WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME NOVELS

Translator/Editor: Chen

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◈ The Former Supreme ◈

Chapter 70: The Absolute One's Pure Love (2)

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Baek Socheon arrived at the cottage.

Grain was drying in the yard beyond the low wall, while animal meat and hides hung nearby. Various items had been piled in one corner. Wrapped in silk, they appeared to be gifts Yeom Hwasin had sent.

"Is anyone here?"

The door opened, and a woman appeared.

She looked to be in her early thirties, with distinct features.

Surprisingly, she was not exceptionally beautiful. Rather than a beauty, she had an ordinary appearance.

Then again, Yeom Hwasin had likely grown sick of women with dazzling beauty. Her appearance probably meant nothing to him.

"Who are you?"

Her face was full of surprise and wariness. Baek Socheon was likely the first man other than Yeom Hwasin to visit this place.

"My name is Baek Socheon."

The woman stared intently at his face.

"I'm from the orthodox faction."

Baek Socheon added that quickly, then realized it would likely have the opposite effect. There was no reason for someone from the orthodox faction to come here.

Remaining at the edge of the yard without going inside, Baek Socheon continued trying to reassure her.

"You may not believe me, but I belong to the Murim Alliance. I am currently the Unit Commander of the Sage Heaven Corps."

Only then did the woman speak.

"My name is Yeop Sami."

Though she introduced herself, her guard remained up.

Baek Socheon sat on the bench near the entrance to the yard.

"I'll sit here while we speak."

Standing while talking would only make her more wary.

"You may not trust me, but..."

Then she said something he had never expected.

"I know you."

"Pardon?"

"I know who you are. I participated in the Orthodox-Demonic War as well."

"Ah, I see."

Yeop Sami had been shocked when she first saw him. Someone who should never have come here had arrived.

"Why are you here?"

The suspicion in her eyes stemmed from the fear that Baek Socheon might have betrayed them.

"I was brought here by the Black Heaven Alliance Leader over a matter unrelated to you."

"What matter?"

She demanded an answer.

Baek Socheon sensed that he could not win her trust by hiding the truth.

So he told her everything. The Alliance Leader and he had been afflicted by a gu parasite, and so had the Black Heaven Alliance Leader. Naturally, he spoke of Cheon Geuk and Na Sarin without naming them.

"You must never reveal this outside. For your own safety, do not breathe a word of it."

Yeop Sami gave a self-mocking laugh.

"As you can see, there is no outside for me."

"You should still be careful, even later."

With a look that asked whether there would even be a later, she asked again.

"Why did he send you?"

"He said he wondered why you hated him... but he likely wanted me to change your mind."

Baek Socheon spoke more honestly.

"Now that he has told me about you, he will kill you if this does not go well."

"...I'm not afraid of death."

Yet her voice trembled.

How could she not fear death? Even Baek Socheon and Cheon Geuk, who had believed themselves unafraid of it, would likely be frightened when death truly came for them.

Her claim that she did not fear death was resignation born of despair.

"Don't you miss your family?"

Tears welled in her eyes at the word family.

"My father and mother must think I'm dead."

"But you're alive."

She gazed at Baek Socheon.

"What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that if you handle this wisely, you may survive."

"My body will be defiled."

"Yes. But you may live. You may see your family again. You may even have a new family in the future. You could have a lovely daughter like you."

Her eyes wavered. He was not persuading her for Yeom Hwasin's sake. He simply wanted to save her.

"I don't know much about you. I don't know what values you have lived by. But I do want to tell you this. Surviving is winning. As long as you have somewhere to return to, as long as you have family waiting for you to come home, I believe survival must be your highest priority. Chastity matters, and pride matters, but neither is more important than living to see your family again. And... I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"If I had killed him in that war, none of this would have happened. I'm sorry."

"I heard... that you lost your martial arts."

"Yes. That is why I am here. Survival is my highest priority too."

"Why?"

