* * *
Lee Sungmin didn’t panic. Beyond the Heavens had been explicitly aiming for Wijihoyeon. He didn’t know what the hell they were after, but it was absolutely true she was somehow connected to their goal and purpose.
“In fact, this old man didn’t want to do anything about her, nor did she want anything to do with their organization. Hence, why I let it be.”
It was true. If Sima Ryunju had intended to fight openly against Beyond the Heavens in the first place, he would never have let Wijihoyeon leave after the training period they had all spent together in the Forest of Fairies.
However, what Sima Ryunju had really done was ignore her completely and rather treated her like an eyesore.
Wijihoyeon felt the same about Sima Ryunju at the time and was only staying in the Forest of Fairies due to her promise to wait for Lee Sungmin to come back.
“I don’t know what their purpose is. I thought that whatever they were doing had nothing to do with me. At that time, I didn’t intend to leave the forest, and I didn’t even care what they were going to do.”
“You’re saying that is not the case anymore?”
“Didn’t you make a choice, and this master promised to help you fulfill that choice?”
Lee Sungmin’s question was answered immediately, and he shut up. After a brief silence, Lee Sungmin grumbled with a sigh.
“I don’t know why you said that to me.”
“As I said. I only respect a few people in this world. Oslo and the other Fairies and you to a very small extent. Therefore, your choice matters to me.”
“That’s really the only reason?”
“No, it’s not.”
Sima Ryunju laughed,
“For this old man… I mean……I needed an opportunity. The Sama Order was an excuse to come back, and so was inheriting a disciple to some extent in the eyes of the public. Now I can actually move out and be in the world again due to this.”
When he said that, Lee Sungmin felt that he had seen a side of his master that he had never known before.
At the same time, he was a little unconvinced. Lee Sungmin’s view of his master was an arrogant and alcohol-loving man who happened to be incredibly strong.
Wasn’t it a contradiction in his very nature to want to be with others?
“There’s only so much I want to do.”
Sima Ryunju read Lee Sungmin’s thoughts and briefly answered.
“What this old man wants to do is to simply train and grow stronger. In fact, if you think about it, there’s very little this old man wants to do other than that.”
After saying so, Sima Ryunju stared into Lee Sungmin’s eyes.
“You know that already though, don’t you?”
“……what do you mean?”
“Denir’s Trial of Time is brutal. The amount of time spent alone and merely training repetitively, can make one go insane. I was very lonely and did not want much to do with the world after that. I had seen that there was so much more to martial arts than I thought I had already known of. That is why I pursue strength in solitude.”
Lee Sungmin knew. However, he was a special case compared to even the others before him.
Even Denir, the God of Time who had given Lee Sungmin the trial, was astonished. The mind of Lee Sungmin had collapsed and broken down several times inside the mental world. He wanted to die so many times in that space, and had gone insane several times.
However, Lee Sungmin had continued to push through with sheer willpower, and his mind naturally recovered as more and more time went by.
But the others had not been the same as him. They couldn’t endure what he had done, nor did they last as long. Baek Sogo, Envirus, nor his master, Sima Ryunju, could replicate what had happened to him in that trial.
“I only wanted to grow stronger. I thought I would become the strongest man in the world. And it is almost the case actually as I continued to train there. But I almost went mad and had to stop. Even your friend, the Silent Flare, had gone mad as a result, and even she is not completely sane because of it.”
Lee Sungmin chewed his lower lip.
He thought of the sight of Baek Sogo smiling and telling him that she would eradicate all evil within the world without worry.
But, Baek Sogo also admitted she was incredibly narrow-minded and stubborn as a result. She was well aware of what had been changed within her due to that trial.
There was nothing anybody could do about it. For a long thousand years, Baek Sogo was only strengthening her resolve and questioning it, only to become an unshakeable root belief for her when she stepped out. But, everything else about her had seemingly vanished. She was only focused on that belief and was so centered around it, she had practically become egoless.
“Poor thing.”
