< Episode 118: A sign of coming (3) >
Dark war.
The whole surroundings were a mess.
Someone came up to the figure in the shadows who was barely letting go of his anger in front of the stone chair that had been reduced to dust got down on one knee and bowed.
He was a long-haired man with red lips and a white uniform.
The heavy energy that filled the entire Daejeon due to the lord’s anger made it difficult for the man to even breathe.
However soon after she caught her breath her man opened his mouth with a very nervous look on his face.
“Mokgan. As you said all measures have been completed.”
“….”
Hearing his words Mokgan stared at the man and immediately waved his hand.
Then like a lie the evil energy that had weighed heavily on Daejeon was soon relieved.
As breathing became easier the long-haired man quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Then the man cautiously opened his mouth.
“Haonde there is one problem.”
“What do you mean?”
“I lost all my brothers in the Cheonjihoe. We need to retrieve and release what Mokgan personally sealed but to do that we need to bring in new brothers…”
At that time Mokgan cut off his words.
“Have you already forgotten?”
“yes?”
“Not everything is lost.”
The red-lipped man’s eyes widened at those words.
Now that I think about it there was only one card I had forgotten.
Even though he used all the cards he had he only had one hand left for him to lose.
* * *
[Starting today you are also a member of our family.]
[yes. Er…]
[Uh huh.]
[Yes father.]
[okay.]
[Haonde’s father… the one in the back?]
I could see a child peeking out from behind the old man’s or father’s legs with only part of his face or eyes sticking out.
She was so pretty that she was definitely a girl.
Is this child going to be my sister?
For no reason my lips lift up into a smirk.
Then the father forcibly pulled the girl out from behind and said
[This child is your older brother.]
‘!?’
Brother?
What does this mean?
No matter how you look at it he was a girl.
But I don’t understand what a brother is.
And he definitely said this when my father first came to see me.
-Great qualities. I want you to become the eldest son of our family.
– Are you saying I will become your son?
-okay.
I was fortunate enough to become the adopted son of one of the families considered the best in the society.
But why are you telling me to call that girl my brother?
I thought you were receiving it because there were no other sons in the family?
The girl who couldn’t understand but was hesitant to hide her face came up to her when her father scolded her held out her hand and said
[Ah let’s get along well from now on.]
I reluctantly took his hand and said hello.
[Nice to meet you. older brother.]
Maybe our relationship had gone awry since then.
Five years have passed since then.
During this period I learned a lot.
Originally as my father said I was destined to be the eldest son.
However because of the will of my godfather Madame who passed away before I joined the family he is acting like an older brother and acting like he can’t be that damn bastard.
That damn bitch took my place.
However I couldn’t express this complaint.
Even if this doesn’t make sense she really inherited the family’s blood and although I came here to continue the lineage I am only an adopted child.
There was only one thing I could do about this.
It was to prove that I was much better than this girl.
however
[That’s great.]
The person my father praised was that girl not me.
I thought how great it must be for a girl like her to have such outstanding qualities but she was so outstanding that it was ridiculous.
I too was accepted for my outstanding qualities but this was a monster.
He was so smart that if you taught him one thing he would know ten to the point where the phrase “literally one knowledge ten” (聞一埥十) was not awkward.
Because of this at some point my father started saying this as a habit while looking at me and the girl in the gym.
[It’s a shame. It’s a shame.]
Damn it.
What are you regretting?
Is my caliber lower than that of this woman who was adopted by me?
Or is it a shame that this woman’s qualifications are so great that she is not her son?
Whatever it was I was angry.
But I never revealed it.
Since I am only an adopted son I will never do anything that would make me look unpleasant if I want to survive here.
Two years have passed since then.
Despite great efforts the gap in qualifications has not been reduced.
There was even talk that if things continued like this this girl could even receive the title of the most outstanding reviewer in the society within a few years.
‘shit.’
I don’t understand.
I train for a longer time than him and even sleep less to eat breakfast so why can’t I catch up?
Is it possible that your father cares more?
I knew he wasn’t that kind of person but I was strangely suspicious.
‘ha.’
