NOVPUBDo-cheol sensed something strange.
The feeling of unease began the moment he prepared and executed his next move.
Before making a move, Do-cheol had placed his hand on the furnace, searching the Garden. He furrowed his brow.
At first, he thought it was just a trick of the mind, but gradually, the discomfort solidified.
“The Garden has become hazy. I can’t see properly ahead. Has the cloud thickened?”
Initially, he thought it was because the Garden had released clouds recklessly in response to an intruder’s presence.
But when he moved the clouds to alter the Garden’s structure, Do-cheol realized that his assumptions were wrong.
The Garden hadn’t become foggy.
It was just that it had become difficult to survey the Garden through the furnace.
“Is it broken? Why now, of all times... Could it be because of that gaze?”
Do-cheol recalled the mental attack that had affected Seong Guk-eon.
Do-cheol still thought that the gaze Jo Ui-shin had used belonged to Seong Guk-eon, not realizing it was the “Life and Death Vision.”
When he received that gaze, he had felt as though he had been thrown on the boundary between life and death, a sensation that still lingered vividly.
Since the Shaman played an intermediary role, it was certain that Do-cheol had been more heavily affected by that gaze than he had been.
“That gaze could have broken the Shaman. After this incident is over, I’ll need to fix it.”
Do-cheol thought the Shaman was broken, but in fact, the opposite was true.
The Shaman, who had been slowly burning in the furnace, drawing out his power, had realized, through the Life and Death Vision, that he was still alive.
The Shaman had regained his sense of self, not through pain, but through the realization that he was alive.
In the misty Garden, the Shaman sensed the presence of an old friend.
It was Hwang Ho.
Though the Shaman remained bound to the furnace, unable to move freely or think clearly, he instinctively sought to protect his friend, Do-cheol.
“There’s a place that’s still not visible! I can sense that there are still three of them, but....”
Whoosh!
Do-cheol increased the furnace’s output in an attempt to control the Shaman, intensifying the pain, but the Shaman did not waver.
Do-cheol was completely unaware that the Shaman was desperately resisting.
Since Do-cheol had relied on others’ powers to control the Garden, it was difficult for him to fully grasp the internal situation.
Still, his overwhelming power allowed him to easily kill most of the enemies, so the Shadow Clan wasn’t concerned about it.
Moreover, since he could always go to check personally, Do-cheol didn’t consider it a major weakness.
He never imagined that his complacency would bring a tiger into his garden.
“I need to separate them first, then deal with the one I need to kill...”
Do-cheol struggled to separate the intruders in the Garden.
He altered the Garden’s existing structure, added new traps, and launched a surprise attack, creating a plan to catch his opponent off guard in a short amount of time.
Of course, Do-cheol had no idea that his opponent had already prepared to break his plan and had entered the Garden.
With the trap set, Do-cheol decided to move to overpower his opponent.
“Should I hide the Shaman somewhere? No, Seong Guk-eon, unaware of the situation, will come after the Shaman if I leave the furnace. If I move too far away, he’ll just come after me.”
Do-cheol didn’t consider that Seong Guk-eon might come after the Shaman.
There was no connection between Seong Guk-eon and the Shaman, and Seong Guk-eon lived distanced from the Dragon Clan, so Do-cheol had no worries about it.
“The Shaman is probably just an energy source to him. Seong Guk-eon wants to find the body of his kin, not the Shaman. He wouldn’t have gone after him.”
Given Seong Guk-eon’s nature, Do-cheol thought that even if Seong Guk-eon was cautious of the Dragon Clan, he wouldn’t have just left the Shaman in such a state of suffering.
However, Do-cheol didn’t understand Seong Guk-eon’s nature, and he didn’t realize that the ones approaching weren’t Seong Guk-eon, nor did he know that they were prioritizing the Shaman over him.
With all these wrong assumptions, his plan, no matter how powerful, was shaky and vulnerable to even the smallest variables.
As Do-cheol tried to move away from the furnace, unaware of the risks, he felt a presence.
Whoosh!
Do-cheol quickly turned his head toward the source of the strange energy.
It was a force, neither his own nor the Shaman’s, radiating from the area near the furnace.
Realizing what it was, Do-cheol frowned.
“Isn’t this the formation I used when borrowing the power of chaos?”
At the beginning of his plan, Do-cheol had borrowed the chaotic sensation to survey Eun-gwang District.
That was supposed to be the last time he used it.
Afterward, he had thought he could finish everything using only his own power, without sharing any credit with others.
But now, the chaotic formation was shining, as though calling to him.
Do-cheol hesitated, unsure whether to leave the scene pretending he hadn’t seen it or to investigate further.
His hesitation was brief.
“Chaos is closely tied to that individual. I can’t ignore it.”
Do-cheol reached out towards the chaotic formation.
As his hand made contact, the sensations from the chaos transferred through his skin.
At the top floor of the only skyscraper in Eun-gwang District, the Hwangmyeong Tower, Yong Jegyeon and Kim Shin-rok remained silent, sensing something was wrong with Hwang Ho. Seong Guk-eon was the one to break the silence.
“What happened?”
Hwang Ho, in the form of Hwang Ji-ho, didn’t respond immediately.
There seemed to be something more important, as Hwang Ho raised a hand to gesture for them to wait.
After a moment, Hwang Ho spoke.
“Jo Ui-shin has lost his left eye. I’ve just finished the bleeding.”
Upon hearing this, the atmosphere in the room became heavy, as if the air itself had thickened several times.
