***
Deputy Squad Leader Na Seo-yu spoke to Squad Leader Seol Poong.
“Now, look me straight in the eyes.”
Despite her words, the squad leader could not bring himself to look at Na Seo-yu and only showed a restless appearance, shifting his gaze here and there.
The male members of our squad were watching that sight while laughing enjoyably.
I said with a smile.
“Seeing as he can’t look you in the eye, it seems certain that the squad leader hasn’t been soul-possessed, right?”
Then Bi Sa-yeong chimed in as well.
“Exactly. It’s the squad leader’s completely normal self. Squad leader, shouldn’t you at least get soul-possessed a little? You need to get married, don’t you?”
At those words, Bae Jong-gwan cut in with a laugh.
“Sa-yeong, you can’t talk well in front of women either. Does that mean you also have to be soul-possessed to get married?”
Then Bi Sa-yeong flared up.
“Wha-wha-what are you talking about?! It’s not that I can’t speak, I just chose not to! Because there was no need!”
At that, I smirked and asked back.
“Oh, really?”
“Of course!”
At that moment, Na Seo-yu said to Bi Sa-yeong.
“That worked out well. Then the next person will be Young Master Bi. Now, come here and look into my eyes.”
“Hmph! Do you think I can’t?!”
We were currently in the quarters investigating whether the male squad members had been soul-possessed.
An official notice had been sent down to check all members of the Flying Dragon Unit because a victim of soul possession had appeared in the 10th Unit.
In this way, people at the front were sometimes soul-possessed by the Blood Cult.
And that was a much more horrific thing than the appearance of demons or demon masters.
It was because one lost a trusted comrade and, at the same time, had to kill that comrade with their own hands.
This was because the method to break the Blood Cult’s soul possession had still not been discovered at all.
“Now, look me straight in the eyes.”
“I-I looked.”
“Hey, what was that? Don’t just glance like that; you have to keep looking.”
“That’s right, Sa-yeong. You have to keep looking. Where did all that confidence from earlier go?”
“Exactly, you were teasing me so much earlier, but you look just like me now, don’t you?”
“N-no! Honestly, isn’t it confirmed that I haven't been soul-possessed at this point?! Isn’t that right, deputy leader?”
“Yes, well, seeing as you can’t meet my eyes, it seems certain that Young Master Bi is also fine.”
“What! I did meet them!”
“You did. For a ve-e-ery short moment.”
Whether someone was soul-possessed was usually judged by looking at their eyes.
This was because the vitality vanished from the eyes of those who were soul-possessed.
Furthermore, the role of judging this was usually the task of the women rather than the men. This was because women were much more sensitive to the appearance of comrades who had changed from their usual selves; the fact that every squad at the front was organized as a mixed-gender unit was actually for this reason.
“Now, it’s Young Master Sunwoo’s turn.”
At Na Seo-yu’s words, I swallowed hard and stepped forward.
Well, I had to look Na Seo-yu in the eye, right?
My heart was thumping incessantly.
I felt like I could do it for an hour, let alone a short moment.
Beside me, Bi Sa-yeong and Bae Jong-gwan spoke to me.
“Hmph! Let’s see how confident you are, Jin!”
“Hang in there, Jin!”
At my friends’ words, I suddenly smiled.
Why would I need to "hang in there"?
It was an opportunity to lock eyes with Na Seo-yu.
I was going to take this chance to look at Na Seo-yu’s face to my heart’s content.
However, my thoughts vanished the moment Na Seo-yu gave a soft smile and looked at me with a gentle gaze.
Her smile dug deep through my eyes and into my heart.
Gentle eyes like a puppy that drooped at the corners, and a soft smile that seemed like it would understand and accept everything in the world.
Although she might not be a peerless beauty like Young Lady Dang Yeo-eun, she had a kind and pretty face that made a person feel infinitely good.
Pop!
In an instant, it felt as if something had exploded inside me.
Then, the comrades who were watching me with interested faces immediately burst into laughter.
“Puhahahahaha! What is that?! How can a person’s face turn that red?”
“Hahaha! Jin, no matter what, how can you turn that red even before you see her face?!”
“I’m sorry, Jin. I should have told you to only hang in there a little bit.”
Only then did I realize what had happened and touched my face.
I could feel my body temperature burning as hot as the sun.
Na Seo-yu spoke to me while holding back her laughter.
“There’s no need to even look at your eyes. I never imagined there would be a man more extreme than the squad leader.”
P-pardon?! W-wait! You don't need to look at my eyes!
