Toxin

Right, they are merely subordinates. Even if it was their doing, the fact remains that the massacre was carried out under the Black Martial Emperor’s command. A sinking feeling told me that perhaps the resolution I hoped for might never come.

“I understand. I had momentarily forgotten.”

I brushed aside the hair clinging to my neck and turned to walk away.

“I should head back before it’s too late.”

Yes, I should return to my place before it’s too late.

***

I headed to the pavilion with the guards. The rigid atmosphere melted under the scorching sun. The cicadas cried out as if signaling the end of the season. As I walked, I noticed people hurriedly stepping aside to the roadside. A noisy procession followed in the center. At the forefront walked the Black Martial Emperor. Pungbaek was by his side, seriously reporting something. Unlike Usa, Pungbaek had returned empty-handed. I slowed my pace. The Grand Chamberlain, looking as if he might collapse at any moment, still wagged his tail like a loyal dog. Usa clicked his tongue behind me.

“Who would’ve guessed that useless sack of flesh would save his life? I thought we wouldn’t have to see him for a while with his stomach pierced.”

The Grand Chamberlain, groaning and clutching his stomach, fussed loudly.

“Oh, Your Majesty! I knew it would turn out this way! Hah…! There was never any poison, was there? Heaven has surely looked after a sacred king like Your Majesty! I humbly suggest arresting that fool Usa, who disturbed Your Majesty’s peace with nonsense, strip him of his guard status, and execute him!”

What nonsense… Unsa explained to me, sensing my confusion.

“Didn’t you know? His Majesty’s coughing up of blood stopped a while ago. For a moment, I almost believed it was serious, but of course, there was never any such thing as Imae poison. The idea that mixing bodies could cause poisoning makes no sense. For once, I actually agree with the Grand Chamberlain.”

Unsa cast a glance at Usa, who awkwardly pursed his lips. The blood coughing had stopped? He used to cough up blood several times a day. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen any symptoms since returning to the palace. The paralysis had also disappeared at some point. Something felt off.

“When did His Majesty’s paralysis stop?”

“Not sure. Maybe just before you ran away?”

“And when did the blood coughing start?”

“Right after you ran away.”

My body suddenly went cold. I asked in a stiff voice.

“Was there no paralysis while he was coughing up blood?”

“Probably. The paralysis went away for a while, then he suddenly started coughing up blood. Why do you ask?”

I had heard about my father’s condition from my mother but hadn’t learned the specific progression. She only mentioned that he seemed fine before his sudden death. The Chieftain’s warning echoed in my head.

“There’s a condition where no clear diagnosis or cause can be found, and it doesn’t show on the surface. The person doesn’t even know it’s happening until their heart stops. Then, they die quietly.”

The paralysis disappeared, and then the blood coughing came. One symptom didn’t arrive while the other persisted; the first vanished cleanly before the next appeared. But why? Why did it disappear so cleanly? My thoughts became a jumble. At that moment, the Black Martial Emperor, who had been speaking with the officials, noticed me standing dazed in the distance. His eyes glinted ominously.

“Am I seeing things?”

Unsa glanced at me and replied.

“Seems like he came out for some air out of frustration. Unless you plan to suffocate him, perhaps it’s best to let it go.”

The Black Martial Emperor gazed at me, unmoving, before stepping toward me. As the handsome man moved, the last rays of the afternoon sun shattered around him. He still radiated vitality, his skin glowing with health. Amid the fading colors, he alone blazed like the sun.

Suddenly, my mother’s buried voice resurfaced in my memory.

My heart pounded so hard that my chest ached. Could it be… Was one symptom disappearing a precursor to the next? The Black Martial Emperor’s paralysis was gone. His blood coughing had stopped. The symptoms had vanished… completely, as if preparing for the next stage. Suddenly, I felt as if I had been pushed off a cliff. My legs wobbled, and it felt as though the ground beneath me was melting away. Forcing my feet to move, I ran.

Tap, tap, tap…!!

My mother’s sorrowful voice swirled in my mind. To escape that sound, to free myself from the whirlpool of emotions, I sprinted like a madman. The sticky wind clung to my body. I ran through an endless maze until, at some point, my legs gave out.

“Hah… Hah…!”

