Hu Bong.
A loyal follower of Chun Yeowun since the early days of the Academy, an institution with the role of fostering the warriors of the Sky Demon Order.
Originally, he was a small clan member, but he became the lieutenant and right-hand of Chun Yeowun after overcoming the other subordinates.
In a way, he was like Chun Yeowun’s friend and lieutenant at the same time.
“How do you know that?”
Chun Yeowun asked in shock.
Even the Great Guardian of the present age, the Guardian of the Sky Demon Order, didn’t know the exact story.
So what happened?
“That’s what the warrior Seong Mu-chun said.”
“He?”
Chun Yeowun couldn’t hide his curiosity.
It was strange that descendant Chun Mu-seong, who was concerned about the spread of information about the future, was going around saying stuff.
“It is different from what the Great Guardian of this era said.”
“Huh? My Lord, this era, you mean you are talking about the Great Guardian one thousand years from then?”
“Right.”
“Oh! The Cult is alive and well!”
Hu Bong trembled as if it was an odd thing.
Although there was faith, no Cult member would not show such a reaction hearing that the Cult was alive a thousand years later.
Chun Yeowun shook his head.
“No. It dissolved 27 years ago.”
“Yes? The Cult is? W-what is that…”
Hu Bong’s expression changed with those words.
Hu Bong was a man with various expressions.
“First listen to me and then tell me about this situation.”
Chun Yeowun informed him of what happened, and relaid what Marayun said.
Hu Bong kept nodding through the story and then said while clapping his hands.
“I think I know.”
“Hmm?”
“Maybe it was because of Seong Mu-chun’s request.”
“He made a request?”
“Yes. He said that no one but us should know about this. That… What did he say… moth? No! Butterfly! Right. He said something about the future changing because of a butterfly effect! That it may cause us not to meet with the Lord.”
[Butterfly effect. Even the most minor changes or small events could lead to unexpected results in the future, just like the flapping of a butterfly’s small wings could cause major weather changes.]
Nano explained it to Chun Yeowun.
Thanks to that, he understood what Hu Bong tried to say.
‘It was because of the fear that history will be changed or affected?’
When it came to space and time axis, one couldn’t be sure.
His descendant Chun Mu-seong, who lived in the era of time travel possibilities, wasn’t sure what changes could happen.
“Hu Bong. Do you know his real name?”
“Huh? Real name?”
At that response, Chun Yeowun was sure of one thing, that his descendant didn’t reveal all the facts.
Like the fact that he came from the future.
“Nothing. Hu Bong, so after hearing from him that I fell into the future, you waited for me?”
At his question, Hu Bong’s eyes turned red again.
“My Lord was alone. How can I leave you like that when I am your right-hand! Euhhh!”
“You… really…”
At those words, Chun Yeowun felt his throat go tight.
Hu Bong couldn’t leave him alone, so he ended up in slumber for a thousand years.
And this loyalty was enough to move Chun Yeowun’s heart.
“Now that I have met Lord again, I can rest in peace… ah, it isn’t like I am going to die or anything. If I die, I won’t be able to serve my Lord.”
Chun Yeowun smiled bitterly at the shivering and crying of Hu Bong.
Hu Bong was the one who used to make him smile.
“Hu Bong. Just how were you able to endure it all this time?”
Achieving such a feat would require a tremendous amount of courage and mental strength.
Chun Yeowun didn’t know that Hu Bong was sealed in the ice.
“I was stuck in ice.”
“Ice?”
“The man said that it was called hibernation.”
“Hibernation?”
“A method of freezing people, and if frozen like that, one could survive without getting old. But I thought that I would die of cold. Euuu.”
Hu Bong shuddered at the terrible experience he went through.
The person who froze him was Dan Ju-cheon, who was brought in from the Ice Palace. He was able to make the strongest ice which wouldn’t melt unless it was purposely melted.
“I don’t think I will ever do something like that again.”
“You did something dangerous.”
Actually, such a thing was dangerous for ordinary people to do.
In the future, there were safe means to defrost those in hibernation, but not the time they were in now.
“I had the blood of the spirit beast, so I was the only one who could do it.”
He could do it because he had great regenerative abilities.
Hu Bong wanted to meet Chun Yeowun even if it meant losing himself in the process.
“Hu Bong, you really are…”
The man could have really died, but the fact that he was alive made it even more emotional.
“You are so foolish to try all this to meet me.”
At that, Hu Bong said.
“It is because I had to meet the Lord and take you back.”
“What?”
Chun Yeowun’s face hardened at that.
