Chapter 60
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: In Extra Possession Stories, the Extra is the Protagonist.
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My pupils trembled violently with regret, but Peng Ha-ran, who was staring off into space, didn't notice and kept on talking.
“Se-ryun… well, his other friend lost his mind from guilt after watching that kid fall off a cliff right in front of him.”
The moment I heard "cliff," my heart suddenly calmed down.
In murim tales, you survive a cliff fall 90% of the time. That's the cliché.
He'd pop back up later with the line, "You're… alive…?"
But Peng Ha-ran, unaware of this murim law, let out a deep sigh and buried his head in his raised knees. His long white hair cascaded down gently.
“I wonder if he's okay… I should have insisted on bringing him along, stubborn as he is.”
“Can anyone just bring someone to the Murim Alliance conference?”
Peng Ha-ran quietly shook his head at my question.
“Not just anyone. Se-ryun's the son of the Bright Origin Sect Leader. Since the sect leader's attending the conference, the kid's got every right to be there.”
“Bright Origin Sect…?”
“It's a mid-tier sect, but one of the top righteous sects in the Northern Plains.”
Thinking I was asking because I didn't know, Peng Ha-ran explained. But that wasn't why I'd mumbled it. Quite the opposite—I knew the Bright Origin Sect all too well.
Jin Se-ryun might be a common name in murim stories.
But the son of the Bright Origin Sect Leader, childhood friend of the Peng Clan’s youngest from the Northern Plains, who at ten years old lost a sect friend he'd treated like family to a mysterious attack by falling off a cliff—that Jin Se-ryun was anything but common.
Every detail matched the backstory of Jin Se-ryun, the protagonist of the murim novel *Sword God Returns*, the last thing I'd read before getting hit by that truck.
Finally, I knew exactly where I'd possessed into.
Everyone else figures out the novel within a day of arriving. Did it really take me ten years? For real?
‘Hold on, then… is this guy…?’
The albino childhood friend a year older than the protagonist, frail from congenital meridian blockage but blessed with innate genius.
There'd been a brief mention of how his overprotective older brothers—way older than him—trained the protagonist brutally every chance they got.
‘If you're going to stick by a sickly kid's side, that's the least you can do!’
‘Sure, but shoving training on him with a scolding every time you meet?’
If this was indeed inside *Sword God Returns*, and the conversation topic between Peng Ha-ran and his brother was truly the protagonist Jin Se-ryun…
‘Sorryyyy, I assumed your buddy's congenital meridian blockage would get miraculously fixed like in the clichés!’
He wasn't some fake terminal illness cliché—he was the real deal, with a death flag stuck right in him.
Peng Ha-ran was the tragic side character who'd been the protagonist's "childhood friend" rather than a "companion," missing out on the close-aide benefits.
His first-round death, shown only in flashback, had been so shocking that even over ten years later, I remembered that scene crystal clear.
「“Still, thanks to you, the Northern Peng Clan handed us a rare treasure.”
The Blood Sword Squadron Leader dangled the ornament on his sword in front of Jin Se-ryun's eyes, cackling.
Jin Se-ryun glared at him with contempt, but a hand pressing down on his crown forced him to take in the two beads clacking against each other.
No, those weren't beads—they were preserved eyeballs.
The instant he saw the red irises, Jin Se-ryun's breath caught in shock and rage.
Northern Peng Clan, albinism. Only one person fit both criteria as far as he knew.
With that, everyone who'd shared his childhood memories was gone. Leaving him alone in this cold world.」
In the first round, the Northern Peng Clan was wiped out by the Demonic Cult simply because the protagonist had hidden there briefly, and Peng Ha-ran's eyes ended up preserved as a sword ornament for the Demonic Cult's Crescent Blood Sword Squadron Leader.
And in the second round—the main story—Peng Ha-ran still didn't get a happy ending.
「“It's the last thing he left behind. He insisted I give it to you.”
The Bright Origin Sect's signature technique, the Lotus Fragrance Bright Origin Sword manual, which he'd regretted a hundred, a thousand times for never mastering.
He thought it had burned up in the Demonic Cult's raid, but here it was, perfectly restored in his hands.
As Jin Se-ryun brushed over the manual, he murmured the pet name of his long-lost friend in a trembling voice.
“Lan-er…”」
In the second round, the Northern Peng Clan avoided annihilation thanks to the protagonist luring the Demonic Cult away as far as possible, but Peng Ha-ran still died young from his congenital meridian blockage.
Leaving behind the restored manual of the Lotus Fragrance Bright Origin Sword, which would later become the protagonist's signature ultimate technique.
