Chapter 545

Fire Dragon Pavilion.

The moment I murmured those three words—

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Clear bell tones burst like celebratory fireworks, and a new holographic window flooded my vision.

System

• Fire Dragon Pavilion has been registered as the new name!
• All Quest conditions have been fulfilled!
• Quest Become My Companion! has been successfully completed!
• Fire Dragon Pavilion has been officially established!
• You have acquired the unique Title Fire Dragon Pavilion Master!
• You have achieved the rare achievement Murim Alliance Civil Servant with a Sword Rice Bowl¹!
• You have acquired a large amount of Fame and EXP!

A completed Quest, an achievement, and even the unique Title Fire Dragon Pavilion Master.

Notifications poured in all at once. But the System had more rewards in store.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

System

• Even now, your name is echoing throughout Murim.
• Your total Fame has surpassed 10,000!
• You have achieved the outstanding achievement If You Don’t Know Him, You Must Be Dark Heaven!
• As an achievement reward, some Title effects have been strengthened, and Charm and Intimidation have increased significantly!
• You have acquired a large amount of Fame and EXP!
• Level Up!

Oh, shit.

Was today Christmas or something?

I’d stopped paying much attention to Fame, but the huge amount I’d just gained had pushed my total past 10,000 and earned me an unexpected extra reward.

Some Title effects and stats had been strengthened. And on top of that…

I leveled up.

Even crappy online games made leveling harder the further you progressed, but lately it had become next to impossible. It was almost as if the System had forcibly nerfed me.

With so many battles ahead, every bonus point from a level-up was worth more than any fortune.

Come to think of it, I must have quite a few bonus points saved up. Titles, too.

Was the last time I checked my Status Window right after I defeated the Water God Dragon?

When I first came to Murim, I’d been so anxious that I opened it dozens of times a day. Gradually, I’d checked it less and less. These days, I hardly looked at it at all.

That was because, once my stats had reached a certain level, I had realized that they were little more than luck. What truly determined the outcome of a decisive moment was martial arts.

Still, I should sort everything out soon.

It felt like only yesterday that I had been called the disgrace of my family at Level 10. Now I was a monster who had sailed past Level 100, as well as a nationally famous Supreme Peak master whom no one in Murim failed to recognize.

I was smiling to myself at the thought of how far I’d come when Jeok Cheongang spoke in a disgruntled voice.

“You’re grinning from ear to ear. Does becoming a Pavilion Master make you that happy?”

“Oh, that’s not the only reason.”

“Then what? Are you glad to be rid of this old man?”

“Huh?”

Only then did I understand why he looked so displeased. I stopped short.

“Are you sulking because of that?”

“Sulking? Me? The Fire King Jeok Cheongang?”

His eyes bulged, and he gave a mighty snort.

“Hah! What nonsense!”

“…Easy with the snorting. Your boogers are flying. And with a reaction like that, even a passing mutt could tell.”

“You ill-mannered brat! What do you think you know?”

Well, that settles it.

I took a step back from Jeok Cheongang’s flying spit and tried to calm him down.

“It can’t be helped. It’s not my fault you joined the Five Kings Hall.”

The Five Kings Hall was an organization newly established by the new Murim Alliance, which had carried over the old Murim Alliance’s structure.

It had only five members, but you could call it the strongest fighting force in the Murim Alliance—perhaps in all of Murim.

Just look at the lineup. It was practically Murim’s Avengers.

Thunderbolt Saber King Peng Cheolhu. Azure Sky Sword King Namgung Cheon. Seafaring King Pa Ryun. Fist King Yan Hwapyeong. And…

The man standing right in front of me: Fire King Jeok Cheongang.

With members like that, they hadn’t called it the Five Kings Hall for nothing. Five of the Ten Kings, men who had held their places through the long passage of years, had gathered there.

Living legends. Every one of them.

And Jeok Cheongang sat at their head.

By Murim’s standards of seniority and age, he was old enough to have drunk skull water with Bodhidharma.² As for the martial arts that had brought him to Returned to Youth, no one could dispute his mastery.

He was considered the best of the Ten Kings even during the Great Faction War.

When we encountered the Blood Lord during the Shaolin Bloodshed, that bastard had tried to recruit Jeok Cheongang from the outset rather than fight him. He’d even said that if the Great Faction War had lasted a little longer, Jeok Cheongang would have become one of the Four Saints instead of the Three Saints.

But…

“Five Kings Hall, my ass. They’ve stuck me with an office that wasn’t even written in my stars.”³

The man himself wouldn’t stop grumbling.

He held the highest seat in a hall of living legends, and he couldn’t have been less pleased.

Hyuk Mujin, who had been watching him closely, raised a tentative hand.

“Um…”

“What?”

“If Great Hero Jeok leaves the Five Kings Hall, could I take his place?”

“……”

“……”

“With a recommendation, maybe…”

That guy’s a special kind of crazy.

Jeok Cheongang and I fell silent. Then Jeok Cheongang fixed Hyuk Mujin with a long look.

“Go. Unless you want to die.”

“Yes, sir. I’m sorry.”

