Chapter 318: Cheoljiseon. (2)

As soon as I heard the story, I was momentarily stunned.

‘What is this kid even talking about?’

It was because I couldn’t make heads or tails of what Cheol Jiseon had blurted out while eating.

He asked me to help him kill Shinseong.

It was Cheol Jiseon himself, not anyone else, who had just said it.

Cheol Jiseon had asked me to eat with him for some reason.

I had even broken my promise with Moyong Hi-ah to come.

Perhaps thanks to that, it was unexpected information.

And with that, a question arose.

‘Why?’

It wasn’t that I didn’t know it was possible.

It was the fact that Cheol Jiseon was saying this to me.

That was truly unexpected.

‘Why?’

Just why could it be?

I tried to think of a reason, but nothing specific came to mind.

That Jang Seon-yeon knew about Cheol Jiseon and approached him.

I knew from information Pae U-cheol had given me in the past.

Even if Pae U-cheol hadn’t told me, it was something I had already anticipated.

That Jang Seon-yeon would try something on me?

It was a fact I inevitably knew if I remembered the events of my past life.

If there was something else.

The target back then wasn’t me, but Jamryong, and.

Compared to Jamryong, who barely reacted at all.

I was reacting to the bastard very clearly.

The difference was.

Pulling the time forward from when the Demonic Mirror Transfer incident happened around the time I passed my adolescence.

It became possible to bring it to the present.

Of course, whether that bastard Jang Seon-yeon would act as expected wasn’t confirmed, but.

Seeing how things were going now, I could predict it wasn’t far off.

And.

‘Actually, I’m hoping for that.’

I hope.

May the day come when he strikes at me, aiming for the right moment.

For that to happen, it was right for Jang Seon-yeon to approach Cheol Jiseon.

The trigger for everything, and.

Cheol Jiseon held the role of the hidden dagger.

It’s just the question remains.

Even considering all that.

That Cheol Jiseon is telling me about Jang Seon-yeon right now.

Is a situation I cannot understand.

I asked, filled with that sentiment.

“Why are you telling me that?”

“Because we’re friends…?”

The words that came out of Cheol Jiseon’s mouth in response to my question.

Were words that made me inwardly scoff.

‘Friends?’

Did he really think we were friends just because he called me that?

Ironically, neither of us were.

I kept him by my side out of necessity.

Did he think of me as a friend? That wouldn’t be it either.

“Yeah, friends. We’re friends.”

After putting a side dish in front of me into my mouth and chewing it down.

I looked back at Cheol Jiseon again.

Between his somewhat trembling eyes, an unreadable emotion flickered.

“But that’s not a reason to tell me right now, is it?”

“…”

“I feel like there’s a more concrete reason. What could it be?”

If Jang Seon-yeon had approached Cheol Jiseon in the same way in the previous life.

Cheol Jiseon would have had a reason to side with Jang Seon-yeon.

Though I don’t know what he might have given him.

What is the reason for discarding that in this life and telling me this?

Just because I was a friend who only spoke words?

‘I’m not some idiot with a field of flowers blooming in my head.’

It’s a story with too many issues to believe straightforwardly.

Cheol Jiseon’s eyes trembled greatly at my question.

I could somewhat sense how much he must have agonized before bringing that up, but.

That didn’t mean I could just let it slide.

Just as I was thinking of pressing him further.

“…You, who heard the story.”

Cheol Jiseon said, fixing his trembling eyes on me.

“You didn’t ask what it meant, but why I was telling you.”

“…Hm?”

It was a rather abrupt statement.

However.

“It means you already knew about this story….”

“…!”

It was a statement that hit hard.

Hearing Cheol Jiseon’s words, my eyes widened slightly.

It was a mistake.

The story Cheol Jiseon was mentioning was clearly my mistake, but.

Cheol Jiseon, bringing up that mistake now and digging into it.

Looked a little different.

‘Look at this guy?’

Had I been underestimating him too much?

“How can you be so sure?”

“I’m not sure. It’s just my delusion. But….”

His trembling gaze gradually calmed down.

“I have a stronger feeling it might not be a delusion.”

“…Oh.”

“You… hated Shinseong. To the point of near loathing.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because there’s no one in this Dragon God Hall who doesn’t know that.”

Indeed.

The fact that I went to Cheol Jiseon’s faction, made a mess, and had a verbal spat with Shinseong.

Was a story that had spread throughout the hall within days.

Because of that.

Rumors like Jinryong feeling inferior to Shinseong.

Or feeling jealous, and all sorts of other nonsense.

It was a ridiculously funny story. If there was any truth to it at all.

“Yeah, I hate that bastard. But what’s the problem with that?”

