Chapter 305

The thing that had suddenly appeared was draped in a robe so vast and billowing that there was no telling its gender, its age, or even its build.

The moment she laid eyes on it, an eerie chill ran through Han Su-yeong.

Its appearance—

No, she wasn't sure "its" was even the right word.

Because the face revealed between the folds of the robe had nothing on it. Not a single feature.

Literally nothing at all.

If this world were a painting, Han Su-yeong thought, the area where its face should have been would have been blotted out with thick black paint—or punched clean through with an awl.

It was a profoundly unreal sight.

"Ahriman!"

What snapped her back to her senses wasn't the pain in her palm—it was Milited's sharp cry.

"Why the hell are you here!"

It had already begun bloating its body outward at a violent pace.

"No—that was a foolish question. There's only one reason you'd be here."

Then it swelled until its body looked ready to burst and hurled itself at Ahriman.

Ahriman said nothing, simply watched, and slowly extended a hand.

That alone was enough.

"You think I'll fall for your little tricks again—?!"

That was the last thing it said.

With those words, Milited vanished on the spot—evaporated, without leaving so much as a fragment behind.

Even Han Su-yeong could tell it was a complete and total death.

"......"

Clone or not, the other Seven Calamity that had killed one of its kind with a single gesture slowly turned its head toward Han Su-yeong. She steadied her breathing and called up blue flame in one hand, white flame in the other.

"What."

Han Su-yeong forced down the choke rising in her throat and thrust both hands forward.

She glanced at her arms shaking so badly it was almost embarrassing and forced her mouth into a deliberately fierce grin.

"You gonna kill me too?"

Truth be told, the instant she came face to face with it, Han Su-yeong had given up on everything.

She didn't need to test it to know the gap between them was so vast that neither fighting nor fleeing meant a thing.

That was why, the moment she gave up, she felt a genuine sense of relief.

'...Thank God.'

Better her than Ji-hyeok running into this thing.

Better her standing here than any of the others.

In that brief moment, she'd managed to brace herself for everything.

She'd given up, sure—but she had no intention of dying quietly. Han Su-yeong gritted her teeth and circulated her mana.

Despite all her resolve, though, Ahriman did nothing.

"......"

It just looked at her for a while.

Then, abruptly, it raised a hand to where its face should have been.

A moment later, a familiar voice came from beyond the robe.

[I beg your indulgence. I will borrow your face and voice for a moment.]

When it pushed the robe back, a face identical to her own appeared.

Han Su-yeong took a step back without thinking.

The Ahriman wearing her face and voice didn't move.

It spoke again.

[I offer greetings. I have wanted to meet you.]

No—it wasn't actually opening its mouth and speaking aloud.

Its voice was reverberating directly inside her head.

[I make a proposal. I would like to speak with you for a moment.]

The sight of it standing there blankly was beyond unsettling—it was nearly revolting.

Han Su-yeong fought down the nausea rising in her stomach and slowly took stock of the situation.

Milited had flown into a rage the instant it saw Ahriman, and it had died in a heartbeat.

On top of that, separating her from Yu Ji-hyeok had clearly been this thing's doing too.

Which meant the offer to "talk" could turn into a threat or coercion at any moment.

'But...'

Going by everything that had happened so far, Ahriman didn't seem to have any immediate intention of attacking her.

And there was a chance, however small, that she could pry some information out of it.

Mind made up, Han Su-yeong gave a small nod and lowered her hands.

The white and blue flames that had blazed in her palms had long since faded.

[I express my gratitude. For accepting my proposal.]

Ahriman still wore Han Su-yeong's face and spoke in Han Su-yeong's voice.

Nothing about its appearance had changed.

"...What exactly is it you want to talk about?"

[I say it again. I came here because I wished to speak with you.]

"That's what I'm asking—what's the conversation about?"

[I answer. It concerns you.]

The Ahriman wearing her face blinked once, slow and exaggerated. The belated, artificial gesture—as if it had only just remembered eyelids existed—made her recoil even harder.

