The Granddaughter of the Manhyang Escort Agency Hides Her Magic - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 2

The imugi she met in the Deadlands where her great-uncle So Baekrim had pushed her, Mugyeol, and the circle she regained just before death.

It was too vivid to be a dream, yet something felt strange for it to be a memory.

Because even though she had closed her eyes like that, the sounds reaching her ears and the warmth of the gentle sunlight falling on her face were far too vivid.

‘I definitely died though……’

Shin Ah quietly closed her eyes and recalled the past.

Her first life, where she died while striving to reach the 8th circle after becoming a 7th circle grand mage.

Her second life, where she opened her eyes as So Shin Ah, the frail daughter of the Biwongak branch master of Manhyang Express, and died caught up in betrayal and conspiracy after losing her family while causing a fuss about returning to her original world and regaining magic.

Both lives had ended in failure. However, even within them were precious memories she could never forget.

‘Shin Ah, daddy will protect you. Our Shin Ah can do whatever she wants.’

‘Shin Ah, you said there was a book you wanted to read? Your brother will get it for you. So Shin Ah, just open your eyes.’

Her father and brother who had devotedly cared for Shin Ah when she was in a coma for a month for unknown reasons.

‘Back then, I didn’t know that was love. I just found it bothersome.’

Afraid she might fly away if blown upon, crumble if grasped.

The faces of the two people who had abandoned their duties as couriers of Manhyang Express to wrap around and stay by Shin Ah’s side came to mind one by one.

‘I should have been good to them while they were alive.’

It weighed on her heart that she hadn’t spoken a single warm word to them until they died.

‘Because of me, father and brother gave up their lives.’

The two had fallen out of favor with grandfather, the head of the express company, for running around everywhere trying to make Shin Ah healthy. They had also incurred enormous debts buying various spirit medicines.

Father So Cheonrim and brother So Cheondo eventually went on a dangerous delivery mission to pay off those debts and died tragically.

Other memories were hazy, but only the moment when So Baekrim delivered news of her brother and father’s death remained clearly etched in her memory.

‘We couldn’t find the bodies. This is all that remains. But this is a big problem. The client is absolutely furious. With the package gone too, how do we handle this damage.’

Baekrim had held out her brother and father’s torn clothing, not expressing condolences but only worrying about the lost package.

‘That bastard.’

She should have realized it even then. That Baekrim was a black-hearted snake.

But it was too late. No matter how much she had gained a circle, what use was it if she was dead……what nonsense!

I’m too wronged to die. No, even if I become a ghost, I won’t stand to see you So Baekrim prosper!

Shin Ah gritted her teeth and snapped her eyes open.

Since her soul hadn’t yet crossed the River of Oblivion, there was still a chance.

I’ll show you the terror of a maiden ghost!

It was when Shin Ah, having steeled her resolve, was about to sit up.

Squeeze, she felt warm body temperature in her hand.

“Shin Ah!”

She also heard a longed-for voice.

“Fa……ther?”

“Yes, Shin Ah. It’s daddy. Is there anywhere that feels uncomfortable?”

Shin Ah blinked her eyes.

Shin Ah’s father, So Cheonrim, had died four years ago. So his soul, which should have long since crossed the River of Oblivion, shouldn’t exist in the same space as her.

“Father…… why are you here?”

“Why, you ask, Shin Ah. When my daughter has collapsed and is hovering between life and death, daddy should be by her side. I’ve been by your side continuously for a month. Our Shin Ah…… sob, it must have been hard.”

So Cheonrim caressed Shin Ah’s cheek with his tear-wet hand.

Warm, and damp?

The sensations were remarkably clear. And Cheonrim’s face, when she looked at it properly, was younger than when she had last seen him.

It reminded her of a certain time……

‘When I died trying to open the 8th circle and had just awakened in this body!’

Cheonrim back then had looked just like he did now.

‘Could it be that time has been reversed?’

Goosebumps rose all over Shin Ah’s body. It was an absurd hypothesis, but she already had a precedent of experiencing absurd things.

‘I even opened my eyes in someone else’s body, so there’s no law saying I can’t travel back in time!’

Shin Ah bolted upright and grabbed Cheonrim’s cheeks. Then she examined her own appearance using her father’s clear eyes as a mirror.

Round face, fair skin, large eyes, small but straight nose, red and plump lips, even the short philtrum.

