Godsent Top Star [EN]: Chapter 273

273. Another Reprieve (1)

July 31, 2022

The answer that came back was truly unexpected.

“You just… saved him?”

“Yeah.”

Madam Kang, who answered casually, gestured somewhere.

The old man who had brewed the tea quickly appeared and began setting up again.

Rinsing out the cold water and pouring in hot water.

Using it to warm the cups and even the teapot, before pouring out the tea, seemingly satisfied.

“Hmm. The aroma is good.”

Slurp.

Even though it was a serious conversation, Madam Kang’s actions seemed as nonchalant as her answer.

Yeon-woo, who had been spacing out until then, barely managed to regain his senses.

“No, but why?”

Just because.

If you looked it up in a dictionary, it would probably be listed like this:

‘Without any compensation, condition, or meaning.’

You didn’t even need to read the definition in the Standard Korean Dictionary to get the nuance.

‘Just because? Just because? No. Who on earth would just throw away their life?’

There was someone.

Right in front of his eyes.

“You just saved him? Just because?”

Just by looking at her, it was clear that Madam Kang had almost no strength left.

The only place where Yeon-woo, who was tormented by all sorts of *japgwi* [minor ghosts] and *aggwi* [evil spirits] from outside, could rest was this house.

This place was a fortress with a powerful barrier that no living or dead person could enter without Madam Kang’s permission.

That fortress was collapsing.

It also meant that Madam Kang’s strength was running out to the point where the evil entities outside dared to covet her.

The reason why Madam Kang, who was a more outstanding shaman than anyone else, was losing her strength so quickly.

‘…She used life force.’

Otherwise, there was no reason why the sturdy Kang Yeon-hwa would be collapsing silently.

If he had been destined to die then, all of this would make sense.

However, Kang Yeon-hwa twisted that fate.

The price for using a power too great for the vessel was the destruction of the vessel.

Kang Yeon-hwa’s situation was exactly like that.

‘I can’t understand it.’

“But why? Why did you do that? Huh?”

Because he couldn’t understand, he couldn’t help but keep asking.

Madam Kang, who had been staring at Yeon-woo’s blank face for a moment, clicked her tongue again.

“Why do you keep asking? Does a mother need a reason to save her child?”

I thought you had grown up.

You’re still young. Too young.

She muttered with a click of her tongue.

It was the same firm voice as usual.

“That’s why I told you not to go out that day. Didn’t I say you were having terrible bad luck?”

She had said that.

It was Yeon-woo who didn’t listen to her.

“I shed tears of blood when I sent your father away. But I couldn’t bear to send my own child away. So, just once, I defied fate.”

They both knew that this was the result.

“You said you didn’t want sacrifices, but did I have any other good way? Think about it. It’s a simple principle. A life for a life. Since I twisted that destiny, the price is coming.”

The simple principle was not simple at all.

The hand of salvation that came in place of death.

That was none other than an opportunity created with Kang Yeon-hwa’s life as collateral.

“I hoped you wouldn’t find out. But even though you’ve been neglecting your training, your senses are still good, so you noticed. It can’t be helped.”

Madam Kang sighed.

“Anyway, things have turned out this way, so just accept it and live. People are bound to die someday, and it seems like my time is now, so you just accept it.”

“Is that what you should be saying in front of your child?”

“Then what should I do? Crying and sniveling is not my style.”

That was true.

Madam Kang was the type to solve problems like a bulldozer, scolding instead of crying even when difficult things happened.

“I told you. Your fate has only two paths. From what I see, it seems like you’ll end up walking both paths? That’s why you should have listened to your mother. Huh?”

A faint smile followed the end of her words.

Strangely, she looked weaker than Madam Kang usually did.

She was not the confident and resolute Kang Yeon-hwa from his memory.

The person in this place was not the Kang Yeon-hwa from his memory, but a person who was already exhausted and worn out.

‘Wait a minute.’

All of that was too unfamiliar.

Madam Kang’s weakened voice.

The look in her eyes, as if she was calmly facing the end.

Yeon-woo couldn’t accept any of that.

‘Really?’

His head was heavy with the facts that had been difficult to accept since earlier.

Only one fact was circling in his head.

Madam Kang. His mother. Was facing death.

