Chapter 368: A Leash… I’ll Have to Wear It, Right?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 368: A Leash… I’ll Have to Wear It, Right?
The Peach of Immortality is a fruit consumed by the gods of the East during very special festivals. Eating just one is said to grant eternal youth and longevity. Among them, the 90,000-year Peach of Immortality is a top-tier treasure that even gods rarely encounter.
If one could fully absorb its essence, repairing a broken vessel would be child’s play. Sun Wukong had used a treasure that ordinary gods wouldn’t even dream of seeing, all without a moment’s hesitation, just to save the boy before her.
She pressed her lips to his a few more times, feeding him the remainder of the peach. Then, through their connected membranes, she breathed her breath and divine ability into his body.
She repaired the damaged parts and smoothed out the twisted sections, venturing deeper and deeper into his core until she finally reached it.
She spread her divine ability into his vessel—the very depths of his being—which was so badly shattered that his energy and humanity were leaking out in torrents.
…Just how recklessly had he handled his Innate True Qi for his vessel to be in such a shambles?
If someone with mediocre skill had attempted to fix this, they would have likely made it worse or even killed him. Fortunately, her skills were anything but mediocre.
She was, after all, one of the few in the Divine Realm to have reached such a pinnacle of power.
It wasn’t simple, but since it wasn’t completely destroyed, it was at a level she could somehow restore.
The problem, however, was that he was resisting her efforts.
“Mmph…!”
This brat. Stop struggling. I have to perform delicate work here.
She gripped the back of his head with her hand to keep him from pulling away and delved even deeper into him.
“…Is this right? The optics are a bit… questionable.”
“I don’t think so. Is she really trying to save So-hyun? She’s not just trying to get a taste, is she?”
She heard voices murmuring around her, but she didn’t have the luxury of paying them any mind.
Transforming the energy of the Peach of Immortality into a shape that perfectly fit his vessel and ensuring the fragments bonded seamlessly was an incredibly delicate task that required a long time.
The boy, who had been resisting, eventually seemed to lose his strength and decided to entrust himself to her. With that, there was nothing left to hold her back.
Now that the vessel was reconstructed, it was time to temper it.
Every time she sent her energy through their entwined tongues and gently stroked his inner being, his vessel grew firmer and more solid.
This was the craftsmanship of a deity hailed as the strongest.
Having perfectly absorbed the essence of the Peach of Immortality, his vessel would become even larger and sturdier than before.
To ensure the boy didn’t lose a single drop of energy, she delved even deeper into him, finally forcing the melting boy to absorb every last bit of power.
“Phew.”
When she finally pulled her lips away after finishing the primary task, a transparent thread of saliva stretched between them, a testament to the time they had spent connected.
Hmm, but why is his face so red? He should have absorbed the peach without issue. Should I say something to him?
After a moment of thought, Sun Wukong decided to speak the words that came to mind.
“A kiss with the faint scent of camellia. It wasn’t half bad.”
She had simply expressed her honest impression, but the boy, who had collapsed as his strength failed him, flinched visibly. Meanwhile, the women supporting him began to glare at her.
Sun Wukong pondered what the problem was and soon found an answer.
“Ah, I suppose the flavor of the Peach of Immortality blended well with the camellia, making it even better.”
If a wrong answer could be called an answer, that was it.
“…Did anyone ask for your review?”
…So it wasn’t because of her review?
She had just saved the boy, yet for some reason, the hostility directed at her seemed to have intensified.
Well, it wasn’t particularly important. Not everything was finished yet.
She had succeeded in remaking his vessel, but at this rate, the same thing would happen again after he used his power a few more times.
That would be a poor excuse for a “salvation” or “miracle” performed by a deity.
A true miracle should be perfect and noble, naturally evoking admiration and awe in those who witness it.
As it happened, she had left something here that would serve the purpose perfectly.
“Come to me. Golden Hoop.”
A precious artifact she had left with Yama, whom she had since quit working for.
