Chapter 357: The Celestial Sword (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 357: The Celestial Sword (2)
My footsteps were heavy.
Logically, my body should have felt lighter after my recent breakthrough, but a profound weight persisted. It wasn't physical; it was the burden of emotions pressing down on my heart.
So I ran.
A part of me wanted to smash everything in my path, but even I wasn't that far gone. I kept running.
Another part of me worried about leaving Moyong Hi-ah behind, but I had no other choice. People stared at me with shock as I passed. Did I look that strange? I didn't know, and I didn't care. My mind had no room for anything else.
I ran toward the medical tents. As expected, the medics were a flurry of activity, tirelessly tending to the wounded. I hurried past them, pushing deeper.
A short distance farther, I found my target.
"Haah…"
I steadied my breathing and looked at the figure lying on the ground. She wasn't on a proper bed; those had been taken by the more severely injured. She lay on a simple cloth spread over the earth, having sustained only minor wounds.
I approached carefully.
As I took a step closer, she began to stir. Slowly, she sat up, brushing her hair aside with one hand.
It was a beautiful sight.
Amidst the surrounding chaos, everything else seemed to fade into insignificance because of her. She was like a shining light, possessing an aura that commanded attention. It had been the same in my past life. She shone so brightly that a bastard like me hadn't even dared to approach her.
Was it any different now? Probably not. I'd simply stopped caring about that particular barrier. But I wasn't sure if that was a good thing, at least not right now.
"Haah…"
I hadn't run that far, so why was I so out of breath? I had trained my body to run for days without tiring, yet here I was, strangely winded.
Step.
As I took another step, her gaze turned toward me, as if she had heard my footsteps even through the noisy crowd.
Our eyes met.
Looking into her large, clear eyes, my thoughts began to blur.
"…"
"…"
We simply stared at each other in silence.
What should I say? I'd agonized over it countless times on the way here, trying to find the most natural, comfortable words for both of us. Yet, I had come up with nothing. Now, after coming all this way, I hesitated foolishly.
"…Did you run here?" she asked, speaking first since I couldn't.
"No, it's not that," I said, my pride getting in the way. "I just thought I'd check if you were awake… in the middle of my training."
You crazy bastard. Why would my pride matter after I came all this way? This damned personality of mine was going to make me suffer forever.
Thankfully, she giggled at my response, even though it was clearly a lie. I should have just been honest; I knew she'd see through it anyway. I couldn't understand why I couldn't bring myself to do something so simple.
"How do you feel?" I asked, steadying my heart as I stepped closer.
"I'm fine."
I crouched down slightly at her response. "…Tell me if something's wrong. You should speak up soon since the medics are busy."
"I'm really okay."
"Then that's good."
After I spoke, she looked at me and asked, "Master Gu, are you feeling okay as well?"
"I'm fi—" I stopped mid-sentence, noticing a subtle difference in how she had addressed me. Her tone was only slightly altered, but to me, it felt like a seismic shift. Did she notice my eyes trembling? She gave a bitter smile.
"…Shall we go outside?" she suggested. Her voice was the same, yet it somehow sounded more mature. Was it just my imagination?
"Where?"
"Somewhere we can talk."
She stood up after responding. We could have easily set up a sound barrier right there, but I followed her quietly, sensing she wanted to step away from the crowd.
We walked outside and entered a quiet forest. A day had passed since the ambush, and the sky was clear now, the dark barrier gone.
"Good weather today, isn't it?" she remarked.
"Indeed."
"It feels like it's been a long time since I last saw the sky."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. I never had the time to appreciate the scenery after all."
She then turned her gaze toward me. "Neither you nor I… ever had that kind of time, did we?"
"…"
She wasn't wrong. I never had the time to appreciate the scenery of the sky. How could I have, when my life was a living hell? For that reason, I'd never understood how the Demonic Sword could stare so blankly at the moon for hours.
