The Divine Sword.

There were plenty of ways to put it, sure, but simply put, it was a blade used by shamans.

The kind of blade they used to cut down ghosts.

‘...This.’

With that thought in mind, I stared at the Tyrant King’s armguard.

‘It’s a Divine Sword.’

If you were going to ask how something that wasn’t a blade at all could be a Divine Sword—

‘...It’s this full of spiritual energy?’

That was the problem with the armguard.

The spiritual energy contained inside it.

‘This isn’t just stored in there.’

They were traces left behind by cutting and smashing things apart.

There were all kinds of Divine Swords used by shamans. Some were called blades even though they weren’t swords at all.

Chief Baek, for example...

‘Used an iron pipe...’

A weird-looking pipe. That man had carried it around and beaten evil ghosts to death with it.

That too had been called a Divine Sword. What determined it was how many spiritual traces could be seen inside the object.

‘Then this is a Divine Sword.’

The Tyrant King’s armguard was definitely a Divine Sword.

‘How the hell did that happen?’

How could his armguard be something that ought to be called a Divine Sword? That question had just started to sink in when—

Drip.

“...!”

A sensation brushed past the talisman. I immediately set down the armguard I was holding.

“Hoo.”

Then I tore the talisman off and crumpled it up. That had been dangerous.

‘If I’d held it a little longer...’

My soul might have responded.

“...Tch.”

That wasn’t good.

‘The duration is even shorter than before.’

Even then, I should have been able to touch it for at least a decent stretch of time. But the spiritual traces inside the armguard were interfering.

‘No question about it.’

This really was a Divine Sword. An object that, while worn as an armguard, had swept away evil ghosts and all sorts of other souls.

Through that, karma and souls had piled onto it until it became something no longer ordinary.

That was exactly what this armguard was.

‘And he called this a record?’

The Tyrant King had called a Divine Sword like this a record. I had no idea how it could count as one, though.

“...Hard to keep looking at it.”

The soul inside the armguard had already reacted. If I tried to inspect it again, I’d be the one getting hit.

‘Shame, but this is as far as I go.’

I gave up on checking it further and moved to take care of my other objective.

Leaving the armguard where it was, I started toward the next room where the sword marks were.

There was something there I still needed to see.

“Well then—”

Just as I was about to move—

[Kid.]

“...!”

Yoo Cheongil spoke. At his voice, I stopped walking.

[Someone’s here.]

I opened my Moon Eyes immediately. Presences appeared through the wall. The blue lines were enough to tell me who it was.

‘It’s Baek Yeon.’

And the other one—

‘...Cheon Hyein?’

Cheon Hyein. Cheon Seonghwa’s daughter, and Cheon Eujin’s older sister.

She was there too.

‘How?’

Hiding my surprise, I erased my presence.

I pressed myself flat against the wall and slowly drew up my senses.

Then—

“So then...”

A voice came through.

“So this is the...”

Starting with Cheon Hyein’s voice.

“That’s right. This is the Sword Saint’s vault.”

Baek Yeon answered.

‘...What the hell.’

My eyes narrowed.

As expected, Baek Yeon knew this place was Yoo Cheongil’s vault.

‘But he brought Cheon Hyein here?’

That was the part that felt strange. Why would he bring Cheon Hyein here of all people?

Something was off. Which made me focus even harder on their conversation.

[Using something I made like it’s their own damn living room...]

Yoo Cheongil muttered in disbelief, but now wasn’t the time to care about that.

“So that item really is here.”

“It is.”

My ears pricked up at the exchange.

‘Item?’

Did they come here looking for something?

“First, we need to find the passage that goes farther in from here. After that...”

Baek Yeon continued.

“First, we need ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) to find the item the Tyrant King is looking for.”

“...!”

The Tyrant King’s item. My eyes widened at that. So that old man had come here looking for the armguard too.

‘Just like I thought.’

Baek Yeon really was the one who had drawn the Tyrant King in here. I realized my guess had been right.

The problem was—

‘...The fact that he’s calling it an item.’

It sounded like he didn’t know the thing was an armguard. Which meant...

‘He probably hasn’t made it into the back room yet.’

That made sense. He knew the Tyrant King was searching for something, but not what it actually was.

‘...Should I get out first?’

I’d learned enough. Time to run. The moment I thought that—

“Then what about the other item?”

Cheon Hyein’s voice continued.

“You said there was a divine pill in here.”

Freeze.

‘A divine pill?’

My body went rigid.

“That too, of course, must be found.”

Baek Yeon spoke with full certainty.

“Inside here, there should still be the divine pill that only the sect masters have been allowed to consume from generation to generation, along with the method for making it.”

“...”

Hearing that, my eyes shifted.

Don’t tell me—

‘...Is he talking about the one I ate?’

The divine pill I’d taken the moment I first came into the vault.

That had to be what he meant.

‘So that was Baek Yeon’s goal?’

I’d been wondering what the hell he kept coming in and out of this vault for. Turns out he wasn’t just after the Tyrant King’s item. He’d been looking for the divine pill too.

Now I understood his objective.

The problem was—

‘Yeah, I already ate it.’

There was no divine pill in here anymore.

Not even if they searched until they dropped.

*****

Hooo.

The moment I stepped out of the vault, I let out a breath. Cheon Hyein and Baek Yeon were probably still inside, but I left them there and got out first.

“Damn...”

I was exhausted. Keeping my senses raised had been a problem, and so had the constant concentration it took to suppress my presence.

Because of that, fatigue crashed over both my mind and body all at once.

Creak.

I quietly closed the door to the residence with the hidden entrance and slipped back outside. By then, it was dawn.

