Heart Demon
I made it to the Sword Sect as fast as humanly possible.
"Oh! Vice Sect Leader, sir!"
"Good to see you, Vice Sect Leader!"
The disciples recognized me and snapped to attention with crisp bows.
"Ah. Yeah."
I returned the greetings and asked, "Do you happen to know where the Sect Master is?"
"The Sect Master...?"
"Hrk...!"
The moment I brought her up, the disciples went pale with fear. Why, though? What on earth happened here? What could anyone have done to make them blanch like that at the mere mention of the word Sect Master?
"Sh-she's in the Sealed Grotto. Her party members were very clear—absolutely no one is to go in."
"Absolutely no one...?"
"They said if anyone approached carelessly, they wouldn't be able to take responsibility for what happened..."
Unbelievable. The situation was clearly worse than I'd imagined.
"Right... understood."
I hurried toward the Sealed Grotto.
BOOM! KWA-BOOM!
...From far off, an unsettling sound rang out, sharp and clear through the air.
"Huh?! T-Tae-hyun!"
Ah Seo-ah spotted me and came floating over in an instant.
"Where have you been?! Seriously!"
"I had things to take care of. Anyway, what in the world is going on here?"
"Just come this way. Now."
When I reached the Sealed Grotto, I found its entrance sealed tight—no, sealed was the right word, firmly shut not merely closed—and Shin Min-woo and Shin Yeon-hee standing guard in front of it.
"You made it, Hyung!"
"We've been waiting for you!"
The way they looked at me practically sparkled, like they were gazing upon a savior.
"Where's Seo-ha? Don't tell me she's in there?"
"Yes. She's inside."
Shin Min-woo stared at the grotto's door with exhausted eyes. The entrance was slathered in layer upon layer of protective spells and barriers.
Part of me wondered if all this was really necessary—until I felt the impacts shaking the ground from within.
KU-BOOM!
...Yeah, no, I get it now.
"First things first. Bring me up to speed."
"Well, you see..."
Shin Min-woo walked me through the whole story. Summarized, it went something like this: from the day I'd left behind a text message and vanished, Baek Seo-ha's swordsmanship had started inexplicably slipping.
One swing in ten would miss a monster outright, or her mana would abruptly gutter out mid-technique.
"At first we thought she'd fallen ill."
But when everyone kept pressing her for a reason, she finally confessed that she couldn't focus on her sword because my sudden disappearance kept gnawing at her.
"...You guys didn't worry that much, huh? About me disappearing?"
"Huh? Well, I figured a busy guy like you, Hyung, probably just had a ton on his plate."
"Guild Leaders vanish without a word all the time, you know."
"It's not like we're close enough to contact you privately, anyway."
"......"
These worthless guild members of mine.
Anyway.
Day by day, Baek Seo-ha's condition had kept deteriorating. Dark circles sank beneath her eyes, and her body, drained of strength, kept collapsing.
And then today, something finally broke.
"She suddenly drew her sword like she was possessed and started rampaging."
Out of nowhere she'd unsheathed her blade, swung it wildly, and muttered to herself in fragments.
"We barely managed to get her into the Sealed Grotto and lock it down. And then, right on cue, you came back, Hyung."
"What impeccable timing."
If I'd returned even one day later, a genuinely terrifying headline might have been waiting for me.
"You have to fix this somehow! At this rate she's going to kill someone!"
"Well, it'd be a relief if it's only one person..."
"Understood."
I answered, drawing in a slow breath.
"I'll handle it."
Thankfully, I had a pretty good guess about what was happening to Baek Seo-ha right now.
Heart Demon (Simma).
A phenomenon that visited only a truly rare handful of hunters. Some called it the Curse of the Blade. Others called it the chance of a lifetime.
'Depending on how you ride it out, it can either break you into a husk of yourself—or become the foundation for growth you'd never find anywhere else.'
Ordinarily, the Heart Demon appears when one's growth has stalled, in the midst of the agonizing struggle to break through or climb over that wall.
