The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel-Chapter 137: Uninvited Guest - 4

Sometimes, miracles show up without warning.

But other times, they arrive all at once—like a reward for all the effort you’ve been stacking up.

Today was one of those days.

“Hmm?”

Hwa-rin tilted her head, clearly caught off guard by something completely unexpected. She looked like she didn’t understand what I’d just said.

“You. Your face is healing.”

“Are you seriously cracking a joke at a time like this?”

What do you mean a time like this? Was it just too unbelievable? She stared at me like I’d just promised to cough up a hidden present.

“I’m being serious. The blotches on your skin are disappearing.”

I only noticed it because I’d been staring absentmindedly at her face under the light. It was a small patch, but there—where there had always been a discolored mark—was clean skin.

“Even you shouldn’t joke about my face.”

She glared at me with quiet fury, like someone betrayed.

“Do I look like the kind of guy who’d joke about something like this? Hold on.”

Where’s that hand mirror again? I scrambled to open the drawer.

“W-wait... Are you serious?”

She sounded unsure, like she couldn’t bring herself to believe it.

“Here. Use this mirror. See for yourself.”

With doubt still written all over her face, Hwa-rin took the mirror and stared into it carefully.

“...I don’t see anything different.”

“I told you, it’s healing. Here—look.”

Things like this are easier to notice from the outside. The person who checks the mirror every day often overlooks slow changes—but someone who's been watching closely? They can see it right away.

I moved behind her, looking into the mirror with her, and pointed out each spot on her face that had changed.

“Here, the discoloration has faded. And this one? It’s almost gone.”

Bit by bit, I pointed to every part of her face where the marks had lessened or vanished. It wasn’t a miracle transformation, but the progress was clear.

As I did, Hwa-rin’s skeptical gaze shifted into one of shock.

“Your face is still subtle, but your upper body... I definitely saw a lot of clean skin there earlier.”

I’d never seen her naked, of course, but Hwa-rin had once told me that the blotches on her upper body were just as bad as her face. And yet, the skin I’d just seen around her collarbone had plenty of smooth, healthy patches.

“Really?”

Suddenly panicked, Hwa-rin tore open her robe again to look at her upper chest. Not even a flicker of shame about me standing right behind her.

Thank you, God. Truly, thank you.

From this angle, the view was even more magnificent. If earlier it was the Grand Canyon, then now... it was the Himalayas.

“Here, and here too. These patches are clean.”

I fought every fiber of instinct to resist the urge to test the bounce of her glowing white skin and instead just pointed politely.

“They’re really... gone?”

Her voice trembled.

“Yeah. They’re fading, Hwa-rin.”

“I... I’m healing? I’m really healing?”

Her shoulders trembled. Her voice sounded like it was on the edge of spilling into a flood of tears.

“Yeah, Hwa-rin.”

I looked straight at her, full of certainty.

“Hrk! ... Hhhrrrk...”

She finally couldn’t hold back. Her tears flowed freely. Was there a towel nearby?

“You’ve got a pretty face, and it’s about to get even prettier—why are you crying now, huh—? OOF!”

Just as I was about to reach for something to wipe her tears, Hwa-rin suddenly turned and threw herself at me in a hug.

“Huuuuhhh... I... I’m healing...”

She buried her face into my clothes, smearing tears all over me as she continued sobbing. I gently patted her back.

“See? Wasn’t it worth trusting me?”

“Yeees... Hrrgh... Ughhh!”

I’m gonna take that as a yes.

Her sobbing lasted a while.

More than ten years... For over a decade, this girl had lived without hope, tormented by her condition. And now she had found it—hope. When it’s real hope, you cry it all out fast.

I stayed with her, holding her, comforting her, until her emotions settled.

“Hey... was that really what you were going to say earlier?”

Once she’d calmed down, she peeked up at me and asked, eyes suspicious.

Shouldn’t she be pulling away now that she’d calmed down? I mean... sure, I didn’t want her to let go. Her chest was incredible.

“What else would I have said?”

“Ugh. No. That wasn’t it. I know it wasn’t.”

She gave me a look that said she didn’t buy it for a second.

What? I’ve got nothing to be guilty about. Look at my clear, shining eyes.

“What?”

“Forget it. Shit. You’re so... so... I like you and I hate you. Ugh, screw you!”

“...What are you even talking about?”

Is this how you treat someone who just comforted you?

“Pfft... forget it.”

She laughed at my bewildered expression, then gently pushed me back.

“Hey, you know if you cry and then laugh right away, you’ll grow hair on your butt?”

“...What the hell is that?”

“It’s a Joseon proverb. Sudden emotional swings bring bad luck, so as punishment, something ugly happens—like, you know, butt hair.”

“So you’re saying I’m gonna grow butt hair now?”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant! Haha...”

I gave an awkward laugh, realizing that, yeah, maybe that came out wrong. Not that I had any weird preferences.

“Ugh! UGH! You’re such an idiot!”

She pounded her fists against my chest again and again—but her face had changed. She looked like she’d never cried at all.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

--------

“It’s... really disappearing.”

