Episode 2
Not an Ordinary Child
'Did he just call my dad Heavenly Demon?'
The question barely left my mind when unknown scenes flooded my head.
'What are these scenes?'
"Dan-myeong! No!"
"Listen carefully, only you must survive, I love you. My daughter."
Scenes of a happy family and a car engulfed in flames in the middle of a highway.
Two contrasting images mixed wildly before my eyes, gradually becoming clearer as one scene.
My mom shielded me until the very end, protecting me from the fire with her whole body. My dad, bleeding in the driver's seat, turned his head to look at me even as he was losing consciousness.
'I remember now, Park Dan-myeong, that's my name in my past life.'
It was a sudden memory, but despite feeling unfamiliar, I instinctively knew it was my past life.
In my past life, I was able to survive a major accident thanks to my parents' protection.
'But, only me.'
My mom, who sacrificed herself for me, and my dad in the driver's seat, passed away on the spot.
"The car was completely destroyed, how could only the child survive?"
"Tsk, she's the reason they're dead."
All my relatives, on both sides of the family, shunned me. They said I was bad luck since I was the only one to survive such a horrible accident.
As a result, with no one to take care of me, I was sent to an orphanage.
It wasn't just adults who found the day of the accident ominous.
I was the one who remembered that day most vividly.
'It's my fault. If only Mom and Dad hadn't protected me, they could have lived...'
My relatives' words had real weight, and they tormented me.
From that day on, I suffered from nightmares every day. It turned into insomnia, and further into depression and panic disorder.
The pain of losing all my loved ones in an instant and their last moments left to me were not easily erased from my mind. Instead, they replayed constantly, and I couldn't escape those memories my whole life.
'I just wished I could die right then and there.'
In endless fear and anxiety, I sometimes felt like giving up everything, but I tried to live.
"Dan-myeong, listen carefully, only you must survive."
Because my mom's last words to me became an obligation.
"I love you. My daughter."
I thought that was the only way I could repay my mom's love and sacrifice.
It was the same on my twentieth birthday.
It was a day filled with the chaotic blaring of car horns.
Baaang!
Maybe it was because one car was driving kinda crazy? All the honking brought back memories of that day, and I had a panic attack right there in the crosswalk. I didn't even notice the motorcycle rushing towards me, and then...
My memory cut off there.
'I died, without even keeping my mom's last wish to survive.'
I didn't stay bitter for long, because something else shocked me even more than dying in my past life.
'But wait... am I the Seol Cheon-seong? Not just someone with the same name, but the one I know?'
The name Seol Cheon-seong was very familiar to me.
Whenever my insomnia acted up, I'd write. I'd read tons of novels, but I'm talking about the one I read the day before the accident.
Seol Cheon-seong was a character from my favorite novel, which I had reread over a hundred times, Young Master of the Namgung Clan.
'She wasn't the main character, but I loved the sweet moments between her and her dad, the Heavenly Demon. I'd reread that part every day.'
That story was a comfort to me, since I'd lost both my parents when I was little.
So, I focused on their story when I read the novel, instead of the Namgung Clan, which was supposed to be the main part.
"That's why I know this."
The Heavenly Demon in front of me would become the ultimate villain, trying to destroy the Righteous Sect. And the reason he turned evil? Because his daughter, Seol Cheon-seong, the person he loved most in the world, died.
'No way! This has to be a misunderstanding. The Heavenly Demon isn't some weakling who gets nosebleeds all the time.'
Then, the words of the unidentified Shura-masked man came to mind.
"The medicine is stronger now, so he'll get nosebleeds more often."
'Now that I think about it, the Heavenly Demon had insomnia, too.'
I remember reading that he took strong sleeping pills for it.
'Okay, let's say the nosebleeds are because the sleeping pills are strong. But still, it makes no sense that he can't even wring out the laundry and has trouble holding a little kid like me.'
'My dad's been a total weakling for seven years straight.'
But in the novel, Young Master of the Namgung Clan, the Heavenly Demon, Dang-wi, was overflowing with power, even though he had insomnia and panic attacks. He couldn't even control it.
He was so strong, he used to be called the Unrivaled Poisonous Sword Emperor. After some incident, he turned on the Righteous Sect, beat the old Heavenly Demon, and took over as leader of the Heavenly Demon Sect. He was the strongest of them all – that was Heavenly Demon Dang-wi.
