Chapter 1383. Unfolding (3)

Han Eun-Sol sucked in a deep breath.

Who could this man be?

Choi Yeon-Ha seemed to recognize him, judging from her expression. But Han Eun-Sol had never met him, so his confusion and awe were understandable.

Han Eun-Sol instantly felt overwhelmed when the Crimson King stood before him. His instincts told him to get down on his knees right now and plant his forehead on the ground.

A sensation too foreign to a modern-era man ruled over Han Eun-Sol. He only sobered up thanks to Choi Yeon-Ha’s laid-back response.

“

Oh,

it’s you...!” She smartly bowed to the Crimson King. “Please forgive us for almost leaving without expressing our gratitude to the master of this house.”

“Not at all,” the Crimson King smiled brightly at Choi Yeon-Ha. “It has been my honor to host you, Lady Choi. I should ask for your forgiveness for not visiting you sooner instead. I feared that my presence could unduly alarm you or make your stay uncomfortable.”

“Thank you so much for your consideration, sir. We had a wonderful time.”

Choi Yeon-Ha replied with a gentle smile. But Han Eun-Sol could only swallow his saliva in nervousness.

Just who was this man? Of course, he didn’t miss Choi Yeon-Ha calling this gentleman the

master

of this house. That meant he owned this massive palatial residence...?

Wowsers. His impressive aura makes total sense, in that case!

Han Eun-Sol had run into many, many people over the years, but this was his first time feeling so overwhelmed by someone. Not even Kang Jin-Ho made him feel this way.

While Kang Jin-Ho’s natural aura of drawing people in and suppressing them was subtle, almost unnoticeable at times, this impressive gentleman radiated this indescribable force that made anyone looking at him reflexively hold their breath.

That’s how I feel, so how is Yeon-Ha noona acting so... brazenly before him?

Han Eun-Sol just couldn’t understand it. Maybe Choi Yeon-Ha had been secretly carrying balls of the toughest brass known to man...?

The unperturbed Choi Yeon-Ha continued to chat with the Crimson King, oblivious to her own manager’s sentiments. “Before we leave, should we pay you the rent?”

“

Ahahaha

! No, that won’t be necessary, Lady Choi, the Demon King’s...”

“Wait, please. Can you not refer to me as his lover or beau or something along those lines? I get nasty goosebumps whenever someone says that to me.”

“Oh? Then, what would you prefer?”

“I’m not his girlfriend, but Choi Yeon-Ha. Just Choi Yeon-Ha. Please call me Miss Choi.”

“

Mm

...! Indeed. You are also an independent person with some status yourself.”

Choi Yeon-Ha theatrically held her forehead, then lightly shook her head. She couldn’t help but think the Crimson King was a bit too boomer-ish.

“Very well, Miss Choi. If I charge you for your stay here, the Demon King will make a straight beeline to my home and demand an answer for it. I honestly don’t have the confidence in dealing with his wrath.”

Choi Yeon-Ha chuckled. “But I think you can deal with him just fine?”

“

Hahaha

! A man who wants to put on hot airs in front of women isn’t worth anyone’s time,” said the Crimson King while briefly waving his hand. “In any case, I hope our hospitality has been to your liking.”

“Yes, it was. Thank you so much for having us when we had nowhere else to go.”

Hang Eun-Sol subtly narrowed his eyes while staring at Choi Yeon-Ha.

Noona, didn’t you say you’d rather stay in a hotel? Seriously now, aren’t you such an expert at social life?

Choi Yeon-Ha bowed slightly again. “We must return to Korea now. If we visit again someday, I’ll make sure to bring a gift to express my gratitude.”

“

Hmm

... I’ll look forward to it,” the Crimson King smiled gently back at Choi Yeon-Ha, then nodded slightly. “Then, until we meet again.”

“Yes. Farewell, sir.”

The Crimson King turned around to leave.

Choi Yeon-Ha watched the Crimson King’s gallant figure getting further away, then sighed softly under her breath. “Geez, talk about getting scared out of my mind!”

Han Eun-Sol opened his eyes wider. “

Ehh

? But you looked fine and all?”

“I was not fine, Eun-Sol. I was shaking like crazy, you know?”

“

Wow

, even you? I couldn’t even breathe properly next to him, noona. He’s got that imposing stature thing going on, right?”

“No, it’s not like that, but...

Mm

...”

“

Eh

? What do you mean?”

Choi Yeon-Ha fanned her face, then sighed deeply. “That gentleman, didn’t he, you know, feel like a king?”

“In what way...?”

“I mean, look at this massive residence. And just how many servants work for him? And then, don’t you get the feeling that no one can carelessly touch him, either...? When you look at all those things, doesn’t it feel like he’s... A descendant of the Middle Eastern royalty?”

