When I entered the room with drinks, they were sitting in just the right place.
As it gets colder in winter, the best seat is against the wall next to the kitchen.
Come to think of it, there’s no smoke…
Well, it was strange from the start that there’s no fuel, so let’s leave it at that.
“What brings you here?”
When I asked, Gu Milmil gave a bitter smile.
“Isn’t that too direct a question?”
“Humans have such a culture.”
Of course I know that too, but there’s no reason to put on a good show in a place I’ve almost lost interest in.
“You use strange words.”
“Choseol’s body is human, but what’s inside isn’t human.”
I decided to spill all the facts that should be known.
The fact that I’m not human is surprisingly important.
While I’m at it, I want to leave behind things that need to be known.
Since she was consistently emptied from such a young age that she has no sense of self, it’s hard to see it as something she truly desired, but.
“Do you know the name Eunjae?”
At my words, Gu Milmil nodded readily.
“No martial artist doesn’t know the name of Martial God.”
“Choseol is Eunjae’s granddaughter.”
Behind me, Soo-oh looks at me with a very surprised expression. Ah, she must think I’m someone in an important position in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“Granddaughter? But… As far as I know, Eunjae’s descendants were said to have died out?”
She’s making an expression like she really didn’t know. She only knows to the extent that they disappeared due to some unfortunate event.
That’s because Gu Seongyong didn’t explain to Gu Milmil about Eunjae.
“When Gu Seongyong came, there were 11 people in total. Choseol’s parents, siblings, and even uncles and cousins.”
When her father’s name came up, Gu Milmil’s eyes widened.
It seems she hadn’t heard it through other channels either.
Now that the opportunity has come, I told her what needed to be said through Choseol’s mouth before it was too late.
“He killed all of Choseol’s family and took Choseol to use as an experimental animal to uncover Eunjae’s secrets.”
That’s what actually happened. The Moon Emperor Hall and Earth Management Hall. She was being processed into pills with the help of at least these two places.
“After that, the position of Heavenly Demon passed from Gu Seongyong to the current Heavenly Demon, and Heavenly Demon decided to use Choseol for Jeonyang.”
And perhaps guessing that this story is quite disgusting, Gu Milmil’s expression twisted.
“Heavenly Demon, who discovered from the materials Eunjae left behind that he had made a contract with something, brought that something. To bring that something, she prepared a child named Choseol who had the closest connection to it, and put that something inside her.”
Ta-da.
I pointed to myself.
“It’s me.”
Do you understand what this means?
At my words, Gu Milmil’s pupils shook.
“Why… are you telling me this?”
That’s right. In a way, I’m saying this out of nowhere, aren’t I?
Gu Milmil doesn’t know yet.
Right now, outside the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. A place called the Murim Alliance is trying to invade the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
They will try to eliminate me and my harvesters no matter what.
Even if the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult wins, there will be casualties.
Those who die in war are not predetermined.
So I spoke when I could speak.
Now, then, I ask the second question.
“What business brings you here?”
Gu Milmil blinked several times as if trying to understand my words.
“You don’t like me coming, do you?”
“I have no emotions. I just wish you would become like Oh Myeongseong? But shouldn’t you know Choseol’s story? I’m using Choseol’s body, so I have that much loyalty.”
Maybe you could say I’m working on raising favorability in advance in case I move like Rebecca after I disappear.
Rebecca seems to have explored my memories, will this child do that too?
Will she be swept away by cold memories without knowing?
Or, before I leave and wake up again, the body might completely disappear.
The people coming now seem like they would burn everything without leaving a single corpse.
Still, I should prepare in advance.
“What exactly are you?”
“I don’t use a name because I don’t need one. I’m just borrowing the name of that body when I come out to reality like this.”
Though I’m called by various names, I don’t have a name I like.
And to the question asking about my identity, I deliberately answered with a name. Because there’s no identity I can tell.
In fact, I’m still searching for my own identity too.
“I see. So you won’t give me an answer.”
Gu Milmil let out a small sigh.
“I came looking for you because I heard you give blessings to people.”
And after a short pause, she told me the reason she came here.
In other words, it means she came looking for me at someone’s request.
“People from the village, right?”
“That’s right. They couldn’t come find you themselves, so they asked someone like me for help.”
Huh?
“I’ve never stopped people from coming here though?”
“This place has been a forbidden zone where people can’t go since last year. Don’t tell me you didn’t know?”
Shock.
The reason people don’t come has been revealed.
Why on earth?
Since when?
Even searching through Heavenly Demon’s memories or retracing the scenes I’ve seen so far, she never forbade it.
Wondering if it might be Yin Simwon who’s monitoring me, I looked into that too, but he just agreed when the Heaven Palace Hall Master asked him to keep people from going that way.
Ah.
Was it the Heaven Palace Hall Master?
Ah, right. Jung Jaewoo, who was the protector of the Heaven Palace Hall Master, was certainly one of the important protectors, but in other words, he was just one of several protectors.
He’s not at the level to hear everything the Heaven Palace Hall Master does.
Well, if something that can suddenly produce someone like Heavenly Demon appears, it’s not strange to restrict it.
Since the Heaven Palace Hall Master manages the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult headquarters itself, if they say it’s a restricted area, and moreover it’s a place where someone Heavenly Demon is close to lives, other hall masters would understand too.