'But why would the Heart Demon come for Baek Seo-ha?'
The Heart Demon had another name: the Shadow of the Ordinary.
Geniuses, as a rule, never experience it. Their growth simply doesn't stall—and even if they do hit a wall, they carve out their own path before long.
In fact, I'd never once heard that Baek Seo-ha suffered from a Heart Demon before the regression.
'Whatever the cause, it's an opportunity.'
It had come for her, so I had to squeeze every last drop of benefit from it and force her to grow. Because if you lose to your Heart Demon, the internal damage is catastrophic.
"I'm going in. Open the door."
"...Are you serious? You're sure you won't regret it?"
"Guild Leader. If it becomes truly unbearable, come out at any time. I'll take your place and make the sacrifice—"
"Just die instead, got it?"
What is wrong with you people. My heart's about to give out.
"Hurry up and open it already. If we leave that thing alone any longer, she won't be the only one who can't handle it."
Ah Seo-ah snapped her fingers, and the sealing spells clinging to the door dissolved all at once.
"Get in there fast! Fast fast FAST!"
"GYAAAAH! It's coming out!"
I darted into the grotto and slammed the door behind me. I could feel the sealing magic being reapplied from the outside almost instantly.
'Those bastards.'
Shoving me in like some sacrificial offering at an altar. I clicked my tongue inwardly and faced forward.
"......"
Baek Seo-ha stood at the very center of the chamber. All that racket from outside, and she simply stood with her back turned, doing nothing at all.
"Uh, Seo-ha. It's been a while."
"......"
"Sorry about the no-contact. I can't explain, but I had my reasons too..."
"......"
"...Baek Seo-ha?"
She stayed perfectly docile. Not so much as a twitch—suspiciously still, in fact.
"Hey, are you oka—"
The instant I stepped closer, a blade came screaming at my face.
"WHOA—!!"
I barely dropped low enough to dodge it.
"Isn't that welcome a little too enthusiastic?!"
"......"
Only then did Baek Seo-ha turn around. On the surface, she looked hardly different from the last time I'd seen her.
'But there's no focus in her eyes.'
Her eyes were open, yet seeing nothing.
Ssssshh—
Thick darkness gathered around her, blooming into the form of an enormous dragon.
That was Baek Seo-ha's Heart Demon.
'Damn, that thing's huge!'
The typical Heart Demon takes the shape of a human figure roughly the size of its host. Hers was vastly larger—and not remotely human.
KRAAAAAAARGH!
The Heart Demon split its maw wide and roared.
"Ah... ughh..."
Baek Seo-ha, tormented by the demon, snapped her eyes wide open and swung at me.
A strike far sharper and faster than before.
'And above all—'
There was no thought of I must not kill him behind that blade anymore. Which meant this was a genuine killing blow, meant to cut me down for real.
'Great. Just great.'
You can lend someone a hand against their Heart Demon, but in the end, they have to overcome it alone. Otherwise it all means nothing.
'The Heart Demon is a shadow cast by the heart, after all.'
Only by finding and forging their own way through does the experience count for anything. Since it comes around so rarely, it deserved to be turned to her advantage as much as possible.
"So this is what happens to geniuses, huh? Their Heart Demons show up like this? God, I'm jealous."
I'd never been through one myself. Not because my growth had never stalled—because I'd never grown enough for a Heart Demon to bother visiting in the first place.
'But I've seen and heard plenty from the sidelines, at least.'
I pulled my spear out of my subspace.
From this moment until she clawed her way out of that place, all I had to do was be her opponent—so that every ounce of her will could pour into this fight, with nowhere else for her to flee.
Whiiiir!
Spinning the shaft, I swatted away a storm of incoming strikes all at once.
"Get a grip, Seo-ha."
And kick that overgrown shadow's ass out of your head already.
"Haah... haah...!"
White hair clung damply to her cheeks. Her breath surged up to her throat, choking her. She hurt so badly it felt like she might collapse at any moment—
Kku-kku-kkuk!
—and still, she rose, gripping her sword.
