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Fishermen spoke of stars that bled light into the sea.
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Mountain monks reported hearing a second heartbeat beneath the earth.
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Infants born under the shadow of the Gate bore strange marks across their backs.
In the heart of the chaos, Mujin trained silently.
Each morning, the Heaven's Seal burned a little hotter against his skin.
Each night, his dreams twisted into visions of a world drowning in ash.
And always—
that feeling someone, or something, was watching.
"Your awakening was not hidden.
It was a beacon."
Elder Woon Gihyeon's warning echoed in his mind.
Mujin knew:
He was no longer the only player on the board.
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One evening, under a sky cracked with black lightning, Mujin ventured into the ancient ruins of Sangdo Fortress—one of Baekje’s lost citadels.
There, among the shattered stones,
he found her.
A girl no older than sixteen, blindfolded, clad in tattered royal garb, sitting atop a broken throne.
She smiled without seeing.
"You carry the scent of storm and sorrow," she said.
"I have been waiting."
Mujin frowned.
"Who are you?"
She tilted her head.
"A remnant. A mistake.
A fragment of a soul too stubborn to die."
The girl introduced herself as Seoryeon —
“Last priestess of the Old Pact.”
She warned Mujin:
A force deeper than Heaven and Earth sought to control the Seal—not destroy it.
They needed a True Gatekeeper.
And Mujin...
was only half of what was required.
"Without the Key Twin," she whispered,
"the Seal will devour you."
As Mujin and Seoryeon spoke, unseen watchers stirred in the ruins.
A masked figure observed them from a crumbling spire.
In his hand: a jade flute etched with sigils from the lost dynasty.
Far below, the ground cracked open slightly—
and something slithered in the dark.
Mujin felt it then:
Not all who bore the Seal were meant to protect.
Some were born to corrupt.
That night, across Baekje, the moon was devoured.
It did not disappear—
it simply turned black, like ink bleeding into silk.
And in the depths of Nokdu Gorge,
beneath the site of the Shattered Gate—
Something…
laughed.