𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟏𝟎
“I’m here.”
It was Sunday afternoon, a day had passed.
I met with Cheong Juhwa again, and she was dressed in a neat outfit rather than her usual active attire. Seeing her like this felt refreshing, and I couldn’t help but stare at her for a while.
“Is something wrong? I don’t always wear those kinds of clothes, you know?”
“Sorry. It just suits you well.”
“. . .It’s a bit cliché to say that.”
Cheong Juhwa grumbled, but she didn’t seem that upset.
Just like last time, as we left the academy and headed to our destination, Cheong Juhwa seemed quite interested in my various questions about Cheong Jong.
“I heard he really dislikes the family too?”
“To be precise, he hates the current state of the family, which has lost its former purpose.”
“Well, that’s true. I like the Cheong-il from the old stories.”
At Cheong Juhwa’s words, I briefly recalled the events of the Eternal Labyrinth that we had entered not too long ago.
「𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙩, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙮.」
Aside from the Black Forest that we cleared, there were three other areas left.
And at the end of one of them, the Labyrinth of Guilt to the south, Cheong-il was probably still in a long slumber.
「. . .𝙎𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙚, 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩?」
There were still many years left until the 4th installment of the original series, where Cheong-il makes his first appearance, but on the other hand, I was worried about what kind of storm the changes we had caused would bring upon Cheong-il.
After all, Cheong-il himself was unable to escape from the labyrinth on his own.
「𝙄𝙛 𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩, 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙤 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛.」
Either way, that’s something to worry about later. I collected my thoughts and gave Cheong Juhwa a brief explanation about Cheong Jong.
“I don’t know if he knows your father, but they should at least be acquainted.”
“It doesn’t matter. Anyone who dislikes Cheong Do-yool can’t be a bad person.”
“. . . . . .”
I’ve felt it since last time, but Cheong Juhwa’s resentment towards Cheong Do-yool runs deep.
It’s not for nothing that they’re the greatest enemies in the first installment of the series.
After getting off the bus and walking for a while, we finally arrived at Cheong Jong’s residence that we had seen before.
“. . .It’s much more impressive than I thought. Does he run a scrap metal business or something?”
Cheong Juhwa was taken aback by the rows of various parts that were lined up in the yard, but this was Cheong Jong’s hobby, so there was nothing that could be done about it.
Thud.
Thud. Thud.
“Elder Cheong Jong, are you home?”
We had intentionally come at a time when Cheong Jong would be awake, so fortunately, we didn’t miss him.
“. . .You’ve finally come. These crazy kids.”
Cheong Jong, who was now face to face with us, did his best to suppress a smile and led us into his house.
Creak.
“So, did you really succeed in retrieving the azure dragon?”
“Yes. It is currently with us.”
“Oh, that’s quite impressive. I guess you really are quite capable.”
Cheong Jong nodded in admiration and then turned his attention to Cheong Juhwa, who was standing next to him.
“So, you’re Cheong Sa-woon’s daughter?”
“Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Elder Cheong Jong.”
“Haha. No, no, child. What do you mean, ‘meet’? I’ve seen you crawling around since you were a baby.”
At those words, Cheong Juhwa tilted her head, and Cheong Jong reminisced as if he were cherishing the memory.
“That Cheong Sa-woon was a really stubborn guy. No matter how much I tried to dissuade him, he would never back down from something he had set his mind to.”
“You knew my father?”
“Of course, I taught him how to catch crayfish in the stream when he was young. Heh, thinking about it now, even back then, I could see how stubborn he was.”
After hearing the story, Cheong Jong nodded his head in satisfaction and began patting Cheong Juhwa and my shoulders.
“Yes. No matter how much they play around with their spatial cubes, this is the right thing to do. Kid, you’ve done a great job.”
However, Cheong Jong soon gave us a serious warning.
“Be careful. The current situation of the family is really not good. It’s like a volcano on the verge of erupting.”
“Is it that serious?”
“Yes, that Cheong Do-yool guy has completely lost his mind after being humiliated by the other elders. If he finds out that you’ve retrieved the azure dragon, he’ll try to get it back, even if he has to use dirty tricks.”
At those words, Cheong Juhwa let out a quiet complaint.
“Tch, when has he ever not used dirty tricks? That’s just the kind of guy he is.”
“That’s not wrong, but at least the old him had the preservation of the family as the goal of all his actions. However, the current him has forgotten even that simple principle. He probably harbors even more dangerous thoughts than before.”
Cheong Jong’s words were not wrong. It was an evaluation that seemed to have come straight out of the original story, describing Cheong Do-yool’s character perfectly.
However, since I wasn’t here to hear about Cheong Do-yool today, I subtly changed the subject and asked Cheong Jong about Myung-yul.
“Elder Cheong Jong, do you happen to be acquainted with Myung-yul?”
“Myung-yul? Are you talking about that old special-grade exorcist?”
“Yes. The Myung-yul who is called one of the heroes of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons incident.”
