Chapter 19 Poison Forest 1

Chapter 19: Poison Forest 1

“Gasp!”

I shot up from my seat, drenched in cold sweat.

It was because I’d had a nightmare.

Looking around, it was still dark night.

Beside me, Biseaeng and Bae Jong-gwan were still sound asleep, and Squad Leader Seolpung was nowhere to be seen—probably off training again.

Only after confirming I hadn’t lost anything yet could I breathe a sigh of relief.

My nightmare was a memory from my past life.

Memories of a past life where everyone around me had vanished.

And perhaps things that would repeat again in the future.

I prided myself on having done my best, at least up until now.

I had saved Bae Jong-gwan, the friend I had lost in my past life, and I was training with all my might to regain the state of non-action from my past life, and furthermore, to reach the pinnacle of mastery—the minimum condition I believed necessary to act with true autonomy.

After all, there’s little I can do until I reach that level of non-action.

But is that really true?

Was this truly enough?

The danger on the front lines would only grow more intense as time passed.

Soon, the Iron Fiends would appear, and later, the Venom Fiends would emerge.

In our past lives, we somehow endured, losing comrades one by one, but ultimately, enduring it all was meaningless.

All the demons were merely a process to create the final product: the Blood Demon.

Five years from now, the Blood Fiend will emerge.

The pinnacle masters possessing the bodies of the demons.

And two years after their emergence, the front lines completely collapsed.

The Blood Sect gradually released the power it had gathered, expanding its territory beyond Yunnan Province into Sichuan, Guizhou, and Guangxi.

As if mocking the non-aggression pact with the Martial Alliance…

I died in the process.

So I know nothing of what happened afterward.

Whether the entire martial world united to stop the Blood Sect, or whether the Blood Sect truly did come to rule the world.

Of course, regardless of any possible future, the only thing I could do now was to focus on growing myself.

So I focused solely on training, determined to advance step by step.

But when I’m tormented by nightmares like this, I inevitably ask myself once more.

Is this truly enough?

……

There was no way it was.

***

With the duel between Sword Master Ju Tae-kyung and Seon Woo-jin just two days away, today was the day the Seventh Squad was assigned evening patrol duty.

Since training was suspended during patrol hours, they skipped their evening sparring session and headed out on patrol.

The fact made Seventh Squad’s deputy leader, Sa Neyu, feel a little regret.

Evening sparring practice was her favorite time.

Recently, she felt like she was breaking through a plateau and finally seeing a path forward. Also, the time she spent sparring one-on-one with him every day was the happiest part of her day.

Lost in these thoughts, Na Se-yu suddenly found herself amused by the absurdity of pondering such things on the front lines, and she chuckled softly.

When she was first assigned to the front lines, she had thought she would die the moment she stepped onto the battlefield.

‘How could I send your younger brother, the heir, into battle? For the sake of our family, you must make this sacrifice.’

His second mother’s voice had been so cold, and she hadn’t seemed the least bit sorry.

After his mother passed away when he was seven, his second mother seized control of the household.

She openly discriminated against Naseoyu and her own biological son, who was three years younger, yet she hid this fact completely from their father.

It was hard and painful, but she thought she had to endure it.

Because she believed that sacrificing herself was the way to protect her father and the Naga family.

Naseyu, who had always sacrificed herself, responded to her second mother’s demand for yet another sacrifice with those words.

“Yes, Mother. I understand,” she said…

She knew she would die if she went, but Na Se-yu didn’t know how to refuse, how to resist.

She had lived that way for far too long.

‘And indeed, she nearly died on her very first patrol.’

While tracking a blood demon that absorbed human life energy to grow, she had been ambushed and kidnapped by a Blood Cult demon.

Even now, the horrific face of that creature—whose greedy eyes scanned her entire body while she lay immobilized by acupoint pressure—still surfaced in her mind occasionally.

Perhaps he never could have overcome that memory.

