Childhood Friend of the Zenith

༺ It Is Fate (3) ༻

Inside a forest that knew no end, a thick purple fog was present.

It was filled with fog to the point that it was impossible to tell apart night from day.

All that could be heard was the ambient sounds of a mountain and the cries of crickets, which made me assume that it was night time.

Crunch-

A rough sound came from between the trees.

It was the sound of something being broken and pulled out.

Flutter-

Along with the sound, birds that were hiding themselves within the forest flew away simultaneously.

-Sigh.

I let out a sigh, being done with this fierce battle.

I threw the demon’s neck far away; it was the neck of a green colored demon that resembled a wolf.

Tap!

The demon’s head fell to the ground after being thrown away and in front of that head, stood a person.

I frowned as I checked who it was.

It was someone I didn’t want to see at all.

-What.

The voice that came out of my mouth sounded rude as ever.

-…Are you that tired after only defeating one green demon?

-Why are you talking shit as soon as you get here, you wanna die?

The woman that spoke to me in a mocking manner was the Snow Phoenix.

She was also covered head to toe in dust and leaves from wherever she was.

Moyong Hi-ah let out a sigh and spoke after hearing me.

-Ha, I’m jealous, seeing you so relaxed.

-Relaxed? Do I look relaxed in your eyes?

I had fought with everything I got, yet she was saying that I was taking it easy.

This was why I hated that damned woman.

She thought that the world revolved around her.

I spat on the ground, not wanting this conversation to go on, but Moyong Hi-ah continued to speak.

-You are here wrestling with some random demon while not even knowing the current situation, so yes you do look like you’re taking it easy.

I looked at Moyong Hi-ah hearing her words.

-What are you talking about? Be clear.

-I was relieved to have finally managed to find a person… But it had to be you out of everyone. How unlucky I truly am.

-You damned bitch.

Why was she talking shit to me when she was the one who had come to me?

I was already tired enough without her.

I roared at her while growing my flames, but Moyong Hi-ah maintained her disappointed expression.

-…You, how long has it been since you’ve seen the others?

-What?

I asked as such to Moyong Hi-ah’s sudden question, but she urged me to answer without caring one bit.

-I asked, how long has it been. Don’t stretch this any longer and just tell me, it’s an urgent situation.

-About four days.

-Four days? You, did you never once think that something was strange in those four days?

-What strange things are you saying? Be clearer.

Moyong Hi-ah swept her hair up after hearing me.

She seemed very frustrated.

-…Everyone has disappeared.

I frowned after hearing her.

A year had passed, since the day we got trapped in this damned world. This ‘Demon Realm’. This Abyss.

The number of people trapped in the Abyss kept on decreasing ever since the first day, but there were still a good number of people remaining.

It was thanks to the numerous sacrifices that The Water Dragon and Wi Seol-Ah had made to protect everyone.

But everyone disappeared?

-What are you even talking about? How could they disappear when this place isn’t even that big?

I was currently scouting a forest located in the north.

It was filled with fog, but I came here with some people in hopes of finding some food supplies or an escape route.

But all of them had disappeared?

At least twenty people had entered all together.

Moyong Hi-ah too seemed like she was unable to comprehend; she replied.

-That’s what I’m saying, you should have been searching for the others if they went missing, but what the hell are you doing here?

-Are you blind? Can’t you see? I was trying to fucking survive!

As could be seen earlier, I was barely managing to hold onto my life while fending off against those demons inside the forest.

To be honest, there were some near death moments.

I get that they were only green demons, but because of me being out here without a wink of sleep for four whole days…

I almost died earlier due to exhaustion.

Moyong Hi-ah laughed apathetically at my response.

-Then you should’ve gone searching for others instead. What are you doing here being pathetic all by yourself?

-I thought they had just left me.

-…What?

Moyong Hi-ah asked at my lightly uttered words.

She had definitely heard what I said, so why the hell was she asking again?

-It’s not very strange, is it?

-…

I don’t know if it was because I said those words so lightly, Moyong Hi-ah seemed to have lost her words for a moment.

Did it really sound that weird for her?

In my opinion, it wasn’t weird at all for me to get left behind.

The same applied for Moyong Hi-ah who was right in front of me as well.