The smallest prison, the Golden Hoop.
Normally, she would have tried to stop this boy from obtaining the final artifact, but she felt responsible for how things had turned out. Moreover, remembering the things that had flowed into her while they were connected, this felt like the right thing to do.
“Huh? Whoa!?”
“Hmm? Ah, it seems you brought it with you. Good.”
She had sensed the energy of the Golden Hoop nearby, and it seemed the current Yama had been carrying it around faithfully.
“Now, this is as far as my help goes. Whether you can receive the aid of the Golden Hoop depends entirely on you. I hope for a good result.”
As everyone watched with bated breath, the Golden Hoop began its ownership ritual according to Sun Wukong’s command.
* * *
“…What on earth is this?”
“I” was looking at two other versions of “myself.”
“I hate it all. Go away. I’m scared… Mom…”
First, there was a version of “me” crying like a young child. This was the one who had occupied my body until just a moment ago, but now he was doing nothing but sobbing.
“…Stop crying. Crying won’t change anything. No, you don’t even have the right to cry. There’s still so much left to do. You can’t be allowed to cry until it’s all finished.”
The other one was slightly larger than me. He was either suffering from a severe case of “cool guy syndrome” or had simply lost his mind; he had been eating himself alive for a while now, claiming he had no right to do anything until everything was over.
…Is that really me? I don’t think so. Did Sun Wukong pick these things up from the wrong place?
“Hey, is there really a need to go that far? Everyone seems to prefer it when I’m happy rather than sad. Let’s just go and beg for forgiveness, okay?”
I tried talking to them, hoping for a different answer this time, but as expected, the responses were the same.
“Liar! If I make even a tiny mistake, I’ll disappear! If I don’t act my part perfectly, I’ll be abandoned!”
“…It’s because of that soft-hearted thinking that we ended up like this. I should have distanced myself from warmth and prepared more coldly. It would have been better to freeze than to melt away.”
…Good grief, these guys are a lost cause.
Well, as much as I wanted to deny it, I couldn’t ignore the fact that they were both “Kang So-hyun,” just like me.
As time passed, the boundaries between the three of us were slowly crumbling, and we were merging back into one.
In fact, our current appearances had already changed a lot. At first, that little kid was like a wounded black beast trying to bite us, and that “cool guy” over there was much more insufferable.
I was the only one who hadn’t changed much, but that’s probably because “I” am an emotion that manifested more recently than those two.
“Ah, please stop whining and cooperate… We need to apologize quickly.”
“…If you’re going to apologize, you shouldn’t have done it in the first place.”
“Do you think you even have the right to apologize?”
…Are these guys insane? Ah, if I curse them, I’m just spitting on my own face.
“Cut the crap. If you did something wrong, you shouldn’t suffer alone; you should give a sincere apology. You socially maladjusted bastards.”
“…If I apologize, can I be forgiven?”
The child version of me asked, but there was no way he didn’t know what I knew.
We were originally one being, after all.
“That’s for the other person to decide.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“Even so, you have to apologize properly. Because even if you aren’t forgiven, you can’t start anything else until you apologize. You know that too.”
The child version of me slowly nodded and began to vanish.
“…You’re going to apologize before you’re even worthy of forgiveness?”
This time, the version of me that was larger than myself asked a question.
“Why ask when you already know? There’s no such thing as being ‘worthy’ of forgiveness in the first place. If I had to say, you only get that right after you bow your head and sincerely beg for it.”
“…You’re clearly terrified, yet you act so tough. In the end, you’re just pretending to be a bit more sane. Fundamentally, you’re the same as us.”
I had nothing to say to that. Of course I was scared. I was scared they’d be disappointed in me, and I was scared because I couldn’t live up to their expectations.
I didn’t want to cause them worry, but everyone had gone through hell because of me again. I was naturally terrified that this time, they might have finally given up on me.
“But refusing to apologize because you’re scared… that’s what actual children do.”
