Chapter 6

She narrowed her eyes as she looked toward the hotel, which probably wasn’t even thinking about this place.

Although she was sometimes annoyed whenever the hotel manager, Chun-rok, smiled at her, she had to admit that the other side hadn’t actually done anything wrong.

Right. They’re just following the rules too.

She was just about to feel sorry for getting unnecessarily angry at them all this time when Chun-rok, sensing her gaze, met her eyes.

He gave her a beautiful, gentle smile before naturally shifting his gaze toward the empty entrance of the motel.

……?

Was he mocking me?

It had only lasted for a brief moment, but she was certain she’d seen the corner of his mouth lift.

Even though he was quite far away, she could definitely tell!

He’s obviously looking down on me!

So-hee glared at him, but Chun-rok acted as though she wasn’t even there and skillfully welcomed the guests pouring into his hotel.

So-hee abruptly turned her head away.

It’ll be better for my mental health if I just don’t look at him.

“Sir Moon Jar.”

“What.”

“I’ll definitely succeed. I’ll make this motel so successful that I’ll leave my mark on the entire history of the Reincarnation Motel.”

“Do as you wish.”

So-hee clenched both fists tightly.

Although he had answered curtly, the Moon Jar somehow felt a pang in his heart.

He found So-hee admirable for burning with determination every time, yet at the same time, he couldn’t help feeling sorry for her.

In truth, compared with the managers who had come before her, So-hee was one of the less troublesome ones.

There had been managers who spent several months drowning in depression.

Some constantly nitpicked the motel, complaining that this or that wasn’t to their liking.

There had even been one who refused to send anyone back through reincarnation and decided to stay at the motel for the rest of their life.

At least So-hee wasn’t dissatisfied with the situation she herself was in.

All of her concerns were about the standards imposed on the clients seeking reincarnation.

Even so, the Moon Jar had no choice but to toughen her mentally.

They didn’t know how long she would have to remain here.

And the more dissatisfied she became with the world, the harder things would become for So-hee herself.

A tilted scale.

An unavoidable fate.

The absolute order of things.

If he made her understand these unfavorable conditions surrounding reincarnation, then even if she failed to send someone through reincarnation, at least she could blame the rules.

The Moon Jar hoped that the responsible So-hee wouldn’t fall into deep guilt.

So-hee opened the drawer beneath the front desk.

Inside, three lucky pouches lay neatly side by side: red, green, and white.

Red for regression.

Green for possession.

White for reincarnation.

Each pouch contained the new story of the person undergoing the process of reincarnation and transmigration.

When they left this place and returned to their fictional world, they absolutely had to carry the pouch with them.

So-hee stared intently at the lucky pouches.

Then, as though she had made up her mind, she took out the red one.

“I’ll satisfy every one of these conditions and send Elder Tang Je-ik back through regression.”

Exactly three days later, So-hee climbed the stairs to Tang Je-ik’s room.

In her hands were the red lucky pouch and a folder containing his new story.

“Miss Manager, is this… really right?”

Tang Je-ik stared at the regression story So-hee had prepared with a bewildered expression.

“Read everything first. We’ll talk after you’re finished.”

Tang Je-ik looked at So-hee before lowering his eyes and reading through the material she had prepared once again.

Tang Je-ik, head of the Tang Clan of Sichuan, from the web novel I Became the Immortal Heavenly Demon.

He regresses to twenty years before his death in the Great Battle, at the time when the Heavenly Demon experiences his first death and is reborn. Immediately after being born, he takes in the abandoned protagonist and raises him under his protection.

Up to this point, Tang Je-ik understood.

It was also what he wanted.

The confusing part was the sentence that followed.

His sole purpose in regressing is to become the master of the protagonist destined to become the Heavenly Demon and prevent the destruction of the world…

A master?

To prevent the destruction of the world?

He had clearly said that his only concern was the safety of his family.

He patiently continued reading.

At last, his eyes settled on the section describing Tang Je-ik’s purpose for regressing within I Became the Immortal Heavenly Demon.

“Hong Seon-ah.”

“Yes, Elder.”

For Hong Seon, who had once ended his life as the Heavenly Demon, Elder Tang Je-ik had been his only pillar of support.

He had endured and endured because of that feeling.

But after being reborn and fully recovering his memories, the terrible rage that had been embedded within his soul according to the contract began erupting again and again.

Now, he could no longer endure it.

His sister had taken her own life after being humiliated by an old nobleman.

The people who had tormented his parents like beasts.

Those who had simply insulted him, trampled him down, and treated him as their plaything.

He had even been caught while trying to flee from them and nearly beaten to death several times.

In the end, even his parents, who had tried to protect him, were sold away and met their deaths.

From that moment on, Hong Seon’s life no longer belonged to him.

Because someone came to him.

Someone who was filled with revenge and rage.

[I’ll make sure no one can ever stand above you. All you have to do is make a contract with me.]

Though he didn’t know what this ominous thing was, Hong Seon couldn’t refuse the contract.

He was consumed by nothing but the desire to kill everyone.

He never knew that this would become the fate that would turn him into the Heavenly Demon for countless eons…

‘Even if I’d known, would I really have refused that contract? Back then, I was willing to sell even my soul if it meant I could trample those bastards beneath my feet.’

