“Protect Taehee.”

Until now, Jaegyeom had lived his life carrying everything alone. And he had believed that was only natural. His life had to be one that never took root anywhere. If he did not build any pillars to hold it up, then there would be nothing to break.

But at this very moment, for the first time, Jaegyeom felt a hand supporting his life.

Jaegyeom approached Yoon Taehee, who was being healed by Mesan. Sitting down with one knee raised, Jaegyeom met Yoon Taehee’s eyes.

Yoon Taehee slowly lifted his head and looked at Jaegyeom.

The moment he faced Jaegyeom, it felt as if a ball of fire were surging up his throat.

There was so much he wanted to say. He wanted to ask what Jaegyeom had been thinking, coming all the way here. Suhyang had wanted Jaegyeom to come to this place. For that reason alone, this was a disaster for Yoon Taehee.

Yoon Taehee knew all too well that he was the bait meant to lure Jaegyeom in.

What Suhyang wanted was Jaegyeom.

“Taehee.”

Jaegyeom cupped Yoon Taehee’s cheek.

“What do you want me to do?”

Looking at Yoon Taehee covered in wounds made his heart ache as if it were being squeezed.

“What do you want?”

Yoon Taehee could not find the words to answer. He only stared blankly at Jaegyeom. The sight of the boy suddenly appearing and asking what he wanted felt far too unreal.

What did he want?

It felt as if one corner of his heart were crumbling down. A strange sensation overcame him, as though he were falling and being swept away at the same time.

Yoon Taehee held the hand touching his cheek and slowly bowed his head. He clasped the back of Jaegyeom’s hand with both of his own and buried his forehead against it, as if offering a prayer.

Or making a confession.

I...

I want to reclaim my name.

I want to cut off all these causes and effects, things I do not even know when or where they began, and live freely with you.

I want you to keep staying by my side.

I want that to be my life...

“Okay. I understand.”

Jaegyeom gently stroked the back of Yoon Taehee’s head.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make it happen.”

Answering without a moment’s hesitation, Jaegyeom stood.

He looked at Suhyang, who stood in the distance. Even from far away, he knew their eyes had met. Jaegyeom slung the bow in his hand over his shoulder. As he took a few steps closer to Suhyang, she greeted him.

“Welcome.”

Suhyang, greeting him calmly, narrowed her eyes.

“I did not expect you to appear with a fox and a ginseng child attached to you. What a strange sight.”

Jaegyeom stared at Suhyang without expression.

“I briefly thought you might not come. Have you made up your mind?”

Suhyang had given Jaegyeom one week to choose.

Suhyang wanted eternal life, and Jaegyeom wanted death. It was a trade in which each would exchange what the other possessed.

And Jaegyeom had finally made his decision.

“Yes. I’ve made up my mind.”

Jaegyeom looked at Suhyang with unwavering eyes.

“I’m going to make it as if none of this ever happened.”

At the familiar answer, Suhyang let out a small laugh.

Thinking back, Suhyang had always been testing him.

It had been the same on the day they met at the village shrine. That day, too, Jaegyeom had said he would make it as if none of it had happened.

What would have happened if he had not lost his mask then?

That, he did not know.

Jaegyeom nocked an arrow to his bow. He drew the bowstring all the way to his chin.

It felt as if, if he released it now, he could pierce Suhyang’s forehead.

So Jaegyeom let go.

Then, in the blink of an eye, a straw figure appeared in front of Suhyang. A crack split across the face of the guard who took the arrow in Suhyang’s place, and the white mask it wore crumbled away. But even though the shattered mask vanished, the straw figure remained standing there, still maintaining its original form.

One side of Jaegyeom’s brow furrowed faintly.

What is this? Why...

Jaegyeom fired another arrow.

The moment the arrow struck, the sensation was strange.

It was supposed to be a straw figure imitating a human form, yet it felt as though the arrow had pierced living flesh.

The instant he realized something was wrong, Jaegyeom’s eyes slowly widened. He faltered and stepped back.

The things approaching him even as they bled were not dolls made of straw.

They were unmistakably human.

Jaegyeom’s eyes opened wide. His hand, which had been about to nock another arrow, hesitated. Now that he knew they were human, he could not shoot his bow the way he had until now.

At that moment, taking advantage of Jaegyeom’s hesitation, a guard’s sword flew in from behind him.

Because he had been lost in thought for an instant, he failed to notice the presence.

Just as he moved a beat too late, Yoon Taehee, who had been receiving healing from Mesan, deflected the sword.

It happened in an instant.

