Chapter 55 …
Cheong-eum’s gaze, which had been scanning every letter, flickered with bewilderment. He was the High Priest, and within his veins flowed a spiritual sense that could detect divine power.
Just like the energy now wafting from the old paper in Seon-o’s hand.
“……”
Realizing that what Seon-o held was an ancient oracle, a faint sigh slipped from Cheong-eum’s lips.
But it was an oracle he had never seen or heard of.
“Where did you obtain this?”
At Cheong-eum’s sharp reaction, Seon-o became certain the prophecy was genuine. Without another word, she folded the paper and tucked it back into her clothes.
“That’s none of your business. Give me your hand.”
“……Do you believe you are the person mentioned in the prophecy?”
His gaze toward her carried clear disbelief.
‘Yeah, figures you wouldn’t believe.’
It was exactly the reaction she had expected, so instead of answering, Seon-o grabbed Cheong-eum’s hand without warning.
There was clear irritation in her rough grip—resentment toward Cheong-eum for nearly ruining her plans at Myomyo Lake.
“……”
Perhaps sensing the lingering grudge in her touch—and knowing he had, in fact, caused trouble—Cheong-eum couldn’t bring himself to pull his hand away and simply looked at her.
This time Seon-o pulled a dagger from her pocket.
With one hand tightly gripping Cheong-eum’s, she lacked a free hand, so she pulled the sheath off with her teeth and tossed it aside.
The moment the exposed blade swept across the back of his hand, Cheong-eum’s brows knit in pain. Confusion soon spread across his face.
‘What is this…?’
Regardless of his will, blood streamed down the back of his hand.
Seon-o shoved the unsheathed dagger carelessly back into her pocket, then pulled something from the other pocket. Cheong-eum stood frozen, like someone who didn’t know how to yank his hand free, watching her strange behavior.
In her hand was a small medicine jar.
Just as he wondered if she planned to apply ointment after stabbing him, Seon-o popped the lid open with her teeth.
The moment it opened, a sharp, pungent scent filled the air, stinging the nose. Cheong-eum’s eyes flickered slightly.
Inside the jar appeared to be finely ground garlic.
‘Garlic…?’
Cheong-eum stared at her in bafflement, unable to guess what she was doing.
When Seon-o suddenly lowered her head and brought the jar right up before her own eyes, Cheong-eum’s brows twitched and drew together.
Soon her nose tingled, and cold tears quickly welled up.
“Ah. Damn…”
Even as she muttered a curse at the sharp sting ringing through her head, Seon-o stubbornly kept her eyes open.
Once enough tears had gathered, she quickly pulled Cheong-eum’s hand closer and let her tears fall onto the torn skin on the back of his hand.
It was utterly incomprehensible behavior.
Cheong-eum held his breath and stared at his hand.
“……”
As the hot tears soaked into the split flesh, a stinging pain drove in—and at the same time, his heart began to beat heavily.
He couldn’t pull his hand free from Seon-o’s tight grip by his own strength.
A moment later, Cheong-eum’s breath froze at the unbelievable sight before him.
The parted flesh was closing on its own, healing.
His shock-narrowed pupils slowly lifted toward Seon-o.
Despite still tearing up painfully from the garlic’s lingering sting, her eyes met his directly—firm, unwavering.
As if to say: Even now, do you still think I’m not the one from the prophecy?
“……”
Speechless, Cheong-eum met Seon-o’s bloodshot eyes.
He had heard of an ability that healed wounds with tears.
The tears of the phoenix.
But that was only a legend about the mythical phoenix.
Even the previous phoenixes had never possessed such healing power.
Thump. Thump.
His heart, dropped low, pounded fiercely—carrying a pain he couldn’t tell was hope or confusion.
Unlike him, Seon-o remained calm as she pulled the dagger from her pocket again.
Cheong-eum’s still-wet blood clung stickily to the blade.
“We should check the blood too.”
Murmuring flatly, Seon-o once again sliced across the back of Cheong-eum’s hand. The skin that had perfectly healed split open again, and blood welled up as before.
