Prince Lee Hyun, the youngest of the royal family, knew nothing of human malice.
Having been raised with nothing but love within the palace, he had never once been exposed to true malice.
Normally, such a thing would be impossible.
The child of a concubine was always expected to live cautiously, wary of the queen’s watchful eyes.
But this did not apply to Lee Hyun.
“Brother! What should I do to be of help when you become king?”
This was thanks to his maternal family’s teachings, which had emphasized from an early age that he should actively demonstrate his lack of ambition for the throne.
Lee Hyun’s maternal family, Chumon, was Joseon’s equivalent of a megacorporation, responsible for education.
However, unlike in other countries, Joseon’s megacorporations were megacorporations in name only—power-wise, they were no match for the government.
Private armies were banned, all businesses required government approval, and every citizen had a monitoring chip implanted in the back of their neck.
In such a country, there was no way a megacorporation could ever rival the government.
This was why Chumon had chosen to educate Lee Hyun in this way.
No matter how much favor Lee Hyun’s concubine mother received from the king, there was no real contest against the queen, who was the daughter of a four-star general in a military dictatorship.
Instead, after some careful calculations, they decided it was far better to actively emphasize Lee Hyun’s harmlessness than to risk incurring the future king’s resentment.
And so, Lee Hyun projected harmlessness.
A naïve, pure-hearted younger brother who adored and admired his elder sibling.
It was a remarkably effective strategy on Chumon’s part.
Because until the age of sixteen, Lee Hyun remained completely untouched by malice.
The crown prince, the legitimate heir, regarded Lee Hyun as his own little brother.
Even the queen grew fond of him.
And beyond that, Chumon, his maternal family, was fully accepted into the crown prince’s faction.
As long as the Chumon Group did not attempt any treasonous conspiracies, both Lee Hyun and his maternal family’s future seemed secure.
But no one expected Lee Hyun’s innocence to lead to tragedy.
To resolve Lee Hyun’s uncertain political standing, the king decided to assign him to the Hunt Legion.
It wasn’t that the king wanted Lee Hyun to go out and personally slay ghosts; rather, he was simply meant to accompany the guards and observe the crown prince at work.
The problem was that the king overlooked one crucial fact—
Lee Hyun was not incompetent, but he lacked experience.
As a prince, he understood human malice in theory, but he had never encountered it firsthand, and so he had no habit of suspicion.
This was why he didn’t question it when the Prime Minister recommended assassins from the Geomgye as his bodyguards.
He didn’t question it when the second prince taught him how to link his monitoring chip with the Geomgye’s.
Nor did he question it when the third prince introduced him to a mysterious warrior as his lieutenant.
Lee Hyun simply couldn’t doubt them.
And he had reasonable explanations for his trust.
For one, he didn’t believe he was worth targeting.
For another, the love and affection they had shown him for the past fifteen years seemed too real to be false.
Most of all, there was no reason for them to conspire now—the crown prince’s faction had grown far too powerful.
Unless he was deeply paranoid, there was simply no cause for suspicion.
But on the day of the Hunt Legion, when the Geomgye assassins suddenly became possessed en masse, when the so-called lieutenant abducted him, Lee Hyun finally realized—
‘Ah, I was deceived.’
He had no idea what trick had been played.
He lacked the ability to distinguish between ghostly possession and AI infection.
He didn’t know how they had selectively driven only the Geomgye insane.
But Lee Hyun was not so foolish as to miss the obvious pattern before him.
‘Brother…!’
The crown prince was in danger.
Lee Hyun could feel the virus planted in his chip resonating with the Geomgye’s, controlling them.
He could even sense the commands being issued.
Eliminate the exorcists.
Collapse the battlefront.
And in the end, assassinate the crown prince.
Whoever had orchestrated this plan had done so with meticulous precision.
Under normal circumstances, the Geomgye would have been subdued instantly by the military.
But here, in the ghost-infested mountains of Geumgang, the army had a dilemma.
If they focused on the Geomgye, the ghosts would overwhelm them.
If they focused on the ghosts, the Geomgye would strike them down.
Even if the plan failed, there was no issue.
In a place swarming with ghosts, no one would suspect AI infection over mass possession.
And most of all, if the crown prince died in the middle of Mount Geumgang, there would be no trace of him left.
It was an impeccably crafted scheme.
Yet Lee Hyun could do nothing.
He was helpless, being dragged away by the assassin who had once been his trusted lieutenant.
Half-resigned to his fate, Lee Hyun accepted his abduction.
Until, suddenly— a ninja appeared.
***
“Eh?! What?! Why is there a ninja?!”
The assassin from Saljugye was in utter shock.
