Challenges of My Disciples (2)

In the center of a lush meadow stood a man staring aloof at his surroundings.

Baek Il had been standing in this meadow for what seemed like hours, but only minutes had passed. After he had watched Bae Suk step into the fog and vanish from view, he too stepped into the trap.

But contrary to what he expected, the mountain pathway he once walked on had morphed into the endless meadow before him. Though this meadow was normal to the majority of people who could look at it, Baek Il's view was different.

The aloof gaze in his eyes was drawn not from the memories of bad memories, but of fondness. This meadow was the same meadow from his childhood home. Seeing this meadow in such pristine shape was a joyous occasion compared to the last time he witnessed it.

This very meadow that he once knew every flower and tree location within, was the catalyst of his home. Without this meadow, the village he once called home wouldn't exist.

Baek Il's life was not one would normally be regretted, but Baek Il indeed regretted one thing of his childhood. At the age of seven, whilst still living with his two parents while barely making it by each day, Baek Il would live a quiet and fulfilling life.

His merchant parents would spend most of every week selling the product for a larger merchant organization. Yet they still found time to spend with their only son at the end of each day.

Despite being in the lowest of low ranks at the merchant organization, Baek Il's parents had tried to give him the best life he could ask for. If he wanted food, he would have it, if he wanted to play, he could do so. They wanted him to not enter the same hellscape they put themselves in to survive.

But one fateful night, during his seventh year of age.

A ravenous fire spread throughout the village, burning down everything it touched. The deafened cries that arose from the village were a warning for those not yet affected to escape, but the cries fell on deaf ears.

And alone in the meadow stood one young boy and his family, whilst the young boy held the broken handle of a candle, his parents began to weep and fall to their knees.

In an instant Baek Il's view of the grassy meadow morphed into the scene in the meadow, and the cries of his parents soon were heard.

"Why... Why did you burn down the village! We give you everything you want at the cost of our health, yet you always want more no matter what you were given!"

Baek Il stared on at the village despite his mother's outbreak, his eyes retaining the icy cold glare that showed no care over the burning village.

'There's no point in beating myself up over this. It was my fault that the village burned down in the first place.'

The flame which burned the village down was but a mistake on Baek Il's life, as he had accidentally dropped the candle in his house while trying to blow it out for the night. The flame quickly enveloped his house, barely allowing Baek Il and his family to escape.

However, despite the burning village, the fog knew of Baek Il's acceptance of reality. Quaking with anger that its target wasn't disturbed by this memory like the other targets had been, the fog then settled over Baek Il's body and blocked his sight.

'Is the fog going to show me something else?' Baek Il thought as the veil of fog around him span endlessly at high speeds. Yet despite the spinning, not a single gust of wind was blown into Baek Il's face.

How long had he been trapped in the fog? Baek Il didn't know, but at one point in his wait he noticed something Stange with the fog.

'It's slowed down.'

As he stood in the center of the now slowly spinning fog, glimpses of what laid outside the fog would appear. But the glimpses Baek Il received were not of the meadow he was just in.

'This is...!'

Baek Il stepped out from the fog and found himself in the single room house he once lived in. Immediately Baek Il spotted his younger self on the floor between his parents, sleeping so peacefully that it would be a wonder if anything could wake him up.

'This is my home the night of the fire... Why is the fog trying to stir up my emotions with this memory? I've already accepted what happened this night and moved on.'

Nothing happened in the house for what felt like hours, but then Baek Il's younger self awoke from his sleep with a jolt. The younger Baek Il held pain-stricken eyes and grabbed his stomach as if it was undergoing excruciating pain.

'Right, I had a bad stomachache that night... Why didn't I remember that?'

While continuing to clench his stomach, Baek Il's younger self stood up and hobbled his way to the single candle in the center of the dimly lit room.

But as the younger Baek Il staggered before he blew out the candle, the wispy flame flickered toward him, almost as if someone had been lightly blowing the flame in his direction.

'And this is where it happened, in a few seconds the candle will be knocked over and everything will burn.'

The events of that night did not play out as Baek Il remembered, as before the younger Baek Il could blow out the lone candle, he collapsed to the floor and left the candle to illuminate the room.

'What? I didn't knock it over when I tried to blow it out?'

Once again, the fog began to encircle Baek Il. Yet this went unnoticed, as Baek Il was lost in his thoughts.

'Was I at fault... Was I not at fault... What is this fog trying to show me?' Baek Il thought. 'Why is this trap so fixated on something I've long moved on from?'