WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 107: I’m Going to Meet You

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Attention briefly settled on the three people entering the inn.

One woman and two men.

The sun was not even particularly bright, yet all three had broad hats pulled low enough to hide their faces. Even after entering the inn, they showed no sign of taking them off.

It was not an uncommon sight among martial artists. Someone might hide their face because they had a past they could not reveal, because they were being pursued, because they were pursuing someone, and so on.

"Welcome."

Still, Yonghwa Inn did not turn away customers.

It was a business owned by the Uicheon Sword Gate, the dominant force in this region. The innkeeper was a lay disciple, the guards hired by the inn were skilled, and several martial artists were among the guests. Anyone who caused trouble here would be subdued at once and made a laughingstock.

"Do you have a table?"

"The window seats facing Yonghwa Lake are already full."

"What do you want to do, then?"

Yuri glanced back. Haryeong had been the one to coax them into coming, saying the view from this inn was incredible, but she did not seem bothered in the slightest.

"We came all this way, so let's at least eat before we leave."

A few days ago, they had visited Jeongyeon Inn in Dunjung.

Unlike the major cities of the West, where most of a region's population was concentrated in a single city that represented the entire area, the Eastern regions had several cities of similar size.

The Faceless Killer had not named a specific city. They had only told them to go to Dunjung and find Jeongyeon Inn. Thinking back, that had been an awfully vague instruction, but thanks to Haryeong, they had found it more easily than expected.

They met the server, U-chil, but not Fist Wolf.

They were told to return in ten days. It was not as if insisting would make Fist Wolf agree to see them, so Yuri said he understood and left the inn.

Yuri had considered staying there for ten days, but since they had time to spare, they decided to look around the area instead. That was how they ended up at Yonghwa Lake.

They had come because it was said to be Dunjung's finest view, but unfortunately, Yuri and his two companions were not refined enough to be moved by scenery. Still, they had traveled far and had plenty of time, so they had spent yesterday and today leisurely exploring Yonghwa Lake and the nearby villages.

"The food here is supposed to be excellent."

They could eat and drink while taking in the beautiful view. Yuri had seen plenty of it since yesterday, so he was not particularly attached to having a window seat. Once they finished ordering and sat down, Haryeong removed the hat she had pulled low over her face and shook out her hair.

"Do I really need to wear one too?"

"Isn't all this because of your distinguished status, Haryeong?"

"I see it a little differently. Wherever we go, people stare because Estor's hair is blond."

"I'm not the only blond person in this inn."

Estor protested with an aggrieved look as he swallowed hard and stared at the dishes on the other guests' tables.

"You're still noticeable, so dye it or shave your head."

Fortunately, Yuri had black hair.

"Blond hair and blue eyes prove the blood of the Orsia Family. I'm proud of my blood. Why should I change my hair color or shave my head when I've committed no crime that needs hiding?"

"Then keep wearing that hat by yourself."

Truthfully, Estor was not the only reason they drew attention wherever they went. One Eastern woman and two Western men, with their distinctive appearances on top of that. Anyone with a good ear for rumors recognized them right away.

"Look at them."

"Could they be the rumored companions of Dark Blossom?"

It was happening even now. Yonghwa Inn was a famous scenic spot frequently visited by prominent people, yet the moment they took off their hats, gazes rushed toward them from every direction.

"See? Everyone's looking over here because they recognize us."

"So what? It's not like they recognize us for committing crimes."

Yuri, who had not even had anyone recognize him at school back on Earth, found the attention deeply awkward and squirm-inducing. Estor had lived his entire life in the spotlight. As if he were used to it, he even waved at the people around them.

"I am Estor Orsia, the Sword Dragon. It's a pleasure to meet you."

He was the sort of man who had shouted out his title and name even in the middle of a cultist gathering. Yuri grimaced and sat a little farther away from Estor.

"I'm Haryeong, Dark Blossom. Just in case, is anyone here holding a grudge against the Dang Family?"

Haryeong, who had been glancing at Yuri as he was the only one feeling embarrassed, also raised her voice to the surrounding guests.

"I should make this clear in advance. I'm from the Dang Family, but I'm not especially close to them. So if you hold a grudge against the Dang Family, don't try taking it out on me for no reason."

They had somehow ended up introducing themselves one by one, and everyone's attention naturally shifted to Yuri. Feeling as though thorns were sprouting inside his mouth, Yuri cleared his throat.

"I'm Yuri, the Cloud Dragon. Uh... please take care of me."

The moment he said it, he regretted it. Why was he asking people he had just met, and would likely never see again, to take care of him? Regretting the words he had blurted out after getting swept up in the mood, Yuri drank his tea.

"I'm sorry for recognizing you young heroes so late!"

Instead of their ordered food, the server came rushing over.

"A far better table has just been cleared. Would you like to move?"

They had only been shown to their table five minutes ago. A new table had opened up already?

"How fortunate."

Estor said it with a broad smile. He genuinely seemed to think they had gotten lucky.