You’re not really going to give the position of successor to this girl who can’t be succeeded are you?
If that’s the case you might really want to kill that bitch.
Like this I feel anxious every day but not this girl.
-widely!
When he turned his head to the hand touching his shoulder his index finger dug into his cheek.
She was a damn bitch.
He jokes around and asks with a smile what’s so fun about it even though it’s annoying.
[It happened again. Cluck cluck. What are you doing?]
[Well…what is there to do?]
[You were staring so hard at my room that I thought you were mad at me?]
[Are you angry?]
[no?]
[Is that possible? Aren’t I your right hand man? I will help my brother and support our family. So don’t worry.]
[….]
The woman’s expression became subtle at my words.
Could it be that you don’t trust me?
But the girl hugged me and said with a smile.
[okay. my brother thank you.]
Damn bitch.
My brother? …Are you campaigning because you were born only three years earlier?
The more things go on like this the more I hate this girl.
So much so that I really want to kill him.
A few days passed like that.
Suddenly my father called us.
My father spoke with a very serious expression on his face unlike usual.
[Both of you go to Sihyeolgok.]
[yes?]
I was dumbfounded by those words.
Isn’t Sihyeolgok a place where small and medium sects risk their lives to achieve success?
Why would you go to a place like that?
[This is for the long-held wish of this meeting. All other descendants of the Five Kings have also decided to do the same so you should also take the lead and participate.]
Damn it.
As the adopted child of the family he thought he would never have to go to Sihyeolgok.
But now you’re telling us all to go there?
Isn’t this too much?
But the girl answered calmly.
[I will keep this in mind.]
And as soon as he left his father’s study he smiled broadly at himself and said
[don’t worry. cadet. I will protect you.]
-closely!
I got angry again at his words.
I couldn’t even bear to go there because of my reluctance but this girl pretended like nothing was wrong and encouraged me?
Damn it. What are you doing that makes me so miserable?
You really make me feel so small.
In the end I was sent to the test song even though I was only 15 years old.
The first start was a battle for iron balls.
[Gasp…. Brother….]
[Take it.]
[But isn’t this what you were looking for?]
[You go first. I can find it quickly.]
[older brother….]
Damn you bastard.
Are you just passing up what my bitch found because you think I won’t even pass this test?
How ridiculous did you have to think of me to do something like this?
I really wanted this girl to die.
However in the end not only did he find the iron ball as he said but he also defeated all the guys who came and even earned a plaque.
Before the second flag.
I deliberately avoided being paired with this guy.
I didn’t want to be a part of making me miserable with my sister and all.
While looking for the flag I was absurdly attacked by small and medium-sized sects.
[If it weren’t for you I would easily pass the next test.]
I was confident that I couldn’t beat quite a few people my age but when there were six people working together I couldn’t possibly beat them.
Each one of them is nothing special so why do I have to suffer like this at the hands of these guys?
In the end I fought them and ran away for my life.
Then while making a narrow leap from the cliff he fell down the cliff.
-Kurrrrr!
[Aaaah!]
Would this be better than dying at the hands of these guys?
But I didn’t die.
-with a plop!
Luckily I fell into a puddle and was unharmed.
But something is strange.
Even though the cliff edge was dark I wasn’t scared or anything like that but I was shaking so much that I got goosebumps all over my body.
As I looked around I was astonished.
‘What is this?’
There were numerous bones scattered around and looking at the clothes they were wearing they seemed to be cadets who had entered Sihyeolgok.
What on earth is this place?
Feeling ominous and frightened by the countless bone fragments I hurriedly tried to climb up the cliff.
However due to an unknown force I fell again.
And I was dragged by something
‘omg?’
That thing was an eyeless monster with a horribly burned face.
I was scared and tried my best to run away but it was no use.
This monster was a monster.
[It’s good that I survived but since I was unlucky enough to see this place I guess I’ll have to kill him.]
-Wow!
[Chuckling.]
Are you going to kill me just because you saw something like this?
Something feels unfair.
If I had known I was going to die in vain like this anyway I would have done what I wanted.
