Seo Ran's father, Seo Eun-hyun, is dead.
Those who know the truth could say, 'It's not death'...
But formally speaking, it is definitely 'death'.
The cause of death isn't clear.
They say it is a heart attack.
At first, Seo Ran thinks they are playing a joke on her.
To be honest, she has known since she was young that her parents are not ordinary people.
And yet, one of the extraordinary parents of hers suddenly died from something like a heart attack, like a joke.
It's absurd.
Seeing Seo Eun-hyun's corpse, Seo Ran thinks he'll wake up if she shakes him a few times.
So she tries shaking him a few times.
Even so, he doesn't get up.
Only then does she begin to accept it.
Seo Eun-hyun, her father, is dead.
'Mm, I see.'
Seo Ran nods, trying to coolly calm herself.
'I'm not that sad.'
"Father...?"
'In fact, I feel relieved. That gaze of Father's I always felt, and the suffocating pressure I couldn't explain...I've escaped it.'
"Father."
'With this...I feel even lighter.'
"Father..."
She turns her back to Seo Eun-hyun and tries to walk away, light-heartedly.
"Father...! Father...Father...! Dad...Daaaaaad..."
And then, Seo Ran collapses on the spot, calling Seo Eun-hyun's without understanding why herself.
"Aaaaaaagh! Aagh, aaaaaaaagh!!"
Clutching at her chest, she falls to the ground, her mouth unable to form words...
And with indecipherable sounds, she keeps calling Seo Eun-hyun.
"Uaaaaaaagh! Uaaaagh! Uaaaaaaaagh!!"
It takes Seo Ran half a year to accept Seo Eun-hyun's death.
For the first six months, following Kim Yeon's advice, she threw herself completely into training in the Seo Style Grand Method, Eun Style Formation Method, Hyun Style Fighting Method, and the Paired Wing Spear like mad.
Because only then could she forget the grief of losing Seo Eun-hyun even a little faster.
Is it because she's always been a natural-born genius? Or is it perhaps because the Seo Style, Eun Style, and Hyun Style martial arts created by Seo Eun-hyun and Kim Yeon are simply that effective?
In just half a year, Seo Ran became a peak master.
But after that, she no longer trained in martial arts.
She deemed that sufficient, and let go of the lump in her heart.
So calmly that she surprised even herself...
Seo Ran broke free from the sorrow of losing Seo Eun-hyun.
Five and a half years have already passed since war broke out between the Seo Kingdom and the Hyun Kingdom, and many things have changed.
Many aspects of Hyun Kingdom are now different.
Seo Ran, being officially recognized as the Hyun Kingdom's strongest peak master and, in both official and unofficial terms, its top marksman, has risen to the top position of the Hyun Kingdom's Royal Guards.
Having risen to the highest position in the Hyun Kingdom with a woman's body, Seo Ran gradually forgot the sorrow of Seo Eun-hyun and began embracing a new life.
The Seo Ran of the past who once found everything boring no longer exists.
Every morning, she reads the newspapers published by Hyun Kingdom's news agencies, absorbing new information.
There is no longer a day when everything feels dull, like when she was young.
Since the day 'newspapers' were introduced, she lived immersed in that stream of new information.
Where once Kang Min-hee filled that role, now it is the newspapers.
Of course, that doesn't mean Kang Min-hee has lost significance in her life.
"Seo Ran! Have you been well? It's another exclusive!"
As history revision occurred by the hand of the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable, and 'advancements in civilization' that surpass people's imaginations began to appear all over the world...
Many people's jobs and ways of life have changed.
Among them, Kang Min-hee abandoned her now-meaningless position as the sect leader of the Black Sect and chose the profession of journalist.
Using all the assets of the Black Merchant Group under the Black Sect, Kang Min-hee established a newspaper company and fully utilized her abilities to continuously secure exclusive stories.
In particular, it became her specialty to report on the corruption or misconduct of high-ranking officials, or information from dangerous regions around the world.
"Hee Unnie. What is it this time?"
"Look, look. This one's really interesting."
"Hmmm..."
Seo Ran's eyes shine as she reads the articles Kang Min-hee has brought back from her coverage.
The information Kang Min-hee used to bring for her is now replaced by newspapers, but Kang Min-hee continues to maintain their relationship through sensational reports that no other journalist can obtain.
Kang Min-hee, as always, remains as Seo Ran's friend.
"The Hyun Kingdom's rebel forces are planning to attack a Seo Kingdom civilian port...but actually, it's a false flag operation by the Seo Kingdom government to redirect internal dissatisfaction from their citizens onto an external enemy... It is interesting, but isn't the evidence a little too weak? Without proof, it's just another of Unnie's stories."
"Haha, what matters is that you think it's 'interesting'. That alone means it's 'true'."
"Hm...I'm honestly not sure. Even regarding the point that the Seo Kingdom is supposedly developing a ton of new weapons... No matter how advanced their technology is, how can they keep producing such unbelievable breakthroughs in such a short time?"
