Chapter 112: Jaseung, Confesses

“I came because I wanted some fresh air.”

Yim Sayeon answered Lee Jaseung’s question as if it were nothing.

She did not speak of her son.

But Lee Jaseung could feel it. Something had happened around Yim Sayeon.

The Yim Sayeon he knew was always difficult to read.

Yet today she was different. Lee Jaseung picked up on that subtle change, and he guessed something had indeed taken place.

Still, he did not press her further. Part of it was not wanting to intrude on her private matters, but more than that he did not want her to realize how much he had sensed.

No matter how close they might be, she was a formidable master.

Even accounting for his recent fortuitous gains, he was still not confident he could defeat her. It was not a matter of superior techniques or greater reserves of inner Qi.

She possessed the weight of years that he could never match. A century’s worth of cultivation and experience was a terrifying force.

She was someone he could never afford to make an enemy of. Which also meant, at any moment, she could become one.

Lee Jaseung shifted the subject naturally.

“I confessed to her.”

Yim Sayeon did not seem particularly surprised.

“And what did she say?”

“At first she was deeply shocked, but now it seems like she is beginning to compose herself.”

Yim Sayeon fixed him with a sharp stare.

“You selfish bastard!”

Her cold words made him realize he had misspoken.

She went on.

“Do you think that is something she can simply ‘compose herself’ about? If someone told you that from this day forward you must live as a Demonic Human, how would you feel?”

“…!”

He had never thought of it that way. He had only assumed it would be difficult for her.

Yim Sayeon’s voice pressed further.

“Fine. Let us grant, for argument’s sake, that she could abandon everything for love.”

Then came the decisive words.

“Do you truly love that girl?”

Lee Jaseung wasn’t able to answer.

He thought perhaps he might love her. But he was not sure. Even if it was love, he had never truly expressed it to her.

All his life he had avoided giving his heart completely to anyone. Even to his sworn men whom he thought of as family, he had never fully opened his heart.

Opening himself was difficult. He feared that if he did, he would not achieve his ambitions.

Could a man who truly loved someone unify the martial world? Perhaps the Murim Alliance could be managed that way.

But the broader struggle for supremacy, the battle for ultimate power, was not so forgiving.

To truly love someone was to carry the greatest weakness possible for one who sought power.

At worst, it meant loving them enough to cast them aside when necessary. That was Lee Jaseung’s mindset. Which in itself meant he had never truly opened his heart.

That was the kind of person he was, yet Baek Seolyoung kept knocking on that closed door.

More precisely, it was not she who knocked. It was himself, longing for her beyond the closed door.

Seeing his silence, Yim Sayeon drained her cup and cast her words like knives.

“No matter the excuse, in the end people always think only of themselves.”

Lee Jaseung emptied his cup. She was wrong there.

At least in this moment he was not thinking only of himself. He was sincerely worried for Baek Seolyoung.

And yet she was right too.

This was not the way to resolve it. Simply revealing his true identity was not enough.

With that realization, he abruptly rose from his seat.

“I will see you again later.”

He strode out of the tavern.

Watching him leave, Yim Sayeon gave a faint laugh.

“I envy him.”

She envied his youth, that once he realized something, he acted on it at once.

Her eyes dropped to her cup, filled with a lonely light.

* * *

In a small forest path not far from the Murim Alliance, Baek Seolyoung was reading a letter.

It had been sent by Chu Sang-gi, her bodyguard, through Peng So, the leader of the Northern Sky’s Four Dragons. Before Lee Jaseung revealed his true identity, the entire Northern Sky Clan had pledged their support to him.

At that time, the Four Dragons of the Northern Sky and the Raging Dragons had been summoned here, and they had now arrived.

Reading Chu Sang-gi’s letter brought Baek Seolyoung to smile again and again.

He apologized over and over for not being able to be with her on her birthday, asked whether she was eating well, whether she was sleeping soundly. It was filled with the same concern as a doting elder brother.

Perhaps the big man had even written it with tears. He was inflexible and simple, but his heart for her was sincere.

