—————————————
[ Dishonest ]
That night.
The great man quietly hid under the ceiling of the old man’s room.
Slurp.
His figure melted into the darkness. When he killed the presence with stealth and even used the Gaeseong [Stealth], even the old man, who was a top expert, did not notice the presence of the great person.
‘They just happen to be together.’
The great man looked around the room through a thin gap in the wooden ceiling. The old man and the Jumsoi boy were seen together.
“Keu…”
The boy was moaning softly as he gritted his teeth. The boy was wearing thin clothes and sitting cross-legged, and the old man sitting behind him was hitting the boy on the back.
Crack! Crash!
It wasn’t just a slap.
I was constantly stimulating the blood vessels throughout my body with my fingers, palms, and sometimes fists.
‘Current investigation and blood?’
Chugungwahyeol is a type of massage therapy that uses energy. It is a great help when learning martial arts as it stimulates the body’s blood flow, boosts vitality, and gently relaxes muscles.
Crack! Crash!
As if it wasn’t something he had already done once or twice, the old man even touched the boy’s blood vessels without hesitation.
‘That’s not at the level of a massage?’
“Whoa…”
Sweat beaded on the old man’s forehead as he exhaled deeply. He was extremely focused.
About an hour had passed.
The old man took a deep breath and patted the boy on the back.
“It’s all over.”
“Phew…”
At the same time, the boy also took a deep breath and opened his closed eyes.
‘That guy looks like he’s going to make a lot of women cry.’
The great man thought so as he looked at the boy’s face.
A slender body with long limbs. Her hair was gathered back and tied tightly.
Her pale face was slightly wet with sweat, but only her lips were as red as a cherry.
Except for the fact that he was a little short, the boy had the appearance of an idol.
An old man and a boy sat facing each other with a lantern in the middle. The old man said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
“It seems like my physical condition has improved a lot compared to before.”
At those words, the boy smiled self-mockingly.
“Grandpa, aren’t you tired of saying the same thing all the time?”
“It’s for real this time, you guy. “Didn’t you change the medicine a while ago?”
The old man scolded the boy and handed out the decoction he had prepared in advance. The boy drank the bitter decoction in one gulp.
“Ugh… I used it….”
“Now, I bought some new sweets too.”
The old man put a piece of candy into his grandson’s frowning mouth.
It was the couple’s routine to drink decoction every night after the interrogation and blood exam.
The boy said while sucking on the sweets.
“grandfather. I’m talking about the guest who came today. “Don’t you think it’s a bit suspicious?”
The great man hiding in the ceiling focused his attention on hearing.
The old man who was massaging his shoulder said with a mischievous expression.
“You mean that young man? why? “Did you like it?”
The boy made a straight face.
“Don’t joke around. “That customer… he didn’t come to visit us, right?”
“hmm. “That’s probably not true.”
The eyes of the old man who shook his head were sharp.
It wasn’t like he was laughing happily while sharing a drink with a friend just a few hours ago.
“I was suspicious at first too, so I asked around, but… there was no such sign.”
“He might be a trained assassin. “They may have acted sloppy on purpose to catch us off guard.”
Despite the boy’s question, the old man shook his head.
“I didn’t wear a bastard, and I didn’t have many calluses on my hands. “You can hide your inner strength, but you can’t fool the hand holding the sword.”
‘That old man. ‘You looked at it all while pretending to drink with me.’
The great man was eavesdropping with interest on the conversation between the old man and the boy.
The identities of the two people were roughly predictable.
‘Survivors of the extinct Geomhwangmun. I don’t know about the old man, but that kid is probably a descendant of the Geomwang.’
After the death of Geomwang, the size of the Geomwangmun gradually decreased, and during his grandson’s generation, it was attacked by a mysterious force and went extinct.
The Murim Alliance officially announced that the Demon Cult had exterminated the Geomwangmun, but the Demon Cult vehemently denied that fact.
‘It hasn’t been 20 years since the Geomhwangmun went extinct. ‘I came to Moorim 5 years early, so it’s been 15 years since now.’
