Chapter 35: The Secret of the Soul Rebirth Flower

The third day of the Promotion Team’s vacation began in the office.

In broad daylight, with the sun blazing outside, the curtains were drawn tight, transforming the office into perfect darkness.

A private screening of the Northern Ice Hell documentary, made just for the Promotion Team, was underway.

Inside the pitch-black office, the monitor displayed the white snowy fields of Northern Ice Hell.

The highlight was the Amethyst Cave segment featuring The Black Tortoise Ice Vessel.

Especially when the eyes of The Dead inside the black ice met theirs, everyone screamed in shock.

“Ugh!!”

“…Zack, why is your fist aimed at the monitor?”

‘…I was so startled, I almost smashed it.’

Thankfully, Mujae had instinctively grabbed Zack’s fist just in time. Zack let out a sigh of relief and admiration.

‘I’m glad we all wore our personal cams at the start of filming. We caught scenes like that.’

“Right, right. If it hadn’t been for the personal cams, we wouldn’t have had enough footage.”

Mujae, who could never forget how terrifying Hallakgoong acted during every shoot, nodded fiercely in agreement.

Gradually, the footage moved into the latter part, capturing the beautiful aurora and shooting stars seen from the Aurora Terrace.

Though it was an incredibly moving scene, Mujae and Zack naturally glanced at Hallakgoong.

But the protagonist, who in the footage appeared with tears and snot all over his face, now sat there completely expressionless.

Mujae asked, very suspiciously.

“…Hallakgoong, are you okay?”

“What?”

“No, I just thought that rewatching it might bring up all those emotions from back then, you know?”

“I am feeling them.”

“??”

Looking again, what was trickling down Hallakgoong’s cheek…tears?!

Hallakgoong calmly lied as he wiped his tears away with the tissue Zack handed him.

“Still, after watching this much, it’s kind of boring.”

“…You’re saying one thing but doing another, aren’t you??”

At Mujae’s exasperated reaction, Hallakgoong smirked.

“We’ve watched this over and over all night, you know. Really.”

“Weren’t you scared? Didn’t you say you couldn’t remember anything?”

“That’s right. From when I started crossing the perpetual snowfields, my memory goes blank.”

Hallakgoong’s memories had disappeared even earlier than expected. The scenery of Northern Ice Hell unfolding on the screen was strange and beautiful to him.

Finally, the video ended with the River of Three Crossings, where sunlit glaciers sparkled in the morning light.

Clap, clap, clap… Zack and Mujae stood up and applauded enthusiastically.

“As expected! We believed in you, Gunggung!!”

‘You were seriously amazing. You worked so hard.’

Hallakgoong also proudly bowed politely to his audience.

“Thank you, everyone. Now, I’ll send it to Seolpyo.”

“What?”

Mujae’s eyes widened as he stopped clapping.

“No way.”

“Huh?”

‘There are still a few things to revise.’

“What things?”

Just a moment ago, they were giving a standing ovation, and now they wanted revisions. Hallakgoong looked at Mujae in disbelief.

“This time, isn’t it supposed to be a thriller with me as the main character? But my screentime is too short.”

‘No, it’s a zombie movie. I had quite a few action scenes….’

“…You guys.”

With Mujae, Zack also joined the fight for more screentime. In the end, after heated debate and endless editing, they finally finished an edit everyone agreed on.

And at last, they sent it to Seolpyo, and received a reply.

Along with some unexpected revision requests.

Sender: @hanbingofficial

Recipient: @seocheon.garden

Subject: Northern Ice Hell Documentary Rough Cut Review

Hello, Promotion Team of Seocheon Flower Garden!

First of all, thank you so much for creating such a wonderful documentary

—and for completing it in such a short time.

I was genuinely amazed at how vividly and movingly you captured our daily lives.

Thanks to you, many people will finally have the chance to truly understand Northern Ice Hell.

However, we kindly ask that you edit out the scenes featuring Songje Great King.

It’s a request due to internal circumstances, so we’d be grateful if you could make the change.

Once the final version is complete, we will actively promote it as well.

Thank you again, and please come visit us again!

Sincerely,

Seolpyo, Promotion Officer, Northern Ice Hell

“…We’ll have to cut it, won’t we?”

