Tegran kept dumping information. One question triggered a flood of related data and memories, pouring out without pause. The raw, unfiltered fragments held the entire truth behind the Forest That Sings of Eternity.

As Do-Jin listened, he came to realize that the Kingdom of Hoxeth hadn’t simply tried to hunt the Divine Deer Nua. What they were after was something much darker: to create an artificial spirit powerful enough to rival a Spirit King, then take complete control over it.

“We knew all too well that a Spirit King was far beyond anything a human could hope to control. But what if we could raise one from a spirit we already dominated?” Tegran said.

He had been curious, and the king greedy. Once their desires aligned, a full-scale national project was set in motion. It started with achieving complete domination over a powerful spirit.

“His Majesty demanded perfect restraint and domination. While it was easy enough with low-ranking spirits, controlling one with the potential to become a Spirit King was almost impossible. To overcome that, we created the Parallel-Type Spirit Restraint Unit.”

The plan was to take children born with an unusually high affinity for spirits and raise them from infancy with the sole purpose of subjugating and controlling those entities.

“The synchronizing circuit that let them share the strain of binding was extremely unstable. The survival rate of the test subjects was low. But that was nothing more than a numbers problem. We solved it by using more test subjects. In the end, we succeeded in fully restraining and dominating the Great Spirit Dagne.”

Once they had full control over a high-level spirit, they planned to make it even stronger.

“For a spirit to become a Spirit King, it had to transcend its natural limits and ascend to a higher plane of existence. These beings gradually amassed power to evolve into something greater, an accumulation we called the ‘key.’ To force Dagne’s evolution, we chose to steal the keys of others.”

That was why they targeted Nua. As one of the oldest and most powerful known entities, revered even as a Great Spirit, Nua had likely hoarded a vast key for her evolution. Feeding that massive reserve of energy to Dagne would push him one step closer to becoming a Spirit King. It was the driving force behind the so-called Divine Deer Nua Expedition.

“Although success was in sight, we didn’t account for one variable. The moment Dagne should have ended Nua, she slipped from our control. If she exerted any more power, Unit 782, the central binding core that bore the greatest burden, risked being damaged. For reasons unknown, it appeared that Dagne did not wish for Unit 782 to die.”

When Nua struck back, the expedition forces had suffered devastating losses. Even Dagne had been critically wounded.

“In the end, the expedition was nearly wiped out. 113 Parallel-Type Spirit Restraint Units, including Unit 782, were destroyed. Freed from his restraints, Dagne went berserk. In the chaos, Nua also suffered a fatal—” Tegran suddenly stuttered like a broken record.

There was a gap in his memory because he had died around that point. Only once his recollections shifted to after he’d become a wandering spirit in the forest did his account flow normally again.

“The grudge of the powerful spirit Nua corrupted the forest. I was pulled into her curse and left to roam endlessly. And I suffered again and again, from the wailing of her resentment. Nua is still alive. Even now, in the heart of the forest, she has not forgotten—” Tegran stopped talking completely and began to convulse.

His reaction was like that of someone recalling something utterly terrifying. And yet, even after losing his sense of self, he could still feel fear. It was a testament to just how unbearable those cries had been as he wandered the forest. After a few more spasms, Tegran finally fell silent, as if there were no more memories left to spill.

After hearing all that, what Do-Jin felt wasn’t just bitterness. It felt like his mouth was packed with sand, gritty, dry, and nearly suffocating.

She was just... a normal, kind person, Do-Jin thought.

He pictured the Watcher, the gentle girl who couldn’t even remember her own name. Was the memory loss simply a side effect of becoming undead, or a defense mechanism to block out the fact that she’d been raised like livestock, created solely to enslave spirits? Unfortunately, Do-Jin’s guess wasn’t far from the truth.

“Unit 782... so everything I thought I remembered about the Kingdom of Hoxeth, all that loyalty I felt... was all brainwashing?” the Watcher muttered painfully, as if she had been punched in the gut.

Seeing her blank expression, Do-Jin remembered the way she used to hug a bowl of poorly made stew like it was the most precious thing in the world. After spending those days together talking, struggling, and sharing meals, it was hard not to feel something. His teeth clenched as rage began to boil up inside him.

Fuck.

The Watcher reached up and tore off her worn shoulder guard. Her clothing had long since rotted away with the passing years, leaving her pale white shoulder exposed. She turned and showed Do-Jin the back of her shoulder, as if wanting him to deny what she already knew was true. However, etched into her skin was the classification number, 0782.

These sick fucking bastards... Do-Jin cursed inwardly as he stared at the numbers on her back. They were less an inscription than a burn scar, presumably seared into her skin by a hot brand.

“So it’s there,” the Watcher said, forcing a weak smile as she caught his reaction. “I remember now. It’s funny, really. I spent all that time wandering the forest, clinging to my loyalty to the Kingdom of Hoxeth and the memories of my comrades who fought by my side... and it turns out it was all fake.”