But now… I could begin to understand, just a little, what the Demonic Sword saw in the moon. Was it because of the slight change in her emotion?
I could see more of her face now. Her gaze seemed lowered, softer than usual. Her ever-present smile had faded, leaving her with a calm, serene expression. She seemed different from the Wi Seol-Ah I had known in this life. This version of her felt more familiar to me, and somehow, sadder.
Noticing this, I asked her, "Since when did you…"
"Wait." Just as I was about to ask my question, she stopped me.
I looked at her, curious about what she was going to do.
"There's something I want to say first…"
"What is it?" I wondered what she had to say. Was she going to curse me out for what happened in the past? If so, I'd gladly take it. That was nothing… As long as she didn't try to pull her sword on me.
Just as I thought that, she spoke.
"I'm sorry…" She apologized.
"What?"
"I'm really sorry…"
I hadn't expected it. I never imagined she would apologize to me.
"What are you suddenly apologizing for?"
"…I'm sorry…"
"What's wrong with you?" Seeing her eyes tremble, on the verge of tears, I wasn't sure what to do. Why was she about to cry all of a sudden? "Why are you suddenly…"
"I realized too late… everything you did for me."
"…!"
"…I'm sorry. I know it's too late… but I'm sorry."
My heart sank, as though a dagger had pierced straight through it.
How?
My mind raced. How could she know? What exactly did she find out? Just how much did she know?
"…What are you talking about? Stop crying and calm down," I said. Was she talking about what happened in the Abyss? No, no one should remember what happened there except me. Moreover, I didn't want anyone else to remember either. If not that, then was it during the war? Whichever it was, I didn't want her to know any of it.
"What are you talking about? I… don't know what you—"
"…I'm sorry for causing you trouble."
"Hey, didn't I tell you to stop apologizing?"
"…"
She looked at me with profound sorrow in her eyes. What emotions lay in that gaze? A headache pulsed in my temples. Just how much did she know?
Could she possibly know that?
No. It had to be false. I couldn't let her know that. I prayed she didn't know that I'd become a Demonic Human for her.
"Stop apologizing… I don't want to hear that from you."
"…"
I hadn't done any of it to hear an apology from her. I believed someone had to do it, and I was the unfortunate one chosen for the task. I kept asking myself why I had to endure all that trouble, but I convinced myself it was worth it in the end. I believed the girl before me found more peace because of it, and that was enough for me.
"…It's a thing of the past."
"…"
She flinched at my response. That was the past. It didn't exist in this timeline, and it wouldn't.
"I just have to make it so that it doesn't happen again."
"…"
Her expression grew even sadder as I spoke. Why? Why was she making such an expression? I didn't know. I didn't know how much she knew, but I hoped she would forget it someday. That was what this life was for.
"Master Gu…"
"Hmm?"
"Are you happy now?"
"…This out of the blue?"
"Yes."
I couldn't read her intentions. She had suddenly asked if I was happy.
Happy, huh? I asked myself, but it was hard to answer.
"I don't think I'm that happy just yet." I honestly didn't even know what happiness was. I never had time to think about it in either this life or my past one. Nothing ever truly ended in this world. If I were to think about something like that, shouldn't it be after finishing everything and finding true peace?
"What about you? How do you feel?"
"Me?" She smiled at my question. "I'm happy… at least right now I am."
Her smile made my heart thump because of how beautiful it made her look, but I sensed it was slightly forced.
Watching her smile, I said, "I have something to ask." I steered the conversation toward more serious matters. There were many things I needed to know.
She adjusted her expression, noticing the shift in my tone.
"…When was it?" My question was self-explanatory. When did it start? I didn't think the Celestial Sword had been there from the very beginning, from the moment she offered me a potato. At that time, she had seemed to know nothing. "I want to know when it started to be you."
"…"
Hearing my question, Wi Seol-Ah closed her eyes for a moment, as if organizing her thoughts. After a few moments, she opened them and answered.