After confirming it, Seon-o then scratched deeply across her own arm—the arm holding his hand. Blood immediately seeped from the torn skin and dripped onto the back of Cheong-eum’s hand.
As Seon-o’s blood soaked into and mixed with his wound, Cheong-eum’s heart tightened painfully.
The two held their breath and waited.
But this time, the wound did not heal.
“Guess that’s not the method.”
Her tone was calm, as if she had expected this. There was no trace of disappointment. Only then did Seon-o casually release his hand, as if the matter were finished.
The hand that had been firmly held to prevent escape dropped uselessly, and Cheong-eum’s pounding heart lurched and fell with it. Feeling the full aftershock of that drop, he swallowed dryly.
Blood still flowed from the unhealed wound, but that hardly mattered.
“While I’m in the Land of the Immortals, look into this oracle. There must be a missing continuation somewhere. It might even be inside the Grand Temple.”
At the unmistakable command, Cheong-eum’s eyes sharpened again.
“Why should I do that?”
Seon-o’s gaze turned cold.
“I told you. If you don’t achieve dragonization, I won’t let you off.”
“This matter has nothing to do with you. You are not yet the phoenix.”
“Maybe not the phoenix, but I do seem to be the person mentioned in the prophecy.”
Wiping the blood away with a handkerchief she had taken from her pocket, Seon-o stared steadily at Cheong-eum. Blood was still flowing from his twice-split hand, but she no longer spared it a glance.
“Isn’t that right?”
At her confident question, Cheong-eum could give no answer and simply looked at her. The pain throbbing in his torn hand seemed to be screaming that her words were true.
Taking his silence as agreement, Seon-o shot him a brief look and turned away.
“……”
Cheong-eum stood frozen in place, watching her back.
Seon-o had not come to threaten him by seizing his weakness.
Realizing that, Cheong-eum’s blood ran cold.
It was the opposite.
Seon-o had come to share the hope she had discovered with him.
In such a rough way.
…With his blood, the withering dragons might be saved.
At last, he let out a faint breath, his gaze slowly dropping to the back of his hand where blood still dripped.
He couldn’t tell whether the blood pooling on the floor was his—or Seon-o’s.
“Ah, my eyes sting.”
After leaving the Grand Hall and boarding her spirit carriage, Seon-o sniffled as she placed a damp handkerchief over her burning eyes.
Garlic had been the only quick way she could think of to force tears.
‘I can’t exactly smash my head like I did in front of Yun-han.’
Seon-o wasn’t someone who cried easily to begin with, so there had been no other choice but to use such a crude method.
‘Why is crying so hard?’
With the handkerchief over her eyes and her head tilted back, Seon-o drifted into memories of the past.
When she was expelled from school.
When she was accepted into university.
And even during her family’s funeral—
she had never cried.
As if something were tightly blocked inside her chest, yet she didn’t know how to break through it.
As if not crying was the last fortress keeping her from collapsing.
But now that she thought about it…
‘Would it have been better if I had cried?’
Lost in the idle thought, Seon-o removed the handkerchief once her eyes had calmed and looked out the window.
In the end, dripping blood onto the wound hadn’t been the answer. She had expected as much, but the path forward once again felt uncertain.
My blood will save the dying dragons.
But how?
“…Ugh. Do I have to make him drink it?”
At the horrifying thought, Seon-o’s brow creased deeply.
That was a bit much.
There was no way Cheong-eum would willingly drink her blood anyway. That guarded look in his eyes…
‘Not that I can blame him.’
Having his failure to dragonize exposed must have bruised his pride. He couldn’t trust her—of course he’d be uneasy. Still, with no other options, he would eventually have to cooperate.
‘If Cheong-eum finds the rest of the prophecy, we might be able to identify the target.’
For now, there was no other path but to place hope there.
After leaving the prophecy in Cheong-eum’s hands, Seon-o still had matters to resolve.
Right on cue, as her spirit carriage stopped at the meeting place, someone climbed aboard.
