WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Returned Zenith Wants to Rest ◈
Episode 16:
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Han Jisu had barely finished speaking when Baek Dohee’s right knee buckled sharply.
“That’s far enough.”
Yoo Kangmin caught Baek Dohee’s arm as she started to collapse.
“You still can’t stand for long.”
“Ah.”
“Sit.”
With Yoo Kangmin supporting her, Baek Dohee slowly sat back down.
Perhaps because she had accepted him as her master, his touch did not feel unfamiliar.
Han Jisu and Lee Serin, who had watched the scene, could not bring themselves to speak.
Baek Dohee’s injury was well known.
For five years, every renowned healer had tried to treat her, yet this hero had never been able to return to active duty.
As a member of NOVA who also worked as a hunter, Lee Serin often had reason to visit the Hunter Association. Her schedule had brought her to the Sinyeong-dong Hunter Association branch several times.
Whenever she saw Baek Dohee, the woman had always needed a cane to move.
‘But just now...’
It had been imperfect, but Baek Dohee had clearly stood without supporting herself on anything.
And that man happened to be here.
“A-are you receiving treatment?”
“Yes. Starting today.”
“Starting today?”
Baek Dohee wiped the sweat from her forehead, looked at the cane leaning against the wall, and smiled.
“It still doesn’t feel real to me.”
Lee Serin’s gaze snapped toward Yoo Kangmin.
She had thought he was extraordinary at the barbecue restaurant last night too.
With only a few casual words, he had calmed the fiery qi that had been raging like lava.
Even on the way here, she had been half doubtful.
Maybe she had been fooled by a con artist. Maybe her fiery qi calming down had only been a coincidence.
‘He really can heal people?’
But once she saw Baek Dohee here, Lee Serin’s trust in Yoo Kangmin soared.
“By the way, what brings you here, Ms. Lee Serin?”
“Ah.”
Baek Dohee’s question brought Lee Serin back to herself.
“I came to learn too.”
“You too, Ms. Lee Serin? Is there something wrong with your body?”
Baek Dohee was worried about Lee Serin.
Among promising young talents, Lee Serin was known as a leading figure of the next generation of hunters.
If something was wrong with her, it would not be good for the Hunter Association either.
‘And...’
She herself had once heard such words.
The next S-rank. Korea’s future.
People never stopped asking what gate she would conquer next, but few asked whether her body was all right.
At the time, Baek Dohee had not thought much of it either.
Because she was strong.
Because she believed she could endure through a hunter’s sense of responsibility.
‘That was arrogance.’
Baek Dohee’s gaze settled on Lee Serin’s face.
She was still young.
At an age when Lee Serin should have been happy simply to hear that she could grow stronger, Baek Dohee knew all too well how desperate she must have been to come here in search of someone who could heal her.
‘I hope this child isn’t the same.’
That was why she could not help asking.
“You aren’t hiding it because you’re afraid it might interfere with your work, are you?”
Lee Serin’s lips moved slightly.
Seeing her hesitation, Baek Dohee’s expression softened.
“I’m not asking so I can report it to the Association.”
“...”
“I came here with an injured body too.”
Lee Serin looked down at her hand for a moment.
“My mana keeps leaking out.”
“Mana?”
“Even when I’m not using a skill. At first, I was only a little hot, but lately people around me have been saying it’s hot too...”
Han Jisu added, “We were told it was a temporary imbalance caused by her growth. I’ve been helping her regulate it.”
“But it hasn’t improved.”
“No.”
“Yesterday, I nearly hurt someone.”
Lee Serin’s voice grew quiet.
“Teacher stopped me, though.”
Baek Dohee looked at Yoo Kangmin.
Yoo Kangmin nodded as though it were nothing.
“She burned a piece of meat.”
“Meat?”
“It was expensive.”
Lee Serin pursed her lips.
She had been feeling miserable over nearly hurting someone, but the person who had saved her was talking about meat.
“I’ll buy you some next time.”
“Korean beef?”
“Yes. Majang-dong Korean beef.”
A faint smile appeared on Baek Dohee’s lips as she watched them.
She felt a little relieved.
At least Lee Serin had not come here for nothing.
“You’ve come to a good place.”
“I think so too.”
This time, Lee Serin answered without hesitation.
“All right, enough chatting. You, come over here. We’ll start right away.”
“Yes.”
“Um, what about me...?”
“Keep circulating your thunder qi without overdoing it. Like her.”
“Ah.”
Yoo Kangmin gestured somewhere.
In the corner of the kendo dojo, Yoon Seoha was wildly swinging her bamboo sword.
She had not rested even once until now, swinging the bamboo sword without noticing anything around her.
Seeing how completely absorbed Yoon Seoha was in the sword, Baek Dohee could only admire her sincerely.
‘It looks like that’s why she rose from F-rank to D-rank in only a week.’
Baek Dohee could see Yoon Seoha’s potential too.
A sudden thought crossed her mind that, if she let down her guard, Yoon Seoha might devour her whole.
‘I can’t let that happen.’
Baek Dohee clenched her teeth and steadied her breathing.
‘I won’t just stay still anymore.’
Grateful that she could move forward, Baek Dohee slowly drew up her thunder qi while constantly reciting the cultivation formula Yoo Kangmin had taught her.
“Now then, shall we begin while leaving those two alone?”
“Y-yes!”
“There are many ways to control fire. If all you wanted was to regulate your fiery qi, there are plenty of suitable martial arts.”
