Return to War Episode
1
There is a man sitting down holding a knife. His entire body was drenched in blood, and his eyes were shining red as if they were covered in prominence, instilling fear in those who saw him.
The man looked down at his hands.
The blood was red.
I laughed while looking at it and wiped my face without hesitation. Even if that wasn’t the case, his bloody face became even more hideous.
“It’s bland.”
A word I blurted out.
what does it mean?
The man’s eyes turned to his surroundings.
My field of vision was filled with so many people that I couldn’t even count them. All of the people lying around were out of their minds.
They were all torn, cut, and torn.
Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? No, it could have been tens of thousands.
No one made even a movement, as if the man sitting alone was breathing.
There was no way the corpses could move.
Choi Hong’s talent throughout the world.
The strongest man in all times and times.
People called him Mugeukshinma (Martial God Demon).
The man suddenly stood up from his seat.
Slowly walking towards the other side of the light, he was confident and possessed an unassailable dignity, as if he owned the whole world.
What the heck!
However, at some point, the body of the man who was walking froze. The man who had turned into a huge block of ice stopped in place.
In front of him were eight people, men, women and children, who had suddenly appeared.
Some appeared in the clouds, some in the ground, and others with the wind.
That aspect gave me a strong feeling that it was not human or human at all.
Strange, like a sage.
They had sad expressions as they looked at the horribly torn bodies scattered around them.
“Tsk tsk-.”
There were also people who turned their heads and clicked their tongues as if they couldn’t bear to see it.
“I feel sick!” “There is no one who can stop the killing!”
“It’s so heartbreaking! “You can’t kill anyone!”
The two oldest of the eight got into trouble. The space shook violently as if it were vibrating from a sound so loud that it shook the heavens and the earth.
The two old men, with their eyes wide open, look at the frozen Mageuk God Demon and then turn their backs.
“Enclose in the deepest part of East Jeongho Lake!”
The six good men bowed their heads deeply.
Aeyang located in the north of Hunan Province.
The stream flowing next to the castle was a tributary of Dongdong Lake to the north.
It was larger and more prosperous than other castles as many people visited it every year to see Dongjeongho Lake.
Thanks to this, most of the people living here do not go hungry.
It was quite famous as a tourist destination and it was easy to find a job if you wanted to, so there were almost no beggars.
In the middle of such a bustling village, a man was sitting down as if he was tired, wearing an old cloth that he didn’t know where he got it from.
Everyone passing by glanced at him.
It was because of the strange atmosphere felt by the man.
“Time flows like the wind flows.”
The man with his head down muttered.
That one word contained a sense of desperation. His eyes were empty, as if he had lost something, and the words he spoke were full of emptiness.
In fact, the man lost everything.
There was nothing in the man.
A wry smile appeared on his face as he lowered his head. Because his situation was so pitiful.
‘There really is nothing left.’
The man raised his head with a self-deprecating laugh.
Eight Immortals (八仙).
They were good men who protected this central plain.
That didn’t change the fact that they were only preoccupied with eating and having fun, and being stabbed in the back by those people cracked his pride.
‘No, I was lacking.’
Without knowing how high the sky was, it flew wild in all directions.
His innate natural instinct made him even more vicious, and the surrounding environment violently grabbed and shook the vicious man, sending the world into a tailspin.
Without blinking an eye, he destroyed the world, killed his enemies, and played with the times.
In the end, he spent a thousand years trapped in ice by the Eight Immortals.
The time that passed was too long to be described in words. The fact that he was experiencing it himself made the man feel even more empty.
No one knew anymore, and there were no people left behind.
It has to be that way.
Because there is no human being who has lived for a thousand years.
I just walked like that.
Perhaps because he had been trapped for a thousand years, the life of a thousand-year-old castle had disappeared as if it had been washed away.
There was no place in particular to go or a small space to stay. What the man was doing was simply moving with the wind and flowing with the clouds, looking for traces of the past.
Like a ghost haunted by the past.
No, you could say it was a ghost itself.
‘Dan Woo-hyeon of this world….’
Dan Woo-hyeon looked around with a bitter gaze. The scenery was so different from before that I couldn’t get used to it even after three days.
