Vol 7 Chapter 6

"The answer is here."

But right now, Ilumine was casually saying that the answer was hidden in here.

'This is truly astounding.'

Kapros couldn't think anything beyond that. To think Superior's secret had been hidden in this place he had passed by several times without much thought. This too would have made Kran faint with surprise if he were here. Though Kran's vivacious overreactions had occasionally crossed his mind several times, this was the first time he truly missed them.

Superior was silent, but the Superior staff at Kapros's waist was emitting light so bright it felt hot. The red light that was blinding to look at blocked his vision as it burst out noisily, making him feel like he was standing in front of a siren.

"When you enter here, you must follow only where I step. Stay sharp. I'm going first."

Ilumine, who had spoken softly, stepped into the fork. Though she had only taken a couple of steps in front of him, her figure instantly vanished. Kapros blinked several times before following her inside.

The moment he took a step into the path where he couldn't see ahead, he felt as if his body was softly passing through some kind of invisible cold barrier. After shuddering once at the chilling sensation of his whole body being scanned, a space as black as a bottomless pit where nothing could be seen suddenly spread out before his eyes.

'This is...'

"Child? I told you to stay sharp and follow me."

While Kapros was standing dazed because of this strange space where he wasn't even sure if he was properly standing on solid ground, Ilumine's voice came from ahead. Where he looked up, Ilumine was watching him while emanating a soft light green glow from her entire body.

"Watch carefully and follow."

Had she said to follow while stepping only where she stepped? As soon as Kapros moved his foot, Ilumine turned and moved forward with steps as quiet as a cat's. He furrowed his brow as much as possible to see which parts Ilumine was stepping on in this darkness, but soon realized there was no need.

- Swoosh...

Amazingly, wherever Ilumine walked, light pooled in her footsteps, glowing for a certain time before disappearing. Kapros just had to step on them before they completely vanished.

How long had he walked while watching only the fluttering hem of her white skirt and the glowing footsteps?

Seeing Ilumine suddenly stop walking, he barely managed to stop just before bumping into her and raised his head.

"Ah..."

A strange ball of light was floating in the air right in front of Ilumine. Like the Earth rotating, it was slowly turning while floating in the air, glowing with the same light green color that came from Ilumine's body, and amazingly, when he strained his eyes to look closely, he could see something like a rolled-up scroll inside it.

When Ilumine gently placed her hand on top of the ball of light, the green light grew warmer and stronger as drops of light dripped down to the floor. It was a fascinating sight that looked both like light and water.

"Is that...?"

When Superior whispered through Kapros's mouth, Ilumine quietly spoke.

"This is a part of your existence. You must feel it too."

"Yes... Somehow I felt a strangely familiar energy despite it being protected by your power. No, it's actually my magical power. Isn't it?"

Ilumine nodded quietly but clearly enough to confirm. At that, the Superior staff trembled as if shuddering and emitted an even stronger red light.

"Before seeing the answer, there's one thing you must keep in mind."

"What is it?"

"Unless you don't see it at all, once you see this you cannot escape from the truth. Now is your only chance to turn back. To be honest, I think it might be better not to know... What will you do?"

Superior was silent for a long while at those words that carried an incomparably heavy weight. As the silence lengthened, the blinding light that the Superior staff had been emitting gradually subsided.

[ What would you do? ]

After who knows how long, a sudden unexpected question came.

"What?"

[ I... to be honest, I'm afraid. What if all my assumptions become reality the moment I see that? ...That's what I'm thinking. ]

Huh. To think that Superior of all people would say they were afraid. That confident attitude that had teased him was gone, and the stiffened, cold whispering voice felt very unfamiliar.

After thinking for a moment, Kapros opened his mouth again.

"By assumptions, do you mean how you acted strangely when you heard Kor's words?"

Superior's appearance that Superior couldn't remember. Kapros still remembered how severely shaken he had been then, saying frightening thoughts had occurred to him.

[ ..... ]

Seeing no response, it seemed he was right.

What should he answer? Kapros let out a small breath and thought.

"Hmm... If it were me, I would look."

[ Why? ]

In cases like this, what reflexively came to Kapros's mind was the incident with Jeong Seung-jo. His past self would have said he didn't need to know even if someone offered to tell him why Seung-jo had done such a thing. Because he would have disliked the idea of changing again after barely stabilizing.

But his thinking now was a little different. Now that he had started moving to resolve this ill-fated connection, realizing he couldn't keep running away forever...

"If you're going to find out eventually anyway, I think it's better to see it now and think about better solutions. From experience, regretting while knowing was much better than regretting while not knowing."

[ Better to regret while knowing... ]

"Yes. If you said you wanted answers that badly, just face it first. If it doesn't feel right while looking, you can stop then and come back later."

Ilumine hadn't said they could only see it once either. Though she had said once they saw it, they couldn't run away.

[ What's this? That's an incredibly irresponsible method. ]