Chapter 666: Why is that person over there? (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 666: Why is that person over there? (3)
There was a time when she wasn't as refined as she is now.
"Hey."
A time when she was known not by her name, but as the Snow Phoenix.
A time no one remembers anymore.
A time when we were so hostile toward each other that we avoided even making eye contact.
And yet, despite the fact that nothing good ever came of our encounters, it was a period when she sought me out with unusual frequency.
Seeing the Snow Phoenix approach, I scowled deeply.
She mirrored my expression, but it was she who spoke first, her voice blunt.
"Eat."
"I'm not eating."
Showing up out of nowhere and telling me to eat? It was absurd, yet also strangely familiar. After all, the Snow Phoenix only ever came to find me to either talk about food or to curse me out.
"Eat. Everyone else has already started."
"You call that food?"
It wasn't proper food. It was just demon meat, cooked one way or another, merely to fill our stomachs. It was a time when even that was scarce, and everyone was enduring gnawing hunger.
Hearing my words, Moyong Hi-ah shot me a look of utter pity.
"Are you trying to be a picky eater out here? Just eat what you're given."
"And I'm telling you I won't. Are you deaf? Why do you keep making me repeat myself?"
"What then? Are you going to starve to death?"
"I'd rather die than live like this—"
Smack!
"Kuh!"
My head snapped to the side from a jolt of pain. The Snow Phoenix had walked up and slapped me across the back of the head. It hurt so much I almost blacked out for a second.
"You crazy bitch...!"
I was about to explode with rage.
"Everyone else is struggling to survive. Don't talk such bullshit."
I froze the moment I saw her eyes.
"I know you're an idiot. I know you're the kind of person who could drop dead at any moment and no one would be surprised."
"Then stop bothering me and get lost. Why do you care? You hate me."
"That's right. I do hate you. I hate people like you who live recklessly, with no regard for their own precious lives."
"Then why are you...?"
"But I still can't let you die like this."
"Huh...?"
She hated me, but she couldn't let me die on my own terms? What kind of twisted logic was that? A wave of irritation washed over me, and I was about to curse at her again.
"There's enough food for one more person. So stop worrying about it and come eat."
"..."
Her words shut me up instantly.
"Did you think we wouldn't know? Everyone else knows, too. They know why you're doing this. So stop acting like an idiot and come eat. You're so damn weak, you couldn't stop a demon even if you stood watch all night."
"Fuck... What are you talking about? Why would I stand watch? I'm just out here because I can't stand the sight of you all."
I tried to deny it, but the Snow Phoenix didn't look convinced in the slightest.
"I don't know what your intentions are. And I don't care. So I'm not going to thank you."
"Why are you telling me that? I'm doing this because I want to die, so please, just get lost!"
Finally, after I screamed at her, the Snow Phoenix said no more. She turned around and disappeared.
Looking back now, I think I understand why she was so obsessed with the idea of life. It must have been because of her illness. Among everyone there, she was the one who struggled the hardest to live.
And in her eyes, I must have seemed like a real piece of shit. I didn't care if I died, and I didn't have a single shred of desire for life. Even if I saw my past self now, I'd want to tear him to pieces. No, I definitely would have.
That's how much of a fool I was.
And that's why there was something I understood even less.
Right after our argument, it wasn't long before the Snow Phoenix appeared before me again.
"I told you to get lost, why are you back—"
I narrowed my eyes at her reappearance. Her hands were full of something.
"Eat."
It was demon meat. The food they had procured for themselves.
"Wow, are you really a crazy bitch?"
"That's right. I'm a crazy bitch. So eat."
I thought I was going to lose my mind. Why did she bring this? Why did she think I had run off to sit here by myself? And there was so much of it. With that much gone, there must have been people who went hungry.
"What am I supposed to do with all this?"
"If you don't eat, I'll bring more. And if you still don't eat, I'll just throw it all on the ground so no one can have it."
"Ha...?"
No matter what I said, she was serious. Her eyes were dead serious. She really would throw it all away if I didn't eat.
But why? Why was she going this far for me? I couldn't understand it at all and just stared at her.
"So eat," the Snow Phoenix repeated. "And live. It would be one thing if the situation was hopeless, but if you can live, then you should live."
"...You."
It was an abnormal obsession with life. She was a woman who seemed to have no weaknesses, yet in that moment, she looked broken. Why was she so fixated?
