Ghost Valley (6)

"Is that so?"

I silently gazed at Kang Hwi, who stood beneath the moonlight. His black eyes were brimming with emotion, and on his face there was neither good nor evil.

"...You're not going to condemn me?"

"I'm just glad you know it's the kind of thing worth condemning."

Unsealing the host's barrier of his own accord and plunging the village into danger. Judged purely by the outcome of his actions, it was the kind of deed a base villain would commit.

But there was clearly something else behind that action.

Desperation. Earnestness.

An immature heart, desperate to save his little sister. The anxiety that had swollen to his throat was what had hurried his feet along.

"If word gets out that Kang Yul was infected by the sorcery, she'll be driven out of the village for certain. There's no room to persuade the villagers—no time to even try."

"And you're saying that without even attempting it?"

"What difference would attempting it make?"

Tap.

Kang Hwi took one step closer.

"The path where my sister might be endangered, or the path where we live in safety."

Tap.

Another step toward me.

"The time spent hesitating at that crossroads is... too precious for me to waste."

"You're an extreme one, aren't you."

"As long as Kang Yul lives, nothing else matters to me."

Tap.

The boy, now standing directly before me, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠said flatly:

"For that, I could become the worst villain in the world. Or a monster."

"......"

Stubborn. A will like tempered steel was lodged inside that small body, and I could feel it radiating off him. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠For his sister's sake, he was prepared to forsake all human decency and sell his soul to the devil if he had to.

"Ha."

A laugh slipped out of me before I realized it.

I could become like that too, if it were for my nature. For my family.

For the precious people of this life—people I hadn't yet lost—I was more than ready to turn crueler than anyone.

But between that boy and me stretched a vast gulf: a single lifetime.

The resolve I only came to hold after the miracle of regression.

Kang Hwi had earned it within one.

And yet, there was something Kang Hwi did not yet know.

"Can you bear it?"

Yes. This was the thing that only a regressor like me could chew over, over and over again.

"...What do you mean?"

"Living on after the end is more painful than you'd imagine."

A hometown with every trace of life erased. Blood gone thick and black, and longings burning to ash and scattering on the wind.

"Even if you gather the corpses of the dead and build them graves out of belated guilt."

"......"

"Even if you weep for them again and again."

"......"

"You won't hold up easily."

Humans are fragile. No matter how much of an iron-willed, bloodless, tearless paragon someone might be, they break eventually.

And what of a child? What if he came to understand that his life—that his entire existence—was dyed in the blood-red hues of others' sacrifice?

Would he dare to walk through that empty world?

"Wrapping yourself in the pretty excuse of doing it for someone precious won't banish your guilt. It's useless."

"......"

"Your sister will live on atop the karma that you piled up, in your place."

"Shut up!"

Shring!

Kang Hwi drew his sword. The blade, drinking in the moonlight, flashed silver.

"Then what am I supposed to do?! Am I supposed to just stand by and watch Kang Yul become a monster?!"

"I have no idea how you arrived at that conclusion."

"What is that even supposed to—!"

"Do you have some kind of compulsion that says anything involving your sister absolutely has to be handled by you alone?"

I raised my thumb and pointed it at myself.

"I can solve it. That problem."

"Kang Yul was bitten by the monster one week ago."

Kang Hwi spoke, his face heavy with worry.

"She kept pestering me about how badly she wanted to see outside the village, so I took her out planning to let her have just a short look around... and that's when she was bitten by a jiangshi."

"A jiangshi, then."

"...It was my fault. I should have scolded her harshly instead of indulging her whim."

"Well, it happens."

There was a time when I, too, twisted myself into knots just trying to coax a single aegyo out of Chae-rin. She was so haughty by nature that she rarely smiled, even back then.

"So... is this the place?"

Following Kang Hwi's lead, I arrived at a small temple on the outskirts of the village. A stone tower stood at about the height of a man, and on the ground, various talismanic characters had been carved in a precise pattern.

"Yes. This is the formation that protects the village."

"Hmm......"

They said its lifespan was nearly spent—and it seemed that was indeed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠truth.

The formation is rusting through, overall.

In places, its power had already been entirely worn away. The one who had laid this formation was skilled enough that it still functioned, but one more shock and it would surely collapse completely.

"Is there really a way?"

"Be quiet. I've already got it all figured out."

I'd had my suspicions ever since hearing it from Baek Seo-ha, but seeing the shape of the sorcery made me all the more certain.

This formation—

It closely resembled the barrier art of the White Tiger Gate Seal (Baekho Gyeolmun). No, resemblance wasn't the word. It was almost identical.

Barrier art. A technique that, as its name suggests, creates a barrier to restrict or seal something. It was one of the secret manuals of the Four Gates, and—

It's also part of the Ghost-Restraining Invincible Art.

Thanks to the nature of barrier arts, quite a lot of records had survived, so there had been plenty of routes through which I could study it. Though in the end, everything I'd gained had come from beating my head against it directly.

"The formation's structure is fairly unique."

So much of it was damaged that I couldn't understand it all, but picking out only the parts I could make out—

"This thing has functions beyond simply keeping outside jiangshi from entering the village."

"Other... functions?"

"Yeah."

Without taking my eyes off the formation, I spoke to Kang Hwi.

"Yesterday. Kang Yul wandered outside the village on her own, didn't she?"

"...!"

