𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟗𝟎
「𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤 𝙄 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙞𝙩? 」
It’s not hard to make up a story. However, Hae Ga-ram won’t trust me with just any story.
That’s why I decided to not make her trust me but rather to borrow the name of someone she can trust for the time being,
“. . . Can you leave us alone for a moment?”
At my polite request, Hae Ga-ram nodded and instructed Hae Un-hyeong to do so.
She even manipulated the barrier formation after Hae Un-hyeong left to completely block out any noise.
I looked at Hae Ga-ram and slowly began to speak.
“Of course, I didn’t find out about all this on my own. After all, I was just an academy student at the time.”
“Then?”
“There was someone who told me about it.”
This is where it’s important.
I had to properly select someone who could earn Hae Ga-ram’s trust while also not causing any future problems.
And coincidentally, I knew someone who fit all those conditions.
I pretended to hesitate for a moment before continuing to speak to Hae Ga-ram.
“It was Cheong-il-nim.”
“. . . What?”
Hae Ga-ram tilted her head for a moment and then asked as if to confirm what she had just heard.
“Cheong-il as in the Cheong-il I know?”
That’s right.
The hero of the Cheong family, and none other than the founder of Cheonghwa Academy.
The Cheong-il who was said to have abilities that were on a completely different level.
“What are you talking about, Cheong-il died almost a century ago?”
“That’s what I thought too.”
In fact, if I hadn’t known the information from the original, I would have thought that he had left the Cheong family and died as well.
And here, I needed to mix in a little bit of truth.
“Do you know the story about the Eternal Labyrinth?”
“Eternal Labyrinth?”
“It’s a rumor about a barrier formation that eats people.”
Hae Ga-ram had probably heard of it to some extent.
Although its true nature was unknown, it was often rumored because of the occasional eyewitness accounts and the periodic disappearance of people.
This was also a fact that was acknowledged in the original.
“I got caught up in it at the end of last year. And after overcoming various obstacles, I managed to escape the labyrinth.”
“At the end of last year, that would mean. . . . . . .”
It seemed like Hae Ga-ram found some of it suspicious.
Soon, she also put on a serious expression and spoke to me.
“I’ve heard rumors here and there. That there’s a Revived Person in the barrier formation that eats people. And the people at the center of the rumors all said that there was a helper they couldn’t name.”
Some of the group at the time had connections to headquarters, so they probably reported the general details to their superiors.
Fortunately, it seemed like they had kept the promise they made with me during that process.
“In a word, you’re saying that you were that helper?”
“I won’t deny it.”
“And judging by the flow of the conversation, that would mean that inside. . . . . . .”
“That’s right. Cheong-il was alive inside the Eternal Labyrinth. I didn’t find out about it until after I met him.”
Even a lie can be believable.
Depending on how you package it, it can transform into a plausible story in an instant.
And judging by her reaction, it seemed like a series of stories had been completed in Hae Ga-ram’s head at that moment.
“Cheong-il can’t come out of there right now because of circumstances.”
This part wasn’t a lie.
In reality, Cheong-il was trapped in the Labyrinth of Guilt, a section of the Eternal Labyrinth, and he was unable to escape on his own.
“However, even in that situation, he told me about the crisis facing the Cheong family.”
“Is that the information related to Jin-myeong?”
“Yes.”
Hae Ga-ram was already halfway to believing me. So at this point, I needed to deliver the final blow.
“Actually, after that, I made connections with the Cheong family and tried to figure out if Cheong-il’s warning was true. You probably have some doubts about that part.”
“. . . . . . .”
Incidentally, it was around that time that the conflict arose within the Cheong family over Cheong Juhwa.
And Hae Ga-ram would have realized that I was at the center of that incident when she looked into the sinner’s past.
When the situation fit so perfectly, honestly, anyone would have no choice but to believe it.
“Cheong So-ha has been unable to disobey Jin-myeong’s orders since she was young due to a suggestion. Cheong-il’s warning was all true.”
“. . . Certainly, there’s nothing in what I’ve heard so far that I can refute.”
The persuasion was complete. Hae Ga-ram had come to fully believe my words.
I maintained my composure and inwardly cheered.
“However, I can’t abandon my duty to protect Yangcheolgung either.”
“Since there was such a large-scale incident this time, the other prisoners probably won’t cause any problems for the time being.”
“. . . . . . .”
“Furthermore, if Jin-myeong takes control of the Korean shamanic world, there’s a high possibility that he’ll also target Yangcheolgung, which has several useful pawns.”
In short, I was saying that stopping Jin-myeong was also related to fulfilling her duty.
Since there was certainly some truth to that, Cheong Haram finally nodded after a moment of contemplation.
“Fine. I’ll help.”
“. . . Thank you. This is a great relief.”
“So, let’s talk about some practical matters from now on.”
A full-fledged plan to stop Jin-myeong and Cheong So-ha.
Hae Ga-ram and I, who had begun discussing it to establish the plan, disappeared from Yangcheolgung several hours later.
Now, the time for the decisive battle was truly approaching.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
After Han Kang-yoon was sent to Yangcheolgung, many things happened on the other side as well.
