Chapter 122: Heavenly Demon Cheon Hong-ryeon
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 122: Heavenly Demon Cheon Hong-ryeon
My expression soured as my prediction hit the mark.
Dimensional Invaders were typically beings who crossed over by taking advantage of the brief moment a dimensional gate, opened by a returnee coming back to Earth, was left unsecured.
Naturally, most of them did not come with good intentions.
The incidents they caused had a significant and negative impact on the public perception of returnees.
“But wasn’t Ahyu’s dimensional gate already closed?”
Ahyu was an S-rank returnee.
Known as the Heavenly Demon, she was said to have personally dealt with not only the dimensional invaders but also the dimensional erosion that occurred during her intersection event, before closing the gate herself.
So for a dimensional invader to suddenly appear from her world…
It didn’t make any sense.
“Right. That’s why this whole thing is giving me a headache.”
“Explain it to me in detail.”
“You remember that massive, rapid-forming dimensional gate incident from before.”
“How could I forget?”
I responded matter-of-factly as Baeksan brought up the catastrophe Girasung had caused.
Baeksan ran a hand through his bangs, gripping them in frustration.
“It seems the aftereffects of that incident have warped the dimensional gates that the returnees had already closed, forcing them open again.”
His words made my body go stiff.
What Baeksan was suggesting was incredibly dangerous.
“Wait a minute. Does that mean…”
“It means we’re going to see a lot more dimensional invaders crawling through those warped gates from now on.”
Baeksan ground his teeth, clearly vexed.
Girasung’s actions had just plunged the entire planet into a new crisis.
“The only silver lining is that, unlike in my time, this seems to be limited to Seoul.”
Since Girasung had opened their massive gate in Jung-gu, it seemed the dimensional warping was confined to the Seoul area.
“‘In your time’? You mean dimensional invaders didn’t just show up because Girasung’s invasion revealed Earth’s coordinates? You also had an incident where the returnees’ gates were warped open like this?”
As I asked in alarm, Baeksan nodded with a frustrated expression.
“Yeah. In my world, there were two major dimensional invader incidents that caused problems.”
Baeksan began to explain.
The first was when Girasung’s dimensional invasion broadcasted Earth’s coordinates to the universe, causing invaders to flock to the planet.
And the second was caused by none other than Si-ho’s rampage.
“…Because of Si-ho?”
“That’s right. At least Girasung was less competent than that little brat, so the damage was contained to Seoul. But the situation itself is the same. That kid tore open every single dimensional gate connected to the returnees.”
A chill ran down my spine.
I was finally realizing just how close the world had come to actual annihilation because of Si-ho’s rampage.
“Kang Ha-chan, this situation might not be as bad as the world-shaking crisis of the past, but for Seoul, things have started to get very dangerous.”
“…I think I can tell just by listening.”
“No, listening isn’t enough. Dimensional invaders are more likely to be individuals connected to the original returnee. That means the very bastards who gave those returnees a reason to flee their worlds in the first place are the ones who will be coming over.”
The moment I heard that, I started running.
The reason the returnees had to return.
The thought immediately brought Ahyu and that man to mind.
I sprinted up to the hospital room and kicked the door open.
Ahyu was standing there.
No, it was Cheon Hong-ryeon standing there.
Her hair was dyed crimson, and she wore the attire of the Heavenly Demon.
In her hand, a red camellia flower was blooming.
“Ahyu!”
Even as I called her name, Cheon Hong-ryeon simply stared down at the man on the bed.
His eyes slowly fluttered open.
He gazed at Cheon Hong-ryeon for a moment before letting out a small smile.
“Why do you look upon your brother with such harsh eyes, Sister?”
“…Do Hwa.”
Plum blossom petals bloomed from his hand and scattered gently through the air.
The plum blossoms mingled with Cheon Hong-ryeon’s camellia petals.
But only for a moment. Do Hwa’s plum blossoms were quickly buried and vanished before Cheon Hong-ryeon’s camellias.
Do Hwa watched this with a hint of disappointment before smiling faintly.
“Truly, you must be the first to blend the plum blossoms of Hwasan with magi to create a camellia, Sister. I, too, have trained until my very hair was stained by the plum blossoms, yet I am nothing compared to you.”
“I am not of the Hwasan Sect.”
“But our blood is, is it not? Though our fathers may be different, we were both born from the same Hwasan mother.”
