Chapter 144: Murim to Do Hwa
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 144: Murim to Do Hwa
“I haven’t spent that much time with my sister.”
Do Hwa bit his lip gently, as if he’d never said this to anyone before.
“But during that entire time, the only expression my sister ever showed was a blank one. To be precise, it was the face of someone so exhausted they had stopped thinking about anything at all.”
Ahyu had told me herself.
That back then, she was so worn out she had no idea how to move forward.
And Do Hwa must have seen that Ahyu with his own eyes.
“And yet, that same sister was smiling so brightly.”
As if recalling Ahyu’s smile, Do Hwa followed with a bittersweet smile of his own.
“Seeing her smile so radiantly, I couldn’t bring myself to ask her to return to Murim anymore.”
His only remaining blood relative.
Even though Ahyu had cut down their mother with her own hands, Do Hwa didn’t hate her.
That fact clearly revealed the depths of his character.
“I believe this is where my sister belongs.”
Through his words, I finally understood why Do Hwa hadn’t said anything else to Ahyu after asking her to return to Murim on that first day.
Stabilizing Murim would take a long time.
Besides, peace forged by strength is fragile. If that strength were to disappear, chaos would surely erupt again.
Once she returned to Murim, she would never be able to come back to Earth, bound by her duty to protect it.
Do Hwa knew this, which is why he hadn’t spoken in detail about the Blood Sect and the Great Slaughter Emperor.
He must have been afraid that if Ahyu found out, she would feel compelled to return to Murim.
That must be why he deliberately vanished when the Demonic Cult appeared—to prevent them from contacting Ahyu and revealing the situation.
Understanding everything, I let out a sigh of relief and leaned back in my chair.
It was enough that he wasn't hostile toward Ahyu.
“Do Hwa, you don’t hate Cheon Hong-ryeon, do you?”
Hearing my question, the answer was already in Do Hwa’s eyes.
“How could I possibly resent my only sister, who lived a life far more terrible than my own?”
Cheon Hong-ryeon, born as a result of the Supreme Cult Leader’s abduction.
The Sword Empress must have felt terribly guilty for abandoning her child. Even though she was born through such a horrific ordeal, the child herself was innocent, guilty of nothing more than being born.
She passed on the lifelong apology and kindness she held for Cheon Hong-ryeon to her other child, Do Hwa, who was born later.
And today, the Sword Empress’s heart lived on in Do Hwa, allowing him not to resent Cheon Hong-ryeon.
Ahyu, your family is here.
To Ahyu, who had to kill all of her family connected by blood in Murim, and then lose the family connected by spirit on Earth.
Here, in this place, was the one person who thought of her as family.
“Do Hwa.”
And so, I looked at Do Hwa and began to speak.
“Let me ask you just one thing.”
“Yes.”
As Do Hwa looked at me, I said what had been on my mind.
“This Murim… does it really have any meaning for you to save?”
Hearing my words, Do Hwa stared at me blankly.
His reaction was as if he’d never even considered my question.
“What is Murim to you? From your story, I couldn’t feel anything but a sense of duty.”
“That’s… well…”
Hearing my question, Do Hwa’s lips trembled.
To be frank, Do Hwa’s life in Murim was a complete mess.
His only mother was used as a hostage by the Murim Alliance, and Do Hwa was forcibly sent to the Demonic Cult as an envoy to prove it.
Naturally, the treatment Do Hwa received as an envoy from the Murim Alliance would not have been kind.
He must have lived each day in nerve-wracking torment.
In the midst of that, his mother was killed by his own blood-related sister, and then that sister vanished.
Murim was hurtling toward destruction with each passing day, becoming a land of death where, as Do Hwa said, not even a single flower could bloom.
So why did Do Hwa want to save that place?
“I want to tell Ahyu not to go back to Murim.”
She was never happy there, not for a single moment.
If she had been happy, she never would have returned to Earth.
Why would I be crazy enough to send someone I care about back to a place that only brought her pain?
“And I want to say the same thing to you.”
In my eyes, Do Hwa was no different.
He didn’t seem to find any intrinsic meaning in Murim itself; he only felt a sense of duty to protect it because it was his world.
Just a vague thought that he had to protect it because it was his world.
And sometimes, thoughts like that can eat away at you.
Because people have a hard time breaking free from the world they live in.
“If you consider Cheon Hong-ryeon your family, then your family is here.”
“……”
Do Hwa’s lips slowly pressed together.
A tremor ran across his face.
“Do Hwa, do you really want to save Murim?”
And with that, I threw him my final question.
If he wanted to save Murim, I would gladly help him, even if it was for Ahyu’s sake.
But if he changed his mind, I would also help him with all my strength.
Because Do Hwa is Ahyu’s little brother.
I always protect the people I consider my own.
“I…”
Do Hwa tried to force the words out.
But as if the sound wouldn’t come, his lips only trembled.
It was a clear sign of how difficult it was for him to say what he was about to.
“Do Hwa-ssi.”
Just then, Naek, who had been watching from the side, spoke up.
