Childhood Friend of the Zenith

Under the pouring rain, the lady walked through the crowd in a hurry.

…Why?

She asked herself why she left the spot as she continued moving.

Even though she longed to see him, she wondered why she was running away instead.

Just why?

She didn’t know.

She was still unable to understand.

As soon as their eyes met, she wanted to leave the spot.

I’m scared.

Yes, it was because she was afraid.

Fear and nervousness filled her completely and clouded her judgment.

Why was she so afraid?

The lady closed her eyes shut…

-Calm down.

Then, as if it was waiting, a voice appeared.

It was the voice that had been her guide since she was young, and the lady called this voice, ‘Sis’.

She trusted this voice and asked for advice whenever she felt lost…

…I told you not to come out for a while.

But now, it didn’t seem all too trustworthy any longer.

-Are you afraid?

…

-Are you afraid that he might not recognize your changed self?

The lady was unable to respond to the voice.

She couldn’t deny it.

-So you are afraid.

…Don’t speak like you know everything.

-Of course I do, after all, I’m the one who knows you the best in the whole world.

That’s just you blabbering.

Even though she denied the words of the voice, the lady bit her lips.

She was unable to deny it after all.

She was afraid to know what he would think of her when he saw the ‘changed her’.

Furthermore, the lady was also afraid that he might say something resentful to her.

Why did you leave without saying anything?

Why did you change so much?

She was afraid that he might say those things as soon as he looked into her eyes from afar.

-He’s not the type of person to do that.

...I know.

She already knew that.

She knew that he wasn’t the type who would say resentful words to her over something like that.

Despite that, she hid herself and ended up running away from him, even though she had been looking forward to this day for so long.

Squelch.

As she continued to walk through the puddles, the lady found herself in a forest, outside of the town.

Only after she escaped the rowdy crowd was she able to let out a breath of relief.

“Huff… Huff…”

The lady thought to herself as she panted.

In the end, she was unable to say a word to him.

She wanted to ask him how he had been doing, but she was unable to even bring herself to do that much.

All she could do was watch him from afar, and that was it.

And I worked so hard too…

The lady leaned against a tree, breathed heavily, and looked at her hand.

The hand that he always said was white and soft, was now very rough.

It was the result of her hard work.

Clench.

She clenched her fist after looking at her hand.

-So, what will you do now?

She didn’t respond to the voice.

She wondered what to do.

[Once you leave, you will receive attention from many people.]

It was the conversation she had with her grandfather before leaving.

Honestly, it couldn’t really be called a conversation because all she did was listen to his words without responding.

[Grandpa is worried about that. I wanted my Seol-Ah to never leave for the outside world, but I suppose that’s not possible.]

It meant that he was unable to keep her to himself anymore.

And as her grandfather wanted, the lady heeded his advice.

Because of that, her grandfather had to respect this decision of hers.

When her grandfather could no longer maintain the seal he wanted to, the Immortal Healer told the lady.

[It won’t be the same as before. It’ll take some time until you get used to the power you’ve regained, and your body will feel uncomfortable as your vessel has been reduced.]

Just as the Immortal Healer said, the lady felt very uncomfortable.

It felt like her body had become much weaker than before and it was hard to control the unknown power.

According to the Immortal Healer, despite becoming weaker, she was far stronger than others, and only now was she able to feel her power as it was so great before, that she was unable to even feel it.

The lady then asked.

She wondered why she had to go through all that when she was better before.

The Immortal Healer answered in response.

-Your grandfather wants you to live as a human.

What did he mean by that?

The lady couldn’t understand.

She was human.

She was born and raised as a human, and she possessed the emotions of a human as well.

The lady sometimes asked the voice inside her during the night because she couldn’t understand,

-…

But the voice didn’t respond to her.

She wasn’t able to answer Wi Seol-Ah when she asked if she was human or not.

Whatever the answer was, the lady was finally able to train as she wished after blocking the unstable power inside her body.

Her grandfather trained her during the day, and another helped fix the flaws in her sword at night.

Was she enjoying training with her sword like she wanted?

Honestly, she didn’t know.

It would be correct to say that she had no inspiration.

To begin with, her purpose for learning how to use a sword was different, so she continued to swing her sword silently.

The martial arts her grandfather taught her were beautiful.

As the sword was coated in moonlight, he called it the Moonlight Dance.

When she saw her grandfather’s swordplay beneath the moonlight for the first time, she was almost charmed by its beauty.

That alone was enough to motivate her, but it took only half a year of swinging for the lady’s sword to harness the moonlight

When she bragged about it to her grandfather, she remembered his eyes turning sad.

She didn’t know why he made such an expression, nor did she want to find out.

And after that day, the lady continued to swing her sword.

She worked hard without any breaks.

She cut down on her sleep, and unlike before, she even lost her appetite.

Was it because he wasn’t there with her?

Or was it because her appetite was blocked along with her power, just like the immortal healer said?

Then one day, she told her grandfather that her body felt different and he informed her that she had overcome her wall.

It had been a year since she started training with the sword.

Ever since her grandfather informed her that she had overcome her wall, her body began to change.

Her pupils turned golden, and her dark brown hair also began to dye itself with a golden color as well.

Her body grew fast and it was no longer the body she used to have in the past. Even the plump cheeks he used to love touching were no longer there.

She changed so much that it was possible that the people she once knew would no longer recognize her.

She despised that fact.

She wanted to remain the same as before so that he would be able to recognize her easily.

-Child…

The voice she heard was now filled with pity.

She could feel the honesty in the voice, but that didn’t mean that she trusted it.

