Dawn's Whispers and Unfolding Shadows
Early dawn.
Weeong, weeong.
The quiet all around made the small whispers from outside the window suddenly wake me.
The inn was so shabby that proper soundproofing was clearly out of the question.
I turned my eyes and saw the upper bodies of Blanser and Teraden half-raised in the bunks one after another.
They looked just as startled as I did, having woken up at the same time.
“You two woke up because of the noise outside too….”
“Kwaaaah.”
“……”
Ah, Blanser was still asleep. I wonder how he could sleep through all this anyway?
“Hey, you hear that sound from outside?”
Teraden asked in a raspy voice still heavy with sleep.
“Yeah, I woke up because of the same noise. It sounds pretty urgent. Let’s listen first.”
Teraden and I decided to focus on the sounds coming from outside.
“Return…! Di…!”
“Kwaaaah.”
“How many… a…!”
“Kwaaaah.”
““……””
But Blanser’s snores filled the entire room, so the important parts of the conversation were completely lost.
“Ugh, that damn snoring is killing me! Shut it already!!”
Thwack!!
Teraden couldn’t hold back any longer and slammed his fist into Blanser’s head. The hit on his sleeping temple made Blanser shout “Ouch!” and bolt upright.
“Kyaaaaaaaak—! Surprise attack?!”
“Hey, idiot! You didn’t hear a single thing because of you!”
“Huh? Good morning, senior brother. But what exactly didn’t you hear?”
“…”
“Tch. Whatever. It’s fine, man. That happened.”
While Blanser kept snoring loudly, the outside chatter had already died down. Teraden, now wide awake, was about to punch Blanser again but immediately relaxed his fist.
“Seniors, what are we having for breakfast?”
Blanser, clueless about what was happening, asked as casually as ever. Teraden loosened his fist and let out a breath.
“This bastard!”
“Uh, senior brother, why are you so scary all of a sudden….”
“Teraden, I know you’re angry, but calm down for a second….”
“Don’t try to stop me! What? Suddenly? You bastard, you coming over? Pfft, you bastard!”
In the end, I had to pull myself together to talk sense into the hot-headed Teraden from dawn until breakfast time.
Flap, slurp slurp.
Crunsh, crunch crunch, flap.
Blanser, who had been hit with a lightning bolt out of nowhere in the morning, kept flapping his cheeks while eating his meal.
Truly, it was fortunate he was so simple-minded.
Anyway, just as we were finishing our meal, a message from Duke Amerk arrived.
“The collection of information to be passed to you has just finished.”
Among the several scrolls in his grip right now, every detail of Okjeo’s internal affairs was neatly laid out.
“A large number of people are gathering in Okjeo from all over the continent. Do you already know about this?”
“Yes, this is the first time I’ve seen so many people flooding in. The strange part is that it seems there are more foreigners than locals.”
“Correct. But that is merely the beginning. The more time passes, the more people will head to Okjeo without limit.”
“Eh? Why? Is there treasure hidden here?”
“Treasure… Well, sort of. Have you ever heard of OOPArts?”
“OOPArts… You mean that?”
As for OOPArts, during this semester in History II of the continent, we had only skimmed over the Seven Stars when discussing Arirang’s legacy.
OOPArts.
The ultimate weapon of the entire continent, a relic of the Seven Stars, Arirang, passed down for the future—along with humanity’s strongest divine object.
There were three known types of OOPArts: Earth, Ocean, and Sky.
“Could it be… that an OOPArt is actually hidden somewhere here?”
“I cannot confirm whose doing it is, but someone spread rumors that an OOPArt exists somewhere near Okjeo. However, whether one truly exists is still unconfirmed.”
The reputation of an OOPArt was so immense that even three-year-old children knew of its fame across the continent.
Because of that, there were even jokes that if someone managed to obtain all three OOPArts, they could rival The One—even if they were just an ordinary commoner.
It was also the reason why Duke Amerk, the strongest among the ten dukes, had come closest to the pinnacle of the previous generation: he was the owner of the Earth OOPArt.
Of course, his own overwhelming strength played a part, but with such power already latent, it was no wonder people flocked to places rumored to hold an OOPArt.
Yet another OOPArt supposedly sleeping near Okjeo.
A conversation I had once with Junior suddenly resurfaced.
“Junior, do you have a goal you want to achieve?”
“Yes. Finding the remaining OOPArts is my late father’s lifelong wish. Achieving my father’s wish is my greatest goal and yearning for this lifetime.”
Though the rumor’s authenticity was not yet confirmed, Junior’s usual diligence made him seem unusually rash.
