The next day, Seol-Hwi and his subordinates were on the move. Since he already knew where their target was, their journey went by quickly.
It took them six hours to reach the mountain.
“Let’s stop here and rest.”
Seol-Hwi looked around, and then climbed up a tall tree to check their location. It was to make sure that there were no enemies following them.
After confirming that it was safe, Seol-Hwi came down.
“Um, Captain?”
“Yes?”
Yorim went up to Seol-Hwi to ask him a question.
“Where are we going? Is there some other place you’re leading us to?”
“Well…”
Seol-Hwi was silent for a moment, and then he nodded.
His subordinates didn’t say anything on their way here, but they all must have been puzzled.
Usually, the search for a missing person occured where they had last been seen, and the first thing to check was if they used martial arts, and how bad the resulting scene was.
But Seol-Hwi, who was already aware of these things, skipped them and continued moving forward.
Naturally, his men were bound to be confused.
“If we go a little further from here, we’ll find Mount Hua’s secret hideout.”
“…!”
“…!”
“…!”
His subordinates’ eyes widened in shock.
“Did the masked man give you that information…?”
“Something like that.”
Actually, last time and now, Cheol Gun-song had pointed out this area.
However, he didn’t think that Ma Taryong had been captured. He did believe that Mount Hua was involved in this matter though.
But Seol-Hwi knew the truth.
Ma Taryong was not dead, and knowing that, Seol-Hwi came here.
“We will be thoroughly investigating the terrain for a day. From where we are right now, to where we will be going.”
“Huh? Why are we…?”
“I will explain later. Figure out the paths that each of you will be investigating first. Don’t miss even the temporary ones.”
Seol-Hwi knew all of this sounded strange, but things were too complicated for them to understand at the moment. Not to mention, they were running out of time.
The third evening…
Seol-Hwi knew what would happen after.
For that reason, it was necessary to do all of this work beforehand. Time was of the essence for this mission.
The AI had told Seol-Hwi that.
“The Second Disciple’s men will be attacking the hideout.”
“What do you mean, Captain?”
“Before Ma Taryong went missing, he had passed on information of Mount Hua to the Demon Lord. And that is why they’re coming there to attack.”
The third evening was when they rescued Ma Taryong.
In the past, Seol-Hwi didn’t know that the forces of the Second Disciple would come, so they carried out the mission during the day.
Based on this, they spent one day traveling yesterday, and now there were only two days left. During that time, they had to secure an escape route.
If the Second Disciple’s men and Mount Hua collided, and at the same time, Seol-Hwi and his subordinates secure Ma Taryong, they could escape more easily.
“Captain? Can I be left out? Since I am not originally from the team…”
Imugi raised his hand to ask, and then fell silent after receiving cold eyes from around him.
Except for Songhwa, the other members went to work scouting out the area like Seol-Hwi ordered them to.
“Huff… huff…”
After entrusting the task to his subordinates, Seol-Hwi moved with Songhwa. Although he was gasping for air, he still managed to catch up to Seol-Hwi.
“It’s impressive you’re not falling behind.”
A pale face and small stature - it was hard to imagine that such power was hidden in this child’s body. The speed Seol-Hwi went at was difficult, even for trained warriors.
“Hah… Hah… I’ve never neglected my physical training!”
Songhwa rolled up his sleeves and boasted, something which amused Seol-Hwi.
He must have used that acceleration trick?
If not, he couldn’t explain it. Well, Seol-Hwi was simply glad that the boy hadn’t collapsed from exhaustion yet.
About half an hour later, Seol-Hwi reached the top of the mountain.
Because of the layout, there were no buildings built here. It was rough and slippery terrain, so climbing was difficult.
“We’re here because…?”
“You’ll move to this place using your spatial distortion.”
Seol-Hwi replied to Songhwa’s question with a brief answer.
Last night, when he heard from his subordinates about Songhwa’s skills, he couldn’t believe it.
How can a person move through space?
But then Seol-Hwi remembered that this child was from the Detention Corps.
Songhwa was able to handle all kinds of mystic arts and control strong Kangshi.
Therefore, Seol-Hwi should have faith in him.
“Did you say the duration of it was one day?”
“Yes, and the distance cannot be more than 50 kilometers. In addition…” 1
“I heard. It takes a lot of your energy to do this, right?”
Seol-Hwi decided to check the distance from here to the hideout.
“Calculate the distance from Mount Hua’s hideout to here.”
<Analysing…> <Found it! The distance is about 31 kilometers from the entrance of the base, to here.>
“The distance is about 31 kilometers. Is it possible?” 2
“It is, but… Captain?”
“Yes?”
“Why do you need spatial distortion to travel? If it is you and the others, then can you not escape easily with martial arts?”
