“Good.”
Chu So gazed into So Min’s eyes for a long moment, then smiled faintly.
“Then I’ll make sure you get out of here alive.”
From that day onward, Chu So taught So Min how to survive.
He told her exactly what kind of problems the instructors would set next, and how to pass the tests without drawing suspicion.
He even gave her seemingly random instructions.
“From now on, eat more and put on weight. Pinch your cheeks every day until they’re round and chubby.”
He added, “And cough lightly every half-hour. Keep your brows slightly furrowed.”
“Why?”
“If you do that, one of the five instructors will approach you. When she does, speak in the most innocent voice you can and say you’re hungry—ask for something to eat.”
So Min didn’t understand, but she had survived this long because of him, so she obeyed without complaint.
“Isn’t it hard?”
Sure enough, just as Chu So predicted, one of the instructors began speaking to her.
Her name was So Yerang.
It turned out she once had a cute little daughter who looked just like So Min, but the child had died of a strange illness.
That girl had chubby cheeks, a weak chest that made her cough often, and loved food so much she would beg for snacks even after meals.
Incredibly, Chu So had somehow discovered So Yerang’s daughter’s habits and instructed So Min to mimic them perfectly.
“You secretly brought me sweets, didn’t you?”
When So Min innocently begged for food exactly as told, So Yerang was overjoyed and began taking special care of her.
By the time their bond had deepened, only two children remained in the village—Chu So and So Min.
“Tomorrow will be the final test,” Chu So told her. “A Go match.”
Chu So said, “Don’t worry about anything. Just play the way you want to play.”
“But then I’ll lose.”
“Don’t worry. There’s a way for both of us to survive without either of us losing.”
Only then did So Min guess his plan and give a faint smile.
“You want to force a draw, so they’ll realize both of us possess the Heavenly Mechanism Star’s power?”
For two years, the village had worked tirelessly to find the single greatest genius among the children.
If two geniuses appeared whose superiority could not be determined?
They would have no choice but to keep both alive—or devise another test to separate jade from stone.
“Now listen carefully.”
Chu So spoke in a strange tone.
“When the full moon shines brightly, you should be able to leave the village. Once you’re outside, you’ll see a large pine tree. Dig beneath it.”
“What’s there?”
Chu So smiled weakly, his pale, sickly face almost translucent.
“You’ll know when you dig.”
The next day, just as he predicted, the Go match began.
So Min played with all her might, move after move.
After all, with Chu So’s ability, forcing a draw would be child’s play.
Yet as the endgame approached, something bizarre happened.
No matter how the game continued, Chu So had maneuvered himself into a position where he could never turn the tide.
He had deliberately lost to So Min.
“It’s over.”
The moment the winner was decided, the instructors dragged Chu So away somewhere.
Even as he was pulled off, he kept that pale smile directed at So Min until the very end.
‘Why?’
Why had Chu So deliberately lost and chosen death?
Was he only pretending to be taken away, planning some way to survive?
‘I can’t believe this.’
So Min shot to her feet.
She had to confirm with her own eyes why Chu So had chosen death in her place, why he had orchestrated this outcome.
“Chu So!”
Shouting his name, she ran toward him.
Sting.
A sudden sharp pain pierced her back, and her consciousness faded.
“I don’t understand! The Heavenly Mechanism Star definitely manifested—we were told it was among these children!”
An aged, angry voice echoed in her ears.
When So Min regained awareness, she slowly tried to open her eyes.
But something was wrong.
Her mind was clear, yet her eyelids would not lift, and her body felt like a log—she couldn’t move a single finger.
Only through the sensation on her skin did she realize she was sealed inside a narrow box that allowed not even a sliver of light.
“Why is the Wisdom Star shining instead of the Heavenly Mechanism Star?!”
Wisdom Star—literally “the star of many schemes,” a title often given to masterful strategists.
‘So I am the Wisdom Star.’
With just that old man’s words, So Min understood everything.
She had been born under the Wisdom Star, and they were furious that she was not the Heavenly Mechanism Star they sought.
And, just as they had done with the others, they would dispose of her without hesitation.
“There’s no need to search for a mere Wisdom Star.”
The old man’s voice turned chillingly sinister.
“Dispose of her quietly.”
His words became the verdict of the King of Hell, reaching even inside the box where So Min lay.
Clunk.
At his command, the box containing her began to move.
After being carried for a long while, it suddenly felt as if it were floating through the clouds… before finally stopping.
Scrape. Scrape.
Now a constant scraping sound came from below.
‘What are they doing?’
So Min could neither open her eyes nor twitch a toe.
Yet her mind was perfectly clear; she could feel the wood against her skin and hear every sound from outside.
‘Am I already dead?’
The sensation was strange—like she had died, but her soul could not leave her body.
Clunk.
Cold night air suddenly brushed across her skin as the lid opened.
She judged from the icy air that it was late at night, somewhere in the forest outside the village.
Rustle. Rustle.