Hong Seon knew that something inside him—something that was both himself and not himself—was violently churning.

His eyes, already resembling those of the Heavenly Demon, were gradually turning yellow and red.

Tang Je-ik quietly watched Hong Seon, who was suffering alone.

An emotion too complicated to put into words passed through his eyes.

He had known the boy’s fate, yet he had raised and cared for him since he was an infant.

At first, he had taken him in with the intention of persuading him to abandon his path.

But by now, it was impossible to say that his feelings remained the same.

“You have to walk that path, don’t you?”

“……”

“It seems there’s no way to stop it.”

Hong Seon fell to his knees.

Then he held out the long sword at his side toward Tang Je-ik.

It was the sword Tang Je-ik himself had bestowed upon him when he had become one of the Tang Clan’s most outstanding guards through his exceptional skill.

“Please leave for Maeamsa Temple. That is the one place beyond my control. So please, take your family and go there…”

“Hong Seon-ah.”

“No. Just kill me! Otherwise, I will kill everyone according to my fate.”

I can’t endure this torn-apart heart anymore…

Hong Seon pounded his chest with his fists.

Fate.

Tang Je-ik couldn’t say anything.

The Heavenly Demon’s contract, that fate, was once again driving Hong Seon toward a path of death.

By now, every clan must have received the sign announcing the Heavenly Demon’s return.

Tang Je-ik’s throat bobbed heavily.

“Kill you…”

He stared intently at Hong Seon.

“I have no intention of adding weight to your resentment.”

Hong Seon raised his reddened eyes and looked at him.

His normally gentle and dependable elder looked unusually haggard today, and Hong Seon clenched his fists.

Tang Je-ik withdrew the warm gaze he had been giving Hong Seon and stared toward the distant mountains.

“I can no longer protect you. Today will be the last day I can turn my back on all the righteous clans to protect you.”

Hong Seon closed his eyes.

Tears dripped down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry. For all those countless lives, I didn’t realize it sooner and failed to embrace you. When you were drowning in the mud and wanted to die, it wasn’t me who reached out a hand to you. It was that wretched contract.”

“……!”

Hong Seon, who remembered his past lives, stared at him in shock.

He knew about this cursed fate too?

Hong Seon’s breath caught.

He knew that one day I would kill every clan and all their families, yet he still took me in…?

Why? Why in the world?

“Just remember one thing.”

With reddened eyes, Tang Je-ik gave him a smile that was clearly his final one.

Then he held out a dagger symbolizing the members of the Tang Clan.

“Remember that someone once tried to become the sword that would cut through that tenacious fate of yours.”

So-hee looked at Tang Je-ik’s face after he finished reading everything.

He still seemed confused by the thought that he would become so closely connected to the person destined to become the Heavenly Demon.

“The purpose of your regression is ‘returning to save your family from the Heavenly Demon.’ You’ll protect the protagonist and raise him from childhood.”

“…That’s right.”

So-hee let out a short breath.

“But a personal goal like that makes regression difficult.

“So I twisted it just a little.

“Instead of ‘my family,’ we’re going with ‘an attempt to prevent the destruction of the world.’

“Even if that isn’t your true purpose, from this moment onward, this is our purpose.”

So-hee’s gaze hardened.

From now on, there couldn’t be even the slightest deviation.

Tang Je-ik’s mind and heart had to firmly accept regressing to save the world as his purpose.

“So it means the Heavenly Demon’s emergence can’t ultimately be prevented.”

“That is the author’s intention.

“We can’t interfere with the larger framework of the Heavenly Demon reincarnating dozens of times.

“So we have to find a way to accomplish our goal within that framework.”

Wrap the true purpose—returning to save his family—in the grand cause of saving the world.

It seemed Tang Je-ik had also understood the intention she hadn’t said aloud, because he nodded.

“……”

Tang Je-ik took a moment to steady his breathing.

It was still difficult for him to accept the idea of forming such a deep emotional bond with the Heavenly Demon, someone with whom he had previously had no connection whatsoever.

Even so, Tang Je-ik thought this direction wasn’t bad.

If it meant protecting his family, what wouldn’t he do?

After reading the document once more, Tang Je-ik asked So-hee,

“Isn’t it possible that this could be the Heavenly Demon’s final reincarnation?

“So if I return and help him, perhaps…”

He left the rest unsaid.

Perhaps I might really be able to save the world.

So-hee smiled.

“Perhaps.

“Who knows what kind of breakthrough the Heavenly Demon, after reincarnating dozens of times, might achieve in this particular life with you?”

“I see.”

He read the story again and again.

Before he knew it, he was gradually becoming immersed in it.

Eventually, he nodded.

“You are right.

“I will take in the Heavenly Demon and guide him onto the right path.

“And through that, I will prevent the destruction of the world…”

With those words, Tang Je-ik unconsciously closed his eyes.

Seeing this, So-hee opened the mouth of the red lucky pouch she had brought with her.

In an instant, the surroundings became deathly quiet.

Silence descended as though only the two of them existed in the entire world—Tang Je-ik with his eyes closed, and So-hee sitting before him.

So-hee looked directly at Tang Je-ik.

“Within the novel I Became the Immortal Heavenly Demon, Tang Je-ik, head of the Tang Clan of Sichuan, wishes to regress.”