Waking her up quietly wasn’t the problem; even touching her to wake her up was no easy task.

Having sensed a problem with the formation at the temple earlier, and after giving Ha Hyun and me instructions, it took less than a moment for her to go outside, orient herself, and bring me and the others here.

Being able to break that in such a short time means that the opponent is a fairly high-level sorcerer.

‘If the perpetrator decides to run away alone…’

She seems confident she could escape without being caught. Whether that’s actually possible or not, she seems to believe so. Because in a fleeing situation, sorcery is essentially a shortcut.

The attitude of standing there leisurely smiling supports that guess.

“It’d be wiser to hurry up and go, don’t you think, Master of the Meteor? If I’m not the real master, then you’ll have to find the real one first, won’t you?”

Instead of responding, she kept her eyes on the opponent and quietly gave me and the others quick instructions.

“Ha Hyun, Baek Yeo Heun. Go back and inform the others of the situation and re-examine the compound. I’ll capture this perpetrator and join you shortly.”

“Understood. Be careful, Master!”

Without hesitation, he grabbed my hand and started pulling.

“Let’s go.”

“…Yes!”

Leaving is certainly less disruptive and more reasonable for her.

As we ran back the way we were led, I suddenly felt an impulse and looked back at her retreating figure. But even though I wanted to look at her, our gazes met with the fake master instead.

He was quietly smiling at me, who was now far away.

‘No… What’s going on?’

She is a disciple of Master Jin San, skilled in the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique, and also one of the immediate disciples of the current temple master. It’s certain she has reached a high level; she’s not someone to be lightly dismissed.

And yet, the perpetrator disregarded her right in front of him. No matter how much confidence he has in himself, it’s too much.

That means he must have prepared something else.

‘…No. She knows what I know.’

I forced myself to calm down. I don’t think she will fall victim to the perpetrator. Worrying after having come this far is pointless.

I have to trust her and do as she said, re-examining the compound and finding the real master should come first.

But still,

‘We’ll meet again.’
Clearly, he had just said so with his lips.

I narrowed my eyebrows and turned my head, but my mind didn’t clear. Suddenly, the events of this morning came to mind.

‘Back then as well…’

Certainly, the author had told me we would meet again.

Regardless of my faith in Sabeok, an unpleasant premonition that I would indeed meet the author again sometime infiltrated my mind.

The estate had been turned upside down; it couldn’t have been otherwise.

A suspicious person who practiced sorcery was posing as the eldest son.

Even worse, this person had disrupted the formation that was improving the condition of the Sabeok. The actual eldest son had to be found starting now, but it was uncertain what his condition would be.

Given these explanations, it was more strange that the Lord of the estate, Danju, did nothing.

Danju, as well as his wife, rushed out. The servants and warriors hired from the upper echelons all began scouring the estate, torches in hand. With many holding torches, it was as bright as day in the estate.

‘Or maybe it seems like it’s on fire.’

Suddenly, the memory of the time when Ha Hyun’s house was destroyed popped into my mind.

Red flames flickering from all sides. The smell of burning wood coming to my nose. An atmosphere of unease. A chaotic and noisy space.

Come to think of it, it strangely resembled now.

Though I hadn’t experienced it, the memory being in my head made me feel quite down.

But I couldn’t just stand around doing nothing.

‘After all, it’s not like my body can’t move.’

The moment I lifted my head to try to move somewhere–

“Sir.”

Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind and touched my shoulder.

“Ah!”

Startled, I turned around.

Though there’s only one person who would call me ‘Sir,’ still, not being surprised by such an approach would be even stranger.

“What, what is it? Why?”

“Why? It seemed like something was wrong, so I grabbed you.”

“No, it’s just–”

Wasn’t he behind me just now? There’s no way he could have seen my face, so why is he so certain?

But there really is a problem, which makes it even more awkward. As I struggled to continue speaking, Ha Hyun narrowed his eyes.

“Is it because of what you were going to say earlier?”

“No, it’s not that…”

I thought of fumbling an excuse, but then I remembered that I had told Ha Hyun about the destruction of my family not long after we had met.

Well, he already knows, anyway.
I might feel a bit better if I talk to someone about how I’m feeling right now. It’s okay to be honest.

“Firstly, what I tried to say earlier was that my eldest son has been acting suspiciously. So, I suggested we consult Yuseong Sahbaek to see if it’s related to some kind of sorcery.”

“Ah….”