Bloodshot red eyes.
Moisture gathers within them and flows down the cheeks.
Trembling eyelashes and slightly contorted eyebrows.
Down to the nostrils tinged with a hint of red and the drooping corners of the mouth.
An expression trying desperately to hold back tears, yet failing to do so.
That unique distortion is etched across the face.
That was exactly the expression Cheonma wore right now.
"...What. You're crying?"
Seeing that, the hand holding onto her let go.
It was nothing short of an appalling sight.
Cheonma is crying.
That lofty existence who reigned above the heavens and looked down upon all people was crying so sorrowfully.
And she was suddenly hugging Ttolttoli, no less.
Not only her fingertips holding the embrace, but her entire body was visibly trembling.
Meanwhile, Ttolttoli, who was being hugged, had a bewildered expression.
And it wasn't just her; everyone around was the same.
'What is this?'
What is it really.
Why is she bawling her eyes out here?
No, was she even a being capable of shedding tears in the first place?
I've seen eyes holding mockery or contempt, but this is the first time I've seen her crying face.
Seeing her like this, she seemed to resemble Wihwera more.
Setting aside the identical appearance, the vibe was like that.
Perhaps because of that.
"..."
Hesitation crept into the hand that had slightly pulled away.
Cheonma, hugging Ttolttoli and crying endlessly, not knowing what was so sorrowful.
Watching that, an unfathomable feeling brushed past me.
[Come here.]
'Hmm?'
I frowned.
Turning my head slightly, I surveyed the surroundings.
Whose voice was that?
It sounded like someone just spoke, but it was heard as if cut off, an alien sound.
[You should say hello to your dad, right?]
"..."
A headache boils up.
In that instant, I had to clutch my temples.
Whose voice is it? I clearly heard the sound, but my mind couldn't properly process it.
The ensuing headache even affected my breathing.
Grind-!
The moment a sound was heard from inside, as if something was about to break.
Wuumm-!
Suddenly, a vibration spreads from deep within the heart.
It felt like grabbing something about to break and forcefully pulling it back.
Squeeze.
As if tightly tying a loosened string, the moment the vibration reached, something tightened.
At the same time, the headache vanished, and the faintly heard voice disappeared as well.
My breathing calmed down, and my trembling fingertips also grew still.
Perhaps because my emotions settled, the hesitation also disappeared.
Just like that, I pulled on Cheonma's shoulder again.
"Let go."
"..."
A resistance is felt, as if she doesn't want to let go.
Feeling that, I scowled.
"Why did you suddenly appear and cause a ruckus? Do you think this is your own bedroom? Let go quickly."
"..."
"Why are you pointlessly holding onto her and bawling? Do you know her?"
Do you know Ttolttoli.
At those words, the corners of Cheonma's eyes wavered.
What? Does she really know her?
Even if she saw her, where could she have seen her?
While such doubts were brushing past my mind.
"...I don't... know."
Cheonma spoke.
"What?"
"I don't know... I don't understand..."
She says she doesn't know. She says she doesn't know who the child she's holding is.
Well, it's only natural that she wouldn't know.
"Then why is your face like that?"
Saying she doesn't know is strange.
Why doesn't she herself know this?
Cheonma's eyes looked as if she herself found it strange.
"What's with that expression."
"...I don't know..."
"So I'm asking, why are you making that kind of face after suddenly bawling while clinging to a kid you don't even know."
"That too... I don't know."
"Then what do you know?"
"I don't..."
Yank-!
"...!"
I yanked Cheonma, who kept spouting nonsense.
Perhaps because she was off guard, I could easily detach her this time.
A distance opened up from Ttolttoli. In the meantime, Cheonma reached out, trying to somehow hold on.
Grip-!
I grabbed her wrist and blocked it.
"If you don't know, then back off."
The voice that flowed out was cold enough to surprise even me.
"..."
Was it because of that voice? Strength drained from Cheonma's hand upon hearing the sound.
Feeling that, I pushed Cheonma back.
Cheonma was pushed back and flew toward Gu Huibi.
Gu Huibi hastily caught her.
As the distance widened, the situation calmed down a little.
Assessing that, I directed my gaze toward Ttolttoli.
"Are you okay?"
"Huh? Yeah. I'm fine."
Unlike Cheonma who showed a drastic reaction, Ttolttoli didn't look very surprised.
I wondered if it was because her original form was a demonic creature.
"Looks like there was another mother I didn't know about."
"What kind of crazy nonsense is that."
She spouted some weird nonsense. Along with that, a short click of the tongue was heard.