“

Huh

? Well, if you put it that way...?”

Han Eun-Sol couldn’t deny that making such an assumption didn’t feel

wrong

. Actually, if that gentleman hadn’t been wearing a traditional Chinese attire but wore an Arabic turban and had grown out a beard, Han Eun-Sol wouldn’t have had second thoughts about his origins!

“But what about it, noona?”

“You know,

that

. If you run into a Middle Eastern royalty, they might demand you to join his harem of twelve wives or something.”

“...”

Choi Yeon-Ha sighed in relief. “I was so scared about him proposing to me, you know?”

Han Eun-Sol grinned brightly. Even though he had known about the “truth” regarding his charge for many years now, he still received a friendly reminder today. This woman, she... was out of her bloody mind!

“Get real, noona! Do you think he’s blind?!”

“He’s not blind, and that’s why I was worried, you dummy! I wouldn’t have cared if he was blind as a bat!”

Han Eun-Sol faltered slightly.

Ah, she’s right. I shouldn’t have said that.

“S-so what if you’re pretty? When your personality is beyond hopeless?!”

Choi Yeon-Ha cocked her eyebrow. “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden? Besides, I used to receive a dozen-plus confessions every day during my younger days, okay!”

“And do you think those guys would’ve lasted three days under your tyranny?! Instead of boasting about getting a dozen-plus confessions, you should be kowtowing a dozen-plus times a day to Mister Jin-Ho!”

“What did you say?!”

“Let’s get real, noona! That gentleman looks like he has everything this world has to offer, like money and power! So why would he be interested in you?! Why would he want the stress of dealing with you?!”

“Say that again, you dumbass!”

Choi Yeon-Ha angrily pinched and yanked at Han Eun-Sol’s ear.

“

Aaaah

?!

Ouch

,

ouch

,

ouch

?! My ear, noona! My ear!”

“He’s not the one getting stressed, but me! Because of you! Come here, you dumbass! Imma beat some sense into you today!”

“

Ouch

,

ouch

,

ouch

?! Noona! The plane! We’re gonna miss our plane!”

“We haven’t even booked a ticket yet! Who are you trying to fool here?!”

Choi Yeon-Ha pulled at Han Eun-Sol’s ear before grinning softly. Without that phone call from Kang Jin-Ho, they wouldn’t be joking around like this.

But the knowledge of being able to go home and Kang Jin-Ho being safe had pretty much opened the floodgates of mischievousness in both of them.

“Okay, that’s enough horsing around,” said Choi Yeon-Ha.

Han Eun-Sol blinked his eyes in surprise. “

Eh

? Then you weren’t being serious?”

“...”

Choi Yeon-Ha shot a side-eye glare at Han Eun-Sol, and to his credit, he sneakily looked away to avoid further escalating the situation.

“T-the driver is waiting for us, noona. Let’s load our stuff in the van and get out of here.”

Choi Yeon-Ha tutted. “You better not think that I’ll go easy on you in the airport just because there are eyes watching.”

“Geez, are you a mind reader or something...?”

Han Eun-Sol grumbled under his breath while loading the waiting van with their luggage. Meanwhile, Choi Yeon-Ha turned around and took in the sights of all these memorable traditional Chinese buildings, her lips subtly twitching.

She couldn’t quite describe all these emotions and thoughts swirling in her head.

My luck with China is the worst, isn’t it?

It wasn’t as if this country had a problem with her. But it still felt like weird incidents kept happening to her whenever she was in China.

“Noona, I’m finished!”

“Got it. Let’s go!”

Choi Yeon-Ha climbed into the waiting vehicle, and Han Eun-Sol closed the door. The driver didn’t say a word while putting the van in gear and drove toward the airport.

***

The Crimson King grinned subtly while watching the distant van slip past the main gate and drive away. What an interesting woman Choi Yeon-Ha was.

He honestly had never met a woman so...

brazen

as her until now. After their latest interaction, he began suspecting that maybe the basis of her confidence was one or two loose screws in her head!

Of course, there had been various women who believed in their beauty and acted arrogantly before the Crimson King. However, their attitude would become much more subservient after realizing that their good looks weren’t enough to sway him.

However, not Choi Yeon-Ha. Even though she knew the Crimson King didn’t care much about her beauty, she still maintained her attitude.

Was it because she rode on the coattails of the Demon King?

No, I’m quite certain that is not the case.

If that had been true, Choi Yeon-Ha wouldn’t have been so

brazen

without the Demon King around.

“The two of them suit each other rather well.”

The Crimson King muttered his acknowledgment. He slowly licked his lips ruefully.

