Chapter 189 - The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel

Chapter 189 - The Agony of Love and Separation - Part 2 Martial arts training for up to 10 years. I thought I might never see her again because of martial arts training. And here I thought the duration could be much shorter, especially when my fame increases. "Don't be disheartened, get up, Hwarin." Like I had done once before, I took Hwarin's hand as she sat despondently, disappointed in herself, and lifted her up. Whether she had become the secluded poisoner of the Sachun Dang family or had become so beautiful that she deserved the title of the most beautiful in Sachun, her inner self wouldn't suddenly change; it made sense. Hwarin had suffered contempt, discrimination, and agony because of the poison experiments she had been subjected to for over ten years before meeting me, which had dragged her self-esteem through the dirt. Although she would hide her inner turmoil with a prickly demeanor like a hedgehog, whenever something would emotionally break her, she resorted instantly to self-deprecation and sunk into despondency. I thought she had made great strides while living with me, but it seemed this ordeal made her want to sit down and give up like she did in the old days. Hwarin got up, holding my hand, but she would not meet my eyes, as if she had no intention to retract her words of parting. "Are you really saying we should break up over something so trivial?" Then I'll have to change Hwarin's mind. "Trivial, you say?" Now she finally turns her head. Only when I dismissed the reason for our separation as trivial, did Hwarin look at me, her eyes slightly arched. I can understand her thoughts. Even in Korea, until the 80s and 90s, if one hadn't married by their thirties, they were called old bachelors or spinsters. In slightly older movies, dramas, and comics, there were many main characters who, despite their nuanced bachelor personas, were not even 30 yet, and heroines in their twenties were often portrayed with a spinster concept. Moreover, the world I live in is one of a martial arts visual novel. Wasn't the first thing I experienced upon falling into this world a marriage proposal at the age of 20? Martial artists have to train and age more slowly, so weddings are normally held a little later, but even then, most are married by their mid-twenties. For Hwarin to ask me to wait until she's 31 is like, in the modern world, telling a lover you met at 20 to have a long-distance relationship and then get married in their forties. Of course, in Hwarin's mind, it would be better to break up than to make such an absurd request. "Of course, it's trivial." I had to make Hwarin's worries seem insignificant. I looked at her casually and answered with a smile. "How can it be trivial if we can't see each other?" Because compared to what we've been through, it's nothing. "Hwarin, do we have no hope of healing, like when we first met?" I know Hwarin’s pain. Her face, which people feared like a contagious disease, made her bow her head each time. How happy were we when, after my appearance, Hwarin was no longer in pain? How joyful were we when the stains on her face disappeared? "No. There is a way to heal." "Then, are we facing death like we did when we headed to Sachun Dang family?" The unexpected encounter with the people of Sachun Dang, the life-threatening journey to Sachun, the fear of entering the tiger's den to confront the beast, the emergence of the Danggeo-ho and the demonic cult, the battles and chases that wagered our lives. If one thing had gone wrong, our journey would have ended right there. "No, I just need to train hard." "Or maybe we're in a situation where we don't understand each other's true feelings?" "Absolutely not." "Then it's definitely trivial." I chuckled quietly. "It's 10 years! I have to train for 10 years!" Hwarin protested with a pained face as if to argue with me. "Hwarin, do you plan to let our affection fade over 10 years?" "That can't be! How much I... how much I adore you!" Hwarin vehemently denied my words with a startled look on her face. You're throwing too straight a fastball for someone living in a world with amnesia and change-of-heart. Still, it feels good to hear it from Hwarin herself. "Then what's the problem?" I asked Hwarin incredulously. Hwarin then bowed her head slightly, avoiding my gaze, and replied with distress. "It's 10 years, Yoonho. It's nonsensical. Just forget about someone like me, meet a good woman, date, get married, have children, be happy... be hap... sob sob." Hwarin couldn't finish her sentence and broke into tears. "Hwarin, there's no need to say things you don't mean." As I reached out to embrace her, Hwarin knocked my hand away and threw me a bombshell with tears still welling in her eyes. "I... until I master martial arts, I can't... can't have a child with you!" "That's a bit... harsh." Oops. I inadvertently misspoke in my surprise at Hwarin’s bombshell declaration. "See? Sob sob. Boo hoo hoo hoo." Hwarin bawled with a look of inconsolable grievance on her face as if my words were the final blow. "By any chance, Hwarin, did becoming a poisoner cause some physical abnormalities, or, I mean, you can't... you know, no longer share a night?" "No! How would I even be born then!" Why lash out in anger while crying? That's a relief. In the martial