His stomach felt heavy.
This stable, familiar weight.
He opened his eyes slightly and looked down to see Chunbong, as expected.
“Big brother...”
She mumbled in her sleep, eyelids red.
Suddenly, fragnted mories began to flash quickly through Seojun’s mind.
“Hmm...”
His brow furrowed.
Not only did he have a headache, but he couldn’t be certain that all his actions were entirely of his own will.
Clench!
When he tightened his fist, he felt it strangely overflowing with strength.
Seojun closed his eyes and observed his inner self.
The landscape within his mind, which had been gradually coming to life, was now in chaos as if a storm had swept through.
A rotten plum tree had blood enormously, and an overflowing river had plunged the surroundings into turmoil.
Nevertheless, this too was a natural scene in its own way, so he couldn’t brush off what he was seeing.
“Haah...”
As he sighed absentmindedly, his stomach moved.
More precisely, Chunbong had abruptly awoken and lifted her head.
“Big brother...!?”
Chunbong, gasping for breath, had tears running down her face.
“Wake up faster, you idiot...”
“Got it.”
“Eeeek...!!”
Chunbong jumped up.
Her expected landing spot was on Seojun’s stomach. He braced himself for impact, but Chunbong landed using one arm and one leg, panting.
“A-Are you okay...!?”
“Yep, good as can be.”
He picked up Chunbong, who had landed in an odd posture, and sat her down as he got up. She quickly went up to him and thrust her face close to his.
“Keep laying down! Should I bring you so water!?”
“No, I’m fine. More importantly, what about the martial arts tournant?”
“Is that important right now!?”
Chunbong snapped angrily and forcibly made Seojun lie down again.
“So what happened?”
“What do you an what happened!? It’s been postponed for three days for now!”
“Oh, well that’s good.”
As he grinned, Chunbong’s gaze gradually sharpened.
“Hey, Lee Seojun.”
“Yeah?”
“So you can laugh right now? Do you even realize how close you were to being in serious trouble?”
“Oh co on, it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine! You could have died right there if things had gone wrong! No matter how talented you are, does it make sense to charge at a Mount Hua Sect elder like that!?”
When he shut his mouth, Chunbong let out a big sigh after panting for a while.
“This won’t do. You, forget about the martial arts tournant or whatever, don’t even think about getting up for a while.”
“Really, I’m fine though?”
“...”
This ti, Chunbong kept her mouth shut tightly.
But her silence spoke volus.
Her eyes were saying more than they ever had before.
Finally, Seojun obediently got into a sleeping position and smiled awkwardly.
“Did I look that off?”
“You think? Do you think that’s normal?”
“It happens sotis.”
Staring blankly at the ceiling, he ca to realize that it looked unfamiliar.
It wasn’t the ceiling of the inn they were staying at, and Judging by the faint sll of dicinal herbs, it seed to be so kind of hospital.
“But really, I’m fine. Even when I lose it, I don’t do things I wouldn’t normally do.”
It was the sa this ti too.
He might have gone a bit overboard, but even if he had been in his right mind, he would have charged at the elder all the sa.
Chunbong’s eyebrows drooped after he said that.
“Worry about your own body before mine.”
“I’m fi—”
“If you say you’re fine one more ti, I’ll kill you for real.”
“Oh...”
Seojun grinned.
As she watched him, Chunbong let out a big sigh and scooted closer.
“So, is there anything you’re hiding from ?”
“Sothing I’m hiding? Not really.”
“Don’t lie. You’ve been a bit strange for a while now. This and that. There’s sothing you haven’t told , right?”
There isn’t though~? He wanted to change the mood jokingly, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Chunbong looked so serious that he felt she would be hurt if he joked about it.
“I don’t know if it’s related to this, but there is one thing I haven’t told you. It’s nothing in particular though.”
“What is it? Just tell . Or is it sothing you can’t even tell ?”
“That’s not it. There’s nothing I can’t tell you.”
Seojun scratched his head and suddenly sat up.
She gave him a look that said to lie back down, but this wasn’t a story to tell while lying down.
“I told you before, rember? That I’m from another world.”
“You did.”
“I lived pretty normally, but there was one unusual thing.”
It was when Seojun was young.
According to his hazy mories, his family was happy.
His parents got along well and adored him, their son.
At least, that was what Seojun thought.
“But then my mom had an affair, and afterwards she suddenly left ho.”
His dad, shocked, couldn’t pull himself together for a while.
But that didn’t an he abused Seojun.
Rather, while neglecting his own health, he took ticulous care of Seojun.
“A few years passed like that... and one day, mom ca back.”
She cried and begged him for forgiveness, saying she was wrong and asking to start over.
He wasn’t sure what his dad was thinking at the ti, but he happily accepted her plea.
And he even treated her with more love than before.
It seed like their happy family was returning.
“How many days had passed? I don’t think it was even a month. Anyway, around that ti, a woman ca to visit.”
It was late at night.
Seojun, tossing and turning unable to sleep for so reason, got up at the sound of the doorbell.
He quietly went out and looked towards the front door to see his dad talking with an unknown woman.
He still clearly rembered what the woman looked like.
