A hazy sense of awareness drifted back into me.

There was a wrongness to my body, floating up and up.

BLOOP. BLOOP.

Air slipped out from the corner of my mouth and turned into bubbles.

Feeling that, I opened my eyes wide.

Water.

That was what it meant. Why the hell was I in a place like this all of a sudden? My mind snapped awake on its own, and all five senses stood on end.

Cold.

That was the first thing I felt.

A cold so sharp it made me ache. I was submerged in freezing water.

‘What the...?’

I flailed, moving my body. I thrashed as I sliced through the water.

The problem was—

‘I can’t see.’

I could tell I was underwater by the sensation, but it was like my vision had been sealed off. All I could see was a vicious, crushing darkness.

‘What is this?’

Where the hell am I?

How did I wake up in a pitch-black place like this?

And on top of that—

‘Kgh—!’

With no air coming in, my breath started to lock up.

‘What the hell.......’

What is going on? I grabbed my throat with one hand, frantic.

I wanted to get out somehow, but it wouldn’t come easy.

What do I do? How do I get out of this?

‘......Old man......?’

Where did Yoo Cheongil go?

Even if I wanted to call him, no voice came out, so even that was impossible.

Damn it.

Am I dying like this? My breath choked off, my mind starting to tear apart—

HMMMM.

‘......!’

Something appeared in front of me.

In the black void, two red lights floated.

I focused on them, startled by how abruptly they’d appeared. What the hell is that?

And it wasn’t just that they’d appeared—they were getting closer.

What is it? What the hell is coming at me?

Even as the questions spilled out, a feeling crawled up my back on its own.

Shiver.

Goosebumps exploded along my spine. For some reason, meeting that red light made fear surge up.

Not long after the glow kept approaching—

‘Ah......?’

I could tell what it was.

That wasn’t light.

‘It’s eye-light.’

Someone’s gaze. Glowing red pupils.

‘Who?’

Who the hell was staring at me with eyes like that in a place like this?

Without blinking even once, that gaze kept closing in, then stopped just a couple steps away.

Even then, I couldn’t see a body.

All I could see was the eyes.

‘What the hell are you.’

What are you? Did the owner of those eyes drag me here?

If so, why?

What reason would there be to bring me here? As I questioned it, another feeling rose inside the fear.

This—

‘Familiarity.’

Like I’d seen those eyes somewhere before. Somewhere deep in my chest, a sense of recognition stirred.

Where have I seen eyes like that?

Where did I see eyes like that?

I couldn’t remember. They felt familiar, but nothing surfaced.

‘......No way.’

I’m not the type to forget something I’ve seen even once. And I’m telling you I can’t remember eyes that weird?

It was ridiculous.

GLURRK.

‘Kgh!’

My breathing twisted.

I was hitting my limit.

At this rate, I was really going to die.

‘What do I do?’

Is there some way?

I clawed at my mind, desperate to come up with something, but there was no way there’d be an answer in a situation like this.

So all I could do was gag and choke, uselessly—

FWOOSH.

The red eyes in front of me moved slowly.

They wavered, staring at me in silence, and then—

-......Gil.

Something whispered to me.

‘......What?’

In the pain, I locked onto the voice.

It wasn’t my choice. The moment I heard sound, every nerve I had sank into it.

Right as my breath jammed shut and my mind was about to snap—

The voice drove itself fully into my ear.

-About Yoo Cheongil.

-Don’t trust him too much.

With those words—

My consciousness cut off completely, drowned in pain.

******

“Kuh-HUP!”

I burst out a ragged breath and jolted upright.

“Huff...! Hrk...!”

Like I was trying to make up for all the breathing I hadn’t been able to do, I sucked air in harsh, frantic gulps. The tension drained out of my body, and heat rushed up all at once.

With shaking eyes, I stared at my hands.

My palms were soaked through with sweat, and I lifted that same trembling hand to wipe my forehead.

My forehead was damp too.

