Chapter 382
Chapter 382
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 382
>Chapter Title: Yaksha's Dream
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"Those hideous gashes on his body. I can guess the culprit."
"Why... Why, Toki—!"
Yurim wailed in grief over his death.
Yet, for some reason, I wasn't shedding any tears.
'...Huh?'
It was as if I'd already accepted his death long ago.
Instead, it just felt... inevitable.
Why?
Was I incapable of crying even when someone close to me died?
Why did his death feel so natural?
"My suspicions were correct. There's a traitor in our midst. And..."
For the past three years, I hadn't slacked on gathering intelligence. I'd meticulously unraveled every doubt passed to me by the informants.
"Jamad's fall from power amid his smiling facade has been confirmed. And the one who took his place..."
Yoo Hyun closed his eyes and spoke with effort.
"...is the Child of the Curtain."
The Smiling Face, Jamad.
Even as I was being tortured in his villa, he had been clashing with the Curtain.
Yoo Hyun had dealt him a fatal blow, forcing Jamad into seclusion.
And now, word had come that someone else had taken his position.
Yurim had once told me something.
- Master didn't just teach me. There was another kid my age.
Known as the Child of the Curtain.
In the past, there had been an incident where the Faces kidnapped a child the Curtain had been raising alongside Yurim.
Rumor had it that this child possessed even greater talent than Yurim.
Because of that, they hadn't killed the child but turned them into one of their own.
The child's name was...
"Shin Yu. It's that child."
Shin Yu...
Shin Yu.
"If we leave Shin Yu alone, things will spiral out of control. A genius lacks only time."
Events were unfolding at a frantic pace.
Countless rivers of blood had already flowed between the Curtain and the Faces. No one knew how much more would spill ahead.
"The master of the Curtain has judged the situation can't be delayed any longer. Once the final summit concludes, they may enter all-out war depending on the outcome."
This was a matter of our very survival.
"Have you... steeled yourselves?"
I looked at Yurim.
Yurim looked back at me.
We were thinking the same thing.
Nod...
"...Good."
* * *
About three months later.
The meeting place and date between the Faces and the Curtain had been set. And now, I stood at that very summit location.
"Yurim, Kang Seol. Hear me out for a moment."
Before meeting the Curtain's members, he called us aside. It seemed he had words for us before joining them.
"The summit will collapse."
"...What?"
"Master..."
"I've faced their leader, the Angry Face. That man... will never abandon his ambition to dominate the continent. And we won't abandon our banner to stop his ambitions either."
Summit collapse.
'Then what about everyone gathered inside?'
"One wrong move, and they'll all die."
"No way..."
"Listen carefully to what I say now. If conflict breaks out..."
He placed his hands on Yurim's and my shoulders.
He hesitated, breathing in and out alternately, before finally speaking.
"Run. Both of you."
"...What do you mean!"
"Master, how could we..."
"Listen to me!"
I felt pressure from his hands.
We had grown strong enough to withstand it, but it was our first time facing such intensity, leaving us stunned.
"You two must escape at least. You're not lives meant to fall pointlessly here."
"Why... We're part of the Curtain too!"
"I know. But before you're Curtain, you're my disciple and Toki's..."
He smiled.
This smile felt a bit awkward.
"...children born of the Curtain's heart. Even if things go wrong and the Curtain falls, as long as you two live... the Curtain hasn't truly lost."
"......"
"Promise me. If conflict erupts, you'll leave the summit immediately."
Yurim and I were at a loss.
How could he be so certain about what was to come?
Yet someone spoke with unwavering conviction.
"Please, Kang Seol. Take Yurim and go. You can even forget about us and live on."
I had no choice but to answer.
"...Understood."
"Thank you..."
After that promise with him, we joined the Curtain's members.
"Hey! Kid! You've gotten bigger!"
"Suck... Aren't you smaller than me now? Not a kid anymore?"
"Pfft, don't make me laugh! You're still shorter than me. Baby, baby!"
"Don't take it seriously, idiot."
Kirri and Jilliac.
【Long time no see! You've really grown! Humans really shoot up like weeds in the blink of an eye!】
Bitan toddled over, grabbed my hand, and shook it.
Yurim and I chuckled softly and hugged Bitan.
【...Welcome.】
We basked in that warmth for a moment.
"So you're those kids."
"Ah!"
【Introduce yourself. This is Daesan.】
Bitan introduced a burly man with bold lines.
His sturdy muscles proved he never neglected his training.
As an external operative, we'd never crossed paths until now.
A bustling Curtain gathering.
Yet, there was a subtle sense of emptiness.
Toki should have been here originally, and Lian too.
But then, someone appeared who melted away that loneliness in an instant.
"Kahahahat—! Long time no see, you idiots!"
"Karen!"
"How long were you holed up? I thought you were dead!"
The red-haired woman.
A refreshing smile baring her teeth.
