Chapter 2: The Ancestor’s Bargain

“No.”

The old man takes a step closer. As the distance narrows, an overwhelming pressure suddenly bears down on me.

Hold on.

This old man is fundamentally different from me, a being of another origin. I know it instinctively.

But being overpowered by him isn’t exactly a pleasant experience. I bristle. Even in death, I haven’t grown any wiser.

“Then what? Where is this place?”

The old man gazes into the void and says, “Guess.”

“Since I’m dead, there’s nowhere to go but the afterlife… This must be the threshold of the underworld, right?”

“Correct.”

“If this is the underworld, who are you? Not a reaper, not my ancestor, so why are you blocking my way?”

“Don’t you realize that because I stand before you, your soul hasn’t yet drifted into the underworld?”

Is such a thing possible?

“Sorry.”

“Have you no spine, descendant?”

“I’m just an uneducated lout.”

“What were you doing while others were learning?”

My gaze drifts to the sword at my waist.

“At the age when others recited poetry, I was a beggar’s brat, so I learned nothing.”

The old man lets out a heavy sigh.

“A beggar? The heir of a man to whom I owe a debt, a beggar… How lamentable.”

“?”

He clicks his tongue.

“Is my ancestor someone you owe a debt to?”

What the hell is this?

“I spent years begging on the streets, and now you talk about some debt?”

The old man doesn’t answer.

“Hey… If you owed a debt, you should’ve paid it while you were alive. So, what, you’re showing up now to settle it with me? You must’ve waited a long time. What kind of grand debt is this that you’d track down a corpse like me?”

“A debt I owe is a grand debt indeed.”

“How high and mighty were you, then? Were you a governor in your day?”

Even as an adopted son, I’m the son of Hyeolyunseong’s lord. To hear me speak with respect, you’d have to be at least a governor, someone even my lord would bow to.

The old man, who’d been answering promptly, suddenly falls silent.

“…No way.”

Could he have been the governor of Seopyeong in life?

“A governor, you say.”

He waves his arms, then clasps his hands behind his back and turns away.

“Wrong. At this rate, you won’t find the answer even by year’s end… I’ll give you a clue. Think first of where Taeryeong was, and you’ll find the truth.”

Taeryeong is the mountain range encircling the southern face of Seopyeong. Seopyeong wraps around the southern and western borders of Mokryeo, stretching to the southeastern frontier.

As such, it’s the only path for foreign armies to invade. It’s inevitable that Seopyeong becomes a graveyard for warriors. Countless have perished there.

“If you know the first to die in Seopyeong, you’ll understand.”

“The first to die, huh.”

I mull over his words. The name Seopyeong isn’t ancient; it was given after the kingdom’s founding.

No way.

“Are you saying you’re the Great Founder King?”

The old man turns back to me, smiling faintly. It’s an irritating smile.

“What’s with that look?”

What’s wrong with my face?

“I thought maybe you were my adoptive grandfather or something.”

Scratching my ear with my thumb, the old man looks flustered.

“Did you not hear? I said I’m the Founder.”

And what, did some emperor ever put a single grain of rice in my mouth?

The food in my stomach came from Uncle Ha, the cook of Hyeolyunseong, and Lady Byeon. The rice was provided by the lord, and the farmers grew it.

“So what? You said you’re just a debtor.”

“True, I said that… But don’t you know I’m the founder of this kingdom?”

I don’t reply.

“Good grief… I can’t tell if your presence in Seopyeong is a blessing or a curse… But with a warrior like you fighting for the kingdom, how can it not be a blessing?”

A blessing, when I’m dead? What nonsense.

Even if he’s a ghost, there are things a former human should and shouldn’t say. I snap.

“What good is a blessing or any damn thing when I’m dead?”

“Are you bitter?”

“Who’s happy about dying?”

“All things die. Wasn’t it your wish to fight to the end and die? You fulfilled that wish, so what’s there to regret?”

“If I’d lived longer, I’d have fought more.”

The old man strokes his chin, tilting his head.

“You want to live more? To fight more, you say.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

He steps closer. Something about his approach feels ominous, and I awkwardly rise from where I’d been lying in the void.

“If you desire it so, I’ll give you a chance.”

“…A chance?”

He grins suspiciously.

“Indeed. Repaying a past debt or granting a chance to a loyal soul like you—how could this not be pleasing?”

As he speaks, the atmosphere grows even more unsettling. The aura emanating from him is no joke. I feel like a madman for having sprawled out before such a figure.

“Over 500 years, I’ve gained strange powers from the spirit of the sacred mountains. Not a ghost, nor a god, but perhaps a spirit. But I fear you might live recklessly, so I’ll set one condition.”

A chill runs down my spine.

But one thing’s clear: this old man’s words aren’t nonsense. A deal. A deal is only struck when both sides have something to offer.

“…A deal?”

The bigger the debt I take on, the greater the reward. I drop to my knees at his feet.

“I’ll do anything… I mean, I will. I don’t care what it is.”

He smirks, continuing, “You don’t care about anything?”

“No.”

“Even if you’re no longer yourself?”

“What does it matter? As long as I’m human.”

“Even if you bear a heavy burden?”

“What’s heavy about reviving a dead man? I could carry Mount Tai and it wouldn’t weigh me down.”

I meant every word. My body, my soul, even my nonexistent distant relatives, down to the dirt under my nails—I’d stake it all with sincerity.

“Hmm…”

He strokes his white beard, pausing as if he might refuse. It doesn’t seem genuine, but you never know.

I’m more tense now than when my head was about to roll.

No way, right? I spoke a bit casually, but he wouldn’t take offense at that, would he?

Please.

Please.

Please…!

“Very well.”

He answers just before I lose it.

“Gah!”

“Your spirit satisfies me. Save Mokryeo. Seopyeong and Hyeolyunseong are part of Mokryeo, aren’t they? If the kingdom is peaceful and prosperous, your homeland will be safe.”

His demeanor shifts abruptly. Until now, he’d been mild, but now a chilling menace radiates from him.

“But if, by some chance…”

Wait, save the kingdom?

“If you dare fool around, I’ll kill you myself.”

Before I can process his words, he extends his hand. A brilliant light bursts from the center of his palm.

A blinding flash, as if it could burn my eyes to ash.

The light is so intense I close my eyes, fearing they’ll burn.

And then, everything before me vanishes.

Did he say he’d kill me if I fooled around?

That old man… The Founder definitely said that.

“Ugh.”

What a grim way to put it.

The light piercing my eyelids is too strong.

Is that old man… the Founder, still here? Why are my eyes so gritty? It’s not like I drank a vat of salt soup last night.

I force my eyelids open, and an old man’s face fills my vision.

“Your Highness!”

Your Highness?

This old man is definitely a stranger. Not the Founder. I rub my eyes to be sure, but no, I don’t know him.

Yet he’s crying. Why is this old man weeping?

Right in front of me.

“Oh, alas, Your Highness…!”

Your Highness?

Did I hear that right? Are my ears shot too?

“To suffer such humiliation from a mere inspector!”

The old man wails in earnest.

A thought flashes through my mind.

No way. Nah, no way.

The chill in my fingertips must be my imagination.

“W-what did you say?”

My words stumble out.

“I should’ve served Your Highness better… Oh, it’s all my fault. Please don’t forgive this lowly one.”

Now’s the time to swallow hard.

I gulp and ask, pointing at myself.

“…This ‘Your Highness’ is a prince?”

No way.

No way.

But.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

His answer is needlessly clear and concise.

Damn it…