Hyunmu Hall
The late-night affairs were more or less wrapped up, and now it was time to set off and find Jinyul.
"Separate from us, Jinyul said she had business to attend to and left for Hyunmu Hall."
"That's right. She said she was going to absorb the ice artifact."
The A-rank ice artifact Il Lena had given Jinyul after clearing the gate. She had mentioned back then that she would need the help of the Hyunmu Hall master.
"How long do you think it'll take from here?"
"If we walk like we did just now, we should arrive late at night."
"What, we have to walk that far...?"
It was farther than I expected. It wasn't even noon yet, and we'd arrive by late night.
"Kukuku... Hwahyeon, did you really plan on walking all the way to Hyunmu Hall?"
"Well, yeah. We can't exactly call a taxi in the Other Side."
Yu Ryun stifled a laugh. Was there some kind of convenient transportation?
"Master, have you forgotten what kind of beings we are?"
"Divine beasts? Oh!"
"Correct. For convenience's sake we wear human forms, but fundamentally we are divine creatures."
—FWOOSH!
With that, a thick haze enveloped Cheonghwa.
"Therefore, if we revert to our true forms, our mobility will increase dramatically."
The voice came from somewhere far above, well beyond the height Cheonghwa normally spoke from.
When the haze cleared, a massive dragon covered in blue scales stood before us.
"...Cheonghwa, that's you?"
"Yes, Master. You make me look quite slender this way."
"I'll show you mine too! Watch this!"
—FWOOSH!
Yu Ryun suddenly transformed as well. A giant bird blazing red appeared in the sky, revealing its form.
"How about that? I'm cool too, right?"
"Whoa..."
"...Master, I'm not good at disguise. If I change like this carelessly, I don't think I'll be able to change back easily..."
"Seolhye, you're not exactly impressive when you transform—you'd just stick to the ground. Why don't you just ride on us for now?"
"Gyah... I wanted to show off a form like that too..."
I must have reacted too enthusiastically, because Seolhye clearly wanted to transform like Yu Ryun did.
"No, you look plenty cool just the way you are."
"Really?"
"Obviously."
"Hehehe..."
I smoothed it over immediately.
"Please ride on me, Master. I shall carry you comfortably."
Cheonghwa lowered her head all the way to the ground. Could I just climb on from here?
"Hwahyeon, I'll carry you, so don't fall asleep, okay?"
While reaching my hand toward Cheonghwa, Yu Ryun cut in between us. The massive bird cloaked in flames filled my entire field of vision.
"Not allowed. You look like you're going to burn Master in a different sense."
"Who are you to say? The decision is Hwahyeon's."
"Me?"
A tongue of flame shot toward me. It seemed the rivalry between the two of them would be decided by who I chose.
"Me, Yu Cheonghwa? It's decided."
"..."
A death sentence dilemma.
Picking just one person was hard. It meant hurting the other.
"...For transporting all these people, wouldn't Cheonghwa be more suitable?"
I raised a pretext. Not something like "she likes you more"—just an efficient excuse based on the current situation.
"Hmph."
Cheonghwa smiled graciously.
"Squawk...!"
Yu Ryun shouted in irritation.
"Whatever! I'm going first, so figure it out yourselves!"
"Wait..."
"Hmph!"
In the end, Yu Ryun left on her own.
"She's gone."
"Yeryung-nuna... I don't know why, but that gives me a weird lewd feeling."
"It's fine if you speak casually with me."
"Stop with the nonsense and get on, will you?"
"Got it."
—THUMP.
I sat down on Cheonghwa's head. Just in case she slipped, I grabbed the antlers protruding like a deer's with both hands.
"How is it?"
"Wow~ the scenery's amazing. Cheonghwa, have you been living with a view like this all along?"
"Hehe... Unfortunately, when residing in our usual dwelling, this form can't easily be shown. So please enjoy the view now."
Now that I thought about it, since they used human-world conveniences even in the Other Side, their lifestyle based on a human body must be fairly developed.
"Seolhye and Yeryung-nuna should get on too."
First, we needed to catch up to Yu Ryun, who had left ahead.
"Hm? I have no intention of carrying the two of them."
"Then how do we move?"
—FWOOSH!
"Just pick them up with your claws and go."
"...Yu Cheonghwa, isn't that a bit much?"
Cheonghwa suddenly grabbed the two of them with her front claws. Seolhye immediately spat something sharp.
"Only Master may ride on me. If you don't like it, you can come crawling on the ground yourself."
"..."
"I'm fine. Cheonghwa, do as you see fit."
"If there are no objections, we shall depart."
And so we floated up into the sky.
Now we truly had to head to Hyunmu Hall.
**********
—SHHHHOOO.
When we arrived at a stretch of open road, Cheonghwa set us down.
"Oh? We haven't arrived yet, have we?"
