The Regressed Sword Demon Changes the Future

"Young Lady Geum… no, Junior Sister, what brings you here at this hour?"

Junior Sister, Geum Hyeonah, approached Jang Baekseo, who was covered in sweat from unfolding his sword manual, and handed him a towel with a silent smile.

"The moon was so beautiful tonight that I came out for a night walk. But when I came out, I suddenly remembered hearing that you, Senior Brother, are always engrossed in training even late at night, so I came because I was worried. Was I a nuisance?"

After wiping his sweat with the towel Geum Hyeonah had handed him, she handed him a bottle of cool water.

"No, not at all. Rather, thank you…"

Jang Baekseo, who drank the water Geum Hyeonah had handed him with a gulping sound, felt his head clear a little as the cool water entered.

"…"

Geum Hyeonah just looked at Jang Baekseo with a faint smile and without a word.

"What are you looking at so intently? I'm not handsome enough to be stared at like that."

"No, that's not true! Who says that?"

At Geum Hyeonah's sudden outburst, Jang Baekseo flinched a little without realizing it and broke out in a cold sweat.

"N-no one said that, it's just…"

As Jang Baekseo was flinching at Geum Hyeonah's unexpectedly fierce reaction…

"Senior Brother, are you perhaps worried about something?"

At Geum Hyeonah's sudden question, Jang Baekseo was startled.

"…Why do you think so?"

At Jang Baekseo's question, which had a hint of bewilderment, Geum Hyeonah smiled brightly.

"We had dinner together. It would be stranger if I didn't know."

At those words, Jang Baekseo was surprised.

Although Jang Baekseo's outside was that of a fourteen-year-old boy, his inside was not. He was an old master among old masters who had experienced all sorts of battles, including aerial combat. He was a being of fear to the Orthodox Faction and a being of respect to the people of the Demonic Path. That was the Sword Demon Jang Baekseo.

Even if a sword was stuck in his stomach and twisted, he could smile calmly, and even if he had a meal with his parents' enemy (though he had none), Jang Baekseo, who could perfectly maintain his etiquette, would not have his inner turmoil revealed on the outside.

But Geum Hyeonah had noticed that Jang Baekseo had a worry in that short time, just by having dinner with him.

'So a merchant's daughter is a merchant's daughter…'

"Indeed, you have the insight of the daughter of the great Geum Gadong."

At Jang Baekseo's appearance of finding a reason and convincing himself, Geum Hyeonah smiled shyly and said, 'Fufu.'

"Fufu, it's not like that, Senior Brother."

"Huh? Th-then how did you know?"

At Jang Baekseo's question, who was bewildered by the unexpected reaction, Geum Hyeonah smiled shyly and answered.

"Because I'm a woman."

At the answer, whose meaning could not be known, or which contained too many meanings, Jang Baekseo was at a loss for words for a moment.

But it wasn't a bad feeling.

At Geum Hyeonah's appearance, which seemed a little teasing and a little playful, Jang Baekseo began to think that his worries were foolish.

Just like Geum Hyeonah's ambiguous answer, the human world was a kaleidoscope, and there was nothing clear and certain.

But Jang Baekseo had come to have the illusion that he could see through this human world, thanks to his regression to the past.

As a result, the insight to see through this kaleidoscopic world, which he had naturally had even before his regression, had gradually rusted, and while changing the future in the direction he wanted, he had been bound by his inner anxiety, forgetting that this anxiety was the eternal companion of a life where one could not know what was ahead.

'How ridiculous… to think that the Sword Demon Jang Baekseo, who had navigated the torrent of the era called the Righteous-Demonic War with himself as a lamp, would be in this state…'

Jang Baekseo felt his heart become much lighter.

He had not lost something, but had realized that it had always been that way.

With a much lighter heart, Jang Baekseo looked at Geum Hyeonah.

"Your worries have been resolved."

As if to prove that her words that she had known he had a worry just by having a meal with him were not a lie, Geum Hyeonah immediately noticed that Jang Baekseo's worries had been resolved.

Looking at Geum Hyeonah with wonder, Jang Baekseo opened his mouth.

"It's all thanks to you."

From Geum Hyeonah's perspective, it was a very sudden remark, but she was not flustered at all, nor did she wonder about the true meaning of the words.

She was just purely happy that Jang Baekseo's worries had been resolved because of her.

As a subtle atmosphere was about to flow between the two people who were looking at each other without a word, a sudden gust of wind blew.

"Ah!"

As if her previous experienced and calm appearance was a lie, Geum Hyeonah was surprised and touched her hair as it was scattered by the wind.

Jang Baekseo thought for a moment, 'Do women really hate it when their hair gets messy in the wind like that?' and then…

"Wait a minute, Junior Sister. Stay still…"

"Yes?"

Jang Baekseo carefully reached out his hand to Geum Hyeonah's face, and at his touch, Geum Hyeonah was visibly flustered.

Ignoring the flustered Geum Hyeonah, Jang Baekseo removed the leaf that was stuck to Geum Hyeonah's hair.

As her hair was silver, the bright green leaf stuck in it was even more noticeable… and it gave a mysterious feeling.

When Jang Baekseo was about to withdraw his hand after removing the leaf stuck to Geum Hyeonah's hair, Geum Hyeonah reached out and wrapped her hand around Jang Baekseo's hand.

"Junior Sister?"

