Helpless (1)

Shocked to the core, Jo Do-Yoon quickly turned her head over to the old man with an angry expression.

'You bastard! Tell me, what in the world is going on?! RIGHT NOW!' she said loudly as she started to shake the old man back and forth. Her pupils were dilating in complete panic as instinct immediately took over.

At least that was what she intended to say, but what came out of her mouth was something else,

"Aaeeh... aough..."

She froze in her place as she noticed that the words she wanted to say came out as random slurs instead!

'I... I can't speak!?' she quickly realizes. There was no pain nor uncomfortable sensation when she spoke just now, and her tongue moved just as smoothly as it had ever been before. But then again, no matter how much she tried to speak, all that came out were just some incoherent slurs.

Retracting her hands from the old man, she quickly placed them on her throat and carefully examined them. She rubbed them back and forth as she felt just how smooth and small they had become. Even her Adam's apple was almost unnoticeable. But other than that, there seems to be nothing wrong with her throat.

'It doesn't seem like anything is wrong with my vocal cords or anything though...!'

'And moreover, how the hell did I turn into a girl!? Although in this world, altering one's body is quite possible, there's no way someone could alter the body of me, a high-ranking martial artist so easily!' she quickly thought in her mind.

At this moment, her eyes subconsciously glanced toward her chest even though she couldn't see shit. Although it was almost as flat as a board, it felt a little itchier than it had ever been before, and this tingly feeling was distracting her tremendously. Not to mention, the feeling of vacancy between her legs was also quite new to her.

She slowly lifted her hands and examined them closely. As she caressed them from top to bottom, she could feel the impeccable texture that this body's skin possessed. They were smooth and dainty, almost as if she had never lifted a rock in her life...

Her cheeks slowly turned bright red as her mind drifted through torrents of dirty thoughts...

'Oh yup, this... this is a girl's body for sure. No man could ever hope to attain a skin this smooth in their life. Moreover, how did she keep her skin this smooth? Has she even touched grass before? Sigh... though it's a shame that this body is blind and mute...!'

'Yeah, there's no other reason for this. I just fell into an endless ravine and clearly dropped to my death, and now everything about my body changed. I must have truly died back then and possessed someone else's body!' 

'Of course, just dying normally wouldn't make someone able to possess another's body like this. Being able to possess someone's body must've been the work of some kind of extraordinary and otherwordly power. With my abilities back then, there was no way it was my work since all I could do was swing my blade and kill people. Then that means...'

Her eyes shone with the moonlight as she realized what had happened back then,

'It is the work of the Divine Pearl...' she concluded in her mind. Jo Do-Yoon could remember vaguely by the time before her death, that the pearl shone so brightly that it engulfed the abyssal with its light for a moment. It had filled her with some kind of warm and fuzzy sensation before she fell to her death.

'Does that mean the Divine Pearl's function is to send one's soul into another's body? Was its true function actually the power to control life and death? Is that why the Heavenly Martial God's book strictly recommends me to obtain it and why those Murim Alliance's old bastards regarded it as a priceless treasure? Or does that mean... Ugh, I'm getting a headache...'

As seconds passed by in this awkward atmosphere, Jo Do-Yoon felt more and more miserable about her situation the more she thought about it. The mysteries of the Divine Pearl ran far too deep, to the point that not even the Heavenly Martial God truly knows about it. Moreover, how the Murim Alliance originally managed to obtain it was unknown in the first place.

'AAAAAHHH! WHATEVER!'

All of this was too confusing for her and so, she ultimately decided to shove all these strange matters onto the future Jo Do-Yoon. There was no need to ponder about the Divine Pearl when she didn't even have it in her hands at the moment. She quickly shook her head and cut off her train of thought. 

'The past is the past, it can no longer be changed. If I turned into a girl then so be it! I-If I turn into a girl...'

Her face flushed brightly as she tried to utter the final sentence in her mind. No matter how hard she tried to reason with it, something about it always made her want to choke herself.

She could only cry at this point. Never in her whole life had she thought that something like this would happen. As if losing her martial arts was not enough, she has actually turned into a girl...

'AAGHH! CURSE EVERYTHING!!'

...

...

...

EHEM.

Seeing that Jo Do-Yoon was completely silent and seemingly lost in her mind, the old man, Jiang Sam, interrupted her with a cough. It was very uncomfortable just standing there in awkward silence as Jo Do-Yoon was lost in her mind. Upon hearing the small cough, she felt as if a bucket of cold water was poured onto her head as her mind calmed down once more. 

She immediately turned back toward the voice.

'Ah yes, he's still here. I can't forget about him...'

