〈 Episode 581 〉 Welcoming the Night.
“Hello.”
A light greeting.
Words that appeared completely harmless no matter who saw them.
But seeing the one who delivered them, I couldn’t react at all.
The purple eyes I had feared might appear even in my dreams.
Black hair faintly coiled with a different hue.
An appearance that brought someone to mind.
I had thought I would have to face her someday, but.
Never in my dreams did I think I’d run into her so suddenly at a noodle house in a Hanam back alley.
No, to begin with, no human could have predicted such a meeting.
Thump-!
My heart pounded on its own.
The moment I recognized her, my body tensed on its own.
My heart seized.
Whoosh-!
At the same time, the qi throughout my entire body began to rampage.
Throb.
Qi surged through my acupoints, and I felt the burden on my still-unhealed flesh.
I filled myself with qi as if none of that mattered.
I had to.
Even doing so, it was barely enough.
‘What should I do.’
Why, of all things, was that here?
Could I still be dreaming?
‘Fuck.’
I knew better than anyone that that was impossible.
For this to be a dream, this rampaging demonic qi couldn’t possibly be so vivid.
The demonic qi I had been suppressing moved on its own.
It was clearly reacting to the opponent.
It probably couldn’t tolerate another demonic qi existing in the same space.
What kind of crazy qi is this. I felt like shit yet again.
But whether it’s demonic qi or whatever, that wasn’t what mattered right now.
The thought that came to mind was just one.
‘Can I kill it?’
Could I really kill that thing before me?
That thought alone filled my head.
A few years ago. Around the time we met at Sinryonggwan.
To somehow bridge the gap I had felt then, I had strived to fill myself with power.
Though I had filled my realm with power incomparable to that time.
‘Even so, it’s insufficient.’
To face the Cheonma in my memory, even that would be far from enough.
She was the one called the Heaven Beyond Heaven of the Central Plains, who toyed with the Three Lords said to dwell above the heavens.
No matter how much stronger I had become now.
The opponent was that Cheonma.
Cold sweat trickled down.
I was focusing all my concentration lest my breathing falter.
But it wasn’t easy to control.
The Cheonma merely stared at me quietly, without taking any particular action.
Seeing that, I thought.
‘Should I run?’
It was the most realistic method.
No matter how high my realm had risen, in my current state, it was dangerous.
Moreover, I wasn’t even in perfect physical condition.
Surely, she must know that all too well.
Rumble-!
Instinct kept crushing my will.
The demonic qi surged as if speaking.
Telling me to kill that thing already.
Step.
I strode forward and approached the Cheonma.
I steeled my heart once more.
Reason knew.
That I shouldn’t start a fight here.
That it was a hasty judgment, an irrational act.
But.
Already, my fingertips were trying to move against my will.
Then.
“You can’t.”
The Cheonma, who had been quietly watching me, spoke.
At that voice, I involuntarily stopped moving.
Purple eyes that looked calm, yet vacant somehow.
Her eyes looked far too serene, unlike this alien situation.
Unlike the noodle bowls piled high on the table.
I glared at the Cheonma with my face fully scrunched up.
As our eyes met, all sorts of emotions surged.
Hatred.
Resentment.
Fear.
Roughly, it was a mixture of such emotions.
“What…?”
I barely spat out.
This was the best I could do.
“You can’t.”
The Cheonma spat the same answer and showed me the noodle bowl she was holding.
What? What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Around the time I thought that.
“Food.”
The Cheonma spoke briefly.
“…What?”
“My sister told me to behave while eating.”
What the hell was that supposed to mean now?
Amidst the confused emotions from moments ago, bewilderment mixed in.
No matter how much I thought about it, it was an incomprehensible conversation.
Whether she knew how I felt or not, the Cheonma ignored me and kept spouting her own words.
“So you behave too.”
Having said that, she began eating noodles diligently with her chopsticks again.
It was an aggressively voracious display.
Perhaps because of her appearance, her actions reminded me of Wi Seol-a.
At that sight, I trembled as if an earthquake had struck my pupils.
‘What is that.’
What the hell was this situation?
I came to an alleyway restaurant to eat in the morning, and the Cheonma is eating noodles.
The absurdity of this situation was laughable, but what the hell was that behavior?
‘…Is that really the Cheonma?’
How bad had things gotten for such a shitty doubt to cross my mind?
But the doubt subsided quickly. Because I knew it was nonsense.
That Cheonma was real.
If not, the demonic qi wouldn’t have revealed such hostility.
I could tell.
That an absurd amount of demonic qi was concentrated within that woman.
She was the existence who was originally the source and master of demonic qi.
No matter how much I had made the demonic qi my own, would that fact be any different now?
It would not.
As if it weren’t obvious.
I tried to observe the woman casually eating noodles using my internal qi.
