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What is this?

What exactly happened?

Setting aside the fact that I was caught off guard, this was an unexpected voice and situation.

‘Why…’

How did Mother, no, the Master end up here?

I didn’t even need to turn around to see her face.

I recognized her voice immediately, and because of that, my mind sharpened, and my body tensed up uncontrollably.

What should I do?

‘Why?’

Why is she here of all places?

‘Where the Black Clan Leader is.’

This was the location where the Black Clan Leader, whom I had corrupted into a demon, resided.

I was in utter shock that the Master had come here.

What state am I in right now?

‘What does it matter? It’s a mess.’

I was wearing black clothes to pretend to be a Heavenly Demon, and my physical body had been altered.

“Excuse me? Can you not hear me?”

“……”

I swallowed hard at the Master’s voice.

“Hmm.”

Her low voice made my instincts scream that remaining silent any longer would be disastrous.

“…Why are you speaking-”

Before I could hear more, I turned my body.

“…Who are you?”

“Oh my.”

When I turned to meet her gaze, the Master seemed surprised.

Her eyes widened as she looked at me. I was certain of her identity.

‘Oh no.’

Just as I expected, it was indeed the Master. She was wearing a covering like last time, but I couldn’t mistake her.

She fiddled with the mask in her hands.

Having it hidden behind her back, she took it off when she turned.

As she quietly examined my face, the Master tilted her head slightly.

Did she notice something odd? As tension rose within me, she spoke again.

“Are you going inside?”

“……”

The Master pointed at the door with her hand.

I stared at that hand and spoke.

“…I do intend to.”

“Oh, then could you not make way for me? As I mentioned earlier, I have some urgent business.”

She smiled sweetly as if asking for a favor, but I frowned at the request.

Her gentle smile was reminiscent of the one I saw long ago, causing me to unintentionally close my mouth.

However.

“That seems a bit difficult.”

Even so, I had to say something. If I couldn’t act through my expression, I’d have to maintain a poker face. I made that choice based on experiences from the past.

When I tried to keep a stiff face while looking at the Master, she showed a peculiar expression upon hearing my words.

What kind of expression was that? Was she feeling unpleasant about my audacity to refuse?

Or was it a look of realizing something? As various thoughts raced through my mind.

“Excuse me.”

The Master spoke to me.

“Have we met somewhere before?”

“……”

I almost flinched at her words.

Does she not recognize me? No matter how much I used the Body Transformation Technique to change my face, for her not to recognize me…

‘Even someone like the Master.’

Could it be that she recognized me and was just pretending not to? I thought that was a possibility.

‘But?’

Going by the feelings, that seemed unlikely.

This was not a certainty, but that was the impression I had right now.

“Well, this is my first time seeing you.”

“Hmm… Really?”

The Master tilted her head. Then she slowly approached me and reached out her hand.

I hesitated, looking at her hand. Should I reject her? It was slow enough to pull back if I wanted to, but for now, I let it be.

I was trying to gauge her intentions.

The Master was reaching out but halted her hand just around my cheek.

What’s this? Was she trying to touch me? I stared at her hand with a look that questioned what she was doing.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“……”

The Master awkwardly withdrew her hand.

“That’s strange. I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere.”

“……If you have no urgent business, may I enter first?”

“Ah.”

Just as she was about to nod to my words.

“But…”

Just as I thought she would send me on my way, the Master grabbed my arm.

“Are you someone who works here?”

I paused for a moment at her next question.

Am I someone who works here?

I pondered that for an instant before answering. I couldn’t afford to take my time with my response.

“No, I am not.”

“Hmm, I see. Then a guest?”

“Something like that.”

The Master nodded again with an air of satisfaction. Is this it? Right as I felt a brief sense of relief.

“But why do you not regard me as suspicious?”

The Master asked, her eyes shining with curiosity.

“……!”

I almost lost my breath at her words.

Her once calm and gentle voice still had an airy quality, but I could feel something shift in the atmosphere.

This was certainly something I hadn’t perceived until quite recently.

Perhaps I simply couldn’t feel it during the day and was only sensing it now that night had fallen.

My heightened senses were acting recklessly.

Warning me to be careful. If things went wrong here, it could lead to disaster.

I was intensely on edge.

My mind, which had been sluggish and dull, spun wildly as if a rush of blood had surged to it.

“There must be an important person residing here. How come I’m approaching without any surprise?”

Why wasn’t she questioning my identity when I said I would go in?

This question sent a cold shiver down my spine.

Saying the wrong thing here could lead to trouble.

So I carefully selected my words and said,

“I have just come as a guest, and seeing you roaming here peacefully, I assumed you were a guest like me. Is that wrong?”

“Hmmm.”

The Master slightly narrowed her eyes at my explanation.

I hastily spat out those words with a lighter tongue. Would it hold up? What if it didn’t?

Should I fight?

‘…Against my mother?’

Even if she couldn’t remember me and I had become a dangerous being,

Did I really have to battle my mother here?

Setting aside the issue of winning or losing, I felt repelled by the thought.

One.

