CLS-Chapter 538

Chapter 538:

The blazing white flames embedded themselves in Wei Yan-ho’s eyes.

‘It’s bewitching people.’

Flames are just flames. They’re not alive. But just because something isn’t alive doesn’t mean it can’t affect people.

Moonlight isn’t alive, but it influences human emotions.

That flame was the same.

It wasn’t alive. It had no will. Yet when you looked at it, strangely, desires would start boiling up.

Desires…

Everyone’s reaction was natural.

Everyone who had come this far had risked their lives. Though they were acting playfully, this place was truly a death trap, and even if they escaped from here, they would have to endure hellish pursuit from the Demonic Cult.

They couldn’t even easily shake off that pursuit.

It wouldn’t be difficult to quickly overturn the main base and escape as fast as possible. But then the effect would be halved. They needed to drag out the time while making the Demonic Cult members pursue them with hatred. Only then could the Central Plains buy even a little more time.

That’s why they were moving so leisurely. Waiting for those people to return.

It was something that couldn’t be done without risking one’s life.

It was a magnificent deed.

But precisely because of that, two desires inevitably coexisted. One was the instinct to survive, and the other was…

“You want to become a hero, don’t you.”

Heroism.

Since they had risked even their lives, anyone would have the psychology of wanting to play an important role in this war and become a hero. Wei Yan-ho was the same.

That flame was fanning such desires.

Even Zhuge Mun-in, who was second to none in rationality, was speaking of desire so rationally.

“…It’s a ghost thing.”

Jang-il said with a bewildered face.

The logic hadn’t particularly changed. And the thought that they should eliminate that flame hadn’t changed much either. But he could tell that his current self was different from the self who had been saying the same things just moments before.

“Definitely.”

Anger was rising on Zhuge Mun-in’s face.

For someone who prioritized reason above all else, being manipulated by another entity would be an unbearable insult.

“We must eliminate it.”

“…Why is the conclusion the same?”

Wei Yan-ho sighed as he spoke, but Zhuge Mun-in didn’t even pretend to listen.

“That thing is too dangerous, my lord.”

“It’s dangerous, that’s true, but we can’t handle the aftermath if we eliminate it.”

“It’s worth accepting that risk.”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes stared blankly at Zhuge Mun-in.

“If I were a commoner, I would have wanted to stuff stones in your mouth.”

“…”

“Ending the war is good too. But who receives the damage from that?”

“It’s something that must be accepted.”

“You say such things when you’re the one accepting it, not when you’re telling others to accept it.”

Wei Yan-ho’s thoughts were firm.

“It would be nice to see the bigger picture. But that’s something people who can overcome the present do. When you don’t even know if you can overcome it right now, you’re going to look to the future and invite greater danger?”

Wei Yan-ho snorted.

These people seemed to see something big, but Wei Yan-ho had no intention of doing so whatsoever. When surviving right now wasn’t ordinary work, preparing for the future? That was thinking only people with leisure could afford.

“I’m against it.”

“No, don’t just think like that…”

“I said I won’t do it.”

Wei Yan-ho said curtly.

“I absolutely won’t touch that thing. Absolutely!”

Since Wei Yan-ho’s thoughts were so firm, no one could easily oppose him. Jang-il and Wei Jeong-han, who had lingering regrets, clicked their tongues, but there was no time to have an argument with Wei Yan-ho who was shooting fire from his eyes.

‘Should I secretly put it out?’

But Wei Yan-ho seemed to notice Wei Jeong-han’s thoughts and slyly moved his steps to block the front of the sacred flame.

Seeing this, Wei Jeong-han pointed at him in disbelief.

“You Demonic Cult bastard! Are you going to fight me to protect the sacred flame?”

“It’s because you’re trying to pull tricks!”

“Calling your father’s actions tricks!”

“Then conspiracy?”

“Just call it tricks…”

Wei Jeong-han let out a deep sigh.

What could he do when that guy would block him even by force? Besides, Wei Yan-ho’s logic wasn’t wrong either. This was a problem with no correct answer. Both sides had valid reasons. It was just a difference in what to prioritize.

‘Maybe the kid’s words are right for now.’

The Central Plains were in an unprecedented crisis. Without any countermeasures, they shouldn’t increase the danger for now. Though it was regrettable, withdrawing now was the right thing to do.

“Tsk, let’s go!”

“We’re just leaving. Don’t even look back!”

“I told you I understand!”

Though he said that, Wei Jeong-han and the group’s gazes kept following the sacred flame.

That thing, they shouldn’t just leave it like that…

They understood it with their heads, but their steps kept getting slower. Even Wei Yan-ho, who should have been urging the group on, kept looking back.

“…You, what are you doing?”

“Well, how should I put it…”

Wei Yan-ho answered with a very uncomfortable expression.

“It feels like leaving meat on the dinner table…”

“…That’s a good analogy.”

Wei Jeong-han felt exactly the same. The feeling that they should somehow do something about that thing, but were leaving without being able to do anything.

“This is the right thing to do, right?”

“It’s right, but…”

Wei Yan-ho let out a deep sigh.

“If we leave here now, we probably won’t be able to come back, right?”

“We could come if we killed all the Demonic Cult members. They’d block us until the very last person.”

Those who had allowed one intrusion wouldn’t give them a second chance. If the Demonic Cult were such a foolish group, they wouldn’t have been able to reign as the terror of the Central Plains until now.

“Then that’s a bit regrettable…”

“Right?”

