Chapter: 280
With pouring rain.
Amidst countless crowds,
the woman moved with hurried steps.
‘…why?’
Even while walking, she asks herself:
Why is she avoiding the spot?
Even though she stood facing the person she so desperately wanted to meet,
why is she running away from him?
‘Why on earth?’
She doesn’t know.
She still doesn’t understand.
The moment she met his eyes,
she wanted to get up and run away immediately.
‘I’m scared.’
Yeah, that’s right, she’s scared.
The anxiety and fear that rise to her throat scatter her thoughts.
Why is she so terrified?
The woman tightly closed her eyes.
— Calm down.
Then, as if it had been waiting for her, a voice echoed in her head.
It was a voice that had been guiding her for a long time before.
She had referred to the owner of that voice as her sister.
She had believed and followed it.
But now, she wasn’t quite sure how much she could trust that voice.
— Are you scared?
‘…’
— Are you afraid that he won’t recognize your changed appearance?
The woman fell silent at the words.
She couldn’t force herself to say no.
— Looks like you’re scared.
‘…Don’t talk as if you know everything so easily.’
— How could I not? I am the one who knows you best in the world.
‘That’s exactly why it feels like you speak so easily.’
Despite spitting out denial,
the woman bit her lip.
Because she couldn’t deny it.
Her appearance next to him was drastically different.
How would she be perceived in those eyes?
That is what scares her.
Also,
she is afraid of hearing resentful words from him.
That frightened her.
Why did you leave without saying a word?
Why have things changed so much?
The moment she sees his eyes from a distance,
that’s when the fear truly envelops her.
— He’s not that kind of person.
‘…I know.’
She knows.
She knows that he isn’t the type to be bothered by such trivial things or to voice complaints.
And yet,
still, for some reason, she hides herself and avoids him.
Despite how desperately she had longed for this moment.
Splash.
After walking a handful of steps through the rain-soaked street,
she had unconsciously left the city and entered the forest.
As the voices of the people that had filled the streets faded away,
only then could she finally exhale.
“Haa… Haa…”
Gasping for breath, the woman thinks.
In the end, they couldn’t share a single word.
She wanted to ask how he had been.
Yet, it seems her incompetent self couldn’t even manage that.
Just gazing from afar,
that was all she had accomplished.
‘I tried hard…’
The woman struggled to grab a tree and catch her breath, glancing at her hands.
The beautiful, fair palms that used to be praised now bore calluses.
It was the fruit of her efforts over the years.
Crack.
Staring at her palm, she clenched her fist.
— What do you plan to do now?
She didn’t answer the voice.
What should she do?
[If you go out, many people will pay attention to you.]
That was a conversation she had with her grandfather before arriving.
Honestly, it couldn’t really be called a conversation.
She merely listened without saying a word.
[Your grandfather is worried about that. I hope Seol-ah never steps outside into the world. But that won’t be possible.]
It meant that tying her down any longer was impossible.
Just as her grandfather hoped,
the woman quietly complied.
So, this much had to be acknowledged by her grandfather as well.
After a long time, when the seal he had sought was finally broken,
the deity had spoken to her.
[It won’t be the same as before. The sense of presence you’ve regained will feel unfamiliar, and since the vessel has shrunk, you will also feel discomfort in your body.]
As the deity had stated,
the woman had to bear countless discomforts.
Unlike before, her body felt weaker,
and the unknown energy was difficult to control.
The deity said,
even her weakened body was remarkably stronger than others.
Now that she could sense the energy,
it was originally so vast that she couldn’t fully grasp it.
She only began to feel it after reducing it a little.
So, the woman questioned back.
Why must it be this way?
If she had been better before, wasn’t it unnecessary to go through this?
To this, the deity replied:
– Your grandfather seems to wish for you to live as a human.
What did that mean?
The woman still couldn’t fully comprehend this.
She was a human being.
Her being human meant she had been born, raised, and held dear in her heart alongside him.
Not understanding this, she had asked another woman residing within her body that night.
