Eat The World Tree

Chapter 36: Peach Tree (5)

-Coo-coo-coo!

Trees rained down from the sky.

Unknown projectiles were flying around everywhere.

All were spectacles seen only in comics. They were appearing right before my eyes, blocking my way.

“Ha-ha-ha!”

Frowning, I assessed my remaining mana.

Due to Baekdo’s loathsome water attacks, my mana was running low, with no chance to recover.

-Kwang! Bang! Bang!

And as if knowing this, Baekdo’s interference became even more intense.

Arrows falling from the sky created storms and toppled the trees. Every time an arrow lodged near me, curses spontaneously erupt from my mouth.

“Damn, damn, damn!”

I ran down the never-ending slope. The downhill run at full speed was faster than I thought.

Then, thump- I tripped over a tree root and flew for a few seconds.

“This-”

Damn it.

-Whoosh!

I rolled down the slope awkwardly.

Leaves stuck between my clothes, and bruises formed on my arms and legs. After rolling for a while, I stopped against a large tree.

“Will you repent now, third-rate disciple! Your talent is usable. If you sincerely follow me, I’ll accept you as a direct disciple!”

A few words poured down like lightning from the sky.

I gritted my teeth, staggered, and stood up. Bruises were all over my body.

No matter how much the world lacked benevolence and righteousness, I couldn’t give up my will here.

A hard peach? A soft peach? Honestly, I didn’t care. A peach was just a peach; what significance did it have? It just needed to be tasty.

Honestly, if I were a bit flexible here, my future training could be on track.

“Say it! Soft peaches are tasteless!”

But, really, just thinking about the irritating Baekdo irked me.

Despite her appearance, seeing the teasing Baekdo, I wanted to hit her in the face with my elbow.

‘It’s the same feeling when my cousin broke my 1.9 million won laptop.’

Honestly, I didn’t care.

It was just my stubbornness that wouldn’t leave me alone.

I took a deep breath and shouted with all my might.

“Shut up!!!!”

Then I ran.

Baekdo, floating leisurely above, was looking at me and laughing.

“I understand. If that is the will of a third-rate disciple-”

A whisper. Words filled with resignation.

A massive wave of mana filled the mountains.

“-Drown with the water.”

-Oomph!

White orbs filling my sight were shining as if they were about to engulf me any second.

I muttered with a voice mixed with admiration and absurdity.

“……Crazy.”

I couldn’t avoid this.

A sincere idiot… thus, a more disgusting idiot.

-Coo-coo-coo!

Looking at the white orbs rushing towards me, I closed my eyes.

……

The noise stopped.

…

But why was nothing happening?

I lifted my trembling eyelids. The mana orbs that were about to engulf me were nowhere to be seen.

The woman who was standing in the air slowly descended and walked towards me.

Her eyes were very annoyed and almond-shaped. Her medium-length red hair was neatly tied and pinned with a dark hairpin, revealing her white nape. She walked towards me with proud and graceful steps, her arms crossed arrogantly.

Her steps were different from Hwangdo’s gentle ones.

And different from Baekdo’s arrogant strides.

The impassive expression on her face seemed to be thoroughly controlling her emotions.

A different kind of impassiveness from the blunt face of Sansuyu. Trees rose behind her, just like when I saw Hwangdo behind her.

“……Cheondo?”

“Hmm, you know my name? Then this will be quick.”

Her slightly red, energy-filled hair was entwined and fluttered in the wind, infiltrating through the trees.

The atmosphere on her face was vastly different from Hwangdo and Baekdo; she looked completely different, just like when I first saw Hwangdo.

“Were you a triple personality?”

“It’s not strange. It’s a problem our successor of the Peach Tree must face.”

Cheondo cleared her throat once.

“And. I apologize for Baekdo’s actions. It must have been dangerous.”

“Yes, it seemed so.”

“Then why fight like children over such trivial things?”

I could not respond to Cheondo’s reprimand.

Because she was right. If Jin Dallae or Lee Seyeong were here instead of Sansuyu, I would have received at least a mouthful of curses.

In a way, the fight between Baekdo and me was inevitable.

Given the volatile topic and two stubborn people present.

“If you meet Baekdo again, try to be a little flexible.”

“I can’t.”

But that didn’t mean I could bend.

“Paying malice with malice. Like repaying hatred with hatred, an eye for an eye, the only thing that can remove stubbornness is vulgar stubbornness. Honestly, I don’t care about the peach. I just get angry just by looking at Baekdo.”

“……So, there are two of such characters in this world.”

Cheondo frowned, her eyebrows forming the character 八.

She studied me closely and sighed.

“Such a large container, too. Why are all the talented ones like this? Geez.”

“…Do you prefer hard peaches, Cheondo? Or soft peaches?”

“Why should I care about such things?”

Cheondo mumbled to herself with crossed arms.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s thick or thin. It’s good if it’s fresh.”

“They say if you like fresh things, you are a pervert.”

