By Zephyria Hwasan or Namgung. (1)
Suddenly, Wang Ho-jun raised his hand.
“It’s me! I’m the one who had a nosebleed! Maybe it’s because I’ve been working too hard. Look at this! This is the cloth I used to wipe the blood.”
Wang Ho-jun ran to the corner and showed the blood-stained cloth. Baek Ryeo-il clicked his tongue.
“A Hwasan Sect Disciple having a nosebleed from this little bit of work. How can you be like that? You guys should stop just reading books and go out and swing your swords! Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk……. Let’s go, Seong Mu-yeon!”
“Yes.”
Seong Mu-yeon followed Baek Ryeo-il. Before leaving through the door, he expressed his gratitude to the remaining Disciples with a nod.
“Aigoo, with such a weak body, what can we possibly use them for? Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk.”
“…….”
He glanced at Baek Ryeo-il. In fact, Seong Mu-yeon liked the way he treated him roughly. He had grown up being treated like a fragile glass dish his whole life, so he had never run around, fallen, broken, or fought until he had a nosebleed like ordinary children.
He felt a sense of liberation ever since he left the Demonic Cult and started traveling.
Seong Mu-yeon didn’t want people’s gazes to change because of his illness.
He liked being with Baek Ryeo-il because he felt like a normal, healthy person. He just wanted to extend that freedom, which would eventually be shattered, even a little longer.
The next day, Seong Mu-yeon hesitated for a moment in front of the Finance Division.
He was worried about how Wang Ho-jun and the people in the Finance Division would react. They might make him quit.
Who knew when he would collapse again?
They might feel uncomfortable giving work to someone like that.
Anyway, he had to face them once to say his final goodbyes, so Seong Mu-yeon opened the door and went inside.
“Young master Seong! You’re late! Come quickly. We really don’t have much time left.”
Wang Ho-jun dragged Seong Mu-yeon in as if he had been waiting and sat him down.
“I think we need to speed things up a bit. It’s going to be a tough journey, so drink this!”
He handed Seong Mu-yeon a teacup with steaming vapor rising from it. Even smelling it, it didn’t seem like tea. Rather, the smell was like herbal medicine, and Seong Mu-yeon’s face darkened.
“Wang, I…….”
“We all drank a cup. It’s just a tonic, so don’t worry and drink it.”
Everyone held up their teacups.
“……Good grief.”
Seong Mu-yeon burst into laughter helplessly. He had momentarily forgotten that this was Hwasan, not the Demonic Cult. Hwasan was originally like this.
“Thank you, I will enjoy it.”
Clack, clack.
The sound of abacuses and the rustling of paper filled the room as usual.
“……So, when is the Sect leader coming back?”
After a few more days, Seong Mu-yeon became impatient. Time was passing relentlessly, and he was getting used to being confined to this residence.
“They’ll come when they come.”
Baek Ryeo-il replied, rolling around on the bed.
‘……Is it okay to be so lazy?’
As Seong Mu-yeon observed, Baek Ryeo-il spent most of the day lying down.
“Don’t you have anything to do?”
The people in the Finance Division and the young Disciples were all working hard to do their part, but what was this person doing?
“I’m doing it now.”
Baek Ryeo-il lay crookedly and stared intently at Seong Mu-yeon.
“Watching you.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I’m resting for the first time in a while. Usually, I’m busy training, of course. Where does a person who practices the sword have time to rest?”
Seong Mu-yeon shook his head and lowered his gaze to the book he was reading. It was a book that Wang Ho-jun had brought. He knew that Seong Mu-yeon was bored while staying at Emerald Pavilion, so he deliberately got him something to read.
“Ryeo-il, are you there?”
Baek Ryeo-il’s teacher, Ma Jin-cheon’s voice was heard from outside the door. He opened the door and came in without waiting for an answer.
“Ryeo……. Huh?”
Ma Jin-cheon’s eyes widened.
“This can’t be……. What happened to the room? Why does it look clean?”
He rubbed his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Then he found Seong Mu-yeon and nodded in greeting.
“Young master was here too. Have you been well?”
“Yes, thanks to you, I’ve been very well.”
Seong Mu-yeon’s voice was full of resentment as he answered. The resentment towards Ma Jin-cheon, who had coldly turned away from him when he begged to be sent to the brain prison on the day he arrived at Hwasan, had not yet been resolved.
“You’ve arrived.”
Baek Ryeo-il scratched his back and slowly got up. He didn’t get out of bed or offer him a seat. Ma Jin-cheon was used to his rude attitude and didn’t mind.
Instead, Seong Mu-yeon closed his book and got up. He offered Ma Jin-cheon a seat.
“Please sit here.”
“I didn’t know there was a chair in this room.”
Ma Jin-cheon sat down on the chair and looked around as if he had witnessed a cataclysm.
