EP.21 Why Are You Here Again...? (1)
The Guseonmun of Shanxi.
It is the branch sect of the Gu Family, where Gu Chang-jun, an elder of the Gu Family and Hohyeop's uncle, serves as the Sect Master.
If the guardian of Shanxi was the Gu Family, then another way to refer to the Guseonmun was as the Gu Family's sword.
This was because the vast majority of the Guseonmun's disciples became affiliated with the Gu Family's Sword Squad.
Of course, there were also methods like the Guryongjeon, which recruited outsiders to select the Sword Squad.
However, most of the Gu Family's Sword Squad rose up from the Guseonmun.
-Smak!
A sharp sound echoed throughout the room. Gu Jeol-yeop's head snapped to the side.
Drip.
A drop of blood trickled from the corner of Gu Jeol-yeop's mouth.
Immediately after, a cold rebuke fell upon Gu Jeol-yeop.
"Incompetent fool."
"...I apologize."
"Failing to catch a mere single bastard, have you made a fool out of me?"
This was somewhat unfair to Gu Jeol-yeop.
He couldn't have known that Gu Yang-cheon was hiding such power.
But against Gu Chang-jun's roar, Gu Jeol-yeop couldn't say a single word.
"You idiot... Making a mistake because you were distracted by a mere servant!?"
Smack! Smack!
Gu Jeol-yeop's head snapped back and forth at Gu Chang-jun's hand. Gu Jeol-yeop silently endured Gu Chang-jun's strikes.
"Why did you do so?"
At the question asking for a reason, Gu Jeol-yeop couldn't easily open his mouth.
However, under Gu Chang-jun's cold, piercing gaze, Gu Jeol-yeop finally opened his tightly shut mouth.
"It is true that my attention was momentarily drawn to the servant, but Gu Yang-cheon's skill was real. I did not let my guard down."
Gu Jeol-yeop clenched his fists so tightly they trembled.
His pride was hurt.
Having to acknowledge Gu Yang-cheon, whom he had ignored and despised. But Gu Jeol-yeop was sincere about the martial way.
The movements of Gu Yang-cheon that he had seen were real. It wasn't some empty coincidence or his own carelessness—it was simply skill.
How many exchanges did they share? Barely three? Four? Ironically, that alone was enough to tell.
Both in martial arts and physical prowess, Gu Jeol-yeop was superior to Gu Yang-cheon.
Yet, ultimately, he couldn't win.
Gu Jeol-yeop clenched his teeth tightly to hide his shivering lips.
"However."
Gu Chang-jun spoke.
"Shouldn't you have returned with at least one part of your body broken?"
"...Grandfather?"
"This is strictly the Guseonmun. Correct your form of address."
"I apologize... Sect Master."
Gu Chang-jun's voice was chillingly cold. Gu Chang-jun looked over Gu Jeol-yeop's body and said.
"How neat. Without a single internal or external injury anywhere. Not a single scratch to find fault with, that is."
Just the lingering minor wounds that would remain from a spar.
The external injury left on Gu Jeol-yeop's face caused immense pain, but it didn't leave a lasting wound.
Gu Jeol-yeop had gagged for a while from Gu Yang-cheon's fist digging into his solar plexus, but even that left no internal injury.
It meant he had controlled it just enough to release the internal energy by dispelling the cultivation technique he had wrapped around his body.
While still inflicting pain.
'A technique that demonic cultists might use when torturing someone.'
Gu Chang-jun stroked his long beard and fell into thought.
According to the observer, the Second Elder had intervened right at the moment Gu Yang-cheon was about to do something to Gu Jeol-yeop.
'Gu Ryun... interfering again.'
What was he so dissatisfied about?
The Second Elder was always like that.
He always tried to drag Gu Yang-cheon in to train him, and putting his duties as an elder on the back burner, he was putting all his effort into making him the Young Master.
Gu Chang-jun didn't like that.
He didn't like it. He didn't like the idea of someone sitting in the Patriarch's seat just because the Patriarch's blood was mixed into a lowly lineage.
Nor the idea of someone lacking in both talent and temperament taking the Patriarch's seat.
No, was it only the lineage and temperament now?
-Tsk
At Gu Chang-jun's clicking tongue, Gu Jeol-yeop's body flinched briefly.
"I do not like how things are going astray."
Gu Yang-cheon had sent a message through Gu Jeol-yeop. That if this happened one more time, he might just want to become the Patriarch.
'How dare he.'
Gu Chang-jun had to suppress the anger rising inside him upon hearing those words.
