“Please kill me, hyung1.”
The moment he heard those words, the Beast Miao King closed his eyes without realizing it.
His chest ached. He could barely breathe. The request his only sworn younger brother had made after so many years cut deep, like a sharp blade.
He had wanted to hear that word for so long. Now he wanted to cover his ears.
He would rather be a fool who had seen and heard none of this. Even an incompetent Palace Lord, if it meant he could escape this moment.
If only he could.
“This brings back old memories.”
The Beast Miao King opened his eyes at the quiet voice. Baeksang’s face, wearing a faint smile, was reflected in his eyes.
“We were young back then. I wanted to become Palace Lord of the Nanman Beast Palace someday, and I was desperate to beat you.”
“…Yes. You were.”
They had been little more than boys.
Baeksang had seen the Beast Miao King, several years his senior, as a rival. To the Beast Miao King, Baeksang had simply been adorable. Born an only child, he had never had a sibling.
“But I never caught up to you. Whenever I thought I was getting close, you were already far ahead again.”
“That was because you were younger than me. If we had been the same age…”
“It wouldn’t have changed anything. We were born with different potential.”
But Baeksang had not given up. Every day, he challenged the Beast Miao King to a duel. Every day, he lost. And the next day, he came back as though nothing had happened.
“Then one day, I realized that idiot who stood two heads taller than me wasn’t so bad after all.”
Baeksang could still picture the big boy pulling him to his feet and brushing the dust from his clothes after a fall.
And the shadow of someone quietly leaving medicinal herbs outside his quarters whenever he was sick.
“So I challenged you to one last duel.”
The result was no different that day.
Baeksang fought harder than he ever had—and lost.
If that had been the end of it, the day would have been like any other. But this time, he did not push away the hand that helped him up. He did not stalk back to his quarters, huffing in anger.
Instead, he produced two bottles of fruit wine he had stolen from somewhere and muttered as though to himself.
“I’ve got wine, but no one to drink it with. Come along if you want.”
At the Beast Miao King’s quiet voice, Baeksang’s eyes widened for a moment. Then he coughed up blood and laughed.
“Cough. You still remember that?”
“How could I forget? You’re the only twelve-year-old brat I’ve ever known who’d say something so cheeky.”
“Then you must remember how I emptied both bottles myself.”
“Both bottles?”
The Beast Miao King could not help laughing. Moisture had gathered at the corners of his crescent-shaped eyes.
“Well, I vividly remember the little brat who collapsed before he had even finished a single cup. I also remember what you said while looking at me with those unfocused eyes.”
Baeksang nodded weakly, his unfocused gaze reaching back into the past.
“I said I’d be content to become Great Chieftain, so you should become a great Palace Lord. I couldn’t have said that to you sober. That’s why I drank.”
“And what you said after that? Did you need to be drunk for that too?”
“Of course not.”
Baeksang continued in a quiet voice.
“You were… simply my hyung1. Perhaps you had been since the day we met.”
The two boys had tasted alcohol for the first time, then collapsed and fallen asleep. When they opened their eyes the next morning in an old shrine, they had become sworn brothers closer than anyone else.
In the mountains. In the fields. By rivers and in marshes.
They were together on the battlefield too.
Until a terrible fate tore them apart.
“Hyung1.”
“…”
“The day we became sworn brothers, you made me a vow. You said you’d become a better Palace Lord than anyone. That you’d put Nanman above all else and fight for the people of this land.”
“Enough. Stop.”
The Beast Miao King already knew why Baeksang had brought up these memories. He knew what Baeksang meant to say.
“Do I truly have to… kill you with my own hands?”
Baeksang gave a small nod.
“Far too much blood has already been spilled. Everything happened because of my misguided choices.”
The traitor who had betrayed Nanman and its countless tribespeople had to be executed. That was a duty the Palace Lord of the Nanman Beast Palace had to carry out himself—the only way to keep the vow he had made in the old shrine.
“You vowed to become a better Palace Lord than anyone.”
With effort, Baeksang raised a hand and pointed behind the Beast Miao King, who stood as rigid as a statue.
His trembling finger indicated the countless tribespeople and warriors making their way over the rubble into the Inner Palace.
“Everyone is watching. You and me. All of us.”
It was true.
The people constantly pouring into the Inner Palace had learned that the catastrophe was over and cheered. Then they were horrified by the sight that unfolded before their eyes. Finally, they fell silent at the sight of their returning Palace Lord and the traitor collapsed before him.
No. Not silent.
Furious.
“I can feel their anger. It’s aimed at me.”
This was the moment Baeksang had feared most—and wanted more than anything.
If this moment had come, someone had stopped him. Dark Heaven and the Southern Heaven Demon Empress’s grand plan had failed.
That was why he could laugh aloud. Why he could haul his dying body upright, wring out the last of his strength, and shout.
“Remember this!”
His eyes were dim, as though their light might go out at any moment. But his voice rang through the Inner Palace, clear enough for everyone to hear.
“Though the grand plan has failed, the day will surely come when Dark Heaven’s sky devours Nanman!”
“…!”
The cry carried over heaps of rubble and corpses to reach every ear.
Blood burst between Baeksang’s teeth with each syllable. Strength drained from his body. Still, he did not stop. He could not.
