novelraw Chapter 2 : Chapter 2
Chapter 2 : Chapter 2
Chapter 02 - I’m Alive?
A hole the size of a fist was in my stomach, and my dantian was shattered.
Then a sword was stabbed into my neck.
It would be normal to have died two or three times over.
But what on earth is this sensation?
I felt cold as if I had been doused with water, then my body slowly warmed up, and later, a hot energy surged in my lower abdomen.
And finally…….
“Biyoung-ah!!! Biyoung-ah!!!”
My brain is rattling.
It feels like someone is shaking my shoulders roughly.
I don't know if the one shaking me is a messenger from the underworld or King Yama himself, but whoever it is, I can't stand it any longer.
Stop shaking me, you bastard…!!
“St… Stop……”
As I barely managed to voice the words out of my mouth, the shaking finally stopp…….
Like hell it did.
My head was thrown back and forth even more violently.
“You're alive…!! You're alive!! Hahahahaha!!”
This old man, really…….
My consciousness was about to return, only to run away from home again.
‘But…….’
I’m alive?
Me?
Me, who was struck by the Heavenly Demon and had my neck pierced?
It would be impossible for even the greatest physician in Jianghu, no, even a great immortal from heaven, to save my life.
But right now I…….
‘I’m alive?’
I was definitely alive.
I could feel every sensation not only in my hot abdomen but also in my fingertips and toes, and I could clearly feel myself breathing.
I didn't know what had happened, but I had survived.
“Keuung……”
When I barely managed to open my closed eyes, the first thing I saw was the face of an old man, heavily wrinkled.
“Biyoung-ah! Is your mind coming back to you?”
“I think it would come back better if you just left me alone……”
“……Ah.”
Only then did the old man release the grip on my shoulders.
After confirming that Biyoung was safe, the old man repeated the words, ‘Oh, Heavenly Lord! Thank you!’.
Even though I had opened my eyes, it was difficult to move my body.
A feeling that my body wasn't my own?
When I inadvertently glanced down while lying down, Biyoung was so shocked he thought his heart would leap out of his throat.
“Ugh!”
My body had become smaller.
No, to be precise, it had become younger.
When Yeongbi fought the decisive battle with the Heavenly Demon, he was in his thirties.
He looked to be in his twenties thanks to polishing his martial arts, but now, he looked much younger than that.
‘Is this place not the world of the living after all?’
But to say that, my body's five senses were functioning too normally.
I couldn't figure out what kind of trick this was, but I felt I needed to grasp the current situation first.
“Biyoung-ah. What's wrong. Are you still hurting somewhere!?”
Right.
First, the identity of this frail figure who looks like he could be blown away by just a puff of his nose.
“Master Taoist…… who might you be?”
Even before hearing the answer to his question, Biyoung was startled.
The raspy voice he had his whole life was gone as if washed away, and a clear, bright voice was heard instead.
This is my voice?
It sounded so awkward.
But it seemed the old man was just as surprised.
“Who, you ask…… what kind of question is that to ask your grandfather.”
Grandfather.
So this man is my grandfather?
The man who introduced himself as my grandfather answered so and grinned.
It was a simple, powerless smile, the kind that would have heard the words ‘too damn nice’ a lot throughout his life.
‘What do you mean, grandfather?’
When Yeongbi entered the Diancang Sect, he had already lost his parents.
He had no memory of seeing his parents' faces, let alone his grandfather's, so there was no way he could have a grandfather.
“My name is Yeongbi……”
“Yeongbi…… That's a good name too.”
“No, first, please listen to me……”
The old man, who smiled gently while looking at Yeongbi, exuded a faint Taoist aura, making him feel like an immortal.
“But your name is Biyoung (Preparing for a Hero). Haven't you been called that since you were born?”
Since I was born.
When was I?
Biyoung stared at his two hands with a bewildered face.
‘Heo…….’
