It had already been seven days and nights since we left Henan and headed for Shanxi.
As always, long journeys were nothing but tedious.
As if to prove it, the daily routine was always the same.
During the day, I would sleep using Wi Seol-ah's shoulder or Nangong Bi-ah's lap as a pillow, or roughly pass the time with idle chatter.
When it came to idle chatter, it was mostly time spent tormenting Gu Jeol-yeop.
That was at least somewhat entertaining.
When evening came and the horses needed to rest, I trained.
In Nangong Bi-ah's case, she preferred training alone rather than with others. It seemed she wanted to focus on her enlightenment.
Dang So-yeol seemed to train too, but honestly, rather than training, it was closer to watching me from afar.
Ultimately, training with Mu-yeon while rolling Gu Jeol-yeop around marked the end of the daily routine.
'It's boring.'
[You used to wish for peace, and now you say it's boring.]
'What peace is this? Anyone can see this is an ominous sign...'
The carriage moved without rest, heading towards Shanxi.
It seemed we had entered a forested region; the winding terrain and dense mountains slowed our speed even further.
"Young Master! Ah!"
At Wi Seol-ah's words, I opened my mouth.
Then, a yakgwa popped into my mouth.
'It's sweet.'
I wished she would stop feeding me, but I chewed it silently without a word.
Only after seeing me eat did Wi Seol-ah put her own yakgwa in her mouth.
'Lately, she's been especially eager to feed me.'
Wi Seol-ah wasn't greedy for other things, but she was exceptionally greedy when it came to food.
Recently, it felt like she was trying to fatten me up.
'If anything, I'm the one in that position.'
I was already trying to help Wi Seol-ah regain the cheek fat she had lost.
Given how much she ate, it was impossible for her to lose weight.
Yet, for some reason, Wi Seol-ah was steadily losing weight.
Conversely, because Wi Seol-ah kept feeding me every day, it seemed I was gaining a little weight.
"Why is that?"
"Hmm? Why?"
"...Never mind. Keep eating what you were eating."
At my words, Wi Seol-ah took out another yakgwa and ate it as if she understood.
I looked at her for a moment, then quietly closed my eyes.
[What do you think it is?]
Then, the Old Man asked me.
'What do you mean?'
[You say it's boring, yet you've heightened your qi perception to the max. I'm asking what you think about them. Those bastards.]
At Shin Noya's words, I let out a sigh inwardly.
That was already getting on my nerves anyway.
'How long are they planning to follow us?'
It's already been seven days and nights.
I'm talking about those unidentified bastards tailing the carriage while keeping their distance.
'Who could they be?'
There were too many likely suspects, which only made me worry more.
The highest probability was that they were ones who latched onto us because I caused quite a scene at the Bi Mu-je.
But the feeling of them secretly biding their time didn't seem to match them.
For now, since they didn't seem to have any intention of attacking, I was just observing them.
But with seven days and nights already passed, my short temper was slowly reaching its limit.
[If it were up to me normally, I would have caught those bastards and beaten them to a pulp. You've endured well.]
'I've caused more than a few incidents lately. I'm trying my best to hold back.'
And above all, it was because I felt something subtle.
Should I say it felt faintly familiar?
"They seem like they'll make a move soon, too. I'll observe them only until today."
"Hmm? What did you say, Young Master?"
"It's nothing. Ah, can you give me that too?"
"...Ah."
I asked because she was holding a yakgwa in her hand, but Wi Seol-ah flinched and backed away slightly.
She was giving them to me just fine a moment ago, so why was she acting like that?
"T-This is the last one..."
Ah, so it's because it's the last yakgwa.
Seeing Wi Seol-ah curling up slightly as if she didn't want to give it away, a mischievous urge suddenly welled up in me.
"So what?"
"N-No... Well, you see..."
"You don't want to give it to me? To me?"
"Nooo... That's not it, but..."
"Then give it to me."
When I answered confidently, Wi Seol-ah finally looked like she was about to cry.
Seeing her slowly hold out the yakgwa with a tearful expression gave me a strange sense of satisfaction.
[Satisfaction over a yakgwa...? You punk, did you bathe in poppies or something?]
'She's cute, isn't she?'
When I actually took the yakgwa she had held out, Wi Seol-ah's eyes widened in shock. She really hadn't expected me to take it.
Wi Seol-ah, with her wistful gaze as if she couldn't bear to part with the yakgwa, looked quite dramatic.
Deciding that was enough, I casually tossed the yakgwa back to Wi Seol-ah and closed my eyes.
"Phew...!"
Wi Seol-ah let out a sigh of relief as if to say thank goodness, but...
"Ah! Sister!"
A scream followed immediately with a tearful voice.