“No problem at all. It’s just information that helps with my choice right now.”

Choice, Cheol Jiseon said so.

“Just because I hate that bastard doesn’t mean you have a reason to tell me that fact.”

“Snow Phoenix.”

At the word he uttered as if to answer my statement.

My ears perked up.

“Poison Phoenix…. Sword Dancer, Jamryong, Geomryong….”

“What are you doing right now….”

“The already talked-about successor of Geomjon…. And even Duryong.”

Between Cheol Jiseon’s fidgeting fingertips.

There was an incomprehensible chill.

“They’re the people around you. Even getting involved with just one of them is unbelievable, but you’re at the center of it all.”

I wondered if he had investigated me, but.

He was just reciting what was visible.

The only thing is, why was he spitting that out in front of me now?

That was important.

Cheol Jiseon’s eyes had stopped trembling at some point.

“Your rumors are all scary and terrifying. Even your face.”

“Hey, why is your face brought up there? Wanna die?”

“…Sorry.”

I was listening intently, then suddenly felt a surge of emotion.

“Even in that situation, it’s strangely the case that everyone around you is clean-cut and amazing….”

“So what? My rumors are crap, but it’s weird that the people around me are clean-cut?”

“Yes. Very much so.”

“Then what am I supposed to do….”

“It’s very strange that despite having people of that caliber around you, only those kinds of rumors keep spreading.”

His fingertips tapping the desk, and.

The unfamiliarity in his gaze towards me.

“Conversely, rumors about Shinseong become strangely intense when they involve you.”

The more he spoke.

Cheol Jiseon gradually became a different person.

If you could call it cold, you could say it was cold.

If you could call it stiff, that word would fit too.

“The biggest other reason is… the fact that you keep me by your side.”

At Cheol Jiseon’s words, I crossed my arms and leaned back against the chair.

“Why is that?”

“…From when you took the entrance exam, and even now. You try to keep me by your side.”

Interesting.

I thought he was just some pathetic guy with power.

From where had he been watching all this?

“Shinseong is wary of you, and asking me to help kill you. In that situation, you kept trying to keep me by your side; it seems I have value to you.”

“Since when? Since when have you thought like this?”

“From the moment Shinseong… brought that up to me.”

That means it hasn’t been more than a few days.

Cheol Jiseon seems to be a much smarter guy than I expected.

It’s something one could somewhat understand just by looking at the situation, but.

Thinking about that,

Reaching certainty instead of just prediction was another matter entirely.

“You need me.”

Cheol Jiseon said.

“That’s right, I need you.”

I didn’t deny Cheol Jiseon’s statement.

Because there was no need to.

I need Cheol Jiseon.

More accurately, not Cheol Jiseon himself, but the power he possessed.

“So.”

Remembering that.

I asked Cheol Jiseon something else.

“What’s the reason for telling me all this?”

“…Because you asked me to tell you the reason I told you about my conversation with Shinseong.”

“Those predictions are interesting stories, but they don’t explain why you told me about your talk with that Jang bastard. There’s a slightly different reason.”

What Cheol Jiseon talked about was ultimately just the fact that the Jang bastard and I didn’t get along, and.

That I needed Cheol Jiseon.

That wasn’t a reason for me to tell him about Jang Seon-yeon’s schemes.

Jang Seon-yeon also needed Cheol Jiseon, and.

He probably promised to grant Cheol Jiseon’s needs and desires.

Even after hearing that, there was no reason for him to switch sides to me.

I didn’t even know what he wanted, let alone.

Even if I did know, I had no intention of granting it.

Hearing my question, Cheol Jiseon wore a thoughtful expression for a moment, then.

He spoke.

“…Shinseong gave me a bad feeling.”

“A feeling?”

“Yeah… I had a sort of uneasy feeling.”

Gave him a bad feeling?

It was the simplest reason, convenient for making an emotional choice.

If it were the Cheol Jiseon I knew until just before.

He might have chosen such a naive option, but.

The Cheol Jiseon I saw now. Looked a bit different.

“And.”

So I asked again, as if urging him to state another reason.

“…And.”

Cheol Jiseon’s trembling, which had finally stopped.

For some reason, began to tremble again little by little.

Starting from his shoulders.

His eyes trembled faintly.

It wasn’t the tension from before.

A strange sense of fear permeated it.

Why was he reacting like that?

“Shinseong’s words had a threat attached, but you….”

“Me?”

As I asked, crossing my arms and looking at Cheol Jiseon.

Cheol Jiseon closed his eyes and spoke.

As if unable to look me in the eye for long.

And then he said.

“…I thought you might kill me.”

In the bustling restaurant.

