The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel-Chapter 188: The Pain of Parting from a Loved One - 1

"What do you mean?"

What did she mean she couldn't come with me?

It could’ve just meant she couldn’t depart with me right now, but the sorrow written all over Hwa-rin’s face told me it wasn’t that simple.

“I meant it exactly how it sounds. I have to stay here in the Sichuan Tang Clan from now on.”

“Are you sick? Did the Poisoned One transformation fail?”

There were definitely things that had been bothering me. The visitation ban. The Vice Pavilion Head’s behavior. Her sudden visit. The medicine she took this morning. The strange attitude she had all day.

Maybe... maybe the transformation failed. The worry I had shoved into the back of my mind surged all at once. freёweɓnovel.com

“No. It was a success.”

Hwa-rin slowly shook her head, denying my suspicion.

“Then are they not letting you leave because you’re a Poisoned One? Or is it the Clan Lord? If he dies, are they making you stay too?”

If that’s true, I’ll go straight to the Clan Lord myself. If that’s what they want—fine. I’ll play Game of Thrones with them right now.

“No... that’s not it either.”

“Then what? What is it, Hwa-rin?”

“......”

Hwa-rin clenched her eyes as if trying to suppress her expression, and bit back her words.

“Talk to me, Hwa-rin.”

“There’s a problem controlling the poison energy.”

She spoke as if coughing up something painful, her head bowed low.

“The poison? You mean like last time, when you lost consciousness? Or are you in pain again?”

“My health is fine. But when I’m not in a calm state, I start losing control over the poison.”

“Not in a calm state?”

As I stared at her, confused, Hwa-rin stood up and took a few steps away. Then she raised her hand and began gathering poison energy.

“Yeah. There’s so much of the Poison Pellet’s energy inside me that when I get too emotional—even I can’t stop it from leaking out.”

She explained that, just like breaking into cold sweat from tension or crying when you're sad, her poison could now leak out involuntarily when her emotions spiked.

“You mean... you didn’t become a true Poisoned One?”

But her skin looked clear...

“I did. This is what the Sichuan Tang Clan considers a complete Poisoned One. Like the divine beasts that carry Poison Pellets, I’m unaffected by the poison inside me and can control it... but when something’s physically wrong, it just leaks out.”

“That’s what they call complete?!”

If anything, it sounds like she’s turned into a living poison weapon. That’s not what complete should mean, is it?

It made no sense. I had to ask again.

“If I had absorbed only the Poison Pellet from the Millennium Wugong slowly over time, nothing would’ve happened. But everything was rushed. I had to absorb both divine beasts’ pellets.”

Hwa-rin swallowed her sadness, trying to reassure me that even this much was a miracle.

No, Hwa-rin. I’m not the one who needs comforting here. You’re right. Most people would die from even a fraction of that poison, and you survived two entire Poison Pellets. That’s definitely a miracle.

People would probably call it a # Nоvеlight # bittersweet success. But I know the truth.

This is my fault. I didn’t have enough Fame Points—again.

She said it would’ve been safe if it was just one Poison Pellet. That means... if I’d had more Fame, two would’ve worked too.

In the end, Hwa-rin can’t return to Daseogak because of me.

See you again, Yun-ho oppa.

So-hee’s words when we parted last time flashed through my mind.

Was I about to say another goodbye with no promise of return?

“...Was it my fault?”

I mumbled without even realizing it, choking on the weight in my chest.

I really thought I’d saved Hwa-rin. I believed it. But if she can’t even be around people now—even if the ending’s different from the original story—this is still just another bad end.

Shouldn’t I have earned enough power to save at least one girl with a tragic fate? I’m already well-known in Yichang, even among the Tang Clan. Shouldn’t that be enough to rescue someone?

How much Fame do I need to actually save their lives?

If only I had numbers I could see...

“Yun-ho. That’s not it.”

Hwa-rin cut through my muttering with a firm voice.

“No, if I’d just done a little more...”

What choice should I have made for Hwa-rin to get her happy ending? Dozens of what-ifs flashed by, but none of them came with an answer.

Seeing the frustration on my face, Hwa-rin opened her mouth again.

“Why are you blaming yourself? You did everything you could. My daily life’s fine now. I can take off the veil and walk through the market. I can eat food off the street again.”

“But Hwa-rin...”

Humans feel joy, anger, sorrow, and love.

Sometimes joy so overwhelming you can’t hold it in. Sometimes anger you can’t suppress. Love and happiness that bloom even when you try to deny them.

Just being able to show your face and have a conversation—can you really call that living?

“I know you’re worried. But there’s a solution. There’s a martial art in the clan’s secret manual made specifically for Poisoned Ones.”

“A martial art for Poisoned Ones?”

“Yeah. No matter how emotional I get, if I master that martial art, I’ll be able to keep the poison under control. That’s why, after I trained in it for three days and took the medicine the Vice Pavilion Head gave me, I was able to spend the day having fun with you.”

“Then it’s fine, right?”

So that’s why she took the medicine this morning. If there’s a technique and medicine that make everyday life manageable, then she should be able to leave for Yichang.

Hwa-rin saw the glimmer of hope in my eyes... but her expression clouded again.

