---

The Master of Mankye

Not my mother, but the Master of Mankye.

I had to pause for a moment to consider Noya’s words, which he mentioned had originated from my mother.

What could it mean? Noya’s serious expression made it clear that it was no simple wordplay.

I needed to concentrate for a moment to grasp the meaning of those words.

‘…It was my mother who made the request. But she is not the Master of Mankye…’

What does that imply?

If it’s true that Noya was a general, and ultimately betrayed me.

Then, is it that he became a general because of my mother’s request? Or did he betray us based on my mother’s request?

Although the words were vague and hard to comprehend, I quickly arrived at an answer.

In the end, whatever it was, the implication was the same.

“So you mean the master and my mother are different people?”

Noya indicated that he did not equate the current master with my mother.

To prove it, he nodded softly at my words.

“As I mentioned before, your mother is not the one you once knew.”

“I understand.”

Previously, I only heard the words, but now I could certainly tell.

There was no mistaking it upon direct confrontation.

She was not the mother I knew. Neither her appearance, scent, nor voice.

All of them were familiar to me, yet.

She was not my mother.

Then what should I call her?

Ah, yes.

‘The Master.’

She is the master—the ruler of this realm.

I had to see her as the master, not my mother.

Even if it wasn’t easy, that seemed necessary.

“…”

Images flashed in my mind of her, claiming Yarang as her own daughter.

Damn it, that image wouldn’t leave my mind.

Slap-!

“Huh?”

As I swung my hand to slap my own cheek, Noya looked at me with a strange expression.

“…Hey, did you have that kind of taste?”

“…I just hit myself to snap back to reality. And what do you mean by that? I have no other tastes.”

The sting on my cheek brought me back to my senses. I had slapped my face so hard that blood trickled from my mouth.

I wiped it off with the back of my hand and asked Noya.

“So… what does it mean that it was at my mother’s request?”

“What meaning could there be? It was indeed your mother’s request.” “So, I am asking which option it was—did you become a general or did you betray us? Which is it?”

Was it because he became a general? Or was it that he betrayed us?

Noya looked at me haphazardly as he answered.

“Both.”

“…Both?”

“Yeah, both.”

Rustle.

As Noya spoke, he rose from where he sat.

He no longer held the skewer he was eating from.

“Given the circumstances in Mankye, your mother must have known about it, meaning she also knew that I had arrived here.”

“…”

At that, I recalled how that leader’s youngling had referred to Noya as an outsider.

“Something happened, and I just helped out for a bit.”

“…What kind of thing happened that made you suddenly act as a general in someone else’s world? Were you bored?”

“Either way, I was a bit lonely. And this was necessary… or look at this brat?”

Bang-!

“Ugh!”

I got hit on the head.

“Who do you think made me suffer? What? Bored? An old man like me has been rolling around making a sacrifice, and you are grateful for that?”

“…So, what kind of hardships did you endure?”

I asked while rubbing my sore head. What kind of hardship leads one to become a general and then flee?

“Hmm.”

Noya gazed at me quietly.

Was he contemplating whether or not to share?

Looking into his eyes, it was exactly that.

“No, put hardships aside.”

I slightly changed the subject. After all, if I didn’t hear it now, I would end up losing out.

Okay, so it was somewhat acceptable that Noya played the general.

But.

“What about the betrayal?”

I was more curious about what he meant by having betrayed us at my mother’s request. Noya scratched his cheek, and though his reaction wasn’t markedly different from before, it seemed slightly improved.

As he responded, Noya said,

“Remember the Divine Tree stuck in Hwasan?”

Hearing that, I recalled the giant, ancient tree residing within the volcano.

It was the Divine Tree made of plum blossoms.

“Yeah, the one Noya stole and ran away with, right?”

That was the same one Noya had mentioned before.

Why was this coming up suddenly?

But then.

“Bringing that was your mother’s request.”

With that statement, my brows furrowed in confusion.

“…Stealing a seed was what my mother asked of you?”

“Exactly.”

“Why…?”

“Why? Because I was told to do it.”

“…”

Because I was told to steal it, I stole it.

I was momentarily dumbfounded by such absurd logic.

Seeing my expression, Noya began to chuckle.

What the heck…?

“It was a necessary deed. For your mother’s purpose, for my task, and for you as well.”

Fortunately, it seemed he was joking as he continued to explain. Hearing this made me narrow my eyes further.

“What purpose? What purpose are you talking about…?”

My mother’s purpose. What exactly was it that made her ask Noya to do such a thing? Alongside that.

‘Now, what could be the reason for her to end up like this…’

Things must have been different before.

If so, there must also be some reasoning as to how everything came to be like this now.

In pondering those queries, Noya looked at me and said calmly,

“Hey there.”

“Yes?”

“How many Divine Trees do you think exist in Mankye?”

“…I don’t know.”

“According to what is known, there are four. The same number as generals.”

Noya pointed down to the ground.

“One in Yawol, ruled by Yusa.”

He then pointed north.

“And one in the mountain range where the ignorant leader resides.”

Next, he directed my attention westward.

“And another one guarded by that wretched crow. The last is in Hwasan.”

“…What about Yarang?”

“That child? Well, since I stole it and ran away, you could say that it belongs to Hwasan.”

“That doesn’t….”

That shouldn’t be the case, right?

As I was about to ask, Noya spoke first.

