Chapter 969

She was not the master of Mangye.

She was my mother.

At Noya’s words, saying that it was my mother’s request, I had to pause and think.

What did he mean? It wasn’t just wordplay—Noya’s expression was serious.

I had to focus for a moment to grasp the meaning of those words.

‘…My mother made the request. But she is not the master of Mangye…’

What exactly was that supposed to mean?

Noya had been a general. He had ultimately betrayed them.

If those words were also true…

‘Does that mean he became a general at my mother’s request? Or that he betrayed them at her request?’

The ambiguity of the words made it difficult to fully understand,

but I didn’t dwell on it for long before arriving at an answer.

Regardless of the specifics, those words could only mean one thing.

"So you're saying that the current master and my mother are different people?"

It meant that Noya did not equate the current master with my mother.

As if to confirm my words, Noya gave a slight nod.

"As I told you before, the mother you once knew is no longer the same person."

"I understand."

Back then, I had only heard it.

But now, I knew for certain.

There was no way I wouldn't, after facing her directly.

She was not the mother I knew.

Her appearance, her scent, her voice—

They were all hers.

Yet she was not my mother.

Then, what should I call her?

Right.

‘Master.’

She was the master.

The ruler of this land, the sovereign of a world.

She was not my mother—I had to see her as the master instead.

Even if it wasn’t easy, I had to.

"..."

A vision flashed through my mind.

The image of her taking Yarang away, calling her her daughter.

Damn it. That scene refused to fade from my memory.

Smack—!

"Hm?"

As I swung my hand and struck my own cheek, Noya looked at me strangely.

"…Kid, do you have a taste for that sort of thing?"

"…I just hit myself to clear my head. And what do you mean ‘that sort of thing’? I don’t have any other preferences either."

The sting on my cheek woke me up a little.

I had hit myself so hard that blood dripped from the corner of my mouth.

I wiped it away with the back of my hand and spoke to Noya.

"So… what exactly did you mean by saying it was my mother’s request?"

"What more meaning is there? It was truly your mother’s words."

"So then—was it the former or the latter? Which one?"

Was it that she had made him a general?

Or that she had him betray them?

At my question, Noya looked at me and spoke bluntly.

"Both."

"…Both?"

"Yeah, both."

Rustle.

Noya spoke as he rose to his feet.

The skewers he had been eating were already gone from his hands.

"Your mother couldn’t have been unaware of what was happening in Mangye. There’s no way she didn’t know I had arrived here."

"…"

At those words, I recalled the way that ox-headed bastard, the leader, had referred to Noya as an outsider when he first saw him.

"I only helped out temporarily because something had come up."

"…Something had come up, so you just decided to play general in another world? Were you bored?"

"It was quiet, and I had my own reasons—no, you brat—"

Thud—!

"Ugh!"

He smacked me on the head.

"Do you have any idea who I went through all that trouble for? What? Bored? You ungrateful little bastard—I nearly broke my old bones for you, and this is the thanks I get?"

"…So, what exactly was this hardship you went through?"

I rubbed my sore head and asked.

Just what kind of hardship had led him to act as a general here and then end up fleeing?

"Hmm."

Noya looked at me silently.

Was he debating whether to tell me or not?

Judging by his expression, that was exactly the case.

"Never mind the hardship for now."

So I changed my approach. If he refused to talk, I’d be the only one losing out.

Fine, I could accept that he somehow ended up as a general.

But—

"What about the betrayal?"

What I was more curious about was what Yusa had said—

that Noya had betrayed them and vanished.

At that, Noya scratched his cheek.

His reaction was similar to before, but he seemed slightly less hesitant.

At last, he answered the question about why he had betrayed them at my mother’s request.

"You know that sacred tree embedded in Mount Hua, right?"

I recalled it instantly at his words.

That enormous ancient tree growing on the mountain.

A divine tree made entirely of plum blossoms.

"Yeah. The one you supposedly stole and ran off with, right?"

The very same tree Noya had once stolen as a seed and fled with.

Why was that suddenly being brought up now?

But then—

"Taking it was your mother’s request."

At those words, my brow furrowed instinctively.

"…Stealing a seed. That was my mother’s request?"

"That’s right."

"Why…?"

"Why else? She told me to, so I did."

"…"

Because she told him to steal it.

The absurdity of his answer left me momentarily speechless.

Noticing my dumbfounded expression, Noya chuckled.

This bastard…?

"It was necessary. For her goal, for my work, and even for you."

Fortunately, he seemed to be joking—he soon continued explaining.

But the more I listened, the more my gaze narrowed.

"Her goal? What goal are you talking about?"

What kind of goal did my mother have that she had asked Noya to steal something like that?

And beyond that—

‘If she was different then, what changed her?’

If she had been different in the past,

then there had to be a reason for what she had become now.

As I pondered this and voiced my question,

Noya looked at me calmly and said,

"Kid."

"Yeah."

"Do you know how many sacred trees exist in Mangye?"

"…I don’t."

"There are four, as far as people know. The same number as the generals."

Noya pointed a finger at the ground.

"There’s one in Yahwol, where Yusa rules. And then—"

Next, he pointed north.

"Another in the mountain range where that brute, the leader, resides."

Then, west.

"One more in the place guarded by that insufferable crow bastard. And the last one is in Mount Hua."

"…What about Yarang?"

"Well, since I stole the tree and ran off, you could say the one from Mount Hua is hers now."

"That’s…"

Shouldn’t that be unacceptable?

I was about to say that, but Noya spoke first.