A somewhat chilling sentence flowed out.

Although there were many people coming and going around us.

No one would have heard it.

The moment Cheol Jiseon was about to tell me about the Jang bastard.

I had already cast a barrier.

Hearing his words, I replayed what Cheol Jiseon had said in my mind.

‘Because I thought you might kill me.’

Why would he think that?

I treated him pretty well, you know.

Cheol Jiseon’s words were a shock to me.

Not in the sense of ‘How could you think I’d kill you?’, but rather.

‘How did he know?’

That I had intended to eliminate Cheol Jiseon along with Jang Seon-yeon.

The shock was that he had realized it.

I thought I had hidden it well.

How did he notice?

‘…How strange.’

Clueless, pathetic.

I thought he was a weakling.

It seems he has more going on in his head than I expected.

“Why would you think that? I have no intention of killing you.”

I said with a smile, but.

Cheol Jiseon didn’t seem to believe me much.

It’s not that I haven’t killed people in this life, but.

It’s not like I’ve been going around killing people so much that killing intent sprouts with every breath.

How did he really know?

Is he not going to answer this?

“Okay, fine. Let’s assume I intend to kill you.”

“…”

“But, friend.”

Deureuk.

I shifted my body slightly and changed my posture.

“If I intended to kill you, do you think I wouldn’t kill you just because you’re switching sides now?”

“…”

“If it’s the me you imagine, you surely wouldn’t think that.”

Cheol Jiseon’s power is highly exploitable, but.

It comes with corresponding dangers.

It’s a superhuman power that transcends the framework of martial arts, so.

It’s awkward to deal with.

Right now, I also need to use him, and.

Since it’s a power I desperately need, I’m saying this, but.

It was true that I had put Cheol Jiseon on the list of targets to eliminate.

Because it would be more convenient later.

“And, if I had such intentions, why wouldn’t you think Jang Seon-yeon would have the same?”

“…Because Shinseong intends to use me until the very end.”

“And I don’t?”

“…Yes.”

“That’s contradictory. Then you should have sided with Jang Seon-yeon, not me. That way, your chances of survival would be higher.”

If he’s going to use me until the end, it would be better to just stick by my side.

What kind of situation is it where he comes to me, someone who might kill him?

To my question, asked with a smirk.

Cheol Jiseon said, clutching his trembling hands.

“Because if you win against Shinseong, it becomes meaningless.”

“Friend, why do you keep talking like I’m going to kill everyone? It’s scary.”

Cheol Jiseon acting like this towards me was unexpected.

Why is he so smart? I thought he was incompetent.

‘Maybe it’s because my comparison target was Je gal-hyeok.’

It’s just that I compared him to the guy called the ‘Head of the Demonic Cult’.

Was this guy actually smart all along?

That made things a bit annoying.

Because I didn’t expect Cheol Jiseon to act like this.

What he means is, not the Jang bastard.

He thinks I’ll win, and.

Since he thinks I’ll kill him, he’d rather genuinely come over to my side.

“Why should I accept that?”

“Because I have value for you to exploit.”

“Your self-love is greater than I thought.”

He does have exploitable value.

The problem is how to utilize it.

Looking at Cheol Jiseon, I suddenly asked something else.

If it becomes like this, I thought I could see a little more of how he’d act in other situations.

“There’s something I don’t understand.”

“…What is it?”

“Jang Seon-yeon asked you to help him kill me, didn’t he?”

The fact that the Jang bastard asked Cheol Jiseon for help meant.

“How could you help?”

If he helped, Jang Seon-yeon could kill me without difficulty.

This meant Cheol Jiseon’s power was that significant.

“It wasn’t a request to kill you directly….”

Cheol Jiseon changed his words, seeming flustered by my statement, but.

It wasn’t much different.

If you consider Jang Seon-yeon’s intentions, it’s all the same.

I know what Cheol Jiseon’s power is.

I experienced it firsthand.

And I had seen it from afar.

“So, you have that much power?”

“…”

“What is it?”

I asked further because I already knew.

If it became like this, I wondered if Cheol Jiseon would actually tell me about it.

If Cheol Jiseon were to open up about that power to me.

What would I do?

I don’t know yet. I’ll have to think about it after hearing it.

“That is….”

His fidgeting fingertips were bothersome.

Because I couldn’t know what he might do with those fingertips. I kept watching them.

“I….”

Cheol Jiseon pondered for a long time.

However, for now, I could wait.

Because the value of this silence was considerable.

As I continued to wait like that.

Cheol Jiseon, seemingly anxious, clenched his moving hands into fists and said to me.

“…I can open the Demonic Mirror Gate.”

It was the answer I had expected.