Flash.
The moment I opened my eyes, whoosh! I sat up. Immediately after, I circulated my internal energy and checked my body’s condition.
Wuuuung—Only after the internal energy that had slipped from my dantian whipped around my body in a full circle could I exhale the breath I had been holding.
Haa.
‘Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any problem.’
I didn’t feel any particular issues with my body.
If I had to nitpick, perhaps a slight headache?
But that was a headache I always lived with, so it was fine.
After confirming my condition was smooth, I clicked my tongue inwardly.
Because the situation just before was coming to mind.
‘Tch... So at best, all I did was light up the surroundings.’
The situation just before meant that I had unfolded the secret technique, Crimson Heaven, to push back the Dark King’s domain.
Crimson Heaven was also, in a way, an expansion of a heat domain.
I had thought I might as well try somehow, but in the end, I couldn’t push it back.
The Dark King’s domain had barely trembled as if blocking Crimson Heaven’s power, but that was all.
What a pity.
As that thought crossed my mind, a chuckle escaped me.
‘Pity, my ass.’
It wasn’t something to be pitied at all; I didn’t know what was so pitiful about it.
I merely wondered why I had displayed such unnecessary hubris.
If I had somehow offended the Dark King’s mood, heaven knows what would have happened.
Maybe I had lost my mind for a moment.
‘This damn temper of mine.’
If there was one thing that didn’t change even as my realm rose and I grew older, I thought it must be my temperament.
The moment I was about to get up with a slight smile at the amusing thought.
“What are you smiling about as if you’ve done something well?”
A voice came from ahead.
I raised my head and looked in the direction the voice came from.
The Dark King was standing nearby with arms crossed, and the one who had spoken to me was Paejon, looking at me as if bewildered.
After confirming that, I spoke in a composed voice.
“I did well. I did everything I was told, so what?”
“Ha….”
Paejon furrowed his brow at my answer.
I was somewhat intimidated by that look, but I had to say what needed to be said.
“I reached the Dark King as you said. What is the problem?”
Having heard my words, Paejon finally spoke to me in a hollow voice.
“...I put you there to nurture flexible thinking and coping in life-or-death situations, yet you act even more extreme.”
“Flexible thinking?”
That was rather something I found absurd.
What flexible coping was there in a situation where I had to die every day?
“I meant for you to look around instead of only looking ahead.”
“Wasn’t it a bit strange to teach me in this manner?”
“There was also the part where I didn’t know you would break it in this way.”
Having been tormented by the Dark King for a whole month, how was I supposed to awaken to flexible thinking?
Surely Paejon had hoped I would realize something from this training.
And I had gained something, but when I thought about whether it was truly worthwhile training, it didn’t really feel like it.
“...I told you to stop extreme actions, yet you used an even more extreme method….”
“No matter what, isn’t it fine as long as I succeeded?”
“Yes… In this regard, you are right. It seems I was mistaken.”
For a moment, I wondered if that old man was admitting his fault.
“Ah, you are a much crazier bastard than I thought. This is my mistake for not expecting that.”
“...”
Who was calling whom crazy right now?
It was the most absurd thing I had heard all year.
I had to be called crazy by him? It was really absurd.
Hiding my absurd feelings with effort, I asked Paejon.
“...Then what do we do? Since it wasn’t the desired method, shall I do it again?”
“No, there’s no need. At this point, it seems right for me to give up.”
Give up. The words that Paejon would give up on something regarding martial arts felt novel.
“...Is that alright?”
“Having come this far, you can’t help but know. That there is a method suited to you, other than this one.”
“...Mmm.”
“I won’t bother with this part any further, so do as you wish.”
Saying so, Paejon swallowed his remaining words.
Should I be happy? About the fact that Paejon was giving up.
‘It probably isn’t a bad thing.’
Paejon had likely judged that there was no need to fix it, so he gave up.
Seen that way, it wasn’t a bad thing.
Then did it mean I could just do as I pleased?
Just as I was nodding, thinking that was probably the case, Paejon asked me something else.
“By the way. How did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That the bat bastard’s technique was different from reality.”
“...Ah.”
Paejon’s words meant something else.
