Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Hidden Piece (End)

“What’s this all of a sudden…”

“I think it’s telling us to choose a door and enter?”

Two members of the party discussed as they examined the four doors .

‘You can only choose once . ’

Four doors .

Only one person could enter a room and these kinds of trials could not be repeated .

Once someone enters a room, the door loses its effect .

It was also impossible for one to pass a trial and attempt another .

Until this time, no one has ever reached the shrine so the four trials were still intact .

Muyoung rubbed his chin .

‘The trials are chosen by the specific characteristics of each of the 72 Demons . ’

There are always treasures to be found in places where the Star of David appears .

However, the methods of attaining these treasures were different .

The method would usually depend on the specific characteristics of the Demon .

The trial to obtain the Book of Amon was a conflict between human malice and selfishness .

In the end, there were more than 500 casualties as people ended up killing each other .

On the other hand…

What about Gremory?

‘Gremory never revealed herself, even until the very end . ’

There were only rumors that she was the only female Demon, besides that, there was no other information .

Even after the Great Calamity, when the Demons were destroying mankind, she never showed herself .

There were a few Demons who never showed up either, but even among them, Gremory was especially hidden under a veil .

He would have no choice, but to make a decision depending on the commonly known characteristics of Gremory .

‘Fidelity, honesty, generosity and anguish . ’

The first things that come to mind were those four .

There were a few characteristics included that didn’t match with the typical image of Demons, but since he had never seen Gremory, there was nothing he could do .

Anyhow, these were the characteristics used to describe Gremory in literature, he had to assume that the trials had something to do with them .

‘Will there be rewards in every trial or after the completion of all four trials or if not those, will the reward be hidden in just a single trial?”

There was no way to know right now .

“Somehow, I feel uneasy . I, I’m not going in . ”

Eventually, a man raised a white flag .

Wooooo .

The sounds and the aura emitted from the doors were without a doubt able to stimulate fear in humans .

Unless you were quite courageous, you wouldn’t even think about opening a door .

Since Muyoung was used to these situations, he wasn’t very affect, but to those whose lives were the most precious to them, it was an obvious choice .

“Mister, can I go in there?”

Suzy broke the brief silence .

Muyoung looked at her indifferently .

‘How unexpected . ’

She was the youngest and was physically the weakest .

She was only able to survive because of her quick wits and decisiveness .

Since she was with her father, he didn’t expect her to take risks, but she was the first to affirm she would be challenging one of the doors .

The door she chose was .

“No one knows what’s waiting for you inside the door . Is there a reason why you chose this door?”

“Just…”

“Just?”

“I don’t know . I just think that I should enter that door . ”

She bowed her head deeply .

It looked like she didn’t know how to explain herself .

‘A feeling . Or a trap . ’

It was hard to conclude the reason why only Suzy felt that way .

But it felt like it wasn’t just fluke .

‘It’s not a trap . ’

If it was, there was no way they would target Suzy .

It is natural they would try to separate the most powerful one here, Muyoung .

Even if they targeted Suzy, it wasn’t like she would influence others .

He recalled Suzy’s past actions .

As he thought about it, he realized that, although she wouldn’t always be doing the best thing to survive, she would at least take the next best action .

Like the time she survived the attack of the Three-clawed Shrewmice .

The others would try their best to close their distance between Muyoung, but only she would keep her distance and secretly look for a place to avoid the fight .

She wasn’t taking actions consciously, her instincts and senses took over .

“Which door do you think I will have to enter?”

So he asked .

No matter how hard he thought, there was no definite answer .

On the other hand, Suzy acted with ‘confidence’ .

The more surprising fact was her father’s reaction .

Normally parents would try to stop their children from getting in danger .

Yet, as if it was natural, he didn’t even try to stop her .

Most likely, he knew about her ‘feeling’ .

“Ummm…”

As she looked back and forth between the four doors and Muyoung, she pointed at a door .

“This one . ”

Muyoung followed her finger and looked towards the door .

‘The difficult and long path . ’

He shook his head .

He then stood in front of the door with the phrase .

“All of you enter the door Suzy chooses for you . ”

“What?”

Taehwan stared at him in surprise as if inquiring what he meant .

It was abnormal to let a child make a choice that could decide their fate .

However, Muyoung thought it was the right choice .

Although he could only explain it as a ‘feeling’, since he had experienced life in the Underworld, he able to accept it rather easily .

It wasn’t like there was no one with foresight in the Underworld .

“Suzy, who are the people who will attempt the remaining two doors?”

“Taehwan oppa and that person . ”

She didn’t hesitate as she picked out those two people .

And so it was decided that Taehwan was to attempt the while the other man was to attempt the .

“The-then are you telling me to stay out here with this person?”