“The important thing is that while the known number of Divine Trees is four, in reality, there is one more.”

“Eh?”

There’s one more? Momentarily surprised by Noya’s words.

Noya pointed to the sky.

“One more exists up there. It is called the heart of Mankye.”

I gazed towards the void as he spoke.

The sky was gradually dimming as the sunset cast a scarlet hue across it.

But only that was visible. The tree that Noya mentioned was nowhere to be seen.

“If you want to see it, can you see it? Since you can’t see it, it’s only natural it’s kept a secret.”

“…”

Then why did he point it out?

As I looked back at him with disbelief, Noya clicked his tongue.

“Anyway. The important matter isn’t how the tree is, but rather your mother’s current state, which has been distorted.”

“Distorted?”

“It’s that there ought to be as many Divine Trees as there are generals, plus the one that needs to be guarded. Since one is distorted, the present state of Mankye is unstable. The established ratio has changed, which has also altered the concentration of energy contained in the air.”

“…!”

Upon hearing those words, my eyes widened. The concentration of energy in the air. That made me realize.

‘So, that’s why?’

Upon arriving in this land, I felt something.

The quantity of energy in the air was overwhelmingly higher than that in the Central Plains.

How could it be so drastically different?

‘…Was it the effect of breaking the rules?’

I could gather that from what Noya was saying.

A phenomenon caused by the established rules being broken.

If an issue with the Divine Tree could create such chaos…

That must be significant.

Then.

“…Why doesn’t my mother, or rather, the master, take action?”

It was strange that the current master wasn’t taking action even while aware of the situation.

Even if Yarang’s activities were meant to address this, there were far too many odd parts.

“It’s not that she isn’t moving.”

Noya immediately corrected me.

“It’s better to say she can’t move.”

“She can’t? But she was just fine a moment ago!”

I had just seen her, so why was he saying such things? Confused, I questioned once more.

“Do you truly believe that is her true form?”

“…Then what is it?”

“Tsk tsk. Just think about the presence the master carries… If she ever decided to commit herself, this whole area would turn to chaos. She’d barely be able to create something resembling a physical body and send only her spirit.”

Noya scanned the surroundings, where the crowd still gathered in Yawol.

“Initially, you see…”

Suddenly, Noya turned to glare at me.

“If she had really shown herself, your pathetic little tactics wouldn’t have worked at all.”

“…”

“The only reason you made it through is that she took minimal physical form to reduce the damage and even utilized treasures. Otherwise…”

Thud.

Noya poked my forehead with his finger.

“Your head would’ve been gone by now.”

“…”

I rubbed the sore spot on my forehead as I bit my lip.

“Then this makes even less sense. If the Divine Tree is that important, and can be found so easily, then why is nothing done?”

If it’s so possible, why hasn’t she acted? How could I even express this?

“At best, if it were just one incident, I’d say that’s to be expected.”

“Eh?”

“If the Divine Tree merely disappeared, it wouldn’t be a issue. But the current problem in Mankye is far bigger than that.”

“…What do you mean?”

“I told you. If your mother is in charge of the sky, then there is also someone ruling over the very deep underground of this place.”

A certain being flashed in my mind at his words.

That creature called Kkurung, yet it was one not referred to by such a name.

“…The Abyss?”

“Correct.”

The master of the Abyss.

The ruler of the deep, dark depths of Mankye.

‘Wasn’t it said to be the source of demon beasts?’

That’s the being which contains the entities that couldn’t come to Mankye.

And those monsters known as demon beasts, which emerge through the Demonic Gate, were also said to fall under the management of the Abyss.

“Under normal circumstances, that being should be properly carrying out its duties in the depths, don’t you think? Do you really think it could be just forgotten?”

“…In Hwasan…?”

“They’ve come up to the surface and vanished. As such, Mankye’s underground must be in total chaos. Your mother must be using all her power to contain it.”

“So it’s not the right time to look for the Divine Tree?”

“Correct.”

Noya nodded.

Although the disappearance of the Divine Tree caused an anomaly, the greater problem arose from the absence of another ruler tasked with managing that aspect.

Is that why the master of Mankye is focusing on suppressing that side?

“The main body won’t be able to afford to leave even for a moment. If she does, great issues will arise in Mankye.”

“…So she’s finding it hard to move to retrieve the Divine Tree?”

“Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t even have considered the Abyss disappearing. That alone would be hard to handle.”

“Still, given that it’s risen to become such a problem, wouldn’t some preventive measures have been taken?”

“Naturally. Nothing here can move without her permission. Not even the Abyss, which is a being of the same character as a ruler.”

So that’s why there was no worry about it.

When Noya finished that statement, I immediately followed up.

“Then…”

If nothing can move without her permission, then why hadn’t she acted? Just as I was about to say this…

“…Huh?”

I found myself stunned, unable to complete my sentence.

Even the Abyss could not move without the master’s permission.

Yet the Abyss had not only moved but had taken root beneath the Divine Tree in Hwasan.

The Divine Tree had been stolen by Noya upon my mother’s request.

With that, an anomaly arose.

And that was what she wanted.

Taken together, what these words indicated was—could it be?

“…Was Kkurung’s absence there also my mother’s intention?”

Even the Abyss’s actions were orchestrated by my mother.

Upon reaching that conclusion.

“You’re not as foolish as I thought.”

Noya smiled brightly as if to say I was correct.

 

---