The sun in Revelation Hell is the color of sunset all day long.
Even so, because the days are long, the fields that baked under it remained hot all day.
As the sun vanished and the cold of the moon replaced it, that heat slowly began to fade.
Someone walked across the fields where, even in the darkness, faint pink streaks could be seen crisscrossing.
“Hallakgoong.”
A voice that spoke his name softly, but with the power to rouse him to his feet.
Hallakgoong carefully unzipped the tent and stepped outside.
The reason he had come here.
Princess Bari, standing with the moon at her back, was waiting for him.
“Will you tell me why you came looking for me?”
It was a smile that seemed to know everything.
But Hallakgoong, still as if in a dream, simply let his thoughts flow out.
“…I wanted to save my Mother.”
No matter how many times he told the story, his memory always returned to that day.
The day he left behind his Mother, who had given him the fine-toothed comb.
“I heard you used the Soul Rebirth Flower. If so, I wondered if I had used it wrong….”
Princess Bari gazed at Hallakgoong without even blinking.
In his eyes reflected the wind blowing in the darkness of night, and the trembling within him.
“You used it just fine.”
“If that’s the case…”
“But, before that, it seems you used something else.”
Words he had never confessed to anyone.
Hallakgoong’s face was awash with shock.
“How did you… how could you know?”
“There is a very dark and twisted stain clinging to your Soul Vessel.”
The voice of Princess Bari, as she spoke, was full of deep sorrow. Like a mother gazing at her suffering child, as if she herself were in pain.
“You used something very ‘dangerous.’”
“…But I couldn’t just let things be.”
Hallakgoong’s clenched fist trembled violently.
It was a mix of fear and anger.
“They are the ones who fed off my Mother’s lifeblood.”
He finally let out a piece of the anger festering in the depths of his heart.
Though the flow of time is different between this world and the next, even as half a century passed in the mortal world, his rage never cooled.
“They even took her life in the end—worse than beasts, those monsters!”
“That is true. That does not change.”
Princess Bari patted Hallakgoong’s shoulder as if to comfort him.
But she was an adult who could point out what he never considered.
“But as you trampled those worms, you soiled your own feet as well.”
“…What?”
“That ‘dangerous thing’ you used shattered your Soul Vessel.”
Princess Bari, closing her eyes, whispered as if in grief to the shocked Hallakgoong.
It was as if, eyes shut, she could see his past that day.
“You tried to save your Mother without realizing that, so the Soul Rebirth Flower was mistaken.”
“Mistaken?”
“Yes. It healed your fractured Soul Vessel before anything else.”
Hallakgoong’s eyes widened in surprise.
Princess Bari continued to gently pat his back.
“This pitiful child, who lost his Mother… how can he bear such sorrow….”
“Then… because of me, is that why Mother couldn’t be saved?”
“No. She only came back halfway.”
Her voice, revealing the truth to Hallakgoong, was warm but resolute.
“That day, the Soul Rebirth Flower split you in two, repaired your Soul Vessel, and revived your Mother.”
“Ah…”
Princess Bari, the Mother who watches over all souls.
With her spiritual power, she could see through all Hallakgoong’s pain, from the past up to now.
Now, having finally realized what had gone wrong, Hallakgoong could no longer hold back his tears.
Princess Bari quietly waited as he wept for a long while.
“So… what should I do?”
Hallakgoong finally managed to look up after barely stopping his tears.
He, who had wandered the world and the afterlife as a living person, did not know how to give up.
Princess Bari gently took his right hand.
And from Hallakgoong’s palm, she drew out the lingering afterimage of a Blue Flame.
“…?!”
“The Songje Great King of the Northern Ice Hell.”
She murmured, as if deep in thought.
“He hid this flame within you and was watching over you.”
“Huh…?”
“In exchange, your Soul Vessel has become more stable.”
In the darkness, Princess Bari’s long lashes fluttered.
A faint sharpness crept into her voice, which until now had been only gentle.
“Where did your father hide the Soul Rebirth Flower?”
“…I don’t know.”
Hallakgoong shook his head.
“After I brought Mother to the Seocheon Flower Garden, I never saw it again. I’m not even sure if the Soul Rebirth Flower still exists.”
The wind that had been tickling their hair shifted direction.