Hearing that, I realized he was Cheon Hong-ryeon’s half-brother.
“…Sister, do you still resent Mother?”
Cheon Hong-ryeon’s eyebrow twitched.
“Mother never hated you. You have no need to feel guilty for what happened.”
“…I never felt any guilt to begin with.”
“How can you say that?”
At his words, she bit her lip slightly.
“After that incident, did you not flee to a land of another world the moment you saw me?”
Listening quietly, I realized their stories weren’t adding up.
Wait a minute.
‘Does Ahyu’s half-brother not know she’s a returnee?’
His phrasing, “a land of another world,” was the proof.
‘I see.’
During her dimensional shift, Ahyu’s—Shin So-ra’s—body had been torn apart in a dimensional storm. Only her soul had possessed the body of Cheon Hong-ryeon.
Furthermore, since she had possessed the body as a child, the people of that world likely wouldn’t have found it strange.
In the eyes of adults, children change from moment to moment.
So, as Cheon Hong-ryeon grew from a child to an adult, the people of that dimension would have seen her as someone who had been born and raised there from the very beginning.
‘Ahyu finds it difficult to deal with Do Hwa.’
Though her body was Cheon Hong-ryeon’s, her mind was Shin So-ra’s.
Her father, the Supreme Cult Leader, and Do Hwa’s mother—the woman from the Hwasan Sect who was also Cheon Hong-ryeon’s mother—probably didn’t feel like parents to her at all.
Ahyu had told me she possessed Cheon Hong-ryeon’s body when she was in middle school.
But by blood, Do Hwa was indeed her younger brother.
So, from her perspective, it was understandable that she would be hesitant about how to treat him.
“Ahyu.”
When I called her name again, Cheon Hong-ryeon looked toward me.
“Can we talk for a moment?”
Hearing my question, she nodded.
“…And who might you be, sir?”
Do Hwa turned to me, his expression questioning.
Right, I hadn’t introduced myself to him at all.
“Ah, my name is Kang Ha-chan. My relationship with Ahyu… that is, Cheon Hong-ryeon, is…”
I started to explain our relationship but suddenly found myself at a loss for words.
When I glanced at Cheon Hong-ryeon, I saw that she was watching me with a rather intrigued expression.
It was as if she was waiting to see how I would describe her to Do Hwa.
Seeing that, my mouth hung open.
If I just said we were friends, she would clearly be disappointed.
After what had just happened between us, that was only natural.
But if you were to ask if our relationship had progressed beyond that, it was still difficult to put into words.
Ahyu liked me, and I certainly had feelings for Ahyu, but…
This was a matter for the two of us to discuss.
“She’s… like a younger sister to me. The most precious one I have.”
That was the only thing I could manage to squeeze out.
I felt it wouldn’t be right to reveal my feelings through a conversation with someone else.
This was something I needed to talk about with Ahyu first, when we were alone.
“Hmph. The most precious younger sister.”
She didn’t press the matter further, seemingly willing to let it go for now.
Watching the two of us, Do Hwa’s eyes widened as if he’d realized something.
“Is spring finally coming for you, Sister?”
“Do Hwa, if you wish to continue spouting nonsense, be my guest.”
“My apologies.”
As camellia petals began to swirl, Do Hwa quickly apologized.
“Um, for now, Mr. Do Hwa, would it be alright if I spoke with Hong-ryeon for a moment?”
“Yes. I came here to see my sister, so I have no plans to go anywhere.”
Relieved by his cooperation, I turned back to Cheon Hong-ryeon.
She had already walked out of the hospital room ahead of me, and I followed her.
We soon found a place where we could sit and rest.
Since there was no one else around, I sat down next to her.
As soon as she sat on the bench, she reverted from her Cheon Hong-ryeon form back to Ahyu.
She must have deliberately maintained her Heavenly Demon appearance because she was conscious of Do Hwa.
“Phew. Sorry, Domi-oppa. I didn’t mean to drag you into this.”
“What do you mean, drag me into it? It’s your brother who came looking for you.”
“Brother… yeah, he’s my brother. My brother from that world.”
As she said that, she let out a small sigh.
“Ahyu, I tried to guess a little about your relationship with Do Hwa…”
I asked Ahyu about what I had surmised.
After listening to me, Ahyu nodded as if to confirm that everything I said was correct.
“You’re right. Do Hwa doesn’t know I’m a returnee.”