I sat down, barely catching my breath. My lungs expanded and contracted painfully. A delayed stabbing pain shot up from my ankle, but even that felt disconnected from me. I clenched the dirt beneath me tightly. No, maybe I’m jumping to conclusions. Collapsing so peacefully, dying as if asleep… It doesn’t make sense that a body could just dissolve from within. And a clean, peaceful end? Such a luxurious death for a ruthless murderer? No way.

So then… why grant him such a peaceful death? Isn’t there a fate worse than death? A life worse than death, like mine. Draining his spirit for a lifetime or exploiting his weaknesses to bleed him dry wouldn’t be a bad approach. But even when he jumped off a cliff or abandoned an entire fortress, he didn’t bat an eye. He might even shrug off losing his throne. He has no beloved family to care about.

Isn’t there a better way? A weakness that could completely twist that arrogant face, or a method so cruel that death would seem preferable… The countless scattered thoughts eventually became a tangled mess. I grabbed my long hair. Something rattled from my waistband, announcing its presence—the pouch containing my mother’s white jade. I stared blankly at the heavy reminder weighing on my chest.

“Mother…”

I gently held the smooth white jade. How shocked and terrified she must have been when she was brutally murdered. How much she must have wanted to live… And Raonhiljo… The only person to whom I had confessed my long-standing story, the person I could trust unconditionally… Does he know by now? Has he heard the cruel song? What am I thinking about them right now?

Mother… Why don’t you appear to me, even in a dream? You always ignored things that I could handle on my own. Is that why? Is this something I am supposed to handle on my own…?

He was right. I was trying to go somewhere, even though I didn’t know where. I couldn’t walk straight toward the destination, so I was taking a roundabout path. What am I trying to do, dragging answers from his cruel lips, hiding them so tightly that no one can see them? Will the answer to this journey await me when I arrive there…? Unless I turn everything back to that last night with my mother, no absolution can be granted. That was the rule of this revenge.

I needed to turn back before it was too late, but both the starting point and the end seemed impossibly distant. I leaned my head against the cold fortress wall. I thought of alcohol, which I’d never even touched. Or maybe the strong cigarettes that made my body and mind hazy would do. I let out a low voice like cigarette smoke.

“You… What did you do to me? What did you do… to me…?”

I believed he didn’t end up with a broken personality just because he was born that way. I thought there might have been something missing, something he lacked. But I never tried to find out because I didn’t need to know. I didn’t want to give him any excuses for his actions. I gritted my teeth so as not to be mesmerized by his dazzling exterior. I swore, choking on blood, that I wouldn’t be bewitched by the madness of a wild animal. But, in the end, I got caught in the snare without any preparation.

He knew about Imae’s poison and still, he claimed me. That room remained in perfect order, with me as part of that order, unchanged. The only one who had changed was me. I grabbed my chest and tore at this sinful heart until it bled. The endless, unanswered questions consumed me. A stray breeze swirled my hair.

I longed for the scorching heat to pass quickly and for the cold season to arrive. If only I could turn back time, I would go back to the beginning. If only I could return to that day when I made my last promise to my mother… So that my ragged past, my blood-soaked revenge, my hatred—so that none of it had ever existed, as if it had never been part of me…

***

I must have been lost in thought for a long time. Or maybe it was just a fleeting moment. Where am I? Did I lose my way? I looked up at the complex structures surrounding me, feeling distant. In the middle of a place where neither time nor space could be grasped, I sat like a ghost.

Somewhere, the

echoed like a hallucination. My eyes searched for the source of the sound, but my consciousness was floating in the void. The sound disappeared, leaving only a faint smell of gunpowder carried on the wind. I thought the Black Martial Emperor had started his hunt, savoring the slaughter with a chilling, murderous energy. Soldiers came running from the corner of the fortress wall and helped me up. They looked at me with anxious eyes.

“What if you get lost, wandering around like this? Get up! Hurry!”

I only stared blankly at the sky, glowing red. A stifling hot wind blew at that moment. A sharp gunshot rang out again, followed by someone’s scream, and the hurried footsteps of many.

Boom… Boom…

The majestic sound of drums tore through the sky, and torches flickered wildly across the fortress walls. An arrow set on fire struck the flag bearing the symbol of the

, quickly engulfing it in flames. A messenger hurriedly lit the beacon. The soldiers, faces tense, pulled me along. Then, I heard someone’s shout.

