“……You’re leaving? For an entire year?”
“Yes.”
“So you finally decided?”
When I nodded, an indescribably complicated look passed over Jin Wikyung’s face. Joy, disappointment, pride….
After remaining silent for a long while, he performed a deep formal bow toward Jeok Cheongang.
“Please take good care of our youngest—no, Taekyung. Great Hero Jeok.”
“I heard you, so get up. He may be lacking, as you said, but this old man will guide him properly, so stop worrying. Ahem!”
“…….”
When did I say that? He asked you to take good care of me. I don’t remember him saying I was lacking.
But Jeok Cheongang was not someone I could reason with.
He calmed the twitching corner of his mouth and opened it again.
“Daylight has broken, so I intend to leave at once.”
“What? Today?”
“Obviously. Once a man makes up his mind, he must act without hesitation.”
Jin Wikyung’s expression grew even gloomier. He looked back and forth between Jeok Cheongang and me with a face covered in storm clouds, then let out a deep sigh.
“Understood. I’ll prepare your travel bags immediately.”
“What do I need travel bags for? I won’t need them. Is this training or a tour of the martial world?”
“Where are you headed?”
“Anhui. It’s close enough on foot.”
A sudden sense of foreboding made me ask,
“How far is it?”
Jin Wikyung answered,
“At least a month.”
“What?”
“And that’s on horseback.”
Has this old man gone senile?
Jeok Cheongang caught my expression and shouted,
“That’s only for those slowpokes! At this old man’s pace, it won’t even take a month and a half!”
“…….”
No, damn it. If that’s how we’re measuring things, a jet would still be faster. So why are we walking?
I quickly grabbed Jin Wikyung’s hand.
“Pack my bags nice and full, please.”
“You little—!”
“Otherwise, I’m not going.”
“What did you say?”
“I come from a family with money. I have no intention of wandering around begging for food. Since we’re going anyway, let’s travel comfortably.”
Why deliberately suffer when I had money? If I could travel comfortably, that was obviously the best option.
I had already left behind a soft bed and logged in. I didn’t want to take things that far.
And besides….
“There are places I need to stop by before leaving.”
“Gnnngh.”
As Jeok Cheongang groaned, Jin Wikyung added,
“I also have something important to discuss with you.”
“You have something to say to me?”
“Yes. It won’t take very long.”
“If you intend to waste my time with some trivial matter, forget it.”
Jin Wikyung firmly shook his head.
“It is important enough that Great Hero Jeok should know about it.”
What could it be?
Even I had rarely seen him look so serious.
Jeok Cheongang stared silently at Jin Wikyung, then clicked his tongue.
“Half a shichen. No longer.”
“That will be enough.”
This time, he turned his head toward me.
“The same goes for you.”
“Yes, sir.”
That was more than enough time for me as well.
Afraid they might change their minds, I answered immediately and left the study so the two of them could speak in private.
Clear sunlight and a cool breeze greeted me outside—weather that could hardly still be called winter.
“Ah, what beautiful weather.”
Finding my next destination was easy.
I looked up at the blue sky and began walking toward the cliff visible in the distance.
Whoooosh.
With a heavy boom, an iron sword cleaved through the air.
Once, then again, his stance flawless and without the slightest deviation.
How long had it been since he had begun each day with ten thousand strikes?
The young man gripping the sword’s hilt did not know.
He was in a cave where no light entered, and he had long since forgotten the passage of time.
Swish!
The tip of the sword wavered.
It was a tiny difference, but to the young man, it was an unforgivable mistake.
According to the rule he had set for himself, one mistake meant one hundred additional strikes.
Again.
The young man silently swung his sword.
It was a brutal physical regimen that had to be completed using nothing but raw strength and stamina, without relying on any internal energy.
An ordinary martial artist would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.
But the young man, Jin Mukyung, was different.
I’ll do it perfectly. No matter how many times it takes. No matter how many years.
He had picked up a sword at the age of five. He liked the sound of the wind brushing his ears whenever he swung it, and he enjoyed soaking himself in sweat.
More than twenty years passed that way.
At some point, people began calling him by another name.
“He reached Peak at twenty. There’s no other word for it but genius.”
“Are you the Heaven Shaking Sword?”
He had only trained because he loved martial arts and enjoyed becoming stronger. Yet he had come to be called both the pride of his family and a genius of martial arts.
There had been times when he was proud of the martial reputation he had earned for himself.
But he eventually realized that it was all nothing more than hollow fame—an empty name with nothing inside it.
Cheongpung.
Swish!
The moment he thought of that name, the tip of his sword twitched.
One hundred additional strikes.
He forced himself to close his eyes and steady his breathing, but his shaken heart was impossible to rein in.
