Thud…
Thud…
Seol’s heart began to pound, as if something were wrong. It almost felt like his heart was trying to burst out of his chest.
“Urgh…”
“Are you alright?”
Thud…
Thud…
The ringing sound went back and forth between growing loud and quiet.
- …Open the door, Seol.
“Urgh…”Seol’s head rang loudly, leaving him uncertain of whose voice it was.
This was definitely not normal.
Haaaah…
Seol took a deep breath.
“What? Was it because of the spar…”
“No, it’s not that…”
The ringing suddenly turned silent.
Though Seol did not know why, he knew it had slipped over.
“Haah…”
“Are you alright now?”
Nod…
Seol then reached for his heart after nodding.
‘What in the…’
And then…
Thuuuuuuud!
“Bwrgh…”
“Hey, Kang Seol!”
Thud…
Seol then went limp after receiving a massive blow to his chest.
“His energy is flowing backward! Hurry up and lay him down!”
“Kang Seol!”
Riiiiiiiiing…
It felt as though their voices were drifting away as his consciousness sank deeper and deeper.
* * *
Drip… drip…
It was natural for the pressure to increase the deeper you went.
Seol was finally roused by the immense pressure building up around him.
Crush…
“Urgh…”
“...Seol.”
Thud…
After hearing someone call his name, Seol managed to brace himself and prevent his body from sinking any further.
“Who is it?”
“Who do you think?”
Only now could Seol tell whose voice it was.
“Ur.”
“So you didn’t forget about me completely.”
“Haha…”
A spirit wearing glasses appeared in front of Seol.
"I've found a lead on the void."
“You did?”
“Yes, and… the void is already complete.”
“...What?”
The reason Seol’s summons hadn’t been able to rejoin him was because the void was still incomplete.
“Then why…”
“I’ve learned why, and why it took this much time.”
Raise…
Ur slowly readjusted his glasses before continuing.
“The door to the void isn’t opened from within.”
“......”
"I'm sure you’ve realized it. It’s not me who opens the door to the void, it’s you."
The void.
What was needed to open the training ground for efficiently growing his familiars wasn’t Ur, but Seol himself.
“What happened with Karuna won’t happen again. That was pure luck, something he only attempted out of ignorance. It will not be happening again.”
“But how am I supposed to open the door from here? I…”
Seol could not do it.
“Why not?”
“That’s because… I…”
He wasn’t the Immortal.
He was neither as strong nor as wise as the Immortal.
That thought flashed across Seol’s mind.
‘Wait… That’s not what I’m trying to say…’
Or was it?
I…
“Open the door, Seol. We will be waiting for you.”
“Wai—”
Fssssssss…
* * *
When Seol woke up, he realized he had been moved next to the campfire to keep him warm.
He then looked down at his body, noticing that someone had put acupuncture needles into his body.
“Essentially, his body is continuously cooling down, and…”
“Urgh…”
“He’s up!”
“Kang Seol!”
Chi Woo helped Seol up.
“Urgh… What… happened…”
“Are you okay? You suddenly lost consciousness.”
“Ah…”
Hye Myeong smiled after realizing that Seol was fine.
“Hahaha! Of course, there’d be some damage sparring with me. You might’ve pretended to be fine, but it’s normal to be hurt. Next time, let us know right away.”
“......”
Seol lacked even the energy to respond to Hye Myeong.
After the commotion was over, everyone went to sleep.
The next day, with about two days remaining before the Ruins of Watala opened, they all relaxed outside—everyone except one person.
Seol.
“Urgh…”
Seol furrowed his brow, his face turning red. He looked like someone desperately needing to use the restroom.
“Haah…”
Seol relaxed himself.
- Open the door, Seol. We will be waiting for you.
Ur’s words lingered in Seol’s head.
Ur definitely said that he would be waiting for him.
In other words, there was nothing else for Ur to do now.
‘But how am I supposed to open it?’
Even if Seol wanted to open it, he didn’t know where it was, how to open it, or if it even existed in the first place.
- I heard that he was knocked out and is now constantly on the verge of shitting himself. Am I correct?
- He hasn’t shit himself yet, but he seems to be trying really hard.
- I really hope he succeeds. Ah, maybe he’s constipated?
- Get some prune juice!
Not knowing what Seol was trying to do, the viewers thought he was just acting strangely.
“...Karuna.”
- Yes, Master?
“You told me you crossed through a door to return to me, right?
- Yes, there was definitely a door.
There was no better advice than advice from someone who experienced it themselves.
Seol then asked Karuna for every detail about crossing over from the void to him.
“What did the door look like exactly?”
- It was a bit cramped. It was also old, and I was worried I would break it just by trying to push through.
“Hm…”
- I’m not sure if this is the best way to describe it, but... hm... The door I went through didn’t seem like one meant for regular use. It felt more like a backup door.
In other words, Karuna didn’t take a normal route. It was a special or hidden path.
‘But how did Karuna manage to use that?’
It was clearly a low-chance, difficult path if even Ur described it as extreme luck.
Karuna had simply held onto the chance to reach Seol.
