By Zephyria 
“You shall suffer from madness. You will forget who you are and truly walk the path of the Demon God.”
The path leading to Flame Mountain began to open behind the ice dragon. Mu-gyeong gazed with vacant eyes at the exit he had sought so desperately.
Unlike when he had entered alone, he had firmly vowed that he would leave with Ho-yeon. Mu-gyeong gently laid Ho-yeon upon the snow leopard’s pelt. Then, he covered Ho-yeon with his own light armor top, which was little more than rags, having been almost entirely burnt away.
This was the only meager thing he could do for him. And in his hand was a single, worn-out sword.
After staring at Ho-yeon endlessly, Mu-gyeong finally moved his feet.
“Child.”
The ice dragon also called out to Mu-gyeong before heading back underground. He was not the Demon God nor the heavenly demon, but merely a child.
“This place, created at the cost of my own life, has distorted time and space.”
Mu-gyeong’s crimson light, directed toward Flame Mountain revealed beyond the ice dragon, seemed to burn with vivid red flames. His jaw was clamped shut beneath bloodshot eyes. If he looked back, it would only increase the time during which Ho-yeon’s life would be whittled away.
“By human time, you will not be able to endure until I meet my child again. If you can handle it, I shall bind your time until the day I meet my child once more.”
Mu-gyeong understood the ice dragon’s meaning perfectly. A mere year or two would not be enough for Ho-yeon to absorb the ice dragon’s energy. For someone without internal energy to digest such a massive amount of power, it could take at least hundreds or even thousands of years.
“I will handle it.”
It was strange. Despite their meeting being nothing more than a fleeting moment in his lifetime, there was not a single shred of hesitation.
Mu-gyeong turned around only when he was right before the barrier. The body lying upon the large snow leopard’s pelt felt truly tiny.
“I am Wi Ho-yeon.”
Mu-gyeong felt as if a fire brand made of snow ice flower was being engraved into his heart. His eyes grew hot, but even that was soon evaporated by the heat.
When he first saw Ho-yeon, he had arbitrarily judged that since he had so much affection, he must also shed many tears. However, even though Ho-yeon often wore a sorrowful expression when thinking of his deceased parents or the children in the cave, he had never actually shed tears.
“I don’t cry often. If I cry, my face gets wet. Then my face freezes. It’s warm when I cry, but it becomes too hard afterward.”
The image of him smiling brightly toward him was vivid. Mu-gyeong no longer let the dying Ho-yeon enter his sight. Showing his firm back, he simply walked out alone, just as he had entered alone. Yet, he felt a lingering sorrow at leaving Ho-yeon alone in this lonely space.
Watching the back of the man leaving the cave with a single sword in hand, the ice dragon released a vacuum of white, terribly silent.
‘However, your memories shall sleep forever within this ice.’
The ice dragon offered a silent apology to the man.
Mu-gyeong’s memories would be buried deep beneath the eternal snow mountains and sealed in the hard permafrost. Nothing else would change. He would simply return to a life where he could not recall any memories of Wi Ho-yeon.
‘You need not forgive me.’
The moment Mu-gyeong stepped into Flame Mountain, the secret art of the divine beast took effect, and the torn space condensed into a single point. Perhaps Cheon Mu-gyeong had turned back once more. Unable to be certain, the ice dragon sank back into the depths where he had been slumbering.
The ice dragon did not regret his choice.
If Cheon Mu-gyeong remained by his side after Ho-yeon had accepted all of his energy, his child would find unparalleled stability.
Since he was transferring energy to the child according to his own wish, Ho-yeon would not suffer from the same madness as Mu-gyeong, but it was certain that the extreme yin chill would torment the child. However, that was only if the child woke up safely.
If Wi Ho-yeon remained in Cheon Mu-gyeong’s memories, the man seized by madness might seek this place again someday. Since all that remained was madness without a shred of reason, he might harm his slumbering child.
After all, this time too, Cheon Mu-gyeong had found the underground cave of the eternal snow mountains—which even the fire dragon could not find—through instinctive attraction.
Tramp, tramp. The appearance of the man walking through Flame Mountain was a mess, hardly looking like the heavenly demon.
“I will definitely become the Cult Leader.”
Suddenly, he turned around. Like someone leaving behind a lingering attachment, he stared into the void for a while before moving his feet again toward a dark cave where not a single speck of light entered. He himself did not even realize why he was heading toward the cave.
“And you will become the Hall Master of Eumbyeol Hall, responsible for all the artists of this cult.”
It was clearly his own voice, but who he was speaking to was obscured by a mist in his eyes. It felt as if a pure white figure had been before him, but he could not remember it. From Cheon Mu-gyeong’s body, the ash of burnt skin continued to scatter in the wind.