While Hwa-rin stepped away to clean up her tear-streaked face, I sat quietly on the edge of my bed and muttered to myself.

The Fate-Reverser.

The ability I’d discovered only after arriving in this world—the power to change the fates of heroines.

If I’d ended up in a martial arts world, couldn’t they have just given me talent in martial arts? But no, this was a martial arts dating sim world, so instead, I got... heroine-capturing powers. Typical of this world.

It’s surprising to see actual visible results from reputation point gains.

Up until now, it had only been useful for lifting debuffs, but today... today it finally showed signs of healing.

An incredible piece of news. I didn’t know exactly how much Fame was required to start healing Hwa-rin’s skin, but this proved I’d at least passed the threshold.

I couldn’t stop here. I had to keep getting more famous.

If things continued to progress smoothly like this, then maybe—just maybe—Hwa-rin would get the clear skin she’d always dreamed of. A face that looked like everyone else’s.

And if I kept rising in fame...

Maybe I could change the fate of the Heavenly Killing Star too.

A face flashed in my mind—jet-black hair and crimson eyes.

A blank expression. A girl with eyes that seemed devoid of emotion. But in truth, she was full of feelings—deep, powerful emotions buried beneath old, aching scars.

“See you again, Yun-ho oppa.”

So-hee... where are you now, and what are you doing?

That last ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) night with her still burned vividly in my memory. The way we parted with promises to meet again.

Would I be able to save her fate one day?

“What are you thinking about?”

Hwa-rin asked, drying her face with a towel as she returned.

“Mm, just... a few things.”

I smiled softly as I looked at her face, now showing signs of healing. She met my gaze with narrowed eyes and asked carefully—

“Were you thinking... about that friend of yours?”

She sounded cautious, like she didn’t want to reopen an old wound. There was hesitation in her voice.

“Yeah. I was just wondering... if she’d had that medicine too, would she have healed? Or maybe it wouldn’t have been enough.”

Though in truth, I wasn’t talking about another Poisoned One. I was talking about the Heavenly Killing Star. Still, I gave Hwa-rin a casual answer and looked at her skin again.

Strictly speaking, Hwa-rin wasn’t a true Poisoned One.

In the original story, the original Tang Hwa-rin was tricked by Tang Geo-ho into taking a concentrated poison, becoming a flawed Poisoned One.

Her body succeeded in producing poison pellets, but it ruined her physique. Her skin was disfigured, and she lived in constant pain, struggling against the torment. She couldn’t fully control the poison inside her, so it constantly leaked from her body in the form of toxic dust.

The one person she trusted—Tang Geo-ho—betrayed her, driving her to despair. She cursed the world and became a villain.

The world gave her a nickname to mock and despise her. Just as a butterfly scatters pollen, she scattered poisonous dust. freёnovelkiss.com

The Poisoned Butterfly, Tang Hwa-rin.

That’s why her name became both her disgrace and her title.

But here, in this world... she had never fully formed poison pellets. She wasn’t a Poisoned One—only a failed subject of the experiment. Her suffering wasn’t power—it was sickness.

Her symptoms improving and overcoming the fate of a star born beneath a cursed sky... those were entirely different things.

Still, she’d taken the first step.

Both as a writer, and as a Fate-Reverser. The road ahead was long, but even if I collapsed from exhaustion, I’d get up and keep walking.

So-hee... oppa is still living his life, just like I promised. I hope—no, I swear—I’ll save your fate someday.

“Hey, Yun-ho.”

Hwa-rin’s sharp tone snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Hm? What is it?”

When I turned to her, I saw her lips jutting out. She looked slightly annoyed.

It was supposed to be a day for celebration, not a funeral. What’s with that face?

“It’s nothing. I just wanted to call your name.”

She looked like she had something she wanted to say but was holding it back.

“You totally have something to say. What is it...? Whoa.”

I tried to get up from the bed, but I lost my balance and collapsed right back onto it.

Was the alcohol hitting me again?

“Just go to sleep.”

“Not until I hear what you were going to say.”

“Were you going to leave once I... no. Never mind. It’s nothing.”

She shook her head quickly, like she’d just said something she shouldn’t have.

“Hm?”

“I just meant to say thanks for helping me heal, but... you looked like you were thinking about something else.”

Ah. From her perspective, this was something to celebrate. But here I was, staring off into space like I was digging my own grave. That probably stung.

“Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Why are you apologizing? I was the one being weird. Don’t worry about it. Just sleep.”

She replied immediately, then grabbed my pillow and gently placed it under my head.

“Still... I’m sorry. And congrats.”

“...Thanks.”

She smiled, and it was a happy smile... but why did it feel so sad?

I looked at her in confusion, but my body couldn’t resist the warm weight of the alcohol and exhaustion settling in.

*******

Tang Hwa-rin sat silently, watching Kang Yun-ho until his breathing grew slow and steady.

Once she was sure he’d fallen into a deep sleep, she reached into the drawer and pulled something out.

She stared at it for a long time, then whispered under her breath so he wouldn’t hear.

“...Should I throw this away?”

In her hand was the fake medicine Kang Yun-ho had given her—the one she’d been diligently taking all this time.