The power the Dark King had unfolded.
It appeared to be a domain created by the Dark King’s energy, but the truth was different.
On the nights I fought bitterly with the Dark King, my actual body was asleep.
I couldn’t know the principle, but the sensations I had felt until now were like a dream.
‘Though I wonder if there’s such a vivid dream of pain.’
In my opinion, it was more like a dream.
The reason I came back to life even after dying was also because of that.
If asked how I knew this.
“...Having gone through it for over a month, I had only vaguely come to know.”
After dying at least hundreds of times, it was something I could naturally realize.
From the start, it wasn’t logical for a person to die and come back to life.
‘It is possible to die and return to the past, though.’
Well... let’s put that aside.
Dying and coming back to life dozens or hundreds of times like this was impossible in reality.
On top of that.
‘The lack of fatigue was another clue.’
When dawn broke and training ended, waking up with only mental fatigue rather than physical fatigue could be cited as an example.
Seeing him make me undergo training where I died every night, I thought he was truly crazy, but seeing this, it meant I had been getting rest somehow.
Thinking about it, I couldn’t understand even more.
‘Just what kind of power is this?’
It was strange to call it martial arts, and different from calling it a formation.
The most questionable thing was.
When exactly I had fallen asleep to the Dark King’s power.
I must have done something to fall for it, but I couldn’t remember the process at all.
That meant I had fallen for it that naturally.
‘What could it be?’
No matter how much I thought, I couldn’t know.
What method the Dark King used, and what form that power took.
‘That must be why it’s all the more terrifying.’
Having experienced it once, I seemed to understand better.
The Dark King was in a place that my current realm dared not even look at.
I assessed the Dark King with a peculiar sidelong glance.
If this guy was at this level.
Including Paejon in his prime, where exactly were the Three Venerables seated?
And where was the Heavenly Demon who had killed all Three Venerables?
And where was the Divine Sword who had killed such a Heavenly Demon?
‘...Haha.’
The road ahead is long.
I truly realized it anew.
Just how long and arduous the path I wished to walk was.
I carefully got up.
It was around the time the sun would soon rise, so I thought to prepare for training.
My body was fine.
Unlike the rough treatment I suffered in the world the Dark King created, in reality I had just been sleeping well.
‘...Of course, being mentally tired couldn’t be helped.’
I didn’t know about my mind, but at least my body felt loose.
On top of that.
‘So it was Paejon who loosened my muscles every night.’
Every time I woke up, I subtly grasped the changes in my muscles.
I suspected that Paejon had been performing acupressure by pushing the palace and passing through acupoints every night.
Paejon was the only one here who would do such a thing for me.
I had felt this even during sparring.
Even while rolling me around like crazy to vent his anger, the reason I didn’t express dissatisfaction to Paejon was because I knew he was deliberately striking points where my meridians were located, imbued with internal energy, to prevent problems in my muscles.
Seeing this, it seemed not me but rather Paejon who couldn’t sleep at night.
These were the reasons I cursed Paejon inwardly but followed his words desperately.
Because the old man was endlessly sincere in raising his disciple.
‘Doing this every day must be a strain on him too.’
Pushing the palace and passing through acupoints was by no means an easy method.
It was an act that required delicacy to prevent damaging the opponent’s acupoints by imbuing internal energy.
Though imperfect, it must have been a strain on Paejon’s body, which remained at its peak despite having reached the Transformation Realm.
Nevertheless, Paejon imbued my body with energy every day without showing signs of fatigue.
Knowing that, how could I not train? I had to do it until it worked.
As I got up, Paejon also dusted himself off and stood up.
“I don’t like that look in your eyes. Were you cursing me inwardly again?”
“This time it was praise.”
“The words ‘this time’ mean you admit you were cursing me before.”
“...”
Oops.
Caught in the old man’s wordplay.
Cold sweat trickled slightly.
Instinctively, I was gauging where to dodge if Paejon thrust his fist.
Habits are scary.
Having been beaten so much, now I think of such things.
Pang-!
“Crazy...!”
I turned my head to dodge the thrusting fist.
At this, Paejon looked at me as if surprised.
“Oh... You dodged. It seems you’ve improved a lot.”
