“Was our reunion too soon?”
Jin Haryeong, standing before the door, greeted her happily.
Water was dripping from Ian’s hair. Having come in after finishing her martial arts training, Ian had just washed up and changed into comfortable clothes.
“Isn’t a reunion with someone you’re glad to see better the sooner it happens? Please, come in.”
Jin Haryeong smiled and stepped inside. There are people who can make you feel better with just a single word. That was probably why she had come to see her.
As they sat down, a bottle of alcohol sat on the table.
“Were you planning to have a drink?”
“Ah, I looked around and found some.”
It seemed to be alcohol prepared for visitors to the inner quarters.
“Could I have a glass as well?”
“Of course. Just a moment, please. I had only planned to drink simply, so I didn’t prepare any snacks.”
“It’s fine. Let’s just drink.”
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?”
“You don’t think the granddaughter of the Alliance Leader only drinks when a feast is laid out, do you?”
Ian smiled and shook her head.
The two poured drinks for each other and clinked their glasses.
“Did something good happen today?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You have alcohol out, and this martial artist’s expression looks bright.”
Something good? Of course there was. She had received martial arts instruction from Geom Mugeuk after a long time, and what had made her feel even better than that were the words he had said to her.
—Then why did you bring me here?
—Why else? I wanted to hang out with you after a long time, so I made an excuse.
To the person who had taught her martial arts that only the bloodline of the Heavenly Demon could master; to the person who always told her that her happiness came first; and to the person who said such things to her—how could she not devote her loyalty?
Ian didn’t answer at all, but Jin Haryeong could feel it. That her good mood was related to Geom Mugeuk.
Ian naturally changed the subject.
“Isn’t it hard? Living as the granddaughter of the Martial Alliance Leader?”
“This martial artist asks the opposite.”
“Hmm?”
“Everyone asks how good it must be to be the Martial Alliance Leader’s granddaughter.”
“I must be a negative person.”
“You’ve never seen a negative person admit they are negative.”
Jin Haryeong emptied her glass and spoke to Ian.
“It’s hard. More than you’d think.”
“I thought so.”
“I think this martial artist must have it hard too? Serving someone who isn’t easy to serve.”
Apart from the question, Jin Haryeong felt envious of her for having been with Geom Mugeuk for so long.
“It’s not hard. When I’m with him, things happen that would never occur even once in an ordinary lifetime. Sometimes I even drink with the granddaughter of the Martial Alliance Leader.”
Jin Haryeong wholeheartedly agreed with Ian’s joking words.
“Right? You really never know what will happen in this world.”
Her relationship with Geom Mugeuk, and this moment right now.
The two shared various stories. Life in the Martial Alliance and life in the Demonic Cult—their lives that each had never experienced crossed back and forth every time their glasses emptied.
At times a subtle tension flowed between them, and they also talked about Geom Mugeuk. They talked about martial arts, and then about Geom Mugeuk again.
With honest feelings, Jin Haryeong had hoped to find lacking parts in Ian. But the more they talked, the more she only thought, this woman is fine.
When the bottle was completely empty, Jin Haryeong rose from her seat. She didn’t suggest drinking more. Instead, she made a proposal that would startle Ian.
“This martial artist, shall we be friends?”
“So impulsively? This is only the second time we’ve met.”
“So what? The martial world is a place where people kill each other upon first meeting.”
The words “let’s be friends” were the first time Jin Haryeong had ever said them to anyone. People lined up to become her friend. But she had never said those words to any of them. Yet here she was, proposing friendship first to Ian, whom she had only met twice. Jin Haryeong thought that she understood herself just as little as she understood the world’s unpredictable affairs.
“Will you really be alright? Being friends with a Demonic Cultist?”
“I’m fine. What about this martial artist?”
Ian gazed silently at Jin Haryeong for a moment, then smiled brightly and said:
“How could I hate having a wonderful friend like you?”
In that instant, the regret Jin Haryeong felt—wondering if she had spoken needlessly—vanished completely.
* * *
Jin Hagon visited his teacher again.
Scratch, scratch.
“Have you found a way?”
His teacher kept asking about the method. Now Jin Hagon knew. His teacher’s goal was not to hear the method, but to drive him into a corner. To get a grip on him. Because the fastest and surest way to bind a person was to make them feel intimidated.
“No. Today I have come for a different reason.”
At the somehow resolute answer, Baek Cheongyeong stopped his hands, which had been carving wood. When he looked up, Jin Hagon revealed his innermost thoughts frankly.
“I know you have been greatly disappointed in me lately. I made excuses to you, but deep in my heart, I am reflecting deeply.”