There was no way that crazy woman was believing anything I said until now and I was certain that she would use me as bait and run away if a dangerous situation were to come.

Moyong Hi-ah let out a sigh after seemingly understanding my thoughts.

-…Never mind that. You, so you haven’t even tried to leave the forest yet right?

-Not yet?

Now that I think about it, I never did think about leaving the forest.

-Well, we can’t.

As soon as I had that thought, Moyong Hi-ah spoke in a cold tone.

-What do you mean we can’t?

-I went back to the entrance I came from, but I only ended up looping around the same place and it didn’t let me leave the forest.

-You sure it’s not just you not being able to find the entrance?

-Do you think I’m stupid as you? I obviously left marks where I was.

-…

This bitch I swear, should I just charge at her right now?

I really considered attacking her, but I held myself back.

I couldn’t even win against her in my best shape, so if I charged at her in my current state, I might actually die.

-Anyway… So we can’t leave the forest?

-If you can’t believe me, go see it for yourself.

So I decided to go see it for myself.

The marks that Moyong Hi-ah said that she had left, thankfully didn’t disappear, so as long as I followed those marks, I should end up at the entrance of the forest, but…

-…Why am I here again?

I looped around and kept finding myself back at the forest where I met Moyong Hi-ah.

It was true that I lived my life recklessly and thoughtlessly, but the path I went with Moyong Hi-ah was in a straight line and I knew that that path wasn’t supposed to make me come back here.

-I told you.

Moyong Hi-ah, who was following me from behind, spoke as if to prove herself.

-We can’t leave.

I looked around with tired eyes.

The fog was still filling up the forest and the sky and the crickets were still crying out loud, but considering that I was in the Abyss, I first had to find if those crickets were even insects in the first place.

After staring at Moyong Hi-ah for a bit, I spoke.

-So what you are saying is, that everyone else disappeared. And only you and I are actually trapped in the forest?

Moyong Hi-ah began to frown after hearing me, but she didn’t refute my words.

It was probably because everything I said was factual.

To sum it up, the people I came with to scout the forest all disappeared and I was left with only that crazy bitch. To top it all off, I couldn’t even leave?

Concluding my thoughts, I whispered while rubbing my face.

-I’m fucked.

Moyong Hi-ah didn’t respond to this either.

I really wished that she had said that I was wrong.

But the reality was still harsh as ever.

Well, thinking about the far future.

This was the moment our long ill-fated relationship had begun.

******************

The stairway leading to The Shaolin Temple wasn’t as long when compared to the one in Mount Hua.

No wonder this place got many more visitors than Mount Hua.

Of course, you were required to make an appointment beforehand to be able to enter.

But that was quite easy to do.

Before running away from Muyeon, I had actually made an appointment to go to Shaolin Temple.

I had planned on going back to the clan shortly after the tournament ended, so I made an appointment early so that I could get work done as soon as possible.

‘But what’s up with her?’

Why was Moyong Hi-ah here?

Moyong Hi-ah, who was standing here like nothing was wrong, seemed very strange to see as she didn’t fit the background at all.

As I looked at Moyong Hi-ah with a dumbfounded expression, Moyong Hi-ah smiled while tidying her clothes.

“What a coincidence, Young Master Gu.”

It was definitely not a coincidence, I didn’t even require my intuition.

If something like ‘coincidence’ came out of that fox-like woman’s mouth, it was impossible to believe.

“…Why are you here?”

“What do you mean why? I also had some business in the Shaolin Temple.”

“Business huh… So, what exactly is your business there?”

Moyong Hi-ah pointed somewhere after hearing my question.

Even with such a small movement, she showed class.

“It just came here, my business.”

“…”

I got a splitting headache for a moment.

It seemed like Moyong Hi-ah had no intention to give an excuse to begin with.

“I could’ve sworn I denied your request back then…”

“Isn’t it okay since we met by coincidence?”

“Didn’t you basically admit that it isn’t a coincidence?”

“It is a coincidence. My business may have Young Master Gu, but how could I have known that Young Master Gu would come here at this exact time?”

That’s what I’m saying.

How the hell did you know that, you crazy woman.

‘I don’t think she stole the letter I had sent to Shaolin Temple.’