That wasn’t all. My whole body was already drenched.

“...Huff... Hrk....”

I forced my breathing back under control and replayed what had just happened.

“...Was it a dream...?”

Was what I’d just been through a dream?

‘I mean, yeah.’

Why the hell would my body be underwater in some place I’d never seen in my life?

It should’ve been something I realized instantly with a shred of common sense.

‘......But I couldn’t recognize it properly.’

Inside that, I failed to recognize it.

How long has it been since that happened?

‘Then it wasn’t just a dream.’

I could wake up from a spirit-dream without much trouble.

But a nightmare strong enough to blur my awareness like that?

‘What is this?’

I frowned and retraced everything that’d happened lately, one by one.

Nightmares like that are always tied to malicious ghosts.

And not the cheap kind—something high-grade.

‘But I haven’t gotten tangled up with malicious ghosts.’

There hadn’t been any reason lately. I’d been careful—how would I get tangled up with malicious ghosts?

At least, nothing like that existed in my memory.

‘Then what the hell is it?’

Where did the problem come from?

And on top of that—

‘......What was that last line?’

Don’t trust Yoo Cheongil too much.

That was what those unknown red eyes had said.

‘Then it’s something connected to the old man?’

As I sat there frowning—

[You’re awake.]

“......!”

I lifted my gaze. Yoo Cheongil was sprawled on the ceiling, looking down at me.

“...You were here?”

[Yes.]

“.......”

Maybe because of what had just happened, looking at Yoo Cheongil felt... a little uncomfortable.

[What is it.]

“It’s nothing. I just had a shitty dream.”

I got up. Being soaked in sweat felt disgusting. I needed to deal with that first.

I started to move outside, and then—

“...Ah.”

My foggy head cleared, and I looked back at Yoo Cheongil.

Come to think of it—

“...How did this happen?”

I shouldn’t be able to just get up like this, should I?

I’d been in the middle of the Small Moon Battle.

And more than that, I’d been sparring Cheon Hyein.

‘So why.......’

Why did I wake up in my own bed?

That wrongness hit me—and at the same time, the situation from then came back.

“...That wasn’t you, was it, old man?”

[.......]

Something had entered my body.

That wasn’t Yoo Cheongil. I remembered it clearly. The moment I was possessed, Yoo Cheongil was outside, staring at me with a shocked expression.

[Yes. It wasn’t me.]

“...Then what was it? What happened?”

If it wasn’t Yoo Cheongil, some bastard had suddenly gone into my body?

[Hmm... Well, I don’t know that either.]

I frowned at Yoo Cheongil’s answer.

‘You don’t know?’

Not knowing wasn’t strange by itself, but—

‘That reaction.’

The way Yoo Cheongil was reacting was weird. It didn’t feel like plain ignorance. His expression was... somewhere ambiguous.

What the hell? Why is he acting like that?

That unknown line surfaced in my head again.

-Don’t trust Yoo Cheongil too much.

“.......”

I shook my head. Forced it away, and asked Yoo Cheongil.

“Then the spar? What happened to the spar?”

Something else got into my body. That was disgusting and wrong, sure.

But separate from that—what happened to the spar?

That mattered more.

And when I asked, Yoo Cheongil spoke with an oddly unwilling look.

[Go outside. You’ll find out.]

“...What?”

Go outside?

I tilted my head, frowning.

******

I listened and went outside. I had to wash up anyway, and I had things to do.

Not long after I stepped out, I understood what Yoo Cheongil meant.

‘......What the hell.......’

I changed clothes and started walking.

I moved along the Blue Moon Sect paths that had become familiar, and I could feel eyes turning toward me from everywhere.

On the way, ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ I had to pass the training ground.

The moment I appeared in that wide open space, the martial artists there froze.

Every last one of them.

From the look of it, they were the third-generation disciples.

At the same time, the second-generation disciple who’d been instructing them flinched when he saw me.

A violent tension spread across his face.