The man, who was the first to say that he wouldn’t enter the trials, trembled .

It was because if he was to stay with the armless cripple, there was no doubt they would die if the monsters attacked .

“As long as you’re in the shrine, the shrewmice won’t attack . ”

It wasn’t a place where beasts like shrewmice could enter whenever they wanted .

And there really were no traces of shrewmice around the shrine .

‘We have to finish as fast as possible . ’

It will be midnight in nine hours .

They need at least one hour to return back to the temple .

If they aren’t able to get out of the trials by then, then the topography of the forest will change .

If that happens, it will be much harder to return to the temple .

“Then… let’s see each other on the other side . ”

Muyoung was the first to open the door .

The inside of the room was pitch black like a black hole .

Slam!

As soon as he stepped into the room, the door slammed shut behind him .

*

He looked around his surroundings .

An endlessly desolate desert .

There was absolutely nothing in this place .

‘My bag and magical items disappeared . ’

On top of that, his food and water were gone as well .

Thin clothes and a scimitar were all he had .

It seemed like the items unnecessary for the trial were removed .

‘If I keep walking, I guess something will pop up . ’

Didn’t the name already suggest it would be a ‘difficult and long path’?

There was no way that as soon as he stepped into the room, he would see his objective .

He pushed through the rough sand and walked forward .

How long had he been walking?

It felt like it had been at least a day .

If it was him in the past, he would have been fine after walking continuously without rest for a week . However, in his current state, he was slowly approaching his limit .

The lack of food and water was the problem .

It was incredibly taxing to walk without rest towards an unknown destination .

If it was any normal person, they would have already exhausted their mind and body .

However, Muyoung wasn’t normal .

‘I can still endure a bit longer . ’

He dragged his feet .

After walking like that for a few hours, he came across an oasis .

‘Poison . ’

But the water in the oasis gave off a purple hue .

He sniffed the water and dipped his tongue in the water .

Spit!

He spat out the water immediately and turned his body away .

Poison was mixed in .

It wasn’t a strong poison, but if he was to drink it, it would only momentarily relieve his thirst .

It wasn’t wise to try to distill the water without the proper tools either .

The fourth day .

The next thing to appear was a rabbit .

He tried to hunt down the rabbit, but the rabbit was always slightly faster than him .

So close, yet so far .

The distance between the two wouldn’t shrink no matter what he tried .

‘So it’s like this . ’

After walking for four days, a man who has lost all sense of reason will do whatever it takes to catch the rabbit .

But Muyoung realized that it was a trick .

He gave up on the rabbit and forced his feet to move .

He walked a few more hours like that .

Thump!

Even the great Muyoung had eventually collapsed on floor .

‘I can’t fall here . ’

The mind controls the body .

Muyoung was successful in getting his body back up with extreme concentration .

Compared to the beginning, his pace was very slow, but he didn’t give up and continued to walk .

To make up for his loss of energy, his body started to burn away his muscles .

This was the most optimal choice his body could make in this situation where there wasn’t even water to drink .

Not long after, his body was only skin and bones and his hair started falling out quite quickly .

It was because he was Muyoung, he was able to stay alive in that state and continue walking .

For 40 years, there was not a single moment when he lived his own life .

He wanted to live his own life .

A life of some significance .

However, that was impossible .

But then, he was given a chance .

There was no way he was going to waste this chance as soon as he got it .

Even though there were tens, even hundreds of times he could have given up, he didn’t .

Along the way, food and water did appear, but since he knew that the trial was simply tempting him, he didn’t even bother to look at them .

As his stamina and mentality reached their limits, someone blocked his path .

“Why did you destroy the Forest of Death? Didn’t we have a good relationship the past 40 years?”

Was it a mirage?

The man in front of him was the owner of the Forest of Death, the chief .

Muyoung waved his hands, however the chief didn’t disappear .

“It… wasn’t… my life . ”

“Didn’t you kill all your companions that have been with you for years? The ones who you laughed and played with!”

“We… never… laughed . ”

Muyoung took out the scimitar from his chest .

“Just wait . This time, I will certainly erase you . ”

Once he returns to the Underworld, his first target will be the Forest of Death .

It would be difficult to do this right away, but he will strengthen himself and annihilate them as fast as possible .

Splash!

As he slashed out with his scimitar, the chief’s blood sprayed out .

Gulp!

Muyoung drank the blood dripping off the chief .

He bit into the chief’s flesh .

And then, approximately 300 members of the Forest of Death appeared .

Specters .

Their eyes were blank .

It looked as if they were asking why he killed them and to take responsibility for their deaths .

However, Muyoung looked at the sight and laughed brightly .

“I don’t regret my decision . ”

He used the last of his strength and performed a deadly sword dance .