The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-263

Seol silently gazed at Hye Myeong, completely mesmerized.

‘A young Hye Myeong… oh my god.’

Though Seol knew he would meet Hye Myeong through Mi Ah’s drawings, he was still a bit shocked to see him in person.

“I’m warning you, don’t come any closer.”

Glooow…

Hye Myeong’s staff began to radiate a golden light.

Though it was weaker than Chi Woo’s light, it was clear that this wasn’t all of Hye Myeong’s strength.

“Hey!”

Seol snapped back after hearing Hye Myeong’s shout.

“I told you to reveal yourselves!”

“We…”

In truth, this was the most difficult part.

Mi Ah was naturally cautious, and Hye Myeong had the responsibility to protect her.

It was only natural for them to be wary when Seol and the others suddenly approached.

However, this was all within expectations.

Seol recited his prepared statements.

“We’re members of the Artifact Association.”

“...What? The Artifact Association?”

“Yes, we were dispatched to the Janita Plateau because of an important relic.”

Seol was doing his best to recall exactly what Hye Myeong was up to during this time.

What item was he trying to acquire? What Adventure was he on?

Judging by his appearance, he had yet to acquire the Luminous Bell, as Seol expected.

Seol paused for a moment, wondering why he was speaking so casually to Hye Myeong. Then it dawned on him—he didn't see Hye Myeong as a stranger, but as someone he had spent a long time with, a part of himself.

‘It’s not necessarily wrong for me to think of him like that, though…’

Regardless, the most important matter at hand was getting Hye Myeong to accept their claims.

“The Artifact… Association?”

Hye Myeong’s eyes quickly darted around.

Though he had acted confidently before, he was quickly intimated after hearing ‘Artifact Association’.

While Hye Myeong wouldn’t have cared about their organization if he had met Seol’s party elsewhere or at another time, he had a specific reason for being concerned right now.

‘You have to be cautious right now…’ thought Seol.

Seol knew that things would become complicated for Hye Myeong if the Artifact Association got involved.

“A-Ahem… The Artifact Association came all the way here? No wonder… I thought your clothes did look out of place…”

Chi Woo stared blankly as Seol Hong quickly caught on and responded appropriately.

While it would have been nice if it had simply continued like this… Chi Woo also contributed with his awkward acting.

“Th-that’s right. We are the Artifact Association.”

Chi Woo was quite clumsy at lying.

While this was usually one of his positive traits, unfortunately, right now, it only made the man in front of him even more doubtful.

“Hm…”

Sensing something off, Hye Myeong asked a question.

“If you guys are members of the Artifact Association… which of you is the person in charge?”

Chi Woo and Seol Hong knew little about the Artifact Association, leaving Seol as their only option. Fortunately, he also knew the most about it.

“I am,” said Seol.

“Oho… I thought you’d be. Your name?”

Seol then gave his name, as well as Chi Woo’s and Seol Hong’s.

“So, what brings the three of you here? Ah, are you not allowed to share information with outsiders?” asked Hye Myeong.

Seol responded calmly.

“Of course we can. We came here in search of a particular item. We recently received information that it could be found here.”

“An… item?”

Seol then spotted Mi Ah, who was hiding behind Hye Myeong, stealing glances at his bag.

And judging by how she continued to squirm, it was clear that she found this situation uncomfortable.

Through her, Seol was able to uncover the truth.

‘His bag… it must be there.’

Because of the ruin's structure, one item had to be acquired first to reach the luminous bell hidden inside it.

‘So he already acquired the Golden Divine Statue at this point.’

The Ruins of Watala.

It was after overcoming this ruin that Hye Myeong began to grow at an incredible pace.

By acquiring the Golden Divine Statue, which was placed in a room right before the Luminous Bell, he received an Awakening that caused him to grow exponentially.

“What… exactly are you searching for?”

Seol was curious about the face Hye Myeong would make if he said it was the divine statue.

However, since they weren’t close enough to joke around yet and Seol needed to prove he wasn’t an enemy, he held his tongue.

What held him back the most, though, were the warnings Mi Ah had given him before entering the drawing.

The first warning that Mi Ah gave him:

- The world within the drawing is an entirely different one. You cannot expect the events of the past to unfold exactly as they did. Every decision you make will have both positive and negative consequences.

