Vol. 1 - Ch. 31

Actually, it was rather strange that I wasn’t surprised to hear that an unknown warrior was hiding in my workplace.Should I consider myself lucky that I didn’t suspect Ja-hyun?

‘But what is he saying now?’

Looking at Baek-ri Jin-chun’s expression, I thought it would be no use playing it dumb, so I hesitated and opened his mouth.

“Yes. He has been staying at our guesthouse for some time.”

“…”

“I-it’s because he doesn’t like to step ahead. He is a bit shy. Ah, but he isn’t a bad person, so there is no need to be so cautious.”

I continued to stutter, holding the silver coin in my hand tightly.

In my view, this incident involves the Old Dragon Association that didn’t appear in the original novel.

Jin-chun, who saved me, was someone I knew, but he wasn’t a character who appeared directly in the original work. He was mentioned indirectly by the other characters in the novel.

‘Does his younger sister appear in the book and not him?’

The fact that his younger sister appeared in the original work, which was a terrible harem story, meant that Jin-chun would later become Ja-hyun’s brother-in-law.

In other words, the two of them will meet one day and have a formal meeting or fight with each other, but I wasn’t sure if I just arranged their first meeting in my guesthouse-something that didn’t even happen in the normal novel.

Moreover, if Ja-hyun wanted to present himself, he would have revealed it a long time ago.

Considering that he hadn’t come out until now, it looked like he had no wish to welcome them.

“I guess you know him well.”

“Uh? Ah, well. True.”

Jin-chun looked at my face as if he didn’t trust me, and at the answer that came , it was delayed by half a beat because I was thinking about something else.

He immediately pointed his hand towards the kitchen.

"I'll go because it appears you're hesitant to disclose who you are."

There was no reply to his polite words.

Well, I didn’t expect him to be polite.

“Weird. I didn't believe anything was in the hallway. Where are you planning to have a conversation?

At that point, Tae-kyung and Dong-mun all came out and seemed to have their doubts about the existence of the warrior Jin-chun was talking about.

Dong-mun gave me a look as if asking if it was true. All I did was turn my head and avoid looking at him.

On the other hand, Tae-kyung was more proactive. He constantly bombarded my friends with questions.

But in reality, his friend had ignored all the happenings and walked off somewhere.

“Look, Jin-chun! Where are you heading?”

Jin-chun parted his lips, and Tae-kyung raised his voice only when he could take it no more.

“Hangzhou.”

“Ha… what?”

“Stop making a fuss and pack your bags; we’re leaving.”

There was a slight annoyance in Jin-chun’s voice. It was an emotion which I heard for the first time.

“Ugh, this guy is serious.”

Baek-ri Jin-chun just left the guesthouse and Tae-kyung was left alone, sighed in despair.

Then he suddenly turned to me and made his expression that it was unfair.

“Guesthouse owner, do you know why we have to leave at such a late hour?”

“Uh?”

“I was really wondering if the owner of the guesthouse here had kicked us out without my knowledge, or if it was just my friend’s attitude.”

“Well. Even I don’t…”

It wasn’t a lie. I was unable to figure out why Jin-chun had canceled his plan to leave tomorrow morning and decided to leave right away.

‘Eh… Ja-hyun didn’t ask him to leave or something, right?’

Right, maybe, as Tae-kyung said, there was some message sent through qi, ‘quick get out of here’ which only Jin-chun could hear, or maybe he secretly sent some note.

‘Ah, as if. He won't go that far.’

As I shook my head at the thought that suddenly occurred to me, I heard another sigh.

“Well, there is nothing we can do about it if things are like this.”

‘Are you sure you want to go? I think it is too late.”

“What can we do? The world is too rough to leave without that friend.”

“Ah, yes…”

Well, it is just my guess, but no matter how harsh the world is, I don’t think it would be a threat to him.

According to the laws of murim, isn’t it true that the more likable a man smiles, the more evil and powerful they are?

“Well, it looks like I have to say goodbye earlier than expected.”

“I apologize; I feel like I am chasing you away aimlessly.”

“Haha, no.”

After a few more words, I let Tae-kyung go.

I tried to return the silver coin to at least get a refund for one fewer day of lodging before he went, feeling bad for owing them, but Tae-kyung refused.

Ultimately, the only thing I could do for him was to see him off the guesthouse.

They were heading out on a long journey, so I wanted to pack him some simple food, but Jin-chun was in such a rush that he dragged Tae-kyung away with the luggage on the back, so there was no time to ask them to stop for even a minute.

‘Hmm, something feels bad here.’

Now that I think about it, I couldn’t even say thank you to them properly.

I felt like the most ungrateful one.

I rubbed my stinging eyes and walked towards the guesthouse.

