Chapter 59

“First, let me make it clear that I have no intention of undermining the Lady’s authority.”

“No one here would ever think that.”

“I know. Still…”

You never know with people.

“Sister, I’m going down alone.”

I said it flatly, but opposition came from every direction at once.

“That’s not allowed.”

“Minuelle! I don’t want to say this, but are you out of your mind?”

“You mustn’t, my Lady!”

“Myaa!!”

…Even El. But I had expected this exact reaction. I refused them more firmly.

“Stay here. No—stand a little further away, all of you. We don’t know what might happen.”

“If we don’t know what might happen, how can we possibly let you go alone?”

“Sister, since we left the last village, I haven’t shed a single drop of blood.”

I can feel it. Something inside was pulling me closer, and the nearer I got to it, the more energy surged within me.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt this strong in my life.”

I rose onto my toes and gently cupped her cheek. From her frozen skin, my warmth would’ve felt almost burning.

This was glacier land. Even “naturally resistant to the cold” couldn’t explain the heat radiating from my body.

“This is… unbelievable.”

“Right?”

I smiled confidently.

“I can feel it. The spirit is favoring me. This will go well.”

“But still—!”

“We can’t all go in together because we can’t predict how the power might react. Ten years ago—who could’ve imagined snow falling in the desert?”

“……”

“Sister, trust me. It’s going to be okay.”

I kept repeating the words like a spell: It’ll go well.

Though I didn’t truly believe it.

This sudden burst of strength—it felt more like bait. Like a scent luring prey into the trap of a carnivorous plant.

I’d already planned to go in alone, but this eerie sense only reinforced that no one else could come. Not my sister, not anyone.

“I’ll leave El and Ramande to you.”

I spoke carefully, trying not to make it sound like a final farewell, then hugged my sister tightly.

After that, I handed El over to Ramande. Since he was shivering from the cold, I figured sharing body heat with El might help a little.

This was, without a doubt, the hardest thing I’d done on this entire journey—because El clung to my clothes with his claws, refusing to let go.

“Myak!”

I didn’t speak cat, but that clearly meant “No!”

“I’ll be right back. Be good, okay? My sweet El.”

“Myung.”

“I mean it. I promise. I’ll be back really soon.”

“Myaa… nya…”

Tears welled up in El’s eyes and began to fall, one by one.

They say animal affection is blind, and El’s love felt exactly like that. All I did was nurse him once when he was hurt, and now he followed me this loyally.

Which only made it harder. Stroking his back, I smothered him with kisses.

“Aww, are you sad…? I’m sorry. I’ll be back soon, okay? Just this once—can you be understanding for me?”

“Nya… nyaaang…”

After a long string of feline complaints, El finally retracted his claws.

“Thank you, El. You’re so smart, so cute, so kind—you’re the best, aren’t you?”

I showered him with another round of praise and passed him to Ramande.

“Hold him inside your robe and keep him close.”

But both Ramande and El made identical disgusted expressions at the same time.

“What? No. Gross.”

“Nyaat! Hisss!”

“See? Even he hates the idea.”

“You two…”

Telling them to get along was pointless.

“Figure it out. I’ll just come back quickly. See you soon.”

And with that, I turned around and carefully stepped over the ice, mindful not to slip. Just as I placed my hand on the entrance—

“Minuelle!”

I turned at the urgent voice—Ramande’s—and smiled faintly.

‘Knew it, you old softie.’

He had bundled El up snugly inside his robe, holding one paw out like a tiny wave.

“Be careful in there.”

“Nyaa!”

Honestly, they were both too adorable for words. I grinned and gave them a big wave.

And then, I didn’t look back.

I stepped straight into the bluish cave.

Though there was no light source inside the ice cavern, the ice itself emitted a faint, mysterious glow.

‘It really is beautiful…’

I followed the winding path, marveling at a sight that couldn’t be found anywhere else.  

But just as I was wondering why there weren’t any forks or dead ends like you’d expect in a cave, a formidable obstacle revealed itself.

It wasn’t because I’d reached a dead end after walking for so long.

No—what stopped me was a lake, formed where a thin stream had somehow trickled through the cracks and pooled.  

Just looking at the water, so deep it appeared navy like the lake in the Emperor’s secret garden, sent chills down my spine.

Yet, no matter how I looked at it—

“…Am I supposed to go in there?”

The power dwelling inside me pointed with absolute certainty: It’s in there.

Inside the coldest place, just like they said. Of course, this was it.

“Would it kill you to cut me some slack, Spirit?”

If you’re going to give me something, shouldn’t you at least handle the retrieval part? Spiritually or humanly speaking!

But no matter how long I waited, the surface remained still.  

Shouldn’t a proper spirit, like the one from the golden axe and silver axe tale, appear in a puff and offer a reward or something?

“Hey, you could just extract the power without me going in, you know…”

I really didn’t want to dive into something that deep. The only water I could handle was bathwater!

Even though I had kindly suggested a method, my irritation only grew. The spirit didn’t show the slightest sign of appearing.

“So cruel, seriously.”