It seemed Nangong Bi-ah, who had been sleeping next to her, had woken up and snatched it in a flash.
"S-Sister, that was the last one...!"
"Lap..."
"You're mean! Are you not going to give me a lap pillow anymore...?!"
I could hear Wi Seol-ah whining, but she would eventually and reluctantly offer her lap.
She had been doing that for several days now, after all.
'...So much drama.'
With that thought, I closed my eyes.
The sky had already turned to night.
The carriage was parked at a spot overlooking the valley, and we prepared to camp.
Had the Dang Family's carriage also finished preparing? Dang So-yeol appeared as if she had been waiting for this.
I looked at Dang So-yeol, who appeared with a completely stiff expression.
At first, I wondered why she had such an expression, but I could tell from traveling this long distance back and forth with her.
Dang So-yeol was prone to severe motion sickness.
"Are you okay?"
"...I'm fine... Ugh."
It was an answer from someone who was clearly not fine.
At that level, she could just use her inner qi to stabilize her body, but Dang So-yeol stubbornly refused to do so.
Hadn't she said motion sickness had its own charm?
I had no idea what that meant, but if she wanted to do that, I had nothing else to say.
"Ugh...! Are you going to train, Young Master?"
"Probably. Do you want to come along?"
"No... I'll be resting."
Looking around, Nangong Bi-ah had already disappeared somewhere with her sword. Wi Seol-ah seemed to be doing something with Hong Wa.
"Where did this guy go?"
"Who... Ah."
Realizing I was talking about Gu Jeol-yeop, Dang So-yeol's expression immediately turned indifferent.
...Isn't that temperature difference a bit too much?
"Didn't he run away...?"
"A guy called a martial artist running away during training time?"
"...Seeing what Young Master Gu does, even I would want to run away."
[Tsk tsk... What a guy with no guts.]
It's not like I made him do something that hard. Kids these days have no grit...
'Uh... That's what the Old Man says every day.'
Realizing that was what Shin Noya would always spit out, I immediately erased the thought. Thinking the same way as that stubborn old man was something that shouldn't happen.
[Stub... What did you say, punk?]
Leaving Gu Jeol-yeop aside, Mu-yeon was nowhere to be seen either. Did he go on patrol?
'I hope he didn't go far.'
If I had told Mu-yeon that someone was following us, he would have immediately switched to a combat-ready stance.
And it was obvious how those bastards would react once they saw that.
However, if I had known this would happen, it might have been better to give him a slight hint.
"Well then, I'll be back."
"Have a safe trip!"
Leaving the runaway Gu Jeol-yeop aside, I planned to head in the direction where Mu-yeon was.
Wrapping my body in inner qi, I surveyed the forest.
The other guards of the Gu Family were stationed not too far away.
Among them, Mu-yeon was...
'Where is he.'
Strangely, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. He wasn't visible even though I had expanded my qi perception this much?
Just as I felt something was off and considered using my inner qi a bit more...
"Young Master."
Mu-yeon's voice came from behind me.
I immediately turned my head to look in the direction the voice came from, and there stood Mu-yeon.
"Young Master, why are you here?"
"Hmm."
Mu-yeon spoke to me as if bewildered, but I didn't answer and just looked him up and down.
"Young Master?"
"I see."
Mu-yeon approached with a worried expression, asking if there was something wrong with me.
But I threw a fist at that Mu-yeon.
Bang!
"...Ugh!"
Inner qi exploded in the air, and the sound of breaking wind rang out.
Mu-yeon narrowly dodged my sudden surprise attack and made a shocked expression.
"Young Master! What is this all of a sudden...!"
"Amazing, you can use martial arts. It seems you're not the same guy as last time."
"What in the world are you saying...!"
I relaxed my hand slightly and increased my speed this time. I didn't breathe fire.
It was because I felt I shouldn't cause a commotion.
Mu-yeon eventually tried to draw his sword against my continuous attacks, but...
With a single strike of my hand, Mu-yeon's sword was sent flying far away.
Crack.
With a ruthless kick, Mu-yeon's legs gave out and he collapsed.
"Keuk... Ugh!"
I grabbed and covered Mu-yeon's mouth as he tried to scream.
In his eyes, which still looked at me as if he couldn't understand the situation...
feelings of betrayal, fear, and utter wretchedness could be seen.
But my eyes looking down at him were cold.
They had to be.
"I wondered why you were following us all this time. So this was what you were planning. What a petty trick."
"Keuh... Ugh...!"
The bastard, who was still putting on an act, truly looked like Mu-yeon on the outside.
But to my eyes, the faint red light flickering from his body was clearly visible.
It was the same aura I had seen from the bastard wearing Heo Yeong's mask at Shaolin last time.
The meaning of this was one thing.
This bastard was not Mu-yeon.