“...What are you doing?”
“You seemed to expect that I would hit you, so I did as expected.”
“...”
With him saying that, I had nothing to say.
Because I had actually been expecting it.
“Anyway.”
“You try to hit someone and then say ‘anyway’?”
“Shall I continue then?”
“Please say what you were going to say. I will listen attentively.”
“Hehe, you damned brat….”
Paejon laughed heartily before quickly hardening his expression.
Each of those expressions was terrifying.
Because it was hard to tell what was genuine.
“Anyway... It wasn’t the desired method, but you finished the homework, so as promised.”
Saying so, Paejon lightly tapped my chest with his fist.
“I shall teach you the forms of Tuapacheonmu.”
‘Finally.’
At Paejon’s words, I inwardly let out a sigh of relief.
So I could properly learn that damned martial art.
“When do we start?”
Given the situation, I thought we might start training in the afternoon.
Learning martial arts from someone else in this way was something I hadn’t done in a long time, so it was quite a novel experience.
Even in my previous life, I had only learned the verses and mental cultivation method of the Nine Flames Wheel Art.
Other than that, I had learned alone, or at the level where the First Elder occasionally gave pointers.
At my question, Paejon tilted his head.
“When?”
“Yes?”
“Of course we start now. What do you mean, ‘when’?”
“From now?”
We were starting training now? That was too sudden.
In the moment I was slightly flustered by Paejon’s initiative, I saw a peculiar smile form at the corner of his mouth.
“Do not worry, as it is the first form, it is not that difficult.”
“...Yes.”
I hadn’t really been worried about that.
I simply didn’t like starting so abruptly.
Moreover, the Dark King who had been beside us was nowhere to be seen.
He had definitely been there until just now, right?
“You look quite displeased. Shall we do it next time? I can do so if you wish.”
At those words, I thought of learning slowly from the afternoon, but as they say, strike while the iron is hot.
I judged it better to save time.
“No. Let’s start now.”
“I like that answer.”
Hearing the answer, Paejon nodded repeatedly.
Then was he going to slowly teach me the form?
But....
‘Why isn’t he moving away?’
Contrary to his words that he would teach me, he remained right in front of my nose.
Even keeping his fist pressed against my chest.
Looking at that, I held a question and asked him.
“Sir?”
“Learning the form is not difficult. I am certainly confident of that. Among all forms in the Central Plains, this is likely the easiest.”
Paejon merely continued his explanation.
“...This?”
It was a somewhat strange statement.
Those who had witnessed Tuapacheonmu even once would click their tongues at its complex and splendid forms.
Even I, who had nearly died to Paejon in my previous life, had seen that his martial arts contained something beyond logic.
How could Paejon say the first form was simple?
While harboring such thoughts, Paejon spoke to me.
“It is simple. Once you experience it with your body, you can learn it quickly.”
“Yes?”
“With your toughness, you will be able to learn it well.”
...What did I just hear?
“What is th—”
Just as I was about to ask again, thinking I had misheard.
Wuuung-!
“...!”
From the tip of the fist pressed against me, I felt familiar internal energy.
It was the energy of Tuapacheonmu that Paejon possessed.
At that chilling sensation, I looked at Paejon.
“Ah, I’m telling you in advance. Keep your wits about you. Unlike the bat bastard’s training.”
Before Paejon’s words finished, I instinctively twisted my body.
At the same time, I began to overlay a protective qi barrier to protect my body.
“Because you might actually die.”
With those final words, power filled Paejon’s fist.
Along with a heavy impact, vibrations spread in all directions.
Feeling that, I realized.
The nightmare had ended.
And hell had been waiting.
******************
Around the time Gu Yangcheon began rolling around to his heart’s content somewhere in the forest.
Shiiik-! Shing!
A white-haired woman was swinging her sword alone in an empty lot wrapped in silence.
She had moved so violently that several strands of hair clung to her sweat-dampened cheek, yet the woman continued swinging her sword as if unconcerned.
Shiiiik-!
Sword qi imbued with thunder qi left traces in the empty air.
Combined with dawn’s weather, it looked rather beautiful, but the movements and emotions contained in the blade were not.
