In the end, I chose to voluntarily seclude myself in a corner to avoid revealing my heightened emotions. What I hadn’t expected was that the man known as the First Sword of Hwasan was also good at finding people.

“Heun-ah.”

Come to think of it, sensing someone’s presence would be easy for this person. I just wish he would leave me alone for a while.

Especially now, when I’m crying.

I knew I shouldn’t, but I kept my head down, pretending not to hear. Master, who had been silently looking down at me, suddenly reached out his hand.

And in an instant, my body was lifted into his arms.

“Ah.”

I reflexively grabbed his shoulder. Though slightly awkward, there was a sense of stability, probably due to his inherent strength, that made me feel I wouldn’t be dropped.

But that stability wasn’t what I needed. I slowly let go of the hem of his clothes that I had grabbed, but Master adjusted his hold and embraced me even more firmly.

Perhaps due to the suddenness of being lifted, my tears had stopped momentarily out of surprise, but just as I was about to truly become annoyed at not being able to cry freely, Master quietly asked.

“Why are you hiding in a place like this?”

Why do you think?

Unable to express my genuine irritation here, I stubbornly kept my mouth shut. In response, instead of trying to get an answer from me, he carried me out of the storage room where I had hidden myself.

The night breeze touched my wet cheeks. Following that, a large hand awkwardly brushed my cooled face.

“Heun-ah.”

It was a low voice, almost blending into the still night air.

“Bringing you here and becoming your master… it was by no means a decision made lightly.”

There was a power in that voice that commanded attention, despite its sharp edge just moments before. I finally glanced up at Master.

…Suddenly, I had a feeling that something like this had happened once before.

‘That’s impossible, though.’

But for some reason, it was a very vivid sense of déjà vu.

“This is my first time taking on a disciple, so there will certainly be areas where I’m lacking. But as it wasn’t a decision made lightly, I will always strive to be a good master to you.”

Master let out a shallow sigh.

“That’s not to say that you need to make an effort as well. The decision to form this master-disciple relationship was mine, so you don’t need to do that. Just…”

As I listened to his words, I felt a newfound appreciation.

There are things that can only be felt when bodies are in contact. Every word this person spoke was sincere.

Just as in the original work I knew, this person truly was a good adult.

“Just know that you don’t have to hide and cry like this.”

Perhaps that’s why, the moment I realized it, I was already truly comforted by those words.

‘But…’

Strictly speaking, aren’t those words meant for ‘Baek Yeoeun’, the original owner of this body, and not me?

His first 12-year-old disciple who survived alone after her clan was wiped out in a mysterious attack.

‘…What should I do, having taken over the body of such a disciple?’

Of course, it wasn’t intentional. I had no idea why this had happened either.

But the guilt towards Master, who knew nothing, and ‘Baek Yeoeun’, whose whereabouts were unknown, inevitably gnawed at my weakened heart.

‘I should have thought about this earlier too.’

Shortly after waking up, I had briefly wondered where the body’s original owner was, but then forgot about it.

I shouldn’t have.

It was an issue I should have considered immediately after accepting that this wasn’t a dream, but reality.

* * *

Several more days passed after that.

The man in white clothes I had seen on the first day turned out to be Master’s senior disciple, making him my senior uncle, and he belonged to the medical hall of Hwasan.

Only after he firmly declared that I had fully recovered was I finally able to receive my Taoist name and officially become a disciple of the Hwasan sect.

“From today, you are a disciple of Hwasan. Your Taoist name is Ha-heun.”

Yes, it was ‘Ha-heun’, just as I had remembered.

Additionally, on the same day, I performed the Nine Bows Ceremony and officially became Master’s disciple.

After all the procedures were completed and I was finally left alone, I felt the need to reorganize my thoughts.

“First of all…”

This body that I’m unintentionally using now.

I certainly feel sorry for the original owner of this body.

I’m sorry, but now is not the time to focus on those emotions.

My earthly self is probably already dead, so it would be futile to harbor any lingering attachments. However, ‘Baek Yeoeun’, the original owner of this body, wouldn’t have severed her attachments to her own life like I did.

‘It wasn’t to the point of dying, and she should have memories of being saved by Master.’

Why such a ‘Baek Yeoeun’ is not in this body.

Whether she’s dead, or hiding somewhere deep inside, I couldn’t know for now.

