Chapter 238: A Sudden Reunion
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 238: A Sudden Reunion
Choi Seulgi watched Lee Wanyong with a look of profound amusement.
“Come on… You’re older than me, you don’t have to keep being so formal. Just call me Seulgi.”
The task, which she thought would take much longer, was ending far more quickly thanks to the man’s desperate efforts. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been looking for Kim Taesung all this time. Even while grooming Han So-hye, the Queen of the North, for the purpose of killing the Sword Saint of the West, she had taken every spare moment to search for any human in the North named Kim Taesung. The North’s resident registration system was nearly perfect, and though she couldn’t be absolutely certain, she had already confirmed that the Kim Taesung she was looking for wasn’t there.
Searching for him for so long had taught her one thing: this method was incredibly time-consuming and draining. Thanks to that, Choi Seulgi decided to expand the pie. While making the Queen of the North the ruler of the North, she would also form an alliance with the Witch of the East and search the entire eastern region at once. The fact that this long-term project was now showing progress due to this man’s efforts made her understand why the Witch of the East trusted him.
Though he had a fundamentally suspicious air about him, the man was competent. Choi Seulgi spoke again.
“Could it be… that I make you uncomfortable?”
“Ah… no! Of course not. It’s just that I’m more comfortable with formal speech.”
‘He’s definitely hiding something.’
The first time she had brought up Kim Taesung, the emotion in Lee Wanyong’s eyes had unmistakably been surprise. Jang Ye Ri had seemed to know nothing, but this man looked like he knew something.
Such a reaction was unlikely if the name merely belonged to an acquaintance or a friend he’d made here. He was definitely hiding something.
For that reason, Choi Seulgi had marked Lee Wanyong.
Her unique ability, which activated upon making eye contact, allowed her to teleport behind a target within a certain range. But that wasn’t the only function of this ability, which was optimized for assassination.
Its main advantage was that it allowed her to grasp the marked target’s psychological state and location. Although it was a unique ability created for the sole purpose of killing, it proved to be more useful than she’d expected. Even at this very moment, a flood of information about Lee Wanyong’s thoughts and situation was pouring into her. Of course, she could only get a rough sense of it, but by inferring from his mental state and surroundings, it was enough to gather general information.
He knew Kim Taesung. However, he wasn’t sure if the Kim Taesung he knew was the same person she was looking for.
That was her analysis from that night.
She was smiling faintly at Lee Wanyong when the door opened and Park Han Cheol appeared. He was a warrior with quite a reputation in the East. A man of his caliber was rare even in the North.
“Choi Seulgi-nim, excuse me.”
“Ah… yes.”
“Lee Wanyong. The Queen calls for you.”
“Ah! Understood. I’ll go at once. Th-then, Choi Seulgi-nim, I’ll take my leave.”
“Of course.”
He was relieved. After replying, Choi Seulgi quietly tapped the documents on her desk. There was much more to think about than just finding Kim Taesung.
First and foremost was, of course, the Sword Saint of the West.
Despite the growing friction between the West and the North, not a single skirmish had broken out yet. This was solely because she and Han So-hye, the Queen of the North, were suppressing the war. In Choi Seulgi’s case, she couldn’t rush toward the end, worried that a weak Kim Taesung might get caught up in the conflict. As for Han So-hye, she simply felt she wasn’t ready yet, which thankfully bought them a little more time.
During this period, Kim Taesung had been extremely cautious, so he had likely holed himself up inside a city. If a war suddenly broke out and he was forcibly conscripted, he would probably be unable to escape death.
‘Dammit…’
In truth, he might already be dead. It wasn’t that she hadn’t considered the possibility, but Choi Seulgi quickly shook her head.
He had to be alive. If she didn’t believe that, she felt she wouldn’t be able to go on.
“Huuu…”
A sigh escaped her naturally. Tossing aside the constant smiling mask, she let her face go blank for a moment and began to feel a little more human.
“Kim Taesung… Kim Taesung…”
Her revenge would be complete once she took vengeance on the people of the West and the Sword Saint. Before that, finding Kim Taesung was her top priority. Closing her eyes, she thought of the Kim Taesung from their time in the old city, and her heart grew a little calmer.
‘Seulgi.’
Just recalling his voice made her feel better.
Even now, she could sense Lee Wanyong’s current state. It wasn’t as if she was synchronizing with him, but she could perceive the environment surrounding him and the thoughts he was having. If he had been her assassination target, she thought, she could have killed him a hundred times over by now.
She felt his state becoming incredibly stable. She couldn’t tell exactly what was happening, but he was experiencing a sense of peace far greater than the safety he felt just by being away from her.
In all the time she had been marking and analyzing him, she had never sensed him like this. She wasn’t certain, but there were three people with him. They were sitting in a conference room. She couldn’t tell what they were talking about, but she could feel that the Witch of the East was definitely not among them.
‘…’
She couldn’t be sure, but it was only natural for her suspicions to grow. Tapping her desk, Choi Seulgi once again checked the environment around Lee Wanyong. Two human women. The last one felt a bit ambiguous. It was likely a powerhouse so strong that she couldn’t sense them accurately.
