Chapter 145: The Permitted Place
Wooooom!
I instinctively tightened my grip on the sword hilt.
What the hell?!
But the sword showed no sign of stopping.
This wasn't a faint vibration.
It shook so violently that it felt as though someone had grabbed my sword hand and was trying to wrench it back and forth.
Then—
“The key....”
Goeong's voice came again.
I instinctively looked up.
“The key? What do you mean?”
Goeong didn't react to my question at all.
He simply stared at me with empty eyes.
What the hell is happening to him?
A moment later, his lips slowly moved again.
“...In the end, everything must return to its proper place....”
The instant I heard those words, an inexplicable chill ran down the back of my neck.
His expression.
His voice.
His way of speaking.
Everything was far too different from the Goeong I knew.
It almost felt as though someone else was borrowing his body to speak.
“Goeong?”
The moment I stepped toward him—
Thud.
Both of Goeong's knees suddenly gave out.
“G-Goeong!”
I lunged forward and caught him before he hit the floor.
His eyes were closed.
His entire body went limp in my arms as though he'd fainted.
“Wake up! Goeong! Goeong!”
I hurriedly shook his shoulders.
But his body remained completely slack.
Damn it, what the hell just happened?
I kept calling his name.
“Goeong! Open your eyes! Goeong!”
I don't know how much time passed.
Then...
his eyelids trembled.
Slowly, they began to open.
Focus returned to his hazy eyes.
At the same time...
the strange presence I'd sensed from him completely disappeared.
"..."
I looked down at him.
“Goeong. Are you okay?”
Goeong looked around blankly.
Then muttered to himself,
“Huh? Why am I in Mujin's room?”
It was the voice I knew.
He had already returned to his usual self.
“Goeong. You really don't remember anything?”
He blinked.
“Remember what?”
“You just said something.”
I stared at him.
“You said ‘key.’”
His eyes widened.
“Key?”
Goeong pulled himself out of my arms and tilted his head repeatedly.
“Mujin, what are you talking about?”
He genuinely looked as though he had no idea.
It was as if the memory of what had just happened had been completely erased.
Seriously....
I didn't understand it any better than he did.
I slowly stood.
Then picked up the sword I'd placed on the floor when I caught him.
At that moment—
...Huh?
The sensation in my hand was different.
The blade that had been vibrating violently only moments ago was completely still.
As if nothing had ever happened.
I frowned and raised the sword before my eyes.
Why did it stop?
The sword had definitely reacted like something alive just moments ago.
Even while Goeong spoke in that unfamiliar voice...
the blade in my hand had been ringing.
But now...
it was an ordinary sword again.
Then moonlight streaming through the window slid diagonally across the blade.
I unconsciously raised my head.
A full moon hung beyond the window.
Silver light spilled into the room and coldly swept across the sword in my hand.
Thin.
Pale.
As I stared at that light...
an indescribable chill slowly spread through my chest.
Unease.
The unsettling feeling that the strange events I'd just experienced weren't over.
That something far bigger might still be waiting for me.
The next day.
As soon as the sun rose, I went straight to Yeom Yuhwa's room.
The moment I knocked...
I heard movement inside as though she'd already been waiting.
“Come in.”
I opened the door.
Yeom Yuhwa was standing inside.
Despite my sudden visit, she didn't look surprised at all.
Unlike yesterday...
she looked noticeably exhausted.
Countless books were piled on the nearby table.
Judging by the room...
she had probably stayed awake all night searching through something.
“Heavenly Demon's Kindred Spirit. What brings you here so early?”
“There's something I want to confirm.”
I didn't beat around the bush.
I told her exactly what had happened the night before.
That Goeong had come to my room.
That he'd spoken in an unfamiliar voice, almost as though he'd become a different person.
That he'd said the word key.
And that my sword had started vibrating violently at that exact moment.
Naturally...
I left out the fact that my sword was a legacy of True Immortal Cheongun.
And I said nothing about the Flow.
After hearing everything...
Yeom Yuhwa didn't answer immediately.
She lowered her head and remained deep in thought.
Her fingers slowly rubbed the edge of her sleeve...
as though she were fitting pieces together in her mind.
Does something about this sound familiar to her?
I waited quietly until she spoke first.
After a while...
Yeom Yuhwa finally lifted her head.
“As it happens, because of what occurred yesterday in the Heavenly Demon Hall...”
She glanced toward my waist.
“I spent the entire night searching through old documents within the Divine Cult.”