Sima Ryunju just laughed.
“It’s a wish that can’t be achieved. It is impossible to eradicate evil. Absolute righteousness doesn’t exist in this world. Using yourself as the standard of justice is merely the proof of being completely mad.”
It reminds Lee Sungmin about the first time he had met Baek Sogo on the Mountain of Mush. She had been smiling with her jet black hair, stating that kindness would never go unpaid. Was that her definition of good?
Lee Sungmin couldn’t know what was good or evil, because he had never paid much attention to those kinds of things.
“Do you know the location of Wijihoyeon?”
Putting off thinking about Baek Sogo for a while, Lee Sungmin asked about Wijihoyeon’s whereabouts. Through the mask’s eyeholes, Sima Ryunju frowned.
“How do you suppose I would know that?”
“So then how would I find her?”
“If you ask for information, you’ll surely find sightings of her. But it’s a bit annoying to just wait around like that….”
Sima Ryunju mumbled to himself and stroked his chin.
“Let’s go to the Murim Alliance.”
“…… Yes?”
“It’s just a matter of getting straight to the point. I don’t know where Musin is, but Jehu, which is a part of Beyond the Heavens, is located in the headquarters of the Murim Alliance. If we catch him and interrogate him, we can learn more about Musin and Beyond the Heavens as a whole.”
“…… No, I mean. How do you intend to even meet him, the Lord of the Murim Alliance?”
“What are you talking about? We can just go over there with our own two feet.”
“Are you saying we can meet him if we simply visit?”
“So what if they said that they don’t want to see us? Do you really think the Murim Alliance can stop two Transcendent Realm Martial Artists from having their way?”
“…… Why are you counting two people?”
When Lee Sungmin asked again, Sima Ryunju suddenly raised his hand. Lee Sungmin flinched reflexively and took a step back.
Sima Ryunju sighed deeply, lowering his raised hand down again.
“Why do I have to explain everything so that a toddler can listen for you to understand?”
“I’m asking again, just in case.”
“If you want to go save that girl, will you really not go?”
“No….. It’s as you said. Master and myself…., we’re going to the Murim Alliance, find Jehu, hold him by the collar, subdue him, and interrogate him about Musin and the organization Beyond the Heavens.….”
“That is precisely what we will be doing.”
“How are you planning on cleaning up the mess if it will cause?”
“It depends on how they decide to respond to us.”
Sima Ryunju spoke as if it were insignificant, but it was not light enough of a topic to really be acting like this.
It wouldn’t be too difficult for Lee Sungmin alone to overpower Jehu in Jehu’s current and weakened state, but it would not be a walk in the park if his master came along as well.
And after that?
“I’m not too afraid to start a fight at this point. Maybe this is something that will lead to the end……Well, we can think about it when it’s time to think about it.”
“Isn’t that too impulsive?”
“Then do you have any other plausible measures? There’s an end coming, and what else do we have to do in order to stop it?”
“Why don’t you visit Oslo?”
“Well, I doubt we’ll be able to meet just because I want to visit. This old man is here because Oslo asked me to leave the forest. If she doesn’t want to meet us, it’s impossible for us to get into the Forest of Fairies by any means. It’s easier and faster to strike the weakened Jehu than go through an unsure method like that.”
“……okay.”
In the end, Lee Sungmin had no choice but to nod his head.
Lee Sungmin split up briefly with Sima Ryunju and went to Baek Sogo’s residence because he was not departing immediately to attack the Alliance Headquarters.
The two of them drank together and talked a lot until the morning sun rose the next day. In the long time they had spent talking together, Lee Sungmin had realized just how twisted Baek Sogo had truly become.
He knew now that he did not share Baek Sogo’s beliefs. That statement of eradicating one’s own definition of evil was absurd.
He knew what it was to get out of the Trial of Time and become rather odd. But in that thousand years she had spent there, she had only spent the entire time training and reaffirming her one, sole belief.