A woman with large breasts and a pretty face, the kind you’d only see on TV.
It was quite fascinating to see such a person in real life.
So he was quietly watching the two of them talk, when,
“Mom ca out. That woman acted like she knew mom too.”
Maybe she was just mom’s acquaintance.
That was what Seojun thought and was about to return to his room.
If only he had.
Just as Seojun was about to turn around, his mother pulled out a kitchen knife she had been hiding and stabbed his father in the back while he was talking, unaware.
“What...?”
Chunbong unknowingly let out a sound and covered her mouth.
“Oh, sorry. Go on.”
“That’s the end of it I guess? Nothing much after that.”
His father collapsed, the woman laughed out loud, said sothing to his trembling mother and then they left the house together.
After that, the police ca, he went to an orphanage, and then he just lived normally after that.
“I still don’t know what it was all about. Why they left alone, or what benefit there was in killing dad.”
“H-Hold on...”
Chunbong after looking around, carefully got closer and hugged Seojun tightly.
“Um... are you okay?”
“I told you, I’m fine you know? That was ages ago.”
As he chuckled, she spoke with a choked voice like she was holding back tears.
“I’m sorry...”
“For what?”
“If I had been there then... I would have killed that woman in an instant.”
“Ah, that’s alright. I did kill her.”
When he was about twenty-four, just before falling into this martial arts world.
He happened to see that woman while walking down the street.
Seojun followed her like had been possessed, and when there was barely anyone around, he picked up a stone and charged at her, smashing her head.
“She died after about ten hits.”
After that, he hid out for a while, waiting for the police to find him, but when he ca to his senses, he was in this martial arts world.
Sotis he wondered,
How is mom living now?
He was a bit curious, but he didn’t want to dwell on it anymore.
He didn’t even know how he should react if he ever encountered that person again.
“...You did well.”
“Right?”
“Yeah. Fucking bitch got what she deserved.”
As expected of murim. Their way of thinking was certainly different from modern tis.
Seojun let out a refreshing sigh and lay back down, embracing Chunbong who was still hugging him tightly.
The warmth completely relieved his fatigue.
But for so reason, he was no longer tired, so he didn’t think he’d fall asleep even if he continued to close his eyes.
“Miss Geum, shall we go for a walk?”
“...Where to?”
“Just, anywhere.”
“...That’s surprisingly normal of you.”
“So is that a yes?”
Seojun got up and checked his clothes.
His martial arts uniform from before was gone, replaced by thin clothes.
Whatever.
He drew the sword next to him.
It was broken in half.
Clicking his tongue, Seojun sheathed the sword again and tied it to his waist.
“Let’s go.”
*“By the way, Chunbong.”
“Yeah?”
The tiny hand he was holding wriggled slightly.
When Seojun looked down at her, her round eyes looked up at him.
Finding it funny, he chuckled, and Chunbong’s small hand squeezed his tightly.
“Co to think of it, doesn’t my story from earlier have nothing to do with my mind going haywire sotis?”
“Why not? Of course it does.”
“Really?”
He looked towards the sky and stared blankly at the moon. It was dazzling.
A curvy half-moon.
It seed there would be a full moon in a few days.
“Wait. How long was I out for?”
“Not even a day. Are you really sure you’re okay?”
“I told you I’m fine.”
While yawning and walking around absentmindedly, he suddenly stopped when he felt a tug on his hand.
“What?”
“Are you seriously okay?”
“Yes, Miss Geum. Aren’t I telling you I’m seriously fine?”
“No. I don’t think you’re okay.”
“What?”
As he scratched his head, Chunbong stared at him intently.
“You’re too quiet today. It’s strange.”
“You always tell to stop with the bullshit.”
“That’s... just how I talk sotis.”
Chunbong hesitated for a mont, then closed her eyes tightly and thrust her head forward.
“Here, here!”
“Huh? What is it? You want a kiss?”
“N-No...!? I’m letting you touch my cheeks so cheer up!”
“Aha, I see.”
This precious brat.
As he fiddled with her still chubby cheeks, though she had lost so weight, he felt a sense of peace co over him.
“Ooh... Is this nirvana?”
“...What are you saying?”
Chunbong pouted slightly and opened her eyes a bit to look up at Seojun.
“I’m not like that.”
“Hm? What’s this all of a sudden?”
“I’ll never betray you, big brother. Never. I’ll stake my father’s honor on it.”
Her father’s honor?
It ca out of nowhere, but he understood what she was trying to say.
“I know, dummy.”
“...As long as you do.”
Anyways, Chunbong was being precious, so it was all good.
*The next morning.
“Lee Seojun, resurrected...!”
Seojun sprang up and stretched.
“Mmm... So noisy first thing in the morning...”
“No way, my Chunbong is awake?”
“I’m going back to sleep... Don’t wake ...”
“Okay. Sleep so more.”
After putting Chunbong back to sleep, he sat blankly and sensed soone’s presence.
What’s this?
He grabbed his sword out of habit and waited, and soon he heard a knock on the door followed by a voice.
“May I co in?”
It was a voice that sounded vaguely familiar yet unfamiliar.
An older man’s voice, but who?
Confused, Seojun said.
“No, you may not?”
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