He was the traitor who had betrayed them all and brought about this catastrophe.
A man guilty of an unforgivable crime had to die a criminal, without sympathy or an explanation for what he had done.
That was… the last thing Baeksang could do.
“That day, which will come before long…!”
He swallowed the blood rising in his throat, clenched his teeth, and shouted on.
“Those contemptible Han Chinese bastards of the Central Plains, and you utterly primitive people of Nanman, will all kneel and submit at the feet of the great Lord of Heaven!”
Baeksang’s bloodstained lips spread into a bright smile.
At that moment, no one was a more loyal servant of the Lord of Heaven, a more faithful dog of Dark Heaven.
And his sworn elder brother had only one choice.
Crack!
A fist shot through the air, crushing flesh and shattering bone.
The single punch buried deep in Baeksang’s chest carried green Force, like the broad fields where they had rolled around together as children.
Thank you, hyung1.
You became a truly great Palace Lord, just as you promised.
Along with a murmur no one could hear, Baeksang stared at the face of one person visible beyond his fading field of vision.
But why…?
Why are you crying?
The great Palace Lord who had executed a traitor and stopped a catastrophe was weeping bitterly, like a child who had lost something precious.
Then he shouted, almost howling.
“I have executed Baeksang, the traitor who joined forces with Dark Heaven!”
The people’s cheers reached Baeksang faintly. His head fell back, and he looked up at the sky.
Clear and blue.
The world was no longer dark.
Isn’t that right, Hwi?
He thought of the son who had lost his reason and driven a sword into his father’s chest, and of the child already waiting for him in another world, smiling brightly.
Baeksang smiled in peace.
Thud.
His strength left him, and his body collapsed.
The world remained bright. The people went on cheering.
And in place of his sworn elder brother, who was not even allowed to wail, someone closed Baeksang’s eyes.
“…Fuck. What the hell are you smiling about? It’s not like you did anything right.”
Jin Taekyung muttered to himself, then suddenly looked down at the old thing clenched in his hand.
He didn’t know. Baeksang deserved to die. He was a bad man who had done terrible things. So why did Jin feel so damn awful? Why had he brought this?
Damn it.
Along with the curses that never left his mouth, Jin Taekyung covered Baeksang’s face with the object in his hand.
Baekcheon.
The old silk, bearing someone’s years and hopes, fluttered in a cool breeze from somewhere.
Through the endless cheers came voices, faint as echoes.
“Captain!”
“Pavilion Master—no, Young Master Jin!”
“Taishan is here! Taishan is sorry he’s late!”
“Hey, you bastard! Are you alive?”
Am I hearing things?
Jin Taekyung turned. He stared blankly at the familiar faces drawing closer, then finally let out a quiet laugh.
And collapsed.
I had a very long dream.
A terrible nightmare.
Even in my sleep, I was fighting for my life. In the modern world, I fought monsters. In Murim, I fought Dark Heaven.
Then, after I defeated the Southern Heaven Demon Empress in a brutal fight—just as I had in real life—some masked bastard appeared and said:
“You defeated the Western Heaven Demon Lord and even the Southern Heaven Demon Empress. Not bad.”
I was wondering what hole this bastard had crawled out of when he went on.
“But the Western Heaven Demon Lord and the Southern Heaven Demon Empress were merely the weakest of our Eight Great Heavenly Kings.”
“…?”
“I am the Eastern Heaven Demon Lord, who commands the east. Directly beneath me in rank is the East-West Heaven Demon Empress, who commands the east and west.”
No, fuck this. Four directions were plenty. What the hell is an East-West Heaven Demon Empress?
He’d taken the bit so far I had nothing to say.
At this rate, I feared that even if I returned to the modern world, I might find the Dongducheon Demon Lord or the Incheon Demon Empress waiting for me.
But what else could I do? I didn’t know I was dreaming, so I fought like hell.
With every step I took toward him, people I had killed—or failed to save—appeared and blocked my path.
“Just a little more. Just a little farther…”
“If you’d moved faster, we could have lived.”
“We could have gone home to our families.”
“Why do you get to live when we had to die?”
“Why? Why? Why?”
I had no answer. I stopped moving, and they sank their teeth into my torso.
Slowly. Relentlessly.
I could only stand there, frozen like a statue, because I recognized a face among the mutants.
“I cared for you more than anyone, but in the end, you couldn’t save me.”
A face that couldn’t be among them. That mustn’t be.
Jeok Cheongang.
He came toward me with both arms gone and a gaping hole in the middle of his chest. Then he sank his teeth into the back of my neck.
As he greedily swallowed flesh and blood, he whispered in my ear.
“But when is this infuriating bastard supposed to wake up?”
And at that moment, my eyes flew open.
“…!”
A strong, unfamiliar smell hung in the air. Above me was a ceiling I didn’t recognize.
I blinked blankly, slowly becoming aware of reality. Then a familiar voice pierced my ears.
“Come clean now, and I’ll let you off with a little singeing. You’re a quack, aren’t you?”
“N-no, sir.”
“The child hasn’t woken up for seven days and nights. Does that make any sense? Go get the Beast Miao King.”
“Gasp. Th-that’s…”
“I said bring Yayul Cheok here!”
I turned toward the booming voice. Jeok Cheongang had a physician by the collar and was shaking him violently.
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