Demon King (2)
Just what exactly had El seen in her precognition? There was no way to know.
She had collapsed and lost consciousness before he could even hear the details.
“……?”
Yun-seok, who had caught her mid-fall, froze in place. He had thought it was mere exhaustion, but her body was burning up like it might scorch his hands. Honestly, it was serious enough to worry about her life hanging in the balance.
Damn it.
Feeling a surge of alarm, Yun-seok channeled Heaven Breaking Divine Art qi into her body. But there was no sign of improvement.
He hurriedly woke Kanna Blitz. He hoped the high priestess—no, the saintess now—might have some way to help.
“No one can fix this.”
But Kanna didn’t even try before cutting him off bluntly. Executioner’s Eye confirmed it was the truth.
“You said you interrupted her ritual midway, right? That’s why. The vessel she expanded to hold divinity is empty now, so her body is collapsing.”
In short, it was because Yun-seok had pulled her out during the ritual.
“Then what should I do?”
“What can you do? There’s no method. She’s going to die. Soon.”
Her tone was as if it was convenient that she didn’t even need to lift a finger. Yun-seok didn’t feel anger so much as a suffocating tightness in his chest.
“You know what happened to you wasn’t El’s fault, don’t you?”
“So it’s my fault?”
Kanna ground her teeth and snapped back sharply. Perhaps Yun-seok had struck at her pillar of strength. In the depths of despair, it was sometimes hatred, not hope, that kept a person going.
Yun-seok knew that well, having endured his own painful days. That was why he could say without hesitation:
“It’s no one’s fault.”
Who was the victim and who the perpetrator? Such distinctions were meaningless. They were both victims.
“You know that too, don’t you? That your target was wrong.”
“…Don’t try to deceive me. That child is a heretic. Dirty heretic blood flows in her veins!”
Yun-seok had heard about it during the last mission. The shaman position in the Trejan Cult was inherited by bloodline. El’s mother had been a shaman who fled from them and gave birth to El. But…
“Does this child really seem like the one you should resent?”
Yun-seok stepped aside. So Kanna could see El more clearly where she lay collapsed. Her eyes gouged out, her childhood—meant to be happy—stolen entirely by heretics. And now she teetered on the brink of death.
If even this sight didn’t break Kanna’s stubbornness, there would be nothing more to say.
“What do you expect me to do, saying that…? Everyone talks so easily. But you don’t know what I’ve been through. You don’t know how I feel right now, even at this moment. Right? You don’t, do you?”
Yun-seok didn’t deny it.
“Yes, I don’t.”
He didn’t know. He’d had his own hard times, but how could he dare claim to understand based on that alone? No, even if he’d gone through the exact same thing, claiming empathy would be arrogance. Everyone’s pain had its own depth.
That was why Yun-seok didn’t know. How long she had writhed in agony at rock bottom, screaming screams no one heard.
“But you’ll overcome it in the end.”
There was one thing Yun-seok did know. Unhealable wounds didn’t exist in this world. Only beasts who committed unforgivable sins remained scarred.
“I’ll help you.”
Yun-seok extended his hand toward her. The kind of touch his past self had desperately longed for amid hellish days.
* * *
There was no dramatic moment.
“……”
After a long silence, Yun-seok awkwardly withdrew his hand.
Kanna didn’t take it. But he could sense it in the way she looked at El. Not now, but she would get better, little by little.
“Is there really no way?”
Yun-seok asked Kanna again. He felt he could get a more sincere answer now, and he was right.
“Not that I know of. But that man might.”
“That man?”
“Rick Gersey. He’s practically an expert on heretics.”
That name again. At this point, it was impossible not to think he was tied to something crucial in this mission.
“Can you tell me more about him?”
“Well, I don’t know much. A few years ago, I rescued him when he was captured by heretics, and he harbors immense vengeance against them. That’s about it.”
She didn’t even seem aware he’d been one of her personal guards in the past…
Is this another dead end…?
As frustration clogged his throat like something stuck there, Kanna spoke up.
“If you’re curious, why not meet him yourself?”
“…I can do that?”
“Yes. I hear he enlisted as a mercenary right when this war broke out. But… are you sure that’s okay?”
Kanna eyed Yun-seok as she asked. He wasn’t oblivious enough to miss what she meant.
She’s asking if I trust her enough to follow after she just tried to kill El.
His answer was already decided.
Yun-seok nodded without hesitation. It wasn’t trust in her so much as trust in himself. No matter how many enemies, he could protect someone like El.
And even if unexpected dangers lurked, unraveling Rick Gersey’s secrets was worth the risk.
“I’m jealous of that child.”
“What was that?”
“Nothing. Let’s go. This place is enemy territory for me, after all.”
After that, Yun-seok carried El and joined Kanna’s group, heading to the Trinity Church camp. They crossed the mountains to the plains’ center in silence, moving swiftly. Once they had a bit of leeway, Sioli Mobilra spoke up. In a voice so quiet no one else could hear.
“These people aren’t real.”
