Episode 203

Just as how the veil goes down at the end of a play, darkness filled the place when life ended.

He saw Zaha’s back as he walked in a dark alley.

‘Wait. Do not leave.’

When he called out, Zaha turned. He spoke with a calm face.

-You are the one who left.

Right. He was right.

If he failed….

There was a sharp scream. Then a clattering sound and noises everywhere.

“Seol Young! Seol Young!”

It was an anxious call for him.

‘I do not want my brothers to see how I died…’

They seemed to be saying something, but he couldn’t hear them. His ears were filled with blood, and it felt like nothing could reach him.

‘I am sorry.’

His consciousness sank deep.

‘But it had to happen like this.’

His hands wouldn’t clench. Instead of his life, he just wanted to hold onto something.

‘Something feels odd.’

A face emerged from the darkness. It was a face that was covered in talismans.

At the bottom of his consciousness, Seol Young faced it.

‘Right. It isn’t that I didn’t do it right. I am good enough. It was a strange thing.’

The talismans attached to her face were swaying, and Seol Young looked at them.

‘What was it that I saw beyond the talismans?’

It was something that appeared that made his heart pound.

‘What was that?’

It was something he hadn’t seen until then. His spiritual eyes, which read the soul’s identity, pointed at it.

Yet he couldn’t see what it was.

To ‘see’ meant for the eyes to receive information. But right now, the information isn’t being accepted.

If it were empty, it was empty, if it showed despair, it was despair.

‘What should I say about that?’

His head couldn’t understand, so it caused a crash within him. Then his eyes shone.

Seol Young couldn’t stay like that forever.

Zaha’s face was visible in the darkness.

And he said,

‘Saw that? It was odd.’

The words turned into mumbles as they came out.

“…”

A small sound broke the silence, and Zaha’s face changed.

His gaze, which he didn’t know where it was looking, suddenly turned his way.

‘Can he see me?’

Seol Young looked at him.

‘Does he see my soul?’

Another sound came from his lips in a confused state. And his senses returned like candles being lit one by one. It was a dark space. The air smelled like herbs.

He was now on a bed, and his entire body was soaked in water.

Did he feel his body weight?

Only then did Seol Young realize it.

It wasn’t that he was a wandering spirit.

‘I was alive.’

He couldn’t believe it. To survive even after being taken down like that.

As if the fog had been lifted, the range of his vision widened little by little. There was no one else in the room. There was only Zaha sitting next to the bed.

Seol Young squeezed every ounce of energy he had and asked,

“Everyone…?”

Zaha looked at him and said,

“You told everyone to get out.”

“I did?”

Then why didn’t he go out?

When he had such a question, he lowered his eyes instead of speaking, so Zaha did the same.

He could see his hand sticking out of the blanket. His hand had tightly gripped Zaha’s collar, but it was now normal, as if no one had touched it.

“…”

He remembered.

Before he passed out, he tightly held onto Zaha’s clothes. And even after letting go, he continued to cling onto something, and it seemed to be Zaha’s clothes.

‘This….’

Seol Young tried to let go of the cloth, but his hands wouldn’t move.

That was when he thought to ask,

“How many days has it been?”

“3 days.”

Seol Young was surprised. He had been doing that for three days?

Why didn’t he pull Seol Young’s hands away? Why stay here? While he loosened each finger, Zaha just watched him.

‘Are you a child?’

His eyes that were looking at him felt like they lacked the usual shine.

Why was he looking at Seol Young like that?

He could guess it.

The fact that he tried to think about all this meant the situation couldn’t be ignored.

“I guessed it.”

Seol Young spoke in a calm tone.

“After suffering that much, even if my life were saved, I wouldn’t have been able to recover. What went wrong? My internal energy? Legs. Or was my arm on the left….”

Zaha’s expression changed only then.

“Do you not sense anything?”

“Yes.”

“Is that so? I have good news and bad news, and the good news comes first.”

He pulled off the blanket, and Seol Young’s body was wrapped in a cloth bandage under linen.

But nothing was missing.

