ch 272
Became a Swordsmanship Instructor at the Academy
Chapter 272
After escaping from Hell's Gate, the place I arrived at was the portal where the old man was.
I spoke confidently to Lumiel, but honestly, I wasn't completely without worry.
I took a deep breath and entered the portal.
As my vision changed, familiar scenery came into view.
It felt similar to before, yet slightly different.
The first thing I felt was killing intent.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The trees around me instantly fell and toppled over.
It's the Formless Sword.
I could have countered it, but worried that the old man might suffer internal injuries, I used Blink to escape the range.
"Oh ho, quick-witted... Hm? You feel somewhat different. I don't sense any evil energy."
The same pure white robe as before.
Even the wrinkles were exactly the same.
"Old man, it's been a while."
"Old... old man?"
A sword flew at tremendous speed, but I lightly moved my body to dodge it.
It seems he got angry at being called old man.
"Such an attack wouldn't even work on Se-jin."
"Se-jin? Who is that now...."
I thought the old man might remember if it was him.
I felt a little bitter, but it didn't matter.
"Don't you recognize your own disciple? I'm the old man's second disciple."
"Second disciple? I've never taken a disciple in my entire life. Not first, and now you're talking about second, what nonsense...."
BANG!
I knew he had lost his memory, but still feeling a bit disappointed, I released internal energy toward Master's side.
The ground caved in, and Master's expression was unusual.
As expected, it seems he recognized... hm?
"How are you... Don't tell me you stole and learned my martial arts!"
"Stole and learned? Who stole and learned! You damn old man."
Who is he treating like a thief right now.
Come to think of it, with the current old man, couldn't I give him a bit of a beating?
Neither Shin-hyeok nor I had ever beaten the old man even once.
But now it might be possible.
Anyway, considering the old man's personality, he wouldn't obediently follow my words.
"Then how did you learn our Xiantian Sect's martial arts...."
"Old man, shall we have a sparring match after a long time?"
Simultaneously with my words, I activated mental focus.
BANG! BANG!
The spaces around Master exploded, but only where Master was remained perfectly calm.
I thought I could easily win against Master at this time.
"Ho ho, even Absolute Domain? This is a technique that Zhang Sambong often used."
"Let's stop."
It didn't seem like it would work if I continued, so I deactivated Absolute Domain and extended my hand to Master.
"Attacking as you please... Hm?"
"Take it. I'll show you things Master doesn't remember."
Master was suspicious, but realizing I had no hostile intent, he soon took my hand.
"Don't resist."
Simultaneously with my words, I used magic.
It was one of the magics I had researched in preparation for this future after awakening.
Memory transmission.
I thought we'd have to stay like this for about 30 minutes, but Master let go of my hand in less than 10 minutes.
"I'm sorry."
I thought he would blame me instead.
My eyes stung.
"...For what."
"I should have caught the demon and returned quickly."
"It's fine. It wasn't entirely Master's fault. Even if the old man had returned, Shin-hyeok would have left. Master now knows how much that guy likes Se-jin."
"He's my disciple, but what a foolish guy. Really...."
"Don't badmouth our Shin-hyeok!"
"Seeing you take that guy's side even in this situation, you're also really...."
"I can't help it. And it's okay."
"Okay...."
Master still had a worried expression, but I smiled...
"Do you think I'd give up on Shin-hyeok that easily?"
After awakening and seeing this future, when I tried to lock myself in my world, Shin-hyeok came to get me.
To me, who stubbornly insisted I wouldn't go, he said to trust himself.
I knew the future wouldn't change, but I followed Shin-hyeok's words.
Because I trusted Shin-hyeok.
"I'll never give up."
Because Shin-hyeok must be trusting me too.
***
My sister always has a hard time with mornings.
"Sister Eunsu, hurry up and get up? Are you going to be late from the high school entrance ceremony?"
"Just 10 minutes...."
"You're talking nonsense about 10 minutes. The other kids already went to the cafeteria."
After holding and shaking her for a while, I finally woke my sister up.
"It's only 7:30."
"Since you're the student representative, they told you to come by 8:30."
"Did... did they?"
"I can't live like this. Hurry up and get ready."
"Ugh, it's bothersome. Can't you do it, Eunseo? We look similar anyway, so they won't notice."
Like mom, I hit her back and finally got my sister up.
While my sister was washing up, I also finished preparing and even packed my sister's bag.
"Hurry up and dry your hair. If we hurry, we won't be late."
"Eunseo, you're all ready, right? Dry my hair for me."
"Should I do your makeup too?"
"Still, I'm standing in front of 600 people today, so I should at least put on some BB cream. Do you want to put some on too, Eunseo?"
"I'm fine."
"Oh, our Eunseo is confident even without makeup?"
While talking cheekily, she suddenly smeared a lot of cream on my face.
"But you'll look prettier if you put it on, so you should too. You need to make your high school debut."
"What debut. Most of them will be the same kids we saw last year."
"There are upperclassmen."
"They're all upperclassmen we saw during middle school."
"That's right. But the teachers are different. There might be a handsome teacher...."
"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up and get ready."
Really, she never stops talking.
I came to the cafeteria with my sister who had finally finished preparing.
I got food and sat down following my sister to start eating.
"Eunseo, look over there. There's really a handsome teacher."
Where my sister pointed, there was a teacher sitting alone eating.
"His nose is really high. His skin is really white too. He seems tall?"
