Translator: Wan ED/PR: Solarin
65. Things that have to be hidden (11)
The biggest power of the Ung tribe, the Eight True Bear Immortals.
They wanted to annihilate Heavenly God and Sinin.
But putting aside Sinin, who frequently visited the human world, it was almost impossible to harm the Heavenly God, who only descended to earth on rare occasions when the heavens opened.
There was no way that the Ung tribe, which committed a sin, would be invited to the divine world, so they would think of a way of annihilating the Heavenly God from the ground.
The method devised by the Ung tribe was to erase the possibility of the Heavenly God’s existence for the price of a sacrifice.
But the Ung tribe’s power was not enough to erase the Heavenly God and Sinin, who had left their names in the founding myth.
In the end, two of the Eight True Bear Immortals went mad and three fell into Deep Sleep.
The ‘failure’ created in the process of combining their powers and wisdom was the secret story of the Eight True Bear Immortals left in PMH about the ‘Weight of Life and Fortune’.
‘It’s true that the Eight True Bear Immortals failed in destroying the Heavenly God and Sinin. Heavenly God’s ward[1] remains, and although Sinin became human, he wasn’t annihilated. But what if they succeeded in erasing some kind of being that now can’t be recognized.’
Whether they succeeded or not couldn’t be proven, but three of them falling into a long sleep may be an influence of that.
Considering the characteristic of the Weight of Life and Fortune of putting and taking the price for erasing the target on a scale, it was possible that even someone among the Eight True Bear Immortals was erased.
It might be that there were no Eight True Bear Immortals but Twelve True Bear Immortals at the beginning like Kūnlún Mountain’s Twelve Immortals[2].
Sillentium watched me like one would watch the ripples spread after throwing a stone into a lake, and then opened his mouth:
— But all of it is just a story about a possibility. I plan to try to do research into it first.
The Weight of Life and Fortune was a powerful item by itself, and it had a certain degree of connection to the theory Sillentium spoke about.
The idea was plausible, but with what method did Sillentium planned to carry the research?
— The Weight of Life and Fortune borrows the power of ‘Eraser’ to move the scales and erase human potential. But if you could move the scales with another power, wouldn’t you also be able to erase existences besides humans?
When I erased the superpowers of the fraudulent admissions with the Wight of Life and Fortune on April’s Fool Day.
The higher being covered by a white bearskin said that their potential was too little compared to the item card used and handed me a certain item.
That item was ‘Eraser’s Pocket Change’.
With that item I erased superpower poison on a ship.
I’m not sure if it could be called ‘money’, but if I think that ‘money’ simply meant the value of an object, it wasn’t wrong.
Anyway, the higher being that handed me the item then certainly matched with the ‘Eraser’ that Sillentium spoke of.
‘Not the ‘Eraser’ standing on the scales, but another power could move the scales, huh?’
It seemed that Sillentium planned to solve this riddle with the help of the Wight of Life and Fortune.
One of my Playable Characters was a researcher of supernatural items, so using Player’s Trajectory, I could help to a degree using that character’s Gwangrim.
However, I didn’t feel like using Gwangrim.
‘It’s inefficient for me to participate in the research personally. I will have to invest all my available Gwangrim time every day.’
I couldn’t use up all my cards for a being that may or may not exist.
So I looked for a way other than Gwangrim.
‘Let’s think. Is this item really the only clue?’
Heavenly God and Sinin.
Eight True Bear Immortals.
Someone who disappeared.
There was a little basis to think about it, but I quickly came to a conclusion.
“There may be more clues.”
— Something besides the Weight of Life and Fortune? Tell me.
Sillentium opened and closed his mouth, telling me to speak.
“Supposing that the Eight True Bear Immortals erased someone they wanted to eliminate. Let’s call them ‘X’. If X were eliminated, it would be for two reasons.”
— What are the reasons?
“First, the Eight True Bear Immortals felt threatened by them and decided to eliminate them first. Second, that being disappeared to protect the Heavenly God and Sinin.”
— Personally, I feel like the second reason has a higher chance.
