The Love That Remains

Sung Jun stands in front of the crowd. He watches them with a haunting emptiness. It's his second time, standing here and watching them. He doesn't smile or say a word for a long time.

"Everyone is here?" He ignores the councilman and asks Bae Jaemin who has been standing by his side since he came to the council.

"Yes," Bae Jaemin replies after a pause. Sung Jun doesn't look good. There is something in his eyes that scares him a bit. He can guess that something bad is going to happen.

"The previous president has been found guilty of colluding with the demons and lawless dark practitioners. All of you are charged guilty. Nobody is allowed to leave the vicinity until the person is proven not guilty."

Dead silence.

"That's...a bit..." One of the councilmen tries to speak up, but he shuts his mouth when he meets Sung Jun's cold eyes. He touches his neck subconsciously. Offending a kind-ranked shaman is a death sentence.

"President Sung, you cannot accuse everyone here." A daring council member steps forward. She is somewhere in her 40s and a mid-ranked councilwoman. Sung Jun remembers her from his other life. He smiles at her. She is one of the few people who didn't break his trust.

The guilty ones are sweating and thinking about how to get away without seeming suspicious.

"It will barely take a minute." He chuckles when he sees the faces of some people turning white. "To keep it fair, I am taking it too."

Before anyone else could protest or react, his honey brown eyes turn silver as a silvery thread comes out of his fingers. The pure silver threads spread into beautiful silvery ribbons, weaving itself into a mesh on the ceiling. In less than a minute, everyone in the hall is standing under a glowing woven spirit net.

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"What's this?"

"I have never seen anything like that..."

"That energy is pure...almost godly."

"A king ranked shaman can summon a heavenly artifact." Sung Jun informs the shocked crowd. "This is the overseeing sky of judgment. As we speak, it is inspecting everyone in this room. Anyone guilty will be taken to the unbreakable prison."

"No!" An old man screamed. "I can't go."

He tried to run, but he couldn't move an inch. His body was already paralyzed. Similarly, other people were also frozen on the spot. They screamed in horror when they saw people disappear one by one. By the end, out of three thousand council members, only forty remained including Sung Jun and Bae Jaemin.

The spirit mesh disappears from the ceiling.

---

"So, this is the first thing that you do after becoming the president of the council," Sung Jun's father pauses for a moment. His eyes shine wickedly as he looks at his son standing on the other side of the invisible wall. Sung Jun doesn't reply.

"How long have you been collecting the evidence against me?"

"I found out how the council mistreated Fang Aisa and what she had to go through when she wasn't even a year old. But she wasn't the first. She wasn't the last either. Because of her, I could no longer ignore your actions. I have always known what kind of person you are, Father. That is the main reason why I didn't want to become a shaman."

His father laughs at him.

"What changed your mind? If you hate being a shaman and the president, why did you become one?"

"Because I wanted to fix your mistakes," Sung Jun smiles sadly. "I became a lawyer to help the people who were wronged by the council. Now, I need you to stop. I am sending you along with Butler Kim to the unbreakable prison."

His father doesn't react. He shows him a solemn smile. It's impossible to return from an unbreakable prison. It's a separate dimension built to keep the prisoners who have committed grave sins.

"You should kill us instead."

Sung Jun looks at him with emptiness in his eyes. He wants to be angry with his father. He wants to hate him. He can't. Opposite of love isn't hate. When he met her for the first time in this life, she loved him and also, hated him. He didn't understand why. In his previous life, he abandoned her to protect her. He couldn't protect her anyway. Their lives are entangled with gods because of him.

It feels like a lifetime has gone by. All he wants is to see her again.

"It's because of her." He hears his father speak in an amused tone. "That cursed child...I should have killed her a long time ago."

"You have killed her a long time ago."

"Huh?" His father looks up at him with confusion on his face.

"I am here for something else." Sung Jun doesn't clarify. "I want to know about Dabria."

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Xia Fengnian, alias Dabria, plays a significant role in his previous life. She is the reason who colluded with the dark creatures to cause the war. She must be caught and sent to the unbreakable prison at once. Though he prefers her to be dead, he knows well that Xia Fengnian will cause troubles as an evil spirit. It's better if she becomes an evil spirit in the unbreakable prison.

"Why should I tell you?" His father smirks. "Aren't you capable of finding her by yourself?"

"I am, but that will take some time." Sung Jun watches him coldly. "Father, I am a king ranked shaman. I don't even have to blink to make you speak. But, I want to give you a chance to keep your dignity before you leave."

They stare at each other. His father wonders how did his son change so much. He is both proud and upset. A part of him is happy that his son didn't turn out like him. Another part of him is full of regrets. The past cannot be changed. But, these regrets mean nothing. If he could, he would still follow the same path. He sighs before answers his son.

"You will find the information in the hidden locker behind the painting of the god of fire."