You still refuse to give up? How foolish of you.
Before her eyes loomed a colossal black dragon. A serpent seemingly woven from living shadow turned its blood-red gaze upon her.
Lay down your sword and be at ease. Why do you struggle so?
The dragon tormented her soul with a voice like grave-dirt.
No one seeks you. No one wants you. How many times have you been cast aside by now?
Abandonment.
For Baek Seo-ha, there was no nightmare more terrible than being left behind.
Your parents abandoned you.
Her very first memory of life: watching the backs of her mother and father as they walked away from the orphanage, leaving her there.
What's wrong with her?
She never talks. She's creepy.
Hey, you're a mute, aren't you?
The black dragon mimicked the children's voices from her memories like phantoms in her ears. Even the director's voice—the one who beat her for sport whenever boredom struck.
"Hhk... kgh..."
It had been agony. Every single day had been hell, and when she slept, she never wanted to wake again.
The master who took you in abandoned you too.
Next came the imitation of Seong Yong-ho's voice. Perhaps because the memory still lived so vividly, it didn't stop at sound—the man's very shape rose out of the shadow.
You have no talent. You're unfit to lead the next generation of the Sect.
I took in you pitiful wretches and raised you, and this is how you repay me? By devouring your own master!
Weight crushed down on her shoulders.
"Gghk...!"
It was terrifying. So terrifying that tears threatened to spill.
And the last man—the one who finally reached out his hand to you—he abandoned you as well.
The man who had reached out to her.
Lee Tae-hyun.
The black dragon was telling her that he, too, had thrown her away.
"No... you're wrong."
For the first time, Baek Seo-ha defied the dragon.
"Tae-hyun... Tae-hyun never abandoned me...!"
And how exactly can you be so certain of that?
The black dragon grinned.
He did vanish, didn't he? It's been a week now—not a trace of him, not even a single message.
"There's a reason. I trust him."
Trust! Do you have any idea how that pathetic little thing has devoured you?!
Trust that her parents would come back for her. Trust that someday Seong Yong-ho would acknowledge her. Baek Seo-ha's faith had always returned to her as utter betrayal.
Accept it, Baek Seo-ha.
The dragon spoke with a sneer.
Lee Tae-hyun abandoned you.
"No, he didn't..."
So give up, and accept me!
"NO!"
Baek Seo-ha drew her sword. Just as she lunged to strike down the black dragon—
"Ah...!"
—she realized.
Her blade had rotted through entirely and crumbled away.
"No... it can't be..."
PUAHAHAHAHA! And with that broken piece of scrap, you mean to cut me down?
KWAAAAAH!
The dragon's power coiled around her throat.
"Kehhek... kgh...!"
Listen well, Baek Seo-ha. I am you. The darkest part of you, in the flesh.
"Kgh......"
Every flaw you ever buried and called useless—your vices, your bitterness, your negativity. All of it, piled upon piled, is what made me.
The black dragon's eyes reflected Baek Seo-ha back at herself.
Acknowledge me.
"...Ngh."
Her breath was seconds from failing her entirely.
A familiar voice rang out through the darkness.
What—?!
The black dragon whipped its head around in alarm.
Lee Tae-hyun!
The instant his voice reached her ears, the airway that had been sealed shut moments before burst wide open.
"PUHAH—! Haah! Hah...!"
Gulping down air all at once, she whispered, barely audible.
"Tae... hyun...?"
Trivial words, honestly. Nothing to them at all. And yet every time she heard them, something in her chest kept easing, and easing.
Ba-dump!
Her heart pounded, and the dead weight crushing her body burned away like mist.
Damn it all! I nearly had her swallowed whole!
The black dragon raged, baring its fangs.
No matter! Then I'll simply swallow you both at once!
The moment its jaws split wide and it came hurtling toward her—
Vmmm...
—she understood.
The sword that had been shattered and dull only moments ago had returned to its original edge.
'No.'
It went beyond merely returning.
KUGUGUGUGU!
Power was overflowing from the blade—spilling past its bounds.