– …
At that time, the other woman couldn’t provide any answer.
When asked if she wasn’t human,
the response had remained unsaid.
Whatever it was,
the moment her physical energy stabilized, albeit precariously,
only then did the woman finally have the opportunity to practice what she had longed for.
During the day, she received training from her grandfather,
and at night, she sought to fill in her deficiencies in swordsmanship with the help of others.
Was wielding the sword she had so desired enjoyable?
Honestly, she didn’t know.
She felt nothing.
Saying she felt no thrill would be appropriate.
The reason she had decided to learn swordsmanship in the first place differed entirely.
She merely swung the sword with quiet persistence.
The martial arts her grandfather taught were beautiful.
It was said that the sword absorbed the moonlight.
What was it called? The Moonlight Dance?
At first,
the moment she saw her grandfather wielding the sword under the moonlight,
it had been beautifully mesmerizing enough to captivate her completely.
That one moment had been a good source of motivation.
Yet,
after swinging the sword for half a year, trying to envelop it with light,
the woman’s sword easily absorbed the moonlight.
When she proudly showcased it, she remembered her grandfather’s saddened expression.
Why had he looked that way? It was unclear,
and she didn’t want to find out.
She continued to wield the sword after that day.
Just persistently.
Unceasingly.
If she could lessen it, she even reduced her sleep.
And as for her craving for food, it strangely ceased feeling as intense.
Was it because he wasn’t there?
Or, as the deity had said, was it due to the pretense of sealing?
She wasn’t sure if her once shameful appetite had faltered.
Then one day,
feeling something different in her body, she asked her grandfather.
He told her she had crossed over a wall.
This was just after she had been holding the sword for barely over a year.
The moonlight shone upon the blade,
and following her grandfather’s claim of crossing over a barrier,
significant changes began to occur in her body.
Her eyes appeared to be infused with energy, turning golden.
Her once dark brown hair gradually transformed into a golden hue.
Her body grew rapidly,
possessing a form now distinct from her past.
The chubby cheeks he used to fondly touch had vanished without a trace.
If those who had once remembered her saw her now,
they might have struggled to recognize her due to her changes.
She truly despised that transformation.
It would have been better if things had remained the same.
So that he could recognize her easily.
— Child…
The tone she felt was filled with sorrow.
Though that voice felt sincere,
the woman did not trust her.
Around the time she started training with the sword, from the moment she began having certain dreams at night,
and as she realized those dreams were her memories,
she could no longer trust that other woman.
Plop.
The rain drenching through the dense forest
wet the woman’s thin shoulders.
Even as this unfolded, she did not move.
Her steps felt as if lead weights were attached.
— What do you plan to do now? You longed to see him so badly.
‘…’
She wanted to see him.
She wished to see the gaze that looked upon her fondly.
She longed for the heavy hand that caressed her hair.
But,
she found it hard to muster the courage.
‘Will it be okay…?’
Even facing him in this state,
would it really be fine?
That thought terrified her.
As the rain drenched her, biting her lips fervently,
Whoosh.
“…!”
Startled by the warmth she felt behind her, she turned around.
Hisssss.
The sound of moisture evaporating from the ground filled the air.
Turning her back, someone was shaking off the hot steam from their drenched body.
“You come all this way to see me and then try to run away? Making me chase you around.”
“…Ah.”
His voice was a bit deeper than the last time she heard.
Though she had seen him from afar,
he appeared slightly taller.
And his build seemed bulkier.
His gaze remained fierce, yet
meeting the emotions in his eyes made her heart warm.
‘No.’
Even amidst those thoughts, the woman tugged her rain cape closer to her face.
Because she didn’t want to show it.
How had he followed her?
She had intentionally mixed in with the crowd to disappear.
And yet, he must have pulled out that warmth,
as moisture evaporated from his body, generating heat.
Was it that he ran that fast?
As proof of his chase, his eyes were tinged red.
Thud.
“…!”
Seeing him take a step forward, the woman flinched.