No, I wished to, but failed.
Even trying to peer inside, I was blocked by a massive wall and couldn’t see in.
Not to mention.
‘The wall blocking me is all demonic qi.’
What blocked me from seeing the Cheonma was an enormous amount of demonic qi.
Several years since the regression.
Though I had hunted demonic beasts and gathered demonic qi for a considerable amount of time.
Looking at the Cheonma, I realized once again.
That the quantity and quality she possessed were completely different from mine.
That was indeed the Cheonma.
Meaning it was indeed the existence I had to kill and erase in this life.
If so….
‘What is that attitude?’
What was that behavior now? No matter how I looked at it, it was bewildering.
That the Cheonma was here eating noodles.
And her appearance that seemed clearly changed, as well.
How had the Cheonma been in the previous life?
A person whose very existence was a disaster and despair to humanity.
Who looked upon all existence except herself as insects.
A being with immense power that allowed her to maintain that arrogant attitude.
Above All People (萬人之上).
Who pulled down the Three Lords (三尊) that ruled the heavens of the Central Plains.
A monster who stood alone above them and looked down below.
That was precisely the Cheonma.
And yet.
What was that before my eyes now?
Slurp.
Arrogance be damned; she ate like crazy as if only caring about noodles, and now she was even lifting the bowl to drink the broth.
And then.
Thud.
Having finished drinking, she placed the bowl down on the table.
The expression she wore was a sight to behold.
“Mm….”
It was a very satisfied expression.
How many bowls was that? At a rough count, it looked close to ten.
Then.
“It was delicious.”
Spitting out a brief word, the Cheonma stood up.
“…!”
Seeing that, I had to flinch and tense up.
I had been briefly shaken by the bizarre situation, but the opponent was the Cheonma.
I had to realize once again who I had before me.
All sorts of thoughts swirled.
What would happen if I fought right now?
If the surroundings were annihilated, when would the Alliance intervene?
Could I hold out until the Alliance intervened? Even if I held out until the Alliance intervened.
‘Is the Alliance on my side?’
There were more than one or two problems.
Meeting the Cheonma here in the first place was a huge problem for my plans.
My teeth gritted.
Situations that would become problems filled my mind.
Knowing that all too well made the situation even shittier.
Was this an opportunity or a crisis?
Unable to decide under the surging thoughts, I was gradually being consumed.
That was why.
I couldn’t react even though the Cheonma had already approached.
‘Damn…!’
Before I knew it, the Cheonma had come to my side.
When I belatedly reacted urgently and tried to move my body.
Clutch-!
I felt the Cheonma grab my arm.
“…!”
I couldn’t shake off my arm.
The gripping pressure was strong.
To shake it off, I would have to burst a handful of qi.
My head turned.
Meanwhile, the Cheonma wasn’t looking at me.
The moment I wondered where she was looking.
“Check, please.”
The Cheonma spoke with an indifferent expression.
At this, an old woman appeared.
“Did you enjoy your meal?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my, such a skinny girl ate so much.”
The old woman smiled happily at the stacked bowls.
Seeing that, the Cheonma handed something to the old woman. It was a silver coin.
The old woman who saw this widened her eyes.
“Oh goodness. I don’t have enough to make change for this….”
Setting aside ten bowls of noodles, it was an amount that couldn’t be earned even selling noodles all day.
The old woman was greatly flustered, but the Cheonma seemed not to care.
“Keep the change.”
Saying so, she bowed her head deeply to the old woman.
I had to suck in a hollow breath at that.
Because it was impossible for the Cheonma to bow to anyone.
“It was delicious. I’ll come again next time.”
The old woman tried to say something to the Cheonma who was about to leave.
But the Cheonma dragged me, whose wrist was grabbed, and left the store just like that.
Immediately after going outside as if being dragged. I shook off the Cheonma’s hand at once.
Swat-!
I didn’t need to use much force.
The Cheonma wasn’t holding on very strongly anymore either.
When I shook off her hand, the Cheonma looked at her now-empty hand and tilted her head.
I glared at her with a twisted expression.
Gripping emotions that threatened to explode any moment, I asked the Cheonma.
“…Why. Why are you here?”
Even trying to endure as much as possible, a savage voice couldn’t be hidden.
This was the best I could do.
The Cheonma who heard this stared at me quietly.
And answered.
“I came to eat…?”
I ground my teeth upon hearing the answer.
“Stop talking nonsense, what the hell are you scheming…!”
Was she trying to play a joke on me? It was absurd.
When I asked in disbelief, the Cheonma spoke.
“You.”
What would she say? At the moment of maximum tension.
“Why do you hate me?”
An unexpected question reached me.
“…What?”
I asked in bewilderment.
The Cheonma asked with eyes full of questions.
