I had heard a lot about the man called Yoo Hyun.
With the Veil's master inactive at the ti, Yoo Hyun stood as the current strongest mber of the Veil.
"Are you injured?"
As Yoo Hyun approached Yurim, the crow perching on her shoulder flew toward him.
Flap…
Yurim explained the situation to Yoo Hyun.
"They… use three types of sword arts, Master. On top of that…"
"Answer my question first… Are you injured?"
"That's… yes…"
She looked at .
"Yes. But Seol saved … I'm sorry, it was my fault."
Yoo Hyun placed his hand on Yurim's shoulder and shook his head as she blad herself.
"It's no one's fault. No one is perfect. That's why we draw our swords…"
Swoosh…
Yoo Hyun, who had been crouched, stood up straight, looked at Lucia and her group, and said.
"…to one day reach perfection."
"Yoo Hyun… I owe you, right?"
As one of the Surprised Faces said, Yoo Hyun had left many scars on them. After all, he was the one who had killed Despising Face and defeated Smiling Face, Jamad. ℝà₦οᛒĚš
'So this person is Yoo Hyun…'
Seeing the strongest in the Veil, whom I had only heard stories about, made feel strange.
"Master, be careful. They use a strange sword art—when they combine their swords… It's nearly impossible to block."
Yoo Hyun listened to her words and smiled slightly, scratching his chin.
"How fun. To think three swords would beco one."
"Fun? How dare you…"
"I'll start by cutting off that mouth of yours."
Paaf—!
The three of them launched a joint attack.
Both Yurim and I had used a lot of energy, so we couldn't help Yoo Hyun.
"Be careful…"
CLANG—!
Lucia was the first to swing her sword.
Thud…
But Yoo Hyun easily deflected her attack.
'An unusual sound…'
At the sa ti, two other swords reached him.
Thud—!
Yoo Hyun easily deflected them.
Thud!
Thuud!
Thud!
'How could this be…'
With one hand behind his back, Yoo Hyun handled all three with a single sword.
In other words, he was suppressing three people with one hand.
"Ugh…"
"You bastard!"
As if he showed no opening, the three Surprised Faces clenched their teeth.
However, humans couldn't be perfect. The three surprised Faces judged the opening Yoo Hyun left—when he brushed off Belian’s Vibrating Sword—wasn’t intentional, but a mistake.
Like a flowing stream, the three swords intertwined.
[Belian used Vibrating Sword.]
[The blade of your sword vibrates, making your attacks harder to block.]
[Beldre used Amplification Sword.]
[The effects applied on your sword gradually expand and spread.]
[Lucia used Bloodletting Sword.]
[If Bloodletting Sword wounds the target, it causes severe bleeding.]
…
'That's…!'
They looked at the sa place simultaneously, aiming at their target. Even in their breaths, the three beca one.
And the one facing them… was a sword that was complete from the very beginning.
[Yoo Hyun used Exceptional Skill: One-Mind Cut.]
[Cut your target.]
At the point where the three swords would et, Yoo Hyun's sword was standing at the intersection, waiting without a mont's hesitation.
BOOM—!
He sliced everything.
Slash—!
Beldre, who had been standing in front, was nowhere to be seen. And the two had beco a ss after being hit by the broken fragnts of their swords.
He had subdued all three of them with just one movent.
"C… Cough…"
"B… Bleh…"
The two sisters scattered and collapsed.
Now, they had been reduced from three to two.
But even that number seed like it would soon decrease.
"Thanks for what you've shown . As expected…"
Click…
"Three were no match for one."
Yoo Hyun sheathed his sword.
'That overwhelming skill…'
Yoo Hyun, who crushed the incoming threats with just his sword, looked like a God.
"Master!"
Yurim's face changed from surprise to moved, and embraced Yoo Hyun.
"I've missed you…"
" too, Yurim. I'm glad you're safe."
The reunion of master and disciple.
I had heard many stories about Yurim and Yoo Hyun's relationship, including tales about him recognizing Yurim's genius and teaching her to the best of his ability.
"Ugh…"
A sword fragnt was stuck in Lucia's chest.
She was barely alive.
I approached her.
The other sisters had already passed away. And as if she were holding onto so regrets, she was struggling.
"Ugh… No… If it goes on like this…"
"What's wrong? Do you have so regrets?"
It was at that mont.
Grab—!
She grabbed my collar.
"Th-this…"
"L-Listen…"
What did she want to hear?
Did she want to tell sothing?
