Chapter 184
Chapter 184: Price of Salvation (2)
"Now, let's move past boring things like memories."
Dong Bong-soo gestured toward the children with his eyes.
"How are you going to clean up the trouble you caused?"
"It's not trouble."
"Then?"
After hesitating briefly, Jeon Ra-hwa also looked at each of the children one by one, chewed her lower lip for a moment, then answered vigorously.
"Chivalry."
"......"
"You said not to hesitate in practicing chivalry. So I just didn't hesitate."
Heh heh. I didn't expect this kind of butterfly effect.
She really is an interesting woman.
Though different from me in many ways, precisely because of that, she was aligning with my purpose. Life really is a continuous contradiction. Even someone like me can't escape that.
"Well done."
"What?"
"I said well done."
"......What!?"
"Stop it already."
"......"
"Why aren't you answering?"
"Aren't you telling me not to say 'yes'?"
"......Distinguish between 'what?' and 'yes.' I told you before."
"Ah, ye-es."
"What's 'ye-es'?"
"Distinguishing."
"......"
After a moment of silence.
Dong Bong-soo's mouth opened again.
"Anyway, since you caused this, I'll give you choices."
"Choices? What kind......?"
After checking the system options, Dong Bong-soo modified them slightly, then raised his index finger.
"First. Since we've already saved them, our role ends here and we each go our separate ways."
"No, that's a bit—."
"Second. We entrust the kids to the government office here in Gangdo."
"Wow, that's even worse. Gangdo's government office is different from other places, it's really—."
Once again, Jeon Ra-hwa's words couldn't continue to the end.
"Third."
Because Dong Bong-soo extended his ring finger and stated the final choice.
"You take responsibility for those children."
"......!?"
At Dong Bong-soo's words, Jeon Ra-hwa looked at him with slightly surprised eyes, then just moved her lips. She had planned to get the children out of here and take them to an inn, but hadn't thought as far as taking 'responsibility.'
Only after hesitating for a while did her lips open.
"What would you do?"
"My opinion is your opinion."
"......What does that mean?"
"A rider simply follows whatever is written on the signpost."
"......"
To her who couldn't answer, Dong Bong-soo asked again.
"You said you didn't hesitate. Then you must have predicted the situation that would unfold afterward, right?"
"......No. I couldn't."
"That's wrong. When I said not to hesitate in practicing chivalry, it naturally presupposed that you practice chivalry within your capabilities."
"......"
"Can you handle all those kids with your ability?"
"......"
"You can't? Yet you recklessly rejected the first and second choices earlier?"
"But the first two are no different from killing them."
"Then do the third one."
"I, I mean. I can't even take care of myself?"
"A rider will simply follow whatever is written on the signpost."
"What...... do you mean?"
Dong Bong-soo smiled.
"My ability is your ability."
Both outwardly and inwardly.
"Ah!"
This show is enough.
Click-
Progress: 100%
2 and 3 crumbled like sandcastles hit by a storm, and choice number 1 shone while creating new hologram text.
[You did not turn away from fate and appropriately responded to the first belief. A reward is given.]
[+1]
[Trust with your first connection has deepened slightly.]
[Though small, the world has become more beautiful.]
The reward ends here.
Thus.
He chose to save all the 'new burdens' the system mentioned.
Ding-
[You have decided to 'protect' ten children like a hero.]
['Household Window' is now open. Please take good care of them so they can grow as members of 'Faith.']
[Belief always brings corresponding rewards.]
'Household Window?'
[Jeon Ra-hwa, Ho, Uk, Yuyeon, Wi, Soran, Pung Ji-ho, Ho-ae, Roe, Jomi, and Seon have been newly added to the Household Window.]
Household.
To Dong Bong-soo examining each newly welcomed 'household member' one by one, 'first household member' Jeon Ra-hwa asked.
"Will it be okay?"
"What won't be okay?"
"There's ten of them."
Ten people.
Right. Thinking of them as family, it was certainly a very large number. Moreover, that number could clearly continue to increase in the system.
Does What is Hero want me to establish a sect rather than become a hero?
Good, Family Head.
If I can become stronger, I'll gladly become a hero or family head.
In that sense.
"Don't you know the more the merrier?"
"What? Why bring that up here?"
Grin.
A purely innocent smile formed on Dong Bong-soo's lips.
A strange expression that seemed both calculated and sincere.
"Originally, the more household members the better."
"House......hold members?"
"Didn't you choose number 3?"
"Well...... right?"
"Then they're household members."
"......"
"Then let's go now."
"What? Where?"
"Where else?"
"With this many family members, we need a house."
"A house?!"
Dong Bong-soo's feet were already leading the way.
"I didn't know you'd cause an incident like this, but I already secured a house."
While she went "Huh?" the distance between them widened considerably.
Jeon Ra-hwa quickly turned toward the children, specifically toward the oldest girl.
"You heard everything, right?"
The girl nodded.
"Then let's follow quickly."
Anxiety still flickered like a windblown candle flame in her clear eyes.
However, she didn't immediately agree to Jeon Ra-hwa's words but conveyed her own will.
"I know well that things like us don't have the right to choose. But can I ask just one thing?"
"What?"
"Will you feed us well?"
A desperate tone and gaze as if negotiating with a once-in-a-lifetime condition. Incongruous to the situation, a chuckle escaped Jeon Ra-hwa's mouth.
"Of course."
"Then we'll follow. If we eat one meal, we'll work one meal's worth, two meals two meals' worth, three meals three meals' worth. Right?"
The girl looked back at the remaining kids and asked.
Clap! Clap! Clap! One boy clapping, Mm! Mm! Mm! another vigorously nodding up and down, even one just staring wide-eyed while repeatedly swallowing saliva.