It was like everything was a dream.
A dream where you can wake up at any time and go back to your daily life.
“huh?”
Around the time I was thinking that.
I found something abandoned like trash in a deserted alley.
The person was also quite small. I was barely breathing, but it felt like I was going to run out of breath at any moment.
Dan Woo-hyeon approached the child as if being drawn by something.
‘Are you a beggar?’
No matter how hard I looked, I found the answer.
He is a beggar orphan.
There was a bin next to it, and food that was now inedible because it was covered with dirt was strewn around.
He was covered in scars here and there, probably because he had earned someone’s hate while begging.
Dan Woo-hyeon slowly approached and took his pulse.
Although it was weak, it was running. It didn’t seem like the light breathing would stop any time soon, but it lasted two hours at most.
The child looked at Woohyun Dan with a blurry gaze.
He tried to ignore it and tried to stand up, but those eyes grabbed his ankles.
Because it felt like I was looking into my own eyes when I was an orphan when I was young.
I scratched my head.
“Consider yourself lucky, kid.”
Dan Woo-hyeon poured out his energy through his Mac. This was the reason why he was able to survive for a thousand years even after being attacked by the Eight Immortals.
As I breathed that energy into it, the child’s face came to life. The face that had been dying seemed to slowly begin to come to life. But there was a problem.
‘I haven’t eaten anything for a long time.’
Nutrition was very poor. Although it is said that vitality is breathed into with the ball of harmony, it does not mean that it can provide material nutrition.
‘Is there anything to eat?’
He looked around.
Food covered in dirt cannot be eaten. Because it might cause more trouble. Then something else is needed.
Dan Woo-hyeon, who was thinking deeply, searched his arms.
There was one thing I had.
It is a simple medicine. It was not an elixir that increased one’s stamina, but simply a medicine to take when suffering from internal injuries or wounds. Of course, it was also excellent at soothing an empty stomach.
The problem is….
“Do you think it’s okay if it’s from a thousand years ago?” Even though it is old, it is too old.
In fact, it was long past the time when it should have corroded and disappeared.
My conscience pricked me for trying to feed something like this to a child, but it seemed better than not feeding anything.
If it went wrong, it would only be diarrhea, and if it was severe, I might die, but no matter what, if I left it like this, I was going to end my life anyway.
Although Dan Woo-hyeon was anxious, he still carefully put the medicine into the child’s mouth. The moment it touched the saliva, it melted away.
“What’s left is your luck.”
I left the place.
Just because you helped doesn’t mean you have to take responsibility. Even the reason I helped him was simply out of sympathy and a reminder of old times, and there was no more meaning to it than that.
The eyes of the child who remained there were following Dan Woo-hyeon.
The next morning, Dan Woo-hyeon, who was sleeping in a remote place, slowly opened his eyes to the sound of rustling and an approaching figure.
It’s a child.
It must be the kid I saw yesterday. The face that was dying was full of life. Her skinny appearance did not change from then to now, but her eyes were alive and shining.
The child, smiling brightly and wondering what was so good, held out both hands.
It was a dumpling.
“What is this?”
“dumpling…!”
“You know it when you see it. “I am asking what meaning this gives me.”
Why give it to me? I didn’t understand. Even though he was hungrier than Dan Woo-hyeon, there was no hesitation in his hand or action.
How is this in English?
Are you going to repay the favor?
For a moment, my mind became confused. Although I have received something from someone before, this child was the first to give it to me with an innocent smile without the slightest fear or concern.
It was so unfamiliar that I couldn’t get used to it.
Without saying a word, the child handed the dumplings into his hand and sat down next to him. He was humming as if all his pain had healed and even smiled brightly whenever we made eye contact.
He is a child of heaven who doesn’t care at all about Dan Woo-hyeon’s feelings.
“What on earth…”
I tried making a questioning expression, but the child had no answer. Just like that, the next day and the day after that, the child continued to bring food from somewhere and give it to Dan Woo-hyeon.
If you tell him not to eat it, he will cry, but if you put it to his mouth, he will smile brightly. This has been repeated so many times that it is no longer strange to say that it is a daily routine.
15 days like that.