Jo Do-Yoon looked up to the old man in wariness, even though she couldn't see him. She remembered the moment she shook the old man out of panic just then, she could feel that his muscle was extremely firm despite his age. She could tell that this simple-looking old man was no ordinary person and he could crush her at any given moment!

If just this one old man could be someone extraordinary, then what about the other people in this unknown place?

Jo Do-Yoon gulped hard as fear started to creep around the back of her mind, this situation was starting to overwhelm her right now...

"..."

"It seems that there's something you have in mind that's bothering you, judging by something from how... energetic... you've been acting tonight. Is there anything bothering you? Why don't you sit on the bed and talk about it to me?" The old man exclaimed with a concerned tone, unknowing of Jo Do-Yoon's real situation.

Hearing this, Jo Do-Yoon thought for a few seconds as she lowered her head. Does the old man have something up his sleeves? Or maybe the old man was just concerned about her? Sure, why not? Let's see what happens!

After seeing that Jo Do-Yoon nodded her little head, the old man smiled before gently taking her hand as he guided her through this large bedroom back toward her bed. Unlike before, this trip was way less time-consuming and easier since she was not just blindly guessing directions.

Upon arriving, Jo Do-Yoon immediately plopped down face-first onto the mattress' warm embrace while the old man beside her chuckled, "Now, are you feeling better?"

Nodding lazily, a small yawn subconsciously escaped her lips while cuddling her bedroll, 'Ah... I'm getting quite sleepy...'

She couldn't help it. The gentle warmth and scent of the surrounding candle along with the cool temperature made her urge to sleep spike considerably, and having a fatigued body doesn't help one bit.

"That's great. Now, you can tell me what has been troubling you, Young Miss. Do not even try to say that nothing's wrong, you have been behaving quite differently tonight. I know there is something in your mind," he smiled. Although she hates to admit it, the old man's tone of speech is quite convincing. From his behavior and all, she could totally feel some kind of sincerity as if he really wanted to help her.

But the question is, can she trust him? Jo Do-Yoon was silent for a moment as she pondered her choices.

...

'Hmmm...Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to befriend this guy for a bit. In an unknown place like this along with having rock-bottom martial prowess, making some friends and connections are very beneficial. I would need to rely on someone's help to survive currently, after all!'

'And above all else, this old man seems to be quite ignorant of this body's change in behavior. No, never mind ignorant, he was actually quite kind to me. Maybe it's because I seemed like someone important to him. Oh right...'

'I remember that he said I'm a 'Young Miss' or whatever. Does that mean the body I'm in right now is the heir of some kind of clan?' he pondered quickly before a brilliant idea flashed in his mind. If she was currently in the body of a young heir, maybe she could take advantage of this and bring many underlings by her side. That way she could gain tons of resources more effectively in a short amount of time without stealing and getting herself in trouble! 'Then if that's so, then this might be a blessing in disguise!'

With a cheerful face, she then proceeded to face the old man before making a few gestures with her hands. Each gesture was executed smoothly with unmatched grace, and the message behind it was conveyed very clearly.

Since she couldn't use words, she decided to use some sign language to try to communicate with this old man. In her time as a low-ranked assassin of the Hao Clan, when she underwent missions that revolved around teaming up with many people, she usually preferred using sign language as a silent way to communicate. With her martial skills back then, voice transmissions were not possible since this ability could only be used by high-level martial artists. Therefore, she has used sign language so many times that it came naturally to her.

Right now, she was trying to fake memory loss to mask her behavior and hide the fact that she was someone else for obvious reasons. This body's family would definitely kill her if they found out that a spirit possessed their daughter.

...

I'm sorry, but who are you? Where am I?

That was the message she was trying to send him from her various hand signs.

'How's that? You should be able to understand this, right?' Jo Do-Yoon thought with a casual smile on her face.

However, contrary to her expectations, the old man simply stood there as if he didn't understand what in the hell she was doing. He simply tilted his head in confusion as he continued staring at Jo Do-Yoon doing weird hand poses here and there. It doesn't take much longer for the silent atmosphere to turn quite awkward. 

'U-Uh... Does this guy not understand any sign language at all? Hello??'

Realizing the truth, Jo Do-Yoon was at a loss. If she couldn't use sign language, how would she communicate with anyone at all, then?

"Huhu... My apologies, Young lady, but I think this might help you a little." the old man finally said after Jo Do-Yoon was done with her shenanigans.

At this moment, Jo Do-Yoon could feel the old man put something on her hands, it was a small signboard and chalk!

'Oh, that's great! With this, I should be able to communicate better... Wait a minute, did I just ramble on using sign language for absolutely nothing?'

She clutched her hand as anger started to flare in her eyes while staring daggers at the old man. But regardless she quickly shook her head and tried to calm her anger down, she didn't want to sit around with this dude any longer than necessary. Without wasting any more time, she quickly wrote what she wanted to say on the board.