Papak-!
The following footwork and swift sword strikes would have drawn admiration from others, yet the eyes of the woman wielding the sword were filled with dissatisfaction.
‘...No good.’
Slow.
In the woman’s eyes, her sword was so.
Moreover.
‘Weak.’
It was endlessly weak.
There was no break in her sword path. Her footwork was not lacking either, but the woman could not be satisfied.
‘...With this....’
She could not remain by his side with merely this much.
Recalling this, Namgung Bia bit her lip.
Soon even the sword momentum she was extending stopped.
“Haa... haa....”
Rough breaths escaped through pretty lips.
How much had she moved from the start until now?
She had spent the night gripping her sword, forgetting even sleep.
Nevertheless, the frustrated heart that had formed within Namgung Bia was not resolved.
The woman who had loved swinging her sword was now captured by an unknown inner demon.
‘...’
At the pain she suddenly felt, Namgung Bia frowned and checked her hand.
Perhaps because she had been gripping too hard, her palm was slightly torn.
What should she do?
Just what should she do?
‘...That person... How can I protect him...?’
Namgung Bia had to furrow her brows deeply as she thought of Gu Yangcheon.
Because he was precisely the cause of the inner demon she was experiencing.
Gu Yangcheon was endlessly pitiful and precarious.
Lately, the Gu Yangcheon that Namgung Bia saw was so.
Gu Yangcheon, who had always acted confidently and without hesitation, was gradually being crushed and exhausted by something unknown.
Even while clearly seeing that, there was nothing she could do.
That weighed heavily on Namgung Bia.
‘I can’t protect anything....’
When the Dark Night Palace Lord attacked the Divine Dragon Hall.
Namgung Bia experienced her own weakness.
At that time, Namgung Bia could do nothing.
Only when Dang Soyeol sacrificed herself could they escape the crisis, and in the end, she had to be repeatedly saved by him.
In such a situation.
‘I am....’
Just what was she?
The reason she had swung her sword so much was that she wanted to escape the stench the world held.
Now she could escape that stench by being beside him.
If so, now, for what was Namgung Bia swinging her sword?
‘...Because I want to be by his side....’
Namgung Bia realized the answer through self-questioning, but something was lacking.
But it was fine if she couldn’t convince herself. That answer was enough for her.
‘I must... protect him....’
She wanted to protect him, who seemed somehow precarious and uneasy.
No matter how outstanding and strong he appeared to others, the Gu Yangcheon she saw was not so.
Gu Yangcheon seemed to want to collapse at any moment, because it looked like he was forcing himself to endure since there was much behind him to protect.
Recalling that, Namgung Bia gripped her sword again with her injured hand.
‘...I...’
Just how could she protect him?
It was impossible with her weak self.
She couldn’t even graze the hem of the White Lotus Sword’s clothes, let alone the Dark Night Palace Lord.
She had even been defeated by a swordsman called the Hidden Dragon.
In this state, how could she protect anyone?
Drip.
Blood flowed from Namgung Bia’s bitten lip.
Because she couldn’t stand her incompetent self.
“...Like this... no... good....”
She had to find a way.
A way to become stronger.
And thus a way to remain by his side and protect him.
She sought to find it.
Swoosh-thud.
She swung her sword again.
Though her body was already exhausted, Namgung Bia did not stop.
At the same time, she recalled.
The conversation she had with her father in Henan a few days before departing for Sichuan.
[“Your great-grandfather wishes to see you.”]
Before returning to Anhui, Namgung Jin left words while looking at Namgung Bia.
The absolute being of the Namgung family, the Heavenly Venerable, one of the Three Venerables of the Central Plains, wished to see Namgung Bia.
[“It happens that your steps have reached Sichuan. He said this is fortunate.”]
[“...Why...?”]
To the question of why the Heavenly Venerable would think her trip to Sichuan fortunate, Namgung Jin answered thus.
[“It happens that he also has business in Sichuan. Go and pay him a visit.”]
[...]
Recalling that conversation, Namgung Bia thought.
Perhaps if it were her younger sibling, but Namgung Bia was not well acquainted with the Heavenly Venerable.