Though everyone's response method was different, all agreed.
Thus Jeon Ra-hwa gathered all the children and hurriedly followed behind Dong Bong-soo.
However.......
***
"Here? This is the house you mentioned?"
"......Can't you tell by looking?"
Dong Bong-soo grinned deliberately.
"I know. I know well. That it's a house where people were killed. That can be solved with a bit of cleaning."
"......Can hundreds of corpses be solved with 'a bit of cleaning'?"
"Cleaning is nothing."
"......"
Jeon Ra-hwa looked at him and shook her head. At times like this, she doubted what he was like before losing his memory. He keeps talking about chivalry and chivalrous acts, yet seems to regard killing people as casually as swatting mosquitoes or flies.
Of course, most people here deserved to die.
"Have you ever had a house this big?"
At Dong Bong-soo's words, Jeon Ra-hwa walked to the entrance and picked up the half-broken plaque.
Three characters clearly engraved in red on thick black iron plate.
Iron God Society.
She'd heard about it from Dong Bong-soo.......
Coming to see it directly made it real.
He really demolished this massive sect all by himself.
Stepping inside, it was even more spacious.
A training ground with an entire floor made of granite. Of course, now hundreds of corpses—victims of a 'natural disaster'—covered that vast training ground entirely.
She stood in the middle of the half-destroyed Iron God Society training ground and looked around once more.
"I have."
Long ago, in a childhood she can't even remember now, Jeon Ra-hwa had been the young mistress of a massive sect that everyone in the Martial World would recognize if they heard. She dreamed about it often, so the memories were even more vivid. As if she'd lived there until yesterday.
My home was ten times bigger than here.......
"But. You definitely demolished this place, but you're not the new owner, right?"
"If I demolished it, wouldn't it be mine?"
"......Look. No matter how messed up Gangdo is, there's still a minimum of law and documentation, you know?"
Thud-
Something blunt lightly bumped into her forearm.
Looking back, it was a black jade token.
"What's this?"
"What does it say there?"
Receiving and reading it, three characters in almost the same calligraphy as the plaque she just saw were engraved in relief this time.
"Iron God Command......?"
An object symbolizing all assets and authority of the Iron God Society.
"I picked it up yesterday."
Dong Bong-soo chuckled smugly.
"Destruction is originally the mother of creation."
"......"
Absurd, but his words were true in this space right now.
He had resolved everything here in Gangdo style and 'picked up' this place in Gangdo style.
"If it was going to be like this, you should've destroyed less."
"Right. If I'd known it would be like this, you shouldn't have caused trouble."
"......Tsk. Can't you give in a little?"
"I already gave in big."
"What?"
"You."
"......"
"I entrusted all my paths to you."
While saying that, Dong Bong-soo held out another token to her.
A blue jade token necklace engraved with a crescent moon shape.
"What's this now?"
"Can't you tell by looking? It's a jade token."
"No! Obviously I can tell that. So—"
"Don't you want to become stronger?"
"What?"
"You should say 'yes.' Not 'what?'"
At Dong Bong-soo's somewhat serious expression, Jeon Ra-hwa inadvertently received the jade token and answered.
"Yes......"
"Become stronger."
Dong Bong-soo looked at the ten children still standing bewildered at the Iron God Society entrance.
"If you brought them, you must take responsibility. If you accept them, you must protect them."
"......Yes. That's right."
"That's a Dharma Treasure that enhances the power of Yin Cold-type martial arts or Immortal Arts just by wearing it."
"Dhar...... what?"
"Dharma Treasure."
Dharma Treasures were treasures among treasures, created by condensing the principles and Spiritual Veins of heaven and earth.
One of her previous owners had described Dharma Treasures like this.
— Those who obtain an excellent Dharma Treasure gain not merely a weapon, but the right to newly open their fate and Path.
"Why give such a precious thing...... to someone like me?"
"Someone like you?"
"I...... I am......"
"Right, right. You've been trampled and suffered like a weed, certainly."
"......"
"But since we decided to raise you and go together, you're no longer a weed. Same goes for them."
Jeon Ra-hwa also gazed at the children at the entrance following him.
However, what she saw and what Dong Bong-soo [saw] were too different.
To the former, ten weed roots whose names she didn't even know yet, but now flowers she'd decided to cultivate.
To the latter.
[Ho], [Uk], [Yuyeon], [Wi], [Soran], [Pung Ji-ho], [Ho-ae], [Roe], [Jomi], [Seon]
[Flowers] whose names were already fully identified before even asking.
Flowers in the sense of [Household].
Household would have to be redefined as a word that's warm on one hand but cold on the other.
Of course, Jeon Ra-hwa, completely unaware of that new definition, nodded and smiled brightly at the children.
Everything will be fine.
While reaffirming again.
That she'll become stronger. That she won't be trampled again.
Me and all our family.
"Thank you."
"What's there to thank, I can give that much anytime. As long as we can become stronger."
"Tsk, that's why I'm more grateful."
Jeon Ra-hwa deliberately pouted because she was so grateful and thankful, then hung the jade token necklace around her neck.
『Heavenly Yin Sect Dharma Maiden's Jade Token』
◆ Grade : Rare
◆ Category : Miscellaneous : Hidden Weapon ⊃ Weapon
◆ Description : A token with the emblem of the Heavenly Yin Sect engraved in intaglio.
◆ Special Effect : When equipped, helps increase the power and proficiency of Cold/Ice type magic.
However, the moment Jeon Ra-hwa equipped it.
A new line was added to the item description.
※Contains a kind of tracking function possible between people who share the same mana.