The Weight of Parting
Woon-hyeon retrieved the page boy's body and climbed out of the ravine.
Because he had wrapped it tightly in his outer robe, Guan Hyeok and Yeon-woo were spared the gruesome sight. Yet the children knew. Just hours earlier, they had been laughing and chatting together. A boy their own age, a page, a dear friend—now slept cold within those folds of cloth.
“Seok… Seok-i! W-what is this…? Hic—Seoook-i!”
Guan Hyeok burst into desperate, wailing sobs. Having had no peers to play with, he had kept the page by his side to soothe his loneliness. Ever since his elder brothers died, the boy had been with him; they had spent five whole years together. Master and servant in name, but in truth, they were sworn friends. Through joy and anger, whether roaming the hills, the fields, or running through the village streets, they had done everything side by side. And now, that friend was dead. Gone forever.
“Waaaahhh—!”
Woon-hyeon stood in patient silence, waiting for Guan Hyeok to exhaust his grief. Though the hour was late, he did not rush him. Beside Woon-hyeon, Yeon-woo merely stared at the sobbing boy with wide, blank eyes, not shedding a single tear.
Once Guan Hyeok quieted down somewhat, the three began their descent toward the village. The settlement was not far, easily within walking distance for the children. Before reaching the outskirts, Woon-hyeon donned his white half-mask. Guan Hyeok would not recognize him regardless, but among the village elders, there might be someone who could.
Flanked by Yeon-woo and Guan Hyeok, Woon-hyeon walked with the bundle of the boy's corpse cradled in his arms. Guan Hyeok sniveled relentlessly the entire way, while Yeon-woo kept glancing sideways at him as she walked.
Soon, they reached the Guan Clan Residence.
“Hyeok-ah!!”
The estate was in an uproar. Lanterns blazed throughout the grounds, cutting through the deep night as search parties scrambled to find the missing children. The moment the three crossed the threshold, Guan Hyeok's mother rushed forward and swept him into her arms.
“Mother… sob, Seok-i… Seok-i is—!!”
Buried in his mother's embrace, Guan Hyeok broke down once more. Drawn by the commotion, the members of the household poured into the courtyard. When they caught sight of young Seok-i returned as a lifeless bundle, shock gripped them; several collapsed to their knees, all strength leaving their legs.
“Seok-i! Aigoo, my poor baby!! Seok-i!”
The boy's parents stumbled forward, clutching his cold body and screaming in agonized despair. At the heartbreaking sight, the onlookers, too, began to weep one by one.
Before long, Patriarch Guan Yun and Chief Guard Baek Gang returned alongside the armed retainers who had been combing the wilderness. Guan Yun felt an immense surge of relief that his youngest son had returned unharmed. Yet he did not allow it to show. As befitted the head of the clan, he joined in the family's mourning with heavy, solemn silence.
In the encroaching dark, the lanterns of the Guan Clan burned long into the night. And the cries of sorrow for the young life cut short carried over the compound walls, echoing throughout the entire village.
“Urgh… kuh…”
In front of a shallow, shadowed cave beneath an overhanging crag, a blood-drenched man gasped for breath, his collar seized in an iron grip. He cast frantic eyes around. All about him lay the corpses of his subordinates. Fools. Instead of killing the target, or even abducting the Guan Clan's heir, they had dragged back some nameless brat with no ties to anyone. And then, when they stubbornly insisted the boy might still be connected to the clan, he had casually told them to just fling him off the cliff. Had the child truly been someone important?
“W-who… how could you…?”
With a trembling voice, the man looked up at the figure clutching his collar.
The Dark Shadow Demon Lord. Among the Twelve Demon Lords propping up the Demonic Cult, he was the one who commanded the Cult Leader's deepest trust.
“I told you to know your place,” came the breezy, lethal voice. “Didn't I give you a clear warning?”
Had slicing off the ears and nose of the previous assassin and sending him back not been enough of a hint?
“Should I have sent his severed head instead? Or maybe scattered his chopped-up limbs on your doorstep?”
“T-the one who sent him… was…!”
The Dark Shadow Demon Lord himself?! Regrettably, the warning sent by the Demon Lord had only served to provoke the killers. Blinded by bloodlust at the sight of their comrade's mutilated remains, their judgment had warped completely.
“Well, whatever. You ignored my warning, so naturally, there's a price to pay, wouldn't you agree?”
“I-if we had known it came from the Demon Lord, we would have stood down at once!”
“Oh? So now it's my fault for not introducing myself properly?”
“N-no, that's not what I—!”
“Sounds like you're blaming me. Right here, right now.”
Thud—
In that instant, the man felt as though the world had plunged into total pitch black. An overwhelming, suffocating dread—like standing face-to-face with an abyss of absolute darkness.
Thump. Thump.
