TL Notes:

Magyeong Gate (Demon Gate) in the text refers to a mystical or demonic portal of importance in the world of the story. It is a source of immense power and possibly a gateway to other realms such as magyeong (demonic realms). The gateway was opened in the distant past by the ancestors of the main character's family (the Gu family), causing a disruption of the natural order of things in the world.

________________________________________

 

"What's the point of all this..."
[The reason? There was simply no other way, and the child was crying so sorrowfully. This old tree had nothing else to offer. If you're looking for a reason, that's the only one that comes to mind.]
"..."
[Going back in time, reversing the flow, means that one takes on a burden upon their soul.]

My brow furrowed.
That story hit me clearly because I could relate to it.

[The child made the choice, but defying the natural order is something that cannot be allowed.]
"That means..."
[Still, that child must have achieved something. That is why, Sado, you and I are able to meet now, isn't it?]

Just as the World Tree said, Yeon Ilcheon succeeded in sealing the Blood Demon.

All he could do was seal it, and perhaps now I understood why.
And.

In time, the Blood Demon will resurrect.
And the world does not make the same mistake twice.

‘In the end, the apocalypse will come.’

That was what Yeon Ilcheon had told me.
No matter how hard you try, the end will come—whether it's through the Blood Demon,

or through something else.

‘Is the world that the World Tree speaks of akin to a god?’

Is this the same kind of god that the Wudang and Shaolin revered so highly?
Could it be that kind of being?

‘That doesn't make sense, though.’

If the World Tree says its existence has been erased from this world,
that means it was once here.

What was Taoism like in that world?

Could people have believed in a god when such a vast being like the master existed?

‘Now isn't the time to be pondering these things.’

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. There were too many things I still needed to know, and it wasn't the time for trivial musings.

"...Then... ha."

As I spoke, a sigh escaped me.
The current situation was overwhelming.

So in the end, all of this was because of the mess my ancestors had made,
and now I was left to clean it up?

Sure, there might be more to it than that, but
from my perspective, that was exactly how it seemed.

‘Where should I even begin...’

What should I ask first?
There were so many questions, it was hard to even know where to start.

Damn...
My mind was a mess.

How did things get to this point?

What should I ask first?

Should I ask about the seed?
Should I ask what the Blood Demon is?
Should I ask what this place is?

Should I ask what my regression is about?

Or maybe...

Before I could continue spiraling in thought,

[Sado.]
"...!"

The World Tree’s voice interrupted my chaotic thoughts.

[You seem quite exhausted, Sado.]
"...No, not particularly."

That was a lie.
I knew it myself.

I was overwhelmed, burdened,
and it was taking a toll on me.

"My regression—it's not something you did, is it?"
[That’s right, the fact that you reversed time was not my doing.]

Indeed, the World Tree had said it didn’t have the power left for such a thing.
But was that really true?

Could it have been a lie...

Smack!

I hit myself, trying to shake off the doubt.

I needed to get a grip.

Questioning every little detail,
trying to figure out what was a lie and what was the truth, had become a habit of mine.

After all, I had been in situations where I couldn’t trust anyone,
where everyone around me was an enemy.

And the few people who had stayed by my side in those moments,
I still vividly remembered them dying for me.

It was a habit I had developed just to survive.

"...Fine. Everything’s fine, but..."

I held my aching head,
and set aside the thoughts that had been running through my mind.
Looking at the World Tree, I realized that the things I really wanted to hear, the questions I truly wanted to ask,

weren’t about the truth of how the world works,
or the secrets that were hidden within it.

All I wanted to know was...

"What do you want from me?"

What am I supposed to do?
What should I do moving forward?

In this screwed-up situation, what do these unknown forces expect from me?

That was what I wanted to know the most.

[Sado.]
"...You once told me,"

that I was the flame that would burn away all karma.
In my previous life, the World Tree had said that to me as it looked at me.

Was it just saying that because I could spark such a flame?
It didn’t seem like that was the case.

[Did I say such a thing to you?]
"Yes, but I don't know how to do something like that. The only thing I know how to burn is people."

Burning karma...
Why had it said that to me?

I didn’t know anything,
which is why I had to ask even more desperately.

"What should I do, starting from now?"

What exactly was I supposed to do?

The number of people by my side had been slowly increasing.
And as foolish as it might seem, I was beginning to care about them.

