Chapter 20: The Nameless Spirit

“If you devote yourself wholeheartedly, surely the heavens will be moved and help you. Or perhaps you’re not truly desperate enough?”

I-gyeol said it sarcastically as he looked at the huge boulder, towering well above Myeong’s height. Yet Myeong obediently took his words to heart and clasped his hands together near his chest.

“Spring, please help me, your creature of Spring. Forgive me for recklessly leaving the land of Spring, and please let me return to your side.”

Myeong’s tightly shut eyelids trembled with the force of his earnest prayer. I-gyeol frowned as he watched a prayer that would never reach its destination.

He had thought Spring was the only one who was unusually devoted. Apparently, his creatures were the same.

Equally irritating. Equally unpleasant to look at.

“Keep at it for a hundred years.”

He was almost tempted to leave the creature trapped inside the cave and simply walk away.

Ignoring I-gyeol’s words, Myeong steadied his breathing and carefully placed his hands against the enormous boulder.

‘Please move. Please move.’

The tiny voice repeating the words like an incantation sounded pitiful.

“Wait.”

“I-gyeol-nim, goodbye… Huh? Ah?!”

Because I-gyeol had been watching Myeong the entire time, he failed to notice the energy of a Winter creature suddenly approaching.

Just as he sensed Asha’s presence and was about to stop Myeong, Asha had already moved the boulder aside and greeted I-gyeol good morning.

“My prayer came true!”

It was nothing more than a fortunate coincidence, but to Myeong, it meant everything.

‘The God of Spring is still by my side!’

Overjoyed, Myeong bounced excitedly before rushing outside without another glance at I-gyeol, greeting the brightening morning.

I-gyeol watched Myeong’s retreating back with a deeply furrowed brow.

Sensing the unpleasant atmosphere, Asha slowly backed away from him.

He was afraid of getting caught in the crossfire for no reason.

“An idiotic creature, a pathetic Spring. The two of them make quite a pair.”

“…Several Winter creatures have arrived to escort you. Shall we go?”

Asha, just as Myeong had done earlier, let I-gyeol’s words go in one ear and out the other before informing his king about the two Winter creatures who had arrived during the night.

****

Myeong stood upon the snowfield glowing faintly blue and began sniffing.

I-gyeol had explained that the scent of camellias was sweet yet sour, while also being heavy and soft, so Myeong was trying to find something resembling that scent.

But he could barely smell anything. Myeong lowered himself to the ground and sniffed it like a puppy.

After crawling along like that for quite some time, he suddenly looked up at the black boots in front of him.

“Hello.”

“…Greetings.”

Saru knelt in front of Myeong and greeted him, and Myeong politely returned the greeting.

Saru looked over Myeong’s tiny body and gentle face before giving his brief assessment.

“Just one bite.”

“Pardon?”

“What were you doing?”

“I’m looking for a camellia. Who are you? I’m Myeong, a creature of Spring.”

Myeong sensed a cold energy along with the incomprehensible remark and became wary of Saru.

Normally, he would have turned and fled without looking back, but since the Wolf was nearby, he did not think he was in danger.

Curious about the stranger, he asked who Saru was first, but being the polite creature he was, Myeong introduced himself before anything else.

“Saru.”

“…Yes?”

The man had narrow, slanted eyes that gave him a rather fierce appearance. His pupils were slit-like as well, making Myeong feel somewhat frightened.

Unaware of this, Saru brushed his dark green hair behind his ear, allowing Myeong to get a better look at his face.

“Had a good look? I came to help you.”

“Help me?”

“Yeah. I’ll help you find the camellia.”

Since I-gyeol had helped him find the Ice Flower, Myeong had promised to find the Camellia God in return.

There was no such thing as help without a price.

‘What if this man asks me for something difficult, just like the Wolf?’

He needed to hurry back to Spring.

After thinking for a moment, Myeong hesitantly asked Saru,

“Then what do I have to give you?”

“It’s fine. I’ll take payment in another form. I think I can sense the camellia’s energy over there.”

