SYM 128

Eun-hyeon was lost in the boundary between dream and reality.

Ever since he was trapped in a dream by Jeong-hyeon’s trickery, it felt harder to distinguish between dream and reality.

He faintly heard Cheong-un’s voice, but that alone wasn’t enough to easily convince him that this was reality.

Cheong-un had already appeared several times in his repeated dreams.

“Master.”

Someone called out to him in a low voice, stroking his hair with their hand.

Ah, right. It’s Cheong-un.

Eun-hyeon felt Cheong-un’s touch and thought that he didn’t care even if this was a dream.

Un-ah. I’m sorry.

Eun-hyeon murmured inwardly.

What Jeong-hyeon had said, that he was being rejected by the world because he was a being from another world. That must be true. He could feel that his lifespan was running out.

That’s why he felt sorry for Cheong-un.

If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have revealed that he was his Master.

Cheong-un had seen his death twice now. Could Cheong-un really overcome his death?

The thought made his heart ache as if it were being squeezed.

If he had known this would happen, he wouldn’t have become so close. He wouldn’t have started a relationship that would hurt Cheong-un.

Un-ah, what should I do now? I don’t have much time left, do I really have to leave you?

If I die in this body, will I return to my world like before? Will I be able to live there pretending that nothing happened…?

Suddenly, his Sister came to mind.

When he was living as Seo Eun-hyeon, he thought about his Sister and thought that he had to go back quickly. Whenever his life here was happy, he felt an unknown sense of guilt and anxiety.

But this time it was different. He had seen his Sister build a family and live happily, so he thought that he could live his own life now. Seeing his Sister happy, he wanted to be happy too.

It was a selfish thought, but his happiness was here, not there.

But now all of that was meaningless. Either way, the choice wasn’t his.

If this was going to happen, why did he come here?

He was only making everyone around him suffer.

“No matter what happens, I won’t let you go. No matter what.”

Cheong-un’s voice echoed in Eun-hyeon’s ear. Eun-hyeon couldn’t hide his bitterness as he listened to that voice.

I’m sorry.

I love you, but I can’t be with you… I’m sorry for everything.

* * *

“You summoned me.”

Yoon Ju-myeong cautiously opened the door and entered.

Cheong-un was sitting there, neatly dressed in white robes. The atmosphere was different from before, so Yoon Ju-myeong couldn’t easily approach Cheong-un and stopped at the door.

“Sinner Yoon Ju-myeong, I beg for punishment.”

Yoon Ju-myeong was facing Cheong-un for the first time today since the Wangbu fire incident.

In the meantime, Yoon Ju-myeong continued to serve as the Amhon leader, but he thought he could be fired at any time.

It wasn’t just about being fired from the position of Amhon leader. He thought he wouldn’t even be able to save his life. Even if he was lucky enough to survive, his limbs wouldn’t be intact.

He waited with that resolve, but Cheong-un didn’t look for Yoon Ju-myeong for a while.

He thought that he had too many busy things to do, so he would deal with him later, but no matter how long he waited, Cheong-un didn’t look for Yoon Ju-myeong. Then, he called him today.

This made Yoon Ju-myeong even more anxious.

“Stand up.”

Yoon Ju-myeong stood up straight without saying anything. His jaw tightened with tension. He thought he would finally be punished.

But when Cheong-un opened his mouth, he said something completely different from what he expected.

“Yoon Ju-myeong, there is something I need you to do.”

“Yes, yes?”

Yoon Ju-myeong, who was preparing to say goodbye to this world, was surprised and raised his head.

“I am about to do something important. I need someone to stand guard then, and I need you, Yoon Ju-myeong, to do it.”

“I, I couldn’t even protect the Cheonma’s orders…”

Yoon Ju-myeong blinked with a dazed expression.

“That’s enough. It’s already in the past. This is more urgent than that. What about the letter I sent to the Third Prince? Did you get a reply?”

“I delivered it through a member of the Demonic Sect who is infiltrating the Imperial City. There was no reply, but he said he understood. He said he would send the item soon… But I wonder if it’s okay for the identity of the Demonic Sect member who infiltrated the Imperial Palace to be exposed.”