The palms of his hands, which had been called demonic faces from swinging a sword countless times, were gone, and in his sight was soft skin without a single callus.
Biyoung asked in an urgent voice.
“A bronze mirror (mirror)…… do you have a bronze mirror?”
“I don't have a bronze mirror…… but the stream that was frozen all winter has thawed.”
Biyoung raised his upper body without delay.
Then, before the old man could say anything, he opened the door and went outside.
‘There is…!’
Just as the old man said, there was a small stream when I went outside.
The water was so clear that it seemed it could sufficiently substitute for a bronze mirror.
Biyoung hurriedly bent down and checked his face.
“Heek!”
It was truly a bizarre feeling that no one could empathize with.
The one checking his reflection in the water with wide eyes was clearly himself.
But it wasn't ‘Yeongbi’ but ‘Biyoung’.
A boy with exceptionally handsome features was staring with the eyes of a rabbit.
“Oh, Primeval Lord of Heaven……”
Yeongbi.
No, Biyoung was silent for a moment, then suddenly plunged his head into the stream.
Plop!
Although the ice had melted, the stream's water was still ice-cold.
The chilling cold told Biyoung a clear fact.
‘I did not die.
And.
I have been given a new life…!’
Biyoung lifted his head with a pu-hwak and roughly rubbed his face with both hands.
Now, it finally felt a little bit real.
Biyoung turned his back and returned to the thatched hut where he had been.
“Are you coming to your senses?”
The grandfather was still grinding something with a kind face.
Biyoung, who was staring blankly at the person he called his grandfather, tilted his head.
It was definitely a face he had never seen before, but for some reason, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
“Grandfather.”
“Yes, Biyoung-ah.”
“Have we met somewhere before?”
“……….”
The grandfather looked over here with a face as if he had been hit with a hammer.
Why.
What.
Then he grinned once more and answered.
“Of course we have. We've lived together for a full cycle of the twelve zodiac signs and three more years.”
“…………Ah.”
Right.
From the old man's perspective, there was nothing strange about it.
But there were two pieces of information I gained from this question.
One was that this kid's age was fifteen.
And the other was that the immortal-looking old man was as generous as he looked.
After raising me for fifteen back-breaking years, the words he hears are ‘have we met somewhere before?’.
Where in the world is there such a stupid question?
If it were me, I would have whacked his crown several times with something like a dog-beating staff.
“Pardon my rudeness…… but I don't seem to remember well. How did I end up like this?”
Biyoung feigned memory loss while caressing his temple.
The old man, with a profound look on his face, gave a truly terrifying answer.
“It seems you've lost your memory for a while, just as I suspected. You just swallowed poison.”
“………!”
“It was a medicine I told you never to eat, but when I returned from outside, you had eaten it and were lying on the floor.”
“I did?”
So that's why the old man woke me up in such a fuss.
But why did this kid do such a stupid thing?
In the midst of his pupils shaking, the grandfather asked me softly.
“That is what I want to ask. Why did you swallow that dangerous poison?”
For the first time, the old man's face was filled with worry.
He had been in a state of shock when his grandson was on the verge of death, but now he had to ask.
“That is……”
Well, damn.
How should I know?
I woke up to find myself in the body of a kid who swallowed poison.
What's the best answer I can give here?
“Curiosity?”
“Cu, curiosity?”
The old man asked back with a dumbfounded face.
“Yes. Curiosity. Kids usually want to do things more when they're told not to. Hehet.”
“…………….”
Oh, whatever.
Since I've become younger anyway, I decided to answer as childishly as possible.
Believe it or not.
But surprisingly, the old man's reaction was nothing but calm.
“Yes…… then are you not hurting anywhere else now?”
“Nope.”
“Then that is all that matters.”
Hmm.
It seems like he's accepting it a little too quickly?
But that question was resolved before long.
“The pill you swallowed is actually closer to an elixir than a poison.”
“Pardon?”
“The energy of extreme Yang is so strong that one can fall into danger if the body is not prepared. That is why it is like a poison to children.”