It was impossible for them to move through space and time as they were in a place where science hadn’t developed that far.
“What do you mean? Take me back?”
“Seong Mu-chun said there was a way to get the Lord back to us.”
“A way back?”
Chun Yeowun’s eyes fluttered. This was completely unexpected.
It was shocking that Hu Bong had gone into hibernation and waited all this time to take Chun Yeowun back.
“… what is that?”
Calming his heart, Chun Yeowun asked.
Hu Bong responded, a bit perplexed.
“That… I don’t know exactly.”
“What? You don’t know how but you plan on taking me back?”
“He said that he had a divine object which would allow the Lord to return to our time. But he didn’t tell me what it was.”
“Divine object?”
Chun Yeowun frowned at the word.
The word Divine Object meant it was very special.
And if it was an object that would help in time travelling, then there was one thing Chun Yeowun could think of.
‘Timepack?’
Timepack, a space-time movement device from the era of his descendant.
However, it was a disposable and personal device.
If Chun Yeowun could remember correctly, Chun Mu-seong had just one timepack left with him to go back to his era.
‘No…’
If the object Hu Bong was talking about was indeed that, then Chun Mu-seong had given up on returning to his time.
Chun Yeowun felt a weird feeling in his stomach.
Not realising that, Hu Bong continued.
“He said that the object could make the Lord come back again. But he said that it can’t fall into others’ hands, and to destroy it before that happens.”
“Did you hide that divine object?”
“Kya! Indeed my Lord! I made sure to hide it so that no one could find it.”
If it was the timepack that Chun Yeowun was thinking of, then it could never be given to someone else.
‘Ah!’
Chun Yeowun thought of something else.
“Hu Bong…. Did you sacrifice yourself to tell me this?”
At first, he thought that Hu Bong was here to not leave him alone in the future.
But that didn’t seem right.
Hu Bong said that he waited a thousand years to reveal where he had hidden the timepack and make sure that Chun Yeowun heads back to the past.
“Are… are you insane?”
Chun Yeowun was experiencing a mix of emotions.
The timepack would allow only one person to go back.
“That divine object…”
Hu Bong interrupted Chun Yeowun, who was about to say something.
“Lord… I know.”
“What do you know!”
“He said that only one person could use it.”
At Hu Bong’s words, Chun Yeowun furiously shouted.
“You went through this knowing that!”
It wasn’t to criticize him.
It was because he didn’t want to accept the idea of letting Hu Bong sacrifice himself.
Thud!
Hu Bong knelt down with tears in his eyes.
Looking into Chun Yeowun’s eyes, he said.
“Lord! You need to go back! All the members of the Cult are waiting for you!”
“You…”
“And Lord! Mun Ku… Mun Ku is waiting for you. We can’t let your only child grow up without a father, right? Euuhhh!”
Hu Bong began to cry again.
Chun Yeowun, who was feeling complicated, looked up and covered his eyes.
He never felt this frustrated even when he crash-landed into the future, but he was feeling more pain at Hu Bong’s words.
‘Mu-seong… Mu-seong… you really…’
Chun Yeowun blamed his descendant.
Even if it was for Chun Yeowun, Chun Mu-seong did a cruel thing.
He made Hu Bong sacrifice himself.
‘What a pain.’
Chun Yeowun was clever, but right now, his mind didn’t work.
Everything was messed up.
Since this era was on a different axis, time was passing in other ones.
He himself saw that he could do nothing in this era which was so different to him, so how could Hu Bong stay here?
‘You should have just waited for me.’
That seemed way better to him.
Chun Yeowun could have waited until a space-time device was developed and then use it.
That required a lot of patience from Chun Yeowun, but at least Hu Bong wouldn’t have to be sacrificed.
‘Casualty?’
Not everything would go the way he wanted.
As much as he wanted to return back to the original era, a sacrifice was needed.
Clench!
Chun Yeowun bit his lip.
“Loord!”
“Hu Bong.”
“… yes.”
Hu Bong responded with a dull face.
He knew that Chun Yeowun would be angry, but Hu Bong was happy.
‘My Lord thinks so much of me…’
If he didn’t care about him, he wouldn’t be so angry.
He felt like celebrating his sacrifice.
“Don’t even think about making sacrifices.”
“Sorry?”
“I am taking you with me.”
“L-Lord!”
Hu Bong was touched. He was moved by the words he heard.
It felt like he was being paid for the sacrifices he made.
‘Lord… this much is enough for me. Even if the Lord goes back alone, I feel like I have achieved everything.’