Then the boy said. He talked about his first impression of the great man.
“But… it felt a little strange.”
That was because of the energy of the Pacheonshingung that the great man had mastered. Just as the great man recognized the boy’s martial arts skills at a glance, the boy also felt something.
The old man spoke to the boy who still could not shake his doubts.
“Hyuna. They say that when you get to my age, you start to have eyes for people. “I don’t think that young man is a bad person.”
The great man hiding on the ceiling scratched his chin.
‘It pricks my conscience to hide like a thief and listen to things like that.’
It was then. The old man suddenly hardened his expression and said.
“Or perhaps…!”
“Ho, what is it?”
The old man said with a sly smile to his grandson, whose expression suddenly hardened.
“You really liked it, didn’t you? Well, you’re old enough to do that too. It doesn’t look that bad…”
“Grandpa, really!”
“Hahaha!”
The two seemed to get along very well. The old man who had been playing with his grandchild for a while checked the time and said.
“Since you have absorbed all the medicinal energy, let’s have a lucky breakfast.”
Ungi breakfast was also one of their daily routines that continued for more than 10 years. The boy sat cross-legged.
‘I guess I’ll have to check for sure now.’
The great man expanded his senses as much as possible. He tried to feel the flow of energy flowing through the boy’s body.
If it had been any other martial arts skill, it would have been impossible.
However, because he learned martial arts like a boy, it was possible to vaguely resonate with the flow.
‘…It’s not a Breaking Heavenly Art. The level of completion is much lower.’
What the boy learned was not Pacheonshingong.
The flow of energy was more unstable, wasteful, and inefficient.
This was something that could only be known because he was a master who had mastered the art of Breaking Heaven.
‘It must be a martial art that the Geomwang used before he created the Breaking Heavenly Sword.’
Of course, the martial arts that the boy learned were also great new techniques. It’s just that it doesn’t appeal to adults who have already learned better things.
After finishing the fortune-telling breakfast, the boy opened his eyes.
“Cough!”
The boy spit out black blood from his mouth. The front lip became red and wet.
“Hyuna!”
The startled old man came up and handed the boy a handkerchief. His face was full of concern.
“Is it okay? It was okay for a while, but why again…”
“…It’s okay.”
The boy shook his head as if it was no big deal. Then he smiled with a pale face and reassured the old man.
“haha. I vomited dead blood and my stomach felt better. “I guess the changed medicine is effective.”
“Hyuna…”
The old man hugged his grandchild without saying a word. For a while the two said nothing. The shadows in the room created by the lantern flickered uneasily.
It was an old man who broke the silence. He said, patting the boy’s back with his thick hand.
“I decided to sell the last jewelry left by your mother.”
“…yes?”
“I went to town a while ago and they said a good elixir would arrive. “Sell your jewelry and buy it.”
The boy’s voice trembled as he answered.
“I decided not to sell that. “If we sell it, our location could be exposed…”
“You can just go somewhere else.”
“I barely settled here…”
The old man’s voice was calm. The old man looked into the boy’s eyes and said.
“Hyuna. “I will do anything to save you.”
The child was weak from birth. Moreover, as soon as he was born, he was destined to run away from his pursuers.
The old man ran away for 15 years, taking his newborn baby with him. I had a hard time hiding and running away.
‘At one time, I thought countless times about abandoning you and running away alone.’
The old man had many nights and many anguish.
And as he endured all those years, the old man thought of this child as his own blood, not as his master’s child.
‘Hyuna. Please, I must live longer than this allowance.’
The old man tried to hide his heavy heart and spoke in a bright voice.
“I asked Old Man Yang, so it will take a few days. “As soon as we get the elixir, let’s go to another village.”
“Yes…”
Hyun nodded with a sullen expression. There was nothing he could do. My sickly body was a curse.
The old man read his thoughts and gently patted his grandson’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry too much. The situation at Moorim is unusual these days. “If a war between political and evil forces breaks out, they won’t have the strength to chase us down.”