“Your limbs and organs are all fine. Powerful energy pierced through your body, but your spiritual qi and innate qi got damaged badly.”

The fact that he was alive was already a miracle, but his limbs were intact too?

Seol Young was surprised.

It was a lie that he would have never believed until the luck of three rebirths was used.

So he became more anxious.

“Then the bad news…”

Instead of answering, Zaha put his hand inside his collar. He pulled out what was hanging there, and Seol Young went stiff.

The body of the last Tree God that they had obtained through Jung Myung’s soul was broken in half, leaving just its face.

He was speechless.

“Great Mother… No…”

“Right.”

Zaha said.

“I found it later too. It seemed like the moment you had been targeted, she did something to stop that.”

Why?

Ever since this necklace came into their hands from the lake, it has been constantly looking after Seol Young.

Like Jung Myung said, was it because she wanted to help the two?

The power of the God, which had been cut off from this world, couldn’t take down Mita. But still, it could suppress the evil spirit.

And that was already difficult…

“It is bad.”

Seol Young tried to get up again, but Zaha stopped him.

“Lay down.”

“Now is not the time for this.”

“Lay down.”

He squeezed Seol Young’s shoulders and put him back.

“You did enough. Just get rid of those thoughts. From now on, I will take care of it.”

His tone was forced, and his voice was cold.

‘… I guess so.’

He clearly said that with his own mouth at his home.

-We can do it.

He revived Zaha, who had collapsed in the dark, and now they were both here. It was only possible because they believed in each other.

But what now?

The ritual of peace, which should have appeased the evil spirit, failed. And everyone believed Seol Young’s words and mobilized a huge amount of troops, the royal family, and the pavilion officials. However, it resulted in nothing.

Could someone like Zaha accept such an outcome?

‘He will regret believing my words.’

Dizziness rose in front of his eyes, and his mind wandered. However, Seol Young tried to calm his mind.

“Give me one more chance.”

Zaha looked at him without avoiding his gaze.

“I know it is shameless of me to say that. Everyone did well, but everything got ruined in an instant, so now they cannot believe me.”

“…”

“But it cannot be helped. This sacrifice was bound to fail. I don’t know what it is, but there is another secret. One I didn’t see. And it is not our fault. It was hidden from us from the start.”

Seol Young put his hand on the ground to raise his body.

“At this rate, she will move again. There really isn’t any time left. But now, how can you move without me? Even so, I have no choice but to go through hell over and over again.”

“….”

Zaha didn’t answer. But his expression was saying what he was thinking.

“Is that what you thought? Just like eight years ago, you will command the Hwarang troops and the God of Cataclysm once…”

“I tried it once, so I know.”

“No. It will be the same as last time. We both know who will get ruined in the end.”

Zaha didn’t answer, and Seol Young continued.

“For the last time, please trust me just one more time.”

“…”

“Right. It is true that I didn’t succeed. But what if it was bound to fail, no matter who initiated it? That is not a failure. What an achievement that is. We were not wrong.”

He was trying so hard. But Zaha didn’t speak. Then he slowly stretched his hand out….

And pulled Seol Young by the cheek.

What was he doing?

When he looked shocked, Zaha spat out,

“Even after going all the way through death, you didn’t come to your senses.”

“Uh?”

“Seol Young-rang, are my words funny? It isn’t that you didn’t lose any body parts, but her energy ripped your body apart.”

He sighed.

“But that…”

“Are you not hurt? Of course. It is because you are being helped by medicine. So do not talk and lie down for a few days.”

He pressed Seol Young on the shoulders again.

“Wait!”

Seol Young struggled and resisted. He couldn’t move because of the medicine, yet his mind felt relieved.

‘It wasn’t that he was disappointed in me.’

It seemed that Seol Young had become critically ill while he was working.

And it is fortunate now…

“Still, I don’t have the time to lie idle now. It has to be done right.”

“What?”

“Illusion.”

Seol Young answered and raised his energy.

“There is only one way to find out the secret. We need to project the remnants of the God of Cataclysm.”

“What?”

Zaha finally put on the familiar expression that Seol Young knew.

It was an expression that liked crazy stuff.