Chapter 85, Encounter
Even after swallowing the Demon Worshipers, the flames didn't stop.
Rooooooar...
The wave of fire surged outward and spread in every direction.
The flames only disappeared after devouring everything around them.
I suddenly wondered if I had put too much power into it.
Even after the fire vanished, the aftermath remained because the heat had been so intense.
The air had become so hot that every breath made my lungs ache as though they were being cooked.
A thick burnt smell rose from everywhere, and the ash crunching beneath my feet reminded me of walking through deep snow.
The surroundings had lost all their colorful light.
Now everything was covered only in black and gray.
It was all the result of the wave of fire I had created.
Since the Demon Worshipers were enemies I had absolutely no information about, I had attacked with everything I had without letting my guard down.
Did I overdo it?
I thought about it again as I looked at my companions coughing around me.
Yeah. I definitely overdid it.
Their faces were black as though they had been rolling around in piles of ash.
Listening to their resentful coughing, I sat down on the floor.
Maybe because I had truly pushed myself to the limit, my head spun.
The throbbing headache was a bonus.
I pressed my fingers against my aching forehead and looked down at the Eye of Ra in my hand.
Even covered in ash, the Eye of Ra hadn't lost its shine.
It was still beautiful.
Unlike when I held the Runestone, I didn't feel any dramatic change from holding the Eye of Ra.
Nothing seemed different.
Then I remembered that it was still nighttime.
Maybe things would feel different once morning arrived and the Eye of Ra's power became active.
“Yuhyeon, congratulations. You've obtained a 900-series Mystery.”
“Oh! Yuhyeon, can I touch it just once?”
“Oppa! Congratulations!”
My companions came over and congratulated me as though they were the ones who had obtained it.
But all I could do was give them a bitter smile.
“I have to return it anyway.”
The Eye of Ra wasn't a Mystery I could keep.
Even if I did keep it, the disadvantages would probably outweigh the advantages.
Too many relationships were tangled around it.
The Mystery Protection Association, which originally owned the Eye of Ra.
The Demon Worshipers who had tried to steal it.
And the many major factions and people harmed in the process.
All of those causes and grudges were tangled around the Eye of Ra.
If I took it for myself in this situation, all the hatred and complicated relationships connected to it would probably transfer to me.
Was the Eye of Ra valuable enough to accept all of those disadvantages?
It definitely had value, but the answer still felt a little uncertain.
The Eye of Ra was a Mystery that increased survivability.
And I already possessed so many Mysteries that helped me survive that it was almost excessive.
Its role overlapped too much with the Mysteries I already had.
“It's disappointing, but we'll have to return it. It's not like we're getting nothing out of this anyway.”
I carefully placed the Eye of Ra into my bag.
We might not be able to keep it, but that didn't mean we had gained nothing.
There was obvious compensation to be earned by recovering the stolen Eye of Ra and returning it to the Association.
Even if the Association turned out to be behind everything, just as I suspected.
“Arlin, how long until the exhibition ends?”
“About eleven minutes.”
At Arlin's answer, I checked the brooch on my chest again.
In eleven minutes, I would finally be able to confirm the truth.
Whether the President told me directly or I had to interrogate them, one way or another, I would find out.
I didn't consider the possibility that the President would break the promise and refuse to meet me.
There was no reason for that, either logically or emotionally.
So eleven minutes.
I just had to wait that long.
I closed my eyes, intending to let the eleven minutes pass quietly.
Then I sensed a familiar presence nearby and opened them again.
Someone had been nervously circling around me for a while.
It was the woman in the white kimono.
When our eyes met, she jumped in surprise and gave me an awkward smile.
The confident attitude she had shown in front of the Demon Worshipers earlier had completely disappeared.
“H, hello...”
Once again, I was reminded of just how much someone's atmosphere could change their impression.
I listened to her timid greeting and felt confused.
How could a person change this much?
Unless she had something like multiple personalities.
Wait, does she actually have multiple personalities?
Whether she knew what I was thinking or not, she fidgeted nervously with her hands.
I stood up and approached her.
“Is there something you want?”
“Y, yes?!”
“You seemed like you were waiting for me. Also, this is already our second meeting, so why don't we introduce ourselves properly? I'm Kim Yuhyeon.”
“Ah, I'm... Baek Seolhwa. Seolhwa of the Baek Clan. Um... the meaning of my name isn't seolhwa as in a story or legend. It's seol for snow and hwa for flower, so Seolhwa, haha...”
