Chapter 148
Chapter 148
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 148
Chapter Title: Three Peaches (8)
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Time passes slowly.
Like watching a tilted hourglass. One hour, two hours.
Entrusting my body to this jewel-like fleeting moment. Ignoring the futility that it will someday end. Savoring that one instant of sweetness.
Stroking her lush back hair, I waited for Cheon-do to fall into a deeper sleep.
"......Mm."
Cheon-do showed no sign of letting me go.
Her thighs wrapped tightly around my waist, her arms binding my back.
She wouldn't let me slip away even in sleep.
I pulled the blanket up from around my waist and draped it over her shoulders.
The unavoidable sweat from our sleeping bodies soaked into each other's clothes.
'I still have training today.'
Looking at Cheon-do sleeping so peacefully made it even harder to leave her embrace.
A clingy attachment doll.
That's exactly the feeling right now.
-Rustle.
She rubbed her cheek against me in her sleep-talk.
As I tensed to get up, the arms holding me tightened.
If I had a young, sweet little sister, it might feel like this.
"...Mm."
I brushed away the beads of sweat on her forehead.
-Slap.
Cheon-do reached out, grabbed my hand on her forehead,
and pressed my palm to her cheek.
Did she wake up?
I watched her face closely.
Cheon-do was grinding her teeth, smiling blissfully at the warmth of my hand.
She definitely wasn't awake.
"......Consort."
She brought my hand from her cheek to her lips. Crunch!
'Ugh!'
I yanked my finger out with a silent scream, a long string of saliva trailing after.
Cheon-do's face fell sullen as her consort slipped away.
My poor index finger, marked with clear teeth imprints.
It throbbed like a burn.
Even then, Cheon-do fumbled over my body, grinding her teeth in search of her consort.
'If I stay like this, my whole body will become her consort.'
I extended another finger into her hand, and the binding on my arms loosened.
Crunch again!
Biting back the dizzying pain, I muffled my mouth, slipped out of her embrace, and retrieved my finger.
"Mm."
With her prize gone, Cheon-do flailed her hand around before settling back into sleep.
'...Time for training.'
I wasn't even sleepy.
Gazing fondly at Cheon-do, I dressed and stepped outside.
-Click.
I quietly closed the door and left Little Heavenly Demon's quarters, wandering freely through the night-shrouded Peach Garden.
-Chirrrp, chirrrp.
The nights here were remarkably quiet.
Tune your ears just a bit, and you'd hear the crickets.
No streetlamps either. Aside from the occasional lit house, there were almost no lights illuminating the Peach Garden.
I headed to the spot where I always met the old man.
-Chirrrrrrp.
The deeper into the woods, the louder the insect chorus.
I climbed a mountain path barely more than a trail.
Moths occasionally burst from the underbrush, but if this were the old days, maybe alarming—now, they were almost welcome.
"So peaceful."
Peace.
At the edge of my vision, the old man's silhouette appeared.
Moonlight crowning his head instead of sun, he sat on a rock.
White smoke rose languidly from his long-stemmed pipe.
A cigarette while gazing at the scenic view.
If not for the blood scent tickling my nose, it would've been quite picturesque.
"Back again?"
"Yeah."
The old man rasped in response to my question.
"My head's gotten cheaper. Sending trash like this."
Corpses piled beside the old man.
Only then did I turn my eyes to them.
Grotesque forms.
Mere chunks of meat not worth describing.
I shrugged, and the old man chuckled dryly.
"Mad bastard. You're inscrutable. Heavy one moment, flighty the next. Your sense of purpose is hazy, hard to read. Unsettling guy."
"What're you saying?"
"Your mental state fluctuates."
I ignored him and examined a nearby corpse.
Assassination attempts on the Heavenly Demon.
The reason the old man hadn't been overseeing my and Cheon-do's training lately.
Hong Yeon snarked that the Heavenly Demon did nothing, but his days were packed with such matters.
"Trash like this isn't even fun."
The old man rose and kicked a corpse.
What was once human rolled to my feet.
"Whoa..."
An exclamation slipped out.
Practically minced meat.
Impossible to tell what animal it even was.
If this hit the papers, it'd be the most gruesome murder in history.
"......For someone saying that, you seem to have enjoyed yourself quite a bit?"
"Don't talk back."
The old man whacked my forehead with his pipe.
Damn thing was sturdy; it hurt more.
"So why'd you come?"
"What do you mean why... For training."
"I don't get how you keep dragging yourself here after getting beaten to a pulp every day."
My only merit is endurance.
Scratching below my collarbone, I summoned all my mana.
A smile crept onto the old man's lips.
"In a year like this, you'll reach the realm."
I'd roughly learned to conceal my power. Most couldn't gauge my full strength now.