“I agree. If the cause was the first reason, as the target of the first propriety X, was eliminated, the elimination of the next targets, Heavenly God and Sinin, would follow and they would’ve succeeded. But it’s possible that they used up their power to eliminate X.”
X was probably someone of a lower status than the Heavenly God and Sinin.
However, whether the Eight True Bear Immortals choose them as the first target for eradication, or they interrupted the Eight True Bear Immortals’ plans to protect the Heavenly God and Sinin, it was clear that they weren’t an ordinary being.
In other words, whatever the reason, X being an extraordinary being didn’t change.
Would X just simply disappear?
Wasn’t it just that they were erased from everyone’s cognition, but they survived or left a clue?
After I organized my thoughts and conveyed them, Sillentium slowly moved his lips.
— You think there is a chance that they may just not be perceived, but they may be surviving or have left a clue?
“Yeah.”
— They disappeared so thoroughly that even I, who resided in the Demon World for a long time, can’t perceive them. Even if your theory is true, is it no different from X actually disappearing?
Even Sillentium, who had lived in the Demon World rather than in the Korean Peninsula, couldn’t perceive the unknown X.
But there were two beings, who could recognize X.
One was the Transcendent Universe.
‘Besides whether X exists or not, I wouldn’t be able to confirm anything. And it isn’t something that can be done with the twenty-questions game like what Hwang Jiho wanted to tell the Mountain Spirit to do.’
The other was me.
I wasn’t a being of this world.
So I would be less influenced by X’s vanishing play created by the Eight True Bear Immortals.
“I’ll tell you if I learn something more.”
— From your face, I guess you have some basis to trust in. Got it.
He said that, but this was kind of an empty conversation.
Because there was a chance that the vanishing of someone didn’t occur from the beginning.
You could draw a conclusion that the goal of the Eight True Bear Immortal’s was really just the Heavenly God and Sinin, and they did their best, but simply failed.
I and Sillentium may be just wasting our energy on useless thinking and actions.
‘Even so, I can’t pretend not to know after learning it.’
I couldn’t tell whether thinking that was meaningless or not.
Even so, I couldn’t pretend not to know, after glimpsing a possibility of someone, who had stood at the Heavenly God, Sinin and the Ho tribe’s side.
When we’ve finished our conversation, Sillentium added some last words.
— If something happens, tell my contractor. That’s an exchange for showing me good things through the crow mask. If I feel like it, I’ll help you even if it’s not the matter of the guide.
Though there was a condition ‘if I feel like it’, there was nothing better than being able to receive the help of a Demon King.
Before I returned to the dormitory, Ryu Jang called me and handed me a paper bag.
The paper bag with MITRON’s logo was filled with season limited cakes, bread and cookies he had prepared.
I guess as he said he will give me a gift when he contacted me yesterday, he didn’t forget it and prepared.
But somehow it seemed there was much more than what came up through the device messages yesterday.
“It’s a gift. Eat it with Your Friends.”
“Thank You.”
“I called a busy student like Jo Uisin, so shouldn’t I at least give such a gift?”
There was quite a meaning behind that ‘busy’.
It seemed that Sillentium told his agent, Ryu Jang about the things he saw through the crow mask.
When I thanked him one more time and was about to leave.
“By the way, student Jo Uisin’s Bread Shuttle.”
Ryu Jang suddenly mentioned Bang Yunseop.
As the bread shuttle incident was quite famous, and he often visited this place to carry out the mission, it wasn’t strange that Ryu Jang knew Bang Yunseop.
Why was he mentioning Bang Yunseop right now?
He mentioned Bang Yunseop out of the blue, but his next words were even more out of the blue.
“Recently, he hasn’t been coming to buy cookies.”
“… Yes?”
I didn’t recently order Bang Yunseop to bring cookies.
No, why are we talking about cookies in the first place?
My doubts deepened.
“Before, he often came to buy cookies. The female student he hung out with liked those cookies. The two came to the shop together.”
… Bang Yunseop hang out with a female student?
Ju Su-hyeok and An Dain didn’t seem to have held hands yet, not even once, but Bang Yunseop was buying cookies and going on dates?!
Judging from Ryu Jang’s words only, it could be that Bang Yunseop simply often ate those cookies and coincidentally came to the shop with a female student.
