truth."
"......Everyone's dead. And the whole place burned down."
"......I see."
He seemed to have already guessed from my reaction, accepting it with quiet resignation.
"Ah! That's right—one survived."
"Survived? Who?"
"That So......"
Whoops, I'd almost blurted out the name.
"A child who can't speak."
"Is that so? Good... very good. Her name is So Nok. I called her Nok-ah."
"We found her hiding in some tree roots. But then the landslide hit. I saw Father grab her—So Nok—but I got swept away, so I'm not sure what happened after."
"A landslide... I heard it. Your father... Baek Ri-gang?"
"Yes."
"I've heard tales of his character... and skill. If that's true."
"It is true!"
I snapped indignantly.
Heh heh. Spitting out a rough glob of blood, he asked,
"Then why... would a man like that save Nok-ah... and leave you behind?"
"That's......!"
It was tricky to explain coherently.
"It wasn't about Father's strength."
I slowly pieced together what had happened.
The moment I realized it was a landslide, I'd grabbed the child and Yahul and bolted. From afar, I spotted Father racing toward us.
But the torrent of earth rushed in faster.
In that desperate instant, a doubt flashed through my mind: Could Father carry all three of us out?
Like in the fairy and woodcutter tale—the fairy couldn't fly to heaven carrying three children, right?
With that thought, I shoved the child and Yahul forward with every ounce of strength I had.
My last memory was them tumbling into Father's arms.
After hearing my account, the Manshin-ui wore a strange expression.
"So... you shoved the two children toward your father... and let yourself get swept away?"
"I wasn't trying to save them or anything. Father only has two arms."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"But if I hadn't pushed them, Father would've had to choose between me and one of the other two while already holding one. How could I make him face that kind of choice?"
Frowning deeply, the Manshin-ui began,
"Then it was fine for you to die...... Kuhk! Cough, cough, cough!"
But violent coughing cut him off before he could finish.
Blood spewed from his mouth, and his body—already struggling just to lean against the wall—began to slump.
I caught him in a panic, startled by the icy chill seeping through my palm from his skin.
His eyes were clouding over, as if the end truly loomed.
I asked desperately,
"Sir, how do we get out of here?"
"......"
"Sir!"
No! You have to wake up! Tell me how to escape!
To my cry, he barely pried his eyes open.
But he stared not at me, but into empty space, muttering to himself.
"......The righteous sects...... their two-faced nature...... yet in the end......"
What was he saying? Even right in front of me, his words were fragmented and faint—almost impossible to make out.
It sounded like he was venting some deep resentment.
Suddenly, his hand clamped onto my shoulder with terrifying strength.
"Sir...... ugh!"
Where had this power come from?
"You... want to heal your dantian, yes?"
Was it my imagination? For a split second, his eyes gleamed gold as I glanced at them.
"No time... so take this... in my place."
Before I could scrutinize his eyes, his bloody hand clamped over both my eyes.
"!"
He mumbled something incomprehensible, and though my vision plunged into darkness beneath his palm, I felt an intense light blazing from somewhere.
The last thing I heard, as consciousness slipped away, was the Manshin-ui's faint voice.
"How you use it... is up to your will."