I didn’t notice it because I was a bit earlier, but after the situation was done, my body felt relaxed as if the fatigue had washed over me.

Well, normally, it would have been time to close the door and get back to bed.

With that thought in mind, I stepped into the guesthouse. I ended up making eye contact with Dong-mun, who was looking in this direction and making a meaningful expression.

“What. Why? What. Why?”

“I haven’t even said anything.”

I scolded him for being a coward, but Dong-mun just scratched the back of his neck as if he was used to it.

“There are a lot of things I want to ask, but… now this… I am sure you know, right?”

“Uh… maybe?”

“Then, I'll ask you again tomorrow. Even though it is late, there is still a ton of work to be done.”

“…”

Surprisingly calm.

When I looked at Dong-mun with shock, I noticed that the pale young man’s face looked at least 10 years older than before.

It was only then realized that I wasn’t the only one having a hard time today.

If I think about it carefully, he was dealt with a short and severe blow, and it was Dong-mun who got tormented by the Old Dragon Association bastards, so he deserved to be physically and mentally exhausted.

I, who was relatively lenient to him, a minor by modern culture standards, decided to take special measures for Dong-mun, who suffered.

"You go home first; I'll clean up here."

“Uh?”

“It is quite late. Your mother and younger siblings are waiting, so you should go quickly.”

“But… how will you clean this up yourself?”

Dong-mun hesitated and looked at me. He wanted to go home, but he was worried about me, so he couldn’t let go.

"I'm not claiming to clean things up now either. It was a difficult day for both of us. So go home and rest, and tomorrow I'll clean this place up.

“Then tomorrow morning…”

“What about it? the only 2 guests in the room we have left, and by tomorrow morning, rumors will spread of what happened here, so no one will come to the guesthouse for a while.”

Even if I cannot do it, I will close the gates and rest till noon tomorrow.

Dong-mun nodded as if he understood what I was saying and massaged his neck.

Even so, I pushed the back of Dong-mun, who wanted to stay and just finish the task. Even after I pushed him out, he continued to look back at me several times.

‘He is such a good kid.’

He seemed to be worried that if he left, I would be left alone with an unknown warrior.

I turned around without watching Dong-mun leave until the end. Now, the only people left in the guesthouse were Ja-hyun and me.

“Ja-hyun, you can come out now.”

“…”

“You can come out now.”

“…”

Ja-hyun, I called for him, but there was no answer.

“Yah, are you not coming out? Can you not hear me?”

Ja-hyun’s voice couldn’t be heard despite several calls.

“Come out quickly. It is just the two of us here now!”

Undeterred, I raised my voice even louder and looked for Ja-hyun.

In the end, I took heavy steps and went all the way to the kitchen, the warehouse, and the 2nd floor hallway, but I couldn’t find Ja-hyun around.

Right. I was the only one left here, not two.

“What? Where did he disappear again?”

And I'm only out about it now. It was so absurd and empty that I couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Did he go after Jin-chun?’

I had an idea, but I wasn't sure what it was.

Ja-hyun didn't appear even after I finished cleaning the room and closed the guesthouse.

‘One sheep, two sheep…’

I couldn’t fall asleep easily throughout the night.

No, to be exact, I think I fell into a deep nap from time to time.

But I couldn’t get a deep sleep like Eun-young, who was sleeping like a log next to me. The reason was because my mind began to feel agitated from the moment I lay down.

As I continued tossing and turning the blanket between my legs, I thought of what happened today.

A guy called Jong Myung looked at me and pulled a sword on me. Fortunately, Jin-chun showed up, so I only saw him for a split second, but that split second continued to replay in my head.

If Jin-chun, Ja-hyun, and Tae-kyung hadn't been present, what might have happened? I was unable to put it out of my mind.

‘The entire thing felt like I cannot shut my eyes now… If things had gotten bad, I would have died today.’

The destination of imagination was always the same; the imaginary me would die a terrible death due to bleeding, sword slash, or anything. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the ɴovᴇlꜰirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

The more I imagined, the more blood seemed to drain from my body. I held my hands together, which were oddly cold on a hot day, and forced myself to sleep.

‘I didn’t just want to send the kid away like that.’

Of course, this wasn’t what I wanted.

I've encountered a lot of these since I started managing the guest house in earnest.

There was a guy who threw a chair because he didn’t like the way I was talking. There was one who sat next to me and threw the finished drink on my face because I refused to pour alcohol.

However, this is the first time a man has ever attacked me and made threats to sever my face.

I should have hit the bastard once, even if I was going to let the Old Dragon Association off. No, I was really irritated with them, and I should have done something worse than simply hit them.

After it was all done, I was wondering about the multiple ways I could do things, but what was the point?

Even though it was the first threat to my life after I possessed the body, I was skeptical as to when I had turned into such a frustrated and helpless person.