Chapter 28: Murim (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 28: Murim (5)
After losing everything to the 1st Young Master's schemes, Cheon Yeo-hwa had suffered humiliations beyond words.
And yet, she felt the rage boiling inside her now was even greater than what she had felt back then.
“I asked you what the second method was!!”
“Snore…”
With a furious expression, Cheon Yeo-hwa shook Kang Hyun-woo back and forth.
But he wouldn’t wake up, as if he'd taken some Bewitching Powder.
Cheon Yeo-hwa glared down at Kang Hyun-woo, seething.
Thinking back, it was obvious he had brought up the strange topic of "how to make someone angry" just to tease her from the start.
“How dare you play such word games with me…!!”
How insolent! So insolent I can't stand it.
In the end, Cheon Yeo-hwa decided to punish him.
Before she was struck by the extreme poison, she was known as the Moon Spirit Witch, a woman who had caused countless casualties without distinguishing between the Orthodox and Evil Factions. Now, her Moon Spirit Divine Hand descended upon Kang Hyun-woo.
“Huhu, how impudent for a pervert.”
Squish, squish. Kang Hyun-woo's cheeks were repeatedly squashed and stretched like clay.
“Ugh…”
My goodness, to grab a sleeping person's cheeks and play with them like a toy.
The cruelty of the Moon Spirit Witch made the earth weep and the heavens turn away.
As she was playing with the cheeks of the still-sleeping Kang Hyun-woo, Cheon Yeo-hwa’s face suddenly turned pale.
Smack! A stinging pain rose from her reddened cheek, a result of the rather forceful slap.
‘To think I’d let my guard down so much over a single meal and a place to sleep.’
Her past self would never have tolerated such behavior.
Worse, she had even ended up sleeping with a strange man she had known for barely more than half a day.
“Haa…”
How did things end up like this?
She had become so different from her past self.
What would her past self and her former subordinates say if they saw her being so unguarded with another person?
Weak. Pathetic. Changed.
They would surely condemn her with such words.
Of course, having lost the succession contest, it was an undeniable fact that she could never return to those days.
If that was the case, was there really a need to go back to being that person?
‘…What a cheap excuse.’
It was a self-serving justification.
The instincts coiled within her were speaking.
Kill him now. Leave this place and build your power. Even if you’ve lost everything, as long as you survive, you can start again.
Even if all the animals that drank from a lake died, the purpose of the lake would not disappear.
Eventually, new animals would come to the lake to drink.
I am a lake.
A great lake that will enrich the vast, barren lands of the Divine Cult.
A lake needs only to be clear and pure.
Allowing foul things to mix in is unnecessary.
‘If I kill him now…’
Would this weak heart that wants to settle for the present disappear as well?
Unable to find any answer to her own question, Cheon Yeo-hwa stared blankly into the distance with empty eyes. So lost in thought that she didn't even remember when she fell asleep.
*
Chirp, chirp—
When the loud chirping of birds forced my heavy eyelids open, I felt a sense of confusion.
It was clearly morning, judging by the light filtering through the tent, so why was I still in this world?
[Remaining Matching Time: 13:51:34]
“Why… do I have 14 hours left?”
I was sure that with Iris, the first match gave me about eight hours of leeway.
It was reasonable to assume I’d be given about the same amount of time in this world.
I had arrived here around 1 PM, and I fell asleep around 7 or 8 PM. My body should have returned to Earth while I was sleeping.
I had fallen asleep with that in mind.
But not only was I still here, I had a whopping 14 hours of matching time left.
‘Why?’
Ting—
[Tip. When matching with a new connection, time spent sleeping is not included in the matching time.]
‘Seriously?’
What was this?
There’s no way the app is this nice.
For a moment, I was suspicious of the app's excessive kindness, but the condition was too sweet to refuse.
This was actually something I had been worried about.
If the time I spent sleeping in another world counted toward the matching time, I would either have to return to Earth every time I slept or use up a significant amount of time.
And if I returned to Earth?
I would have to wait for several days for the next match.
When my Bond Level with Iris was 0, the matching time was just over eight hours.
But when it became Level 1, it increased to 12 hours, and after our last meeting, my Bond Level reached 3.
‘Excluding the time I slept, I’ve been here for about half a day, so… does that make it roughly 20 hours?’
It seemed that while the Bond Level applied to each person individually, the resulting increase in matching time followed the highest Bond Level achieved.
