Episode 1003 Once again. (3)
“Heo, heo, heo…. Heo, heo…. Heo!”
the sky is yellow
Namgungdan learned that saying the sky is yellow is not a rhetorical statement. The sky he could see now was really yellow.
No, it’s not just the sky.
“Huh…. Huh….”
Everything I could see in front of me was turning yellow. To be precise, it felt like the color of the world was gradually disappearing.
“Ouch…”
At that moment, Namgungdan’s foot caught on the stone. His body falls forward without even being able to resist.
No, I almost fell.
“Tsk!”
However, before his body could tilt even half a degree, someone who ran next to him grabbed his shoulder and straightened his body.
“….”
Nangungdan looked at the person standing next to him with blank eyes. Did you say Yoonjong…?
He grinned and said as if he was almost in trouble.
“It looks like you still have strength left, but you shouldn’t fall already. Now, let’s cheer up and keep running.”
“….”
“Hmm? Is there any problem?”
“…talent.”
“yes?”
Namgungdan’s feet are stretched forward weakly.
chin. chin. chin. chin.
And then it started running forward again, creaking like a puppet whose strings had been pulled wrongly.
‘Why did it become like this?’
Yes, it started very simply….
* * *
“Bet?”
“yes.”
Cheongmyeong said with a bright smile.
“You say you want to be treated well, but asking to be treated just like that seems a bit unconvincing. “Let’s check if you deserve to be treated well.”
“….”
“If they win, I’ll spit out all the money I ate and I won’t lift a finger from now on.”
“Are you sure?”
“Instead, if we win, you can stop complaining and just do as I tell you. “It’s simple, right?”
Nangung Dan looked at Cheongmyeong with a cautious face.
“But the seal…”
“Ah.”
Cheongmyeong waved his hand as if he knew what Namgung Dan was going to say. It looked like it was chasing away annoying flies.
“I know what you mean. “I am also a person with a conscience, so why would you want to fight with me?”
“Well then?”
“They will do it.”
Cheongmyeong pointed to the five swords behind me.
“And if we do something like bimu, the outcome is very obvious, so let’s do something fair. “To be fair.”
“…equity?”
“yes.”
Cheongmyeong clapped loudly and said.
“running.”
“….”
For a moment, Nangung Dan’s face became dumbfounded in embarrassment, but Cheongmyeong continued speaking calmly.
“The rules are simple. They will start running first and our kids will chase after them. Whoever catches up is eliminated. “If at least one person doesn’t catch up until the sun sets, that person wins.”
“No, that’s…”
“Instead!”
Before Nangungdan could say anything, Cheongmyeong cut off his horse.
“That’s a bit uneasy, so we wear 20-pound gaiters on each arm and leg.”
At those words, the faces of the Namgungse swordsmen became cruelly distorted.
“…Are you ignoring us now?”
“hmm? Was it a bit too much? Then, give about 30 pounds more to your body.”
“stamp!”
Namgungdan shouted without realizing it.
“Why are you screaming like that?”
Cheongmyeong picked his ear with his little finger and blew out.
“If you’re scared, don’t do it.”
“I’ll do it!”
“It’s all Dan!”
“older brother!”
Namgoong Dan gritted his teeth.
“Instead, be sure to keep that promise!”
Cheongmyeong grinned.
“You are saying what I was going to say. Just keep it straight.”
The warriors of the Namgung family looked at Namgungdan and spoke with concern.
“Are you going to be okay?”
“This…”
“Stop!”
Namgungdan interrupted the others.
“No matter how much it is said that Namgung’s Janggi is not a divine law, what excuse would there be for being overtaken by those wearing gaiters? “It’s a game you have to catch everyone to lose, right?”
“….”
“Are you going to put up with being ignored like this?”
The faces of the Namgungse swordsmen turned cold.
Namgungdan, who watched them harden their resolve, gritted his teeth and glared at Cheongmyeong.
‘There are degrees of arrogance.’
If they had asked me to compete with swords, I wouldn’t have been so angry. However, they competed based on physical strength and endurance, not swordsmanship.
Isn’t this the field in which the prestigious Namgung family is most confident?
“I know you are a great person, but this time you were arrogant.”
“Wow. After all, the world is wide. “There are people who can point out my arrogance.”
“….”
“But I think you should say that after you win?”
Namgungdan, who saw Cheongmyeong’s sly face, gritted his teeth and nodded.
* * *
‘I was like that…’
The first time I had a feeling that something might be wrong was when I stood at the starting line.
I ended up hearing the sound of Hwasan Jeonggeom, who was walking with iron gaiters on both arms and legs, asking the Hwasan Sword Association.
– how will we do it?
– Screw you.
– I get it.
It was a strange feeling.
I don’t know about the Hwasan Sword Association, but Hwasan Jeonggeom is not someone who can ignore them. But from the moment he heard him casually having that conversation, something like an ominous premonition passed through his heart.
But Namgungdan tried to push that thought away. Even so, it was thought to be impossible to catch up with them while wearing gaiters weighing more than 80 pounds over the entire body.
