“No, it’s fine. Rather, I wanted to ask if you’ve seen my disciple.”

“Disciple?”

The warrior asked with a puzzled expression. He truly seemed not to understand. Even in this confusing and urgent situation, I suddenly felt dumbfounded.

Perhaps from now on, I should just roughly refer to Ha Kyung as my senior disciple when speaking to others.

“Tall, about twenty years old…”

“Ah, you mean the young man from the temple?”

Finally seeming to understand, the warrior pointed to the pavilion.

“He’s inside the pavilion. Despite his youth, his actions were impressively decisive. So I asked him to stay inside and closely guard the clan leader’s children…”

It was at that very moment.

From inside the pavilion he pointed to, a sharp sound of something breaking, crashing, and falling was heard.

“What…!”

It was a noise that suggested something ominous had occurred, no matter who heard it.

Of course, starting with the warrior I was talking to, and including the others nearby, we all briefly exchanged glances as if by agreement. Those who would guard the outside and deal with the remaining attackers, and those who would enter the pavilion quickly divided themselves.

“Let’s go! Hurry!”

“Make haste!”

Since I had already been rushing towards the pavilion even before they exchanged glances, I was the first to set foot inside.

Following the sound of breaking and crashing, an eerie resonance that could only occur when weapons clash fills my ears. It was a noise that made not only me but also those who entered after me realize that a fight had broken out.

“Search!”

“There are intruders who snuck in from the inside!”

I spotted the warrior I had been talking to earlier nearby and, while running towards the source of the noise, I grabbed him and asked,

“Was Ha Kyung alone inside?”

“No, there should have been two people with him…!”

It was at that moment when we turned the corner.

“Gasp!”

The warrior beside me drew in a sharp breath and stopped in his tracks. I stopped as well.

Someone’s back came into view in the center of my vision.

It was the unfamiliar back of a large figure wearing black stealth clothing.

‘An enemy.’

I reflexively grasped my sword handle while raising my gaze slightly. What I recognized next was a deeply cut, bleeding neck. The stranger was collapsing, clutching a wound that seemed fatal at first glance.

“Ugh, huk…”

The sound of a life fading away is heard. Soon, the knees buckle and touch the ground, and the upper body collapses like a deflated balloon doll. I could now see the scene beyond the person’s back.

Standing beyond the fallen enemy was…

“Ah.”

Ha Kyung.

Ha Kyung was looking down at the fallen opponent, his gaze slightly lowered. As a result, by coincidence, I ended up making direct eye contact with him.

There was not a hint of hesitation, compassion, or sympathy in his eyes.

I, too, of course, ‘knew’ well where to cut a person to ‘subdue’ them.

But I couldn’t do it. I would freeze up if an opponent I was fighting just grabbed my blade with their hand, and even knowing they were the enemy, I would try to ignore the fact that they were about to die, and at most, I could only manage to knock unconscious even those who were swinging their swords with the intent to kill.

However, Ha Kyung, who learned the same things as me, even starting a year later, seemed to have eyes that showed not even the slightest delay in applying that ‘knowledge’ to a person.

As if it’s simply something to be done if necessary, without any further meaning.

“…Senior disciple?”

After a fleeting moment passed, Ha Kyung recognized me and blinked wide-eyed. At the same time, the warrior beside me shouted joyfully.

“You’ve taken him down! As expected! Now that we’ve met, move together with your disciple. I’ll go help my comrades!”

With that, the warrior immediately rushed past me towards the place where the sound of clashing weapons could still be heard. The slight breeze from his movement brushed my hair. Only then did I come to my senses. I belatedly realized that I had frozen without even knowing it.

As I regained my composure, I also grasped the current situation almost simultaneously.

‘Against a person, a killing blade…’

He used it.

As a result, just now, right before my eyes, a person really died.

I had seen quite a few severely injured people today. But perhaps because none of them had reached the point of death, although I was a bit shocked, it wasn’t too severe.

This was different.

I felt a sensation as if my entire body was cooling down. Witnessing a person die before my eyes was more chilling than I had imagined.

That’s why.

‘…Is he okay?’

The first emotion that came to mind was concern.

‘Just seeing it happen is so shocking, Ha Kyung…’

Even though he had a composed look, I couldn’t help but worry. In fact, it might be more worrying because of that kind of reaction. Amidst the cold and eerie mood, worry for Ha Kyung and confusion from the situation itself mixed chaotically.

Unable to speak for a few seconds, I remained standing in that spot.

Ha Kyung approached me first with large strides.

