Chapter 124: Tears of Joy
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 124: Tears of Joy
As I stared blankly at Ahyu, she could no longer bear the embarrassment and buried her face in my chest.
I let out a small grunt from the impact, but I could feel her heart pounding powerfully against me.
It was beating so hard I worried it might just burst.
The problem was, my own heart was racing just as furiously.
“…Domi-oppa, do you like me?”
She asked cautiously, not even lifting her head.
I looked down at Ahyu and gently cradled her head in my hands.
Who wouldn’t like someone so lovely?
I thought back to the Ahyu I had known all these years.
The mischievous girl who was always by my side in the game had made those five years the happiest of my life.
She was the one who helped me the most in overcoming the trauma that had led me to distrust everyone.
Whenever something happened to me, she was always the first to ask, the first to come running.
She was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
Being with her felt comfortable.
Talking with her was fun.
The time we spent together was pure happiness.
Based on that alone, my answer had been decided a long, long time ago.
As proof, the pounding of my heart as I faced her was making its own clear argument.
This tingling sensation, spreading from the tips of my toes to my fingers, was something I only felt with her.
“I do.”
And so, I finally said the words that had been so difficult to utter until now.
I didn’t think a single phrase like that could possibly express all of my feelings.
But because I had hesitated and agonized for so long, I was able to voice the words that came closest to my heart.
And in that moment, tears began to well up in her eyes, drop by drop.
“Hic, hngg, heeng.”
Startled, I quickly reached out to catch her tears, but Ahyu began to sob outright.
Even as she cried, a smile spread across her face. She looked so happy that I couldn’t help but smile with her.
After crying for a good while, hiccuping all the way, Ahyu buried her face in my chest again and hugged me tightly.
As I patted her head, she seemed so overjoyed that she looked ready to start jumping up and down while still holding onto me.
Damn, she really is too cute.
“Have you ever said that to anyone else before?”
She asked, as if for confirmation, and I had to give a wry smile.
“No. You’re the first.”
“Ehee, heeheehee.”
Isn’t she laughing a little too foolishly?
I was starting to get a little worried.
“Then I’m the first wife!”
Her sudden exclamation made my body freeze.
First wife.
The first?
As I stared down at her, dumbfounded, Ahyu seemed oblivious to the meaning of my gaze and just started humming happily.
“Ahyu, wait. What do you mean, ‘first wife’?”
Unable to just let it go, I asked her. Only then did she finally lift her head.
“The first is the first. Why?”
“No, but saying ‘first’ implies there’s a second and a third.”
That’s how numbers work.
When I asked in bewilderment, Ahyu looked at me for a moment before breaking into a bashful smile.
“The little kid, Iron-Blood, and I talked about it. We agreed not to make a problem out of becoming Domi-oppa’s wife.”
Wait, what in the world did they talk about while I was gone?
As I stood there with a look of pure culture shock, Ahyu, failing to read my expression, just nuzzled her face into my chest.
“So, since I’m the first one to hear you say you like me, I’m the first. I’m your number one, Oppa. Got it?”
“…”
Is that really all it takes for her?
More importantly, not just Ahyu, but Si-ho and Seol-hyang all agreed to this?
What was the point of all my worrying then?
As I stared blankly ahead, Baeksan suddenly emerged from the wall.
He glanced at Ahyu and me, shook his head, and then disappeared.
Only then did I understand what Baeksan had meant back at Seol-hyang’s house when he said they would figure it out amongst themselves.
So this is what he meant.
“Ha, haha.”
…I’d better work hard and make a lot of money.
*
After that, Ahyu and I left the break room.
I’d somehow ended up hearing her confession, but we still needed to check on Do Hwa in his hospital room.
Walking beside me, Ahyu was still humming, clearly in high spirits.
Watching her, a thought suddenly occurred to me.
“Hey, now that I think about it, why did you pretend to be a guy in the first place?”
When we first met in real life, Ahyu had said she hid her gender because of all the guys who hit on her.
But hearing her now, it seemed like she wouldn’t have cared about that sort of thing back then.
That’s why I was questioning it.
“Domi-oppa, don’t you remember? You were incredibly scared of women back then.”
“Ah.”
I had met Ahyu not long after what happened with Kwak Sa-yeon.
At the time, I was extremely wary of women. In fact, Juksim was the one who recruited all the female guild members.
“So I just said I was a guy. Back then, I didn’t really care whether I was treated like a girl or not.”
“So that’s what it was.”
I finally understood why Ahyu had hidden the fact that she was a girl for so long.
Once she started the lie, it must have been awkward to reveal the truth later on.
“But now, I really like being treated like a girl. Because I’m your girl, Domi-oppa.”
Her beaming smile was so cute that I had to instinctively look away.
Today’s Ahyu was just too powerful.
“What are you going to tell Do Hwa?”
At my question, Ahyu seemed to ponder for a moment, leaning her head on my shoulder.
“I wonder if he’d understand if I just told him the truth.”
“The concept of returnees didn’t exist in your world, right?”
“Right. Returnees are a problem that exists because of the Tower of Revelation. There’s no concept of coming back or leaving over there.”
Seeing Ahyu struggle with what to do, I placed a hand on top of her head.
“Then let’s start by having Do Hwa explain why he came here.”
That was the most important thing right now.
Ahyu nodded in agreement at my words, then reluctantly removed her arm from around me.
She stamped her foot once, and in an instant, she had transformed back into Cheon Hong-ryeon.
“Then let us talk.”
