Chapter 672: My name is.

My life was like a long cave.

Not a single ray of light entered, so I couldn’t see an inch ahead, and I had come too far to turn back, so I couldn’t even agonize over it, yet there was no hope that there would be an end to moving forward.

I walk and walk endlessly.

If my feet tripped and I fell, I’d get up and walk again.

When the darkness scared me and my body trembled with fear, I endured it and walked again.

That’s how I lived.

No, is it right to say I lived?

I asked myself and also answered.

When asked, I answer. ‘It was something someone had to do, so I just did it.’

Then, I asked myself again in response. ‘Can I truly dare to excuse it as something that had to be done?’ ‘Do great causes and convictions exist within that act?’

‘…’

I did not answer.

It’s true that I couldn’t.

I know it.

That such things don’t exist within me.

Since when did I dream of compromise?

I never dreamed of it.

I never possessed it or wished for it in the first place.

Then, what is my great cause?

For what did I live that life like that?

I couldn’t withstand being swept away by the rushing current.

First, I try to make that excuse. ‘I couldn’t help it.’ ‘It was the best I could do.’ ‘Otherwise, I would die.’ ‘That’s why I had no choice but to do it.’

I lived thinking like this, but.

‘Really?’

When I asked again, the answer was already decided.

‘No.’

It’s all self-justification.

In the first place, I shouldn’t have entered the cave.

Even knowing that, I walked in myself.

Why? Because that was the only place I could run away to.

After entering like that, I searched endlessly.

For the one who pushed my back.

Someone pushed my back, making me enter the cave, and since I’m living like this, there had to be someone to blame.

Even when trembling in the darkness.

Even when walking endlessly without finding hope.

Even when I collapsed in exhaustion and wailed.

I looked for someone to blame.

I knew.

I already knew that I couldn’t blame anyone.

It’s just that.

I needed someone to blame because I couldn’t accept it.

That was the kind of life.

A life that entered like fleeing, couldn’t reach the end of the cave, and faded away in the darkness.

A life like a worm that died fleeing without seeing a single light.

I lived like that, died, and reincarnated.

I never thought it was a miracle.

Since it was something I never wished for, I was afraid to express joy.

I just got it, so I live. Let’s live a slightly different life this time.

Let’s hide away in the mountains where no one knows, living so secretly that even mice and birds don’t know.

I thought so and lived, but.

‘Things didn’t go as planned.’

Truly, nothing goes as the heart wishes.

The unstoppable gust swept me away again.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the eye of the storm.

‘Was it something I couldn’t avoid?’

Is fate something a mere human couldn’t stop?

Will I eventually be swept away by disaster?

Then, what should I do?

I.

What should I do?

‘What are you worrying about?’

‘I’ said.

‘Just make sure it doesn’t happen like that.’

If I have no choice but to be swept away.

Let’s make the rushing wind shallower.

Or, let’s make it so the wind doesn’t blow.

Wouldn’t that suffice?

Chiiiiiiik-!

Heat rises.

The boiling emotions affected my eyeballs.

Energy seeps into my body.

There’s a precursor (前兆) ahead.

If left as is, it’s a precursor (前兆) that will become wind and sweep me away.

It will become a typhoon that shakes not only me but the entire world.

Therefore, I must chew and swallow it before it blows.

Before it becomes a greater disaster, I must handle it now.

For what?

To take the place of the Divine Sword (神劍).

‘To ultimately save the world….’

…

…Save the world?

‘Me?’

Kwaddeudeuk–!!

Kwang-!

Tam (貪), which was flying towards the Heavenly Demon, changed its angle and crashed into the tree next to it.

Saaaa….

Tam, having crashed into the tree, dispersed into mist as it couldn’t inflict direct damage aside from its authority.

Having changed Tam’s angle, I had to stare at the Heavenly Demon with my body stiffened.

“Hoo… hook… hoo.”

The breath imbued with heat flowed out roughly.

My body was hot with emotions filling my head.

“Haa… hoo….”

I repeatedly took deep breaths and covered my forehead with my palm.

Something felt strange.

Saving the world.

My body stiffened at the words I thought myself.

“Huuk… hoo…!”

Beyond the rough, gasping breaths, I cooled my stiffened head.

‘I save the world?’

It was too narrow-minded to be called a reason I recalled.

‘Who’s saving anything anyway.’

Kill the Heavenly Demon to save the world.

Replace the Divine Sword and save the world.

It was an act done with such justification.

But.

‘Do I even have the qualification to do that?’

Seureuk.

As the thought came to mind, the strength left my hands.

“…Haa…. Ha….”

I had forgotten what my first recalled objective was after reincarnating in the first place.

‘Live while running away moderately.’

That was my goal.

I had to escape from the things I did, avoid what would happen in the future, and live holding my breath.

That was clearly my goal, yet.

As things got tangled and intertwined, didn’t my thoughts change?

Since something came up that I had to protect, let’s try to stop the bloodshed.

That’s why I started this.

I must act for the things I need to protect, regardless of the means or methods.

I convinced myself of that.

I don’t hesitate to kill someone.

In my past life, I captured those who deserved to die and made them into demonic beings.

Most of them were people I’d kill later after using them.

There were those I’d use and discard, and those I’d use as shields.

Although I chose this because they were people who deserved to die, I knew long ago it wasn’t the right thing to do.

But I didn’t care.

I had no lingering attachments, and I had long ago thrown away guilt.

