“What?”
Kang Mui, who was standing leaning against the wall, frowned.
He too was a holder of the jade plaque, but he had never heard of such a story, and the reason was much simpler than he thought.
Unlike Yang Muoh, who was middle aged, Kang Mui was young.
“Alter ego and vessel?”
Yang Muoh nodded and looked at Kang Mui.
‘… It is a truth to know in the end.’
Just like 17 years ago.
When their powerful forces made by their father were destroyed, 80% of the troops and numerous sects had lost their lives.
Even among those who were within the castle, which was their main base, not a single person survived. Yang Muoh sighed and said,
“Phew. I thought not knowing would be better.”
“What nonsense is this now?”
“It is as I said. I thought it would be better for you guys to just regard yourselves as his son, and this as a competition to determine who leads. So did Musa, and so did I.”
Kang Mui’s expression turned heavier with this. How much did Yang Muoh know and how much of the truth did he cover up?
Kang Mui had believed that he was given the jade plaque because he had the right to take over the sect. But now there were very unexpected twists. No, actually, he couldn’t understand anything about this alternate ego and vessel.
“What does it mean to be a vessel? No matter how much I try to understand…”
“Yes it is as you guessed. I didn’t believe it until I actually saw it.”
“…”
Kang Mui gulped. He was feeling worried too. He wouldn’t normally have been this upset at these words concerning the ego and such.
This raised the question of a new existence. And it was then that Mumu said,
“What do you mean by vessel? I don’t understand.”
“…”
Yang Muoh looked at Mumu who truly didn’t understand this. He sighed and said,
“It means that we aren’t the children but the bodies that he will take over.”
“Uh?”
Mumu frowned.
He thought he was talking about something, but he still couldn’t understand it.
“Changing…?”
“… You really don’t understand?”
Kang Mui looked at Mumu like it was hopeless. At this Mumu tilted his head and looked at him, making him turn his head away.
And Yang Muoh said,
“We really are not his children but vessels for him to take over.”
“Take over?”
Kang Mui clicked his tongue at the question of Mumu.
Sometimes this guy was sharp, but he didn’t understand a lot of things even though it was being explained as best as it could be.
“Have you ever heard of a body being possessed by a ghost?”
“Are you talking about a dead person taking over a normal person? And this is because father is a strong… ah! Maybe not like that.”
Mumu suddenly remembered the ghost he had seen in the old school building. Even before he saw it, he wasn’t sure, but after experiencing the lab rooms, he was sure of it being real.
“Ah!”
Mumu’s eyes narrowed.
He didn’t understand it at first but now he knew what it meant.
“… Are you saying that our bodies will be used for a soul to transfer into?”
“Yes.”
Yang Muoh replied bitterly.
He too had so many conflicts over the existence of this thing and the truth behind it. And then he knew of the death of the man called his father too.
“To be precise, it would be right to say that we are a thing. There is no more… no, he isn’t here.”
“I don’t get this.”
“What do you not understand now?”
“I understand what it means for a soul to change, but it comes into our bodies?”
To that, Yang Muoh gave a short answer.
“Red Soul Shifting Great Arts.”
“Red Soul Shifting Great Arts?”
“It is a technique where a person’s soul transfers to another person’s body.”
“… Is that possible?”
“It is.”
At that Kang Mui said,
“Red Soul Shifting Great Arts?”
At Yang Muoh’s words, Kang Mui snorted. It seemed like he was some kid messing around in the academy, but that wasn’t it.
“This is pretty insane. Wasn’t the Red Sacred Sect seized before even father was defeated?”
“Right. It was.”
The Red Sacred Sect—
As Kang Mui said, it was a place which was once on the side of the Forces of Evil. No, it was a strong sect on their side.
It prospered so much with its teachings from beyond the west, it moved with the Forces of Evil to create their own warriors and odd techniques.
However, those techniques began to give rise to resentment that even the people of the Forces of Evil didn’t want them anymore.
And so they all decided to wipe it from the face of the earth and rejoiced at its destruction.
“On the surface, it looked like a fight to seize the alliance we had but in reality it was a war to obtain this technique.”
“Ha! I thought that their reason was to get the Reverse Blood technique from them.”
At Kang Mui’s words, Yang Muoh snorted,
“That was to deceive everyone on the inside.”
“Inside?”
“No matter how great the alliance is, or how strong the trust in the members was, there was no need to let the fact be known that the technique which extends life was being brought in.”
“… Damn it.”
“Get rid of any illusions or delusions you have for that man.”
Yang Muoh sighed.
He really didn’t want to talk about this with Kang Mui.
Muil and Mui were born with a purpose, and even if they had different mothers, he felt like they didn’t need unpleasant memories.
“Hmm.”
“Why? Shocked? You got to know the truth that you have been wanting…”
“… rather refreshing.”
“What?”
“The more I learn the more I don’t like it, but I didn’t know that everything classified as failure was because of something like that.”
‘What?’
Yang Muoh frowned.