The first day I'd met those two. Kang Yul had come bounding out toward me first, chattering away, and Kang Hwi had followed after her, belatedly.

"That wasn't Kang Yul leaving the village by chance. The formation pushed her out."

The formation placed around the village had two functions. One was to block jiangshi invading from outside. The other was to expel jiangshi born within the village.

"The formation reacted to the jiangshi sorcery inside her and ejected Kang Yul. Fortunately, her transformation hadn't fully progressed yet, and the formation is so decrepit that it failed to affect her properly."

Had the formation been working as intended, Kang Yul would never have been able to set foot back inside the village—she would have wandered lost and alone inside its illusions.

Kang Hwi seemed to realize this too, because his face went deathly pale.

"Unfortunately, repairing the formation is impossible. I'm not learned enough for that."

However.

Nudging it just a little—redirecting it—was possible. The way one might reroute a pipe in a complex ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠water system to change where the water flowed.

That's enough.

Workable. One way or another.

"The time your sister has left is, generously speaking, about three days."

It took roughly two weeks from initial infection for a jiangshi's sorcery to fully manifest. Someone with special power—a transcendent or an awakened hunter—might delay it somewhat, but Kang Yul was not that kind of case.

"Tight, but... if we spend it wisely, it'll be plenty."

"What do you mean?"

"Here, take these."

"What in the world are...?"

I pulled several top-grade potions and a handful of Gi-cheong Hwan pills from my subspace and handed them to Kang Hwi.

"Kang Hwi."

I called to him in a deadly serious tone.

"Can you do anything and everything to protect your sister?"

"...I can."

"Drop the hollow resolutions. I mean—truly, even if your soul and body shatter! Could you throw away everything you have?!"

"Ha...! I can! I'll do anything!"

"Good. Very good."

His answer was packed with genuine conviction. After offering that brief praise—

"Then dodge this."

I swung my spear shaft hard into Kang Hwi's side.

"Oof!"

"There we go? Weren't you the one saying you'd do anything?"

"Wh-why all of a sudden...!"

"I'm not going easy on you just because you said it. Come on—next one."

Wham!

Struck on the crown of his head, Kang Hwi rolled across the ground.

"Gaaaah!"

"Five seconds. Get up and take your stance."

Actions over words, apparently. The boy who had been protesting just moments ago scrambled to his feet, eyes darting.

"No sleep tonight until you dodge the spear three times in a row."

"Urgh...!"

Using his gulp as a starting signal, I swung the spear without mercy.

Wham-wham-wham!

Thwack!

I didn't put enough force behind it to break anything—mercy, of a sort.

"Aaagh! Ow, it hurts! I said it hurts! That's where you hit me last time!"

Minimal injuries, maximum pain.

"Urgh... ugh...."

"What, knocked out already? You barely got hit."

I jammed a potion bottle between the teeth of the tattered, collapsed boy. Glug-glug! I watched the liquid ride down his throat, his neck rippling like waves.

"Huh... huh? Wh-what is this? My whole body's healed...?"

"Good enough? Then get up."

I hauled the teary-eyed boy back to his feet. The night was still long.

"Dodge it just five more times and I'll let you sleep."

"Y-you said three a second ago...."

"Talking back? How cheeky."

The spear shaft flared.

"Ten."

CRACK!

"AAAAARGH!"

In the dead of night, an unseasonal shriek echoed through the village.

The viewers had started placing wagers with points of their own accord. A stream's "points" were a kind of mileage you accumulated simply by watching—rack them up and you could enter raffles for merchandise and prize giveaways run by the channel.

Though honestly, they get used far more often as betting stakes.

Amid the roar of the viewers, the collapsed Kang Hwi picked himself up, piece by piece.

"Ready?"

"...Yes."

Compared to the bewildered expression of the first day, his gaze had grown considerably sharper.

"Here it comes."

A thrust to the upper body first. Whoosh!

After I'd shown him a similar pattern a few times, he was now dodging it quickly. Without pausing, I swept the spear low along the ground, then swung it upward—a two-hit combo.

"Hoo!"

His breathing wavered a little, but he dodged it quite steadily.

"Focus."

"...Yes, sir!"

Next, a wide sweeping slash aimed at his side. The larger the motion, the easier it should have been to read the tell—but the sheer range made it hard to judge, an attack that didn't forgive snap decisions.

"Hah!"

Kang Hwi clenched his jaw and flung himself backward. Spinning once in midair, he landed squarely in the courtyard.

But complacency was a fatal flaw. I aimed for the moment his balance hadn't yet settled and drove the spear down.

"Gwahk!"

The shaft cracked against the crown of his head, and Kang Hwi let out a cry.

"I told you to drop the habit of dodging too calculatingly. Sometimes you need to trust your instincts."

I snickered, ruffling the hair of the boy who was grimacing and chuckling at himself.

"...Let's go again, right away."

"Don't you need a rest?"

"It didn't hurt that much."

Though in every case so far, the kid saying that seemed to have grown a rather large bump on his head.

"Hurry up and come at me, then!"

Watching the boy's lips twitch with indignation, a warm smile spread from somewhere deep inside me.

As I thought.

This kid had talent. A talent for evading attacks and slipping away. On top of that, his knowledge of the transcendent sects' martial arts was remarkably deep.

If it's you, you can hold out.

A single night of hell.