arts world, some poisoners could indeed be infertile, but I guess that's not the case. "Then it's not a big deal." Hwarin, that's not what I meant. Yoonho thought it was a serious matter because of the issue of offspring, not because of a night's passion. Although that wasn't really the case, I maintained a calm façade to console her sorrow. "Is that really why you said it was a big deal?" My intention seemed to have worked. With tear-streaked eyes, Hwarin suspiciously asked me. "Yes. Then what is really the big deal?" Yoonho is so naive, clueless about the ways of the world. Even as a novelist of martial arts romance, he's inexperienced in practice. I looked at Hwarin, puzzled. "If we, if we were together, it would feel good, right? That could make feelings intensify. I’ve even heard it can feel like going to heaven. No, I mean! Forget it, really!" Hwarin, apparently guilty, flushed with embarrassment as she spoke. "Kekeke." Hwarin, you're adorable. “Don't laugh! This is really important!!!” “I understand. So stop crying and come here.” I spread my arms to make a space for Hwarin to enter. “But it’s really important…” Hwarin approached my embrace cautiously like a small trembling animal. “It’s not important.” I pulled her into a firm embrace and patted her back until her trembling subsided. ******************* “Hwarin.” “Hm?” Hwarin lifted her head, feeling the firm grasp of Kang Yoonho’s hands on her now-calmed shoulders. “You’ve really thought about this all wrong.” What had she misconstrued? Numerous thoughts floated in Hwarin’s mind, but she couldn’t pinpoint any. “What?” “Why do you think you belong to me? You have it backward; I belong to you.” Kang Yoonho said with a playful smile to Hwarin. “What?” “I’ve already told you, so now it’s your turn. Tell me, Hwarin, whose woman are you?” “Uh.” This man. Is he seeking revenge for the embarrassment I showed when recounting the event with the elders? Sure, I felt embarrassed, but it was because I was happy, delighted, because he was wonderful. Hwarin looked at him with slightly aggrieved eyes. “Embarrassed?” “No! No! I am... Yoonho’s woman.” When Kang Yoonho deliberately spoke in a tone of slight disappointment, she immediately blurted out whose woman she really was. I am Yoonho’s woman. Before saying it, Hwarin felt shy, but after speaking out, a fulfilling sensation filled her heart. Kang Yoonho looked at Hwarin earnestly and began to speak. “Yes. Hwarin is my woman. And for my woman, I have risked even my life.” “So what?” Hwarin made a timid protest, but her face was already on the verge of surrender. The warm feeling filling her chest, the hope that he would not give up on her made it difficult to hide the smile creeping upon her lips. Kang Yoonho, to lift her from the brink of despair and to assure her, made one final promise. “I will wait for the day Hwarin comes back from Daseogak.” -------------- Hwarin gazed at Kang Yoonho with surprised eyes for a while and, overwhelmed with emotion, she murmured with her head bowed. “You really have a knack for making serious concerns seem so trivial.” “What now? Is that a complaint?” “Take it as a compliment, understand!” Sometimes I wonder if this man is too perceptive or not at all. “You're really going to wait?” Perhaps she heard wrong. Even though she was sure she hadn’t, Hwarin wanted to hear it again and looked at him to ask. “Yes, I'll wait.” “It might take less time with diligent training, but it could really take up to 10 years.” “Perhaps time will fly by while I'm engrossed in writing?” Hwarin's heart fluttered at his words, treating the span of 10 years as if it were nothing significant. “So, you won’t be tempted by anyone else?” “Eh…? Uh-uh.” Kang Yoonho hesitated while answering, his mind unknowingly drifting to heroines past and future encounters. “What’s with that hesitation?” Hwarin was keen not to miss that moment. “Ah! It’s not that, Hwarin!” Kang Yoonho tried to explain, but there was no need. Hwarin’s face was already brimming with laughter. Hwarin stopped her playful scolding and gazed at the face of the man she loved. How could she harbor any resentment towards a man who promised to wait for her for 10 years? How could she not love him? The tears stopped, and happiness leaked into her eyes. And they say happiness multiplies when shared. Before they knew it, the distance between the two, who had laughed and argued and then laughed again, had closed. The lips of the two that had parted before now approached one another once more. Like tightening a knot to make a stronger connection, the pink ribbon that bound them was tied again firmly, more insistently, as if unable to bear letting go. Back in the carriage returning to the Sachun Dang family, Even after the pink ribbon had been undone, their hands remained clasped together, inseparable. ************ No matter how much one hopes for the day not to come, time approaches without fail. I prepared to return to Daseogak without Hwarin, getting ready all that I could learn and take from the Dang family. Hwarin devoted herself to martial arts training under the guidance of Dang family experts and intermittently treated the young master who suffered from Danggeo-ho’s poison. Later, news came that Hwarin had succeeded in waking the young master from his slumber. And so, the day of our parting with Hwarin arrived.