[About this world. About the meaning you carry within it. And above all, about the book in your possession.]

[About the reason I can never harm you.]

[That is why—because there is something I wish to ask of you—I have waited for you.]

"...Wait, waited? Are you telling me you knew I'd end up here?"

Ahriman didn't so much as twitch at her question.

[I answer. Yes.]

"Since when, exactly...?"

[I answer again. Since the moment you met the wedge.]

"Wedge? The hell is that supposed to mean?"

[The man you call Yu Ji-hyeok.]

[That man alters the flow of this world.]

[Like a wedge prying open a crack. That is why I have called such beings wedges.]

[There have been many. There will be many more. But in any given age, there is only ever one. He simply happens to be the wedge of this era.]

Han Su-yeong muttered under her breath at Ahriman's ominous words.

"What the hell is it talking about..."

When she muttered in frustration at the way it kept saying things she couldn't follow, the thing actually paused, just for an instant. As Han Su-yeong watched it, wondering what that was about, it gave a small nod.

[...I apologize. I let myself get carried away and slipped.]

[Because at last I am meeting the one I have waited for so long.]

Ahriman said it and took a step closer.

[Of course, I am not bringing this up without offering something in return.]

It fixed her with gleaming eyes.

[I will tell you every truth of this world.]

"Every truth of this world...?"

Ahriman nodded.

[Yes.]

[I will also free you from the prophecy.]

It whispered, voice barely above a breath.

Like it was tempting her.

[From the prophecy that says you will kill Yu Ji-hyeok.]

"My master foresaw everything. Which, ah..."

Walking ahead of me, Leto turned back with what he must have hoped was an artless smile.

The jagged fang jutting from his lip made the expression look more threatening than friendly.

"Would it be all right if I called you 'sir'?"

"Do as you like."

"P-please, you don't need to be so polite with me! This lowly creature isn't worthy of such respectful address from you, sir."

The half-ogre's eyes glistened with a melancholy sheen.

"I shamefully cling to this life even though I failed to protect my master... If not for her strict command, I would have followed her long ago and gladly served her in the afterlife..."

"...You really do love Ji-na, don't you."

Leto nodded vigorously.

"Because I owe my life to her, sir."

His voice carried adoration, reverence, longing, and a kind of blind, unwavering loyalty.

"If not for her, I'd have died long ago. Or if I had survived, I'd be living like an animal."

"......"

"Ah, um. My apologies, sir. I'm letting myself get sentimental for no reason... when my master gave me more than just one or two things to pass on to you..."

He worked his way through hidden doors and devices with practiced ease, guiding me along as he went on.

"To get back to what I was saying—she knew everything. She knew you would come here. She knew you would travel back in time to reach this place, and she knew the two of you wouldn't be able to meet."

"Ji-na did?"

"Yes."

He nodded.

In the original work, Shadow Walker had been mentioned as someone active anywhere from 150 to 100 years before the story's present. That was why I'd come back to the earliest reference point—150 years ago. But it seemed things had gone off the rails from the very start.

...And Ji-na had known about all of it long before I had.

"What else did Ji-na say?"

"Before that, would you mind if I asked a few rude questions, sir?"

I nodded at his request.

"Of the Seven, how many have you defeated? And aside from the ones you defeated, how many have you encountered, even just once?"

"Four. And five."

The Seven Calamities I hadn't taken down were Venus, Juno, and Ahriman. Of those, the ones I'd never even met were Juno and Ahriman—Venus, I'd at least crossed paths with.

Leto nodded at my answer.

"More than my master expected. In that case—of Shadow Walker's, that is, my master's legacies, which do you currently possess?"

"Just Henir's Shadow."

At that, Leto tilted his head, looking genuinely surprised.

"Hm? That's unexpected. My master swore up and down that you'd have all of them..."

"Is something wrong?"

I'd slipped into a slightly more casual tone without noticing, but Leto—lost in thought—didn't seem to catch it. He furrowed his brow, then nodded as if he'd decided it didn't matter.

