Chapter 143: Do Hwa’s Story
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 143: Do Hwa’s Story
6
After getting the call from Naek, Ahyu and I headed toward her location at top speed.
Or rather, Ahyu had already gone on ahead.
My level of aura control was far too slow to keep up with her, so I had told her to go first.
“I feel like I’ve been training for a while, but I still can’t even keep up.”
“Isn’t that obvious?” Baeksan, who was floating along beside me as I ran at full tilt, said with a yawn. “It would be impossible for you to catch up to the Heavenly Demon, even if you had hundreds of years.”
“Even with the aura you opened up for me, Baeksan?”
“My aura is centered on destruction, not physical enhancement like the Heavenly Demon’s. We were born with different talents.”
As he explained, Baeksan continued to stare at the Tower of Revelation with a displeased look.
“Baeksan, what’s wrong? You seem to be staring at the Tower of Revelation a lot lately.”
“…No, it’s nothing. I don’t think it’s time yet.”
What was bothering him so much?
He could have just talked to me about it, but Baeksan seemed lost in his own thoughts and didn’t answer.
Why was the usually straightforward regressor acting like this all of a sudden?
“More importantly, Kang Ha-chan, once this is over, there’s something I need you to investigate.”
“Investigate?”
“I’ll tell you after this is done. Go visit the World Returnee Association.”
Was he telling me to meet Seol-hyang?
I told him I would and picked up my pace again.
When I finally arrived, I was met with the sight of several people on their knees, their limbs bound by blood-red handcuffs.
I turned my head and saw Naek proudly flashing me a V-sign.
It seemed this was all her handiwork.
Meanwhile, Cheon Hong-ryeon stood before a man wearing a veil.
The martial artist, Jang Ho-yeong, had his head pressed to the ground, crushed by the red demonic energy flowing from Cheon Hong-ryeon.
The pressure must have been agonizing, as his body trembled violently, unable to even let out a pained groan.
“You’re holding out for quite a while. Do you truly intend to say nothing?”
“Kgh, just… kill me.”
He was spouting lines like some kind of knight from a story.
Watching him, I turned my gaze to Do Hwa.
I decided to leave that side of things to Cheon Hong-ryeon and try talking to Do Hwa myself.
“Do Hwa, could I hear what’s going on?”
Cheon Hong-ryeon could have just asked Do Hwa herself, but she was interrogating Jang Ho-yeong instead, likely because she felt too guilty to ask her brother directly.
She must have felt that Do Hwa coming all the way here was her fault.
So, I decided I would be the one to ask.
Do Hwa looked at me, his lips moving hesitantly.
It seemed he, too, was reluctant to speak freely right now.
Probably because Cheon Hong-ryeon was nearby.
They were truly a pair of half-siblings who had trouble getting close.
I was sure they hadn’t exchanged a single word even when they were living in the same house.
“Let’s move somewhere else to talk.”
“…Yes.”
When I glanced at Cheon Hong-ryeon, she gave me a slight nod, as if to say, please.
“Domi, wait a second.”
As I was about to leave with Do Hwa, Naek quietly approached me and whispered so Do Hwa couldn’t hear.
“Do Hwa… just like you said, Domi, it looks like he’s searching for Juksim.”
So my guess was right.
I thanked her and moved away with Do Hwa.
For some reason, Naek looked at Do Hwa with a wistful expression before smiling at me.
“Hope you have a good talk.”
“Naek, you want to come with us?”
At my question, Naek’s shoulders flinched.
“Huh? M-Me too?”
The girl who would normally have chirped, “I’ll go! I’ll go!” reacted with surprise.
I blinked at her reaction, then stroked my chin with a knowing look.
Naek was more dressed up today than usual.
It was surely because I had told her about Do Hwa.
She’s always been the type who wants to date, after all.
The way she’d been inviting me out for drinks so often lately, complaining about being lonely, was proof enough.
Perhaps Do Hwa was more her type than I had realized.
Even now, the way she fidgeted while looking at him was exactly like a girl who had fallen in love at first sight.
Then it suddenly occurred to me why Naek had been feeling so lonely.
Ah, Naek only returned to Earth a short while ago.
I’d never heard the full story of Naek’s return, but from the things she mentioned from time to time, it didn’t sound like she’d had a difficult journey back like the others.
It was more like… she had truly finished a game and returned with a sense of relief.
How does a person feel when they finish a game or a novel, reaching the final chapter?
They often call it withdrawal.
Naek had played such a game in reality, finished it with her own hands, and returned.
Because of those memories, she was still suffering from the aftereffects, which made her feel even more lonely.
I didn’t consider that.
I’d been wondering why she seemed particularly lonely lately.
She was suffering from the loneliness of having returned.
That must be why she was trying to meet up with people around her more often, to soothe that loneliness in the real world.
“Yeah, let’s go together. You got caught up in this too, Naek. Wouldn’t it be better for you to know the situation?”
“I-Is that so?”
At my words, Naek glanced toward Do Hwa.
Their eyes met, and Do Hwa bowed his head to her.
“Yes, I am already indebted to Lady Naek. Besides, I was the one who sought her help in the first place. If you do not mind, I would be grateful if you would listen to my story.”
“Well, if you say so, Do Hwa. Yeah, sure, I’ll listen.”
Naek cleared her throat as she spoke.
She must have been curious about his story deep down.
And so, I took Do Hwa and Naek and we moved to a different location.
We ended up at a cafe not far from where we were.
Perhaps because of Do Hwa’s looks, the eyes of every woman in the place shot toward us for a moment, but I was used to this from hanging out with Seo-ho, so I paid it no mind and found a seat in a corner.
Then I noticed a bloodstain on Do Hwa’s cardigan and asked, “You’re injured. Should we have gone to a hospital first?”