Songhwa tilted his head, and Seol-Hwi smiled bitterly in reply.
“Because the enemy is strong.”
“Huh?”
“The place we’re infiltrating is the hideout of the Mount Hua Sect after all. One of the Nine Sects which is hostile to ours.”
As Seol-Hwi spoke, Songhwa gulped.
“Aside from their strength, the number of enemies will be large, and there is a high chance we will be annihilated if we don’t escape.”
“Why did we get this assignment? No… if this is the case, shouldn’t another team be sent?”
“There were some circumstances.”
At first, their purpose was to search for Ma Taryong, but now, getting him back to the Sect was the most important thing.
And Seol-Hwi had a plan.
The Second Disciple and his men, he knew that they would come. But if he told his subordinates this, they would only ask him, ‘How did you know about that?’.
“…Then, we have to do this, even if we might die?”
“…?”
Songhwa’s face had hardened.
“I understand! The captain trusts me! I will do it! I must! I will repay that trust!”
The young boy then took out amulets hidden on his body. Moving around, he started attaching them one by one onto the ground and all around their current location.
“…Phew.”
Songhwa kept an amulet on himself as well.
Afterwards, he carefully examined all of the spots that he had placed the amulets. In Seol-Hwi’s view, he looked very cute while doing this.
“…!”
However, Seol-Hwi’s smile immediately stiffened when Songhwa bit his finger to draw out blood.
The sight of a young child using his own blood to write on the ground gave Seol-Hwi a heavy heart.
“… Will you always have to do that?”
Seol-Hwi didn’t like it, but Songhwa, who was the one bleeding, seemed fine.
“It requires mediation with the caster, and blood is a powerful medium, since blood is life itself.”
Songhwa continued to speak while he worked.
“Isn’t my life also at stake here? In order for me to live, I need this to work.”
“Your life?”
“Aren’t I going to be with you all while infiltrating the enemy’s territory? How will you use spatial distortion if I’m not with you?”
“…!”
Seol-Hwi felt shocked again. He had forgotten.
He was putting an excessive burden onto this child, and dragging him to a place where they all could die.
“… Songhwa.”
“Yes, Captain!”
Was it because he felt sorry? Seol-Hwi looked at the boy’s expectant eyes, and sighed.
“Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything!”
There was no hesitation on his face. This was the blind trust that only a child could have.
It served to add more to the weight in Seol-Hwi’s heart.
“Why did you say you would follow me?”
When Songhwa wanted to join his unit, Seol-Hwi initially refused. The missions they would go on in the future were dangerous, and he couldn’t always be there to protect the boy.
“Um… do you know about what I said last time?”
“I do, but I don’t understand.”
His subordinates liked Songhwa, and Seol-Hwi accepted him because he knew mystic arts.
But now, it felt like he had done something horribly wrong by saying yes.
Songhwa was a child.
He couldn’t understand why this boy wanted to follow him. How could Seol-Hwi face himself, knowing it was his fault that Songhwa was being put in danger?
“Well… The Captain… To me, he is a man ordained by the heavens. As you know, I am a mystic arts user, so I use divination to see the future.”
Songhwa scratched his head, showing an embarrassed expression.
“Actually, when the Kangshi and Soulless escaped that day, I expected something like it would happen. Because I saw the future.”
“… Is that so?”
Seol-Hwi was curious now.
This was the reason why Songhwa was so confident?
The fact that this young boy was able to set up a strong barrier in order to restrain the Kangshi, was indeed something which could be possible if he knew in advance.
“I was originally fated to die there.”
“…?!”
Seol-Hwi felt awful, but he had to ask Songhwa his next question.
“If you knew this rampage would happen in advance, why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“And if I did, would the elders listen to me?”
Songhwa pointed to his young face.
“If the undead couldn’t be stopped, I would have died at the hands of the Kangshi. But…”
“But?”
“That was when the Captain appeared. Someone who didn’t appear in the future I saw. And now, I will follow you faithfully.”
Songhwa stopped talking for a moment and lowered his voice.
“Since I joined your unit, my future no longer shows my death.”
“…?”
“It is all because of the Captain. A person who can choose his own destiny. A person who can twist the original future. So I had to follow you to live.”
Seol-Hwi felt like this was too absurd. But Songhwa was being completely serious.
“Then what do you think this mission will be like? Can you read it with mystic arts?”
Seol-Hwi questioned, and Songhwa hesitated before answering.
“Yes. Actually, I’ve already tried it. But…”
Songhwa asked him carefully.
“Doesn’t the Captain not only want to rescue one of the Seven Messengers, Ma Taryong, but also make him your subordinate?”
“…?!”
