Chapter 202: I’ll Be Back. (2)

I’ll Be Back. (2)

For a moment, I wondered if I was seeing things.

And for good reason, because Wi Seol-ah shouldn’t have been sitting here out of the blue.

“Why are you here?”

It was the most baffling thing that had happened recently.

Perhaps, I wasn’t as surprised as I was yesterday when I glimpsed Gu Huibi’s side thanks to the Orb of the Heavenly Path.

Why is Wi Seol-ah, who should be asleep in her quarters by now, here?

“You….”

“Where are you going?”

“What?”

Before I could even ask, Wi Seol-ah asked me back.

“Young Master, where are you going?”

In the dark night, barely illuminated by moonlight, Wi Seol-ah’s puffy eyes met mine.

“…Uh.”

For a moment, I wondered if I should just run off without a word, but looking into those eyes, I just couldn’t.

“I’m… just going somewhere for a bit.”

“Where?”

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

“…If I wouldn’t understand even if you told me, why are you going alone, Young Master?”

At Wi Seol-ah’s words, my mouth, which had been eagerly opening, snapped shut.

Somehow, it felt a bit more serious than her usual childlike tone.

Because of that, I felt hesitant to speak carelessly, unlike how I normally would.

“I, and the older sisters too, were very worried.”

“…”

Somehow, I felt like Wi Seol-ah was reprimanding me.

But the Wi Seol-ah I know wouldn’t be like that.

As I looked at Wi Seol-ah, feeling a subtle emotion.

Wi Seol-ah continued speaking, looking at me like that.

“Young Master, why do you always try to do things alone?”

“What do you mean I try to do things alone?”

“You’re trying to do it alone right now.”

“It’s because this is a dangerous place for you all to go.”

“A dangerous place?”

“Yes. This is unavoidable…”

“Then what about me, going to such a place alone, Young Master?”

The back-and-forth conversation spiraled endlessly.

In the end, I thought about getting angry, asking if that was the same thing, but…

Drip, drip.

Seeing Wi Seol-ah’s face, I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

Because the sight of tears streaming down her cheeks looked so pitiful.

“I… worked hard too. I trained hard… and learned swordsmanship.”

Wi Seol-ah’s words, spoken through tears, made me frown at the meaning behind them.

“…Learned what?”

Training and learning swordsmanship?

Wi Seol-ah?

From whom.

‘Could it be the Sword Saint?’

The only person who came to mind immediately was the Sword Saint.

In my past life too, Wi Seol-ah was naturally the Sword Saint’s successor.

The martial arts she used were also the Sword Saint’s. In a way, it was natural.

The problem is that, in this life too, she picked up a sword.

However, she shouldn’t have.

I was the one who most wished she wouldn’t wield a sword in this life.

I even thought my current life was given to me for her sake.

She shouldn’t have taken up a sword by now.

“Why are you learning the sword?”

“Because… Because then I can protect you, Young Master.”

“What?”

At Wi Seol-ah’s words, I felt a dizzying blow, as if I’d been hit on the head with a club.

‘Because of me?’

Where on earth did this thread get so tangled?

There were so many knots that I couldn’t find where to start untangling it, even if I tried to follow it slowly.

“What kind of nonsense is that? Why would you protect me?”

Even if I don’t know about the past life, the current Wi Seol-ah is, at best, just a maidservant.

She possesses outstanding beauty and greater physical strength than others her age, but.

Even so, she was ultimately still a servant.

And I hoped that she would live such a life, even if it meant…

I hoped she would be in peace.

I couldn’t keep her as a servant forever, but.

At least for now, that was the case.

As if oblivious to my feelings, she continued speaking, her voice trembling.

“I… I can do it too… They said I could do it.”

“Who? Your grandfather?”

“…”

Wi Seol-ah couldn’t answer my question and remained silent, but.

No matter how I looked at it, the only one who could say that to Wi Seol-ah was the Sword Saint.

However.

‘Would he really have said that to Wi Seol-ah?’

Honestly, it was hard to understand.