That won't do, Young Lady!
I hurriedly tried to restrain her.
“N-no, I mean...”
But she spoke to me with a soft smile.
“Don’t push yourself too hard, Young Master Sunwoo. You must have had a hard time, I’m sorry for teasing you.”
“No, I mean, that is...”
In that way, the opportunity to legitimately look at Na Seo-yu’s face flew away into the sky.
I felt like the world had collapsed.
How could such an absurd situation happen...
While I was frustrated like that, Bi Sa-yeong suddenly asked.
“By the way, deputy leader, did you also check Young Lady Cheong-yeon’s eyes?”
At that question, I, who had been frustrated, suddenly raised my head and looked at Na Seo-yu. I was also very curious.
Right now, Young Lady Cheong-yeon had become quite close with the female squad members, but even so, I could be considered the person closest to her. She always followed me whenever I did something.
However, even I had never seen above her nose. To the question of why she kept her bangs down, she only said she couldn't show it because there was a scar.
A scar...
If that were true, it couldn't be helped.
But somehow, it didn't seem true.
‘My name is Cheong-yeon. My surname is Cheong, and my name is Yeon.’
Those were the words she said when introducing herself to the squad members.
Even though she clearly must have a separate surname, she introduced herself this way; and seeing as she was a friend of Jegal Seo-yul, the daughter of Jegal Ji-gang, the Chief Strategist of the Murim Alliance, she was clearly a daughter of a prestigious family, yet she hid her background. Seeing these things, I wondered if she was also intentionally hiding her face.
Therefore, whether Young Lady Cheong-yeon had shown her eyes to Na Seo-yu was something I was also very curious about.
At the question of whether she had seen Young Lady Cheong-yeon’s eyes, Na Seo-yu seemed to suddenly recall something.
Then, she nodded blankly and muttered.
“Yes, I saw them. It was truly...”
“Truly?”
When we focused our gazes on her with curious eyes, Na Seo-yu snapped back to her senses and hurriedly shook her head with a smile.
“Ah, it’s nothing. I saw them with Ju-eun, and it turned out Yeon-yi had no choice but to hide her face.”
“Pardon? Why is that?”
“Well... because if she didn't hide it, a great chaos would occur?”
“...Pardon?”
We frowned at those incomprehensible words, but Na Seo-yu seemed to have no intention of saying more.
“Well, there’s something like that. Anyway, good work everyone. Ah, are you heading out right away, Squad Leader?”
At her question, Squad Leader Seol Poong nodded with a broad smile.
“I intend to do so.”
Then Na Seo-yu spoke with a worried expression.
“Please be careful. I heard that there might be more than one Spider Ghost appearing this time.”
“Thank you for worrying, Young Lady. I will be careful not to be caught off guard.”
The peak-level masters of the 13th Unit, including Squad Leader Seol Poong, were scheduled for immediate deployment.
It was to search for the most dangerous demon in the jungle currently: the Spider Ghost.
The Spider Ghost, a demon that grew stronger by absorbing human essence and blood, originally possessed abilities around the highest level of the first-class realm, but it was known that they grew to the peak-master level once they absorbed the essence of three or more people.
‘Of course, they don't use Astral Qi, but their physical abilities actually surpass those of masters at the entry level of the peak realm.’
Furthermore, as they grew, their intelligence also improved, making it difficult even to discover them; they were truly the worst kind of monsters.
However, information had come in that this particular Spider Ghost had absorbed the essence of at least five people in the 14th Unit located to the east of the 13th Unit and had moved toward us.
For us, it was an emergency.
“All the peak-level masters are heading out, right?”
“Ah, since only peak-level masters can handle a Spider Ghost that has absorbed essence from five or more people anyway.”
“Please be careful, Squad Leader.”
“Right, thank you.”
We watched Squad Leader Seol Poong’s back as he left the room with heavy eyes.
Just as it was in my past life, the frequency and danger of the demons appearing had become much higher after the Wild Dog Ghost swarm attack.
The Spider Ghost, which originally appeared maybe once every few months, was now appearing once or twice every month.
So, the appearance of Wild Dog Ghosts or Owl Ghosts went without saying.
I suddenly asked Na Seo-yu.
“Young Lady Cheon Ju-eun... No, what do you ladies plan to do?”
“Us? Since it’s not a good atmosphere to go into the forest, we’re going to train near the quarters.”
“Yes, I see.”
I let out a sigh of relief inwardly at her words.
Recalling the memories of my previous life, it seemed it was around this time that Young Lady Cheon Ju-eun, who was not in our squad at the time, had died.
