Chapter 612: Biwoegun.

This memory.

It is about a promise made someday.

A story from a time when I was more insignificant than now.

We were young.

It’s a memory from when we knew nothing, a time when we watched the falling snow without hating it.

[The Princess saw it in a book this time.]

[Uh, yeah.]

Even though she tried talking to him every day, he only responded as if annoyed.

Still, the girl would excitedly talk to the boy.

[They say the people of the Central Plains are quite exceptional.]

[Suddenly?]

As she brought up the Central Plains, the boy couldn’t help but react.

The girl knew.

She knew it was a reaction born from the boy being unable to stand the annoyance.

But it was okay.

Even just conversations like this were enough for the girl.

[That’s what the book said.]

[What book did you read this time?]

[Meeting the Central Plains’ Number One Beauty, Binggung’s First Young Master.]

[…]

It was the title of a book that the maids secretly enjoyed reading.

It was also a book the girl had recently been engrossed in.

When she told him about it, the boy frowned as if he’d misheard something.

[Isn’t that contraband?]

In the Northern Sea, items related to the Central Plains were prohibited from circulation.

So he asked if this was one of them.

[Hmph!]

The girl shouted at the boy, as if furious.

[This was written directly in the Northern Sea, so it’s not a Central Plains item!]

[Ah, right.]

Just as he was about to casually dismiss it, thinking ‘oh, okay’.

The boy spoke to the girl, unable to hold back any longer.

[…So, why are you talking like that…?]

[Hm? Is it strange?]

[Very.]

[The book definitely said it like this….]

I tried imitating the speech of the blood relatives from the book.

Apparently, it sounded strange.

[Where on earth do people even talk like that?]

[The First Young Master in the book spoke that way.]

A warm and slightly suggestive story about a cold, elegant young master meeting a Central Plains woman and changing.

That was the personality of the male protagonist in it.

On a sudden impulse, the girl spoke with a serious expression.

[You are the first woman to treat this Young Master like this.]

That was the line written there.

After that, surely.

[Won’t you marry me?]

The words were probably written there.

[…]

Hearing this, the boy paused for a moment and looked at the girl, dumbfounded.

Then, he opened his mouth as if he had something to say.

But.

[Ah! It’s snowing.]

The boy couldn’t bring himself to say what he wanted to.

It was because the girl got excited again by what started falling from the sky.

[Look, Cheonga! It’s snow!]

[…Yeah, it’s snow.]

To her excited words, the boy could only offer a bitter smile.

[You don’t even listen to my answer. Then why did you ask?]

[Hm? What did you say?]

[No. Nothing.]

He brushed it off with a smile.

Someone like me shouldn’t dare to covet someone like her.

The boy thought just that, once again.

[The snow looks pretty today, doesn’t it?]

[It does.]

The girl looked at the snow.

[It’s pretty.]

The boy was looking at the girl who resembled the snow.

Yes.

This was a memory from a time when the falling snow wasn’t hated.

---

I move forward, cutting through the blizzard.

How long have I been walking?

About a little over two hours have passed.

I continue advancing, walking on the snow.

Naturally, no footprints were left in the snow.

Woowoong-!

I turn my gaze following the vibration felt in my heart.

The speed wasn’t particularly fast.

‘It’s not easy to move while sensing the vibration.’

My heart is impatient, but I can’t easily control it.

It’s because this is the first time I’ve tried using it this way.

Namgung Bi-ah’s Thunder Fang (雷牙), somewhere far away.

I must continue sensing the vibration coming from there.

It’s faint yet distinct.

A contradictory sensation, but that was the perfect description.

This is an ability I realized over the past few years, after shedding my skin.

I could sense the aura of monsters.

To be precise.

‘Only the monsters I’ve used.’

I could sense anything whose effects I had personally experienced.

If you ask how I found this out.

‘…I found out while trying to find something I lost.’

The mask given by the Dark King; I lost it once, and this was the method I accidentally discovered while sweating bullets trying to find it.

When I asked the Dark King about it, what did he say?

‘He said it might be a trait of dragons.’

I wouldn’t know.

What kind of beings are dragons, anyway?

To think they have things like this as traits.

If I had to think of a reason.

‘It’s the fact that monsters were originally obtained from dragons.’

They referred to all the hundred-level monsters as dragons.

The initial monsters were all things spat out by them.

Perhaps that’s why I can do this.

That’s just my guess.

Well, I’d have to meet other dragons to know.

‘Ah, but I have met them.’

Like the Dark King, who was turning into a dragon due to a curse.

Or the form the Palace Lord took just before we met, which was similar.

If not them.

Someone with red eyes flashes through my mind.

‘The Blood Demon (血魔).’

The three encounters with the Blood Demon.

During those encounters, the bastard uttered words that made me suspect he was a dragon.

Moreover, I still remembered what Blood Qi had said.

‘Something about the Dragon Emperor (龍帝)… I think.’

What could that mean?

Does it simply mean the leader of dragons?

Or is there something else to it?

And, does it correctly refer to the Blood Demon?

‘Since Blood Qi was obtained from the Blood Demon, it must be him.’

So does that mean the Blood Demon is the leader of dragons?

‘I need to grasp the exact meaning of that too.’

