But it wasn’t the end.

For a moment darkness flickered, and the unfolding situation changed. The subsequent scenes were somewhat altered.

‘Original.’

It was the content of the original work, which I didn’t even properly read and thus didn’t know well.

‘…How is this possible?’

Of course, there were brief interruptions and some skips in time, but the strangeness couldn’t be helped.

Even after arriving at the volcano, ‘Ha Hyun’ spent nearly a year like a patient, unable to fully recover not just his Six-Union Swordsmanship but also his mental state. Even after forcing himself to get up, his recovery was slow, and he couldn’t fully regain his stamina.

‘And they say he’s a disciple of the Volcano’s Best Swordsman?’ For a while, he got those kinds of looks, but after some point, aside from his master, no one paid any meaningful attention to ‘Ha Hyun’.

Among the people who just glanced at him and moved on, a familiar face was seen for a brief moment.

‘…Ryu brother.’

Then the scene changed a bit, revealing the stern look of an elder looking down coldly.

‘High Priest…’

It wasn’t that he was actually looking down coldly; it was just the way his eyes were shaped. But ‘Ha Hyun’ felt that it clearly conveyed disappointment towards him.

Uninvited witness to someone else’s misery.

He didn’t want to outwardly show compassion for ‘Ha Hyun’, yet increasingly, his mood sunk. The question of how could he have seen this changed to what was the purpose of showing this to him.

‘If they wanted to chase me away from here, they should’ve shown me something else…’

The accumulating resentment was about to turn into anger.

The scene changed again. At some point, ‘Ha Hyun’ had grown considerably. It was the face that looked about fifteen or sixteen, the one he had seen in yesterday’s dream.

He knew that his obsession with his master was strange, that his hatred for the priests was excessive, and that keeping quiet about his current situation and enduring alone was foolish…

He knew all that.

‘I knew all that, yet I didn’t change.’

Strength involuntarily entered my hand. ‘Ha Hyun’ was confused every day. His concerns repeated night after night as he got angry at the priests and was irritable with the brothers and disciples.

‘Is this really my will?’

‘Was I really this kind of person?’

The voice muttering softly alone in the dark room seemed to whisper loudly as if right next to him.

And as time passed, even such worries became impossible.
When he turned eighteen, ‘Ha Hyun’ seemed to feel as if he had lost his sense of self by giving up his life.

At this point, I couldn’t help but feel tense.

“Enough…”

But since it was all unfolding in my head, I couldn’t turn away or choose not to see.

Even when I tried to stop and look, it was useless. Acting rashly might worsen the situation.

In the end, the life of eighteen-year-old ‘Ha Hyun’ began to flow naturally.

In a village below a briefly dormant volcano, ‘Ha Hyun’ happened to receive a paper detailing how to cast spells from a man in black.

“Once you look into it yourself, you will know what to do.”

Hearing that, ‘Ha Hyun,’ who seemed invigorated, hid the paper in his sleeve and returned to his room, naturally learning the method of the spell. Although the spell was based on soul manipulation, the learning process was unbelievably fast.

Ha Hyun soon thought he should cast it on his master.

The reason surfaced a bit late. It seemed as if any available thought was tacked on. Only after thinking of the reason to expel the priest did he prepare the spell again.

Experiencing ‘Ha Hyun’s memories, who seemed to find these ridiculous thoughts both natural and obvious, was now headache-inducing.

“…Is he trying to drive me out like this?”

No, to think this much for a mere spell?

That thought momentarily stirred up an unsettling mood I had momentarily forgotten. It rippled unpleasantly, almost as if smiling…

I felt goosebumps the moment I snapped out of it.

I quickly regained my composure and took a deep breath, allowing the calming scent already filling the room to enter me.

In the meantime, the scene had flowed to the day he cast the spell on his master.

‘Ha Hyun’ moved in a manner that was both natural and yet not entirely free. To the eyes of others, he might have appeared normal, but viewing the situation from the same perspective as the owner of the body, I felt a slight discomfort.

In a very deep part of his mind, in a very small corner, there seemed to remain a tiny spark of rationality, suggesting this shouldn’t be done.

But it was too small to be of any use.

“Master.”

“Why do you do this?”

Turning around, the master immediately felt a clouded energy burst forth. It was neither dark nor bright, simply something repulsive.
Despite having the ability to counter the technique from the Volcanic Black Sword, the Master failed to do so, too trusting of his disciple. He reacted too late, giving enough time for the magic to infiltrate.