And that was to save him.

‘No, wait. Is this really the end? It can’t be.’

Even though the fact was right in front of him, Yeon-woo couldn’t accept it.

‘Madam Kang. That Madam Kang… The confident Madam Kang who would scold even high-ranking officials… Is she leaving like this? Like this?’

He couldn’t believe it.

He couldn’t accept it either.

If he had known that his choice back then would lead to this ending, he wouldn’t have wandered outside.

He would have obediently followed his mother’s words and devoted himself to training.

“Don’t be too shocked. It’s my time to go anyway. It’s nice to see your face one last time, even though my strength has weakened and you found out… It’s not bad.”

Rough but warm body temperature touched the tip of his hand.

She patted his tightly clenched fist, as if comforting him.

“Don’t think about blaming yourself. It’s fate that this would happen anyway. Just as you saved someone, thinking of your father, and took on bad luck, I’m taking away your bad luck.”

So, don’t have any foolish thoughts, Madam Kang said in an unusually gentle tone.

“What’s meant to happen will happen no matter what. That day, it couldn’t have been any other way. You would have suffered an accident in some way. And I knew that, but I couldn’t stop you.”

“……”

“Come to think of it, it’s strange. There was always a great misfortune lurking in your future, so I was so worried. But strangely, your fate only had two paths. In the end, it was destined to be this way. A fate where defying fate is fate. Isn’t that like Janggeum looking for a persimmon? Isn’t it funny?” [Referring to a famous Korean folktale about a woman named Janggeum who overcomes many obstacles to find a persimmon for the king.]

A calm voice.

Nowhere in that voice could he find any regret or sadness about her own death.

She was just listing the calm facts that it was something that was going to happen.

Yeon-woo’s insides were completely different from that.

‘If I had known this would happen.’

If he had known this would happen.

‘I would have desperately collected lifespan from the start.’

If he had known that he was standing on Kang Yeon-hwa’s sacrifice.

‘I would have worked harder… more desperately than now.’

Wouldn’t he be living a different life now?

Doing more works.

Being more active in more activities.

Spreading more influence.

‘I was foolish.’

Someone said that ignorance is not a sin.

But at this moment, it wasn’t for Yeon-woo.

Not knowing was a sin.

The past days that he had lightly brushed off were now regrettable.

The life he had lived faithfully in his own way, experiencing trial and error in a situation where he knew nothing, paled in comparison to Kang Yeon-hwa’s death.

“Don’t make that face. The person who has to live has to live anyway. It’s nice to see you before I leave, but if the last expression I see is like that. How can I leave in peace?”

“……You don’t have to leave.”

“I’m the one who’s about to die, but you’ve changed. Why is a grown-up acting like a child?”

No.

Is it because he’s still a young and tender child?

Madam Kang, who said that, had a carefree expression, as if she had let go of many things.

“Eat well. You have a small appetite, so I’m worried that you won’t eat. Tsk tsk. You’re already losing weight……”

All the words sounded like a final farewell.

[Yeon-hwa! Yeon-hwa! What are you saying! It’s like you’re really leaving!]

The *donggaryeong* [child spirit], who had been eavesdropping diligently while hiding, couldn’t stand it any longer and ran out.

[If Yeon-hwa isn’t here, how am I supposed to live!]

“Dongja, I think you sometimes forget that you’re dead.”

[Aish……! If it isn’t a busybody, they’re pointing out the same thing!]

“And if I leave, you can just follow Yeon-woo. What are you worried about? Isn’t that right?”

[Yeon-woo! Stop Yeon-hwa. Waaah!]

The child spirit, covered in tears and snot, burst into tears towards Yeon-woo.

“Don’t disturb the mind of a child who’s doing well. Even if I don’t have much strength, I can still shut your mouth, Dongja.”

[Why is it that only those things are the same as before?!]

The house was in an uproar because of the child spirit’s commotion.

The household gods, who had known about the strangeness earlier and for a longer time, gathered one by one, murmuring.

[Yeon-hwa… Are you really leaving? Can’t you not go?]

“I’m already at the end of my life, so how can I not go?”

[The *doryeong* [young master] has come too. Ask the young master……]

“Ah, come on. Let’s not be so clingy. You guys will be fine even without me.”