“...”
“So if my story gets passed down to future generations, wouldn't it be called Seolhwa's seolhwa... A seolhwa about Seolhwa... Is this what they call grapefruit?”
“...”
“...Not grapefruit, rhyme. I know that too... I was just trying to lighten the mood... I'm sorry. I did something wrong...”
After saying that, she lowered her head deeply.
Her face had turned red like a ripe tomato and disappeared behind her snow-white hair.
I could faintly see tears gathering at the corners of her eyes, which made her look strangely pitiful.
Maybe I should've laughed.
It really wasn't funny, though.
...Thinking about it again, maybe it was kind of funny.
Something about it was strangely amusing.
“...”
“...”
As both of us stood there frozen, unable to continue the conversation, Arlin approached me.
“Yuhyeon, six minutes remain until the exhibition ends.”
Six minutes was an incredibly short amount of time.
Soon, everyone without a brooch would be expelled from the exhibition.
Meanwhile, my companions and I, who were wearing brooches, would be able to meet the President.
I looked at Seolhwa, who was still standing there hesitantly as though she had something more to say.
“We'll probably be separated in six minutes, so if you have something to say, you should say it now.”
If she really wanted to talk, there was probably a way for us to meet outside.
But I didn't particularly feel like doing that.
I had several questions about her, but they were nothing more than simple curiosity.
So I intended to end our connection here.
If we truly had some kind of fate between us, we'd probably meet again someday.
Perhaps sensing those thoughts in my words, she spoke in a quiet voice.
“Um, actually... first...”
“Yes?”
“I wanted to thank you for saving me... And...”
She inhaled deeply as though gathering the courage to do something important, then continued.
“If you have time someday... would you be willing to visit the Martial Alliance...”
Her words were cut off before she could finish.
I stood there blankly until Arlin said that time was up, and then I understood what had happened.
The exhibition had ended, and Seolhwa had been thrown outside.
Without even finishing her sentence.
I felt a little sorry for her, even though it wasn't my fault.
More importantly, she had asked me to come to the Martial Alliance.
The Martial Alliance was a term I had only ever heard in wuxia novels.
Still, I could roughly guess what it was.
It was probably a space where the major faction known as the martial world was based.
Something like the Company's Mirror of the Other Side or the Order's Inner World.
I didn't know why she would invite someone she had barely spoken to twice, but I didn't think she had any malicious intentions.
The Martial Alliance, huh.
Would it be a faction filled with martial artists like Hwa-ryeon?
If I got the chance, I wouldn't mind visiting.
But unless someone properly invited me, I didn't want to go out of my way to find it myself.
And since Seolhwa disappeared before she could finish inviting me, there was no real reason to search for the Martial Alliance just to visit.
After reaching that conclusion, I fully stood up and approached my companions.
Hwa-ryeon, Arlin, and Lee Yeonhee were waiting for me.
All three of them looked confused.
When I followed their gazes, I understood why.
“Yuhyeon. Didn't they say that if you weren't wearing a brooch, you'd be expelled when the exhibition ended?”
“...Yes. That's what they said.”
“Then why are Yeonhee and I still here? I can understand Yeonhee, but why wasn't I expelled?”
Lee Yeonhee had been given Bias's brooch.
We had decided that if a serious fight broke out, we absolutely needed a healer.
That meant Hwa-ryeon had expected to be expelled because she wasn't wearing one.
Yet she was still inside the exhibition hall.
I also became suspicious and started thinking about why.
The answer suddenly came from somewhere beyond us.
“Because the brooches have no value at all. They're just a kind of mark. A mark that says, ‘I have business with this person, so don't touch them.’”
Everyone's heads turned toward the source of the voice at the same time.
Click, click.
The sound of heels approached.
Beyond them, the silhouette of a woman gradually came into view.
When I finally saw her face, my first impression was that she was mysterious.
It was difficult to properly recognize her face.
Even though I was looking directly at her with both eyes, my perception twisted as though she existed in some different world.
I knew she had two eyes.
But I couldn't tell whether her irises were blue, red, or rainbow-colored.
There wasn't even any cloth or blindfold covering them.
Is that... a Mystery?
“That's right. It's a Mystery. One that interferes with perception. But your senses must be quite good. Most people can't even recognize my gender.”
I stared at her face, then quietly froze in shock.
Did she just read my thoughts?