She seemed to have seen him from afar a few times, but the times she had properly faced him were few.
However, Namgung Bia had already made up her mind to meet the Heavenly Venerable.
‘I must become stronger.’
As he was the heaven of the Namgung family and one who had reached the state of a venerable through this sword art, she thought that as the Heavenly Venerable, he might open a different path for her.
She would become stronger.
She had to become much stronger.
To protect him, she could not remain at this level.
Thinking so, Namgung Bia continued to swing her sword.
This is the last registered chapter.
The world was yellow. Sky, trees, grass, river—the world was spinning yellow.
My world had been like that for the past five days.
“Ptooey....”
Spitting saliva onto the ground, it came out mixed with blood.
Crack! When I moved my body, my bones cried out in pain.
My whole body hurt.
I had barely endured losing consciousness, but the price was considerable.
It felt like my circulating internal energy and flowing meridians were tangled.
My current physical state was a mess.
Internal energy that had left my will flowed arbitrarily, and my shaking vision made it hard to see ahead.
Judging by my senses alone, it wouldn’t have been strange to have reached qi deviation.
But I knew.
That these broken senses would return soon.
And not long after.
Kudududuk-!!
“Kuuuugh....”
As expected.
The internal energy that had rampaged arbitrarily and the meridians that had seemed broken began to react.
The internal energy that had behaved violently as if angry was being retrieved to the dantian as if caught by something, and the tangled meridians felt as if they were being forcibly straightened.
The pain from that was beyond imagination.
For now, gritting my teeth and enduring the screams was the only thing I could do.
‘C... crazy...!’
That it pulled in my internal energy like this. That it restored my meridians.
It was the power of Tuapacheonmu learned from Paejon.
Before learning the forms, Paejon had said the power of Tuapacheonmu had to settle into the body before one could learn it—only now did I understand what he meant.
The cornerstone for using the forms.
Artificial bone-transformation and rebirth.
Including forcibly bringing one to a state of no-mind.
A dog-like power that forcibly restored a messed-up body along with pain.
That was the power Tuapacheonmu held.
Of course.
It wasn’t possible in any case.
“Haa... haa....”
Only when the internal energy and meridians subsided and the pain lessened somewhat could I raise my head.
And then a hollow laugh escaped at the scene before me.
‘...This is definitely crazy power.’
Something had swept through a place originally full of trees and rocks, leaving only massive traces.
If compared, it was a trace similar to when I had poured out a massive Flame Prison facing the Black Dragon Sword.
That.
I had created that with merely a single punch.
One Fist.
It meant that was the scene created by the first form of Tuapacheonmu.
It was like an absurd martial art.
Having used it directly, I understood better.
This martial art deserved to be called a divine art.
‘No wonder that old man... his fists were so fierce.’
When I fought Paejon in my previous life.
I thought I knew why each of Paejon’s blows was closer to “destroying” than “hitting.”
Hadn’t it been said to be a martial art with purpose only for destruction and transcendence?
It was a martial art that fit that meaning exactly.
However, there were clear problems matching its destructive power.
My body after using the form was the problem.
My meridians being in this state and my internal energy moving arbitrarily were because of that.
That dawn when Paejon had attacked me by directly pouring the form into me.
Why Paejon had said learning by taking hits directly was faster.
I knew the instant I was hit.
Because the Tuapacheonmu contained in my body reacted on its own.
‘A martial art that teaches its forms by itself.’
It was absurd.
Even having experienced it directly, I couldn’t understand.
How could this be?
Immediately after being hit by Paejon.
While I was gasping in pain, Paejon left me with one thing and disappeared.
—“From now on, try it on your own.”
How absurd those words were. He hits me out of nowhere and tells me to try it on my own? That old man had really lost his mind.
I had definitely thought so at the time.
‘Why is this working?’
Just as Paejon said, Tuapacheonmu was telling me on its own how I had to move.
If I tried to extend it, the energy moved first.
As if creating a path, saying move like this.
Then I intuitively knew.
How to apply my internal energy, where to place my toes right now, how to twist my waist.
The energy was showing me that path.
If I moved contrary to the energy’s flow.
The pain became an indicator and told me. That it was not right.
