Tell Me Your Wish (1)
"Tell me your wish."
"Die split in half."
It was something I had said, but I never imagined it would actually cleave him straight down the middle...
"Urk..."
I averted my eyes from the unexpectedly gruesome sight. In that instant, the imaginary rod piercing from the crown of my head through my spine to my tailbone vanished, and my body lurched unsteadily.
Only then did the pain I'd forgotten—and the utter exhaustion—crash over me all at once.
The silver lining? A faint residual heat... my internal energy... still lingered inside me. For some reason, I couldn't gather it in my dantian, but it was spread throughout my body, sustaining the bare minimum of vitality.
Thanks to that, even though it hurt like hell, I wouldn't pass out or collapse right away.
First things first—I had to deal with this gash on my chest somehow. I tried stripping off my shredded upper garment to bind it like a bandage.
Was it because I was doing it alone? Or because my body was so weak? It was harder than I thought, and I grunted with effort.
"Hold still."
Hong Yeonhwa had crept up without a sound and snatched the cloth from my hands, wrapping it around the wound as she spoke.
"You fool. The external injury is bad enough, but your internal damage is severe too~ni-ra. One wrong move, and you'd have lost the use of your arm for life. You knew that, right?"
"No wonder it was so numb."
"You idiot."
"Ow ow ow..."
As if echoing her frustration, she yanked the knot tight. Hadn't she been struggling to even speak earlier? Where the hell did she find that strength?
I looked her over carefully. Her face was paler than usual, her small hands swollen, her uniform soaked in sweat, and her legs trembling uncontrollably despite her will.
Even in this state, she looked stunning. Was that a testament to Hong Yeonhwa's greatness, or was I just head over heels?
Either way, the key point was she looked ready to drop any second.
Taking down Cheok An Geum Gwi was great, but both of us needed proper treatment, stat. Still, with legs like those, she couldn't hike down the mountain path.
After a moment's thought, I turned my back to her and crouched down.
"Hop on."
"Mm. Wait just a moment~ni-ra."
Hong Yeonhwa staggered over to Cheok An Geum Gwi's corpse and plopped down beside it, rummaging through his belongings.
...Damn, her stomach for this was stronger than I'd expected. Or maybe her face had been ghost-white from the start, so it didn't show.
She dug through his pockets for a good while before pulling out a weathered book and flipping through it.
Seemed like she'd found what she wanted—she tucked it into her bosom and tottered back.
"What's that?"
"Likely something to clear up the misunderstanding between this lady and you~ni-ra."
"What?"
Misunderstanding? About the martial prowess she'd shown? Hong Yeonhwa said nothing more, just leaned into me as I piggybacked her.
My bare torso pressed against her sweat-dampened clothes. The soft, plush sensation of her breasts registered vividly—did she even notice? She wrapped her arms around my neck.
Her unique floral body scent wafted over me.
"I was going to rest a bit until my condition improved, then explain... but you plan to head to the village like this, right, geudaeyeo?"
"Yeah. They've got basic remedies here, but we both need real treatment."
Hong Yeonhwa relaxed completely, entrusting her weight to me. A deep sigh escaped her, tickling my nape.
Taking that as my cue, I started walking. One step, two steps. Only when the half-collapsed house was out of sight did she speak up from my back.
"Allow this lady to reintroduce herself. I am the Seventh Lord of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult—the Heavenly Demon, Hong Yeonhwa. ...From a world different from this one~ni-ra."
"Uh... okay."
"It's true~ni-ra. Do you think this lady's some madwoman too?"
I flinched inwardly but shook my head frantically.
"N-no way!"
"......"
Hong Yeonhwa fell silent for a beat, then pettily dug her nails into the hollow of my collarbone, leaving marks, before continuing.
"Well, I understand if you don't believe this lady~ni-ra. Like that one-eyed wretch earlier, you must've mistaken me for some girl from the Fengyu Merchant Group."
What followed was a tale that, in the old days, I'd have dismissed as mere backstory. But not anymore.
Not when she'd displayed such absurd martial skill. No one that crazy could pull that off.
Hong Yeonhwa claimed she'd truly been the Heavenly Demon in a murim world eerily similar to this one—but utterly different. She'd toppled the corrupt Murim Alliance and inept court there, just as she'd said.
But with unification within reach, she'd been ambushed by remnants of the righteous sects' elders and the court. She'd won, barely, but took heavy wounds, fell off a cliff... and woke up in my house with her dantian evaporated.
The good news? It wasn't shattered—just gone. Give her time, and she could recover her realm.
Yeah... the world's strongest getting dimension-shifted and losing all power? Total cliché.
"Then what's with the mark on your sleeve? That's the Fengyu Merchant Group's emblem, as far as I know."
