Vol. 1 - Ch. 19

How dare a mere subject with pitiful eyes look at him, like he had to save her?Still, Ja-hyun acknowledged her as the benefactor and wanted to leave for her, but got shocked.

When Ju Eun-ri's pleas didn’t work, she later made a similar threat.

“Yah, where did you say you were going?”

“…”

She snorted and looked at him.

“You know how much your medicines cost? How much does it cost to feed and put you to bed? At least the clothes you have on now- aren’t they the ones I brought you? And I bought it by paying more money.”

There were so many things.

Ja-hyun thought so but stayed silent.

“If you want to go, you will have to pay off your debts before you leave. You want to slip out?”

“…”

“You said you had nowhere to go. You have no memory.”

He did say that before.

Ja-hyun clearly remembered the reaction of Ju Eun-ri, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, when he said those words.

She looked like she knew everything and made a fuss, pretending to be shocked. He could still see her drooping eyebrows and eyes thinking.

Ju Eun-ri probably didn’t know how conflicted Ja-hyun felt at that time when he wanted to torture her to spit out the information she knew.

She probably never imagined it. Aside from the fact that there were some doubts, Ju Eun-ri herself was nothing more than a weak and withdrawn human, both physically and mentally.

Which is why she could act so boldly towards him. Even though she knew he was dangerous, she didn’t know yet how cruel he could be.

Ja-hyun looked down at the round head bowing near the legs and suddenly felt the urge to look into it. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

If he did that, wouldn’t he be able to find out what she was desperately trying to hide from him?

‘…’

But he didn’t act on a momentary impulse.

It didn’t mean much. There was just a debt of his life being saved, which he has to repay to Ju Eun-ri.

Ju un-ri complained at every change that Ja-hyun didn’t treat her like a benefactor, but if he hadn’t been nursed by her all night, with fever boiling his blood, he would have ended up turning him into a skeleton.

And maybe Ju Eun-ri knew it too. Considering how she was treating Ja-hyun, who tried to kill her last night, it wasn’t an unlikely story.

In that sense, Ja-hyun couldn’t understand Ju Eun-ri, who was secretly afraid of him but also had the wrong thought that he wouldn’t harm her.

Ever since they met, she had been this uncharted territory for him.

‘Perhaps she is just stupid.’

A statement that would make Ju Eun-ri roar like a lion if she heard it. Ja-hyun knew it too, so he never said those words out loud.

“Why don’t you just stay here and pay off your debt with your body?”

Ju Eun-ri’s question didn’t even touch his ears. Ja-hyun just stared at her round, black eyes, which kept closing in an attempt to read her thoughts a bit. It never occurred to him that Ju Eun-ri could misunderstand that look.

“W-what! Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…”

Ju Eun-ri let go of the hem of the clothes she was holding and covered her face with both hands.

Ja-hyun just raised his eyebrows, not knowing why she was acting like that.

“D-don’t make odd misunderstandings. I meant for you to stay here and do some chores since we don’t have enough workers in my guesthouse.”

‘I guess it is true that she is stupid.’

Ja-hyun didn’t respond, and Ju Eun-ri’s persistent persuasion continued even after she sat back down in the chair.

“No, I read my fortune last month, and it said that eating a noble meal would save my life. That fortune teller was right, so they knew you would come…”

Ja-hyun was worried as he listened to her nonsense.

The reason he tried to leave in the first place was for Ju Eun-ri. Because he was dangerous to her.

She couldn’t be a threat to him, but he was a threat to her every second of the day. Especially with the unique power she held.

But is it needed to leave right away?

Ja-hyun, who had no memory, had no place to return to. This is the place where he first opened his eyes after escaping from that evil place, and it was this guesthouse.

Ja-hyun was worried that he would wander around the world like a balloon without a path, and he would eventually be taken over by Jeok Mu-rin.

Was he afraid of that personality?

No, that wasn’t the reason.

The life now was entirely Ja-hyun’s own. Even if the other person was his past life, Ja-hyun had no intent of watching someone who covered what was his.

So Ja-hyun made up his mind.

He wouldn’t leave this place, the Blue Water Guesthouse.

And when he told Ju Eun-ri that, it was around the time when she got tired of talking and began to doze off with her chin on the table.

After receiving the confirmation from him, Ju Eun-ri fell asleep on the table without even caring about walking back to the bed.

Sitting opposite her, Ja-hyun silently observed her snoring before, sensing he had exerted himself more; he went to bed by himself and dozed out.

This was the entire story of how Ja-hyun and Eun-ri fell asleep at the table and in the bed, respectively.

‘Ah, come to think of it.’

Ja-hyun, who was leaving the house and heading to a quiet hermitage in the mountains, which he had seen before, glanced at the warehouse when he heard someone groaning as he passed through the yard.

The man was the owner of this groan. That…

‘Hmm, who was it?’

A name he couldn’t remember.

All Ja-hyun knew was that he was a housekeeper, and Ju Eun-ri hated him. To be honest, Ja-hyun had no interest in what this man did to other people, as long as it wasn’t Ju Eun-ri.

Be it murder, rape, robbery, arson, anything really.

But that guy, like no one else, disturbed Ju Eun-ri’s feelings, and Ja-hyun was very upset about it.

