By Zephyria 
“Hieek!”
Seong Mu-yeon quickly lowered his posture, bracing himself for an incoming arrow, a poison-tipped hidden weapon, or perhaps a mace.
“…….”
However, nothing happened.
Come to think of it, Baek Ryeo-il must have already passed through this path. Once a trap had been triggered, its utility was spent, and it would no longer function.
“Ahem…….”
Seong Mu-yeon awkwardly straightened his back.
Upon closer inspection of the launch ports and pressure plates where the arrows should have flown from, there were signs that they hadn’t just been triggered, but had been meticulously deactivated by a skilled hand.
Naturally, it was Baek Ryeo-il’s handiwork.
He had taken measures for the sake of whoever might follow behind. Thanks to that, Seong Mu-yeon was able to move forward with ease.
“Master…….”
Feeling Baek Ryeo-il’s touch lingering everywhere, a sudden surge of sorrow welled up inside Seong Mu-yeon. He didn’t know why it was so difficult to meet just one person.
However, he pressed onward, fueled by the thought that he would see him at the end of this path.
Unfortunately, the warmth in his heart, born of a bit of tenderness and longing, did not last long.
Even if the traps were rendered useless, the smooth sections were not particularly long. Only the traps had been deactivated; the perilous structure itself, personally prepared by the owner of the secret vault, remained intact.
Crossing a cliff while gripping a rope was the easy part.
“Damn it. To hell with this. Curse this whole thing!!”
Seong Mu-yeon muttered foul curses while pressing his back tightly against the wall. He was standing on a stone protrusion barely the width of a finger, located on both sides of a passage where the floor had completely collapsed.
Screech.
Grains of crushed sand crumbled from the tip of his foot and fell. Seong Mu-yeon glanced down. Inside the pitch-black, gaping pit, razor-sharp iron spikes were densely packed. It seemed that anything falling in there would be left without a trace.
Seong Mu-yeon continued forward.
He passed through a path blocked by blades protruding from the wall, crossed a single-plank bridge that swayed left and right over a swarm of poisonous insects, and leaped across palm-sized stepping stones atop a pond of acidic poison.
As he overcame these crises several times, Seong Mu-yeon gradually became calmer.
When he first set out, he had been so consumed by the single thought of meeting Baek Ryeo-il that he couldn’t think straight. However, while crossing various dangerous obstacles, his boiling blood settled.
“…….”
As reason returned, the fear nestled in a corner of Seong Mu-yeon’s heart peeked out, asserting its presence.
What if, this time, Baek Ryeo-il truly felt disillusioned with him and had lost all affection? That worry began to creep in.
Baek Ryeo-il hadn’t waited for him to wake up. He used the Poison Freak as an excuse, but what if he had actually run away because he couldn’t stand the sight of him?
Even Seong Mu-yeon, who rarely felt intimidated, could not avoid it this time.
Compared to what Baek Ryeo-il had shown him, Seong Mu-yeon had done nothing for him. If anything, he had only caused him pain.
His once confident strides slowed noticeably.
Facing Baek Ryeo-il, who possessed a heart so pure it was almost sacred, he felt himself to be too insignificant and wretched.
He felt sinful for the days he had treated him with such ambivalent feelings.
There were things he had to say upon meeting him. So many things. But as the moment of judgment approached, his mind went blank. He didn’t know how or where to begin.
Unlike his strong exterior, Baek Ryeo-il’s inner self was incredibly fragile due to having suffered for so long; no words in this world would be entirely appropriate.
Yet, the reason he did not stop his steps, even if they slowed, was thanks to the handful of courage provided by Baek Ryeo-il’s unchanging heart.
Seong Mu-yeon began to wish that this path would never end and would stretch on forever. He found it ridiculous how he had been so impatient to meet him, only to change his mind as if flipping a palm.
Still, his desire to see him remained.
He had to meet him right now.
No. He needed a bit more mental preparation.
Conflicting desires clashed, causing psychological turmoil. Even while a fierce battle raged in his head, his body moved steadily.
After some time, Seong Mu-yeon sensed a human presence ahead.
An arrogant presence characteristic of a predator, unconcerned about who might come and hesitant to hide himself, brushed against his senses.
If it wasn’t Baek Ryeo-il, who else could it be?
He hadn’t finished his mental preparation, yet he was to meet him in the middle of the path. Seong Mu-yeon clutched his chest, where his heart was pounding like never before.
An urge to turn around and flee surged within him. At the same time, a desire to run straight to Baek Ryeo-il and embrace him tightly coexisted.
A dazzling light illuminating the end of the single path entered Seong Mu-yeon’s vision. Baek Ryeo-il would be there.
Finally…….
