There exists an abyss within the human heart.
We call it the subconscious mind.
“Ho… I see I’m in a new place. My son-in-law’s subconscious mind…”
Woo-yong Jin’s footprints touched the fog-covered ground.
Unlike the hellish scape of Byul Rak’s subconscious or the Asura-like memories of Byul Rak,
it was merely an empty void.
However, Woo-yong Jin sensed even more unsettling vibes from that hollow void.
Because emptiness is akin to the universe.
In a way, compared to the realms of hell or Asura, it was an absurdly unsettling place.
“Nothing really exists here. Just an endlessly vast, empty space.”
Still, in that subconscious void,
“…Except for that thing over there.”
Why does ‘that’ exist here?
Thud, thud.
In the vast, empty void of Byul Rak’s subconscious, akin to the universe,
there was a small ‘sphere’.
Despite its size, no bigger than a fist, the light emanating from the sphere was so radiant it illuminated the entire subconscious space.
Woo-yong Jin courageously approached it.
Thump.
“What are you doing here?”
He poked it with his finger.
Thump, thump.
“What are you doing here?”
The sphere flinched.
“Hmm… I was sleeping soundly. Who’s there?”
Stretching out its limbs, it yawned and transformed into a little girl.
“The thing I see is not a ‘nobody’ but a ‘niece’.”
As Woo-yong Jin looked down at her, the little girl gazed up at him.
She carefully eyed Woo-yong Jin’s wrinkled soul form and sighed.
“Oh! You’re Elder Jin Woo-yong!”
“……? Do you know me? I don’t know you, yet you seem to know me?”
“Huh? You don’t recognize me? Look again! Don’t you know me yet?”
“Umm… I’ve never seen a girl like you… Hm? Why are you here?”
As Jin Woo-yong compared the girl’s face with the ones he knew, his expression turned intriguing.
The face of someone in Byul Rak’s memories resembled the girl’s.
“Maybe there’s no need for you to know yet! Are you currently during the Seven Flowers War?”
“Not during but within the Seven Flowers War.”
“Then it’s settled! It’s not my time to act yet, so I’ll go back to sleep!”
Saying this cheerfully, the girl curled up again.
Although she had to wake up due to Jin Woo-yong’s interference,
“Hey! Why are you doing this? I’m tired and need to rest!”
“Just a question, if you don’t mind.”
Jin Woo-yong slowly recalled memories.
Byul Rak’s memories.
Specifically, the memories around the point where his personality changed.
“Are you perhaps the culprit behind the change in my son-in-law’s personality?”
“Yep! That’s me!”
“…You’re awfully confident.”
“Anyway, you obviously can’t kill me!”
Her cheerful response gave Jin Woo-yong a strange chill.
She seemed artificially cheerful, evoking an alien sensation.
“My son-in-law’s memory of returning in time… you residing in his subconscious know about that, right?”
“Of course! How proud should I be!”
“…Your state of mind is also not right, I see.”
“Thanks for the compliment!”
Looking at her perfectly cheerful smile coldly, Jin Woo-yong asked.
“Someone who hears this might think you are lying, but your knowledge of my son-in-law’s story of returning contains no errors, correct?”
“Wow! Right? This human’s memory is amazing!”
“But after the time travel ended, during the three years at the Nangong family estate… there were quite a few glaring gaps in his memory. There were no significant events except for the battle with the Blood Cult Deputy Leader.”
“Of course! I made it that way!”
“…”
“Of course! It wasn’t me, but our main entity! Our main body did a great job, didn’t they?”
Before Jin Woo-yong could ask if it was also something she had done,
he gave up in resignation and closed his mouth at her blatant demeanor.
Instead, he asked another question.
“Main entity? What does that mean?”
“Ah, I’m just a sort of clone! The main entity was tasked with both monitoring this human and intervening in his emotions when the time is right, so they planted me here!”
“…”
“She complained endlessly about how difficult it was to infiltrate this absolute expert’s subconscious! But you have no idea!”
“…”
At the continuous barrage of shocking statements, Jin Woo-yong frowned lightly.
He was deep in thought.
Continuing this train of thought, his eyes suddenly lit up as he connected the girl’s words together.
“If I understand correctly, according to what you’re saying… you’re the one who turned my son-in-law into a buffoon, the reason for the missing pieces in his memory is due to your tampering, and now here you are again, planning to alter his personality once more. Am I understanding correctly?”
