WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

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◈ Damned Transmigration

Chapter 46

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Shame

Sleep, of course, was a distant country he couldn't reach.

The question ‘could they not have parted some other way?’ played on a useless loop in his mind before finally fading into the oppressive silence of the room.

Whatever he might wish, it was Elena who had drawn the line, Elena who had declared their story over. It was true that he was not the Yuri she knew, and true that their entire relationship had been built on that fundamental lie.

He couldn't blame her for the betrayal she felt; he had no ground for excuses, no right to ask for anything more.

This was simply how it ended. He had wanted to cling to their twisted friendship, to hold on to what they’d built, but he could not bring himself to do it.

What now? Where did he go from here? He couldn't return to Rutlan.

The one small mercy was that he’d left nothing essential behind. His pack was already filled with a change of clothes and other necessities for the road, and his martial arts manuals were with him.

The only things left in the room he had called home for half a year were… the few possessions he’d brought from Oldor. The letters they had exchanged. And the diary.

Ah.

The thought of the diary sent a jolt of cold dread through him. It contained nothing of true importance, only the venomous litany of the deceased Yuri's self-loathing. His inferiority complex towards Elena was scrawled across every page, a chronicle of his envy for the genius adored by the Mage Tower.

Whenever a letter arrived from her, the dead Yuri had poured all the bitter feelings he couldn't voice in his replies into that diary.

Honestly, it wasn't something he ever wanted Elena to see. But the idea of going back to ask her to burn it was ludicrous, and he had forfeited any right to make such a request.

Regardless of its contents, it was the real Yuri's diary, the last keepsake left by her true childhood friend.

A ragged sigh escaped him, and he fell back onto the bed.

A desperate part of him considered sneaking into the mansion to retrieve it, but he knew he couldn't bypass the layers of magic protecting the estate. If he were caught, he felt Elena’s lingering kindness would turn into true, deserved contempt.

‘She'll figure it out on her own’, he told himself, though the thought left him uneasy. His own situation was far more pressing.

‘Heavenly Demon's Divine Art…’

The Blood Fiend's dying whisper.

He didn't know if Haryeong had truly failed to hear it, but the name itself was a puzzle with missing pieces.

First and foremost, no such skill existed in the game. Seronis simply ended when you killed the Heavenly Demon; your character was deleted, and you were sent back to the title screen. There was no other route, no hidden event that could grant his power.

If it was the Heavenly Demon’s art, then it must have come from the Heavenly Demon himself, but Yuri had never met him. The art he had learned was the ‘Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil’, and its teacher had been Lorelia, the Fell Saint, a high priestess of the Sect of Order.

‘Is Lorelia the Heavenly Demon?’

The thought was absurd.

The Heavenly Demon was the most famous of the Revered Masters, and everyone in this world knew he was a man. Besides, the two were listed as separate individuals.

‘Then Lorelia must have some connection to him. Don’t tell me she’s from the Demonic Cult?’

He had already suspected the technique was demonic in nature, but to think it was the legendary Divine Art of the Heavenly Demon himself…

Still, it wasn't an art that just anyone could recognise. The Blood Fiend had been a grandmaster of the Demonic Cult, and he had only identified it in the instant before his own destruction.

Even so, he couldn’t be careless.

The Sacred Flame Release would have to be a weapon of last resort, a final, desperate gambit. It was a single-strike-kill art that consumed a catastrophic amount of energy; if it failed, death was certain.

Thinking back on it, the fight with the Blood Fiend had been pure, dumb luck.

Yuri stared out the window at the unfamiliar stars. The question returned, haunting the edges of his thoughts.

‘What now?’

Should he go to the Demonic Cult? If he truly wielded their master’s art, wouldn't they welcome him?

That was a fool's hope. He didn't know the relationship between Lorelia and the Heavenly Demon, and he would likely be treated as an unwelcome outsider.

In a place where might made right, revealing such a technique would not guarantee good treatment; it would paint a target on his back for every predator like the Blood Fiend.

The Righteous Heavenly Alliance was even more out of the question; walking in there with this power would be suicide. The Black Dragon Society in the Underworld was more appealing, but choosing one sect among hundreds was a daunting task for a complete nobody.

A more fundamental question surfaced.

‘Just how strong am I?’

He had killed the Blood Fiend, yes, but not alone. The old demon had been weakened, wounded, and caught by surprise. It was a victory born of luck and desperation.

Even so, objectively, he was strong. At only the 4th Circle, he could manifest Ganggi and overwhelm an opponent of the same level.

‘Is that really true?’

His critical weakness was a glaring lack of experience.

As the night deepened, a conclusion began to form: he would become a wanderer, a drifter with no ties to any place. It felt fitting for a man born in another world, with no home to return to.