“You okay? Was that too heavy for you to hear?”
I blinked at the worried voice and the soft hand touching my forehead. Right in front of me were those red irises, lost in thought.
Pretty enough to preserve, I thought absentmindedly—then flinched. What the hell? Why was I thinking like some heinous Demonic Cult bastard?
“…Y-yeah, I'm fine.”
Even to me, my voice sounded dazed as it slipped out.
If I'd just treated him like a fragile terminal case from the start, without all that murim cliché nonsense.
I might've gotten treated like an idiot like Namgung Seheon, but at least I wouldn't be in this mess.
‘With a perfectly normal name like Peng Ha-ran, but everyone calls him “dear friend” or “Lan-er”—how was I supposed to know?!’
On top of that, Peng Ha-ran only appeared in the protagonist's flashbacks and minor conversations with others (mostly his brothers, who had no real role).
I only remembered because that eyeball-bead death in the first round was so traumatic.
“Biyeon?”
His voice calling my name snapped me back. I frowned slightly at the hand waving in front of my face. Guess I really had zoned out.
“This won't do. I'll tell you the rest next time. That's enough for today.”
“I'm fine, really.”
“You don't look fine at all. And besides, there's always tomorrow.”
He wasn't wrong—the truth had crashed over me like a wave when I wasn't ready. It wasn't a huge shock, but it left me dizzy, so I nodded obediently.
Peng Ha-ran took my hand and walked me back to the Mount Hua Sect's lodgings.
Watching the collar of his robe sway with each step, I scratched my cheek.
He seemed to hate being treated like he was terminal, so I should probably go easy on that.
Though now that I knew it was real, I couldn't be as carefree as before.
After bidding Peng Ha-ran farewell and staggering into the lodgings, Uigang—who'd been sprawled on a long bench—shot up and rushed over.
“Yeon-ah, what happened? Who messed with you? Tell your sa-baek everything! I'll go sort them out right now!”
Uigang scooped me up in his massive arms. Even at ten, I was still just a bundle to him.
I rubbed under my eyes at his attitude, like he was about to burst through the door. Was I really that messed up? No wonder Peng Ha-ran had worried.
It was Elder Jincheong's scolding that stopped Uigang.
“Don't teach the kid bad habits. How long are you going to baby him? Biyeon's a proper martial artist now.”
“But… he's still so small.”
Uigang mumbled timidly, not matching his huge frame. That's because you're too big, sa-baek.
The sect elders who'd known me since infancy still treated me like a kid who might blow away in the wind.
The exceptions were folks like Uijin, the current Sect Leader, or Elder Jincheong, who'd always been strict with me.
“Yeah. Anyone up to five years older than me, I can take on solo.”
“Even so, don't go picking fights with everyone just because you're strong. The jianghu is a place where enmities can tangle in unpredictable ways.”
I puffed up proudly at Elder Jincheong calling me a proper martial artist, but he just clicked his tongue and gave me an earful too.
Ooh, solid life advice that sinks into your bones.
I nodded half-heartedly and cleared up Uigang's misunderstanding—he was pushing the "my poor kid came back after getting bullied somewhere" narrative.
“And it's not really anyone's fault.”
“Then why's our Yeon-ah looking so down?”
I stared down at Uigang, who was cooing and rocking me in his arms, then asked out of the blue.
“Sa-baek, what if the righteous factions go to war with the Demonic Cult?”
His body went rigid at the question, and he creakily set me down on the floor.
“…Haha, where'd you hear that, Yeon-ah?”
“Who's been blabbing about the Demonic Cult?”
Chilling. A dagger to the heart. That reaction screamed something was up.
“I didn't hear it anywhere. Just curious.”
From the two adults' reactions, I also gathered that wandering around Shaolin would turn up talk related to this.
“Don't talk nonsense. Never speak of such things lightly.”
Seeing Uigang's faint relief and Elder Jincheong sternly scolding me despite himself turned my suspicion of Demonic Cult activity into certainty.
According to canon, the war with the Demonic Cult happens ten years from now. But if there were signs even ten years early…
Lying on the bed, I carefully sorted through today's revelations in my head.
First: the *Sword God Returns* world.
Possessing into an ongoing serial, not even finished, was annoying enough. But not knowing if this was the protagonist's first-round world or second-round world was the real headache.
The fork between first and second rounds was when the protagonist turned twenty—specifically, on Peng Ha-ran's birthday, when the Bright Origin Sect was destroyed.
That catastrophe was what made him realize he'd regressed.
Ten years until the fork. Not a short time, but not like we had ages either.