[At least *yeongryeok* [spiritual power]라도…]

“Ahem!”

The commoners, unlike the dead, added words.

Yeon-woo’s ears perked up.

“Spiritual power?”

Come to think of it, that was right.

The reason why Kang Yeon-hwa was dying was because the vessel that contained the spiritual power, the life force, was broken.

Since the life that had been pooling was leaking through the broken gap, there was no way she could withstand it.

The empty vessel could not survive alone.

“Then that’s it.”

Yeon-woo grabbed Madam Kang’s hand, which was covering his hand, with his other hand.

Kang Yeon-hwa smiled faintly, wondering how he had thought of that.

“Is today really the day the sky is torn in two? You’re doing things you never used to do. You’ve really become more childish.”

She spoke as if scolding him, but her tone was gentle.

In a situation where it might be the last time, she was deeply moved that her usually aloof and rebellious son was showing affection.

Of course, Yeon-woo didn’t hold Madam Kang’s hand for such sentimental reasons.

Firmly.

He put strength into the hand he was holding.

And.

“It’s not the day the sky is torn in two. It’s definitely not the day Madam Kang ascends to heaven.”

He began to pour spiritual power into her.

‘The vessel is broken? Then, if I fill it to overflowing before it leaks through the gap?’

He had tremendous power that Kang Yeon-hwa had acknowledged.

The spiritual power he had stolen from the forgotten god was also lying dormant in one corner.

If he filled it faster and more than the time it took for the power to be exhausted.

“Kang Yeon-woo! Let go of this hand!”

Kang Yeon-hwa, who immediately realized what Yeon-woo was thinking, hardened her expression.

“I don’t want to.”

“Your power is not meant to be used for this!”

“What is ‘this’? Mom said I have to do things for others. What’s the problem with following those words?”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“It is.”

Yeon-woo stubbornly put strength into the hand holding Kang Yeon-hwa.

“This won’t solve anything. It’s already out of my hands. No matter what you do, nothing will change.”

“I don’t care.”

Who decides what is useless and what is not?

Yeon-woo had no intention of helplessly letting go of Kang Yeon-hwa.

Even if all of this was a futile effort, he didn’t care.

It was better than losing Kang Yeon-hwa like this.

“Mom said that she just saved me.”

“Kang Yeon-woo.”

“So, I’m not going to think too much either.”

Yeon-woo’s spiritual power flowed into Kang Yeon-hwa’s body, as if dry rice paddies were absorbing sweet rain.

“Kang Yeon-woo! Stop it!”

“I don’t want to.”

As if he was going through a late puberty, Yeon-woo stubbornly met Kang Yeon-hwa’s fierce eyes with rebellious eyes.

He increased the spiritual power he was pushing in, as if showing off.

As if a parched tree was coming back to life, the precarious and dangerous aura that had been felt in Kang Yeon-hwa gradually faded.

“A child is trying to save his mother, so is there anything to think about? I’m just going to do it too. Just because. That’s a very good reason. Right?”

The pooled power was draining away like a tide in an instant.

His vision was dizzy, but he didn’t show it.

He felt a sense of crisis that if he let go of his hand here, Kang Yeon-hwa would disappear as she was.

“Stop it. It’s useless.”

“No. It’s working.”

“I said stop it. This is not going to work. Anyway……”

“Just let me do as much as I want to do.”

Kang Yeon-hwa’s sacrifice, or rather, her sacrifice, was truly a grateful thing.

But if he survived alone, standing on such a sacrifice.

What good would that be?

“It’s useless, I tell you.”

Yeon-woo didn’t even pretend to listen and continued to pour in spiritual power.

He didn’t know if it was possible in this way, but, well.

Wouldn’t it be worth a try?

That’s when it happened.

-Ting!

‘Huh?’

[Conditions are met!]

[The system is opened by meeting the conditions!]

-Ting!

[There are upgraded system items.]

[Would you like to check the item?]

[Yes/No]

The status window suddenly appeared at an unexpected moment.

The moment he saw it, Yeon-woo chose ‘Yes’ without thinking any further.

And.

[Congratulations! The system has been upgraded!]

[Reward: Another Reprieve][SSS]

A miracle happened.