Meanwhile, after hearing that Wi Seol-ah was training with the sword.

I felt like I understood the reason Wi Seol-ah used to disappear every evening in the past.

Was that all for training?

Then… maybe she came out for training now too and found me?

‘At this late hour of the dawn?’

I don’t think so.

While I was lost in thought, Wi Seol-ah spoke to me.

“Can’t… you not go?”

Her tearful voice made things difficult for me, but my answer wouldn’t change.

Because it was something that had to be done.

“You said… it’s dangerous if you go. Then can’t you not go… Ugh.”

At Wi Seol-ah’s words, I tried to say I couldn’t, but.

Wi Seol-ah’s mouth, which had been continuing her words, snapped shut.

She held back the tears that were about to flow and closed her mouth, holding back her words.

What could it be?

As I looked at her with a question, Wi Seol-ah opened her mouth again.

“…Okay…”

“Understood… what?”

Did she realize I was going to refuse and decide to say ‘okay’?

Wi Seol-ah wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.

“If this won’t do, then together…”

Wi Seol-ah, mid-sentence, suddenly shuddered.

Soon, Wi Seol-ah spoke again, as if she’d thought of another way, but.

She cut herself off again and closed her mouth.

She did this a few times, and the tears brimming in her eyes looked ready to spill at the slightest touch.

The current Wi Seol-ah looked somewhat unstable.

“Then… what can I do…? If it’s like this, I can’t do anything!”

Seeing Wi Seol-ah like that, I felt something was strange and wondered if I should approach her, when suddenly.

“…!”

I started sensing movement from home.

It seems they noticed I had disappeared.

Because it was obvious things would get troublesome if I stayed like this.

I quickly grabbed an item from my pocket and forced it into Wi Seol-ah’s hand.

This was a red ornament I had received once as a gift for Elder Yi through Maehwaseon.

“Just hold onto this.”

“Young Mas…”

“Sorry, let’s talk again when I get back. I’ll be back soon.”

I roughly patted Wi Seol-ah’s hair, then kicked off the ground and leaped.

As the distance grew, Wi Seol-ah behind me bothered me, but.

I couldn’t turn back.

I felt like there were many things to talk about with Wi Seol-ah, but.

‘We can talk about it when I return.’

First, I have to deal with the urgent matter.

That’s all I could think right now.

******************

After Gu Yangcheon departed.

Left alone, Wi Seol-ah was wiping away her ceaseless tears.

She tightly clutched the ornament Gu Yangcheon gave her in her hand.

As she gazed endlessly in the direction he had left.

Someone spoke to Wi Seol-ah.

[Child…]

Hearing the voice, Wi Seol-ah wore a rare look of anger.

“Why can’t I?”

Her questioning words were quite sharp.

[…]

“I can’t ask you not to go, and I can’t follow you… Why can’t I do anything?”

At the words spoken with such sorrow, the owner of the voice had no choice but to remain silent.

Especially since they understood Wi Seol-ah’s feelings better than anyone.

“You told me… If I worked hard, I could do it. That I could protect the Young Master. So why can’t I do anything…?”

[Right now… there’s nothing you can do.]

“I don’t really understand.”

[Because you wished for it so earnestly, you came here to see him like this, didn’t you?]

The moment I knew Gu Yangcheon was leaving somewhere.

I sought her out for help, wanting to see him somehow, but.

“Was this something only I wanted?”

[…]

Wi Seol-ah couldn’t understand.

“…Didn’t you want this too, Unnie?”

To Wi Seol-ah’s question, she couldn’t say anything.

Because Wi Seol-ah wasn’t wrong.

[…I…]

She tried to say something, but her heavy lips wouldn’t move easily.

And thinking of her like that, Wi Seol-ah said.

“You’re unfair, Unnie.”

Wi Seol-ah thought she was unfair.

“You like the Young Master too, Unnie.”

She liked him.

Wi Seol-ah knew this better than anyone.

Perhaps more than the feelings she had for Gu Yangcheon.

