When the Black Moon Rises - Side Story 34 [END]
Side Story 34
How long had they held each other like that?
When they looked around, darkness had already fallen.
Since she had left without a word, everyone would be worried.
Sehwa took the hand of the man who had been holding her and spoke in a deliberately lighter voice.
"Shall we go down now?"
"Just a moment."
"?"
Baek Giha lifted her and himself up at once, then used his spiritual power to dry the snow-dampened hem of Sehwa's clothes.
Then, he gestured with his chin towards the sky, where the shadow of night had fallen.
"Shout it one more time."
"Pardon?"
"It seems this mountain is truly magical. I didn't even shout a wish, yet what I hoped for came true."
He urged her on with a gentle smile.
"So you should shout it too. What you want. Who knows? It might come true today."
........
So don't worry about an avalanche and just shout.
He had strengthened the barrier, so even if the entire mountain collapsed, Baek Residence and the Baek Clan territory would not suffer the slightest damage.
As he turned Sehwa's body, his attitude was so firm it seemed he wouldn't let her return unless she shouted something.
Unable to resist his persistence, she stood at the edge of the rock again and smiled a little.
"Alright. Then I'll make one very serious and earnest wish. After that, we're going down. Understood?"
As Sehwa turned away from him, who was nodding, a mischievous glint sparkled in her eyes.
She took a deep breath.
And then, in a loud voice, she shouted towards the empty sky.
"I don't want to work!"
"......."
"I really don't want to!"
For words coming from the mouth of the central axis governing the vast Mystic Realm, they were enough to leave any listener dumbfounded. But Sehwa's face was utterly serious.
The embarrassing words echoed off the valleys of Mount Baekseon, creating a great resonance.
Baek Giha's eyes curved as he began to laugh.
"Haha, you. Really."
"Why? You don't want to work either."
"That's true. But this is because you're too responsible. You don't have to do everything yourself. What did they call the chancellor position in the Ju Clan? Was it Chief Attendant? How about appointing a few of those? Look at me. It's so much easier since I leave most things to Manyong."
They were words that would have made Baek Manyong, who processed documents day and night, cough up blood if he had heard them, thinking he had to work harder to give the Clan Head, who worried about the Baek Clan bloodline and territory without sleep, even a moment of peace. ...............Well, or he might have been so moved that the Clan Head said he was at ease because of him, that he would have joyfully run around Baek Residence thirty times.
Imagining that, Sehwa also nodded.
Until now, she had been relentlessly pursuing the elders who still hadn't come to their senses and were secretly exploiting the spiritual power of the territory's people, as well as the elders within each clan who had acted as the Ju Clan's lackeys.
On this matter, not only the remaining elders of the Ju Clan but also the other clan heads had advised her to settle things at a reasonable level.
But Sehwa, while she could overlook other things, could never leave those who saw the territory's people as their prey.
Even if they had consumed the spiritual power of just one person, if there was evidence of murdering someone to forcibly extract their spiritual power, she replaced and punished them all.
The noise generated in this process was beyond words.
Thus, until now, she hadn't even been able to properly appoint an assistant.
She had eliminated other paths so that their resentment and malice would be directed only at her.
But now, there were no more who shouted complaints like threats, and she was in the process of seating the right people and refining things, so there would be no problem in appointing a Chief Attendant.
"Should I really appoint one?"
"You're going to? Shall I recommend someone?"
"Is there a suitable person?"
"There is. How about me?"
She turned, ready to laugh at the playful words, but his eyes were not smiling at all.
"If you become my Chief Attendant, who will be the Baek Clan Head?"
"Manyong does a good job."
She finally burst into laughter again.
"That's a good idea. But you have to play with me often. For that, I think I'll need to appoint a few more people. Who should they be?"
"There's a way for that too. How about Sanjin and Sanyul as the Second and Third Attendants?"
"Really, you."
"I'm not kidding. Then, when we go on territory inspections or have to visit the Human Realm, our whole family can go together and have fun. Isn't that great?"
The children were young, so until now, the two of them had rarely left Baek Residence, let alone gone on inspections. What on earth was he talking about?
It was too much to dismiss as a passing joke; she could see the sincerity underlying his gaze.
"You already have a place you want to go, don't you?"
"How did you know?"
"But I'd like the sisters to come with us this time, wherever we go. They don't rest even when I tell them to. I'd rather take them out, show them some beautiful scenery, and make them rest."