“Baek-ah and Jong Jagi will be recorded as beings far less beloved than you, the most cherished existence of the heavenly demon.”
As if searching for someone, he reached the deepest part of the cave and sat on a rock that felt familiar. He felt as if someone had always come and sat beside him when he did this… but perhaps even this was a delusion. He had no one he could call a comrade, nor any family.
He supported his body with a sword as worn as himself and closed his eyes. The pure white figure that had lingered in his mind also vanished quickly without a trace.
At that moment, as the ice dragon’s secret art was completed, Cheon Mu-gyeong’s time was bound to Wi Ho-yeon in the abyss of the North Sea.
Ho-yeon opened his eyes in Mu-gyeong’s arms.
His mind felt excessively heavy, as if a fierce blizzard were raging in his head. Ho-yeon was rolled up in the snow leopard’s pelt, and Cheon Mu-gyeong was holding him. Mu-gyeong himself was lying on the cold cave floor.
“You’ve never once kept your promise to sleep for only three shijins.”
Looking into Ho-yeon’s blankly blinking eyes, Cheon Mu-gyeong gently stroked his eyelid with his hand. Ho-yeon was still wandering the boundary between dream and reality.
While held by Mu-gyeong, Ho-yeon gently closed and opened his eyelids. Though not as much as his head, his body also felt heavy. Thinking about why, he remembered that he had fallen into a deep, fainting sleep while sharing intimacy with Mu-gyeong.
But why had they slept together…
He had faced Mu-gyeong in front of the memorial stone honoring the children sacrificed to create human elixirs, and afterward, a landslide occurred, and they fell endlessly into a cavern.
Mu-gyeong had taken the full impact of the fall with his own body to save him. And he had shared his chill with Mu-gyeong, who could not easily calm his heat, and they had shared intimacy.
Right, this was reality.
‘But then… what was that vivid dream?’
With his mouth slightly open, Ho-yeon met the gaze of Mu-gyeong, who was pressed against him.
Was it really… a dream?
The man in the dream had a large body just like now, but the aura he exuded was closer to a youth than a man, and he was more human. He smiled often, made jokes frequently, and showed far more diverse expressions. Moreover, he was neither the Cult Leader nor the heavenly demon.
However, the Mu-gyeong before him now seemed to have nothing that could be called an expression. He was the Cheon Mu-gyeong he knew well. With a face that seemed indifferent at a glance, he gently covered Ho-yeon’s eyes.
“Sleep more.”
Unlike the man in the dream, he was utterly blunt, but his touch was equally hot.
The man in the dream, who said he had come from Flame Mountain, had made numerous promises to him. He said he would take him out of that place, and for Ho-yeon, who grumbled about being sick of fasting pills, he had readily grilled fish for him…
“I will definitely become the Cult Leader.”
He had affirmed that he would keep Ho-yeon by his side and cherish him once he became the Cult Leader. However, after eating three icefish, he had fallen ill and lost consciousness, waking up without being able to meet the man in the dream any longer.
It was too realistic to be called a dream. But he had never met Mu-gyeong in such a place.
“…Mother.”
Ho-yeon’s lips parted.
“Did Mother… get poisoned?”
Mu-gyeong’s body, which had been embracing Ho-yeon with his whole being, moved slowly.
“Was it Chief Han?”
At the answer that didn’t deny it, but rather asked if he had heard it from Chief Han, Ho-yeon’s eyelids trembled. In the dream, the man had clearly said he had no father. However, it was a fact known to everyone that the previous Cult Leader was his father.
“The previous Cult Leader… is your father… right?”
“To me, a father is a non-existent being.”
“…”
“The things you say upon waking from sleep are truly absurd.”
Tuk, Mu-gyeong crossed his index and middle fingers and flicked Ho-yeon’s forehead very lightly. Mu-gyeong had controlled his strength quite a bit, so it was nothing more than a feather landing, but it came as a strong shock to Ho-yeon.
“Flame Mountain…”
At Ho-yeon’s murmur, Mu-gyeong’s brow furrowed slightly. How could Wi Ho-yeon possibly know about Flame Mountain? Furthermore, Ho-yeon did not even properly know the clear reason why he suffered from fire energy.
Ho-yeon squirmed, then soon pulled his hand out from the snow leopard pelt and placed his white hand on Mu-gyeong’s right arm. Although no writing appeared now, the heat remained.
“The one who subjugated the fire dragon…”
Confusion filled his blue-grey eyes.
“Was it you?”
This time, a clear crack appeared even on Cheon Mu-gyeong’s expressionless face.