Vol. 1 - Ch. 14

Right now, I couldn’t even feel Ja-hyun’s eyes looking at me.There was just one reason why I am so passionate about beating Wang Dae-geon.

This was because there was no other way to punish him.

It's not as if I could report this to the governor's office; if I do, people will encourage me to go on and ignore it, questioning why I was being so sensitive to such a sensitive subject.

For that reason, I couldn’t ignore the situation in front of my eyes and decided to punish the wicked bastard.

“… Ah!”

At some point, the level of support I was getting slipped down.

I almost lost my balance and fell, but I was barely able to stand.

‘No, if you want to stay clean, just say so and I will move!’

I lifted my head with a huff because the excitement hadn’t subsided yet.

Eventually, what caught my eye was the strange sight of Wang Dae-geon being held by Ja-hyun, who was much larger than me, suffocating him with just one hand.

… Uh?

“I am getting tired of this.”

As usual, this monotonous voice passed through my ears.

When I heard him speak, he had a tone of boredom, as if he was opening a boring book, but the fact that the person speaking was holding a human in one hand and not a book gave me this feeling of heterogeneity.

I straightened my awkward posture and looked at Ja-hyun’s back with shaking eyes.

To be exact, not him but Wang Dae-geon in his right hand, fluttering like a rag doll.

If there was that much of a threat to one’s life, even a fainted person might have some kind of reaction. I don’t know if it was blood or something, but Wang Dae-geon was dropping like this wet towel without opening his eyes.

“Let’s stop with the pranks.”

Hearing the low voice, I gulped.

It was a silly joke. That’s a mockery of the fact that I did my best to kick the guy a while back.

Normally, it would have been something that would have hurt me, but for some reason, I was shivering a lot, and I didn’t even have the time to feel offended.

Ja-hyun said.

“I feel good today for the first time in a while. It is probably because I took a bath after a long time.” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Oh…, that is good. Now, I hope you will show mercy and let go of what you are holding. If you do that, you will die. You will die. It was when I was mumbling.

Ja-hyun, who was holding the front of Wang Dae-geon’s neck, quickly moved his hand to the nape of the neck and grabbed it. Then, before I could even react, he smashed his head to the ground.

“…!”

The dirt splashed around at the feet with the sound of a gourd breaking. Startled by it, I stepped back.

“So, I will do you a favor.”

A favor? I couldn’t believe my ears now as a word that didn’t fit Ja-hyun at the moment, but he raised his foot and lightly stepped on the back of Wang Dae-geon’s neck while carrying on with his conversation.

“I know you hold evil intentions towards this man.”

“…”

I couldn’t respond to it.

No, it was right. If anyone were to see Ja-hyun with an arrogant expression on his face like he would rip off the head beneath the foot at any moment, they would end up speechless like me.

Because I could instinctively feel that the moment my lips moved, Wang Dae-geon could lose his life.

“If you want, I can make this man disappear from your sight forever.”

“…”

“On the other hand, I can even gouge out his eyes and prevent him from seeing you till the end.”

Like I said, I am in a good mood today, so you get to have this choice. So hurry up and make your choice before I change my mind.

Ja-hyun said it in an arrogant tone, then took his eyes off Wang Dae-geon at the feet and looked at me, who was scared.

Eyes blacker than the night sky locked my eyes.

Again. Those eyes. Those eyes, which seemed to be watching my every move. He didn’t think about hiding his intentions.

‘Ah, shit… Why does he keep using his eyes like that?’

It has been a few days since he woke up. In contrast to the real Eun-ri in the book, I disliked the fact that, despite my best efforts, I was unable to win his heart.

As I was forced to look into Ja-hyun’s eyes, a certainty passed through my mind.

Even though he is acting so threateningly now, I had this strange confidence that he wouldn’t harm me or Wang Dae-geon till I made a choice.

This is because he was conducting this odd experiment on me, Ju Eun-ri.

A strange experiment that stimulated me in some way and watched how I reacted to that. He wasn’t just killing time but also getting on my nerves and threatening. For reasons I don’t know, it was to grasp my reaction.

So, till the answer came out, there would be no such thing as cutting off Wang Dae-geon’s head, even if he had put more force and crushed him.

Maybe. Although this is just my guess.

This is a sound like bones grinding in there right now, but he was adjusting the force to be just enough to not kill him. Or I wanted to believe that.

For your information, I, faced with an unreasonable choice between the two, didn’t have the slightest intention to choose one side or the other.

No, if I were equally generous, why does the original work of Eun-ri say ‘the end of the Killing Blood Clan in the Jang-yang village and Wang Dae-geon’. And mine says simply ‘Wang Dae-geon?’

No matter how much I thought about it, this is a business that I was bad at.

Additionally, there was this shallow reason that I didn’t want to see people dying in front of my eyes.

Even more so if it was Wang Dae-geon, who wasn’t yet ready to die.