“Correct! That’s all work done by our main entity!”
“Ho… it’s incomprehensible. Fine, I’ll ask one more final question.”
“Ask away! I’ve been bored for years, doing nothing but sleeping! I have plans to sleep more in the future too!”
Jin Woo-yong asked, clearly puzzled.
“What’s the reason behind what you’ve done?”
“Ah, the reason?”
“When your manipulation of his personality didn’t happen, this man wouldn’t be like this. The ‘younger sister’ wouldn’t have started framing him either.”
“…”
“What’s the reason behind all this? Did you gain anything by changing Byul Rak’s nature? Thanks to you, I have awakened, but why did you do such a thing to my son-in-law? And where did the ability to do so come from?”
Jin Woo-yong’s rapid-fire questions continued.
Listening silently, the girl responded.
“Reason… there isn’t much to it.”
While cutting off her usual smile like a mask, she replied with an expressionless face.
Her voice was deeply subdued.
“In this dark, terrible, pitch-black, miserable, and utterly hopeless world where dreams and hope never appear,”
“…”
As if looking at Byul Rak, Jin Woo-yong couldn’t help but shut his mouth, overwhelmed.
He was utterly subdued.
The incomparable Jin Woo-yong was subdued, merely by a ‘clone’ who appeared as a mere young girl.
“Just out of curiosity, I wanted to try crafting a not-so-bad ending.”
All the playful gold in the girl’s earlier demeanor vanished; she was now gray.
A grayscale of gray.
“For the sake of one ending.”
“…”
“How about it? Isn’t it a little cool?”
In the decadent universe of gray light,
“…”
Jin Woo-yong felt an odd dissonance.
Meanwhile, the girl, whose cheerful expression had returned, called out cheerfully.
“Anyways, Elder, it’s time for you to go back now!”
“I didn’t come here to sleep. Why should I return?”
Of course, Jin Woo-yong wasn’t someone to cower, despite feeling overcome.
Responding as he usually did to Byul Rak, Jin Woo-yong bluntly said so, and the girl pointed at the universe space with her fingers and spoke.
“Human being! It’s about to explode with a ‘bang’!”
“What does th—”
“You need to cut it at an appropriate time, Elder! Hurry up and go!”
The girl started pushing Jin Woo-yong with both hands.
Though her actions were exaggerated, her strength was certainly not negligible.
“Y-you brat! I came here to sleep!”
“If you have any more questions, come back next time! And be prepared because I won’t dismiss you so easily next time!”
The next moment,
Before Jin Woo-yong even realized it, he was expelled from the subconscious space.
He was dumbfounded.
“Enter.”
A low, growling voice resonated in the room.
It was the voice of Dokgo Gupae, the Sect Leader of Mount Hua Sect.
With that icy-cold voice, Baek-hwa quivered in terror, answering as meekly as possible.
“…Yes.”
She was afraid that even the slightest disturbance could endanger her life.
However, she’d already offended him to the utmost degree.
Clang!
“…!”
“Ugh… uh… Sa… Senior Sister…”
“Sit there. I’ll question you thoroughly.”
“Master… What is… this…?”
“Kneel down immediately, you insolent thing!”
Crash!
Under the overwhelming pressure of his inner energy, Baek-hwa fell to her knees helplessly, unable to breathe.
Under the gaze of Dokgo Gupae, who was exuding killing intent, he began to interrogate her.
By his side lay Geom, who had been teaching her the Dokgo Sword Technique in exchange for sexual favors, now covered in blood and lying helplessly on the floor.
“Did you know that your Senior Brother has been leaking our sect’s martial arts to outsiders?”
“…”
“Don’t try to scheme. We already know everything. This isn’t about scheming. We are confronting each other now.”
“…! F-forgive me! But this disciple knows nothing!”
“You know nothing? Hah, that’s right. That’s correct…”
Dokgo Gupae’s right foot stepped onto Geom’s leg.
Crack!
The foot crushed Geom’s leg bone.
“AAAGH!!”
“Try explaining, just once. Really, did your Senior Sister know nothing about your deeds?”
“HHH… T-that…!”
“Tell the truth, and your punishment will be lessened.”
“Yes, yes! I knew… everything!! Senior Sister knew everything!”