And she brought Jang Baekseo's hand, which she had wrapped, to her cheek.

Whether Jang Baekseo was flustered by her incomprehensible action or not, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of the hand on her cheek and its pleasant coolness.

"…Fufu, your hand is still pleasantly cool."

"…Thanks to that, I've often been called a cold-blooded person."

He had been called a cold-blooded person mainly during the Righteous-Demonic War before his regression.

He had even been called the Cold-Blooded Sword at one time because his hand was so fierce on the battlefield, so that was all that needed to be said.

Of course, Geum Hyeonah, who had no way of knowing such an inner meaning, smiled at Jang Baekseo's words and continued.

"But my father said that having a cold hand means that your heart is that much warmer."

"Well, I don't know about that."

The two of them exchanged a conversation for a while.

It wasn't a story with any particular meaning.

Most of it was just trivial things, but the two of them were happy.

A person who interrupted the happy time of the two people, which felt as if it would not end, appeared.

No, to be precise, they revealed themselves.

Swish!

As if a shadow had risen, a black figure suddenly appeared from within Geum Hyeonah's shadow.

"Young Lady, the night is deep."

'The transcendent master who was guarding Geum Hyeonah…'

Jang Baekseo had known from the beginning that she was following them.

But…

'I didn't think she would be a woman…'

While Jang Baekseo was thinking that, Geum Hyeonah was talking with her guard for a moment.

Geum Hyeonah said that it was not that late yet, and the guard said that since the night was already deep enough, she had to go in.

The argument continued for a while, but in the end, the winner was Geum Hyeonah's guard.

In the end, Geum Hyeonah, who had said her goodbyes, returned to her residence, Golden Mystic Pavilion, showing her reluctance.

'…It seems the Sect Leader has ordered her not to get too close to men.'

Jang Baekseo, who recalled Geum Gadong's doting side, guessed that he must have given such an order, seeing that he had so carefully attached a female master as a guard.

Jang Baekseo, who was worried about Geum Hyeonah's guard, thinking that the guard's job would not be easy, did not know.

That the reason why Geum Hyeonah's guard had hurriedly taken her to Golden Mystic Pavilion was because she could no longer bear to listen to their conversation…

'Ugh, I can't stand that kind of sweet atmosphere… sigh, I wish I had a lover…’

It was the lament of a lonely female master whose age was soon to be the years she had spent alone.

***

Although Mysterious Profound Sect was on the verge of a big deal, its daily life was not much different from usual, and Jang Baekseo's daily life was also not much different.

He practiced martial arts, hung out with his junior brothers, ate, and slept.

At the end of a daily life where nothing seemed to have changed, the promised day was just around the corner.

The Qingcheng branch meeting!

With the Qingcheng branch meeting just around the corner, the sects from all over Sichuan were preparing to send representatives to Qingcheng.

With such a big event just around the corner, a tension that could not be defined in a single word was flowing in Sichuan. The sects that had been in conflict with the sects belonging to the Qingcheng branch also stopped their disputes, fearing that their story might come up at this Qingcheng branch meeting. And the merchant guilds that had been trading with the Qingcheng branch sects also returned the prices of the goods they had been overcharging for to normal.

That was because it was certain that if such a fact was mentioned even once at the Qingcheng branch meeting, they would not be able to do business in Sichuan.

Thus, the large and small sects and merchant guilds, and other martial arts organizations that had even a slight relationship with Qingcheng, were in a state of extreme tension, fearing that their names might be mentioned at the Qingcheng branch meeting and they would suffer a misfortune. On the contrary, the sects participating in the Qingcheng branch meeting were busy preparing without a moment's rest, making a list of the troublesome things that had happened so far or the things that were difficult to solve with their own strength to speak about at the Qingcheng branch meeting, and preparing gifts to give to the influential people they had connections with.

And among them, of course, was Mysterious Profound Sect, which had made a secret contract with Grandmaster Gwangha.

***

"…But why am I going?"

"Grandmaster Gwangha specifically pointed you out."

At the Sect Leader's answer, Jang Baekseo quietly covered his face.

'That damn old man!!'

The list of people leaving for the Qingcheng branch was as follows.

Ju Yeongchan, who was participating as the Sect Leader's junior brother of the first generation and at the same time as the Sect Leader's representative, and the transcendent master of the second generation, Cheongmu, and the peak master, Cheong Yeonah, who were in charge of the actual military force and would show off the skills of Mysterious Profound Sect, and…

"W-what role can I play there even if I go?"

"I thought so too, but Grandmaster Gwangha said, 'It is to make the third power even more covetous by showing an outstanding junior.'"

'Is there no way out, you cunning old man…!'

Although Jang Baekseo was cursing inwardly and expressing his unwillingness to go with his whole body, there was no way to avoid it any longer.

"Oh oh, we're going on a trip together again, Junior Nephew~!"

The only one who was excited here was, of course, Cheong Yeonah.

"Don't be so discouraged, Baekseo. I know you're concentrating on your martial arts training, but think of it in a good way, as this kind of outing can also be a new starting point for growth."

Jang Baekseo, who was a severe martial arts brainiac who concluded that the reason why Jang Baekseo was discouraged was because he had been deprived of his time to train in martial arts, could only nod his head without a word to his master.

'How much training loss is that time!'

…It was that master, that disciple.

(End of Chapter)