“What are your plans for the future?”
Yana asked. Lee Sungmin, who had his head lowered in thought, slowly raised his head at her question.
He had finally learned about what happened 10 years ago. That day, it was Baek Sogo who had come to Germane to stop him. It was she who blocked him and refused to kill him despite knowing he had likely zero chance of ever becoming sane again.
‘I will destroy evil.’ Lee Sungmin remembered Baek Sogo saying that. Lee Sungmin after losing his sanity was surely nothing short of ‘evil’ that day.
He went on a rampage, losing his reason, attacking the only survivors left. There were undead and also living present when he went on a rampage. He couldn’t have been innocent from their deaths.
It would have been humans, not just zombies, that Lee Sungmin attacked and devoured. Baek Sogo would have surely known that. Still, Baek Sogo did not kill Lee Sungmin despite her narrow-minded standards and motto.
It was completely contradictory to her mantra and training she had done in the Trial of Time, which surely would have made her quite distraught.
‘Baek Sogo is… wandering around the world now.’
For a long period of ten years, Baek Sogo was known as a wandering savior who helped those in need.
She was a chivalrous fighter amongst those who considered themselves righteous of mind. She had even toppled over some of the corrupt leaders of the Unorthodox Factions that remained in the war with the Orthodox.
But there was a lingering and troubling question in Lee Sungmin’s mind.
Currently, the martial arts scene was divided into two sides. The Orthodox and Unorthodox Factions. The Blood Alliance was a new organization that the Unorthodox Sects had gathered under after the dissipation of the Sama Order, and the Murim Alliance which represented the Orthodox Factions had been in conflict with the Blood Alliance both in small and large conflicts.
By the standards of Baek Sogo, the Blood Alliance was definitely evil. In fact, unlike the period where the Sama Order was in power, the Blood Alliance was much more aggressive in looting and committing murder in innocent villages and much more.
The thing was, Baek Sogo was surely strong.
For the past ten years, Baek Sogo sparsely appeared in different parts of the world at various times. It was reported to Lee Sungmin through Neville that when she did appear, she appeared to save those who were in trouble or to destroy the Unorthodox groups that were pillaging and acting rampant.
Most of the Unorthodox groups she brought down belonged to the Blood Alliance. In her view, the Blood Alliance surely was a source of pure evil.
“No way.”
Lee Sungmin concentrated on his thoughts for a moment. Through the information he had received from Neville, Baek Sogo’s last appearance was in a City called Cheped in the North.
But…. Lee Sungmin started to connect the dots.
‘…..No way.’
Lee Sungmin trembled slightly at the ominous foreboding he started to feel.
For the past year, Baek Sogo did not re-appear in the world. Why did she go to Cheped?
Cheped was in the North, but there was also something else up North.
At the farthest outskirts of the North, there was Geniella, the Vampire Queen, located in Travia. Geniella was undoubtedly the strongest monster alive currently. Lee Sungmin jumped to his feet suddenly.
When Lee Sungmin woke up, the first thing he saw were the Vampires and the martial artists of the Blood Alliance and several Dark Wizards that were trying to undo his seal.
Lao Shen had said that the Blood Alliance members were their errand boys. Could it be that Geniella was behind the Blood Alliance and directing their actions from behind the scenes?
If that was the case and Baek Sogo had found out about it….. It was clear to Lee Sungmin what could happen.
Having lived for hundreds of years, standing at the peak of a murderous group of monsters called Predator, Geniella was not someone Baek Sogo could face on her own no matter how strong she had gotten.
“No way.”
It had not been confirmed, but there was a large amount of anxiety building up for Lee Sungmin. only great anxiety. But the biggest thing that disturbed Lee Sungmin, was the fact that over a year had passed and nothing had been heard since.
‘Why was Baek Sogo’s location and information cut-off at Cheped? Why?!’
“What’s wrong with you?”
Yana asked.
Lee Sungmin bit his lip. There were many, many questions. The ten years he had been sealed for was nothing short of complete mystery to him.
There was also Wijihoyeon. Why hadn’t Wijihoyeon done anything about hearing the news of him passing?
After calmly brushing off Lee Sungmin’s death, did she just dive into dungeons for an entire 10 years as a form of grieving?
“No, it’s nothing.”Lee Sungmin replied without even looking at Yana.
It couldn’t be true about Wijihoyeon. That’s not the kind of person Wijihoyeon was. Lee Sungmin knew Wijihyeon very well. With her personality, as shallow as it could be at times, she would have put everything aside and gone to Germane straight away if she really believed him to be dead.
But there was no information of Wijihoyeon being anywhere near Germane.