In the end, the desire to see Baek Ryeo-il overcame the fear, and Seong Mu-yeon took a step into the place filled with bright light.
Having been adapted to the darkness, he was momentarily blinded by the exposure to the bright light and could see nothing. Seong Mu-yeon squinted his stinging eyes and waited for them to adjust.
Then, he saw him.
Baek Ryeo-il was standing some distance away, his back turned to Seong Mu-yeon.
As always, even from behind, the aura of a high-level Master, whom an ordinary person could not hope to approach, was clearly evident.
The long hem of the long robe draped over his Martial Uniform, which had tightly cinched sleeves, fluttered lightly, occasionally revealing a slender waist. The elastic contour falling from his broad shoulders to his waist was pleasing to the eye.
Unlike the narrow passages he had traversed until now, the place where he stood was the center of a wide, open circular space.
It seemed the trial prepared by the owner of the secret vault this time was Jiangshi. Fragments of corpses that could no longer move were strewn at Baek Ryeo-il’s feet. As if proving the battle that had just occurred, black droplets of blood dripped from the Nansaeng Sword, which he held lightly at a diagonal.
For a while, Seong Mu-yeon stood motionless, his gaze stolen by him.
Crunch.
The moment he unconsciously took a step forward, he stepped on a piece of stone rubble. No sooner had the sound occurred than Baek Ryeo-il’s gaze landed on Seong Mu-yeon.
Bathed in the morning sunlight filtering in from somewhere, he was breathtakingly beautiful.
As if time had stopped for a moment, the two stared at each other.
Was he surprised by the sudden appearance? Baek Ryeo-il’s eyes were wide, and his mouth was slightly open. He looked as if he had completely lost his sense of reality.
“Master…….”
Seong Mu-yeon’s lips trembled as he took another step forward. At that, Baek Ryeo-il snapped back to his senses and his eyes widened.
“No! If you step there……!”
Clang!
Simultaneous with Baek Ryeo-il’s urgent shout, a familiar noise hit his ears. It was a sound he had heard countless times on his way here. Because Baek Ryeo-il had deactivated all the traps he had passed, the sound of a trap triggering was no longer a threat to him. Having gained some experience, Seong Mu-yeon had been stepping on whatever he wanted without even being cautious. This time was no different.
What he had stepped on was the threshold connecting the narrow passage to the wide space. Due to the weight, it had sunk in slightly less than the width of a finger.
But Baek Ryeo-il’s reaction was as if…….
Rumble, rumble……!
Hearing the sound of a real threat approaching for the first time since entering the secret vault, the hair on Seong Mu-yeon’s entire body seemed to stand on end.
And then, the ground beneath his feet gave way.
“Aaaaaah!”
Seong Mu-yeon slid down along the tilted floor. He was the only one who fell. Only the spot where he had been standing became a slide; the place where Baek Ryeo-il stood remained intact.
As he plummeted rapidly, Baek Ryeo-il’s horrified face flashed briefly in his vision. After that, it was darkness.
“Aaaaaah!”
Seong Mu-yeon screamed. He couldn’t see the bottom of the pit he was falling into; it seemed bottomless.
“I’m going crazy!”
Baek Ryeo-il’s cursing could be heard from above. Soon after, a powerful force enveloped Seong Mu-yeon.
Caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, Seong Mu-yeon lost his composure. He clung desperately to the person beside him.
Thump!
Fortunately, it seemed the owner of the secret vault did not wish for those who stepped on the trap to die from the fall, as the two landed on a cushioned floor.
However, it was too early to be relieved.
Rumble, rumble!
The vibration and roar of something violently striking the ground grew louder and louder, closing in instantly. In the vision of the two, who had heightened their sight in the darkness, a massive boulder came rolling toward them fiercely.
“Run!”
“Aaaaaah!”
The moment they spotted the boulder, the two threw themselves in the opposite direction.
“I’m seriously going crazy! Why on earth did you step on that!”
Baek Ryeo-il snapped in irritation.
They ran side-by-side down a narrow path, not unlike the ones they had seen so far.
“Is that my fault?! Why didn’t you deactivate this trap! Since all the traps before this were gone, it’s only natural to think this one would be too!”
Even while running for his life, Seong Mu-yeon fought back without backing down.
“Then is it my fault? Is it my fault?!”
“That doesn’t mean it’s my fault either!”
Rumble, rumble!!
“Even so, how can you be so careless? Are you even a martial artist?!”
“Then what am I! A scholar?!”
Rumble, rumble!!
While a boulder larger than a human’s height licked at the backs of their heads, threatening to swallow them at any moment, the two continued to shout at each other.
“Aaaaaah!”
The reunion Seong Mu-yeon had imagined was absolutely not like this.