"That's hard to explain to you...but let's just say that fragments of ancient history are continuously being brought into the Seo Kingdom by some entity."
"..."
Seo Ran lets out a sigh at Kang Min-hee's words.
"Since a long time ago...whether it's my father, or my mother, and sometimes even Unnie...you all say things I don't understand."
"You can understand them. If you just listen well to your mother."
"Even Unnie wants me to keep training in the Paired Wing Spears and martial arts?"
Seo Ran looks at Kang Min-hee and asks, and Kang Min-hee only scratches the back of her head awkwardly.
"...That's your choice, and I can't force you. I'm just saying...if you want to understand the terms we use, then maybe keep doing it."
"..."
"Sorry if I made you feel bad. I'll be going now. Also, because of the article I wrote today, our newspaper might get shut down, so help us out again this time. Please!"
Kang Min-hee avoids Seo Ran's gaze, pats her on the shoulder a few times, and walks away.
Seo Ran stares after her for a moment, then half-heartedly looks at the newspaper Kang Min-hee gave her before turning her gaze to the sky.
'The flow...'
As time passes, unlike Seo Eun-hyun's group, who grow increasingly restricted in their use of Immortal Arts and other authorities, only Seo Ran, his daughter, continues to feel her senses sharpening.
And as those senses become sharper, she comes to understand it even more clearly.
'This world...is trying to take me somewhere.'
Kang Min-hee's attitude, her mother Kim Yeon's attitude, and the attitudes of everyone she has known since childhood are all guiding her toward some destination.
'Is it...fate?'
Fate (運命).
She feels that power trying to do something through her.
And lately, she thinks she is beginning to vaguely understand that purpose.
'Fate is trying to make me...overcome something.'
Making her overcome the sorrow of losing her father, overcome the innate burden of possessing the Quaking Heat Body, and the countless limitations she bears, fate has brought her to where she is now.
But she can sense it.
'Maybe what I ultimately have to surpass...is the very flow that drives me to overcome things.'
While pondering this, she suddenly notices a contradiction.
'But if I think about it...if I overcome the fate I must overcome, then what will I have left to overcome in life?'
A strange contradiction.
She begins to live with that contradiction in her heart, constantly mulling it over.
Day after day continues to repeat.
She fires guns, observes new inventions, reads newspapers to gain fresh information, exchanges a few words with Kang Min-hee, protects her from high-ranking officials who try to shut down her newspaper...
In the evenings, she visits her mother and the old neighbors who live in her childhood home at the foot of Sword Peak Mountain.
She sometimes visits Oh Hyun-seok and Jeon Myeong-hoon.
Different from before, she doesn't go into Sword Peak Mountain as often.
For some reason...
It may be because she feels like something might explode out of her if she does.
Because of that, she no longer sees the 'Mountain Spirit' she used to meet often.
'Well, honestly, who cares.'
Thinking of that bizarre Mountain Spirit, Seo Ran figures that it's probably a relief not to meet it again.
And so...
Unlike before, she steadily keeps up with new information, and she continues repeating her endless daily routine that is monotonous and yet not.
And six months pass.
Jeon Myeong-hoon has died.
Looking at Jeon Myeong-hoon's corpse laid in the coffin, Seo Ran does not speak a word.
She doesn't cry out in resentment as she did when Seo Eun-hyun died.
Instead...she simply mourns him calmly.
"...Ran-ah."
Kim Yeon gently strokes Seo Ran's back as she watches her.
"Jeon Myeong-hoon...left while worrying about you. He said he hoped you wouldn't be hurt too deeply. He said...he is only going to where your father is, so don't be too sad, and just do what you must do"
Do what she must do.
Seo Ran feels a 'flow' even in those words as well.
It must be referring to the realm of 'the strongest under the heavens' that Kim Yeon and Seo Eun-hyun always spoke of.
Even after Jeon Myeong-hoon's funeral ends, Kim Yeon approaches Seo Ran and speaks.
"Maybe now...take up the spear again, and follow your father's and Jeon Myeong-hoon's—"
"Mother! Please just stop!"
Seo Ran yells at Kim Yeon.
"What even is this 'strongest under the heavens,' and what even is a martial arts master!? The era of those kinds of people has already ended a long time ago! Guns are the strongest now! Training in martial arts means nothing anymore, and it's all just old-fashioned nonsense! So please! Just stop! Stop trying to trap my fate with stories of people who are already gone!"
"..."
Kim Yeon seems to hesitate at Seo Ran's words before speaking.
"...I wasn't trying to trap your fate. I'm sorry...But...there's one thing I must say."
"Pardon?"
"Jeon Myeong-hoon and your father...have never once gone anywhere. They are still...watching over you, alongside you. Even if they've shed their physical bodies, they are always loving you."
"..."
"I know what you are thinking. That I never explain anything properly, and that I always speak vaguely like this. But...I have my reasons. We all do. You...must at least reach the minimum standard."
Kim Yeon looks at Seo Ran with unwavering eyes.
"You, more than anyone, need to stop turning away and please—do what you must do!"