Then she felt thin cloth being wrapped tightly around her from head to toe.
By the smell, it was oil-soaked linen.
‘They think I’m dead and are preparing me for burial.’
Exactly as she guessed.
Her linen-wrapped body was lowered into a deep pit.
Then the scraping sound returned, and heavy earth began pouring over her.
‘So this is how I die.’
So Min burned with injustice.
She had failed to avenge her parents.
She had caused Chu So—who had helped her all this time—to sacrifice himself.
And still she could not escape this place.
‘Even if I become a ghost after death, I will have my revenge!’
Every time another layer of earth pressed down, she screamed inside.
‘I will definitely take revenge on all of you!’
But the weight grew heavier and heavier, until finally her consciousness slipped away.
How much time passed?
Suddenly the crushing weight of the soil lightened, and clean air returned.
“When the South China Immortal’s Fate-Dream Great Method is used, all signs of life vanish completely, yet breathing continues normally.”
At the same time, a middle-aged woman’s voice reached So Min’s ears.
It was Instructor So Yerang.
“I prepared a corpse of a child who looked just like you in advance and switched them. From this moment, you are free.”
She spoke in a low whisper.
“In about half an hour, you’ll be able to move again. Leave this place at once and live quietly.”
Regret and tenderness mingled in So Yerang’s voice.
“As long as you never speak of what happened here, no harm will come to you.”
A deep sigh sounded, then So Yerang’s presence gradually faded away.
Exactly half an hour later, just as she said, the paralysis lifted and So Min’s vision cleared.
She looked around—a desolate forest deep in the mountains.
And nearby, seventy-six fresh burial mounds rose gently from the earth.
Exactly the number of children who had shared her fate in that village.
“Chu So…”
Then somewhere among these graves, Chu So must be buried.
So Min searched for the mound that held him—surely he had been buried last.
“There’s nothing.”
The death examinations had begun only a few months ago, so the mounds were nearly new.
There were no tombstones, nothing to mark whose body lay where.
She frantically dug up several mounds, but found only the mangled corpses of children.
‘Even if I found him, there’s nothing I could do.’
In the end, she gave up searching, bowed deeply toward the graves, and whispered,
“After I have my revenge, I will return and rebury all of you in a sunny place.”
Remembering Chu So’s sickly face and gentle smile tore at her heart.
But she had no time to wallow in grief.
If she lingered, she might be dragged back to the village.
Whoosh.
So Min swiftly left the graveyard behind.
She ran endlessly down the treacherous mountain path until she reached the foothills.
Then the scenery changed completely, as though she had stepped into another world.
‘A formation… or sorcery.’
They had used mystical arrays or spells so that anyone leaving the village would emerge somewhere entirely different.
A brilliant full moon hung in the sky.
Running beneath its light, So Min soon spotted a huge pine tree in the distance.
“When the full moon shines brightly, you should be able to leave the village. Once you’re outside, you’ll see a large pine tree. Dig beneath it.”
‘Pine tree.’
Remembering Chu So’s words, So Min immediately dug at its base.
There she found a neatly folded letter written in careful handwriting.
It was from Chu So.
By the time you read this, you will already have escaped the village.
Incredibly, Chu So had foreseen everything and somehow left this letter here in advance.
Keep walking east without stopping. On the fifteenth day, you will meet people who will change your life forever.
…(omitted)…
The ones who killed your parents are the Infinite Realm.
The ones who kidnapped us are from the Jungson family.
When you finally possess the power to take revenge… you will understand just how terrifying those two names truly are.
So Min was certain now.
Chu So had been the very Heavenly Mechanism Star they desperately sought—the divine being who could read the movements of heaven and even foresee the future.
Yet he had given his life so that she could live.
I chose you because only you can avenge us all.
And at the very end of the letter was Chu So’s final kindness.
I was already dying of lung disease anyway. Even without you, I was fated to die soon, so don’t feel guilty.
So Min clutched the letter to her chest.
And she wept.
“You liar.”
She knew.
Chu So had only pretended to be sick the whole time.
At first it was probably to avoid the instructors’ attention.
Later, it was to ease the guilt she would feel.
“Did you really think I hadn’t noticed?”
Hot tears streamed down So Min’s face.
The first tears she had shed since her parents died.
“I won’t cry anymore.”
She tucked the precious letter inside her clothes, then began walking resolutely eastward as Chu So had instructed.
Chu So was the Heavenly Mechanism Star.
A divine person who could read heaven’s will.
Everything he foretold would come true.
If she followed his words, she would surely gain the power to take revenge.
‘Infinite Realm, Jungson family.’
Even as she walked endlessly eastward, So Min repeated those names over and over so she would never forget.
When hungry, she begged or scavenged food from waterways.
When that failed, she chewed tree roots and grass.
Walking east without rest, she finally reached the foot of the mountains and discovered a beautiful plum-blossom grove bathed in color.
“So pretty…”
Drawn almost unconsciously, So Min entered the grove.
There she found a clear stream.