Regrettably, Chu Sang-gi had to remain with the Northern Sky Clan. If the clan was to move its forces, someone trustworthy had to guard it.

Baek Seolyoung tucked the letter close to her heart.

She was enduring better than expected.

One might think she would be shattered, drowning in grief, but instead she was calm. Perhaps it was true that when the blow was too great, people grew detached.

When she lifted her gaze, she saw Lee Jaseung watching her from a distance.

“Oh? You’re here?”

The next instant, he leapt toward her in an instant.

He hugged her.

“What’s with you all of a sudden?”

Baek Seolyoung asked in shock, but Lee Jaseung only held her tighter. It was sudden, but she didn’t find it unpleasant. In his strong chest, she felt strangely at peace.

She seriously wanted to cast everything aside.

Her place as Lord of the Northern Sky Clan, everything. She wanted to live simply as this man’s woman.

But whenever such thoughts came, one face always returned.

…Father.

Then, Lee Jaseung spoke softly.

“There is something I never told you.”

“What is it?”

“That I like you. I like you, Baek Seolyoung.”

She was shocked for a moment. She had never imagined Lee Jaseung would actually say such words.

There he went again.

He had come out of nowhere to reveal his true identity, and now he came out of nowhere to confess.

“I thought saying so would only burden you more, and that it could force a choice on you. But I was wrong. If I truly cared for you, I should have told you my heart in full.”

His heartbeat quickened.

And in that heartbeat, she could hear his sincerity.

Feeling that pounding rhythm, Baek Seolyoung asked,

“Do you really like me?”

Without hesitation he answered,

“I like you.”

Even confessing, he felt embarrassed and awkward.

She slipped free of his arms and spoke in a deliberately angry tone, teasing him.  

“So you only like me, not love me.”

“What?”

He was flustered.

“You don’t love me, and you only like me?”

Her direct stare made even Lee Jaseung stutter his words.

“T-That’s not…”

“Hahahaha.”

She laughed brightly, finding him too endearing. She only teased him so he would not feel too awkward. For she too was trembling inside.

Then she shifted the topic naturally.

“And how was the woman you met today?”

No matter how composed she tried to seem, she could not hide her concern.

“We just had a drink, nothing more.”

“What did you talk about?”

“This and that.”

“I see.”

She kept her tone casual, so it would not sound like jealousy.

“Will you tell me your plan?”

Her heart grew tense. He seriously had a talent for shocking her with his words. She feared his answer, but had to ask.

Ordinarily he would have said something like this.  

“I will pit the Murim Alliance against the Demonic Cult, wait until both are weakened, and at the decisive moment strike both down to seize Jianghu.”

But he judged she could not yet accept such words.

“I will draw strength from the Murim Alliance.”

It was not a lie. That too was part of his ultimate plan.

“How?”

“By seizing the vacancy left by Ban Yeo.”

For her, it was unimaginable. How could he hope to gain strength through such a thing?

The gulf of different aims stretched between them.

No matter how much she liked him, that gulf could not vanish at once.

She sighed inwardly and lifted her gaze to the sky. She gasped at the sight.

“Oh? Look there.”

The moon was being swallowed by shadow. It was a lunar eclipse.

“Wow! That’s amazing. I’ve heard of it, but never seen it before.”

She marveled.

It was Lee Jaseung’s first time seeing one as well. In the past, the Demonic Cult had used eclipses to awe their followers into obedience.

But now it was known as a natural event, no longer a tool for deception.

The sight was breathtaking. Neither of them could look away. As the shadow slowly crept over the moon, Lee Jaseung thought to himself.

Perhaps she was the moon, and that he was the shadow.

‘Am I not covering that beautiful moon with my shadow?’

The moon was fully veiled.

Timing that moment, he kissed her.

They closed their eyes.

It was such a sweet and gentle kiss.

Then, Lee Jaseung opened his eyes slowly. Not far away, stood the man known as the Dark One. His very presence declared his intent.

He had come to kill him.

But even as he noticed his presence, Lee Jaseung closed his eyes again and deepened the kiss.

The black-robed man sneered and slowly came forward.

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