The white snow field along the road disappeared, and yellow flowers bloomed on the exposed yellow soil.
In other words, spring has come.
Like the changing seasons, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is changing little by little.
Byeongil went into closed-door training saying he would complete the Heavenly Demon Dominion Steps, and Gapjae started showing his power to others.
It means they’ve entered preparations for change.
The civilian I gave power to was dragged somewhere in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, vivisected alive until death. The same happened to the civilian the Heaven Palace Hall Master had.
From their perspective, they were suddenly kidnapped one day and subjected to cruel experiments, so it’s hard to know what happened.
But I know.
I heard the Heaven Palace Hall Master and his protector talking.
They said people trying to find out how those I had touched had changed made contact. And from the most mysterious place with the least external interaction in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult – the Moon Emperor Hall.
It’s a place where those who would lick light if they could gather.
Of course, it’s not under Heavenly Demon’s orders.
It’s a strangely independent organization. Though the previous leader Gu Seongyong frequently visited the Moon Emperor Hall, that doesn’t mean he knew much about it.
Oho. How interesting.
The power to simply make people living in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult disappear.
It’s so secretive it doesn’t even reach Heavenly Demon’s ears. Is it okay to have such an independent organization?
If so, this information might be usable.
It seems I’ll need to visit the village frequently from now on. Then the probability of someone attacking will increase, right? If I can increase harvesters that way, I would be very happy.
Until now, I deliberately didn’t go to the village.
Partly because I didn’t lack anything without going, but also to avoid being watched suspiciously by Heavenly Demon.
But now the suspicion should be fine.
At least Heavenly Demon has grown attached to Soo-oh.
There’s a high possibility she’s also somewhat let her guard down with me, who occupies a part of that attachment.
Hehe.
Slowly, my time to break away from daily life has come.
* * *
A few days later.
When Heavenly Demon came, I caught her and asked.
“Can I go to the village?”
Then Heavenly Demon made an expression asking why I was asking her that.
Oh? I thought Heavenly Demon would have forbidden it, but wasn’t that the case?
If it was something allowed from the start, this question is strange. To smooth over the words, I need to be a bit more brazen here.
“Give me money. We exchange it for currency, right?”
Perhaps my brazen attitude worked, as Heavenly Demon crossed her arms. People cross their arms when they feel defensive. Heavenly Demon spoke petulantly.
“Don’t you need to work to get that currency?”
It’s asking if I’m trying to get money without effort. My question instantly degraded to petty greed. Very good.
Let me test the waters here. How does she think about me making harvesters?
“Then I can just give myself to them when buying things.”
After saying that, I focused on watching Heavenly Demon’s expression to understand what she was thinking.
Slight trouble and doubt. And after showing an expression of understanding, Heavenly Demon waved her hand dismissively.
Wave her hand?
“Do as you please.”
It meant I could make harvesters. Though Heavenly Demon must have been guarding against harvesters in her own way, did she let her guard down after becoming one herself?
To say she decided to ignore Eunjae’s records would be wrong, as Heavenly Demon saw through my true form.
Did she think I wasn’t dangerous after seeing my humanity?
If that’s the case.
“I’ll be going then.”
At my words, Heavenly Demon waved her hand at me as if saying do whatever, and approached Soo-oh.
It’s training time now so they’re both busy. And since I often leave the house saying I exercise at this time too, Soo-oh won’t follow me when I go alone.
I head to the village.
Where there are many people, changes occur. Of course, that’s not the only reason.
We don’t know what kind of place the village is, right? I should go check first before Soo-oh goes. Though I don’t plan to forbid it even if it’s not a good place, as an adult I should at least warn her, right?
Of course this too will end within two years, but shouldn’t I raise her with responsibility until then?
The sad thing is that Soo-oh doesn’t seem to think she’s being taken care of.
The age difference is only around 5 years. Plus since I’m weaker in martial arts, she treats me completely like a peer.
Well. That’s not strange though. Originally when raising someone, what’s important is experience and ability, not age.
Like in the martial arts novels the man in the faded memories knows, strength is most important in this world too. So, simply put, I’m actually in a position where I should learn from Soo-oh.
Because I’m weaker.
Though there’s a height difference of two heads, losing in strength might be unfair but what can you do when the world is inherently unfair?
While thinking such thoughts, I walk through a place where low grass sprouts and rocks are scattered sparsely.
Using the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult headquarters as a reference point, I’m to the north, and the village is to the west of the headquarters. So to get to the village, I need to draw an arc counterclockwise from the headquarters.
Since I’m walking sideways rather than going up or down hills, it doesn’t drain much energy.
With light steps, I arrived at the village.
There are buildings that could appear in old Chinese movies. When I came before there were white cloths everywhere, but not now.
As soon as I enter, gazes fix on me.
Is this the effect of harvester promotion? Or is it because a stranger has come?
Pretending not to notice the gazes pouring from all around the village, I enter deeper into the village.
And head toward the market. It’s common sense that if you want to buy things, you go to the market.
