Chapter 176
It feels like going back to high school.
It’s a situation where I was caught by the student head teacher while running away from self-study at night. Of course, the feeling of despair is nothing compared to that time.
Because the person holding my ear right now is not the Hakju, but the Hwawang.
cringe
“Oops! It hurts! I just got a strange noise in my ear!”
Jeokcheongang rolled his eyes.
“Are you going to make me deaf forever?”
Judging from his words and actions so far, he is a human being who can do well enough.
I kept my mouth shut and walked as Jeokcheongang’s hand led me.
“Sit down.”
“yes.”
I sat down in a crude wooden chair and looked around.
Inside the old, dark inn, the owner was nowhere to be seen, and Jeom So-yi, who must have been twenty years old, was sitting at a table near the entrance and dozing off.
Hell, there are no guests at the moment.’
It seems that he has been unconscious for a longer time than he thought. There were only four people on the first floor.
Sleeping Jeomsoi, me and Jeokcheongang.
And Cheongpung, who has already become a rice cake with alcohol and is sleeping on his stomach with his saliva enchanted.
It can’t be a perfect environment for mice and birds to die without knowing.
‘no. They said that even if you enter the tiger’s den, you will live as long as you wake up.’
Still, you should have life insurance, just in case.
However, the only brake that could stop the Jeokcheongang was snoring while sleeping.
‘Cheongpung, even this guy needs to stay awake to live.’
It was at that time that I was about to step on the feet of the blue wind by stretching my legs under the table.
“Leave him to sleep.”
“yes?”
“Leave it alone. Don’t touch the sleeping child for no reason.”
At this point, there are no ghosts.
He didn’t make a sound or make a big noise, but he had a clear understanding of what was going on under the table.
“Answer?”
“… … I will stay still.”
“I am not a very careless person. One name string would be long.”
Jeok Chun-gang muttered something that he didn’t know if it was a compliment or a curse, and tilted his bottle.
Every time the empty glass was slowly filled, the cheap incense stung my nose.
“I have something to ask of you.”
“I will explain in great detail about the elder, no, the younger grandfather.”
“I already heard. I’ve committed enough mortal sins. He was a friend who had quite a few guns… … The years have abandoned many people.”
Jeokcheongang, who emptied his drinking glass at once, sighed with a bitter face.
“So did that kid.”
“Where did you meet?”
It was an odd question, but I got it right away.
The child who jumped out of Jeokcheongang’s mouth earlier is Cho Pil.
He already knew that Jo-pil and I were related. It was the moment when the worst came to reality.
“If you’re thinking of telling a lie, you’d better stop now.
In the end, you will tell the truth.”
The voice of the Jeokcheongang, which sank like an abyss, made my spine tingle.
No more lies or excuses. Now he was a prosecutor, a lawyer, and a judge who could impose any punishment.
‘shit.’
The dry mouth was bitter. It’s not like I’m spouting heat, but I’m thirsty and I can’t even speak properly.
“Please give me a drink too.”
“bouncer.”
It is Jeokcheongang that obediently fills a glass while saying so.
After I hurriedly inhaled the wine, I was finally able to breathe.
Yeah, it’s not over yet. In times like this, you need to be alert to get out of this crisis.
I took a deep breath and opened my mouth.
“It was about two months ago. Meeting Jopil.”
“Jopil?”
yes. One-letter Jo-Pil. He was a pretty famous ronin.”
“Looking at the special issue, it must not have been famous in a good way.”
“… … It was like that.”
It wasn’t like that, it was almost insane.
At that time, in my eyes, Jo-pil was nothing more than a murderer. Because he really enjoyed killing.
“Is this face right?”
What came out of Jeokcheongang’s bosom was a piece of paper.
It was all crumpled and yellowed, how old it was, but the face of a young man drawn on it was easily recognizable.
“Are you a jopil in your youth?”
“Looks like he’s right. That’s how it ended up.”
It’s more like a monologue than an answer to my question.
Jeokcheongang, who had been silent for a while, suddenly opened his mouth.
“Twenty years ago, a serious plague broke out in Anhui. Many civilians died and many more orphans were born. He was one of them.”
This is the moment when Jo Pil’s true identity, which no one knew, is revealed. Depending on what words come out, my future is also determined.
I held my breath and listened to Jeokcheongang’s words.
Jeokcheongang continued talking slowly.
Memories of that time came to my mind clearly over the glass of clear liquor.
“I was a child who struggled to live. Surrounded by dozens of people and trampled on, he stuffed dumplings into his mouth.”
“I liked the strong gaze, but on the other hand, I felt sorry for him. I gave him the name Chang Tian.”
So Jangcheon lived in a hut located deep in Jiuhua Mountain.
For the first time in 50 years since Jeokcheongang sent his master away, an outsider set foot.
“At first he didn’t know anything.
It wasn’t until a year later that I realized that I was a Moorim person, and soon they started begging me to teach them martial arts.”
To Cheonae, an orphan who lived in all sorts of contempt and starvation, the Murim people were no different from beings in the sky.
The guy wanted to change his life by becoming a soldier, so he eagerly clung to the old man who saved him.
‘Please accept me as your disciple.’
‘hate.’
‘Teacher!’