The dignity of the Heavenly Demon flowed from Cheon Hong-ryeon’s confident smile.
When we returned to the hospital room together, Do Hwa, who had been leaning against the bed, turned his gaze toward us.
“Have you finished your talk?”
When Do Hwa asked, Cheon Hong-ryeon gave a slight nod.
“Yes. This is my husband.”
Wait, is that what you’re leading with?
As I stood there with a stunned expression, Do Hwa looked between me and Cheon Hong-ryeon and then chuckled.
“That is wonderful. My sister always seemed like a lonely person.”
With those words, Do Hwa pushed aside the blanket and rose from the bed with a graceful posture.
Then, he knelt on the bed with his knees together.
“Now, may I tell you why I have come to this other world where you now reside, Sister?”
His expression was that of someone about to speak of a matter of great importance. I glanced at Cheon Hong-ryeon.
She nodded, as if telling me to stay, and stood before Do Hwa.
“Speak.”
“Sister, after you, the Heavenly Demon, departed, the Demonic Cult lost its greatest pillar.”
That was to be expected.
From the Demonic Cult’s perspective, their leader had suddenly vanished. They must have been thrown into utter confusion.
“I imagine so.”
Cheon Hong-ryeon had known this would happen when she returned, so she reacted as if it were only natural.
“And so, a civil war broke out within the Demonic Cult over the now-vacant seat of the Heavenly Demon.”
“I knew it. They were nothing but curs held in check by my power.”
“Yes, just as you say. Once you were gone, the Demonic Cult showed its true colors. Unlike when you were present, the cult revealed what true wickedness was.”
Do Hwa lowered his head, his expression grim.
“However, without you, the Demonic Cult’s power was greatly diminished. During their civil war, the Murim Alliance gathered its strength and quickly recovered from the wounds you had inflicted upon them.”
“Like cockroaches.”
“For the record, I am a member of the Murim Alliance.”
“In my eyes, the Demonic Cult and the Murim Alliance are one and the same.”
I nudged Cheon Hong-ryeon’s side with my elbow.
She glanced at me for a moment, then let out a short, bitter sigh.
“Continue.”
“Yes. As I said, after recovering its strength, the Murim Alliance began an all-out war against the Demonic Cult once more. The cult, weakened by your absence and the civil war, was not as powerful as it was in its prime.”
“They could no longer overwhelm the Murim Alliance.”
“Exactly. And the same was true for the Murim Alliance. They had been all but annihilated when you were in power, so there was a limit to their recovery. Thus, the Demonic Cult and the Murim Alliance became evenly matched, and the war has dragged on with no end in sight.”
The war dragged on for too long.
I knew all too well what that meant.
“As the war continued, the mountains and fields were laid to waste, and the blood of the dead flowed in rivers. People who could no longer endure became bandits and began to pillage, and a shadowy force calling itself the Blood Sect has emerged.”
“What is it you wish to say?”
Cheon Hong-ryeon cut him off, as if she had heard enough of the situation. Do Hwa slowly began to bow his head.
“I came here to ask you to return to the Demonic Cult.”
His next words made Cheon Hong-ryeon’s brow furrow.
“…Did you not say you were a man of the Murim Alliance? How can you ask me, your greatest enemy, to return to the Demonic Cult?”
“The Central Plains are now deeply sick, a place where there is not even a bamboo grove to rest one’s back against. The world of righteousness and evil no longer exists in the current Murim. In such a land, what meaning does the Murim Alliance or the Demonic Cult have? In the end, we are all the same people.”
Do Hwa bit his lip.
“It matters not which side wins. I do not care if the Murim Alliance calls me a traitor and curses my name. But if this continues, the Central Plains will be beyond saving. This war will never end unless one side achieves a decisive victory.”
There is no good or evil in war.
There is only hell.
Do Hwa’s dimension was now trapped in a cycle of meaningless war where justifications no longer existed.
“Plum blossoms originally grow in fertile soil to bloom. The Hwasan sect was a plum blossom that bloomed in barren land. However, the Murim has now become a land more desolate than Hwasan ever was. My plum blossom cannot even form a bud in the current Murim.”
Do Hwa pressed his forehead to the floor.
“I believe that only you, Heavenly Demon, can make the camellia bloom in a Murim where not a single flower can blossom anymore.”
“…”
Cheon Hong-ryeon met Do Hwa’s plea with silence.
Then, she turned to look at me.
To Cheon Hong-ryeon, this was all meaningless now.
Murim was worthless to her.
And yet, she would hesitate.
Her hesitation wasn’t for Murim.
It was for Do Hwa, the man speaking before her now.
Do Hwa was her one and only sore spot connecting her to that other dimension.
Though he was only her half-brother, to him, Cheon Hong-ryeon was both his sister and the one who killed his mother.
And now, he was bowing his head and begging her.
Please, save Murim.
Hearing those words, even Cheon Hong-ryeon couldn’t simply dismiss them.
I reached out and took her hand.
If she didn’t want to go, she didn’t have to.
But if she decided to go…
I would follow her and help her, no matter what.
Though I didn’t say it out loud, Cheon Hong-ryeon seemed to understand my intent.
“…Give me time to think.”
“…Yes.”
Do Hwa replied as if that was enough.
Then, he lifted his head, and his eyes met mine.
For some reason, his gaze, which had been so resolute just a moment ago, wavered as it met mine.
He averted his eyes and bowed his head. I simply bowed my head in return and followed Cheon Hong-ryeon as she walked out.