“I knew it.”
“Her—that is, Cheon Hong-ryeon’s—mother was a woman from the Hwasan Sect known as the Sword Queen. My father, the Supreme Cult Leader, took a liking to her, kidnapped her, and forced her to be his wife. Cheon Hong-ryeon was the child born from that.”
She frowned, as if it wasn’t a pleasant memory.
“Thinking back, the Supreme Cult Leader was insane. That bastard was the one who ruined the Demonic Cult.”
She grumbled to me, as if venting her frustrations.
“Anyway, that mother gave birth to Cheon Hong-ryeon and then escaped when the watch on her weakened.”
A mother who abandoned her child to escape.
Now I understood why Do Hwa thought Cheon Hong-ryeon would resent her mother.
“The Supreme Cult Leader wasn’t the type to care about his children, and all the power struggles were happening between his wives. When I possessed Cheon Hong-ryeon, she was the weakest of the weak, with zero influence and only a single nanny to her name.”
A situation where she was suddenly possessed.
The body of a child, a daughter of the Heavenly Demon, with no mother to protect her.
I could indirectly feel just how much Ahyu must have suffered.
“And you rose to become the Heavenly Demon from that situation?”
“I had to survive, first and foremost. Even though I had no power base, I was still a thorn in the side of the other wives. Assassination attempts kept coming, so I had to get stronger one way or another. I think the real Cheon Hong-ryeon, before I possessed her, was probably killed by poison. I was sick for about a month after I took over her body.”
She clenched and unclenched her fist.
“So I killed a lot of people. You could say I killed practically all of the Heavenly Demon’s direct descendants. It’s not like I feel guilty about it, though. If I hadn’t killed them, they would have killed me.”
I reached out and covered her clenched fist with my hand.
I couldn’t just listen to her story without doing something, so my hand moved on its own.
I had only ever heard fragmented pieces of Ahyu’s story.
She never seemed to want to talk about herself, so I never pried.
But perhaps because of Do Hwa’s appearance, Ahyu was finally telling me the story of the life she had shouldered for so long.
Whether by choice or by force, I knew well how difficult that was.
Seeing my hand covering hers, Ahyu smiled faintly, then turned her hand to interlace her fingers with mine.
I squeezed her hand tighter.
If it could offer even a little comfort, I was willing to do anything.
“So anyway, that’s how I lived. I inherited the title of Heavenly Demon and cleaned up the Demonic Cult, which had become rotten, unlike when it was first founded. After that, the Murim Alliance formed and started targeting the cult.”
“The Murim Alliance is like the Murim version of the UN, right?”
“Pfft, that’s a funny analogy. You’re right. It’s an alliance of the orthodox sects. Those guys were in the middle of a civil war at the time. The martial families and the Nine Great Sects and One Clan were fighting amongst themselves, but when we pacified the Tian Shan mountain range in Xinjiang and my name spread across the land, they decided we were a threat and formed an alliance. That’s how the Murim Alliance came to be.”
Ahyu scoffed in derision at the Murim Alliance.
“Until then, we hadn’t encroached on their territory since the time of the Supreme Cult Leader. But those bastards decided to end their own civil war by changing their target to us. They deliberately created a common enemy.”
“So they could unite against the Demonic Cult, at least for a while. That’s what you mean.”
“Yeah. Since the Murim Alliance struck first, we couldn’t just stand by. A full-scale war broke out between the Demonic Cult and the Murim Alliance, and well, I’m pretty amazing, aren’t I? I wiped them all out. Of course, in the process, the blood of Murim and the Demonic Cult covered the world, and the land itself died.”
Ahyu spoke of it easily, as if it were no difficult task.
But no matter how strong she was, war is never easy.
Her body may have been perfect, but her mind must have had its limits.
“Then, when the Murim Alliance was on the verge of its own destruction, they sent that guy as an envoy.”
“Do Hwa.”
“Yep. I don’t know how they found him, but they sent the kid who was hiding in the mountains training with his mother as an envoy to me. Come to think of it, his hair was black back then.”
Hearing that, something clicked in my mind.
“…Don’t tell me. The Murim Alliance sent Do Hwa so you would find out his mother was alive. They were trying to keep you from acting rashly because they were holding your mother, weren’t they?”
“My Domi-oppa is so smart, aren’t you?”
“They’re sons of bitches.”