‘Let’s sort this out.’

I went over what had happened inside.

‘First...’

The part about the armguard being a Divine Sword. I thought about that.

‘No idea how that happened, but.’

If that armguard really was a Divine Sword—

‘The usual tricks won’t work.’

Most of the loopholes for taking possessions from the dead were off the table. The spiritual traces inside it were too strong.

‘Which means.’

Unless the original owner went in and picked it up himself, taking it out would be impossible.

‘What a pain.’

I’d wanted to properly figure out what that armguard was, but for it to be a Divine Sword? That twisted the whole thing into a mess.

‘...Well, I’ll push the armguard issue back for now.’

It wasn’t something I could solve immediately, so I let it go for the moment. In that case—

‘Baek Yeon and Cheon Hyein.’

Those two were bothering me.

The fact that they had suddenly shown up at the vault together.

‘And their goal wasn’t just the Tyrant King’s armguard.’

They had also come looking for the divine pill they thought was inside.

‘Baek Yeon, sure.’

But Cheon Hyein was the surprise. I couldn’t understand why she was following Baek Yeon around.

‘Thanks to them, I didn’t even get to see the sword marks.’

I’d gone in intending to look around more, but then the uninvited guests showed up and ruined even that.

‘If I leave them alone, they might end up breaking the mechanism inside.’

Probably not. Breaking through that vault should have been impossible unless you had Yoo Cheongil’s martial arts.

‘...Though even if they do find it.’

There was no divine pill anymore anyway. I’d already swallowed it ages ago.

Meaning the two of them were busting their asses for nothing.

“Hm.”

Baek Yeon and Cheon Hyein.

Just as I was thinking I needed to figure out the link between them—

[Kid.]

Yoo Cheongil spoke again.

[It’s that bastard.]

He pointed with a finger. I looked where he indicated. I couldn’t actually see anything, but I trusted Yoo Cheongil’s words.

“What does he want now...?”

“Hoh.”

At my words, he showed himself immediately. As expected.

‘The Tyrant King.’

Muk Yeokseong, the Tyrant King, had come to find me again.

“Well now. You found me again. Sharp little bastard.”

“Thank you for the compliment, sir... Do you have business with me again?”

There was still something unresolved, so if he was going to speak to me, it should have been later.

‘Why?’

Why had he come looking for me?

And more than that—

‘Since when?’

Since when had he been watching me?

Just as my insides started to go a little cold—

“No, I was just suddenly curious. How exactly do you keep appearing from a house that was completely empty in the middle of the night...?”

“...”

Had he been watching the inside? Yoo Cheongil hadn’t pointed him out while I was going in and out of the vault, so he couldn’t have been tailing me the whole time.

“I had some business inside the room.”

“I see. Business.”

“May I be on my way now?”

“Ah, yes. Go ahead.”

“Then excuse me.”

I bowed to the Tyrant King and started to move.

“But.”

He spoke again.

WHOOOOM—!!

A gust of wind blew.

I turned my eyes to the side and saw a huge fist right in front of my face.

“...”

That scared the hell out of me. What kind of shit was that? I stared at the Tyrant King with wide eyes.

“Let me ask you just one thing.”

“...Like this?”

“Ah, that was just a greeting.”

He smiled brightly as he withdrew his fist. Watching his arm move back, I noticed something.

‘...That arm.’

That was definitely the arm he’d broken last time.

Was it already healed?

While I was checking that—

“The thing your master stole. I hear it’s hidden somewhere around here. Do you happen to know anything about it?”

“...”

I hadn’t expected him to ask so directly. That caught me off guard.

He was basically asking me outright where the vault was.

“...Who knows...?”

“You don’t know?”

“No. To begin with, I don’t even know what kind of thing my master took from you, sir. What exactly are you looking for?”

“As I told you before, records.”

“When you say records... are you talking about something like a letter? Documents?”

I kept circling the point like I didn’t know it was an armguard. Muk Yeokseong heard that and smirked.

That smile sent a chill down my spine for some reason. It reeked of danger.

“The form of the object doesn’t matter. What matters is what’s contained inside it... and you really don’t know?”

“I don’t.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

The Tyrant King nodded slowly.

The moment I started to let out a relieved breath—

“That’s a lie.”

“...!”

The Tyrant King moved. He twisted his head slightly. His hand, even bigger than before, was suddenly digging toward me.

Could I dodge it? The moment that thought flashed through me—

Clap!

“Hm?”

The Tyrant King suddenly pressed both hands together and held them out to me.

“I’m begging you.”

“What?”

It looked like he was pleading.

No, he really was pleading.

“I know you know. Please, I’m asking you.”

“...Sir?”

“Should I kneel?”

“No? I’m telling you, that’s not it. Please stand up!”

I nearly jumped out of my skin when he actually started to kneel.

What the hell was with this old man? That had come completely out of nowhere.

“You know.”

“No, I’m telling you I don’t.”

“You do know, don’t you? I’ll really kneel.”

“What kind of insane bullshit is that...! I’m telling you, I don’t know!”

He was so absurdly pushy it was exhausting.

What the hell was wrong with this man?

Was the Tyrant King seriously always this kind of lunatic?

I stared at Yoo Cheongil in disbelief, and—

[Heh heh heh... Didn’t I tell you?]

Yoo Cheongil chuckled and said,

[That Tyrant King bastard’s a strange one. A warped, eccentric bastard.]

“...”

He had told me that.

But still—

“Please. I’m begging you.”

“No, first stand up and think for a second— Ah! He really knelt, this lunatic!”

I knew he was weird.

I just hadn’t realized he was this weird.