Chapter 365 - Processing-III

"What mission do you want?" Chung Gon questioned.

"I want you to stop searching for the catalyst. Put an order and I will help you to take over the Associate," Gu Manyeong said. "This is my own personal interest."

A wry smile appeared on Chung Gon, "Personal interest? Do you mean hatred and revenge?" 

"Something similar to that. I need to put an end into this. You think you can do it?" Gu Manyeong questioned while staring at his eyes.

Chung Gon sighed, surrendering as he loosened his hand that had been tying to release himself from the force of the wind. "But I will have to discuss this with Gun Nam. He plans to use the catalyst as a distraction."

"I can tell," Gu Manyeong replied casually while he walked away toward the side of the couch. "Gun Nam want to take over the Associate while Gwe Jeoknim is busy with this matter. Though I didn't stay long here, I can feel the already tension of this entire building. When will you fulfill this plan of yours? Taking too long will only result on Gwe Jeoknim knowing your plan."

"You speak as though you know a thing or two about creating a tactical plan," Chung Gon stared at Gu Manyeong. He never heard people giving remark about Gu Manyeong. The man was known to be one of the few vampires who have least to talk about.

The vampires often spent their entire time talking about their surrounding and he found it strange that people only talked about his background of the child who came from his father's first marriage, nothing else was known. 

"You are a pureblood but your father was a third generation pureblood. How do you acquire that power of yours?" Chung Gon questioned curiously when Gu Manyeong had walked to the door.

The pureblood smiled, "It's a curse," and turning the door knob, Gu Manyeong stepped out from the door, feeling a cold trail from his nose, he raised his hand and rubbed the blood away, "It seems that the time has come that I have to pay the price."

Back in her dream, Seoyeon looked back at Haneul who began to brew a tea beside her which caused her to question whether or not the tea was actually real.

She made her way to take a sit beside the woman, "Can I wake up now?"

"We still have a few thing to discuss," claimed Haneul who sipped to her tea, "You might have known this but I am in control of this place. I cannot control the lucid dream but when I have this space inside your mind; having the strongest power here, I control this space better than you."

"What are you?" Seoyeon then questioned. "Are you a ghost?" At first, Seoyeon guessed that Haneul was a figment of the past but she claim she has the power to control her consciousness which is something not a figment of imagination could ever do.

"Wrong. Isn't the answer clear? I am the power, I am the catalyst. But my body have gone away and now I am living here, inside the vessels, trapped, like all my friends who had been resurrected from the dead," Haneul said and Seoyeon saw her clutching the handle of the teacup tighter. "It was my mistake. I should have known just how much pain they would go through if they were to rebirth again. In fact, I didn't know it at first. I sillily used my power while making a wish when I know I shouldn't."

Seoyeon didn't understand why she can relate so much to Haneul. Is it because she had seen her past? "Then what am I?" Seoyeon saw Haneul's face turned to her in question. "Am I only but a mere body who can contain your soul? Who is the head of this body, you or me?"

Haneul stared back at Seoyeon who want to know about herself.

"No," Haneul answered. "You are your own person, a new soul born to this world who unluckily was chosen to have my power. Don't mistaken me solely by my appearance to you now, Seoyeon. I have died. Unlike my friends, I didn't resurrect my body or soul, my consciousness is inside this power."

"But the fortuneteller I mean, Yeseul, she didn't remember anything and thought you were the one who had killed her." It was unfair because Seoyeon knew Haneul wasn't the killer.

"It is because unlike most of them, Yeseul died the first, and she bear more grudge against me that her entire memory lingered only at that point where she saw the Queen who assumed my identity. You don't have to tell her, she will remember it soon enough. In fact, JaeGil should already be here to tell her what truly happened. The choice to believe is in her," Haneul spoke calmly as if she had made peace with it, "I trust you have learned all my power throughout my dream?"

Seoyeon nodded, "Except for the very last one," where Haneul had resurrected her friend by a simple wish.

