Chapter 91
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 91
Chapter Title: Wiping Out All My Hard-Earned Points with One Word
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“Isn’t your request a bit premature? If I tell you now, you’ll forget it, so wait until your death is right around the corner.”
I replied with deliberate indifference, and Pang Ha-ran turned his gaze from me to the sky above.
“My death day is close enough already. The days I have left to live are shorter than all the days I’ve lived so far.”
“How much time do you have left?”
“Who knows, maybe five years?”
His casual response was thick with resignation. I stared at his finely sculpted profile, then asked lightly to avoid making it too heavy.
“Why me?”
“You seem like the type who could shake off my death quickly. From our first conversation, it was just… a gut feeling.”
Pang Ha-ran smiled faintly. Like a flower in full bloom that could wither away at any moment.
The emotion reflected in his ruby-red eyes, which met mine for a brief instant, was clearly guilt.
“I’d vaguely sensed you were a selfish bastard, but I didn’t realize you befriended me just to dump your dying friend on me after you’re gone.”
I flopped back down, rubbing my dry face to hide the turmoil showing on it.
Of all people, now that I know your terminal illness is real and I know your tragic end, what am I supposed to do with this?
I can no longer take your death lightly.
And seeing you trying to foist even your friend’s despair onto me, I feel more pity than resentment.
“Did that hurt your feelings, Biyeon?”
A shadow fell over my face, which had been fully exposed to the harsh sunlight. Pang Ha-ran had draped his own collar over my face to shield me from the sun and asked in a soft voice.
It was a relief that the collar hid my face. I bit my lip hard and let out a silent chuckle.
I have no right to feel disappointed after presumptuously judging your future and misunderstanding you. So if you ask me if your selfishness hurt my feelings, there’s only one answer I can give.
“I don’t know, man. Don’t dump your uptight young master ass on me and focus on living instead. Who knows? You might run into some fateful encounter like in a novel, cure that damn terminal illness, and get healthy.”
“Haha, novels aren’t realistic, which is why they’re novels.”
I swept the collar off my face at his cynical remark and rolled over to face Pang Ha-ran, who sat beside me.
Beneath the shade of the greenery and the sky blazing down painfully with sunlight. We were only two handspans apart, yet it felt so utterly opposite.
“Then call it a miracle instead of a novel. Miracles have low odds, but they do happen in reality.”
The ever-present mask-like smile twisted on Pang Ha-ran’s face.
“…Don’t say that.”
“What did I say?”
His hand, emerging from the shade into the sunlight, gripped my arm fiercely.
“Don’t plant useless hope in me. You’re not the one who’s going to make that miracle happen, so why—”
“Ran-ah.”
My quiet call cut off Pang Ha-ran’s words.
I gently pried his hand from my arm, returning it to the shade, then lifted the collar I’d been clutching.
Jin Se-ryun placed the collar over Pang Ha-ran’s head and extended his hand to him.
“The sunlight’s strong. Let’s head inside.”
Supporting Pang Ha-ran to his feet, Jin Se-ryun then addressed me, still casually lounging with my arm propped under my head.
“How about you come inside too, friend?”
“No, I want to soak up a bit more sun…”
His wordless look urging me to follow made me click my tongue and stand. Looks like the protagonist has something to say, so the side character should shut up and obey, sure sure.
When we reached the guesthouse, Pang Ha-ran hesitated and turned to Jin Se-ryun, cautiously opening his mouth.
“Se-ryun, you… did you hear—”
“Brother Woo-hyeop!”
Instead of answering, Jin Se-ryun loudly called out to Pang Ha-ran’s burly little brother, visible from afar thanks to his large frame. Spotting his younger brother, the man strode over briskly.
Embarrassment flashed across Pang Ha-ran’s face.
“Ran-ah’s been coughing nonstop…”
“What? When did I!”
Pang Ha-ran frantically denied it, but the words didn’t reach his already panicked little brother.
“Youngest! Let’s go inside, quick!”
“Brother, wait! Hey, Jin Se-ryun!”
Scooped up like a princess, Pang Ha-ran bellowed Jin Se-ryun’s name one last time before vanishing into his brother’s arms like the wind.
That left just Jin Se-ryun and me.
He turned to me with a flick, and feeling a pang of guilt, my lip twitched. He’s not about to chew me out for calling him an uptight young master, is he?
“Biyeon, right?”
Jin Se-ryun, who had no need to reconfirm my name, gave a calm smile.
“Thank you. For saying that to him.”
He’d seen me before as a friend of a friend, but now clear fondness showed in his eyes. I swallowed a bitter smile and returned it.
I hope this is another misunderstanding too.
I hope he mistakes my words—spoken with full knowledge that Pang Ha-ran won’t die and brimming with confidence—for genuine concern for the guy.
Not my desperate true feelings, clinging to that slim chance despite knowing it can’t happen.