Before he knew it, Jin Mukyung was remembering the day he had first faced Cheongpung.
He’s strong.
That was his first thought upon seeing the boy.
He had a clear, boyish face and an ordinary build. A single iron sword hung carelessly from his waist. His attitude and posture could not have been more sloppy, but Mukyung had known immediately.
And his prediction soon became reality.
It had been the most bone-deep defeat of his life.
When he remembered the moment he had knelt after roughly three hundred exchanges, his teeth clenched on their own and his hand tightened around the hilt.
Swish! Swish-swish!
The disturbance in his heart showed itself plainly in his sword.
His stable stance collapsed, and his movements—once as precise as if measured with a ruler—became disordered.
One hundred strikes, two hundred, three hundred….
Just as his mistakes were multiplying like a snowball, a familiar voice came from beyond the iron door blocking the training hall.
“Why does it sound so murderous in there?”
“……!”
Jin Mukyung’s body, which had been swinging the sword as if possessed, came to an abrupt stop.
“Is that you?”
“Why ask when you already know? You’re hurting my feelings.”
There was no doubt.
Within the Taiyuan Jin Family, only one person could speak to Jin Mukyung that obnoxiously.
Thinking of the younger brother standing beyond the iron door, Mukyung asked,
“How long have you been there?”
“About fifteen minutes?”
“……I see.”
Despite the casual tone of the answer, his face darkened.
He thought he had let his emotions take hold of him and failed to notice the other’s presence.
“Go. I’m training.”
“Training, my ass. If anything, you’re venting your anger.”
“What?”
“You sound furious just from the noise. Nothing you do in that state could possibly count as training.”
Jin Mukyung’s eyes trembled faintly.
He was astonished that Taekyung had seen straight through his condition despite the iron door between them and the distance of more than ten jang.
This guy…. Could he have improved again in that short time?
His rate of growth was truly frightening.
But before his surprise had even faded, Jin Taekyung continued,
“I’m leaving.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah. I decided to learn martial arts from the Fire King—or rather, Old Master.”
“……!”
Mukyung had heard that the Fire King had visited the family.
In the past, he would have immediately rushed out of the training hall, bowed until his forehead touched the ground, and begged the Fire King to teach him even a single move.
But he endured.
More than anyone, he knew that this was a process he had to understand for himself.
But why would he teach that boy…? No. There are more than enough reasons.
The man beyond that iron door was a true monster—someone who deserved to be called a genius. The Fire King would have recognized his true worth.
Having accepted that explanation inwardly, Mukyung spoke.
“Have you become his Disciple?”
“Not exactly. It’s a Disciple-but-not-a-Disciple, kind-of-a-Disciple relationship. Something like that.”
“……What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Don’t try to understand. Is this the first time something like this has happened?”
“That’s true.”
“Yeah, just let it go.”
A brief silence passed.
Then, as if they had made an agreement, the two of them let out quiet chuckles at the same time.
Even they had to admit that the conversation had taken a ridiculous turn.
“Did you come just to tell me that? Are you hoping for a send-off?”
“A send-off? I know better than to expect one.”
“Then?”
“One year remains.”
Taekyung’s calm voice continued.
“The Star-Array Grand Banquet.”
“The Star-Array Grand Banquet.”
Jin Mukyung muttered the words like a groan.
The Star-Array Grand Banquet was a banquet hall of countless stars spread across the Nine Provinces and Eight Wastes, the Four Seas and Five Lakes.
“Why are you telling me that?”
“I’m going to attend. Cheongpung and I both are.”
“……What are you trying to say?”
“That’s something you’ll have to think about on your own. Oof.”
Along with the sound of someone rising from his seat, Taekyung’s final words reached him.
“I’m going. See you later.”
Step. Step.
The sound of footsteps gradually faded until it stopped completely.
Silence settled over the training hall.
Jin Mukyung stared blankly at the iron door beyond which the other’s presence had vanished.
The Star-Array Grand Banquet.
He was not a fool.
He understood perfectly well why Jin Taekyung had come to the training hall and why he had brought up the Star-Array Grand Banquet.
“One year….”
Muttering the words under his breath, Jin Mukyung gripped the sword’s hilt.
His turbulent heart and wavering sword tip had both settled into calm before he knew it.
“Goodbye. See you later.”
He murmured the farewell he had failed to give his younger brother as he departed on a long journey, then swung his sword like lightning.
Whoooosh.
It was a perfect strike, without the slightest error.
After leaving the training hall, I headed straight for the study.
Waiting for me there was an empty chair with no one sitting in it—and a message delivered through one of the guards.
“He told me to wait at the main gate?”
“Yes. Those were his exact words.”
Did something happen?
I set the question aside and walked toward the main gate.