Seeing this, though it might sound amazing, as Paejon said, it wasn’t a very difficult form.
Because it was truly just throwing a single straight punch.
Only the application of energy rushing in that short process was absurd.
‘Compressing is hard enough. Why is controlling it so difficult?’
Compressing the incomparably violent internal energy.
Gathering that internal energy into a single point of the fist through the body.
In that process, the force put in to maintain the compression slows and burdens the body, but I had to endure and move.
Even then the pain remained.
Delicately adjusting so the internal energy wouldn’t scatter between dulled movements.
Releasing it to match when the fist reached the end of its straight path.
Only then was it the One Fist.
A single movement that could hardly be called a form, yet I could feel the abundant realizations contained within.
The problem was that the overload on the body after using this One Fist was no joke.
The problem was the pain enough to turn the world yellow immediately.
Because the energy was maddeningly rough, the meridians and internal energy twisted immediately upon use.
Tuapacheonmu restored it eerily, but from the standpoint of enduring it, it was pain fearsome enough to make one afraid to use it several times.
‘Judging by that, it’s a martial art with no cost-effectiveness.’
If it left me like this after one use, if it was similar to the Flame Prison, it seemed unnecessary to bother using.
What could be known was.
‘That this much power existed before it even settled into my body.’
This much power in a state with zero proficiency.
Even though the accompanying pain and prerequisites for use were extreme.
If it was a martial art wielding such power, it was indeed a divine art.
I got up as if stumbling.
My breathing was still ragged, but I looked behind me, feigning composure.
There stood Paejon with arms crossed, looking at me with a smile.
An expression of considerable satisfaction.
“Not bad for a first time.”
“...Can’t you see I look like I’m dying?”
“But you didn’t die.”
That damned old man...?
I had to furrow my brow fiercely at those incomparably excessive words.
“How is it? Do you think you can handle it?”
“No. I can’t use it twice.”
“You said you can use it once. I like that.”
“...Why are you always unnecessarily positive?”
Why was he so positive when I said I was dying?
“You look truly excited.”
“Of course I’m excited. It’s much better than expected.”
“This?”
Seeing the mess from the martial art’s aftermath, it seemed I had properly exerted strength, but becoming like this from the recoil was not good.
And he said I did well?
I looked at Paejon as if I couldn’t understand, and he chuckled and spoke.
“You seem to be mistaken about something.”
“Yes?”
“You accomplished in seven days what I thought would take two months. How could I dislike that?”
Two months?
This was a form that would take two months? Just throwing a single punch?
Paejon approached me and continued.
“It looks like a simple movement. And though I said it’s actually the simplest, it is what I put the most thought into creating.”
As it was the part that could be called the beginning of the forms.
I vaguely understood Paejon’s words that he had worried the most about it.
“Anyway, you succeeded in using it, so you should know. Just how complexly this is constructed.”
“Yes....”
What I had called simple was only regarding the movement.
It only looked simple; the process occurring inside was exceedingly intricate.
Compression, maintenance, control, release.
None of these four could be twisted, so they had to be delicately tuned.
If I failed, the internal energy would explode on its own inside my body.
Then I would immediately writhe in pain. I repeated this countless times.
I suffered for days. And finally succeeded now.
“Do you not know how great an accomplishment it is to have achieved that in merely seven days?”
“...”
It wasn’t something I could really feel. Because no matter how difficult it was, in the end, as long as I endured the pain, it was something I could do.
Seeing my expression, Paejon continued.
“I told you repeatedly. That at least in this regard.”
He seemed quite pleased with his smiling.
“When it comes to my martial arts, Ah, there will be no one who suits it better than you.”
“...”
“Not bad. You did well.”
Patting my shoulder, Paejon passed by.
That insufferable genius treatment was still so unfamiliar to me.
‘...A martial art that suits me well.’
But I felt it to some extent.
That Tuapacheonmu was a martial art that suited me.
For no other reason than that the simple principle of just enduring and holding on fit me best.
Then I shook my head and erased the thought.
Because I felt I shouldn’t get excited by such trivial praise.
“Ah, right. Ah.”
“Yes. Sir.”