Even in that situation, the blood catastrophe was drawing closer.

The idea that I just had to stop the Heavenly Demon was only the surface;
there was a deeper truth hidden beneath it all.

If I wanted to protect them, I needed to know.

Not for me.
For them.

"You said I could burn it away, right?"
[…Sado.]

I’ll do it.
Whether it’s stopping the Blood Demon, stopping the Heavenly Demon,

I’ll do it, if it means I can live and they can live.
So please, tell me.

"You called me a Sado, right? Was Yeon Ilcheon also a Sado? One who bore your mark?"

Given that you call me a Sado, does that mean Yeon Ilcheon was like me?

[…Yes, that child was also a Sado.]
"Yeon Ilcheon told me I was a disaster. He said I would destroy the world."

The Blood Demon failed.
But the disaster won’t stop; it will come again.

If the world operates as the World Tree said, that’s how it will be.

I thought that disaster would be the Heavenly Demon.

[You met that child?]
"Yes. He left behind a lingering thought."

It wasn’t a pleasant memory, but I had met him.

[That child left behind a lingering thought...]

The World Tree seemed to be lost in thought,
but I wasn’t in a position to wait for it.

"What do you want from me? What is all this for..."

Then suddenly, a thought occurred to me.

"Could it be... the reason I ended up here in my previous life, is because you summoned me?"
[That’s not the case. Just as it wasn’t then, now, too, this meeting is nothing but a coincidence.]

At least that was a relief.

The entire teleportation event had occurred because of the Magyeong Gate that Cheol Ji-seon had torn open.
If the World Tree had been involved in that,

it would have been a terrifying thought.

"Then, for heaven’s sake, please tell me what it is that you want from me."

You said I could burn away karma.
You gave me your mark.

The World Tree I met in my previous life had even told me how to escape this world.

"...Do you want me to take you out of here and return you to the original world?"

At my question, the World Tree gave a small smile.

[That is impossible.]
"Then why did you choose me? What do you want?"
[I simply want the children to continue living.]

The world where the World Tree originally existed.
To be precise, the world where I lived.

It wanted the people in that world
to keep living.

That’s what the World Tree desired.

"You chose me for that reason?"

Is that even possible? How could that be?
It wasn’t something I could understand.

"...Why me?"

I was a being without such power.

[No, Sado. You can do it.]
"Why are you so certain of that..."

Just as I was about to ask how it could be so sure,

[Before we get into that, there’s something you should know.]

"Know what?"
The World Tree cut me off.

[Do you know what the being inside your body is?]
"...!"

I gasped at the World Tree’s words.
The being it was referring to,

was the beast inside me.

"How do you know about... this thing?"

[In order to explain that,]

That wasn’t the only surprise.
The World Tree continued,

and brought up something I had momentarily forgotten.

[I must tell you about your mother.]

It was a story from the distant past,
about the mother who had disappeared.

 

 
   ******************
   

Crunch!

Cheol Ji-seon swiftly pushed off the ground with his feet. His breathing was ragged, and his legs were numb, but he didn’t stop.

‘What is that…!’

Despite his panicked movements, his gaze remained fixed on the sky.

The sky, which had been darkening earlier, was now becoming even darker.

‘No… that’s not the sky.’

Yes, it wasn’t the sky.

It was something closer to a membrane.

A black membrane had started to cover the area like a barrier, and its size was alarming.

It stretched over two mountains and even reached as far as Sinryong Hall.

‘What in the world is happening…!’

Cheol Ji-seon gritted his teeth and moved his feet faster. This was clearly not a peaceful situation.

As he ran, Cheol Ji-seon thought.

‘Where…where am I even going right now?’

In the panic of the moment, he had started running instinctively, but he wasn’t sure where he was headed.

‘What about the instructors?’

Surely, if he was seeing this situation, the instructors must have seen it too.

But it was eerily quiet around him.

Unsettlingly quiet.

At that moment,

Shhhk!

Sensing something nearby, Cheol Ji-seon quickly twisted his body. It was an instinctual movement.

Thunk!

“Ugh!”

Too late—he felt a sharp pain as something pierced him.

The attack was laced with inner energy, and with the sound of air being torn, his body was thrown aside. His body rolled helplessly across the ground.

“Hah… hah…”

As he tried to catch his breath, he realized where the wound was.

His thigh had been stabbed.

A dagger was embedded there.