"I was right in the middle of eating deliciously. Tsk."
"..."
It's certain. Something is wrong with this kid.
Her face resembles my childhood self, but how can she be so full of a gloomy, sinister vibe?
'She only looks like me in the face, but seems different otherwise.'
I wasn't at that level, so it probably isn't because she takes after me. It seemed like something strange had mixed in.
It must be so. Otherwise, it made no sense.
While I was looking at Ttolttoli with a bizarre expression. The kid suddenly moved somewhere.
Taking a single step, her expression changed.
From a deeply frowned, incredibly sly expression.
"Grandma-!"
She assumed the most innocent eyes, nose, and mouth in the world, then burst out an outrageous title and ran off somewhere.
'Crazy.'
Appallingly, the destination was Madam Mi.
Ttolttoli dashed straight to Madam Mi and threw herself into her arms. And that wasn't enough.
'What did she say? Grand... what?'
What did that kid just say while running to Madam Mi?
My mind went completely blank.
At this level, I expected even Madam Mi to fly into a massive rage.
"Were you very surprised?"
'Huh?'
"No, I wasn't that surprised."
"..."
Surprisingly, Madam Mi casually picked Ttolttoli up and even patted her on the back.
"...?"
Seeing this, I stared at a certain place.
Right toward Gu Huibi.
That was even more shocking than Cheonma bawling her eyes out.
What am I even looking at right now?
So I looked at Gu Huibi as if asking what the hell was going on.
"..."
"..."
Gu Huibi slightly shook her head at my gaze.
It was a sign that she didn't know either.
'Hmm, I see.'
I nodded.
'It's a complete mess.'
I don't understand a single thing.
Literally.
A situation where saying it was a dream would seem more realistic.
Recalling this, I slightly lowered my head.
The direction was not Gu Huibi, but Cheonma, whom she was holding.
Just like before, Cheonma was looking at Ttolttoli being held by Madam Mi with a strange expression.
I looked at her and spoke with a furrowed brow.
"Hey."
"..."
"That's enough, so you for now..."
Come out with me.
The moment I was about to say that.
"How noisy."
"…"
A voice came from outside the room.
At the sudden voice, everyone's gazes shifted at once.
The entrance of the room.
To be exact, a few steps away from Gu Huibi's back.
The voice came from there.
Standing at the spot where everyone's gaze was drawn was the owner of the voice just heard.
'...'
I looked at him and instinctively realized.
'It's that old man.'
It's exactly that person.
The wrinkled old man wearing plain white clothes with thick white hair.
'The person who called for me.'
The former head of the merchant guild who led it before Madam Mi, and the old man who called for me.
Namely, the first head of the Baekhwa Merchant Guild.
******************
Chirp. Chirp chirp.
By the window where the sound of birds could be heard.
It was a time far later than what could be called morning, but hearing that sound gave it a morning-like feel.
It could be considered a peaceful situation.
Sunlight streaming through the window gap and birds chirping leisurely—I wondered if there could be a more peaceful time than this.
'This is really...'
In contrast to that situation.
'It's seriously fucking uncomfortable.'
My insides were gradually shriveling up from the stifling feeling.
It couldn't be helped.
Because if one were comfortable in this situation, that would truly make them a weirdo.
I looked at the top of the desk with my eyes.
The tea placed in front of me was full, but while it was hot when first poured, no steam was rising, meaning it had already cooled.
At the same time, the amount had not decreased compared to when it was first poured.
This meant.
It meant a lot of time had passed, and during that time, not a single sip of tea had been swallowed.
'Ugh.'
It was a situation that couldn't exist without being extremely uncomfortable.
Yeah, it was seriously extremely uncomfortable.
"Ahem."
Dozens of fake coughs.
Dozens of times looking around because it was awkward to keep my eyes in one place.
Repeating that over and over again.
'Why is there no word?'
The person in front of me was not showing any reaction whatsoever.
An old man who looked to be in his eighties. He didn't seem to have learned martial arts.
Eyes that looked as sharp as if sliced by a knife.
A rugged sensation that seemed untouched by the storms of life despite his age.
He possessed features that suggested he must have been quite handsome in his younger years.
Madam Mi's father, the first head of the Baekhwa Merchant Guild, and
The old man nominally called my maternal grandfather.
After the room grew quiet from the single remark the old man spat out upon appearing. The old man moved without much reaction and entered this room.
Then he immediately called me out. Thanks to that, I ended up entering the room without being able to care about Cheonma or anything like that.
It had been roughly a quarter of a shichen since I faced the old man like that.
During the time I was alone with him, we hadn't exchanged a single word.
