MTLNOVEL Chapter 173
“…What?”
Hong Ryun’s eyebrows twitched threateningly.
Soeun Yu clenched her fists tightly as if making a resolve and said,
“I’m sorry. I know. I’m aware of what happened between you and Sir, and how you feel about him…”
“…! Y-y-ou…!”
“But I’m sorry, I can’t give up on him.”
“IIiiieek…!”
“Even if I could quietly disappear from his sight, I want to apologize. I wish to serve him for the rest of my life, to stay by his side.”
A swish echoed.
Hong Ryun’s hand moved gracefully, and Soeun’s eyes followed it until a glimmering blade came into sight.
Hong Ryun had drawn her sword.
“How dare you… how dare you…!”
Her voice trembled with rage, overflowing with anger.
“My benefactor…! How dare a wretch like you…!”
A large wave of disturbance rippled in Soeun’s pupils. The colossal Blood Dragon glared at Soeun.
“So far, hundreds have died by my hands… Shall I cripple you somewhere? How about I cut off that arrogant breath of yours…?”
Soeun felt her throat tighten. Hong Ryun’s menacing aura had blocked her breathing.
“Guh…!”
Hong Ryun’s left hand rose in the air. Soeun also drifted up, and she gasped, clutching her throat.
Hong Ryun gritted her teeth and growled.
“Kuh…! Y-you…!”
“Can’t you stop…!”
“Listen well! If you don’t immediately remove your measly tail from Sir, then I will…!”
Infuriated, Hong Ryun’s lips moved, but she hesitated and couldn’t utter the next word.
“Right now…!”
“…?”
“Right now… ”
Hong Ryun’s face faltered. Her fierce murderous intent lost direction and fell into confusion. The next words were ones she dared not speak.
Because…
“How will I deal with this? If I kill her, my benefactor will be sad…”
It was none other than because of Byul Rak.
“My benefactor cares deeply for this woman… Since my benefactor cherishes her, I mustn’t kill her, nor hurt her…”
Hong Ryun, known for her murderous temperament,
may have been egotistical and self-centered, awkward in relationships, more familiar with violence than conversation, but
had one person she valued more than herself.
The man known by many names: Sword Sage, White Blade Wanderer, Namgung Cheolbin, Byul Rak – he was that person.
Because she loved Byul Rak, she jealously desired exclusivity, but
for the same reason, she respected Byul Rak’s will. She would not do anything that might harm him.
Even if it meant hindering or hurting herself.
Hong Ryun valued Byul Rak more than herself.
“How should I deal with this? I need to threaten her… but I can’t torture her…”
Having observed Byul Rak closely for weeks, Hong Ryun fully understood how much he cared for Soeun Yu.
Each time she witnessed such moments, a part of her had felt torn and uncomfortable, but still,
Hong Ryun could not act in a way that would harm Byul Rak. Therefore, she could not harm Soeun either.
“Ugh…!”
A moment of Hong Ryun’s greatest conundrum arose.
Inside Byul Rak’s mind-space.
The realm of memory.
“Ho ho ho…”
An old man chuckled unpleasantly.
“Indeed, young love affairs are quite amusing. Our granddaughter may be falling behind, but I trust this elder has enough cunning to manage everything on his own.”
His name was Woo-yong Jin.
Once known as the “Tyrant,” who had once dominated the martial world, he now existed as a disembodied soul parasitically residing in another life.
Though technically it’s more of a symbiotic relationship.
“Well then, let’s have a little chat, shall we?”
Smiling, Woo-yong Jin continued, addressing not Byul Rak, but the young girl diligently playing around in the mind-scape beside him.
“What exactly did you tell him?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
The girl, in her usual cheerful manner, smiled and replied.
“Stop pretending you don’t know.”
“If you tell me the subject I can help you understand why I told you something.”
“Ah, fair enough. Let me ask again.”
Looking shrewdly and coldly at the girl, Woo-yong Jin questioned,
“How did you know the future and inform the Dark Lord?”
“…”
“Hmmm, I still can’t figure it out. Why did you give away the future to him?”
“…Ahaha.”
The girl laughs.
Not in joy, it seems.