At the time, I didn't have the mental capacity to pay attention to others, so I didn't remember exactly, but I clearly remembered trembling with even more fear when she, who had arrived around the same time as me, was found as a corpse eaten by Wild Dog Ghosts in the forest.
But this time, since she was in our squad and always stayed with Na Seo-yu and Young Lady Cheong-yeon, it seemed such a thing would not happen.
Still, I gave a warning just in case.
“You ladies must not go into the forest or to dangerous places by yourselves. If you ladies were to fall into danger while the squad leader is away, how could we face him?”
Then Na Seo-yu answered with a soft smile.
“Don’t worry. We have no intention of doing that either. And thank you for worrying, Young Master Sunwoo.”
Until this point, I thought this would be enough.
However, it was only some time later that I recalled that Young Lady Cheon Ju-eun was not the only one who died then, and that there must have been a separate reason why she, who was still a novice then, had entered the forest during that dangerous time.
It was during the afternoon, while I was practicing external arts with Bi Sa-yeong and Bae Jong-gwan.
Suddenly, Young Lady Mae Yeo-gyeong, the deputy leader of the 4th Squad, passed by in a hurry while looking around as if searching for something.
I could not take my eyes off her once I discovered her.
Because she was one of the people I was keeping an eye on, along with Dang Yeo-eun and Ma Yu-gyeom.
She was the person who would be murdered by a Spider Ghost in the not-too-distant future, becoming the reason why the 4th Squad Leader Ma Yu-gyeom became an invalid.
Of course, that was something that happened after the summit between the Orthodox and the Blood Cult, not now, but I still couldn't help but be concerned.
I threw on a top and approached her, asking.
“Young Lady Mae, who are you looking for so urgently?”
Then she, who had a somewhat gloomy impression compared to her pretty face, flinched and answered with a slightly wary attitude.
“Ah, I’m looking for one of our squad members. Son Ha-rang. I was paying attention to her because she’s been having a very hard time lately, but she hasn’t been seen for a while.”
“Ah, I see. Young Lady Son Ha-rang? If I meet her, I will tell her that Young Lady Mae is looking for her.”
“Yes, thank you.”
After she passed, Bae Jong-gwan suddenly spoke.
“If it’s Young Lady Son Ha-rang, she’s the lover of Young Master Jeong who died during the Seven Evil Brothers incident last time, right?”
At those words, Bi Sa-yeong answered with a bitter face.
“That’s right. I heard she’s been having a very difficult time because she hasn’t been able to forget her lover since then.”
It was a story I was hearing for the first time, and a name I was hearing for the first time.
I asked them urgently.
“What does that mean? A person who lost her lover?”
“Ah, Jin, you wouldn’t know. It was something that happened right before you came; Young Lady Son’s lover was murdered by the demon masters known as the Seven Evil Brothers of the Twin Scythes. They were a couple famous for cherishing each other dearly, and it seems Young Lady Son has been having a very hard time since then.”
It was a pitiable story.
But it was also a story that was not so rare at the front.
The workers at the front lived that way, losing countless lovers and dating other people.
It was to the point that one of the strict rules when dating at the front was to never care about past lovers.
Whether that past connection was dead or alive.
“I see. That’s a pitiable story.”
As I was turning away while nodding, I came to a dead halt at a thought that suddenly occurred to me.
‘Wait a minute. Which squad was Young Lady Cheon in during my past life?’
I didn't remember well.
But in my faint memory, I felt I had definitely heard such a story.
That she had met her end after entering the forest with a comrade to comfort her while she was having a hard time.
Then... could this be it?
As I stood on the spot with a serious expression, thinking about something, Bi Sa-yeong asked.
“What is it, Jin? Why are you acting like that again all of a sudden? It makes me anxious.”
“Exactly. Don't tell me an immortal appeared in your dream again and told you something even though you weren't sleeping?”
Since I told them that an immortal appeared in my dream and informed me during the Wild Dog Ghost swarm attack last time, these men had come to believe my words implicitly.
Therefore, it was not very difficult to persuade them.
“I have a bad feeling. It seems we should look for that person named Young Lady Son.”
Then Bi Sa-yeong and Bae Jong-gwan looked at each other and asked me.
“If it’s your feeling, Jin, we can trust it, but... where are we supposed to find Young Lady Son?”
At that question, I pointed to the western forest and said.
“Let’s go check that forest over there.”
It was the opposite direction from where the squad leaders had gone to search for the Spider Ghost.