The World’s Greatest is Dead - Chapter 184

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Heavenly Supreme Has Died – Episode 184
Night gave way to morning. Such were my thoughts as I stepped outside my room and gazed at the sky.
My eyes, fixed upon the dawning heavens, were steeped in exhaustion.
There was no help for it. I hadn’t slept a single moment through the night.
“Ugh….”
I was drowsy enough to collapse.
Though my body, for all my pretense as a martial artist, wasn’t physically fatigued, having spent the night in constant tension left me in a thoroughly wretched state.
Under normal circumstances, I should have devoted myself to cultivation, but I lacked even the mental capacity for that.
‘…Damn it.’
The fear that someone else might come seeking me.
That anxiety had kept me from sleep.
Yoo Cheon-gil had insisted I rest while he kept watch.
‘As if.’
Recalling the disaster that man had caused the day before yesterday, there was no way I could trust him.
In the end, I had been forced to spend the night with eyes wide open.
“Sigh.”
A breath escaped me.
‘This is a first for me.’
A life of being hunted? It was a life I’d never even imagined. To be targeted and watched by someone.
It was a life I had neither experienced nor witnessed before.
Well, in my past life I did feel something similar from ghosts.
‘But it’s different when it’s people.’
Humans posed far more tangible danger.
Especially in a violent world like the Central Plains.
“Ugh….”
As a result of spending the day in such tension, my weary mind showed no signs of recovery.
I forced myself to shake my head and made my way down to the inn.
It was late morning, so the inn wasn’t particularly crowded.
‘Where are the others?’
My companions were nowhere to be seen. Since we hadn’t arranged any plans for today, I assumed they were either in their rooms or had gone off to train.
“Mm.”
Recalling this, I sat down at an empty table. The waitress, as if she’d been waiting, approached me.
Seeing her arrive, I held up one finger.
“One bowl of thin noodles, please.”
“Right away!”
She took the order and hurried off at once. Judging by her appearance as she scurried along in quick steps, she seemed to be not yet ten years old.
With her small frame darting away like an arrow, she struck me as rather endearing.
It stirred old memories, somehow.
As I sat quietly with such thoughts, a moment passed before the waitress returned with the food.
“Here you are.”
“Thank you.”
I accepted the noodles as I spoke. But then.
‘Hmm?’
I tilted my head slightly.
‘Why isn’t she leaving?’
The Waitress didn’t depart. Why wasn’t she going? Once she’d delivered the food, shouldn’t she have left?
I pondered this briefly before understanding dawned.
‘Ah.’
Was she asking for a tip? I’d heard that waitresses moved about so swiftly precisely for this reason.
‘…Hmm….’
Did I have any money on me? I didn’t carry much, so I doubted I had anything.
As I was rummaging through my belongings to find something to give her.
“What would you like, miss?”
The Waitress asked.
“Eh? No, I’ll find something in just a moment….”
“Young lady?”
“Hmm?”
Young lady?
At the Waitress’s words, I furrowed my brow. What was she saying? Young lady?
Observing the Waitress, I realized her gaze wasn’t directed at me.
“…?”
Following her line of sight, I turned my head to the side. In that instant.
“Eek!”
I jumped in fright and recoiled. Someone had been sitting right beside me.
When had she sat down?
I hadn’t noticed at all.
[Hahahaha.]
Yoo Cheon-gil burst out laughing at my reaction. That old man did this on purpose. Damn geezer.
Swallowing hard, I addressed the woman beside me.
“…Who are you?”
“….”
No answer came. More precisely, she couldn’t answer.
“Geombong.”
“….”
The one sitting beside me was Geombong.
She sat at my side, staring intently at me—or rather, at my noodles.
“….”
“….”
Seeing this, I moved the noodles slightly. Geombong’s gaze followed. I moved them again. Same result.
Could it be.
“…Would you like to eat?”
Geombong nods at my question.
“No, if you’re hungry, just order something. Why are you just standing there watching?”
Bewildered by her behavior, I ask, and Geombong shifts her gaze from the thin noodles to stare directly at me.
Then she covers her mouth with her finger.
“Ah. You can’t speak?”
“….”
“Then just point with your hand to order… Hmm… Don’t tell me you’ve just been standing here hungry?”
“….”
She nods again. I was utterly exasperated.
So that’s it.
‘She was hungry and standing here, and since I happened to arrive, she came to ask for help?’
What kind of person does this?
Though bewildering, I went ahead and ordered anyway.
“One more bowl of thin noodles, please.”
“Coming right up!”
The waitress brings another bowl of thin noodles. I give the one that came for me to Geombong.
The moment I hand it to her, Geombong begins eating the noodles like a madwoman.
Her eating speed was incredibly fast.
Was she really that hungry…?
“Eat a bit slower… or you’ll get indigestion… Ah, never mind.”
Before I can finish speaking, Geombong pounds her chest. She’s going to drive me crazy.
I quickly hand her the water cup in front of me.
The moment I give it to her, Geombong grabs it and gulps it down.
“Are you alright?”
“….”
“Have you been possessed? Why are you eating like that? Do you like thin noodles?”
“….”
At my question, Geombong nods. Ah, so she likes thin noodles?
Well, that makes sense.
I chuckle and try to eat my rice, but this time Geombong is staring directly at me.
What is it?
“…Why? Do you want this too? No way. I need to eat something as well.”
This time she shakes her head instead of nodding.
So she’s not asking for thin noodles. Then what is it?
I regard her quietly with a puzzled expression.
Our eyes meet.
She is a beauty with striking black eyes and pale skin.
Ah, of course I wasn’t admiring her for that reason.
‘Who exactly is she?’
I was still puzzled. Geombong seemed to know me, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t place her.
I’m usually good at remembering faces, so I should recall her this time too.
Yet I still couldn’t remember.
So I simply asked.
“Do you know me?”
“….”
Geombong nodded again.
“So, aside from me being the Sword Saint, you already knew me before?”
She nodded once more.
“…That can’t be right.”
There’s no way she could know me. And there’s no way I’d forget someone like Geombong?
Who on earth is she?
I had no idea.
“Aren’t you mistaken?”
She shook her head firmly.
“No, I’ve never even been to Shanxi. How would you know me?”
“….”
This time there was no response. She just stared at me intently. What kind of eyes were those?
‘I’ve never met someone so expressionless before.’
I couldn’t read any emotion. What she was thinking. What she intended. Her face revealed nothing.
This was difficult. People like this are always the hardest for me to deal with.
I’d rather face someone awkward like Cheonhye-in.
But this?
‘I can’t figure it out.’
It was far more uncomfortable.
As I was thinking this and about to scratch my cheek.
Whoosh.
Geombong moved. She pointed at the empty noodle bowl in front of me.
“Hm?”
What? She said she didn’t want more. So why did she keep pointing at it?
Unable to discern her intent, I furrowed my brow.
Whoosh.
Geombong suddenly picked up the empty noodle bowl with her hand.
And then.
Tap tap.
She flipped it over and held it above her head. Then she shook it.
As if showing me that the noodle bowl was completely empty.
“Suddenly what are you—wait?”
Watching her, I wondered what she was doing.
“Wait? Wait wait?”
Geombong’s sudden action stirred a distant memory within me.
It was from the distant past—shortly after I first encountered Muyong Youngsoon, right after I recovered my memories from my previous life.
That memory and the present situation overlapped in my mind.
“Huh?”
I felt certain I’d witnessed something similar back then.
My eyes widened as the recollection took shape.
“Could it be—”
Just as I was beginning to grasp the truth about Geombong’s identity.
“…!”
A sharp metallic ring!
Clang—!
Geombong suddenly moved. The bowl she’d been holding shattered to pieces.
Her sword was drawn, and she unleashed a blade strike toward something.
Screech!
Where Geombong’s blade stopped, a figure stood.
Just like before, there was a man standing rigidly before me—I had no idea how long he’d been there. He simply stared down at me.
Geombong’s sword pressed against the man’s throat.
‘Damn, that startled me.’
I was genuinely shocked. Geombong’s sudden movement made it worse.
‘Who is this guy?’
I was still calming my racing heart when.
The man looking at me spoke.
“You are Bang Disciple of Cheonwol Sect, are you not?”
“…Who are you?”
At a glance, he was no ordinary person. The martial robes he wore and the long cloak draped over them—both unmistakably marked him as someone of considerable standing within his sect.
“I am the Third Daeju of this sect. My name is Jegal Jin.”
“…!”
A formidable figure.
Jegal Jin, the Third Daeju—one of the strongest among the Daejus of this sect, and known throughout the Central Plains as a master swordsman called the Beautiful Wind Sword.
Why would such a person seek me out?
Before I could even process the sudden appearance of this master.
“A high-ranking figure of this sect wishes to meet with you, Bang Disciple.”
“…Me?”
News even more bewildering than his arrival reached my ears.

