〈Episode 196〉 Know your place. (3)
Know your place. (3)
‘How can this be.’
Gu Chang-jun had no choice but to stare intently at Gu Yang-cheon, unable to smooth his furrowed expression.
‘I made a mistake?’
No matter how sudden the situation was, to mistake Gu Yang-cheon for the Gaju.
It was an impossible thing.
‘Even if... that bastard crossed the wall...!’
It was faint, but he saw it clearly.
That Gu Yang-cheon had crossed the wall and reached the Absolute Peak.
Reaching the Absolute Peak at a younger age than his own grandson and hope, Gu Jeol-yeop...
Clearly meant that heaven was not on his side, but.
Separate from that.
This was an impossible thing.
The flames Gu Yang-cheon emanated were eerily similar to the Gaju's flames.
The unique aura was bound to be similar since they practiced the same martial arts of the bloodline, but that was not what he was talking about.
That ominous flame only usable by the bloodline.
The sight of him controlling the violent and capricious flame, resembling a starving beast, as easily as his own body...
Was certainly at a level where mistaking him for the Gaju would not be strange.
It meant he was that proficient.
‘Even so...’
The flames should have been of a different quality.
No matter how much time had passed and the Gaju had lost the power of his prime.
To mistake it for the flames exuded by that mere brat.
Does that mean that child handles flames that well?
If not that, then.
‘...As expected, my current body...’
“You seem flustered. Considering you have no words to say.”
“...!”
“It was my way of repaying the gift the First Elder gave me. Does it not please you?”
Gu Yang-cheon was smiling.
His broadly smiling face looked rather frightening, though.
More than that, the hostility embedded in his voice was palpable, creating a sense of disconnect.
Gu Chang-jun struggled to compose his expression and asked Gu Yang-cheon.
“...A gift, you say. I do not know what I gave you that made you so angry, Yang-cheon.”
“Angry, First Elder? You gave me a gift, so how could I be angry?”
Thud.
The sight of him grinding his feet against the charred floor was truly insolent.
“Besides, if we're talking about anger, one shouldn't show it to a beast that isn't even human, right?”
At his nonchalant words, Gu Chang-jun's expression distorted.
Because Gu Yang-cheon was expressing his hostility far too clearly.
“Your mouth has gotten fouler since we last met. I heard you recently came to your senses. Do you truly not know who I am?”
“How much time has passed for my manners to return? Let alone—”
Smack-!
Gu Yang-cheon kicked the face of Mun-won, who was trying to stagger up, knocking him unconscious.
Mun-won vomited blood and lost consciousness.
“I learned that acting good is something you do depending on who you're dealing with. My upbringing in that regard was quite thorough, after all.”
“...You bastard...!”
Kuuung!
As if expressing his anger, Gu Chang-jun stomped his foot heavily on the ground.
His internal energy swept outwards with a whoosh!
The aura of a martial artist who had reached the Flower Realm was enough to spread throughout the entire Gu Seon-mun estate in an instant.
Gu Yang-cheon's expression didn't change one bit at this.
“I don't know what reason you have for doing this, but no matter if you are a direct bloodline, you are exceedingly arrogant!”
“That's what I'm saying.”
As if intending to crush Gu Chang-jun instead, he began to radiate his internal energy.
“You should know that I am a direct bloodline.”
Cracking his neck in response to Gu Chang-jun's words, his posture somehow resembled a back-alley thug more than a noble family's bloodline.
“Why do you keep acting up, I clearly told you to leave me alone.”
The tiny sliver of courtesy that had barely been present in his words had vanished.
Mixed within the seething atmosphere was a palpable hostility.
Crushing Gu Chang-jun's radiating internal energy and pushing it back step by step was the internal energy of that small boy.
The First Elder was unmistakably a martial artist who had reached the Flower Realm.
And although Gu Yang-cheon possessed monstrous talent unbefitting of his age.
He was, ultimately, a martial artist who had reached the Absolute Peak.
No matter how perfectly mature his Absolute Peak was, fully unified with his body, a difference in realm inherently possessed an overwhelming aspect.
This was an impossible thing.
However, Gu Chang-jun could only frown, pushing aside his shock.
Because he himself vaguely knew the reason why things had come to this.
‘...Hmph.’
The chronic illness he had been suffering from continuously made it difficult to utilize his internal energy.
Because his internal energy wasn't operating properly, the aging that had been slowed by his realm began to dominate his body once more.
His weakened body couldn't even exert half the strength of his prime.
To the point where he now felt burdened even against a martial artist of a lower level than himself.
But.
No one in the family knew this.
Because he was hiding it for the sake of his own ambitions.
The only one who knew this was himself.
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Why else would he have remained hidden in silence, feigning ignorance even while knowing the Divine Physician was staying at the main house?
‘I was waiting for the right moment.’
Having made the Gaju wander outside, and with the Second Elder's eyes blinded at this time.
Since the Divine Physician happened to be at the main house as well, he had been trying to secretly seek him out regarding this matter.
