Yuna
Inside the village where the water flows, a burnt flower garden illuminated by moonlight.
The young girl sobbing at its center looks up, as if she cannot understand why I am here.
“Why… why….”
Tear tracks carved into her cheeks, her eyes stained pitch-black.
I meet the gaze trembling deep within those eyes and offer a gentle smile.
“Why… did you come….”
The tears that burst forth soak the ground.
“Let’s go back.”
“…I don’t want to.”
“Yuna.”
“No….”
“…I’m sorry, but we don’t have time. So, hurry.”
“Don’t touch me!!!”
“….”
“I’m… not the child you knew….”
“…You’re a fragment, aren’t you.”
“….”
A fragment.
A separate personality that has broken away from the original, forging its own Simsang.
“…Haa.”
I instinctively scratch my head, troubled by the situation.
There is usually a reason why a personality splits. Wanting to run away from the current situation, or wanting to quarantine a specific memory.
In Yuna’s case, it’s likely the latter.
The first things I saw upon entering her Simsang were corpses that smelled horrific, a village burning behind them, and a waterway flowing through the center of it all.
Following that waterway where the bodies floated, I arrived at a flower garden where only ash, not petals, danced in the air.
And deep within that garden, under the red moonlight.
“Mo…ther…?”
A child, clutching the corpse of the mother she killed with her own hands.
“Ah. Aah…. Aaaaaaaah!!”
“….”
A Simsang often reconstructs memories. Because a person’s ideology ultimately begins with what they have seen and heard.
That memory was far too cruel for a young child to endure.
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have even considered touching it.
But I have to now.
If I don’t put this memory and Simsang to rest, Yuna’s life is in danger.
As I furrow my brows, wondering what to do, the Yuna in front of me parts her lips.
“…Go back.”
“I’m sorry, but….”
“Just go back!!”
“….”
“Please…. Just leave me alone…. And….”
“….”
“Run away….”
“….”
Guilt. Fear. Self-loathing.
Things that could break a person’s heart even if only one were present, scattering from Yuna’s trembling hands.
At that pathetic and heartbreaking sight, a sentence slips out of my mouth.
“…You, you’re planning to die, aren’t you?”
“….”
“I guess I’m right.”
The murderous intent Yuna radiated right after her rampage was scattered indiscriminately in all directions. As if she intended to kill everyone in sight.
But this ‘Yuna’ I’m facing doesn’t look like a child who would kill people at random; she looks like someone who would quietly die alone.
If so, the meaning behind that murderous intent is probably.
‘Please kill me.’
“….”
“I’m tired now…. The memories that repeat every day, this flower garden… I don’t want to see them anymore….”
“Then what happens to the other Yuna?”
“That doesn’t matter…. That child is also…!”
“A sinner who killed her mother?”
“….”
A fragment shares memories with the original the moment it breaks off. In other words, that Yuna over there probably doesn’t even realize she’s the one who killed her mother.
But even so, she must die. Because even without the memory, the sin she committed does not disappear.
‘That’s not wrong.’
But.
“I won’t let that happen.”
I don’t like it.
Slash—!
As I nervously draw my blade and cut my own wrist, a stinging pain rushes in.
“!? What are you doing!?”
“Let me ask you one thing, Yuna. You’re the only one who wants Yuna to die, right?”
Yuna is flustered by my question. I hold the sword in a reverse grip, looking straight into her wavering eyes.
What I’m doing now is a gamble and a form of blackmail. Simply put, it’s madness.
“Then you wouldn’t want to see someone else die because of you, would you?”
As I lift the sword held in a reverse grip, Yuna’s pupils dilate wildly. I savor that look slowly.
“What are you doing now….”
“Yuna.”
“Uh…?”
I plunged the sword directly into my chest.
“Gah…!!”
The excruciating pain and the rush of blood that followed instantly.
“!!!!”
Yuna’s gaze, lost in front of me.
“Kuh…! Hah…. Hehehe…! As expected…!”
And those other senses scream that this is not a game, but reality.
“Hehehe! A game… my ass…!”
When did I realize it? The moment I first stepped into Yuna’s Simsang? The moment I first met the stars?
No.
『Confirmed.』
『….』
『I wish you good fortune.』
It was from the moment I first saw that message.
From the feel of the senses surrounding me to the Simsang pulsing within me, everything started to feel real from that point on.
“Cough…!”
“Master!!!”
Yuna’s scream-filled voice races through my ears. Ignoring that voice, I raise all the mana and momentum I possess.
Enough to burn away my life.
“No…! No, no, no, no!!!”
Yuna screams at the momentum, which is dangerous even at a glance.
