First I took stock of the situation.
My head wasn’t working especially well.
...What is this?
What exactly was I looking at?
Even trying to make sense of it wasn’t easy.
The woman in my hand—
judging by appearance, maybe fifteen? Not even older than that.
She was absurdly beautiful for that age, and her features looked strikingly similar to someone I knew.
No—more than similar.
If that person were simply made younger, this was exactly what she’d look like.
“...Are you Bow Ghost?”
I asked just in case.
At my words, the girl’s eyes flared.
“You little—!”
She shouted in that delicate voice and put strength into her body.
But—
...She’s weak?
It didn’t affect me at all.
I couldn’t feel a thing.
Was she really straining?
She honestly felt exactly like an ordinary person.
No—even for an ordinary person, she was weak.
“What exactly did you do to me?!”
“...What do you mean, what did I do? That’s what I’d like to ask you.”
If this girl really was Bow Ghost—
“Did you undergo rejuvenation or something?”
Had she gotten younger the way Sword Queen had?
That was what I meant by it, but Bow Ghost’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Her expression twisted.
“As if I would do something like that.”
“Then what happened to you?”
“...This is all because of you, isn’t it!”
“Me?”
What the hell had I done?
The way she suddenly pinned this on ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) me was so absurd it almost made me laugh.
“What exactly did I do?”
“What did you do to my soul?”
“Hm?”
My soul?
That was where we were going with this?
“What did I do? Nothing much.”
I shrugged.
“I just tampered with it a little.”
“...Tampered with it? A little?”
Bow Ghost’s face crumpled.
“Do you think it makes any sense for ‘a little’ to damage an entire soul?”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
I let out a short laugh.
“That was the point.”
“...What?”
“You shouldn’t have come at me in such a dangerous form and started testing my patience. You should’ve been more careful.”
“You—!”
What I’d done wasn’t all that dramatic.
I’d just scattered a little baleful force into her soul.
I’d driven it in so the moment she tried to use spiritual energy, it would stab through her like spikes of pain.
And until she rooted it all out and cleared it away, she wouldn’t be able to use it at all.
Which meant—
“You could’ve just cleared it out and used your power. Couldn’t you?”
Bow Ghost hadn’t been able to completely remove the baleful force I’d fired into her.
“...You...”
Her eyes burned with fury.
“Fine, maybe you couldn’t undo it. But why do you look like that?”
Why was she younger?
That part was strange.
It didn’t feel like only her appearance had changed.
I can’t feel any energy from her at all.
She was an ordinary person.
A completely normal fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl with no inner qi.
“...There’s no need for me to tell you.”
“Oh, I see.”
It was strange, sure, but once she said that, I lost most of my curiosity.
“If you’re done here, then leave. I’m a little busy.”
I needed to get to Liaoning.
I was pressed for time as it was. I didn’t have room in my schedule to waste it wrestling with Bow Ghost.
At that, Bow Ghost grabbed me.
“Undo it before you go.”
“...What are you doing?”
“I said undo it.”
“Ah, do it yourself. What’s with this? You were so confident before.”
She’d been so brazen when she came in spirit form.
Why was she acting like this now?
I pushed her away, appalled.
“Undo it. Now...!”
“I said no—”
“Young Master Bang, we have to leave now, so why aren’t you—”
Creeeak.
The door opened and someone stepped in.
Poison Dragon.
“Hm?”
His eyes narrowed at the scene inside.
“...”
Me, holding and pushing away a fifteen-year-old girl.
Poison Dragon’s eyes rolled.
“Hey.”
I spoke quickly.
“It’s not what it looks like, so don’t get the wrong idea.”
“My apologies.”
“I said it’s not that.”
“...I’ll go let them know departure may take a little longer th—”
“It’s not that! Get back here!”
I shouted after him, but Poison Dragon was already gone like an arrow.
“Ah, damn it.”
This looked bad.
*****
I chased after Poison Dragon all the way to the carriage.
I was hurrying, but I couldn’t build any speed.
Because Bow Ghost was hanging off my back.
“Seriously, what are you doing?”
“Undo it.”
“...Ha.”
The same answer, over and over.
I finally stopped walking.
Only then did Bow Ghost drop off me, and I looked at her as I spoke.
“It’ll come undone on its own.”
“What?”
Her eyes widened.
“I said it’ll wear off with time. It’s not like I even put a full dose on you.”
“...What are you talking about?”
“You can either work it out yourself, or you can wait. Give it a month or two and it’ll come off on its own. I set it that way on purpose, so if you try to tear it loose by force, you’ll only break yourself worse.”
Could I undo it myself?
That was hard to say.
This was closer to a seal than ordinary baleful force.
The effect was better if even I couldn’t casually undo it, so I’d cast it that way on purpose.
“...Something like that exists?”
“It took some work to learn. Clean, isn’t it?”
Of the things Chief Baek had taught me in my previous life, this was easily one of the most useful.
Especially when I remembered all the times I’d used it to hold up evil gods.
“What exactly are you?”
Bow Ghost asked, genuinely baffled.
“The Bang Family’s third son.”
“You know that isn’t what I meant.”
“What do you mean, ‘that’? That’s my identity.”
She’d rejected me as a person outright.
Ridiculous.
“Anyway. That’s the situation, so please deal with it yourself. I’m in a hurry.”
“...Nonsense. You expect me to believe that?”
“Whether you believe it or not won’t change anything. Otherwise, why don’t you put your heads together and think it through with your disciple?”
I brought up the Death King.
I’d placed something similar—but not identical—on him too.
His was probably the weaker version.
“Stop being a nuisance and go already.”