He was the Divine Physician he had been steadily requesting from the Intelligence Agency anyway.
With him taking refuge in the Gu Family right at that moment, how could it not match his expectations?
That was why now was the perfect timing, as Gu Chang-jun thought.
If only the variable called Gu Yang-cheon hadn't existed.
‘This is troublesome.’
The boy he had thought was merely a small pebble sticking out on the path.
He seemed to have realized far too late that it was actually a massive mountain hiding its existence beneath the ground.
‘If I had known sooner, I would have gotten rid of him by any means necessary.’
Who would have thought that young brat would block his path so quickly.
Gu Chang-jun struggled to steady the sword he had drawn and corrected his posture.
‘Either way, he doesn't know about this.’
Gu Yang-cheon couldn't know about his chronic illness.
That was why it was even more perplexing.
That Gu Yang-cheon had appeared so recklessly.
‘No matter how immature and fiery his temper is...’
Since he reached the Absolute Peak at such a young age.
His arrogance and conceit piercing the sky could be seen as natural, in a way.
Gu Chang-jun somehow thought there must be a reason why Gu Yang-cheon had come so recklessly.
‘Don't tell me...’
Was he found out?
Did Gu Yang-cheon find out about the task he had commissioned to Taeju?
‘I didn't think he was someone who would handle a job so clumsily.’
Gu Chang-jun didn't know Taeju in detail, but recalling the work they had collaborated on so far.
He had thought he wasn't someone who would fail so easily.
‘Even if he failed, it doesn't matter.’
Even if, by some chance, Gu Yang-cheon caught on that he was involved in this matter, it didn't matter.
Because there was no evidence anyway.
“What is the meaning of you acting so recklessly!”
“Looking at your expression, you've clearly caught on, so playing dumb seems too pathetic.”
“You keep spouting incomprehensible things...! If you come at me like this, this old man will truly have to use force...”
“Or is it because you're anxious?”
“What?”
Gu Chang-jun expressed doubt at Gu Yang-cheon's words, but.
Gu Yang-cheon, who should have provided an answer, was not there.
A brief gust of wind brushed by.
Following his instincts, Gu Chang-jun urgently raised his sword and slashed through the air.
Hwak-! A sharp sword strike sliced through the air as a flash of light arrived.
There, the flames left a faint trace and vanished.
‘He's not there...!’
He had shot his sword toward where he clearly felt the hostility, but ridiculously, only a small ember remained there.
‘Then... where...!’
Kung!
A small fist pierced through the Aura protecting his side.
Even though what Gu Chang-jun was cloaked in was by no means a weak level of Aura.
The fist shattered the Aura as if piercing through a sheet of paper.
Paang!
“Keugh!”
With the sound of internal energy bursting as their bodies collided, Gu Chang-jun's form shook violently.
Fortunately, he didn't lose his posture and bounce into the air.
Geugeugeugeuk!
But he had to be pushed back far, leaving marks on the ground.
“Cough...!”
From the mouth of Gu Chang-jun, who had barely steadied his breath, a gush of blood spurted out.
It was only a single strike, and since it had to pierce through his Aura, the pain should have been minimal, but.
The severe pain radiating from his side instantly scattered the internal energy flowing through his body and triggered a backlash.
“Heo...”
More than the fact that he had just been attacked.
Gu Chang-jun had to let out a sigh filled with lamentation at the level Gu Yang-cheon had displayed in that single exchange just now.
Erasing his presence in an instant for a surprise attack.
Loading his presence into the flames to kill the presence of his main body and blur the opponent's vision.
And even the fist that dug into his side.
Because he knew just how high-level internal energy application was required to successfully execute this single attack.
Gu Chang-jun couldn't help but be surprised that Gu Yang-cheon did this casually, even revealing movements that were far too practiced.
‘...A monster indeed.’
It had only been a year since Gu Yang-cheon had begun proper activities.
Even if one were to say Gu Yang-cheon possessed a heavenly talent that even the Gaju couldn't recognize, this was an absurd level.
Uung.
“...!”
Gu Chang-jun aimed his sword at the presence once again.
This presence was not an illusion.
It was closer to Gu Yang-cheon deliberately revealing his presence.
“It's nothing special.”
A voice came through the darkness.
Where had the flames he used to suppress the members of Gu Seon-mun gone?
All that was visible were Gu Yang-cheon's red eyes shining in the darkness.
“...You bastard, even if you managed a single strike by relying on a fluke...!”
“Fluke? What fluke are you talking about when you have a body that can't even react properly?”
“...What?”
At Gu Yang-cheon's sarcastic words.
Gu Chang-jun felt a sensation as if his heart had dropped.
Because it sounded as if he knew something.
Whether he knew it or not about Gu Chang-jun, Gu Yang-cheon merely dusted off his hands and smirked.
Then, as if delivering the finishing blow, the words he spat out.
“You're ruined, aren't you? Especially around the heart.”
Gu Chang-jun's thin mustache trembled violently.