Originally, Lee Sungmin was planning to visit the Hujal Mountains to meet the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion after visiting the City of Endless Night.
It was simply because in the South of Eria, the Hugal Mountains were not far from the City of Endless Night.
Lee Sungmin didn’t want to trust everything that Laplace had said to him, but he did decide it would be better to be safer rather than sorry and decided to avoid the trip to the Hugal Mountains after visiting the City of Endless Night.
Lee Sungmin had not only completely freed himself from the fate of becoming the Predator of Massacre, but had completely untied himself from any fate that would have been tied to him other than the world’s fate. But if meeting the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion jeopardized that, he would definitely not go.
‘You didn’t tell me the most important thing.’
Lee Sungmin clicked his tongue as he recalled Laplace, who had disappeared. He had heard the information about what Wijihoyeon was up to these past 10 years, but Laplace didn’t even tell him where she was located at the moment.
She had been wandering around the world conquering Dungeons and growing stronger.
‘Wijihoyeon probably heard that I was dead too.’
It probably wasn’t just Wijihoyeon. Everyone that Lee Sungmin had become acquainted with probably thought he was dead.
But in the near future, rumors would surely circulate. Rumors would definitely spread from the Orthodox Martial Artists he had saved just recently from Germane.
Lee Sungmin had no intention of moving secretly. He knew Scarlett’s location for sure, but he did not know of Wijihoyeon or Baek Sogo’s location as of yet.
Having been a dead man for 10 years, he must now make it known to those that might look for him that he was alive.
After camping the night out in the woods, Lee Sungmin left for the City of Endless Night in the early morning after the conversation with Laplace.
After running for two days like that, Lee Sungmin eventually arrived at the gate of the City of Endless Night.
If he was able to use the Pegasus for transportation, he could have arrived faster. Feeling such regret, Lee Sungmin passed through the gates to the City.
It was the first time in 10 years that he had come back to this place.
When Lee Sungmin had first come to the City of Endless Night he was something closer to a banyo which was a half-monster, half-human. Now, however, he was a completely transformed monster.
Perhaps because of that, most of the gazes he received were different than before. Instead of the other residents looking at him like he was an attraction at a carnival like before, the gazes were entirely different from the ones that had disdain or curiosity.
They naturally paid attention to him like last time, but the gazes were for completely different reasons. Every monster that saw Lee Sungmin pass by, stared at him in awe. It was the first time for lower-level monsters or even stronger monsters to see a monster of Lee Sungmin’s power and status walking around in a public setting like so.
Lee Sungmin felt burdened by the gazes since it would be difficult to move around if the attention grew more than that, so he rushed through the streets of the City of Endless Night with haste.
He headed to Yeohwaru, the luxurious pavilion where Lee Sungmin had met Yana previously.
Ten years later, it was questionable whether Yana would still be there, but Yeohwaru itself as a building and location had not disappeared.
“What brings you here?”
“To meet Yana.”
The entrance to Yeohwaru was tight with security as usual. Lee Sungmin did not hide his true intention and answered the monster who asked in a cautious manner as they were wary of a monster like Lee Sungmin who came to Yeowharu with such overbearing strength.
“Yes…… Yes?”
Ten years ago, it was an unknown secret that Yana was in Yeohwaru. It was supposed to be the same as the present.
Yana still does not engage in external affairs in the City of Endless Night, and her location was never revealed even through rumors.
[Please come inside.]
Yana’s voice rang out in Lee Sungmin’s head. Lee Sungmin passed the gatekeeper without answering.
The gatekeeper only hesitated and did not restrain Lee Sungmin. Lee Sungmin was guided by the gatekeeper to the annex wordlessly.
Yana was seen sitting behind the white sliding door. Lee Sungmin slowly opened the sliding door.
“Long time no see.”
Yana sat down with her unwavering beauty as usual.
She looked up at Lee Sungmin, who was standing with his golden irises peering at her in their full luminescence. Yana realized immediately from his gaze that Lee Sungmin had fully transformed into a complete monster and let out a subdued exclamation.
“You’ve become a monster.”
“Yes.”
“……That’s strange. If humans become monsters, their existing values will be completely destroyed and their personalities will be distorted…….”
“That’s normally the case.”