I had no idea why Bow Ghost’s condition had turned into this.
I didn’t particularly want to know either.
“Or you can keep scheming with the Young Cult Leader, if that’s what you prefer.”
“...”
The moment I mentioned the favor she’d taken from the Young Cult Leader, she reacted.
“I’m leaving.”
I used that opening to widen the distance.
If her body really was that of an ordinary person, then there was no way she could keep up with this speed.
I reached the carriage in an instant.
“No, I mean... honestly, I went to his quarters, and Young Master Bang was—”
I saw the back of Poison Dragon’s head.
I hit it immediately.
WHACK—!!
“Ghk!!”
“I told you not to run your mouth. It’s not like that.”
“Urrgh...!!!”
He dropped to his knees, groaning.
Yu Yeon and Yu Yul, who’d both been listening with obvious interest, looked disappointed.
“What? It was just getting good.”
“It’s not interesting. He’s talking nonsense.”
I grabbed Poison Dragon, who was still reeling, and threw him into the carriage.
Watching him fold awkwardly into it, I said,
“...Stop talking bullshit and drive the carriage. Keep your mouth shut.”
“...Urk... yes...”
Still clutching his head, Poison Dragon nodded.
Once I’d warned him properly, I turned to the others.
“Get on. The faster we leave, the faster we get back.”
“You’re already planning to come back quickly?”
Yu Yul sounded surprised.
“Why?”
“For someone going back to his hometown, you don’t look all that moved.”
“Ah, right. Not really.”
He wasn’t wrong.
What was there to be moved about?
Honestly, I didn’t even want to go.
...That goddamn wreck of a family.
A huge part of me wanted to ask whether I really had to go back there at all, but—
what choice do I have?
If something had to be done, then I had to go do it.
If I didn’t go and the ring came undone, I’d be the one paying for it.
And besides—
I need to see my brother too.
There was also a reason I needed to see that hellion young patriarch after all this time.
“...Let’s go.”
At my words, Yu Yul and Yu Yeon both nodded and climbed into the carriage.
I was just about to get on myself when—
“So you’re leaving.”
A voice came from somewhere nearby.
When I turned, an old man was standing there.
It was Tyrant.
“Ah, sir.”
“So you’re heading to Liaoning.”
“Yes. I’ll be back soon.”
We’d already talked about it.
“And you’re leaving when there’s no telling what those Demonic Cult bastards might do while you’re gone?”
He was smiling as he said it, clearly amused.
I scratched my cheek.
“Well, I figure the seniors here can handle that, can’t they?”
“Hmph.”
“This is Henan. It’s full of incredible people. What is there for me to worry about?”
If my being here wouldn’t stop something from happening, then it was never something I could’ve stopped in the first place.
How many beings beyond heaven were gathered here?
If trouble still broke out, then it was already beyond my hands.
“...Honestly, I can’t tell whether you’re broad-minded or just brainless.”
“I’m always grateful.”
I meant it.
Especially for him putting off the matter of going to the Mo Family.
Things are busy.
Even after coming back from Liaoning, I wouldn’t be able to head straight to the Mo Family.
Not with—
the negotiations still hanging over us.
That was the more urgent matter.
I had to settle that first, then go to the Mo Family.
“If it were up to me, I’d go with you. But the thing you dumped in my lap isn’t exactly minor.”
Tyrant sounded thoroughly dissatisfied.
“Ahaha...”
“Don’t laugh. I dislike this situation quite a bit.”
“Sorry.”
“You’d better come back as fast as possible. If not the Demonic Cult, I might be the one who blows up.”
“Oh...”
That was a pretty terrifying thing to hear.
I cleared my throat a few times.
Seeing that, Tyrant turned away.
“Go and come back.”
“Yes.”
After hearing Tyrant’s farewell, I shut the carriage door.
“All right, then, let’s—”
“Shall we be off now?”
That bright, pleasant voice made me freeze for a moment.
It was not a voice that should’ve been here.
“What’s wrong, young master?”
The one smiling at me was Freak Demon.
What the hell?
When had he gotten on?
He was even dressed as an attendant.
“...”
Was I seeing things?
I rubbed at my eye and asked through voice transmission.
—...How did you get on here?
—You said you were leaving, so I came too.
—What about the Young Cult Leader?
—He’s not in any condition to pay attention to me right now. My Sky has taken care of something important for us.
“...”
Apparently Freak Demon knew that I’d screwed over the Young Cult Leader by pretending to be the Heavenly Demon.
That look in his eyes wasn’t guesswork.
It was certainty.
And that made me deeply uncomfortable.
—I have no idea what you’re talking about.
—As expected of my Sky.
What exactly did he mean, as expected?
How did he figure it out?
Then again, asking that felt pointless.
Freak Demon already knew I had the Heavenly Demon Divine Sword.
He knew I could wield it.
And on top of that—
he knows I can use demonic qi.
It was through the Heavenly Demon, sure.
But he still knew I could handle demonic qi.
—...So my Sky truly had a plan for everything. A design far beyond what a lowly thing like me could ever dare imagine.
—...
He seemed to have misunderstood something on a massive scale, but I didn’t bother correcting him.
If I started denying everything, it would never end.
—...Are you really sure it’s fine for me to come?
—The road my Sky walks is the road I must walk.
His voice was steeped in madness.
At this point, he really was starting to scare me.
“...Fine. Let’s go. Hey, move.”
I said it weakly.
At my order, the crack of a whip sounded from the driver’s seat.
Hiiiiiing—!!!
The carriage started forward.
It was the road to Liaoning for the first time in years.
