Chapter 359: Divine Sword (4)

My shoulders throbbed as if an unbearable weight had been placed upon them.

My soles felt stuck to the floor, refusing to move.

My whole body felt suffocated, as if bound by something.

‘Fuck.’

The curse slipped out naturally.

The first thing I felt was helplessness. From the moment I was caught by some unknown sensation, the thought that entered my mind was that I couldn’t escape this suffocation.

I gritted my teeth and tried to move somehow.

Kkudeudeuk.

I tried with all my might, but it was no use.

Even putting forth this much strength, my body wasn’t even trembling.

I tried to raise it to my dantian, but…

‘My dantian won’t move.’

It was as if there wasn’t a speck of dantian energy inside.

I couldn’t feel even the slightest flow.

It was as if…

The world itself was blocking me, preventing me from saving the woman before my eyes.

My gaze trembled.

Light continued to emanate from the staggering Wi Seol-ah.

What is that? Is it a type of dantian energy?

No, it’s different. I could tell just by looking.

The her who had been conversing with me until now…

…was gradually disappearing.

Her body remained, but the presence she held was vanishing.

Right before my eyes.

Where she was going, how she was disappearing…

I couldn’t know anything about what would happen if she disappeared, but…

At least one thing I knew for sure was…

…if I left her like this, I would never be able to see her again.

After meeting like this, she’s just going to disappear?

Moreover, Wi Seol-ah, disappearing like that…

‘You expect me to just watch?’

Kku-uk.

That’s ridiculous.

I tried to channel more strength into my body. Even with the increased strength, my body remained rigidly frozen.

The only difference was that the more strength I exerted, the more my body was overloading.

Ppudeudeuk-!

My muscles tore, and my bones strained.

I felt the pain vividly, but…

…it didn’t matter at all.

‘Fuck….’

I tried to move, but the shackles were incredibly strong.

I wished I could use my dantian energy, but not only was my dantian energy immobile, even my demonic energy wouldn’t budge.

Please.

‘Move somehow.’

What’s the point of raising my cultivation level?

I can’t even save a single person I want to save.

As I continued to strain my body as if to break it…

‘I’m not in a position to say this to you, but….’

Wi Seol-ah spoke to me.

‘I have two requests.’

What kind of random requests are these at a time like this?

I wanted to tell her to worry about herself, but…

…my damn mouth wouldn’t open.

As if not waiting for my words, Wi Seol-ah continued.

‘Please, cherish this child dearly….’

Not the self dwelling in the past,

but the current owner of this body, the Wi Seol-ah of this life, was what she meant.

Her voice was filled with pathetic and pitiable emotions. Because she had already given up on everything.

That’s why she reacted like that, having no lingering attachments to this world anymore.

Hearing her words, I wanted to ask,

‘Then what about you?’

If she left after entrusting her present self like that,

what would be left for her?

For her, who had lived sacrificing her body and life for others,

for her, who had staked everything on saving the world,

what would remain after disappearing like this?

‘I still have…’

There were many things I wanted to ask.

How she came to this era.

What happened to you after I died.

Why.

Why she chased me here, longing for me.

These were the words I wanted to hear directly from her lips.

And yet, I have to let her go like this?

I couldn’t.

…But I couldn’t.

‘Please, just move.’

My body felt like it was creaking more and more.

It meant I had reached my limit with just physical strength.

Is there truly no way?

Should I just let her disappear like this, like this?

Right before my eyes?

Just as self-loathing began to creep up from my toes to the back of my neck,

Wi Seol-ah told me her second request.

‘…Call this child by name.’

‘…!’

Hearing that, something heavy dropped in my mind, a feeling like a thud.

It must be because I never imagined Wi Seol-ah’s request would be something like that.

‘Call me by name…’

I don’t call anyone by name.

If you ask why, there wasn’t anything particular that came to mind.

Maybe there was something in the past,

but now, it’s just vague.

If I were to dig into the reasons I might have had in the past,

I suppose I was just scared.

By calling someone by name,

engraving that person’s name and existence within me,

I was afraid that someone who became important enough to be engraved within my body would see my incompetence and rotten core, despise me, and run away.

That must have been what I feared so much.

