Solo Swordmaster

Chapter 84: Yoo Na-kyung Watched

Inside Limon’s room in Hotel Leviathan, a baby bird nodded vigorously. Tap, taptap, taptaptap. It was using its beak to carve out a pretty flower.

Finally finishing its malformed, four-petalled masterpiece, it swallowed the chip she had been pecking at.

“[The boss is pretty busy,]” the bird muttered to itself.

After the tragedy at the Black Dragon Building, the Black Dragon Clan had been working in overdrive. Was it for vengeance or redemption? Wang Ki-neung was dedicating the full might of the Shanghai Royal Family to finding the criminals. Alongside him were the rest of the clan, helping in any way they could.

That, on top of their regular day jobs and duties, meant that everyone was incredibly busy. Limon was no exception to that.

After he managed to predict and prevent a second massacre, he knew that the first attack was no coincidence. He spent whatever free time he had trying to figure out what the criminals were after and stopping more attacks.

With each successful prediction, more and more companies covertly signed onto Guardian’s system, which only made Limon even busier.

“[Tch. He could at least bring me along.]”

Thanks to all that, Yoo Na-kyung was dying of boredom, and for the past several days, all she could do to pass the time was scroll through her phone.

Maybe things would have been different if she was a couch potato, but she had always been an active person—someone who would create work for themselves just so they had an excuse to go out and about. For a person like her, the current circumstances were absolute torture.

“…Maybe I’ll go visit the children again.]”

With that thought, she creeped out of her room. If she stayed in the room any longer, she might have turned moldy.

Limon’s room was always locked, but that wasn’t an obstacle for Yoo Na-kyung.

“[Hyap!]”

Poof!

She suddenly disappeared from the desk and appeared on the other side of the door.

“[Anyhoo, this is interesting.]” Yoo Na-kyung turned her head. “[Boss said that he already fucked over the Snake that Connects Ends, so why can I still teleport?]”

She might have been a high-level player with the [Teleportation] skill, but that was all in her past life. Not only did she die and reincarnate as a bird, but the constellation she contracted was gone. Skills were granted by the constellations, so why could she still teleport? And not to mention, her abilities had grown together with her body.

It was quite the intriguing mystery.

“[Well, as long as I can use it.]”

But she didn’t ponder for long. Yoo Na-kyung always looked at the positive side of things.

Or maybe it was because her brain was much simpler now.

Brushing her thoughts off, she kept switching between trotting and teleporting as she made her way towards the nursery in Leviathan.

“[Hm. The kids seem well.]”

Yoo Na-kyung peeked her head through the window. It filled her up with joy to see the kids read, play, and run about.

“[It does feel a little empty… But they do have to go to school, umu.]”

All that was left behind were the little children. Her expression turned to disappointment as she imagined Song Shia and the others in school.

She could teleport further than before, but it was still only a few dozen meters at best. Her little bird feet could barely navigate the halls of Leviathan, so visiting the school was out of the question.

“[If only I could fly… Just when am I going to grow up?]”

She didn’t know why she was troubled about having thoughts that only children had the privilege of having.

Amidst her continuous sighs, she watched the adoring children—until she met eyes with a child who had an absent-minded look in their eyes.

“Huh? It’s the bird!”

“[Oh!]”

She had gotten distracted watching them. Despite having worked as a PAB agent, she carelessly allowed herself to get spotted.

Please, say that you didn’t actually see me.

“Let’s play, birdie!”

Unfortunately, her prayers went unanswered as the child beelined towards her like a wildcat engine.

“[Damn! Emergency escape time!]”

***

***

Poof!

“Huh? Where’d you go, birdie?”

Yoo Na-kyung decided to run away. She might have done the opposite if the child was a stranger, but getting involved with a child she often met in her past life risked revealing her identity.

“[Whew. I almost died back there.]”

…Though, there was a greater danger that she was running from. Yoo Na-kyung loved all of the children from the orphanage, but she wasn’t reckless enough to expect children who could barely walk to have muscle control. She knew all too well how mindless children were with toys.

“[Maybe I overreacted. I didn’t have to go all the way to the practice room.]”

Yoo Na-kyung scratched her head. In finding a safe place to hide, she found herself in the room she often went to with Limon. Past or present, the ‘safest place’ in her mind was synonymous with ‘where Limon is’.

It certainly is ironic that she died by Limon’s sword.

“[Hm… It’ll be weird to go back to the kids again.]”