Wei Yan-ho slightly turned his head.

“Hmm…”

It was food too big to swallow in one bite. Then?

“Should we eat half?”

“Half?”

Everyone turned their heads at the word “half.”

“We can’t completely extinguish it, but what if we half-extinguish it? If we could do that, it seems like they’d waste more time trying to keep a flame that’s about to go out alive…”

All eyes focused on Zhuge Mun-in.

When an opinion came up, verifying its validity was Zhuge Mun-in’s job.

“I don’t know how we could produce such a result, but if it’s possible, we could tie up their feet even more. Besides… no, this isn’t important. Anyway, it would be possible.”

Zhuge Mun-in didn’t bother to add, ‘If we could only do that, the pursuit of those chasing us would also weaken.’

“Really?”

Wei Yan-ho’s ears perked up.

‘He bit.’

‘He bit indeed.’

‘He totally bit.’

Just seeing those perked ears, you could tell what Wei Yan-ho was thinking.

“Then trying it once wouldn’t be bad, would it?”

“Of course!”

“I think so too!”

“Amitabha, for once the donor is saying something human-like.”

Wei Yan-ho nodded vigorously and turned his body around. Then the group ran back to line up in front of the sacred flame as if someone was pulling them from behind.

“Half-extinguishing it should work, right?”

“But is that even possible?”

“We need to look closely.”

Then Zhuge Mun-in stroked his chin and said,

“But I’ve been thinking for  a while.”

“Hm?”

“Doesn’t that flame seem a bit small?”

“It’s plenty big though?”

“Well, yes, but…”

The group all understood what Zhuge Mun-in was pointing out.

The flame was by no means small. It was about the size of a bonfire. But the place built to hold that bonfire was too enormous. For the proportions to match, it should be ten times bigger.

“Maybe it was just built like this because it’s important?”

“For symbolic meaning too, it’s not good. How does it look at first glance?”

“It looks shabby.”

Jang-il had no choice but to nod. Perhaps because of the enormous beacon platform and the bizarre sculptures decorating underneath it, the flame itself looked small and shabby. The flame should be much bigger for the proportions to match.

“Does that mean it was originally bigger?”

“Probably.”

“Then why did it get smaller?”

“I don’t know.”

“…Then there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I’m just saying.”

“Tsk.”

Jang-il clicked his tongue.

This is why scholars…

“Then how do we make that thing…”

At that moment, Wei Yan-ho walked forward step by step and leaped up onto the sacred flame.

“What the hell?”

“That reckless bastard!”

Hadn’t they already confirmed that the sacred flame bewitched people? Yet he jumped in so boldly.

“It’s just a flame anyway.”

Wei Yan-ho didn’t care. He had experienced too much to lose his reason from having his desires stimulated to that degree. No matter how many desires existed in the world, what desires could surpass hunger and sleep?

He had lived for five whole years under Baek Mu-han’s grip, with his hunger and sleep restricted to the extreme. Now that other desires arose, what would change about Wei Yan-ho?

It wasn’t that he was confident he could block it, but rather his calculation was that even if he was affected, nothing would change.

‘But this is getting annoying.’

It seemed even Wei Yan-ho had difficulty overcoming the desire to be lazy. Wei Yan-ho shook his head vigorously as he approached the flame.

A bewitching flame.

Looking closely, he could see even better how abnormal this thing was. The white flame gave Wei Yan-ho an intense sense of alienation. It felt like something that shouldn’t exist in this world had appeared before his eyes.

‘How should I handle this?’

It would be good to blow it away with a puff, but there was a possibility the flame would be completely extinguished if he did that. If that happened, it would be irreversible.

Whatever this was, since it was a flame, it must be burning something. If he found that medium and split it in half, wouldn’t that work? If he split it all at once, it might go out by chance, so if he scraped it away bit by bit…

Wei Yan-ho’s body froze like stone as he looked around the flame.

“Yan-ho?”

Wei Jeong-han noticed Wei Yan-ho’s change. Wei Yan-ho, who had been quickly looking here and there, had fixed his gaze somewhere and wasn’t moving.

Wei Jeong-han’s face hardened.

‘Did something go wrong?’

There was plenty of possibility of that. That flame was an unknown ghost thing after all. Panicked, Wei Jeong-han put strength in his legs and leaped up to where Wei Yan-ho was in one bound.

“Yan-ho, you…”

“…”

Wei Jeong-han, who was about to say something, closed his mouth. His gaze naturally followed what Wei Yan-ho was looking at, and he understood what had made Wei Yan-ho stop his actions.

“Wh-why is this here?”

Wei Jeong-han also couldn’t continue his words.

It wasn’t that he had seen something magnificent or special. It wasn’t that he had seen something terrible enough to make one’s skin crawl.

Just something familiar.

Something all too familiar.

The fact that such a familiar thing was in this place was bleaching his mind.

Wei Yan-ho silently reached out his hand.

Then he pulled out the thing that was embedded right behind the sacred flame.

A sword.

An unremarkable longsword.

It was a longsword you could commonly see. No one would think this strange. But for only two people, Wei Jeong-han and Wei Yan-ho, this was a matter of serious significance.

“Why?”

The longsword held in Wei Yan-ho’s hands was an object all too familiar to them.

It had to be.

This sword was the beloved weapon of someone they knew well.

Wei San-ho.

Wei San-ho’s sword was there.

“Why…”

Faced with something incomprehensible, Wei Jeong-han couldn’t continue any words.