"You're mixing up the order~ni-ra. This lady didn't claim the merchant group's mark was the cult's... The cult's mark is what the merchant group used~ni-ra."
"Huh? Hold on. Not following."
"Simple enough~ni-ra. The now-dead head of the Fengyu Merchant Group was a follower of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult who, like this lady, ended up here by chance~ni-ra."
"Whoa...?"
Reading my skepticism, Hong Yeonhwa chuckled lowly.
"Remember what that trash demanded of this lady earlier?"
"Hand over the Fengyu Merchant Group's hidden legacy, right?"
I'd rushed back from the village suspecting that rumor—fresh in my mind.
During the fight, Hong Yeonhwa had sensed inconsistencies in his words. But my own behavior nagged at her too. Sure, I lived in the mountains, but I went to the village sometimes—yet I seemed clueless about the world.
She'd realized something was fundamentally off... and figured why he'd risk coming here over a mere rumor.
"Because of that book this lady took~ni-ra. Written in cryptic code, he thought it hid some vital secret. Like treasure or such~ni-ra."
"Ah..."
Right. With that much certainty, he'd infiltrated Murim Alliance territory.
"Wait—how'd Cheok An Geum Gwi even find us?"
Hong Yeonhwa wasn't a Fengyu survivor, so no trail there. Yet he'd known exactly where she was...
"Pure coincidence, he said~ni-ra."
"...Coincidence?"
"Yes, coincidence. Dodging the Murim Alliance's eyes, he wandered pathless routes and stumbled on your house~ni-ra."
Planned to kill us and use it as a hideout. But he'd scouted from afar first, and spotted her in Fengyu garb.
"Anyway, only after reading the book did he confirm it~ni-ra."
"What'd it say?"
"This lady didn't read it closely, so the details escape me~ni-ra. But it's all in the cult's secret code, and the first page mentions leaving it for any cult followers who might fall into this world like him~ni-ra."
The book, the mark, her skills. With that much evidence, I couldn't just write her off as nuts.
Hell, I had memories from another world and reincarnated. Hong Yeonhwa or that nameless merchant head? Totally plausible.
Fine, I bought it. Made sense now.
But.
"Um... so, if you're really the Heavenly Demon..."
"Mm? Why the sudden formality?"
"You must be insanely strong, right?"
"Aha! Struck by this lady's majesty, eh? Of course~ni-ra! If this lady were weak, unification would've been a pipe dream. Sadly, I never quite reached full Mystic Realm, but I shattered half the wall~ni-ra. ...No need to be so formal, though..."
Whoa! Mystic Realm! For reference, the current world's top dog, Murim Alliance Leader Kwak Mu-geuk, was merely Fire Realm.
"Then you must've shed your mortal shell too?"
"You can speak casually like before...... Huh? Well, yes, naturally upon entering Fire Realm... Why so uneasy?"
Shedding the mortal shell? Jackpot.
"So how many springs and autumns have you seen this year, elder?"
"......"
"Elder?"
"......"
Hong Yeonhwa silently grabbed my hair and yanked.
"Ow! That actually hurts!"
"This lady! This lady isn't that old~ni-ra! This isn't some face-preserving art or skin mask—it's this lady's real face~ni-ra! Got it?!"
She tore at my scalp, sideburns, everywhere—but her injuries sapped her strength quick. Didn't last long.
From what I gathered between yanks, she'd endured all sorts of slander during the righteous-demonic great war. Rumors like "150-year-old hag" or "devours young men to stay young."
Her little tantrum drained her completely; she buried her face in my nape and mumbled. Adorable, really—proves it was all bullshit.
Gotta love how showing this side just makes a guy wanna tease more... but she'd really sulk, so I changed tack.
"Anyway, what's the plan from here?"
"Mm? Plan for what~ni-ra?"
"You said you're from another murim. Now that I know, what's next?"
"Naturally, find a way back~ni-ra. I've handled all potential threats, so no rush—but that's where this lady belongs."
Figured as much.
My head spun for a different reason now as I walked, hugging her tighter. In the distance, a group rushed toward us—five men and women in the same garb as the warrior who'd investigated me that morning.
Murim Alliance warriors, no doubt, waiting on my message. We'd reached the village outskirts.
Me and Hong Yeonhwa—we were truly safe now.
That thought eased the tension, and the internal energy scattered through my body evaporated like morning dew in the sunlight.
Vision darkening sharply. Body growing unbearably heavy.
Thud.
I collapsed with Hong Yeonhwa still on my back.
"...Huh?"
Her bewildered voice and the approaching footsteps of the Murim Alliance warriors were the last things I heard as consciousness faded.