After complaining for a while—okay, for quite a while—I finally braced myself, pulled my skirt over my face like Sim Cheong diving into the Indang Sea*, and leapt into the water.

[*T/N: From the story “The Tale of Sim Cheong”, the main character, Sim Cheong throws herself into the Indang Sea as a sacrifice so that her blind father can regain his eyesight.]

Splash!

Let me say this again: I am not someone who can swim.

There was a bubbling sound…

Then, everything went black.

* * *

“I definitely fell into the water.”

Yet, I was now surrounded by black smoke.

Flames were surging up just below the emergency stairwell that led to the rooftop.

“This is…”

A place all too familiar.

Because this was where it ended for me—the place that haunted my dreams over and over again for the past ten years.

“What the— cough!”

I doubled over with a coughing fit, dropping to my knees.

It was a meaningless gesture, but somehow, it felt like the only thing I could do right now.

“Huh…?”

Even through the thick smoke, the faint flicker of light let me glimpse my clothes—and they definitely weren’t what I’d been wearing right before I died.

‘This is the same gear I had on when I went looking for the spirit stone…’

I stared in a daze, then, as if suddenly waking from sleep, reached back and yanked on my long braid.

“My hair…”

It was pink.

The situation was impossible. Naturally, the theories I came up with were just as implausible:

1. I’d somehow dimension-shifted into this world in Minuelle’s body.  
2. This was a dream.

Normally, I’d have picked the second without hesitation—but the acrid pain in my eyes, nose, and mouth from the smoke was too sharp, too real.

‘A trick of the spirit?’

Still coughing, I thought of a third possibility.

This was the scene of a fire. Of course there were flames—which meant, maybe the fire spirit could influence this space.

‘If I can touch the fire even inside the dream, that is…’

Strangely, unlike the powerless dreams that had only replayed the past like a broken record, this time I could move as I wished.

If this wasn’t a dream… then perhaps the spirit had recreated this place from my memories.

Just for me.

—Should I destroy it?

I suddenly remembered the voice I’d heard on the day of my coming-of-age ceremony, when I was consumed by rage.  

Back then, I’d shaken it off to keep my sanity—but things were different now.

“If this stage was made for me, the only proper thing to do is tear it down.”

Another thought followed.

If this space was created by the spirit as a test, failing to assert dominance might ruin my entire plan to peacefully return the leftover power.

‘So I have to raise hell—make it so intense they don’t even think about messing with me.’

I fixed my gaze on the metal emergency exit door standing tall before me.

Under Article 10 of the Fire Safety Act, blocking or sealing an emergency exit is illegal!  

Yet, it had been tightly shut, and ultimately, it had killed me.

‘This time, I’ll open it—and settle the score for good.’

But I couldn’t just open a door in a sealed space like this with smoke and fire climbing—the sudden rush of oxygen could cause everything to explode in a flash.

‘Breathing mask! Fire suit!’

As I pictured them in my mind and shouted internally, my breathing suddenly eased.

‘It’s working, just like I imagined.’

Before I knew it, I was in a fire-resistant suit, wearing a breathing mask.

“Let’s see if this works too.”

I tried to visualize shifting the airflow to push the smoke away, but that failed.

No choice—so I focused instead on one place, imagining it strongly, and at the same time, I pictured the door before me being ripped off its hinges.

Crunch!

A gap opened between the wall and the door, and I could feel air getting sucked in violently.

No question—this was extremely dangerous.

I pressed close to the door, tense to my fingertips, praying that this fragile paper-thin body would run just one more time.

Then—as if daring me to try, the path ahead suddenly blew wide open.

I launched myself forward with every ounce of strength I had.

BOOM!

A massive shockwave slammed into my back. Even through the fire suit, the heat made it feel like I was burning alive.

But—at least—

“I… I survived.”

The door had opened. The door that had been sealed forever.

“I’m alive!”

Still sprawled on the floor, I rolled over and over.

“I lived… I’m alive… Hngh… Mom… Dad… Sister…”

‘What if it didn’t open?’  

I had pushed down that terror, forced myself to focus on the image—and now that I’d survived, the tears came rushing in.

—So cruel. Cruel! Hmph! Tsk.

A raspy voice, like one choking on smoke, rang sharply through my head.

—You wicked girl! Of all places, you had to connect here?

Pushing through the licking flames from inside the room, a figure appeared.

A body entirely made of fire.  

A small human shape—barely reaching my knees.

I snorted.

“Of course I picked this place.”

Where I’d emerged from—was the spirit’s seal. Surrounded by ice and water on all sides.

Fire can’t burn without fuel.

“The hottest flame is often found inside the coldest shell.”

Sister Elga may not have meant it that way, but it was a clear hint.

At first, I’d thought about a fire hydrant or extinguisher.

But if the buildings outside were part of the simulation too, then the flames would just devour them and grow larger.

That would’ve made winning even less likely.  

So instead, I’d chosen the place where the spirit would be weakest.

Propping myself up on one knee, I asked: “You the spirit?”

After all the “wicked girl” nonsense, I couldn’t help but get snarky right back.