The Alchemist's Soliloquy

The battle with Mara finally over, Hwarang slumped to the ground, utterly spent.

"The field really is brutal."

"That's why I keep telling you to exercise."

"Shut up!"

Bihyeong, invisible throughout the battle, had appeared out of nowhere and now fluttered around Hwarang's head, teasing him without mercy.

While the two of them bickered and squabbled, Seolhwa made her way toward the spot where Mara had fallen. There, the creature's body—reduced to fine powder—was slowly seeping into the lake.

"Hwarang, shouldn't we harvest this before it disappears?"

"Oh, right!"

Hwarang scrambled to his feet and dashed over to Seolhwa's side. "But is there even anything left to use?"

Even to Seolhwa's own eyes, nothing usable seemed to remain of it.

"Of course there's plenty to use. Look how much of it is here. Normally you'd extract from the wings, which gives the best quality, but—"

Saying this, Hwarang began gathering up powder that Seolhwa couldn't even see.

Meanwhile, Seolhwa drifted slowly toward the Udumbara. The mound of earth at the center of the lake, where the flower bloomed, was filled with a mysterious white radiance.

"So this is the Udumbara."

Blue will-o'-wisps had gathered around Seolhwa without her noticing, bobbing gently in the air.

"Even the great stars would find this rare to behold?"

When Seolhwa asked, Bihyeong laughed heartily. "Well, it's my first time seeing one. Though the others back on Mount Sumeru may have."

And in the distance, Hwarang came running toward them, a huge reagent bottle full of butterfly droppings in hand and a grin on his face.

"You haven't picked it yet?" he asked, tucking the bottle into his inventory.

"I figured it would be better if you did it, Hwarang, rather than me."

"Why?"

"You know this plant better than I do, and you'd know the perfect way to harvest it. The smallest scratch and—well, it only blooms once every three thousand years."

At Seolhwa's words, the corner of Hwarang's mouth curled up. "Does it not occur to you that I might make a mistake?"

"Of course not."

When Seolhwa said this so matter-of-factly, Hwarang flushed and walked slowly toward the Udumbara.

"Bibi."

"I know."

Blue light blazed in Hwarang's eyes, and the will-o'-wisps gathered at his hands, transforming into a kind of spectral glove. Then, with excruciating care, he began to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dig away the soil around the flower's roots.

Every movement was as delicate as handling a newborn—anything to keep from harming the root system.

Ten minutes passed like that, and then a single Udumbara, its roots perfectly preserved, floated above Hwarang's open palms. He placed it gently into a special containment vessel, stored it in his inventory, and only then allowed himself to speak.

"I thought I was going to die."

His clothes, soaked through with sweat, were proof enough of that tension and trembling.

"Good work. Now we should get to making the potion."

"You took care of that?"

"Took care of it. Got it in writing, too. In the contract."

When Seolhwa looked over at him, Bihyeong snickered, summoned a sheet of paper, and waved it around flamboyantly in front of Hwarang's face.

Hwarang shouted at him in irritation while Seolhwa simply watched the two of them and smiled. It felt like returning to that day, ten years ago.

"Oh, right. I can't fight anymore, by the way. I'm completely out of bullets."

"What?!"

Hwarang's scream echoed through the gate.

"Good thing nothing else showed up this time."

"I thought we were about to get jumped by a mangryeong on the way out. Guess not."

"You two gave the place a thorough cleaning, so I doubt anything will show up for a good while."

When Hwarang heard Bihyeong say that, he replied in the tone of a man too exhausted even to be angry anymore. "You could have mentioned that sooner…"

Stepping through the door Hwarang had conjured, they found themselves back where they had started.

"Let's head back to the workshop for now."

Seolhwa followed Hwarang back to the workshop. Upon arriving, he rolled up the shutters and changed into his alchemist's work clothes.

"Shall we get started, then?"

"I wrote the recipe down on paper. Just follow it exactly."

Hwarang nodded, then called for Bihyeong. "Let's begin."

"Time to work!"

At Bihyeong's shout, the objects in the workshop began to move as though they had a will of their own. Everything from the great cast-iron cauldron down to the smallest flask—even the ingredients themselves—stirred to life and drifted into place.

Goggles on, Hwarang began brewing Heaven's Tears, following the recipe Seolhwa had written out. His hands were practiced and sure as he crushed and blended the ingredients.

"Now, extract the Sky Lily essence."

He drew the Udumbara from his inventory and, with a pair of tweezers, detached a single petal.

"Add this to the essence, and the purity comes out far higher—that's the idea, right?"

Seolhwa nodded from a distance. The moment the Udumbara petal touched the flask of Sky Lily essence, it melted away with a soft hiss, and the light they had seen on the lake began to bloom inside the glass.