“Traitor! A traitor has infiltrated…!!”

“…!!”

The soldiers hurried their steps, surrounding me. Black smoke rose from various places. Something dark blue, like clouds, covered the sky as the setting sun cast its glow. A soldier looked up at the sky and gasped.

“A… Cheongryeong?!”

A massive dragon with blue scales beat its enormous wings as it soared through the sky. The mystical creature roared, breathing fire. The soldiers guarding the fortress wall were engulfed in flames and fell, plummeting below.

Aaaaaahhh!!

A thunderous roar, like that of a charging army, filled the air. Humans, animals, and countless other races climbed over the fortress walls. They fired flaming arrows and swung spears and swords, attacking the soldiers of the

.

Boom… Boom…

The drums of invasion roared. The movements of the torches became more frantic. The soldiers hurriedly led me to safety, but I was helplessly swept up in the crowd. Flaming arrows flew past, whooshing by. Dozens of Cheongryeongs unleashed flames that turned everything into an inferno. Unable to withstand the assault, the fortress walls crumbled. The palace was thrown into chaos in an instant. The mist blocked the view, cutting off any chance of escape. As the smoke engulfed me, my eyes stung, and I coughed violently. The soldiers clung to me, running somewhere, dragging me along. My legs stumbled as I was pulled along.

Bang! Bang!

“Ugh…!!”

The soldiers beside me clutched their chests and heads, collapsing one by one. A Cheongryeong flying low over the fortress changed direction. It plummeted toward the ground with terrifying speed before disappearing into the smoke. I anxiously looked around. It was hard to breathe, and I staggered. Just as I was about to run to find cover, the Cheongryeong descended, its wings sweeping down as it landed on the ground at a corner of the fortress wall.

The invader leapt from the Cheongryeong, shrouded in gray smoke, and approached. I swallowed nervously, stepping back. The dense smoke made it impossible to discern anything. Just then, a humid breeze swirled, clearing the smoke for a moment. I could hardly breathe. I thought it was a hallucination, that I was seeing something unreal.

A man as elegant as a painting of black bamboo emerged from the fire. Only the space around him seemed to absorb the last remaining light of the world. He… stood in the midst of that light. My vision blurred again. Why was someone who should be settling in a new land here? What… are you supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? I wished it was just an illusion. I glared at his cool face sharply.

“Are you an idiot? Are you truly too dumb to understand anything?”

I didn’t want to know how he came here or what he was thinking. I was so furious at the reckless man who had returned to hell that my vision dimmed. If I had known he was such an idiot, I wouldn’t have engaged with him in the first place. I wouldn’t even have looked at him. He suddenly rushed forward and crushed me in a fierce embrace. I struck his shoulders with all my might.

“Why did you come here?! How much more do you need to lose before you come to your senses?! Why…! Ugh…!”

Raonhiljo silenced me with a suffocating kiss. His rough tongue entwined with mine, unraveling all restraint.

“Ha… I thought I was going to lose my mind. I really thought I was going to go crazy.”

He swallowed all of my cries. Foolish man… such a foolish man… An unbearable heat welled up in my eyes. He licked away the tears on my cheeks and kissed me fiercely again. I pulled away from his lips. Our tangled tongues slipped apart, and I could see his clean, composed face.

The skin under my hand was real. The sound of his heartbeat, crashing against me, was agonizingly clear. Is this really My Lord? Is this really you? I clutched Raonhiljo’s face, desperately searching his eyes. His once sharp features were noticeably gaunt. His once bright eyes looked like a forest devastated by drought. Those eyes reminded me of someone. Instead of the fresh scent of a forest, his entire being was now enveloped in the smell of gunpowder. Yet, somehow, that didn’t matter.

His face twisted, and he urgently captured my lips again, as if trying to quench a thirst that had lasted for too long, as if to make up for all the lost time. It was a movement filled with all the longing in the world. Stubbornly, I pushed his face away, confirming his presence over and over again, still unable to believe it was him. I wanted to look at him, to ask how he had been, but he kept covering my mouth with his. His strong arms wrapped tightly around me. His hot tongue tangled with mine, and his hardened lower body pressed against me. In that instant, my body tensed. I quickly pulled away. Our labored breaths filled the long silence. The questions that had been stuck in my throat poured out like a waterfall.

“What happened to you? What…!”

