“I don’t understand.”
Wijihoyeon suddenly spoke.
Lee Sungmin glanced at Wijihoyeon with the mask partially removed, so he could eat his food.
Wijihoyeon, who was glaring at Lee Sungmin with her arms crossed, expressed her disapproval of Lee Sungmin constantly wearing the masks everywhere he went, including their shared living quarters.
As the clerk from the restaurant put the simple food dishes on the table, Lee Sungmin averted his eyes from her gaze.
It was well worth her disdain. The mask that Lee Sungmin was wearing, was the hideous Ghost mask he had received from Sima Ryunju as well as a straw hat atop his head.
Wijihoyeon kept glaring at Lee Sungmin as he quickly devoured the food on his plate.
Wijihoyeon, who was sitting with her arms crossed across from him, grumbled while studying Lee Sungmin’s grotesque appearance.
“I can’t believe you have to wear it even when we’re outside the forest. It’s all about training with you these days. Every second of every single day, you just do whatever that bastard of an old man tells you to do.”
“Well, It’s fine because I take it off a little bit when I eat.”
Lee Sungmin answered and took off his mask fully. When he took off the mask, the compressed internal energy in his internal circuit and dantian, freed up and started to circulate rapidly.
However, his control over his internal energy was nothing like it was before. Even Wijihoyeon could not sense Lee Sungmin’s presence even though he was right in front of her.
Wijihoyeon looked at Lee Sungmin’s eyes, which were focused on the food, and pulled the hot steaming bowl toward her.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to eat with you.”
“Yes, I haven’t eaten this sort of food yet. I figured it was worth eating at one point.”
Lee Sungmin also held chopsticks. They were in different positions than before. Lee Sungmin had been directly focused on training and didn’t have much time available to spend with Wijihoyeon these days.
“I understand that we are in different positions these days.”
Lee Sungmin twirled the soup broth with his spoon and then picked up the chopsticks to munch on the elastic noodles in the soup.
It’s been a long time since he had eaten food outside the forest. However, he was not particularly impressed with the meal.
It was only the first restaurant the two of them had come across since leaving the forest. They hadn’t chosen any particular restaurant but the closest one they could find. So naturally, it wasn’t like either of them had any expectations.
“I’m Sima Ryunju’s direct disciple now. I have to go to the Sama Order and become recognized as the official successor… But, you are still refusing to enter the Order.”
“It’s simply because I don’t want to.”
Replied Wijihoyeon.
“I admit that Sima Ryunju is a great warrior. But I don’t want to go under him or anyone for that matter.”
“Not even with me?”
“No, I don’t want to.”
Wijihoyeon answered without any hesitation, and Lee Sungmin did not feel too depressed about the answer.
He had already spent the last year with Wijihoyeon and talked a lot about this.
Lee Sungmin did not want to forcefully convince Wijihoyeon.
“Then I can’t help it.”
“Are you saying it’s all right for me to not go with you?”
“No, I care about you a lot. I simply don’t want to do what I want only, without any thought for how you might feel. You don’t want to do that either.”
Wijihoyeon smirked at Lee Sung-min’s answer.
“If I were pregnant, I would have gone with you.”(T/N : Wtf lol no condoms? There’s gotta at least be some magic for that)
“There’s nothing I can do about it. No matter how strong I’ve become, it’s not possible to force you with me even if I wanted to.”
Wijihoyeon laughed at Lee Sungmin’s answer.
“You answer me so calmly these days. Quite different from when you used to be so shy.”
“I think a year is enough time to overcome something like that when I’m around you.”
“It’s less cute for me.”
“Really? But, I still think you’re cute.”
“Do you think I’d blush if I heard that?”
When Lee Sungmin spoke with a smile, Wijihoyeon snorted. She didn’t actually expect that if he said that she would blush. Lee Sungmin kept eating with such thoughts.
“If you split up with me, what would you do?”
“Then I’ll just travel again.”
Wijihoyeon’s voice was calm when she responded with the blank answer. She continued to talk, looking at Lee Sungmin with her eyes showing zero irritation or fluttering emotions
“It’s because I know the world was vast. There might be more unknown masters that I don’t know of. No, I’m sure there are.”
“You can travel with me if you’d like.”, Lee Sungmin chimed in
“I don’t want to go into the Sama Order.”
