Chapter 4: Is This My First Bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup in Decades?

TL: FoodieMonster007

Returning to my quarters, I stood before a bronze mirror. My younger self was fresh-faced and brimming with vitality.

I felt like I could stare at the mirror all day and be happy.

After enjoying my rejuvenated appearance for a long while, I suddenly thought of Hwa Mugi.

What could that bastard be doing right now?

Was he somewhere undergoing hellish training to become stronger?

If only I could find and kill him before he grew any more powerful, the problem would be simple. The issue was that finding Hwa Mugi would not be easy. He had appeared in the murim as if he had fallen from the sky, and after achieving the Sealer of Three, he left the murim and went into seclusion. Because of this, there was absolutely no information about Hwa Mugi. Releasing people across the entire Central Plains to search for a man named Hwa Mugi was also a dangerous attempt that could provoke an unpredictable reaction from him.

In the end, the best option was for me to become stronger than Hwa Mugi. Fortunately, the heavens had given me ample time to prepare. I would make time my ally and grow stronger.

Was it because I had thought of Hwa Mugi? The inner arts in my qi center stirred and reacted.

The Qi Dispersing Poison had vanished as if it had never been administered in the first place. Since there was no trace of the poison after the duel ended, it meant Gu Pyeongho had acquired the proper toxin.

I suppose that's why he dared to even think of using Qi Dispersing Poison on a scion of the Heavenly Demon.

I was lost in thought for a moment before calling the name of the most grateful person in my life.

"Lee Ahn."

At my call, a welcome voice came from outside the door.

"Yes, Young Master."

"Come in."

The door then opened, and a young woman entered. Her martial arts uniform looked ready to burst, and the word 'obese' rather than 'plump' seemed to fit her.

My bodyguard, Lee Ahn.

I didn't know it at the time. I didn't know that her immense size was due to the martial arts she practiced. No, that it was because of me.

The Self-Petrification Art.

It was a secret technique, passed down only to her, a martial art that temporarily hardened her flesh like stone. Gaining an enormous body was a fatal side effect of this martial art.

I looked at her through the mirror and asked.

"How do I look?"

In the mirror, she answered cheerfully.

"You're the most handsome man in the jianghu."

Lee Ahn's voice was so pleasant. I could guarantee she would win if she entered a competition for the best voice in the Central Plains.

"That's no fun."

"The answer to a question from the person who pays your monthly salary is always predetermined."

So it wasn't just her voice that was nice. You had such a cheerful personality.

Her eyes met mine through the mirror, and Lee Ahn asked me.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

The reason I survived that day was all thanks to Lee Ahn. She had thrown her body in the way of the sword qi that Hwa Mugi had unleashed to kill me. Hwa Mugi's sword qi pierced through her Self-Petrification Art, but in the process, its trajectory shifted slightly. That was why it had narrowly missed my heart. Hwa Mugi hadn't confirmed my death. He likely never considered that his attack could have missed. Lee Ahn's sacrifice and his arrogance had saved me.

Thank you, Lee Ahn.

She was a woman prepared to throw her life away for me, yet at this time, I saw her as just another bodyguard. I took her presence for granted, just as one lives without realizing how precious the air is.

"You did well in the duel today. It was really amazing."

I turned to face her. I walked slowly toward the real her, not her reflection in the mirror.

There was a difference between the her in my memory and the real her.

She's even bigger than I remembered.

I stared at her quietly, recalling what she looked like as a child. With her gentle eyes and high nose, she had looked like a doll and was so pretty when she smiled. Everyone had said in unison that if she grew up just like that, she would become the world number one beauty. Then one day, that pretty girl appeared, having grown fat. She had gained so much weight that I couldn't tell how much she had cried or how swollen her eyes were.

Even then, that young girl had looked at me with the same eyes as today and said, "I will protect you, Young Master."

What must that girl have been feeling? Her only sin was being born in the Demonic Cult and raised as a bodyguard. The price she had to pay was far too great.

She had given up the looks that could have made her the world number one beauty, but did I ever soothe her heart? Perhaps I had started treating her coldly after she gained weight? I couldn't recall many memories with her. She, on the other hand, kept her promise. She threw her large body to block the sword qi, and thanks to her, I lived.

I believe this regression is worthwhile just for the chance to save Lee Ahn.

Lee Ahn, I'll make you a promise too. I'll definitely get rid of the side effects of the Self-Petrification Art.

I said to her abruptly.

"We shouldn't get close."

She asked with a puzzled look.

"Pardon? Why is that?"

"Getting attached to a bodyguard, of all people, is like trying to score points to ask them to die for you, isn't it? It's a despicable thing to do."

"What are you talking about? It's only natural that I protect you, Young Master."

"What's natural about sacrifice? You should always come first, then your family, and then the person you're guarding. I'd prefer to be protected by someone that rational."

Lee Ahn didn't hesitate for a moment.

"I cannot do that. For me, the Young Master is number one, and number two is also the Young Master, and I… I have no family."

I couldn't begin to measure the depth of this stubborn woman's loyalty to me.

"You're acting strange today."

"Want to see something stranger? Let's go."

"Where to?"

I strode out and said.

"To flip a dinner table."

I went straight to the kitchen. Then I summoned all the kitchen staff, including the head chef, Chef Lim. From the lined-up staff, I called out the assistant chef who had been working here for three years.

"Why did you do it?"

"Pardon? What do you mean?"