“This is an old man’s worry, but I forbid using this in real combat without my permission as well.”
“...”
“I also forbid training outside my sight. You know the reason?”
“...Yes.”
The reason for the prohibition.
This martial art put considerable strain on the body if used incorrectly.
If an accident occurred, Paejon was the only one who could fix it, so it meant not to use it outside his sight yet.
Only after hearing my answer did Paejon disappear, seemingly satisfied.
Left alone, I immediately flopped onto the ground.
“...Huu.”
Perhaps because aftereffects still remained, the spinning sensation persisted.
Only after Paejon left and I was alone could I exhale in relief.
‘I succeeded.’
I had worried a lot about what if I didn’t succeed.
Fortunately, I had succeeded.
And then I felt a slight irritation.
‘If I had known I had two months, I wouldn’t have done it like this.’
Since Paejon had said it wasn’t very difficult, I felt it shouldn’t take long and spent nights without sleep... and he had been expecting two months.
“...Anyway, it’s done, so whatever.”
It was a bit unfair, but if it went well, it went well. I decided to think that way.
While lying blankly like that.
I felt someone’s presence approaching from afar.
The moment I felt the presence, I slightly raised my upper body.
Tak.
Someone flew in from afar and landed on the ground.
The one who lightly appeared with fluttering movements was Baekryeongeom.
“Hello?”
At Baekryeongeom’s uniquely bright greeting, I tilted my head.
“You’ve come.”
“What? I came at the right time, so why are you lying down?”
“...I’m a bit dizzy.”
I got up again.
At my answer, Baekryeongeom tilted her head but didn’t ask further.
“You told me not to come close during training. What’s the matter?”
“The training just finished... and I have something to tell Baekryeongeom.”
“Huh? To me?”
“Yes.”
Having heard my words, Baekryeongeom’s eyes sparkled.
I didn’t know what she was thinking, but it shouldn’t be something to look forward to like that.
Thinking so, I looked at Baekryeongeom and spoke.
“Do you have time this evening?”
Having heard the question, Baekryeongeom’s eyes grew wide like saucers.
Immediately she smiled with her eyes and gestured at me.
“Oh my, what? Are you hitting on this noona? Oh my, oh my. Such a proud kid being so bold...”
“It’s not like that.”
I frowned fiercely at Baekryeongeom’s nonsense and denied it.
What nonsense was this lady spouting now... who would hit on whom?
“It’s not?”
“Absolutely not.”
“...Really?”
Leaving behind Baekryeongeom, who made a somehow disappointed expression, I decided to get to the main point.
“Last time... do you remember me asking you to grant me one request?”
“I remember.”
When Baekryeongeom said she wanted to continue as my escort.
When I had imposed several conditions on her.
Among them was a condition that she grant me one request later.
Baekryeongeom had accepted this.
Even putting a binding oath on it.
“I’m going to use it tonight.”
At my words, Baekryeongeom made a suggestive smile again.
“Tonight... See, this is hitting on—”
“I told you it’s not....”
“...Why not?”
Why not? It just isn’t!
Why does this lady keep leaning that way? It’s really absurd.
At my continuous denials, Baekryeongeom slightly furrowed her brow.
“Then what is it?”
The request for Baekryeongeom was none other than this.
‘He has come.’
‘He’ would have arrived not far from here.
Judging by the timing, he should have arrived around now.
If not, I was sensing his presence.
Because I had already laid some tricks on him for this purpose.
The request for Baekryeongeom was related to this.
Tonight.
I intended to find the Green King directly.
He was a fellow whose mind worked well despite his stocky build, so he wouldn’t raid the convoy directly.
He wasn’t a fool who would attack when the head of the Pae family and the Poison King were together.
He would probably watch the situation until the moment he desired arrived.
So I would go find him first.
Since I too did not wish for the Poison King and Green King to meet directly, this was rather a good thing.
No matter what, one might think it dangerous to go directly, but I had already made preparations for this, so it didn’t matter.
While organizing my plan and slowly settling my heat, Baekryeongeom suddenly asked me.
“So. Is it really not that?”
“...”
Before I could even utter the request, I had to brush my face.
I felt my energy being drained already.
This is the last registered chapter.