But the agent of the Crow Demon King indicated that there was a link between Bang Yunseop’s behavior and the female student.
“After he stopped buying cookies, the frequency of errands for student Jo Uisin greatly increased. He didn’t come to the shop with the female student and got angry when I mentioned cookies. Isn’t there a correlation between the two?”
… Hearing that part of the story, it was difficult to simply dismiss it as a coincidence.
Did Bang Yunseop tried to forget the pain of a heartbreak through smoking?
It was really distasteful to interfere with others’ probably already ended love affairs, but something hung on my mind.
“It’s easy to be targeted if You have gaps in Your heart, isn’t it?”
Ryu Jang smiled weakly.
He, who spoke little, as suiting one serving the Demon King of Silence and Bystanders, spoke in length.
“I came under Sillentium-nim out of my own will. However, usually the relationships between humans and Demons are one-sided.”
I recalled Bang Yunseop’s end at those words.
Thanks to Sa tribe[3]’s blessing, Bang Yunseop momentarily came back to his senses, left a will close to a plea and collapsed in Ju Su-hyeok’s hands.
‘Invidius’ familiar possessed Bang Yunseop through a medium.’
Invidius burrowed into the jealousy and inferiority complex towards Ju Su-hyeok, deeply rooted in Bang Yunseop’s heart.
You don’t become Invidius’ priest’s target simply because of a heartbreak.
‘Are other Demons targeting Bang Yunseop? Or is something else involved in that heartbreak, or…’
My steps towards the dormitory were heavy.
It was possible that he just mentioned Bang Yunseop to disturb my mind, as worthy of a Demon’s agent, but knowing the PMH’s incident involving the Demons and Bang Yunseop, I couldn’t just dismiss it.
When I fell into deep thought about the unknown being X and Bang Yunseop.
Ding.
A device message alarm rang.
I checked the message right away to cool down my head.
[Yeom Junyeol] Master-nim, I want to give You a gift. When can we meet?
Yeom Junyeol didn’t just send the message to me as a master.
He also sent a message to the junior Jo Uisin.
[Yeom Junyeol] Uisin-ah, I want to give you a birthday gift. When can we meet?
Was he thinking of giving a birthday gift both as a disciple and as a senior?
No way, did he prepared two gifts?
Even just one was too much, so I couldn’t accept two.
I tried to express it in the most polite way possible, but when I revealed the intention of refusing a gift, Yeom Junyeol sent a noticeably depressed message.
[Yeom Junyeol] It’s probably impudent of me to send a gift late, correct…?
[Yeom Junyeol] I apologize…
No, how could I make my disciple say such a thing!?
As expected, I still have a long way to go as a master.
In the end, I ended the conversation saying I look forward to Yeom Junyeol’s gift.
I was only reassured after seeing a stamp of Hongryong raising its hand with a smile.
‘I should also prepare two gifts for Yeom Junyeol’s next birthday.’
Yeom Junyeol’s birthday was 4th February.
As there was still quite some time left, I could slowly think through it.
But even if there was ample time left, the timing was still a problem.
‘The candidates for the Dragon King God’s shaman maidens are called to the Dragon Palace on the first day of the new Lunar Year… that’s 12th February. It was moved forward a week, so 5th February.’
If there were no particular problems, I would arrive at the Dragon Palace a day before, February 4th.
Yeom Junyeol in PMH was absent during that time, because he was studying overseas, but the current situation was different.
‘If possible, I hope Yeom Junyeol won’t be at the Dragon Palace at that time.’
If needed to be, I would congratulate him on his birthday beforehand and beseech Yeom Junyeol not to come to the Dragon Palace at that time.
The eventful weekend ended, and Monday came.
I visited the Earthly Wings Council.
*~*~*
[1] ward – reminder it’s what I called ‘protection blessing’ or ‘blessing of happiness’
[2] Kūnlún Mountain’s Twelve Immortals – From ‘Investiture of the Gods’.
[3] Sa tribe — ‘snake’ tribe.
Translator’s note: It’s very interesting to think about what all people mentioned or alluded to in this chapter could have in common.
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