"First, if there are any Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens embedded within me, remove and reclaim them. The same goes for my comrades."
At those words, Seo Hweol nods slightly.
Chwararararak!
From me and my shadow, an overwhelming amount of dark, shadow-like entities flow out and return to Seo Hweol.
'This insane bastard...'
I click my tongue at the sheer number of Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens Seo Hweol had hidden.
No matter how well-suited Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens is for hiding in the darkness or how difficult it is to detect, this is truly ridiculous.
'I've always sensed the presence of Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens before, but...I never imagined there were this many.'
Truly, he is someone who cannot be underestimated."State your purpose, Seo Hweol."
"...There is truth within the Head Realm. And approaching that ultimate truth—that is my goal."
"..."
I glare at him.
"And what do you intend to do once you obtain that truth?"
"..."
"I won't tolerate lies."
At my words, Seo Hweol briefly stares at me with a chilling gaze before opening his mouth.
"I can't say."
"Have you forgotten who holds your lifeline?"
When I envelop Seo Ran's surroundings with even more power of the Netherworld, Seo Hweol mutters.
"My true purpose. My past. As long as you don't ask about these two things, I'll help you obtain whatever else you need. However, these two are the only things I can never speak of to anyone. If you insist on knowing these truths and use Seo Ran as leverage to threaten me, I will use all the Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens I've amassed until now to ruin your mind."
Seo Hweol's eyes turn hollow in a way I've never seen before.
"Don't corner me, Seo Eun-hyun. Even if I die today, I can destroy everything you hold dear before I go. You wouldn't want that either, would you?"
"...Fine, then. I'll learn bit by bit."
I smile faintly and ask,
"What exactly is Seo Ran's true identity? Why is Seo Ran...the [pillar] of your Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens?"
At my words, Seo Ran's eyes widen to the point of popping out.
"S-Senior, what on earth...are you talking about...?"
"...I'll explain later."
Seo Hweol, briefly contemplating for a moment, opens his mouth with an expressionless gaze.
"Seo Ran is...my 'childhood.' To be precise...he is the embodiment of the 'emotions' and 'purity'...from a time when I 'believed' myself to be an 'ordinary human child'. That is Seo Ran. If Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens is the scattering of the configurations of the 'memories' of my life into the world, Seo Ran is the separation and preservation of only the 'happiness' and 'emotions' I experienced during childhood."
"You believed yourself to be an ordinary human child? What do you mean by that?"
"I told you not to ask about the past."
His gaze grows hollow once more.
'It's clear.'
This guy is undoubtedly cornered right now.
That hollow gaze, which he has never shown before, reveals it all.
'I need to handle this carefully.'
I sense that if provoked, he will unleash Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens into a rampage at any moment.
"...To what extent does your rule about not asking about your past apply? Does it include yesterday?"
"It doesn't."
"So it's not your entire past, but a 'specific point in time' that you're referring to. That specific point must be...I see. Since you yourself likened Seo Ran to your 'childhood,' the 'childhood' you speak of must be what you're referring to as your 'past.' In that case, as long as I don't ask about your 'childhood,' I can question you about other matters, correct?"
"...Correct."
Seo Hweol stares at me as he answers.
'Childhood...'
Suddenly, the image of Seo Ran from Penglai Island flashes in my mind.
'Back on Penglai Island, Seo Ran was oddly depicted not as a member of the Sea Dragon Race, but as a 'human orphan beggar'.'
Now I finally understand the reason.
Seo Ran is the 'childhood persona' of Seo Hweol.
And if Seo Hweol's childhood persona is that of a 'human child,' it was because Seo Ran possessed a human identity that he appeared as a human on Penglai Island.
I ask Seo Hweol,
"There's something I'm curious about. Why, then, have you been trying to kill Seo Ran all this time?"
The biggest question.
If Seo Ran is Seo Hweol's main body, why has he been trying to kill him until now?
"...Seo Ran was the original soul I possessed. A soul containing nothing but the emotions and purity of my childhood. But at the same time, as he is the [pillar] of Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens, he was originally meant to serve as its foundation and have 'my' persona overlaid upon him."
As Seo Hweol spills this truth, he appears darker and more hollow than ever before.
An appearance brimming with venom.
If I provoke him right now, it looks like something big might happen.
"But an error occurred in Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens. After placing my main body inside Yu Oh's body...my main body became distorted as it absorbed Yu Oh's emotions. As a result, instead of the persona of 'me' who was supposed to originally grow, a new persona emerged. And that new persona took on a new name. That is...'Seo Ran'."
"Yu Oh's emotions? What emotions did he absorb?"
"The biological responses that occur when a living being reproduces and conceives offspring. The emotion commonly referred to as maternal love."
Grin.
A smile appears on Seo Hweol's face.
It is the most 'grotesque' smile he has ever shown.
The corners of his mouth pull back so far that his gums are exposed, yet his eyes do not smile at all.
It is a smile that resembles a machine imitating a human expression...
Out of all the smiles I've seen from Seo Hweol across countless cycles, this grotesque smile feels like his most genuine 'smile'.
"It's amusing. The emotions of a mere living being disrupting Immortal Arts. Then again, the Yu Oh was 'that' Yu Oh, so perhaps she used some unknown Immortal Art to flaw Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens.”
"..."