This is what I was preparing for, yet.

Is this truly something done to save the world?

‘Maybe so.’

The purpose I’m heading towards could be that.

However.

‘Do you really think it’s for that?’

An act done to save the world.

Did I truly think so?

It sends shivers down my spine.

‘Where did it go wrong?’

I felt like I was suffocating from the thoughts I conjured myself.

Don’t I already know?

That I have absolutely no interest in saving the world.

That’s just a bonus.

‘I don’t care if this crappy world collapses or not.’

Since when did I start thinking like I’m some kind of hero?

It’s a wrong sensation.

The head that had been heating up slowly cooled down.

My pupils began to return to normal.

Only then could I see.

Ttuk-.

The Heavenly Demon, bleeding and looking this way.

With eyes that seemed somewhat sad, blood flowed from the corners of her mouth.

Those eyes bothered me.

Is it because they were damnably similar eyes?

They bothered me even more.

Yet, something inside asked.

‘That woman shedding blood.’

‘Is she really the disaster you think she is?’

‘If not a disaster, then what?’

I firmly held onto my thoughts.

It’s purely because she looks exactly like Wi Seol-ah that I hesitate.

It must be so.

A way to kill the Heavenly Demon.

No, I gained the hope that I might be able to kill her.

My Tam can even devour the Heavenly Demon’s power.

I felt such conviction.

If so, I should just rush forward and devour her right now, but.

“Why didn’t you dodge?”

My mouth was asking the Heavenly Demon a question.

“…”

“You could have easily dodged. Why didn’t you?”

The barrier shattered.

And so, the Heavenly Demon took a blow from the Hellfire, but in reality, it was a level she could have avoided.

Yet, the Heavenly Demon didn’t dodge.

It was the same earlier; she was dragged into something she didn’t need to be dragged into, and she took all my attacks without counterattacking.

“It’s the same just now, you. You intended to take this hit too, didn’t you?”

Tam rushed towards the Heavenly Demon’s barrier.

She would know if she had eyes.

That Tam could chew and swallow barriers.

Seueu.

I saw the Heavenly Demon’s shattered barrier regenerating.

It seems I can simply break it, but completely eliminating it is impossible.

Even so, creating an opportunity is no different.

So, when she should have been dodging Tam, she just watched Tam rush at her.

“Why didn’t you dodge? Did you think you’d win even without dodging?”

“…”

“Answer me. What on earth were you thinking-“

“Because you seemed like you wanted to.”

“What?”

To my rough question, the Heavenly Demon answered calmly.

“Because you looked uncomfortable. Because you wanted to. So I was there.”

“What are you talking about? Answer properly….”

“Aren’t you?”

Her words, accompanied by a tilt of her head, momentarily blocked the words I was about to spit out.

But it was only for a moment.

“So, are you trying to die for me?”

She took the hit because I wanted to hit her.

If she came because I wanted to drag her here.

Does that mean she intends to die now since I’m trying to kill her?

To that question, the Heavenly Demon answered immediately.

“You wouldn’t have killed me.”

I ground my teeth at her subtle conviction.

“Bullshit. Was everything I just did like playing house?”

Did my struggling desperately to kill her seem pathetic?

How could she have such fucking confidence?

“You wouldn’t have.”

“So. Why are you so sure?”

“I don’t know. But I feel like it. Besides.”

The Heavenly Demon wiped away the last traces of blood with her sleeve.

“My sister told me not to fight recklessly.”

“…Ha.”

Hwarureureuk-!

I held flames in my fingertips.

Repeating compression and rotation, I cast the Seonchang.

Much more energy seeped in than when I first used it.

The limit I can contain and control.

It’s thirty percent of my capacity.

If the Seongchang I used earlier was ten percent, this was three times that amount.

“You think I can’t kill you?”

It’s a ridiculous statement.

It’s not someone else, it’s the Heavenly Demon right in front of me.

No matter how different her appearance and feel are from my memories.

It means she’s still the being who caused the bloodshed in my past life.

And yet, facing such a being, you think I can’t kill her?

“Fuck off.”

I aimed the completed Seongchang at the Heavenly Demon.

“If you’re not going to resist, just stay put. It’ll be easier that way.”

Don’t be swayed by that appearance.

“I’m going to kill you here.”

“…”

Despite the warning, the Heavenly Demon showed no reaction.

She just stared at me with her purple eyes.

So that’s the reaction, huh.

“Yeah, let’s see if you won’t dodge until the very end….”

“No.”

Mmeomchit.

Just as I was about to change my stance, the Heavenly Demon’s words made me freeze for a moment.

No?

“Suddenly, what isn’t?”

“I am not ‘you’.”

What kind of bullshit is that?

I scrunched up my face and frowned.

“My name is… not something like ‘you’ but….”

The Heavenly Demon, about to continue speaking, suddenly shut her mouth.

Frustration seeped into her expressionless face.

‘Name?’

The Heavenly Demon’s name.

I think Gu Huibi called her something like ‘Yeon’ earlier. I wonder if that’s what she’s talking about.

No, did she even have a name in the first place?

She called herself the Heavenly Demon. She never uttered anything else.

“What’s your name?”

“…”

I asked, but the Heavenly Demon remained silent.

If she had said ‘no’, she would have had a name to utter.

Just then.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

The Heavenly Demon bit her lip as if frustrated and said that.

“…What was my name?”

She asked, looking at me instead.