Episode 353
“See you Shinseung.”
“Nice to meet you, Yeon Siju.”
An old man wearing a monk’s robe put his hands together and greeted me.
The Buddha statue standing tall behind my back created a strange feeling of pressure.
“So, you said you wanted to see me?”
It is often said that the head of Shaolin Temple is a priest.
The identity of the old monk was Baekmyeong Daesa, the Shaolin master of the time.
He was a person of one rank higher than Gamwon, the head of the Eight Great Houses, and I knew that he had also studied martial arts with Buljon, the head of Taesangbang.
As expected from a person leading Shaolin Temple, the prayer flowing out was heavy.
I thought that at this level, he would be no less than the sword of Botaam.
“yes. “I have admired the reputation of the divine monk for a long time.”
“It puts strength on my shoulders to hear the most famous man in Tanggeum Wulin say that.”
Me and Baekmyeong, who was spouting out words that I had no intention of saying, and Ambassador Baekmyeong, who felt good about the sounds he made.
I was out of breath.
It was an extremely uncomfortable situation.
“······.”
I sipped the tea on the table and looked at Shinseung’s thoughts.
Honestly, I don’t know what else to say here.
The reason I asked Gamwon to make a place for me before was because I wanted to meet the monk who had prayed for me in my past life.
It’s not that I really wanted to face Shinseung.
“An important guest has come to visit, but unfortunately I don’t have anything to treat him with. “I’m sorry.”
“it’s okay.”
I didn’t even expect it to begin with.
Is there meat or alcohol in the temple?
I was planning to just be moderately polite and quickly return to Maeng’s headquarters.
“If there is something you want to do, tell me now. “Are there any places you want to see or people you want to meet?”
“If possible, I would like to meet Monk Baek-oh.”
There was surprise in Shinseung’s eyes.
It was as if he was asking how you knew him.
The Buddhist name of the old monk who had prayed for happiness in his previous life was Baek-o.
It was several years ago that I asked Hao Wen to find out his identity based on his appearance in my memory.
It was now clear that he was not the person involved in my return, but since I had come all the way here, I thought I would at least talk to him.
I’d like to at least say thank you, something I couldn’t do in my previous life.
“I didn’t know that Lord Yeon had such deep Buddhist devotion.”
“······?”
However, what Shinseung said next was something I didn’t expect.
My back felt cold due to an unexplainable feeling of anxiety.
I knew it intuitively.
That something is going wrong.
“I will put the message in right away. “The Dragon King will be visiting soon, so get ready.”
“······Preparation, what do you mean preparation?”
“What can you say? “One hundred and eight times.”
I was momentarily speechless.
I lost my mind.
A hundred and eight times, why on earth are you trying to make me do something like that?
“Why is the reaction like that? Baek-oh, wasn’t it Yeon Si-ju who said he wanted to meet that friend?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Wouldn’t visiting Gyejiwon mean that you wanted to see and experience the Buddhist practice of Shaolin monks?”
I screamed inside.
What kind of crazy talk is this?
* * *
I trudged along with Shinseung with a blank expression.
I didn’t know how it happened.
······Actually, I understood it in theory.
I just don’t want to accept reality.
Monk Baek-o is the head of Gyejiwon.
Gyejiwon, so to speak, was the place where the monks of Shaolin Temple practiced training.
The practice referred to here does not mean training in martial arts, but cultivating the Buddhist Way.
This was the reason why Shinseung misunderstood my words.
“Director Taesangbang told me to take care of your convenience as much as possible. Gyejiwon is not a place where outsiders are allowed in, but I will make a special exception for Yeon Siju.”
“······thank you.”
“There’s nothing to be so thrilled about.”
A foreigner who had come from afar suddenly said that he wanted to visit Gyejiwon, but the head of the Shaolin Temple could only assume that this was a request born out of Buddhist intention.
At the very least, if I had been friends with Monk Baek-oh, I would have been able to vaguely explain it to some extent.
But in this life, he and I have never even seen each other’s faces.
‘But that doesn’t mean I can reveal anything about regression.’
I couldn’t pick up what I had already said.
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Unable to find an excuse, I ended up getting caught up in the situation and heading to Gyejiwon.
“Amitabha Buddha. “I never thought I would meet the Dragon King’s offering like this.”
“I have always admired the reputation of the Daehyup.”
“Nice to meet you.”
The monks I encountered along the way recognized me, put their hands together and greeted me.
I sighed inwardly and answered them one by one.
The sunlight reflecting off my smooth bald head mercilessly stung my eyes.
‘I just can’t get used to the quiet atmosphere of the Shaolin Temple.’
Is this how livestock being taken to the slaughterhouse feel?
I felt resentful of myself for saying something useless and causing myself to get angry.
How far did it travel like that?
Shinseung and I finally reached our destination.
Conscience Hall.
A Buddhist temple that can only be used by senior monks with high distribution and status among those practicing at Gyejiwon.
It was by no means a place where I, who was not even a monk, let alone a high priest of Shaolin Temple, could enter.
“Go in. “I’ll just head back now.”
The priest pointed to the temple with his hand and a calm smile appeared on his lips.