It wasn’t impossible to do, but I believed that even Moyong Hi-ah wouldn’t have done such a thing.

So the best answer in this scenario was just to ask her.

“That’s what I’m curious about. How did you know that I would come to Shaolin Temple at this time?”

Moyong Hi-ah’s eyes took upon the shape of a pair of crescent moons at my question. An enchanting pair of eyes, so charming that it would make any man’s heart explode.

“Just a feeling.”

“What?”

“I had a feeling that Young Master Gu will leave today.”

I thought that she was being absurd for a second, but judging by how she was like in my past life, I dismissed the thought.

Moyong Hi-ah was a very rational individual that calculated all her moves,

But sometimes she would use her intuition to determine if we should go or not, and most of the time, her intuition turned out to be correct as the place we were planning on going to, often ended up in a horrendous state.

So later, more so than in her calculative and rational plans, a lot of people believed more in her extraordinary intuition.

As I didn’t say anything and only continued to stare at her, Moyong Hi-ah spoke.

“Young Master Gu really is a unique person.”

“…What makes you say that?”

“I don’t think an ordinary person would make that face if I told them that it was just my intuition.”

“I was just shocked. It was my first time hearing such an absurd thing.”

“I see.”

She definitely did not believe anything I was saying judging by her slight chuckling.

At this point I became curious.

Why was she doing this to me?

I even considered the request she had made earlier in the day.

I thought Moyong Hi-ah’s goal was that Pissing Dragon bastard.

But was that not it?

There’s no way.

“Young Master Gu.”

“…Yes.”

“Perhaps, it is fate that we met like this, coincidentally. So would you like to go to the Shaolin Temple together?”

“First of all, I’m pretty sure that it’s not a coincidence, also as far as I know you can’t enter with me.”

“Why?”

“I sent the Shaolin Temple a message beforehand, but didn’t you come here without doing that?”

She would have had to send them a message at least a day before.

Shaolin may have been very open compared to other clans, but it was still required to follow the rules.

After hearing my question, Moyong Hi-ah responded with a slight smile on her face.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Huh?”

As I became confused as to what she was talking about, someone came down from the stairs and greeted us.

It was a child that seemed younger than even me.

“I am Heeyoung. I was assigned to guide the two of you, I would be grateful if you pardon me if I am lacking.”

Nodding to Heeyoung’s words, I couldn’t help but notice something strange in the words he said.

“Monk…Heeyoung”

“Yes, correct. Oh, are you perhaps Young Master Gu Yangcheon?”

“I am Gu Yangcheon.”

“We received your message. The Abbott told me that if I get to meet you, then I should deliver his words of congratulations.”

“…Oh, yes. Thank you.”

I was a bit surprised that he suddenly brought up Shaolin’s Chief Abbott, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.

“Monk Heeyoung, did you say two people just now?”

Heeyoung tilted his head in confusion.

“Yes, I said the two of you standing in front of me.”

Hearing Heeyoung speak like there was nothing wrong, I looked at Moyong Hi-ah with a shocked expression.

Moyong Hi-ah still had a smile on her face.

And that smile of hers was so charming, that even Heeyoung who probably lived his whole life as a monk, started to blush a little.

“I told you that you didn’t need to worry.”

Moyong Hi-ah put her hair behind her ears. And because of the light breeze that came, Moyong Hi-ah’s scent reached my nose.

“I am someone that doesn’t move without making a plan first.”

“…”

I was about to say that that’s her biggest problem, but I barely managed to hold those words back in.

Whether Moyong Hi-ah knew my thoughts or not, no —she probably does and is just pretending not to— she spoke.

“Shall we go then?”

I lost my capability of speech in the end after seeing her blatant, shameless smile.

******************

Shaolin was originally Elder Shin’s goal, but unlike the plan, I ended up coming to Shaolin without Elder Shin.

As we went up the stairs following monk Heeyoung’s guidance, I was able to see that Shaolin still had an ancient atmosphere thanks to them not changing anything for a long time.

The buildings here seemed twice as large and wide than Mount Hua’s.

This didn’t mean that Mount Hua was small, but rather that the Shaolin Temple was way too big.

I couldn’t even imagine how much donation and support this place got from Hanam.

‘I wonder what that old man wanted to find out in this place.’