'He was so scared his immense power would hurt his daughter that his hands trembled whenever he touched her. He was so careful with her, he even adjusted her clothes gently. It's a really sweet part of the story... Wait, trembling hands?'
Then I remembered my dad's hands trembling whenever he held me, and how careful he always was when he did my laundry.
'Could it be...? Nah, no way. It can't be.'
"Jeok-un."
Dad called out to the Shura-masked men who were turning to leave.
"Byeol-i still can't handle my full power, right?"
"Are you serious? You really don't know?"
The Shura-masked man saw the clueless look on Dad's face, sighed, and said, sounding defeated.
"Even martial artists who've trained for years can't take a hit from the Heavenly Demon and be okay. I know you were super talented, even as a kid, Heavenly Demon, but normal kids aren't like that. Cheon-seong is only seven. If you're not careful, you could really hurt her."
"Ppeum-i isn't an ordinary kid. She's only seven, but she doesn't even freak out when she gets a nosebleed. She just calmly unfolds a handkerchief with her tiny hands and wipes it. She's so smart and clever; she's gonna figure out the meaning of life any day now!"
"What—"
"No, she'll probably rule the world with her cuteness! Maybe the Heavenly Demon Sect will become the Seol Cheon-seong Sect... No, a cult isn't good enough. When I look into those jewel-like eyes, I feel like I have to build her an empire! And that's not all – Byeol-i's so brilliant..."
'Is he for real? This is insane. I can't believe I'm actually hearing the Heavenly Demon brag about his kid!'
His eyes were a little crazy with love for his daughter, but his voice was totally serious. This was definitely the Heavenly Demon from the novel.
'Did I really just get dropped into the novel?'
No matter how much I tried to deny it, I could no longer deny the reality before my eyes.
Yes.
I transmigrated into Seol Cheon-seong, the daughter of the Heavenly Demon.
...who gets killed by some random assassin with a grudge against the Heavenly Demon.
Once I realized the truth, I went back to the bedroom, totally dazed, and lay down.
'I was so spaced out I forgot to put the club away. Oh well, I'm gonna die anyway, so who cares?'
I lay in bed with the club and rope next to me under the blanket, staring gloomily at the ceiling.
My head was a total mess, all jumbled up with my past life and this one.
'No, the most important thing right now is that I'm Seol Cheon-seong. Park Dan-myeong is dead and gone.'
My priority now was surviving as Seol Cheon-seong.
'One pointless death in my past life is enough.'
I didn't want another miserable death in this life. I wanted to keep my mom's promise, the one I couldn't keep before. I had to do it this time.
'But how could I avoid dying? The novel only said she gets killed by an assassin with a grudge against the Heavenly Demon.'
The Heavenly Demon had turned his back on the Righteous Sect, so tons of people hated him. I had no clue where to even begin to change things.
"Dad, if you're watching, give me a sign."
'I mean, I can't exactly tell this dad I've been reincarnated...'
Maybe I was getting used to this body, because I found myself looking for my dad first.
I was muttering to myself in frustration when I heard a rustling sound outside the bedroom window.
'What is this sound?'
It sounded like fabric fluttering in the wind, or maybe a bird flapping its wings.
Instinctively, I took out the club from under the blanket.
'Since I'm still living in some remote village far from the Central Plains, it's not time for me to get killed yet. So it's probably not a shadow assassin.'
I was lost in thought when something tapped on the window.
'Is it... asking me to open the window?'
No way an assassin would be polite enough to knock.
'Then who is it?'
I cautiously opened the window.
"Peep! Peep!"
Then, a transparent bird flew in, dropped something in front of me, circled around my head, and then disappeared back out the window.
'Was that a bird just now?'
"I've never seen a transparent bird before."
Such a bird was never mentioned in the novel either.
'Well, I'm a transmigrator myself, so anything's possible, I guess.'
Once I thought about it that way, it didn't seem so weird for a creature that wasn't in the novel to show up.
I got over it pretty quick and turned to look at what the bird had dropped.
What the bird had given me was a silk scroll.
But the weird thing was, the scroll was glowing.
'It's not hot, is it?'
I cautiously reached out my hand to the scroll...
And then, with a bright flash, the scroll unfolded itself right in front of me.
[Chapter 1: Find a way to cure the Heavenly Demon's mind and body in the Demonic Sect]