(Though his words were slightly distorted in Lee Hyun’s mind, the general meaning remained intact.)
A figure had leaped from the darkness, scaling trees and striking with deadly precision.
In such a moment, who wouldn’t think of the word ninja?
The ninja swiftly severed both of the kidnapper’s arms.
Lee Hyun, belatedly, realized that the ninja was Amon.
A moment later, he noticed the warmth soaking into his hair.
It was human blood.
“Urgh…”
And for the first time, Lee Hyun discovered that his stomach was weaker than he had thought.
His consciousness slipped away.
***
“Mmm…”
Lee Hyun slowly regained awareness, swaying in a pleasant rhythm.
Lee Hyun instinctively realized that he was slung upside down over someone’s shoulder, like prey being carried away.
“You’re awake. Don’t open your mouth. You’ll bite your tongue.”
Hearing the voice from beyond the dull black fabric of a priest’s robe, Lee Hyun recognized that the person carrying him was Amon.
Understanding Amon’s warning, Lee Hyun firmly shut his mouth.
He then lifted his head slightly from Amon’s shoulder and looked behind him.
Sunwoo and Sunhwa were following, their faces weighed down by deep exhaustion.
“Huff… Huff…”
“How… are you this fast…?”
Even while carrying Lee Hyun on his shoulder, Amon moved at a speed that the Gyeomgye warriors would struggle to keep up with, leaving Lee Hyun in awe.
Like many middle school boys, Lee Hyun had an innate admiration for unknown, nameless masters of martial arts.
Without realizing it, he directed a question at Amon.
“I thought you were strange when we first met… Who exactly are you?”
“A Taoist. You may call me Jeon Woochi.”
“Jeon Woo… Ugh!”
“Oh dear. Bit your tongue, didn’t you?”
Amon chuckled, his shoulders shaking slightly.
Lee Hyun wanted to clarify that it was actually his cheek, not his tongue, but the pain made it difficult to speak.
His face flushed with embarrassment.
This time, he was careful with his tongue as he spoke.
“Could you… put me down now…?”
“I cannot.”
“Why not?”
“I strongly recommend you just close your eyes and remain unaware.”
“???”
Hearing that response, Lee Hyun suddenly realized something strange about the vibrations traveling through Amon’s shoulder.
‘It doesn’t feel like he’s just running…’
It was as if his other arm was moving violently.
And that wasn’t the only strange thing.
The screams echoing around them, The pale faces of Sunwoo and Sunhwa trailing behind, And…
[O Holy Mother in Heaven…]
Amon’s murmuring prayer.
Lee Hyun struggled to make sense of it all.
In the end, his curiosity got the better of him, and he turned his head to the side…
“…??”
His eyes met the face of a skinless ghost flying alongside him.
“Hic!”
Lee Hyun’s heart nearly stopped at the sight of the horror movie-like apparition.
The ghost curved its lips into a grotesque smile.
“So, you finally looked this way—”
Slash.
Before it could finish speaking, its head was severed.
Amon let out a sigh.
“See? I told you to keep your eyes closed.”
***
“Your Highness?”
Instead of Lee Hyun, Sunhwa answered.
“He passed out. Foaming at the mouth all over your clothes.”
“Sigh… He really isn’t fit to be king.”
“That’s disrespectful.”
“People always curse at the king when he isn’t listening.”
The group raced through a forest teeming with ghosts.
Unlike their journey to find the prince, their return was met with relentless interference from spirits.
As if…
“They’re targeting Prince Lee Hyun.”
Sunwoo and Sunhwa seemed to share the same impression and nodded.
With one hand, Amon carried the prince, while his other hand cut down the ghosts.
Meanwhile, Sunwoo and Sunhwa did nothing but chase after Amon’s back.
“Um… Amon…”
“Not yet.”
Sunwoo had intended to take the prince off Amon’s hands to lessen his burden, but Amon continuously refused.
“Apologies, but it’s safer if I carry him.”
If the two of them, already slow, had to carry the prince as well, they would become even slower.
Though grateful for the implication that he would never abandon them, A suffocating sense of helplessness filled their chests as they realized they were nothing more than burdens.
As if sensing their thoughts, Amon added, “No need to feel anxious. From the way things are going, I suspect you’ll be needed very soon.”
“You don’t have to console us.”
“I’m not. If anything… Ah, damn. That was a death flag, wasn’t it? Ugh. Whatever. Since it’s already out there, I’ll just say everything. Once this is over…”
He trailed off but never stopped moving.
Sunwoo and Sunhwa silently watched his back as he grew more distant.
Suppressing the faint admiration rising in their hearts.