So from now on, I, as someone who has unintentionally occupied someone else’s body, needed to find out the cause of this incident while also considering what to do if ‘Baek Yeoeun’ isn’t dead and wants to reclaim this body.

‘But to do that, I need to live for now. I need to be alive to find anything.’

That’s why it’s not the time to focus on feelings of guilt.

There’s a logical reason, but the statement itself feels too shameless, so I swallowed the sigh that was about to escape. And I whispered softly.

“It might not be enough to call it a substitute, but…”

Perhaps it should be called the minimum duty of someone using a borrowed body.

“If I end up living in this body for a long time… I’ll do my best to become an adult without incident, no, to become a good adult.”

After finishing my soliloquy, I smiled bitterly the next moment.

Trying to change the unfortunate future that was destined for the body’s owner is, of course, undeniably out of concern for the body’s owner whose whereabouts are unknown. ‘Baek Yeoeun’ wouldn’t want Master to die either.

But to be more honest, it was also for myself.

‘Because I absolutely don’t want to follow the original plot.’

In martial arts novels, the Nine Bows Ceremony is something that should be taken very seriously and solemnly. Although I’m not the original owner of this body, it was still me who formally bowed to Master today.

So he can now be considered my master as well.

‘I can’t let him die betrayed by his disciple.’

I’m already hiding the fact that I’ve been transmigrated into ‘Ha-heun’s’ body. Having deceived my master before even starting, I wanted to comfort myself that I was making amends in this way, even though I have no intention of honestly revealing this in the future.

Whether I live the life of a transmigrator with this body, carrying guilt as a lifelong companion, or return the body midway, whichever it may be, if I set the goal of ‘becoming a good adult’…

No bad consequences should befall us.

* * *

The second-generation disciples of the same division as me had already been initiated for well over 10 years.

It was only natural that I, who had just had my name added to the sect’s register, couldn’t join them for training, so I had to receive one-on-one instruction from Master.

Early in the morning of the day after the Nine Bows Ceremony.

I sat facing Master in the practice room.

“The first thing you’ll learn is the most basic Six Harmonies Mind Technique. Everyone who enters Hwasan starts by learning this technique. I’ll teach you the incantation first, so listen carefully. The Six Harmonies Mind Technique is…”

As Master slowly explained the incantation, I stared at his face and quietly listened to his words.

The incantation contains many things.

How to compose one’s mind, what the Six Harmonies are, what insights the ancestor who created this technique gained from it, where he aimed to reach through those insights, what he wanted to pass down to future generations, such things.

‘…This is better than I expected.’

Fortunately, it wasn’t too difficult to understand.

Master is fundamentally a genius. Of course, he must have worked harder than anyone else, but fundamentally, he’s someone born with talent, a body suitable for wielding a sword, and even a mind that understands martial arts.

So I was a bit prepared, thinking he might not be good at teaching others, but contrary to my expectations, he explained things quite well, and I was understanding his explanations without much difficulty.

Perhaps my expression changed without me realizing it, because Master narrowed his eyes and asked after finishing his explanation.

“Is it difficult to understand?”

“…No, but I couldn’t memorize it all.”

“There’s no need to do that the first time you hear it, so don’t worry. I’ll explain it a few more times.”

He smiled lightly and suddenly took something out from his chest. It was a wooden box about the size of a palm.

“It would be good to eat this first.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a spirit pill.”

As I was about to receive the wooden box being casually handed to me, I paused at the unexpected significant word that came out so nonchalantly.

“…Pardon?”

“It’s called the Jade Plum Pill.”

There was… such a thing?

More importantly, a spirit pill?

I don’t know where to start questioning. As I just widened my eyes, the explanation continued.

“Just as Shaolin has the Great Return Pill and the Small Return Pill, and Wudang has the Supreme Clarity Pill and the Lesser Clarity Pill, Hwasan has the Purple Essence Pill, the Jade Plum Pill, and a few other spirit pills. Compared to other sects, Hwasan is particularly skilled in producing spirit pills. The Jade Plum Pill, while not as precious as the Purple Essence Pill, is quite valuable.”

I could only remember the general background and plot of this unnamed martial arts novel, so I couldn’t recall such detailed elements, making everything I heard new to me.

I see.

So there’s such a thing.

It’s valuable, huh.

“But why are you giving it to me…”

“The Great Elder, Jinneung, who is your grand-master, bestowed it upon you. It seems he’s taken a liking to you.”

No, that can’t be right.