Childhood Friend of the Zenith

This bastard…

Wait, should I say “bitch” instead? Anyway, I didn’t really know much about this girl.

Zhuge Jihee.

That was the bastard’s name, at least from what I knew.

This young lady from the Zhuge Clan had noticeable freckles and thin eyes. But what mattered wasn’t how her appearance, it was her surname: Zhuge.

The Zhuge Clan, once one of the Five Noble Clans and pillars of the Central Plains, was annihilated by none other than the Murim Alliance.

The reason for their annihilation was their treachery and their ill motives regarding the Blood Disaster.

It was quite simple to guess exactly what kind of treachery the noble Zhuge Clan committed if you thought about the other moniker they were called by.

The Descendants of the Blood Demon.

People referred to the members of the Zhuge Clan as the descendants of the Blood Demon.

According to the records, neither did the Blood Demon have any relatives nor did he have any descendants, but there was still a reason why people called the Zhuge Clan by that moniker.

The Zhuge Clan had become followers of the Blood Demon and had secretly planned to betray the Orthodox Sect.

It is said the Murim Alliance quickly suppressed the Zhuge Clan and led them to swift destruction after finding out.

They willingly became followers of the Blood Demon? I honestly can’t understand.

It made absolutely no sense for a noble clan of the Orthodox Faction, let alone one of the Five Noble Clans to make such a choice.

Well, I never really cared for such things, let alone try to understand them.

Anyway.

Because of that, the direct line of the Zhuge Clan was executed, and most people with the Zhuge surname who still lived to this day were from the branch families.

But even the few who survived, lived their lives by hiding their surname or without knowing that they even had such a surname.

I only knew Zhuge Hyuk and Zhuge Jihee who still bore the Zhuge surname.

Of course, it was possible for the Immortal Healer to also have the Zhuge surname if Zhuge Hyuk really was his grandson.

But I didn’t really think too deeply about that, it wasn’t that important after all.

The important part was where Zhuge Jihee would be in the future.

Zhuge Jihee.

When she first showed herself to the world, she promised to prove that the Zhuge Clan was falsely accused and reclaim the honor and fame they had lost.

Hah! Isn’t it ironic?

The descendant of a clan of traitors that betrayed the Orthodox Faction and tried to cause the Blood Disaster now claimed she would restore their lost honor and fame.

She argued that the Zhuge Clan only tried to take advantage of the Blood Demon’s power, and that they had no intention of betraying the world, but it wasn’t enough to convince the Murim Alliance.

After all, convincing the Murim Alliance also meant making them accept their mistakes.

Hah! There’s no way those filthy orthodox bastards will ever do such a thing!

Even if Zhuge Jihee was indeed right and her clan truly did nothing wrong, the current Murim Alliance wouldn’t ever admit it.

It is futile.

However, the only person who spoke in favor of Zhuge Jihee was none other than the Meteor Sword, Jang Seonyeon.

That slimy bastard didn’t exactly say that Zhuge Jihee’s claims were correct, instead, he suggested that people should trust her abilities and power.

And she really did prove her strength and it genuinely seemed like she was trying to reclaim her clan’s honor.

I didn’t know if it was thanks to the Meteor Sword’s words or if the higher-ups of the Murim Alliance had some ulterior motive, but they accepted Zhuge Jihee, and she was given the strategist position.

However, that didn’t mean that she was particularly good at her job.

Unfortunately for her, she was born in that disastrous generation, and her opponent was none other than Zhuge Hyuk. Referred to as a genius, the ‘brain’ behind the Heavenly Demon, he was the chief strategist of the Demonic Cult.

There was a famous story in the Central Plains where he had managed to escape and kill three whole Peak Realm martial artists, using terrain features and his overall situation to his advantage. It was even more impressive given that he had an ordinary body with not a speck of Qi present.

Compared to someone like him, Zhuge Jihee couldn’t even hope to replicate a fraction of his prowess as a strategist.

At the very least someone at the level of Moyong Hi-ah was needed to combat Zhuge Hyuk, but that ship had sailed as she was already dead by that time.

Furthermore, even though Zhuge Jihee lacked the strategic brain, her martial power more than compensated for it, and she ended up achieving something significant.

Zhuge Hyuk’s death.

It was solely the result of Zhuge Jihee’s involvement, and from that point, the tides of the war against the Demonic Cult started to shift little by little.

“What are you?”

However…

Is this bastard really Zhuge Jihee?

If this was really the Zhuge Jihee that I was looking for…

Why does she look like this?

No matter how much I looked, she didn’t seem to resemble a girl at all…

Is she dressing up as a guy?

I wasn’t certain. She did have a pretty bodyline, but it wasn’t enough to call that the body of a woman.

Wait… What if it was the future Zhuge Jihee who had dressed up as a girl instead?

That seemed far more likely. It was a mystery as to why he would commit such a perverted act, but that was the most likely explanation for now.

Hmm… Let’s see… How about his face?

He had freckles and thin eyes.

He didn’t look too different from what I knew of ‘her’.

Clench-

“Ughh…!”

He seemed to be around twenty or a little older.

He also had a feminine voice, but there was definitely some masculinity mixed in there as well.

