Face to Face
Muzzy.
I'd hit the alarm but still couldn't wake up, drifting in a haze like I was drowning in sleep.
What was the last thing I saw? Ah—was it Harin's chest?
What a blessing. Not everyone has someone who celebrates their happiness and mourns their sorrow. I couldn't fathom how grateful I was to have that.
For the sake of repaying that feeling alone, I had to shake it off and get up like I always did.
—!
A voice came from nowhere. That was enough to snap the drowsiness right out of me.
I slowly opened my eyes. My body was free enough to look down at itself, and I could gradually piece together my surroundings.
When I turned my gaze toward the direction the voice came from, something vaguely humanoid was visible.
"—Fucking hell, who are you!"
Focus sharpened in my eyes.
"Hmm? You've got quite a mouth on you. Yeryung wouldn't have taught you to talk like that… Did the Vermillion Bird Hall meddle in this?"
Ignoring the voice, the figure looked like a woman—long hair, a pretty face. But the words coming out were undeniably male.
"…How the hell do you know about the Vermillion Bird Hall? Who the hell are you?"
"Tsk tsk… Right. This too is my debt, I suppose. A duty I never fulfilled is closing in on me like this."
At first I reacted harshly out of wariness, but the more I heard, the more one possibility surfaced.
He knew about Geum Yeoryeong, who raised me. He was aware of the Vermillion Bird Hall. And hearing him say he couldn't fulfill his duty was more than just unsettling.
"…Who are you?"
"Ah—now that's more polite. It took you long enough."
"…Answer me."
My suspicion was turning into certainty. The sword at his hip was unmistakably familiar to me.
"You're right. The thing you're thinking of."
—!
Maybe my body understood before he even admitted it.
"I'm truly sorry for leaving first."
As if he'd already reached his conclusion and was only waiting for my confirmation, a jolt of electricity shot through my body.
"Son."
That was my first meeting with my father.
…
"…Father…?"
"Call me whatever you like. I never performed a father's proper duties toward you, so there's no need for formality."
"I heard you passed away…"
"Haha, gods don't die. We simply finish our life in this world and cross over to the other shore."
I could clearly perceive the man before me—my father, or at least someone who resembled him. I could also sense that the world I was in was enveloped entirely in a pure white stream of light.
"This body is nothing more than a sentient spirit trapped within the divine sword. The fact that you've come out to face me like this means the White Tiger Hall leader guided the sword well, I suppose."
"Y-Yes… That's right."
"Not bad for your growth. You've reached this far in less than a year of wielding the sword. That's quite something."
"It's all thanks to the sword's guidance. It's power far beyond what I could achieve on my own, and all I did was train."
No matter how much I kept training, without the Hwanguk Sword's guidance, I never could have reached this level.
"It's fine for now. If you want to break the System, you need to use every trick available—no matter how shady."
"Break the System? Why?"
"Because that's the path to freedom."
Break the System.
This convenient device was given to humanity, and because of it, they could defend the earth against extraterrestrial invasion.
Because magical engineering advanced, humanity could leap one more step forward.
"…Freedom?"
"That's right. Freedom."
"…I don't understand. Aren't we already free enough?"
"You felt it too, didn't you? The decrepit god's arrogance—stripping your will, committing murder as he pleased."
—!
He must be talking about before I lost consciousness. That kid had been trying to say something, and my body moved on its own and killed him.
"No matter how much power one holds, those above us treat us like mere chess pieces to play with."
"…"
"I was no different."
He spoke calmly, his face heavy with regret.
"I wanted to sever this after thousands of years. I vowed to make this land—where my child and my people lived and breathed—a realm of true free will."
"So it didn't go well?"
—Nod.
"I wandered for thousands of years but eventually realized it was impossible. I was born from the very womb of divine existence to begin with. And I couldn't die and be reborn, so I decided to seek another path."
"Another path?"
"I secretly opened a passage through the roof of the Divine Sandalwood Tree. Through the cracks between worlds, I slipped in and received a vessel from the ruler there."
—!
Contact with the Other Side. That was an act strictly forbidden by the System.
I'd even killed the guy who came up to me to talk before.
"I opened a small passage on top of the Divine Sandalwood Tree. Through the cracks between worlds, I slipped in and received one vessel from the ruler there."
"…That's Mother?"
"Yes. She gave me a body here and allowed me to live a full life. By now, her spirit has probably returned to its original place, but she cleverly evaded the System's surveillance and succeeded in accepting an external being."
Another layer of mystery about my birth. The truth was that my mother wasn't from this world—she was from another world.
But honestly, he spoke in such a strange way. It was hard to follow.
"Ugh…"
"Frustrating, isn't it? I asked Yeryung to raise you as normally as possible, so I understand that reaction."
As the conversation continued, my questions only deepened.
Then why were they creating dimensional rifts and trying to invade our world?
—Zzzt-zzt.
My head started buzzing again. Instinctively, I knew this meeting was already ending.
"There's not enough time to tell you everything. Aren't there women outside calling for you?"
"N-No…!"
"We'll meet again. Next time, let's have a more leisurely conversation."
"—Wait!!"
The world was unraveling. My body was recovering, maybe regaining consciousness, but there was still so much I hadn't heard.