As time flowed and flowed until now, the mere act of calling someone’s name with my lips felt awkward,

and somewhat uncomfortable.

It had become a habit.

Not calling someone’s name.

Engraving someone within me by thinking of them as that important.

‘…No, that’s not it. I’m just scared.’

I erased the excuses I was conjuring.

I tried to act tough, like I’d overcome everything, but…

…I knew the truth myself.

In my past life, it was because I was dissatisfied with myself.

Right after the war broke out, it was because I didn’t want to be shaken by someone’s death.

Now, in an era where bloodshed and war are inevitable,

in this land filled with secrets of the world, not just the Heavenly Demon, because I couldn’t resolve anything,

I try not to hold anyone in my heart. Even while desperately striving to protect them.

Because I was filled with anxiety, wondering if I could truly protect them.

‘Then…’

Did Wi Seol-ah notice my weakness and make such a request?

Since I couldn’t do it in the past, maybe she wants me to change this time around.

Is that what she meant by asking me to cherish the current Wi Seol-ah, or to call her by name?

Yet, ironically,

‘She doesn’t ask me to do the same for herself?’

She wasn’t asking me to do it for the self facing me now.

It’s pathetic and sad.

Because she lived her entire life for others, not herself,

even arriving at this moment, she doesn’t take care of herself.

It was so sorrowful.

You are, after all, the Divine Sword (神劍) even now.

That image is etched in my heart, and I wished that in this life, she wouldn’t live such a life.

I hoped she wouldn’t wield a sword,

hoped she wouldn’t learn martial arts,

hoped she would live with a smile, without losing her expression.

hoped she would live for herself rather than others,

hoped she would live doing what she wanted.

If possible, I wished I could be in the place where the Divine Sword should be,

so I could bear the burdens she was meant to carry.

That was my mindset.

‘But…’

After experiencing regression and coming this far, what have I achieved?

Nothing.

I truly achieved nothing.

Wi Seol-ah ended up wielding a sword.

She learned martial arts, and as if her past life’s talent wasn’t a lie, she reached the peak level within a few years.

The child who always smiled gradually lost her expression,

and she said she wielded the sword to protect me.

In the end, it means she wielded the sword again for someone.

It’s just that this time, that someone was me.

‘You fucking idiot.’

If I said I wanted to change things, but the most important thing hasn’t changed at all,

what the hell kind of life am I living now?

Pasasasa….

The energy emanating from Wi Seol-ah gradually faded.

Along with the energy, I saw Wi Seol-ah slowly collapsing.

She knelt and closed her eyes.

She was preparing for farewell.

‘Wait.’

I wasn’t ready for anything yet.

What are you preparing for on your own?

Having experienced regression, I’ve now reached a life I couldn’t have dared to imagine in my past life.

I gained the moniker ‘True Dragon’.

I, who was once called the young master of the Gu family,

am now called by a rather cool moniker, even if it’s embarrassing.

This time, I won’t live a shameful life.

Furthermore, I’ll protect those around me and the future,

and eventually bring peace to myself too.

That’s what I thought.

And although my life now is already so different from my past life,

‘So what.’

Ttu-duk.

Unable to withstand the pressure, the capillaries in my eyes burst.

‘So what will you do?’

Fame and honor.

And peace?

It’s meaningless.

If I can’t even save this one woman before my eyes,

what meaning does all of that hold?

Ppa-deudeudeuk-!

I draw upon more strength to overcome the pressure.

My body, already at its limit, screamed, but I didn’t care.

If it breaks, I can fix it.

For now, I only look forward.

I’ll deal with what’s further ahead later.

‘Please.’

Even if I break free from here, what could I do?

What could I do if I went to her? She’s already fading; would anything change if I went to her?

‘Please.’

It’s a futile effort.

They tell me to just watch and grieve for now.

Such thoughts swirled in my mind, but…

…more than those rational thoughts,

a small instinct that I couldn’t leave her like that right now was far more dominant.

Even if my life ended right here,

I couldn’t leave her as she was.

The moment I thought that,

Saaah….

‘…Huh?’

I felt a sensation as if someone was embracing me from behind.

Warm hands briefly embraced my neck,

and then slowly held both my hands.