The mana shortage that always plagued me had improved.
Over a month in, I could scoff at my past self.
Yet it would still take a year for this man's approval.
Insane monsters.
The unparalleled like Guan Yu or Zhang Fei were here.
"By the way, Cheon-do said you used to be really gentle as a dad."
I asked casually while loosening up.
He watched me silently, then snorted dismissively.
"Did she."
"She says you're not anymore. Any reason?"
"Need you know?"
No.
His stern tone shut me up.
Personal issues, probably.
No intention of sharing.
I was a father too once, but I couldn't read the Heavenly Demon's mind.
"......"
His pipe tilted, spilling tobacco.
The subject shifted naturally.
"The Peach Garden will fall within a month, two at most."
"......Is that so?"
"My end is near. Won't fulfill my will. Chaos is coming soon."
The Heavenly Demon had started a war, history said.
The World Tree that judged him cursed the entire Peach Tree Clan. That's how it was recorded.
Cheon-do called it 'karma' for that reason.
But now, he didn't look like a war-starter.
More like desperately defending his nest.
Is this it?
History is written by victors, thoroughly.
"Keh heh heh. Even knowing death looms, must raise the next generation."
The old man stood. Black mana rose, tattooing his body.
I asked, watching him.
"Can't delay the fall?"
He smirked at me.
"Why? Want to change the future now? There is one way. The Peach Garden's doom hastened partly because of you."
"What do you mean?"
Little Heavenly Demon. Peach Garden.
My current status.
Perhaps that's why they're rushing to eliminate the Heavenly Demon threat.
From the one fact he shared, I intuited my task.
"Before you go back, just die."
*****
Two months.
Only one month left here.
Time really flies.
Training, work, playing with the kids—days felt like hours.
Even with twice the time sans sleep, it rushed by.
Training intensified, work piled up,
but I adapted to the hectic schedule.
-Mad bastard. You're inscrutable... Unsettling guy.
Come to think of it, he'd said that before.
A roundabout way of saying I'm spineless?
I asked Hong Yeon, reviewing paperwork beside me.
"Hey."
Hong Yeon snapped her eyes from the documents the instant I spoke.
Much softer gaze than two months ago.
"What?"
"Do I seem like I have some mental illness or something?"
"Huh? What?"
She blinked in disbelief at the sudden question.
Like I'd eaten something weird.
"......Tell the truth, what would you say?"
"I won't judge. Be honest."
"You've seemed crazy since we met."
Hong Yeon tiptoed around my mood, then lobbed a straight fastball.
Unexpected answer.
My shocked face made her drop her quill, waving hands frantically.
"Not an insult. That's why I didn't say it outright, right?"
True.
She eyed me thoughtfully, frowning as if recalling something.
Then clapped, as if hitting on the right words.
"Sometimes your actions don't make sense."
"Actions don't make sense?"
"You move like it's super important... but then take it easy on others. Uhmm. Sometimes obsess over easy stuff."
What?
Even she tilted her head, unsure.
Boiling it down, one word fit.
"Mental case! Yeah, like a mental case."
"Ugh."
I could stomach mad bastard, but mental case had a bad ring.
Flicked her forehead; she winced.
"......You told me to be honest."
Sometimes I crave flattery.
Mental case. Nah.
But she seemed sincere.
"Maybe see a doctor?"
"Since when do you care?"
"...Sometimes."
Another flick.
"Eek!"
Hong Yeon rubbed her scarlet bangs, grimacing in pain.
Deeply aggrieved, slanted brows.
Glared half-heartedly, then looked down meekly.
Done. Why'd I start this?
I stood, grabbing my clothes.
"Quitting for the day?"
"Yeah. Seems fine without me now. Should've stopped last month, but dragged on."
"I see."
Hong Yeon stacked the papers neatly, shoving them aside.
Her aggrieved face now mixed relief and bitterness.
Last day on the job.
"What's next?"
"Training, and... time to prepare to leave."
"You came and go with such a fuss."
From her view, sure.
Turned the Peach Garden upside down, confronted Heavenly Demon.
Became Little Heavenly Demon, opposed it, got beaten.
Then insisted on helping manage, proved useful, stuck around for work.
Now, a solid political-business partner, no words needed.
She tucked her quill and stood.
"...Fancy a drink. My workload's exploding."
Polite way of asking to go drinking.
Her eyes gauging me still felt off.
"Later."
Work piles up, though booze sounds good.
Help Heavenly Demon's tasks from a week ago, keep promise with Cheon-do.
Clear misunderstanding with Baek-do too.
"Fine. Definitely later."
Hong Yeon smiled awkwardly at me.
As she bowed to set down papers, ruddy bangs veiled her eyes.
Not much time left.