“I haven’t done anything. Why do you hate me?”
It was the most bewildering thing I had heard since my regression.
Why do I hate her?
Is that even something to ask?
I could list several reasons to hate and resent her right now.
I could have spat out hundreds of words.
But for some reason, I couldn’t say a thing.
‘What?’
The words wouldn’t come out.
Something seemed to keep my mouth firmly shut.
What was I hesitating for?
Was it because I was afraid of the Cheonma?
That’s right. I was afraid.
I was afraid of that existence who had taken everything from me and tried to burn the world.
But that wouldn’t be the reason my mouth was sealed.
Then what was the problem?
I chewed my innocent tongue and tried somehow to spit out words, but it remained impossible.
Time passed.
If I couldn’t place a sword on my tongue, I should at least place one on my fingertips.
I couldn’t do that either.
I could only look at the Cheonma with my sealed mouth.
“...”
A few seconds passed facing purple eyes.
To me who couldn’t utter a word, the Cheonma turned her head and sent a gesture.
Following it and turning my head, it was the store we had just left.
“Here, it’s delicious. My favorite place.”
A voice was heard.
“You should try it too.”
I thought it was a pointless remark.
So I turned my head again to look toward the Cheonma, but.
“…Damn it.”
Perhaps because I had lowered my guard for a moment.
The Cheonma had already disappeared from that spot.
The taste of blood spread from the tongue I had been biting.
At the same time, I had to run a dry hand down my face.
It was something I had known well until now.
But now I felt I knew for certain.
That unlike what I had known, something had twisted, and twisted far out of shape.
******************
Exiting the store, she moved her steps lightly.
She didn’t need to take many steps.
If the woman wanted to go, she could go anywhere.
A place with few people.
A small dwelling built somewhere between the county and the outside.
A place said to be rented cheaply because the location was cramped.
To the woman, it was simply a story hard to understand even if she heard it.
“Oh, you’re back?”
Upon arriving at the dwelling, another person welcomed her.
It was the existence the woman called ‘Unnie.’
“Yeah.”
“You said you were going to eat and come back, but you’re a bit late?”
“Yeah.”
She spat out short answers with a blank expression.
The other party already wore an expression used to such answers.
“Well, it’s fine as long as you ate well.”
Spitting out words, she held out her hand. The woman looked at this and tilted her head.
“The money left over from eating.”
“I don’t have any.”
“…What?”
At the woman’s words, ‘Unnie’ flinched.
She had clearly given her a silver coin, so why was she saying none was left?
When she expressed doubt, the woman spat out words indifferently.
“Last time, what Unnie did. I did the same.”
“…What do you mean by that…?”
“I don’t need change.”
“...”
At the woman’s words, Unnie pressed her brow.
Right, she had definitely said such words before.
“That is… that…. Sigh….”
She tried to say something but held it in.
Who could she blame?
It was her own sin for giving that airhead a silver coin and making her run an errand.
It’s fine. They still had plenty of travel expenses.
And if push came to shove, she planned to rely on her mother who should be somewhere around here.
“…Never mind. So, did you have a good time?”
“Yeah. It was delicious.”
As the woman spat out as if satisfied, Unnie stifled a laugh.
“Well, that’s good.”
She followed up with a question.
“I told you to go since you said there was something you wanted to eat. When did you ever come here?”
At Unnie’s question, the woman shook her head.
“It’s my first time.”
“Huh?”
“It’s my first time.”
The woman’s answer that it was her first time in Hanam county left her wearing a strange expression.
“But you said there was somewhere you wanted to go?”
“Yeah.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“I don’t know.”
It was a face that said even she didn’t understand what she had said.
“But I wanted to go.”
“...”
An answer that didn’t make sense at all—Unnie looked at this and finally nodded.
She gave up on understanding.
It had always been the case, and she decided to do the same this time.
“…Anyway, it’s fine as long as you had fun.”
“Yeah.”
The woman nodded and moved her body.
Seeing that, Unnie called out to the woman.
“Oh right, Yeon-a.”
“...”
At those words, the woman stopped walking and looked toward Unnie.
However, unlike before, the woman’s expression was slightly twisted, as if something displeased her.
“…Don’t call me that.”
She didn’t seem to like the form of address.
“I’m not Yeon.”
It was a firm answer.
“Then what?”
Unnie asked back.
“...”
The woman just pursed her lips as if she had no answer.
Seeing that, Unnie stifled a laugh.
“You don’t even have a name to say, so why do you keep saying no?”
“…Anyway…. That’s not it. I’m going.”
The woman answered curtly and left her seat.
She seemed somewhat sulky.
At such an attitude from the woman.
“I really don’t know why she’s like that.”
Unnie, no.
The black-haired woman. Gu Huibi expressed her doubts.