Childhood Friend of the Zenith
chapter-219

༺ Omen (6) ༻

After parting ways with Gu Jeolyub and the Second Elder, I went out to the streets with Wi Seol-Ah.

It was because it felt uncomfortable to stay in the clan for some reason.

‘The Steward’s gaze bothers me a bit, but it will be fine.’

Since I would soon be confined, I didn’t think that they would let me leave the clan, so I was shocked when they let me leave so easily.

I had thought of different methods to leave the clan because I thought they wouldn’t let me out, but now they were pointless.

“Young Master! Over there!”

“Wai… Jeez, loosen your hands a little!”

I moved around in the streets as if I was dragged by Wi Seol-Ah.

Because it was the first time we went out in a while, Wi Seol-Ah was in a very cheerful mood, clearly seen by how she dragged me around like an excited bull.

Muyeon would’ve normally come, but he said that he was stepping into an enlightenment, and since walking around in the streets was fine, I ordered him not to follow us.

‘It’s not like I need an escort with something like this.’

And if Muyeon was getting enlightenment, that was more important.

“Chicken skewer!”

“Yeah yeah…”

Even though we were out in the streets for the first time in a while, we only ended up buying food.

…Though it’s always been like that.

‘I wonder what the other girls are up to.’

I looked for Namgung Bi-ah and Tang Soyeol before leaving, but Namgung Bi-ah had left to train like always and I heard that Tang Soyeol went out somewhere.

‘Now that I think about it, is Tang Soyeol not gonna go back?’

Namgung Bi-ah was basically living in Gu Clan now, but since the Dragons and Phoenixes Tournament ended, Tang Soyeol was in a situation where she had to go back to Sichuan.

‘…I also heard that she receives a lot of letters as well.’

Letters sent to Tang Soyeol from the Tang Clan were piled up.

Tang Soyeol obviously wasn’t reading them.

As I was being dragged by Wi Seol-Ah, I glanced at the alley midway.

It was the alley that led to the Hao Clan.

‘I do have to visit.’

It had been a while, and I had to visit them to talk about their Lord, but I wasn’t really in a good situation right now.

Therefore, it was better for me to just hang around with Wi Seol-Ah right now.

[While you also slack off your training as well.]

‘I would have to do that to the point I get tired of it soon anyway, so I’m just gonna relax for a day.’

[How productive of you.]

‘Thank you for the compliment.’

I let Elder Shin’s words in my ear and out the other.

Just like always.

“The dumpling store closed huh…”

“Young Master… From all the faces I’ve seen from you recently, you look the saddest right now.”

“This is really a big deal, you know that?”

“That a dumpling store closed down?”

“Yes, it’s the same as your favorite chicken skewer store closing down.”

After hearing my response, Wi Seol-Ah made a horrified expression.

“T-That’s a really big problem… that place is really good.”

“Yeah, that’s how I’m feeling right now.”

“…What a tragedy that is.”

“Right?”

The dumpling store I went to often closed down.

This was one of the most shocking things that happened after my regression.

[A mere dumpling store closing down is…?]

‘You wouldn’t get it when you were a Taoist that only ate grass.’

[You piece of? Mount Hua also eats meat.]

‘Taoists eat meat…? I knew it, Mount Hua wasn’t a normal Taoist clan.’

[You…!]

I let my stress out on Elder Shin.

The old man shouted in my ears, but I got used to it by this point.

‘There isn’t anything I could really buy before going back then.’

I always bought a bunch of snacks before going back home, but I couldn’t do that anymore.

Because there were no more dumplings.

“I guess I can’t buy anything this ti…”

I tried to speak while looking at Wi Seol-Ah, but she was looking in a different direction.

When I checked what she was looking at…

“Huh? What did you say, Young Master?”

“Nah, nothing.”

“Where shall we go next!”

Wi Seol-Ah hopped towards me, wrapped her arm around mine and dragged me away once again.

At that moment, I glanced at where Wi Seol-Ah was looking.

“…Hey, what’s the point of you asking if you are gonna drag me around anyway?”

“Hehe!”

“Don’t try to brush this off with your giggling.”

