Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Heavenly Demon Divine Cult Double Agent
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The water bandit spilled the location of their lair. He hurriedly waved his hand, insisting he'd guide us there himself.
I dragged him back onto the boat. Ignoring his retching at the gruesome sight, I asked Ju Ryeong-ryeong,
"Young miss."
---Crack.
The sound of a wrist snapping rang out. Beneath her writhed a lump of flesh, gasping and thrashing.
Qi gathered in her nails peeled back his skin like ripping cloth. His mouth gaped open-his tongue seemingly already severed-emitting nothing but strange noises.
But I felt no pity for him.
He was still a cheap bastard, after all.
"There's a bandit lair nearby. The remaining bandits are gathered there. Shall we go?"
"...Yes. What about So-hye?"
"She's here."
"Keep holding her. My arms are filthy."
The bandits on the boat had all been bisected. Limbs torn away, only twisted faces remained attached to torsos long since lifeless.
But Ansa Sugwi was different. She gripped the nape of his neck, uncertain if he was alive or dead.
"It can't end this soon, Ansa Sugwi."
"Guhk... guhk...!"
"Let's go. To your home."
We boarded the ferry. The boat, now filled only with corpses, gradually receded into the distance.
I pulled bandages from my bosom and stood before her, where she was flaying Ansa Sugwi like threading a needle with her fingers.
"Young miss Ju. Just a moment."
"......."
I had no intention of interrupting. But her wounds were more severe than I'd thought.
Her legs dripped blood like they'd been mauled by a rabid beast. I first cleaned them with the water I had, then applied the medicine I'd brought.
Ju Ryeong-ryeong gazed down at me silently. Then she asked abruptly,
"Why'd you come to me?"
"I wanted to."
"You need to head to Akmin."
"I have no plans to delay. I'll just move faster to make up for lost time. But no matter how hard you run, you can't catch the past-so I figured this came first."
"We don't have that kind of bond."
"We shared what we had, talked until bedtime, and trained our bodies together."
I tied the bandage tight.
"What's friendship if not that? If our hearts connect, you're a friend to me."
"......."
Her hand, which had been carving into Ansa Sugwi, stopped.
"Hand So-hye over...?"
I did. Despite having no limbs left and lacking even the strength to move, the moment he was passed to Ju Ryeong-ryeong, a spark returned to his eyes.
Like the final flicker of dying embers. She noticed it too and forced a smile.
"Yeah. Big sis. So-hye. Do you recognize your big sis?"
"......."
"Big sis... Big sis came too late, huh? I'm sorry. I should've... known sooner... My little sister... so..."
"......."
"It hurt... so much... because I... taught you martial arts..."
So-hye turned her head. It was a faint motion, but unmistakably a shake of denial.
"Uh... eee..."
A garbled voice struggled to form words.
"Ah... yeah..."
"Yeah. I'm listening, So-hye."
"Uh-ee-ya... waoo... eo-ra... eut..."
Gasps. The barely risen flame flickered on the verge of extinction.
Her face twisted. She struggled to lift the corners of her mouth, squint her eyes...
And smiled.
For Ju Ryeong-ryeong.
"Big sis... not... your... fault..."
Words that should have been mangled.
Words that shouldn't have been audible without a tongue.
Yet they reached past Ju Ryeong-ryeong, even to me.
An impossible phenomenon.
Ju Ryeong-ryeong's hand trembled. She clamped her mouth shut once. Saliva she couldn't swallow dripped onto the boat's floor.
Unspoken words fell with it. Even the huddled remnants scattered.
"I... I..."
"Big sis."
"I... I'm... sorry... I... really... I..."
"Big sis."
I saw something wavering behind So-hye.
White Night wailed mournfully. Our eyes met as she turned slightly.
She smiled.
"Made a friend. Good."
"......"
"The dried fruit method. Big sis taught you?"
A soul's motion overlaid her lips.
A blazing spirit even I could see.
Only then did I realize. It wasn't the twitching of the living moving her.
The soul of the dead was borrowing the corpse to speak.
Ghostly wails filling the wilds.
The eerie phenomenon I'd seen in his workshop.
That must be why the ghost sword wailed too.
So-hye...
Was already dead.
She was merely recounting her final moments by moonlight.
"I heard."
"Think of big sis as a friend?"
"Of course."
"...Then just a bit... a tiny bit, take care of her. Until big sis stops shaking."
"Leave it to me."
So-hye turned her head. Her lips moved, but the sound faded as if time were running out.
Wind blew. The boat rocked gently. The soul behind her churned as if about to shatter.
But as if there were unfinished words, she murmured,
"Big sis. Closer. Voice... won't come out... so..."
"Yeah... yeah... I'm right here..."
"Remember? The day we first met. What I gave you. I worked so hard drying that, really."
"......."
"Wanted to give it to big sis... so I dried it extra carefully. Thought next time I could slack off a little. But... I kept doing it that way. Wanted to whenever we got close."
"......"
"It's 'cause big sis treated me so well. Always looking out, piling on extras. Know how grateful Mom was to you? Said it's why I grew this big. So sturdy. If I hadn't eaten the game you caught, I wouldn't have."
"...So-hye..."
"Big sis. I'm sleepy. But not yet. You know, big sis. What you gave me was confidence. Thanks to that, I could always walk tall. Speak up in weird moments."
Her expressions faded one by one.
"Loved that. So much. Wanted to be like that."
"I... I... shouldn't... have..."
