When Belluna extended her hand and took a step forward, Han Su-yeong flinched and shrank back a step.
At the fact that she had retreated, Belluna's mouth curled into a meaningful smile, while Han Su-yeong pressed her lips firmly shut.
The one who broke the uncomfortable standoff between them was none other than Minerva.
Stepping in between the two of them, she abruptly swung her tail with a sharp, cutting force.
Belluna deflected with a slight tilt of her head, dodging the tail.
Anyone who had been standing still might well have had their head taken off, but no one in the gathering paid it any mind.
That was because Minerva hadn't swung it in earnest to begin with — she'd swung it as a simple show of warning.
"And what is this supposed to mean, Minerva?"
"That is exactly what I'd like to ask you, wind spirit."
"Did I not clearly warn you that rudeness toward her is rudeness toward me?"
"You're calling what I just did rude?"
Belluna spat the words out, voice sharp.
"You wouldn't know, Minerva. As one of the Seven Calamities, you can't know. How light a karmic burden is to your kind — how crushingly heavy it is to a human."
"And so you've stepped forward to lighten that burden, have you? You, a spirit? Why?"
"Because my husband died that way."
At her words, someone drew in a sharp breath.
"He wasn't a man who should have died to the likes of that one. Worried about the danger of the Seven Calamities, he spent half his life guarding the seals — ignoring even my pleas to stop. And every time he did, I had to watch karma pile up on his soul. Do you have any idea what that felt like for me?"
As Belluna said it, she suddenly fixed her glare on me.
"To give an example — yes. Yu Ji-hyeok would be one. He's already amassed enough karma that an ordinary human would have crumbled to dust long ago. I don't know how he's managed to bleed off most of it, but there's no way you don't know that some of it still clings to his soul."
"……"
"And where do you think that karma came from in the first place?"
Minerva fell silent.
The "burden" she spoke of.
Both of them knew perfectly well that the karma in question came mostly from the Seven Calamities themselves.
"What if he ends up crushed to death by the karma he's shouldered? In that case, surely even you couldn't bring yourself to stand in my way."
At Belluna's veiled threat, Minerva bared her fangs — sharp as a saw — as she answered.
"…You'd do well to keep that mouth shut while I'm still treating you with some courtesy."
"Humans die easily, you fallen Calamity."
Belluna spat the words out, her voice ice-cold.
Seeing Minerva's eyes twitch, she let out a scoff.
"Best not to forget that. Unless you want to lose everything in an instant and spend the rest of your life in regret, like I did."
"So now you dare to threaten me, do you?"
"I'm advising you. I'd rather not see anything I don't need to."
Belluna shot another sidelong glance over in our direction.
"What do you suppose would happen to you lot if he died? Would you disappear with him, or would you be freed again now that the fence keeping you in was gone? And if it's the latter, what kind of figure would you cut at that point, I wonder?"
"…That's enough."
Minerva's tail whipped through the air with a sharp crack, gouging the ground.
"I am bearing your rudeness only out of regard for him and my dear friend."
"Of course. I'd assume nothing less."
After saying that, Belluna gracefully bent at the knees as if curtseying, bowing her head slightly.
"My thanks for hearing me out to the end, Minerva of the Seven Calamities."
"Snide to the very last — a textbook example of a spirit, you are."
Minerva sighed as she muttered the words.
"I went along with it as it came up, but did you really think I wouldn't notice? You simply find the energy bleeding out of that crystal unpleasant — that's all this is."
"…Is that so? I'm not sure what you mean."
"Whatever. As you said yourself, this isn't a matter for me to involve myself in to begin with."
Minerva flicked a hand as if she'd had enough.
"It's not for me to decide. It's for Su-yeong."
With that, she glanced up at the sky and murmured,
"And it just so happens the timing's right too… my dear."
Minerva looked at me and gave a weak smile.
"I'm a little tired. Forgive me, but I'll be resting inside you for a while."
With those words, Minerva's body burst apart like ink scattering through water, and began to seep down into my shadow.
…Now that I thought about it, she'd been maintaining her form through Doppelgänger, one of Henir's Shadow's abilities.
She'd probably been holding out for days on end, right up to the limits of how long she could stay manifested.
And as I'd just realized when she got pulled back in, she'd been sustaining herself entirely on her own mana — purely so she wouldn't be a burden on me.
"……"
"……"
With her gone, Belluna found herself looking straight at Han Su-yeong, to whom she now offered the same kind of polite bow she'd given Minerva.
