Chapter 188. Chenbi, at times like this…… you smile, right?
Demian stared blankly at the hole Aster had been dragged into.
‘……What?’
It had happened only a moment ago, but his memory was hazy.
All he could recall were fragments… yeah—stones scattering like fireworks, a sweltering wave of heat, a brutish grip, and a faint, single scream.
As those broken images flickered through his mind like a picture book with missing pages, Demian burst forward as if in a seizure.
“Friend……!”
“Demian, are you insane?!”
Chenbi hurriedly grabbed Demian and stopped him.
“Why…… why are you stopping me?”
“Why am I stopping you? Get a grip. Do you even know where you’re trying to go in right now?”
“Aren’t we going to save my friend?”
“We have to. We do have to, but…… open your eyes wide and look properly. Look at where you were about to go.”
“…….”
As he said that, Chenbi pointed at the hole Aster had been dragged into.
Had lava passed through it? The hole was blown wide open. The rocks forming the corridor were glowing red-hot. No— they weren’t merely heated. They were so hot the surface looked like it might melt clean off.
“If you go in there, you’ll die before you ever save Aster. Do you understand?”
This wasn’t heat you could block with a force field.
If their realm rose higher, they might be able to, but not now. That went for him, and it went for Demian too.
‘And Aster, maybe, is already…….’
No. It wasn’t.
Chenbi forcefully shook off the anxiety flashing through his mind—because he didn’t want to believe it, because he couldn’t bear to even hold it inside his thoughts.
But Demian didn’t yield.
“Move. I can go.”
“Demian……!”
Chenbi called out urgently to Demian as he shook him off and headed for the hole. He tried to grab him, but Demian was faster.
And part of Chenbi thought—
‘Maybe, if it’s Demian…….’
Couldn’t he stay safe even in that heat?
Yeah. It was possible.
Demian was the one hailed as the greatest talent in the entire history of House Brando. Unlike ordinary, bland himself, Demian might have some way.
And maybe he could even go further and save Aster……
……But.
Reality was miserable.
Pajijik, pajik—
Before he could even take two steps, the force field wavered dangerously. The crack spread through the entire barrier as Demian took his third step. And then—
Kwachang……!
The force field shattered into pieces.
“Demian!”
But Demian didn’t stop.
Chijik, chi…….
A horrible sound that couldn’t be explained in words echoed out. His shoes melted, and even his hair couldn’t withstand the heat and started to burn.
……And yet, one step. A step he still forced forward.
Demian bit down hard on his lips.
It hurt. It hurt so much.
But he just couldn’t stop his feet.
‘If it hurts…… I can heal it.’
Right. If it hurts, he could heal it.
The soles of his feet rotting away, the skin cooking under the heat, the hair burning—he could heal all of it.
Even now, look.
It hurt like hell…… but that was all.
This heat couldn’t kill him.
But— but.
‘……What about my friend?’
What about his friend…?
Could he heal him? Could Aster endure in this heat that felt like it would melt everything? Just the residual heat alone was tormenting him like this…… what about Aster?
“Demian…… stop, stop. Come out now.”
Chenbi stood at the entrance and called to him. The fierce heat made his face flush hot, but he didn’t back away.
With Sir Myseolne unconscious for some reason, the only one who could stop Demian was him. So…… Chenbi faced reality head-on.
But Demian didn’t stop.
……Another step.
He walked through unbearable pain.
……Another step again.
His heart ached.
If it hurts, heal it. Heal it, and everything gets better. Everything gets better, but…… can he really heal it?
‘……It’ll be okay. Friend is strong.’
“Demian, it’s enough now. You…… you know, right?”
Demian didn’t listen. No—his chest was so clogged he couldn’t hear. No—he could hear, but he didn’t want to.
So, another step.
But Chenbi’s voice was too clear. No, beyond clear—it was sharp. No, more than sharp, it was cruel.
“Aster is…… dead.”
At that dagger-like sentence, Demian stopped dead in his tracks.
“That can’t be…….”
His mouth wouldn’t move. Demian knew too. He felt this heat himself—more than anyone, he couldn’t help but feel it in his bones.
No matter how strong Aster was, in this heat, in this pain…… could he really be safe?
In the end……
Demian lowered his head.
- Demian, my grandson, the light of Brando. Before this grandpa goes, I want to see our grandson’s smiling face just once. Won’t you show me?
“Chenbi, at times like this…… you smile, right?”
Chenbi answered.
“At times like this…… it’s okay to cry.”
Half a day after Aster was dragged away by Infernal,
that was around when Myseolne—who’d lost consciousness—opened his eyes.
“Sir Myseolne, are you coming to your senses?”
“……Chenbi.”
Myseolne sat up, clutching his throbbing head.
His mind was a mess. Was it because he’d just woken up? His memories wouldn’t settle into place.
Why had he lost consciousness, what had happened before he lost it—
He definitely felt like he’d collapsed after taking some huge mental shock, but what caused it……
“……Ah! Aster—where is Aster? What happened to Aster…….”
Myseolne’s voice trailed off.
No one answered, but it wasn’t hard to know the answer.
Chenbi’s face, as if resigned to something. Demian sitting off to one side, unfolding a breathing method—those two sights said everything.
“……I see. So that’s what happened.”
His mouth felt dry. No—“dry” didn’t even begin to describe it.
How many deaths had he witnessed over the years? Too many to count on his fingers. But the word “death” was, for Myseolne, something he could never grow used to.
Especially when it was the death of someone he’d grown attached to, it was worse—and it seemed he’d grown quite attached to Aster.
As he reached that thought, Myseolne’s gaze naturally went to Demian and Chenbi.
