Gwanum And Song Of Life, Black Butterfly Dance And Cold City Man? (1)

Exorsus, which had appeared after a long time, was full of life itself. It could have been chaotic with the sudden influx of representatives, but representatives and continent dwellers were living harmoniously together.

While moving to her destination, Mae Young-ryeong checked the streets through the carriage window and felt pleased with the vibrant scene.

She hadn’t yet seen the darker sides, but at least the view from the road the carriage was passing through reminded her of her family’s Sacred Medicine Sect.

As she was lost in nostalgia, she recalled a question asked by a rude man named Kim Han.

“So, what wish did you make when you entered?”

Strangely, at the moment she received that question, she felt something unpleasant and sticky tightening around her.

And in the end, she felt an oddly sorrowful and sad emotion. She was even embarrassed by the tears that fell without her realizing it.

The more she thought about the man named Kim Han, the more she remembered his extreme rudeness.

From the first day they met, he had intimidated another representative to the point of making them wet themselves and then kicked them out, and even though she had come with a gift at the request of Genesis, she was treated like a nuisance.

In her life, she had always been loved, but Kim Han was the first man to treat her as a bother and a nuisance, telling her to do nothing.

“…Don’t try to do anything. In my experience, characters like you always end up causing a lot of trouble around them when they try to do something out of character. Absolutely! Never! Don’t try to do anything actively.”

‘Truly a rude man.’

Yet, strangely, she kept thinking about him.

Especially just now, during the personal interview, Kim Han said he thought well of her—or to be precise, he said he wasn’t interested when asked if he disliked her—could that be why?

A man who kept lingering in her thoughts and made her conscious.

At that moment, she heard the chirping voice of Naruan, like a sparrow.

“Hehe… That’s why I like Kim Han, no, the boss.”

“Oh my! Naruan, you like Mr. Kim Han too?”

“Huh? You don’t like coy people? What about the ice-cold ones?”

This cute child who calls him coy.

She claims to be an adult, but just by appearance, she really looks like a cute child. So much so that she wants to have a child that looks like her.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Mae Young-ryeong covered her mouth with her hand and gave a sly answer to Naruan’s question.

“Isn’t it a woman’s fate to be drawn to strong men?”

After that, while the three women chatted and enjoyed the lively streets of Exorsus, the carriage arrived at the inn district where the Adventurer’s Guild and the Explorer’s Guild were located.

A fortune-telling shop that was clearly visible from afar. The carriage stopped in front of the Fortune Teller’s Haven, which had a dark purple crystal ball on its sign.

A small bell on the door jingled, welcoming Mae Young-ryeong and her companions first.

Then a woman wearing a pointed witch’s hat approached with a broad smile on her face.

“Welcome. Is this your first time here?”

“Yes.”

“Then, is there someone in particular you’re looking for?”

“Monsieur. I’d like to see Scaramouche.”

“Oh! Not many guests seek Monsieur. That’s fortunate, as he happens to be here. I’ll take you to him.”

The woman politely led the group.

True to the name Fortune Teller’s Haven, the spacious room was filled with people using various tools to tell fortunes.

While glancing at the strange sight through the small windows in each room, the group arrived in front of a fairly large room on the third floor.

On the door was a nameplate engraved with ‘Monsieur,’ and the woman guiding the group knocked twice briefly and gestured for them to enter.

Then, without entering, she stood in the hallway and bowed excessively.

“May you hear the story you wish from the stars…”

With those words drifting from behind, the door closed with a ‘click’ sound. Click?

“Huh?”

Turning around to look at the door, they saw that the door they had just entered through had disappeared, replaced by a wall.

A completely sealed space. Mae Young-yeong, Lee Hyo-ju, and Naruan were thrown into a space surrounded by walls on all sides.

“What should we do about this?”

Mae Young-ryeong asked, looking around at the perplexing situation, but as expected, Naruan wasn’t particularly interested, and Lee Hyo-ju didn’t say much either.

Seeing their reactions, Mae Young-ryeong meticulously examined from the ceiling to the floor and all the walls, but couldn’t find any gaps.

As time passed, Mae Young-ryeong, worried, began to pace, when Lee Hyo-ju’s cold voice reached her ears.

“Wait. At most a day. They can’t directly harm us representatives, so it seems like they’re trying to inconvenience us this way. Since Mr. Kim Han knows our destination, if we don’t show up for a day, he’ll be the first to storm in here and create chaos. Just sit back and wait.”

Startled by the extremely cold and rational tone, and again by the unexpectedly loud voice, Mae Young-ryeong scrutinized Lee Hyo-ju closely.

Naruan sat comfortably on the floor, saying, “Yeah! Kim Han is amazing!” Lee Hyo-ju also sat on the floor, which had patterns like a wall, as if she didn’t care.

Lee Hyo-ju’s lower lip had a slight trace of blood, showing she was flustered, yet she maintained a composed demeanor for the group, which Mae Young-ryeong found impressive.

“Yes. If it’s divine messenger, Kim Han, he will surely save us.”

“Right? As expected! Kim Han is amazing!”

“Of course. Ah! Mae Young-ryeong, take out your registration card and place it down. Just in case they try to deny it later.”

When Mae Young-ryeong placed the yellow registration card on the floor, Lee Hyo-ju took out snacks and drinks from her magic pouch.

The three of them spread out on the floor, chatting away to pass the time.

As time passed, a clear, incredulous voice clicked its tongue, echoing throughout the room.