Princess Bari’s gaze, which had been turned toward the distant moonlight, returned to Hallakgoong.
“There are two problems.”
She folded her fingers, one by one.
“First, your Soul Vessel is only barely patched by the Soul Rebirth Flower. The Songje Great King’s Blue Flame is holding it together like glue, but if you want to revive your Mother again, this state won’t do.”
“……!”
“Second, you must find the Soul Rebirth Flower.”
Her second remark, directed at Hallakgoong, sounded as though she was also speaking to herself.
“That flower was made by the Ggotgam Officer. Without that flower, which has the power to overturn the Heavenly Laws themselves, there is no way to awaken your Mother.”
“But…”
“I will tell you a secret that even the Ggotgam Officer, you, do not know.”
Princess Bari’s lips curved into a subtle arc.
“The Ggotgam Officer’s flowers all leave traces.”
“Traces…!”
“Wherever the flower touches, the energy changes. If it’s an object, its scent; if it’s a person, their words; if it’s a space, even the dreams within it shift.”
She lifted a finger to her lips.
“When you return to Seocheon, check the records and footprints. Don’t ask—look for yourself first.”
“Can’t I ask Father directly?”
“Do you still trust your father?”
Hallakgoong closed his mouth.
Since coming to the afterlife, and even until now, Sara had many secrets.
He could never guess what she was thinking. The only reason Hallakgoong hadn’t let go of that bond was—
“…I trust him.”
Because he saw Sara caring for Mother Wongangam every night.
Even if she never once spoke kindly to her son, he knew she cherished his Mother….
“I want to trust him.”
“…Your soul always leans toward staying pure.”
Princess Bari spoke to Hallakgoong in a mysterious way. As always, she saw things in him that no one else could.
“But that tilt is precarious. You must learn to steady your breathing—slow and deep. Only then can your Soul Vessel mend. And you must return to Seocheon.”
Somewhere, clouds drifted in and veiled the moonlight.
Princess Bari stepped a little closer to Hallakgoong.
“Your Mother still has time. First, set yourself right, then begin.”
When her hand touched his forehead, it carried a curiously cold scent of winter.
The wind, which had paused for a moment, brushed against the tent again.
“Thank you.”
“What for, young master?”
As if she were a different person just moments before, the peaceful smile he’d seen yesterday returned to her face.
She covered her mouth and laughed quietly.
“I must be leaving soon, so forgive me for coming to you in the dead of night. Please pardon my rudeness.”
“Not at all. Thank you for coming to me first.”
“There is always a road. You simply must walk it yourself.”
Princess Bari slowly turned toward the moonlight.
As she took a step forward, she seemed to climb invisible steps into the air, vanishing one step at a time.
Hallakgoong opened and closed his palm once more.
The Blue Flame from before was nowhere to be seen.
‘Soul Vessel first. Then the flower.’
He organized the tasks in his mind, one by one.
The noise that had filled his heart all day grew astonishingly calm and ordered.
“When morning comes, let’s go back.”
“Already?”
Startled, Hallakgoong turned around.
There stood Mujae, rubbing his sleepy eyes.
“Huaaaam…”
Unlike Hallakgoong, whose heart nearly leapt out of his chest in surprise, Mujae gave a long, lazy yawn, still not fully awake.
“Who were you talking to? I woke up because I heard a woman’s voice…”
“…Princess Bari.”
“What!?”
Mujae’s big eyes went even rounder, and a new crease formed in his eyelids.
“How? Did you call her?”
“No, she came herself.”
Hallakgoong bit his lip for a moment.
He hesitated, unsure how much to say.
“…She said my soul is unstable. That I need to become stronger.”
“And? The Soul Rebirth Flower? Did you ask?”
“…Yeah. But I didn’t find out.”
Hallakgoong’s lips closed again.
Mujae, seeing that, felt a pang of disappointment.
“I see…”
“…….”
“It’s okay, we can go look together again!”
Mujae patted Hallakgoong’s shoulder, then let his hand fall away.
It was a brief comfort, but it was enough for Hallakgoong.
Hallakgoong gazed at the moon where Princess Bari had vanished.
Though morning was still far off, Hallakgoong’s mind was already set.
When morning comes, let’s go back.