No, he probably wouldn’t have survived in the first place.

Had he not saved her.

He could never forget that astonishing display of skill—flying in like a shooting star to kick the demon away, then chasing after the blood-spattering demon at an even faster speed to beat it senseless. And then, returning to her, he’d asked with a simple, mountain-village boy-like innocence if she was okay, his face flushing with a foolish, helpless expression.

At that moment, Na Se-yu had forgotten her fear and burst into a giggle.

Later, when he was chosen as the leader of the newly formed Seventh Squad, Na Se-yu followed him to the Seventh Squad. Though many hardships followed, Na Se-yu could still say with confidence:

This was the happiest time of her life.

Even if she were to die tomorrow.

After watching his retreating figure leading the way for a moment, Na Se-yu turned to look at her squad members.

If defeating enemies and protecting the squad members was his job, then looking after them was hers.

It was what she did best, and what filled his gaps.

“Prince Bi, you seem to have become even more handsome lately. You were manly before, but it’s even more pronounced now, isn’t it?”

“Hmph! The deputy leader’s compliments are too common to be believable.”

“Oh, I’m telling the truth!”

He said this to Bi Sa-yeong, who was grumbling to Bae Jong-gwan about how his external cultivation had made him bulkier and less agile.

Though he claimed not to believe her praise, Na Se-yu smiled faintly as she watched him twitch his lips and drop his complaint.

Then, she whispered telepathically to Bae Jong-gwan.

– Young Master Bae, women don’t particularly like it when men show their feelings too openly. They find it more charming when you care for them in a way that’s subtle, almost unnoticeable. You know what I mean, right?

Offering this advice to Bae Jong-gwan, who couldn’t tear his gaze away from Cheon Ju-eun even today, Bae Jong-gwan looked at Na Se-yu with a grateful expression and began to deliberately act dignified while keeping watchful eyes on his surroundings.

Recently, Bae Jong-gwan’s excessive staring had been making Cheon Ju-eun slightly uncomfortable.

While she was still grateful that he was a good person and showed interest in her, if this discomfort persisted, it could lead to unfavorable outcomes for both of them.

In an environment where death could come at any moment, the front lines were freer for romance than anywhere else in the martial world. However, this very freedom sometimes led to awkward feelings between men and women disrupting a squad’s unity. In severe cases, one party might even have to transfer to another squad.

Naseoyu wanted to prevent that from happening.

And if possible, he hoped good people would develop good feelings for each other.

At least for this moment, while they were still alive.

Having handled the matters he could resolve immediately, Na Seo-yu now shifted his gaze to someone he wasn’t quite sure how to approach.

The person Na Se-yu didn’t know how to handle, Cheongyeon, was staring at someone with an unreadable expression.

‘Seonwoo Gongja.’

Seonwoo Jin, who had appeared like a comet and completely transformed the atmosphere of the Seventh Division, had recently grown somewhat gloomy.

He didn’t show it when dealing with others, but when he was deep in thought like this, the difference was starkly apparent.

Everyone assumed it was due to the upcoming confrontation with Ju Tae-kyung, so they simply pretended not to notice. Yet, his state did indeed dampen the spirits of the other squad members.

After all, Seonwoojin had become someone who could sway the mood of the entire Seventh Squad.

And then there was Cheongyeon.

The girl whose overwhelming beauty, once seen, made one think she should indeed cover her face when out in public, had recently made a bombshell announcement in front of both herself and Cheon Ju-eun.

It was when they heard that Seonwoojin had feelings for Dang Yeo-eun.

As usual, the three women of Chiljo were practicing in the afternoon when that thought suddenly came to her, and she spoke up.

‘You know, when Seonwoojin and Yeon first arrived, I actually thought they were lovers? Or at least that Yeon had feelings for him. Especially after seeing Yeon follow Seonwoojin to Chiljo, I was sure Yeon was infatuated with him.’