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
Seong Mu-yeon quickly handed Ma Jin-cheon a cup of plum blossom tea with hot steam rising from it.
“……Tea, tea?”
Ma Jin-cheon’s jaw remained open, unable to close.
“What’s wrong?”
“Young master Seong is giving me tea, something I’ve never received from my Disciple.”
He savored the aroma of the tea and took a sip. Plum blossom tea was the pride of Hwasan. Ma Jin-cheon had always enjoyed it, but drinking it in his licentious Junior Brother’s room felt different.
Suddenly, Ma Jin-cheon narrowed his eyes and glared at Baek Ryeo-il. Baek Ryeo-il flinched at the fierce gaze and asked.
“Why, why are you looking at me like that?”
“……Try to be even half as good as Young master Seong.”
“Suddenly?”
“Never mind! Come here and sit down! I have something to say.”
Seong Mu-yeon stepped back to allow the two Junior Brother to talk. He sat by the window and reopened the book he was reading.
“I heard that you still haven’t registered a Disciple. What’s going on?”
“Is that why you came? What Disciple. How annoying.”
“Annoying! I’ve repeatedly told you that you won’t be able to get a talented child if you delay. I heard that your martial uncle’s Disciple has already taken in a wonderful child, but when will you give this old teacher a grand-Disciple! Don’t you feel sorry for this old teacher?”
“What can I do if I don’t like anyone?”
Despite Ma Jin-cheon’s nagging, Baek Ryeo-il answered slowly and turned the teacup in front of him. It was the teacup that Seong Mu-yeon had prepared for him. He took a sip and continued to drink, finding the flavor surprisingly not bad.
“Is it not that you haven’t looked? I heard that you haven’t even attended the children’s training sessions. I haven’t seen your face!”
“Ah, who said that? Which bastard!”
“Your martial uncle, you bastard!”
Ma Jin-cheon clenched his fist and jumped up, but he realized Seong Mu-yeon’s presence and sat down again.
“Anyway. You should take in a Disciple like you and suffer a little to know how I feel.”
“I’m too scared to do that.”
“…….”
Ma Jin-cheon’s fist trembled.
Seong Mu-yeon wanted to close his ears, but he couldn’t help but hear their conversation. Of course, it was because he had earholes.
He turned the page and thought indifferently.
‘It’s no use.’
It was because he already knew that Baek Ryeo-il would never take in a Disciple until he died. Because of that, the legacy of the legendary swordsman of the Jianghu was not passed on, causing sighs.
Ma Jin-cheon eventually had to get up without any gain.
“Then, I’ve been rude.”
“Be careful on your way.”
He greeted Seong Mu-yeon and hit Baek Ryeo-il on the back. Before leaving, he looked around the room, which had changed beyond recognition, once again.
“Ahem……. This is really…….”
And a few days later.
The Sect leader of Hwasan returned.
The gates of Hwasan were crowded with Disciples who had come to welcome the returning Sect leader. News had arrived from the foot of the mountain first, so the Sect leader had not yet arrived.
Seong Mu-yeon also stood at the very back with Baek Ryeo-il and waited. Before long, people entered through the wide-open gate.
The Sect leader of Hwasan was an old man with a straight back, a tall stature, and a long white beard. He exuded a more Taoist atmosphere than anyone Seong Mu-yeon had ever seen.
The Sect leader looked at the Disciples stationed in front of the gate with a surprised expression, then smiled kindly.
“I’ve told you so many times not to do this every time, but you never listen. Don’t waste your time on an old man like me and do what you have to do.”
Even as he said that, he made eye contact with each and every Disciple and greeted them as he slowly entered.
“Have you arrived, Sect leader!”
“We have been waiting!”
The Disciples all folded their hands and bowed their heads. Looking to the side, Baek Ryeo-il was also taking a fist salute, so Seong Mu-yeon was the only one standing there blankly. He awkwardly folded his hands and bowed his head a beat late.
When he raised his head, the Sect leader was standing there looking straight at Seong Mu-yeon and Baek Ryeo-il.
Baek Ryeo-il took Seong Mu-yeon and walked towards the Sect leader.
“You must be the protagonist of that rumor. I’ve heard a lot about you, Young master Seong Mu-yeon of the Demonic Cult.”
“I, I greet the Sect leader of the Great Mount Hua Sect.”
As Seong Mu-yeon greeted him, the Sect leader nodded and returned the greeting. Fortunately, the friendly attitude relieved some of the tension.
But someone suddenly jumped out from among the people lined up behind the Sect leader.
“Huh? Young master Namgung?”
“Young master Seong! Have you been well!”
Some of the people who had initially been thought to be the Sect leader’s attendants were now seen to be members of the Namgung Clan. Namgung Cheon-chu looked completely healed. He was a little unfamiliar, having only seen him injured and bloody, but now he was well-dressed. He didn’t realize it then, but he was very handsome.