‘Wijihoyeon is connected to the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion.’
It had occurred to Lee Sungmin that there was a possibility that Wijihoyeon had been told by the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion, but how would the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion even know what was going on inside of Lee Sungmin’s mental world with the fight against the Predator of Massacre?
Did the Devil tell Wijihoyeon that he wasn’t dead? Is that why she didn’t go?
‘No, that’s not what matters right now.’
“……I have to go.”
“Where?”
Yana asked, tilting her head.
“Go or don’t, just leave me out of it.”Frau grumbled and fell back on the bed. She no longer wanted to get involved with Lee Sungmin’s crazy life.
But it wasn’t the same for Yana.
“………I’ve got a place to go in a hurry. The Forest of Fairies near Belador. I have to go there.”
It was too far from the City of Endless Night close to go straight to Cheped. So Lee Sungmin decided he was going to go to go to the Forest of Fairies which was closer to meet Oslo again and receive the Pegasus once more so he could quickly go to Cheped.
Fortunately, Lee Sungmin once stopped by Cheped when he first went to Travia, so he would be able to directly warp there if he received the Pegasus.
“What’s the matter?”
Yana asked.
“Even if you have to hurry, please let me know what exactly the circumstances are. I could be of some help.”
Lee Sungmin hesitated for a moment at the words. Should he trust Yana? It was because there was a seedling of distrust in the back of his mind due to Laplace’s confusing words.
Don’t trust the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion. Yana was a monster that had received the Devil’s blessing and had grown in power as a nine-tailed fox much sooner than normal.
Knowing that, Lee Sungmin still explained to Yana just why he had to go to the Forest of Fairies.
At this point, it was not the time to argue about circumstances. It was also funny to Lee Sungmin to trust a man shrouded in mystery who gave unsolicited advice on who to trust.
At least it was a fact that he had been helped by the Devil indirectly in this life, and it also could have been the Devil who had made it possible for Lee Sungmin to become as powerful as he was to defeat the Predator of Massacre.
“Let’s go together.”
After hearing the short story, Yana nodded her head in understanding of his position.
“What?”
“You said you needed to get to the Forest of Fairies as fast as possible, didn’t you? I can help you expedite the process.”
“Wait……”
“Didn’t you say that you should hurry?”
Yana asked as if she didn’t need an answer and turned around. Lee Sungmin gave a quick nod of farewell to Frau before following out after Yana. Opening the sliding door and coming out, Yana looked up at the sky.
“Lee Sungmin.”
“……Yes?”
“Are you going to fight the Vampire Queen?”
“If I need to, I will.”
“I’ll be honest with you. I have no reason to be sad about your death. However, I will definitely be saddened if Heoju’s soul leaves this world because of your death.”
Nine glowing, orange tails appeared from behind Yana’s back.
“The Vampire Queen is…… No matter how powerful you imagine her to be, she is a monster with more power than you are thinking of. I’m a monster who can’t guarantee victory against her. If you fight her and she wants to kill you, you will surely die if you are on your own.”
“So… you’re coming with me?”
“Yes, I don’t want Heoju to die. Heoju chooses to live with you and within you. I must protect you, if I want to prevent Heoju from leaving this world.”
[Are you really willing to leave this city that you’ve been protecting for this favor?]
Heoju’s spirit lifted itself out of Lee Sungmin’s body and materialized as it spoke to Yana. Yana grinned at the sight.
“Now you’re giving me a voice to talk to.”
[Hmm…]
“This city is not that precious to me. I can throw it away for you at any time.”
Heoju smacked his lips at the reply of blind devotion closer to obsession. Yana, with her nine tails glowing beautifully in the darkness of the night, reached out to Lee Sungmin.(T/N : Why do i get massive naruto vibes in terms of the visual lol- I really like this idea though but it could just be me projecting my thoughts.)
“I’ll go with you.”
“……Thank you.”
Lee Sungmin answered and took Yana’s outstretched hand. Yana’s nine tails wrapped around Lee Sungmin’s body at that moment.
Then, a bright golden orange aura started to encapsulate them. A golden sphere that swallowed the two flew into the air. Inside of the sphere, Lee Sungmin couldn’t even feel that he was floating in mid-air; it was as if he was still on the ground.
Yana’s hand, which had been in contact with Lee Sungmin, disappeared as the sphere then took shape. Yana had completely transformed into her true form as a nine-tailed demon fox and Lee Sungmin was on her back.
(T/N : Quick question for you all : do you want me to spell out nine-tailed demon fox everytime or do you want me to use the original term of Gumiho which is the term in hangul for a nine-tailed demon fox? Lmk in the discord or in the comment section.)