* * *
Creak.
I closed the door behind me and stepped inside.
The first thing I noticed upon entering the room was the cool scent of books.
That distinctive aroma of paper and ink peculiar to a study overflowing with volumes.
The faintly musty yet oddly comforting fragrance that accumulated from lack of maintenance stirred vague memories of my past life.
My ears had been closest to those I cherished.
What I had read endlessly were books.
And what I had kept perpetually near were words themselves.
Missing this unique scent, I savored the pleasure through my eyes.
‘It’s packed.’
Nothing but books everywhere. They were treasured, no less.
Scattered documents covered the floor, yet among them were no books.
All the volumes were neatly arranged and maintained within the bookshelves.
Yet the reason for the lingering ink scent and somewhat stuffy air must be those documents strewn across the floor.
‘…There’s nowhere to step.’
So many documents covered the ground that there was no place to set my feet. I attempted to move cautiously, but it proved difficult.
So there I stood, awkwardly surveying my surroundings.
“Sit.”
A cold voice invaded my ears.
It came from the Old Man reading documents ahead of me.
His frame was remarkably gaunt and diminutive; his extreme thinness made his sharp features appear even more fierce.
Yoo Cheon-gil had once said.
‘He looks like rotting tree bark.’
As if to prove those words, the Old Man’s appearance naturally evoked exactly that impression.
Though I had met him briefly before, seeing him this close now gave me a clearer understanding.
[Right?]
Yoo Cheon-gil, reading my thoughts, asked subtly.
I deliberately ignored him and focused.
This person.
‘The King of War.’
The War King, or the War God.
A monster who, surpassing countless martial artists, achieved the greatest feats in warfare.
The most brilliant genius in the history of the Jegal Clan.
‘Cheon Rijin-an, Jegal Jin.’
And.
‘My maternal grandfather.’
I had encountered him so unexpectedly.

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