[ I'm sorry, but who are you? Where in the world am I? Where's my mother? ] She wrote smoothly on the signboard.

The Old Man read the sign and in an instant, his smile disappeared from his face before being replaced with a huge frown. Concern was displayed clearly on his face and judging from the brief silence, Jo Do-Yoon smiled as she noticed that he had fallen for it.

'Nice, it worked! Now fall for it, fall for it!'

"Young Lady, you... you don't remember me?"

[ No...? Am I supposed to know you? ] she replied nonchalantly, acting like she had no idea what was going on. But contrary to Jo Do-Yoon's casual expression, the old man's expression got even more grim after hearing her words.

"It's me, Jiang Sam... your old servant." He hurriedly muttered, trying to give her some clue. But seeing that Jo Do-Yoon was still staring at him with a confused gaze, he continued. "I was sent by the Lord Patriarch to personally serve you five years ago, and I even attended to you after the incident when you lost your strength and senses. And since you were bedridden and unable to move, I've been taking care of your livelihood every single day until now. How can you not remember me?"

Hearing the small ramble of this old man, her eyes quickly light up before putting up a confused expression. In her mind, she was jumping back and forth as she realized that the situation couldn't be any better than this. 'Hoho... it seems like this man is a personal servant? That makes things way easier! Now if I befriend him, I won't have to worry about getting information about this body's original owner and all sorts of affairs in this place.'

She mentally nodded to herself. Right now she is quite happy about her current situation, aside from turning into a girl. However, on the surface, she continued to put on a grim expression to trick the old man into thinking she was in a dire situation with the 'amnesia' and stuff.

After a long silence, the old man finally muttered,

"...It seems like my concern was true. Young Lady, you might have amnesia..."

At this point, Jo Do-Yoon mentally fist-bumped herself as her heart was filled with joy, 'AHAHA! Nice, that was way easier than I thought!'

Now that this was done, the risk of being exposed has been decreased by a ton. Had this old man been more suspicious of her, then he would've asked her a ton of questions that would have made her headache increase by tenfold. She really doesn't want to go on a long rambling with this old man and be interrogated endlessly.

This is mainly because she doesn't know how she would answer those questions and which manner she should display. Memory losses have their limits after all, especially when this body doesn't have any noticeable injury other than impaired senses.

But anyway, this old man seems to be quite dumb. It's great that she wouldn't have to worry about being caught when she's around him.

'Well, whatever. Since I don't see any way I could mess up in here, I should just relax a little and see what happens...' Jo Do-Yoon decided as she pondered on what kind of questions she was going to fire onto him next. As she was writing those questions on her signboard, she suddenly felt a light tug on her shoulders, gently laying her back onto the bed.

'Hmm??'

Her tiny figure was immediately buried in a warm blanket by the old man as he hurriedly left toward the door.

'Is he... not going to say anything else? I just lost my damn memory and you aren't going to do anything!?'

As if sensing Jo Do-Yoon's critics, the old man briefly turned back to her and gave a concerned smile, "I know you might have many questions going around in your head, Young Lady, but you must need rest right now. It seems that the poison inside you has become too strong to the point of corroding your memories. I need to call the physician to assess you, Young Lady."

The old man then turned back toward the door and left the room, "I will see you in an hour, Young Lady. You can ask me as many questions as you want right then."

...

'...huh?'

With that, the door was slammed shut and the room became quiet once again. However, Jo Do-Yoon's eyes were flaming in anger as she realized something.

'T-That bastard ran away!'

Now she is quite pissed. Didn't he say he was going to answer all of her doubts or something? Jo Do-Yoon originally thought that the old man was just some ignorant fool who just happened to be her servant, but who would've thought that he was this scheming?!

'He didn't even answer my questions! How am I supposed to know who I am and where this place is!? Do I really have to wait a whole hour just to know about that sort of stuff!?' she complained as she flailed her limbs around in her bed. If she could talk, then hundreds of curses would've been spouted out of her mouth at this point.

'AND ALSO POISON!? WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? IF YOU WANT TO SPEW SOME BS AS A 'REASON' DON'T YOU JUST... #%#!%$'

...

After a long series of useless self-rambling, she finally sighed before accepting it as it was.

'Whatever! There's nothing I can do about it anyway. More importantly, I'm getting quite drowsy...'

Jo Do-Yoon didn't realize it, but running around and endless thinking endless overthinking upon waking had taken a toll on her now weak body. Her eyelids were starting to get quite heavy as a yawn once again escaped her lips.

'I suppose a small nap shouldn't... be too bad...'

As she continued to mutter, her eyelids closed and she drifted off into a deep sleep...