She wanted to enter the conference room to check, but beyond whether it was possible or not, it was an act she was not permitted to take. She didn’t want to destroy the trust she had built up over some pointless action.
And yet, she couldn’t stop biting her lip. After searching for so long, she found herself clinging to an absurd hope.
It was then.
Doubt, doubt, doubt, doubt, certainty.
Those weren’t her thoughts, but Lee Wanyong’s. It was the doubt and then the certainty that the Kim Taesung he knew might be the same one she was looking for.
Without realizing it, Choi Seulgi bit her lip hard and activated her ability. In an instant, she felt her body moving to the conference room. To be precise, she was being transported behind Lee Wanyong. She knew, of course, that this could be a foolish move. But she had waited for so long, and her anxiety was immense.
She would receive a formal complaint for this, but she would find a way to resolve it. The first things she noticed were a petite priestess and a stunningly beautiful magician. They were skilled enough to be considered executives of a city.
‘What the…’
But what stood out even more was the demon sitting in the center.
He had Kim Taesung’s face. His skin color was different, and he had changed a little, but there was no way she wouldn’t recognize him. For a moment, she wondered if he was some kind of monster like a Doppelganger, but then her eyes fell on the massive greatsword strapped to his back.
The greatsword had changed, too. It seemed a bit larger, but its old, crude appearance remained.
Choi Seulgi remembered that greatsword clearly. It was the one she had wanted to imitate so badly. There was no way she could forget it.
‘Grrrrrrrk.’
She clearly remembered a foolish monster who had always treated her with such sincerity and devotion. It was the greatsword that Orc had carried. Why had a monster cared so much for a human? Why had he taught her daggermanship and provided her with so much equipment? A torrent of complicated thoughts suddenly rushed through her mind. Without him, she would never have become this strong.
The thought, ‘Could it be…,’ spread through her mind like ripples from a stone tossed into a calm lake.
‘You’re late. You came with Green Flower and the fairy again today?’
‘Grrrrrrrk.’
‘Wow, thank you! I feel bad, I haven’t given you anything.’
‘Haha! Such lecherous eyes!’
‘Thank you for everything. I’ve received so much from you, I should give you something in return, right?’
‘Grrrrrrrk.’
‘Haha, you don’t need anything?’
‘Grrrk.’
‘I’m sure you’ll like it.’
She remembered his face turning red from just a light kiss on the cheek. She couldn’t be certain, but she believed her thoughts were correct.
He had regressed.
She didn’t know how it happened, but Kim Taesung had returned as a monster. The Weapon Merchant who had protected and cared for her in the past was Kim Taesung. The one who had given her a sanctuary and a moment to rest was Kim Taesung. She finally understood everything—why he had so brutally torn apart the bastards in the dungeon who had made her life miserable, why he had averted his gaze when she said she was already taken, why he sometimes hesitated as if he had something to say.
All she needed was confirmation.
Just then, the mouth of the demon before her began to open slowly.
“Choi Seulgi?”
So he did know her. It felt like tears were about to stream down her face. This was the person she had longed for even in her dreams. Her hands and feet began to tremble. What expression should she make? What should she say first? Should she hug him? As a storm of complex emotions and thoughts swirled within her, what surfaced was a pointless anger.
He knew.
He probably knew that she had returned as well. He might not have been sure at first. But if he had entered the cave, he would have seen Shin Duk-ho’s corpse and been able to make a rough guess.
‘You… you son of a bitch. You… bastard!’
The Green Flower and the fairy who were always with him had clearly looked at the Orc with affection. The Green Flower, in particular, was so jealous that she sometimes even glared at her.
Thinking of how she had trudged through the city in the freezing winter searching for Kim Taesung, the situation felt utterly absurd. She had pretended to be fine, but she couldn’t count the number of times she had cried herself to sleep alone. As she met the demon’s eyes, she immediately began to sense his state.
Relief, complexity, relief, bewilderment.
Looking at the women on either side of him made her even more flabbergasted. Anyone could see they were beautiful. To be honest, the priestess next to him looked average, but the stunning beauty beside her was exactly the type he used to talk about.
Recalling Kim Taesung’s last words—that they would live together and he would make her happy after this was all over—was dumbfounding. And what about her? She had rejected the advances of every capable, decent man. She was human, after all; it wasn’t as if she had no libido or never wanted to meet another man.
‘You… you bastard!’
He hadn’t looked for her because he was busy meeting this woman and that, fooling around all over the place.
Completely forgetting that Kim Taesung was in the body of a monster, the only thought that filled her mind was resentment toward him. It was so absurd it was staggering.
Choi Seulgi pointed a finger at the demon before her and muttered.
“You… you… you…”
“You… you… you… you… YOUUUUUUUUUUU!”
A scream erupted from her before she could stop it.
“Kim Taesung, you garbage bastard!!”
Choi Seulgi screamed with all her might.