Some doors open with keys. Others demand memories.
Scene opens in a misty gorge deep within the Southern Peaks.
The gang stands before an ancient gate shaped like a laughing face—cracked stone, vines wrapping its edges. The air feels heavy.
> Yooha: "This place... it's rejecting us."
Xie: "It's judging us."
A line glows across the gate:
"Only those who've laughed through loss may enter."
Jin steps up first.
As he does, the gate scans him silently.
A memory echo starts pulsing inside his mind. A fake birthday party. A cake with no candles. His mother smiling too hard. His father missing again.
> Gate Voice: "You traded your joy... yet seek the truth."
Jin: "Yeah? Then give me the truth back with interest."
The gate laughs—literally—and cracks open.
Inside: The Shrine of Laughter.
Strange glowing murals on the walls. A blade floating at the center, not Laughing Blade—but a test version.
Each person who enters sees a vision tailored to their fears and regrets.
> Bo Lang sees everyone gone—he's the last one alive, joking to ghosts.
Xie sees his father, smiling proudly. That hurts worse than a fight.
Yooha sees herself standing atop a ruined academy, silent and crowned.
Jin reaches the blade.
It whispers:
> "You are not yet ready. But you're fun. Come find me again."
(And it vanishes.)
They leave with only the first clue to the real Laughing Blade's resting place.
Outside, Yooha breaks the silence.
> "I saw something strange. A version of me I didn't like."
Jin: "I see that every day."
Yooha: "...I'm going to break your nose."
Bo snorts. Xie chuckles.
And for a moment—the team laughs together.
Even if it's bittersweet.
End of Episode 21( continue)