When he thought about it, the Demon King—Kang Jin-Ho—was an interesting person himself. Considering all the years he had lived so far, as well as the legend of Heavenly Crimson Demon Emperor, his mental age should be close to that of the Crimson King, yet he still could feel affection toward another person?

What an amazing thing that was, at least to the Crimson King.

When a person experienced many things and got hurt more times than they could count, their emotions were bound to get dulled. Numbed. They might still retain the ability to get angry, incensed, and even hate. But to love? To treasure others? That would become so much harder.

However, despite living for so long, Kang Jin-Ho still retained his ability to get angry. To love. To grieve. And to

enjoy

.

How... envious.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The Crimson King stared into the distance. He believed those qualities were the proof of one’s humanity.

To the Crimson King, who only cared about his obsession over gaining ever-greater strength, the prosperity of China and its people, and his unwavering belief in righteousness these days...

Kang Jin-Ho was a creature of indecipherable mystery.

Is it because he’s in the body of a youth?

Or maybe because Kang Jin-Ho was unique?

Whatever the answer was, one thing still remained unchanging. Those who pursued the extreme heights of martial arts that transcended human limitations must lose many things as the price for obtaining supreme strength.

Things such as desires, emotions, qualities of being human... Many, many things like those had to be lost. Without making these sacrifices, one could never climb higher.

...Because, trying to hold on to all those things would only weigh one down more and more.

This story didn’t only apply to the Crimson King, but to the other two Kings as well. Both the Dark King and the Azure King had transcended the limits of humanity by now. Actually, one might even say their situation was even more extreme than the Crimson King.

However, only the Demon King seemed exempt. Kang Jin-Ho seemed to have entered this realm as a human being. This was something no one thought was possible, yet he had done it with consummate ease.

He remained a human being and didn’t throw away things all human beings must possess. Of course, that was when viewed through the Crimson King’s eyes.

Maybe that was why Kang Jin-Ho could date a woman like Choi Yeon-Ha.

The Crimson King chuckled softly.

Keep getting stronger, oh the Demon King.

The status quo, the stand-off, between the mightiest beings had lasted for far too long.

But the Demon King’s entrance had rocked this balance. And the ones who had been cautiously observing the situation for all these years had finally started sharpening their rusty weapons.

Soon, the waves of chaos and unrest would come for this world. And the trigger for all these changes would be Kang Jin-Ho! His single presence rocked this world as if he was a small pebble creating ripples on a perfectly still surface of a vast lake.

The Crimson King could instinctively tell. While Kang Jin-Ho grew stronger, so would he.

A soft smirk floated up on the Crimson King’s face as he narrowed his eyes to spot the distant black van.

“How unfortunate.”

If only that woman wasn’t Kang Jin-Ho’s lover! The Crimson King might have been more tempted to try his luck, then.

“

Hah

! What am I even thinking about?”

The Crimson King guffawed genially, then leisurely stepped back inside his palace.

***

Choi Yeon-Ha grandly shuddered. “Wha... What was that?”

Han Eun-Sol glanced at her. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure. I just had this massive chill run down my back.”

She hurriedly rubbed her goosebumps-covered arms before looking behind her.

Han Eun-Sol tilted his head. “What are you looking at?”

“I dunno. Just.”

“Noona, you... Do you know you can be so weird sometimes?”

“Really now? I can be weird every single day if you want.”

“Nope. I’ll shut up now, noona...”

“Shut up ahead of time, okay? Our lives would become so much simpler if you knew when to shut up, yet you just have to make it harder for yourself, don’t you?”

“But, noona? Isn’t your life a bit too simple...

Euph

?!

Eupphhh

!”

Choi Yeon-Ha pinched Han Eun-Sol’s lips and began yanking at them, hard!

“Do you like ducks?! When you’re cosplaying as a duck during Halloween, now you won’t have to put on a duck's bill!”

“I... I’m

sowwy

...”

“Tsk!” Choi Yeon-Ha tutted while releasing her manager’s lips. She leaned against her seat while crossing her arms. “Can you tell the driver to step on it? I keep hearing this alarm bell going off in my head, you see? We gotta get out of China as quickly as possible.”

“Got it, noona.”

While Han Eun-Sol chatted with the driver in Chinese, Choi Yeon-Ha turned her head slightly to watch the passing scenery outside the van.

I seriously don’t mesh well with this country.

This must be why people often talked about their home countries and patriotism and whatnot.

Still, we’re finally going home, so...

She should be able to kick back and relax once safely back in South Korea.

Choi Yeon-Ha felt most of her tension ebb away and rested her head against the pillowy headrest while closing her eyes.

Unfortunately, she genuinely had no idea right now.

...That an event so much greater in scale than anything she had experienced until now was waiting for her in South Korea!