No, of course in a developed world you can buy things from home.
But this isn’t such a world.
However, there’s a problem. I don’t know the market’s location. So I was going to catch anyone passing by and ask.
But I failed.
It’s not that I failed to speak to them. It’s because before I knew it, people had surrounded me in a circle.
They’re looking at me with gazes like seeing something extremely alien. But there’s a strange emotion in it.
Where have I seen this before? I’ve seen it often…
“What is it?”
But no words come back.
They gradually tighten the encirclement while approaching me.
I briefly considered running away, but soon gave up.
I don’t have the strength to escape among so many people. And if possible, I want to know how they’ll react too.
If it’s group violence, that would be even better.
I can eat those who attack me with intent.
So I waited quietly.
People came and grabbed me. But strangely, their hand movements are very gentle.
What’s this?
Several people took off their clothes to cover me and carried me away. As if trying to hide my appearance.
Among the mass of people, I walked while memorizing the path.
After walking for a while, we entered an alley, passed several buildings, and went from alley to alley.
Around when I started thinking they were moving to shake off someone’s pursuit.
We arrived at the western edge.
The buildings here are old and deteriorated.
Perhaps higher-ranking people live closer to the headquarters, as buildings become more refined and impressive towards the east.
This is close to a shantytown.
And the man who first led me bowed deeply before me. Not just lowering his head, but a full bow.
“Heavenly Lady. You must escape from here.”
Ah.
Yes. That expression.
It was goodwill, this.
“What’s happening?”
At my question, the people with lowered heads started stuttering out the situation.
That harvesters who talked about me disappeared one day.
And people who spoke about me either were beaten nearly to death on sudden pretexts, or beaten to death without it.
People who tried to find out about me disappeared.
“This is a frightening place. Please leave here and never come back. It’s truly, truly dangerous.”
Like that.
They warned me.
Yes. Unfortunately, they took risks to protect me.
Or, they’re guiding me to escape this way.
I have something I need to ask them.
“You could be in danger yourselves. Why did you act like this?”
I asked to see their expressions and know what they’re hiding. But in their expressions, there’s nothing but simple smiles.
“Well, shouldn’t we treat someone who came from heaven well?”
They just say it like that.
Unfortunately, I didn’t come from heaven but from the depths below ground, and these people will certainly be punished.
Goodwill doesn’t always return as goodwill. Ignorance is a sin. The reason stories exist where good things happen to good people is because the real world isn’t like that.
See?
That’s why you met me.
I’ll highly value their ability to take action. If they have hearts that resist injustice, I believe a hidden cruelty to do anything for that cause lies within.
Goodwill is sometimes more brutal than malice.
“I live in the lone house near the cliff, north of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult headquarters. If anything bad happens, please come find me. I know Heavenly Demon, you see.”
Yes.
If things happening in the village are disconnected from Heavenly Demon, I’ll connect them.
If unreasonable violence oppresses you, I’ll give you power.
Just one thing.
I only need to obtain warmth.
So if possible, I’d like to meet Moon Emperor Hall as enemies, fight each other, kill, and finally obtain their memories.
I went around the villagers, expressed deep gratitude for their goodwill, then returned home following the forest boundary in a wide arc.
Perhaps because I walked too close to the forest, a leopard-like creature jumped down from a tree and attacked me on the way back. So my neck was torn, but it wasn’t a big problem.
Since I was attacked, I take its warmth.
Then tentacles grew from the beast’s left side, shells grew from its right side, and metal fragments grew from its tail, turning it into a grotesque monster.
And the monster screamed and fled into the forest.
Looking at that beast’s memories, it wasn’t an intentional attack by someone, so there’s really nothing to worry about.
But to think such dangerous creatures exist in the forest.
I should tell Soo-oh to refrain from going into the forest.
“Choseol. Where did you go alone to come back at this hour?”
When I arrived home, Heavenly Demon had already left, and Soo-oh was sitting alone under the eaves with arms crossed, glaring at me as she spoke.
The sky has passed dark blue and is close to black. Since it’s still early spring, the days are short. I looked at Soo-oh and answered obediently.
“I went to the village and came back because it was dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
At my answer, Soo-oh was startled and opened her eyes wide, then ran up to me and examined me all over.
“You look fine though.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
At Soo-oh’s question, I was about to explain everything that happened but swallowed my words. Instead, I said this:
“It’s not time for Soo-oh to know that yet. At least not until you grow as tall as me.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever grow as tall as Choseol even when I’m fully grown!”
Choseol is quite tall for a woman.
“Then I guess you’ll never know.”
“Stop avoiding the topic and tell me!”
I pushed away Soo-oh who was holding onto me and throwing a tantrum, and headed straight to the kitchen.
“Let’s just eat.”
Though Soo-oh protested, she ultimately couldn’t resist food, so when I set the table she came over grumbling and picked up her spoon.
It’s hard to skip meals during growth periods.
While wiping rice grains from Soo-oh’s mouth as she stuffed food in, I glanced toward the direction of the village.
I hope something happens.