The moment I saw her, I knew her type.
Incredibly transparent.
Step...
Step...
'...Strong.'
An aura similar to Yoo Hyun's.
No, perhaps even greater.
She felt familiar too.
"You're those kids, huh."
"...Yes."
She was someone even Yurim had never met, having secluded herself completely.
"You know, I... Hmm? Ah, actually, no need for you to know. Self-intro over!"
As expected, just as rumored—completely self-willed.
But her strength was beyond doubt.
She stepped forward.
"To the summit."
Whoosh...
Whooshhh...
A castle built atop cliffs battered by waves.
It wasn't particularly large for a castle, but considering the attendees, it was sizable enough.
"I'm here! Open the gate!"
Creaaak...
The door opened without complaint to her brazen demand.
Thud...
"Hmph."
The Curtain entered casually, but in truth, they were on high alert, scanning the surroundings.
We were led to a grand guest hall.
No light entered the room.
Only candle flames illuminated the space.
It was filled with people wearing bizarre masks.
Everyone sat at the table.
"Kahaha... At least they put thought into the hospitality. Hey, Angry Face! Come out already—we're here for the summit, right?"
Swoooosh...
Darkness fell.
And at some point, someone sat opposite Karen at the head seat.
"...Ur."
Why was that?
Every name and face heard here felt familiar.
Phantom pains, auditory hallucinations, and déjà vu clung to me relentlessly.
The summit proceeded anything but calmly.
"We won't give it up."
"Absurd!"
Clang—!
Aside from Karen and Ur, no one uttered a word.
Everyone knew the summit was doomed to fail.
Yurim's trembling hand.
I gripped it tightly.
Conflict was imminent.
Right then.
Spurt—!
Thud—!
"Guh..."
"Kek..."
Karen and Ur's hearts were pierced simultaneously.
They had pierced each other's hearts at the same time.
Karen's sword blazed into Ur's heart, while Ur's magic bored a hole through Karen's chest.
My hairs stood on end.
This was the signal of collapse.
Not even a second after witnessing the outcome, everyone sprang into action.
"Yaaah—!"
Shing!
Scriiing—!
Swords and weapons were drawn in unison, and the heads of those too slow flew into the air.
Everything unfolded in slow motion.
No, to me alone, the world seemed frozen.
[This is a Summit of Blood! Everyone has lost their reason, blades turned on one another! What will you choose here?]
1. Join Yoo Hyun.
2. Check on Karen's condition.
3. Protect Yurim.
4. Escape.
......
'A familiar sensation.'
Even in the guest hall turned into a slaughterhouse, my senses awakened.
A chilling feeling.
Someone was targeting Yurim and me.
'...A fist?'
What flew toward us was a heavy staff.
Not from the enemy side, but from the Curtain.
'Ugh...'
A traitor.
'I need to respond...'
Boom—!
The aggressively flying staff was blocked by someone's sword and sent rebounding.
At the same moment, all my choices vanished.
Someone shouted.
"Get a grip! Kang Seol!"
"...Ah!"
"You promised me!"
The promise.
'Right!'
The promise with Yoo Hyun suddenly resurfaced.
"Are you going to protect those kids?"
"Daesan... Why?"
"The Curtain was never my home to begin with."
"No way..."
Whatever conversation they had, I took Yurim and fled the scene.
"Seol! Stop!"
I couldn't stop.
My senses warned me.
Even if we joined, the Curtain's defeat was certain.
I had to protect Yurim.
Crack—!
I shattered the glass with my elbow and dashed out of the castle.
Fortunately, the drawbridge was down.
'Run!'
I had to run.
Escape this place as fast as possible.
"...Where do you think you're going?"
"......"
At Yurim's words, I halted at the cliff's edge.
Whoosh...
Whooshhh...
The crashing sea.
Having left the Curtain, where could we go?
Step...
Step...
Someone made their presence known.
The Curtain?
"...Long time no see."
This voice... not the Curtain.
Turning around, a masked figure stood there. The mask was smiling.
Smiling Face.
'Shin Yu!'
Shin Yu, the Child of the Curtain.
"Long time no see, Kang Seol."
"...You know me?"
Shin Yu tilted his head at my response.
"Don't tell me... you still haven't realized?"
"...What are you talking about?"
At that moment, along with his words, Lucia's dying words flashed in my mind.
- Déjà vu... I forgot... Can't forget...
Shin Yu stated firmly.
"Where this place is."
Shin Yu removed his mask.
"......"
That face was unfamiliar.
"Ah, is this the first time seeing my face like this? Well, it's my first time seeing my grown self too."
"What are you saying... You're one of the Faces and..."
"Faces? Curtain? What does it matter? It's all an illusion anyway."
"...An illusion?"
Zzt...
[Intermediate Insight activates.]
[Nothing could be discerned.]