Baek Cheongyeong’s expression still showed no great change.
“There is something I wish to ask of you, Teacher.”
A slight puzzlement flashed in the corners of Baek Cheongyeong’s eyes. It was because it didn’t seem like Jin Hagon would ask for something in the current atmosphere, as his words suggested. In other words, it also meant that the request was that important.
“Speak.”
“During the previous Little Dragon Tournament, there was a connection between Geom Mugeuk, the Young Leader of the Demonic Cult, and Haryeong.”
Jin Hagon let out a light sigh and added:
“It seems Haryeong has taken a liking to him since then.”
Baek Cheongyeong listened to Jin Hagon’s words in silence.
“This foolish child invited the Demonic Cult’s Young Leader to the upcoming gathering of later-generation talents. And now the Young Leader has come to our Alliance in secret.”
“The Demonic Cult’s Young Leader is in our Alliance?”
Baek Cheongyeong’s gaze intensified.
“I too only learned of this fact a short while ago.”
“Are you saying that Geom Mugeuk has come to see Haryeong?”
“Yes, it seems he too has feelings for my younger sister.”
Baek Cheongyeong didn’t believe him.
“The Demonic Cult’s Young Leader, of whom I’ve heard rumors, is absolutely not someone to be trifled with. You saw him in person and even suffered at his hands, so wouldn’t you know well? Such a person came to our Alliance merely for a woman?”
“That’s right. He is no ordinary man. Precisely because of that, there can be no other reason.”
“What does that mean?”
“Would such a clever man choose to come to the Martial Alliance alone? When a clever man becomes a fool, there is only one reason.”
A few of the words Jin Hagon spoke were ones Geom Mugeuk had taught him.
—Will this work on your teacher?
—It will work because it’s about your younger sister. Matters of blood are beyond understanding and explanation.
Baek Cheongyeong still wore an expression of disbelief.
“So? What is it you wish to ask?”
It was a request Baek Cheongyeong had never anticipated.
“Please meet with Geom Mugeuk.”
He was someone who almost never showed emotion, but this time he couldn’t hide his surprise.
“What are you saying?”
“Meet him and warn him. Tell him to stay away from my sister.”
Baek Cheongyeong made a bewildered expression. He truly hadn’t expected such a request.
“Are you saying that after losing Cheonhwamun, you now want me to prevent your sister from being taken as well?”
Though he rebuked him with painful words, Jin Hagon did not back down.
“Cheonhwamun can be taken, but my sister absolutely cannot.”
“Then shouldn’t you, as her older brother, warn him?”
“He won’t listen to me. While handling the Cheonhwamun matter, he completely ignored and toyed with me. Rather, he would approach her even more just to spite me. The Geom Mugeuk I saw was that tenacious.”
“If you cannot do it, you must ask the Alliance Leader.”
“Don’t you know Grandfather’s temperament? He would immediately drive that man out. We should be grateful if he doesn’t attack him in anger. If driven out, that man will undoubtedly harbor resentment. He’s a madman who came alone to the Martial Alliance just to see my sister.”
“This is not my place to intervene. How am I to handle what the Alliance Leader and you cannot?”
Baek Cheongyeong refused firmly.
Jin Hagon knelt on the spot.
“You know better than anyone what my younger sister means to me. Until now, I have regarded and served you as my father.”
Because it was the truth, this moment must be endlessly painful and suffocating for Jin Hagon.
“Please heed this inadequate disciple’s earnest request.”
Scratch, scratch.
Baek Cheongyeong pondered as he carved the wood. Jin Hagon remained kneeling, not retreating.
How much time passed like that?
What was he thinking?
Having finished the carving he was working on, Baek Cheongyeong spoke.
“Bring him tomorrow.”
* * *
“Teacher has permitted it.”
Jin Hagon said with a happy face.
Geom Mugeuk spoke as if he had expected such a result.
“I knew you would accomplish it.”
Praise was not important now.
“What on earth do you plan to do when you meet?”
“I suppose I’ll have to decide.”
“Decide what?”
“Whether he is someone who can be allowed to live, or someone who must be killed.”
Geom Mugeuk stared into Jin Hagon’s eyes and asked.
“Will you trust my decision?”
“How could I trust you, who loves to jest? I will only trust my own judgment.”
Jin Hagon rose from his seat.
He stopped at the door as he was about to leave the room.
“Have you ever felt that you were lost?”
It was a thought he’d been having lately. Even as he proceeded with matters, another part of his mind tormented him with the thought: “Your teacher is a good man, but you are being used by Geom Mugeuk right now.”