“Right. That’s what I did. I let slip what shouldn’t have been said.”
“…? Your eyes seem unfocused.”
“Actually, I shouldn’t have done that. In a moment of madness, I spilled the beans!”
“…Madness?”
“See, last time we received a message from our main body.”
The girl whispered softly, and Woo-yong Jin’s droopy eyes suddenly widened.
“Full of anticipation, I opened it… Ahaha, it said this round is a failure.”
“…!”
“At this point, I got annoyed. I hadn’t even done anything yet in this round, and it was already labeled as a failure. Apparently, things went wrong since the Seven Flower Tournament?”
“Round… that word… belongs…”
“To those who can rewind time. Much like… this human here.”
The girl pointed her finger at the ground.
What she pointed at was the pristine white floor of the mind-space, but Woo-yong Jin understood the underlying meaning.
Namgung Cheolbin. Along with the past Sword Immortal Namgung Moon-gwan, one of the few regressive beings Woo-yong Jin knows.
“Or… like your main body.”
“…! Is your main body also a regressive being?”
“That’s why I revealed the future to him. Ugh, anyway… everything is ruined. It’s all ruined again. This round is also a failure.”
At the girl’s shocking confession, Woo-yong Jin was dumbfounded. Regardless, the girl slumped her shoulders, muttering incomprehensible phrases in a despairing tone.
“Pfft! Namgung Cheolbin lost all hope even though he’s regressed 9999 times!”
“You can say that because you’ve never experienced it yourself. Do you know how painful it is each time someone regresses?”
“Hmph, I can somewhat grasp it by looking through Byul Rak’s memories.”
“…And stop looking down on our main body. They’ve regressed significantly more than this human ever did… Oh! So frustrating! Why can’t we succeed even once!”
Kicking the ground with her tiny feet, the girl’s small body caused a thunderous rumble that shook the mind-space.
“Since I’m bound to our main body’s stagnation, I’m frustrated. I’d rather just be completely wiped out. But every round, the main body creates me, so that can’t happen…”
“Well then, why don’t you just disobey your main body?”
“How can I, a fragment, defy our main body? Sure, I might stray briefly like last time, but still…”
Thud.
It seems the emotional conversation left her exhausted, as the girl collapsed onto the ground. Woo-yong Jin reproachfully commented,
“You, too, have a rather tragic fate.”
“Hmph… It’s our main body’s tragic fate.”
“Tsk tsk tsk, last time you said you would make his heart flutter, did that happen?”
“About that? I don’t know. It was a round we were going to rewind anyway. I already mentioned how I lost my mind.”
“If it was a round we were going to rewind anyway, wouldn’t the main body have rewound already? The fact the world is intact means there’s no problem, right?”
“Things are fine for now, but it’ll start soon. The main body should have prepared thoroughly during this period, but they failed, didn’t they? So annoying. And even in a doomed round, there are lessons to learn. The main body will probably experience the world to its end before regressing again this time.”
“…Not knowing the full story, I have nothing further to say.”
“Exh… I can’t even vent properly…”
Completely drained, the girl lay sprawled out on the floor.
“I might as well take a nap.”
“You want to sleep? Should I wake you up?”
“Nah, I don’t even want to wake up. I have absolutely no energy.”
Does her face seem somewhat weary? Is it my imagination?
For the first time, Woo-yong Jin felt sympathy for the girl.
Anhui Province.
A region so central to Orthodoxy that it was known as the heart of the Central Plains was now being visited by the God of Evil Doctrines.
The heavenly horseman, a deity with ten thousand followers.
The heavenly horseman was flying to fulfill a request from her daughter, the young sovereign.
On the way, she had briefly met Sword Sage Byul Rak and offered some minor assistance. But it hadn’t taken much time.
Whoosh.
Floating gracefully across the sky, the Heavenly Horseman soon discovered a certain rock peak and descended toward it.
Specifically, she noticed a ‘girl’ standing tall on that peak.
The girl that her daughter, the young sovereign, had pointed out.
Thud.
The Heavenly Horseman landed gently on the peak and took the initiative to initiate the conversation.
“So, you’re the one who rewinds time, aren’t you?”