Chapter 275
Chapter 275
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 275
>Chapter Title: The 31st Horse Overturns the Game Board
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Kang Seol stared at Mia for a moment, pondering a way forward.
But as if there was no time for such idle thoughts, the surroundings began to shift.
Rumble...
“What’s that noise?”
Splash...
A sound like the ruins flooding from within.
“Water?”
“No way...”
Crack...
Crrrack!
Boom!
The ruins started to collapse.
“It’s crumbling! We have to get out!”
The golden statue possessed by Hye-myeong spoke.
- Fly away.
Rumble...
As soon as the golden statue finished speaking, a passage created by the ruins appeared before their eyes.
Splash!
“It’s water! Water’s rushing in here right now! The collapse will get worse. We need to hurry!”
“T-This path... it seems like it’s telling us to take it...”
A choice appeared before Kang Seol.
[As if handing everything over, Watara’s ruins are collapsing. How will you escape?]
1. Stay put and wait for the collapse to stop.
2. Retrace the path you took to get here.
3. Follow the artificially created path in front of you.
4. Head deeper into the ruins.
...
There was no need to deliberate long. Right now, they had to follow the golden statue’s words.
“We’re going this way.”
As Kang Seol spoke, everyone nodded. The notion that it was right to follow his decisions had already spread among the group like an unspoken code of conduct.
“Hurry!”
Splash!
Kang Seol’s party slid down the path as if on ice.
Mia and Seolhong were under Kang Seol and Hye-myeong’s protection, so they suffered no injuries.
“Wha... huh?”
“It’s bending! Brace yourselves!”
Screeech...
The path suddenly veered to one side.
Boom!
Booom!
The shock of the collapse gradually faded into the distance.
Screeeeech...
At some point, pushed along by what seemed to be underground water or some unknown liquid, they spotted a faintly glowing hole. It lay directly in their path.
“The exit!”
“Prepare for the drop!”
BOOM!
Kang Seol’s party burst out of the long passage along with the ruins’ massive collapse.
Launched into the air, they feared a deadly fall, but fortunately, it wasn’t from a great height.
“There they are!”
“Over there!”
The ghosts, who had been lying in wait at the ruins’ entrance under Geosundae’s orders, spotted the escaping group.
They moved to pursue but were blocked by falling debris.
“It’s... collapsing...”
“The ruins!”
BOOM!
Watara’s ruins collapsed completely. The ghosts hadn’t numbered many to begin with, and now even fewer survived the ruin’s fall.
Those with any wits among the survivors sensed something was off and tried to flee, but it was in vain.
Whoooosh!
[Hye-myeong uses Sermon: Great Rotation.]
[The weapon spins multiple times as it flies, dealing 10% less damage with each hit on an enemy.]
Whirrr!
Thud thud!
Ghosts’ heads shattered like watermelons.
Without Geosundae, none could match Kang Seol or Hye-myeong.
Crunch!
With the neck of the last ghost snapped, the brief skirmish ended.
Water leaked steadily from the collapsed ruins.
“My painting...”
Mia regretted leaving her painting behind, assuming it had been crushed under the debris. In truth, Geosundae’s minions had already burned it.
Kang Seol glanced at the ruined Watara ruins and muttered,
“...It’s all over.”
“Yeah, everything’s finished...”
Hye-myeong replied.
They turned away.
Time was running out now.
The words applied equally to Kang Seol and Hye-myeong.
* * *
That night, Kang Seol made a request of Mia and received the Wilderness Bell from Hye-myeong.
Hye-myeong, seemingly displeased with something, stared at the moon while drowning his sorrows in drink.
When everyone else was asleep, Kang Seol approached him.
“You’ve got the bell now, so our business here is done.”
“Yeah, pretty much. Everything here is wrapped up.”
After gulping down his liquor, Hye-myeong spoke.
“Kang Seol, there’s something I want to say to you.”
“Something to say?”
“Won’t you come with us?”
“......”
It was an unexpected offer, but Kang Seol smiled faintly and replied calmly.
“I belong somewhere else, Hye-myeong.”
“...Right. You mentioned some relic society or something?”
“Yeah. But why bring it up now?”
“Because... you seem like you’re about to leave.”
“Come on, of course I have to go.”
Hye-myeong grinned.
“That’s why. Once you leave, it feels like I’ll never see you again.”
If things followed the predetermined future, he’d never meet Hye-myeong again. Hye-myeong had left for distant lands to ascend.
“Well, everyone has their own path. So, as a final favor, will you grant us one request?”
“...A favor?”
“Yeah, a favor.”
The next day, Kang Seol learned what Hye-myeong’s favor was.
“This is really all we need to do?”
Scribble...
Hwa-gong drew on the paper.
“Mia wants to capture your likeness in a painting.”
“W-When did I... I mean, I did say that, but it was Hye-myeong who suggested it...”
“Hahaha! Mia, it’s better if we say it was your idea. Makes the painting turn out more lifelike.”
Mia and Hye-myeong laughed.