Their new table was a private room on the top floor, with an unobstructed view of Yonghwa Lake.

"You said it was just cleared, but it doesn't even smell like food. It's spotless."

"They said this was the best inn in the area, and their service really is impressive. They're almost as good as the attendants of my family."

Yuri had meant it as sarcasm, but Estor took a seat while sincerely admiring the place.

"So, what happened?"

After some time, the food arrived. Haryeong picked up a large piece of fish with her chopsticks.

"What are you talking about?"

"You went to the village Adventurers' Guild yesterday too."

Yuri's chopsticks froze.

"You can't possibly be visiting the guild because you plan to begin a new life as an adventurer at this point. You're using the mail counter, aren't you?"

There were several ways to send letters besides using a post office, but adventurers who constantly traveled without settling in one place generally used the guild's mail counter.

The guild mail counters did not deliver letters. They held them and communicated with guildhouses in other regions through magic.

The Adventurers' Guild was not the only organization that used this method. Information sects such as the Beggars' Sect and Haomun also gathered intelligence from across the land and shared it through magic.

"Mail counter? Letters?"

Estor swallowed the mouthful of food he had been chewing and tilted his head.

"Who are you exchanging letters with? Don't tell me... you're reporting my private life to the family head?"

"Elena, obviously."

Wine filled Yuri's empty cup.

"You've been carefully avoiding the subject of Elena until now. Have you decided not to do that anymore?"

"Yes."

"It feels rather late."

"There's a saying that the moment you think it's too late is the earliest moment."

"Late is late. What bullshit is that? Why did you only send a letter instead of going to see her yourself?"

"It's polite to ask for permission before showing up."

"Since when did you care so much about manners? Just admit you're afraid she'll turn you away at the door."

Haryeong openly clicked her tongue and sipped her wine. Her snide tone inevitably made Yuri snide as well. Filling his own cup, he smirked.

"Why did you leave Elena, Haryeong?"

"Because I couldn't live up to the expectations Elena had of me."

"What expectations?"

"I'm not her family. I'm not her older sister, mother, or aunt."

It was a conversation Estor knew nothing about, so he did not force his way in. Instead, he turned his chair toward the window and looked outside.

Yonghwa Lake looked truly magnificent from this height, and the wine tasted good too. Fine scenery and fine wine. Together, they made him want to recite a poem.

"Yet she expected that from me. She wanted me to always take care of her, and to offer the right comfort whenever she felt hurt or miserable."

"..."

"As I said before, I'm not Lady Elena's family. I don't wish to weigh misfortune against misfortune, but my own life has been every bit as tragic and unhappy as anyone else's. Yet Lady Elena acted in front of me as if she were the tragic heroine with the most miserable life in the world."

Haryeong's blank expression cracked slightly. Furrowing her brows, she poured more wine into her cup.

"I'm an understanding assassin bound by contract. If she had ordered me to play that role, I would have obeyed without complaint. But she asked me to remain at her side as a friend."

The cup filled with enough wine to overflow, yet not a drop spilled. It all went into Haryeong's mouth.

"So I left."

Had she remained, Elena's continued dependence would have twisted them both. It would not have been a relationship that helped either of them. Haryeong had reached that conclusion because she cared.

"Perhaps Lady Elena suffered greatly because I left. But if I had taken that into account and stayed beside her, I wouldn't have been able to live my own life. Does that answer satisfy you?"

"Let's say neither of you was considerate enough."

Yuri looked at Haryeong with a sullen expression, then filled her empty cup and set down the bottle. Haryeong wore a similar expression as she filled Yuri's cup.

"Pour me one too."

Estor had given up thinking of poetry while listening to a conversation he did not understand. He held out his cup.

"To Lady Elena."

Yuri's eyes twitched at Haryeong's abrupt toast.

"To Lady Elena and Yuri's smooth reconciliation."

When Yuri did not respond, Haryeong, who never knew when to give up, stood and properly gave her toast. Yuri gritted his teeth, rose from his seat, and answered it.

"To Elena and Haryeong's everlasting friendship."

This time, Haryeong's lips twitched. Estor, who had silently watched the two of them, stood as well. Looking at the beautiful expanse of Yonghwa Lake outside the window, he gave his own toast.

"To peace in this world."

Right after they gave their toasts and shared drinks with Yonghwa Lake as their backdrop, someone knocked on the door.

"..."

The presence beyond the door was not unfamiliar. Haryeong and Estor recognized it too, and their expressions quickly twisted.

Knock, knock. Yuri answered after the second knock.

"We don't need anything."

"Get lost, you fucker."

Haryeong added her own words. After a brief silence, the door opened.

Tang Seo-woo stood there in a black cheongsam, holding a parasol. Beside her was Tang Seo-jin, struggling to restrain his fierce expression. Tang Mu-seok stood behind them, still looking indifferent.

Tang Seo-jin wanted to pour the black poison boiling in his chest into words, but he held back and cupped his fist toward Yuri.

"We heard that the renowned Three Heroes had come to this inn, so we came to see you."

