Chapter 0: Prologue
Truth is not two.
Just as light and shadow always coexist, good exists because evil exists. There is no enlightenment that departs from affliction, and ordinary beings and Buddhas are not truly different.
Thus, the most noble things are often born from the most wretched soil—just as a pure lotus blooms from filthy mud.
A lotus that takes root in muck yet is never stained by it, spreading its clear fragrance in all directions. The temple Geumgangsa in the heart of Seoul brought such a lotus to mind.
Geumgangsa, 28 Yeonjam-ro 10-gil, Cheonghae-gu, Seoul.
Behind it rose Mount Bukwang, embracing the temple, while a great river flowed in front—a classic baesanimsu site where mountains stand at the back and water flows in front. According to feng shui, it was a place destined to accumulate wealth and prosperity. That was why luxury houses lined the steep roads of Cheonghae-dong. And at the very top of that wealthy neighborhood stood none other than Geumgangsa.
A pure sanctuary rooted in a rich district like a lotus in the mud. Behind this peculiar harmony stood the Shinyeong Group, ranked among the very top of the business world.
As was well known, the Shinyeong family that headed the conglomerate had believed in Buddhism for generations. Chairman Shin Gukhwan, for the sake of Monk Mujin, who was revered as the teacher of the age, built a grand temple on land spanning ten thousand pyeong and donated the entire complex.
It was the first time in his life that Chairman Shin—who had spent his life amassing wealth like a hungry ghost—had willingly given away something that belonged to him.
From that connection, the year Geumgangsa raised its signboard, on an autumn day when the world ripened into gold, the chairman’s first grandson was born. Monk Mujin personally gave the child his name.
Je-hyeon (帝賢).
Je—emperor.
Hyeon—virtuous.
It was a name almost excessively extraordinary.
Yet perhaps due to the Buddha’s blessing contained within that name, the boy grew up beautiful and intelligent. In an environment where the absence of deprivation was itself a kind of deprivation. He became a man who neither loved nor hated anyone—therefore fearing nothing in the world.
At least, that had truly been the case.
Until he met that girl.
Until he met the woman who resembled a lotus—one who dared to toy with his heart and then cast him aside without hesitation.
“Didn’t the Buddha ever teach you that you shouldn’t toy with people?”
“……”
“Answer me. Didn’t he teach you that you shouldn’t turn someone into a wreck and then throw them away without responsibility?”
“……You’re the one letting me go. I’m not the one abandoning you.”
“Ah, so that’s the kind of bullshit you learned instead. A convenient excuse to use when you play with someone and toss them away. What, I’m the one letting you go? Me? Shin Jehyeon? I’m the one who’s letting you go first?”
“Yes. You will. Because you love me. You’ll definitely do that… at least so the memories of our time together—of the love we shared—can remain somewhere for eternity…”
“Love? Yeonhwa, I was nothing but a dog in heat. So stop expecting me to let you go. My filthy desire will remain forever in this fleeting moment.”
Even if it meant falling into a pit of fire, he would eventually try to break Yeonhwa, the woman who had become the one and only longing of his life—and an affliction he could never escape.
Before that happened, Jehyeon’s world had been calm and silent, as if it had already reached the state of no-self.
Like an old grave covered in green moss.