Ju Eun-ri was his benefactor, and even though she grumbled, she was the one who helped him more faithfully than anyone else.

And she was planning to continue assisting him too.

So last night, Ja-hyun broke his promise to Ju Eun-ri about not killing the guy and put demonic qi into the head.

It wasn’t a large amount, but that amount he infused was enough for an ordinary person who didn’t have dantian to get affected by it, lose the sense of reason, go insane, and eventually die from distortion of innate qi and blood.

At this rate, he would die naturally in a couple weeks.

To others, it would seem manic, so no one would think he got murdered.

That was Ja-hyun’s small gift for Ju Eun-ri, who would be alone after he left. Well, he did it with good intentions.

Ja-hyun, who ended up sitting there, and the product of what he had done under the assumption of him leaving, was still in the warehouse.

‘Hmm….’

Ja-hyun thought for a moment and then looked away from the warehouse. He picked up the pace again from where he halted.

By the time he got up onto the roof of the guesthouse, he had forgotten about helping.

I was so out of my mind since I overslept in the morning.

I finished getting ready and left the house with Eun-young.

As I was busily crossing the yard, Eun-young pulled my arm, saying she heard the sound of an animal roar. She was so small yet she was stronger than me, just like our father, so I was trying to figure out what to do while I got dragged by her.

In front of the warehouse we arrived at.

Through the gap in the open door, I saw Wang Dae-geon lying on the ground, staring into the sky with unfocused eyes.

The sound the animal was supposedly making was ‘wooo…’ Maybe we heard it wrong.

“Mister. Hey, mister Wang!”

As we walked closer and shook his shoulders, he gradually began to come into focus.

But it was quite some time later that we were able to communicate.

Wang Dae-geon seemed quite confused, not knowing why he was like that.

He frowned at me, then looked at the alcohol bottles around and looked at me with suspicious eyes, and then pulled the front of my top and sniffed it.

This was my guess, but he seems to remember hiding near the tree to steal a glance of me but doesn’t seem to remember Ja-hyun attacking him.

Well, from his side, all of it must have happened in an instant. He was standing in the yard, but then collapsed in the warehouse. There were alcohol bottles around, and the smell of alcohol from his body. Actually, now he would think of it as drinking and hitting his head somewhere.

There was a clear suspicion that his memory might be confused.

“Eun-ri, did you happen to be…”

That was the case just by listening to the questions being asked of me.

But I didn’t correct his mistake.

Rather, to encourage the illusion, he looked into the alcohol bottle and thought, ‘How much did I drink that all of this is empty!’ He crackled, ‘Cut it out later.’

Wang Dae-geon, who was making excuses, suddenly fell ahead without trying to get up.

“Ugh… Eun-ri…. Hold me, please…”

At first glance, he looked like he was suffering from a hangover by holding the head, which got hit last night.

Since the child was watching, I had no choice but to help him up. Woah, he is so fucking heavy that he could crush me.

I hadn’t even taken a couple steps, and I was starting to sweat down so bad.

Still, thanks to Wang Dae-geon somehow moving his feet, we managed to enter the guest house safely, despite taking some time.

I laid him down in the alcove and opened the door to the guest house, and a happy face came in.

“Eun-ri!”

“Uh? You are here already?”

“What do you mean? Why did you open the door so late? You overslept, right?”

The welcome face was none other than a friend named Son Kyung-ju, who cleaned the guestrooms, bathrooms and occasionally came to serve the guests.

Unfortunately, right now wasn’t a time for lengthy greetings.

‘Kyung-ju, wait.”

“Uh? Why?”

“Please sit here and look after Eun-young for me. There is somewhere I have to rush.”

“What? What is that supposed….”

Wang Dae-geon’s condition didn’t seem so good, so I asked Kyung-ju’s help, supported Wang Dae-geon, and headed off for the physician.

Wang Dae-geon might be an ass, but unlike usual, he didn’t say anything or move his hand to my body. He was groaning and barely speaking.

‘Well, that is what happened to me yesterday. If he gets better, then he isn’t human.’

I clicked my tongue but felt so sympathy.

Isn’t the reason Wang Dae-geon got into this situation in the first place because he was peeping on me when I was taking a bath?

If Ja-hyun hadn’t been, no one knows what would have happened.

Just thinking about what Wang Dae-geon will do in the future… hmm.

‘Should I just let him die?’

I did slightly regret it.

‘Anyway, where is Ja-hyun and what is he doing?’

I was completely out of my mind till now that I didn’t have time to think about him.

But as we were walking slowly down the street, I began to wonder about his whereabouts, as I didn’t see him around the guesthouse.

I think he was in the room until I fell asleep. Who leaves someone who is sleeping on a bench to hurt their back?

Maybe he went back to his room and slept on the soft bed.

‘That disgusting bastard.’

Even though I saw Ja-hyun’s intentions, I didn’t feel too bad.

It was because I vividly remembered the private conversation with Ja-hyun last night.

Since he had sworn to me not to leave, it never occurred to me that he would break the promise.

After all, isn’t he the protagonist of a Murim novel? It might be future Ja-hyun or Jeok Mu-rin, but the current Ja-hyun would still have that level of trust.

Ja-hyun will not leave the guesthouse until the debt is paid. I had no doubt about it.