Mujae asked in a voice full of regret.

Songje Great King didn’t have much screentime in the Promotion Team’s documentary about Northern Ice Hell.

But the scene near the end, leaving a heavy and memorable impression, was something Hallakgoong had spent a lot of effort editing, so they couldn’t help but look his way.

Hallakgoong’s answer was simple.

“We have to cut it. They’re asking this seriously.”

And so, the Promotion Team’s weeklong vacation sped by like an arrow.

“Whew~”

Their boss, Sara, who hadn’t shown her nose around in ages, finally appeared.

It was hard to tell whether she’d purposely left her team to enjoy their vacation, or if it was pure coincidence, but seeing the boss after so long wasn’t bad at all.

“Everything we upload becomes a hit! Isn’t that right?”

She was talking about the Northern Ice Hell documentary they’d uploaded after several rounds of edits at the end of their vacation.

Ever since the live broadcast from Boiling Hell became a smash hit, their subscriber count had increased by tens of thousands at a time. And as soon as the long-anticipated Northern Ice Hell documentary went up, another big hit.

“We uploaded it yesterday, and the subscriber count is already 950,000! Hahaha!”

“……”

Sara’s laughter, filled with delight, echoed throughout the office.

By contrast, the Promotion Team standing before her showed little reaction. Seeing she was celebrating alone, Sara frowned.

“What’s this? Why am I the only one happy? Aren’t you guys happy too?”

“Of course we are. Absolutely.”

Mujae replied with a completely unmoved face. Even someone as oblivious as Sara could tell the Promotion Team’s mood was off.

“What’s wrong, guys? Did I tell you to work? You’re the ones who insisted on this vacation, and you’re the ones who worked. Voluntarily.”

“That’s right. We know.”

“After a week off, you should be coming back with big smiles, not standing gloomily in my office. Did I call you in?”

That’s right.

The Promotion Team had gathered in their boss’s office of their own accord after their vacation ended.

Sara suddenly seemed to realize something and exclaimed.

“Aha, you’ve come to whine to me again, haven’t you?”

“Whine? That’s not it.”

Hallakgoong retorted sulkily, and Zack nudged his foot. Seeing this, Sara was exasperated.

“Oh, please, all of you have gotten so sneaky. Out with it. What is it?”

“Please approve our business trip.”

As always, Mujae was the quickest to act. But Sara’s face only grew more wrinkled.

“Business trip? You guys are always telling me not to send you on business trips anymore, and now you want one?”

“We won’t go as recklessly as last time.”

“What did you say?”

This time, Mujae jabbed Hallakgoong in the ribs. Sara, suspicious, leaned as far back as possible in her chair. She seemed to recoil on instinct.

“What are you up to? Huh? What kind of business trip is it that you’re being so secretive?”

“It’s nothing, just….”

“Don’t tell me, out of all those collaboration offers….”

Sara trailed off, then suddenly sat up straight.

She’d figured out why the Promotion Team had barged in right after vacation, acting so shifty.

“No way, not there, right?”

“…What do you mean?”

Mujae feigned ignorance with a sheepish smile. Hallakgoong avoided her eyes, and Zack wiped sweat from his brow. Sara was now convinced.

“Why would you go there? Are you crazy?”

“Crazy? We haven’t even told you where yet, and you’re assuming it’s there….”

“You guys, you’re…”

Sara screamed in horror.

“You’re trying to meet Yama, aren’t you?!”

The always rebellious Hallakgoong dug in his ear.

“What are you talking about? No, we’re not.”

“What do you mean, no?!”

“We’re not going there to meet him.”

Hallakgoong smirked shamelessly as he wiped his nose.

“We’re going to meet Bari.”

At that, Sara’s face turned ashen.

In an instant, the tables had turned, and Hallakgoong interrogated her.

“Tell us, Father. Princess Bari has used the Soul Rebirth Flower, hasn’t she?”

“What?”

“She has, hasn’t she?”

Hallakgoong ground his teeth.

“Princess Bari used the Soul Rebirth Flower, didn’t she!”

“!”

The reason they’d become so unreasonable went back to two days earlier.

It all began with a conversation the Promotion Team had while enjoying a workshop together during their remaining vacation days.