She gripped her own shoulder tightly. “But it’s all right. Not everything was a lie. The children who were in the same situation as me, the ones who grew up with me, were real.”

The Watcher faced the memories she had long turned away from, memories repressed to escape a miserable reality. She had convinced herself she wasn’t Spirit Restraint Unit 782, but a warrior serving the king’s will. In the end, it was a fragile lie meant only to make her loneliness easier to bear.

I am sorry, everyone... Unit 782 apologized for forgetting the comrades who had grown with her, suffered with her, and died with her. I’m sorry, Dagne.

At the same time, she was beginning to fill with rage. She couldn’t understand how she had forgotten her sisters and brothers, the very kin who had suffered beside her. Most of all, she couldn’t understand how she had forgotten Dagne, who pitied them and loved them until the very end, even while bound and enslaved by humans.

I will make it right, Unit 782 vowed.

The sickening charade of serving as the Kingdom of Hoxeth’s puppet warrior was over. But her purpose hadn’t changed. For Dagne, she would see this through to the end. And for the children who might still be wandering the forest in bitterness, she could not stop.

Unit 782 strapped the shoulder guard back into place. Now that she thought about it, it was not even hers to begin with. She had just picked it up to play dress up as a warrior.

Looking at Do-Jin, she said flatly, “Good thing I beat the shit out of him earlier.”

“Yeah,” he replied.

He had nothing else to say. Instead, he reached out and gave her a few light pats on the shoulder. He had thought of the Watcher as strong and tough, but now that he looked closer, her shoulders were smaller than he expected.

“Even so, nothing’s changed. I still want to fix the forest. Those kids... they might still be out there, wandering like I was.”

Do-Jin felt something sharp and heavy claw up inside his chest. “I will help you.”

At that point, he didn’t care about hatching eggs or anything else. It was pointless to worry about quest rewards right now. The system could take care of that on its own. From now on, he was dead set on settling the score for this pitiful, starving girl.

Do-Jin turned to Tegran and asked, “You said Nua is still alive, right? That she’s still crying herself out and consumed by her grudge.”

Tegran confirmed it with a slow nod.

“Is there a way to reach her? A way to get to the center of the forest?”

“We who wander the forest can hear Nua’s voice. We keep running toward the forest’s edge to escape it. But Nua has no intention of letting us go. She keeps twisting the shape of the forest so that we remain lost in it forever.”

“So what you’re saying is you run from the voice?” Do-Jin asked. “That means if we follow the sound you hear, we can reach the heart of the forest where Nua is.”

“That is correct,” Tegran said plainly.

The reason the Forest That Sings of Eternity was a labyrinth was not to trap outsiders who entered. Nua, the master of the forest, had reshaped it into a shifting maze to imprison the humans who had turned her into this wretched state, keeping them locked inside for all eternity.

“Then guide us. Take us to where Nua is,” Do-Jin demanded.

The moment he made that request, a light burst from the egg and wrapped around Tegran. It seemed like the light was binding him, forcing him to obey.

[Quest: The Spirit Dragon’s Legacy]

Grade: Hidden

You have uncovered the tragedy behind the Forest That Sings of Eternity. Put an end to this sorrow. For reasons still unknown, the egg left behind by the Spirit Dragon seems to desire this as well.

The quest details were updated, but Do-Jin dismissed the window at once. He was going to see this through, no matter what the system said.

Looking at Tegran, who was still hesitating and squirming like he didn’t want to go near Nua, he gave the order again. “Take us to Nua.”

At least do that, you cursed old bastard, Do-Jin thought as he glared at Tegran.

***

The two of them pressed on, forcing Tegran ahead as they made their way to where Nua was waiting. The path was dead empty, not a single monster in sight.

The creatures of the Forest That Sings of Eternity had all scattered, running for their miserable lives from Nua’s vengeful cries. No beast was clueless enough to creep closer to the heart of the forest where her wails hit hardest, so the way forward became nothing but silence and open ground.

“Urrrrghhh...!” Tegran groaned, his soul writhing as he tried to twist away and bolt in the opposite direction.

Every time he resisted, the Spirit Dragon’s egg in Do-Jin’s hands flared with power and slammed him back into place like a leash yanking a dog. Eventually, they reached a place stripped bare of life. The ground was nothing but bare earth, with no trees, no grass, and not a single sign of growth.

There was only a single beast in sight. A deer lay sprawled on the ground, its ribs and spine jutting through torn flesh, its body mangled and bleeding from wounds that should have killed it long ago.

“Nua,” Do-Jin muttered, his voice low.

The Divine Deer Nua licked the blood pouring from her own wounds, then let out a roar that tore through the air. However, Do-Jin couldn’t hear it. It was a scream meant only for the ones who had wronged her, a sound only the guilty could hear.

Nua raised her head toward the sky, then turned her gaze to Do-Jin. She let out a blood-curdling growl as her eyes turned red. A wounded beast naturally became more fearful and wary. Nua regarded the unfamiliar human who had stepped into her den and hiding place as an enemy.