“If you flap that twitchy mouth of yours one more time, this old man will have something to apologize to your parents for.”

After delivering the threat in a chilling voice, he turned his glare on me.

“And you.”

I quickly waved my hands.

“I don’t need to join the Five Kings Hall.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what?”

“What do you plan to do from here on?”

He was asking about more than my next move. Pride and worry mingled in his eyes as he looked at me.

“You’ve done well to come this far. I’ll give you that. But from here on…”

“Old Master.”

I cut him off before he could continue and shrugged.

“I’m not as much of a child as you think.”

“……!”

“And I already know what you’re going to say.”

I wasn’t lying. I could guess well enough what Jeok Cheongang wanted to tell me.

The real war was about to begin. Not a battle—a war. Countless lives would be sacrificed to decide who would rule the world.

The fights I had faced until now had never been easy, but it was obvious that even greater dangers would come crashing down upon us from here on out.

But…

“You said it yourself a moment ago. You asked me what I was hesitating for. You told me to simply move forward.”

That was right. I’d keep moving forward, as I always had. In my own way.

“I’ll hesitate a little, then charge ahead without hesitation.”

Jeok Cheongang watched me smile. Then he gave a quiet laugh.

“If you’re going to move forward, move forward. What’s this about hesitating a little?”

“I can’t help it. Somehow, I’ve ended up with a lot to protect.”

I had blood relatives who were as precious to me as my own life. I had companions and subordinates to whom I could entrust my life. And I had a Master with whom I had formed a bond deep enough for me to throw my life away.

I could not—and should not—ever lose something precious again as I had in the past.

“I’ll protect everything I have as I go.”

“Hah. Greedy bastard.”

Jeok Cheongang let out a short, hollow laugh before continuing.

“But that’s the right answer.”

“Huh?”

“Always be careful. Think. Whatever crisis comes for you, even if you face an opponent you can’t possibly defeat, hold on to that feeling and come back alive.”

“Old Master…”

“And remember.”

His voice was different from usual. It was calm and warm, and it slipped into my ears.

“You’re someone another person wants to protect, too.”

At noon, dazzling sunlight pierced the earth.

Step. Step.

Several dozen people walked in the same direction. Women and men, middle-aged people and elders—they moved without hesitation until they reached their destination.

Creeeak. Boom!

A massive door swung wide open as they approached.

Above it, three characters written in a sweeping hand looked down on the people entering beneath them.

Alliance Leader’s Hall.

At the heart of the Murim Alliance, it was where the great affairs of Murim were decided. The varied people entering it now were the pillars, great and small, that supported the martial world.

Two among them stood out.

Smack. Smack-smack.

One young man kept stuffing food into his mouth as he walked. Another watched him in silence.

They looked about the same age, but their builds and the air about them could hardly have been more different.

They did share two undeniable traits: both were prodigies seldom seen in Murim’s long history, and both had won tremendous fame.

Perhaps that was why people kept watching them, from the moment they entered until well after they took their seats.

So those are the young men…

Blazing Flame Divine Dragon Jin Taekyung and Huashan Divine Dragon Cheongpung. I’ve never seen them this close. Is this really what they’re like?

Incredible! What perfect muscles and bones. He’s reached the Supreme Peak realm so young. How could anyone dismiss him as a boy barely past twenty?

There was wonder and admiration at finally seeing the young heroes they’d known only by rumor.

Pavilion Master or not, what an undisciplined attitude.

Tsk. His martial arts may be strong, but he still has some growing up to do.

Entrusting such important posts to boys like that? You’ll regret it, Alliance Leader.

There was envy, jealousy, and disdain, too. Their thoughts were as varied as the people themselves.

The two young men remained unfazed. More precisely, they paid none of it any attention.

Smack, smack. Agu, agu-agu.

Jin Taekyung watched Cheongpung cram dumplings and meat into his mouth and muttered, “What the fuck, is he a martial artist or Agumon⁴…?”

“Whah?”

“Nothing. Keep stuffing your face, Young Hero Cheongpung.”

“Wahn one?”⁵

“Afraid? What would I be afraid of? You’re the one who scares me. And no, I don’t want one, so swallow before you speak. Dumpling filling is flying all the way over here.”

With a voice of utter resignation, Jin Taekyung reached toward the flying bits of filling.

Whoosh. Tick!

His fingers moved too fast for most Peak masters to follow. As he knocked aside the finely chopped meat and vegetables, gasps and exclamations rose around the hall.

“Gasp!”

“My word.”

The world was vast and masters were many, but not all of the several dozen people gathered here were Supreme Peak masters.

Even so, a simple movement could reveal something of a martial artist’s ability.

Jin Taekyung was a Supreme Peak master who had opened his Middle Dantian. It would not be an exaggeration to say that his movements belonged to an entirely different realm.

The Fire King’s successor… He lives up to his reputation. The rumors weren’t exaggerated.

Damn it. What kind of monster is he?

If the Huashan Divine Dragon has reached the same realm… Hah. Astonishing.

As everyone watched the two young men with their own thoughts, a deep voice rang through the conference hall.

“The Alliance Leader is entering.”