“…Really admitting this so easily? What a disgraceful man, without a drop of righteousness. That I raised such a being…”
With a deep sigh, Dokgo Gupae struck again with his foot.
Crash!
“…!!!”
This time it was the left foot.
In the unbearable pain where flesh and bone became one, and muscle and blood separated, Geom could not even scream.
In between these moments, Dokgo Gupae addressed Baek-hwa, who was trembling in fear.
“In the Greater Huashan Sect, those who leak our sect’s martial arts are punished with the dissection of the four limbs’ veins.”
“Master! I’m absolutely not guilty! I didn’t know a single thing! I can swear to the gods!”
“And those who learn forbidden martial arts illicitly are—”
Whoosh!
Dokgo Gupae unleashed his palm power, and an overwhelming suction force erupted from his palm, pulling Baek-hwa toward him in an instant.
“Their dantian is destroyed so they can never practice martial arts again.”
“Wait! Master!”
“Your method of learning Dokgo Sword Technique, we’ll discuss it later.”
“Master! Master! I am Baek-hwa! The Baek-hwa of the Seven Flowers!!”
The moment Baek-hwa’s abdomen touched his palm,
BOOM!
The suction force abruptly turned into an explosive force, creating a whirling turbulence that shattered her dantian completely.
“…!!”
“Don’t cry out. I’ve already sealed your acupoints, so there’s no risk of you dying from the pain.”
“…”
“Don’t mistake this for compassion. It’s merely to extract the truth. I did it absolutely not out of consideration for you.”
Baek-hwa, who lost her lifetime’s worth of cultivation in an instant.
‘…No, right?’
She wished to deny the terrible reality right in front of her.
‘What, what should I do now…?’
The void of her dantian continuously pulled her back into the grim reality.
Though her limbs were not severed like Geom’s, her life as a martial artist was irrevocably over.
“Then, now, speak.”
“M-Master… I truly know nothing…”
“If you dare to say anything else nonsensical even one more time, I’ll tear your mouth apart, understand? Choose your words carefully.”
“S-Sword of Dokgo… How did I learn it?”
Of course, she couldn’t tell the truth.
Because if she revealed everything to Dokgo Gupae, known as the ‘Tiger’ of the martial world, she would certainly lose her life.
She had practiced martial arts and sold her body all to survive.
That must absolutely never happen.
“That’s forbidden—!!”
But as soon as Dokgo Gupae roared like a furious feline, her thoughts went blank.
She was terrified.
Of the monster in front of her, Dokgo Gupae, classified as one of the top twelve patriarchs in the martial world.
It was unthinkable for someone like her to brazenly lie to such a figure, who was clearly seething with rage.
“I’ll speak the truth! I’ll speak the truth! I’m speaking the truth!!!”
The fear of losing her dantian.
That was meaningless in the face of immediate terror.
“So… done… done, right…?”
“Insane woman! Shut up! Shu—shut up!!”
“You, close your mouth! You disgraceful things, worse than any savage!”
“S-Senior Brother did it… And… I… so it turned out…! I, I had no choice!”
Overcome with fear, Baek-hwa spilled all her secrets about her relationship with Geom.
How she learned the Dokgo technique in exchange for sexual favors, his usual habit of leaking Huashan techniques to various sects in exchange for bribes, and his generally licentious behaviors—all of it.
While Geom screamed and resisted, Dokgo Gupae sealed his acupoints, leaving him powerless to do anything but futilely struggle.
As Baek-hwa’s confessions continued, Dokgo Gupae clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly, visibly agitated.
When finally Baek-hwa’s confession ended,
“…You wretched dogs, worse than dogs!”
Dokgo Gupae’s first reaction was, naturally, a fierce rage.
He could not even bear to look at the vile acts committed under the name of Huashan.
He wanted to cut them into pieces, far beyond merely severing their limbs.
However, he knew.
“Haa… Leave.”
“…Huh?”
“To you…? You dismissed us… What do you mean…?”
“Leave before I change my mind…! Do you want to leave here as corpses, or would you prefer to stay here?”
At this moment,
He sensed a quiet yet formidable killing intent outside the door, stronger than his own rage at them.
And he knew exactly who it belonged to.
Could he fail to recognize the aura of the person who took away his only daughter, his precious gem?
The son-in-law who was known as the greatest son-in-law of the central plains.
