Childhood Friend of the Zenith

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  Was it because of my fear that, even after coming back to the past, the future would still be the same?

 

  ‘It’s just a nightmare.
Let’s not worry about it.’

 

  But getting it all out did make me feel a little refreshed.

 

  Feeling sick could be easily resolved with Qi or just by resting, so it wasn’t a big deal.

 

  And then, I felt something with my five senses that were enhanced with Qi, and that unpleasant feeling could only make me laugh in vain. 

 

  ‘What a crap luck.’

 

  My nightmare was already bad enough, but then this had to happen.

 

  I walked towards Muyeon, who didn’t know what to do with my sickness, and spoke to him.

 

  “Muyeon.”

 

  “Yes, Young Master…! Should I look for a medic after all?”

 

  “Stop talking nonsense and take a look at the demonic charm.”

 

  Muyeon, who picked up that something serious was happening, took out a charm from his pocket.

 

  The demonic charm was an essential item that signaled to its users whether there were any Gates of Demons nearby.
The only usage requirement was infusing a bit of Qi into the charm.

 

  When he took the charm out from his pocket, there was no reaction.

 

  Muyeon returned the charm back into his pocket with a sigh of relief.

 

  “Whew… Young Master, you suddenly talking so seriously scared me for a second.
Thankfully, nothing—”

 

  As Muyeon was about to finish speaking, the charm shone brightly in red and burned away. 

 

  There was no hesitation.
Muyeon immediately shouted at all the other escorts nearby. 

 

  “A Gate has appeared! Everyone prepare for battle!”

 

  All escorts drew their swords upon hearing Muyeon’s words.
The tension skyrocketed.

 

  Of course this had to happen on our way back home.
The fast rate at which the charm disintegrated meant that the Gate of Demons was too close to us.

 

  If it was a little bit farther away, we probably would have been able to get away safely without engaging in combat.

’

 

  It was all because the carriage stopped for me.

 

  Muyeon desperately grabbed my shoulder.

 

  “Young Master, you must go back inside the carriage.
It will be dangerous out here.”

 

  At Muyeon’s words, I crammed Wi Seol-Ah and other servants back into the carriage. 

 

  Then I closed the door and stood next to Muyeon. 

 

  “Young Master, you also need to go back in, it’s really too dangerous here…”

 

  I would have waited inside the carriage if it was any other day, but I couldn’t this time since it was my fault we got caught up in it. 

 

  If it was something where I wasn’t to blame, then it would be a different story.
But I had already resolved to live while cleaning up my own mess in this life.

 

  I had to do so to ensure that what happened in my previous life wouldn’t repeat itself. 

 

  “Young Mas—!”

 

  “Muyeon, save your words for later.
Look in front of you, it’s coming.”

 

  When Muyeon turned to look in front of him, the empty space distorted as if it was waiting for him. 

 

  A Gate letting out green light emerged from the void. 

 

  “Green…”

 

  Muyeon whispered quietly.

  Green, blue, red, black.
That was the order of the threat level for Gates of Demons.
Thankfully, green-colored Gates were the least severe of the four. 

 

– Grrrr…

  

  The sound of a beast.

 

  The monster that came out of the gate this time was a huge dog.
To put it correctly, it was a demon in the form of a dog. 

 

  The huge dog had a horn protruding from the middle of its head.

 

  “This one is a bit of a hassle to deal with.”

 

  Green-horned hound.

 

  A demon that was both fast and had enough power to crush rocks with its fangs.
It was also a test subject for the Murim Alliance to try raising as a pet back in the past. 

 

  Of course, that experiment ended in failure.

 

  ‘A bit more than ten, huh.’

 

  The number of demons that emerged from this gate was just about average.
Not too many for a green Gate, but not too little, either.

 

  Demons had little intelligence.
They also had no hesitation.

 

  The green-horned hounds sensed our presence and immediately charged at us.

 

  Muyeon also rushed toward them, dodging their attacks and moving to cut their horns off with his sword.