- Then that means… there’s a chance things could turn out differently? What about the issues that might arise if we replace this Luminous Bell with the complete one from the past?

- While this Luminous Bell may have lost its powers, it will still exist when replaced. I also doubt that the future will change too much from such a small change. However… if you wish to acquire the Luminous Bell at its full strength, you must achieve the feat it was used for without relying on its powers. If you don’t…

Mi Ah then concluded with this.

- …when you return, the future will have changed significantly. And if that happens, there won’t be another chance to correct it. Because this opportunity… was created by squeezing out every last drop of my waning powers.

Mi Ah’s drawings had the ability to change the past.

Well, now that she had lost her powers, it could be more appropriate to say that they used to have the ability to change the past.

This was why so many evil individuals had sought her out in the past.

Now, however, only a handful of people in Khan were aware of her abilities.

‘We only have one opportunity, so we shouldn’t change anything other than what we agreed upon. It’s too dangerous.’

The future wouldn’t change too much from Seol and the others taking the Luminous Bell.

Not only was it used once before, but it had also lost its powers through it.

‘And if we can handle it ourselves without relying on the Luminous Bell’s powers, we should be able to bring it to the present safely.’

However, they still had to be cautious.

Because near the Luminous Bell… was Hye Myeong, the Great Virtue, someone who had made a name for themselves in The World of Eternity.

“What we are looking for…”

Gulp…

“...is a bell.”

Phew…

Mi Ah breathed a sigh of relief after hearing that.

She realized that they wouldn’t have to fight over the Golden Divine Statue, something they already claimed for themselves.

Hye Myeong also seemed to relax a bit after hearing that Seol and the others weren’t after the statue.

“What does that bell look like?” asked Hye Myeong, scratching his cheek.

Unfurl…

Seol unfurled a scroll, showing Hye Myeong a drawing of the Luminous Bell.

“Hm… this… urm…” Hye Myeong stammered, thinking for a moment. “If it’s that, it’s fine. I think we know where the bell you’re looking for is.”

He likely did.

After all, the Luminous Bell was something acquired after opening the second gate of the Ruins of Watala.

Seol also recalled that there were clues provided about a mystical bell in the second gate of the ruin.

“I’ll help you guys out. In exchange, could you help me as well?”

Hye Myeong walked back toward his makeshift camp before returning with something in his hands.

His request was not difficult at all.

“Turn a blind eye to this.”

“......”

It was an item that Chi Woo and Seol Hong saw for the first time, but one Seol knew well.

The Golden Divine Statue.

At first, it appeared to be a statue of a reclining Buddha, but upon closer inspection, it resembled a voodoo doll depicting a greedy god. It flashed its many teeth and was adorned with numerous accessories.

Seol was already aware that Hye Myeong had found this in the ruin and was slowly unlocking its powers.

‘He’s growing well.’

Though it was powerful, Seol had no intent of stealing it from him.

It was his, after all.

‘The Golden Divine Statue… it’s pretty appealing, but it’s already his.’

Seol also did not want to possibly change the present by taking it away from him.

Would the powers Seol could gain by taking the Golden Divine Statue away from him lead to a better situation? Or a better future?

‘Of course not. It’s best if we don’t interfere. We should focus solely on the Luminous Bell.’

Seol nodded in response to his question.

“If you assist us, we won’t report it to the higher-ups.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’ll just become annoying.”

"Thanks! I’ve heard the Artifact Association members can be a real pain in the ass, but you seem alright!"

- Because he isn’t a member of the Artifact Association!

- Nodders!

“Ah, it’s a compliment. More importantly, you called it the ‘Luminous Bell’, right?”

“Yes.”

“Unfortunately, you won’t be able to get it right away.”

Seol knew this as well.

'I guess the timing was a bit more off than I expected.'

Hye Myeong then told them why.

“This ruin only opens once every three days. At night.”

This was something Seol had experienced before with Alcatron, a ruin that also only appeared at night. However, unlike Alcatron, the Ruins of Watala had the added condition of opening only once every three nights.

“There’s still two more days until it opens again.”

“...Got it.”

Hye Myeong raised an eyebrow as Seol accepted his words without hesitation, then turned his attention to Agony.

“By the way, I didn’t have the luxury to ask you this earlier, but… what the hell is that black thing with you? Emergency rations?”

Agony scowled.