Of course, I couldn’t afford to think about such things right now.

As I walked little by little, following the aura.

“Biwoegun wouldn’t have done that.”

A voice came from behind me.

It was the voice that had been muttering earlier.

Hearing that, I let out a soft sigh.

“…Biwoegun.”

“You’ve said that name more than ten times. Shut your mouth. It’s distracting.”

“…”

Only then did it become a bit quieter.

I needed to concentrate, but the constant muttering was bothering me.

I felt a sense of her bowing her head deeply.

I could feel her gloomy emotions from here.

“You kept whining, begging me to take you, so I went through the trouble of bringing you here. Why are you in this state?”

The person being carried was none other than the Northern Sea’s Little Princess, Yuri.

Right after we encountered each other at the cave entrance.

We were accompanying each other, though not by choice.

“You said you wouldn’t be a burden, at least. If this isn’t a burden, what is?”

“B-but…! The Young Master told me to get on his back…!”

“It’s because you can’t even manage proper Step-Control (踏步). If you could do it properly, would I have told you to get on my back?”

“…”

Step-Control is about finely adjusting one’s footing in any situation to ensure mobility without issues.

To step on things like water or snow, precise control and considerable footing force were necessary.

It was something Yuri, despite her first-rate skills, couldn’t do.

That’s why I’m carrying her on my back.

‘Originally, I would have just left her at the entrance.’

The conversation I overheard at the entrance was the problem.

She pleaded desperately that Biwoegun wouldn’t do such a thing, saying he had a promise with her, so he couldn’t possibly have. That’s why I decided to hear her out.

I showed interest because it seemed related to that bastard Woohyeok.

‘Things got a bit complicated.’

The situation became slightly more troublesome.

I looked at Yuri, who was on my back, and said.

“As I said again. I am not going to find the Biwoegun you’re talking about.”

When I asked Yuri what promise she had with Biwoegun, I didn’t get an answer.

Instead, Yuri looked at me and said.

[Please, take me with you. I beg you….]

Where on earth was she trying to go to speak so desperately?

“…I know.”

“But why did you ask me to take you?”

I asked, changing direction.

I hadn’t said I was going to meet Woohyeok.

I had clearly stated I was just leaving.

Yuri, realizing I was going somewhere outside, even grabbed onto my pant leg.

“Then, Young Master, how did you end up taking me out?”

“Hmm.”

Why did I bring her out?

I thought about the reason for a moment.

I found the answer quickly.

“That’s what I wonder too.”

“What?”

“Come to think of it, there was no need to bring you along.”

It’s literally a pointless companionship.

Whether I’m traveling incognito or covering long distances.

Yuri herself is nothing but a hindrance to this task.

Yet, knowing all that, I brought Yuri along because she desperately asked.

If I had to recall a reason for this.

“It’s just that… you looked desperately earnest.”

It was such a ridiculously simple reason.

Because the voice searching for Woohyeok, not anyone else, was so desperate.

Because she was searching for hope with eyes that couldn’t quite believe.

That’s why I brought her.

“…For just that reason?”

“It’s the crime of having a bad friend, what else.”

I said with a chuckle.

My friends barely fill one hand, a pitiful life where I can’t even fill it completely.

This trouble was caused by a guy I can barely call a close friend.

“So, what’s the promise you made with him?”

“…”

“You’re not going to tell me that?”

This is about the third time I’ve asked.

What could they have promised for her to believe Woohyeok wouldn’t do that?

I was curious, but…

“…”

Yuri remained silent this time too.

Meaning she wouldn’t answer.

Seeing this, I said.

“If you don’t answer, I’ll abandon you. Will you still not answer?”

“…!”

As I spat out the threat, Yuri flinched.

What would happen if I just threw her away here?

It probably wouldn’t be a very good situation.

Yuri surely knew that too.

She tightened her grip, still not answering.

‘She’s not saying it.’

Is she thinking I won’t abandon her?

Curiosity struck me, wondering if I should just toss her away, but I let it slide for now.

“Fine then, just tell me what kind of relationship you have with that guy. You can tell me that much, right?”

What is the relationship between Woohyeok and Yuri?

Given how much she wailed, I figured there must be something.

“Perhaps, love….”

“We are close friends. Very old friends.”

“I see.”

So, friends.

Very old friends at that…

‘The Princess and Woohyeok are friends.’

If it’s ‘old friends,’ then since when exactly?

I heard Woohyeok was from the Northern Sea.

I never imagined the Princess might be his childhood friend.

‘Ah, speaking of which.’

Something Woohyeok said came to mind.

“So, do you know who his fiancée is?”

“…What?”

It was something Woohyeok said once.

That he had a fiancée.

‘Back then, I thought, what’s a Taoist doing with a fiancée?’

I even thought if he had one, she’d be from the Central Plains, but given how things turned out…

‘Maybe she’s not from the Central Plains, but from the Northern Sea?’

That thought crossed my mind.

Of course, whatever the case may be.

‘What’s the point of a fiancée now, anyway?’

This was merely curiosity about something I’d heard.

But then.

“What… what are you talking about?”

“Hm?”

“A fiancée?”

Yuri’s voice, upon hearing that, sounded unusual.