A moment later, she let go of the slightly raised hem of her skirt with a soft rustle and said,
"In that case, Han Su-yeong, I'm asking this of you. Please hand it over to me. If giving it to me isn't to your liking, then I'd ask that you destroy it here and now. …As Minerva said, I won't deny that I find it troubling. But even setting that aside, it's something that shouldn't exist in this world."
At those words, Han Su-yeong looked over at me with anxious eyes.
Her gaze almost seemed to be asking what do I do?, and I couldn't help hesitating for a moment.
Once your karma starts accumulating, it really does swell up like a rolling snowball.
When that happens, even the strongest of the strong eventually gets crushed under the weight and meets an agonizing death.
Just like the Han Su-yeong of that other world had.
There was a reason I'd been so set on killing the Seven Calamities with my own hands.
It was because the karma that necessarily piled up from killing a Seven Calamity could be nullified by the hidden characteristic of mine.
"……"
Thinking about it dispassionately, destroying the crystal as Belluna said would be the move that left no loose ends.
If we wanted to boost Han Su-yeong's abilities, we could just make her an artifact out of my scales, or find some other safe method.
But…
Her eyes were clearly telling me she didn't want to destroy the crystal.
I could roughly guess why.
She'd mourned the version of herself from the other world, almost like she was identifying with her.
And ever since that day, she'd been hanging around me and Choi Hyun-woo more than usual, looking out for us.
So it was probably that she didn't want to destroy it like this — as if dumping it like a piece of garbage.
After mulling it over for a moment, I made up my mind and spoke up to Han Su-yeong.
"…Yeah."
Hearing my answer, Han Su-yeong gave a small nod.
Then she looked Belluna in the eye and said,
"I'm sorry, Belluna."
At Han Su-yeong's reply, Belluna's eyebrow twitched.
"I understand your concern, but — please, won't you trust us on this?"
"And if you fail to keep hold of it, do you have any idea what'll happen?"
"Yes."
Han Su-yeong nodded firmly.
"I'll protect it with my life if I have to. I won't let anyone take it from me."
The words came out almost like an oath, and for a moment all I could do was stare at her in surprise.
I didn't get why she was this determined to hold on to the crystal.
Then, out of nowhere, something from the past came back to me.
It was the memory of when everything had wrapped up in Margo's dungeon, and she'd burned the necromancy scrolls while swearing she'd protect me and Choi Hyun-woo and everyone around her, no matter what.
"…And do you understand what an oath to a spirit means?"
"Yes."
"So I'm supposed to take you at your word and back off right now?"
Belluna was, none too subtly, threatening to take Han Su-yeong's life if she failed to keep her word.
But Han Su-yeong met her gaze with eyes that didn't waver in the slightest.
I couldn't sit and wait any longer.
I stepped forward as if to put myself in her path.
"If it comes to that, I'll put my life on the line too."
"Huh? Ji-Ji-hyeok…?"
Brushing off her trembling voice as she called for me, I looked Belluna dead in the eye.
"Don't tell me my life isn't enough either?"
"Then I'll throw mine in too."
Choi Hyun-woo cut in, his voice flat.
He strode over with heavy steps and stood at my side, just in front of Han Su-yeong.
"Th-then me too!"
Lee Yu-na shot her hand into the air and came hurrying over with quick, pattering steps.
"…Me too."
Jin Ye-seul stared steadily at my face, then quietly raised her hand.
"…I can hardly opt out now. I'll join in as well."
Lee Ye-eun let out a small sigh and nodded.
At some point, all of us were standing there like a wall facing off against Belluna, looking right back at her.
She didn't shrink back in the slightest — instead, she met our gazes with cold eyes, as if she found it laughable.
But a moment later, she let out a heavy sigh and muttered,
"…Haa, just what is all this?"
She heaved sigh after weary sigh, her voice thoroughly drained.
"This isn't the atmosphere I was going for at all. With you all looking at me like this, you'd think I was the villain here."
Belluna said it as she waved her hand dismissively.
"I was just asking on the off chance, you know. And here you all are, ready to charge at me like a pack of wild boars if you don't get what you want…"
After grumbling like that, Belluna let out another big sigh.
Then she looked at me, and then over at Han Su-yeong.
"I just wore myself out and wasted my time. I'll be on my way."
Watching her pout like a small child, a few of the others snuck glances at me to see how I was taking it.
I gave a small nod to let them know it was fine.
Belluna Hunt wasn't actually the imposing, heavy-natured kind of person she'd been letting on a moment ago — the truth was that she was utterly unpredictable, a textbook my-pace type of personality.
"Oh, right. It'd be awkward to just leave like this, so let me tell you a few good things as an apology."