I brought my ear to her, as her voice gradually softened.
"I… I… r-rember… you…"
"What…?"
"I… rembered… You… must do it too… otherwise… everyone… will… die…"
"What do you an?"
"Déjà vu… I had forgotten… You mustn't… forg…"
Déjà vu.
The word that ca out of her mouth lingered in my mind.
'Don't tell !'
She might know sothing about the painful illusions I've been experiencing.
"Lucia! Hey!"
Thud…
There was no answer.
Her eyes died, and her breathing stopped.
She wouldn't co back.
"Damn…"
As I bit my lip and pondered about her words, Yurim and Yoo Hyun approached .
"Are you okay?"
"Seol, are you okay?"
I turned around and looked at them.
"That…"
At that mont, another illusion appeared next to Yoo Hyun.
"Ugh…"
BZZ…
It was Yoo Hyun's figure with bloodshot eyes, wearing a mask.
'What is that…'
Thud…
Yoo Hyun patted my shoulder and asked.
"Are you okay…?"
Bzz…
The headache gradually subsided.
The grueso illusion also disappeared as if it had never been there.
"I'm okay…"
"Then, let's leave this place."
Yurim replied to Yoo Hyun's words.
"But we still don't know where Lian is…"
"We've confird where he is."
Yoo Hyun looked at us with a sowhat hesitant gaze.
* * *
Together with Yoo Hyun, we went to a secluded mountain villa.
Lian was there.
He had been poisoned, and bubbles were leaking from his mouth. Looking at the marks on his body, it was clear he had been tortured.
"To think I would die like this…"
"Lian…"
"Yoo Hyun, listen well…"
Grin…
"You should leave the Veil."
Lian said while trembling.
Yoo Hyun smiled and said.
"Where would a wanderer go after leaving this place?"
"Haha… Yeah… you’re right…"
Thud…
"Ugh…"
Although he was a stranger to , Lian's death bothered .
Creak…
I quietly left the room and stood on the cliff edge.
It was snowing outside.
Whenever my birthday ca, it was winter.
Whenever it snowed like this, I used to recall the past.
What the days at the dockyard were like. What the snow was like on Santos's ship, and what the mountain villa's scenery where I reunited with Yurim was like.
Whenever it snowed, everything ca to mind vividly.
Creak…
I turned around and saw Yurim approaching .
"Aren't you cold?"
Her rosy cheeks and steaming breath carried the nostalgic feeling of winter.
Yet, the doubts in my heart didn't subside. What was Lucia trying to say? Why hadn't the déjà vu disappeared yet?
"Did sothing happen…?"
"Actually…"
When I brought up Lucia's story to Yurim, she pouted her lips and said,
"Seol, actually… I'm the sa."
"What…?"
"I have two secrets I haven't told anyone. Hmm? I'm sorry. Are you surprised?"
"Ah…"
I tried to recover from the shock I had just received. To think she had been hiding sothing from .
"To be honest…"
"Hahaha… What is it?"
"What are the things you haven't told ?"
Yurim told the facts I didn't know.
"That déjà vu, I also have it."
"What…? Is that true?"
To think soone else had been feeling this déjà vu besides . And to think that it was Yurim, who was the closest to …
"But in my case, it's a bit different…"
"Different?"
"The people in the dockyard, the Faces… even the people of the Veil."
Yurim placed her hand on her heart.
"How should I say it? Every ti I see them, I feel a chill here. Sothing like pain."
"It's painful…?"
"Yes. Although not as much as you, but… it sohow feels painful… And paradoxically, fortunate."
An emotion that was hard to tell.
Yurim smiled sweetly and said.
"Because you're here."
"…"
"I have you."
She was right.
We had each other.
"Actually, the things you went through… I heard about them from the Old One."
"So you've heard them…"
My world after Yurim left.
Everyone has at least one secret they don't want anyone to find out.
For , that was a sign of weakness.
I didn't want Yurim to find out about my painful past.
Step…
I felt a soft sensation.
"…"
Yurim hugged .
I gently stroked her hair.
She slled nice.
"Everyone in the Veil is precious to ."
"Yes."
"But you're the most precious… Even more than all of them combined."
"Why…?"
She had spent more ti with the Veil mbers than with .
"Although they have all supported , if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to et them. You gifted the world."
"Ah…"
She had received love from the Veil, and the one who had guided her to them was .
I brushed the snow off her hair.
"Wh-What?! Ah, does it sll, perhaps…?"
"Yes, it's a nice sll."