The reason the Patriarch couldn't recklessly reach out against Gu Chang-jun, despite knowing his ambition, was because he was the master of the Guseonmun.
The master of Shanxi was the Gu Family, but the Gu Family's sword was the Guseonmun.
What could a swordsman without a blade do?
The current Patriarch was strong. Hohyeop, who would now be entering his fortieth year, was at the prime age for a martial artist.
But Hohyeop the martial artist and Gu Cheol-un the Patriarch were different matters.
He would know that too.
Conversely, the reason Gu Chang-jun also couldn't recklessly cause a major incident was because he too was a member of the Gu Family.
Yet, a brat who had nothing but a half-blood lineage was warning him?
"What should be done."
Gu Chang-jun looked at Gu Jeol-yeop.
Even taking into consideration that he was his grandson and of his bloodline, he was truly a talented child.
That was also the reason why he dared to compare him to Jianfeng, the greatest rising star.
He was also a child who resembled Gu Chang-jun's deceased son enough to bring him to mind.
Therefore, Gu Yang-cheon had to remain in his insignificant state. That would make it easier for Gu Chang-jun to obtain what he dreamed of.
Until he heard that Gu Yang-cheon had defeated Gu Yeon-seo, he thought it was just a stroke of luck. Gu Yeon-seo might be a tiger, but he could still make a mistake.
However, a shift in people's perception could become a problem.
Especially in times like these.
That was why he did something rather forced.
If Gu Yang-cheon accepted the spar with Gu Jeol-yeop, it would expose his stupidity, which would be good. If he refused, there was a way around that too.
But looking at it now, Gu Yang-cheon had already become a stumbling block.
A very large one, at that.
"Jeol-yeop."
"Yes, Sect Master..."
"If a large rock blocks the path you wish to take, what would you do?"
"I think I would find another path."
"Wrong. You won't accomplish anything like that. It won't be the path you wanted to take, and even the destination you reach will be different."
Gu Jeol-yeop couldn't bear to meet Gu Chang-jun's gaze, so he lowered his head.
Gu Chang-jun's eyes were incredibly cold.
"It would be good if it could be cleared away. If even that isn't possible, then you must break it and move forward."
Not yet. It was still too early. Nothing was prepared.
However.
"If he continues like this, I will have no choice but to break it."
Gu Jeol-yeop was using all his strength to hide his body shuddering from Gu Chang-jun's killing intent.
******************
"You went too far."
The Second Elder said to me after I washed up following the spar.
"What do you mean?"
"At the end, what were you trying to do to Jeol-yeop?"
"I was going to break one of his arms."
Just moderately, enough to be healed in about a month.
A martial artist's body holds inner energy, so it regenerates quickly. Therefore, I judged it wouldn't be a problem.
At my words, the Second Elder gasped.
"If you had done that, the First Elder would surely have held onto that and made an issue out of it."
"So what? I have no intention of becoming the Patriarch anyway."
"Ahem! How can you say such a thing? You are of the Patriarch's bloodline. The only one at that..."
"Yes, the only son. And that is exactly why I can still have a footing in this family right now."
I know this better than anyone.
It was something I had felt deeply in my previous life.
No matter what I did, no matter what kind of life I lived, I eventually became the Young Master.
Would this life be any different? I wish it were a little different.
"So I didn't end up doing it, did I?"
If it were up to my heart, I wanted to give everything—the Young Master position and all—to that bastard Gu Jeol-yeop.
Knowing what the position of the Gu Family's Patriarch entailed, it was something I was completely unwilling to accept.
Father would never give the Patriarchship to Gu Hui-bi and Gu Yeon-seo. I knew that well too.
It wasn't because I was his son. It was because of this damn karma.
The First Elder, who knew nothing and tried to give the Patriarch's seat to his grandson, was truly laughable.
When the one who wants to run away more than anyone else is me.
However.
'For now, I still need the family's name.'
When will I be able to put it down?
So many things had gone wrong that it wasn't something I could easily think about.
"Young Master! Here are your clothes!"
Wi Seol-a handed me my outer robe as if she had been waiting, and I took it and put it on.
While putting on the clothes, I suddenly looked at Wi Seol-a.
'Come to think of it, when does she learn the sword?'
The direct disciple of the Sword Venerable. Since she was called that, she would surely learn the sword from the Sword Venerable...
Wi Seol-a was stuck all day learning how to clean and cook from the other servants.
I wondered if it was right to have the future's greatest under the heavens learn household chores...
"Where did Old Man Wi go?"
"Grandfather said he's going to make a bear earlier."
"A bear...? What kind of bear?"