Her gaze settled on my sword.
“I needed to find out why the Sacred Flame Altar reacted only to you...”
She paused.
“and that sword.”
I leaned forward slightly.
“And?”
Yeom Yuhwa quietly nodded.
“I cannot say for certain...”
“but I found what may be a clue to understanding this situation.”
I frowned.
“A clue?”
Yeom Yuhwa immediately walked toward the bookshelf.
She searched through the old volumes...
then pulled out an extremely worn book.
Its cover was badly frayed.
The spine was so worn it looked ready to fall apart.
It seemed to be an ancient text.
Yeom Yuhwa placed it on the table.
Then opened it to a certain page and turned it toward me.
“Look.”
Her expression became solemn.
“This is one of the records passed down only among Flame Attendants.”
“It was written by the very first person to hold the position.”
I slowly read the sentence written in the old book.
火盡蝕之時, 亂炎將噬天下.
When the flames of heaven are completely consumed, the flames of chaos shall devour the world.
Another sentence followed beneath it.
惟天許之人, 於天定之所, 復燃蝕天之火.
Only the one permitted by heaven, in the place ordained by heaven, shall rekindle the consumed flame of heaven.
At first glance...
it sounded like some suspicious prophecy.
It used grand words...
but I couldn't immediately tell what any of it actually meant.
Then Yeom Yuhwa spoke.
“What do you think?”
She looked at me intently.
“Doesn't it sound as though it was written specifically about what we're experiencing now?”
She continued before I could answer.
“I believe the ‘flame of heaven’ in this record refers to the Sacred Flame.”
"..."
“And I also suspect the ‘one permitted by heaven’ refers to you, Heavenly Demon's Kindred Spirit.”
I sighed inwardly.
Here we go again.
First...
she said I was the person mentioned in Dokgo Jinak's final message.
Now she was pointing at some bizarre doomsday prophecy from what looked like centuries ago...
and claiming it referred to me too.
If I kept listening to her...
I'd start feeling like some savior dropped from the heavens.
Yeom Yuhwa herself, of course, looked completely serious.
So serious that it actually made me uncomfortable.
I pressed one hand against my forehead.
“Fine.”
“Let's say I'm the one permitted by heaven.”
I looked at the writing again.
“Then how are you interpreting the rest?”
The flames of chaos devouring the world.
The flames of heaven being consumed.
From the wording alone...
it sounded like the world was already on the verge of ending.
Yeom Yuhwa quietly met my gaze.
“The phrase about the flames of chaos devouring the world could refer to the fact that the Sacred Flame has gone out.”
Of course.
Exactly the kind of interpretation I'd expect from her.
“The Sacred Flame is a blessing bestowed upon the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult by the Heavenly God.”
She continued solemnly.
“If such a flame disappears...”
“then perhaps it is heaven's warning that a terrible calamity may one day befall the world.”
I lightly shook my head.
That really is the interpretation of a fanatic.
Still...
I kept the thought to myself.
Because there was another important part of the prophecy we hadn't explained yet.
“If that's the case...”
I pointed at the second line.
“what do you think the ‘place ordained by heaven’ means?”
If the record was to be taken literally...
then there was some specific place where the Sacred Flame could be revived.
But where could such a place possibly be?
“Yes.”
Yeom Yuhwa answered immediately.
“I found that place as well.”
I stared at her.
“W-What?”
I instinctively asked again.
“The place ordained by heaven.”
Yeom Yuhwa spoke quietly.
There was something almost reverent in her voice.
“I found the place where you can restore the Sacred Flame.”
I leaned forward.
“Where is it?”
“Tell me.”
Yeom Yuhwa didn't answer immediately.
She closed her eyes briefly.
Then opened them and spoke very carefully.
“That place is....”
And what came next...
was completely outside my expectations.
I immediately followed Yeom Yuhwa to the place she'd mentioned.
And the moment we arrived...
the first thought that crossed my mind was—
No.
This can't be right.
No matter how I looked at it...
I couldn't believe it.
This was really the place ordained by heaven?
Unable to accept it, I turned toward Yeom Yuhwa again.
“Are you certain this is the place?”
I looked around.
“The place mentioned in that old record...?”
But as always...
Yeom Yuhwa answered with complete certainty.
“Yes.”
Not even the slightest hesitation.
“This is definitely the place.”
“Haa....”
I let out a long sigh and looked around once more.
Because this wasn't somewhere I had expected at all.
The place where I was currently standing was—
a graveyard.