They had been entangled with cultists since Panteleon and fought together, then crossed over to this continent and continued traveling together, so people had started calling the three of them the Three Heroes. Yuri dropped heavily into his chair and sighed.

"What is it this time?"

"Could you not be so guarded?"

Tang Seo-woo said, forcing herself to smile.

"We have no intention of taking you to the Dang Family by force. If we did, surely you know we could have done so long ago?"

"Yeah, fucker."

Haryeong dropped back into her chair and poured wine into her cup.

"If you didn't come to drag me away by force, did you come to beg me to go with you?"

"This niece, Tang Seo-woo, greets Aunt Tang Yu-ryeon."

Her forced smile wavered every time she heard that profanity.

"I didn't come to beg. It's just..."

"Don't tell me you're going to spout nonsense about happening to meet us after coming to see Yonghwa Lake?"

"Yonghwa Lake is a magnificent sight."

Yuri sneered, and Estor nodded as he looked at the lake.

"You didn't come all the way here from Gwangseo to speak of coincidence, did you? Surely the Black Enchantress Snake Flower of the Dang Family wouldn't use such a stupid excuse."

"Y-young Hero. Fate is a strange and mysterious thing. They say that even brushing sleeves is fate, don't they?"

"My sleeves have never brushed against yours."

"Come on, your sleeves brushed against my brother's."

"Fists flew more than sleeves did."

Yuri snorted and cupped his fist toward Tang Seo-jin. Tang Seo-jin forced a smile and returned the gesture.

"Only sleeves? That day, we deepened our friendship through a spar."

"I received excellent instruction."

Was it only Tang Seo-jin's imagination that those words sounded like a taunt meant to scrape at his nerves?

"So, fucker, why are you clinging to us all the way out here? I heard you vanished without a trace from Gwangseo. Did the Dang Family's 'older brother' give you another order?"

"No."

Tang Seo-jin answered in place of his sister, who was suppressing her anger.

"The family head only said that if Aunt... Yu-ryeon had refused, then he understood."

"Really? Then why are you two pestering this aunt of yours?"

Tang Seo-jin sealed his lips without answering. Tang Seo-woo simply maintained her forced smile and said nothing. Behind them, Tang Mu-seok let out a short sigh.

"The Salmun assassins have all returned, and these two are acting of their own accord, not on behalf of the main family."

"Ah. These troublemakers are following this aunt around because they want praise from my older brother? What a pointless thing to do. Do you think that older brother of mine, that snake wearing human skin, will find you adorable just because you did something he never even ordered you to do?"

Haryeong waved her empty cup about insolently. Tang Seo-woo's smile crumbled.

"Those words... go too far. How dare you speak of the head of the Dang Family...!"

"Before he's the family head, he's my older brother. Few things in this world are as natural as a younger sister insulting her older brother. Tang Seo-woo, you fucker, didn't you also spend your childhood badmouthing Tang Seo-jin in front of me?"

"Y-you...!"

Tang Seo-woo's patience was rapidly reaching its limit. Her eyes filled with green Poison Qi, and Tang Seo-jin grabbed his sister's wrist in alarm.

"Seo-woo, restrain yourself. This is Yonghwa Inn, a business of the Uicheon Sword Gate."

"You, who strutted around arrogantly with the Dang Family and Salmun behind you, fear the name of the Uicheon Sword Gate? Or are you afraid of Baek Eun-mu-hu, the sworn sibling of the Uicheon Sword Gate's leader?"

"Y-you lowborn...! You daughter of a ghost wearing human skin...!"

When Tang Seo-woo spat out the insult in a trembling voice, Yuri strode forward and stood before her.

The insult, a ghost wearing human skin, applied to Yuri as well. Tang Seo-woo's shoulders jerked beneath his downward gaze. When Yuri revealed his hostility, Tang Seo-jin's eyes sharpened as he glared back.

"Would you like another exchange?"

"...Young Hero, it seems you've grown too confident because of the spar's outcome."

Tang Seo-jin's lips twisted. As though he had known this would happen, Estor was already holding his sword.

'God, what sin did I commit to have to clean up after these reckless siblings at my age?'

Tang Mu-seok sighed while calling upon a god he did not normally believe in.

"...?"

Tang Mu-seok's eyes suddenly widened as he continued sighing.

Through the window opposite them lay the magnificent sight of Yonghwa Lake. On the far side of its vast expanse, a crimson dot came into view. It was not the sun. The sun could not possibly be there. Tang Mu-seok blinked several times, then focused his vision on the red dot.

"...!"

Tang Mu-seok's mouth fell open. It was rare for the Pursuing-Kill Flying Guest to be so shocked, so the Tang siblings temporarily set aside their hostility and looked out the window as well.

"Uh...?"

The crimson dot steadily drew closer, and the two of them let out startled sounds. Yuri, whose back was to the window, could not immediately understand why they were acting that way.

"What is it?"

Yuri turned around and looked behind him.

Kwoooong!

Something crashed into the middle of the lake.

Footnotes:

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