“Ugh…”

Cheol Ji-seon gritted his teeth in pain, just as a voice rang out in front of him.

“What are you doing? You almost killed him.”

Through his pain, Cheol Ji-seon looked forward and saw someone in black robes approaching, sword in hand.

‘Who is…’

“I told you to check the face before you kill someone. Do you want Tae-ju to kill you?”
“Come on, a few people won’t matter.”

Voices came from behind as well. One of them must have been the one who threw the dagger.

“Anyway, the important bloodlines of the Four Great Families are just the daughters. The rest don’t matter, so we can kill them.”
“That only applies to the instructors. If you don’t want to cause trouble, be careful.”
“…Tch.”

Clicking his tongue, the man walked over, grabbed Cheol Ji-seon’s hair, and yanked him up.

“Ugh!”
“Recognize the face?”

Another man approached and inspected Cheol Ji-seon’s face, grabbing his chin and turning it side to side.

“Damn.”

His expression quickly darkened, as if something was wrong.

“What is it?”
“Look at the position of the mole and his clothes. He’s one of the ones Tae-ju said not to touch.”
“…Ah, really?”
“What are you going to do now?”
“What do you mean? We just leave.”

The man chuckled. Cheol Ji-seon, though terrified from the ambush, was still watching them carefully.

His eyes quickly scanned them.

‘One’s holding his chest, the other’s left wrist… they’re both martial artists.’

He was analyzing their appearances even in this moment.

“Sorry about that. I got a bit too excited to taste blood after so long,” said the man who had thrown the dagger, tapping Cheol Ji-seon’s cheek as if he wasn’t really sorry at all.

He soon stood up.

It seemed they weren’t planning to kill him.

‘If they’re not killing me, what about the others?’

Cheol Ji-seon recalled what they had said earlier.

• The important bloodlines of the Four Great Families are just the daughters. The rest don’t matter, so we can kill them.

That meant…

They were planning to kill everyone except the important people.

‘Are the instructors not showing up because…’

The instructors might be involved,
or there were simply too many enemies for them to handle.

…Was this a planned attack?

‘No way.’

Then Cheol Ji-seon remembered how Sinseong had told him not to worry about the attack on Gu Yangcheon.

Could this be related to Sinseong?

“The leg should be fine if you stop the bleeding. There’s no poison,” one of the men said with a laugh as he turned to leave.

It was clear they were planning to target someone else next.

He couldn’t let them leave like that.

Cheol Ji-seon tried to move his fingers.
It hadn’t been long since he opened the Magyeong Gate, so he wouldn’t be able to open the same kind of gate again,

but he couldn’t let them go.

He tried to feel the energy in his fingertips, but nothing responded.

‘Please…’

The power he had once wished to disappear was now failing him in the moment he needed it most.

Just as Cheol Ji-seon was desperately trying to move his fingers,

“Let’s check the other side…”

The man who had stood up suddenly froze mid-sentence.

Sensing something strange, Cheol Ji-seon instinctively followed his gaze.

Thud.

Something fell in front of Cheol Ji-seon’s eyes.

“Ah… aaah!”

Cheol Ji-seon screamed without realizing it.

What had fallen was a head.

The head of the man who had been checking Cheol Ji-seon’s face earlier.

“Who the hell…!”

The other man started to raise his inner energy, but—

Swish—!

A sickening sound of something being sliced through the air.

Thud.

The other man’s head also fell before Cheol Ji-seon’s eyes.
Cheol Ji-seon couldn’t even scream this time. His heart pounded in his chest as he trembled.

Was it one of the instructors?
Both men had been formidable fighters, after all.

If someone was capable of cutting them down like this…

“…Where are they?”

Just as Cheol Ji-seon began to feel a sense of relief, thinking it might be an instructor,
he heard a voice from directly above him.

It was a familiar voice.

Not one he heard often, but one he had definitely heard before.

Normally, it was soft and sleepy, almost alluring in its beauty,

but right now, it was cold and angry.

And the chilling tone in the voice made Cheol Ji-seon tremble far more than anything before.

He slowly lifted his head to see who it was.

The first thing he saw was nearly white, silver-like hair.

“…That person.”

Next were the beautiful blue eyes.

“Where is he?”

Flick—!

As she flicked the blood off her sword,
Namgung Bi-ah stood above Cheol Ji-seon, looking down at him.