She looked at Do Hwa and offered a faint smile.
“I know I can be nosy, but I’ve tried my hand at saving a world or two.”
Naek said, lightly touching the hair at her temple.
“But even after you save it, it’s not all that satisfying. This knot in your heart doesn’t just disappear.”
I remembered how Naek had felt lonely after her return.
She, too, had been struggling with a sense of emptiness after coming back.
Because after saving the world she spoke of and returning to reality, she had been left with nothing.
“They’re the ones who broke it, so why should you suffer to save it, Do Hwa-ssi?”
Naek said with a playful smile.
Her bright smile had a way of putting people at ease.
“You don’t have to fix something that’s broken.”
As if she’d already experienced it herself, Naek’s closed left eye twitched.
“Saving the world doesn’t mean everything is over.”
Hearing Naek’s words, I said to Do Hwa.
“Even after the world is saved, people still have to live on. They’ll face problems that are the same, yet different.”
When I finished speaking, Do Hwa lowered his head.
“…I don’t want to go back.”
And tears began to fall from Do Hwa’s eyes.
His body trembled pitifully.
“I don’t… want to go back… to Murim.”
Just because it was his world.
Because it was where he was born and raised.
Because even though it was a place stained with nothing but pain, it was still where he came from.
Do Hwa, who had been driven by that sense of duty alone, finally spoke his true feelings for the first time.
“Yeah.”
And that was all the answer I needed.
*
To give Do Hwa some space to compose himself, I left him alone and stepped outside the cafe with Naek.
Naek glanced inside the cafe, then shot a look at me.
“Domi, that was unexpected. I honestly thought you’d tell Do Hwa to go save Murim.”
Hearing that, I glanced at Naek.
I wondered if Naek, like Do Hwa, had saved the game-like world she’d been to out of some sense of duty.
Her closed left eye might be a result of that.
“Naek, the world is full of people who only force things on you.”
That pressure can sometimes show you the way forward, but it can also crush a person until they break.
And sometimes, it’s the pressure created by your environment that weighs you down.
People who live under that kind of pressure often go through life with tired eyes.
Because my situation is like this. Because I have to succeed. Because I have to endure.
That pressure born in your own heart keeps screaming at you.
It’s like a shackle.
I knew that better than anyone, because I’d struggled while bound by those same shackles for a long time.
“So it’s okay if at least one person doesn’t force it on him, right?”
That’s why I gave Do Hwa another option—that he didn’t have to save his world.
“And we can make that option a reality for him.”
It’s a bit embarrassing to say, but the chairperson of the World Returnee Association is my girlfriend.
She can easily arrange a place for Do Hwa to live.
Of course, since I’ll be asking a favor, I’ll have to help out with all my strength, too.
Though I suspect that will mostly involve putting up with Seol-hyang’s whining.
“So, that settles it.”
When I said that and turned to Naek, she looked at me for a moment before letting out a soft laugh.
“Haa, I wish I’d met you in that world, Domi.”
“What the hell happened to you there?”
“This and that. Some good things, some annoying things… you know how it is.”
Naek shrugged, then looked ahead and turned around.
“Well, have a good talk. I’m going to chat a bit more with Do Hwa-ssi.”
“Working on your love life?”
“You should worry about your own.”
With that, Naek stuck her tongue out and went back inside the cafe. I lifted my head.
And there was Ahyu, back to her Shin So-ra appearance instead of Cheon Hong-ryeon, walking toward me.
“Domi-oppa.”
Ahyu smiled as she approached me.
But I knew her smile wasn’t a genuinely happy one, so I walked over and pulled her into my arms.
Ahyu flinched for a moment in my embrace, then let out a deep sigh.
“I can’t hide anything from you, Domi-oppa.”
“Your face said, ‘I heard everything.’”
“Where’s Do Hwa?”
“He’s inside the cafe.”
When I said that, Ahyu fidgeted a little and hugged me back.
Her expression softened, as if she found the sound of my heartbeat comforting.
“You heard the story from that guy, Jang Ho-yeong, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, Eunhyeon showed up partway through. She’s a pro at getting information. I heard all about why Do Hwa came.”
The information from Jang Ho-yeong, the leader of the Cheonsal Unit, would have only been about their plan to turn her into the True Heavenly Demon.
Judging by her expression, it seemed Ahyu still didn’t know about the Great Slaughter Emperor.
“It’s okay. It was only natural for Do Hwa to resent me.”
Ahyu smiled weakly, as if she had already accepted it long ago.
Knowing she carried such guilt toward Do Hwa, I held her tighter.
“Ahyu, listen carefully. I’m going to tell you what Do Hwa told me.”
I held Ahyu in my arms and slowly recounted the story Do Hwa had shared with me.
How Do Hwa felt about her.
And what decision he had made.
I told her everything.
Ahyu, who had been listening to my story in silence, slowly let out a hollow laugh.
She looked bewildered, as if she had steeled herself for resentment, only to find there was none at all.
“…Is that kid an idiot?”