DEB 13

“…So there doesn’t seem to be anything suspicious. It’s impossible for him to enter the gate due to mana hypersensitivity, as his brother claimed. A year ago…”

“That’s enough.”

Jiwook raised his hand to halt the report, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes. Since the day Huiyun collapsed, coughing up blood, Jiwook hadn’t slept a wink for three days. He was more on edge than usual.

The Guild members noticed his heightened sensitivity and immediately fell silent, lowering their heads. They were worried about making eye contact and causing a spark, Jiwook merely tapped his teacup instead of giving orders.

“Mana hypersensitivity…”

As a well-known incurable disease, Jiwook knew what it was. As the guild members reported, if Huiyun truly had mana hypersensitivity, there was no way he could enter the gate. Even one step inward would expose him to a vast amount of mana, leading to certain death.

So the idea that Huiyun entered the gate and attempted to clear it was theoretically absurd. Not to mention, how could a patient with mana hypersensitivity successfully conquer a gate with their frail body?

His body was so fragile it could break with a slight touch. The disbelief from the others that Huiyun could be ‘that person’ stemmed from his delicate appearance. His face seemed delicate and innocent, like he couldn’t harm even a fly, and his slender frame looked as if he couldn’t carry a sack of rice without breaking. Normally, Jiwook would have acknowledged this fact and easily backed down, but this time, he couldn’t.

Setting aside countless absurdities in the theory. 

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

He saw Huiyun. Directly with his own eyes.

As someone with the ability to record, having a false memory was more absurd than the hypothesis that Huiyun was ‘that person.’ As someone who trusted his ability above all else, Jiwook had no choice but to assert what he had seen, regardless of the absurdity of it.

The vivid power of domination that permeated the entire third floor.

The scent and familiar aura of the dominator who had controlled Huiyun’s body in that moment.

Even the eerie feeling he felt from the eyes that looked at him… Tsk.

Jiwook, clicked his tongue, raised his head and looked at the ceiling. If he had a memory-sharing skill, he would share what he had seen with others, but since that wasn’t possible, he… wondered if he was hallucinating due to the life-threatening situation.

But even so, didn’t he smell ‘that’ scent?

Even if he conceded to hallucination theory, he couldn’t attribute the scent to it. 

That’s why he grabbed Huiyun inside the gate and talked to him.

Or was that scene all a fabrication of his own?

With doubts in his mind, Jiwook reflected on his memories. When he saw Huiyun’s reaction in the hospital room, it seemed like he didn’t understand the conversation he was having with him.

Which side was the truth?

Rubbing his temples as his head throbbed, Jiwook pursed his lips with his tongue.

It had been a long time. After ten thousand years, he had finally found traces of him, so he couldn’t easily let go of his regrets.

Lost in thought for a while, Jiwook waved his hand to dismiss the guild members waiting and turned his chair around. 

Moonlight streamed in through the wide window. Breathing in the night air deeply, Jiwook surrendered himself to the memories slowly resurfacing. 

“Vina, your face is injured.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“How can I pay attention to you when you don’t care about yourself? You’re still young, my disciple. Cherish your body. You should consider yourself more precious than anything else. If you cherish yourself, the world will recognize your value.”

“I don’t really understand what it means to be precious.”

“Being precious means to exist without harm, to be happy, and to always be beautiful and splendid. You are a unique being in the world, so that alone is enough to make you precious. If you cherish yourself, my dear.”

The whispers and the sleeve that wiped the flowing blood from his cheek were still vivid in his mind.

He imparted teachings to the inexperienced, passing on knowledge, transforming a naive little boy who knew nothing into a beacon of knowledge. It was a cold winter everywhere, but after meeting him, spring arrived. 

He became a precious existence.

Everything that he became, and everything that he will be, all was because of him… 

“If he disappears like that, what should I do…”

His master told him that he had repaid him enough. 

However, Jiwook didn’t stay by his side for repayment. Even if he had to be reborn after his life ends, he would continue to do so. 