“You sound just like Baekdo.”

I went pale.

Whenever Baekdo was mentioned, I couldn’t manage my expressions as if a trigger button had been pressed.

“Do you dislike Baekdo that much?”

“It’s hard to explain. It seems like there are just some incompatible things between people. Yes.”

“Repelling characters. I understand. You fought over such a trivial subject.”

I didn’t bother to correct that it wasn’t a trivial subject.

Cheondo reached her hand to the sky. The surrounding leaves gathered in her hand, soon forming the shape of a sword.

“I’ll go then. Finish your training or not, it’s up to you.”

“Where are you going?”

“Since I’ve tormented you one-sidedly, I should give similar trials to the other side for fair training.”

“I see.”

Cheondo walked away, sword in hand.

I looked seriously at her latex-covered hips.

“Can I ask one thing?”

“Speak.”

“Who owns the body?”

A silence circled around the mountain.

The squirrels fled up the trees. When the wind blew through the trees, her hair fluttered in succession.

“Owner. Never bothered about such things.”

She took a step forward.

“Peach Tree, yeah. It’s not such an honorable family.”

She took another step.

“The sins of the past definitely extend to the future. If you call it a curse, then it certainly is a curse.”

Clank- Cheondo tucked the leafy sword into her latex-covered waist.

“So maybe we didn’t need to be born in the same body at the same time. We wouldn’t have to split our scarce time to see the outside world.”

She turned her head.

“If we weren’t in the same body? Well. Would we have been triplets? Maybe sisters born in consecutive years? But fantasies end as fantasies. No matter how much you speculate, you don’t know unless you go back to the past. If you ask who is the owner of this body, who can answer since we never experienced it?”

With the usual blank expression, she murmured.

“I’m old, but it’s not me. The karma incurred by the Peach Tree that abandoned Cheonryun is just like that.”

“What kind of karma is that?”

“You talk too much. You are impolite.”

“Having been treated the same as Baekdo, I decided to ask whatever I want to know.”

Cheondo gave me a faint smile. This was the first smile I saw that was very beautiful.

“I can’t tell you that, but I can give you one piece of advice.”

“What is it?”

Cheondo looked at me and moved her arm once.

Swipe.

The sword at my waist was neatly cut in half and fell down.

“Shiheon.”

“Yes.”

“You are more suited for martial arts than the sword.”

The leaves moved.

With a gust of wind, various grasses covered Cheondo’s body, and soon, she disappeared.

---

Lying on the cabin floor, I blankly recollect her words.

-You are more suited for martial arts than the sword.

Martial Arts.

Put down the sword, and use your fists.

Have I ever thought about that in my life?

I simulated it several times in my head. But the answer was always the same.

The fist was weaker than the sword. The spear was stronger than the sword. In combat against people, reach always mattered.

Why would I use fists when there were perfectly good weapons?

To be blunt, if a fist could defeat a sword, it would shake the proposition of the word weapon itself.

‘Nevertheless.’

Cheondo said to walk the path of martial arts.

It was not me who couldn’t distinguish whether it was true or false.

She was sincere, and I accepted it as the truth.

‘But, who will teach me martial arts?’

Baekdo? I hated that woman. Aside from her body and face, there was nothing about her I liked.

“Ugh…”

I aligned my arms neatly, laid them under my head, and sighed while looking at the ceiling.

Did I stay like this for a while?

Rustle. Rustle.

I heard a rustling sound nearby.

Sansuyu, immersed in sleep, was motionless as if she had taken a sleeping pill. Judging by the direction of the sound, it seemed like Cheondo had gotten up.

“Are you awake?”

I casually asked, but there was no reply.

Rustle, rustle.

The sound of rustling blankets.

A woman who got up abruptly went out of the cabin.

What was she trying to do?

I stood up and stretched with a yawn.

My mind was a bit foggy, and if I closed my eyes, I would surely fall asleep.

Still, there were a lot of thoughts to sort out.

Shuffle.

I got up and went outside.

The mountain air, filled with the essence of the night, was cold and refreshing.

It was an air that was familiar, yet I missed it.

Would the air on the last night of my hometown have tasted like this?

With a bitter thought, I wandered through the mountains.

Gurgle.

Then, the sound of flowing water tickled my ears. Was there a stream nearby in this vicinity?

I was so sleepy that I was no different from a senseless goblin.

Gurgle.

I continued moving my feet, following the sound of nature.

And I mumbled.

“The air is quite refreshing.”

“-Eek!”

A delicate maiden’s voice intervened in the monologue.

I was startled and moved my feet to that place.

“Wa, wait. Stop!”

“Eh? What is……Oh.”

“!!!!.”

When I turned my head, there was Cheondo, naked, squatting.

Steam rose from the tightly closed legs.

The neatly opened latex clothes were glittering in the moonlight next to the clearly visible white buttocks in the bright moonlight.

I touched my forehead with my hand.

Cheondo’s dignity hit rock bottom.