The Unsurpassed Maiden

The black haired girl continued to feel out all the auras of the doors surrounding them. She walks from one door to another, trying to find the door with the brightest glow.

"What are you doing here?" Hae Choon questions at some point while Mi Young was on her 59th door.

"Trying to pick the best door for the both of us." Mi Young answers, eyes still closed as she moves to the next door after she realizes that the previous door has almost no positive aura around it at all.

"I didn't know you could do that." The other party continues to comment out.

"Teacher Hwang taught me." The black haired student replies while still concentrating, hands on top of another door.

"How did you learn it that fast?" Hae Choon asks once more.

Mi Young didn't reply as she continued to feel out all the doors. She needed to concentrate so she didn't bother replying to the other party.

"Why aren't you answering m—"

The black haired girl glares at him before saying, "Can you shut up? I'm trying to concentrate!"

Hae Choon freezes before he sends out a peace sign to the other party. "Sorry."

After that, Mi Young went back to feeling out the mana auras of all the doors around them. She spends a lot of time walking from one door to another just to find a way that would help them out of this damned place.

However, on her 145th door, something took the young girl off-guard making her stop in her tracks.

"What the…hell." Mi Young whispers more to herself as she looks at the door in front of her. She retracts her hands away from the door and steps a few feet away from the door.

"What's wrong?" Hae Choon asks when he notices the suddenly tensed body of the black haired student.

"This door…" Mi Young starts to say as she looks at the door once more.

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

"It's filled with such dark aura." The black haired girl explains. She feels Hae Choon walking up right next to her.

The young girl was about to step closer towards the door once more just to check it but Hae Choon's hand blocked her way. "No. Don't go near it."

"Can you feel it too?" Mi Young asks.

Hae Choon nodded his head silently. "Although I can't feel it's dark aura, I can definitely tell that something made from Dark Magic is hiding behind that door."

"Dark Magic?"

"Uhn. It's strong as well so I guess it's best if we just avoid that door." Hae Choon replies while sending the young girl a small smile. "How about you choosing a door with the brightest glow? I mean, I don't know if you know how to read their auras but the brightest—"

"Brightest aura means that it contains good mana and energy. Yeah I know." Mi Young replies before she starts to walk towards the other end of the doors. She continued feeling out the doors so they could find an escape.

The black haired student didn't know how long it took her but alas, a door finally shined so bright while she moved her hands on top of it, trying to feel its aura.

"Hae Choon!" Mi Young quickly announces to get the other party next to her.

"What? You found something?" The tall boy says while he runs towards Mi Young's side.

The black haired student nodded her head in triumph. "Uhn."

Mi Young points at the door in front of her before saying, "This door right here is the key to our survival."

"That's good." Hae Choon answers with a smile. However, he frowns immediately right after saying those words. "Although it's quite weird."

"What's weird?" The young student asks while looking at the door and back at her companion.

Hae Choon points at something right next to the door. "It's weird because it's just right beside the door with Dark Magic."

Mi Young's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing what the other party just said. Indeed it's true. The door she just found out with the brightest glow is just right next to the door which they found out to be filled with Dark Magic.

"Let's just stay away from it while we open that door." Mi Young exclaims as she moves to step towards the door with the bright glow.

"I hope it's as easy as that but look…" Hae Choon says. He pointed at something again and Mi Young followed his fingers.

The door, which was filled with white glow, is somehow connected to the door with Dark Magic. Mi Young must have been too focused on finding the right door earlier because she just realized that there was only one door knob for the two doors.

"How come I didn't notice this earlier?" The young students said with a voice full of shock and confusion.

"That's understandable. You're tired with all the walking and running." Hae Choon tells the other girl in hopes to comfort her.

The two of them stayed still after that, just standing in front of the door not knowing what to do next.

Mi Young can even hear Hae Choon letting out sighs of relief and confusion for how many times.

Until the black haired girl had enough, "It's now or never."

"What are you going to do?" Hae Choon asks while he looks at the black haired girl who was now walking closer towards the door, ready to grip the doorknob. The young man quickly pulls Mi Young just before her hands can touch the doorknob. "Wait!"

"What? If we don't open this now we wouldn't be able to escape this place." Mi Young says while pulling her hands away from the other party's strong grip.

"Yes but shouldn't we think of a plan first?"

"Why do we still need a plan?"

"Because it's really weird! I mean, I might not know things about auras but I'm sure as hell as not blind to know that something suspicious is going on. Look at it…" Hae Choon says while pointing at the conjoined doors once more. "Why does it have two auras? There is no such thing as one object having two auras before."

"How do you know?"

"Because just like us, magic items also have only one mana spirit!" Hae Choon explains.

"Mana Spirit? Like the one that makes us alive?"

"Exactly."

"I didn't know magic items could also possess mana spirits. I thought it was only us and the savage beasts." The black haired girl explains.

"Magic items possessed mana spirits that are linked from their maker." Hae Choon starts to say. "As a blacksmith who makes weapons, I give some of my mana energy to all of the weapons I make to give them life."

"Life? Like what?"

Hae Choon sighs before he continues explaining. "Weapons are not just lifeless objects that people use for war. Weapons can also possess magic. I once made a sword that can make ice by slashing it through thin air."

"Seriously?"

"Uhn. That man who bought my weapon became the strongest swordsman in their place." Hae Choon added while a proud smile played along his lips.

"That's cool. Why aren't you making weapons now?" The black haired girl couldn't stop herself from questioning.

Hae Choon shrugs before answering, "Because I think this is the best punishment I can give to myself after selling out Ireena just like that."

"Oh." Was Mi Young's only response.

There was a small and comfortable silence that enveloped the two of them after that. None of them made a move as they both continued to stare at the conjoined doors.

However, after a few more minutes of complete silence, Mi Young opened her mouth again.

"If we survive this and if we succeed in setting her free…" Mi Young starts to say. The other party didn't say a word but she knows Hae Choon wants her to continue her question, and so she did. "Would you go back to making weapons?"

"I think so." Hae Choon replies after a minute or two. "I think I will have to practice again since it might feel foreign to me after thousands of years of not being able to make a single weapon."

Mi Young nodded her head at her friend's answer. Then, she sees Hae Choon  giving her a side glance and a genuine smile. "Even the greatest blacksmith needs some time to think about his works too."

The black haired girl didn't immediately get what he was saying but nonetheless, she let out a small chuckle before she looked at the two doors again. "So? What do we do with this?"

"Why don't we try and look for a way to check the doors separately?"

"But how? It has only one doorknob." Mi Young says while pointing at the only doorknob placed at the center of the two doors. The black haired student still doesn't know how she was able to miss out that important detail.

"I have an idea but it's not that good." Hae Choon says with a wavering voice.

Mi Young eyed him suspiciously. "Let's still hear it."

The other party inhales a deep breath before saying, "We open the door at once and look at it at the same time."