His once dry eyes now gleamed with a fresh vitality.

“I’ll explain everything later. For now, you need to get out of here.”

“What are you planning to do?! My Lord, you need to leave as well!”

“I still have something to do. For now, you go.”

“…!!”

Raonhiljo began pulling me toward Cheongryeong, where it waited. My thoughts were frozen, unable to process anything. My legs had gone stiff, something I hadn’t anticipated. Raonhiljo gazed at me intently. ‘Ah…’ I turned my gaze away from his clear eyes, my lips trembling. His touch had always pulled me back from despair, and that hadn’t changed. But I couldn’t hold on. Something kept dragging me back. Raonhiljo’s eyes flickered for a moment, and then he turned his gaze toward the massive Cheongryeong. The corners of his mouth twitched into a familiar smile.

“Don’t worry. It may look fierce, but it’s a gentle one. Get on.”

He was pulling me by the wrist again when—

The piercing sound of gunfire shattered our reunion. Bodies of those stationed around fell one by one, clutching at their heads, as their skulls burst open. Before the echo of thunderous gunfire faded, a gust of wind swept through. A voice, cold and damp like mist, seeped into the air.

“So it’s true… gathering trash to play at being king.”

The figure that emerged through the fire was the Black Martial Emperor. His gaze pierced through Raonhiljo and me, nestled in his arms. His eyes fixated on my lips, still wet from our kiss, as if cutting through them with his stare. His face remained expressionless, his lazy lips gnashing as if chewing bones.

“You two are still so close… I want to rip you both apart.”

A chill pierced my skin. Raonhiljo calmly pushed me behind him and stared at the Black Martial Emperor.

“The song.”

For a brief moment, Raonhiljo’s eyes blazed with icy fury.

“It was so vivid, so sickeningly clear… as if I had witnessed it all myself.”

I stopped breathing. He had heard the cruel song after all. He knew now how horrible it had been, how deep the hatred buried in my heart was. That’s why his eyes looked so much like mine.

“I made sure to leave an impression, so I’m glad. But I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to crawl all the way here on your own.”

The Black Martial Emperor remained disturbingly indifferent. Blood surged in Raonhiljo’s eyes.

. He lifted something long over his shoulder and slowly aimed at the enemy. It was

.

The Black Martial Emperor’s eyes flickered, a gleam of twisted amusement dancing in them as if he had found something unexpectedly entertaining. His twilight-hued eyes, long dormant, flared with latent madness. Raonhiljo stood with a monstrous metal weapon on his shoulder, the sight of him armed for violence tearing at my heart. He looked like a man lost in a deep, dark forest, consumed by the same overwhelming hatred I had once felt. Raonhiljo opened his mouth quietly, still aiming at the enemy.

“I’ve imagined it every day. Tearing your limbs apart, skinning you alive, and returning to you what my mother… what she endured.”

Raonhiljo’s face twisted in anguish, as if it hurt to even breathe.

“I’ve imagined it all, down to the smallest detail. You’re living proof that not all who wear human skin deserve to be called human. You’re the kind of scum that deserves no excuses, no forgiveness.”

The Black Martial Emperor coldly observed Hyungje, who had just lost a blood relative.

“So, that’s the answer you’ve come up with? A pitiful excuse from someone drowning in a defeatist mentality, your last desperate solution. You should have been more thorough if you wanted to face me.”

The Black Martial Emperor’s eyes gleamed savagely as he drove the point home.

“You were sloppy. Admit it.”

Raonhiljo responded icily, “I’m curious what’s inside that head of yours. Your brain must be structured differently from ours, right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t be capable of such inhuman actions.”

Raonhiljo placed his finger on the trigger of Jincheonroe, his eyes burning darker and redder than blood as he aimed at his enemy.

“That’s why I’m planning to take a look inside your skull.”

In response to the straightforward provocation, the Black Martial Emperor smirked arrogantly. He scanned the rebels, his gaze like that of a predator leisurely assessing its prey. After his assessment, he muttered under his breath, “A band of losers bound by a shared sense of failure… You’re fitting company.”

The Black Martial Emperor’s gaze then shifted past Raonhiljo and fixated on me.

“Let’s see if you’ve stolen Jincheonroe properly. You arrived just in time—I had something to test.”

Raonhiljo didn’t let his guard down, turning briefly to me.