“Hey.”

“I-I’m so… rr… “

“What’s your name?”

“Cough… Kegh… “

Was it because I was holding him too tight?

I loosened my grasp so he could speak.

“Gasp…!”

“Name.”

“M-My name is Jiseon.”

“With your surname too.”

“…”

He couldn’t respond when I asked for his surname.

I had no intention of waiting, though.

“I’ll give you three seconds. I’ll break your arm if you don’t answer.”

Clench—

“Ugh.”

“Two, one.”

“Y-You said three seconds, so why are you counting down from two…! I’ll answer!”

I loosened my grasp after hearing him speak urgently.

“Speak.”

“Ch-Cheol Jiseon.”

Cheol surname, huh?

He’s lying.

I wasn’t sure if he was lying about his first name, considering he called herself Jiseon, but it was highly likely that he was lying about his surname.

I obviously expected him to use a fake name.

“What do you want from me?”

I had to ask what I needed to know.

“Um… I need the band…”

It seemed like he was trying to sneak towards me and steal my band because he saw me lying on the ground.

“Hmm…”

He seemed to be around Second-rate, at least that’s what I felt from his Qi circulation.

How did this bastard even pass in the first place? Hmm… There’s a chance that this isn’t all there is to it.

It was quite possible to hide one’s strength, hell even I was doing that myself.

Well, I got caught though… Dammit.

“Hey.”

“P-Please give me one chance…! I won’t go anywhere near you when you are trying to sleep…!”

Hmm, he looked rather wimpy… Is this bastard really Zhuge Jihee?

I couldn’t really tell whether he was acting or not, so I couldn’t do anything reckless…

“Hey. …do you maybe have an older sister?”

But I had to consider every possibility.

“Pardon…?”

“Or maybe a younger one?

“…”

I had to ask all that needed to be asked.

The bastard’s expression changed as soon as he heard my words.

How do I say this? Rather than looking shocked, he seemed more disgusted.

What was that expression?

“W-Why are you… asking such a thing…?”

“One…”

“I-I do not!”

Letting out a sigh, I let go of the bastard.

“Cough… Cough…”

He collapsed on the ground, coughing loudly.

That’s a lie as well.

There was a tiny tremor in his voice tone. Judging by his unstable breath and movement, it was a clear lie.

It didn’t matter if he had a sister or not.

The important part was…

The bastard is hiding something.

That much was enough.

If the bastard had a secret, it meant it was more likely he had some relation to Zhuge Jihee, even if he wasn’t her herself.

It is certainly the right time for her to be attending the Academy, though.

She was friends with Jang Seonyeon, so now should be the time.

Did something go wrong?

That was possible.

I didn’t remember the exact time she attended the Academy, and it was possible the history changed thanks to all the butterfly effects I caused.

However, I don’t know just yet.

I observed the bastard on the ground.

It made me wonder how he managed to make it this far into the exam with his weak body.

Should I just turn him into a Demonic Human?

My Dantian flinched as soon as I even considered that thought… It was as if it had been waiting for it.

Honestly, that would be the most convenient option.

However, I forced down the Demonic Qi running wild in my Dantian.

…Not yet.

It was right for me to hold back.

Moreover, it was difficult for me to turn someone into a Demonic Human in my current injured state.

If I did that, I might have to lie down for a few days, practically dead.

Then do I have any other choice…? Of course I do.

There was a very simple answer to this.

“Hey, friend!”

“P-Pardon? Frie… huh…?”

I looked him right in the eyes and called him with a kind, soft voice.

I even put one of my knees on the ground.

As I smiled while staring deep into his eyes, the bastard flinched.

Things had turned out quite differently than I expected, and I didn’t even know what kind of a person this bastard was.

However, it was not a big deal…All I have to do is find out.

“Want to become friends?”

Hahahahaha! I just have to keep him by my side? You know?

I was planning to approach him anyway if I ever found him, but he came to me with his own two feet, so how could I afford to let him escape?

Huh? ….Did he start crying the moment I offered to be friends?

“…Ungh… Ngh…”

He tried to stop crying, but it seemed like he couldn’t stop his tears from coming out. They had already started.

…Why did he start crying all of a sudden though?

I just wanted to become friends with him, so why did he start crying like that…? Am I that unlikeable? I’m offended by that.

“Hey… Are you crying?”

“No! N-Not at… Ngh… all.”

“You really started crying, huh? You bastard!!! You don’t want to become friends with me!”

“That’s right. N-No! I do…!”

“Yes, yes! Let’s have a good time, yes?”

“U-Understood…”

“Let’s become good friends, shall we? You are indebted to me after all.”

“T…Then.”

When I mentioned the band he tried to steal from me earlier, Cheol Jiseon took out a band from his pocket with a shaky hand.

“I-I’ll give you this, so…”

“Hey, friend.”

I forced the band back into his pocket when the bastard tried to hand it over to me.

“Friends don’t do such things to each other. Do I look like a person who would steal such a thing?”

“…”

“Answer.”

“N-Not at all!”

Hearing his clear response, I nodded my head in satisfaction.

How do I say this, it felt like I captu—-No, wait no, I earned a good friend.

What a lucky day it was.