Countless martial arts passed through Yoo Kangmin’s mind.
“But you said you wanted to put out your fire.”
“That’s right.”
“Then, paradoxically, you need to know how to handle a fire stronger than anyone else’s.”
Lee Serin tilted her head.
“Why? Wouldn’t becoming stronger make it even more dangerous?”
“Only if you can’t control it.”
Yoo Kangmin lit a tiny spark at his fingertip.
Fwoosh.
The instant Lee Serin saw that tiny spark, her breath caught.
The fiery qi raging around her heart shrank back all at once.
‘W-what is that?’
Just one tiny spark.
The mana that had tormented her so much was holding its breath.
It was afraid.
“There is an order even among fires.”
“T-there’s an order among fires?”
“Yes. No matter how brightly a firefly shines, can it ever be brighter than the sun?”
“...!”
“The choice is yours. You can compromise and manage your qi, or you can become the ruler who commands your fire.”
“...”
She could vaguely see them.
The easy path and the difficult path.
If she chose the easy path, everything would likely be resolved simply and smoothly.
‘Then it would be over...’
Wasn’t that what she wanted?
Hadn’t she wanted to put her life as a singer before her responsibilities as a hunter?
Lee Serin had thought she would be able to discard her ability without hesitation.
‘Why... Why can’t I choose so easily?’
Lee Serin’s gaze shifted.
There was Yoon Seoha, muttering something like mad as she swung her sword, and Baek Dohee, desperately trying to overcome her injury.
‘I’m ashamed.’
She suddenly felt that choosing the easy path might be shameful in front of them.
“I’ll learn.”
Yoo Kangmin nodded.
“Myriad Fires Return to the Source.”
A supreme art that subjugated all the fires under heaven to a single origin.
It was once the martial art through which the Heavenly Demon had proven his absolute power.
“This is the martial art you will learn from today on.”
He had been a man who sought to place the world beneath his feet even if he had to burn it all.
Yoo Kangmin found it oddly amusing that he was passing that man’s martial art to a young lady who merely wanted to sing before people.
Perhaps it was fate that the martial art of someone who had cried out for the unification of the martial world had come to Lee Serin, who wished to put down power.
‘Of course, I can’t let her cultivate demonic qi. I’ll have to alter it a little.’
The martial art the Heavenly Demon had cultivated was the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
Called the progenitor of demonic arts, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art included Myriad Fires Return to the Source.
Since it had been created to handle the Sacred Flame revered by the Demonic Cult, it inherently contained demonic qi.
That inevitably caused side effects such as bloodlust, madness, arrogance, and rage, so Yoo Kangmin had made suitable adjustments beforehand.
“Sit. Hold out your hand.”
“Yes.”
Lee Serin immediately obeyed.
Yoo Kangmin held her wrist.
“Remember the path the qi takes from now on. You’ll have to do it yourself later.”
Before she could answer, warm qi flowed into her.
The qi surrounding her heart drew out the raging fiery qi, strand by strand.
“Ugh!”
Lee Serin’s shoulders twitched.
Her fiery qi moved.
It was not escaping through her fingertips or skin as it usually did.
She could feel it heading toward a point below her navel.
“Myriad Fires Return as One, One Will Rules Fire. Gather all fires into one, and command that fire with a single will.”
Lee Serin repeated the words.
The drawn-down fiery qi tangled in her dantian.
The strands of qi that had pushed each other away and leapt about gradually gathered under Yoo Kangmin’s guidance.
‘It’s hot.’
Instinctively, she wanted to scatter it.
Then the hand around her wrist tightened slightly.
“Don’t run. It’s your qi.”
Lee Serin clenched her teeth.
She did not push it away.
She drew it into herself.
Normally, the more concentrated her scattered fiery qi became, the more tremendous heat it should produce.
Yet even though an amount of heat comparable to when she released flames at full power had gathered, it did not feel hot at all.
‘Why?’
Lee Serin focused her awareness on the fiery qi gathering together.
Then she found something at the center of her dantian.
A tiny spark.
‘That...’
It was the very spark that had bloomed at Yoo Kangmin’s fingertip.
“Can you feel it?”
Yoo Kangmin’s voice reached her.
Lee Serin slowly nodded.
“There’s... a small flame.”
“Don’t lose it. That is the fire you must raise from now on.”
From that moment on, Yoo Kangmin’s qi gradually withdrew, and Lee Serin’s qi began to fill the empty space.
For now, it still needed the support of the Limitless Heavenly Origin Art, but Lee Serin’s own Sacred Flame slowly began to flicker.
‘She’s accepting it well.’
Once it took root sufficiently, it would burn on its own.
Yoo Kangmin watched that clear flame for a while.
Then he remembered the flame he had seen long ago in the Demonic Cult.
Dark crimson fire.
Cultists prostrating themselves and worshipping before it.
‘They called it the Sacred Flame.’
But what they worshipped had already changed into Demonic Flame.
What Yoo Kangmin had kindled in Lee Serin’s dantian was different.
‘This time, let’s make it burn properly.’
A tiny Sacred Flame, restored to its original light, flickered within Lee Serin’s dantian.
“It’s warm.”
The words escaped her without her realizing it.
Her qi had always been nothing but hot.
For the first time, the fire she had wanted to avoid because it tormented her and might hurt others felt warm.
It was not something to extinguish, but her own Sacred Flame, something she would raise from now on.
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