Lee Sungmin did not intend to explain all of his circumstances to Yana. Although Yana was also outwardly favorable to Lee Sungmin thanks to her respect for Heoju, she was still a monster with immense power that should not be provoked.
A Gumiho, a fully nine-tailed demon fox, was a monster that would have strength that was in no way lacking compared to the strongest monster in existence presently : Geniella the Vampire Queen. That was the kind of being that Yana was.
In addition, her strength was directly bestowed from the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion. For Lee Sungmin, Yana’s presence was bound to be uncomfortable around.
“……10 years. That’s quite a long time.”
Yana spoke quietly.
Lee Sungmin was known to be dead. But Yana knew that Lee Sungmin was not dead but sealed. Only Frau who sealed Lee Sungmin would know that.
“When I heard you were sealed in the Germane, I lamented that I didn’t go to Germane with Frau. If I had been there, I would have been able to sort things out in Germane on my own before you transformed completely and helped against that man-made Devil.”
“What you’re sad about is not me, but Heoju being sealed.”
“That is correct.”
Yana answered frankly. Lee Sungmin sat across from Yana with a bitter smile.
“……Heoju is still with me.”
The words brightened Yana’s face.
Yana was serious about being grateful towards Heoju and her admiration and respect were of noble intent. In fact, Heoju grumbled in Lee Sungmin’s head as if he was dissatisfied with Yana’s response.
[Then what are you doing? Are you not going to take advantage of such admiration and eat while you can?]
‘Eat? What are you even talking about?’
[What do you mean?] That greedy looking luscious body of hers. Are you saying you prefer this old man’s body instead of hers?]
“Shut up.”
Lee Sungmin ignored Heoju’s perverted teases in his head.
“I came here to ask you something.”
“What is it?”
Yana didn’t change her expression when Lee Sungmin asked questions in a rather informal manner. Rather, she smiled.
“Your friend. I want to know about Frau’s whereabouts.”
“Oh…….”
When asked about Frau, Yana made a sound as she hadn’t expected Lee Sungmin to ask about Frau.
“Please be honest. You knew I was sealed. That means that you’ve met with Frau during the time I was sealed.”
“I want to ask you a question.”
Yana opened her mouth.
“What are you going to do when you meet Frau? Don’t tell me, do you have a grudge against Frau for sealing you 10 years ago?”
“No, I have no grudge against Frau. Rather, I feel grateful for blocking me in that form. What I want to know is…… When I went crazy. It’s about exactly what happened that day in Germane when she sealed me.”
At that remark, Yana stared at Lee Sungmin’s eyes intently. After a brief silence, Yana rose.
“Follow me.”
Yana spoke and opened the sliding door and went out. Fortunately, Frau seemed to be nearby based on Yana’s response. Lee Sungmin was relieved to think that he would not have to wander around aimlessly looking for Frau.
Yana took Lee Sungmin to the garden behind Yeohwaru Pavilion. Lee Sungmin remembered this place.
There was a hidden space in the garden, where survivors of the Tribe where Byuk Won-Pae had lived for some time were now residing.
Yana opened the door to the hidden space.
“Just in case…… If you’re going to hurt Frau, I will have to take you down by force if necessary.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
Lee Sungmin answered like that and passed the door of space after Yana.
In the middle of the small village within the space, stood a splendid mansion that did not match the landscape. Yana opened the door of the mansion without hesitation and went inside.
Pretty-looking boys and girls dressed in makeup and oriental clothes bowed their heads at Yana.
Lee Sungmin laughed in vain as he looked at their faces and costumes. Ten years had passed, but Frau’s taste did not seem to change.
“Oh my god.”
Yana stopped walking.
Frau, who was lying half-naked on a colorful bed, dropped her jaws and exclaimed without even bothering to cover herself up.
Frau then immediately frowned at Yana.
“You didn’t sell me out, did you?”
“No, it’s not that.”
Yana shook her head.“Well, that can’t be true.”Frau grumbled to herself and rose to her feet and sat down properly. She squinted at Lee Sungmin scrutinizingly.
“……You look fine.”
“I actually am fine.”
When Lee Sungmin answered, Frau laughed as if she couldn’t believe it.
“I don’t know. Ten years ago…. you went really crazy that day.”
“I don’t remember that time. …… but please don’t be too wary.”
“You don’t look like you’re going to be on guard? I’m glad you don’t remember.”
Frau grinned.