Strolling casually between us as she walked past, Belluna blinked her eyes and turned her head toward Han Su-yeong.
"Landschi — the last remaining member of Milited's children — is, more than anyone, a man cut from the same cloth as Milited."
"Uh — yes?"
"He picks the dirtiest, most underhanded tricks he can find."
Belluna narrowed her eyes as she added,
"On top of that, he can use spatial magic. Just like you."
She gave a small sniff, then turned her gaze on me.
She glanced over at the mountain of black scales heaped up to one side and muttered,
"…Yu Ji-hyeok, I owe you in several ways, don't I. I don't mean this in a bad way, but it's probably best not to let outstanding debts with you drag on for too long… mm, this is as good a chance as any to settle them."
She gave a small nod.
"I'll introduce you to a friend of mine. They'll come to find you pretty soon, so I'd suggest staying here for a few more days."
"I'll do as you suggest, Belluna."
"Anyway, take care of yourselves. You, and the people around you both."
Her body slowly began to disperse, scattering on the wind.
"It'd be a shame, after all, to see my son's first friends disappear on him."
With those last words, she vanished without a trace.
I was thinking that it really did feel like a massive storm had just blown through and left chaos behind, when—
"Ji-hyeok."
"Oh, Su-yeong."
Han Su-yeong carefully took hold of my wrist.
I looked back at her with a don't worry in my eyes.
"It's okay now. Belluna's the unpredictable type, but once she makes a promise, she keeps her—"
"Karma piling up on the soul — what the hell is that supposed to mean? And what about the Seven Calamities?"
"…Huh?"
Han Su-yeong was staring at me with no expression on her face at all.
The grip on my wrist began to tighten with so much force I could practically hear it creaking.
It was honestly hard to fathom how this much strength was hiding in those thin wrists and fingers of hers.
"Hmm? What was all that about?"
Behind her, blinking those same eyes, stood Lee Ye-eun and Jin Ye-seul — and Lee Yu-na and Choi Hyun-woo — all wearing expressions that made it clear they had a few questions of their own.
"Hmm? Why aren't you answering?"
[Honestly, even watching from the side is enough to choke me out.]
Sbeungali muttered, his voice not reaching Yu Ji-hyeok's ears.
Reflected in his sight was Yu Ji-hyeok, surrounded as if he'd been caught and held captive, being pressed and grilled like he was under interrogation.
What else are you hiding from us.
Are you about to tell us you were secretly a woman this whole time too.
Didn't you swear before that there was nothing wrong, was that another lie.
First you put me through muscle aches, and now you're trying to finish me off with nerve pain.
Call out Minerva — she's hiding in your shadow, isn't she? We need to ask her too…
Hounded by five people at once and clearly at the end of his rope, Yu Ji-hyeok made for a sight that had Sbeungali cackling and snickering, as if he found the whole thing wonderfully satisfying.
[Brought it on yourself, you have, mm-hmm. You absolutely did.]
As he murmured, Sbeungali turned his attention to the mandrake — which could really be called another piece of himself — and addressed it.
[Don't you think so too, hmm?]
"……!"
[What? You're saying he hasn't done anything wrong? That he's the kindest person in the world?]
"……!!! ……!"
[Pfah, a mere weed and you've got stars in your eyes. Anyone watching would think the two of you were married.]
"……!"
[The two of you have already moved past such things and become soul partners…?]
Sbeungali let out a click as he tapped his beak together, dumbfounded.
For something he had supposedly forged from a piece of his own power, he genuinely could not figure out how it had ended up this strange.
And the one who couldn't figure things out was, just as much, the mandrake — Rauné.
Rauné couldn't understand why Sbeungali was talking to Yu Ji-hyeok that way at all.
To the very benefactor who had taken pity on a creature that should have died long ago and let it live — what kind of impudent way of speaking was that? At the question, Sbeungali had burst into a furious rage.
Looking entirely uninterested, Rauné raised its roots as if to plug its ears.
That was when it happened.
[…Why. Why won't he trust us. What am I supposed to do…]
"……?"
A voice that suddenly came through into its head made Rauné tilt its head to the side.
It lifted its gaze to look at the owner of that voice — Han Su-yeong.
She had her mouth shut tight as she stared intently at Yu Ji-hyeok.
This time, a man's voice came through.
[Idiot. What kind of fool must I have been, for him to keep it all from me — Master, friends, every last thing. Just how untrustworthy must I have looked…]
A man's voice, blaming himself.
But the owner of that voice — Choi Hyun-woo — was wearing a menacing grin as he said something to Yu Ji-hyeok.
"……?"
What in the world.
Rauné could only tilt its head, baffled.
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