"That's true. The other clan heads will probably follow us secretly anyway. ...............I hope my older brothers don't say they'll come too, right? ......I think they might."
"How about taking the Chancellor with us this time, even if work gets a little behind? He works so much, he won't rest unless we go together like this."
"That's true. Then shall we visit the Ju Clan too? If we visit my father-in-law first and show him the children, he'll be happy, right?"
"That's a great idea."
As they talked and prepared to descend, she somehow felt her spiritual power concentrating more than usual before her eyes.
Finding it strange, she looked up and saw there was no moon.
"......The moon has been erased."
It seemed to be a moonless night, of all nights.
At Sehwa's voice, Baek Giha's gaze also turned to the sky.
"Do you see that moon!"
Once, a red moon that seemed impossible to bring down by anything in the world had hung in that sky.
The Mystic Ruler's spiteful voice, pointing at that moon and shouting, briefly came to mind.
"That is the Ju Clan! It has existed like that from the beginning of the Mystic Realm and will not be clouded by anything in the future! No matter how much you things run rampant, it will not be shaken. That is the Ju Clan! I am the Mystic Ruler!"
What had she answered to those words?
"Then I will erase the moon.'
"To stop you, the Corrupt Dragon, and the trash-like mystics who break harmony, defy heavenly principles, and disturb the law, would I be afraid to cover the sky!!"
In truth, it was a statement full of obligation and not much conviction.
Because there was a time, long ago, when it felt like she couldn't escape even the fragments of that red moonlight, no matter how hard she ran.
So, although she hadn't felt it while running frantically, looking back, it was a strange thing indeed.
It was when she was looking up at the black sky like that.
"No, if there is no new moon, there is no full moon. The moon hasn't been erased. That's a black moon rising."
'A black moon?'
"Just as new shoots grow beneath this frozen snowfield. Just as spring is about to come. It's just the moon of regeneration, rising to welcome a new full moon."
So, just as no one worries about the mountain scenery beginning to be covered in autumn leaves or is concerned about the branches that have shed their leaves.
No matter what moon rises.
No matter what moon sets, there was nothing to worry about.
Baek Giha, with a calm face, said so as he took her hand to descend the mountain.
........The moon of regeneration.
"I like that more than saying the moon has been erased."
"Of course. And because this night exists, from tomorrow, the whole sky will sparkle with stars again. Shall we come tomorrow too? It's so nice to be together like this all day after a long time. Let's just be cozy for one more day. We'll prepare to see the stars and bring delicious food. How about it?"
"......Hmm."
"You made a wish earlier. It's your wish, so you have to grant it yourself."
"The wish about not wanting to work? I thought you were going to grant it by working in my place."
"I'd like to, but when you rest, I have to rest with you, so I couldn't help it."
Sehwa, pretending to think for a moment at Baek Giha's words, added.
"Alright. Let's do that. The work I've put off today...... well, it'll work out somehow."
"That's right. You haven't rested a single day until now. It's time to rest."
Baek Giha, his face brightening, noticed her shoulders had grown a little cold and diligently rubbed them, transferring his body heat.
Sehwa, having accomplished the last thing she wanted to do, stretched once.
Perhaps because she had achieved everything she wanted to do.
From the moment she came up here, the many moments she had passed through rose and faded.
But they were all good and happy memories.
Now, she couldn't even remember the things she had disliked.
"Are you going to walk down too?"
"Yes. If I had come back then, I would have had to walk up and walk down, so I'm trying to do it just like that. I'll use my spiritual power to see ahead, so don't worry."
Instead of stopping her or holding her hand as before, he offered his arm.
It was a gesture telling her to at least lean on him if she was worried. She quickly linked her arm with his.
With their shoulders touching as if they were one body, she walked, leaning her weight on him as he wished.
Still worried, the man made sure the outer robe he had draped over her shoulders didn't slip or open, fastening it tightly.
Since the person beside her poured out affection so generously every time, no matter how fierce the mountain wind wielded by the winter general was, it wasn't cold at all.
Like that, one step, and another.
As she walked, treading on the snowfield, she found a small, tender flower bud among the dry branches that showed no sign of spring.
It was a sign that greenery would soon cover this place abundantly.
She was curious about what it would look like. How beautiful it would be. And how happy it would make those who saw it.
I'll have to come again then.
With that young life in her eyes, Sehwa quickened her steps.
All her precious things were right before her eyes.
So, all she had to do was move forward.
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