Kaaang!
For some reason, Seo Ran sees a vision of an immense, irresistible force crashing at her from Kim Yeon.
Even though she, who specializes in guns, should be overwhelmingly stronger than Kim Yeon...
Why is it?
She feels as if Kim Yeon could crush her completely with martial arts alone.
"...What is this thing I must do? What is it!? Please, just stop already!"
And then...
Seo Ran chooses not to confront Kim Yeon, but to run away instead.
Shouting at Kim Yeon with all her strength, and leaving Kim Yeon's house and heading into Jeongyeong City was the greatest choice she could make.
'Just what...am I supposed to do...?"
She...
Hates fate.
And...
She utterly despises martial arts too, which claim to help her overcome fate only to impose another one.
At least to Seo Ran,
The flow of this world that pushes her, and the martial arts that tries to impose a new oppression on her...
Are one and the same fate.
She hates fate.
And so, in order to overcome fate...
She rejects everything that tries to impose a standard upon her.
And so...
After the funeral of Jeon Myeong-hoon and her fight with Kim Yeon, Seo Ran shuts her heart for a time, spending another year filled with anger.
A year passes.
Oh Hyun-seok has died.
"..."
Kim Yeon gazes at Oh Hyun-seok's corpse.
Her chest aches.
She stares at Oh Hyun-seok with a complicated expression.
Seeing each other again after a long time, Kim Yeon and Seo Ran neither argue nor speak words of reconciliation.
They simply...
Grieve together.
And, as they grieve...
Seo Ran realizes something.
To her senses, which perceive the 'flow,' another kind of foresight enters.
'Ah...I see. Everyone around me, in the end...are set to leave me.'
Everyone is to leave her one by one.
Her father, the neighbor she was close with, the neighbor she relied on...
And...
'Min-hee Unnie too...and Mother as well... Someday...they are going to leave...'
There is no clear proof.
But the 'flow' she feels is so vivid that she cannot deny it.
But in the end, she still cannot bring herself to offer words of reconciliation to her mother first.
After Oh Hyun-seok's death, Seo Ran seeks pleasure.
It is because she feels she can no longer bear the pressure.
She begins using the drugs distributed from the Seo Kingdom, numbing her mind and indulging in pleasure.
Because the truth that every person she once treasured will someday leave her side...
...is unbearably horrifying.
To escape that fear, she begins to drown herself in every kind of drug and pleasure.
And...another year passes.
Kang Min-hee exhales a sigh as she lights a cigarette.
Recently, Seo Ran's condition has been terrible.
Even when Kang Min-hee requests to meet, she is refused every time, and according to rumors, it seems Seo Ran has gotten into drugs.
'...Tch. Seo Ran...'
And she guesses that it must be true.
Ever since Seo Eun-hyun left, Seo Ran has grown increasingly unstable.
And with the people she knows continuing to die one by one, it isn't strange that her heart has gotten ill.
But...
'There's nothing...I can do...'
Kang Min-hee knows the situation outside.
'The fact that it's been over a year and Seo Eun-hyun still hasn't sent a signal means...now, either I or Kim Yeon have to go.'
She clenches her teeth.
She knows it herself.
'I have to go.'
Regardless of this or that, Kim Yeon is Seo Ran's mother.
Even if they've grown distant lately, Kim Yeon, by her very existence, remains Seo Ran's final pillar.
If Seo Ran loses even her mother, she will completely collapse.
'But...'
Kang Min-hee grabs at her own hair.
Kang Min-hee has been listening to the sound of that heartbeat inside Kim Yeon's womb ever since Kim Yeon became pregnant.
It's Kang Min-hee who has been by Seo Ran's side for years as her friend.
Because of that...
Kang Min-hee cannot bring herself to leave Seo Ran behind.
"Seo Ran... Seo Ran... Damn it...!"
It is at that moment, when she is furiously clutching her head.
Creeeeak...
Someone enters her room.
"Huh? Who is it? I said not to come in during my personal maintenance ti—oh, Kim Yeon?"
And Kang Min-hee opens her eyes wide as she sees Kim Yeon enter her personal office inside her newspaper company.
Due to the history revision of the Sal Tree Heavenly Venerable, Unbinding Star has undergone modernization.
Because of that, the clothing styles across the entire continent of Unbinding Star have changed considerably in recent times.
Kang Min-hee raises an eyebrow as she notices Kim Yeon wearing a palace attire completely out of sync with those current trends.
"...Kim Yeon, why are you here?"
Feeling a sense of foreboding, she questions Kim Yeon.
And Kim Yeon silently draws twin spears from her back.
"Min-hee Unnie. This time...I'll go."
"...What?"
Twitch—
Kang Min-hee's eyebrow twitches.
"Say that again. What did you just say?"
"I'll be the one going this time, Unnie. So...please take care of Ran."
"...This crazy bitch...!"
Kang Min-hee shoots up from her seat at Kim Yeon's words and hurls the chair she was sitting on straight at Kim Yeon's head.