It was the day the Martial Tournament held by the MARTIAL ALLIANCE ended, and the tournament’s champion, Yu Gang, was appointed Demon-Slaying Corps Lord.

Yu Gang sat facing Namgoong Mucheon.

It was a seat to congratulate him on his appointment and discuss the direction going forward.

“Who would have thought that clumsy /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ boy of mine would grow into someone so splendid. It truly amazes me.”

This was the first time the two of them had faced each other since the day Yu Gang left MOUNT HUA SECT.

“It was possible thanks to you, Alliance Lord.”

Yu Gang remembered.

The one who had made it possible for him to meet Ouyang Do had been this man.

“It’s late, but thank you for telling me to go east that day.”

Namgoong Mucheon smiled faintly.

“I told you to go east, but you were the one who turned your feet in that direction.”

He had only given a hint. It had been Yu Gang’s choice to follow it.

“And until then, that man had never taken a disciple. The fact that you caught his eye was your doing as well. Don’t be so grateful to me.”

“If you hadn’t given me that hint, I would have headed to the village that day.”

When he’d been driven from MOUNT HUA SECT and thought he’d lost his inner power, the first thought that had come to him was how to survive.

So the young Yu Gang’s steps would naturally have gone downhill to the village below the mountain.

If he had gone down to the village that day, he would never have met Ouyang Do, and he would have wasted a long time believing he had lost his inner power.

“If someone who saves you from a tiger is called a benefactor, then surely the one who tells you how to avoid the tiger’s den is also a benefactor.”

It was Ouyang Do who repaired his dantian, but it was Namgoong Mucheon who had shown him the road to Ouyang Do.

To Yu Gang, both of them were nothing short of benefactors.

“Hahaha!”

At Yu Gang’s bold words, Namgoong Mucheon burst out laughing.

Even though he was young, he had lived a life full of hard turns and cruelty.

He’d already been a child who tugged at the heart, but to have a temperament this daring too—now Namgoong Mucheon even found him endearing.

“Fine. If that’s how you see it, then so it is. In that case, I will gladly accept your feelings.”

“Thank you.”

The two of them continued speaking about the DEMON-SLAYING CORPS.

Namgoong Mucheon told Yu Gang that in reality, the DEMON-SLAYING CORPS was a martial force directly under Seop Mugwang, created to expose Great Blood Cult remnants hiding within the central plains martial world.

He also told him that the reason it was formed of young martial artists whose faces were not yet widely known was because they would often need to move in secrecy.

And that it was also to cultivate talent who would lead the martial world in the future.

As they spoke, the sun had already passed the midpoint of the sky.

“It’s gotten late. Go out and meet the corps members now.”

Namgoong Mucheon began to wrap up the conversation.

But then—

“I have one more thing I want to say to you, Alliance Lord.”

“Oh? Go on. Speak freely.”

Yu Gang took something from his chest and set it on the table.

As soon as Namgoong Mucheon saw what he offered, his eyes filled with surprise and interest.

“Isn’t this my Carved Token?”

It was the very Carved Token Namgoong Mucheon had given Yu Gang the day he left MOUNT HUA SECT.

Presenting it compelled Namgoong Mucheon to grant any one request.

It was the promise itself.

He had given it in thanks for Yu Gang protecting Seolhwa and Hwarin at the Waterway Stockade.

Namgoong Mucheon’s gaze sank low.

“Do you want something from me?”

“Yes.”

Yu Gang nodded, tense.

“I have a request for you. As Seolhwa’s grandfather.”

“...Hmm.”

As Seolhwa’s grandfather.

“Even if she is my granddaughter, I cannot steer her will as I please. That child has her own will.”

“I know. I’m not asking you to go against Seolhwa’s will.”

“Good. This is my pledge, so if it is something I can do, I will try my utmost to grant it. Say it.”

Yu Gang hesitated for a moment, then spoke carefully.

“If something happens to Seolhwa... could you tell me as well?”

“...What did you say?”

Namgoong Mucheon’s brows rose.

Yu Gang hurriedly added—

“I’m not hoping something will happen! That’s not it, I just....”

Under the table, Yu Gang’s fingers fidgeted.

Tell me if something happens.

Even to himself it sounded like a strange request.

Like someone hoping for trouble.

But that wasn’t Yu Gang’s meaning.

“Sometimes... I get this feeling that Seolhwa might suddenly disappear one day.”