I feel so sad about dying without being able to do anything just looking at each other like adopted children and all.
Would it have been better if I had killed that woman when I had the chance?
Then I heard a voice from somewhere.
[for a moment.]
[yes? How?]
At the command of the voice the burnt entity withdrew its strength from the hand that was strangling him.
Then I saw someone approaching close by.
-Shudder!
Surprisingly he was a being with eyes on his forehead.
The strange being looked at me and said with an evil smile.
[You guys have interesting desires.]
‘!?’
This was the turning point in my fate and my first meeting with him.
Because of him I got everything I wanted.
In addition to being the successor to the family he was also given the title of Five Tigers the position of the highest later exponent of the council.
It seemed like everything kept going the way I wanted it to.
Since he was protecting me I thought that if I just followed him everything would go as planned.
But now a crisis has come to it.
Even though it was his self-immolation even though he came forward everything went wrong.
There are no allies here anymore.
It could be said that it was the worst situation because all of his limbs that existed in the society died.
‘What should I do with this?’
As he said he did not participate in the war under the pretext of his closure.
But instead it aroused suspicion.
Even though his father did not respond to Hoeju’s summons he was requested to be investigated by Amjong.
He was wondering what to do about it.
In my eyes I saw insects swarming under the tree.
As I approached that place wondering if it could be possible the corner of my mouth twitched and turned up in a sly tone.
He also made all the arrangements.
* * *
It was around midnight in the dark of the morning.
A group was moving secretly to Vigo located near Sihyeolgok.
There were about twenty masked people.
They were all experts so small that you could barely hear their footsteps.
Due to the lack of manpower after the civil war of the Cheonjihoe all remaining troops including Gokju of Sihyeolgok were in the inner city so their movement was easy.
-Sssssseu!
They reached the cliff of the peak in front of Vigo and stopped on the spot.
The strong-bodied Juklipin standing in the lead spoke in a low voice to the person standing next to him.
“Is that really what he promised?”
“Hasn’t your father seen his strength? He will protect us.”
“…i get it. Five of you will stay here and guard and the rest will follow.”
-Pot!
He took the lead and climbed the cliff with a wave of his hand.
He climbed the cliff with a new sleek body that was different from his long body and soon entered the hidden vault.
After entering the building he assigned ten people to guard the entrance and the surrounding area and then went up to the third floor of the building.
He apparently said it was in a small cavity in the corner of the third floor.
That’s how they found a small cavity with a red line drawn on it.
“It’s over there.”
They entered the small red-lined cavity and searched for ‘it’.
But after searching for a while they discovered something strange.
I said it was definitely in here but why isn’t it there?
The puzzled Jukripin who had long bones asked the person next to him.
“Didn’t you say it was definitely here?”
The Juklip man next to him responded by tilting his head as if something was strange.
“This can’t be happening. “I’m sure he’s here…”
-Could it be there?
-Shudder!
At that moment they all turned their heads at the sound of a voice ringing outside the small cavity.
‘!?’
But I couldn’t see anything there.
The Juklip person gently lifted the bamboo lip and looked at the surroundings with narrowed eyes.
If there had been anyone there was no way he could have deceived his Ki-Gam who was the Five Kings of the Council and one of the Eight Stars.
But something is strange.
‘what?’
There was clearly nothing in front of me but I felt a strange energy that stimulated my senses.
I can’t think of anything to say but I could say that the goosebumps I felt were similar to ghost energy.
But at that time the person next to Juklipin suddenly looked embarrassed.
“Why are you doing that?”
-widely!
Despite his question the person next to Jukripin even took a step back.
“Mid-day!”
Jukripin called the name of the person next to him and grabbed his shoulder.
Then Joong-Joong opened his mouth with trembling eyes.
“…How are you?”
‘Four years?’
What on earth are you talking about?
Everyone including Juklipin was puzzled but only Joong-Joong’s eyes showed someone’s image clearly.
That someone was a young-faced girl with only half of her hair turning white and her whole body wrapped in chains.
‘Gyu Gyu Soha?’
< Episode 118: A sign of coming (3) > end
ⓒ Hanzhongwolya