[Intermediate Insight fails to activate.]
......
"Ugh..."
[Intermediate Insight activates.]
[Nothing could be discerned.]
[Intermediate Insight fails to activate.]
......
It felt like my senses were tearing apart.
I was awakening from the illusion right now.
"Smiling Face, Shin Yu... You..."
"Smiling Face? What are you talking about, Kang Seol?"
Snicker...
Shin Yu shook the mask.
"This mask isn't called by that name. Don't you know?"
"...What?"
"You know it too. Remember. This mask's name... Or maybe no need?"
Whish—!
Shin Yu's mask spun and flew toward me.
Thud...
It bumped into Yurim's chest and fell to the ground.
"That was originally yours, right? Isn't it?"
Instinctively, I felt something was wrong.
No, fundamentally wrong.
"Don't... Don't pick it up."
Yurim bent down and picked up the mask.
She mustn't.
You can't pick up that mask...
Memories flashed by like a panorama.
The talent mimicking movements perfectly.
The hells she would have endured if I hadn't pulled her from fate.
"I'm not here because I want to be, Kang Seol. Everything's twisted."
"...Twisted?"
"The original owner of that mask—if fate hadn't been warped by tangled dreams... it would have been her wearing it, not me. She would have lived in hell. That's how she was born."
Stop.
Don't make her wear the mask.
"No! Yurim! Put down the mask!"
Yurim slowly gripped the mask in her hand.
The Smiling Face mask.
Why hadn't I realized?
Why couldn't I recall that name?
"Sob... Hic..."
Yurim was crying.
"It's a dream... Kang Seol, all of it. Everything you're experiencing and feeling is happening in a dream right now!"
Shin Yu scolded me.
A dream.
This was all a dream.
But not my dream.
The souls I knew appeared because my dream intertwined with it.
The hell I experienced, the pain I suffered—they weren't purely mine.
The Curtain, the Faces—they were things I'd never heard of before.
This... belongs to her.
Yurim murmured.
"The girl found in the scrapyard of the harbor warehouse."
"Stop, Yurim."
"There was never a friend like you from the start."
"Please... stop..."
"She was taken in by the Curtain but subjected to human experiments by a vile sorcerer."
"Boring..."
"Her memories and thoughts carved out, she donned the Faces' mask."
Yurim gazed down at her porcelain-white hand.
"With this hand... I killed them all. The Curtain's family... even the Faces who used me. How's that? Scary story, right?"
Her home that existed nowhere.
I wasn't the protagonist of this world.
This was a story that had already reached its end once.
Shin Yu approached me.
"Kang Seol, listen well. You've become aware it's a dream but won't wake. Something's wrong."
"......"
"Yurim— she, the owner of this dream—has trapped us here!"
[Intermediate Insight activates.]
[Nothing could be discerned.]
[Intermediate Insight fails to activate.]
......
Zzzzt...
[Unraveling countless secrets!]
[Intermediate Insight proficiency greatly increases.]
[Intermediate Insight reaches maximum proficiency.]
[Talent 'Intermediate Insight' advances to Advanced Insight.]
[Insight activates more frequently.]
[Insight accuracy increases.]
[Insight scope expands further.]
[Insight describes phenomena more clearly.]
[Advanced Insight activates.]
[This place is currently inside someone's dream.]
......
It all came flooding back.
The Kang Seol here isn't the real Kang Seol.
"...Seol-ah."
Yurim looked at me.
Her eyes welled up with tears, ready to spill over.
"Why did you save me..."
"......"
"Your souls... every one of them is an idiot. Why didn't you just leave me alone... me..."
She clutched the fabric at her chest.
"Why teach me happiness... Let me live in hell... If you'd done that..."
Tears dripped from her eyes.
"I wouldn't feel like this now..."
We had entered the second trial of the Pitch-Black Labyrinth.
Here, we wander the dreams of souls.
Lucia, Belian, Belldray, Shin Yu resided here.
Finally, countless souls of Kang Seol.
And... one soul Kang Seol hadn't anticipated mixing in had joined as well.
There was one more.
One additional dreamer.
Slide...
Yurim donned the mask.
It fit her face perfectly, as if tailored for her.
"Seol-ah. There's one secret I haven't told you yet."
The Smiling Face mask.
Eyes torn wide, corners of the mouth pulled up high.
Yoo Hyun had said.
- Yeah! All strength follows a story. Um... so like, I...
Growing strong always requires a story.
"Seol-ah, I..."
All these dreams told the story of how she gained such immense power.
"Are you smiling now?"
The mask smiled, but tears streamed from the holes for eyes.
[Much is distorted due to the lucid dream.]
[Recognized the existence of the Yaksha.]
[Sudden Adventure 'Yaksha's Dream' occurs.]
......
Yurim masked her expression.
Kang Seol couldn't tell what face lay beneath.
"...I'm the Yaksha."