"Even now, there is someone I miss. There are things I want to do in the future. So I'll survive somehow. I won't let an evil man like Yeom Hwasin ruin my life."

His words moved her.

"What should I do?"

"I don't know either. I don't know why he likes you."

"I don't know either. He has never told me why."

"Simply follow your instincts as a woman."

"My instincts?"

"Yes. You don't need to suddenly become kind to him, but don't shut him out completely either. Like women skilled at such things, capture the Black Heaven Alliance Leader's heart. Draw him close, then push him away."

"Until when?"

After a brief pause, Baek Socheon answered.

"Until I come to save you."

Their gazes met in the air between them. Seeing the sincerity on his face, Yeop Sami did not ask, You lost your internal energy? Instead, she found herself wanting to believe in him and wait. Perhaps it was because he had been a hero of the war, but there was a strange sense of trust about him.

At last, she steeled herself.

"All right. I'll try."

She had believed she would die anyway, but now she wanted to make one final effort.

Until now, she had been drowning in absolute despair. During her time here, she had thought of nothing but death.

Do not show that you fear death. Do not. Even if I die, I must preserve at least a shred of dignity.

That had been all she thought about.

Yet after speaking with Baek Socheon, a forgotten longing for people returned to her. She wanted to survive somehow and return to her family. She wanted to tell them that she had faced the Black Heaven Alliance Leader and survived.

Baek Socheon rose.

"Then I wish you luck."

As he turned to leave, she spoke.

"You can't leave yet."

"Pardon?"

"If I change my mind too easily, it will hurt the Black Heaven Alliance Leader's pride."

Her instincts as a woman were already at work.

If she could accept his advice so quickly and decisively, perhaps one day there really would come a time when he returned and took her away.

Baek Socheon smiled at her.

"Exactly."

* * *

Four hours later, Baek Socheon left the cottage.

Yeom Hwasin was waiting beside the carriage.

"What did you talk about for so long?"

Baek Socheon snapped back at the man who had barked the question.

"What else would we talk about? You, of course."

"Then what about me?"

"I mostly told her to survive you. I told her that dying at the hands of an evil man like you would have no meaning."

Baek Socheon told him honestly. Yeom Hwasin was not someone who could be easily deceived. Rather than getting angry, Yeom Hwasin grinned and asked.

"And? Did she say she wanted to kill me?"

"It seems you don't know yourself very well."

"What do you mean?"

"Most people who see you wouldn't even dare think of killing you. Even I see you and sigh first because I have no idea what to do with you."

"So?"

Yeom Hwasin looked intrigued.

"I spoke a great deal about family. I told her she had to survive for her family. She said she missed them."

"Did she say why she hates me?"

"Go ask her yourself."

"Myself?"

"She said she wants to speak with you. I spent more than four hours persuading her, so don't ruin it with some pointless spite."

Yeom Hwasin went into the cottage.

Yeop Sami had brewed tea and was waiting for him.

"This is the first time you have offered me anything."

"I was disappointed that I couldn't find poison."

Yeom Hwasin snorted and drank the tea.

"Why did you change your mind?"

"I haven't changed my mind. I only did this because I was afraid you would harm the person who came earlier."

Before leaving, Baek Socheon had told her that Yeom Hwasin was exceptionally perceptive, so it would be better to deal with him honestly. Even without that advice, she had already gotten a rough sense of his nature.

Yeom Hwasin looked down at his teacup.

"So this is the price of that man's life."

"He said many good things to me. So please don't kill him."

"Is this the time to worry about someone else?"

"I suppose it isn't."

She gave a faint smile.

The moment Yeom Hwasin saw it, he remembered a young girl from long ago. The girl he had liked as a child. His first love.

Looking back, his father had been insane. He had made Yeom Hwasin kill that girl with his own hands, claiming that he could only rise to become the Supreme of the Unorthodox Faction after completely severing all human affection.

His father had terrified him so much that Yeom Hwasin had ultimately killed the girl.

Of course, he later killed his father with his own hands as well.