Just words were enough.
Contrary to his thoughts, Chun Yeowun never said empty words.
’… I will find it. A way to take Hu Bong back!’
One thought came to his mind.
If the hidden timepack was a machine, then he could have Nano do an analysis.
If Nano’s system was locked and refused to, then he would just find a brilliant scientist and find a way.
First, the Divine Object has to be found.
“Hu Bong.”
“Yes, Lord?”
“Where is that divine object?”
With an apologising expression , Hu Bong said.
“Lord, I am sorry. I don’t exactly know where, but I have a password.”
“Password?”
“And the password…”
Chun Yeowun touched his forehead.
“You hid something else, didn’t you?”
“I apologize. Lord!”
Thud! Thud!
Hu Bong banged his head on the floor.
Despite being hurt, he kept banging again and again.
Annoyed, Chun Yeowun raised his hand.
Woong!
Hu Bong was lifted up.
“Just saying.”
There was one thing that Chun Yeowun was worried about.
Marayun had clearly said there were three legacies left behind.
Chun Yeowun was really hoping that he was wrong.
“Hu Bong… you aren’t the only one waiting, right?”
Hu Bong answered very slowly.
“Yes…”
“Ackhh! I’m going crazy!”
His headache was reaching its peak.
“You people are really…”
He never thought that the loyalty of his subordinates would end up biting him like this.
“Who else?… Tell me quickly.”
There were two people he could guess.
Besides Hu Bong, there were two others who took the blood of a spirit beast.
Hu Bong clasped his hands and said.
“L-Lord. Since just one wasn’t guaranteed to survive, we had to go all three of us.”
“What?”
“Baekgi went into hibernation after seeing the kids, and I went into hibernation right away with my partner.”
“Your partner?”
Chun Yeowun couldn’t understand Hu Bong’s words.
As far as he knew, Baekgi wasn’t even married in the first place, and he had no idea who the other person was.
Baekgi had taken the Dragon Turtle’s blood, but who was the other.
“What the hell? Did you come with your wife!”
“Mun Ran-yeong. Lord.”
“…”
Chun Yeowun stood speechless for a moment.
Mun Ran-yeong, whom Hu Bong spoke of, was the Great elder.
She was a loyalist who stayed in the imperial palace protecting the Flame Qilin’s blood for a long time.
Chun Yeowun even gave her the highest position for it.
“Mun Ran-yeong?”
“Yes.”
Hu Bong smiled shyly.
Chun Yeowun stared at Hu Bong with widened eyes. He married an older woman who was a hundred years apart in age.
Besides she was.
‘Mun Ku’s ancestor.’
She was from the same clan as Mun Ku, Chun Yeowun’s lover.
This was really twisted.
Even Chun Yeowun, who was never easily surprised, was really shocked at this news.
“Hu Bong… you are a shocking person…”
“Hehe. Somehow it ended like that.”
Hu Bong ruffled his hair.
“Ah! Lord!”
Hu Bong suddenly drew something on the ground.
Shhh!
“What are you doing?”
“The password that Seong Mu-chun gave me. I don’t know what this means, but I was told to memorize this.”
What Hu Bong drew was a square.
And then he started adding many other shapes. They were mostly squares and rectangles.
36 Quadrangles.
‘What is this?’
Chun Yeowun couldn’t think of anything until Nano said.
[This is a TQC code.]
‘TQC code?’
[A password created in 2600.]
‘Ah!’
A password used in the future.
His descendant Chun Mu-seong took measures so that even if the legacy was found, the person wouldn’t know what he was trying to convey.
‘He was very thorough about this.’
Fortunately, Nano didn’t have a lock on deciphering.
‘Can you decipher it?’
[It isn’t possible. There is only the Q code.]
‘What?’
[TQC code is made of Triangle, Quadrangle and Circle.]
Three codes need to be combined.
Hu Bong had one of the three codes.
Which meant the code could be unlocked when the other two people were also found.
“My Lord, I was told that you would surely know.”
“Right.”
A code which only Chun Yeowun, in this era, could understand.
Chun Yeowun moved.
“We need to find the other two.”
The code was one thing, but he also couldn’t leave them in hibernation for long.
Hu Bong opened his mouth carefully.
“Hmm. Lord. Then I will start with the person I know…”
Flinch!
It was then.
Chun Yeowun stretched out his hand to the east.
Swoosh! Bang!
At that moment, a huge explosion occurred, with the sound of something flying in.
The blast tore all the tents around the place at once.
