LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 88
88th Episode: Age 15
“Princess?…”
“What does that mean?!”
Yujinhwi trailed off while Seomun Cheong-ha looked at Seoharin.
Seoharin knew.
Yujinhwi.
He was a man, but he was overly concerned about Lee Cheol-soo.
Seomun Cheong-ha.
She was no different. Seoharin had already noticed her subtle attempts to get closer to Lee Cheol-soo.
“Neungwolhyang… She’s not an ordinary opponent. To confront her… We need to cooperate.”
“Wh-why should I cooperate? Why face Neungwolhyang…?”
Seoharin’s words made Seomun Cheong-ha stutter.
Her face turned slightly red.
“Are you really going to let this big sister be taken by Neungwolhyang?”
Seoharin’s chilling words pierced Seomun Cheong-ha’s ears.
snatch
Taken away.
The explicit expression made Seomun Cheong-ha bite her lip.
Lee Cheol-soo’s words echoed in her mind. He had clearly said he would take responsibility for any lascivious acts.
Moreover, she knew. That Neungwolhyang truly adored Lee Cheol-soo, initially thinking it was pitiful.
But once she realized her misunderstanding, once he said he would take responsibility…
She couldn’t stop seeing Lee Cheol-soo in her mind.
And now, wasn’t she somehow entangled in Lee Cheol-soo’s exclusive matter?
As a private matter, as the Eastern faction of the Orthodox Martial World, she couldn’t allow Lee Cheol-soo to stray.
Having rationalized herself, Seomun Cheong-ha nodded with a serious expression.
“Hmm. I don’t care what happens to a man like Lee Cheol-soo, but… As someone attending him, I have a duty to manage his behavior… I can’t help it. Let’s at least listen!”
At Seomun Cheong-ha’s words, Seoharin turned her head to Yujinhwi this time.
“What does Yujinhwi think? Are you still… wary of me?”
Upon hearing Seoharin’s words, Yujinhwi fell silent.
Yujinhwi’s eyes sank heavily.
‘…Neungwolhyang…’
Yujinhwi had also witnessed Neungwolhyang’s shocking beauty.
Her beauty was so stunning that it could be deemed the best in the world, much more striking than Yujinhwi’s own.
‘I can’t… win against Neungwolhyang…’
Yujinhwi bit her lip.
She had now acknowledged it. Not as a disciple’s relationship, but as a woman who admired her disciple.
She couldn’t live without him. A world without his existence held no meaning.
No matter what, she wanted to protect her disciple.
She wanted to be by his side. To become the greatest in the world, to be the untouchable sky of the Martial World…
She wanted to be his consort.
That was Yujinhwi’s wish.
But… what if her disciple found himself in Neungwolhyang’s arms? She found Neungwolhyang undeniably charming.
There was no guarantee that her disciple wouldn’t fall for her.
Moreover, wasn’t Geumhu also eyeing her disciple now?
‘…’
Yujinhwi and Seoharin’s gazes met.
The empty, focus-lacking eyes of Seoharin mirrored Yujinhwi’s heavy, unfocused gaze.
‘Yujinhwi…’
Seoharin was suspicious of Yujinhwi.
Yujinhwi claimed to be concerned, but it was evident in Seoharin’s eyes.
Her actions had deviated from a typical senior-junior relationship.
It was as if… she were looking at someone she yearned for. Plus… her oddly androgynous appearance.
With her keen intuition, Seoharin sensed Yujinhwi was hiding something.
What that was, she couldn’t say.
One thing was certain.
‘…I know. In the end, the senior will have no choice but to choose me.’
Regardless of what kind of person Yujinhwi was.
Seoharin understood that Yujinhwi would have to choose her.
If her senior fell into another’s hands, whatever Yujinhwi wished for would become significantly harder to achieve.
‘I…’
Yujinhwi also knew that.
Among the rivals she’d had, only Seoharin had reached out first.
Not Geumhu, nor Neungwolhyang.
Neither had even attempted to confront her.
Moreover, Geumhu and Neungwolhyang belong to different sects, not the Gongdong Sect.
If her disciple were to leave with them, they might never return. He could go to a place beyond her reach, somewhere she’d never see him again.
She didn’t want that.
She didn’t want to be left alone.
She needed her disciple. She had to stay by his side.
‘To stay by my disciple’s side… I need to cooperate with my junior.’
She couldn’t hand her disciple over to Geumhu and Neungwolhyang.
It would be better to have her junior instead.
If it’s a junior from the same sect, she could at least keep her disciple closer.
With that thought, Yujinhwi looked towards her junior and said.
“…No. There’s no way I’d be wary of you. If you need anything, call. I’m going ahead. It’s rude for a man to meet with women at night.”
Yujinhwi thought that and bit her lip, turning her back.
She barely held back the tears threatening to fall.
She had a flawed body. A monstrosity that was a woman yet not a woman. Therefore, she couldn’t be by her disciple’s side as a woman.
That was why she had to lean on her junior. This reality was too miserable.
Yujinhwi gritted her teeth and flew out of the reception hall.
“…But why did you call for Yujinhwi? He’s a man, isn’t he?”
After Yujinhwi vanished, Seomun Cheong-ha asked Seoharin.
“Yujinhwi is also my senior. I felt the need to know. Will you cooperate with me, Seomun?”
Seoharin casually changed the subject.
In her monotonous voice, Seomun Cheong-ha trembled slightly as she faced Seoharin’s empty gaze.