Tightening.

I slowly gripped the hands behind my back.

If I must, I cannot back down. Though I may not win, I wouldn’t die while doing nothing.

With that thought, I gradually focused the energy in my heart.

“I see.”

The Master said,

“Indeed, it makes sense.”

With her words, she abruptly turned away.

“I did have urgent matters, but since you’ve said it’s the same for you, I will yield. I have indeed become somewhat late.”

“……”

She walked off lightly. The way she walked perfectly suited the word “graceful.”

“Take care, whoever you are… ah.”

As she walked, the Master turned to face me and spoke.

“If possible, could you pass along a message for me?”

The expression on her face as she spoke was filled with a beautiful smile.

“When the next full moon rises, come up to the hill.”

It was a smile radiant like a lovely flower.

Just like I remembered her from back then.

*

After sending the Master off, I stood there for a while.

My racing heart showed no signs of calming down. I was so flustered that I wiped my cold sweat repeatedly.

“Phew…”

I exhaled the breath I had been holding. It was a sigh that had been building up inside me.

The tension that had solidified, unable to fade away, made it hard to calm down even after releasing a sigh.

‘…Hah.’

I rubbed my chest with my hand.

It was absurd.

‘What was that?’

What on earth was that?

What should I even call that?

I felt nothing, yet ironically, I saw a plethora of conflicting information.

It was laughable to think I didn’t sense her presence.

The formidable presence of the Master I had witnessed was enough to send chills down my spine.

Was this because I had become stronger as a member of the Moon Night Clan?

Things that were once invisible had become apparent.

There wasn’t necessarily something palpable about the Master herself, but rather the outward appearance or perhaps the inner being.

‘Something vast is bound within.’

Faintly, or perhaps transparently,

The subtle ripples of her being.

Even though they were slight, they held an unsettling quality, and just looking at them was deeply unsettling.

How could something so faint feel so intense?

I couldn’t comprehend this.

‘This is… different from simply being powerful.’

It wouldn’t be right to simply label her as a strong being.

This was.

‘Something elevated.’

Rather than just being strong, it was on a higher level.

A presence so elevated that I felt I could hardly raise my gaze to it.

That’s what I felt from the Master.

“……”

I forced myself to wipe away the streams of cold sweat. Had the Master truly departed?

Nonetheless, I was still internally thinking of her as my mother.

Now that I had seen such a thing, I couldn’t help but question whether I could truly regard her as the same.

“Huh…”

After letting out one more sigh, I grasped the door handle in front of me.

I had been tossing over whether to enter or not up to this point.

Creak-!

In the end, I chose to step inside.

As the door opened, the being inside turned to look at me.

In that moment, their eyes widened as they jolted upright.

“You…”

The Black Clan Leader became alert upon seeing me. I was already wearing my mask again.

As I examined him from beyond the door,

‘The Demon Energy is present.’

The Demon Energy I had implanted previously still existed.

Confirming this, I spoke to the Black Clan Leader.

“Have you been well?”

“……”

“From the looks of it, you don’t seem to be doing too well.”

This was my first encounter with him after corrupting him into a Demon.

His face was filled with suspicion and hostility.

Seeing that was more than enough reason for me to understand.

‘As I felt last time, complete corruption seems impossible.’

Although I made him a Demon by infiltrating him with Demon Energy,

It seemed I couldn’t make him perfectly obedient to me.

Was this a trait of the Moon Night Clan? I wasn’t quite sure about that.

This was a curious matter to ponder later, but for now, I turned to him and said,

“It seems you had visitors aside from me?”

I was referring to the Master I just met.

“What…?”

“When the next full moon rises, go up to the hill. That was her message.”

I mentioned the Master’s words, expecting a reaction from the Black Clan Leader.

It felt like a passphrase, so I thought he would have some response. However,

“What do you mean…?! What does a full moon have to do with a hill…?”

“Hmm?”

The Black Clan Leader’s response was strange.

Was he trying to play dumb?

Thus, I steeled my heart and asked him again.

“Answer me properly.”

Woo Hyeok–!!

“Ugh…!”

As my words activated its effects, the Black Clan Leader writhed in pain as he spoke to me again.

“Really… What do you mean…?”

‘What’s going on?’

This time, his answer was the same. Hearing that made my eyes widen.

He doesn’t know? Then why the hell did he ask me to pass along such a message…

‘What?’

I started to think, suddenly turning my head back.

It was in the direction where the Master had vanished.

A chilling thought wrapped around my mind.

‘…That message.’

‘When the next full moon rises, come up to the hill.’

The words the Master had asked me to deliver.

‘Could it be…?’

It wasn’t meant for the Black Clan Leader…

‘…Was it meant for me?’

Realizing I wasn’t a guest from the start,

‘Was it a message meant for me to hear?’

A shiver ran down my spine.

I slowly turned my head to stare at the Black Clan Leader.

More accurately, I looked out the window of the Black Clan Leader’s chamber.

There, two moons hung in the sky.

One was nearing a crescent, while the other was on the verge of becoming a full moon.

 

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