And if he had failed, he would’ve likely been still stuck in the void, even now.
Seol saw it as incredible loyalty and determination.
- There are… probably more doors.
Karuna added another sentence, making Seol curious.
“What makes you think that?”
- I sensed it while wandering through the void. I felt an immense presence somewhere, though I wasn’t sure exactly where it was.
“Hm…”
There was undeniably a door.
But could Seol open it?
‘I thought it would go easy because it was for the Immortal…’
However, constructing the void was more than just complicated.
Seol then recalled what he was trying to tell Ur in his slumber.
‘I am not the Immortal.’
He wasn’t the Immortal.
Seol was struggling with the void because he was neither as strong nor as wise as the Immortal, the one who created it.
‘Still, it’s not like there’s nothing that I can do.’
There was certainly a path.
“Urgh…”
Seol concentrated once more. He realized the door wasn’t physical, so the answer had to be within his mind.
- He’s focusing again!
- It’s starting again!
- Let’s go! Loosen up
* * *
The second night.
“Haah…”
Despite spending an entire day trying to open the door, Seol made no progress.
However, there was no reason for him to be so disappointed.
As long as Seol kept working hard, as he was now, finding the door to open the void Ur mentioned was only a matter of time.
‘No, there could be issues if I take too long to open it.’
Seol knew the trial Hye Myeong would face after acquiring the Luminous Bell.
He also knew that, given his current state, he wouldn’t be much help.
‘Unless I recover at least a portion of my powers, I won’t be able to help him, and the past will repeat itself.’
In the past, Hye Myeong had used the Luminous Bell to overcome a crisis. Since Seol’s goal was to recover the bell, he couldn’t use it himself.
Therefore, if he couldn’t help Hye Myeong, he would have no choice but to use the Luminous Bell to overcome the crisis on his own.
While Seol was certainly strong, the opponent Hye Myeong would face in this trial was one that Seol’s powers were ill-suited to handle.
That was why he was in such a rush.
At this rate, he would simply repeat the past, unable to take the Luminous Bell for himself.
‘Still, there’s still some time left. I have to keep trying.’
There was still plenty of time before Hye Myeong would have to confront the threat. Seol knew this because Hye Myeong hadn’t awakened any of the powers from the Golden Divine Statue yet.
The threat that Seol was worried about would come after a few more attempts at the ruin.
‘I just need to… open the door before then.’
As Seol tried to concentrate once more, someone approached him.
“Hahaha! What are you thinking so hard about, brother?”
It was Hye Myeong.
However, the word he used to describe him was a bit weird.
“Since when did we become brothers?”
“Last night, don’t you remember?”
“...Because of that?”
“Yeah, we helped each other grow a lot. What else would we call each other?”
He wasn’t wrong.
And this was also an opportunity for Seol to get one of his 10 strongest pieces to lower his guard.
Toss!
“Take this,” said Hye Myeong.
“This is…”
Hye Myeong tossed him a gourd.
Splash…
“This smell… alcohol?”
"Yeah. I was saving this, but since you treated me to a meal and we’ve become brothers, I want you to have some."
- I told you, this bastard isn’t a monk at all. He’s never even shaved his head.
- Destroy them! We have to destroy the rules that stand in the way of us attaining the truth!
Seol neither enjoyed alcohol nor was he the type to drink something offered by others.
However, could Hye Myeong really be considered someone else? He was also himself, and his brother.
And from what Seol could tell, nothing had been added to the alcohol. The only thing in the gourd was liquor.
Gulp…
Seol took a big swig of the alcohol in Hye Myeong’s gourd.
“Good, right?”
“...It is.”
The two then sat on a rock, looking up at the moon—The expansive view of the plateau before them filled their hearts.
“I said this before, but… you seem to have a lot of worries,” said Hye Myeong.
“Worries, huh…” smirked Seol. “There’s always worries.”
Hye Myeong laughed after hearing that.
“Hahaha! To be honest, you’re the first person I’ve met who’s as strong as I am.”
“......”
“Maybe I was arrogant?”
Seol hesitated to answer that question.
‘I can’t influence Hye Myeong too much.’
Seol had no idea what might happen if Hye Myeong changed too much after their meeting.
What if Hye Myeong succeeded in Ascension?
Or what if he failed to overcome a barrier and fell short?
Gulp…
“Regardless, I don’t know why you’re worrying so much when you have become so strong at such a young age.”
Seol’s brain turned white for a second.
“If I were you, I’d have no worries at all, hahaha!”
Seol felt strange being called strong by Hye Myeong, his legendary piece who would one day challenge Ascension to become a god.
“You know, I…”
Hye Myeong then shared his past.
He had been in a small hermitage, practicing asceticism.
The Soul Eyes Tribe was persecuted, but Mi Ah, someone even they had abandoned, came to his hermitage.
She had lost her sight even before her coming-of-age ceremony.
Although cases like hers had occurred before, they always brought disaster to the tribe, which was why she was abandoned.
“I had to protect her.”
Hunters seeking to capture her kept coming, causing significant harm to the hermitage.