“Oh my, what are you guys?”

Naruan looked around in surprise. Mae Young-ryeong did the same.

Then, Lee Hyo-ju’s cold and sharp voice resonated in the space occupied by only the three of them.

“It’s been exactly 18 minutes since we entered here. We’ll wait just 12 more minutes. Within that time, show yourself, apologize, and put all your effort into ‘passing on’ the skill. Then we won’t make an issue of it. Otherwise, you might make me experience another incarnation because of you.”

Despite the cold tone, Mae Young-ryeong was surprised by Lee Hyo-ju’s informal speech, as she always addressed everyone with respect, and fixed her gaze on Lee Hyo-ju.

At the same time, the witch’s cackling laughter echoed from all directions.

“Oh my! You’re an amusing one. Do you think I would fear such a god?”

“Well, if it’s someone worthy of giving a registration card, they must be extraordinary. So what? You could make me even more miserable and wretched than I am now, but you’re still a god. Why? Want to test it? Go ahead. It’s just one day. If a god can manifest once, doing it twice shouldn’t be hard, right?”

The room fell silent again. Time passed, and thanks to the cheerful Naruan, the three women were once more engrossed in conversation.

Time flowed as Naruan mostly talked and the two women laughed, until there was just one minute left of the 30 minutes Lee Hyo-ju had mentioned.

“One minute left.”

Lee Hyo-ju’s cold voice spread through the small room.

“Damn. Hey, are you perhaps a slave of the unlucky Aitas?”

“You don’t need to know that. Hurry up and come out, or don’t. Now 25 seconds left. 20 seconds. 10, 9, 8… 3, 2…”

“Damn it!”

When she counted down to 2 seconds, a woman who appeared to be around the same age as Lee Hyo-ju and Mae Young-ryeong emerged from one side of the room.

She had a generally beautiful face but with a nervous look in her eyes. It was the woman wearing the pointed hat who had guided Mae Young-ryeong and the group at the entrance.

“Oh?”

“Ah! It’s the guide!”

“You’ve come out. Mae Young-ryeong, please state the name of the technique recommended by Mr. Kim Han.”

Amidst everyone’s confusion, Lee Hyo-ju alone seemed unfazed and took charge of the situation, leaving Mae Young-ryeong once again impressed.

‘Is this why she always stays by that man’s side?’

“Mae Young-ryeong?”

“Ah! Yes. I wish to learn the ‘Tale of the Stars.’”

“…What?!”

The woman, Scaramouche, who had been consistently irritable, looked at Mae Young-ryeong with a face full of shock.

“You, how did you know about that?!”

“That is…”

“I understand that’s not an important issue. If you gave the registration card, you should ‘pass on’ the skill. As I mentioned earlier, you must do it with genuine sincerity. If you want our three patron gods, including myself, to overlook the rudeness you’ve shown so far. Ah! Before that, apologize to us. Mr. Kim Han said that apologies and requests aren’t just about words. What do you think?”

“…Geez! You! You’re just as annoying as that Aitas!”

“A material apology, and the passing on of skills.”

Mae Young-ryeong felt like she was seeing a completely different person than the Lee Hyo-ju she had known until now. Almost like… yes, almost like Mr. Kim Han.

“Hmph! Fine! I’ll do it! I’ll do it!!”

With a lot of irritation, Scaramouche created a square card with blazing white flames and threw it at Mae Young-ryeong’s head.

The card flew swiftly and, as soon as it touched Mae Young-ryeong’s forehead, it melted and disappeared as if absorbed.

“Yes.”

Mae Young-ryeong nodded after confirming the floating message in the air twice.

With the movement of divine power starting from her head, Mae Young-ryeong’s intelligence began to expand.

As the speed accelerated, Mae Young-ryeong felt as if her mind was endlessly, endlessly ascending to the sky.

After looking down at her companions from above for a while, Mae Young-ryeong’s mind rose even higher to a place where she could see all of Exorsus at a glance.

A freedom never experienced before. A feeling as if anything were possible.

As the mind expanded to encompass the whole of Exorsus, suddenly memories unknown until now flooded in like a deluge.

“Oh my. So that woman is really the one…?

“Ah! Are you the one who came as the master’s disciple this time?”

“The place you must go this time is where the venerable priest resides.”

“Come here. Oh ho! The master calls, can’t you come quickly? Uh huh huh huh.”

The mind plummeting faster than the moment it ascended.

Though unaware of the reason, the mind was thrown into terrifying and negative memories.

If it collided like this, even though it was just thoughts and consciousness, it would lead to great danger.

The warm and thick energy enveloping the memories that seemed to invade the brain was undoubtedly the divine power known as divinity.

The divinity that lay dormant within Mae Young-ryeong began to push the negative emotions to one side of the memory.

In that brief moment, Mae Young-ryeong, who grasped her plummeting mind, was able to safely return to her body.

The first thing Mae Young-ryeong did as she blinked and regained her vision was to look up at the ceiling.

Herself who had been looking down from above just a moment ago. And the dark pasts still pushed aside, almost sealed in one corner of her memory.

In a moment of incomprehension, she recalled the question Kim Han had asked her in a concerned (as Mae Young-ryeong perceived it) voice.

“Why did you enter the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’? What wish did you make when you came in?”

Suddenly, she found herself wanting to hear the voice of the cold city man, Kim Han, who was brusque and treated her harshly.