Yoon Taehee, who had warded off the incoming blade and protected Jaegyeom, asked with a grim face,

“Are you all right? What’s wrong?”

“Th-they’re people.”

“What?”

“They’re living people.”

At Jaegyeom’s words, Yoon Taehee lifted his head and looked at the straw figure Jaegyeom’s arrow had struck earlier.

It was true.

Red blood was spreading from the place where the second arrow had hit.

“They must be apprentices under the director’s control. Or weak gifted.”

The moment he heard those words, an indescribable revulsion rose inside him.

If they had been Naja siding with the director, he might have finished them off without hesitation.

Just then, straw figures that had appeared from who knew where began approaching the two of them again. Since the distance was close, using a sword would be faster than firing an arrow.

Jaegyeom snatched the sword from Yoon Taehee’s hand. Then he grabbed Yoon Taehee’s arm and moved him behind his back. After pushing Yoon Taehee several steps away, Jaegyeom quickly turned.

He immediately swung the sword at the straw figures.

Cutting through an unknown number of them, Jaegyeom protected Yoon Taehee.

Then one of the straw figures struck by his sword fell backward onto its rear.

The mask slipped from the straw figure that had fallen to the ground. Jaegyeom, catching his breath as he took his stance, raised his eyes.

The moment he saw the face inside the mask, Jaegyeom’s face went white and still.

“Jo Youngwoo?”

The face inside the mask looked exactly like Jo Youngwoo.

Their physiques were different, but the features were unmistakably Jo Youngwoo’s. With skin so pale it looked bloodless, somewhat sickly, the face was exactly as he remembered it.

“......”

The hand Jaegyeom had wrapped around the sword hilt trembled faintly.

Jo Youngwoo gave no answer.

He knew.

The person before him was not the Jo Youngwoo he knew.

Jo Youngwoo’s eyes were vacant. With no awareness of who he was or what he was doing, Jo Youngwoo was here.

Jaegyeom already knew that the director used parasites to control people. Jo Youngwoo, whose mind had been eroded, was moving according to the director’s will.

Jo Youngwoo, who had fallen under the sword, rose again while bleeding. In Jaegyeom’s distorted vision, Jo Youngwoo approaching with a sword in hand looked like a machine.

It was only a momentary hesitation.

Even though he knew hesitation would inevitably create an opening, Jaegyeom could not help but falter for that brief instant.

A cold blade slipped through the gap.

My lord—

He felt as if he could hear Mesan crying out from far away.

His consciousness gradually receded. Listening to the scream, thick with sobs, echoing in his ears, Jaegyeom turned his gaze past Yoon Taehee.

Jeongju was looking at him with a face full of horror.

Slowly, Jaegyeom looked down.

A sword had pierced through his shoulder and was protruding from his body. The blade, soaked in blood, caught the bright moonlight and gleamed eerily.

Only then did Jaegyeom realize that he had been stabbed.

He stared at the blade sticking out by about a span.

For a moment, time seemed to stop.

The sword that had pierced his body was pulled out from behind. As he lost his balance and staggered from the force of it being withdrawn, Yoon Taehee firmly wrapped an arm around Jaegyeom’s waist and supported him.

Jaegyeom felt a strange sensation, as if a hole had been punched clean through his chest.

Leaning against Yoon Taehee’s chest, Jaegyeom looked up.

“Yoon Taehee.”

The voice that cut through his hazy mind dragged Yoon Taehee back to reality.

“Get it together.”

Jaegyeom placed his palm against Yoon Taehee’s cheek and focused his eyes.

“I won’t die. You know that.”

And it was not as if this were the first or second time he had been stabbed.

As if asking whether Yoon Taehee did not already know that, Jaegyeom muttered to himself and slowly closed, then opened, his eyes.

He said the words, but the light in his eyes was gradually fading. An unbearable drowsiness seemed to wash over him.

No.

Yoon Taehee’s lips parted blankly.

Jaegyeom raised his hand and pressed down on his wound. Blood was gushing out. He could vividly feel his heart throbbing.

Yoon Taehee knelt there, looking at Jaegyeom with his arms hanging uselessly.

“Even so, it’ll only be for a moment. I’ll wake up soon.”

Besides, Mesan was here now too.

You don’t have to worry too much, Jaegyeom wanted to say.

But his consciousness was flickering. He could not tell whether the words had stayed inside his mind or actually left his mouth.

“My lord!”

“Jaegyeom!”

From far away, voices calling him rang out like screams. Those calls clung to his ears like hallucinations, but in the end, Jaegyeom could not answer.

The sword slipped from his hand.

In an instant, the strength left his legs.

Jaegyeom lost consciousness.