He had no choice but to leave with her.
“Truthfully, it was sheer luck I made it here, and it was even more luck that let me get the divine statue.”
Seol glanced down at the golden statue, seeing its eerie smile.
“Did Mi Ah not blame them for abandoning her?”
"Not at all. Not everyone can reach nirvana. The path to enlightenment is a solitary journey. For some, even sharing hardships is difficult."
“I guess you still are a monk, after all.”
“Hahaha! And you don’t seem like an archaeologist at all. We’re just breaking the mold.”
“We just might.”
Seol felt a strange sensation swelling in his chest. It wasn’t sadness or boredom.
It was just a strong desire to confirm something, no matter what.
“Hye Myeong.”
“Haha... For some reason, hearing that feels familiar. Even though Mi Ah’s probably the only person who calls me by my name now.”
“How would you feel if someone else made the decisions for most of your life?"
“...An interesting question.”
Seol was the person who made every decision for Hye Myeong.
He wanted to see how Hye Myeong would accept it.
“I don’t know. I don’t know what I’d say, but I’d like to meet them at least once.”
“...Who?”
“The person making the decisions for me, of course.”
Despite being right beside him, Hye Myeong was utterly clueless. It was a strange situation, but it also provided an answer for Seol.
Like a firefly in the darkness, Seol’s conversation with Hye Myeong illuminated the hazy situation before him.
Sensing this clarity, Seol decided to ask more.
“A door.”
“...What?”
“There is a door inside of me.”
“What a strange sentence.”
“I need to open it, but I don’t know how. What would you do?”
“Hm…” said Hye Myeong, scratching his chin. “Since I can’t open up my chest to see my heart, I’d have to cultivate myself.”
“Cultivate?”
“Yes, cultivate. Like developing your mind.”
Hye Myeong’s view was not too different from Seol’s.
“And that just so happens to be my expertise! Now, why don’t we go ask Watala?”
Grab…
Hye Myeong then gripped the Golden Divine Statue.
“What are you trying to do with that?”
“Don’t you know what this relic is?”
“Roughly.”
“Then you must also know about Watala, right?”
“I do.”
“Watala isn’t so much a god… as they are a transcendent mind. He is an ancient being who has practiced asceticism to the point where his mind has reached the pinnacle.”
“You know a lot about him.”
“Haha, there were details about him in the ruin. It was easy to understand, too, since it was left behind as a drawing.”
The Golden Divine Statue.
And the thing possessing it was Watala’s mind.
Watala did not ask for much.
However, each time the user receives help, they also aid Watala in escaping the statue. He, too, desired to spread his powers throughout the world.
While most statues like these discovered in ruins are eerie and ominous, the Golden Divine Statue is a rare case where the individual trapped is actually a benevolent one.
“Now, Watala, you heard Kang Seol’s worries, right? If he wants to open the door…”
- They have arrived.
“What’s… coming?”
Something unexpected happened.
The Golden Divine Statue’s mouth opened and began to speak.
Even Seol’s mind went blank, as it was his first time experiencing this.
- Evil has arrived. Prepare yourselves, men of good.
And then…
Rumbleeeeeeee!
The ruin’s door suddenly emerged from the ground, causing Hye Myeong to look around.
“Why is it… opening a day early…”
Seol then looked up at the sky.
Rumble…
Dark clouds were coming closer.
‘Don’t tell me…!’
A chill ran down Seol’s spine.
‘It’s him! Why is he…’
The evil Hye Myeong was supposed to face after challenging the ruin multiple times was approaching fast.
‘Hye Myeong still isn’t ready yet!’
Then, there was only one solution.
“Hye Myeong, run!”
“What?”
“Run! Quickly now!”
Their party members, already awake from the noise, were also surprised by the sudden appearance of the door.
“Go in!”
“What are you…”
“Seol Hong!”
“Mi Ah!”
As Seol shouted, Chi Woo quickly carried them both on his shoulders and leaped into the ruin.
It was the perfect response.
In contrast, Hye Myeong hesitated to look behind at Seol.
“Kang Seol!”
“...’s coming!”
Fwoooooosh…
It was as if a shooting star had streaked through the sky, flying in and colliding directly with Seol.
“Kang Seol!”
[Bones of Origin consumes the impact.]
[Bones of Origin currently has an empty stomach.]
[Bones of Origin digests all of the impact.]
Seol was sent flying by the impact and was caught briefly by Hye Myeong before both were propelled through the door by the force.
Thuuuuuud…
The doors to the ruin quickly closed after admitting Seol and Hye Myeong.
“Haah… Haah…”
“Are you alright? What the hell was…”
The two were dazed after being struck by the powerful attack.
The Golden Divine Statue then opened its mouth once more.
- Evil has arrived. Watala’s benevolent will and power must not be taken.
Seol then locked eyes with the statue.
It was almost as if it was talking to Seol directly.
- Secure Watala’s inheritance.
Seol then saw a few messages appear in front of him.
[Sudden Adventure 'Watala’s Inheritance' is now active.]
[This Adventure is very dangerous.]
……
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