“What are you doing!! What on earth!!!”
“From now on…. I’m going to collapse this Simsang….”
“What…?”
“We’re going to die together…! Hehe…!”
In truth, you don’t need Hwigwangbanjo to collapse this Simsang. Yuna’s level, boosted by the moon, is at best the beginning of Full Bloom.
But.
‘If I don’t, the blackmail won’t work.’
“Kuh…!”
“Don’t do this…. Please…!!”
Ignoring Yuna, who is begging with tears in her eyes, I weave mana into my momentum.
The manifested shape is a giant wolf with electricity coursing through its entire body. As I drape that clearly woven shape over my body, the wolf’s ears and tail appear.
A Complete Projection, going beyond simply strengthening the body with Simsang to fully assimilating with it.
“Grrr….”
I gather the power that is swirling as if to burst due to Hwigwangbanjo and pour it beneath my feet.
——!!
With that, Yuna’s Simsang shakes violently. If this Simsang collapses, we will likely die inside it.
“Even if it’s only half, if I can just keep you alive… *cough!* …isn’t that enough?”
“…Why. Why, why, why, why!!!! Why are you doing this, why!!! We haven’t even known each other for long! I’m just calling you ‘Master’ because I want to!! But why on earth are you going this far, why!!!”
“It’s not ‘because you want to’….”
“What…?”
Yuna’s gaze wavers at the red droplets of blood falling from my cheek.
“Don’t tell me….”
“That ‘don’t tell me’ is correct…!”
——!!!
Yuna’s Simsang collapses with a gruesome sound.
“Don’t…!”
“…I’m sorry, but.”
“I said don’t do it!!!”
——!!!
Yuna’s momentum, which bursts out instantly and shoots toward me, collides with mine and scatters. Beyond that intense clash, Yuna’s arm reaches out.
“Please….”
Clutch—
Yuna’s hand grips my leg tightly.
“Please, stop….”
Yuna’s mana was flowing into me little by little from that hand.
“Please don’t die…. Please….”
“….”
I’m sorry, Yuna.
I know how terrifying this is for you. Because someone is dying because of you again.
But I have no choice.
“Then choose!!”
If I don’t do this, you will die.
“…!!”
“Whether you’ll oxidize with me like this! Or whether you’ll follow me!”
“Follow you…. What does that, eek!!”
——!!!
The earth splits and the sky shatters. In the middle of a literally collapsing world.
“Hurry!!”
I force a choice that is effectively the only one available.
“…If I follow you, can Master live?”
Even in this situation, Yuna is looking after me, not her own life. At that heartbreaking and lovely voice.
“I’m betting… my life.”
I utter a selfish declaration to bet again what I have already bet.
“….”
⊳ Sal-gwi (Yuna) has joined the party.
“You chose well…!”
I pull Yuna’s arm, who was lying on the ground, and hold her in my arms.
——!!
At the same time, I close my eyes and catch my breath beneath Yuna’s Simsang, which is crumbling to its limit.
“Hoo….”
Let’s think. What is a way for people to survive when the sky falls?
It’s to escape from beneath the falling sky.
Then, should I throw the ‘Yuna’ who became Sal-gwi into the intact Yuna’s Simsang?
‘Absolutely not.’
What ‘Yuna’ wants right now is suicide. She would probably try to kill the intact Yuna the moment she enters that Simsang.
Furthermore, unlike Yuna, who is at the beginning of Flowering, the ‘Yuna’ who became Sal-gwi is at the beginning of Full Bloom. If the two clash, the intact Yuna would be murdered without even being able to do anything.
‘If so.’
I stretch out one hand, focus all my nerves, and gather all the mana in my body.
“Hoo….”
What I am about to do is the Realization of Simsang.
A technique that rebirths a martial artist’s vast world into a single form and descends it into this world.
The name of that power, which is the hallmark and authority of Flower Extremity, is.
‘Simsang-mugu (Mind-Image Weapon)’
“…!”
Yuna’s body jolts at the momentum, which is sharper than anything she could compare to. At the same time, a red Dae-do (Great Sword) begins to manifest.
A hilt that wouldn’t be covered even if I gripped it with both hands, and a blade twice that size, reveal themselves to this world.
Although the shape wavers a bit because of a body that is incongruous with a complete Simsang.
“…Hoo.”
I barely maintain that part by burning my lifespan.
Thud—
Drip—
Blood flows from my mouth and eyes.
“Master….”
“I’m fine.”
I soothe Yuna, who is flustered by my appearance.
“Hold on tight…!”
I swung the sword toward the collapsing void.