As my sister said, he was really handsome and would probably be popular with students... huh?
"Eunseo, what's wrong?"
Suddenly my eyes stung and tears started flowing.
"Some... something must have gotten in my eye."
"Should your sister blow it out?"
I gave a quick excuse to my surprised sister and left the cafeteria, but somehow the tears wouldn't stop.
Just as I was thinking about why this was happening, suddenly the world began to turn gray.
Huh?
Cars going to and from school. Students and teachers walking, even butterflies flying - everything stopped.
-Don't be surprised.
Suddenly a strange voice echoed in my head, and a blue light appeared before my eyes.
It was bright, so I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them... What?
There's an angel with pure white wings spread before my eyes.
It doesn't seem like a monster, but what kind of angel... Could I still be dreaming?
"Who... who are you?"
The angel suddenly frowned deeply.
"You were crying while looking at Shin-hyeok, so I wondered if you had any memories left, but it doesn't seem like it...."
"Pardon?"
"This can't last long, so let's start quickly."
She began approaching me.
"Angel? What do you mean start...."
"Aren't you curious why you cried earlier? Even if you're not curious, you need to know. Eunseo, you made a promise with me."
The angel took my hand just like that.
***
"Sister? Is that really true?"
Sister Luciel nodded with a sad expression.
Although my sister usually plays a lot of mischievous pranks, she wouldn't joke about something like this.
Brother is going to leave....
"I thought a lot about it. I considered not telling you, but I thought you should know too. Let's persuade him together."
Could we persuade him?
I know brother loves me and Sister Luciel, but I also know he loves Sister Se-jin just as much.
It's impossible.
After the Demon King’s advent, he returned after a month and immediately left saying he'd revive sister, and I also saw brother crying desperately at sister's grave.
Moreover, if not only Sister Se-jin but also Master's life, whom brother thinks of as a parent, is at stake, we could never change brother's mind.
"Persuasion would be impossible."
"...I know too. But if you and I persuade him together...."
"Sister, you know brother's personality. How much he loves us too...."
"So you'll just let him go? Is that all your heart amounts to?"
"...Even if you're my sister, there are things you can and can't say. Do you think I'm doing this because I want to? I know it won't work even if we try to stop him...!"
I tried to hold back, but tears burst out.
"I'm sorry...."
"It's fine. What are you sorry for. And actually, there's not completely no way."
"There's a way?"
"Yeah. You know I've been researching magic, right? I didn't do that to relieve boredom while waiting for Shin-hyeok."
"What method?"
"Do you remember the question I asked when you came last time?"
"Pardon?"
"I asked if you'd be fine with just Shin-hyeok. You said yes."
"Of course I remember."
It was such an obvious question that I had forgotten about it.
"Back then I asked without properly explaining, so I'll tell you clearly."
Sister calmly explained the method.
She spoke calmly, but the content was not light at all.
"If we follow my method, we can meet Shin-hyeok again. But you'll never see your parents, your sister who died and came back to life, or your friends again."
"...."
I never thought that question had such an intention.
"Think carefully. If we go back to the past and I don't show you memories, you won't remember this moment, or Shin-hyeok, or me, or anything anyway. That might be better for you. The soul will be different, but the shell will remain."
"Shell?"
"You heard that Shin-hyeok isn't originally from this world, right?"
"Yes...."
"It won't be the Shin-hyeok we know, but at least there will be a Shin-hyeok whose appearance is completely identical."
Who would want such a thing....
It's true that at first I had a favorable impression because he was handsome, but that's definitely not all of my feelings.
The more I got to know him, the more brother's heart, brother's personality, everything about brother made me fall for him.
"I don't need such a thing!"
"Then what... no, anyway, this will only proceed after Shin-hyeok returns, so there's still plenty of time. Think slowly and come find me."
"No."
"Hm?"
"I love my parents and I miss my sister so much and I like my friends too. But the most important thing to me is brother."
"Will you really be okay?"
"I'll be okay. And my family isn't just my parents and sister. Not only brother, but Sister Luciel and Sister Se-jin are also my family."
***
Looking at Eunseo who keeps reading memories with her eyes closed makes my heart heavy.
My memory transmission magic is perfect.
But it only vividly shows memories, it doesn't make you feel like you experienced them directly.
Even Se-jin and Eunseo's situation is different from mine and Master's.
Master and I only have Shin-hyeok, but they have other family.
Moreover, unlike memory transmission magic, dimensional travel magic is not perfect.
Shin-hyeok's soul definitely remembers, but I don't know how much time it will take to find the dimension where he lives.
In this situation, will Eunseo make the same choice as before?
If it were the old me, I probably would have preferred Eunseo to refuse.
If there's one less person, I could spend more time with Shin-hyeok.
But Eunseo called me family.
Even I can't be jealous of family.
Did about 5 more minutes pass? Eunseo opened her eyes.
"Sister Luciel...."
"Did you see everything?"
Eunseo nodded.
"I kept my promise. Now, it's your turn to choose."
Whatever choice she makes, I'll respect Eunseo's choice, but I'd still prefer if we went together.
When we meet Shin-hyeok later, he'd prefer Eunseo and Se-jin to come together rather than me being alone.
"Of course we should go together. Even without memories, I could tell. How much I loved brother. Thank you."
What a relief.
"What are you thankful for?"
I spoke bluntly, but Eunseo hugged me tightly.
"You kept your promise. Please take care of me from now on too."