Chapter 131
Several days had passed since I obtained Solis.
During that time, I took care of Wol-ah while thoroughly searching every corner of Mount Baekdu.
I was searching for whatever it was that had supposedly been hidden somewhere within Mount Baekdu.
“Another dead end today.”
Before I knew it, the sun was already sinking below the horizon.
I never expected it would be easy to find what Pandemonium had hidden, but the lack of results was beyond my expectations.
Did I think about this too simply?
There were several reasons why it was difficult to find whatever Pandemonium had concealed.
First of all, there was far too little information about it.
There wasn’t even a clue pointing to where the thing hidden by Pandemonium might be.
To begin with, I didn’t even know what exactly they were hiding.
The second reason was the sheer size of Mount Baekdu.
Mount Baekdu was the tallest mountain on the Korean Peninsula.
If it were merely a matter of going back and forth, that would be one thing.
But combing through the entire mountain as if hunting lice was no easy task.
Even after searching nonstop for several days, I still hadn’t covered even half of it.
Should I just give up?
The information had seemed credible enough, so I’d held some expectations, but blindly searching the mountain like this was terribly inefficient.
I needed another method.
I returned home to clear my head, and the moment I opened the gate, the fragrant smell of food drifted toward me.
It seemed Wol-ah was preparing dinner.
A small child peeked her head out from the kitchen.
The moment Wol-ah saw me, her expression brightened.
“You’re back?”
She came running over and stopped in front of me.
“Your clothes are covered in dirt again today. I’ll heat some water, so would you like to bathe first?”
“I can handle it myself. And I told you I’d take care of the cooking.”
Even though I said I’d handle the housework, Wol-ah never listened to me.
“It’s okay. This is what I used to do anyway.”
“But it must be tiring.”
“It’s not tiring at all. Besides, if I don’t do things like this, there’s nothing to do here.”
Well, she wasn’t wrong.
This place was a silent area located halfway up Mount Baekdu.
For a child like her, chores like these might even count as entertainment.
“By the way, where have you been going these past few days? You keep coming back covered in dirt…….”
“I’ve been looking for something.”
“Looking for something?”
Come to think of it, Wol-ah had stayed by the Heavenly Demon’s side whenever I wasn’t here.
Maybe she knew something.
“Wol-ah, have you ever seen anything suspicious around here?”
“Suspicious?”
“Yeah. Like Demons moving around, or some kind of secret place.”
Wol-ah tilted her head after hearing my question.
Well, expecting an answer from such a young child was probably unreasonable.
She’d barely ever left the Heavenly Demon’s residence.
Then suddenly, as if recalling something, Wol-ah tugged on my sleeve.
“Do you know something?”
“A long time ago, the Heavenly Demon once took me to Cheonji.”
“Cheonji?”
“Yes. And there was the corpse of a gigantic monster there.”
A gigantic monster?
Wol-ah continued speaking.
“Are you sure?”
Wol-ah nodded.
That was strange.
Cheonji had been the very first place I searched when investigating Mount Baekdu, and I’d searched it thoroughly.
I mean, the name itself—Cheonji (Heavenly Lake)—sounded suspicious enough.
Naturally, I’d investigated every inch of it, even the lakebed itself.
But not only did I fail to find the corpse of a giant monster, I didn’t even see signs of anything being destroyed.
Something felt off.
Still, Wol-ah had no reason to lie to me.
“Thanks for telling me. I’ll check it out tomorrow.”
“Hehe.”
“I’m hungry. What’s for dinner tonight?”
“I made seasoned mountain vegetables and 육전 using the meat the Heavenly Demon hunted.”
After washing up, I sat down and ate dinner with Wol-ah.
Something I hadn’t realized before was that Wol-ah was an excellent cook.
No joke—her skills could rival most local restaurants.
The flavor of the 육전 wrapped together with the seasoned vegetables was exceptional.
At that moment, Wol-ah kept glancing at me.
It looked like she had something she wanted to say.
“Do you have something to say?”
“Um…….”
Her face reddened shyly.
“You can say it comfortably. Do you want more tanghulu again?”
“Huh? N-No! I mean, I do want some, but that’s not it. Are you planning to go to Cheonji tomorrow?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Then… could I go with you too?”
Wol-ah’s eyes sparkled brightly.
I tilted my head.
Was she lonely from staying at the Heavenly Demon’s residence all day?
That would make sense.
Aside from the beautiful scenery, there wasn’t much good about this place.
The only neighbors around were ferocious magical beasts, and it wasn’t like the Heavenly Demon had doted on Wol-ah either.
Of course, that still didn’t mean I could grant her request.
“Sorry, but it’ll be difficult to take you to Cheonji.”
Wol-ah’s eyes trembled at my firm refusal.
Still, no meant no.
The area around the Heavenly Demon’s residence was safe because of her Aura, but Mount Baekdu’s original nickname was Demonic Realm.
That meant it was a place overflowing with powerful magical beasts.
Of course, if I really wanted to, I could protect Wol-ah while climbing there……
But honestly, there was no reason to take that risk just to bring a child along.
“Hing……”
Wol-ah pouted.
She didn’t look like it, but apparently she knew how to act spoiled too.
“Sorry. I’ll buy you lots of tanghulu next time.”
“Can’t I really go?”
Wol-ah looked at me with eyes like a drenched kitten caught in the rain.
For some reason, it felt like my conscience was being painfully stabbed.
Truthfully, it wasn’t as though there was no way.
