* * *

    [Contrary to what most people in power believe, Foresight isn’t an ability that can control the future.]

    Back when the Saintess was still a young girl, the former Saintess told her that.

    [Never forget this. Foresight is merely a power for making choices. ]

    […This is all too confusing for me.]

    [Is that so? Then, let me put it like this. Our Foresight isn’t perfect. Once you see a certain future, you can’t see it again. Because the moment you get a glimpse of the future, it changes.]

    She couldn’t understand it back then.

    Why was the former Saintess’ voice so strained? And why did it sound so sorrowful?

    [What? But I’ve already seen the same future multiple times!]

    [It’s not the same—just similar. Take a closer look later. You’ll surely find changes you failed to notice before.]

    [Ugh… I still don’t get it….]

    [That’s okay. One day… after you’ve grown up, you’ll come to understand it naturally.]

    The former Saintess stroked her cheek as she said this.

    Her hand was full of wrinkles but full of warmth at the same time.

    [Until that time comes, don’t share your Foresight recklessly. Specifically, you must never share your mental image. Got it?]

    [Uh… but… the Patriarch said I should actively share my Foresight.]

    [The Patriarch is a foolish bastard, that’s why he says things like that. Regardless of what the others did, there’s no need for you to take his words seriously.]

    ‘Bastard’ was the first ever cuss word the Saintess had heard, but she didn’t understand it back then.

    She simply assumed that the Patriarch’s family circumstances were more complicated than it seemed.

    [Remember, it wasn’t the Patriarch or your father who were granted Foresight by the gods —it was you. Every choice is yours to make.]

    […]

    [So be careful and careful again. As with everything in this world, good intentions may lead to the worst outcomes. And with our fate-bound Foresight… all the more so.] ??Ν?????Ε?

    Pain, sorrow, and regret.

    Back then, the Saintess had neither the insight to read such expressions nor the experience to empathize with them.

    And that was the reason she was able to ask a cruel question carelessly.

    [But… what if I want to share my Foresight? I might meet someone I wish to share the future with someday.]

    A blunt question she could ask just because she was still a young child.

    The former Saintess didn’t get angry but answered with a smile instead.

    [If you ever meet someone like that, then I suppose it can’t be helped. But make sure you do it in secret, without the other priests finding out, alright?]

    [Pardon? But you just said not to….]

    [Better to regret than to wait, and better to endure the pain than regret.]

    [Uh… is that a verse from the scriptures? I’m sorry, I still haven’t memorized everything ….]

    [No, it’s something from my own experience. One day… you’ll understand it too.]

    Back then, even though she didn’t understand what that was supposed to mean, the former Saintess didn’t further elaborate.

    However, at this very moment, ten years since that day, as she held Yeomyeong’s hand and shared her Foresight, the Saintess finally understood the meaning behind those words.

    * * *

    When Yeomyeong opened his eyes, the first sight that greeted him was a space completely bathed in white.

    Though it wasn’t very spacious. Perhaps just a little larger than a dormitory room.

    And as he slowly rose to his feet, his entire body felt unfamiliar, as if his body wasn’t his own.

    Paradoxically, Yeomyeong was familiar with this sensation as he had experienced something similar multiple times before.

    The feeling of being in someone else’s dream.

    Was this the Saintess’ dream? No, it would be more accurate to call it her Foresight since she had informed him that she would be showing it to him.

    With that thought in mind, he looked around and saw the Saintess, kneeling with her hands clasped in prayer.

    She had her eyes shut tight and was trembling all over.

    It was as if she was suppressing something or enduring some kind of pain.

    But instead of helping her, Yeomyeong turned his gaze to the opposite direction.

    …He had no choice but to do it because the Saintess was stark naked, without a single thread on her bare body.

    “What in the world…?”

    Yeomyeong even shut his eyes just in case and suppressed the belated response.

    Perhaps due to the unfamiliar sensation, it wasn’t easy to control the blood rushing through him.

    He summoned his mana, using Blood Flow Acceleration to control his blood vessels for quite some time.

    Only after his tightly shut eyelids began to tingle from being clenched for so long did Yeomyeong finally manage to somewhat regulate his body’s reaction.

    “…Yeomyeong?”

    Having shaken off whatever had been holding her back in the meantime, the Saintess stood up. Sёarch* The n?vel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    Yeomyeong snuck a quick glance at the Saintess before shutting his eyes again.

    She clearly hadn’t realized that she was still naked. Else, she wouldn’t have that innocent expression on her face…

    “Um, Saintess, if you could just…”

    As Yeomyeong spoke, still unable to turn around, the Saintess suddenly leaned in towards him.

    “Why are you being so formal all of a sudden? Is there something strange?”

    Her long eyelashes, hidden beneath the blindfold but with both eyes still closed, fluttered in front of Yeomyeong.

    To stop his head from turning towards her, he strained his neck to the point where the back of it began to ache as he answered.

    “Saintess, um, your… attire…”

    “…Attire?”

    Only then did the Saintess glance down at her body and immediately, a silent scream filled the space.

    Thanks to that silence—if one could call it that—Yeomyeong could clearly hear the sounds coming from where the Saintess stood.

    The sound of her swallowing her breath, the frantic stomping of her feet, and finally, the hurried rustling of something being put on.

    After a brief yet long racket, the Saintess cleared her throat.

    “…You can open your eyes now.”

    * * *

    When Yeomyeong turned around, he saw that the Saintess was now wearing a priest robe that was far more elaborate and luxurious than usual.

