Part I: After the Memory
Mujin staggered to his feet, the weight of the memory still pressing against his lungs.
His hand trembled as he released Juhwa, the ancestral blade, now silent in the air beside him.
"I was there…" he whispered."I didn't just see Juhwa's life. I lived it."
Elder Gihyeon approached slowly.
"The gate showed you the Emperor's memory, but it also showed your own. The name… wasn't just inherited. It was returned."
Mujin turned, his gaze sharp.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Gihyeon looked away.
"Because the moment you remembered who you were, you'd be hunted not as a traveler… but as a traitor."
Thunder rolled overhead.
Too loud.
Too close.
Part II: No Reflection
A pulse rang through the ground.
The silver gate behind them twisted—then shattered.
From its ruin, a man stepped forward.
Dressed in robes darker than night, with no shadow, no sound, and no reflection in the puddles below.
He carried no weapon. He was the weapon.
Mujin's breath hitched.
"You… I saw you. In the Emperor's memory. You tried to stop me."
The man tilted his head.
"I did. And now I will again."
Gihyeon stepped between them."You have no authority here."
"Wrong," the man said."I have the oldest authority: memory. And his has awakened."
He raised a single finger.
From the broken earth, dozens of mirror shards floated upward, spinning like blades.
Part III: Shards of the Past
The shards attacked without warning.
Each one reflected something—Mujin's failures, his doubts, the face of his wife in pain.
Skycut Fang leapt to Mujin's hand, clashing against flying memories.
Juhwa pulsed behind him, a silent hum echoing from the root of his soul.
Gihyeon joined the defense, flames spiraling from his palm to incinerate the first wave.
"You must not let them touch your skin!" he shouted.
Mujin gritted his teeth."Why?"
"Because they don't just cut. They rewrite."
A shard grazed Mujin's shoulder.
For one breathless second, he forgot his name.
Forgot the seal.
Forgot… Seoul.
But then—he remembered.
And screamed.
Skycut Fang flared, scattering the mirror storm.
The man without a reflection didn't flinch.
He simply smiled.
Epilogue: A Mirror Yet to Break
The attack stopped.
But the damage had been done.
A piece of Mujin's memory—gone.
Stolen.
The man turned to leave, his voice trailing like mist:
"You carry seven seals, Mujin.But how many of them are still yours?"
And with that, he vanished into the shattered gate.
Gihyeon steadied Mujin.
"He's not a soldier. Not an assassin. That was a Remnant."
Mujin looked at the wound on his shoulder.
Nothing bled.
But something inside was missing.
And deep beneath the ground—
a mirror cracked, waiting to take more.
To be continued…