Yoon Ju-myeong glanced at Cheong-un with a strange expression.

The Demonic Sect recently sent female children of the Demonic Sect mixed in with the nuns selected. One of them became a court lady in the Empress Dowager’s palace, and the others all became court ladies in the concubines’ palaces.

Yoon Ju-myeong was concerned that the spy’s identity was exposed this time while delivering the letter to the Third Prince, even though they had worked so hard to infiltrate them.

Cheong-un chuckled at Yoon Ju-myeong’s words. Judging from Yoon Ju-myeong’s expression, there must have been something between the Third Prince and the court lady who was sent as a spy.

“Why? Is the Third Prince showing interest in the spy?”

The children sent through the nun selection were all beautiful and quick-witted, so it wouldn’t be surprising if the Third Prince saw them and showed interest.

“No, that’s not it. In fact, the Emperor is showing interest. So I had high expectations for this child, but this time her identity was revealed…”

He was backstabbed by his own concubine in this Hongbaek Sect incident, and now he’s looking for another woman. Should I say that he is generous like an Emperor, or that he has no learning ability?

It was something that Cheong-un didn’t understand, but it wasn’t a bad thing for a child of the Demonic Sect to become a close aide to the Emperor.

“If she rises to the position of concubine, it will be difficult to completely hide her origins. It’s better to reveal that we are the backing of that child. The Third Prince said he understood, so I can start my work.”

Cheong-un took a deep breath and got up from his seat.

When he lifted the screen hanging over the bed, Eun-hyeon, who was lying down with a pale complexion, was visible.

Yoon Ju-myeong bit his lip as he looked at Eun-hyeon.

It was all because he didn’t do his part that Eun-hyeon was lying there in such a state.

Yoon Ju-myeong didn’t actually believe that Eun-hyeon was the Master of Cheonma. But his beliefs didn’t matter at all. What mattered was the order he received from his master.

“…What is his condition?”

“Not good. He spends most of the day sleeping to stabilize his energy. He doesn’t have much time to be awake.”

Yoon Ju-myeong let out a low groan.

Eun-hyeon had been sickly before, but now he looked like someone who was about to die.

Yoon Ju-myeong recalled what happened that day.

That day, Eun-hyeon suddenly woke up while sleeping. The Amhon thought that Eun-hyeon was looking for the outhouse because he needed to pee.

Yoon Ju-myeong wondered if he should release his stealth and guide him, but Eun-hyeon moved without hesitation as if he knew where he was going.

Because of that, the Amhon missed the opportunity to step in and quietly followed Eun-hyeon.

When Eun-hyeon came out of his room and walked towards the Wangbu’s backyard, Yoon Ju-myeong realized that something was wrong.

How did Eun-hyeon know the geography of the Wangbu, which was so large and complex that even Yoon Ju-myeong was confused?

But when he tried to stop Eun-hyeon, Yoon Ju-myeong realized that it was already too late. While following Eun-hyeon, he was poisoned.

The moment he tried to move, his body stiffened. He wasn’t Immunity to All Poisons, but he couldn’t figure out how he could have been made like this, an Amhon who was quite resistant to many poisons.

Whether it was a type of San Gong Poison, he couldn’t even draw up his Inner energy.

Realizing that he had fallen into a trap, he called the other Amhon with Telepathic Transmission, but there was no answer. They were all in a similar situation to him.

Perhaps this paralysis was not a symptom caused by poison, but by magic.

As he became unable to move, the Hongbaek Sect guys came out. Yoon Ju-myeong couldn’t move until they put him in a coffin and buried him in the ground.

It was the height of incompetence that he couldn’t lift his face.

“What can I do?”

The moment he finished speaking, he met Cheong-un’s eyes.

Yoon Ju-myeong, who had served Cheong-un closely for his entire life, felt a deep sense of fatigue in Cheong-un’s eyes that he had never seen before.

“Just tell me. I will definitely follow your orders this time.”

“…While I am healing Eun-hyeon, Yoon Ju-myeong, you will stand guard. It’s a special method, so it may take several days. Can you do it?”

“…No matter what happens, I will follow your orders.”

It was an opportunity that had come to him again after a painful failure.

Yoon Ju-myeong answered with emphasis.