KYAAAA!
Yana sprang into the air with a fierce roar. The image of the City of Endless Night started to shrink away as she leaped through the air with tremendous speed. Lee Sungmin didn’t feel the rush of the speed either. It was an odd feeling because he didn’t feel much. It was like he was being transported extremely comfortably.
Lee Sungmin looked down from behind Yana’s back with puzzled eyes. Yana’s running speed was faster than Lee Sungmin’s Lightning Gale footwork with the Dark Storm Arts.
[While you were sealed away, I was contacted by Geniella.]
Yana’s voice rang out inside Lee Sungmin’s head.
[It was a recommendation to enter Predator. Of course I refused the offer since there was no real reason to go under that organization and be tied down.]
“Did she really just back down because you refused politely?”
[She didn’t give me the offer in person, so there was no conflict. Ever since then, she’s been silent.]
Looking down, the scenery was passing by quickly. Yana was constantly speeding up her sprinting speed without signs of slowing down.
In the past, Kim Jonghyun said it would take two days from the City of Endless Night to the Hugal Mountains, even with Yana’s speed taken into account, but Lee Sungmin now knew that was horribly wrong. Yana was monstrously fast and Kim Jonghyun had either lied or not known about Yana’s true power.
Yana ran nonstop. Even at night, she ran without sleeping, and she didn’t slow down at all.
Because of it, Lee Sungmin and Yana were able to arrive at the Forest of Fairies in only 4 days.
Without Yana’s help, it would have taken Lee Sungmin more than a month to come to the Forest of Fairies.
Lee Sungmin came down to the entrance of the forest with Yana.
“Thank you.”
Yana looked a little tired, perhaps because she ran at full speed all four days without resting. When Lee Sungmin thanked her, Yana shook her head with a faint smile.
“I didn’t do much.”
Lee Sungmin went into the entrance of the Forest with Yana. He didn’t hide his presence like he normally did in public, and instead spread it out wide for all those present in the Forest to know. Before long, the landscape of the forest began to fluctuate greatly.
He could see the glowing lights of the fairies twinkling in the distance. Lee Sungmin, who was trying to approach the entrance, sighed and agonized for a moment.
‘Should I avoid this or not?’
“Just stay still.”
Lee Sungmin quickly spat out to Yana so she wouldn’t attack recklessly in response to what was coming.
as soon as the words were finished….
Whoosh!
A fireball spell shot out from the darkness of the forest and collided with Lee Sungmin’s body. Lee Sungmin straightened up his body, which was a little shaky since he did not avoid the attack.
“You son of a bitch.”
An irritated series of cuss words came out. The sound was loud as the speaker was aggravated but it was contradictory to the weak power that came from the fireball. Lee Sungmin turned his head thinking about what expression to make.
Scarlett was seen putting her hands on her waist and her eyebrows furrowed.
“……It’s been a long time…….”
Whoosh!
Before Lee Sungmin could even finish his words another fireball erupted from Scarlett’s hands and exploded in Lee Sungmin’s face.
This time it was a little bit more powerful than the last one. Had it not been reduced in firepower, all the hair atop his head would have burned.
“Hey, you son of a bitch.”
Scarlett raised her finger and pointed at Lee Sungmin.
“At that time, you left me looking like a fool!”
“It was for your safet-”
“Then do you think I’d feel comfortable with you making the decisions all by yourself? Huh? You sounded like you were genuinely worried and I wanted to go with you but… No! Someone had to shove me off at the last second and ditch me!”
Bang!
A fireball erupted out from her hands once more and blasted Lee Sungmin square in the face.
“And the stories about what happened to you! How am I supposed to know if you’ll ever live normal or sane again? It’s been 10 whole years! Why do you think the Pegasus never showed up?”
“Did you do that?”
“YES! THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE SURE YOU WOULD COME BACK IF YOU EVER STAYED ALIVE!”
Scarlett roared in a loud voice.
“……I’m glad. That means you thought I wasn’t dead.”
“Hmph.”
“And, of course, I would have come back here even if it weren’t for the Pegasus. I would have thought you would be worried so I came to visit you as well.”
“So…. you thought I was worried about you. Did you come back here to say sorry?”
“That….”
When Scarlett shot back, Lee Sungmin unintentionally fumbled at the rest of his words and couldn’t finish his sentence. Because of this, Scarlett’s face distorted with anger once more.
“In the end, it’s because of the Queen of Fairies!”
Lee Sungmin shut up because he had nothing that he could refute with.