Amidst the anticipation and tension, Cheong Jong’s answer was fortunately positive.
“I know him. We haven’t had much contact since we both retired, but we had a lot to do with each other back when the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons happened.”
In that case, it could be said to be perfect in terms of timing.
I smiled and asked Cheong Jong a question.
“I’d like to hear stories about Myung-yul from that time. It’s for something important.”
“It seems like something has happened again, but could you narrow down the scope a bit? . . .”
“Do you have any information about incidents Myung-yul was involved in in the past, or about grudges he may have with someone?”
“I think I understand what kind of story you’re looking for.”
Cheong Jong thought back for a moment and then began to recite episodes about Myung-yul without hesitation.
It was so vivid and accurate that I wondered if he had recorded it somewhere.
“And so, he became famous among the high-ranking people of his time. From then on, he was often assigned special tasks alone.”
“Would that be something like an executor at the exorcist headquarters.”
“It’s similar, but a bit different. The exorcist headquarters existed back then too, but I understand that Myung-yul often appeared in even more dangerous situations.”
I thought I had a rough idea of what it was like. It felt like Myung-yul’s hidden secret would be related to that period of time.
“To be honest, I don’t know much about what happened before that. If I did, it wouldn’t have been a special mission. However, I do remember the incident around the time he decided to retire.”
“. . .What was that?”
At my urging, Cheong Jong hesitated for a moment before speaking, which was rare for him.
“. . .Sigh, from here on, it’s actually classified information, but since I’m retired anyway, it doesn’t matter.”
What Cheong Jong revealed was one of the secrets of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons incident that I already knew about.
“During the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons incident, it wasn’t just powerful yokai that were troubling us.”
“. . .What else was there?”
Cheong Juhwa nodded at the question.
“Very rarely, unidentified interdimensional spaces or structures would appear. And in those places, high-ranking yokai would be lurking, or sometimes something completely incomprehensible would be hidden.”
“You’re saying that Myung-yul also experienced something like that.”
“That’s right. The fearsome forbidden elixir that existed in the temple that suddenly appeared. Retrieving it was Myung-yul’s last mission.”
I had a feeling. If there was something in Myung-yul’s past, it was clear that this incident was related.
Cheong Jong’s story didn’t end there.
“He lost many comrades in the process, and among them was one who was tainted by the forbidden elixir and had to be dealt with by Myung-yul himself. It must have been quite a shock.”
And so, Myung-yul retired and devoted himself to barrier research for many people, taking in disciples and teaching children.
That was all that Cheong Jong knew.
“That was very helpful. Thank you.”
“No problem. Just take good care of that Cheong Sa-woon’s daughter.”
Honestly, I didn’t expect that much, but Cheong Jong had more information than I thought.
Satisfied with the conversation, Cheong Juhwa and I walked along the night road and summarized the things we had heard.
「𝘼𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩, 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙬𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚.」
Surely, the “forbidden elixir” that was the target of that last mission is not unrelated to the current situation.
As I was walking, thinking about my plans for the future regarding this, Cheong Juhwa, who had been looking at me the whole time, couldn’t hold back and spoke up.
“By the way, won’t it take forever to walk back to the academy?”
“. . . . . .”
“Be honest. You didn’t calculate the time it would take to run out of gas, did you?”
“Sorry.”
In the end, I had no choice but to coax and appease Sori-soe and hand him over to Cheong Juhwa to calm the situation.
And it took us another two and a half hours to return to the academy.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Now that we had gathered this much information, all that was left was to plan and act.
After some deliberation, I went to Arietta and asked her if there was anyone among Myung-yul’s close associates who had been active during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons incident.
“Yeah. There is. Mr. Heo Woong-jeong, he still visits often.”
She said that he was Myung-yul’s junior and that they had worked together on various things.
「𝙄𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙥𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖 𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙩.」
It was clear that the wraith was going after people who were related to the past one by one.
Rather than Myung-yul, who was at the center of it all, it was more likely that the wraith would target others first.
Just as I was about to set out to find Heo Woong-jeong, an unexpected obstacle appeared. It was Arietta.
“. . .Junior, you’ve been acting suspicious lately.”
“It’s nothing. You don’t have to worry about it.”
“Just to be sure, I asked grandma, and she told me to stick to you even more than I already am.”
Sigh, that old lady.
Even if she sticks to me, won’t it be difficult to do anything related to the case?
「. . .𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩, 𝙞𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙩?」
This time, I’m not going to Myung-yul to find out something directly, I’m just going to meet his acquaintance.
On the contrary, it might not be a bad idea to have her around to prevent any unforeseen incidents.
In the end, I took Arietta with me and headed to the residence of the minor sorcery family where Heo Woong-jeong was staying.
And before we could even get inside, we were stopped by a group of people who exuded a powerful aura.
“Halt. You can’t enter here without proper identification.”
A group of people who were all over level 40.
They were the executors of the headquarters who had been chasing after the wraith.
