「𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙔𝙖𝙝𝙬𝙖𝙠.」
Since I had erased all traces of Hektel after the battle, the Exorcism Headquarters concluded that he had escaped and gone into hiding, just like last time.
But in reality, both of them were out of the story.
Considering that each member of the Yahwak had the influence of a story boss, this could be considered a tremendous feat.
「𝙄 𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚.」
The Yahwak members originally started appearing in earnest in the latter half of the story. Now that the link had been completely severed, I figured I wouldn’t encounter the other members again as enemies until quite some time had passed.
「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨, 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙨.」
Thud.
Rumble.
I was lost in thought, twirling the black bead on the table with my finger.
This was the forbidden karma value stone that Hektel had been using. Or rather, it was an accessory made from it.
And inside it was the soul of Hektel, who had died in battle with me.
「𝙄’𝙢 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩’𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙖𝙮.」
I hadn’t intended to go down this path from the beginning, but somehow, I really was becoming a full-fledged warlock.
If this was a game, I would’ve just accepted it and moved on, but since this was reality, it wasn’t something I could easily ignore.
「. . .𝙄 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙗𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙦𝙪𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙖𝙮.」
Since warlocks aren’t exactly well-received in this world, it’s not like there would never be such an incident.
It was clear that I needed to be careful in many ways.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Swish. Click.
As I was writing down my thoughts and plans on paper, I turned my head at the sudden vibration of my smartphone.
It was a call from Myung-yul, the former special-grade exorcist whom I had met at the presentation.
“What’s up?”
『Long time no see. I have news for you. I’ve gotten Unyeon’s approval, just as we promised. Can you come to my place this Sunday?』
“Yes. Of course, I’ll be there.”
Prophet Unyeon. A meeting with her awaited me.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
𝙖𝐰𝙚𝐛𝘴ᴛ𝚘ʀ𝐢𝚎ṡ.ᴄȯ̇ṁ
Unyeon may not appear very often, but she’s one of the main characters in the original story.
「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙤 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙖 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙧.」
In the original story, Yoo Ha-on and her party first meet Prophet Unyeon during their second year, right before the second Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.
And there, she tells each of them their destinies.
「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙟𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙤 𝙃𝙖-𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩.」
Unyeon’s prophecies aren’t absolutely accurate. There are exceptions, but most of them change depending on variables that occur later on.
However, that uncertainty is actually a great advantage.
「𝙄𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙖𝙣 𝙪𝙣𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩.」
That’s why I decided to seek out Unyeon this time.
I wanted to have her look into my future, assess what was to come, and prepare for any crises. In short, it was a preemptive strike for information.
When the weekend came, I left the Academy and immediately went to meet Myung-yul.
“I’ll tell you this in advance, she’s quite a difficult person. Be careful not to provoke her unnecessarily.”
“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“My disciple will guide you there. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I hope you get what you want.”
The person Myung-yul sent as a guide was none other than the senior from the graduating class and his disciple, Arietta.
With her, I headed to the middle of Myungrim Mountain, where Unyeon lived in seclusion.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen grandma in person.”
“Have you met her before?”
“We spent a lot of time together when I was younger. She was a very kind person.”
This was the first time I had heard this.
And, what a cruel thing.
「𝙔𝙤𝙤 𝙃𝙖-𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙮 𝙢𝙚𝙩 𝙐𝙣𝙮𝙚𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙙.」
Then, how on earth did Unyeon feel when she met Yoo Ha-on and her party in the original story?
I don’t know for sure, but she must have had very complicated emotions.
I followed Arietta up the steep mountain path, breathing heavily.
“Junior, you look exhausted.”
“It’s my first time on a mountain path like this.”
“Do you want me to carry you?”
“. . .I’ll pass on that.”
It wasn’t unusual. My stamina rank was C+, which was quite low.
However, I didn’t want to experience being carried on the back of a girl who was smaller than me.
In the end, I managed to climb the mountain with great difficulty and arrived at Unyeon’s residence.
As I was catching my breath, soaked in sweat, a young man approached us from nearby and spoke.
“Are you Myung-yul-nim’s guests? Unyeon-nim is waiting for you inside.”
With that, we followed the young man’s guidance and were finally able to meet Unyeon.
Knock.
Knock knock.
“I’ve brought the guests you mentioned. May I let them in?”
“. . .Let the two of them in, and you can clean the yard for a while.”
“Yes. I will do as you say.”
The young man left, and we entered the room and stood before Unyeon.
Grayish-white hair and wrinkled skin. Despite that, there was a heavy aura about her. The Unyeon I saw with my own eyes was exactly as she was described in the original story.
“Well, well. It’s been quite a long time.”
“It’s good to see you, grandma. I’m glad you’re healthy.”
“I won’t go before that geezer, so don’t worry.”
After exchanging greetings with Arietta for a while, Unyeon turned her gaze to me and stared.
Her gaze felt strange, as if it was piercing deep into my heart.
“So, why have you come to see me? What do you want to know?”
“I would like Unyeon-nim to look into my future.”
“I see. I thought that’s what you would ask.”
Unyeon let out a small sigh and continued.
“Knowing the future isn’t always a good thing. Sometimes, it might be happier to just live the life you’re given. Even so, do you still want to see the outcome?”
“Yes. I’m prepared.”
“. . .Then come here. Let me at least try to see what I can see.”
Unyeon placed her hand on my head and closed her eyes, concentrating as she drew out her spiritual power.
Like that, after a short while, Unyeon suddenly opened her eyes wide and recoiled from me as if she had been shocked.
Her gaze trembled violently as if she had witnessed something unbelievable, and it remained fixed on me.
