Chapter 115
Chapter 115
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: Teachings for the Disciple (6)
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[Contrary to the misunderstandings of countless rulers, precognition is not the power to dictate the future.]
That was what the former Saintess had told her back when she was still covered in soft downy hair.
[Don't forget: precognition is merely the power to choose.]
[...It's too hard.]
[Is it? Then think of it this way. Our precognition is not perfect. Once you've seen a future, you can't see it again. The moment you glimpse the future, it changes.]
Back then, she hadn't understood.
Why the former Saintess's voice had sounded so weary, so sorrowful.
[But I've seen the exact same future multiple times?]
[Not exact—merely similar. Examine them closely later. You'll find changes you didn't notice.]
[Ugh... I still don't get it...]
[It's fine. Someday... when you grow up, you'll come to understand naturally.]
The former Saintess had stroked her cheek as she spoke.
A hand full of wrinkles, yet brimming with warmth.
[Until that day comes, never share your precognition carelessly. Especially, never share your visions. Understand?]
[But... the Grand Archbishop said I should actively share my precognition?]
[The Grand Archbishop is a dimwitted son of a bitch, that's why he says that. Ignore him—no need to take him seriously.]
Son of a bitch. It was the first curse the Saintess had ever heard, but back then, she hadn't realized.
She just assumed the Cardinal's family history must be more complicated than she thought.
[Don't forget: God bestowed precognition upon you, not the Grand Archbishop or your father. All choices are yours.]
[...]
[So be cautious, ever cautious. As with all things in this world, good intentions can lead to the worst outcomes. Our precognition, bound to fate... is especially prone to it.]
Pain, sorrow, regret.
The Saintess back then lacked the insight to read such expressions or the experience to empathize.
So she could blurt out a cruel question without a second thought.
[But... what if I want to share my precognition? What if someone comes along later that I want to see the future with?]
A razor-sharp question only a naive child could ask.
Instead of anger, the former Saintess had smiled and replied.
[If such a person appears, there's no helping it. Just do it in secret from the other priests?]
[But you just said not to...]
[Better regret than waiting, better pain than regret.]
[Uh... is that from scripture? Sorry, I haven't memorized it all yet...]
[No, it's from my own experience. Someday... you'll know it too.]
She hadn't understood then. The former Saintess hadn't elaborated.
But ten years later, today.
Now, holding Yeomyeong's hand and sharing precognition together, in this moment.
The Saintess finally understood what those words meant.
***
When Yeomyeong opened his eyes, the first thing to greet him was a space dyed pure white in all directions.
It wasn't vast. Barely larger than a dormitory room, perhaps.
As he slowly rose to his feet, his entire body felt alien. As if it weren't his own.
Paradoxically, it was a familiar sensation to Yeomyeong. He'd experienced it many times before.
The feeling of being inside someone else's dream.
Was this the Saintess's dream? No—more precisely, since she'd said she was showing him her precognition, it was within her vision.
As such thoughts crossed his mind, he looked around and spotted the Saintess kneeling with hands clasped in prayer.
Her eyes tightly shut, her body trembling faintly.
As if suppressing something, or enduring pain.
Yet Yeomyeong didn't help her. Instead, he turned his head in the opposite direction.
...He had no choice. The Saintess was stark naked, without a single thread covering her.
“What the...”
Just to be safe, Yeomyeong squeezed his eyes shut. And suppressed the belated reaction.
Whether due to the unfamiliar sensation or not, controlling the rush of blood was no easy task.
He drew up mana, even used blood flow acceleration to manipulate his veins for a good while.
Only after his tightly shut eyelids began to tingle did Yeomyeong fully master his body's response.
“...Yeomyeong?”
In the meantime, the Saintess seemed to have shaken off whatever she'd been suppressing and rose to her feet.
Yeomyeong cracked his eyes toward her, then shut them again.
She clearly hadn't noticed she was naked. Otherwise, she couldn't wear such an innocent expression...
“Saintess. Um, just for a moment...”
As Yeomyeong spoke without turning, the Saintess thrust her face right up to his.
“Why the sudden formality? Something weird?”
Her long eyelashes, hidden beneath her eyepatch until now—but still closed—fluttered before his face.
He strained his neck to keep from turning, replying with a stiff rear.
“Saintess, your... attire.”
“...Attire?”
Only then did the Saintess look down at herself. Soon, a silence like a scream filled the space between them.
Thanks to that silence—or whatever—Yeomyeong could clearly hear the sounds from her direction.
The gulp of swallowed breath, the stamping of feet, and finally, the hurried rustle of cloth.
After that brief—or endless—commotion, the Saintess cleared her throat.
“...You can open your eyes now.”