‘I don’t know why the app is being so generous, but at least I won’t have to worry about running out of time for every match… Wait, why is my arm so heavy?’
I had been feeling an unidentifiable weight on my right arm for a while now.
Wondering what it was, I turned my head and saw her.
“Mmm…”
“...?”
It was Cheon Yeo-hwa, sound asleep while using my arm as a pillow.
‘No wonder my arm felt so numb…’
Wondering what was going on, I looked around, but I hadn't moved an inch from where I had fallen asleep last night.
If anything, Cheon Yeo-hwa was the one who had rolled over toward me.
The proof was the considerable empty space behind her back.
“Some sleeping habits she has.”
Is she really a Young Lady of the Heavenly Demonic Cult?
I’d been thinking it since yesterday, but her actions seemed a bit clumsy.
‘Should I wake her up?’
I considered it for a moment but decided to just let her be.
If she woke up like this, she would surely cause a scene, calling me a pervert and accusing me of showing my true colors. I was too tired to deal with that kind of chaos first thing in the morning.
My arm was numb, but if I circulated my magic power, my blood would circulate naturally as well. With that, a little numbness was nothing.
“Still, she's ridiculously beautiful.”
Her skin was clear and translucent, her eyelashes long and sharp yet glamorous. We both had black hair, but while mine was coarse like a crow's feather, hers was like silk.
If Iris smelled of fragrant grass, Cheon Yeo-hwa had the scent of an endlessly soft perfume.
It wasn't the artificial perfume women usually wear, but a contradictory scent that was both pure and stimulating.
As I watched her sleep for a moment, I recalled what she had said to me last night.
—I thought you were an assassin sent by the 1st Young Master to kill me.
That one sentence helped me understand all the strange things I had noticed about her.
The fact that the 2nd Young Lady of the Heavenly Demonic Cult was bathing at a lakeside deep in the forest. The fact that she was wearing tattered clothes that looked like they’d been worn for months.
The fact that she was wandering around Shaanxi, incredibly far from the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, the cult's headquarters.
Everything was explained by that single sentence she’d uttered last night.
‘A succession dispute, something like that?’
Judging by her peculiar personality, I thought she was a diamond-spoon kid who had lived her life bossing everyone around.
“…Looks like she’s had a tough time in her own way.”
I had my share of hardships as a war orphan, but at least I never had to worry about being assassinated.
Nor had I ever lived like a homeless person in a distant land that would take at least half a year to travel to.
At this point, I started to feel a little sorry for the headstrong Cheon Yeo-hwa.
‘But why is she sleeping with her hair in her mouth?’
Seeing her practically eating her own hair, I tried to pull it out but accidentally brushed her lips.
They felt incredibly soft and moist, which was nice, but…
“...?”
That seemed to be the trigger, as Cheon Yeo-hwa woke up.
“Oh, sleep well?”
“…You.”
Completely ignoring my cheerful morning greeting, a heavy, murderous voice flowed from Cheon Yeo-hwa’s lips.
“Do you remember the conditions I set for accompanying you?”
“…Walk in front, answer my questions truthfully, and give me chocolate?”
“You remember well. In that case, answer my question honestly.”
Getting up from my arm, Cheon Yeo-hwa was now holding something familiar in her left hand.
“Being stabbed or being slashed. Which do you prefer?”
*
After the commotion in the tent, the two once again walked through the forest toward Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi.
“…”
“…”
They maintained a heavy silence, no different from yesterday.
The short conversation they’d had last night had certainly brought them a little closer.
But for over four hours, not a single word was exchanged between them.
Kang Hyun-woo was silent out of indignation, Cheon Yeo-hwa out of embarrassment.
At first, she had thought he had tried to lay his filthy hands on her while she was asleep.
Of course, it didn't take long for her to realize it was her misunderstanding, but by then, he was already battered and bruised from the scabbard she had swung at him.
Even if it was a disaster that occurred while she was groggy from sleep, it was clearly her fault.
Unfortunately, Cheon Yeo-hwa did not know how to apologize to others.
She knew it in theory, but having never once apologized to anyone, she didn't know how to start or how to end it.
In the survival of the fittest, one of the Divine Cult's laws, an apology was a servile plea made by the weak to the strong.
For Cheon Yeo-hwa, who was to become the successor to the great Cult Leader, apologizing was no different from a base act that should never be performed.
That was how she had been taught, how she had learned, and the life she was meant to live.