‘Master, who is your master? You don’t have enough muscle, bone, or talent to learn the martial arts in the main text.’
‘I’ll do it. I’ll try to do it somehow. Even if I die, I will not disappoint Master!’
‘… … No words.’
Jeokcheongang thought that Jangcheon would not last long.
But the boy’s desire was more persistent than he thought. He persuaded him every single day for a year, and later committed suicide or even went on a hunger strike.
Whenever that happened, it was the Jeokcheon River that made me sweat.
‘You foolish bastard. Why are you doing this?’
‘I want to learn martial arts. Please accept me as your disciple.’
‘… … It can’t be.’
‘Is it because I am lacking?’
‘It’s an inevitable choice in order to continue the tradition of the Munpa. It’s going to be a tough time for you too.’
‘No matter how hard it is, I can endure it!’
‘No. If you’re stubborn like this, I have no choice but to stop descending. Do you want that? In fact, it was Jeokcheongang who did not want to say goodbye.
The old man came and it seems that he missed people. The past year was enough time for her to bond with the reticent boy who was scarred and scarred for her age.
but… … .
‘If you do, you will die anyway.’
‘what?’
‘If I can’t serve you as a master, I will commit suicide. No, kill me now, with the same hand that saved me.’
‘This guy!’
What is that martial arts? Jeokcheongang was disappointed and angry at Jangcheon’s willingness to give up his own life.
But at the same time, I suddenly had a different idea.
“Even if you have no talent or weak muscles and bones, if you have this level of self-reliance, you will surely be able to achieve great achievements someday. The old man thought so.”
Jin Tae-kyung, who had been listening quietly, asked with a confused face.
“It’s self-indulgent… … Is that why you accepted him as a disciple?”
“okay.”
Jeokcheongang added like a sigh.
“It was a mistake.”
It was the most painful mistake of his 100 years since his birth.
“It went smoothly for a few years. He has grown so fast that my concerns before accepting him as a disciple for the first time have been overshadowed.”
Jiang Chun faithfully followed the master’s words. No, it was close to absolute obedience.
He wielded his sword like crazy all day and devoted himself to training. Even when he learned a trivial basic skill, he did his best as if he had mastered the best new skill in the world.
Jeokcheongang could not help but be thrilled that the disciple gave his best. He also did his best to help his pupil grow.
Jangcheon was at best a level of talent and brawn that was beyond the level of brute force, but through Jeokcheongang’s Beolmosesu (伐毛洗髓), he gradually improved his constitution.
Masters and disciples who trust and rely on each other, outstanding achievements.
Everything seemed to be unraveling.
“The problem was after that.”
The old man remains an old man, but the boy grows into a young man.
However, compared to the body, the young man’s martial arts did not grow. Jiang Chen was furious at himself for having been walking in place for years, and finally something happened.
“I still remember it clearly. That day, I was sitting on a rock because I couldn’t sleep, and a guy I hadn’t seen for days came up from below, saying he was doing closed-kwan training.”
Jin Tae-kyung tilted his head.
“What do you mean coming up from below?”
“It’s that I’ve been to the village. The wind was mixed with musk that gisaengs use.”
“ah. Giru?”
“I fully understand. Because he was a guy who had only learned martial arts without going outside for more than ten years. What could he have said when a man called Master didn’t give much help and only trained himself?”
At that time, Jeokcheongang was immersed in training to open Sangdanjeon.
Opening the Sangdanjeon signifies the state of martial arts. It was to raise one’s martial arts skills to the next level and at the same time cure the old man who was eating away at him every moment.
“But it was not easy either. It took a lot of preparation, time, and realization.”
In this way, the frequency of encounters between the master and the disciple gradually decreased.
Jeok Chun-gang believed that the disciple who always worked hard would attain enlightenment on his own, and focused on the training of Sangdanjeon.
Occasionally, only on days when the wind mixed with various smells, he only noticed the disciple’s descent.
“Then one day, a guest came.”
“A guest?”
“Changcheon Sword King. It was the first time I saw your face, but I recognized it right away. It was just as I was told.”
Jin Tae-gyeong opened his mouth wide.
“That, one of the Ten Kings, the King of the Blue Sky?”
“Yes, he is also the head of the Namgung family’s Taesang household.”
“Why did you come?”
Jeokcheongang tilted the bottle without a word.
I’ve already emptied several bottles by myself, but my mind is clearer as time goes on. It was the same as what Changcheon Sword King, who had come to visit suddenly, said.
What are the kids doing in groups these days? There’s a vicious guy running amok in Anhui, and I can’t catch him. I came to see you because I was in trouble.’
Jeokcheongang was bewildered.
The Namgung family’s influence on Anhui is truly powerful.
If even their strength is not enough, and even the King of the Changcheon Swordsman has to step up, how strong is he?
‘Then why did you seek me? Do you think he could become a warrior?’
‘If you’re a warrior, you won’t choose to kill only innocent women or clumsy ronin people. I saw it once from afar and then let it go.’
what is that… …
‘Shouldn’t the teacher correct the disciple’s mistakes?’
Shortly after the King of the Changcheon Swordsman passed away, Jeokcheongang, who was standing on a rock in a daze, smelled the smell that was buried in the wind.
it was the scent of blood.