After knowing the truth he thought that Mumu, like Kang Mui, wouldn’t be too glad as he was also a jade plaque owner, but he was rather different.
He was confused…
‘Why does he look relieved…’
Yang Muoh was right. Mumu had been thinking of his father until now. The more he got to know of the person he never saw, the more he realized that his real father wasn’t a good person.
In the meantime, he learned that he wasn’t an only child but just a body for the soul to be transferred, and his lingering feelings of anything close to disappointment and confusion vanished.
‘Everything was meaningless.’
Deep down Mumu thought that since he was born, there would be something to feel, but it didn’t seem worth it now.
Rather, it loosened the chains on his heart which had been binding him.
On the other hand—
Bang!
On the other hand, Kang Mui was enraged.
“Damn it! So you and this guy are all tools born to be a body which suits him the best?”
“… To put it blandly.”
“How could you know it and not tell…”
“What good will knowing it do?”
“What?”
“The person is dead. He used us as pieces in a board game for the sake of his eternal life, but in the end he died at the hands of the Four Great Warriors.”
“Are you saying since he met his end in his own way we should let it go?”
“Then you expect me to share pain with kids?”
“…”
At those words Kang Mui went silent. It was because Yang Muoh had a reason to hide it, a kind of sympathy.
Of course, if it was someone else, this wouldn’t have felt nice, but Yang Muoh was in the same position.
So he couldn’t hold it against the man.
Clench!
But he was still angry at the one known as his father. All this was while Kang Mui was thinking himself to be one of the chosen ones.
This was why, to make his wish come true and avenge his father, he was making this grand plan.
Kang Mui turned to Yang Muoh.
“…”
Kang Mui bit his lip hard at the silent appearance.
Even knowing this information could make one lose their mind, and this man was holding it within despite knowing it and not showing any sign of it.
Suddenly Kang Mui remembered.
“Sa Muheo… no, Ho Musa knows this?”
He was a teacher in the academy. His true identity was Ho Musa, one of the jade plaque holders.
And there was one reason why he asked.
It was understood that Ho Musa, like Yang Muoh, wasn’t young but around 17-18.
Yang Muoh said,
“… He knows.”
Kang Mui clicked his tongue at the answer.
“Damn it, but I… and I am the one being played like an idiot.”
Yang Muo’s expression turned strange at the grumbling of Kang Mui. And he looked at him when Yang Muoh said,
“Not everyone has the same reaction.”
“… What do you mean?”
Yang Muoh sighed as he said,
“Unlike the rest of us, he regarded his fate as a heavenly order.”
“Heavenly order?”
“He longed to become his vessel.”
“What?”
Kang Mui was speechless at this, and he turned to Mumu and said,
“You think this all makes sense?”
“It seems like just yesterday we were running into each other with let’s die or let’s live, and now you are pretending to be pretty friendly with the guy? Are you smart or not?”
“…”
‘Damn it.’
He naturally asked because they were in the same situation, but he felt embarrassed. Kang Mui shook his head and said to Yang Muoh,
“Does it make sense to have such thoughts without being brainwashed?”
“Each person has his own beliefs. He was only faithful to the purpose for which he was born, so there is no right or wrong.”
“Enough with the sophistication.”
Kang Mui raised his voice, annoyed.
Who would ever let themselves be used as such?
“You might feel it as such, but his thoughts are his own. So the fact that we were born with a purpose does not change.”
“It’s true and yet I cannot accept it!”
At Kang Mui’s words, Yang Muoh sighed and laughed.
He thought that it might be fortunate to get angry if he at least had some energy left within.
Maybe his anger would be more real, and Yang Muoh turned to Mumu.
“Does your curiosity end here?”
“Yes. I never had much expectations of him.”
“Didn’t have much?”
“Yes. No expectations means no disappointment.”
Yang Muoh frowned at this. This was unexpected.
‘… so different.’
This was a different reaction from most. As the person himself said, there might have been no expectations.
It seems that this guy has lived a completely different life from them. Kang Mui shook his head and said,
“It would have been nice to have an easy going life like that. If I had been abandoned in the woods and taken in by people who knew nothing about Murim like you, I might have lived more comfortably.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“…”
Kang Mui closed his mouth.
Yang Muoh asked Mumu.
“So the next question? You learned the truth about yourself, so go on, I will tell you all.”
“Yes. You should. But I remembered one thing.”
“You remembered one thing?”
“Yes.”
“What is that?”
In response to his question, Mumu said with a serious look,
“Is it true that the one who considers us as vessels is dead for sure?”
“What?”
Yang Muoh frowned.
Why is he asking that? So Kang Mui asked,
“Is there anyone who doesn’t know that he died because of the sudden attack from the Four Great Warriors?”
At that Mumu titled his head as he said,
“When I was in the academy, an usual person came to visit me.”
“Unusual person?”
“Yes. At that time I thought it was strange that someone I didn’t know attacked me so suddenly, but before he died he said ‘my alter ego.’”
‘!?’
At those words, Yang Muoh and Kang Mui’s expressions went stiff at the same time.