“I’m not telling you to come with me and join the Sama Order. I’m just saying, stay with me. I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to.”
“It’s okay.”
Wijihoyeon laughed in vain at Lee Sung-min’s words.
“You know it won’t be like that if we go there together. It’s not like I’m some random person in the world of Eria. How do you think the rest of the world will perceive me if I show that I have public relations with the only known successor to the Sama Order?”
“I don’t think it will be like that.”
“And how are you to know if that will really be the case?”
“Because I want to be with you that much, naturally I won’t allow that kind of thing to happen if you come with me.”
Lee Sungmin spoke with a calm expression. So, it naturally came off rather brazen.
Even Wijihoyeon was speechless for a moment and stopped eating to stare at Lee Sungmin.
“……How shameless.”
“If you don’t like it, I won’t force you to come with me.”
“I never said no in the first place.”
Wijihoyeon coughed and pulled her hair back slightly.
After a brief silence, Wijihoyeon sighed and shook her head.
“……I’m sorry, I have to go alone.”
“If you just want to travel, you don’t have to leave me as well.”
“That’s not all there is to it… I want to test it… The power and martial arts I’ve been training in the woods. Those experiences gained from repeated defeats. How much I’ve changed through this setback.”
It was an ambiguous statement. Even as Wijihoyeon had spoken of earlier, she didn’t want to say the whole reason. Or was it because she didn’t have a direction she wanted to travel in yet?
Lee Sungmin understood her and nodded his head slowly. It’s not that there were no regretful feelings. However, he wanted to respect Wijihoyeon’s choice.
“Are you going to leave right now?”
Lee Sungmin put the chopsticks down. He wasn’t particularly hungry, so he didn’t feel the need to eat anymore.
It was the same with the Wijihoyeon. Wijihoyeon nodded as she stared at the chopsticks she had put down.
“Yes.”
“Why would you leave so quickly?”
“……well, there’s a reason.”
There was something. Lee Sungmin put the ghost mask back on his face. It was the mask he had been given by Sima Ryunju over a year ago.
At first, he had removed the mask as he was instructed to, by Sima Ryunju when he practiced his martial arts with the spear and footwork. But about half a year into his training, he had started to grow accustomed to wearing it while he trained. He had grown that much.
Now the only time he took off the mask was when he ate food. Lee Sungmin’s control over his internal energy was unparalleled to anyone in the Realm of Transcendence. His circulation speed and abilities at hiding his presence were only second to his master, Sima Ryunju. However, as strong as he was now, he couldn’t do anything to stop Wijihoyeon from reaching her decision as he felt a bit depressed.
“Why can’t you tell me the reason?”
Lee Sungmin asked. Wijihoyeon remained silent, as the conversation took another lull.
But, neither Lee Sungmin nor Wijihoyeon felt awkward in the silence with each other, unlike a year ago.
“It’s personal.”
Replied Wijihoyeon.
“I recently had a dream. It was a dream that I couldn’t possibly dismiss as some trivial dream. And since then, that dream has been recurring every single night, having the same exact dream…over, and over, and over, again.”
“Since when did this start?”
“A week ago.”
“You had been having this dream while I slept right next to you this entire week? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I needed to organize my thoughts.”
“…Okay… what sort of dream was it?”
“It was foggy.”
Wijihoyeon frowned and muttered.
“It’s still a rather vague dream whenever I think about it. I was wandering in the fog…… and there was no one around me. Not one person. I knew it was a dream, but I couldn’t help but have this feeling of utter hopelessness and loneliness.”
“It sounds like an ambiguous dream, like you said. But that doesn’t mean you have to split up with me again.”
“Maybe, but I have to because I care. It also bothers me that I was the only one in the dream.”
After saying so, Wijihoyeon pressed down on her temples.
“You have your own business to attend to, don’t you? I suppose it’s okay for us to do so. You’re going your way, and I will go mine. We’ll see each other again anyway.”
They would see each other again. Wijihoyeon left those words with a resolve that was unwavering
After saying so, she left the restaurant after paying for the food. Lee Sungmin covered his face by lowering the straw hat.
He had lowered the hat down to cover his face, mainly because he didn’t want to be recognized with a hideous and frightening mask like Wijihoyeon had mentioned earlier. In front of the restaurant, Wijihoyeon gazed at Lee Sungmin, as she stood still with a confident gait.