Finally, Hwarang poured all the original ingredients into the flask holding the Udumbara petal, mixing them together.

"Bibi, what time is it?"

"The Hour of the Ox. Roughly two hours until the Hour of the Tiger."

Hearing this, Hwarang set the flask onto the apparatus and set a timer. Then he removed his goggles and came over to Seolhwa.

"It's almost done. One last half hour of shaking, and the potion you asked for will be finished."

"The potion that will save your grandmother."

Hwarang coughed awkwardly at that. "It's basically a three-thousand-year-old wild ginseng. If it didn't work, it'd be a scam."

He forced his voice to stay casual as he wiped the sweat from his brow. Thirty minutes later, he held out a bottle to Seolhwa.

"Here. The potion you commissioned."

Seolhwa accepted the small, transparent glass vial. Inside it glowed a blue liquid suffused with a faint white light, as if the Udumbara's radiance itself had been poured in and sealed away.

Seolhwa tucked the vial into her inventory and turned to Hwarang. "What are you standing around for? Go, hurry. The most important person is still left."

"Huh? Oh… right."

Hwarang threw on his going-out clothes and bolted for the door.

"Not going to follow him?"

Seolhwa looked at the blue will-o'-wisps still lingering around her, and Bihyeong returned to his true form with a sigh. "He and that old lady go way back. No need for me to show up now and make it all awkward."

"You're terrible at being honest."

Seolhwa made her way slowly out of the workshop district.

"You do know where the hospital is?"

"I do."

A hospital in Seoul.

A girl with sky-blue hair came sprinting through the doors, out of breath.

"No running in the halls," a nurse said in a voice worn down by fatigue.

"I'm sorry."

"Oh, it's you, Hwarang. Here to see your grandmother?"

"Yes, ma'am."

The nurse recognized her face and smiled. "The other patients are asleep, so please be as quiet as you can."

Hwarang nodded and headed for her room. The sliding door opened with a rattle.

An elderly woman lay in the bed inside. Hwarang approached her slowly, clutching the medicine bottle in her hand, and whispered under his breath.

"Please…"

The blue liquid began to seep past the old woman's lips. Hwarang held his breath and watched her face. In a silence where one second stretched into a minute, she heard the sound of the medicine going down.

Hwarang gripped her grandmother's hand tightly.

Then the old woman's eyelids trembled—and slowly opened. She turned her head and looked at Hwarang.

"Is that… my Hwarangie?"

It was a cracked, broken voice, but to Hwarang it was the one voice she had longed most to hear. The tears she had been holding back burst free as she pressed her grandmother's withered hand to her face.

"Gran… do you know who I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠am? Are you back with us?"

The old woman gazed blankly at the ceiling as if waking from a dream, then spoke. "As if I could ever forget this old woman's puppy's face."

Wiping the tears from Hwarang's eyes, her grandmother said, "Don't cry, now. You'll ruin the prettiest face in the whole world."

"Gran!"

Stroking Hwarang's hair, her grandmother asked, "Did the divine spirit help you?"

Hwarang nodded.

And outside the hospital room, someone was watching the whole scene unfold.

"Sounds like they're calling you. Why don't you go in?"

Seolhwa said this to the will-o'-wisps floating around her. When a long silence passed without answer, she smiled.

"You're terrible at being honest."

At her quiet remark, the blue flames swirling around her rippled violently.

Bihyeong coughed once, then answered in a voice of ponderous dignity. "Ha! How could the likes of you possibly fathom the profound intentions of this great Bihyeong? I have lived for thousands of years and witnessed the meetings and partings of countless humans—do you imagine I would be moved by something as trifling as this? I merely watch, that my contractor may fulfill his duty."

And yet, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even as he said it, he found himself pacing near the window that looked into the hospital room.

"This is unbearable."

With that, Seolhwa opened the door, gathered mana into her hand, snatched up the will-o'-wisp, and shoved it into the room.

"Hey—!"

"See you in a bit."

"Bibi?"

"Ah, the divine spirit has come. Thank you."

Hearing that, Bihyeong emerged from the will-o'-wisp back into his true form. "It's been a while, old lady."

Confirming that the three of them were together at last, Seolhwa left the hospital.

Seolhwa sat down on a bench in an empty park and spoke while reading the chat window.

"Moments like these are usually best left to the people involved. So an outsider like me needs to step back for a while."

When she said this, the viewers seemed to quietly accept it.

She let out a small sigh, then turned her head slightly. "Well then, that's it for today's stream. I'll be back soon. Um… see you later."

Emerging from the capsule, Seolhwa took a deep breath in the quiet room, where a faint warmth still lingered from the machine.

"Well, Hwarang's business is settled. Now it's time to go take care of the rest."