"The important thing is that, while four sacred trees are known to exist, there is actually one more."

"What?"

One more tree existed.

I barely had time to be surprised before Noya raised a finger and pointed toward the sky.

"Up there. There is one more, known as the heart of Mangye."

At his words, I looked up.

The sky was slowly being dyed in shades of crimson as the sun set,

casting an ethereal glow across the horizon.

But all I could see was that twilight sky.

The tree Noya spoke of was nowhere to be seen.

"Do you think you’d be able to see it just by looking? You can’t. That’s why it remains a secret."

"…"

"Then why did you even point at it?"

I stared at him in disbelief, but Noya just clicked his tongue.

"Anyway, what’s important isn’t the tree itself, but your mother’s condition due to the distortion."

"Distortion?"

"The generals and the sacred trees were meant to be in balance. If even one tree was displaced from where it was meant to be, then the stability of Mangye would be compromised. Since the predetermined numbers have been altered, the concentration of energy in the air has also changed."

"…!"

Hearing that, my eyes widened.

The concentration of energy in the air—those words shocked me.

‘…So that was it?’

I had noticed it the moment I arrived in this land.

The sheer density of energy in the air here was overwhelmingly higher compared to Zhongyuan.

I had wondered why it was so drastically different.

‘…And it was because the rules had been broken?’

The answer came straight from Noya’s mouth.

An anomaly caused by the disruption of a set rule.

That was how Noya explained the current situation.

‘If the disturbance of the sacred trees alone could cause this kind of upheaval…’

That meant this was no minor issue.

Then—

"…Why is my mother—no, why is the master not taking action?"

It was strange that the current master, despite knowing about this situation, had hardly made a move.

Even if Yarang’s activities were meant to address this,

there were too many odd details that didn’t add up.

"It’s not that she isn’t moving."

Noya immediately corrected me.

"It’s that she can’t move."

"She can’t? But she was just moving around a moment ago?"

I had just seen her with my own eyes.

What was he talking about?

I couldn’t understand, so I asked again.

"Do you really think she physically came down here?"

"…Then what?"

"Tsk, tsk. Do you have any idea how overwhelming the presence of the master is? If she truly descended with her full presence, this entire area would be reduced to ruins. At best, she merely crafted a semblance of a body and projected a fragment of her consciousness into it."

Noya’s gaze swept over the area.

The streets of Yahwol were still teeming with people.

"Besides—"

His eyes narrowed slightly as he turned to look at me.

"If she had truly come down with full intent, do you think your petty tricks would have worked on her?"

"…"

"She limited the body she manifested to minimize collateral damage. She even used a spirit beast to hold herself back, and only because of that did you barely manage to get through the encounter. If not—"

Poke.

Noya’s finger jabbed me in the forehead.

"Your head would have been lopped off long ago."

"…"

"Try to grasp just how reckless your actions were."

I rubbed my forehead and bit my lip.

"Then this makes even less sense. If the sacred trees are so important, and if they can be found so easily, then shouldn’t she be doing something about it?"

It was well within her capability, yet she wasn’t acting.

Could that really be described as can’t?

"If it were just one anomaly, then yes."

"Huh?"

"If the issue were merely the disappearance of a sacred tree, it wouldn’t be such a problem. But the crisis in Mangye is much worse than that."

"…What do you mean?"

"I told you last time—if your mother oversees the heavens, then there’s also someone who governs the deepest underground of this place."

At Noya’s words, my mind immediately conjured up an image.

A being referred to as Kurung,

but one that should never be called by that name.

"…The Abyssal Pit?"

"Correct."

The ruler of the Abyssal Pit.

A being that governed the deepest darkness of Mangye.

‘The source of demonic beasts, wasn’t it?’

The one that contained all the beings that couldn’t return to Mangye.

The one that managed the creatures that emerged through the Magyeong Gate, the monsters known as demonic beasts.

"That entity was supposed to remain underground, keeping things in order. Do you remember where it is now?"

"…It’s in Mount Hua."

"Exactly."

It had risen to the surface and vanished.

That meant that the entire underground of Mangye was in complete chaos.

And my mother—she was using all her power to suppress it.

"So that’s why finding the sacred trees isn’t the priority?"

"That’s right."

Noya nodded.

The disappearance of the sacred trees was already a major issue.

But the real catastrophe was that another pillar of stability had vanished.

That meant that the master of Mangye, my mother, was being forced to deal with that as well.

"Her true body is occupied with handling that crisis. If she leaves her post even for a moment, Mangye will collapse."

"…So she can’t afford to go searching for the sacred trees?"

"Originally, no one ever considered the possibility that the Abyssal Pit itself would disappear.

There was no contingency plan for this."

"But if the situation is this dire… why wasn’t there any preparation?"

"Because it was unnecessary."

Noya gave me a knowing look.

"In Mangye, nothing can move without her permission.

Not even the Abyssal Pit, despite being a separate ruling entity."

That was why no one ever thought to prepare for it.

It was simply impossible.

At his words, I immediately followed up.

"Then…"

If nothing in Mangye could move without her permission—

But the Abyssal Pit had moved.

And it wasn’t just moving. It had established itself beneath Mount Hua’s sacred tree.

And that sacred tree had been taken away by Noya—at my mother’s request.

That disturbance had shattered the balance.

But even that was something my mother had desired.

If I put all these pieces together,

then—

"…Did my mother want Kurung to abandon its domain and relocate there?"

Even the Abyssal Pit’s actions—

Were they part of her plan?

As I reached that conclusion,

"Heh."

Noya gave me a grin.

"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all."