"…"
I didn't ask her about the other secret
She probably had reasons for keeping it a secret.
Yurim blushed and sat down on the cliff edge.
It was the spot where I had been sitting.
I sat beside her.
"I don't know."
"Huh? What?"
"Why is everyone so strong?"
"Seol, Lian's death isn't our fault…"
"I wasn't talking about that. The opponents we struggled against were easily defeated by your master."
"Seol… you're also strong."
Her words were sweet and comforting. However, I still couldn't alleviate this anxiety.
"No… I need to beco stronger than I am now."
"Why? Why do you want to beco so strong?"
"To escape the labyrinth and et everyone again…"
"What…?"
Yurim tilted her head.
"Why did I just say…?"
"Labyrinth… I think you ntioned sothing about a labyrinth."
"Labyrinth…?"
A labyrinth…
Why did I suddenly ntion that?
"No, that's not it. Sothing keeps shouting inside my heart. Does one need to have a purpose to want to beco strong?"
"Hmm…"
Yurim said while pouting.
"My master said that it isn't necessary to have a purpose to beco strong."
"Really…?"
"Yes, but instead, he said. Ehem… That you need a story."
"A story…?"
"Yes! He said that all strength follows a story. Hmm… So, for example…"
At that mont.
"That's right…"
A voice ca from behind us.
"Ah… Master! I almost fell out of surprise!"
Yoo Hyun was standing behind , smiling somberly, and said.
"Seol, not all strength requires a purpose. If there's one thing that's necessary… It's a story."
"A story…?"
"Fate, or ti and effort… Maybe the pain of loss and fierce hardship."
"Ah…"
"Everything becos a story."
Having the goal of becoming strong doesn't necessarily make one strong. However, every strong person has a story. The story which allowed them to reach that stage.
"Only when stories worthy of the world’s recognition accumulate… can you surpass your walls."
Yoo Hyun smiled.
"That's what I think based on my experience."
A story…
Do I have a story?
'Yes…'
Not only had I experienced suffering in the dockyard, but I had experienced all kinds of hardships to beco this strong.
So, my thod wasn't wrong. I just lacked stories.
Clap—!
"Now, shall we start building our story together?"
"Seol too?"
"Of course. Today's topic… Let's make it ti and effort.
Yurim's face distorted.
"Is this sothing we can discuss and reach an agreent on…?"
"No."
"Hiinng…"
Yurim made a teary face, as if she was about to cry at any mont. It made laugh for no reason.
It was the snowy winter of my twentieth year.
* * *
Ti flows like a current.
"Seol, happy birthday!"
Since pushing forward with training, my sense of ti had beco increasingly blurred.
In the past, I used to struggle with each passing day.
Now, I began weighing the ti by months. No… seasons.
"Has so much ti already passed…?"
"Now we're twenty-three years old!"
Smirk…
Yurim seed happy about getting older.
Her happiness being the sa age as seed almost childlike.
A lot had changed in the past three years.
We had gone through dozens of missions, clashing with countless mbers of the Faces. In the end, we survived—they didn't.
Well, there were so who hadn't died.
The biggest reason we were able to survive was Yoo Hyun. Yoo Hyun beca a goal for .
His ability was absolute.
The power he had built through effort and belief was incomparable.
"Seol, don't be impatient."
He told countless tis.
"In the end, all paths rge into one."
"All paths rge into one…"
"It's called the truth of the intersection. No matter which strong person you ask, the mory of breaking down the wall will always be the sa."
Yoo Hyun stretched out his finger.
"There will be light emanating from afar. You just need to head toward it… It's a simple path."
"Did Master see the sa path?"
Smirk.
Yoo Hyun smiled and avoided answering.
Although his specialty was swordsmanship, he filled with the parts I lacked.
And it allowed to beco much stronger than before.
Swoosh…
"Hmm…"
Yoo Hyun extended a black glove to .
"This…"
"Happy birthday, Seol."
"…"
My twenty-third birthday.
Was it my birthday again?
Now, being celebrated on my birthday has beco natural.
Everything I had received from Yurim and Yoo Hyun was filled with happiness.
It seed like these days would continue.
However, as soone said.
The scales of life are always balanced.
Clank—!
When you're imrsed in happiness, misfortune is bound to knock on your door.
"No… No…"
Yurim shivered as she read a letter delivered by a crow.
Swoosh…
She handed the paper to Yoo Hyun.
"I see…"
Yoo Hyun turned to look back at .
"Toki is dead."
"What…?"
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