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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Cyno
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“Th-that can’t be…!”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that… I never imagined you would come back like this. I… uh… well….”
“No…! I’ve come back with only you in my heart, and now you’re telling me you’ve already married…?”
Sirang looked at me with an expression that seemed ready to spill tears at any moment. But there was nothing I could do for her anymore.
If only I had given her some hint. But Sirang had been too hasty. Her desire to become a woman had burned so fiercely that she had lost sight of everything else.
“I’m sorry.”
“……”
“Let’s just remain friends. That’s the best I can offer.”
“…Friends?”
“That’s the best I can do.”
“…Fine. If that means I can at least stay by your side, then so be it….”
“Hm?”
Whether fortunate or unfortunate, Sirang accepted readily. And from that point on, she treated me only as a “friend.”
Until the end of the long regression, not once did she ever try to cross the line. We were able to remain as friends.
But it wasn’t just an ordinary friendship.
Not that it had any romantic edge to it.
“Y-you… your martial arts… what in the world…?”
“Hm? What’s the matter?”
“How can someone at twenty-two already be a transcendent master…?”
Sirang possessed martial talent greater than anyone I had ever seen.
Not simply outstanding talent, but the greatest under heaven.
The Heavenly Martial Body.
A martial endowment granted by the heavens themselves.
It was the very source that allowed Sirang, before even reaching thirty, to master the Guihua Manual to its peak.
I can say with certainty: I have never seen anyone with talent equal to Sirang’s. Ok-hwa? Cheon-hwa? Monstrous prodigies who reached the Realm of Transformation at thirty after ascending to Transcendence in their twenties — they couldn’t compare.
Even Namgung Sua, who suddenly blossomed with talent later in life, could not match Sirang. Aside from the Heavenly Demon — that irregular existence said to have been celebrated by the gods themselves at birth — no one could.
Naturally, she was in a league far beyond someone like me, born an ordinary dullard. Because of that, in the early stages, Sirang often outpaced me.
“Cheolbin, I want to be of help to you.”
“Hm? Help?”
“Now I’m certain—you’re not ordinary. You have a goal.”
“……”
“Use me. I’ll become your sword. The sharpest divine sword in the world.”
And indeed, what I needed most was someone to support me.
Sirang, true to her word, became my perfect sword.
She never revealed herself to the world—because she didn’t want to. She claimed she lived only for my sake.
By the time she was past thirty, she was already in the Realm of Transformation. If known, she would have been hailed as the greatest prodigy of the martial world. Yet she chose to remain my hidden blade alone.
Because she was in the Realm of Transformation, I could even reveal to her the truth of my regression. In the early days, I did so whenever she broke through.
But I stopped after realizing just how deep her obsession ran.
“…What?”
“It’s hard to believe, but everything I just said is true. You’re the only one.”
“No, that’s not the issue here….”
Though Sirang had set aside her romantic longing, her human attachment to me never disappeared. Perhaps it wasn’t love for me as a man, but for me as a person itself—after all, she had changed her very gender for my sake.
“Wh-what am I supposed to do? I can’t just let you suffer such hardships….”
“Sirang? Sirang?”
“J-just wait a little longer! I’ll figure something out soon! Somehow, some way, I’ll save you—just wait!”
“No… it’s not me you should be saving. It’s the world….”
Sirang tried all kinds of methods to break my cycle of regression. It was pointless, of course. Worse, each attempt only damaged her more and more.
And I knew better than anyone how clinging to the impossible can drive a person insane.
In the end, though she was of equal standing as a master, I shared my burdens only with Shinsung, keeping Sirang in the dark.
Fortunately, it never caused any real disaster.
Sirang was someone who obeyed my words absolutely. Whatever order I gave, she followed without question.
Assassination, espionage, lures, diversions, ambushes…
To secretly have a master of the Realm of Transformation as a weapon was truly reassuring.
As my personal assassin, she accomplished with ease the things I otherwise would have had to shoulder alone. In truth, she was the second greatest contributor to victory in the Great Blood War.
“Hey, Invincible East.”
“Ugh…! I told you not to call me that nickname…!”
“But it’s funny. Didn’t that guy you killed call you that before he died?”
“Sigh… I really need to change my martial art.”
Our relationship—assassin and employer, friend and friend—shifted during this lifetime. More precisely, after the Heavenly Demon was slain and all hardships were finally over.
“Cheolbin, I’m sorry.”
“Sirang?”
“I thought I had set my feelings aside… but I can’t. I can’t do it.”
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“Every time I see your child… or your woman… my insides twist. I don’t think I can stay by your side anymore.”
“S-Sirang? What are you saying? We finally have peace, and now you’re saying this…?”
“You’re never going to give me your heart, are you? Then I’ll never appear before you again. And you must not appear before me, either….”
Leaving only those words, Sirang vanished like the wind.
My friend, who had walked the long road of time with me, disappeared just like that.
And she meant it—she never appeared again, erasing her trace from the world.
Had she entered the martial world, the Five Absolutes would surely have become the Six. But uninterested in fame, she abandoned even that.