“But…”

“You have to give it to him before dawn, right? The sun will be up soon.”

“Thank you.”

Saru pointed toward a place where dry branches had been piled up and told Myeong to go there.

Myeong hesitated for a moment, but since it really seemed as though dawn would break soon, he quickly thanked Saru and got to his feet.

“We could’ve just killed him and left. What a nuisance.”

“He ordered us to let him live.”

Taeje, who had approached Saru at some point, continued as he watched Myeong in the distance.

Saru felt the same way as Taeje.

The Winter creatures had long since lost any mercy for creatures of other seasons.

After the disappearance of the Summer Mermaid, the responsibility for the seasons had fallen solely upon the Winter Wolf.

The first season, the beginning and end ordained by Mago.

Therefore, Winter was duty-bound to bear that responsibility.

Every creature of Winter had fallen to their knees and cried out in anguish.

‘Why must our radiant and omnipotent god suffer such punishment?’

It should not have been their Winter Wolf who was forced into a sleep resembling death.

The Winter creatures had carried their worshipped god into a deep cave and lowered their heads, waiting for the right moment.

And so they had endured for a hundred years.

They had waited.

And at last, they had welcomed him back.

‘They would usher in the age of Winter. They would carry out their revenge stained with blood and tears.’

Summer and Autumn had not even been born, while Spring was weakening with every passing day.

‘If this was not Mago’s will, then what was it?’

Even if it wasn’t, that was fine.

The Winter creatures served only the Winter Wolf.

They had been born for him, loved him throughout their lives, and would die for him.

Therefore, they had to plunge their blades into the seasons that had put their Winter Wolf to sleep.

Those seasons had to bear the responsibility.

“Dawn is breaking.”

A gentle orange glow spread across the world.

Taeje faced the sun rising between the mountain ridges.

Dawn awakened in the northern lands.

Saru and Taeje smiled as they stood against the blowing winter wind.

Their king was still strong.

Still radiant.

“I found it!”

At that exact moment, Myeong shouted loudly after discovering a camellia buried beneath the snow.

It was the camellia Saru and Taeje had found and buried there during the night.

****

I-gyeol accepted the camellia Myeong handed him.

Frost had formed densely between its petals.

I-gyeol looked once at Myeong, who was smiling brightly, then shifted his gaze toward Asha, who was standing nearby with a stern expression.

“This was a wager between me and the creature of Spring. I never said others were allowed to interfere.”

“You said the camellia had to be placed in your hands before dawn.”

Asha hurriedly joined the conversation.

Myeong nervously fiddled with his worn clothes.

This was something that had been bothering him as well. Since he had received help from someone else, he could hardly complain if I-gyeol declared the wager invalid.

Ignoring both Asha and Myeong’s gazes, I-gyeol watched the curtain of night gradually recede.

“Come closer.”

At I-gyeol’s words, Myeong hesitantly stepped forward.

He did not forget to glance back once at the frightening Winter creatures.

“Closer.”

Myeong moved forward by barely a fraction, true to his timid nature.

When I-gyeol furrowed his brows and urged him again, Myeong took a deep breath and stepped forward in one large stride.

There was now barely a body’s width between them.

“Myeong.”

I-gyeol’s low voice, resembling the night, called his name.

At the sudden address, Myeong abruptly lifted his head and met I-gyeol’s eyes.

“…Yes.”

“Do you have the courage to live with that name?”

It sounded as though I-gyeol were asking whether Myeong could live without regret or hatred.

Myeong could not bring himself to answer aloud.

He simply nodded.

To live as Myeong, the Nameless.

It meant having his roots denied and drifting through life like dust.

Even so, Myeong still chose to return.

Because he was a creature of Spring.

Because both his birth and his death existed for the sake of the God of Spring.

“Spring doesn’t know you. Even if you die.”

I-gyeol cursed Myeong’s hopeless one-sided love.

No matter how desperately he yearned for Spring, Spring would never look at Myeong.

Perhaps those words were also a wish of the Winter King himself.

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