For him, this was the perfect opportunity to fulfill his father’s wish as the Machine Duke. He could not simply dismiss the uncertain fact of an OOPArt buried somewhere in Okjeo as idle talk.
Starting with the unusually large number of people in Okjeo itself, everyone in the city was a rival to one degree or another, making the entire city feel tense and on edge.
Finally, the urgent whispers from outside the room at dawn.
The tangled threads in my mind were finally starting to unravel.
“But I think the probability that this rumor is true is quite low.”
“Oh? Why do you think so?”
“It seems odd.”
“What is?”
“What is?”
Both Teraden and Duke Amerk looked at me with curious expressions at the same time.
“Normally, when treasure is discovered, nine out of ten times the discoverers become greedy and want to seize everything for themselves. But in this case, instead of hoarding, they deliberately spread the information far and wide to attract everyone’s attention.”
“In other words, you’re saying someone is intentionally spreading rumors across the land to draw people here?”
“At least that’s how I see it. And there’s one more suspicious detail: the duke’s attitude.”
“Interesting.”
Duke Amerk narrowed his eyes and, as if urging me to continue, raised his palm lightly toward me.
Maru and Blanser swallowed hard and watched our conversation closely.
“I once heard from Junior that finding the OOPArts is not only the wish of his family but also the duke’s long-held desire. If one truly exists nearby, His Grace would not be sitting quietly like this.”
“Hahaha! Hahahaha!”
The moment I finished speaking, Duke Amerk suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
“I never thought the kid would say something like that. You’re right.”
“But isn’t it true that even ordinary people who aren’t fools would know this?”
“Ah, I’ll tell you about that. First, it is true that structures built by the Seven Stars exist near Okjeo. At the very least, it carries minimal credibility.”
“Huh? Then it’s possible an OOPArt is there too?”
“No, I cannot make such a firm claim yet. While ruins of Arirang’s legacy have been discovered before, OOPArt discoveries have only happened once until now.”
“Then the probability of an OOPArt existing this time is almost zero, right?”
Teraden slowly nodded after listening to Amerk’s explanation.
“But even if you don’t obtain the OOPArt, there is a high chance of securing a divine object that is at least as impressive. Simply possessing that would bring enormous gains to those gathered here.”
“Ah, really? Hehehehe! Then I’ll take it all!”
Teraden shot up and clenched his fist with a battle cry.
“Teraden, our reason for coming here wasn’t to grab some random treasure—it was to find Junior.”
“Ah, right. My mind was wandering. Fine, after finding Junior, we’ll scoop up anything valuable!”
“Yes, senior brother!”
“……”
“That conversation was a bit long. I’ll pass on the rest of the information as well, so use it as a reference when looking for the kid. And one more thing: if you judge it too dangerous, retreat immediately. Understood?”
* * *
After receiving the remaining information from Duke Amerk, we set off without delay to find Junior at the location rumored to hide an OOPArt.
A mountain of decent height, about two hundred li, overlooking Okjeo and the sea beside it.
It was called Sudansan by everyone.
“If it’s the Ocean OOPArt, why is it on a mountain?”
“How are we supposed to find it if it’s buried in the sea? Then what about the Sky OOPArt—floating around in the sky all alone?”
“Oh, thinking about it, that makes sense.”
With our steps quickening, we soon arrived at Sudansan.
At the summit, there was a wide, flat basin surrounded by eight broad peaks rising at equal intervals.
In the center of the basin, two unfamiliar forces were locked in tense confrontation.
One side wore military uniforms that looked like Okjeo or Dongwangdo soldiers.
The other side, dressed in a variety of different clothes, appeared to be gathered from various groups.
“It really does have immense value, doesn’t it? Hey, but how the hell are we supposed to break through there?”
“For now, let’s just wait quietly.”
Ever since the Seven Stars’ relics were discovered, the continent had always seen bloody battles to claim them.
This time would be no exception.
I had a feeling that a far more horrific scene than expected would unfold here soon.
“Um, Maru?”
“Yes! Oppa!”
At the sound of her name, Maru lit up and came closer.
“Maru, why don’t you go back and wait? It looks like it’ll be quite dangerous.”
“No! Maru is going too!”
“Well… but you have to be careful not to get hurt. Got it?”
“Of course! Just leave it to Maru, Oppa! Hehe.”
While Haru accepted Maru’s firm resolve.
“Although this land belongs to the Dongwang Kingdom, it does not mean the entire area is yours. Correct, everyone?”
On the front line of the forces facing each other from afar, a tiny seed of catastrophe was beginning to sprout.