Because of Wi Seol-Ah’s shrewd act, I also laughed involuntarily.

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

By the time I returned to the clan, it was already nighttime.

As soon as I returned, I was called over by the Steward and he told me about everything that I would do in the future.

My confinement would begin in about four days.

He told me that I would be placed in Gu Clan’s Fire Chamber, but that much was fine.

‘I do have to organize them soon enough.’

Whether it was the bunch of energies inside my body or my middle abdomen that I unlocked by reaching the Peak Realm, I planned to organize them through this confinement.

I caused this, but I might as well be productive with it.

During my confinement, they would make plans to assign me to a Swordsmen Army so that I could waste a whole year on the battlefield.

The one responsible for managing the battlefield, Gu Huibi the Captain of the Fifth Army was currently lying down in a medical room as a patient.

So I asked what would happen if she hadn’t recovered in that time frame and they told me if Gu Huibi couldn’t, the Captain of the First Army would drag me away.

‘…So they are saying that they won’t give me any chance to run away.’

It seemed like I had to be dragged to the battlefield no matter what.

‘How annoying.’

I wasn’t afraid of the battlefield, nor was I afraid of Gu Huibi by this point.

‘…Though I am a bit afraid of the latter.’

When I was tortured by Gu Huibi in my past life, I was barely a third-rate martial artist, let alone the First-rate, and I only felt exhausted because I didn’t train one bit at that point in time, so my body was weak.

But at least now, I wasn’t in a state where I would be exhausted by such a thing.

‘It’s just, my instinct doesn’t like the fact that I would be under Gu Huibi’s command.’

It almost felt like an instinct that was engraved into my body.

‘A year huh…’

A year on the frontlines.

This was a very long time, so I had to plan beforehand what I needed to do.

‘Whether it’s the matter about the Heavenly Demon or the Black Palace.’

I was in a situation where I couldn’t let any of those things escape, but I had to endure a whole year while also dealing with those things.

‘Maybe I should really run away?’

This did seem like the best option no matter how much I looked at it.

I did plan to leave the clan one day for good after all.

However…

“Tsk…”

I couldn’t afford to leave right now.

It was because there were still things that I needed to take care of inside the clan as well.

‘That’s just my life in a nutshell.’

It’s strange that something gets solved in a life where not a single thing goes right after all.

Tap.

While leaking my Qi to my surroundings, I carefully moved my body.

I waited for the darkness to come.

‘I can’t believe I have to not only break out of my own clan’s jail, but also have to sneak around.’

What a joke this was.

The place I carefully snuck into was none other than Gu Huibi’s house.

Members of the Fifth Army were standing around the building on a lookout.

And the only ones who were allowed to enter were the blood relatives of the clan and the Immortal Healer, but I had to sneak into her place.

This was so that I could cleanse the Demonic Qi that was stuck inside Gu Huibi’s body.

I was technically allowed to enter through the front door since I was a blood relative of the clan, but I didn’t want to show them that I could cleanse Demonic Qi.

‘Though the Immortal Healer probably already knows about it.’

‘The Palace Lord’s energy wasn’t that little, but this much is easy.’

And this made me all the more curious.

Of how and where the Sword Queen was poisoned by all of that Demonic Qi.

‘…Was it the Heavenly Demon?’

I had a lot of doubts to believe that and I was still missing a lot of pieces of the puzzle to come up with that conclusion.

So I saw it as more likely that she got it from somewhere else.

‘If that’s the case?’

For an instant, I was reminded of the things I saw in the Abyss in my past life, but I erased them right away. Because I didn’t believe that that was really the case.

After I absorbed all of the Demonic Qi from Gu Huibi’s body, I quickly stood up.

Gu Huibi would wake up around the time the sun rose and I had to leave before that happened.

Before leaving, I thought as I stared at Gu Huibi.

‘If I didn’t do this, then she wouldn’t have had to suffer on the battlefield.’

If I didn’t cleanse the Demonic Qi inside her, Gu Huibi wouldn’t go out to the battlefield, and I would be sent to it along with the First Army’s captain as planned.