The reason was nothing else.
Simply because the old man wasn't speaking.
Conversely, I wasn't much of a talker either. At this point, it was partly stubbornness that kept my mouth shut.
'Then why did he call me?'
I cleared my whole schedule because he called for me, only for there to be not even a single conversation.
'Could he possibly be trying to have a battle of wills?'
I wondered why he would do such a thing, but if he didn't like me, he might.
A bastard child of a concubine, a good-for-nothing who was going to inherit the family just because he's a son.
If he thought his precious granddaughters couldn't shine because of me, he absolutely could.
'...Hmm.'
If that were the reason, I wouldn't have much to say either.
Isn't it half right?
As such, I thought I should just bow my head first, battle of wills or whatever.
"...Um."
So I opened my mouth, which I had been holding back, and spoke to the old man.
"Elder."
As the title left my mouth, the old man looked at me.
It was a cold gaze.
I wondered why Madam Mi's gaze was so fierce, and it seemed she took after this old man.
Did he perhaps not like the title 'Elder'?
Even so, nothing else came to mind to add.
"I heard from the First Elder. I heard you were looking for me, Elder."
When I carefully inquired, only then did the old man's closed lips open.
"I did."
A monotonous answer.
It was a voice I barely heard after a long time.
"...May I ask the reason?"
Why on earth did he call for me?
A person I had no ties with in my past life sought me out in this life.
It's happened a few times now, but the person in front of me was an existence I couldn't even have imagined.
This situation meant it made me feel a strange sentiment.
'Today is just full of weird things. Annoyingly so.'
Excluding that old man, from Cheonma's sudden reaction to the appearance Madam Mi showed afterward.
Things that would have been considered strange even if just one happened were bursting out one after another.
It meant my head was incredibly complicated.
Tap.
The teacup was lifted. At my question, the old man took a sip of tea first without answering.
Just like mine, the old man's tea had already completely cooled down.
Lightly swallowing a sip to moisten his throat.
"I'm sorry."
"Pardon?"
An apology coming from him.
At those words, I unknowingly had to make a dumbfounded expression.
"Suddenly... what for?"
"I realized it after drinking the tea. Seeing the warm tea cool like this, it seems a lot of time has passed."
"..."
No way, was he not aware of it?
"Perhaps because of my age, there are many days where I sink deeply into my thoughts. I apologize."
"...Not at all. And please, lower your speech. You speak so highly that I'm a bit uncomfortable-"
"I do not lower my speech unless it is someone close. Please understand this."
"Ah, yes."
I closed my mouth awkwardly.
He doesn't lower his speech unless it's someone close.
A massive wall was erected within his words.
That I was not a close existence, and that, unlike what the First Elder said, he didn't come simply to see his grandson.
It meant such implications were included.
'Then what is it really.'
Then for what reason did he come looking for me? I couldn't gauge it at all.
'I'm busy on my end too, so if it's nothing major, I wish he'd finish quickly.'
I too wouldn't be happy that the old man looked for me, nor would I feel sad if we kept our distance.
Strangers who didn't share a single drop of blood anyway.
Since he was a guy I had no ties with in my past life, I didn't care much.
Just the fact that he was Madam Mi's father.
Only that one thing bothered me a little, but...
'...But why does that bother me?'
I thought about it and questioned it. Was there any reason for that to particularly bother me?
Madam Mi is practically a stranger too, when you get down to it.
'Hmm.'
I didn't know why I was having such thoughts.
Anyway.
"Then, for what reason did you look for me."
The old man's words made my mind a bit more at ease.
Because if he had no particular thoughts for me, I wouldn't have to care either.
Thanks to that, as I spat out the words in a fully relaxed posture
"..."
The old man quietly stared at me.
His gaze was so intense I considered fixing my posture again.
...Should I really change it? Just as I was intensely considering it.
"The reason I called for Il Gongja here is no other."
Fortunately, before that, the old man started to spit out his words.
"No other than, I came because there is something I want to ask Il Gongja."
"What...?"
"Could you put up a qi barrier?"
"...?"
Without raising objections, I swung my hand.
Wuuung--!!
Instantly, a barrier was erected in all directions.
However, because I couldn't control the output, a quite thick barrier was spread.
"It's done."
"Thank you."
What was he trying to say that he suddenly asked me to put up a qi barrier?
It went beyond curiosity and was right before reaching frustration.
"I will ask now."
The old man asked me.
"Did Il Gongja reverse time?"
Wuuung-!!
As soon as I heard the words, the qi barrier I had painstakingly set up shook violently.