Gusion had asked for a favor. Furthermore, his request was for Yong-Ho to have a conversation with Kaiwan.
It was a suspicious question. Wasn’t it Gusion who prevented him from having even a short conversation with Kaiwan in the first place.
Facing Yong-Ho’s suspicious gaze, Gusion cleared his throat as if he was hiding something. Yong-Ho continued to stare at him with his arms crossed.
In the end, it was Gusion who spoke first.
“Time doesn’t flow naturally here.”
“I’d heard such from Aamon. Time doesn’t stop, but it doesn’t flow normally, does it?”
For over a thousand years, that was the secret why spirits in the arena were able to stay alive.
It was no exaggeration to say that the arena was another world that existed within Mammon’s dungeon.
Gusion nodded.
“Yes. When you’re here, you can’t really feel the passage of time. One year is like a single minute, while one minute is like an entire year. I’ve spent at least a thousand years here. But my senses don’t remember the past years as a thousand years. Sometimes it just feels like a year has past, while other times it just feels like a few days. This space is such a place.”
Yong-Ho was able to empathize to some extent. When he was in the arena, he couldn’t really grasp the flow of time either. He had originally thought he had stayed for more than half a day during his last visit, but when he came out, it ended up being only two hours.
But what connection was there between the nature of the arena and Kaiwan.
Gusion pursed his lips. He then cut off his remaining hesitation and spoke.
“Kaiwan’s spirit is on the verge of collapse.”
Gusion wasn’t joking. His eyes were as serious as the time when he was telling the story of Mammon.
“I told you when you first came, didn’t I? It has been decades since Kaiwan’s disappearance.”
Yong-Ho also remembered that time. Kaiwan’s pale face came to his mind.
“I don’t know how time passes in this space, but… we can’t fool the absolute nature of time. No matter how we feel in this arena, time is still flowing.”
Gusion’s voice sank heavily. It wasn’t just the decades of Kaiwan. Gusion’s voice contained a thousand years following the death of Mammon.
“Kaiwan was in a poor condition from the beginning. She couldn’t accept the reality that she had to stay in the arena. She had to leave so many things behind.”
The House of Mammon had only just begun to rise again.
There were her faithful subordinates, and there was also her sickly younger brother waiting for her return.
Kaiwan wasn’t unique. The previous generations before Kaiwan, had all eventually been defeated and locked up inside the arena, they too had to leave behind many things.
But Yong-Ho could understand Kaiwan’s heart. He understood why she had such a strong obsession.
The previous generations of owners were better off. The Mammon family was still alive and well developed, and they were proper successors. Unlike Kaiwan.
Kaiwan would not have been devastated by her inability to leave the arena.
It was clear that she was more concerned for her brother, who would not be able to make it without her, and who would remain alone within the House of Mammon.
“Kaiwan maintained herself through sheer belief. All she had left was her faith.”
Yong-Ho understood. He remembered the questions she asked that day when he first met her. She spoke out unknowingly.
“Brother… Will you come to the arena?”
“Even if its just a descendant.”
Yong-Ho closed his eyes. Gusion’s voice went on.
“Visitors to the arena must be challenged at least once. But if you’re with a companion, it doesn’t matter which one of you accepts the challenge. Kaiwan pinned her hopes on that point. She said that there was a strong subordinate that could easily pass the first floor. What was his name, Endelyon?”
It was a wish that could not be fulfilled.
Ophelia’s father, Endelyon, was disappointed by Cayenne and left the Mammon family without him.
Furthermore, Cayenne was unable to overcome the sudden attack of the Crazy Ants. The only passageway to the arena had been lost.
“That’s how time passed. Decades in absolute terms. But for Kaiwan, that time seemed like hundreds of years.”
Kaiwan, described in Cayenne’s records, was a woman of steel.
But the Kaiwan that Yong-Ho encountered at the arena was like a piece of fractured glass ready to break.
“And then you appeared.”
Yong-Ho opened his eyes. Gusion faced him.
“I had a hunch. You’re not the one that Kaiwan wanted. There was even the possibility that you would provide the worst possible answer in Kaiwan’s imagination.”
“Is that why you interrupted?”
Gusion laughed bitterly.
“I am the manager of the arena. Kaiwan is a fighter of the arena, and is among my favorites of Mammon’s descendants.”
In the end, it was Gusion who was the righteous one at that time. Yong-Ho sighed. He was as crude and clumsy as he had always been.
Gusion continued.
“Kaiwan is no longer able to sustain herself just through belief, as she used to. All because you appeared with the truth. You know of what happened with Cayenne, perhaps you might be able to bring him.”
Kaiwan’s mind was sick. And finally, her limits had been reached.
Yong-Ho clenched his teeth. He now understood why Gusion had interfered.
Was it reasonable to let Kaiwan know about her brother’s death and the fall of the Mammon family?
Gusion had judged that now the time had come. She had to face the truth, even if it were to break her.
Yong-Ho swallowed dry saliva. Catalina remained silent, and even held her breath.
“Kaiwan’s brother, Cayenne, died of illness.”
Yong-Ho squeezed out his voice. He confided all he knew to Gusion, as if he was performing a rehearsal.
It was a panorama of tragedy. Gusion lamented the fact that the former owner had committed suicide.
“That’s the worst.”
Yong-Ho thought so as well. Just imagining how Kaiwan would react to the news was horrible.