It was impossible for Lee Sungmin to deny her distorted beliefs head-on.
He knew his words wouldn’t be so easily rejected, but if he did, and she changed her views slightly or felt a crack in her resolve… what would happen to her then?
[Looks like you are just scared after all?]
Heoju smirked and mocked Lee Sungmin.
[You are afraid that your friend will be destroyed mentally even more than she is now. Also, you’re afraid of being hated by her for rejecting her beliefs.]
Lee Sungmin chewed on his lower lip.
[Or are you just secretly hoping that she will realize it for herself? Do you really think she will be able to even realize it if you step in? If she somehow does, she’ll be devastated. Face the answers; she is no longer the girl you once knew. She is only a mad and crazed girl that is hellbent on having things her way.]
“Then do I have to stop her?”
Lee Sungmin spat it out.
“I don’t know if I can even do that….. Justice has a nice ring to it and I just can’t help myself to tear her world apart.”
[What about you? Aren’t you just being a hypocrite?]
“Don’t ask me.”
Lee Sungmin told Heoju to stop talking to him as he let out a fake cough as he stood in front of Baek Sogo’s room and knocked,
But no matter how much he knocked, he couldn’t hear a reply. Lee Sungmin knocked on the door again, this time louder; but there was no response. Lee Sungmin did not know what to do and decided to slowly open the door and enter.
The room was empty. It had looked so empty as if it had never been used from the beginning. The top of the bed was neatly arranged, and there was no sign anyone had used this room.
Lee Sungmin walked slowly into the room and looked around.
There was a letter on the desk. Lee Sungmin brought his hands towards the letter and picked it up. The ink was already dried up, meaning it had been written a while ago. Did she leave right away as the morning arose? Lee Sungmin slowly read the letter, word by word.
There was anxiety in Lee Sungmin’s mind as he read the first sentence. He didn’t want Baek Sogo to blame herself for her narrow-mindedness, like she had been doing. It was no fault of her own, and was something that anybody who stayed alone for an extended period of time would suffer from.
– I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye, Sungmin-nim. I wanted to be with you a little longer. Because in reality….I’m still afraid. Afraid of myself and the rest of the world.
The thousand years I spent inside the Trial of Time was too lonely and depressing. I feel like the thoughts that I have are delusional sometimes as well. I know from what your master said, that even you might think of me as a completely different person now.
But you know, Sungmin-nim…. There’s nothing I can do about it. I’ve been thinking for over one thousand years, and I’ve come to my own conclusions. I know that trying to determine what is good and evil with my own two eyes is ridiculous, and is even more preposterous that I try to eradicate all evil from the world. But, I have to still do it… Or that time I spent will be all but wasted.
I’m truly still afraid. I even hear the voices in my head talking down to me; calling me names and telling me that I’ve gone crazy.
I said I was going to the Shaolin, but I don’t know if I can get the answer I want there. Still, I’m going to go since I have never been. Actually, I wanted to go with you…
Sungmin-nim, do you know? How beautiful the Mountain peaks surrounding the Shaolin are? I’ve heard that the Forsythia flowers that lay there in the winter bloom in full during the spring and turn golden. When that happens, I’d like to go there with you.
I may be scared and I may be nervous Sungmin-nim…… but I still believe in myself. So, I want you to try and believe in me.
I hope we’ll be able to meet again.
Baek Sogo The letter ended rather abruptly. The handwriting on the letter was even less legible than that on the mountain, when Baek Sogo grabbed a branch and had written to him. Even though Lee Sungmin had read over the letter entirely, he just stood still.
[Are you thinking of going after her?]
HHeoju asked. Lee Sungmin folded the letter up and put it into his arm sleeves.
“…… she told me to believe in her.”
[Are you trying to trust that crazy woman?]
“I have to.”
Lee Sungmin nodded his head.
“Because she believes in herself.”
Still, he wished he could at least say goodbye to her.
Lee Sungmin caressed the bracelet on his wrist as he thought about Baek Sogo.