It weighs 80 pounds, which is enough for one normal person. Does it make sense to catch up with someone running ahead of you with someone on your back?
Therefore, Namgungdan did not worry. I just thought it was an opportunity to flatten the nose of the Hwasan Sword Association. And this is an opportunity to properly inform Namgung Do-wi, who is not opening his mouth despite seeing all of this, what is right.
That thought had not changed since they had just set off. The same thing happened a little later when the Hwasan disciples started chasing them. Because Ogeom was unable to close the distance that Namgung had initially opened, he just followed them.
But…
After a while, Namgungdan realized. Why did the Hwasan Sword Association put in a condition that it would last until the sun sets?
Just after half an hour, those chasing them began to speed up.
Are you being overtaken by people wearing 80-pound gaiters all over their bodies? This is not a problem that pride can allow.
Sega’s inspectors, who felt a sense of crisis, ran at their wits’ end.
And from that moment, hell began.
– You’re too slow.
– Okay, let’s go quickly.
– When did you eat boiled slugs?
Those crazy volcano seeds got close to their backs and started poking them in the back.
I was going crazy and jumping around.
How could anyone be sane when these people, who were as big as a person, clung to their backs and calmly spoke to them as they ran at full speed?
– No, you can’t give up already!
– You can still do more!
– Cheer up!
It would be better to laugh at and curse at the damn things.
With the consideration(?) of Hwasan disciples, Namgung literally ran until his legs fell off. This was no longer a matter of victory but a matter of pride.
However, after one hour, people began to collapse with foam at the mouth.
“Gurgling.”
“Hey. “There’s someone here.”
“Woo wow!”
“evil! “Don’t throw up!”
What made them go crazy and jump up and down the most was that the disciples of Hwasan who were following behind were fine and showed no signs of distress.
Namgungdan forcibly lifted his head, which was as heavy as a piece of iron, shaking. People were seen scattered here and there.
annihilation. It’s a clean annihilation.
The proud descendants of Namgung, who survived the war with Surochae until the very end, are now lying down like sick chickens in this manor.
‘How could this be…’
Namgoongdan threw his head back and stretched out his feet, sobbing.
They are the Namgung family.
I am confident that the purity of its history will rival that of any sect in the world. And their perseverance, having endured intense training since childhood, must be incomparable to that of other sects.
Why does this result occur?
“Woo wow….”
I started to vomit. Namgungdan instinctively covered his mouth with both hands.
No matter how much I do, I can’t show such disgusting behavior.
‘I feel like I’m going to die…’
Now, the sky is yellow and it’s no longer a situation to discuss. I started to feel like my limbs were moving separately every time I took a step and my body was folding in half and unfolding every time my foot touched the ground.
At that time, a voice clicking its tongue was heard from behind.
“I think this is the end now, too?”
“no. Don’t you think you can go a little further?”
“Then let’s bet on death penalty. I wonder if I can hold on any longer or not. I’ll bet you don’t make it.”
“…Bet I can’t stand it either.”
“no way. “What is that!”
“If it’s a bet, you have to judge it calmly.”
Those words almost cut off Namgung Dan’s last faint will.
But still, he ran and ran. There was a reason I had to run.
“Cheer up!”
A familiar face appeared in his vision, which changed every time he took a step.
‘So… Soso…’
The sight of her clicking her tongue as she looked at him confused Namgoong Dan’s mind.
‘How… Soso…’
The Tang Soso he knew had little to do with martial arts. Wasn’t the image of her seen every time she interacted with the Tang family like that of a woman from a prestigious family wearing a fancy palace dress?
Now, Tang Soso was following him with a calm expression on his face and cheering him on.
‘Crazy…’
Cheolpudeok.
In the end, Namgungdan’s body, unable to hold on, encountered the ground.
He fell down, face down in the dirt, and gasped violently. The air was harshly sucked in and dust was rushing in, but he couldn’t even bring himself to turn his head.
It felt like my whole body had been chopped into pieces with a large bat. This was not at a level that could be explained by words such as difficult or painful. Have you ever been in this situation just once in your life through training alone?
“Can’t you last two examinations?”
“…I wasn’t running very fast.”
“Soso. What happened?”
“Why are you doing this to me! “The party price is not like this!”
The voice chattering next to him did not reach Namgungdan’s head.
My mind felt like it was submerged in water. I felt like I could sleep forever if I closed my eyes like this.
But…
it was an extremely strange thing, but even in the midst of it all, Namgoongdan could hear it clearly. The sound of someone’s footsteps trudging towards this direction.
chin. chin. chin. chin.
He pushed his eyelids up with difficulty.
“Tskcha.”
After clearly feeling someone nudge him with a foot and turn him around, the blue sky filled his eyes. The sun was high in the sky.
Someone’s face suddenly appeared in a corner of the blue sky.
A face full of grumpiness…
“Oh.”
“….”
“Should I have started with 100 geun more?”
“….”
“Are you crying?”
“….”
“Sa-sook is crying?”
“Don’t do it, you bastard!”
“You’re not even human!”
“hey. Cover it! Cover it! hurry!”
This place…this place is the Demon Cave.