 

  The aura on his blade proved that he was already a first-rate martial artist.

 

  A demon that had its horn cut off collapsed.
For green-horned hounds, their horns were their weakness.

 

  The other escorts also started to work on getting rid of the demons. 

 

  While they were duking it out, I grabbed some dirt from the ground.

 

– Grrr…

 

  Just when Muyeon was dealing with other hounds, one of the hounds rushed towards to me.

 

  The beast drooled, seemingly thinking that it had found prey.

 

  I looked younger and weaker compared to the escorts, which meant that I was a juicy target for them. 

 

– Rooaarrr!

 

  The green-horned hound “barked” and rushed at me.
I circulated my flame Qi around my body faster than before. 

 

  I felt myself heating up.

 

  My body became faster with my Qi, and I was able to dodge the attack. 

 

  Then, I quickly threw my handful of dirt at the hound.

 

– Roaarr!

 

’

  Its vision blocked, the beast attacked empty air. 

 

  Even while it was blinded, though, it was still dangerous due to its big size.

 

  I picked up a rock and threw it near the beast.
It reacted to the sound of the rock as it hit the ground. 

 

  I concentrated all my flame Qi into my arm. 

 

  ‘I’ll die if I hesitate.’

 

  While the hound was still distracted by the sound of the rock, I quickly stabbed into its ribs with my arm.

 

– Squelch!

 

  The species-specific weakness for green-horned hounds was their horn, but they had another weak point that all demons had. 

 

  It was the demonic stone contained within their bodies. 

 

  The demonic stone which basically acted as the “heart” for the demons who had no actual heart. 

 

  I couldn’t break its horn with my weak power, so I instead stabbed at the hound with my Qi-reinforced arm to pull out its demonic stone.

 

  I felt resistance from the rough sensation of its body, but the Qi enhancing my arm made it easy enough to stab through the hound anyway and locate its demonic stone. 

 

– Shlorp!

 

  I pulled out my hand and blood came gushing out of its body.
The blue color marked it as the blood of a demon.

 

– Grrrghh…!

 

  The hound collapsed, just like it would have if its horn had been cut off. 

 

  As I turned around with the demonic stone in my hand, I saw another hound charge at me.

 

– Roaaar!

 

  “Um, I don’t know about this one…!”

 

  I tried refocusing my Qi, but I didn’t have enough time.

 

  Just as the beast’s fangs were about to rip me apart, I saw a flare of light and a blade cut through its horn.
It was Muyeon’s sword. 

 

  “Young master! Are you alr—”

 

  Muyeon stopped talking when he noticed the beast lying next to me with a hole in its ribs.

 

  “Thanks, I thought I was gonna die.”

 

  “Right… Thank goodness.”

 

  I felt him looking at me strangely.
It was the same look he gave me on my first day of regression.

 

  ‘What kind of look is that…’

 

  The hunting of the demons ended rather quickly.

 

  The escorts for the Gu family members weren’t ones to struggle with the lowest stage of the Gates of Demons.

 

  They had already encountered many Gates while traveling before.

 

  This was no big deal in the world that was already used to the existence of the Gates of Demons.

 

  The Gate disappeared after all the demons that emerged from it were killed.
However, the corpses of the demons remained behind.  

 

  “Now the only thing left to do is to report it to Gu—”

 

  I stopped talking to Muyeon.

 

  A static sensation coursed through my palm.

 

  It was the same feeling I had felt countless times in my previous life.
There was no mistake

.

  “What’s wrong, Young Master?”

 

  I looked at my hand that was holding onto the demonic stone.

 

  The stone that was letting out a faint green hue slowly lost its color and shine, then became transparent. 

 

  It was a small change, but I felt a bit of Qi enter my body. 

 

  My lips quivered.
I had experienced this so many times in my last life. 

 

  This method of absorbing Qi from demonic stones. 

 

  “Fuck, what kind of sorcery is this…!”

 

  This was an art that belonged to the Heavenly Demon.