Ever since she started training her sword, she began to dream.

Moreover, when she realized that those dreams were the memories of the voice in her head, the lady was no longer able to trust the voice.

Pitter.

The rain broke through the canopy of the dense forest and drenched her clothes.

Despite that, the lady didn’t move.

Her feet felt heavy as if weights were holding her down.

-What will you do now? You wanted to see him for so long.

...

She longed to see him.

She wanted to see his eyes that observed her. She missed the rough hands that used to pat her head.

However, she was unable to muster the courage.

Will it be okay…?

She wondered if it would be okay for her to meet him even though she had changed drastically.

Because of that, the lady felt afraid.

As she was biting her lips beneath the rain…

Swoosh.

“…!”

Feeling the heat behind her, the lady turned around in shock.

Sizzle.

She could hear the sound of water being vaporized from the ground.

When she turned around, she saw someone drying their body with heat.

“How could you run away after you came all the way here just to see me? It was a hassle, you know?”

“…Ah.”

Compared to when she last saw him, his voice sounded deeper.

There was still some distance between them, but he seemed taller and bigger.

His eyes were still fierce as ever, but seeing the emotions contained in those eyes, it felt like her heart was becoming warmer.

No.

Despite that thought, the lady pulled down the face cover lower to hide her face.

She didn’t want him to see it.

How did he manage to find her?

She had disappeared into the crowd intentionally.

The water around them was vaporizing due to his heat.

Did he run that fast for her sake?

His eyes were dyed red as if proving that he had used his Qi.

Step.

“…!”

Seeing him take a step, the lady flinched, but he continued walking towards her.

******************Did she get skinnier?

That was the first thought that came to mind after seeing her for the first time in a while.

Unlike before, her body shape was clearer.

Judging by how she now had a sword at her waist, it seemed like she was trained by the Sword Emperor.

When I took a step forward, I saw her flinch and take a step back.

Seeing that, I spoke first.

“Even if you run away again, I’m going to follow you to hell, so remain still.”

Judging by how she flinched after I took a step, it seemed like she really was planning to run away.

However, I had no intention of letting her escape even if she tried to do so.

I didn’t know what she was afraid of, but she tried to pull her face cover lower .

“Weren’t you the one who came to see me earlier? Where are you going?”

“…”

There was no response.

And I didn’t care.

I just made my way towards her.

“Even though it’s been so long, you’re not even responding. Or perhaps, is it because you don’t want to speak to me?”

“…That’s… not it.”

When I spoke to her bluntly, I was able to draw a response from her.

Her voice sounded more mature, but it wasn’t that different from the voice I remembered.

I was now close enough to make contact with her if I stretched out my hand.

I saw her shoulders trembling as if she was feeling cold.

And during all this, I had to quell my exhausted breath.

Why is she so fast?

It felt like I had used half of my Qi just chasing after her.

I had to sharpen my senses to keep track of her and she was so fast that I had to use most of my Qi to chase after her, so I didn’t have much left.

I felt exhausted for the first time in a while.

Even so…

I caught her.

I didn’t let her escape.

That was enough.

Step.

I took another step forward.

Flinch.

She flinched again.

What–?’

What should I ask first?

Should I ask her why she departed leaving only a single letter behind?

Or should I ask her if she had been doing well?

Why did she run away as soon as she saw me? Why did she come here? Why was she shivering, was she feeling sick?

I had so many questions, but I pushed all of them aside and the words that left my mouth were completely different.

“It’s been a while.”

“…!”

For some reason, she seemed shocked by what I said.

Her shoulders stopped trembling and it felt like her gaze that was avoiding me was now slightly directed at me.

“How have you been?”

“Ah… Ough…”

She was reluctant to speak as if she was unable to respond.

I didn’t imagine that our reunion would be like this.

“I had a fairly good time.”

Well, I obviously ran into a bunch of problems, got engaged, and I now had the ability to turn others into Demonic Humans, but I guess it’d be correct to say that I was doing well since I was still perfectly fine.

I had a ton of things I wanted to say, but for now, I felt that saying this was enough.

I stretched my hand towards her.

Seeing that she was drenched in cold rain, I was concerned, but all I had to do was dry her later.

Only after I carefully stretched my hand towards her,...

Reach–

She placed her white hand on top of mine. I had to wait for some time as she hesitated for a while, but in the end, it ultimately worked out.

When I saw her place her hand on top of mine, I slowly covered it with mine.

I didn’t put much strength in it and I only wrapped her hand gently.

That much was enough for now.

“I’d like to see your face now. Surely you aren’t going to keep hiding it from me after so long, right?”As I spoke with a smirk on my face, I saw that she was hesitating for some reason.

If she was covering her face because she thought that I wouldn’t be able to recognize her, that was a huge mistake on her part.

A seriously huge mistake.

No matter how much time passed, there was no way that I wouldn’t recognize her.

After hesitating for some time, she began to raise her other hand.

Then, she started to pull the face cover that was covering her face.

Slip.

As she slowly pulled away the hood, her face which was hidden was revealed.

Seeing her shaky nervous pupils trying their best to look back at me, I found myself smiling without realizing it.

“It’s been a while.”

I then repeated the words I said before.

I believed that these words would truly reach her this time.

“…”

When she heard my words, Wi Seol-Ah…

“It’s… been a while.”

Responded back.

Pitter.

Patt…

The shower drenching my shoulders began to weaken.

As it gradually got weaker, I could no longer feel the rain.

The winter rain, that had been pouring down for the past few days, had finally stopped.