And then—

“Everyone—!”

He shouted at the third-generation disciples.

“Show proper respect to your fourth uncle.”

“...Huh?”

“Pay respects to Fourth Uncle...!”

At his words, the third-generation disciples all saluted me.

Their fists-and-palms salute was crisp and perfect, and I had to swallow my bewilderment.

‘Why are they doing this......?’

Even as I panicked, I waved my hand—roughly, at least.

“...Don’t mind me. Keep doing what you were doing.”

“No... how could we...”

“I’m serious. It’s fine.”

Getting treated like this when I wasn’t used to it just made me more uncomfortable.

What the hell is wrong with these people?

I practically ran away.

After that, I moved through the sect grounds in a hurry.

And every time I moved, the reactions of the people I met weren’t normal.

They stared at me in shock, or with a subtle fear.

Some looked at me with admiration.

‘......What is this, seriously?’

What is wrong with them? I woke up, and everything was different, so I went and found out what was going on.

“...So.”

This was the situation.

“You’re saying I beat the hell out of Cheon Hyein? Until she was a bloody mess. And I did it with my fists, not a sword?”

Apparently, unlike the part where I’d been getting my ass kicked, somewhere in the middle I suddenly grabbed Cheon Hyein and beat her down hard.

And not just beat her—like she was a toy, I’d pummeled her all over.

It was so brutal and violent that everyone had been shocked.

‘......Me?’

And I’d beaten Cheon Hyein without even using a sword.

Cheon Hyein—the one everyone said had the greatest talent in Blue Moon Sect history since the Sword Saint.

Even among the Seven Prodigies, she was known as top-tier talent.

And I beat her down without using a sword.

‘......So I proved it.’

There’d been a rumor about me—some kind of monster that couldn’t even be compared to the Seven Prodigies.

And all the noise about whether I really was the Sword Saint’s successor—

One fight had ended it.

‘And I tried to kill her?’

They said that in the middle of the spar, I grabbed Cheon Hyein after she’d already lost consciousness and tried to kill her.

And that it wasn’t just anyone who stopped it—Moon-Thread Sword himself.

‘......Fuck.’

Hearing that, I went cold.

So I beat his daughter until she was a bloody mess, and then tried to kill her—only for her father, Moon-Thread Sword, to stop me?

Which meant—

‘I’m screwed.’

In one word: I was fucked.

‘......Who is that bastard?’

Seriously, who the hell was it? What kind of bastard jumped in from nowhere and turned things into this?

And do you know what’s even funnier?

‘After doing all that, I didn’t even watch the rest of the Small Moon Battle. I went back to my quarters and crashed.’

They said I went back to sleep even though the event wasn’t over.

So now I was being treated like some world-class psycho that even the Sect Master couldn’t do anything about.

‘That’s insane.’

If you turn me into that kind of person, what the hell am I supposed to do?

[Heh heh heh. So what. Back in my youth, I lived like that sometimes too. It wasn’t a problem.]

What a thing to brag about.

‘Bastard.’

Just how shocking had it been that people flinched every time I passed by?

If all they did was flinch, that’d be one thing. Some of them looked at me with genuine fear.

Is this really okay?

I sighed and kept moving, and then—

“Um... Fourth Uncle.”

“...Ah.”

I almost spoke out of habit, thinking it was just another person trying to pay respects—

But it was a third-generation disciple, pale with fear.

He looked at me, swallowing his nerves, and said,

“...The Sect Master is summoning you.”

“......”

That sounded—

More terrifying than being told to come get slaughtered.

‘......I’m fucked.’

I felt like I was about to cry.

*****

So I went to the Sect Master’s room with a stomach full of dread.

I expected something murderous.

Instead, I walked straight into a situation I never would’ve guessed.

“I watched the spar. You did well.”

“...Pardon?”

I’d braced for the worst.

And somehow, Moon-Thread Sword was praising the bastard who’d beaten his daughter into a bloody mess.