Childhood Friend of the Zenith - Chapter 280

Chapter 280: Winter Rain (4)Under the pouring rain, the lady walked through the crowd in a hurry.

...Why?

She asked herself why she left the spot as she continued moving.

Even though she longed to see him, she wondered why she was running away instead.

Just why?

She didn’t know.

She was still unable to understand.

As soon as their eyes met, she wanted to leave the spot.

I’m scared.

Yes, it was because she was afraid.

Fear and nervousness filled her completely and clouded her judgment.

Why was she so afraid?

The lady closed her eyes shut...

-Calm down.

Then, as if it was waiting, a voice appeared.

It was the voice that had been her guide since she was young, and the lady called this voice, ‘Sis’.

She trusted this voice and asked for advice whenever she felt lost...

...I told you not to come out for a while.

But now, it didn’t seem all too trustworthy any longer.

-Are you afraid?

...

-Are you afraid that he might not recognize your changed self?

The lady was unable to respond to the voice.

She couldn’t deny it.

-So you are afraid.

...Don’t speak like you know everything.

-Of course I do, after all, I’m the one who knows you the best in the whole world.

That’s just you blabbering.

Even though she denied the words of the voice, the lady bit her lips.

She was unable to deny it after all.

She was afraid to know what he would think of her when he saw the ‘changed her’.

Furthermore, the lady was also afraid that he might say something resentful to her.

Why did you leave without saying anything?

Why did you change so much?

She was afraid that he might say those things as soon as he looked into her eyes from afar.

-He’s not the type of person to do that.

...I know.

She already knew that.

She knew that he wasn’t the type who would say resentful words to her over something like that.

Despite that, she hid herself and ended up running away from him, even though she had been looking forward to this day for so long.

Squelch.

As she continued to walk through the puddles, the lady found herself in a forest, outside of the town.

Only after she escaped the rowdy crowd was she able to let out a breath of relief.

“Huff... Huff...”

The lady thought to herself as she panted.

In the end, she was unable to say a word to him.

She wanted to ask him how he had been doing, but she was unable to even bring herself to do that much.

All she could do was watch him from afar, and that was it.

And I worked so hard too...

The lady leaned against a tree, breathed heavily, and looked at her hand.

The hand that he always said was white and soft, was now very rough.

It was the result of her hard work.

Clench.

She clenched her fist after looking at her hand.

-So, what will you do now?

She didn’t respond to the voice.

She wondered what to do.

[Once you leave, you will receive attention from many people.]

It was the conversation she had with her grandfather before leaving.

Honestly, it couldn’t really be called a conversation because all she did was listen to his words without responding.

[Grandpa is worried about that. I wanted my Seol-Ah to never leave for the outside world, but I suppose that’s not possible.]

It meant that he was unable to keep her to himself anymore.

And as her grandfather wanted, the lady heeded his advice.

Because of that, her grandfather had to respect this decision of hers.

When her grandfather could no longer maintain the seal he wanted to, the Immortal Healer told the lady.

[It won’t be the same as before. It’ll take some time until you get used to the power you’ve regained, and your body will feel uncomfortable as your vessel has been reduced.]

Just as the Immortal Healer said, the lady felt very uncomfortable.

It felt like her body had become much weaker than before and it was hard to control the unknown power.

According to the Immortal Healer, despite becoming weaker, she was far stronger than others, and only now was she able to feel her power as it was so great before, that she was unable to even feel it.

The lady then asked.

She wondered why she had to go through all that when she was better before.

The Immortal Healer answered in response.

-Your grandfather wants you to live as a human.

What did he mean by that?

The lady couldn’t understand.

She was human.

Seeing that, I spoke first.

“Even if you run away again, I’m going to follow you to hell, so remain still.”

Judging by how she flinched after I took a step, it seemed like she really was planning to run away.

However, I had no intention of letting her escape even if she tried to do so.

I didn’t know what she was afraid of, but she tried to pull her face cover lower .

“Weren’t you the one who came to see me earlier? Where are you going?”

“...”

There was no response.

And I didn’t care.

I just made my way towards her.

“Even though it’s been so long, you’re not even responding. Or perhaps, is it because you don’t want to speak to me?”

“...That’s... not it.”

When I spoke to her bluntly, I was able to draw a response from her.

Her voice sounded more mature, but it wasn’t that different from the voice I remembered.

I was now close enough to make contact with her if I stretched out my hand.

I saw her shoulders trembling as if she was feeling cold.

And during all this, I had to quell my exhausted breath.

Why is she so fast?

It felt like I had used half of my Qi just chasing after her.

I had to sharpen my senses to keep track of her and she was so fast that I had to use most of my Qi to chase after her, so I didn’t have much left.

I felt exhausted for the first time in a while.

Even so...

I caught her.

I didn’t let her escape.

That was enough.

Step.

I took another step forward.

Flinch.

She flinched again.

What–?’

What should I ask first?

Should I ask her why she departed leaving only a single letter behind?

Or should I ask her if she had been doing well?

Why did she run away as soon as she saw me? Why did she come here? Why was she shivering, was she feeling sick?

I had so many questions, but I pushed all of them aside and the words that left my mouth were completely different.

“It’s been a while.”

“...!”

For some reason, she seemed shocked by what I said.

Her shoulders stopped trembling and it felt like her gaze that was avoiding me was now slightly directed at me.

“How have you been?”

“Ah... Ough...”

She was reluctant to speak as if she was unable to respond.

I didn’t imagine that our reunion would be like this.

“I had a fairly good time.”

Well, I obviously ran into a bunch of problems, got engaged, and I now had the ability to turn others into Demonic Humans, but I guess it’d be correct to say that I was doing well since I was still perfectly fine.

I had a ton of things I wanted to say, but for now, I felt that saying this was enough.

I stretched my hand towards her.

Seeing that she was drenched in cold rain, I was concerned, but all I had to do was dry her later.

Only after I carefully stretched my hand towards her,...

Reach–

She placed her white hand on top of mine. I had to wait for some time as she hesitated for a while, but in the end, it ultimately worked out.

When I saw her place her hand on top of mine, I slowly covered it with mine.

I didn’t put much strength in it and I only wrapped her hand gently.

That much was enough for now.

“I’d like to see your face now. Surely you aren’t going to keep hiding it from me after so long, right?”As I spoke with a smirk on my face, I saw that she was hesitating for some reason.

If she was covering her face because she thought that I wouldn’t be able to recognize her, that was a huge mistake on her part.

A seriously huge mistake.

No matter how much time passed, there was no way that I wouldn’t recognize her.

After hesitating for some time, she began to raise her other hand.

Then, she started to pull the face cover that was covering her face.

Slip.

As she slowly pulled away the hood, her face which was hidden was revealed.

Seeing her shaky nervous pupils trying their best to look back at me, I found myself smiling without realizing it.

“It’s been a while.”

I then repeated the words I said before.

I believed that these words would truly reach her this time.

“...”

When she heard my words, Wi Seol-Ah...

“It’s... been a while.”

Responded back.

Pitter.

Patt...

The shower drenching my shoulders began to weaken.

As it gradually got weaker, I could no longer feel the rain.

The winter rain, that had been pouring down for the past few days, had finally stopped.