Wang Dae-geon still had a role to play. It isn’t that I didn’t want him dead, but him dying here wasn’t an option.

Even if he dies, he has to fulfill his role and die when the time comes.

Besides, if we kill Wang Dae-geon here, how will we dispose of the body? Even if we do it now, how will we talk to the people around us about this?

It is unlikely, but the officials could step in, and… trying to shake off the fear, I weighed everything in my head to the point where I felt inhumane. Then I took a deep inhale and walked.

Ja-hyun, who was watching this quietly, gently put pressure on the left foot as I approached him, as if to tell me not to get any closer.

It really felt like he would break the neck if I didn’t do anything regarding it. So I stopped.

“If you don’t answer, I will assume it is the former.”

“No. wait…”

“If you wanted, I was willing to make him experience the unprecedented pain before killing.”

“J-Ja-hyun, calm down and listen.”

“Looking at your bland face, I don’t think there is any need for it. In that case, there shouldn’t be a delay any longer.”

Crush.

I was startled by the sword, which clearly echoed beneath my feet, and ran to Ja-hyun.

Damn it! damn it!

It was like a moth running to the sun; I ran for the sake of Wang Dae-geon. But I couldn’t just watch people die in front of my eyes!

If he wanted to kill, he should have killed without my knowledge or in a place I couldn’t see.

I felt extremely resentful of Ja-hyun, who had made me protect a future sex offender by putting this out there.

“Yah!”

I pushed Ja-hyun’s shoulders.

I applied as much force as I could, but Ja-hyun was standing like a solid rock with just one foot on the ground and couldn't feel the slightest tremor.

“Stop, stop, okay!”

“…”

“STOP! He will really die! Hurry up and move!”

It was the moment I shouted that and pushed Ja-hyun on the chest.

As if it was a lie, Ja-hyun’s body was pushed. and he fell back.

‘Uh?’

I, who rushed to push him like a bull, fell back along with him.

Ja-hyun fell first onto the ground, and I, who was facing him, fell on top of him.

I think I unconsciously pointed at the ground with one hand and Ja-hyun’s chest or forearm with the other hand. I didn’t know where it hit the bone, but my hand throbbed.

“Ah…”

“…”

Instead of groaning in pain, I realized that this position might seem somewhat inappropriate to others.

At first glance, it looked like I was attacking Ja-hyun, who was a young boy.

No, well, there was no one around, so I didn’t really care, but I couldn’t just keep saying on top of him.

Who was the opponent beneath me? Isn’t he the MC of < Return of the Heavenly Demon> and the harem lord Ja-hyun?

Although it is still in the future, I didn’t want to create a romantic scene with a man whose relationship with women would be messy, and I too felt concerned about the reaction of Ja-hyun, who was silent.

I quickly tried to get up, but it wasn’t easy to get out because my legs were intertwined. It was even more so now that there was no help from the other side.

Ja-hyun, who was silent no matter the groans I made, finally seemed to have the will to cooperate with me and raised his left elbow, which was on the floor.

As my body suddenly tilted, I braced back. And Ja-hyun, who supported the weight of two people with one arm, united the hem of my clothes with the other hand.

“… Uh?”

Right. He was currently untying the knot on the jacket with one hand.

“What are you doing?”

I asked in confusion, but by the time I opened my mouth, more than half of Ja-hyun’s chest was exposed.

I was surprised by this sudden strip tease. I was able to regain my composure quickly.

I didn’t know why he was doing it, but I realized that there was no need to be shocked or flustered as I saw his chest numerous times.

Right, of course, I thought it was the case.

“This…”

But that was wrong on my part.

An unimaginable sight unfolded before my eyes. All I could do was be shocked. As if he were taking a bath, Ja-hyun’s upper body was exposed, as he had taken off the bandages made of cotton cloth. Shining brighter than the moon in the sky was the chest.

No, to be exact, it wasn’t the upper body that was shining.

Ja-hyun’s left chest. On that bare skin. At first glance, it looked like letters, and at another, it seemed like painting, and at the same time, it was this strange pattern that looked simple yet complex, giving out this brilliant light.

The dazzling light spread wide as if dispelling darkness.

I closed my eyes, unable to overcome this light pouring into the retina.

After some time, my eyes had adjusted, and I was finally able to lift my eyelids.

No, what is this?

“What is happening?”

There was no word, no smile.

No one answered either.

Suddenly, this golden ray of light was shining brightly from the pattern instead of a neutral light.

I stretched out the hand towards the pattern as if drawn in by it.

Perhaps because of the light, Ja-hyun seemed more like a human, but he just watched my actions with this inexplicable expression on his face.

Even though the light was strong enough to see through even when I covered the palm, I felt no heat or anything from it.

Encouraged by that, I not only lightly placed my hand on the chest to block the light, but almost carefully placed my palm on the bare chest of a man.

Then, like a lie, the beam of light that spread all around disappeared in an instant.

Like it got absorbed into my palm.