"I'm asking why you put Qi Dispersing Poison in my food."

Everyone was shocked by my words.

"It wasn't me, it wasn't me!"

A good thing about regressing is that I don't need to delve into people's minds. I already knew why this guy had used the Qi Dispersing Poison. He was deeply in debt from gambling. Having squandered his parents' money and even his friends' money, he committed the audacious act of putting Qi Dispersing Poison in the food of a scion of the Heavenly Demon. Gambling is this terrifying.

"You took the three thousand taels you received and went gambling again, didn't you?"

The man flinched for a moment, then prostrated himself on the spot.

"Please spare me. I was wrong. I was blinded by money and committed a great sin."

"Did Gu Pyeongho come to you himself and give you the money?"

"……"

The moment the bastard confessed, I sliced his neck with a single stroke.

"……"

It was my first kill after regressing, but I felt no particular emotion. I had lived a life of mercilessly killing those I deemed evil. Killing him without pain was the last mercy I could show him.

In my life before regression, he had died today as well. On the night of the duel, he was stabbed to death in a gambling den. It was likely the blade of an assassin sent by Gu Pyeongho to silence him. In any case, poisoning food was an act that should never be forgiven. A single act of forgiveness would only lead to another attempt.

"For a chef, of all people, to put poison in food!"

At my words, Chef Lim, with a devastated expression, knelt.

"I am sorry, Young Master."

"What are you doing? Your knees are bad, aren't they?"

"Everything is my responsibility."

"Why is this your responsibility, Chef Lim? It's the fault of the one who put the poison in."

"Because everything that happens in the kitchen is my responsibility."

I helped him to his feet.

"Chef Lim. If something unjust happens in our Cult, is it our father's responsibility?"

"What? No, absolutely not."

"Then why do you say it's your responsibility, Chef Lim? Stop with the nonsense and make me some chicken noodle soup for dinner! I've been wanting to eat it for a long time."

How many decades has it been?

"But you had some just the day before yesterday?"

"Chef Lim, I'm still holding a sword. It's dripping with blood."

"I will prepare a delicious meal for you."

When I left the kitchen, Lee Ahn, who was waiting outside, asked urgently.

"I am sorry. As the bodyguard guard captain, this is my fault."

"Why is everyone so eager to take responsibility? Did you all catch a responsibility disease?"

"I will ensure this never happens again."

"Enough. Just spread a rumor about this throughout the school. That Gu Pyeongho instigated it, and that I cut down the chef who used the poison."

"The Blood Heaven Blade Demon's side will deny it."

"It won't matter. There are many eyes and ears that saw and heard what happened here."

Since the entire kitchen staff saw it, their denials would be useless.

"If you do something dirty, you should get a bad reputation. Spread the rumor far and wide! Make even the dogs in the school bark 'Qi Dispersing, Qi Dispersing'!"

"I understand."

"Let's go."

Lee Ahn, following behind me, said cautiously.

"Ah… you really seem different today."

As the one who attended to me most closely, she was the first to notice the change in me.

"You're making jokes you never used to. Your actions and words seem different too."

"As of today, I've decided to live a different life with killing intent."

"Suddenly?"

"Yes, suddenly. I don't think people change little by little every day. They change drastically when there's some kind of trigger. It's because that's difficult and doesn't happen often that people say no one ever changes, right? Let's go."

I started walking again, not giving her a chance to ask what that trigger was.

"Is all of this necessary?"

Lee Ahn was astonished as she looked at the items I had prepared for the hunt with my father.

I nodded as I packed the prepared items neatly into a large leather bag.

"It's necessary."

"I didn't know you had a knack for camping, Young Master."

Lee Ahn, no one in our Cult has camped as much as I have.

"I'm with my father, so I have to prepare a lot."

"I truly hope you have a good time."

"Will I, though?"

It wasn't a baseless complaint. I was confident about other things, but I had no confidence when it came to my relationship with my father. Even though I had lived longer than my father's age… I was even less confident.

"You have to make it so. It will be."

Lee Ahn smiled and bid me farewell.

"Have pleasant dreams tonight."

But I didn't sleep well that night.

I had a terrible nightmare. In the dream, I was still searching for the materials for the Great Regression Technique. It was a dream where I wandered all over the place because the materials weren't where they were supposed to be.

Then I heard Lee Ahn's voice.

"Young Master, are you alright?"

I must have screamed in my sleep.

"I'm not alright. It was a filthy dream."

"What kind of dream was it?"

"To put it in your terms, a dream where you have to start over as a low-level martial artist?"

"Aah! Just kill me instead."

Sitting up in bed, I looked at the bronze mirror propped against the wall. As if to say a dream is just a dream, I saw my younger self.

My mood lifted again at the sight of my youthful appearance.

Yes, if I can greet the morning of my youth like this again, I don't mind having nightmares every day.

"You seem nervous."

"It's a journey with someone scarier than a tiger."

"If it were me, I wouldn't even be able to breathe properly."

"I'm going to wash up. Please prepare a new martial arts uniform."

"……"

In my past life, whenever things got tough, I would imagine what I would do if I regressed. Just imagining it made me feel better and helped me endure the pain. However, in all those many fantasies, a hunt with my father on the second day of my regression was never included. Whether my instinctive choice was right or not, I would find out the moment the hunt was over.

Having finished all my preparations, I slung the large leather bag over my shoulder and walked slowly toward the Heavenly Demon Hall, where my father was waiting.