Later, I managed to learn where she lived through investigation. But when I reached the outskirts, I turned back.
I didn’t want to disturb her hard-won resolve.
…And yet, here I was, showing up anyway. Any excuse now was nothing but a feeble pretense.
*****
“Who is that girl to you?”
Sirang spoke casually.
Byulak answered in a soft voice.
“She’s my liege.”
“Your liege? For you to serve her… is she a commander of the Brocade Guards? A princess?”
“No, she’s the head of the Jin Clan of Taiyuan, a martial family.”
“…? What nonsense are you spouting? You, Cheolbin, lowering yourself to serve someone like that?”
Sirang fixed him with a look of disbelief. Byulak only laughed heartily.
“And what’s with your voice?”
Ever since earlier, she had been bothered by Byulak’s condition. She frowned as she asked.
“My voice? Ah… this. Nothing serious. Just a little injury.”
“It doesn’t sound little. Did you swallow burning coals?”
“Not coals. Stones.”
“…Still doing incomprehensible things as always.”
Muttering under her breath, Sirang rose from her seat. She walked over to a cupboard and pulled out a bottle filled with some unknown powder.
“Wait a moment.”
“What’s that?”
“Tea. It’s good for the throat.”
Snap!
Sirang flicked her fingers lightly. A spark of flame blossomed at her fingertips.
In an instant, water-filled kettle was set to boiling over a fire born of her Samadhi Flame Art.
“Drink.”
After a short while, she brewed the tea and handed a cup to Byulak.
Watching from behind, Ok-hwa only grew more bewildered.
Samadhi Flame? So she really is a master of the Realm of Transformation… but who could she be? If she’s reached that level, there’s no way her name wouldn’t be known…
Sluurp—
Byulak accepted the steaming cup and drained it in one go. The scalding liquid poured down his throat.
“Well? Do you feel any better?”
“Hard to say.”
“Tch.”
At his unchanged voice, Sirang clicked her tongue with irritation. His hair had turned white, and now this—what on earth had happened to him while they were apart?
“Were you trying to become a Yeyang, swallowing swords for loyalty? Why ruin a perfectly fine throat like that…?”
“I had my reasons.”
“A man with a beautiful wife and a sturdy daughter—what troubles could you possibly have?”
“……”
“…Something happened, didn’t it? From the look on your face, it seems dark indeed.”
“Enough. You’ve severed ties with the world, and I’ve no wish to burden you with its matters.”
Byulak wore a faintly bitter smile, but quickly brushed away the gloom by shifting the subject.
Already he felt guilty for disturbing her solitude; he had no desire to add needless worries.
“I asked you to take care of that child.”
“Yes. Because you’re the only one I can rely on.”
He motioned toward Jin Ga-yeong, lying on the floor.
She slept peacefully, her soft breathing filling the room.
“…Haah. Cheolbin. You don’t know how uncomfortable it makes me when you do this.”
“I know.”
“I came here to forget you. But if you ask me like this… what does that make me?”
“I’m sorry. But there’s no one I trust enough to entrust my liege to but you—strong, dependable, and steadfast.”
“…! Only me…?”
“Somehow, that’s how it turned out.”
At those words, Sirang’s thoughts tangled like a knotted thread. Why was he suddenly acting like a man with no one else in the world?
During the war, he had preferred not to mingle with others. But the atmosphere around him now was different—
as though, unlike the past when he avoided people, now people were avoiding him.
And that wasn’t the only thing that made her mind restless.
I’m… his only friend….
Sirang had once wanted to be his lover—his only lover. It had taken her eight years to accept that was impossible.
And yet, now, hearing from Byulak that she was his “only” friend—
“Ahem… hemhem….”
She felt a subtle joy. She knew very well that, for that stubborn man of pure devotion, it meant nothing more than “friend.” And yet—
To be Byulak’s one and only—it stirred her heart, despite all her years of resolve.
“You’re unfair.”
Sirang turned her gaze toward Jin Ga-yeong. A lovely face. Pretty enough not to pale beside her own beauty, polished to perfection by the Guihua Manual.
“When you say things like that, how can I possibly refuse?”
Of course, she knew this hopelessly faithful man would never look at that girl as a woman, so it didn’t sting too much.
“How long must I take care of her?”
“Three months. I’ll return within that time.”
“A hundred days… long if long, short if short.”
“I’ll make sure to repay you properly. Until I return, I’m asking this of you.”
Seeing her nod, Byulak slowly rose to his feet. Ok-hwa stood as well, flustered.
“Then, we’ll be going….”
With a clasped-fist salute, Byulak turned and left the cottage with Ok-hwa.
Watching them off, Sirang stepped back into her cabin and gazed blankly around.
For the past three years, every day had been the same. Living off herbs and wild game in the mountains.
That was the life she had known.
And yet—
“……”
Phew—hwoo—
Now, there was a girl in her cottage. Beside her, a stack of money enough to be no small fortune.
She was fast asleep, so the house wouldn’t become noisy. But still—
“…For a while, it’ll at least smell like people again.”
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