Rebirth of the Heavenly Demon

Song Hwa-rin snapped back to reality at the voice beside her.

The woman who spoke was Su-ran[1], her personal guard.

“It’s nothing.”

Song Hwa-rin put down the tea she was about to drink. The once warm tea had already gone cold.

She had been thinking about Byeok Ri-dan.

“There’s nothing that changes as easily as people.”

He seemed like a completely different person when he said those words compared to when he was causing trouble while drunk.

Song Hwa-rin shook her head forcefully.

“In the end, he’s just a good-for-nothing who leeches off his parents.”

Su-ran guessed who the subject of her mistress’s dismissed thoughts was.

“I hear Young Master Byeok has been training in martial arts lately.”

“Martial arts training?”

“Yes. It seems everyone in the Byeok Sword Clan is surprised since it’s something he’s never done before.”

“Isn’t it too late to start now?”

“I think he’s doing it to impress you, miss.”

Song Hwa-rin recalled Byeok Ri-dan. Thinking of his cold final appearance…

“He didn’t seem interested in impressing me at all.”

“How could that be? Any man with a dick wouldn’t be able to resist.”

When Song Hwa-rin blushed, Su-ran quickly said:

“I apologize. My mouth ran away with me.”

Knowing Su-ran’s personality was rough like a man’s, she didn’t scold her for it.

“Everyone can have different tastes in the opposite sex.”

“That doesn’t apply to you, miss.”

Sensing that continuing the conversation would only add to her beauty, Song Hwa-rin just smiled.

“Oh, there’s a gathering of young masters and misses today.”

“Do I have to go?”

“Yes. You must attend. Young Master Yang from the Yang Minor Faction[2] sent several messages asking for your attendance. As you know, the Yang Minor Faction is…”

“Enough. I’ll go, so stop.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll prepare for your outing.”

As Su-ran was about to leave the room, Song Hwa-rin suddenly asked:

“Do you think people change easily?”

“Not easily, but… I think they do change.”

“Why do you think so?”

Su-ran smiled and said:

“You’ve changed a lot too, haven’t you, miss?”

Yes, that was true. She had completely changed from before she left for training.

Alright, let’s consider at least that part of what Byeok Ri-dan said to be correct.

Song Hwa-rin smiled.

“Hurry and get ready. Let’s go.”

In the past, she would never have gone to a place she didn’t want to.

But now she can smile and do things she doesn’t like. She has changed, and she won’t fear change in the future.

‘I will never become stagnant water.’

***

I went to a tavern in the marketplace after a long time.

Although it was to hear news about myself, I could only confirm that there was still no word at all.

Why is the announcement so delayed?

I wanted to rush to the Martial Righteous Alliance headquarters right away and ask Gal Saryang why the handling of this matter was so slow.

I was worried that something might have happened.

As I sat there lost in these thoughts, a group of young people entered.

Song Hwa-rin was among them. She was impossible not to notice.

“Oh?”

She recognized me and stopped in her tracks. Her companions naturally stopped with her. The expressions of those who recognized me were not good. They all seemed displeased. This probably directly showed the relationship between me and them.

After looking at her briefly, I turned my head towards the window.

It was just a moment of eye contact, but there was someone who was greatly displeased by even that.

A man next to her sauntered over to me.

Expensive clothes with dangling gold ornaments, an excessively ornate scabbard, eyes that seemed to look down on others, and corners of his mouth curled up frivolously. He was revealing plenty of information about himself through his appearance alone.

“Hey bastard, I heard you almost died? You look fine to me.”

The guy acted overly familiar, but I couldn’t even recognize who he was. When I didn’t respond, the corners of his mouth curled up even more. He probably saw my reaction as bravado in front of Song Hwa-rin.

“I hear you’re training in martial arts? Why? To beat me up?”

Thinking he might start tapping my head if I left him alone, I coldly threw out a word.

“Do people train in martial arts to beat others? It’s to kill those you want dead.”

Perhaps sensing a different power in my eyes than usual, the guy flinched. Then, as if annoyed at himself for being startled, he spat out harsh words.

“I heard you cried while getting beaten up by Miss Song?”

At that, Song Hwa-rin, standing a little way off, slightly furrowed her brow.

“I never said such a thing.”

“Do you need to say it explicitly? Why are you acting like this? Are you concerned about this guy?”

“Not at all!”