"Watching Seo Ran grow, I realized my plan had failed. Originally, it was an attempt to erode Yu Oh, but instead, my main body was eroded by her tricks and mutated strangely. So...I began devising a plan to 'fix' the broken main body."
From his mouth, the truth about the endless traps Seo Hweol laid finally spills out.
"The mutated main body acted just like an ordinary child. From its behavior, to all of its psychological states, everything pointed to it being an 'ordinary existence.' So, I decided to break it the way one would break any ordinary existence. First, I orchestrated the bullying of Seo Ran to make him suffer from depression. By breaking Seo Ran's personality, I intended to push him to commit suicide at the end, thereby resetting my main body."
As each of Seo Hweol's schemes are revealed, Seo Ran's pupils begin to shake madly.
He continues his explanation.
"However, another variable arose in the plan. It was Jeon Hyang. Corrupted after witnessing the 'truth' of the Head Realm, Jeon Hyang suddenly stopped being affected by my Tainted Soul Filling the Heavens. Contrary to my plans, she comforted Seo Ran's mind. In the end, I failed to break Seo Ran's personality and drive him to suicide. So as a last resort, I handed Seo Ran a self-destruct magic artifact, intending to obliterate him along with the Nether Crossing Ship. The self-destruct magic artifact was supposed to crush his body along with his memories and personality."
Hearing the cruel truth spill from his mouth, Seo Ran trembles like an aspen tree.
Through heart language, I ask Seo Ran in a way that Seo Hweol cannot hear.
—If this is too difficult to listen to, speak through your heart. I will shield you from hearing it.
However, Seo Ran clenches his teeth and speaks in his heart.
—...Please let me hear it. I will endure it.
—...Understood.
Seo Ran asks in a trembling voice.
"Were you not...commanding me to destroy the Nether Crossing Ship to liberate the soul of the Sea Dragon Race warrior...?"
"..."
Seo Hweol closes his mouth in response to Seo Ran's question, and I speak to him.
"Answer Seo Ran's question as well."
"...That Nascent Soul of the Nascent Soul Sea Dragon race warrior was merely a tool I prepared to reclaim my own soul. After all, a physical body holds no meaning for me. Instead, the spiritual body formed from a Nascent Soul is far more useful. I intended to obliterate your body, reset you, and then use the Nascent Soul of the Sea Dragon Race warrior to implant the 'correct personality' into you. Afterwards, I would remove the soul within the Nascent Soul and replace it with yours. That way, I could once again possess a 'correct main body'."
At this point, I no longer hold Seo Ran by the neck.
In any case, as long as he remains within the small dimension I have created, it is no different from being in the palm of my hand—I can release him to the Netherworld at any time.
Seo Ran screams at those words.
"Just what...just what is a 'correct main body'!? Are you saying that I, that my entire life, is 'wrong'?"
"That's right. It's wrong."
Seo Hweol speaks with hollow eyes.
"Seo Hweol's life is wrong, and the life of the failure named Seo Ran is also wrong. The error has grown and grown, and before I knew it, reached the Four-Axis stage. As expected, I should have used even more extreme methods to reset the main body."
"Just what!? Just what is your purpose!? For what purpose are you so freely calling me wrong!? Just what is it!?"
It's at that moment.
'...!'
Seo Hweol's lips move.
When I asked him before, Seo Hweol said he would never speak of his 'purpose.'
But is it because it's Seo Ran's question?
Seo Hweol, though not fully, answers his question.
"To find an answer."
"...?"
“To find an answer to...this hatred."
"Hatred...? What hatred are you talking about...?"
"There is none right now. Not within you, not within me. Only when the 'me' who holds the 'memory' and the 'you' who possesses the 'essence' integrate will this 'hatred' emerge. And...I must find an answer to it. That is my purpose."
"...Just why...is something like that so important...?"
At those words, Seo Hweol lets out a grotesque laugh, his gaze pitch-black as if entirely devoid of pupils.
"...Would you even understand? The vow I made upon your soul. The heart to fulfill my purpose even if it means destroying the world... Don't open your mouth recklessly when you know nothing. You 'fake'."
Bududuk...
Veins bulge on Seo Ran's face.
"...I...am not...a fake..."
He trembles uncontrollably, clenching his fists tightly as if trying to suppress his anger.
Seeing that he might need time, I continue questioning Seo Hweol.
"Yu Oh. The disciple of Black Ghost Valley that Song Jin cherished. Who is she?"
"Yu Oh is, obviously, Yu Oh."
Seo Hweol points upward with his finger and speaks.
"Sacred Master of the Nether Ghost Realm, Yu Oh. Dispatched to the Head Realm under the command of the Underworld...she was the Sacred Master's fragment. But at the same time...split from her connection to the main body due to the Head realm's corruption, giving rise to reason, survival instincts, and emotions, she was someone who trembled in fear of death and desperately tried to ascend again through whatever means, a mere 'ordinary woman'. That is Seo Ran's mother. A pawn I intended to use to erode Yu Oh's main body. That is Yu Oh's identity."
Seo Hweol continues speaking without pause.
"Do you understand, Seo Ran? To erode Yu Oh, I scattered the soul of the child her fragment had conceived and inserted my 'main body' to erode the Sacred Master. The result is you. You are the one who killed the Seo Ran who was meant to be born, taking their place... You are nothing but a monster."