As an assassin, he was more intimate with the stench of death than anyone. And yet, before this palpable terror, his heart pounded frantically against his ribs.
“S-spare… please, spare my life…”
Staring blankly into the impenetrable void, the man begged on raw instinct. Terrified that his head might be severed at any second, he heard a chilling, smooth voice drift through the dark.
“Don't worry. I fully intend to let a piece of garbage like you live.”
“…!”
“After all, if I only send back pieces, you folks might fail to get the message again. So this time…”
A low, mocking chuckle brushed his ear. It did not last long.
Slash—! Shrrrk!
Agony beyond comprehension tore through the man all at once.
“Aaaagh! AAAAAAARGH!”
“Make sure you deliver the message properly this time.”
The veil of darkness parted, revealing the demonic grin dancing on the Dark Shadow Demon Lord's lips.
“Tell them who stands behind the one you're hunting.”
Fresh crimson blood splattered across the pristine white half-mask. Yet even stained with gore, the deep violet eyes behind the porcelain curved with sheer amusement. He was a demon. The very incarnation of the Demonic Path.
Schlick—!
In the very next moment, the man could neither hear nor see. Trapped in an agonizing abyss of blinding pain, the man desperately scratched a single character onto the cold stone with his remaining strength.
That single bloody character was the final warning the man could leave behind of the Dark Shadow Demon Lord.
Yeon-woo and Woon-hyeon returned home before the break of dawn.
“Go inside and rest. I will call you once breakfast is ready.”
Telling Yeon-woo to rest, Woon-hyeon turned to head into his room.
“Grandpa.”
Before his foot could touch the wooden veranda, Yeon-woo called out to him.
“Why is dying sad?”
Woon-hyeon turned around. Even as everyone in the Guan Clan wept over the attendant boy's death, Yeon-woo had merely looked on in confusion, not shedding a single tear. Her small figure standing blankly amidst the sea of mourners had been an uncanny sight. And so, Woon-hyeon realized: This child truly does not know how to mourn death.
“Everyone was crying, but Yeon-woo doesn't understand. Once you die, everything ends. You're at peace, aren't you?”
Woon-hyeon looked at her with pained sympathy. He walked over, knelt down to meet her gaze, and gently brushed a stray lock of hair from her forehead.
“Yeon-woo.”
“Yes?”
“It may be true that death brings peace, just as you say. But that is not why we grieve.”
“Then why?”
Woon-hyeon spoke slowly, his voice tender.
“Because you can never meet them again. Because you can never share another moment together. Never talk, never share a meal, never walk side by side ever again.”
“…”
“It is that severing of bonds that makes us weep.”
Yeon-woo's face fell, sullen and troubled.
“Then… I can't ever see that page again?”
“You cannot.”
“I can't share dried fruit with him anymore?”
“No, you cannot.”
“We can't talk about sons either?”
“Nothing. You cannot share anything with him anymore.”
Yeon-woo's small lips trembled. Pouting forward, pressing tight, wavering uncertainly for a long moment, she finally looked up into Woon-hyeon's eyes.
“Grandpa… will you be sad if I die?”
Woon-hyeon's brow furrowed slightly. His gaze, brimming with deep affection and sorrow, traced every contour of the little girl's face.
“Of course. Without question. You are no different from my own flesh and blood. How could I not grieve?”
More than just the benefactor who had saved his life, Yeon-woo had woven herself into the very core of his being. If it were in his power, he would take this child as his granddaughter on the spot, feeding her endless delicacies and dressing her in pretty clothes for the rest of her days.
“I have tasted all the world's finest delicacies, yet sharing a single piece of meat with you is the most delicious meal I know. Just the thought of never sharing that with you again feels like it would tear my heart in two.”
The girl's eyes trembled faintly.
“Yeon-woo.”
Woon-hyeon looked directly into her eyes.
“Do not die.”
“Ugh…”
Clear tears welled in Yeon-woo's round eyes. Her small lips quivered, and then—
“Waaaahhh—!”
The dam burst. Only after understanding that death meant the agony of parting did the child finally break down into tears.
“Waaaaah!”
In her past life, she had possessed nothing of value. Locked away in a cramped basement room, enduring agonizing days until death had finally granted her peace, she had never known the pain of farewell. Only now did she understand. To be severed from someone precious—just how terrifying a thing that truly was.
“Waaahhh!”
Woon-hyeon gathered Yeon-woo into his arms. For a long time, his hand gently patted the back of the child sobbing as though her breath would give out.
Up on the roof, the Dark Shadow Demon Lord, having slipped back unnoticed, sat cross-legged with his chin resting in his hand, watching the scene below. A long sigh slipped past his lips.
The night that had claimed a young life passed, and a brilliant sun rose into the sky. It was the dawn of another new day, begun with deep grief and despair buried beneath their hearts.