“Wait a little longer. I’ll be done soon.”

He pulled me toward him, kissing me deeply, as if it were for the last time.

At that moment, the Black Martial Emperor bared his fangs like a wild beast.

“Get your hands off.”

He placed his finger on the trigger. Raonhiljo pushed me aside, and in an instant, their muscles flexed with the tremendous recoil.

The gunshots that heralded the end tore through the sky.

***

Cheers erupted as the gunfire signaled the attack. The soldiers of Baedal Kingdom and the rebels launched a synchronized assault. Winged creatures filled the sky, and several Cheongryeong dragons soared through the air, spewing fire. The inner castle was instantly engulfed in flames. Giants, members of the Nati Tribe with beastly forms, a legion of predatory birds, and various rebel forces charged at the Baedal Kingdom soldiers with axes and spears.

Soldiers, pierced by flaming arrows, died like porcupines or were crushed by falling stones. Muscles tore, bones shattered, and those who did not die instantly convulsed in agony. Even the well-trained soldiers of Baedal Kingdom were thrown into disarray by the ferocity of the attack. Meanwhile, Pungbaek, Unsa, and Usa led their troops with dazzling swordsmanship, but the overwhelming number of enemies left them long bereft of their usual composure.

As the violence reached its peak, a torrential downpour began. Raindrops shattered against the metallic armor, creating a visual spectacle. The Black Martial Emperor leaped behind a broken wall, immersing himself in firing while swiftly scanning the situation. His eyes relentlessly pursued me.

“Stay low!”

Raonhiljo pushed me deep behind a tree and focused on his shooting.

Gunfire rained down on their targets from both sides. They kept firing at a distance, giving their enemies no opportunity to retaliate. As the Black Martial Emperor quickly reloaded, he remarked, “So, after stealing someone else’s creation, this is the best you can do? I expected better performance—how disappointing. You need to think more progressively.”

Raonhiljo remained unfazed by the mockery. “Why waste money and time? I’ve already found an easier way, so I couldn’t help myself.”

The Black Martial Emperor narrowed the distance between them while firing at Raonhiljo, his chilling gaze pinned on me, hiding behind the tree. His precise shots gradually closed the trap. Raonhiljo fired back like a seasoned marksman, every shot intentional and controlled. The tension escalated as both combatants demonstrated unparalleled shooting skills, with Raonhiljo never faltering.

The Black Martial Emperor’s eyes lit up with excitement as though he’d finally found a worthy opponent. I had to dodge bullets and rain, feeling my parched throat while my soaked skin chilled. Amid the relentless gunfire, Raonhiljo yelled out, “Now!”

Upon his signal, two giants—each several times my size—picked me up and ran. I struggled fiercely, but their iron grip only tightened. Suddenly, a bullet flew in, striking one of the giants. His brains splattered, and his body became a bullet-riddled corpse. I tumbled to the ground.

The Black Martial Emperor, who had shot the giant, ordered a nearby Baedal Kingdom soldier in a short, cold voice.

“Take him.”

“Yes, sir…!”

A soldier from the Baedal Kingdom rushed over and helped me to my feet. The Black Martial Emperor fired some shots at Raonhiljo and then aimed at Jincheonroe, as if protecting me or threatening to crush my skull if I made any wrong moves.

Bang! Bang!

As Raonhiljo tried to approach me while firing bullets, the Black Martial Emperor unleashed a barrage of gunfire. The relentless attack quickly disoriented them.

“Hurry…!!”

The soldiers dragged me through the battlefield. I still felt resistance, but I had no choice but to run, swept up in the chaos. All the while, I could feel a chilling gaze fixed on me.

“Aaagh…!!”

“Graaaah—!!”

Screams erupted all around, and blood and flesh filled the air. From the sky, Cheongryeong spewed fire, while ferocious creatures on the ground launched fierce attacks. The rebels were making a full-scale assault to bring down the impregnable Naragaon Fortress. As the invasion grew more intense, the soldiers of the Baedal Kingdom started to be pushed back. I was being pulled across the blood-soaked battlefield by a soldier when, suddenly, a metal chunk the size of a head came hurtling towards us, spewing white smoke. It flew through the rain in an arc and was about to crash into the center of the battlefield.

Boom—!!