"Go back to reality. Find the scattered remains of this father first. They'll be of great help to you."
My vision distorted. My eyelids grew heavy, and the sounds around me faded.
"Take care of Yeryung too. It's proper to call her aunt by lineage, but… wouldn't it be right to treat her as an older sister?"
"…"
Could he at least normalize his way of addressing people?
He did it on his own volition, but honestly, he was being way too casual with his speech.
"And… h̢̻̠͇͎͑̆̎͂͝ȋ̛̜͙͙̬͚̈̔̾̾̊̒̂͢͠a̯͇̭̮̟̩̭̯̍̓͑̚͟͞t̷̢̟̖̭̝́͋̊̄̎͂̄͘̕͢͢͡ú̴̡̹̗̼͓̯̣͎̐͊̽̀͆̾ş̶̠͍̳̮͋͑̽͑̀͋͜͞ ş̝̬͓̬͖̏̅̽̋̈́͜a̷̫̹̖̣̤̰͔͆̎̑̊̔̚͞͡į̷̛̪̠̜͇͍̠̓̕̚͜͠n͓͕̠̺̋͒̍̄̂͡͝ͅt̶̨̰̩̣̿͂̀͋̓͜."
"What did you say?"
".̶̡̬̭̯͇͌̓̽̔̓̂͒͡.̸̧̢̛̜͈̪̞͔̎̀̋̍͗̒̏̽͢.̤̫̖͎͓̮͗̐̋̍̏̀̚.̹͓͇̠̼̫̯̘̀̒̊̓̀.̴̹̞͙̘̬͓́́̂͑̒̎̔́̽͟͟ͅ.̵̡̥̪͙̺̇̇̇̌̽̅͋̎͢͝͠.̨̝̟̙̖͓̲̠̦̭͗̈́̈̌̓̃̇̚͝.̸͎͉̥̻͓̘̹̻́͒̎̄͋̓͂͂̏͜͞Blessing.̶̡̬̭̯͇͌̓̽̔̓̂͒͡.̸̧̢̛̜͈̪̞͔̎̀̋̍͗̒̏̽͢.̤̫̖͎͓̮͗̐̋̍̏̀̚.̹͓͇̠̼̫̯̘̀̒̊̓̀.̴̹̞͙̘̬͓́́̂͑̒̎̔́̽͟͟ͅ.̵̡̥̪͙̺̇̇̇̌̽̅͋̎͢͝͠.̨̝̟̙̖͓̲̠̦̭͗̈́̈̌̓̃̇̚͝.̸͎͉̥̻͓̘̹̻́͒̎̄͋̓͂͂̏͜͞.̙͔͖̹̟͑̍̈́̋̈́̋͢͝.͚̲̣͕̹̘̿͒̀̋͐̒̂̊̀͢.̶̙̖̮̣̟͇̟͇̆͒͛͂̈́̀̏́͡͞ͅ.̸͎͉̥̻͓̘̹̻́͒̎̄͋̓͂͂̏͜͞!"
I could hear someone shouting, but I couldn't make out the meaning.
My vision was too warped to even read the divine incantation.
"…!!!!"
All I could grasp was the sensation of someone shouting near my ear.
—Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of dripping water slowly brought me back.
"Ugh…"
Someone was yelling at the top of their lungs right next to my ear. From the red hair flying in front of my eyes, it had to be Yu Yeon-i.
"You awake? Yeah?"
"…Why are you yelling into people's ears…"
"…What?"
Was I not breathing while I slept?
Next to me, someone was sniffling.
"…Hic… Huhhh…"
"?!"
It was Jinyul, who was becoming more and more like Harin. Her face was growing prettier by the day.
And from the other side, there were more sounds of crying.
Cheonghwa was there too, and Harin, who was sprinkling spiritual milk…
When our eyes met, Baeksoyoung covered her chest and averted her gaze.
"Good thing you kept that essence stored in your body…!"
Yeryung—Yeryung-noona was looking at me smugly, beaming with pride.
"Yeryung-noona."
"Dunno. Dad told me to."
"…Huh?"
It was my father's instruction. Even though he was just a sentient spirit trapped in the sword, he apparently knew how I normally treated Yeryung… noona.
—Zzzt!
"Ugh!"
That's when I looked inward. Using the last dregs of my energy to activate the Seonryeong, I almost passed out again.
"Ugh… I'm fine, Harin. It's just dizziness."
"…Don't push yourself too hard."
Harin looked at me with a sad expression. It seemed she felt the most responsible for my exhaustion, probably because every time my energy dipped, she'd been feeding me spiritual milk.
"It's not because of Harin, so don't worry. But what the hell is this situation?"
My body was in the center of the bath, surrounded by multiple people. Seol-hwi and Il Lena were watching from outside the tub.
I could even feel all sorts of energies I'd absorbed until now merging together in the water.
"That is…"
Baeksoyoung, wrapped head to toe in a towel, stepped forward.
"It's the Secret Recovery Bath of the White Tiger Hall—made by dissolving the bodily fluids and energies of each divine beast into the water… a bath made solely for you."
So that's what it was. Dissolving bodily fluids and energies…
…Wait.
Bodily fluids?