“Ugh, this is pissing me off! I can’t figure out what the hell is going on!”
The one stomping her feet in anger was none other than Yoo Ha-on’s Baek Eun-seo.
And they were currently hiding in the corner of an abandoned house that had been emptied due to the evacuation of the citizens and discussing what to do next.
“. . . That’s right. We just barely managed to overcome the crisis, and then this happened right away.”
Yoo Ha-on’s group had recently assisted in the subjugation against a yokai presumed to be S-rank, Horongkyo, and had finally succeeded in repelling it.
However, a problem arose immediately afterward.
Somehow, Han Kang-yoon, whose whereabouts had been unknown, had become a major sinner and had been sent to the special prison, Yangcheolgung.
Of course, Han Seo-ah, who was from the same orphanage, couldn’t hide her agitation, and Yoo Ha-on’s group decided to gather information first to find a way.
However, now that the exorcists of the Cheong family had barged in and were holding a sit-in protest, demanding that they hand over Cheong Juhwa, they couldn’t come to their senses and ended up hiding.
“What the hell is going on? It’s obvious that something’s going on, but on the other hand, I don’t know anything, so it’s hard to figure out the situation.”
This time, the exchange student, Johan, was also with them.
Johan had learned from his previous conversation with Han Kang-yoon that Han Kang-yoon was involved in various matters, but he had no idea how it was related to this incident.
Just then, Cheong Juhwa, who had been deeply absorbed in her thoughts, opened her mouth.
“It’s probably because of the Cheong family.”
“Do you have any idea?”
“I don’t know exactly, but I had a disagreement with an elder of the Cheong family last time.”
As soon as Han Kang-yoon was sent to Yangcheolgung, Cheong Juhwa was visited by exorcists from the Cheong family.
It would have been stranger if there was no connection at all.
“The problem is, we don’t know who’s behind it.”
If you thought about it simply, it would be Cheong Do-yool, but he had suffered a great loss due to his previous failure.
Furthermore, it seemed like he didn’t have the resources to do something like this now because he was dealing with the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, so the possibility that he had done this was lower than expected.
“Are there any other elders you had a bad relationship with?”
“No. There aren’t. Except for Cheong Do-yool, I’ve had more good relationships than bad. . . . . . ?”
Furthermore, Han Kang-yoon had a fairly close relationship with Cheong So-ha, so it wouldn’t have been easy for her to act so openly unless she was going against her.
When she thought about it that far, Cheong Juhwa felt a sense of discomfort.
“Something’s a little strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“Since Cheong So-ha-nim is backing me, she should have stopped any kind of nonsense. . . . . . .”
The reality was the complete opposite.
Exorcists from the Cheong family had appeared, using force to demand that she hand herself over, and there was no response from Cheong So-ha.
What did that mean?
There were probably several possibilities, but honestly, the one with the highest probability was clear.
Cheong Juhwa had no choice but to acknowledge it.
“. . . I was thinking wrong.”
It wasn’t Cheong Do-yool. Rather, the one targeting Han Kang-yoon and Cheong Juhwa in this incident was the complete opposite.
“. . . It’s Cheong So-ha-nim. Maybe the relationship has completely changed.”
“So, you’re saying that she betrayed you?”
“It’s not certain, but it seems that way.”
The group all had blank expressions at that conclusion.
It wasn’t strange.
In Korea, there was no one who aspired to be an exorcist who didn’t know the name Cheong So-ha.
If she was really the one behind this, there was no way that Yoo Ha-on’s group could come up with a plan and do anything about it.
“. . . The scale has gotten too big.”
“Ugh, what the hell are we going to do about this? Honestly, Cheong So-ha is just on a different level.”
Baek Eun-seo, who was a direct descendant of the family, wasn’t confident that she could stand up to Cheong So-ha even if she brought in the family elders.
However, on the other hand, they couldn’t give up even in that situation.
There were too many people in this place who were deeply connected to Han Kang-yoon.
There was a brief silence in the apartment.
And right then, the detection barrier that Cheong Juhwa had spread out reacted.
Ziiiiing!
“. . . Someone’s coming. There are two of them. And they’re pretty strong.”
She said that, but honestly, it was a bit shocking.
The amount of spiritual power she felt from the two was at least 1st-grade or higher, maybe even beyond that.
“They’ve hidden themselves on the floor below.”
“Is it a concealment spell? Everyone, get ready!”
Yoo Ha-on’s group each took out their respective weapons and heightened their tension.
They were now veterans of battle. They wouldn’t be easily defeated by any opponent.
How much time passed like that?
The locked entrance opened, and from there, a hooded girl with flowing silver hair slowly appeared.
Soon, she completely removed her hood and scanned the faces of Yoo Ha-on’s group in the room, and then she opened her mouth.
“. . . You’re here. I was looking for you.”
“Huh?”
Yoo Ha-on’s group was surprised, without exception. And then they relaxed their guard a little.
“. . . Can I come in?”
The girl who had revealed herself was none other than Arietta Morgan, a graduate of Cheonghwa Academy.
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