I thought I was being tormented by the Moon Emperor Hall, but it seems it wasn’t just them.
“Let’s go right away. There’s someone sick, right?”
I stood up.
They look at me strangely, but there’s no way I’d miss an opportunity to make a harvester, right?
“While working, a pile of stacked goods collapsed and completely crushed his leg. Are you saying you can heal that?”
She asks that.
“Didn’t you see how Heavenly Demon recovered?”
“Well. To be honest, I still don’t understand how a man became a woman, or if it’s really the same person.”
Is that so?
If I briefly cross-reference Gu Seongyong and Oh Myeongseong’s memories.
Ah. I see. Eunchun briefly stopped them using the Heavenly Demon Divine Technique, but was killed by Oh Myeongseong’s Qi Absorption Technique.
And they looked outside to prepare for the next attacker.
Outside their view, Gu Seongyong went down.
And a moment later. Suddenly people moved their steps and ran under the broken building. They probably felt qi that I can’t feel.
And they saw a huge dark purple beam erase Gu Seongyong.
It means they saw it after Heavenly Demon was revived.
“It’s the same person. You’ll know if you go see for yourself.”
Gu Milmil’s deliberation was short, and her decision was quick.
“Let’s go.”
So Gu Milmil and I went outside. As I was leaving, I turned back.
“Soo-oh.”
“Uh, yes?”
“Just do what you want to do without worrying about others.”
She still has an expression that doesn’t understand what I’ve said so far. It’s understandable since she’s probably never thought about a monster that switched bodies.
Half her expression is filled with fear.
So I left her be, meaning she could follow if she wanted to, or not if she didn’t want to, and moved on with Gu Milmil.
“You’re raising her quite harshly.”
Gu Milmil spoke as soon as we left the door.
“Is that so?”
“I may be an outsider, but that child heard that you’re not originally Choseol, right? Couldn’t you have been a little gentler?”
Gentler…
“Miss Gu Milmil. Should I treat you gently?”
I asked with genuine curiosity.
At my words, Gu Milmil stared at me intently, then avoided my gaze.
“Never mind. Right now, I feel like I’m standing in front of a hell gate that shouldn’t be opened.”
No, even if you say I’m a monster, isn’t that expression too harsh? I guess it might be because I told the story related to Choseol when she came earlier.
But this story had to be told someday.
I didn’t think about it in the first world, but I learned from Rebecca. If possible, it would be better to do what Choseol rightfully should do.
It seems to mix in somehow.
A moment of silence fell.
And suddenly Gu Milmil called out to me.
“Choseol. Miss Soo-oh is coming.”
So she decided to follow after all.
I nodded in acknowledgment and moved forward again. Anyway, Soo-oh is faster than me. By quite a bit.
And not long after, Soo-oh joined us. I thought she was following, but suddenly she grabbed my arm and stopped me.
“Let me ask just one thing. Until now, was Choseol really Choseol?”
It’s strange that she’s using formal speech, but thinking she might feel a bit uncomfortable, I nodded.
“That’s right. The owner of this body originally had no sense of self. She was raised not to think, so she was in a state of being alive but dead.”
When I explained in detail, Soo-oh frowned then nodded.
“Okay, that’s fine then.”
Back to informal speech.
I can’t tell what she’s thinking, but Soo-oh urged me to go on, so I moved my feet again.
And after arriving at the village, we immediately headed to the place Gu Milmil guided us to.
Of course, not long after entering, Yin Simwon joined too. Gu Milmil frowned when she saw Yin Simwon, but Yin Simwon said just one thing.
“I have no intention of interfering with Choseol’s actions.”
Gu Milmil looked at Yin Simwon’s hair, made an expression of understanding, and guided us.
And in the western outskirts.
We arrived at a place where groans were echoing, where houses gradually became more dilapidated. It’s full of strong medicinal smells, and people are lying down here and there.
Most have rashes or such scratched wounds, but one person in particular was different.
A man with one leg missing is lying down with his whole body drenched in sweat, and next to him, a woman of similar age is looking after the man with a worried expression.
And when she first noticed me, she made a surprised expression, then seeing Gu Milmil next to me, she hurriedly tried to get up but staggered and fell.
“He-Heavenly Lady? And Seong Go!”
I approached the man’s side and raised him up.
“What are you doing to the patient! If you sit him up like that, blood will flow out!”
Someone presumed to be a doctor rushed over from behind. His leg was cut off, and the wound hasn’t healed properly, so it would burst open like this.
I say this to the man:
“I will give myself to you. In exchange, when you finish everything later, I’ll take everything you have then. How about it?”
I know that whether unconscious, dying, or alive, this message will definitely be heard and can definitely be answered.
He agreed, and I poured myself into him.
The man swelled up, then soon hardened like pottery, then as he crumbled bit by bit, the man came out from inside.
His hair has turned purple, and his skin is pure white, but it’s that man.
The man, who was looking over his own body in shock several times, soon noticed me and tried to press his head to the ground, so I grabbed his shoulder to stop him.
“You showed me kindness then, so no greeting is necessary.”
He’s one of the villagers who took me outside before.
The kindness was returned with malice, but.
Well, what can you do?
He was unlucky.