I could read Song Hwa-rin’s true feelings from her expression. In a word, it was an expression that said both I and this guy were annoying.

Whether he knew this or not, the provocation continued.

“You debtor bastard, I really don’t like the look in your eyes today.”

Debtor? Have I borrowed money from this guy? I’ll have to ask Gwang-du later.

Anyway, I had no desire to clash with this guy, so I stood up.

“From now on, stop glaring!”

I didn’t react to his obvious provocation made while conscious of Song Hwa-rin. I have no intention of wasting emotions on immature kids. I don’t know why I was reborn as Byeok Ri-dan, but it certainly wasn’t to waste time on such pathetic actions.

Judging from the atmosphere and attire of the young people standing with Song Hwa-rin, they were all from influential local families or martial arts sects.

Step aside, you fools. The one you should be most careful of in this martial world is standing right next to you. Do you even know that she’s a more fearsome existence than the evil demons of the demonic sects?

There’s something I once told young martial artists about beauties during a drinking session when I was the Alliance Leader.

“Even if she’s not an evil woman, her beauty will lead you to death.”

Though said jokingly, it was not a joke at all.

Most murders in this martial world involve either money or women, or both. And the more beautiful the woman, the more deadly the danger.

With her level of beauty, the danger would be catastrophic.

As I passed by, neither she nor I looked at each other.

***

The next afternoon, there was a new encounter.

As I was crossing the training ground, a middle-aged martial artist who happened to be passing by spoke to me.

“Young Master Byeok. I heard rumors that you’ve been training in martial arts lately. Is that true?”

I knew who he was.

Seo Jung[3].

There was a sword squad in our clan, and he was the chief in charge of it. I had only heard about him from Gwang-du, but hadn’t yet had a conversation with him.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Even if I hadn’t answered, he would have noticed the changes in my eyes and body.

But the changes of the past few days were not enough to elicit praise and encouragement, given how messy my previous life had been.

“Do you know that because of what you’ve done so far, not only the clan head but the entire clan has been struggling?”

The stern eyes held not simple criticism, but sincere concern and admonishment for the other person.

“I’m sorry. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future.”

Sincerity for sincerity. I bowed my head respectfully.

I could sense Seo Jung’s bewilderment. Probably due to my response being different from usual.

It was something that would take time. Not just for Seo Jung here, but for everyone who knew Byeok Ri-dan.

“I’ll keep watching you.”

As he was about to turn away, I asked him:

“By the way, what did you mean earlier when you said the entire clan is struggling because of me?”

Seo Jung’s expression hardened.

“Are you asking because you don’t know?”

“No, that’s not it.”

I didn’t press further and stepped back. There was no need to get an answer while going against his emotions. Because there was someone who could teach me that.

The person who could best teach me what I didn’t know was busy cleaning the garden.

“Why are you making such a fuss so late in the day?”

Usually, cleaning was done early in the morning. But Gwang-du was making a commotion about cleaning late in the afternoon.

“Word came that Master Yang is coming later.”

“Master Yang?”

“Do you really not remember anything?”

“I don’t.”

Although he gave me suspicious looks every time, he was the one who believed I had really lost my memory. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have given such explanations every time.

“I mean Master Yang Gi-cheol[4] of the Yang Minor Faction. The Yang Minor Faction is the largest faction in Shandong. We used to be the best once.”

According to Gwang-du’s explanation, there were about twenty large and small sects in Shandong, and when it came to power and influence, our Byeok Sword Clan was the best in Shandong.

The problem was that this was past glory. Now, the Yang Minor Faction was first, the Song Clan was second, and our clan had been pushed out of even the top ten.

“Why did we fall so far?”

The words Seo Jung had said came out of Gwang-du’s mouth as well.

“You’re not asking because you don’t know, right?”

Of course, I had guessed.

“So it’s because of me after all.”

“A lot of money was spent cleaning up the troubles you caused, young master. As finances became difficult, we had to reduce the number of martial artists too.”

“Did we incur debts because of that?”

“Of course. We borrowed from several places, but I know we borrowed a large sum from the Yang Minor Faction in particular.”

Just in case, I described the appearance of the guy I saw at the tavern yesterday. Sure enough, he was Yang Gi-gang[5], the son of the Yang Minor Faction’s leader.

Now I understood. Why the guy I saw at the tavern yesterday called me a debtor. Why he was so arrogant.

“How much is the debt?”