YAMA RISING

Chapter 467: Lee Jung-sook (3)

Qin Ye’s mind instantly went numb.

What the hell is happening right now?!

Blasphemy! You’re committing blasphemy right now!!!

Fortunately, the dark eyes of the statue didn’t betray the wild fluctuations of Qin Ye’s hearts. In fact, he even began to wonder when the last time he saw the body of the opposite sex was. Ten years ago? Twenty years ago? What was on his mind was naturally limited to the scope of seeing it in person, and not the artistic action movies that were so widely proliferated these days.

Lee Jung-sook’s soft shirt fell off her shoulders and into the cradle of her arms, revealing her white bra within. Whilst provocative, she didn’t look the slightest bit unnatural at all. In fact, it was incredibly seductive especially given how beautiful and elegant she looked.

It was because he could see that her entire body was covered in words like what Kim Jae-huan had earlier mentioned!

In fact, he could even tell that there were old scars that had been re-carved into her skin in order to prevent them from fading away. Qin Ye simply couldn’t understand why a lady like her had to do something as ruthless as that to herself.

There were many arabic numerals interspersed between the words, all of which appeared to be unrelated to the other. For instance, the numbers 16xx were followed immediately with the word “me”.

It was like an artwork.

“Xia Jinse?” He finally spoke up, and for the first time, Lee Jung-sook reacted.

“It’s been ages since I’ve heard that name…” She slowly ran her finger along the scarred shoulders of hers, “A god, then? You have to be one if you know that name… What an unforgettable name that is…”

He felt unprepared.

The prayer halls were filled with an air of a serendipitous encounter.

His eyes flickered wildly as he astutely caught the crux of the issue.

After all, anyone who dies after consuming the taisui fungus would lose all memories of their past lives! She would never remember her own name!

He suddenly gasped softly, and then turned his gaze to her body once more.

A terrifying postulation suddenly surfaced on his mind. A lump swelled up on his throat, and he found himself rendered completely speechless.

Blade by blade, she screamed in agony as she carved everything onto her skin…

She didn’t forget herself.

She still knows what she’s been through, who she loved, and who she hated.

He now saw a humble soul who was filled with the determination to live on and remember everything in her past lives.

That was her true name.

Qin Ye sighed softly and shut his eyes.

“All of my past experiences have been recorded on my body.” Lee Jung-sook once again put on her clothes as though nothing had happened. She had the same expression on her face, but her voice had ostensibly grown somewhat distant and drifty, “From my birth, to the scholar I first fell in love with… through to the founding of modern day Cathay… and until the day I became the queen of the Samsung empire…”

“Every life I’ve lived, all I’ve loved, and all I’ve hated, are etched onto my body. Nothing can erase the existence of Xia Jinse - not even the heavens.”

After a long time, Qin Ye finally responded, “What do you… wish for?”

“But I don’t need to be pitied.”

She took a step forward without any form of reverence for the statue of Ksitigarbha and smiled faintly at it, “I wish… to die.”

Dead silence.

“Why?” Qin Ye did his best to sound as normal and indifferent as possible.

“He was a very handsome man. A detective in Daehan.”

“He told me that he’d just gotten one leg amputated. And then…”

“That was the most moving proposal I’ve ever heard in my entire life.” Her smile was ostensibly laced with complex emotions. It was filled with some measure of retrospection, and also a tinge of helplessness.

He was listening to the encounters of another person who was immortal like he was. He was listening to her recount the most precious moments of her life - fragments of her memories that probably nobody else in the Lee Family ever knew about.

After a protracted pause of three full minutes, Lee Jung-sook finally continued, “I refused. I definitely refused. I remember telling him this - ‘I won’t spend my life with a man who can’t look after me.’”

“He didn’t spread rumours, or have his parents condemn me. He didn’t even make a scene at the company. He simply quietly vanished from my life altogether.”

“I’d give him a substantial sum of money to treat his leg injury every month. That account was directly bound to my phone, and each month, I’d wait patiently to hear of news of the funds being used and depleted. But… the only news I’d received was of the money in the account growing.”

“He was only in his fifties when he died. Unfortunately, his leg injury had also afflicted him with a stubborn ailment that he was unable to rid himself of. After his death, I found some way to transfer the untouched account to his parents, together with the access code to the funds.”

Just like their encounter, it happened without any warning.

There wasn’t any smell of nicotine. Instead, there was only the faint scent of orange blossoms.

It was a responsibility she wasn’t quite willing to assume.

Thus, she could only shoulder the burden of being called an irresponsible lady and vanish from his life.

“I swore in my life that I would never love anyone again. Incidentally, it was also at that time that I shifted my attention to Samsung. I’ve got today…” A smile crept up the corner of her lips once more, “It’s fun to go toe to toe against others.”

“Not quite. Perhaps it might be more accurate to say that those things have just faded into the recesses of my life.” The night breeze picked up and gently tousled Lee Jung-sook’s hair. She lifted her hand and adjusted her hair softly, “Time is the best medicine. There’s nothing it can’t resolve. This incident happened decades ago. With his death, it’s become a thing of the past.”

Besides, her body was already covered in scars, so what is one more to add to the count?

With that, she put on her suit and plastered a cold expression on her face once more. Then, just as she was about to step back out of the prayer hall, she suddenly turned around once more, “That’s right, how might I address you?”

Shouldn’t I be considered one of the gods as well?

It was only when Lee Jung-sook shook her head and was about to step out of the door that he suddenly spoke up, “King Yanluo.”

“If you’ve got someone that you wish to look after, you can let me know.”

Then, for the very first time, she revealed a genuine smile on her face.

“What’s in the past is in the past. Besides, they’re all good people, so I’ve no doubts that they’d do well with their next reincarnation.”

But Qin Ye’s next statement caused her to pause right where she was.

His final statement caused Lee Jung-sook to remain completely rooted to the ground.

“There’s another person in Cathay right now.” Qin Ye coughed dryly, “He’s… searching for you. You’d be a good match…”