[Black thing? Emergency ration? I’m Agony!]

“Agony? What’s an Agon… Wait, it’s talking?”

“Agony is my assistant.”

“Ah, I see! I heard the Artifact Association was full of strange things, but I never expected talking objects to be one of them. Nice to meet you, I’m Hye Myeong. I apologize for what I said earlier.”

Fwirl!

As Hye Myeong reached his hand out, Agony placed its tail into it.

[I will forgive you only this once!]

Hye Myeong smirked upon hearing those words.

“Also, I’ll take care of your meals as well,” said Hye Myeong. “Is corn porridge for dinner alright?”

“Corn porridge?” asked Chi Woo, his ears perking up.

“Yeah.”

“Well… It’s alright…”

“But the corns aren’t in the best condition.”

“What do you mean?”

“A few of them are spoiled?”

“Why are you saying they aren’t in the best condition when they are spoiled? If they are spoiled, just throw them away! I’m sure you have some that are in good condition, right? Can’t you just give us one of those?”

“Mi Ah is still growing, so those are for her. I’ve been taking care of the spoiled ones myself. But now that you’re here, we’ll be able to use them all before they go bad, hahaha!”

- Hahaha…?

- This fucker…?

- I’ll kill him!

Seol smirked after hearing that.

‘I only made him do that because it wasn’t me who was eating them. And the only reason I did was…’

Hye Myeong had an iron body.

Eating a few rotten corn would not do too much to him.

Although it would obviously taste awful, it wasn’t as if Seol was eating any himself. As such, he gave the good ones to Mi Ah and let Hye Myeong handle the spoiled ones.

A weird feeling grew in Seol’s heart as he looked at his past decisions.

“I’ll handle the food,” said Seol.

“Huh? You don’t have to, though?”

“No, I should. It’ll be much better than rotten corn porridge.”

“You’re not… wrong? But it’s not like the corn will become better by changing the chef…”

Grab… grab…

Seol then pulled out two things from his inventory.

He pulled out his ingredients pouch and his seasoning jar.

Hye Myeong was shocked after seeing how fresh each of the ingredients were.

“Everything fits in that small pouch? That’s insane! It must be an artifact from the Artifact Association, right?!”

There was no way for Hye Myeong to know about this item as there were no transferees then.

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Hahaha! I’m liking you more and more!”

Sizzle…

Seol then started grilling not just vegetables but meat as well.

“He seems like a Buddhist…” whispered Seol Hong. “Is it okay… to cook meat?”

“Well…”

Seol Hong was briefly worried that Seol might have forgotten to accommodate Hye Myeong.

However, it was Seol who knew him best.

“Huh? I’m fine! I eat meat, too.”

“...Don’t you have precepts that you need to follow?”

“Ah, I gave them up. There’s only one precept that I keep now,” smiled Hye Myeong. “You must save yourself.”

- Save yourself.

It was a phrase that Seol had also told Yeo-myeong.

This awakening for Hye Myeong had ended up becoming a lesson for Seol as well.

"That's the first time I've ever heard of such a precept..."

“Obviously, I made it myself.”

“It sounds like nonsense.”

“Haha. It might, but I’ll have you know that it’s incredibly difficult to keep.”

* * *

After their meal, they all quickly went to sleep.

Snooore…

Chi Woo fell asleep by Seol Hong’s side, as if he was ready to protect her at any moment.

While it might seem like he had lowered his guard, Seol knew that if something did happen, Chi Woo would be ready at a moment’s notice.

Crackle…

Crackle…

Wooosh…

Mi Ah and Hye Myeong were missing from the camp.

Seol stood up from his bedding before walking toward a noise.

There, he spotted Mi Ah sitting on a rock and Hye Myeong vigorously swinging his staff.

Fwooosh…

Fwoooosh…

The sound of his swings echoed throughout the rest of the plains.

“Fuuu… Fuuu… You’re up?”

“...Yeah.”

Hye Myeong sized up Seol before smiling.

“How about a spar?”

“......”

A spar with Hye Myeong, the Great Virtue, one of Seol’s 10 legendary pieces.

While he would still have to put in tremendous effort to reach the level Seol knew him for, the embers of that potential were still there.

“You can decline if you want to,” said Hye Myeong.

“No,” smiled Seol. “Let’s do it.”