That might have been more comfortable for me…

‘But I can’t let that happen.’

She was an annoying sister, but I couldn’t bring myself to do such a thing to Gu Huibi.

Because even if she had a nasty personality, she was still my sister after all.

‘Now that I think about it, I should probably go see Gu Yeonseo as well.’

She was the second child of Gu Clan, and an elder sister of mine.

I never got to see Gu Yeonseo properly ever since the Nine Dragons Day.

I did see her from far away a few times, but I never got to have a proper conversation with her because she kept avoiding me.

‘I’ll visit her one day to solve this relationship.’

Because we couldn’t afford to keep this up forever.

I looked at Gu Huibi who was sleeping soundly, then I turned around and left her place.

It was difficult to sneak in, but leaving was much easier compared to entering.

While hiding my presence, I returned to my place with quick steps.

By falling asleep now, my plan would’ve been executed perfectly.

“Hmm…?”

But someone sat on the floor next to my room just now.

In the middle of this midnight at that.

After checking who it was, I spoke to her.

Because it was strange to see her do such a thing at this time.

“What are you doing there?”

The one watching the moonlight while sitting on the floor was Wi Seol-Ah.

“Why aren’t you sleepi…”

I paused in the middle of my sentence.

Because of the moonlight, when Wi Seol-Ah turned around, her eyes for some reason looked golden for an instant.

Of course, it must have been my mistake, seeing as when I looked again, she had her normal black pupils.

‘Am I that tired?’

Because I never had the time to relax, it seemed like I kept hallucinating.

“You should be sleeping at this time, what are you doing there, you…”

“What about the Young Master?”

“I had something to do.”

“Me too… I also had something.”

“What is it.”

“Looking at the sun.”

“How could you say you’re watching the sun in the middle of the night?”

It was a night that had a new moon shining brightly in the sky.

There was no way she was able to see the sun in this dark night.

When I asked her what she was on about, Wi Seol-Ah responded with a light smile.

“It’ll rise tomorrow.”

“Then you should watch it tomorrow, why are you looking for it now?”

“I agree.”

What is she saying?

Is she also exhausted?

Because she played out in the streets today, it seemed like she wasn’t fully in her head either.

“You should sleep soon. You might be scolded by Elder Wi if you don’t, you know?”

“…Oungh, I don’t know if I want that.”

“And Hongwa would also yell at you.”

“Ahh, I really don’t want that…!”

After hearing my words, Wi Seol-Ah quickly got up with a horrified expression.

It seemed like she was headed towards her room, but I stopped Wi Seol-Ah for a moment.

“Wait.”

“Eh?”

Wi Seol-Ah stared at me wondering why I stopped her, then I took out something from my pocket and placed it in Wi Seol-Ah’s hand.

“Huh…?”

Wi Seol-Ah’s eyes sparkled when she looked at the object that was in her hand.

Her already big eyes opened even more widely, which surprised me that they could get that big.

“This is…?”

“You were looking at it earlier, so I thought that you needed it.”

“N-No… it’s not like that…”

“It’s fine if you don’t, but use it since I bought it already.”

The gift I gave her was an accessory that hung on the hilt of a sword.

Most swordsmen didn’t put it on, saying that it got in their way, but Wi Seol-Ah should be fine with it.

“Whether it’s a sword or whatever, work hard at it. And it’s fine to give up if you don’t want to do it anymore.”

“…”

If she decided that she would pick up a sword in the end, I wanted to stop her, but I believed that it was necessary for me to let her be for her future.

A point where she could protect herself.

If she had at least that much, then it would help Wi Seol-Ah have a more peaceful life.

After staring at Wi Seol-Ah’s widened eyes, I spoke.

“I’m gonna go to sleep. You should also go to sleep as well.”

After briefly patting her head, I also went into my room.

When the door closed, Wi Seol-Ah, who stared at the accessory in her hand after she was left alone, quietly whispered while looking at Gu Yangcheon’s room.

“…You are wrong. The sun is perfectly up in the sky after all.”

Wi Seol-Ah whispered those words…

As she tightly held the accessory in her arms.

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