"You don't need to learn that." Because the consequence of the action was large that most people wouldn't be able to pay.

"But how would I be able to kill the Queen? The main enemy isn't me but it appears that everyone thought I, as the catalyst, are their number one priority to be killed," Seoyeon consulted to Haneul, "I need help. I have seen the black witches whom the Mistress had took in, they are strong and with how I am now, I am not sure whether I can kill her alone."

Haneul hummed, taking into her words to consideration. "You don't have to be alone. First, Yeseul and JaeGil will help you. Second, if you don't have ally, why don't you made them? You are dangerous Seoyeon, like I was. How do you think you should proof yourself that you are not? By hiding? Enemy of an enemy is a friend, remember that."

Enemy of an enemy? Seoyeon felt like she had found the answer but she wasn't certain of it. Her greatest fear was that she lost now when she knew she couldn't. It was time to end the grudge of thousand years and put the dead to their last rest.

"It's time," Haneul then said. She had been expressionless during their entire talk, only displaying the sense of forlorn by being alone in the empty white space. 

Seoyeon was about to leave when she saw the faint smile of Haneul on her lips and she moved her lips as if to say something which caused Seoyeon's eyes to widen.

"...I'll try to help you from here," Haneul continued before Seoyeon saw her entire vision covered by the thick darkness. 

Seoyeon's eyes snapped open and she sucked for breaths desperately as if she had been under water, drowning for a long time.

"You are awake," a voice came beside her. Seoyeon pushed herself immediately from her bed. She saw the fortuneteller who had spoken. Unlike earlier Seoyeon felt the fortuneteller to be a stranger, oddly, she found the woman to be closer to her now and she knew it was because of Haneul's memory.

Seoyeon pulled her hand before her. She closed her eyes, remembering what Haneul did in her dream, she mimicked the action. Seoyeon turned her palm for a bright flame to appear, "It worked!" Said Seoyeon in elation but being able to use them now doesn't vouch for how she would do during the fight.

Even though she didn't see what happened, she could feel the power originating from Seoyeon's side. "That is great but I think you need to do something first," said Yeseul with a faint frown on her forehead. 

Seoyeon stared at Yeseul whose forehead creases, finding her reaction to be alarming and it got worse when Yeseul said, "It's about Mr. Jung."

Seoyeon hurried to the next room where she heard from Yeseul where Jung Hwa was staying at. She immediately pulled the door once she arrived. There was side effect to the potion she drank, causing her to feel a little bit woozy but she managed to continue her walk without staggering.

When she entered, she was greeted by the sight of red cotton before Seojun came to her. "Sister, how are you? I heard you were in the ritual."

In their last meeting, Seoyeon had been surprised and disappointed but she wasn't a petty person who would get angry and ignore him in a moment like this. Especially when Seoyeon was well aware of how worried Seojun was.

"I am alright," she turned to find Jung Hwa, instead seeing the man whom she might have seen or not before. She then looked forward at the man who was sleeping under the cover, her heart thud in a frightening nerve. She had run before Yeseul could explain, only hearing Jung Hwa's name.

He promised to meet her when she was awake. He didn't. He wouldn't die! If he dies—

"You woke up?" Jung Hwa's voice sounded from behind her while she was standing near the door.

Seoyeon slowly turned her head before staring at him for a long time as if to make sure what she saw was not an illumination. She touched his arm, seeing him who appeared paler and immediately wound her hands around his waist.

The embrace surprise Jung Hwa in a good way. He loved the touched of her arms that circled on his back and let her do the tight embrace while he engulf her gently. 

"I promise, didn't I?" Jung Hwa asked because Seoyeon currently look like a child who had just woke up from a bad nightmare and had come to confirm her worse nightmare didn't take place.

"You did," whispered Seoyeon. Perhaps she had only been asleep for a day but it felt terribly long for her and she missed him. To be alone made her feel weaker and Jung Hwa was the cause for her power.. She felt that she needed this, the hug of his strong arm.