"No, it should be all right. My master clearly said that as long as you had Henir's Shadow, it would be enough. And even if it wasn't... we could just go back and retrieve the rest."

"Glad to hear it."

"Yes, sir. Please don't worry about it. It would only be a minor inconvenience. So, ah... this is the last question, but..."

He hesitated, then asked in a tone that sounded almost apologetic.

"Do you happen to have a sweetheart?"

"Sorry?"

"It's just—my master... she insisted that a man like you would surely have at least two, maybe even three..."

Watching him ask the question with such scandalized hesitation, Minerva let out a sigh.

[I had a feeling. Now I think I have a clear picture of how you've lived your life.]

[Sounds like you were famous from way back.]

Sbeungali chimed in with a cackle.

I ran my tongue across lips that had gone strangely dry and shook my head.

"No. No one."

"Ah, well. I see, sir."

Leto nodded several times, as if accepting it.

Then he added, mumbling almost to himself.

"It was... what was the name... Jin, Jin something..."

"...Ye-seul? Jin Ye-seul?"

"Ah, yes! That's it—that was the name!"

He clapped his hands together with a sharp crack and almost shouted it.

Then, watching me warily, he muttered:

"If you said you had no one, my master told me to recommend her. She said it would be fine for her to call that woman 'sister-in-law.'"

"Ah."

I gave a short nod.

Come to think of it, Ye-seul had been Ji-na's favorite character.

That was why, out of all eight playable characters, she'd always picked Jin Ye-seul. She used to swear up and down that the sequel was garbage and then keep slogging through it anyway, and once she'd mentioned in passing that it was because Jin Ye-seul's art and voice acting were just too pretty to give up. I remembered that much clearly.

"We've arrived."

Mid-thought, Leto came to a stop in front of a wall with nothing particularly distinctive about it.

He bowed politely toward me.

"Please place your hand on the wall while wearing Henir's Shadow."

When I did as he said and pressed my palm to the wall, a soft, sifting sound came from somewhere.

I turned my head to look and saw part of the wall crumbling into sand, grains pouring downward; before long, an opening more than wide enough for a single person to step through had appeared.

"I pray your long-awaited reunion goes well, sir..."

Leto bowed deeply, signaling that this was as far as he could accompany me.

I thanked him and walked through the opening in the wall.

How long had I walked?

Light was leaking out from the end of a darkened corridor.

I'd been picking up my pace, but the moment I caught sight of the source of the light, I stopped without realizing it.

A massive crystal giving off a faint glow.

And inside it—she was there.

Contrary to what Minerva and Sbeungali had expected, Yu Ji-hyeok didn't visibly crumble in despair, or in grief, or even in regret.

He simply walked—slowly—until he was standing right in front of it, then reached out toward the woman sleeping inside the crystal like the dead. He laid his hand against the crystal's smooth surface and murmured quietly.

"So this was it, Minerva."

[Yu Ji-hyeok.]

"You said it yourself, didn't you. That I—or, well, the me you remember—once showed Ji-na to you. Ji-na asleep inside a crystal. This was what you were talking about."

He nodded as if it had all clicked into place.

Then, slowly, he took in the figure of the woman inside the crystal.

His sister had grown well beyond the version of her he remembered. He was wondering just how many years she had spent in this world when—

[She does resemble you. So 'Shadow Walker' was no lie either.]

Minerva's voice carried something almost like a tremor.

[The shadow is shaking enough to affect even me. And on top of that—]

She handed control of the shadow she had fused with over to it, letting it act on its own.

At that, Henir's Shadow stretched out, long and pointed, toward one particular spot.

[Yu Ji-hyeok.]

"Yeah."

Understanding what she meant, Yu Ji-hyeok began to dig into the ground at the spot Henir's Shadow indicated.

It didn't take long for him to find a small but sturdy-looking chest.

The chest wasn't even locked. He opened it and let out a small sigh.

"This is..."

Inside lay several letters.

The handwriting was neat, the strokes soft and rounded.

His little sister's hand.