“Hiiik! Yes, yes Sir!”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Thinking they were being spared, the two bowed repeatedly and left the room in haste.
Dokgo Gupae watched them go with scorching eyes.
Then, he quietly addressed the figure outside.
It was their first proper conversation in years.
“There’s nothing left to discuss. Come back.”
Though there was no response,
He paused and continued.
“I have something important to share with you.”
“Haaa, pant pant, haa…!”
“Senior Sister… Senior Sister… Help me…! I can’t move on my own!”
Geom grabbed Baek-hwa’s skirt.
She harshly shook him off and retorted sharply.
“Tskh! Didn’t you call me ‘that woman’ or ‘dog’ before? Now what are you with ‘senior sister’?”
“Senior Sister? Senior Sister! Sis…!”
“Figure it out yourself, cripple. Try not to die.”
“Senior Sister! What do you mean by that? Where are you going, leaving me behind?”
The two, who not long ago had shared intimate relations and traded martial knowledge, now exhibited not a shred of righteousness and were completely split apart.
It was an ending that suited them.
Of course, they hadn’t yet reached the end of their lives.
“…Why?”
“…!”
“Wha—what?! Who are you?! Where did you come from all of sudden?!”
Behind them stood a figure.
A pale complexion like a ghost, snow-white short hair.
And blue eyes.
A face they had seen during the Seven Flowers War.
“B-White Blade Wanderer? What are you doing here?”
“White Blade Wanderer! Help me out! Due to circumstances, my legs are like this now! If you take me to the doctor in the village, I’ll generously repay you…!”
“Silence. You wretched creatures.”
The icy command from the white-haired man froze them.
Instantly, their entire bodies were paralyzed.
“Why… why must creatures like you live on like parasitic worms?”
The gaze of Byul Rak swept over them.
Although he didn’t know Baek-hwa and Geom personally, their souls had died hundreds of times at his hand during the Holy Blood War.
After all, they were the ones who kept joining the Blood Cult during that war.
“As for those I truly aimed to save, I’m asked to murder them because they couldn’t endure the suffering. But the very ones I didn’t want to save, these parasite-like creatures here who’ve done unspeakable acts, are struggling so desperately to live.…”
Byul Rak’s eyes were filled with a genuine disdain that stemmed from his own convictions.
“Kekeke…”
He recalled Baek-hwa’s confession moments ago.
Laughter escaped against his will.
Buying martial techniques with bribes.
Selling their bodies to learn martial techniques.
The man in front, Geom, who taught the fourteen-star plum blossom sword technique to the elders of the Taewon Jin family—it was unmistakably him.
The woman in front, Baek-hwa, who used the forbidden killing move to put Gayoung Jin in a life-or-death situation—it was unmistakably her.
The Great Disciple of Huashan Sect, the most powerful contender for the next sect leader.
One of the Seven Flowers, Huashan’s prized flower.
Both of them were ‘Dao Masters’.
“…These people?”
People can make mistakes.
Yet, when those mistakes surpass dozens or hundreds of times…
No one would call them simple mistakes anymore.
“Can you people even call yourselves righteous sects of the ‘Orthodox Schools’?”
Step.
Rustle.
Byul Rak took a step toward them.
Under his oppressive aura, they dared not even reply.
“Since they were mine to save, it’s my duty to harvest them. Though unintended, I’m glad I have the power to do so now.”
It had been a tumultuous day.
Starting with Gayoung Jin’s critical injury.
He confronted the revered Heavenly Lord in anger.
He forgave Yugwa Ok-hwa, even though she used to annoy him endlessly.
He had acted cruelly towards his former wife, Yu So-eun, for no real reason.
Throughout, he hadn’t shed a drop of blood.
Despite his fluctuating emotions, he managed to avoid crossing the ethical line because his true nature wasn’t evil.
He stopped in front of the line of morality, even when it felt stifling.
But the people in front of him were unmistakably ‘Evil’.
“Disgusting beings.”
He had been numbed to the act of killing long ago.
When he slaughtered hundreds of bandits under the order of Gayoung Jin, or when he injured or killed hundreds of black sect warriors, he felt nothing.
All those killings were battles between powers, not bound by notions of good or evil.
But this time was different.
The ones in front were clearly pure ‘Evil Ones’.
Fitting targets for public execution.
Deserving punishment as hypocrites who call themselves righteous.
“You won’t go easily. Not under my hands.”