Not long after, I came face-to-face with several familiar people.
“Captain!”
“Benefactor!”
“You’re finally here, Young Master Jin?”
Hyuk Mujin, Cheongpung, and Wolhwa.
But they were not alone.
Over the shoulders of the three who had approached me first, I could see the others as well.
Lee Seowol, awkwardly waving one hand, and the Three Plum Blossom Elites, standing there with expressions that seemed to say they had no idea where they were or who they were.
“How did you all know to come here?”
Wolhwa smiled sweetly.
“Because we’re the Lower District Sect.”
“……Did you plant a spy?”
“Oh my, a spy? Would we need one when we have such an excellent informant right there?”
I followed Wolhwa’s finger and saw Hyuk Mujin proudly holding out a heavy travel bag.
“By order of the Lesser Family Head, I packed your luggage, Captain!”
“……Ah. So you’re the culprit.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing. Good job.”
I had wanted to leave as quietly as possible, but apparently nothing ever went according to plan.
The moment I accepted the travel bag with a sigh, Cheongpung grabbed me by the collar and clung to me.
“Benefactor! I want to go with you! I want to become Grandpa Jeok’s Disciple!”
“Then go get permission.”
“Whose permission?”
“Whose do you think? Great Hero Mae Jonghak, the Sword Saint.”
“I already got it! He said it was okay!”
Baek Museong muttered with an expression of someone who had already seen everything life had to offer.
“He’s been missing for more than a month already. How exactly did you get his permission…?”
That man really does have the hardest job in the world all to himself.
After finally pulling Cheongpung away, I asked Baek Museong,
“What are you planning to do now?”
“Either escort Martial Uncle Cheongpung back to the main sect or search the Central Plains for Grandmaster’s trail. I suppose it will be one or the other.”
“Yikes.”
At my reaction, Baek Museong let out a hearty laugh.
“Haha. Is anything in life ever easy? I intend to leave as soon as a message arrives from the main sect.”
What a rock-solid mind.
I even felt a little respect for him.
After finishing my conversation with Baek Museong, I turned my head.
Beside the small Eunhyang, a giant nearly two meters tall flinched.
“Hey.”
“……Wh-what?”
“I’m just saying we should forget what happened before and get along.”
I smiled brightly and offered him my hand.
The giant, Chulwoo of the Defeated Flower Fist, hesitated before taking it.
“Th-then this means we’re reconciled….”
Crack.
“Gah!”
“You’re such a baby. Don’t let it show. Smile.”
With the sound of bones shifting out of place, the hand of Chulwoo, a man twice my size, crumpled as though it had been crushed beneath a press.
I tightened my grip and whispered into his ear,
“Don’t make a move on her. You know what I mean, right?”
“I-I got it!”
“Good. Keep that attitude for the rest of your life.”
When I released his hand, Chulwoo sucked in a breath and hurriedly backed away.
Watching him, Eunhyang, the youngest of the Three Plum Blossom Elites, could only marvel.
“……I never knew there was someone stronger than Senior Brother Chul. The world really is vast.”
Then again, it could feel awfully small, too.
No matter how large this continent was, people who were meant to meet would eventually meet.
I would probably see these people again someday.
“If fate brings us together, let’s meet again.”
“It was nice meeting you, too.”
I gave Eunhyang a slight nod and turned around.
One person remained.
“…….”
“…….”
An awkward silence hung between Lee Seowol and me.
I didn’t think things had been this awkward at first. I had no idea why Lee Seowol seemed more difficult to deal with every time I saw her.
Maybe it’s because I received a proposal?
Even if it was a political marriage, a proposal was still a proposal.
I struggled through the awkwardness and finally opened my mouth.
“Um, Sect Leader Lee.”
“Please call me Young Lady.”
“Ah, yes. Then, Young Lady Lee.”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
I looked at Lee Seowol’s slightly lowered eyelids and brought out the words I had prepared.
“May peace prevail throughout your household.”
“…….”
“May your business prosper as well, and, um, whatever. Anyway, I hope everything you do goes well.”
Great. Nice job. For the Sect Leader of a whole sect, there couldn’t be a better blessing than that.
Just as I smiled contentedly and began watching Lee Seowol’s reaction, a sharp, ringing voice came from the distance.
“What are you grinning so foolishly about?”
A short old man appeared in the distance.
With Jin Wikyung and Wipeng flanking him, he seized me by the nape before I had a chance to say anything.
“The road ahead is long. Hurry up and follow me.”
“W-wait a second.”
Whoooosh!
But it was already too late.
The faces of the people behind me quickly grew distant.
Jin Wikyung waved a handkerchief with reddened eyes and shouted,
“Our youngest! Come back safe and sound!”
……That only makes me more nervous!
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