It was a deeper, heavier emotion.

“But why do you keep hiding…?”

Therefore, Wi Seol-ah couldn’t understand why she held back.

If you like him that much.

Wouldn’t it be natural to express those feelings?

To the young Wi Seol-ah, she just seemed foolish.

[It’s truly strange…]

“What is?”

[That because the circumstances were different, I too could have become like you…]

The subtle differences that changed from the beginning.

Made the current Wi Seol-ah.

In her eyes, the current Wi Seol-ah.

Was a completely different person from herself.

She didn’t hesitate if she had something to say.

She was honest about her feelings and didn’t hesitate to express them.

As if she was confident that Gu Yangcheon wouldn’t hate her or push her away, no matter what.

Although Gu Yangcheon, as he is now, made her this way as a child.

Even so, she envied the current Wi Seol-ah, yet.

Felt sorry.

Asking Wi Seol-ah to hold back her words for his sake,

Asking her not to show her feelings earlier,

Even wishing for separation, it was all her doing.

She had nothing she could say to the young Wi Seol-ah.

“…”

Wi Seol-ah, who had been blaming her, also eventually fell silent.

As they shared each other’s feelings.

Wi Seol-ah could tell what emotions she was looking at her with.

She simply suppressed her tears and tightly gripped the ornament Gu Yangcheon had given her.

Wi Seol-ah recalled the boy’s back, which she couldn’t reach.

“…Young Master.”

Remembering Gu Yangcheon’s hand stroking her hair at the last moment.

Wi Seol-ah gently stroked her own hair with her hand.

Her words were difficult and hard to understand.

And it was painful to watch Gu Yangcheon, always getting hurt from his busy movements, but.

“I miss him…”

Right now, I just miss the one who left.

That was the only simple thought the young Wi Seol-ah had.

******************

The verdant mountain range north of the front lines.

The mountain range, primarily composed of giant old trees and rocks.

Was a place filled with the vibrancy of a clear green light.

However, now.

Most of the green light that formed the vast terrain had disappeared.

Leaving only blackened, fallen old trees and the scorched remnants of life.

The heart of the mountain range.

In the center of the vast mountain range, where even traces no longer remained.

An intense heat, seeming capable of burning anything just by looking at it, swirled.

The flames rode the heat, soaring into the air.

Resembling a massive vortex.

The flames, greedily swallowing the surroundings and expanding their reach.

Were brutal and unhesitating.

After soaring and devastating the surroundings for a long time, the flames gradually subsided and disappeared in an instant.

As the flames disappeared, in the center where the vortex had been.

A large crater had been dug, and within it stood a fierce-looking man with his hands clasped behind his back.

The area around the crater was filled with charred corpses, burned black beyond recognition.

Easily numbering in the dozens.

All of them met their end without being able to resist the man’s touch even once.

They were all warriors belonging to the Black Night Palace, and this place was originally a branch of the Black Night Palace, but.

Now, not even a trace remained.

Having turned to ash by the man’s hand.

“…”

The man, surveying the scorched corpses around him, slowly turned his head to look behind him.

There, someone who wasn’t originally there was kneeling on one knee towards the man.

The respectful individual carefully handed a letter to the man and said.

“Master, a letter has arrived from Elder Yi.”

The man, Gu Cheol-un, immediately took the letter and opened it.

Inside the letter, written briefly in Elder Yi’s rough handwriting.

Reading the words, Gu Cheol-un’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

The letter contained the information Gu Cheol-un had been longing for.

Having read it, Gu Cheol-un immediately gave an order.

“First Sword Captain.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Ready the troops.”

Gu Cheol-un’s eyes, which had maintained a blank expression, gradually turned red.

Immediately after, a heavy aura, as if crushing the surroundings, descended.

The vast mountain range seemed to shrink before the man’s overwhelming presence.

Gu Cheol-un took a step forward and said.

“We’re going to the Mudong Mountain Range.”

As he finished speaking.

Flames erupted, and Gu Cheol-un disappeared.