“Ah, it’s alright. Lady Naek has already treated me.”
Do Hwa said, showing me the healed wound.
“I am truly grateful to you, Lady Naek.”
“Ahem, no, I couldn’t just leave an injured person be, right? That’s all it was. So, don’t worry about it.”
Unlike the bright and cheerful way she acted with us, Naek’s tone was somewhat cool and distant.
So she’s the type who can’t be honest with people she has feelings for.
I couldn’t help but find it a little amusing.
I wondered if this was how Baeksan felt watching my love life unfold.
Seeing Naek slightly avoiding Do Hwa’s gaze while fiddling with her hands, I let out a small chuckle and turned back to Do Hwa.
“So, Do Hwa.”
“You can just call me Do Hwa. There is no need for my sister’s husband to speak so formally to me.”
If he says so.
“Alright, Do Hwa. Can you tell me what’s going on now? I overheard some of your conversation with that Jang Ho-yeong fellow on the phone, but I’d like to hear the full story.”
Hearing my words, Do Hwa finally nodded.
“…Yes. Remaining silent will not solve anything.”
With that, Do Hwa finally began to explain why he had come all the way to Earth.
“I received a proposal from the Demonic Cult, and I came here after accepting their deal.”
A deal with the Demonic Cult.
So Do Hwa had known people from the cult from the very beginning.
“The deal was to persuade my sister to return to the Murim. Or, if persuasion failed…”
Do Hwa placed a single, red incense stick on the table in front of us.
“To use this Crimson Incense to put my sister to sleep and take her back.”
“That thing can make Cheon Hong-ryeon fall asleep?”
“This is the Crimson Incense, said to be able to put even a spirit beast larger than a mountain to sleep. Given that it’s my sister, it might not be for a long time, but it would certainly take her a while to wake up.”
Do Hwa gave a bitter smile, as if that brief moment would be more than enough.
“The Demonic Cult plans to use my sister to bring about the second coming of the True Heavenly Demon.”
“Second coming? But Cheon Hong-ryeon is the Heavenly Demon.”
“Yes, my sister is indeed the Heavenly Demon. However, within the Demonic Cult, there is a fiend known as the True Heavenly Demon.”
The True Heavenly Demon of the Demonic Cult.
It was an ancient being that had been passed down in the cult for ages.
The monster, which slept in the Demonic Cult’s shrine, had existed since the cult’s founding. Whenever the cult was in peril, it would descend into the body of the current Heavenly Demon to protect it.
“My sister eliminated everyone related to the Heavenly Demon’s bloodline.”
“So the bloodline was severed, and there was no one left to serve as a vessel for the True Heavenly Demon’s return.”
“Yes, that is correct. From the Demonic Cult’s perspective, my sister is a traitor who abandoned them. So their plan was to at least use her to bring back the True Heavenly Demon and protect the cult.”
“And you accepted that deal.”
Do Hwa bowed his head to me.
“Domi.”
Naek called my name, and I paused, rubbing my eyes for a moment.
Ahyu was the most precious person in the world to me.
My sudden surge of anger at the thought of her being used for the True Heavenly Demon’s return must have shown on my face.
“Sorry. But Do Hwa, the fact that you clashed with the Demonic Cult members means you opposed the plan, right?”
The emotions Do Hwa had shown toward Ahyu were clearly not fake.
He had even gone so far as to fight the Demonic Cult, saying he’d had a change of heart.
But a deep, profound darkness was cast over Do Hwa’s face.
“…No. It wasn’t that I opposed it. I simply chose to protect Murim.”
“Don’t tell me you planned to protect Murim by turning Cheon Hong-ryeon into the True Heavenly Demon.”
“That is not it, either. I accepted the Demonic Cult’s proposal, but I never intended to turn my sister into the True Heavenly Demon from the start. The cult likely thought that I, abandoned by both the Murim Alliance and my sister, would be an obedient pawn, but I never trusted the Demonic Cult or the Murim Alliance.”
Do Hwa explained why he had come here while only pretending to accept the Demonic Cult’s deal.
“What I intend to stop are the Blood Sect and the Great Slaughter Emperor.”
“The Blood Sect… you mean the one you mentioned before?”
“Yes. The third power that has emerged in Murim. The Demonic Cult seems unaware, but their current Vice-Leader, the Great Slaughter Emperor, has joined hands with the Blood Sect.”
Do Hwa spat out the words as if groaning.
I didn’t know how he had learned this information, but the arduousness of the process was clearly written on his face.
“The Great Slaughter Emperor plans to resurrect the True Heavenly Demon in my sister, then use a reanimated corpse technique he created with the Blood Sect, called Cheonramang, to turn the True Heavenly Demon into a puppet and swallow Murim whole.”
“Is the True Heavenly Demon that strong?”
“Yes. It is a monster that would be resurrected using my sister as a host, after all. There is no one in all of Murim who could stop it.”
I imagined Cheon Hong-ryeon becoming the True Heavenly Demon and going on a rampage.
Who could possibly stop that?
Just as Do Hwa said, if they could turn Cheon Hong-ryeon into the True Heavenly Demon, conquering Murim wouldn’t be a difficult task.
“Then what was your goal, Do Hwa?”
“It is the same as what I told you at first. For my sister to eliminate the Great Slaughter Emperor and the Blood Sect, and then for the factions to stabilize with her at the center, regardless of whether it’s the Demonic Cult or the Murim Alliance.”
“But it didn’t seem like Cheon Hong-ryeon knew anything about this Blood Sect or the Great Slaughter Emperor you mentioned.”
Do Hwa hadn’t told Ahyu this story.
When I questioned this fact, Do Hwa clenched his fists tightly on his lap.
“…Because I didn’t want my sister to return to Murim.”
Hearing his next words, the anger in my eyes finally subsided.