If it's a bear, there's one around us too.
The Second Elder.
When I glanced at the Second Elder at the mention of a bear, he seemed to notice something from my gaze and his eyebrows rose slightly.
I immediately averted my gaze.
"He said he's going to make an eagle, a chick, and a bear too."
"...Are you perhaps talking about those wooden statues outside?"
"That's right!"
At some point, animal-shaped wooden statues had started appearing outside one by one, catching my eye.
The Sword Venerable carved those...?
They were carved so well that I thought he had bought them from somewhere.
The future's greatest under the heavens is learning household chores in my quarters, and an old man who I didn't know was the current's greatest under the heavens is carving statues in my quarters.
Is this right?
...It doesn't seem like it, no matter how I look at it.
"Grandfather carved them really well!"
I looked at Wi Seol-a's face as she smiled brightly, pointing at the horse-shaped statue in the distance.
Then, a sudden thought crossed my mind.
'Was she originally this kind of personality?'
Her words and actions, typical of a kid who just turned ten, were quite different from the her I saw in the future.
Thinking it was because she was still young, the sense of disparity that arose was quite strange.
The first time I properly faced Wi Seol-a in my previous life was the winter of this year.
What was Wi Seol-a like back then?
Was she like she is now?
'Why can't I remember?'
I don't know. What is this vague memory?
At the very least, she was very different from the Wi Seol-a of the future.
If a sharp famous sword were made into a human, it would be her.
A person who felt like she would cut you just by approaching her.
In my memories, there was a person who pushed everyone away with ice-cold eyes.
"Young Master, are you crying?"
Startled by Wi Seol-a's words, I rubbed the corners of my eyes.
No tears flowed.
"Cry? Why would I cry? You startled me."
"No... You looked like you were crying."
"I said no. Go eat some sweets."
When I lightly flicked her head with my knuckle, Wi Seol-a let out a short yelp and ran away.
Looking at her retreating figure, I let out a deep sigh. The Second Elder, who was watching, chuckled.
"You play entertainingly."
"Does it look like we're playing?"
"Isn't it?"
"...When you put it that way, it does seem like it."
It slightly displeased me that the Second Elder was watching with such delight, as if enjoying his grandchildren's antics.
"Second Elder, then does this mean you'll grant me one request as promised?"
At my words, the Second Elder made a reluctant expression.
"...We made a promise, so I must keep it. What on earth are you planning to ask for?"
There was only one request I wanted to make.
I had to go to Sichuan and return within a month, so I was asking him to help me make the trip.
'If an elder-level figure speaks, not just anyone, there should be a way.'
Of course, I would have to come up with an excuse, but wouldn't this method be the fastest?
But the Second Elder's face after hearing my words was strange. He looked as if he couldn't understand.
Was it because of the reason I had to go to Sichuan?
"It's a bit difficult to tell you the reason why I have to go to Sichuan..."
"No, that doesn't matter..."
"Pardon? That doesn't matter?"
Isn't that very relevant? Why isn't he curious...?
Whether I was momentarily shocked or not, the Second Elder continued speaking.
"Hmm... This old man truly cannot understand your words, Yang-cheon."
The following words were even more shocking.
"Can't you just run away from home? Why are you looking for a way...?"
"....."
Suddenly, I could imagine how this old man must have lived when he was young.
******************
Scrape, scrape.
A short old man was holding a log and carving it.
He was none other than the Sword Venerable, and carving was the Sword Venerable's small hobby.
"Have you come? Patriarch Gu."
"I hope you have been well, Elder Wi."
And the one who visited the Sword Venerable was none other than the Gu Family's Patriarch, Gu Cheol-un.
"Regarding the task you requested, they say the Beggar's Sect has found a slight clue."
At Gu Cheol-un's words, the Sword Venerable's hand stopped. It was something that should have made the Sword Venerable ecstatic.
The Sword Venerable checked Gu Cheol-un's face and then opened his mouth.
"...What is the matter, Patriarch?"
Gu Cheol-un's expression didn't seem to be in a very good state. Gu Cheol-un then said.
"I heard information that the Medical Immortal... is currently in Anhui Province."
Snap.
At Gu Cheol-un's words, the carving knife the Sword Venerable was holding broke.
Instantly, the surging inner energy leaked out from the Sword Venerable's body.
Fearing it might be discovered, Gu Cheol-un hastily covered the surroundings with his own inner energy.
"In the end..."
The Sword Venerable's voice was trembling severely.
"...Must you go that far, Heavenly Venerable?"
Gu Cheol-un closed his eyes. The Sword Venerable was crying.