Dan Woo-hyeon met the child every day and ate the food the child brought.
That day was a bright sunny day.
The sun was shining so hot that it was difficult to believe that it had just begun spring, and the sky was clear and blue without a single cloud.
Dan Woo-hyeon, who always looked for isolated places without people, moved for the first time in a long time and headed to the low street. There wasn’t any particular plan.
I really simply wanted to walk.
“Hey you crazy bitch!”
The moment I entered that street, I stopped. I saw a person yelling and a child with a familiar face crouching down.
There were several dumplings clutched in his arms.
He crouched down even more to protect the dumplings, as if he didn’t want to get them dirty. It was because of this that the wounds all over the child’s body did not heal and continued to appear.
Dan Woo-hyeon was momentarily speechless.
‘Was it stolen…?’
When a child begs, he receives sympathy from people. Adults can get more than if they beg. Therefore, Dan Woo-hyeon only thought that was the case and did not think that it was stolen.
I suddenly got irritated.
For fifteen days he lived off of the things the boy brought him. I didn’t even know how I got it, so I just took what was given to me and got through each day like that.
I didn’t like it.
Why is that so?
Dan Woo-hyeon, who had never received sympathy from anyone, approached the child. It was the moment when the man was about to give a sharp kick to the child.
Byak-!
“Kwaaaak!”
Dan Woo-hyeon also kicked the man’s feet. The sound of bones breaking was heard and a scream came from the man’s mouth. It was clear who was at fault, but that didn’t matter to Dan Woo-hyeon.
The child screamed and rolled around on the floor, and the child looked up at Dan Woo-hyeon with a dazed expression at the sudden sound.
In a situation where many people were watching, Dan Woo-hyeon stared at the child for a while and then turned his back.
We couldn’t be together anymore.
I walked, ignoring the child’s pitiful gaze.
I heard the sound of the child standing up in a hurry, but I ignored that too. Because I hoped that I and that child, who was causing trouble, would no longer be involved.
I just took a quick step.
In fact, even I had no idea where to go. Because I couldn’t find a place that could fill the emptiness of a thousand years.
But it was impossible to just stop here.
I just walked.
Follow the wind, follow the clouds.
And at some point you come to your senses.
“Dong Jeong-ho….”
It appeared.
The huge lake seemed endless.
It was a space of such silence that one could not even imagine that one had sunk to the deepest depths of this place.
The more I thought about it, the funnier it became.
This Dan Woo-hyeon, who was praised as a martial god….
“I was trying to shake it off, but instead you are holding me back.”
Dan Woo-hyeon looked at Dong Jeong-ho with a puzzled expression. I thought I would never see Dong-ho Lee again, but before I knew it, my steps were heading towards this place again.
I turned my head, thinking that this was truly ridiculous. At the end of my gaze , I saw a child breathing
heavily, as if he had followed Dan Woo-hyeon in a hurry.
My feet were already covered in blood.
There is no way a child can follow the footsteps of an adult who walks quickly. Dan Woo-hyeon thought as he looked at the child. Why are they chasing me so persistently?
Isn’t it all about just giving one treatment? However, the child appeared blindly, as if he would give everything, including his liver and gallbladder.
I didn’t like that, so I frowned and asked.
“Why are you chasing me?”
“…Ho… I don’t want to be alone… anymore…”
The child’s words touched my heart.
I don’t like being alone.
Dan Woo-hyeon had never used the word ‘together’ ever since he was a child.
He was always independent and always lonely.
Because of this, it was not easy to understand the child’s heart, but his genuine warmth was conveyed.
The child reached out and grabbed Dan Woo-hyeon’s collar.
“Don’t go…”
The words heard through tears shook my heart again. As I pictured the situation where I was being beaten, my grip naturally tightened.
If all of this is fate and fate with this child.
“name is?”
“Hwa… Hwa So-mi….”
“Yes, I am Dan Woo-hyeon.”
I stretched out my hand with a slightly selfish thought that this child might be the one to create the space where Dan Woohyun needed to be, and a warm feeling of wanting to protect him.
The outstretched hand stroked the child’s head.
“Why don’t you come with me?”
Return to War