"Sure, it hurt. Was tough. Hard to even say no sometimes. But. That's not what I want to tell you. Big sis. After I became an escort, I never visited you once. So... I've got stories piled up. They said I was way stronger than other escorts? Aren't you curious?"
"......."
"Saved a few people too. Got extra pay for safe deliveries? And..."
Stories poured out.
So-hye's stories.
Ju Ryeong-ryeong nodded faintly. She listened without interjecting a single word.
As if every syllable was precious, she made no sound. Only occasionally furrowing her brow.
I turned my head. Amid approaching presences, I saw countless boats floating on the river.
The bandit rowing muttered,
"Th-those are... our lair's... people..."
I stood.
Drew my sword.
White Night whimpered without resistance.
"Row."
"B-but..."
"Shut up and row."
I stepped onto the frozen water.
"No time for beastly clamor to mix in."
...
Memories overlap.
Memories overlap within memories.
Ju Ryeong-ryeong chuckled lowly. Her lips curved as she listened to So-hye's tales.
How many stories that tiny body had forged.
The stories had no end. Ju Ryeong-ryeong wanted to hear them all.
But the allotted time did.
"Big sis. Now... really sleepy."
"...Yeah."
She stroked her hair. Combed the brittle strands with her fingers.
"Big sis."
"Yeah."
"You there?"
"Here. So-hye. I'm right here."
"Hungry."
"Got dried fruit. Want some?"
"Eww. Yours taste bad."
"I dry them well now."
"Last time you gave me moldy ones. Said you were too lazy to hang 'em properly."
"Not anymore. Fixed the house too? Cook well now."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Really. Was gonna make some when you came."
"Wanna eat."
"Shall I feed you?"
"Later."
"......"
"Big sis."
"Yeah."
"You there?"
"Here. So-hye. I'll stay right here. Not going anywhere."
"Not going?"
"Yeah. Of course not. Where would I go?"
"...Hehe. Still stay. Go far."
"How could I leave you."
"Go far... see lots and tell me. Y'know, escorts get to go places others can't."
"......"
"You always boasted, but maybe... you'd always be stuck there. So I wanted to tell you. Things I've seen here and there."
"......"
"Escorts go really far. Super far. Stories pile up that way. Was saving 'em to tell you tons when I got back."
"......"
"Big sis."
"...Yeah."
"My stories... good?"
"Good... yeah..."
"Wanna go see too?"
"Of course... yeah..."
"Now you can go anywhere. So... after seeing, come tell me."
"......."
"Fun things. Happy things. New sights... everything."
"......."
"Even if annoying, you have to. I'll be waiting, okay?"
"Yeah. I'll tell you. So-hye. Everything... everything."
"......."
"...So-hye?"
"......."
"So-hye... So-hye..."
"......."
"So... hye..."
Ju Ryeong-ryeong slowly moved her head. She pressed her forehead to the now-still one.
No movement. Even a slight shake yielded none. Pulse absent, heart still-felt through touching foreheads.
She swallowed her sobs. Lest So-hye hear.
Instead, she whispered.
A promise.
"I'll see... everything... everything..."
"......."
"So..."
She parted the small lips slightly.
Placed dried fruit inside.
"Sleep well, So-hye."
She lifted her forehead. Gazed down at her.
Quietly watched the serene face for a time.
Without a word...
Just silently.
...
Before nightfall, we wiped out the bandits. Several women like So-hye were found in the lair.
Ju Ryeong-ryeong asked them what they wanted.
They answered.
In clumsy speech, begging for death.
Death. Likely the only gift we could give them. Ju Ryeong-ryeong moved her hand, and I watched.
The lair was eradicated. Only the last remaining Ansa Sugwi was impaled on a tree, pecked by birds.
Gold and treasures were found.
We loaded it all onto the boat.
"...You can have it."
"I packed it for easy carrying, young miss."
"Don't need it."
"Neither do I. If truly no use, toss it in the river on the way."
"...Really."
Ju Ryeong-ryeong uprooted a tree. Shaped it with qi into a coffin.
She laid So-hye's body inside. Closed the lid and nailed it with nails from the lair.
"What will you do with young miss So-hye's body?"
"We had a place we lived together. Plan to bury her there."
"It's not your fault, young miss Ju."
Ju Ryeong-ryeong leaned her head against me.
"...Call me by name."
"......"
"Don't wanna?"
"Ryeong-ryeong."
"Yeah. Nice."
Ju Ryeong-ryeong looked up at me.
"That's torn. Better just take it off, no?"
I touched my face. The human-skin mask, damaged in the scuffle, hung awkwardly.
No spares. Hard to make anyway. I peeled off the remnants.
"Much better."
"Ryeong-ryeong. How do you make those face veils?"
"A guy walking around in one would look weirder."
"Is that so?"
"Dunno much. Found one in the village. Ahaha."
Ju Ryeong-ryeong loaded the coffin onto the boat. Two boats now, paths diverged.
"Row a bit?"
"Planning to learn starting now."
"...My fault you're delayed."
"If we hurry, it won't be much."
"Why help?"
"Didn't I say?"
"...Wanna hear it once more."
Instead of answering, I stroked Ju Ryeong-ryeong's hair.
For the brave big sister who never once cried aloud lest her sibling hear.
"It's not your fault, Ryeong-ryeong."
"...Hic..."
My bosom grew wet.
"So... hye... So-hye..."
"......."
"So-hye... So-hye... So-hye..."
"......"
"I... I..."
"......."
"Hic... hwaaaang..."
The belated wail raced across the river, carrying far.
How much time to catch it?
I didn't know.
Only...
I hoped this would never befall her again.
Sincerely.