Chapter 940

I was sure it was nearby, but I also thought there was a possibility that Baekho-gun might not show up.

However, it seemed that Baekho-gun had no intention of pretending not to notice and appeared promptly.

Baekho-gun, seemingly surrounded by his ability, remained completely dry even in the pouring rain, but rain continued to pour through the window, splashing water around.

Unfortunately, a raindrop hit my right eye, and when I closed it, my vision blurred.

Slightly.

When I blinked and opened my eyes again, the window was completely closed.

Baekho-gun had not moved his hand, yet it seemed that the Silver Sleep Mansion had moved according to its owner’s will.

Baekho-gun quietly stared at my left eye, which was still not fully healed.

Looking at his indifferent, unblinking eyes, he asked.

“I didn’t sense anything at all. Is this your domain?”

“Yes.”

Baekho-gun answered briefly and closed his mouth.

It seemed he wasn’t planning to speak unless I asked.

Even though Baekho-gun didn’t talk much, during meetings he would say what was necessary, and when we fought together, he seemed to align with me as if reading my thoughts, so I hadn’t felt any difficulty in communication up until now.

But now, it felt frustrating.

‘He doesn't seem willing to volunteer any information.’

At this point, I had no choice but to make him speak.

“You were already nearby before I called, right? It seems like you were opening and closing the window while I was sleeping, yesterday and the day before.”

Baekho-gun hesitated before answering, as though carefully choosing his words.

"Yes. I was around here, yesterday and the day before."

“There must have been a reason for you to be here.”

"I’m asking about that reason."

“Why?”

Baekho-gun didn’t seem to be lying, but he wasn’t willing to fully reveal everything himself.

I thought about what that ‘reason’ could be.

Did Baekho-gun need to stay around while I slept during this retreat?

But when I thought carefully, the important thing wasn’t this retreat.

Regardless of the retreat, Baekho-gun had often been around when I woke up or fell asleep.

“When we stayed at the mansion, you were always nearby when I slept.”

It wasn’t a coincidence, right? There must have been a reason for him to be there then too.”

Whenever Baekho-gun would wake me up, or stay by my side while I was unconscious, or his presence would be felt outside the door, it was clear there was always a reason for him to be there.

While it was normal to have a tiger in the tiger’s mansion, it still seemed strange when I connected it to the ‘reason’ he mentioned.

That reason seemed closely linked to the Dreamcatcher, which had turned black and broken.

“Considering the timing and the situation, that reason must be related to ‘sleep.’ You needed to watch over me while I was sleeping.”

It had been over a year and a half since I came to this world.

Over 500 nights, I had mostly slept alone.

When we did spend the night together, I would stay up all night while someone else slept, keeping watch over them.

There had been no problem at that time.

Also, there were times when everyone else was awake and I was the only one asleep.

‘I fainted while using communication in front of Cheon Dan-su, and was treated at the tiger mansion. I’m not sure if I should separate fainting from sleep, but in any case, I must have slept when I was exhausted.’

I had slept for three days straight, but nothing had gone wrong then, unlike what was happening now with the Dreamcatcher.

In other words, no problems occurred when someone slept beside me or I slept next to someone.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The problem seemed to arise when both I and the other person slept near each other.

“While I was asleep, someone must have been watching over me so that I wouldn’t fall asleep, right? To prevent something bad from happening.”

When I stayed at the mansion, I had slept beside Olmu like that, but Olmu was a genius warrior with special abilities, so maybe that’s why nothing happened.

No, maybe the genius warrior had already sensed something.

I recalled the time I first stayed at the tiger mansion with Olmu.

The tiger was pierced by a branch, and we ended up staying up all night, but before that, I had been trying to sleep normally.

But I couldn’t.

‘Olmu kept waking me up that day.’

Every time I fell asleep, Olmu would wake me up persistently.

Then, when I woke up, he would bark with a relieved expression.

