Chapter 21
I give up.
“Oh-haeng, how long has it been since Cheon-seong went out to get the spring water?”
“If you're that worried about Cheon-seong, why don't you go check on her yourself, Vice-Leader?”
Oh-haeng, tired of answering Jeok-un’s repeated questions, offered him a new solution.
“Who said anything about being worried?”
Jeok-un made a nonchalant expression as if it were absurd.
‘That's exactly what you're doing, though….’
Oh-haeng sighed softly, watching Jeok-un, who was awkward with his emotions.
“…I just wanted some water.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Oh-haeng seemed to decide to let it go in one ear and out the other and focused on his work again.
After Cheon-seong went out to get the spring water, Jeok-un kept looking out the window.
‘It rained last night, so the road must be slippery, but I forgot to tell her. Come to think of it, her shoes were really worn out... I should probably get her a new pair, huh? But wait a minute….’
Jeok-un, recalling Cheon-seong’s worn-out flower shoes, realized that he hadn’t even unfolded a single scroll piled up on his desk.
‘Why am I so worried about Seol Cheon-seong that I'm even putting off my work?’
It was the first time Jeok-un had thought about someone outside of work to this extent.
Faced with his unfamiliar self, Jeok-un frowned and fell into contemplation.
‘No, this is also part of my work.’
After a moment of confusion, Jeok-un found his own answer.
‘Because she’s the Heavenly Demon’s daughter. The Heavenly Demon entrusted me with protecting and watching over her, so it’s only natural that I’m concerned.’
Normally, I'd follow Cheon-seong myself, but there's no one else who can handle the Cult's affairs right now.
‘I’ve attached poison butterflies, so she’ll be fine.’
The poison butterflies are immortal, blood-sucking ghost butterflies that I control.
If Cheon-seong is in danger, the butterflies are supposed to subdue her attacker and alert me.
Jeok-un turned his gaze to the food that was getting cold.
“Eat! You'll get sick if you don't. My dad skipped meals all the time to work, and he ended up with a chronic illness. So eat, unless you want to end up like him!”
“Seriously, eat something! You need energy to get your work done!”
Suddenly, Cheon-seong’s worried face as she urged him to eat flashed through Jeok-un’s mind, and a faint smile appeared on his lips, only to disappear silently.
‘Maybe I should go meet her? It's way safer if I escort her myself, rather than relying on the poison butterflies.’
Jeok-un’s hands and eyes moved faster as he unfolded the scrolls.
Jeok-un, who had been struggling to concentrate, finally looked up from the scrolls again after finishing all his work.
Jeok-un looked up at the sunset sky.
‘She should have been back by now.’
Just as Jeok-un, feeling a sense of foreboding, jumped up, swarms of red butterflies rushed in through the window where he was sitting.
“Are you okay, Vice-Leader?”
Oh-haeng rushed over to Jeok-un, startled, to check on him.
“This is….”
The red butterflies collapsing on Jeok-un’s wooden desk were his poison butterflies.
The poison butterflies were writhing in pain, crushed by an unknown divine power.
‘My poison butterflies have been overpowered. That means...’
The first face that came to Jeok-un’s mind was Cheon-seong’s.
“Oh-haeng, tell everyone to search for Cheon-seong, now!”
“Huh? Where are you going, Vice-Leader?”
After giving orders to Oh-haeng, Jeok-un immediately rushed out of the building.
* * *
‘It’s warm.’
I was definitely in a cold place just now….
‘Did I go back home?’
The moment I tried to recall the house where I lived with my dad.
“Ugh!”
The pain I had forgotten resurfaced, and I woke up, shrinking my body.
‘This is the cave I was in…. Right, I ate the flower seed here and collapsed, didn’t I?’
I was retracing the situation before I collapsed when.
“You’re awake now?”
A familiar voice was heard from a very secluded spot in the cave.
‘What's he doing now?’
When I turned my head towards the direction of the voice, I saw Geumseon Yeonhwa huddled up in a corner for some reason.
“Yeah, but why are you there? Are you cold?”
Geumseon Yeonhwa’s cloak was covering my body for some reason.
‘Honestly, I didn't think he was the type to worry about anyone. That's surprising. I figured he'd just let me freeze to death.’
“Take it back if you’re cold.”
“Seriously? What do you take me for? Do you really think I would succumb to a little cold?”
When I gave him a pitiful look and tried to hand him back Geumseon Yeonhwa’s cloak, he flared up.
“Then why are you huddled in the corner shivering like that?”
“It’s because of that thing!”
Geumseon Yeonhwa stretched out his long fingertips and pointed to one place.
There, a fire, built with carefully gathered firewood, was blazing.
‘So that’s why the cave felt warm.’
“What about the fire?”
“I'm a lotus that grows in spring water! Fire is my natural enemy!”
‘Certainly, if fire touches a lotus, it would burn. Then fire is no different from a weapon that threatens Geumseon Yeonhwa’s life, isn’t it? But who lit the fire?’
“Why didn't you just put it out, then?!”
