I look at Leader Hwang who can’t get up.
“Leader Hwang, you have weak stamina.”
Leader Hwang answers after he turns toward the sky.
“… if I hadn’t eaten that pill I would have died from running itself.”
I sit on the floor too.
“You did good.”
“Yes.”
Leader Hwang lies down and looks at the sky and I look at the trees. As I am looking at the desolate place, I think of Sword Demon. From what I know, Sword Demon’s heart is no different from this.
‘I wonder if he went to visit Elder Heo now.’
I will never know. Actually, the condition of Sword Demon wasn’t normal, so it wasn’t natural for a patient to visit another patient. If he was holding on to the sword and was on the verge of enlightenment, there was a chance that the bastard might not have even informed him.
Actually, Sword Demon doesn’t have burnout.
He must be a man who became a swordsman because he was serious towards the sword.
Leader Hwang lying down asks,
“What kind of place is Low-Down Sect?”
Lost in my thoughts at the scenery, I briefly answer Leader Hwang’s words.
“A sect which does such things.”
“… I see. You mean the kind of things which make people run out of breath in forests and kill?”
“What you kill, and I kill are different. I am not one who goes after fame. Let’s assume that the one who defeated the leader of bandits was you.”
“Thank you. Because I did actually kill the leader. The world will not know though.”
I look up and ask him,
“You still have those flares?”
“Yes.”
“Take it out.”
Leader Hwang put his hand into his sleeve and took out a flare.
“Want it?”
“No, hold onto it for a while.”
I laid down on the ground and looked at the sky. As the sun went down, the light began to turn faint.
As soon as the light in the sky, which was too bright, began to go down, stars should appear. After a while, I tell Leader Hwang right before the shining stars come to visit us,
“Now.”
“What?”
“The sky is suitable for watching fireworks.”
“Ah, I don’t know what will happen. I am shooting it.”
Leader Hwang raises the flare into the sky and grabs the string to pull. In an instant, the gunpowder explodes, and something bursts into the air.
It didn’t rise too high but there was this popping sound, and the flames exploded again making it shine in the sky like a blooming flower.
While looking at the sky like a flower, I say,
“Looks like the signal was right.”
“Right.”
“Because this is a clunky flare it isn’t fully done. The signal flares of places like Murim Alliance and more have better perfection. Anyway, revenge for the warrior who had the signal flare was replaced by me and you.”
As I watched the flare vanish in air, I say,
“It would have been better if the flare was fired.”
“Why?”
“You never know. Someone like me could have been lying there and rescued him.”
“….”
“Anyway, the unknown warriors who died to them, may they get peace and rest in happiness now.”
Leader Hwang says to those whom he never met,
“Rest in peace.”
I look at the darkening sky and check Leader Hwang.
Actually, it was the right time to get up and walk before it got any darker, but looking at the sky I went silent. The sky was filled with stars right away. I mumble looking at the stars,
“Why are there so many stars?”
Only then did Leader Hwang say,
“Right.”
Leader Hwang got up and looked at me. It looked like he wanted to say something.
“Shut up.”
“Yes.”
“….”
“But you know what I want to say…”
“It is not my business, so shut up.”
“Yes.”
“From now on, these bandits won’t do anything, if they do they won’t live. And promises are useless.”
Leader Hwang wipes his face with hands.
“Sect Leader, I will go to the Hwayang escort service and apologize later.”
“Do what you want to.”
Suddenly I get up and turn my head to the sound of the horse hooves which were coming in, and it wasn’t one or two.
Leader Hwang looks so lost.
“Ah… there are more.”
And there came this incomprehensible cry from the wilderness. After a while, the lights shone and flickered, and hooves could be heard.
Leader Hwang gets up with his sword and I smile looking at him.
“Do you have any energy left?”
“I cannot just die.”
The odds of those approaching being the bandits were very low. It is because I took down the leader of theirs and those who ran, or possibly ran, couldn’t have come back to attack.
“Leader Hwang.”
“Yes.”
Looking at the lights, I say,
“I shot a signal flare so it looks like they came to rescue us.”
“Uh? It cannot be.”
After a while, a man with a torch comes forward.
“…, you are here! Hahaha….”
Of course, it was a person I didn’t know. But seeing me and Leader Hwang the guy burst into laughter, and he raised his torch.
“Over here!”
Leader Hwang turns to me.
“Sect Leader?”
As expected, I tell him,
“These are the people who were in the inn. I told you. There will be help.”
Leader Hwang covers his face as if the emotions got the best of him. Meanwhile the first man who came asks me,
“Sect Leader. Seriously, we found you. There were so many bandit corpses here and there so we thought you were close by, but it took us so long to find you.”
I nod and smile.
“How did you find me?”
“We came here after the flare. We weren’t sure and wanted to know.”
When the man’s words finished, people with torches rushed in. Of course, even Moyong Baek was there.
I brush off my butt and get up as Moyong baek smiles,
“Sect Leader, you worked so hard. We were late to come.”