So that he could have the pleasure to inform him of every new thing he had discovered.

In the past, he taught him knowledge, but now he found joy in telling him about the changing world.

That was how Jiwook felt, but apparently his master thought otherwise.

The stories Jiwook seemed to find amusing were actually dull and uninteresting, and it was clear that he didn’t feel much interest despite smiling outwardly. He must have been tired of being ‘together’ and wanted to leave alone.

So that must be the reason why he had disappeared without saying a word.

There could not be any other reason.

Why did he vanish like that? Why did he leave them all alone without a single word? Why did he abandon the person, who followed him so devotedly, with such coldness and indifference?

“Yasha…”

Uttering his old mentor’s name, Jiwook opened his eyes and stared at the moon. Memories of when he went to the mountains where Yasha died flooded back.

It was none other than Yasha who had committed suicide. 

Unable to believe the fact, Jiwook tracked down every place where he could sense Yasha’s presence and spent the night searching the mountains he eventually arrived at. 

From dawn till dusk, he continued his investigation, but he never found a single strand of Yasha’s hair. Yet despite that, the mourning trees of every forest and the rain mixed with icy storms revealed that the season he vanished was winter. 

With every existence mourning his death, it was impossible not to know.

Thus, Yasha’s six disciples, who set out to find him, realized that he had died. 

Unable to accept the reality, they began to wander in search of Yasha, and after a hundred years, they reluctantly accepted his death.

If he couldn’t be found after all this time, it meant he truly was dead.

Why did Yasha commit suicide?

Why… did he choose to leave them all behind without a word and face a lonely death?

Yasha’s disciples, who couldn’t understand, gathered at the mountains on the hundredth anniversary of Yasha’s death and made a vow. They would share all information related to Yasha until he was found, and as long as the bloodline of their souls continued, they would tirelessly search for Yasha’s trace.

And so, for ten thousand years.

Yasha’s disciples searched for him for ten thousand years, but Yasha’s whereabouts remained as mysterious as ever. In the flow of time, everyone speculated that perhaps his soul had been extinguished.

After that grim period of time, this was the first time they found a trace of their master. Uncertain as it was, with doubts lingering, it was not a situation where they could easily let go.

“…I can’t give up.”

Some yearnings were so deep that they sometimes turned into resentment. Every moment that passed without Yasha felt like a punishment for Jiwook, as if he had been abandoned. And so, he suffered, blamed himself, and regretted. His yearning faded as it gave rooms for resentment and thirst.

When he realized this, Jiwook tried to let go of all the lingering emotions of resentment. Faded emotions had lost their original value, so he tried to tidy them up, but his heart wouldn’t follow. Having been transformed from a dragon to a human, Jiwook realized that humans were inherently greedy, attached to their own possessions, and unable to let go of unnecessary emotions. 

Knowing he had become a human, Jiwook decided to embrace those dismal, murky, and dirty emotions. This was his punishment, and Yasha’s punishment as well.

“So you must look at me directly with your own eyes.”

With eyes that poured out infinite mercy toward life and compassion for the abandoned, he hoped to see his own misguided self directly through those compassionate eyes. He wanted to face the consequences of his mistakes, seen through those compassionate eyes.

Never make the same mistake again.

If he could meet Yasha, then Jiwook would gladly become human, serving as a product of his regrets and the result of his mistakes. The reasons behind why Jiwook’s personality changed first among Yasha’s six disciples were also mixed in with these circumstances.

With a resentment resembling attachment vividly drawn in his eyes, Jiwook soon composed his expression and shook the bell on his desk. The guild members outside immediately entered and bowed their heads.

“Lower your guard, but continue to monitor him. If it becomes certain that Mok Huiyun is a nonentity, you can relax your surveillance.”

“Yes, understood.”

The guild member who received the order bowed and left the room. For now, this was enough.

Until it became certain which side was right, it was better not to act hastily and instead keep watching from the shadow. Taking a deep breath, he began his work. After a while, there was suddenly a commotion outside the door.