“And even if—just hypothetically—you don’t need to take responsibility for me. It’s all my burden to bear. So just ignore what Ran-ah said.”
“Even though your friend befriended me for that exact purpose?”
My voice came out calmer than expected. Jin Se-ryun shook his head briefly.
“I doubt he befriended you for that from the start.”
“Well, he said it was a gut feeling from the beginning, so I’m not buying it.”
“I’ll vouch for him, having watched Ran-ah up close. He said he liked how you treated him like a normal person, not someone with a death sentence.”
Of course. I didn’t know it was really terminal back then.
“He probably didn’t even realize that request would burden you. He was so worried about me losing another friend that it blinded him.”
No matter how mature he acted, Pang Ha-ran was still an immature sixteen-year-old.
Even as friends, how could I—someone he saw and exchanged letters with only once every few years—compare to Jin Se-ryun, who’d been by his side all along?
“Try to understand him a little, instead of resenting him too much.”
“I’m not really resentful. If I were, I wouldn’t have told him to keep living.”
I knew full well that if I weighed Pang Ha-ran against my own sect brothers, the latter would tip the scale. Resentment only arises when the weights we feel for each other differ.
At my answer, Jin Se-ryun flashed a refreshing smile and extended his hand to me.
“Let’s meet again, the three of us.”
How would our next meeting happen? Could we meet as three, as you wished?
No—could I see you again, still healthy like today, before facing that complete loss?
I pushed the complicated emotions from my face and lightly shook his hand.
“Yeah. Next time we meet, spar with me.”
A subtle expression crossed Jin Se-ryun’s face at my words, and he nodded faintly before striding into the guesthouse.
The moment he vanished from sight, I swept back my bangs and muttered softly.
“Fucking hell, seriously…”
What good is knowing the future? So what if I’m a disciple of one of the influential Nine Great Sects? I can’t change a damn thing.
How the hell do possession novel protagonists stick so perfectly to the original plot even when they possess a side character? I’m jealous, so jealous.
I turned my gaze absently, and my already troubled mood grew even more tangled at the sight.
For some reason, Namgung Seheon was hopping mad in front of Dang Ha-kyung.
I strode over and grabbed the guy by the scruff of his neck.
Dang Ha-kyung’s slender eyes curved as if she’d spotted something amusing upon seeing my face.
“I have business with this guy. I’ll take him now.”
“Ahaha, there’ll be plenty of days to see him from now on, so I’ll gladly yield this moment.”
“Argh, what are you saying? There won’t be any days left to see me forever!”
Namgung Seheon retorted in disgust, and Dang Ha-kyung’s laughter grew even louder. Less like she found her desperately denying fiancé cute and more like…
‘Mocking laughter…?’
Whether I found the laugh unsettling or not, Namgung Seheon meekly offered his scruff to me and even relaxed his body to make it easy for me to drag him off.
Once we were a good distance from Dang Ha-kyung, Namgung Seheon, dangling limply from my grip, smirked and asked.
“You got annoyed seeing me with Dang Ha-kyung too, huh?”
“What are you on about? I really pulled you away for business.”
At my reply, Namgung Seheon’s face filled with question marks.
“We’re sparring this time too.”
The moment he heard that, I tightened my grip on the wriggling guy trying to escape. Namgung Seheon shook his head frantically.
“Not today. After I break through to first-class.”
“Come on, spar with me? This is a perfect chance to etch your first loss into that record of yours?”
“You bastard, what’s the point of fighting someone I can’t beat for sure?”
“Of course, I’d call that a waste of time. But you’re the exception, man.”
“Why am I the exception?”
I met his staring black eyes and replied.
“Because your first defeat has to come from me, no question. The thought of some other guy handing you your first loss boils my blood.”
Saying it aloud, I realized it anew.
“Guess I really do hate you.”
“Does that thick head of yours only work when you’re holding a sword?”
“I hear that a lot.”
“It’s turning now.”
The catchphrase Bi-ryeong often tossed at me popped out of Namgung Seheon’s mouth.
And after that…
“I’ll specially announce my attack. 24 Plum Blossom Sword Techniques, Second Form: Plum Blossom Butterfly Dance. Block it.”
“Hey! How am I supposed to know your Mount Hua swordsmanship!”
“Want me to tell you the direction too? For the first one, from the right—”
“What is this, a sword discussion?”
“No, sword discussions are with words. This is real combat.”
“Damn it, is this a spar? You’re just mocking me!”
“Oof, salty about losing?”
It turned into this.
I finally notched a win. After a whole seven years! Now it’s 1 win, 1 loss, 2 draws!
It wasn’t as fun a spar as before, so the victory didn’t feel all that satisfying.
Come to think of it, that guy’s last sight…
“…His eyes were rolled back.”
I didn’t just give him his awakening trigger, did I?