At the time, I couldn't know the reason. I was too young and too ignorant to understand anything. But there was one thing I could grasp: that this woman, the Snow Phoenix, was twisted in some way, just like me.
And in that, I felt a faint sense of kinship.
That must have been why I swallowed my pride and accepted the food. And that was the reason why, much later, when the Snow Phoenix asked me to make a sacrifice, I agreed without a word.
It must have all been because of this short memory.
"...Why are you looking at me like that?"
My staring made Moyong Hi-ah tilt her head. Right, she was Moyong Hi-ah now, not the Snow Phoenix.
"Just... suddenly remembered something from the past."
"The past? When? When we first met?"
"Something like that."
"Come to think of it, it's already been a few years. You were cuter back then because you were younger," Moyong Hi-ah said, sounding wistful.
I found that funny. As if it had been that long.
"You're laughing again. What's so funny? Or is it because you really think I was prettier back then?"
"Who knows." I thought for a moment, then said bluntly, "I didn't realize it back then. But I think you're pretty now."
"...What?"
Back then, I didn't have the luxury of even looking at Moyong Hi-ah's face. Unlike that time when I never even tried to see her, our relationship had changed a lot.
You don't scowl at me anymore.
Well, she did sometimes, but I could see the emotion in her eyes, so it didn't feel bad. So these days, I try to look at her face. And now that I was looking, she was actually quite pretty.
"Wh-what was that? Why would you suddenly say something like that?"
Hearing my words, Moyong Hi-ah's face turned red. Since her skin was so pale, it was incredibly obvious.
"Is there something wrong with the skewers...? No... this is strange..."
"What kind of person do you take me for?"
"Young Master, are you very sick? The Immortal Healer didn't say anything..."
"Sick? Who's sick—wait a minute." Something in Moyong Hi-ah's words caught my attention. "Why are you bringing up the Immortal Healer?"
"Ah." At my question, Moyong Hi-ah looked like she'd just slipped up.
"Don't tell me... you've been asking the Immortal Healer about my condition?"
"No. Of course not."
"..."
I looked at her suspiciously. But the Immortal Healer wasn't the type of person to carelessly discuss his patients' conditions. I was sure that wasn't it.
"Ah, it's hot. It's very hot, isn't it, Young Master? Let's go get something cool to eat."
Moyong Hi-ah started walking ahead, as if to change the subject. I watched her back for a moment, then chuckled.
"Honestly."
Perhaps because Moyong Hi-ah rarely made mistakes, she tended to get quite flustered when she did. That side of her was a little cute...
...Hm?
The thought trailed off as I stopped. Cute? Did I just think Moyong Hi-ah was cute?
I must be really tired.
I wasn't in my right mind. There was no other explanation. I shook my head and followed after her.
"Wait up. Let's go together."
But Moyong Hi-ah, her ears now red as well, didn't stop walking even when I called out to her.
* * *
After that, we visited a couple more inns. Fortunately, unlike the merchant associations and inns we'd seen earlier, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Noon passed, and the afternoon began to set in.
"With this, the merchant association business is finished," Moyong Hi-ah said, a thick stack of letters now in her hand.
Hearing that, I couldn't help but scowl. "What do you mean, 'merchant association business'?"
"Pardon?"
"Does that mean there's more work?" I asked, flustered.
Moyong Hi-ah smiled. "Don't worry. What's left won't take very long."
So there was more.
"...Do you always work this much?"
"No. It's the bimonthly accounting day, and it's easier to clean house if we do surprise inspections like this."
Clean house... She obviously didn't mean with actual water, but with people.
"So I just happened to be dragged out on a day like this."
"It wasn't by chance. I dragged you out on a day like this on purpose."
"What...?"
"It's the perfect excuse to keep you with me for a long time, isn't it?"
Moyong Hi-ah spoke in her characteristically sweet tone as she continued walking. She never once let go of my arm, which she was using to lead me along. Unlike before, when we were wandering around the city, we were now walking on a forest path.
"Where are we going now?"
It didn't look like there would be any merchant associations here. It was summer, so the air was hot and humid, and there were an exceptional number of bugs. Knowing Moyong Hi-ah's extreme hatred for insects, I spread a barrier of Qi around us to keep them away.
"There's a project the Leader has been working on recently."
"A project?"