If I placed Wol-ah inside the barrier created by The Reader while I searched Cheonji, she would remain relatively safe.
Still, from my perspective, there was simply no reason to go through that trouble.
As if sensing my hesitation, Wol-ah suddenly raised her hand energetically and tried to appeal to me.
“I’ll guide you to where the monster is!”
The look in Wol-ah’s eyes held more than simple desperation.
There was something almost obsessive hidden within them.
“...Haa, you win. I surrender.”
“Really? Really? You won’t leave me behind tomorrow?”
“Alright.”
I nodded while looking at Wol-ah.
It wasn’t simply because I pitied her that I accepted her request.
I had already searched Cheonji thoroughly and failed to find whatever Pandemonium was hiding.
Yet this girl claimed she could guide me there.
Was Wol-ah really just a simple attendant the Heavenly Demon had brought in to replace me?
I started questioning her very existence.
At first, I assumed Wol-ah was a child brought from the Nest.
But if that were true, then the unique emptiness possessed by the children from the Nest should have existed in her eyes.
Yet it didn’t.
To begin with, bringing an attendant from the Nest was strange in itself.
The Heavenly Demon was not someone who easily allowed others near her.
The only reason she took me in was because the leader of Pandemonium had ordered it.
And yet, they brought in a child not even seven years old simply because she needed an attendant?
There was definitely something strange about Wol-ah’s existence.
A sudden thought crossed my mind.
What if the thing Pandemonium was hiding was Wol-ah herself?
Just as I had been entrusted to the Heavenly Demon because I was a vessel meant to contain the Demon of the End, perhaps Wol-ah had been entrusted to her for a similar reason by the leader of Pandemonium.
There was only one way to find out.
Bring her directly to Cheonji myself.
---
The next day arrived, and I finished preparing to head toward Cheonji.
Wol-ah carried a lunchbox bag in her hands.
Her eyes sparkled brightly with anticipation.
Somehow, this had turned into a picnic outing.
“We’re heading to Cheonji now, but once we leave this place, you absolutely must listen to me. Got it?”
“Yes!”
Wol-ah nodded energetically.
After lightly stretching my body, I opened my arms toward Wol-ah.
“Come here.”
I planned to carry Wol-ah and move as quickly as possible all the way to Cheonji.
If I needed to search all of Mount Baekdu thoroughly again like yesterday, that would be another matter, but now Wol-ah was with me and the destination was clear.
There was no reason to waste time fighting.
Wol-ah obediently settled into my arms.
Holding her like this almost made me feel like a father taking his young daughter out for a trip.
And so, Wol-ah’s outing began.
The journey to Cheonji went rather smoothly.
Not only was it not very far from the Heavenly Demon’s residence, but most magical beasts couldn’t keep up with my speed even if we crossed paths.
A flower-like smile bloomed across Wol-ah’s face in my arms.
She seemed intoxicated by the sensation of speed she had never experienced before.
As I sped toward Cheonji at incredible velocity, the lake soon came into view.
An enormous lake surrounded by mountains.
The blue sky and clouds reflected upon its calm surface like a mirror.
At that moment, Wol-ah pointed somewhere.
“Look over there! That gigantic monster the Heavenly Demon fought is over there!”
The moment I heard her words, I released my mana and turned my gaze toward where she pointed.
But all I could see were the blue sky, mountains, and lake.
There was no gigantic monster.
“Where exactly are you talking about?”
“It’s right there! The monster’s there! The mountains are all collapsed too! Can’t you see the Gate over there?”
I stared strangely at Wol-ah, who was gesturing toward empty air.
What was wrong with her?
There was no giant monster or destroyed mountain where she pointed.
Did she really lie just because she wanted to leave the house?
No, her reaction was far too genuine for that.
Then what exactly was the problem?
Was there something only Wol-ah could see?
No matter how much I looked around where Wol-ah pointed, all I saw were perfectly normal mountains and fields.
I couldn’t see anything.
Frustrated, Wol-ah stomped her foot on the ground.
“You really can’t see it? That giant monster?”
“I can’t see anything at all. Did Master do anything unusual here by any chance?”
Wol-ah thought for a moment before suddenly speaking as if she remembered something.
“The Heavenly Demon went into the water.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes.”
She went into the water?
Of course I had gone into the water too.
I had searched every corner of the lakebed but found nothing.
Could it be because Wol-ah wasn’t there?
With that thought in mind, I walked toward the lake with Wol-ah.
But once again, the only things reflected in the water were the blue sky and Wol-ah herself.
At that moment, I noticed something strange.
Why was Wol-ah reflected in the lake, but I wasn’t?
My gaze slowly followed the water’s surface toward its farthest edge.
“Wol-ah, where exactly is the monster?”
“It’s lying down right behind us.”
The moment I discovered something reflected upon the water’s surface, I instinctively swallowed my breath.
Beyond the mirror-like inverted reflection upon the lake’s surface, I saw the half-destroyed corpse of an enormous golem.
The gigantic golem looked as though it had failed while trying to protect something, its body shattered miserably.
The surrounding mountains appeared completely devastated by someone.
And beyond that—
A small Gate.
Everything was exactly as Wol-ah described.
“No wonder I couldn’t find it.”
Because I had viewed everything through such a narrow perspective, I failed to see what truly mattered.
People naturally thought to dive into the lake and search the bottom, but never considered checking the world reflected in the mirror-like surface.
I blankly stared at Wol-ah beside me.
But seriously… what exactly is this girl’s true identity?