The overall cute-looking face was exactly how Shin Ah had looked when she was ten years old!

“I’ve…… returned?”

Shin Ah slumped down.

“Shin Ah! Are you dizzy?”

Startled, Cheonrim carefully embraced his daughter.

“N……o!”

Contrary to Cheonrim’s worry, Shin Ah wasn’t dizzy but simply wanted to think calmly.

‘I died as soon as I gained a circle. And now I’ve returned. Then can I use magic?’

For now, she could feel a circle, however faintly, near her dantian.

“Danmi, get a physician, no, medicine, no, water first!”

While Shin Ah was confused, Cheonrim was flustered and didn’t know what to do.

‘Ugh, this is chaotic.’

It was just as Shin Ah was raising her head to calm Cheonrim down.

The door slid open and a beautiful young boy who looked very much like Cheonrim, but much younger, entered.

“Father, how is Shin Ah…… Gasp! Shin Ah!”

The boy’s reaction upon seeing the conscious Shin Ah wasn’t much different from Cheonrim’s.

Clear, transparent tears filled his large eyes that looked exactly like Shin Ah’s, then soon began flowing down drop by drop.

The boy ran over in one breath without even wiping his tears.

“Shin Ah, can you recognize who I am?”

“Yes, brother Cheondo.”

“Haah……”

Sighs of relief and joy poured endlessly over Shin Ah’s small head.

“Shin Ah, sob, thank you for waking up.”

When Cheondo cried, Cheonrim, who had barely stopped crying, shed tears again. They expressed their joy at Shin Ah’s awakening with their whole bodies.

Shin Ah’s nose tingled.

‘Come to think of it, it’s been a long time, brother, father. Well, I’ll check the magic a little later.’

A circle that had formed once wouldn’t run away somewhere.

Shin Ah snuggled into her father’s embrace, having belatedly realized its preciousness.

Her family’s embrace was warm.

‘Father, brother, I missed you.’

Shin Ah muttered to herself the words she couldn’t convey in the past.

And she resolved. That in this life, she would absolutely never lose her precious people.

* * *

Biwongak, which had been in an uproar after Shin Ah woke up, finally became quiet.

Shin Ah, who had barely managed to send away Cheonrim and Cheondo who insisted on staying with her by saying she wanted to rest, sat leaning against her bed and looked down at her small hands.

‘I’ve returned to when I was ten years old.’

Since Shin Ah had died at twenty-two, she had traveled back twelve years.

And it wasn’t just any ordinary return.

She caressed near her navel where her dantian was located with her hand. She could clearly feel a circle next to the bean-sized dantian.

Shin Ah tilted her head.

‘Usually the dantian is located at the navel, and the circle at the solar plexus or heart, but it’s beside it?’

To be precise, the circles were positioned one to the right and one above the dantian.

‘Still, it seems like I can properly operate mana.’

She had an intuition that she could properly use both the internal energy of the dantian and the mana of the circles.

Though there were only two circles, Shin Ah, who hadn’t been able to use magic at all since possessing this body, was simply delighted whether it was one or two circles.

The number of circles could be increased gradually anyway.

‘What’s important is that I can use magic again!’

A thrill that ran up her spine shook her brain with an electrifying sensation.

‘Should I try using it once?’

Her lips moved on their own, and her fingers itched. Dozens of magic incantations swirled around in her mouth.

However, Shin Ah didn’t let any of them escape her lips.

To achieve her goal, she needed to act cautiously.

Shin Ah calmly reviewed her objectives.

First, to prevent her father and older brother from dying unjustly.

‘And I’ll make both of them happy.’

Second, to take revenge on her uncle So Baekrim, who had harmed her family and driven her to death, and her cousins So Mando and So Ilbi, who had constantly tormented her.

‘You’re all dead!’

Finally, Mugyeol.

Shin Ah stroked her lower abdomen where the dantian and circles were located, recalling Mugyeol who had rushed at the imugi without hesitation to save her.

‘When he left Manhyang Express, Mugyeol was just a child who had nothing to do with martial arts.’

Yet he who had severed the imugi’s neck with a single stroke was at least a master who had reached the Hwa-gyeong realm.

He had been away from Shin Ah for only 10 years.

There were few ways for someone who hadn’t learned martial arts to become a master in just 10 years. No, for someone walking the righteous path, it was nearly impossible.

‘Mugyeol is…’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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