He would roam, accumulate the experience he so desperately needed, and build his strength. He could even undertake a sparring journey, just as the Fist Wolf had done.

And then, he resolved, when he was strong enough, he would kill the evil god who was the source of all this chaos. He would restore this world and awaken the slumbering Goddess of Order.

They said she would grant one wish to the one who defeated the evil god.

He had never given it much thought, but now, a faint shape began to form in his mind.

‘Something good for me, and for everyone.’

He couldn't simply wish for the dead Yuri to be brought back to life; that might mean he, Lee Su-hyeok, would vanish in his place. But perhaps reincarnation? Wouldn't that make everyone happy? But what if he was reincarnated too late, when Elena was already an old woman?

His thoughts drifted, a futile attempt to solve an unsolvable sorrow, until he finally forced himself to seek the sleep that would not come.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, morning light was streaming through the window. He waited, but no one came. Downstairs, the innkeeper informed him that the two women had already paid their bill and left late last night.

“I suppose that’s just like you,” Yuri muttered with a bitter smile.

Once Elena made a decision, she acted on it immediately.

His wrist was still a mess of burnt flesh. He could have stayed in town for it to heal, but he found he didn’t want to.

The place was already haunted. Every corner held a memory of Elena acting high and mighty, of Haryeong’s deadpan jokes. The ghosts of the people who were no longer by his side were everywhere, and he had to leave.

He still had the Adventurer’s Guild bracelet. After packing, he stopped by to return it and collect his final payment.

As he was about to leave, the receptionist stopped him.

“Your companion who left earlier asked me to pass this on to you.”

What she handed him was a small pack, a magic bag far more spacious than its size suggested. It was the one Elena always wore beneath her robe.

He hesitated for a moment before accepting it.

There was no letter. Inside was a meticulously arranged collection of supplies: bandages, various medicines, a considerable sum of money, and a book. It was the journal she had been constantly writing in on their journey to Logos.

With trembling hands, Yuri opened it.

<Heinderga Magic Formula>

The title on the first page made him bite his lip, a desperate attempt to steady the sudden storm in his chest.

Inside were the three unique spell formulae she had created: Chain Lightning, Exploding Thunder Orb, Piercing Flash of Lightning.

He could still hear her proud voice from a few days ago, after she had effortlessly annihilated a pack of monsters.

‘It's called Chain Lightning. What do you think?’

Staring at the pages, Yuri muttered in a weak, broken voice, “You should have just resented me more.”

Her kindness, even at the very end, was an ache far sharper than any hatred.

* * *

“We could have stayed for a few more days, you know,” Haryeong said, glancing back from the driver's seat of the carriage.

As expected, there was no reply. Elena had been a silent statue since she’d shaken Haryeong awake in the middle of the night, announcing their immediate departure.

Before they left, she’d dropped her own pack off at the guild, leaving it for Yuri. Haryeong didn't need to look inside to know it was filled with supplies for him.

‘If she was going to be this shaken, why did she cut him off so completely?’

Haryeong thought, though she knew better than to say it aloud. She was worried.

By rights, her contract should have been terminated as she had failed to protect her charge, and the mission had only been salvaged by Yuri’s intervention. But she couldn’t bring herself to leave this incredibly unstable young woman alone right now.

‘If a former client committed suicide, it would tarnish Salhomun's reputation,’ she told herself, though she knew it was more than that.

There was a saying that the ground hardens after the rain. Whether this would truly harden them or just turn everything into a muddy mess, she couldn't know. But she hoped for the former.

She hoped that when they met again, that transmigrator would be a stronger, tougher person than he was yesterday.

‘A transmigrator… huh.’

She had never suspected.

The ‘Yuri’ she knew displayed none of the typical traits. He had even managed to fool the Fist Wolf, the Moonlit Reveller, and Heavenly Thunder herself.

How? The Master of the Mage Tower had personally confirmed he had no internal energy. She had even summoned him for a private meeting, after which Elena had suddenly refocused on her magic.

With this incident, the biggest variable in Elena Heinderga’s life had been removed.

His absence had thrown her into turmoil, but what better catalyst for growth than powerful emotion? Heavenly Thunder would no doubt be able to skillfully guide that torrent of feeling.

‘She might even be pleased with this outcome,’ Haryeong mused darkly.

Yesterday, she had lied to Yuri. She had also heard the Blood Fiend’s dying whisper, but she felt no guilt. He had told a mountain of lies first, and since she had no intention of telling anyone else about the Heavenly Demon's Divine Art, it was, by her own measure, a very moral lie.

“Hm.”

The white dagger she had been stroking, trembled faintly in her hand. It seemed Yuri was finally on the move.

A mischievous, almost imperceptible curve appeared on her lips.

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