Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen.
The light grew brighter, thicker, pressing against the walls like a living thing.
Wooden beams groaned.
Paper window tore.
Seo Yerin's body trembled beneath the needle, but she did not look away.
Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen.
Gaon's jaw was clenched. Sweat poured down his face. The curse inside her shrank further, coiling into a tight knot, desperate to hold on.
Nineteen.
The knot began to unravel.
Twenty.
The curse snapped.
Not with a sound, but with a sudden absence. One moment it was there, the next moment it was gone washed away by the flood of external force.
Seo Yerin's eyes flew wide.
Her qi surged back. For the first time in a years, she felt her energy flow freely through her meridians, her dantian, her entire body had no blockage.
Gaon's aura stopped expanding. The light held for a moment, then began to dim.
He pulled the needle out and let out a long, shaky breath.
"I think it's done," he said. His voice was hoarse. "Let me bless you."
He placed his palm over the spot where the needle had been below her sternum, where the curse had lived. A soft glow, gentle this time, spread from his hand into her skin.
Seo Yerin closed her eyes.
She felt her qi settle. The chaos of the curse's destruction smoothed into calm. Her lungs expanded fully. Her chest no longer ached. Even the old fatigue behind her eyes faded.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw Gaon leaning back, his face pale, his breathing still heavy.
"It's done… You're healed."
She pressed a hand to her chest, her qi pulsed back at her touch.
For a long moment, she did not speak. She could not.
Then she whispered, "How?"
Gaon leaned back against the wall, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Just being strong," he said simply.
Jin-ah peeked through the door frame, then stepped inside. Her eyes moved from Gaon's pale face to Seo Yerin sitting up on the bed.
"It's done?" she asked quietly.
Gaon looked at her and nodded. "Sorry if it was too much for you. The pressure."
Jin-ah shook her head. A wide smile spread across her face as she walked to his side and looked up at him with shining eyes.
"I'm happy," she said. "Being around you feeling your power."
Seo Yerin watched them. The girl, small and trusting, standing close to him as if he were the safest place in the world.
She did not know what to do. Her curse was gone. Her qi flowed freely. And this strange, powerful boy had done it without asking for anything in return.
He saved my life. And I attacked him.
She rose from the bed. Her legs were weak, but they held. She picked up her hanfu veil from the table and draped it over her arm.
"I will come back here later," she said.
She walked to the window and pushed it open. The evening air rushed in. She sat on the sill, one leg already outside, then paused. Without turning her head, she spoke over her shoulder.
"I have a debt to you. One that I might never be able to repay… Just wait until I come back."
Then she leaped out into the fading light and gone.
Gaon watched the window for a moment, then turned to Jin-ah.
"Wanna eat something?"
She nodded.
***
Far from the mountains, in the heart of a kingdom called Jiangchen, stood the fortress of the Black Lotus Sect. The sect had operated open for decades, too powerful for local lords to challenge.
Inside a candlelit chamber on the upper floor, a man sat at a wooden desk. His name was Hyun Mu-gak, a senior curse cultivator of the Black Lotus.
He held a sheet of paper in his hands. The paper was covered In dense, tightly packed tiny characters names, locations, and the status of every curse he had placed over the past 10 years.
Behind him, an old man shuffled closer. His robes were black, his beard white. He was Elder Kang, the sect's spymaster.
"Hyun Mu-gak… How goes the spying?"
The younger man did not look up. "Good. The necromancer's plan is proceeding. Every curse I place allows me to hear through the victim's ears. See through their eyes when I concentrate. I can gather everything troop movements, sect secrets, assassination plots."
He pointed at the paper. "There are over sixty cursed targets across the central plains. Merchants, soldiers, even a few minor sect elders. None of them know they carry my mark."
Elder Kang leaned over the desk. His finger traced a map spread beside the paper a map of the region, dotted with small black markers.
"Then tell me," Elder Kang said, "about this one." His finger stopped at a marker in the mountains, far from the main cities. "Someone near Hwagok carries your curse. But the indicator... it's growing weaker."
Hyun Mu-gak's eyes narrowed. He stared at the marker. The tiny black dot pulsed faintly on the map but slower than before. Fading.
"Probably that person dead… hmmm, oh no its not dead…"
He watched.
The dot pulsed again. Weaker.
Then it vanished.
Hyun Mu-gak shot up from his chair. The paper fell from his hands.
"The curse is gone, Cured. How?"
Elder Kang said nothing. He just stared at the empty spot on the map where the marker had been.
Outside the window, the banners of the Black Lotus Sect flapped in the cold wind.
***
One day, Gaon stood across from Jin-ah in the clearing with wooden practice sword in his hand, hers was the curved blade, but dulled for training.