Kim Shin-rok’s face lost all color, and Yong Jegyeon, who had been squinting, now opened his eyes wide in shock.
Seong Guk-eon didn’t falter in his expression, but he clenched his fists tightly, though unseen.
No one asked how Jo Ui-shin was injured or why.
They could roughly guess the situation just by looking at Hwang Ho’s face.
What they were concerned about wasn’t the cause of the injury, but Jo Ui-shin’s condition.
Seong Guk-eon asked Hwang Ho.
“Is Ui-shin alright?”
“He says he’s fine.”
“But you said he didn’t just injure his left eye—he lost it.”
“Yes.”
Despite the somber atmosphere, Hwang Ho responded calmly.
The words were anything but calm.
“The one who’s not fine is probably me, watching it happen.”
Seeing that Hwang Ho hadn’t been able to bring Jo Ui-shin with him, it seemed that Jo Ui-shin was still in the Garden.
And it didn’t seem like he was ready to leave the Garden yet.
Seong Guk-eon felt a surge of heat inside.
Jo Ui-shin was still in Seong Guk-eon’s form.
Although there were many entangled events, Jo Ui-shin had taken on Seong Guk-eon’s appearance to prevent his assassination.
He had sacrificed himself to protect Seong Guk-eon and had lost his left eye in the process.
‘To survive by sacrificing the eye of a junior... What does that even mean?’
Seong Guk-eon reprimanded his past self, who had once admired the bravery of his junior.
Jo Ui-shin was more reckless than Seong Guk-eon had imagined, and he didn’t know how to care for himself.
Seong Guk-eon wanted to give his left eye to his junior, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
‘He has to find the Shaman, and then fight against the ones holding the Shaman... with only one eye.’
Seong Guk-eon felt devastated.
But he knew that expressing his feelings wouldn’t change anything, so he remained silent.
After a while, Kim Shin-rok asked about Jo Ui-shin’s condition, but the response wasn’t satisfactory.
It was clear that Jo Ui-shin, even without being seen directly, would be the one to remain silent about his condition.
Yong Jegyeon, who had kept quiet until now, changed his expression upon hearing about Jo Ui-shin’s injury and then spoke.
“Are you saying this happened while Hwang Ho was there? I hope you haven’t forgotten that Ui-shin is a benefactor of the Dragon Clan.”
Seong Guk-eon was taken aback by Yong Jegyeon’s sharp tone.
Though Yong Jegyeon spoke in his usual manner, his words didn’t seem light in this context.
It seemed that Yong Jegyeon was blaming Hwang Ho, while also implying that the Dragon Clan would take responsibility if the Ho Clan couldn’t protect Jo Ui-shin.
Though Yong Jegyeon was a member of the Dragon Clan, he didn’t speak empty words.
The fact that he spoke this way to the head of the Ho Clan meant that the Dragon Clan might indeed be willing to take responsibility for Jo Ui-shin if the Ho Clan couldn’t.
‘Ui-shin is a benefactor of the Dragon Clan too? If I interpret that, it means Jo Ui-shin is a benefactor to both the Ho Clan and the Dragon Clan.’
Kim Shin-rok looked bewildered by Yong Jegyeon’s words but didn’t deny or interrupt him.
Both Hwang Ho and Kim Shin-rok seemed to accept the implication that Jo Ui-shin was truly a benefactor of the Dragon Clan.
Seong Guk-eon recalled the situation with the Dragon Clan from his replay.
Thinking back, there were several things that had changed regarding the Dragon Clan in the replay.
For instance, Yong Jegyeon had survived even after Christmas Eve, which was a clear cause-and-effect matter, but there were still unexplained things.
‘In the replay, the Dragon King seemed off. The invitation to the Shaman and Da-in was strange.’
Afterward, upon checking, he found that the Dragon King’s priestess succession ceremony had been carried out smoothly.
Aside from a large-scale generational change among the priestesses, there were no apparent issues.
In the replay, there were misfortunes that didn’t occur in reality.
Although Seong Guk-eon suspected Jo Ui-shin might be involved somehow, seeing two high-profile Dragon Clan members simultaneously speak of him as a benefactor made him realize something.
‘It seems I can assume everything is related to Ui-shin.’
Seong Guk-eon became certain about the connection after hearing Yong Jegyeon’s attitude.
Jo Ui-shin being referred to as a benefactor of the Dragon Clan seemed to be tied to the Dragon Palace matter.
The junior, who had lost his left eye while impersonating Seong Guk-eon, seemed to be accomplishing more than Seong Guk-eon had anticipated.
“I have no intention of shirking responsibility. So there is no room for the Dragon Clan to intervene in the matter of the Ho Clan’s benefactor.”
Hwang Ho answered firmly before Yong Jegyeon could say anything further.
Before Yong Jegyeon could respond, Kim Shin-rok spoke up.
“Are we prepared for the regeneration procedure?”
“It’s been arranged at Hwangmyeong Eungwang Hospital. But there’s something troubling me.”
Hwang Ho trailed off.
“I saw where Jo Ui-shin’s left eye used to be. The cloud there suggests the Shaman’s power was involved.”
“So, I guess the normal regeneration procedure won’t be enough to restore the left eye?” Yong Jegyeon followed up.
His lips curled upward, though it didn’t seem like he was smiling.
“Is it really true that there’s no room for the Dragon Clan to intervene in the matter of the Ho Clan’s benefactor?”