“I don’t know how long it’ll take, so it’s hard to determine a time when I can see you again. So…… when my business is over, I’ll go see you. Well also because I’ll probably be done with my business first anyways.”
“Isn’t that shameless?”
“Don’t say that.”
Wijihoyeon uttered. She strode up and grabbed Lee Sungmin’s shoulder. She glared at Lee Sungmin’s eyes, through the eyeholes of the mask as he had put it back on.
“Of course I’ll miss you, and I don’t want to split up with you, even if it’s for a short time. So don’t forget to remember me. You’ve taken all my firsts, so you better not.”
“I won’t forget.”
“Of course you shouldn’t. If you forget, I’ll kill you.”
“Isn’t that too radical, even for a friend?”
Lee Sungmin replied with a smile, recalling what Wijihoyeon said a long time ago when he had taken her first time in bed.
However, Wijihoyeon did not laugh. She continued to talk, staring Lee Sungmin in the eyes.
“I’m not talking to some friend, I’m talking to you. To you, who took all my firsts. ……well, I’m not telling you not to meet another woman. Just as you became my first, you should think of me as yours. Got it?”
“Got it.”
In response to Lee Sungmin’s answer, Wijihoyeon let go of Lee Sungmin’s shoulder, which she was holding tightly.
Then Lee Sungmin grabbed Wijihoyeon’s shoulder. He took off his face mask with one hand and kissed her passionately.
“I’ll be waiting for the day you come back to me.”
Wijihoyeon’s eyes quivered at his words at the end of their fleeting kiss.
Lee Sungmin noticed Wijihoyeon’s cheeks flush red, all the way up to her ears. Shaking her head and sighing, she spoke.
“You’re making me regret this.”
“Then you don’t have to leave.”
“You’re right, I……don’t.”
Wijihoyeon replied in a soft voice.
“It won’t take long. Yeah, maybe not, maybe it will. I’m not sure. Even if it’s supposed to take a long time, I’ll make sure it won’t.”
Clench-
Wijihoyeon mumbled, clenching her fist. She gathered her emotions and let her facial muscles relax.
She couldn’t completely dispel the lingering feelings she had, but she ignored them willfully.
After that, Wijihoyeon smiled. It was the same mournful but meaningful smile she had left him with 12 years ago in Genavis.
“See you next time.”
“Yes.”
He wanted to hold her tight and not let her go from his grip. But he had to. Lee Sungmin smiled back, drowning out his lingering feelings of attachment.
“See you next time.”
Wijihoyeon turned around and gave her goodbyes. She immediately, then, disappeared out of his sight through the spatial movement from transcending her human limits.
Wijihoyeon’s figure quickly became a dot on the horizon.
Lee Sungmin stood around for a while and watched Wijihoyeon’s figure disappear completely.
[Why didn’t you latch on to her and tell her?]
‘Don’t ask me if I don’t even know myself.’
Lee Sungmin turned around while answering Heoju, who was asking questions in his head.
Wijihoyeon was not someone who did things meaninglessly. Lee Sungmin acknowledged it. So, if this recurring dream was something that she didn’t even treat lightly. He should respect it and treat it seriously as well.
[There are not many people who have the power to intervene in other people’s dreams. I think……it might be something like a spirit.]
‘Do you mean the Divine Spirit intervened in her dream?’
[I don’t know, but you’re acquainted with their strength. You should know just how deep their power runs.]
“It must be fate.’
Lee Sungmin began to wander as he muttered.
Where should he go? Where would he travel to next?
First, he needed to go to the Main Branch of the Sama Order and become recognized as the heir to the succession. But, he didn’t need to rush into it just yet.
He also had told Sima Ryunju that there was a place he wanted to stop by on the way to the Main Branch. He didn’t give any details or specifics, but Sima Ryunju acknowledged Lee Sungmin’s ambiguous request.
[ Are you sure you can make it on time?]
Heoju, however, happened to know exactly where Lee Sungmin wanted to go. When asked by Heoju, Lee Sungmin nodded without any hesitation.
‘It’s enough time. No, it will have to be.’
Lee Sungmin kicked the ground with a boom in his step and started running.
It was time. Time to go back to the dungeon where it all ended… and began.