Cheon Ju-eun, who had been listening nearby, burst out laughing and agreed.

‘Phew! You thought that too? Me too. That’s why I felt kinda bad later when I saw Yeon’s face, you know?’

‘Ah, really? Hehe. I did too.’

As the only two people in the Thirteenth Generation who knew Qingyan’s true appearance spoke and burst into laughter, Qingyan, who had been listening quietly, opened her mouth with an expressionless face.

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

‘Huh? What’s right?’

‘That I like Seonwoo Gongja. That’s right.’

“…Huh?”

Cheongyeon’s calm response, delivered with an expression that seemed to say, “Why are you stating the obvious?”, flustered Seo Jaeyu and Cheon Ju-eun.

‘Of course you like Seonwoo Gongja. I like him too. He’s a precious teammate and someone you can trust.’

‘That’s right. Seonwoo Gongja is truly a good person. Plus, after losing weight, he became surprisingly handsome. But sis, that’s not what we’re talking about….’

But Cheongyeon cut Cheonju-eun off and spoke again. In a rare, resolute tone.

‘I know what you mean. And yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. As a man, I have feelings for Seonwoo Gongja.’

“…Huh?”

“…Really?”

The two were thrown into confusion.

No, why on earth would Cheongyeon have feelings for Seonwoo Gongja?

And what kind of tone is that for saying you admire someone?

Just hearing the tone, it sounded less like confessing affection and more like confessing a desire for revenge.

Naseoyu barely regained his composure and asked Cheongyeon.

‘No, Yeon, why on earth would you…? No, that’s not it. Besides, if that’s true, I heard that Master Seonwoo harbors feelings for Lady Tang, so why are you so calm about it?’

Cheongyeon answered as if it were obvious.

‘Because it can’t be true. He does seem interested, but not in the way a woman would be. Rather, he…’

After saying that much, Cheongyeon glanced at Yu for a moment before changing the subject again.

‘And I started liking him when he was chubby. I’ve always liked round things. But what drew me was his round shape, and even after he lost weight, my feelings didn’t fade. I suppose it’s because I started seeing what lies beneath the appearance.’

Her confession, delivered as calmly as if objectively describing a natural observation, left Na Seo-yu and Cheon Ju-eun speechless.

It took Cheon Ju-eun a while longer to think of another question.

‘Then… why aren’t you doing anything?’

‘What should I do?’

“I mean, get closer than you are now, or—yeah! Show me your real face!”

Then, Cheongyeon asked with a rare smile.

‘Why must I do something? Isn’t it enough that I’m observing him right beside him?’

Na Seo-yu and Cheon Ju-eun couldn’t help but realize once again that Cheongyeon was an incomprehensible being.

After that incident, Na Se-yu also found it difficult to easily interfere in the two of them.

So, in the end, he set out on patrol without saying a word to them.

It was about halfway through the patrol route.

As the western sky turned crimson, Seolpung, who was leading the way, held out his palm toward the team members.

It was a signal to stop, meaning something had appeared.

As the team members halted in perfect unison and alerted their surroundings, Seolpung became a streak of light and plunged into the forest.

Whoosh!

Then a scream rang out.

“Oh my! Please save me!”

The seven team members couldn’t help but stare wide-eyed at this unexpected reaction.

Save me?

To actually hear the screams of ordinary people?

On this battlefield?

Seolpung barely stopped the killing and subdued the one he brought in—a slender, dark-skinned Miao youth.

In fact, this Miao man pleaded before the squad members, wiping his palms together awkwardly in slightly broken Korean.

“My wife is not a person who has become a ghost. She is merely a Miao person living deep in the forest.”

The squad members were flustered.

All the Miao people they had seen while serving on the front lines were those turned into demons by the Blood Cult.

This was the first time they had encountered a Miao person in their right mind, and this Miao youth was even making a desperate plea to them.

“I am Putak. Please save the women. Tokno, their benefactor, is coughing up blood and dying.”