His father had gotten what he wanted. Yeom Hwasin had become a monster and a warmonger, with not even the slightest concern for anyone he loved or for his own family.

If he truly wanted to defeat his father, he should not have killed him. He should have refused to become the person his father wanted him to be... But it was all over now.

Yeop Sami looked far too much like that first love. She looked how the girl might have looked if she had grown up. The first time he saw Yeop Sami, he had been so shocked that his entire body stiffened. He had been surprised that such feelings remained within him.

"If you are not going to kill me today, then give me time."

"Time?"

"I need time to get to know you, don't I? I don't think someone like you is doing this simply because you desire my body. If that is true, shouldn't we have time to learn what kind of people we are?"

"You want to know me?"

"To be honest, I'm afraid."

"Of what?"

"...That time will pass, affection will grow between us... and I will come to understand the person you are."

After staring at her for a moment, Yeom Hwasin set down his teacup.

"I will visit from time to time."

He left the cottage.

Only after he had disappeared into the distance did Yeop Sami release the breath she had been holding. She had been so frightened that she felt as though she might die.

Still, she made up her mind. She would do her best to survive.

When Yeom Hwasin returned to Baek Socheon, he suddenly said, "As expected. You are remarkable."

"Just as you said, am I not the man who put a sword through your heart? What did she say?"

"You need not know."

"Surely you didn't kill her?"

"What if I did?"

"I would have to say it suits you."

"Is that all?"

"Do you expect me to wail in grief? I can't even put out the fire at my own feet. I'm not such a good person. I simply got pushed along until I ended up before you."

"Right. Didn't I tell you? You fastened the first button wrong. How about it? Will you surrender to me, even now?"

"I have only just reconciled with our Alliance Leader. It doesn't seem like good timing for persuasion."

"Hahaha."

Yeom Hwasin laughed cheerfully.

If it had been anyone else, what happened today would have been impossible. It had exposed his own shameful past.

Yet he did not particularly dislike speaking with Baek Socheon about such things. He wanted to open up to someone, but there was no one around him he could do so with. Countless subordinates would gladly die for him, but not a single one was someone he wanted to share his personal history with.

The two returned to the Black Heaven Alliance in the carriage.

That night, Yeom Hwasin came to see Baek Socheon.

"Leave tomorrow."

"What about your promise?"

"I'll keep it."

He handed Baek Socheon a martial manual.

The last movement art Baek Socheon had been seeking, said to be the greatest of all time.

Wind God Traverses the Sky.

"I'll give you exactly one hour. Memorize it if you can."

"One hour is too short!"

"Did you think you could chatter for only four hours and take this entire martial manual with you?"

"Give me six hours. No, just four."

"The time is passing even now."

Baek Socheon immediately began reading from the beginning.

He focused every ounce of his mind. He put all his effort into memorizing the entire manual.

Exactly one hour later, Yeom Hwasin took the martial manual back.

"You memorized it all, right?"

Baek Socheon glared at him and asked angrily, "Do you think I memorized all of it?"

"Hahahaha. You got a taste of it, so isn't that enough? If you give a woman such a precious gift, you'll spoil her."

"Clear away all the things piled in that woman's yard before saying something like that!"

"Haha! Protect your own woman by throwing yourself in harm's way."

"You are the lowest bastard in the world!"

"I kept my promise."

Yeom Hwasin left with a delighted expression.

Once he was gone, a faint smile formed on Baek Socheon's lips. He had exerted every bit of his concentration and memorized the entire martial manual within an hour.

Yeom Hwasin had underestimated Baek Socheon's monstrous memory. He did not know that when it came to martial arts, Baek Socheon's ability to memorize things surpassed all imagination.

With this, Baek Socheon had succeeded in acquiring the last martial art bearing the title of greatest of all time.

'Yes, I will protect my woman myself.'

With his eyes gently closed, Baek Socheon began engraving what he had memorized into his mind.

Footnotes:

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