    “…How does it feel to be inside the Foresight? Nothing strange, right?”

    It was a nonchalant question as if nothing had happened.

    Her face was beet red, and her hand, clutching the hem of her robe, was trembling… but Yeomyeong decided to respect her intentions and pretend he hadn’t seen anything.

    “…Yeah, no problem.”

    “R-really? Then, shall we, um, p-proceed with the Foresight right away?”

    She dragged her stiff body to the white wall.

    “Just a moment…”

    Then, she raised her hand high and swiped it down towards the wall.

    A moment later, a large image, several times larger than her, appeared on the once, blank wall.

    Looking closely, it was closer to a photograph than a painting.

    A photograph that captured a scene of a man and woman fighting beneath a burning building.

    The woman in the photo looked familiar.

    It was inevitable. After all, there was only one beauty in this world with black hair and blue eyes like those.

    Hong Seti.

    The woman in the leather jacket, holding a large hammer like the one he’d seen in Incheon, was swinging it at the man standing opposite her… who was not clearly visible.

    Almost like he was censored.

    While Yeomyeong narrowed his eyes as he stared at the photo, the Saintess spoke up, clearly confused.

    “Huh? What’s happening?”

    “…What? Is something wrong?”

    “This isn’t the future I saw …”

    Saying so, the Saintess placed her hand on the wall and swiped it again.

    The photo rippled and glowed immediately, but regardless, it didn’t change.

    Instead, the contents of the photo began to move little by little.

    The Seti in the photo, who was engaged in a tense fight, suddenly began to overwhelm the man.

    “Wait a moment…”

    Oblivious to this, the Saintess continued to wave her hand. And each time, the content of the photo began to gradually progress.

    With the first swipe of the Saintess’s hand, an image of Seti’s hammer crushing the man’s leg appeared.

    At the second gesture, the man could be seen crawling on the ground, trying to escape.

    With the third gesture, Seti was seen raising her hammer, poised to strike his back…

    “…Stop.”

    Just as the Saintess was about to swipe her hand for the fourth time, Yeomyeong grabbed her wrist.

    Startled by the sudden touch, the Saintess looked at him, and Yeomyeong gestured towards the photo instead of explaining.

    Upon belatedly recognizing Seti in the vision, the Saintess spoke in a trembling voice, visibly flustered.

    “T-this can’t be… This isn’t the future I saw…”

    As her confusion seemed to linger on, Yeomyeong interrupted her.

    “…What was the original Foresight you saw?”

    “You, Seti, and three unknown people were sucked into some strange magic… that sort of future.”

    “…”

    “Why did the Foresight suddenly change…? I…”

    The Saintess trailed off in the middle of her explanation.

    She had a sudden realization as to why her Foresight had changed.

    Unaware that Yeomyeong could alter fate, she couldn’t come up with any other explanation.

    “Yeomyeong… um, this is…”

    Ignorance led to misunderstanding; misunderstanding led to conviction.

    Having convinced herself that the future had changed through some fault of her own, the Saintess nervously gauged Yeomyeong’s reaction.

    And just as her tongue began to feel stiff, and her mind went blank, Yeomyeong pulled her wrist in his grasp closer and asked.

    “Is there any way to see this Foresight in more detail?”

    His breath touched her forehead. Someone else’s breath—not hot, not cold.

    That breath, like magic, swept away the worries clawing her mind, and she finally returned to her senses.

    “Y-yes, there is.”

    “Alright, then let’s see it right away. If we’ve already managed to change it once, we can change it again.”

    “Ah…”

    The Saintess did not try to argue with Yeomyeong’s words.

    She couldn’t explain why, but for some reason, she felt that if it was Yeomyeong, he could do it.

    She extended her free hand, the one Yeomyeong wasn’t holding, and placed it in the middle of the image.

    Then, she pulled the image apart, creating an opening. Like opening a door.

    “…We just have to enter it.”

    Alternating his gaze between the empty space and the Saintess, Yeomyeong held the Saintess’s wrist tightly as they stepped into the Foresight together.

    * * *

    The first sight that greeted them inside the Foresight wasn’t that different from what they had seen while outside.

    Seti was about to kill the censored figure under the burning building.

    But unlike the photograph, this world wasn’t flat, and one just needed to turn their head to see things that couldn’t be seen from the outside.

    “Yeomyeong, this is…?”

    The Saintess was at a loss for words as she took in the surrounding scenery. Her reaction was understandable.

    After all, the burning building was one she knew very well.

    The National Assembly building in South Korea.

    The Saintess looked around, feeling bewildered.

    The stench of burning flesh and blood, the ashes that clouded her vision.

    Every time she turned her head, following the hellish scene, more corpses came into view.

    Corpses that had been ‘slaughtered’ mercilessly, looking almost like something out of a cheap adult comic.

    “Why… why is Seti in a place like this…?”

    The unimaginable sight made the Saintess grip Yeomyeong’s hand tightly.

    Seti did something like this? No, that couldn’t be true.

    She turned her head towards Yeomyeong, seeking his agreement.

    However, Yeomyeong was frozen, his gaze fixed on one spot.

    Following his gaze, the Saintess turned her head, flinched, and then turned stiff.

    What Yeomyeong was looking at was none other than Yeomyeong himself.

    The man holding a blood-soaked sword had such a grim look on his face that it was hard to believe he was the same man standing beside her now.