“Never. I have an excellent sense of direction.”
Just as Jin Hagon was about to turn around and leave with an expression that said “jesting again,” Geom Mugeuk spoke from behind.
“Perhaps you haven’t lost your way, but rather forgotten where you are going?”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“Do they not say all paths in this world lead somewhere? If you know where you must go, you cannot lose your way.”
“If you’ve forgotten even where you must go?”
“You must sit on the ground and wail.”
“Please don’t jest.”
Geom Mugeuk recalled the days when he had wandered the Central Plains searching for materials for the great technique. There had been times when things were so difficult that he had wanted to sob loudly.
“Ask someone you meet; if there is no one, look at the constellations in the sky; if you still don’t know, throw your shoe and leave it to luck. If you still don’t know, then you must simply walk wherever your feet take you.”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“Of what? I’ve already lost my way.”
“!”
Jin Hagon fell silent in thought for a moment, then sighed and said:
“You are truly… a strange man.”
“As expected, you people are so proper. Everyone in our cult called me a madman.”
“Then you must be a strangely mad man. See you tomorrow morning.”
With those words, Jin Hagon left that place.
Geom Mugeuk gazed out the window for a moment.
Jin Hagon was still young and didn’t know. What it truly meant to lose one’s way. That a person who has truly lost their way doesn’t even realize they are lost.
* * *
The next day, Geom Mugeuk arrived at the teacher’s workshop with Jin Hagon.
“Teacher, I’m here. I’ve come with the Young Leader of the Divine Cult.”
“Enter.”
When they entered, Jin Hagon was startled. His teacher looked different from usual. His teacher wore a splendid red long robe and carried a long sword at his waist. He remembered that this was the splendid attire he had seen when he first met him.
Geom Mugeuk and Baek Cheongyeong’s gazes met in the air. It was difficult to read each other’s emotions, whether it was Geom Mugeuk’s clear, deep eyes or Baek Cheongyeong’s narrow, long eyes.
Amidst the flowing tension, Geom Mugeuk opened his qi field. It was to verify the opponent’s martial arts. Regardless of the opponent’s will, a deep abyss pulled Baek Cheongyeong in.
Baek Cheongyeong’s qi field that met it was unique.
Geom Mugeuk looked around. Before he knew it, he was standing in a dense forest. It was filled with trees stretching endlessly. A loneliness of being alone and cut off from the world crept over him in that endless expanse.
While Baek Cheongyeong sank into the abyss, Geom Mugeuk walked deeper into the forest. Sunlight shone and birds chirped. A person with such a bright qi field? No. If he had been such a person to begin with, Jin Hagon would never have called for him.
Geom Mugeuk continued walking into the forest. The forest tempted him, endlessly displaying the same scenery, telling him there was no need to go further. Geom Mugeuk shook off the temptation and continued inward.
What guided him was neither his own will nor the opponent’s qi field. At this very moment, what guided him was surprisingly the Nine Transformations Demonic Art.
“There is something over there.”
It was hidden so deeply that one could never discover it without having mastered the Nine Transformations Demonic Art. It also meant that the opponent’s martial arts were formidable.
Soon, Geom Mugeuk discovered a human-shaped wooden statue in the deepest part of that forest. The wooden statue standing with its arms crossed was crafted so vividly that it felt like a living person. But only its face was flat, as it had not been carved. A miraculous feeling emanated from it, as though the wood might bulge and recede to form a human face at any moment.
As Geom Mugeuk tried to approach the wooden statue, the surrounding trees began to move, stretching their branches. Like living things, the branches blocked the path before the wooden statue and surrounded him threateningly.
At that moment, Geom Mugeuk knew.
“Wood Form Thousand Soul Technique!”
The ultimate secret technique that utilized every tree in the world.
In that instant, Geom Mugeuk was overcome with surprise and intense emotion. Not because this secret technique was such a marvelous martial art where all kinds of trees moved at will and small wooden dolls grew in size to charge like experts. But because he knew who used this martial art.
The alliance that his followers had created after Hwamugi went into seclusion was the Under-Heaven Alliance. Twelve absolute masters ruled that Under-Heaven Alliance. They were called the Twelve Earthly Branch Kings by the world! They had hidden their identities in the past and acted as the Twelve Earthly Branch Kings. Perhaps they had feared the revenge of Jeongsama that might occur someday.
Among those Twelve Earthly Branch Kings, the eighth, the Eighth King, had used this Wood Form Thousand Soul Technique.
Geom Mugeuk’s heart began to pound violently.
“It’s the Wood King!”
It was the first time since his regression that he was meeting a follower of Hwamugi.