I felt like tears were streaming down my face at the extreme treatment.
As I entered the building, a monk with a familiar face was sitting on the floor waiting for me.
It was Gyejiwonju, monk Baekoh.
[Amitabha Buddha. I hope that you attain enlightenment in the next life.]
The memories of the blessings he had given me in my past life lingered in my mind.
I sat down in the seat he offered and politely bowed.
“I meet Lord Gyejiwon.”
“There’s no need to call me by such a harsh name. “Monk Baek-o is enough.”
“All right.”
“You don’t know how surprised I was when I heard the story. “I’ve come to give you a hundred and eight bows, right?”
“······.”
I don’t know who delivered the ark’s instructions, but they were completely distorted.
I just wanted to meet Monk Baek-o once.
“Before we begin the hundred and eight bows, would you like to talk to this old man for a moment?”
A long and boring conversation followed.
Unfortunately, Venerable Baek-o was a great preacher.
A topic that constantly comes up.
As we continued to exchange questions and answers, we became exhausted.
The fatigue was worse than swinging a sword all day in the training hall.
After clearing my throat once, I made eye contact with Monk Baek-oh and asked.
“What do you think of the demonic cultists?”
“I don’t understand the intent of the question. Perhaps you want to seek an answer through me? “For example, I want to decide on the direction of revenge.”
“······?”
It seemed like something had been completely misunderstood.
I just wanted to know why Monk Baek-oh had wished me luck in my past life.
I was wondering what kind of wind was blowing to show favor to me, who was seen as an evil enemy in the eyes of the Baekdo Martial People.
“I know that the Dragon King’s donor is an official of the collapsed Wolhwajang and that he hates the Demonic Cult. However, the members of the Demonic Cult are ultimately human just like us. “If you ask whether it is okay to kill someone without any conscience, it will be difficult to give an easy answer.”
“······.”
“I think the lord also knows. “Not all demons have committed mortal sins.”
“······.”
“Also, all those involved in the destruction of Wolhwajang have long since passed away. “As a benefactor, it will be difficult to keep track of things.”
I’m sorry if I sound like I’m beating you up, but I’ve never had to worry about being full like that.
The reason I wanted to destroy the Demonic Cult was for personal revenge and for a safe future, not because I had any noble mission.
“Probably most of the martial arts people have anxiety in their hearts. “If we continue to accumulate killing karma like this, it will come back in the future as an unbearable disaster.”
It was something I didn’t agree with at all.
However, I felt like I knew something about Baekoh’s values and tendencies.
This is what I thought when I saw him in my past life, but he was a person with strange magical powers.
Perhaps the reason why I, who was about to die, told him confidential information was because I was swept away by the unique atmosphere?
“I don’t think the answer to the lord’s concerns is something I can give. Don’t rush and think about it slowly. I hope that the hundred and eight times that will begin now will help you organize your thoughts.”
Monk Baek-oh, who finished the story, left the room.
Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.
The monks waiting outside tapped the wooden table to a certain beat.
I reluctantly got up from my seat and stared at the Buddha statue with an astonished expression.
I felt like I had all kinds of strange experiences in my life.
I managed to gather my composure and started bowing towards the Buddha statue.
Once, twice, three times, four times.
As the number of times continued, the agony in my heart did not seem to disappear.
I hadn’t even bowed ten times, but I was already so tired that I couldn’t stand it.
It was absolutely not something a human would do.
‘Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, thirty.’
I ended up taking special measures.
It was humanly impossible to fill in all 108 numbers.
I decided to use stealth techniques to prevent the monks outside from detecting my presence, and to increase the number of times appropriately.
‘Forty-four, forty-five, seventy-six.’
While I was spending time doing other things, whenever I saw a monk passing by outside my window, I immediately fell down on the floor and pretended to bow.
Even when I thought about it, I couldn’t help but think it was such a petty thing to do.
It wasn’t until the world began to fall into dusk that the sound of the moktak subsided.
As I left the Buddhist temple pretending to have a calm expression, Monk Baek-o, who was waiting outside, spoke to me.
“Have you organized your thoughts well?”
“yes. Thanks to you, I feel much more at ease.”
“Then you are lucky.”
After saying thank you, I left Gyejiwon as if running away.
* * *
Approximately some time has passed since then.
When I felt that there was no one around, I let out a long sigh.
No matter how much I thought about it, it was something I couldn’t do twice.
I will never promise to visit Shaolin Temple again.
Even if Master Bodhidharma reincarnates and invites me.
For a while, we walked towards the dormitory where the members were resting.
An old man suddenly appeared in front.
After recognizing the other person’s identity, I immediately returned my expression and spread my shoulders wide.
“See you, Chief Taesangbang.”
Taesangbangjang of Shaolin Temple, Buddha.
Finally, the person who invited me showed up.
“You look tired.”
“no. Thanks to you, I had a good experience.”
“It’s a good experience. Wouldn’t you like to have an experience you’ll never be able to experience again?
“yes?”
“I will prepare a stage for you to experience the power of the Hundred Eight Arhats. “How are you feeling?”
“······!”
martial arts,