I thought about the old swordsman that became a ghost in this world after living his life as a hero.

The Divine Sword of Mount Hua, Shincheol, who was in a deep sleep right now.

“This is where tourists visit the most.”

I looked where Heeyoung pointed at, and there was a big lake inside Shaolin.

Inside the lake so clear that you could see the ground, there was a pure white fish swimming around.

I looked at it in confusion, thinking why there was only one fish, when Heeyoung started to explain.

“That is the Shaolin Temple’s treasure, the White Fish of Purity.”

“That fish is a treasure?”

“Yes, that’s correct. It is a treasure left by the great hero, The Light of Might, who had stopped the Blood Demon’s Blood Disaster in the far past.”

That means that the fish had lived for hundreds of years.

Wasn’t it a demon at that point?

I could only nod in the end, as asking if the treasure of Shaolin was a demon was sure to get me in trouble.

‘Was there something like this in my past life too?’

I didn’t really have much interest in Shaolin back then, nor did I hear anything about the fish.

I was just fascinated by the fact that a creature could also be called a treasure.

‘Also, can they really just let that thing swim freely around the lake?’

What were they gonna do if someone appeared out of nowhere and stole it?

As I stared at the fish with that thought, Heeyoung started to explain as if he was waiting to.

“The Abbott put up a barrier just in case people with ill intent come here, so that we would be able to know if they go near it.”

I thought about the barrier back in Mount Hua for a moment after hearing Heeyoung.

I enhanced my vision with Qi, and I was able to faintly see that there was indeed a barrier around the lake.

“I’m curious about one thing, Monk Heeyoung.”

“Yes.”

“Do all monks give tours like this?”

“Oh.”

It was simple curiosity.

I knew that there were many people in Shaolin, but there weren’t that many people for them to give a tour to every tourist that visited here.

Heeyoung hesitated for a moment, then spoke in a stuttering manner.

“It’s not that… but the Chief Abbott himself ordered me to.”

“The Heavenly Eye himself, huh.”

“Yes, he said that a precious guest would be here soon, and that I should treat them nicely…”

A precious guest huh.

It felt very strange considering those words came from the Chief Abbott of Shaolin who could read the Heavenly Qi.

‘Does that old man know that I traveled through time?’

I would assume he didn’t.

Because if he knew, then he would have appeared way earlier.

It seemed like I had shown more than I should have, and thanks to that, the Chief Abbott of Shaolin noticed me, it made me displeased.

This is why I should’ve held back more when I beat him up back then.

Letting out a small sigh, I looked toward the front.

I didn’t look behind, the eyes staring at me bothered me.

The feeling of someone staring at me was unpleasant.

Moyong Hi-ah continued to stare at me with extremely focused eyes.

‘Why did she even ask to go together if she wasn’t gonna do anything in the first place?’

Even when we entered Shaolin Temple, Moyong Hi-ah didn’t say anything.

Instead, she almost burnt a hole in me, staring at me with laser focused eyes.

It felt like she was blatantly observing me to find out about something from me.

I followed Heeyoung in silence and walked the pathway of the lakeside.

Moyong Hi-ah continued to say nothing, so I had to endure her uncomfortable gaze for a long time.

‘…I can’t deal with this anymore.’

In the end, I couldn’t endure it anymore so I turned around and looked at Moyong Hi-ah.

“Lady Moyong, why are you doing this to m- “

I paused my question.

It was because Moyong Hi-ah had frozen.

Not just her steps, but everything about her was frozen.

Her feet that were lifted up to walk were floating in the air,

Her hand, and her eyes that were observing me…

Even the leaves that were shaking along with the breeze, everything was frozen.

“…What the.”

The world had frozen in time.

Everything besides myself.

In such a sudden situation, I instinctively charged my Qi.

This was way too strange of a situation.

Was it an ambush?

Did that mean that someone was able to use such a strange power?

Suddenly,

[…cheol.]

I heard a voice from somewhere.

[…Shincheol…]

It was the voice of an old man.

I quickly turned my head towards the direction of the voice.

And in that place…

Was the White Fish of Purity, that had been swimming earlier, staring at me.

[…Shincheol, you arrogant, stubborn, fucking idiot.]

And it gave quite the offensive greeting.

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