***
When Yeomyeong turned, the Saintess was clad in priestly robes far more ornate and luxurious than usual.
“...How's it feel to be inside a precognition? Nothing strange, right?”
As if nothing had happened, a perfectly innocent question.
Though beneath her flushed face, the hand gripping her hem trembled...
Yeomyeong decided to respect her intent.
“...Yeah, no issues.”
“R-Really? Then, sh-should we look at the precognition right away?”
Dragging her rigidly stiff body, she positioned herself before the blank white wall.
“Wait a sec...”
She stretched her hand high and swept it down the wall from top to bottom.
At once, a massive image—several times her size—appeared on the formerly empty wall.
‘That's...’
Upon closer inspection, it was less a painting and more a photograph.
A snapshot of a man and woman fighting beneath a burning building.
The woman in the photo was familiar.
There was only one beauty in the world with black hair and blue eyes like that.
Hong Seti.
Dressed in the leather jacket and wielding the massive hammer he'd seen in Incheon, she was swinging at someone. The man opposite her...
Couldn't be seen clearly.
As if censored.
‘...Who is that?’
As Yeomyeong narrowed his eyes at the photo, the Saintess spoke in confusion.
“Huh? What's going on?”
“...What's wrong?”
“The future I saw wasn't this...”
So saying, she placed her hand on the wall and swept again.
The photo rippled and emitted light, but didn't change to another.
Instead, the scene within began to progress bit by bit.
Seti, locked in fierce combat, soon began overwhelming the man.
“Wait...”
Oblivious, the Saintess kept waving her hand. Each gesture advanced the scene slowly.
Once: Seti's hammer shattered the man's leg.
Twice: The man crawled away across the floor.
Thrice: Seti raised her hammer toward his back...
“...Stop.”
As the Saintess moved to wave a fourth time, Yeomyeong grabbed her wrist.
Startled by the sudden contact, she looked at him. Instead of explaining, he nodded toward the photo.
Finally noticing Seti in the vision, the Saintess's voice trembled in shock.
“Th-This can't be...? The future I saw wasn't like this...”
As her panic stretched on, Yeomyeong cut in.
“...What was the original precognition you saw?”
“You, Seti, and some unknown person getting sucked into a strange magic... something like that.”
“...”
“Why did the precognition suddenly change...? I...”
Mid-explanation, the Saintess trailed off.
A sudden realization hit her: the reason for the change.
‘Don't tell me... because I brought Yeomyeong into the precognition? Because we saw the future together, it changed like this?’
Unaware that Yeomyeong could alter fate, she could think of no other cause.
“Yeomyeong... um, this is...”
Ignorance bred misconception, misconception certainty.
Now convinced it was her fault, the Saintess fidgeted, stealing glances at him.
No, this isn't what I wanted.
I just wanted to help you both with my precognition.
To prove how precious you and she are to me, that's why...
Her tongue went dry, her mind blanking white in that instant.
Yeomyeong pulled her held wrist closer and asked.
“Is there no way to see this precognition in more detail?”
His breath brushed her forehead. Neither hot nor cold—another's simple exhalation.
That breath, like magic, swept away her swirling doubts, allowing the Saintess to regain her senses.
“Th-There is.”
“Then let's see it now. If it's already changed once, we can change it again.”
“Ah...”
The Saintess didn't argue.
She couldn't explain why, but somehow, she felt Yeomyeong could do it.
She extended her free hand—the one he wasn't holding—into the photo.
Then pried it open, creating a gap. Like opening a door.
“...We just go inside.”
Yeomyeong glanced between the parted space and the Saintess, then stepped into the precognition.
Still gripping her wrist tightly.
***
The first sight inside the precognition wasn't much different from outside.
Beneath the burning building, Seti poised to kill the censored figure.
But this world wasn't flat. A mere turn of the head revealed what couldn't be seen from outside.
“Yeomyeong, this is...”
Taking in the surroundings, the Saintess fell silent. She had no choice.
She knew exactly what the burning building was.
The National Assembly building in Korea.
The Saintess looked around in a daze.
The foul stench of burning flesh and protein, vision-obscuring ash.
Every turn amid the hellish landscape trod upon corpses.
Slaughtered without mercy, they resembled cheap adult comic fodder.
“Why... why is Seti in a place like this...”
Stunned by the unimaginable scene, the Saintess gripped Yeomyeong's hand tightly.
Seti did this? No, impossible.
She turned to Yeomyeong for agreement.
But he stood frozen, gaze fixed on one spot.
What? Following his line of sight, the Saintess stiffened.
What he stared at was no other than...
Cheon Yeomyeong—himself.
The man wielding a bloodied sword had eyes so grim, it was impossible to believe he was the same as the one standing beside her.
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