Even he, someone who’d known Aster for only a few days, felt like his chest was being torn apart—so how much must these children, his friends……
Then, suddenly, Myseolne felt something strange.
‘……What?’
Something was off.
Demian and Chenbi were clearly weighed down. Up to that point, it was the natural reaction of those who had lost a friend.
But what caught on him was Chenbi’s eyes.
Eyes that were solid.
It was hard to call them the eyes of someone simply drowned in grief. They looked like the gaze of someone who’d made a decision……
Right then, Chenbi’s voice reached his ears.
“Sir Myseolne, if you’re awake, may I ask you one thing?”
“It’s fine, but…….”
Myseolne answered while studying Chenbi’s expression.
Yes—something was different.
Out of the three, Chenbi was the most considerate child, and if it were Chenbi, it would be natural for him to ask about Myseolne’s condition first in this situation. But why?
As Myseolne was thinking that—
Chenbi asked calmly.
And the moment he heard the question, Myseolne understood what Chenbi was thinking.
“Before you lost consciousness, you said ‘Infernal.’ Is that perhaps the…… flame golem? A monster? Is that its name? If so, could you tell us its characteristics?”
Right now, Chenbi intended to face Infernal.
A stretch of silence passed.
Myseolne didn’t speak, but Chenbi, as if there were no need to rush, leisurely enjoyed the silence.
Yes—there was no phrase more fitting to describe Chenbi right now than “enjoying the silence.”
‘His vessel…… has grown?’
Should he call it composure? No—rather than composure, it had deepened.
The shock of losing Aster, his friend, had made the boy sturdier.
But.
Myseolne instead let out a long sigh at that firm gaze, forcing open a mouth that didn’t want to move.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking of doing, but stop it.”
“You’re telling me to stop without even hearing what I’m thinking?”
It was gentle as always, but somehow firm—just hearing that voice made Myseolne realize this conversation wouldn’t be easy.
So his tone hardened even more.
“Are you planning revenge? It’s a futile thing.”
Yet Chenbi remained soft.
“I think you’re right. But who decides what that means? Are you going to find the meaning for me, Sir Myseolne?”
“It’s a dog’s death. Do you think Aster would want you to die for the sake of avenging him?”
“I’m not sure. Normally I’d say ‘no,’ but…… honestly, I don’t really know what’s inside Aster either, so it’s hard to answer.”
When Chenbi said that—
Another awkward silence flowed between them. It was so quiet you could hear Demian’s breathing.
In that silence, Myseolne felt at a loss.
‘What am I supposed to do?’
He couldn’t say he didn’t understand that feeling.
A friend’s death.
They would need an outlet to relieve that pain.
Up to there, it wasn’t bad.
Revenge was a negative emotion that ate at you from the inside, but depending on how you used it, it could become a medicine that let you forget the pain.
But in a case like this……
As he’d said, it would be nothing but a dog’s death.
He didn’t have the right to force a choice on these children, but still—shouldn’t he stop a dog’s death?
And yet their resolve was this firm.
As Myseolne struggled to continue, the one who unexpectedly spoke first was Chenbi.
“I’m not thinking about revenge.”
“……Then?”
“I’d like revenge if I could, but like you said, what meaning would that have? We’re just…… how should I put it?”
Chenbi quietly organized his thoughts.
Right. It definitely wasn’t revenge.
Then why were he and Demian trying to face that existence called “Infernal”?
His 고민 dragged on. Somehow, naturally, their hearts had aligned into “let’s do it,” but they hadn’t weighed the meaning of it.
So, how much time passed?
Chenbi found an answer close enough and put it into words.
But that answer was, to Myseolne, fairly unexpected.
“Just because I want to see it.”
“See it…… you want to?”
“Yes. Whether we can even leave these ancient ruins is unclear, but I believe we’ll be able to leave.”
This wasn’t a matter of probability. It was, literally, belief.
Chenbi truly believed he would be able to leave these ancient ruins. He didn’t doubt it in the slightest.
But what did leaving the ruins have to do with encountering Infernal?
The reason wasn’t complicated.
“Infernal will become my purpose.”
“……Your purpose?”
“Yes. The purpose I have to reach.”
“…….”
“Of course, I might forget someday. I’ve heard time washes many things away. Maybe I’ll give up. I don’t have talent. But even if I forget, even if I give up, I’ll remember someday.”
Chenbi lifted the corner of his mouth slightly as he said this.
“Infernal, you killed my friend. Back then, I was powerless. Now, would it work? How is it? Still not enough?”
“…….”
“I could regret it, or bury it as a bad memory…… well, I don’t really know which it’ll be. But I’m sure of one thing.”
“What……?”
“If I don’t move today, I’ll regret today for the rest of my life.”
When Chenbi reached that point,
Myseolne realized.
Back when he once heard the spirits’ voices through the fairy dance, that fairy dance became his lifelong yearning.
And just as it had been for him that day……
‘Chenbi, too.’
He would live his entire life yearning for Infernal.
It was only “seeing” Infernal, but that single memory would take up the greater part of that boy’s life.
If he sees it, then as he sees it.
If he doesn’t, then as he doesn’t.
Either way, it would leave a large stain across that boy’s life. So what should be done?
Myseolne knew the answer well.
“It isn’t hard to tell you. But…… Infernal may be very dangerous.”
“It’s okay.”
“I may not be able to help. I won’t lose consciousness like earlier, but my spirits fear Infernal. The reason I lost consciousness was because of that fear. Is that still okay?”
“Yes. That too.”
Chenbi offered a faint smile at Myseolne’s softened heart.
Then he spoke.
“Everyone dies eventually.”