“But there’s also a positive aspect.”
Gusion said. It wasn’t something that he said casually. His voice was still subdued, but it was calm.
“Kaiwan’s brother, Cayenne, became the owner of the Mammon family, married and even had children. He allowed the House of Mammon to continue on.
It was an ordinary tale. But it was important that such mediocrity was achieved.
Gusion laughed bitterly. He rubbed his lips a few times and then dropped his hands.
“Save Kaiwan. It’s now time for her to get rid of her obsession.”
No answer was necessary. Gusion stepped back, and the man with the beast mask led Yong-Ho again. Yong-Ho ordered Catalina not to follow him.
As Gusion has said, he couldn’t really feel the flow of time. Just a few steps felt like an age.
The man with the beast mask led Yong-Ho to the arena’s waiting room. In the waiting room, Kaiwan sat on a chair with a nervous expression on her face. Her eyes, visible between her grey hair, were filled with anxiety and fear, rather than hope.
Kaiwan looked up and saw Yong-Ho. She opened her lips but couldn’t speak. Her hunger for the truth was so great that it was difficult for her to squeeze out her voice.
Yong-Ho remembered the first time he saw Kaiwan. Some of her memories were left inside her mana. A small and shabby girl. A girl who cried and cried that she would never fall.
Yong-Ho swallowed his saliva once again. Without avoiding her gaze, he faced her from the front. He spoke in a surprisingly bold voice.
“Kaiwan, Cayenne is dead.” It happened a decade or so ago.”
There were no screams or howls.
Yong-Ho grabbed both of Kaiwan’s shoulders. He told her a story that made her feel like she would be crushed into ashes.
***
The word ‘tired’ was insufficient to express how he felt.
Gusion smiled at Yong-Ho, who had now left the waiting room and returned to the arena. He patted Yong-Ho’s shoulder, as if pretending to be friendly.
“You’ve done enough. Now it’s her problem. As the manager of the arena, I give you my utmost gratitude.”
Yong-Ho recalled the Gusion he saw in Mammon’s memory. This incident was proof that Gusion was a sincere person.
After hearing the full story, Kaiwan fell asleep crying in Yong-Ho’s arms. What happened after she woke up was, as Gusion said, her own problem.
Yong-Ho sat down on the nearest chair. He then asked Gusion, who naturally sat down next to him.
“Didn’t you say that conquering the arena would free the arena’s spirits?”
“I said that you could earn the spirits. Well, in the end its the same anyway. And…”
“And?”
“No, that’s enough. I’ll keep that a secret. So, are you going to challenge the fourth floor now?”
Yong-Ho laughed. Gusion hated that it made him somehow feel like a villain.
Yong-Ho shook his head a few times, pulled something out and then spoke.
“Before that, there’s something I would like to ask you. Aamon, the same goes for you. I want to know the identity of this metal.”
In Yong-Ho’s hand was a piece of the crown. Gusion saw it and smiled a little differently than before. Instead of taking the metal from Yong-Ho’s hand, he asked Yong-Ho a question he didn’t expect.
“Is that all of it?”
“No, I’ve got my blacksmith making some jewelry to give to some of my spirits.”
He had originally intended to explain what the metal could do. Aamon was watching from the side, but not Gusion.
However, Gusion’s reaction made his thoughts disappear.
“You were right. He really is Mammon’s true successor. Isn’t that right. Aamon?”
As if to answer Gusion, the flames of a red lotus rose into the air. A soft voice accompanied the flames.
[Brigada. God’s metal. Fragments of the true King’s flesh. It responds to the fragments of the soul.]
Instead of offering an explanation like Aamon, Gusion rolled up his sleeves. A black bracelet, hidden under his white suite, was revealed.
Yong-Ho wouldn’t have known if he had seen it before. But now he knew. It was the same metal that made up the crown.
“It’s something I received from Mammon. He was the first person in the demon world to discover its use in this way, just like you. All of us except for Aamon… he gave to the 12 Spirits of Mammon, jewelry made out of Brigada.
It was a voice full of sadness and deep longing. However, Yong-Ho couldn’t respond to Gusion. He wasn’t surprised by the great tale of the true Demon King, or the mysterious fragments of the flesh. When he heard Gusion’s story, a question came to his mind.
Gusion said that Mammon was the first one to use ‘Brigada’ in this way.
Did that mean that kings before Mammon’s era failed to recognize the true nature of Brigada? Or was Brigada only discovered during Mammon’s time?
Perhaps it was neither.
Yong-Ho came up with one possibility.
The 12 Spirits of Mammon.
Even after Mammon’s death, they were subjugated to the Maze of Greed.
Only
Gusion knew what Yong-Ho was thinking. Once again, he burst out laughing. He gave Yong-Ho a good answer.
“Yes, the 12 Spirits of Mammon. We are the first true dungeon spirits of the demon world. The current system of dungeon spirits is nothing more than an imitation of the original created by Mammon.
The flames of the red lotus rose up. Aamon’s voice echoed in Yong-Ho’s mind.
[My young master. I can now draw out the power of Greed.]
[For generations, the kings who ruled this world were those who possessed the power of sin. And, now it’s time to learn why.]
Light shone from the Brigada in Yong-Ho’s palm. The green flames of Greed arose through the guidance of Aamon and Gusion.
The true power of the Seven Deadly Sins, revealed itself.
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