“Yeah. If I master the Poisoned One’s martial art, I’ll be okay. That’s why, Yun-ho... let’s break up.”

“...What?”

“But you just said you’ll be fine if you master the martial art!”

Her words of farewell came like a dagger after the flicker of hope. It hurt worse than I expected.

“The martial art isn’t complete. The medicine isn’t perfect either. That’s why I have to stay in the Tang Clan.”

“We can just be apart for a while, then.”

I can understand a temporary separation. This isn’t about hating each other—so why make it permanent?

I tried to say something more, but Hwa-rin cut me off.

“While I’m learning that martial art... I can’t be by your side. I can’t be with you when I’m happy, or sad, or excited, or angry.”

She turned her head away from me.

“It’s just a short goodbye. Why are you making it sound like it’s forever?”

“Because it’s not short. To truly master it... it takes a long, long time.”

“How long...?”

Could it take decades? Maybe even a lifetime? If that’s the case, I could understand her despair.

“Ten years...”

“...What?”

“It could take ten whole years...”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

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"You're surprised, aren't you."

Tang Hwa-rin looked up at Kang Yun-ho’s stunned face.

Just as she expected. No matter how deep the love between them, ten years was too cruel a sentence.

“Most people get married by twenty-five at the latest.”

In a world where getting married in your late teens or early twenties was normal, both Yun-ho and Tang Hwa-rin were twenty-one. Soon, they'd be twenty-two.

Martial artists might age slower due to internal energy, but even three years from now, people would start calling them spinsters and old bachelors.

“Yun-ho will keep rising.”

No matter where he ended up, he'd do well. He wasn’t just anyone—he was the manager of Daseogak in Yichang, and the famed author Ho-pil of Storm of the Tang Clan.

He might still be considered disqualified as a suitor for being a black-haired Joseon man, but give it some time—soon even that stigma would fade.

She'd have to hold onto a man like that for nearly ten years. By the time he was thirty-two, he could have three children.

Could she really hold onto him? To Kang Yun-ho, whose name would grow more famous with every passing day? When she had no idea when—if ever—she’d be able to return to the world?

Tang Hwa-rin didn’t have the courage to face whatever expression Yun-ho was making at that moment.

She sat down on the floor and looked up at the night sky through the tall window as she spoke.

“Yun-ho, the truth is... I never cared about becoming part of the Tang Clan or a Poisoned One. I just... I just wanted a friend.”

She just wanted a friend. Someone she could speak to from the heart.

The stars above glittered faintly in the sky. Whether it was stars or a friend’s hand—some things remained out of reach no matter how far you stretched.

When even her own reflection made her recoil, how could she expect anyone to draw close? There was no way something that happy could ever happen to her.

But miracles always came when you were at your lowest.

“I must have gotten greedy. Maybe that’s why heaven turned against me.”

Lowering her head in sorrow, Tang Hwa-rin wrapped her arms around her knees.

The man who had come to her like a miracle.

Why did he help her so much? Even when she pushed him away, he always took her hand again. When she was with him, she felt like a normal person.

From the clueless young lady of the Seong Family Manor to the Poisoned One bearing the Tang Clan’s expectations—Yun-ho had thrown everything into helping her.

All she’d wanted was a friend.

But somewhere along the way, she ended up with someone she could never trade for anything in the world.

“Does it really have to take ten years to master the martial art?”

Hwa-rin flinched at the sound of the most precious voice in her world, speaking from behind her.

“It could be one year, maybe three... or as long as ten.”

“...I see.”

Such a distant, unmeasurable time. His silence made her heart ache.

“I wanted someone precious. But I guess I can’t have that anymore.”

The poison inside her was unprecedented, even within the Tang Clan. Hoping it would take only a short time was just wishful thinking. Realistically, ten years was the safest bet.

“I can’t give Yun-ho anything.”

To hold onto him for a decade without knowing if she could ever leave the clan again... that was a sin.

Even if he always held her hand. Even if she leaned on his kindness, his love—if she couldn’t offer him anything, then she couldn’t keep clinging to him.

She had to let go.

But she didn’t want to.

Why should she have to let go? When he was so precious, when she loved him this much?

Tang Hwa-rin imagined Kang Yun-ho getting married.

Just thinking that she wouldn’t be the one standing next to him was more agonizing than any poison. But to be the one holding him back—that was even worse.

So she made today her final outing.

Nice clothes. Nice gifts. Tasty food. That was all a foolish woman like her could offer.

“Yun-ho... forget about me. Meet someone better...”

She choked on the words as they poured from her like venom, hurting more than any poison burning through her veins.

The Pain of Parting from a Loved One.

No matter how much it hurt to part with someone you loved, sometimes stepping aside was the only way to protect their path.

The hand she’d always held—this time, she had to let it go.

“...Tch. You idiot.”

But the man’s hand didn’t know how to let go.

“What?”

Hwa-rin looked up at Kang Yun-ho in surprise.

“For a second, I thought you were dying or something. You’re crying over this?”

Yun-ho gave her a wry grin, as if to say everything would be fine.

“Get up.”

And just like always, he reached out his hand to her.