"Flying and disguise within a 1km radius of each Sacred Hall's territory is prohibited. Without such measures, the crowds would be too overwhelming in busy areas."
"Ah, that makes sense."
The reason the small human body was the default was all for these reasons.
"Master, but Yu Ryun isn't visible."
"I came as fast as I could, so she shouldn't have gone far. If you follow the road, the entrance to Hyunmu Hall should appear. We can meet there."
"I imagine she tried to enter in her transformed state..."
"She's not as simple as Seolhye. Broaden your perspective a little."
"...That's something you'll see when you get there."
Seolhye was making unnecessary worries when Cheonghwa scolded her.
I hoped nothing would happen.
—POFF!
The haze rose again, and Cheonghwa returned to her original form.
"There's little use for disguise even in the Other Side. Still, I'm honored to be of help to Master."
"Thanks, Cheonghwa."
Walking along the road for about fifteen minutes, as Cheonghwa said, a tall wall and massive gate appeared before our eyes.
"More modern than I expected."
"That's thanks to actively adopting human-world conveniences. If you were expecting the traditional building where you stayed last night, you'd need to go further in to the main hall of Hyunmu Hall."
Yeryung-nuna explained. Each Sacred Hall could handle preserving tradition.
"Baek Dragon Hall's main hall is probably the most magnificent of the four. I truly wish to escort Master there someday."
"Sounds good. While I'm at it, I'll get to meet Father's face too."
"...Father...?"
Cheonghwa's face turned red. I didn't say anything wrong, so why?
There was a short line in front of the main gate. Even if it was a simple inspection, there might be some delay.
"This will take some time."
"We don't need to wait. There should be a visitor's passage beside it."
"Oh?"
Indeed, there was another gate guarded by soldiers. No one was using it, but the guards looked even stronger.
"Those guards standing watch—aren't they ordinary people, either."
"Yes?"
"They appear to be Hyunmu Hall's direct soldiers. They all seem to be at least B-rank hunter level."
They seemed dead serious about security. The visitor's passage wasn't just a formality.
"Halt. Please state your identity and the purpose of your visit."
"The successors of the Blue Dragon Hall and White Tiger Hall, along with the Sacred Water Deity and their seed."
"...Please wait a moment."
One of the gatekeepers ran off somewhere, and a moment later returned.
"Confirmed. Welcome to Hyunmu Hall."
The gate opened immediately. But before entering, there was one thing to check.
"Has the vice head of the Vermillion Bird Hall arrived today?"
"They entered a little while ago."
Ugh. Yu Ryun had arrived even faster than I thought.
Luckily, it seemed she hadn't been caught mid-flight.
"Let's go in."
And so we entered the territory of Hyunmu Hall.
**********
—CLICKETY-CLACK.
The interior was quite crowded.
"The scale is pretty big, huh?"
"All sorts of monsters and ghosts have disguised themselves as humans. The true forms are all different kinds of beings."
"Still, there sure are a lot of people. It's nice to look at."
"Master, we should find Yu Ryun first, shouldn't we?"
"Right. Good call."
We found Yu Ryun not long after.
"One more bowl of cold noodles!"
"Coming right up!"
—SLUUUURP!
"Khh... No wonder Hyunmu Hall cold noodles are famous!"
Yu Ryun was just buying cold noodles by the dozen from a stall. She seemed to have already finished five bowls in no time.
"Yu Ryun, did you come ahead so you could do this?"
"WHOA!!!"
She jumped in shock when I spoke.
"...When did you get here?"
"Just now."
"Well... Hwahyeon, do you want to try some? Because Hyunmu Hall has dense yin energy, the cold noodles are really delicious!"
"Yu Ryun, we need to go to the main hall first and meet the Hall master. Please follow."
Cheonghwa grabbed Yu Ryun by the back of the neck and pulled her along. Yu Ryun looked wistfully at the bowls she'd stacked up.
"...But there's still one bowl left..."
"If you go to the main hall instead of the stall, you can eat even better things."
And so we marched straight down the road, passing through another gate. It seemed our visit had been reported from the main gate, making the procedure simpler.
Unlike the outer walls, the inner compound had a distinctly old-fashioned feel. Black banners fluttered everywhere, and a statue of a turtle wrapped in a serpent stood right in front of the gate.
"I shall guide you this way."
This time there were guides too. A woman in neatly arranged hanbok led us to the main building of the main hall.
"So this building is the main hall."
"I have fond memories of coming here often. Before the incident with the gates, this was where Jinyul and I used to play."
Now that I thought about it, Seolhye and Jinyul were supposed to be close. After the gate incident, Jinyul had started living apart, and it seemed their relationship had gotten a bit stiff.
Following the woman ahead, we arrived at a room before we knew it. The main hall was definitely a traditional hanok-style building.
"We've arrived. The Hall master and vice head will be here shortly, so please wait in this reception hall."
More waiting time.