That’s what it felt like.

My body was alone, and besides Wi Seol-ah, no one else was nearby.

It’s warm.

It was so warm that my exhausted body and my mind, which had been in a typhoon, felt momentarily calm.

And then,

I also felt the pressure that had been crushing my entire body disappear.

My hands moved.

My feet lifted off the floor.

I rushed forward and embraced Wi Seol-ah.

‘Ah…?’

Ignoring the pain I felt as I moved my body,

I pulled Wi Seol-ah’s small body into my embrace.

‘How…?’

Wi Seol-ah exclaimed in surprise, held in my arms.

‘How… how can you move…’

‘Wi Seol-ah.’

‘…!’

Holding her tightly, I called her name by her ear.

She, who had exclaimed in surprise,

fell silent, perhaps flustered by being called by name.

‘…Where do you think you’re going, acting on your own?’

‘…Ah…’

‘If you’re going to leave, shouldn’t you at least listen to what people say before you go?’

Wi Seol-ah, hearing my strained words,

slowly wrapped her hands around my back.

‘…I guess it’s right for me to die.’

‘What?’

‘They say when something too happy happens to a person, they die soon after. If this isn’t that, am I perhaps dreaming?’

‘…’

I tightened my embrace slightly.

I felt warmth in my arms.

I could even feel her heart beating.

Even so, I couldn’t stop the energy from fading.

What should I do?

How now…

[…Embrace her.]

A voice reached my ears.

It was a familiar voice.

‘This voice…’

As I recalled the owner of the voice, my eyes were about to widen,

[There’s no time. Hurry…]

the urging voice fell upon my ears.

There was no hesitation.

Because I knew as well that there was no time for deliberation.

Uung.

I activated the Demonic Absorption Technique. Unlike how my dantian energy wouldn’t move earlier,

it was activating properly this time.

‘Gu… Gongja?’

Then Wi Seol-ah called out to me, as if sensing something,

‘…Stay still.’

‘What… are you doing?’

If she knew what I was doing, would she try to stop me?

She definitely would.

She might even scold me, telling me not to.

Imagining that might be somewhat amusing, but…

‘Since when have I ever listened well to others?’

I had no intention of listening.

‘You were selfish too. I’m going to do as I please.’

‘…Ah… no. I…’

The energy emanating from Wi Seol-ah, which had been scattering into the air, changed direction and headed towards me.

I could see the energy entering my body,

but I felt nothing.

Nothing at all.

It meant that even though the energy was entering my body, I felt absolutely nothing.

‘I don’t know. If this is right.’

‘Gu Gongja…’

‘I don’t know what will happen if it becomes like this.’

‘Then…!’

‘But still,’

I couldn’t see Wi Seol-ah’s expression.

Since I was holding her, I couldn’t see her face.

‘I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can let you go like this.’

‘…’

Wi Seol-ah didn’t reply after hearing my words.

However, I felt Wi Seol-ah’s hands, wrapped around my back, tighten slightly.

That was enough.

A thought suddenly crossed my mind.

…What if we had lived slightly different lives?

Wi Seol-ah’s words kept echoing in my ears.

Would we have lived better lives then?

You too.

And me too.

The light emanating from Wi Seol-ah gradually faded, then returned as if nothing had happened.

Only then did I relax my grip and shift my position to examine Wi Seol-ah.

Wi Seol-ah had her eyes closed.

‘…’

When she opened her eyes again,

it wouldn’t be the Wi Seol-ah I had just faced, but the Wi Seol-ah I knew in this life.

Will this Wi Seol-ah remember what just happened?

Or, does she know about my secret too?

More than thinking about that now, I ran my hand down my chest.

‘…What happened.’

I absorbed the energy into my body,

but whether in my dantian or my heart, I felt no trace of her anywhere.

There was no other way to recall it.

I simply followed the words the voice told me.

‘…’

The unknown voice that conveyed the message to me.

I wondered how I could so easily follow someone else’s words,

but I had already heard that voice before.

Never.

It was a voice I had never erased from my mind in my entire life, so it was natural.

If it wasn’t my imagination, the owner of that voice was definitely…

The one who left me in the distant past.

‘…Mother.’

Because it was my mother’s voice.