Before I leave the Blood Night Palace Lord, I enter the residence of Elder Heo alone and meet with him quietly.
When I appear, Heo Gyeom, who is sitting at the tea table, says,
“You are leaving? You won’t stay a couple days and go?”
I sit face to face with him and say,
“Thanks to you I had a good rest. Because I am snooping around here too, the people in the palace must be tired of my actions. Senior, how was the physician you met yesterday?”
In fact, I introduced them because they wouldn’t have likely crossed paths otherwise, but I wasn’t sure if Heo Gyeom liked it.
Heo Gyeom replies in a comfortable tone.
“Surprisingly, I feel more at ease. As the nervousness disappeared, breathing turned easier. Sooner or later, I will have to start drinking plums. What about Sect Leader?”
“I will try to organize my thoughts when I return. The Cult Leader won’t appear around here for three years. Before that, we will join forces with Alliance leader Im or create a variable to attack the Cult so that senior won’t have to work too much.”
Heo Gyeom nods.
“How can I not pay attention? But you will hold up well.”
“Thanks to my senior, I was able to see the Cult Leader with my own eyes this time and realize the difference. The Cult Leader is currently in the higher stage of training his martial arts. However, it won’t be easy for the Cult Leader to build up the right supreme innate qi. Originally the level of it is too high to even imagine. Senior, you realize what this means?”
Heo Gyeom looks blankly and then says,
“The Cult Leader will wait till the end to kill you. Until all grown.”
“As senior can see, the Sect Leader treats me like a bug. It seems like I should use it.”
I am a bug now.
Because of that short meeting with the Cult Leader, all sorts of psychological warfare went around.
I grin at Heo Gyeom.
“Even if I mess up to some extent, the Cult Leader will have no choice but to leave me alone. Because it will be an unsightly thing. Rather, my concern is that senior will miss the fun which happens… that is my concern.”
At that Heo Gyeom nods and smiles.
“I am fighting with my body well, let me raise you.”
After helping Heo Gyeom up, I nudged him lightly like I would to a grandfather.
“Senior, stay healthy and safe.”
Heo Gyeom pats me on my back.
“Please let me know about the things that happen from time to time so that there’s something to smile about. Even if the news is all shit.”
After grabbing Heo Gyeom’s bony arms, I speak my thoughts.
“I will do that, senior. We live in Kangho, so every moment must be our last. Let us live and reunite. If I am in danger, I will put my pride on the line and run.”
Heo Gyeom nods.
“Let’s survive and meet by any means.”
I stop at the corner of the path after saying goodbye to elder Heo and the people of the palace. When I stop somewhere in the middle, Moyong Baek asks,
“Sect Leader?”
This was a road I took before. If I head north from here, I will find the alliance. I can take Moyong Baek to the Murim Alliance and introduce him to Im So-baek.
And if we went to the west it would be the Black Rabbit Union.
I look to the east.
“….”
Going back the way we came; it would mean the Blood Night Palace. The reason I stand at the corner of the street and am lost in thought was because no direction mattered.
‘Why am I feeling this way?’
Maybe it is because I made up my mind.
In order to kill the head of Demon Cult who is living a bad life, I made the pledge to live a righteous one in my heart.
So now I don’t care whether I go north or south.
Whether I go to the alliance or to Black Rabbit union, as long as I don’t forget the meaning, every path will be the same.
I even thought about how it wouldn’t matter if I moved to the end of the east and looked at the coast of Zhejiang.
The important thing wasn’t the waterbed in Zhejiang, but the attitude I had until I arrived there.
What if I go there and see a large fish and what if I don’t? Just as fast as the thought enters my mind, I am being dragged around to the coastal waters. Just like how the craziness would make me beat the people around me.
I thought of craziness.
‘Why did I get dragged around by that concept?’
The answer to this has been with me right from the start. Maybe it was because I am an idiot.
Only then did I look at Moyong Baek.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
I thought while walking with him.
‘Why do I wake up so late each time? Seriously.’
In retrospect, I had no choice but to train in light foot work as if I was experiencing hell because of following the right path. The reason why I am still confident in my footwork is because I know I can use my footwork to move as far as possible in a situation where I would otherwise die.
If that is the case, it would be the same for those strong people….
In the end, footwork was important to me.
I just didn’t realize it in my previous life.
Until…
Why go all the way to the coast of Zhejiang? If I decide to take him and he falls down, it would be a hassle to beat him to get him up. All a big burden on me. It will be a lot faster with just my martial arts and to see it alone too1.
Moyong Baek sighs.
“What are you thinking so deeply about?”
How do I speak about my past life? In the end, I just say,
“The sea of Zhejiang….”
“Yes.”
“There is a fish the size of a bamboo pole.”
Moyong Baek looks puzzled.
“Is that so?”
“I thought of it just now.”
“You were thinking at the crossroads earlier. Where do we go now?”
“Where do you want to go?”
“Do I get a choice?”
I speak with a smile.
“Nowhere. You can go anywhere. Actually, I was going to take you to Leader Im So-baek.”
Moyong Baek responds with an absurd expression.
“Is that true?”
I nod with a serious expression.
“Im So-baek, that side is seriously ill. Even more than senior Heo. He has a burnout of the highest degree. You are great, but that is a complicated thing which wouldn’t help him. Elder Heo said.”
“Yes.”