At that moment, the boy’s eyes turned fierce.
“I wish the Demon Cult and the Murim Alliance would all die.”
The great man looked at that figure and thought.
‘As expected, a political and demonic war will break out sooner or later.’
That was the reason why Daein tried to come to Wulin in a hurry.
About a year later, the Battle of Jeongma takes place in Murim.
A head-on collision between the Murim Alliance and the Demonic Cult.
Jumping into martial arts at that time was quite risky.
‘Before that, I have to find the Changcheon Shingeom, finish my business, and then go back.’
The great man hid in the ceiling and continued to eavesdrop on the conversation between the two people.
I was able to get quite a lot of information, but unfortunately there was no story about the Changcheonshingeom.
‘There is no way they would know the whereabouts of the sword that the Emperor had until just before his death.’
“It’s late. “Go to bed now.”
“yes. good night.”
The boy bowed his head to the old man and went into his room.
“Whoa…”
The boy returned to the room and sat in front of the mirror.
When I untied my hair, it fell out like a waterfall.
Namgoong Hyun let his hair down and looked blankly into the mirror.
A life of lying about one’s identity, name, and even gender in order to survive.
“Is there any meaning to this life?”
The girl in the mirror looked clearly sick. The blackness under her eyes showed that she did not have long to live.
“Phew.”
Namgoonghyeon sighed and changed his clothes. In the darkness, a small candle illuminated the skinny body.
At that moment, Namgoonghyun felt a feeling that could not be explained in words.
Ssssssut.
A familiar yet unfamiliar energy passed through her body in an instant. I got goosebumps on my back.
“Who who!”
The startled girl looked back, covering her breasts with her hands.
“…….”
There was nothing there.
***
The great man returned to his room and was lying on the bed.
“He is a descendant of the Geomwang.”
He took out the Geomwangbirok from his bag. I read it whenever I was bored, and now the stains on my hands are black.
In the Geomwangbirok, not only the Geomwang’s military exploits but also all kinds of stories were written down.
A story filled with one person’s life.
The great man unfolded one part of them.
“Hyuk is that guy. Since he is my son, he would definitely become a great expert. “He took after me, so he was exceptionally intelligent from a young age.”
Namgunghyuk was the son of Geomwang.
He was also a great expert, but not to the extent of leaving his name in history like his father.
But the Geomwang didn’t know that fact.
「Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk. Maybe he will become a greater expert than me and wipe out the Demon Cult to avenge his father. Then there will be no turn for you, disciple.”
Geomhwangmun disappeared.
After the disappearance of the Emperor, it continued to decline and was wiped out by mysterious raiders 15 years ago.
“…If you meet my son or grandson. Never talk about me. In particular, never say anything about how you became an idiot with missing limbs one by one.”
“Even if I told you, I don’t think they would be interested.”
Geomwang wanted to be the best in the world in front of the world and his son until the end.
Because of his pride, he died alone without telling the world that he had survived being an asshole.
To be honest, Daein couldn’t understand him.
“What kind of pride can you have? “If only he had come back alive, regardless of whether he was an idiot or not, he would have been a hero who defeated the Demon Cult and enjoyed fame and fortune for the rest of his life.”
I couldn’t understand it, but I planned to respect its meaning.
Grumble!
The great man burned the Geomwangbirok with Samadhi Evolution.
I was planning on memorizing it all and getting rid of it anyway. There was no need to go back.
The book was completely burned, but its contents remained intact in the great man’s mind.
“What if? Really what if. Even if my descendants live in difficult times…”
Geomhwang was not a fool either.
He also predicted that if he went missing, the Geomhwangmun would face a major crisis.
“You don’t have to worry. That is the fate of those children. All you have to worry about is defeating the Heavenly Demon. Mark my words!”
Mark your words. The great man chuckled as he remembered that part.
“I’d rather ask for help outright. That seems like a dishonest old man.”
The great man muttered that and rummaged through the bag he brought from Earth.
[ Dishonest ] End
ⓒ Ganjjajang