I think I know what he means.
Not all elixirs are good for the body just because they are elixirs.
While there are elixirs that are effective for anyone who takes them, there are also cases where the body is instead consumed by the energy inherent in the elixir.
‘So the word poison wasn't a complete lie.’
“As soon as I realized you had eaten the elixir, I hastily poured cold water on you and pressed your Yin blood points. I believe you overcame the dangerous crisis thanks to that.”
Aha.
So that's what those sensations I felt before regaining consciousness were.
No wonder my clothes were damp even before I dunked my head in the stream.
For some reason, the old man's face turned a little bitter.
I don't know for sure, but it seems the elixir was quite an important item.
With the situation being as it was, I had to ask.
“By the way.”
“Go ahead and speak.”
“If it was such a dangerous item, couldn't you have just hidden it? You wouldn't have had to go out of your way to tell me ‘this is poison’.”
“Hoho.”
The old man looked at Biyoung and grinned again.
“I thought it would be alright.”
“Why?”
“You have never once disobeyed your grandfather's words, have you?”
“……….”
What a strange fellow.
From what I hear, this guy named Biyoung seems to have lived quite a good life.
Such a guy suddenly swallows poison like a rebellious frog?
Something doesn't add up.
“Wait just a moment. I will bring a tonic to boost your energy.”
“Ah, I'm really fine now……”
Biyoung, who was about to answer casually, suddenly stopped his mouth.
It was because the old man's gait was quite different from that of a normal person.
His two legs did not move in harmony; one leg was practically dragging the other.
‘He's a cripple…!’
Looking closely, the angle of his right foot was abnormally twisted.
It seemed he had been seriously injured in the past and was in an irreversible state.
He already looked like he would fall over if the wind blew, and with his leg like that, it was truly a sight that was hard to watch without tears.
“I'll do it myself…!!”
“Hoho. You rascal. Thankfully, there was no major harm, but it is a situation where you must be careful. Stay still.”
It looks like you're the one who needs to be more careful, to anyone's eyes.
But the old man ‘moved his body’ well, even while limping on one foot.
It's true that a corner of my heart felt a bit guilty, but Biyoung decided to explore the surroundings since things had turned out this way.
From the outside, it was a shabby thatched hut, but the inside was surprisingly clean.
Well, it was more accurate to say that there were no household goods to make a mess in the first place.
“Ugh. It's clammy.”
It wasn't particularly good fabric, and since it was wet, the texture wasn't pleasant.
Biyoung took off his top, thinking of changing his clothes first.
-Thud
Just then, a piece of paper that had been hidden inside his clothes fell to the floor.
“……?”
Biyoung picked up the paper without delay and unfolded it.
“What's this? A letter?”
Biyoung's face, who had checked the contents without a thought, soon turned as cold as ice.
-Grandfather. Your grandson intends to bid farewell to this world. While the wounds on the body heal with time, the scars etched in the heart do not seem to erase easily. I know how great of an unfilial act this is, but I can no longer repeat these hellish days. Please do not forgive this unfilial son.
“!”
It wasn't written exactly what had happened.
But the meaning conveyed by each sentence was incredibly heavy.
‘It wasn't a mistake or curiosity. This is…!’
Suicide.
This guy named Biyoung had swallowed the poison to take his own life.
“Why? He seems a bit unfortunate, but it doesn't seem like it's to the point of taking his own life……”
Biyoung inadvertently looked down at his upper body with narrowed eyes.
Soon, a divine light flashed in his pupils.
‘What is this?’
I didn't know when I was wearing clothes, but countless wounds and bruises were all over my body.
He had seen all sorts of things while living in Jianghu, but it was enough to make him frown on its own.
‘These are not marks from getting hurt for a day or two. And they were not made by accident.’
Who on earth had inflicted such a harsh beating on a child who had not yet matured?
It took Biyoung less than a day to find out the cause.