"Yes. She bought a plot of land in the forest and is having a building constructed."
I'd heard about that. That was the reason Beomdong had come to see me before.
It was because Ttolddoli landed on the property the White Flower Merchant Association had purchased.
Thinking of that, I realized where we were.
"...This place."
"That's right. This is the place. The land where you arrived, Young Master."
It was the exact spot where I had arrived riding Ttolddoli.
"That's another reason why we're trying to keep a tighter rein on our affiliated associations and inns."
"What on earth are you trying to build?"
"An escort agency."
"...Huh?"
Hearing that, I tilted my head in confusion. An escort agency?
"The White Flower Merchant Association is establishing an escort agency?"
"Yes."
That didn't make any sense. A merchant association establishing an escort agency wasn't strange in itself—especially in times like these, with the demon outbreak, it wasn't unheard of for a merchant association to run its own protection. They couldn't always hire outside martial artists, so some established their own.
But even so.
"The White Flower Merchant Association already has one."
The White Flower Merchant Association was already operating the White Flower Escort Agency. I'd heard it was run jointly with the main branch of the association. In that case...
They're building another one in Henan?
Of all places, Henan. It was a location where no one dared to establish an escort agency because of the Murim Alliance and Shaolin.
Also...
"...Did the Alliance approve this?"
To establish an escort agency here, one needed official permission from the Alliance. But I had never heard of the Alliance granting permission for an escort agency in Henan.
"That part is still pending approval... but the Leader said she has a way."
She has a way, huh. If Lady Mi said so, she must have something up her sleeve.
"So, you bought the land and started construction first?"
"Yes. They just started preparations today, so we're on our way to see it."
Not long after she said that, I heard sounds from within the forest.
Thump! Thump!
"Hey! Watch the wood!"
"Mr. Jang! The frame isn't aligned here!"
It sounded like master carpenters constructing a building. I was about to walk toward the sound.
"Not that way, Young Master."
"Hm?"
Moyong Hi-ah pulled my arm and started leading me in a different direction.
"Where are you going? The construction is over there."
"We can see the building later. There's no need to see it now since they just started today."
"Huh?"
"What we... no, what you need to see isn't the building, but the people."
"The people?"
The unexpected words left me wondering. As I was led along, we soon came to a clearing. It didn't look natural; it seemed to have been artificially cleared. And from that place, I could feel a dense energy.
What is this?
There were people gathered in the clearing, and the energy was radiating from them. It was remarkably dense. A quick glance told me there were several dozen people...
All of them are at least First-Rate.
The level of each and every one of them was extraordinary.
"Who are these people?" I asked Moyong Hi-ah, trying to understand the situation.
"They are all prospective escorts."
"..."
All those people were escorts? Prospective ones, at that?
Then why are their levels so high?
A First-Rate escort would usually be at the level of an Escort Leader, yet these weren't even full escorts?
"It seems the Leader is planning to create a rather special escort agency," Moyong Hi-ah added, as if she'd read my mind.
"So she gathered this many people?"
First-Rate was the minimum, and there were some even stronger. That meant most of them were far too skilled to be mere escorts.
"Anyway, that's why I'd like you to help me with something, Young Master."
"...What do you need help with?"
"We need to select exactly seven people from that group... I was hoping you could screen them and pick out the good ones."
"..."
She was asking me to be a judge. A judge for selecting escorts. I let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of the situation and looked at the group.
The dozens of individuals all looked displeased. Well, being gathered under the scorching sun for an evaluation probably wasn't to their liking. Especially since First-Rate martial artists were often at their most arrogant.
I scanned the surroundings.
Fifteen First-Rate, nine at the Peak... and there's even someone at the Perfected Peak Realm?
How did people of that level end up applying to be escorts? It was amazing that they had even been gathered. I was casually looking them over, one by one, when suddenly...
"...Huh?"
My gaze stopped, fixed on one spot at the very back of the crowd. While everyone else was clearly annoyed, one figure remained expressionless.
My eyes locked on him.
...What the...?
My eyes widened. Not only was it a familiar face, but it was also a face that should not have been here.
Our eyes met. The other person seemed to have already spotted me, for he gave a small wave. It seemed like a friendly greeting, but I couldn't react.
Why on earth...
...Why is he here?
Why was the Heavenly Demon here? I couldn't understand it at all.