When she looked at her reflection, she saw a filthy beggar girl staring back.
Splash.
Cupping water in both hands, she washed her face for the first time in ages.
The grime fell away, revealing the lovely features of a young girl.
“Oh my…”
Standing before the freshly washed So Min were a middle-aged man with an immortal-like aura and a beautiful woman who resembled a fairy.
The man’s voice trembled as he looked at her face.
“She looks… exactly like our Kyung-ah.”
The woman also nodded, eyes wide with shock.
The couple had once realized their daughter possessed extraordinary intellect and sent her to the Zhuge Academy in Eternal Spring Valley so her talent could blossom.
But their daughter had died there.
Of an unknown illness—she had simply passed away in her sleep one night.
Unable to bear the grief of losing their child so suddenly, the couple had been wandering the martial world when they found a girl who looked exactly like their daughter had returned to life.
And this day was precisely fifteen days after So Min had read the letter beneath the pine tree.
“Little one, what is your name?”
When the beautiful woman asked, So Min could not answer.
“There’s no need to be afraid. It’s only… you look so much like our daughter.”
So Min instantly read the situation.
The couple’s expressions were identical to the ones Instructor So Yerang had shown when she saved her life.
“I don’t have a name.”
So Min pretended to be an orphan.
The couple asked her many questions after that.
They were astonished to discover that even her intelligence mirrored their late daughter’s perfectly.
Feeling it was fate, they took So Min home.
They adopted her as their own daughter… and gave her their dead daughter’s name: Gongsun Dankyung.
The couple recovered from their grief, their marriage grew warm again, and they soon had another daughter.
They named her Gongsun Dana.
They never told Dana the truth about Dankyung and raised her as their real daughter.
But So Min—now Gongsun Dankyung—felt a twinge of guilt toward Dana.
She was not the true daughter of the Gongson family, and she had to risk her life for revenge.
So she pretended to feel inferior and kept Dana at a distance.
When the time came, she left the family and entered the Martial Alliance.
For revenge, she needed the greatest intelligence network in the world.
Fortunately, with her adoptive father Gongson Hwa-uk’s help and proof of her astonishing wisdom and intellect, she started at a high rank in the bureau that studied mechanisms and formations.
She then rose swiftly through the ranks—vice-leader of the Three Classics Hall under the Chief Inspector, and higher still—until she finally reached the seat of Chief Inspector herself.
And just as Chu So had foretold, she came to understand what the Infinite Realm and Jungson family truly were—the ones who had murdered her parents and kidnapped her.
The Infinite Realm—one of the three pillars that ruled the martial world from the shadows.
The Jungson family—a legendary clan that had never yet revealed itself to the martial world.
She still could not discover what connection existed between the Infinite Realm and the Jungson family.
But the Three Realms ruled the martial world, and the leaders of each sect knew their identities.
If she destroyed the Infinite Realm… she believed she could surely find the Jungson family afterward.
Yet no matter how deeply she probed and investigated the Infinite Realm, she could find no link to the Jungson family.
“Someone from the Yangseol family has appeared in the martial world.”
Then Seon Woojin, who had been traveling the martial world, brought unexpected news.
A figure from the legendary Yangseol family had descended to capture an Earth-Killer Star.
Spark.
In that instant, a new plan flashed through Gongsun Dankyung’s mind.
The Yangseol family, like the Jungson family, was a hidden abyss that had never surfaced.
If she could capture that person…
She might figure out the true location of the Jungson family.
Knock knock.
Then, a low voice came from outside the door.
“Chief Inspector, it is Song Ryeong.”
“Come in.”
Song Ryeong was both her aide and the captain of the secret organization she had built.
“We found her.” Song Ryeong whispered.
“The person you suspected to be from the Yangseol family has been spotted in the Central Lands of Sichuan.”
“That's good.”
Gongsun Dankyung’s eyes narrowed to slits.
“Deliver the message to Division Commander Baekri.”
A chill cold enough to freeze the world poured from her eyes.
“Tell him that if he brings her to me alive, this Chief Inspector will honor our promise.”
“Understood. However…”
Song Ryeong lowered his voice even further.
“There appear to be demonic path intelligence operatives around her. Most likely under the command of the Martial Soul Command Lord.”
“The Martial Soul Command Lord?”
“Yes. They aren’t even trying to hide their presence… which suggests some kind of relationship.”
Martial Soul Command Lord Bu Eunseol.
He had exchanged favors with her several times and had even promised to cooperate in destroying the Infinite Realm.
If he was near the Yangseol family member, she could not send Division Commander Baekri.
“It doesn’t matter.”
But Gongsun Dankyung replied coldly.
“Proceed as planned.”
“Understood.”
Once Song Ryeong left, Gongsun Dankyung bit her lip hard.
‘No one who stands in my way will be forgiven.’
A frigid chill, intense enough to freeze even the heavens, poured forth from her pupils.
‘Infinite Realm, Jungson family… from this moment on, I will tear you both down, piece by piece.’
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