She was a refined lady. Naturally, she couldn’t help but feel caution towards the girl with emotionless eyes and an expressionless face, like Seoharin.
‘She doesn’t seem like a bad person…’
But still, something felt off.
“Of course. Hmph. Then I’ll take my leave as well. Seomun, get some rest.”
Seomun Cheong-ha stood up, dusted herself off, and returned to her designated room.
Left alone, Seoharin’s empty eyes turned towards the moon visible beyond the broken wall.
‘This senior…’
Lee Cheol-soo popped into her mind.
thump, thump
Her heart raced. After her mother was killed by a martial artist in her childhood, her heart had never raced again until now, but Seoharin recognized this feeling.
It was love.
Her senior was her savior.
He was her everything.
He offered unreciprocated kindness and saved her from falling into despair.
Being beside him made her heart race and her withered emotions feel alive again.
It felt like she was truly living.
She didn’t want to lose this newfound vitality.
She wanted to possess him.
She wanted to make even his breath her treasure.
‘Even as a woman, he said fate must be decided by oneself. I have decided, senior.’
Seoharin’s lips awkwardly curled into a smile.
It was a clumsy smile that contained her genuine feelings after a long time of losing her expression.
‘…The girl will have her senior. That is the destiny she has chosen.’
Her empty eyes, an awkward smile that was clear to anyone, and trembling cheeks.
A racing heart.
She would possess her senior. She didn’t want to lose this vitality.
She couldn’t afford to lose her regained heart again.
But not now.
‘So please wait a little longer. Until I come of age…’
She needed to come of age.
Only then would her senior finally see her as a woman.
Because her senior preferred mature women.
But she wouldn’t sit still. Gradually, she would seep into her senior’s heart.
For now, she had no choice but to cooperate with her senior and Seomun Cheong-ha.
With that determination, Seoharin adjusted the awkwardly rising corners of her mouth.
“Ah…”
She should also practice her smile.
Because men love a woman’s beautiful smile.
That was what Seoharin thought.
*
A year passed.
A year later, I finally turned fifteen. Fifteen! In reality, this was the time when one could freely watch PG-15 movies, play games, and enjoy anime and comic books, marking the onset of the awkward middle schooler phase.
The turbulent time.
Before I knew it, the foliage had started to grow around my… former assets.
Secondary sexual characteristics.
My body was getting ready to become an adult.
heh heh heh.
Naturally, my body began to take shape as I had long yearned for, transforming into the body of a fit person.
This was the moment the effects of my long training in external energy began to shine.
But that wasn’t all that had changed.
Gongdong Sect Main Base.
Unlike a year ago, when it was filled with haunted houses and ghostly ruins, the current Gongdong Sect Main Base was now properly structured with buildings.
It was the result of the donations from Jeoksawol and the proceeds from my martial arts betting.
clink clank.
However, construction wouldn’t finish in just a year, so currently, only the most urgent facilities like the Reception Hall and Hall of Three Purities for hosting guests were repaired.
The remaining royal chambers were still under renovation.
After completing the repairs on the Hall of Three Purities, we gained some recognition among guests, leading to occasional donations and improving our financial status.
While having three meals of pork every day would be a stretch, now we could at least have meat once a day.
It was all very positive change for me.
Of course, that wasn’t enough yet.
While three meals of pork were essential, other tonics were also necessary.
To complete the ultimate tonic diet, I required more money.
And to gather that money… obviously, I needed to host investment presentations to attract investors.
To attract those investors…
‘We need to perform well in the competition.’
Now, a year had passed since the Orthodox Faction Competition.
With the competition against the Hangshan Sect looming ahead, or rather, the investment presentation, I had to achieve good results.
Only then would I be able to attract investments and further push for the reconstruction of the Gongdong Sect, ensuring a better tonic diet for myself.
For a more perfect tonic diet.
With that thought, today, I practiced Kegel exercises and Hanging exercises in my personal training room.
It’s almost time.
Geumhu.
We’ll meet again.
*
At the same time.
In a dark cave.
In the eerie luminescence of the blood-red pond reflecting the light of the Night Pearl, bubbles rose, bloop, bloop.
swish.
From the shadows of the cave, a man in blood attire and a mask emerged.
He prostrated towards the blood-red pond.
“Blood Demon reigns! Blood Sect conquers the world! Long live, long live, long live! I greet the Blood Demon Sovereign!”
At the words of the blood man, the pond suddenly began to bubble furiously.
glorp.
Soon after, amidst the splashes of blood, a long-haired man rose from the pond.
It was the Blood Sect Leader.
The Blood Sect Leader’s closed eyes opened.
blink.
From his eyes, blood-red radiance surged. Just making eye contact with him would infuse one with vitality and stir their inner power with enchanted eye powers.
Blood-red energy surged throughout the cave.
The manic might of Blood Demon Art reached its peak, unnaturally rising.
“What’s happening?”
“…I found a clue regarding the whereabouts of Geumhu Bidong.”
Upon hearing the blood man’s words, the Blood Sect Leader’s lips curled slightly.
“Then first, locate the position of Geumhu Bidong, and after finding it, discreetly collect the Heart-Seeking Sword and the Technique of Subduing Demons from Geumhu and the Sword Pavilion.”
“Understood!”
Upon receiving the instruction, the Blood Sect Leader closed his eyes.
glurp.
His body was swallowed by the boiling water of the blood-red pond.
This was a matter occurring a day before the competition between the Hangshan Sect and the Gongdong Sect, far away from the Central Plains.