“Senior disciple, your eyes…”

Up close, Ha Kyung’s face was not the expressionless one I had seen when our eyes met earlier. Concern and confusion spread across his cool, neat features. With that face, along with an unfinished murmur, Ha Kyung reached out to me but suddenly stopped mid-motion.

I blankly gazed at the fingertips that had stopped short of reaching me. A brief silence passed. For some reason, Ha Kyung made a slightly sheepish expression before slowly lowering his hand.

And at that moment.

Suddenly, the sound of several hurried footsteps could be heard coming from around the corner behind us. I reflexively turned to look back. I could sense Ha Kyung, who was now behind me due to our positions, tensing up. The owners of the footsteps quickly approached.

The people who finally revealed themselves were, ironically enough, very familiar figures that made our momentary tension seem pointless.

“The disciples!”

“Children!”

“Ha Eun, Ha Kyung! Are you two alright?”

It was the slightly dirtied and tired-looking fourth senior disciples, and the senior disciple with ashes on his cheeks, probably from helping with firefighting efforts at the burned area. As I recognized them, Yu Baek, the fourth senior disciple who was at the forefront, made eye contact with me and looked surprised.

He quickly approached me and put his hands on my shoulders.

“Ha Eun!”

“Fourth senior?”

“What happened? Can you see clearly now?”

“Pardon?”

I asked back in confusion, but instead of explaining further, the senior disciple firmly pressed the area under my eyes with the hem of his clothes. After blinking my eyes, which I had closed without knowing why, I finally understood the situation when I saw the dark red powder that had rubbed off on the senior disciple’s sleeve.

“Ah, this is…”

I was about to explain that it wasn’t my blood when I suddenly hesitated.

Thinking about it now, even though that demonic cult sorcerer had put his bleeding hand on my face earlier, it shouldn’t have left that much blood from just that. He hadn’t rubbed my face, only lightly touched it.

‘Is that my blood?’

It seems so.

Although the realization came late, it wasn’t difficult to guess the cause. The memory of the burning-like pain I felt when that person removed the spell from my eyes was still vivid.

‘Was it not just painful?’

In the confusion, I had mistakenly thought it was just his blood.

Now I finally understood the strange reaction of the servant I had encountered near the burning pavilion earlier. The wavering gaze as they pointed at my face and clothes somewhere. Even Ha Kyung’s surprised reach towards me just now was because of this.

I blinked my eyes slowly.

And then I started to look around to see what was happening.

While Yu Baek and I were together, Yu Seong and the senior disciple had joined the warriors and begun to sort out the situation. Ha Kyung was standing nearby, seemingly on guard, and Yu Baek was still looking at me with a worried expression, waiting for my answer.

‘I can see everything clearly.’

Yes. Since I had been fine all along after losing that sorcerer until now, there probably won’t be any major problems.

‘Moreover…’

Judging from the fact that I was the only one left unharmed during the attack when I was young, the demonic cult probably needed me in an intact state. For reasons I don’t know.

I whispered my answer to the senior disciple.

“I’m fine now. It’s too long to explain everything, but for now, it seems that an enemy related to this attack put a spell on my eyes and then removed it, causing this problem. There’s no issue with my vision.”

“It’s a relief that you’re okay, but even so, we must check thoroughly once the situation is settled. I’ll hear a more detailed explanation then. Even if you’re fine right now, we don’t know what might happen later, so from now on, stay back as much as possible. It might be better to keep your eyes closed. You’ve been through a lot.”

The senior disciple gripped my shoulder firmly once, then gestured for Ha Kyung, who had been guarding the surroundings until then, to come closer.

“You heard that, right? So stay close to your senior disciple. I need to select and detain those who might be able to provide information, so I’ll have to be a bit away from you two.”

“Understood.”

After hearing the response, the senior disciple jumped into the now mostly settled situation and began to select a few people among those who hadn’t died, pressing their pressure points and tying their hands and feet.

Throughout all this, I stood blankly, watching Ha Kyung’s back.

‘I should probably say something.’

Like asking if he’s okay, if there’s anywhere he’s not feeling well, that sort of thing.

But perhaps because I could see the situation being resolved, the tension had somehow dissipated. Even though it wasn’t time to completely relax yet, as things weren’t fully settled, I tried to muster up tension again but couldn’t manage it.

Instead, fatigue that I hadn’t felt until now rushed in strongly, blocking even my ability to speak.

‘…My mouth really won’t open.’

In the end, Ha Kyung and I remained silent side by side until the situation was completely resolved.

In my case, it was because my body wouldn’t follow my thoughts, but I couldn’t understand why for Ha Kyung.