Not too much time had passed as she pondered when she turned her head to the abyssal black violin sitting in the corner of the room. Dejection quickly took over her face.

“[I would have whined for a performance if boss was here right now…]”

After acquiring the violin, Limon’s biggest listener was Yoo Na-kyung. And yet, she always wondered how nice it would be if he played it more often. His skill with the violin was constantly growing, but it was on a whole other level when he played with the abyssal black violin.

“[He said that he would tone down the violin practice. Will I hear him play less going forward?]”

She crossed her wings. Staring at the box, she unconsciously muttered to herself.

“[What a shame.]”

It wasn’t just that she believed in Limon’s potential to achieve his beyond-far-fetched goals of being able to play on a regular violin as well as he does on the abyssal black violin. She was also his most avid listener. She knew the insane talent Limon possessed.

The chances were low, but she was curious. If Limon did get to a point where he was satisfied, just how would he sound with the abyssal black violin?

“[Maybe he’ll be able to play the way he wants to someday since he’s immortal and all… But can he do it before I die?]”

After contemplating the lifespan of a bird for a while, Yoo Na-kyung chuckled to herself. It was ridiculous to calculate her remaining life as a bird when she couldn’t even live out her natural life as a human.

“[Well, whatever. This is my second life anyways.]”

With a snicker, she turned around, ready to return to Limon’s room. There was nothing else to do.

“[Hm?]”

Yoo Na-kyung’s eyes widened. Turning around, she came face to face with an oddly familiar girl staring at her.

They locked eyes.

“[Huuh?]”

She was taken aback by the fact that she hadn’t noticed the girl until she was right behind her. She fell back a step and blinked.

The girl looked oddly eerie. Her body was floating in the air. Her body was see-through, and her eyes were dull.

“[Huhhhh?]”

Just as quickly as she had appeared, the girl suddenly disappeared. It was like she was never there… or like she didn’t have a body.

Her mind raced to remember what such an entity was called.

“[EEEEEEH?! Was that a ghost?!]”

Powerful frequencies shot out from Yoo Na-kyung’s telepathy item as the room shook.

***

“So…”

His headache was long gone, but he continued to massage his temples. He coldly glared at the baby bird.

“You sent long-distance telepathy to your busy boss and that’s all you have to say?”

“[‘Only’?! A ghost came out! A ghost!!!]”

“So what about it?”

“[God damnit! Just believe me for a minute! I swear I saw it with my own two eyes!]”

“I never said that I didn’t believe you.”

“[What?]”

“I believe you when you say that there was a ghost. I’m asking why that’s so shocking.”

“[…Are you not scared by that, boss?]”

Limon looked more confused than Yoo Na-kyung.

“Na-kyung. Do you know what it’s called when a dead guy comes back right in front of your eyes?”

“[A ghost?]”

“Then, would a ghost be able to see another ghost?”

“[Of course, they would.]”

“Right. Then why are you surprised?”

Yoo Na-kyung blinked a few times in confusion. Realizing what Limon was saying, she jumped into the air.

“[I’m not a ghost, I reincarnated!]”

“Either way, you died and came back.”

“[You’re soooo stretching it.]”

Yoo Na-kyung stomped at Limon’s tranquil demeanor.

“The principles of life are forced, you see.”

Limon had seen too many creatures. Zombies, demons, the whole shebang. Nothing was shocking about seeing one measly ghost. But he didn’t entirely disregard Yoo Na-kyung’s feelings on the matter.

‘Hotel Leviathan isn’t somewhere a ghost can just stroll into.’

It could very well be the case for modern buildings built using architectural skills, but Hotel Leviathan was built traditionally—those of which include the Seven Dragons Association’s base systems and temple barriers. Without such measures, Leviathan would be the perfect place for vengeful ghosts to infest.

‘Still… If there’s a ghost, it’s gotta be one of two things. It wasn’t actually a ghost Na-kyung saw, or it’s leeching off something somewhere.’

Limon immediately identified two conditions that allowed a ghost to appear. One of which was a powerful magic tool that could act as an agent for a ghost to pass through the barriers and into Leviathan.

“A ghost and a cursed instrument. What a bloody perfect combo.”

Limon furrowed his brows as he looked at the box containing the abyssal black violin.

“[Huh? Wait! Are you saying that a ghost is leeching onto your violin?!]”

“I’m not sure yet. It’s just a possibility, but—”

“[But what?!]”

“I’ve said before that I feel a weird presence whenever I play that violin. That might be our ghost.”

——

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