The word deceased spread through the Azure Sun Sect faster than any purge ever had.
Not because it was loud.
Because it was forbidden.
Mu-Hyuk felt the change before he saw it. The Murim Dominator System pulsed in his mind with a new pattern of alerts, subtle but persistent, as though the sect itself had become unstable terrain.
[System Alert: Administrative Shockwave Detected]
[Keyword Impact Analysis: "Deceased" – High Authority Conflict]
He stood near the outer archive corridor, watching clerks argue in hushed tones while pretending to work. The scroll that carried Jin Ryo's altered status had already been copied seven times, passed between offices under the pretense of "verification."
No one knew who had written the word.
But everyone felt its weight.
Yoo Seol-Ah found him leaning against a stone pillar, eyes half-closed as system panels drifted across his vision.
"They locked down the infirmary records," she said quietly. "All patient deaths from the last three years are being rechecked. The junior medics are terrified."
Mu-Hyuk opened his eyes
"They aren't afraid of death," he said. "They're afraid of acknowledging it."
[Insight Module: Activated]
[Conclusion: Authority weakens when it must admit finality]
That night, the response came.
A new council was announced, its name written in thick ceremonial script:
Verification Council for Erroneous Classifications
Mu-Hyuk smiled faintly when he read it.
[System Analysis: Linguistic Pattern – Reality Avoidance]
[Probability of Targeted Scapegoating: 91%]
"They're going to blame someone," Yoo Seol-Ah said.
"They already have," Mu-Hyuk replied.
The clerk vanished before dawn.
His office was stripped clean — no scrolls, no ink, no personal effects. Even the stool he sat on had been removed.
[Anomaly Detected: Personnel Node Terminated]
[Cause: Administrative Erasure]
Yoo Seol-Ah stood in the empty doorway, her hands trembling. "They didn't arrest him. They didn't transfer him. He's just… gone."
Mu-Hyuk closed his eyes.
"This is how the sect cleans itself," he said.
"Not with swords. With silence."
By midday, new lists were posted.
The heading had changed.
Status Resolution – Final Review
Beneath it, names were no longer marked pending. They were separated into two categories:
Reconfirmed
Discharged
[Lexical Analysis: "Discharged" – Semantic Nullification]
[Meaning: Subject removed from all institutional responsibility]
Mu-Hyuk watched the crowd form around the board. Some wept in relief. Others stared blankly at the names that were no longer there.
One man collapsed to his knees.
"My wife was here this morning," he said to no one. "She didn't even know she was being reviewed."
No one answered him.
That night, Mu-Hyuk followed the invisible path carved by the discharged names.
The system projected a faint lattice across the darkened sect grounds, lines converging not toward gates or roads, but toward forgotten facilities sealed decades ago.
[Route Reconstruction: Completed]
[Destination Type: Non-Return Zones – 3 Identified]
Yoo Seol-Ah walked beside him, her voice barely above a whisper. "Those places… no one ever comes back from them."
"That's the point," Mu-Hyuk replied.
They stopped on a ridge overlooking one of the compounds. Its gates were shut, guarded by outer instructors who could not quite meet each other's eyes. Inside, figures huddled together, clutching bundles of belongings they had been allowed to keep, as though a bag of clothes could anchor their existence.
A child began to cry.
[Critical Intervention Opportunity Detected]
[Host Action Recommendation: Direct Extraction]
Mu-Hyuk did not move.
The system's prompt lingered, then faded.
"I don't save everyone," he said quietly. "Not yet."
Yoo Seol-Ah stared at him. "Then why did you write that word?"
Mu-Hyuk's gaze never left the compound.
"Because someone has to hold the authority to declare the dead," he answered. "If the sect won't, then I will."
[Dominator Authority – Passive Growth Triggered]
[New Trait Registered: Declarative Sovereignty – Low Tier]
Behind the sealed gates, the crying slowly died down.
But the word deceased had already escaped its cage.