“You were terrible 10 years ago. I’ve lived a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of monsters, but…… I’ve never seen a monster as violent and savage as you were back then. You killed anything in sight, and ate the corpses of the dead and undead without discrimination. It’s disgusting to think about it now.”
“It’s the same for me. Why do you keep emphasizing that I ate everything in sight?”
“What do you mean? I only mentioned it once.”
“Everyone who’s seen me always mentioned it….”
Lee Sungmin grumbled and smacked his lips. It just occurred to him that… in that time that he had been sealed for 10 years….
During that time, Lee Sungmin did not eat or drink anything. It was only in recent days that he ate while traveling to the City of Endless Night, but that inherently meant the only food he had to eat…
Didn’t that mean the rotted flesh of the zombies’ corpses were the last thing he had in his stomach the past 10 years?
The thought of it made Lee Sungmin feel like shit.
“I’m normal right now.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
“I don’t know anything about what happened there. That’s why I came to you. Miss Frau, what the hell happened there? How did you seal me?”
“Well first, you should know Abel is dead.”
Frau spat out.
“I’m sure Abel was satisfied in his own way. He died after killing his brother, whom he had been his enemy since childhood.”
“……What?”
Lee Sungmin’s eyes were wide open at Frau’s words.
“Abel… killed Envirus?”
“He didn’t have enough life to use the Weiss’ magic for the last spell needed to end Kim Jonghyun’s terror. So… as a result of that, Abel committed the wizard’s taboo : taking away the lifespan of others through magic.”
“Oh…….”
Envirus was dead. Yeah, that’s why the Predator of Massacre must have spoken about the Spirit Queen waking up as if it were a bad thing.
Soon the Spirit Queen would open her eyes.
The nuance of the words left by the Predator of Massacre seemed to mock that the Spirit Queen could become one of the Final Catastrophes.
But now, Lee Sungmin understood why the Predator of Massacre had spoken so cynically.
Envirus was dead. The Spirit Queen loved Envirus so much that she broke the rules of staying in the Spirit Realm and descended to Eria just to save him from dying.
And if such a person were to die meaninglessly like that, it was rather obvious that the Spirit Queen would be enraged.
“……with Envirus…… What about the Spirit that was with him? Where did she go?”
“When you were going crazy, the artificial spirit with Envirus became a ball of light and disappeared. I think it was called back to the Spirit Realm.”
‘Rubia.’Lee Sungmin closed his eyes tightly as he remembered her name. Someday, if he had the chance, he had to go see if she was doing well. The death of the Crazy Heavenly Demon must have impacted her as well.
“……How did you manage to seal me?”
“You really don’t remember anything, do you?”
“I found out about it in my own way. Before you sealed me, I was told I had a fierce battle with someone. ……who did I fight with?”
“It’s someone you know.”
Frau shrugged her shoulders.
“It was the Silent Flare, Baek Sogo.”
“……Ah.”
Lee Sungmin’s eyes trembled.
It made sense.
He thought maybe it could have been her. If Lee Sungmin knew anything about Baek Sogo’s character, she would have surely come to stop Kim Jonghyun, who committed a massacre in the south. It was surprising to him already that he hadn’t met her before the battle, but now it all made sense.
“When I was running away from Germane as you went insane, she suddenly appeared. She was pushed to tears to see you in the state you were in.”
Lee Sungmin’s heart throbbed at the news that Baek Sogo had cried over him.
“I decided to stop running away and help Baek Sogo. No matter how shameless I was, I couldn’t just run away from the situation at hand.”
“……so what happened after that………?”
“Baek Sogo didn’t want to kill you.”
Frau wrinkled her brows.
“I thought it would be better to kill you. …… but I couldn’t kill you with my own power. So instead, as a compromise, I sealed you between the gaps between dimensions. I thought the seal would last 50 years at least, but I didn’t expect it to be released in 10 years.”
“After that, where did Baek Sogo go?”
“I don’t know.”
Frau grumbled, shaking her head.
“She was pretty badly hurt, but she was definitely not dead.”
From the information he heard from Neville Lee Sungmin also knew that Baek Sogo was at least definitely not dead.
‘………Baek Sogo.’
She didn’t want to kill him despite knowing better than anyone else that he was unlikely to ever recover.
Lee Sungmin lowered his head and closed his eyes.