It seems like he knew I annihilated most of the bandits. The men who came for us are curious and ask,
“Is the Red Ghost dead too?”
I don’t want to answer so I turn to Leader Hwang, and he says,
“Yes, he died at last in this place. Actually…”
Before he could say anything more, the men with torches all screamed in joy. People thanked me and Leader Hwang equally.
“Thank you Leader Hwang and thank you Sect Leader…”
While they said those words, a man from the crowd with a horse said,
“Sect Leader, please get on this. You can ride with your colleague.”
I got on the horse. Another man yielded the horse to Leader Hwang in the same way and got onto the horse.
A man took the lead and shouted by raising his torch.
“Let’s head back! Follow me!”
People shared their joy and shouted.
“Should we have a drink today?”
“I don’t think drinking will do it today.”
With all the jokes men usually do, we all moved. Those holding torches naturally ran ahead.
The people with torches surrounded me, Leader Hwang, and Moyong Baek. We were being escorted in flames.
It was my first-time walking like this in a flickering flame.
Even though I didn’t smile, the others were laughing and enjoying themselves.
I looked around and rode my horse, and saw that Moyong Baek was smiling, and Leader Hwang was also bursting into laughter.
There are drinking parties which wouldn’t be avoided.
Now it is the same. Because everyone started coming to drink and share things. Even after returning to the inn, there was no rest because everyone was drinking.
Reluctantly, I took a table with Moyong Baek and Leader Hwang. But I didn’t want to talk, so whenever people came to me and asked me about the death of Red Ghost, I pointed to Leader Hwang.
In the end, he had to repeat himself several times and after a while leader Hwang lost his cool, so he gathered all the people and explained what happened.
Every time he looked at me, I put my finger to my mouth.
‘Don’t talk about me.’
So, he had to take the lead for all. And like a performer, Leader Hwang explained what happened and the people were busy listening.
I slipped my head into drinking and at that time an old man, with the help of someone, approached Leader Hwang.
Leader Hwang looks puzzled at the old man.
“…”
Even before the old man gets close he begins to cry out and then continues to cry holding Leader Hwang. The old man is probably not the only one who lost his family to the bandits.
Everyone is watching…
Quite a few people hold onto Leader Hwang and thank him or bow to him. At first, Leader Hwang greets him with a puzzled expression but seeing their expressions he lowers his head and hugs the elderly.
Moyong Baek, who watched it, says,
“Leader Hwang seems to have lost it.”
“Right.”
“Sect Leader?”
Moyong Baek looks at me and says,
“… Red Ghost, is he strong?”
I nod.
“It would have been too much for these people to deal with. It seems like the Red Ghost thought of this place as a warehouse. He acted like he owned the land of the forest there and wasn’t bothered and would come hit people when he wanted things.”
Moyong Baek lowers his head and asks,
“Did that guy really kill him?”
I, too, speak lowly.
“Right. Although they all died.”
After thinking about it, Moyong Baek joked to me.
“I should go and give him something. Seeing how he is struggling against the old man; Leader Hwang seems to be going weak.”
Of course, some of the warriors here seemed to know that Leader Hwang couldn’t have killed Red Ghost alone. But whenever people came to visit with alcohol, Moyong Baek would smile and hold his hand out to Leader Hwang. It was an expression which said the merit all goes to that man there, and people accepted it.
Moyong Baek looked at Leader Hwang.
“Leader Hwang, look at the people around that man.”
I nod my head.
“Better a swordsman than a bandit. Moyong.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s make sure to make more swordsmen in the future. Even if I do the killing, the fame is given to the subordinates, and we will place a lot of swordsmen around.”
Moyong Baek smiles like someone is joking.
“Sure.”
The two of us raise our glasses and watch the people.
I say,
“For swordsmen.”
Moyong Baek says,
“For Low-Down Sect.”
And the two of us drank while Leader Hwang was suffering with the people. He approaches us back with a flushed face.
He sits down and looks at me.
“Sect Leader.”
“What.”
“Dealing with people is so difficult. Talk and talk and talk. It seems like I can die from that. Does it make sense for them to call me Guardian Hwang?”
I cleared my throat and clearly tell him,
“Guardian Warrior Hwang, have a drink.”
“…”
When I speak seriously, the surroundings turn silent, and everyone stares at where Leader Hwang is.
Leader Hwang grasps the atmosphere and raises the glass looking shocked.
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
After pouring the drink, I console him for the hard work he did, but with a serious expression.
“It is really fortunate that I had you to take down Red Ghost. I saw this with my own eyes in the forest.”
I jump and take my drink.
“Hyungs! Let us all have drinks!”
Moyong Baek stands up with a smile and raises his glass looking around as people begin to lift their glasses up.
Moyong Baek who caught my gaze shouts,
“For Guardian Warrior Hwang!”
People shout with cheerful voices.
“Guardian Hwang!”
Leader Hwang’s expression was worth watching. It was a good thing, but he seemed to be conflicted with it.
I met my eyes with the Poison Demon of the previous life…
He mingled with the crowd and laughed.