After repeatedly dozing off and waking up due to Olmu, Baekho-gun had come to my room.

And Olmu, as if trying to convey something to Baekho-gun, barked, and Baekho-gun quietly listened before speaking a puzzling sentence.

—Sorry.

I couldn’t understand what he was apologizing for, but I answered that it was fine.

After hearing that, Baekho-gun didn’t say anything.

Soon after, the tiger returned, bleeding, and the atmosphere was not right to ask further questions.

“You knew, not just you, but Olmu too. That’s why when we slept together for the first time, he kept waking me up. He must have thought something bad would happen if I fell asleep.”

It wasn’t just Baekho-gun, Olmu knew about the secret related to my sleep.

The problem now was what that secret was.

"Hwang Ji-ho, Jeok-ho, and Eun-ho don’t know about this, right? If Hwang Ji-ho knew, he would have at least taken some precautions, even if he didn’t chase me away. At the very least, he would have made changes to the room assignments during this retreat."

Hwang Ji-ho was very fond of the members of our class.

Maeng Hyo-don didn’t speak up, but it was clear that something bad had happened.

To prevent this in advance, I would have moved on my own to another room.

But that didn’t happen.

Baekho-gun could have intervened if he wanted to. But he didn’t.

If Baekho-gun had meddled with the room assignments, Hwang Ji-ho or the other Ho-jok members would have found out, so maybe he didn’t want that to happen.

Baekho-gun didn’t refute anything, just silently listened.

He neither confirmed nor denied, but I was sure that there was nothing wrong with what I was saying.

“If it’s a power that Hwang Ji-ho, the protector of the sacred district, couldn’t detect, then surely other Jin-jok would also be on high alert. Maybe a Jin-jok specialized in that power might have sensed it already.”

I had dealt with many Jin-jok so far, and many of them were arrogant enough to disregard powerful beings unrelated to them.

But even those individuals, without exception, had been wary of one being.

The one associated with dreams — the existence of the Nightmare, Inseomnium.

At the 12th zodiac summit, when the leaders of both factions mentioned sensing the presence of a nightmare, even those who were indifferent to the death of the Ho-jok’s descendant became tense.

—申[Cosmic Great Sage] "??? Nightmare?? Let’s surrender and find the light."

—酉[Gyeryongsan] "Ha, Nightmare? Are you talking about the God of Nightmares, Inseomnium? When did he show up?"

—子[Crafty Rat] "…The most influential being in the human realm? I think he’s been living quietly since 15-20 years ago."

—井[Honest Metal] "What? Nightmare? ^_^"

—辰[Max-level Blue Dragon] "There’s a nightmare in the Korean Peninsula?"

—午[Sensitive Black Horse] "Quickly, say it’s a lie."

Even the leader of the Wujok faction, who had betrayed the 12th zodiac alliance and followed the dark forces, seemed shocked at that moment.

In other words, the Nightmare was an entity that all Jin-jok were cautious of, regardless of the dark forces.

And the leaders of both factions declared that there was a Nightmare near the magic circle of the 12th zodiac alliance.

—The person attending this 12th zodiac meeting or nearby the magic circle is 'the Nightmare' itself. Be on guard so you aren’t consumed by it.

After that, the leader of the factions spoke to Gulimburusuti, who was the temporary representative at the next 12th zodiac summit.

—亥[Nordic Handsome God] "You said the Nightmare can’t enter the Ho-jok’s sacred territory, right? Then you must have sensed it beyond the magic circle."

—未[Nightmare Messenger] "Yes."

In other words, something related to the Nightmare might have participated in both meetings simultaneously.

The one who fits that condition is none other than me.

Moreover, the leader of both factions went to that land to confirm the movement of the Nightmare, and said this:

—未[Nightmare Messenger] "The Nightmare is active when everyone is asleep at night, so it’s relatively safe to go during the day. I didn’t want to, but I confirmed it."