I hurriedly got up and doused the flames.
“It’s done now….”
When I checked that the fire was completely extinguished and tried to turn back to where Geumseon Yeonhwa was, he had suddenly gotten close and pressed his forehead against mine.
Golden eyes, shining like amber, clearly met mine.
“Your temperature seems to be back to normal.”
‘He was checking my temperature.’
Although it was only a brief moment of eye contact with Geumseon Yeonhwa, I learned something new.
His magnificent appearance alone can be overwhelming.
‘He's a divine being, so of course he's ridiculously good-looking. Well, it’s not related to me though.’
“Why are you all up in my space?”
I pushed Geumseon Yeonhwa’s face away with my right hand.
“You've got some nerve, pushing my face like that.”
“If I didn't have nerve, you would've crippled me first.”
“That’s true.”
Geumseon Yeonhwa smiled softly as if my words were amusing.
‘He's laughing at the idea of crippling a martial artist. What a cruel jerk. Wait, more than that, me…!’
“Am I alive?”
“You are alive now.”
Unlike me, who was serious, Geumseon Yeonhwa answered with an indifferent face.
‘Yeah, to you, the death of one person is probably not a big deal.’
I was dissatisfied, but I was the one who was at a disadvantage, so I decided to endure it.
“My body still aches... but I'm not going to die from the flower seed, right?”
“Yeah, my flower seed bloomed safely inside you. It's still a bit unstable, so the pain will probably stick around for a few more days.”
“…Thank goodness. I'm alive.”
When I realized that I had survived, the first face that came to mind was my dad’s.
After that, for some reason, the faces of the Vice-Leader and my brothers also came to mind.
‘Is it just me, or is my vision clearer and my hearing sharper than before? Maybe I'm just imagining things. Anyway, now that I've survived, once the flower seed's power fully settles in, it should be easier to find a way to cure Dad, even within the Demonic Cult.’
My hopeful thoughts were interrupted when I noticed that darkness had fallen outside the cave after the fire disappeared.
“Yeonhwa, how long have I been asleep since I collapsed?”
“Maybe a little over half a day?”
“I slept for over half a day?! Where's the water? My jug!”
I was horrified and looked for the jug of spring water and held it in my hand.
“You shouldn't push yourself. You still need to rest.”
“I don't have time to relax! I need to get back to the Cult before I can rest!”
‘The Vice-Leader suddenly told me to get water twice a day. He's probably trying to find an excuse to kick me out. If I'm late, who knows what he'll do.’
“Yeonhwa, I’ll be going now! Thank you for today.”
I gave Geumseon Yeonhwa a perfunctory greeting, left the cave, and quickly descended the downhill path.
“Ahhh!”
But my body didn’t follow my thoughts.
‘My legs are wobbly. I guess I used up all my energy absorbing the flower seed.’
In the end, I fell on my butt on the downhill path.
“Tsk. So weak. Toughen up, human.”
“I was going to get up anyway... Wait, what are you doing here?”
I sat down again on the spot thanks to Geumseon Yeonhwa’s white face that appeared right next to me.
“Well, I followed you.”
“So why are you following me?”
“So you were just going to eat my flower seed and run off? You ungrateful human.”
“You were the one who gave me the flower seed, weren’t you?”
I was barely hanging on in the Demonic Cult, it was impossible to bring Geumseon Yeonhwa inside as well.
‘Above all, Geumseon Yeonhwa is a divine being! And one that turns people into cripples if he’s not satisfied!’
“Get back to the cave. Now!”
“No, human.”
While I was arguing with Geumseon Yeonhwa,
“Seol!”
Jeok-un’s voice, as if he had found me, was heard.
‘Ah… No way!’
When I turned my head towards the direction of the sound, Jeok-un, looking very angry, was quickly approaching me.
“I said go quickly… Ugh!”
As I barely managed to stand up and tried to push Geumseon Yeonhwa’s back to send him away, a surge of heat, like my blood was boiling, and my body tilted backward.
“Hey, human!”
“Seol-ah!”
Even as my vision swam, the voices of the two men echoed in my ears.
I let my heavy eyelids fall shut, feeling a sense of release.
‘…I give up.’
* * *
“Seol-ah!”
It was Jeok-un who caught Cheon-seong as she collapsed.
Seeing Cheon-seong, who was a complete mess, red energy swirled around him menacingly.
“So it was you. You're the one who sent back my poison butterflies.”
“Ah, so you were the one who stuck those gnats on her. If you noticed that, you must have realized what I did to her.”
“What did you do to Seol?”
Jeok-un’s fierce gaze, stained with bloodlust, turned to Geumseon Yeonhwa.
“Why would I tell you that?”
At Geumseon Yeonhwa’s provocation, Jeok-un’s red energy wrapped around his neck threateningly.
“Your answer....”
Jeok-un examined Cheon-seong carefully, then turned his gaze back to Geumseon Yeonhwa.
His rose-colored eyes flashed with murderous intent, like a predator stalking its prey.
“I don't need to hear it.”