The explosion overturned the earth and completely changed the air currents. It was the flame of a fire dragon, with a power so overwhelming that it felt like it would blow away one’s soul. Both allies and rebels alike were reduced to dust without even the chance to scream. Some lost their heads, while parts of others’ bodies simply vanished. Those with only the lower half of their bodies remaining wailed like beasts. The whirlwind that swept through everything dissipated in an instant, leaving those caught in it frozen in place. Even Raonhiljo was stunned.

The tremendous explosion sent the Black Martial Emperor’s robes billowing. As he raised his hand to signal, a line of new weapons ignited. Just as the fuse reached its end, the bodies of the weapons expanded and groaned.

One after another, gigantic monsters spewed flames. The warheads traced gentle curves before descending vertically. The flames of the fire dragons crumbled the fortress walls and swept through both rebels and allies alike. Most living beings were pierced through their bones and flesh, dying instantly without time to feel pain. In a flash, the battlefield turned into a hellish scene of chaos and confusion. The rebels, overwhelmed by the counterattack, threw down their weapons and fled.

“Uwaaagh—-!!”

“Stay calm! Spread out and attack!”

Raonhiljo hastily gave orders in the midst of the chaos, trying to gather the shattered morale and reorganize his terrified troops. The rebels, consumed by fear, split into attack and defense units, fighting desperately. From the sky, more than ten Cheongryeong simultaneously breathed fire toward the new weapons, but it was impossible to melt the metal instantly. I was frozen in place, unable to move, as if struck by lightning. By the time my thoughts returned through the deafening roar, I saw the Black Martial Emperor staring at me. Standing amidst the flames of the fire dragons, he parted his lips.

What do you think? Do you like it?

I was completely dumbstruck. The iron pillar on the four-wheeled cart, the muzzle protruding from the center, the rounded cannonballs, and the Baedal Kingdom flags standing tall on both sides of the cart—all of it was exactly as I had once sketched, based on the Black Martial Emperor’s scribbled notes. It was an unintended collaboration between us. The Black Martial Emperor shifted his gaze away from me.

“It’s still not aiming well. Make the barrel longer.”

“Yes, Your Majesty…!!”

An artilleryman standing nearby, an elderly man with his ears covered, responded. The Black Martial Emperor raised his hand again to signal another shot, but he suddenly hesitated, clutching his chest. The rapid pounding of my heart echoed in my ears. The Black Martial Emperor furrowed his brow slightly, pounded his chest a few times with his fist, and then decisively lowered his hand.

Boom—-!! Boom——–!!

The typhoon of fire shells devastated the land, turning it into an inferno in no time. The soldiers of the Baedal Kingdom, who had been stunned, started to drag me somewhere again. I ran purely on instinct. Dodging flying rocks and fiery arrows, drenched in someone’s blood, I had no time to think about the war. All that was left was the will to survive. Suddenly, the heads of the soldiers leading me were knocked off by the rebels’ maces. As I was swept away by the tide of corpses, Pungbaek pulled me up.

“This way.”

Pungbaek swung his sword, cutting down the rebels, but no matter how many he struck down, they kept coming. They charged in blindly, driven by the terror and resentment that the Black Martial Emperor’s slaughter had instilled in them.

In an instant, a shadow fell over me. Suddenly, I was lifted into the air, and Pungbaek quickly grew distant. When I came to my senses, I was on Cheongryeong’s back. The one who had pulled me up was Narsha. She tugged on the reins, and Cheongryeong soared into the sky.

“Hold on tight! We’re getting out of here!”

“No! Put me down!”

I shouted without thinking, perhaps out of instinct. I didn’t want to run away like this again. There was still something I hadn’t finished. Narsha looked at me with a hardened expression.

“Why…?”

I stared back at her unwaveringly, despite her shock.

“There’s still something I must do. Please, put me down.”

Faced with my clear refusal, Narsha hesitated, unable to do anything. Meanwhile, Cheongryeong, carrying us, quickly distanced itself from the ground. We were ascending toward the top of the fortress, which curved like the coils of a dragon. A sharp gunshot pierced the rain-soaked air. When I turned my head, I saw someone chasing us on another Cheongryeong. It was the Black Martial Emperor. Narsha urged Cheongryeong to speed up, but a stray bullet struck its neck, and it began to plummet. In the sudden attack, Narsha slipped off the reptile’s back.

“Lady Narsha!!”