"It was around… a few days after you came into this life."
"…A few days?"
Only a few days? That was almost from the very start. No wonder Wi Seol-Ah had seemed a bit odd at times. There were moments when she carried an unexplainable aura that left me feeling conflicted—and now I understood why.
But how? Did that mean Wi Seol-Ah was a regressor like me?
Then in Sichuan… When she broke the Formation of the Golden Sky Yeon Clan’s secret vault, and all her other mysterious abilities, they were all…
"That's different."
"…Hmm?" As I wondered to myself, Wi Seol-Ah responded as if answering my thoughts. Did she read my mind?
"What's different?"
"I… I'm in a different situation than you."
"Huh?"
Wi Seol-Ah continued. "Unlike you, who fully returned to the past and took over your body… I'm only relying on this child's body."
"Rely?"
"The true owner of this body is still the child, and I'm only borrowing it."
Did that mean the Wi Seol-Ah of this timeline was still here, and the Wi Seol-Ah from my past life was living within her, like a possessing spirit?
"…That's…" What was the difference? If she returned to her younger body as a soul, wasn't that essentially the same thing? It felt like a minor distinction.
Wait. Then, a question popped into my mind. It felt like Wi Seol-Ah knew what had happened to her. I didn't know what she'd done to make this happen, but it seemed like she had used her own power to achieve it.
That means… "…Are you the one who brought me back?" The reason I'd returned to the past. Was it the Celestial Sword’s doing?
Wi Seol-Ah’s eyes widened in shock at my question, but her expression quickly turned pitiful. "No… I wasn't able to do that."
So it's as I expected. I'd hoped to learn the secret behind my regression, but as I suspected, Wi Seol-Ah didn't seem to be responsible. Should I be glad about that?
As I mulled over this, Wi Seol-Ah continued. "If I could have… I would have used everything I had to make it happen… But my vessel wasn't strong enough to bear such a burden. I could only bring myself into the past in this form."
The Celestial Sword had definitely been at the Zenith in her time. Of course she was; she had defeated the Heavenly Demon who even killed the Three Venerables. But if even the Celestial Sword couldn't do something like that…
Then who was it?
The World Tree itself had said it wasn't responsible. I knew the World Tree was capable of it, as it had brought Yeon Il-Cheon into the past. This meant that only beings with power comparable to the World Tree, the world's ruler, could send someone back in time.
So, then who was it? I still didn't have the answer. I knew the world wanted something from me. How could I not? It was obvious from everything that had happened. I was already tangled in a mess, and that only made me angrier. Still, I was grateful that I'd gotten to see her again.
Just as I was about to set that question aside, the Celestial Sword spoke.
"Do you wish to learn…?"
I froze at her words. "…What?"
"Do you want to know… the one responsible for sending you back in time?"
"You… Do you know who it was that brought me here?"
"I do…"
My eyes widened in shock. I wondered how Wi Seol-Ah knew this, but I desperately hoped she would tell me everything.
"I can tell you, if you want to know."
"Then pleas—"
"But… you may regret hearing it."
Just as I was about to ask her to tell me, I frowned at Wi Seol-Ah’s warning. I might regret it?
"Do you still… wish to know?"
"…"
Funnily enough, it made me hesitate. The idea that I might regret knowing… What could be involved in my regression that would make me regret it? Even though it sounded ominous, it didn't take me long to answer.
"I'll have to hear it regardless." I've had more than my share of regrets by now. I was already tired of running away from my fears. I needed to move forward.
"I knew you would say that." Wi Seol-Ah looked as though she had expected my answer. "I'll tell you."
As I waited for Wi Seol-Ah to speak, a breeze stirred behind me. It was the breeze of spring.
"The one who sent you back… it wasn't me, but rather…" As Wi Seol-Ah spoke, the wind seemed to carry her words toward me.
In this third spring since my regression, on this day, I finally learned who was responsible.
"Heavenly Demon."
"It was her."