Defiance of Causality
To Grandmother’s question, Shin-wol did not answer at once. He simply looked down at her in profound silence. The gaze, now carrying a distinct chill, made Grandmother’s shoulders jerk violently.
Even so, convinced that she must not look away, Grandmother widened her eyes and stubbornly fixed her stare upon him.
Shin-wol regarded the old woman who dared assert her pride before him with an utterly trivializing look.
A low laugh accompanied the cold air that pricked her skin. The temperature plummeted so sharply that every breath she released turned to visible vapor.
Even that subdued voice made her teeth chatter. It was not merely the cold. Something spine-chilling lingered at her feet, circling.
It deliberately paced and prowled around her, like a snake that had found its prey—coiling tightly, flicking its long tongue, testing her every reaction. The terror that it would tear out her throat at the slightest opening sent tremors through her entire body.
She pulled the collapsed old woman close as if to shield her and finally spoke.
“……It was I who erected the guardian post.”
With that low exhalation, the shadow at her feet slithered back into his body. Satisfied by her answer, the bone-freezing cold that had gripped the air receded as swiftly as it had come.
Only then could Grandmother draw a full breath. She let out a long, shaky sigh. Even in those few moments her legs had nearly given out from fear, yet she understood one thing clearly: even now, he was deliberately holding back his full power.
The reason was probably… Grandmother’s gaze drifted toward Yeo-won. The girl’s face, resting peacefully in the man’s arms, looked more serene and familiar than ever.
It was as though they had shared this exact situation many times before; an indescribable intimacy hovered between them.
That was why Grandmother sensed the matter was far more grave than she had first imagined.
For whatever reason, the child must not become entangled with such an ominous being.
Just as her thoughts began to sink deeper, an imperious voice descended from above.
Grandmother flinched so hard her whole body spasmed and she instinctively turned her head away.
Though the words might have sounded like a simple request, Grandmother did not miss the warning woven beneath them. Seeing how quickly she had looked away, Shin-wol gave a soft, low laugh.
At the deceptively merciful tone, Grandmother lifted her head to look at him once more. He was smiling gently. She spoke with great care, doing her utmost not to let her eyes drift toward Yeo-won.
“……May I ask one question?”
“Will you… kill Yeo-won’s grandmother…?”
His eyes narrowed to slits for an instant. Grandmother bit down hard on her lip, fighting with everything she had not to be swallowed by his presence. Of all the spiritual beings she had encountered, none had carried an aura so overwhelming. Noble yet sinister, chilling yet fiercely powerful—she could not begin to find words that captured the nature of his energy.
A languid voice drifted down from above.
Grandmother’s eyes flew wide in shock before she regained her composure. In a voice that barely rose above a whisper, she said, “……If this person dies, Yeo-won will grieve terribly. Could you not show her mercy?”
At the clear mockery in his words, Grandmother lowered her eyes. She had asked without thinking, overwhelmed by the sinister aura he radiated, yet she realized he was not quite the same as an evil god.
At least communication was possible, and he did not scatter misfortune indiscriminately. Even when asked whether he would kill the old woman, he had answered that there was no need.
Those were unmistakably the words of an intelligent being.
Shin-wol spoke in a cool, almost indifferent tone while gently stroking the sleeping Yeo-won’s hair. As Grandmother silently turned his words over in her mind, her face suddenly drained of all color.
“……Yeo-won must have asked something of you.”
Grandmother recalled the moment the old woman had collapsed. A faint shadow of death had crossed her face then. Though Grandmother lacked true spiritual sight, she had been certain the end was near. Yet after Yeo-won’s visit, the old woman had grown strangely healthier than before.
The shadow of death had vanished, replaced by a peculiar vitality that seemed entirely out of place. The fraying thread of her life appeared to have been mended. Grandmother had felt the contradiction but deliberately chose not to dwell on it.
“It was strange… her lifespan suddenly lengthening like that…”
Grandmother gave a hollow laugh and muttered to herself.
Even if she noticed something unnatural, that was as far as her understanding went. She lacked the strength to uncover the reason behind it.
“What price did Yeo-won pay for such a request?”
A favor that could extend a lifespan must have demanded an equally enormous toll.
Grandmother waited, but Shin-wol simply stood with an enigmatic expression and offered no reply.
Instead, the corners of his eyes curved in a faint smile.
That smile carried a quiet warning. Grandmother instinctively understood: anything further belonged to a forbidden realm she was not meant to know.
In an instant the surroundings filled with thick mist and his form began to blur like heat haze. Grandmother cried out desperately.
“W-wait!”
“What do you intend to do with Yeo-won? Where are you planning to take her?”
Irritation flickered across Shin-wol’s brow at having his departure interrupted. Even so small a gesture carried the power to make others shrink back. Though fear clawed at her very bones, Grandmother forced the words out.
“That child was born under a wretched fate. She doesn’t seem to realize it herself, but a terrible curse clings to her. Whatever she asked of you as payment, please…!”
Shin-wol’s cold sneer cut her off mid-sentence. His laughter sounded like ice being crushed underfoot. Grandmother felt her blood run cold, as though an invisible hand were tightening around her throat.
His hand slid tenderly down Yeo-won’s cheek. The eyes that watched her held no warmth of love or affection.
They burned with obsession and possessive madness. The sight froze Grandmother where she stood, stealing her voice.
Shin-wol withdrew his gaze and smiled, bright and effortless.
He looked down at Grandmother with something almost like tenderness.
His faint smile was so breathtaking it seemed to contain every beauty the world had ever known.
Merely looking at Shin-wol summoned countless emotions at once. Where fear and beauty existed side by side, few humans could ever hope to defy him.
Toward the stunned Grandmother, Shin-wol slowly extended his hand.
Shadows began to coil and gather at his fingertips.
The shadows coalesced into a single piece of unidentifiable light. It sparkled so brilliantly that one instinctively wanted to reach out.
He did not move. He offered no temptation, no coaxing words. The entire situation seemed designed to suggest the choice rested wholly with Grandmother—an eerily strange spectacle.
Grandmother’s hand trembled as she extended it. With her other hand she tried to restrain herself, yet this was not a force a human could resist.
In the end her fingers touched the light. The glowing fragments curled silently into her skin and vanished.
She startled for only a moment before realizing what the warm, powerful energy now coursing through her body truly was.
“Spiritual power……”
An overwhelming strength filled every part of her. The sensation, the euphoria—it was spiritual power comparable to what she had possessed in her prime.
Still seated, Grandmother tilted her head back. Her unfocused pupils dilated with excitement, as though she were drunk.
Watching her, Shin-wol’s eyes deepened with shadowed satisfaction.
Shin-wol turned away from the woman lost in the slender thread of power he had granted her.
Once more the mist rose, swallowing his form completely.
Long after Shin-wol had vanished, Grandmother remained seated in the same spot, quietly turning over the sensation of the foreign power flowing through her veins.
Yeo-won regained consciousness several hours later. When she opened her eyes, a familiar sight greeted her.
She was inside Shin-wol’s chamber in Myoilgung—the place that now felt more like home than her own house.
As Yeo-won blinked sleep from her eyes, she heard a rhythmic sound like the clicking of game pieces.
The sound of janggi…
It came from directly beside her head. Only then did she notice that the surface she was using as a pillow felt strangely firm. She pushed herself upright.
When she lifted her head, Shin-wol’s face filled her vision. Only then did Yeo-won realize she had been resting on his lap.