Her words made him tilt his head. He knew she wasn’t wrong, but why bring it up out of nowhere?
“Nothing changes if you do anything here.”
“I know that much.”
“Then why are you doing this? I let the challenge task change pass, but what you said to the saintess makes no sense.”
She seemed genuinely curious. Otherwise, she wouldn’t approach someone she feared so much.
Yun-seok answered briefly.
“If you can’t understand, then don’t. No one expects that of you.”
“……”
Did she realize her question had irked him? After that, Sioli clamped her mouth shut and didn’t bother him anymore.
“You all can return now.”
Finally crossing the plains and completing the return, Kanna dismissed the challengers who had guided them. She led only a few personal guards with Yun-seok to her tent.
“I sent someone, so if he’s alive, he’ll be here soon.”
Her personal tent was larger than the one used by over thirty people. After laying El on the bed and waiting briefly, the man he’d so eagerly awaited appeared.
“Rick Gersey.”
“……?”
Yun-seok turned to stone. He had no choice. If he suddenly had blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin, he’d look exactly like this man.
“Are you the one who wanted to ask about heretics?”
Even his voice was similar.
“Ask anything. I’ll answer whatever helps kill those bastards.”
What the hell was going on? Yun-seok felt disoriented.
* * *
Yun-seok’s appearance was fairly common. Even in school, people often said he resembled someone they knew. Across the world, at any time, there were surely people identical enough that even parents couldn’t tell them apart.
But…
It can’t just be coincidence.
Coincidences couldn’t explain everything in this world. He had no intention of calling it fate. But there was something. About Rick Gersey, this man. A massive secret whose shape he couldn’t even grasp.
“Choi Yun-seok.”
“Good to meet you. Now, what’s your business?”
Yun-seok cut straight to it.
“Elizabeth Lorwen. What’s your relationship to her?”
“…Who the hell are you?”
Was it his reverse scale? The moment El was mentioned, the man’s demeanor shifted.
“Why did you seek me out?”
He’d seemed friendly, ready to cooperate on anything moments ago. Now he was sharp as a blade, ready to cut anyone who approached.
“I don’t want to fight. I’m just curious. About the identity of the man El calls ‘uncle.’”
“…Did you meet that child? Her?”
Rick asked urgently. Yun-seok could see faint hope hidden in his desperation. Nodding toward the bed where El lay without a word, Rick followed his gaze and trembled like he’d been struck by lightning.
“God…”
Approaching cautiously to confirm it was her, he dropped to his knees and began to sob.
“…El. It’s me. I’m here. Sorry I’m late. I’m so sorry…”
Yun-seok waited for his emotions to settle. It didn’t take long. Even at the peak of emotion, his judgment was remarkably swift.
“Her eyes are gone, so the shaman succession must have happened. You rescued her midway? That’s why she won’t wake?”
A heretic expert, as expected—he pieced it all together without explanation.
“Yes. Is there a way?”
“There is. I’ve prepared for every possibility these past few years.”
Yun-seok sighed in relief. If El died, the mission failed—meaning his death. His inner worry was resolved cleanly.
Of course. It’s a challenge task, so they wouldn’t make it impossible.
Now that he knew there was a way, Yun-seok decided to clarify his other curiosities first.
“Rick Gersey.”
“Call me Rick.”
“Rick, I have a few questions for you.”
“Anything.”
Was it because he’d saved El? His attitude was like facing a benefactor from a past life. Seeing that as a good sign, Yun-seok spoke more easily.
“I want to know about you. I heard you protected El for three years, even under constant threat from heretics. Why go so far for a girl with no connection to you?”
“…I don’t know why you’re curious, but I’ll answer. Though I can’t guarantee you’ll understand.”
Rick took a moment to compose himself, then began in a flat tone.
“Back then, I was looking for a place to die. So when the high priestess—no, the saintess—asked me to retrieve a child kidnapped by heretics, I was glad. I thought I could die doing something worthwhile, even a little.”
But Rick didn’t die. After a fierce battle, he repelled the heretics and saved El. A miracle that hadn’t come when he’d desperately wished for it.
“I couldn’t leave that child behind. I decided to see it through.”
Thus passed three years. Days on the razor’s edge, as if everything could crumble any moment. But one day, Rick realized it. The smile he thought lost had somehow returned to his lips.
“In the end, I was the one saved. But God is truly capricious.”
Rick glanced at Kanna as he spoke. As if it wasn’t something to say before the saintess of a major religion. Ironically, Kanna nodded most emphatically, empathizing deeply.
“After they took that child, I obsessively dug into them. That’s how I learned about the shaman succession, and hearing they were going to war, I came here.”
Rick had planned to use the chance to save El somehow, but now he wouldn’t need to.
“Thank you, truly.”
His story ended with gratitude. No lies anywhere in between. That only deepened Yun-seok’s suspicions.
He’d thought gathering clues would lead to answers, but no.
“One last question.”
Not breaking eye contact, Yun-seok voiced it.
“Do you know about the Tower of Heaven?”
The question that might unravel this tangled thread all at once.