"Watch… Multiple attacks in a row. Not just swinging hard. You flow from one strike to the next."
He demonstrated. Slow at first. High slash, then low, then a twist and a thrust. The movements were not perfect he had never been formally trained.
"Now you try."
Jin-ah gripped her curved sword and mimicked him. High slash. Low. Twist. Thrust. The first time, her feet stumbled. The second time, she forgot the twist. The third time, she did it cleanly her body flowing from one motion to the next without pause.
She looked up at him. "Like that?"
Gaon smiled. A real smile, not the tired one he usually wore.
"You're a genius."
Her cheeks flushed. She looked down at her sword, then back at him, and smiled back.
"Keep swinging. Make the sword feel light. Familiar. So your body remembers the motion without thinking."
She nodded and raised her blade again. High slash. Low. Twist. Thrust. The movements were already smoother than yesterday.
Then a voice came from the edge of the clearing.
"I'm back."
Gaon turned around.
Seo Yerin stood at the tree line. She wore different robes now—lighter, better suited for travel. No veil. Her face was still pale, but her eyes were clear. The dark circles beneath them had faded.
"Oh. Welcome back," Gaon said. "Hi."
She stepped into the clearing, her hands open at her sides. No sword in sight.
"Don't worry," she said. "I won't do anything bad. I came to thank you properly. And to talk."
Jin-ah stopped swinging and watched from a few paces away, her curved sword resting at her side. She did not lower it completely.
Seo Yerin stopped a few feet from Gaon and bowed. Low. Formal. Her forehead nearly touched her knees.
"Thank you for saving my life… I owe you a debt I cannot repay."
She straightened.
"But I also owe you an explanation. About why I attacked you."
Gaon crossed his arms. "I'm listening."
She stepped closer, her hands still open at her sides.
"I've been tracking a group of bandits for weeks," she said. "They've been hitting caravans along the eastern road. Killing guards. Stealing gold. I traced them to this area. Then I saw you with the melted gold."
Gaon nodded but did not interrupt.
She continued. "I thought you were one of them. Or working with them. That's why I attacked."
Gaon uncrossed his arms. "I'm not the first person who stole that gold. I took it from someone who already stole it."
Seo Yerin's eyes narrowed slightly. Then she exhaled and nodded.
"That makes more sense." She looked at the hut, then at Jin-ah still holding her curved sword. "You killed them?"
"Yes."
She did not ask for details. She had seen enough blood in her life.
"Then the matter is closed."
She did not move. Her hands stayed at her sides. Her eyes held his.
"But the debt is not."
Seo Yerin took a slow breath. "You saved my life. The curse would have killed me within a year. Maybe less. No healer could remove it. No pill could cure it. But you did." She paused. "That means my life belongs to you now. In any way you need it. If you ask me to protect you, I will. If you ask me to fight for you, I will. If you ask me to die for you..." She did not finish the sentence.
Gaon stared at her. His mouth opened slightly. Then closed.
She's serious.
His mind raced. A senior cultivator from the Crimson Bamboo Sect. Powerful. Skilled. Connected. And she was offering herself as... what? A servant? A bodyguard?
This is an opportunity.
He forced his face to stay calm.
"What do you do currently? Lately, I mean. Patrol?" He paused. "And what's your rank? In your sect, or elsewhere."
Seo Yerin straightened her back. "I am a senior disciple of the Crimson Bamboo Sect. My rank is First-Class Patrol Captain. I oversee the eastern region, from Hwagok to the coast." She glanced at the sky. "Lately, I've been hunting remnants of the Black Lotus Sect. But my duties can shift."
She looked back at him.
"If you have need of me, I can arrange my schedule. The sect owes me favors. I can take leave."
Gaon rubbed his chin.
A First-Class Patrol Captain. That's higher than I thought.
He did not fully understand the ranks of the murim world, but he knew enough. A captain could command dozens of disciples. Could access sect resources. Could move freely through territories.
Having her on my side... that changes things.
He lowered his hand.
He lowered his hand.
"How about you become my people?"
Seo Yerin blinked. "Your... people?"
"Not in a servant way but more like someone who works with me. I don't have a sect. I don't have a clan. But I'm going to build something. And I need people I can trust."
Seo Yerin was silent for a long moment.
"You want me to follow you?"
"I want you to stand with me. There's a difference."
She looked at his face. Young. Calm. Certain in a way that had nothing to do with age.
"You saved my life," she said slowly. "And now you're asking for my loyalty."
"Yes."
She thought about the past three years. The curse. The slow death she had accepted. Then this boy appeared and crushed it with nothing but raw power and a silver needle.
He's not normal. And he's not lying.
"Alright," she said. "I'll be your first."
Gaon nodded. "Good. Then let's go inside. We have a lot to talk about."
To Be Continued.