“You must have been embarrassed this time because he was an old man who managed his body well. It seems that he is healthy and well taken care of by himself with no illnesses. Compared to the crazy one, his symptoms were normal. And your help in recovering would be right.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“It is a compliment. But Im So-baek is different. What a Murim Alliance Leader is.”
“Right.”
I point to my shoulder.
“The weight of the burden on his shoulder must be the heaviest. Even you cannot take down the weight and pain he has. And it is a problem you cannot stop alone. So, I think there is no need to meet right now.”
Moyong Baek nods.
“I do understand it. What the burden is on his shoulders. If he has risen to a position of leader, he probably won’t have a normal burnout. Because of this it won’t be a simple problem that can be solved easily.”
“Think about it. Im So-baek’s burnout as a leader is as good as an elder’s. However, he is a man who is in the Murim alliance, and it is one which long suffered from the Demon Cult. His subordinates will be concerned too.”
“That is a tricky situation.”
“Originally, Im So-baek was said to have been the commander of the Six Warring Squad, but at that time the entire squad got wiped out except for him. At the hands of Demon Cult. You can cure the man too if you work harder.”
“Me?”
I stare at him.
“It would be meaningful and rewarding to work as a physician with skills. Who will treat the Murim Alliance if he is confined to a place at the top all alone?”
“Me? So suddenly? Murim Alliance? What is this? Aren’t there other physicians?”
I clicked my tongue.
“Haha… would I have told you about Alliance Leader if there was someone better? Make sense.”
“Sect Leader.”
“What?”
“I might be getting burnout.”
I burst into laughter holding my stomach.
“I am sorry.”
“You say that, but you seem to like it so much?”
“See here, Moyong physician.”
“Yes.”
“Have you not heard the saying ‘if there is a blessing, share it, and if there is a weight, carry it together?’”
“Yes.”
“If you didn’t hear it, say it. Actually, this time I came with around 10,000 coins. If elder Heo collapsed, I would have given the money to the Blood Night Palace and advised them to destroy the palace and move. Fortunately, Elder Heo was holding on and I didn’t know that the spies were walking inside. Which is why I stepped back. Like an official embezzling public money.”
“…”
“Eat the most delicious food with it. Drink the best and come. Eating and drinking is the way to deal with the Demon Cult. And the money you don’t use can be returned back.”
“Your words are so confusing and colorful at the same time.”
“You, too. Don’t just lock yourself in that house of yours and eat nice, unseasoned food prepared by those women. Think of unhealthy food as an experience and eat them now. Spicy, sweet and salty ones too.”
Moyong Baek sighs at my words.
“Sweet, salty and spicy. Let’s go.”
I walk for a while in search of a nice place and say what comes to mind.
“Did I tell you that I met Cult Leader at the Blood Night palace a few days before you came?”
“Uh?”
Moyong Baek groans and then yells in shock making people run in shock.
“The Cult Leader came to visit Elder Heo in treatment and went back quickly.”
“Ah, so that is why the senior’s form collapsed like that. I thought they were talking about their old relationship because the story of the Cult was brought up. How did you feel when you saw it?”
I laughed at it.
“He is no longer human. And stronger than I thought. In a short time, I imagined joining forces with the Blood Night Palace Lord to take him down.”
While I was talking, I could smell something savory and look at the place in the street.
“Where is this smell coming from? Let’s talk while eating.”
“Sure.”
I look around the street and follow the smell and order noodles, dumplings and also alcohol. As soon as I ordered, Moyong Baek seemed surprised.
“When do we head home?”
“We will go when we eat well.”
“It feels like since we are here the plan to go faster has been delayed.”
I tilt my head.
“What could happen? What kind of world is the world we are living in these days? Though ruthless strongmen and insane evil swordsmen often do that, ah, it isn’t so hard.”
“…”
After hearing my words, Moyong Baek falls silent and looks around at the people in the inn. I followed his gaze and looked to see that the customers were all looking at us.
“Can’t you see? This is a peaceful place.”
“The expression of Sect Leader is the one not peaceful.”
“Is that so?”
I was waiting for the food to come with my wooden sword on the table and one at the waist. After a while, the server sets the food down. I ask Moyong Baek rubbing the chopsticks,
“There is no poison?”
“None.”
After absorbing all the noodles into the mouth with three bites of chopsticks. I gulp down the broth and then touch the dumplings and alcohol.
Suddenly, while looking at Moyong Baek, I pulled out the blade from my waist2 and handed it to him.
“Use this for the time being.”
Moyong Baek must have realized that refusal wouldn’t work.
I look at him.
‘I am like Poison Demon now.’
“Keep it for self-defense, it is a good sword, and it is one I took after throwing it at the head of the Black Rabbit leader, it is quite sharp.”
Suddenly, a clear sound rose from my throat and the people of the inn walked away in fright.
Moyong Baek asks,
“Will Sect Leader be alright with the wooden sword?”
I look at the sword on the table.
“This isn’t a wooden sword.”
“Then?”
“This is the real sword which will stab the throat of the Demon Cult Leader.”
As soon as I finish my words, I hear a cracking sound and guests running all around.
Silence falls around.
Suddenly when I look up I see the server with his nose twitching, looking at us tear faced.
And then I apologize to him.
“I guess you are sorry.”
He politely put his hands in front of me and says,
“… No. enjoy your meal.”
Moyong Baek looks at me and I say,
“Let’s eat.”
“Yes.”
He mumbles and chews.
“It is nice that the inn is quiet.”
Moyong Baek looks around as if he gives up on answering and says,
“I know, the place is so quiet.”
Editor’s Note