In the first place, Cheon Yeo-hwa was not so incompetent as to need to apologize to others.
Her judgment was always correct, and the subordinates who failed to follow her orders had to bow their heads before her and beg for their lives under the guise of an apology.
However, after falling for the 1st Young Master's scheme, she could no longer be sure what the right judgment was.
She wasn't even sure if apologizing to him now was the right thing to do.
‘It’s true that it was my fault for sleeping on his arm without permission, and for misunderstanding and hitting him with my scabbard, but…’
Should I apologize?
Then how should I do it?
Should I bow my head like my subordinates did?
No matter how much she thought about it, that didn't seem right.
Then should I just simply say I'm sorry?
‘…Is that all it takes to apologize?’
Wouldn't trying to get away with just a few words seem even more insolent?
In that case, should I offer a gift that would tempt him?
But all I have right now is a single sword and this tattered robe…
Smack!
‘I-I must be insane. To think I even considered offering my body!’
Cheon Yeo-hwa berated herself for having such a thought, even for a moment.
Even if she were to ascend to the position of Cult Leader, she had no intention of ever marrying a man.
She certainly had no intention of ever offering her body.
Yet here she was, having such a disgraceful thought about a man she had met only a day ago!
This was no different from being a prostitute!
“Whoa, what was that? Why did you suddenly slap your cheek??”
“…It was just a bug.”
“A bug?”
A martial artist slapped her own cheek hard enough to make a sound just because of a bug?
Kang Hyun-woo couldn't understand it, but since she said so, he didn't press the issue.
Cheon Yeo-hwa watched Kang Hyun-woo walk ahead again with an unconcerned expression, biting her lip.
She felt if she didn't say it now, she never would.
“…Are you alright?”
A single phrase, as heavy as a Thousand Jin Weight, struggled past her throat and finally emerged into the world.
“About what?”
“Did you not get hurt because I swung my scabbard…”
The proof was the bruises here and there on Kang Hyun-woo's face.
Even for Cheon Yeo-hwa, a Young Lady of the Divine Cult—a place filled with Demonic Humans and governed by the insane law of survival of the fittest—she was aware that she had gone too far this time.
Not only had he saved her, but he had also given her a delicious meal and a warm place to sleep.
“I-I… think I should apologize to you…”
Cheon Yeo-hwa couldn't finish her sentence and ended up lowering her head completely.
Seeing this, Kang Hyun-woo let out a small laugh.
“What? Don't tell me you've been silent this whole time because of that?”
Cheon Yeo-hwa nodded her deeply bowed head.
She didn't want to show him her beet-red face.
He'll probably tease me again.
“You worry about the strangest things. I thought you wouldn't care about stuff like that at all.”
Kang Hyun-woo felt he understood Cheon Yeo-hwa a little better now.
“I’ve already forgotten about it, so don’t worry.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
Seeing this unexpected side of her, Kang Hyun-woo spread out a mat nearby.
“Let’s have some lunch.”
That day, Cheon Yeo-hwa’s eyes went wide as she ate the cream pasta served for lunch, making a huge fuss.
So girls loving pasta is the same in other worlds, huh.
*
A canyon near Xi'an.
The presence of the Mount Hua and Zhongnan Sects had driven all major Evil Factions out of Shaanxi, but a third power had established itself here, unknown to anyone.
“Great Master.”
“What is it?”
“We’ve found them.”
In the past, after failing to conquer the Central Plains on two separate occasions, the Heavenly Demonic Cult changed its strategy, deciding to establish secret branches in the territories of the Orthodox Faction's sects and noble families.
The risk of being discovered increased, but it was all to prevent those bastards from uniting under the name of the Murim Alliance when the time came for the cult's great conquest.
Even if the Orthodox Faction discovered the location of a branch, it didn't matter. There were no traces of the Divine Cult here anyway.
Except for the Great Master, none of the members practiced demonic arts. What they learned were the martial arts of the Evil Faction or imitations of Orthodox martial arts.
Stationed here, at the third house of the Heavenly Demonic Cult's Shaanxi branch, were those under the command of the 1st Young Master.
Their mission, in cooperation with the 1st Young Master's forces in other branches, was to search for and assassinate the 2nd Young Lady who had fled to the Central Plains.
“It’s the White Wolf.”
At the report from the member clad entirely in black, the Great Master smiled.
It was a grotesque smile on a face covered in scars.