—亥[Nordic Handsome God] "Hmm… So did you visit another leader’s domain?"

—未[Nightmare Messenger] "Hmm."

And the leader of both factions added with a slight sarcastic tone:

—未[Nightmare Messenger] "Actually, the reason I went to that domain was more for my hobby than confirming the Nightmare."

In other words, the leader of both factions visited the place where the Nightmare was sensed, partly to confirm it and partly for his own hobby.

Before this 12th zodiac meeting, Eungwang High held a festival.

During the festival, one of Woo Gi-hwan’s associates, a member of the Korean Traditional Music Club, had been gifted a magical instrument by a leader of the Jin-jok and invited to their domain.

When Hwang Ji-ho tried to figure out the identity of that Jin-jok leader, they had the following conversation.

—Is the leader of that Jin-jok still at the merchant’s guild?

—Hmm… No, they didn’t want to stay long, so after the Haegum performance, they left.

That day, several leaders of Jin-jok attended the Eungwang High festival, but only one of them disappeared after completing their task, like they were running away.

What if that leader was the leader of both factions?

If the leader of both factions sensed the Nightmare’s presence in the Ho-jok’s domain, then went to confirm it while indulging in their hobby and disappeared right after, that would make sense.

"Sleep and dreams. The leader of both factions, the embodiment of those symbols, must have sensed the presence of the Nightmare in my domain. Right?"

Baekho-gun didn’t deny it, but still remained silent.

If we were to think coldly about it, Baekho-gun couldn’t definitively say what the leader of both factions sensed and why they came here, so it was hard for him to speak up.

The certainty I had slowly solidified.

There was still something else on my mind.

It happened when I went to the Netherworld.

‘Looking back, there were a lot of strange things.’

Ereshkigal had faced me wrapped in rags and was very cautious about me making contact with the doorkeeper.

She had even advised me to lie down with the rags and wait, and for what felt like weeks or even months, I couldn’t sleep and kept waiting.

Though Ereshkigal didn’t explicitly say not to sleep, every time I tried to sleep, I instinctively tried to remove the rags, so I couldn’t fall asleep.

Ereshkigal had said:

—“It’s unfortunate. How did you end up carrying such a terrible burden? If not for that, I would have gladly invited you beyond this door.”

It wasn’t just Ereshkigal who said something like that.

Princess Sa-hee also said something similar on behalf of the higher beings of death.

—"Though the burden is heavy, no one here denies that you are a strong and good human. Our will is firm."

After receiving permission from the light of life and death, the guard of the cycle of reincarnation said to me:

—"Uishin, there are two higher beings who didn’t attend this gathering."

—"One is the God of Death worshipped by the demons, and the other is… Inseomnium, the Nightmare."

The reason Inseomnium didn’t attend may be related to my sleep.

If the Nightmare moved after I fell asleep, it would have been unable to attend the meeting because I was awake.

And there was one more thing that bothered me.

It was when I directly faced a Jin-jok who was deeply related to dreams.

—“…Huh? You’re human?”

The Butterfly Spirit was surprised when she first saw me, as if it was strange that I was human.

The Butterfly Spirit, born from the Zhuangzi’s theory of the unity of things, was a being that constantly navigates between dreams and reality, making it a Jin-jok deeply connected to dreams.

‘And she asked me several times if I had something precious.’

Could it be that nightmares don’t have anything precious?

Could it be that I am the Nightmare itself?

Though I tried to remain calm, countless signs in this world stirred up anxiety.

I decided to directly ask the one who might know the answer.

“Answer me. Am I the Nightmare?”

Just like before, I wondered what I should do if Baekho-gun didn’t deny it.

Should I accept that I am the Nightmare? My mind felt like it was turning black.

Then, a calm response was heard.

“No.”

Baekho-gun’s answer made everything clear in front of me.

After saying that, I thought he would remain silent, but Baekho-gun spoke again.

“You’ve just inherited the Nightmare.”