But, without paying her any mind, he stepped even closer.
‘Has he grown thin?’
That was her first impression upon seeing him after a long time.
His physique was now sculpted unlike before.
Moreover, considering he was now wearing a sword at his waist,
it seemed he was genuinely learning from a sword master.
As she stepped closer,
he flinched and took a step back.
Noticing that, she spoke first.
“Even if you try to run away again, I’ll follow you until I catch you, so just stand still.”
Seeing him flinch,
she figured he probably intended to escape again.
Although, she had no intention of letting him get away.
What had him so frightened?
He was attempting to hide behind the clothes he wore.
“Didn’t you come to see me earlier? Where do you think you’re going?”
“…”
No response.
But she didn’t mind.
She merely approached slowly.
“You’re not answering even though it’s been a while. Or is it that you don’t want to talk to me?”
“…Ah… no.”
Being so blunt with her words,
it was only then she could hear his voice.
It sounded a bit more mature,
but it hadn’t changed much from the voice trapped in her memory.
Before she knew it, they were close enough to reach out and touch.
Shivering from the cold, she could see his shoulders shake.
In the midst of this, she had to calm her weary breaths within her chest.
‘Why is he so fast?’
It felt like she had spent half her energy just chasing him down.
And it made sense because she had to enhance her sense to locate him.
Furthermore, running at that pace had drained her energy.
She felt tired for the first time in a long while.
Yet.
‘I caught him.’
She had followed closely enough not to lose sight of him.
That was enough for her.
Sliding noise.
She took one more step closer.
He flinched again.
‘What should I ask first?’
Should she inquire about why he left only a letter behind?
Or, how had he been?
Why had he run at the sight of her?
What was he doing here?
Why was he trembling? Did he feel unwell?
There were so many things she wanted to ask.
In the midst of countless thoughts,
the words that actually escaped her lips were different.
“It’s been a while.”
“…!”
For some reason, at her words, he faltered.
His trembling shoulders stilled.
And it felt as if the head that had been avoiding her gradually turned this way.
“Have you been well?”
“Ah… uh…”
He stuttered, unable to respond.
She had never imagined their reunion would feel like this.
“I’ve been doing fine.”
Of course, there had been some complications, and she had gotten engaged.
She had been able to turn another human into a demon,
but her physical state remained unaffected, so that much rang true.
Though she had countless things to say,
she felt that what was required now was enough.
She reached out her hand.
The cold raindrops were bothersome,
but she could always dry off later.
Carefully extending her palm, she waited for him to respond.
Then, at last,
Swish—
a white hand rested atop her hand. Though waiting for that hesitant response took a while,
it ultimately felt just right.
She saw the hand come up and slowly grasped it.
She didn’t hold it tightly.
It was just enough to wrap around gently.
That would suffice.
“I’d really like to see your face now; you can’t possibly want to hide it after all this time, can you?”
With a grin, she uttered the words.
Yet, he appeared to hesitate quite clearly.
As for the reason he had chosen to cover his face,
she wondered if he hoped she wouldn’t recognize him.
But if that were the case, it was a massive miscalculation.
A true, monumental error.
No matter how much time passes,
there’s no way I wouldn’t recognize you.
After a lengthy pause,
his non-gripping hand began to rise.
Then it reached for what was covering his face and gradually pulled it back.
Swish.
As he slowly drew it away,
the hidden face gradually came into view.
Her heart raced, struck by the sight before her.
Anxious, trembling eyes.
And yet, there was a determination to confront her gaze.
Before she knew it, a smile broke out across her face.
“It’s been a while.”
And she said the same phrase once more.
Now, she felt the meaning of her words finally landed.
“…”
Hearing her, Wi Seol-ah finally replied.
“Ou… it’s been a long time.”
At last, she returned the words to her.
Drip.
Drip…
The rain sprinkling down upon her shoulders began to lighten.
Gradually it diminished,
until it was no longer felt.
The winter rain that had poured for days,
had finally ceased.
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