Well, we didn’t exactly cry honestly when we were kids, but we just cried enough for a lifetime just now.
We’ve played the spoiled brat enough. If we don’t get up soon, it’ll just be pathetic.
Before I knew it, the other “me”s had vanished, leaving me truly alone in this space.
Judging by the fact that I could feel the hidden selfishness, the resentment, and the thick guilt, it seemed we had successfully merged back into one.
But now that it had come to this, I was actually a bit scared to go out.
I had talked a big game, but I had a feeling they wouldn’t let it slide so easily this time.
…What if they really are fed up with me?
Come to think of it, I think I said a lot of harsh things. From my perspective, it felt like the parts of me left behind ran wild while I was away from my body, but would they understand that?
“…You were so cruel when fighting the Rakshasa, and so brave when fighting the King of Asuras, yet you are afraid of such a trivial thing.”
As I agonized over it, someone familiar yet strangely foreign spoke to me.
“Sun Wukong… but a different one?”
She was different from the main body of Sun Wukong outside, and different from the Sun Wukong who had been with me.
She looked much more benevolent, as if she had been softened by experiencing every event the world had to offer.
“You have sharp eyes. I am the lingering regret for the memories Sun Wukong held—the regret that inherited the most realizations from her travels.”
I wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed she had succeeded in placing the Golden Hoop on me from the outside. So, was this the ownership ritual…?
“Hmm, well. Actually, I had already decided to lend you my strength, so it might not be right to call it an ownership ritual.”
“…Pardon?”
“You have already proven your worthiness, and you have shown me that you need me.”
She reached out and stroked my head.
“A child who still has something he wants to protect, even after being shattered so miserably. You struggled not to let go, but in the end, you were forced to. For someone as immature as you are compared to your will, you certainly need me.”
My head felt a bit heavy.
“The Golden Hoop is fundamentally a prison that binds you, so it will feel stifling.”
I felt a strange sensation as if something was being layered over the new vessel that had formed inside me.
It felt as though several more layers of skin had grown.
“However, a prison is a device meant to isolate a prisoner from the world, but also to protect the prisoner from the world.”
“…What? Really?”
“As long as there is room for your rehabilitation, the Golden Hoop will be a prison that binds you, but also a fortress that protects you.”
The woman, who had been stroking my head with a benevolent face, gave a bittersweet smile and stepped back.
“I hope you can make a different choice than I did.”
I wanted to ask what she meant, but before I could, she transformed into the Sun Wukong I knew well… that is, the form of “Ruyi.”
“I’m sorry.”
I closed my eyes, expecting a lecture, but surprisingly, Sun Wukong bowed her head and apologized to me.
“…Why so suddenly?”
“It’s an apology for what my main body did.”
…Ah, right.
She did that right in front of everyone.
Honestly, even if it was to feed me the peach, I wondered if there wasn’t any other way.
But seeing the blushing Sun Wukong fidgeting, I lost the will to complain.
“And it’s not just that. It’s also an apology for what you’ll face once you go out.”
“…Huh? I can overlook the embarrassment, but I can’t ignore that. What’s happening out there right now?”
“I have no idea what my main body is thinking either… I don’t know, and it’s terrifying…”
Seeing Sun Wukong bow her head, saying all she could do was apologize, a wave of dread washed over me.
Just what kind of mess had been made for her to react like this?
For a different reason than before, I didn’t want to open my eyes, but my intuition screamed a warning.
If I didn’t open my eyes now, I would probably regret it for the rest of my life.
* * *
The moment I opened my eyes, I saw Sun Wukong and everyone else looking down at me.
…What? Nothing seems wrong.
For some reason, my neck felt a bit tight, but other than that, I seemed fine.
The problem was…
The moment I absentmindedly touched my stifling neck.
“Oh.”
I felt something that felt suspiciously like a leash.
…What on earth is this? A leash? No, is it just a thick choker…?