Just as she had appeared out of nowhere as a Namgoong Clan child, it felt like she might vanish just as suddenly.

Even while she was beside him, even while she smiled at him face to face, that unease always lived in one corner of his heart.

“I don’t know why. I just... feel that way. And if a truly dangerous moment came, she wouldn’t tell me.”

She would try to hide it.

She would try to protect him from danger.

She wouldn’t even let him come close.

He knew his presence might weigh down her steps.

But even if she was far stronger than he was—

“I want to protect Seolhwa.”

Yu Gang clenched his fist and looked at Namgoong Mucheon.

His eyelids trembled with the force he was holding back.

“No—at the very least, I want to know when she’s in danger.”

Even if he couldn’t save her.

Even if he couldn’t fight in her place.

He wanted to help her somehow, from anywhere.

He wanted to be her strength.

“Please. That much....”

Yu Gang’s clear eyes rippled with sorrow.

“That much is all right, isn’t it...?”

****

TAP—

Seolhwa stepped out of the room and faced Namgoong Mucheon.

It looked like Namgoong Mucheon had been waiting for her the entire time.

After holding her gaze for a moment, he asked her—

“What did that child say?”

“...He asked me to take him with me. If we go back to the past.”

Not long after saying that, he had lost consciousness again.

Even as he drifted under, he had begged her again and again to take him with her.

Holding Seolhwa’s hand tightly.

“Was it you who told him?”

“Yes.”

Seolhwa lowered her gaze.

How could someone lying ill and unconscious know about the Great Law and regression?

She had expected it, but it had been Namgoong Mucheon who told him about the Great Law.

“Long ago, I made a promise with that child. He wanted to stay by your side, and I said I would help him.”

“...Even so....”

“But that was not the only reason.”

Seolhwa looked back up.

Namgoong Mucheon was looking at her with a pitying gaze.

“Seolhwa. Could you truly face that child without feeling anything, if he forgot you?”

Seolhwa’s eyes shook.

She had never once thought about it.

Facing a Yu Gang who didn’t recognize her.

She hadn’t told Yu Gang about the Great Law purely for his sake.

In her previous life, his life had been brutal, but at least he’d had a place he could call home, and precious people he could call family.

It had been a sorrowful, painful death, but still a meaningful one.

But what about this life?

From the moment she returned and exposed Nomon’s identity, his life had begun to twist.

He had lost the master he revered, lost his sect, lost his brothers.

He had thought he’d found his real family, only to be left with an even greater emptiness.

And now, because he was someone precious to Seolhwa, he was dying in agony.

With no meaning to his life, no meaning to his death.

So she had wanted him to forget this life.

To forget every memory of a life filled with nothing but pain.

But—

‘Yu Gang who can’t remember me....’

Could she really look into his eyes without flinching?

‘The me of now....’

“The Great Law was told to him, but the choice was his.”

‘Take me with you.’

“Just as you made your decision thinking of him, he likely made his decision thinking of you.”

‘Please... I... don’t want to lose you....’

“So don’t just try to push him away. Think it through carefully. Isn’t he precious to you?”

Seolhwa nodded quietly.

Namgoong Mucheon gave her shoulder a light pat, then turned away.

Even after he left, Seolhwa stood there for a long time, thinking.

After a long while—

She turned her head and looked back at the door where Yu Gang slept, then—like she had set her heart—she left the Namgoong Clan Lord’s hall with a steady, unhesitating stride.

****

‘If there is an incense burner inside the room Blood Demon has hidden away, then that is the core of regression.’

Iseon forced her shaking hands to clasp together, hiding their tremor.

From the day she met Namgoong Seolhwa and returned, the thing beyond the door her husband had forbidden her to enter had gnawed at her mind until she felt she would go mad.

The core that could stop regression.

If she could destroy that incense burner, she could escape this hellish life—

‘No. I can’t.’

Hadn’t she made a promise with Namgoong Seolhwa?

That carrying out “that” she asked for had to wait at least until after the MARTIAL ALLIANCE fought the North Sea Ice Palace.

That it had to be after the Blood Lords’ forces had collapsed as much as possible.

That it wouldn’t take long.

‘I have to endure. I’ve endured so long already.’

So... just a little more... a little more waiting and—

Iseon’s eyes flicked toward the door leading to the inner room.

She clenched her trembling hands tighter.