Hye-myeong’s group sat on rocks, while Kang Seol’s surrounded them, facing forward.
In this pose, they kept their heads and eyes straight, only their mouths moving.
Kang Seol asked Hye-myeong,
“Hye-myeong, didn’t you used to hate this kind of thing?”
“...All things are impermanent. Nothing in this universe stays unchanging, Kang Seol. A human heart can shift as easily as the wind.”
Chui chimed in teasingly.
“Now that it’s time to part, Hye-myeong’s spouting some profound stuff. I thought he was just a weirdo when we traveled together.”
“Haha! Was I?”
Hye-myeong grinned and said,
“Kang Seol.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad we met you all.”
“Huh?”
“Meeting you changed us.”
His expression hardened gradually.
“What about you, Kang Seol? Did meeting us change you even a little?”
Kang Seol smirked and replied,
“Who knows... maybe?”
Chui added,
“Hye-myeong, it was fun.”
Seolhong bid farewell to Mia.
“Mia, take care.”
“Seolhong unni?”
The mood felt somehow off.
“Um...”
Hye-myeong hesitated before speaking his mind.
“Kang Seol! We...”
“No!”
Mia burst into tears.
“......”
“They’re... all gone...”
The presence vanished.
Kang Seol, Seolhong, and Chui had disappeared without a trace.
Hye-myeong stood frozen, unable to react.
“Hye-myeong... they’re gone.”
“...Yeah, they’ve left.”
Hye-myeong stroked the sobbing Mia’s head.
“Mia, don’t cry. It was inevitable. Guests must always return home someday.”
“...You knew?”
“...Yeah. They’re... guests invited by your future self, right?”
“......”
It was impossible for a single member of the Relic Society to take down Geosundae alone, and the unfamiliar aura radiating from Kang Seol’s group had told Hye-myeong they didn’t belong here originally.
“All flows as it must...”
In the meantime, Mia brought the completed painting.
“Hye-myeong... but you know.”
“Yeah?”
“This painting...”
Hye-myeong’s eyes widened in shock.
* * *
Zzzzt!
Zzzzzzt!
Unlike entering the painting, escaping into reality brought even greater shock.
“Urgh...”
Sensations of the sky crumpling and the earth flipping assaulted him repeatedly.
“Haa... haaa...”
Soon enough, they realized they’d returned to the exact spot where they’d first been sucked into the painting.
“Is everyone oka—”
Kang Seol couldn’t finish.
“Aaagh!”
“Gaaah!”
Seolhong and Chui writhed in agony on the ground.
“Aaah...”
Suspicious memories filled Seolhong as her eyes rolled back.
A man, somehow having scaled the Dragon Palace walls in servant garb, faced the young Seolhong.
- Found you! Seolhong, do you know a man named Kang Seol?
- Who are you? And who’s Kang Seol...?
- ...You don’t know yet, huh? Then you wouldn’t know who I am either?
- I don’t! What’s your purpose in approaching me? Guards!
- Hm... I figured you’d react like this, but it still stings. ...Hey, Seolhong.
- Guards!
The man brought his index finger to the young Seolhong’s forehead.
Whooo...
Golden energy gathered in his finger.
- Our time together was enjoyable. This is my thanks.
Thud—
His finger touched her forehead.
“Uh... ughhh...”
Seolhong clutched her throat and rolled on the ground.
Swish...
The tips of Seolhong’s hair turned golden.
“Her hair...”
What had happened?
What past had changed?
And while Seolhong’s case was shocking, Chui’s was even worse.
“Gack... gack...”
The man had visited Chui as well.
- What’re you?
- Chui, huh. Haha, you’ve got that cute charm as a kid. Who’d have thought you were Hongcheon’s descendants? I was floored when I found out.
- How do you know my name? Who are you?
- Do you... remember Kang Seol?
- Kang Seol? Never heard of him. Why would I remember some stranger’s name?
- Really... not a single trace left. Kang Seol, where the hell did you come from? Where do I have to go to find you...?
The man’s irritation birthed an inexplicable energy. The air vibrated with his emotions.
- Urgh... ugh... B-bring it! Chui is invincible!
- Haha! That spirit’s innate. Kinda likeable... Chui, I’ve got a gift for you too. Remember this move.
- Move...?
- Watch closely. Just once.
Suddenly, the world seemed to black out for Chui.
Whoooosh!
A motion light yet heavy.
A palm swept from above down, stopping near Chui’s crown.
- What... is this?
- Haha! You’ll figure it out later.
- Later?
- Yeah, after your journey to far lands ends.
- What’s that mean? Tell me more.
Intrigued, Chui pestered the man.
The man flashed a cool smile and departed.
- When you remember who I am.
Whoooosh!
He remembered who it was.
Seolhong and Chui recalled that the man who’d visited them as children was Hye-myeong.
“Aaagh!”
“Gaaah!”
Seolhong suffered, but Chui—who’d glimpsed part of Hye-myeong’s evolved martial prowess—stuck out his tongue and crawled on the ground.
Sizzzz...
His hair turned entirely golden.
Like a mane.