Episode 136: Because I think you’re a more heartless person than you think.
The next day, we entered into a ten-day closed training period.
He left the affairs of the Hwangcheon Pavilion to Seo Dae-ryong and forgot about the affairs of the Demon Lords.
This training was an emergency training.
There is a time and a cause for everything. Just as you have to take a gamble when you feel the time is right when you are fighting, there is a time for training as well.
My trigger was a still vivid memory of my fight with my father. I had to make it mine before it disappeared from my mind.
The Amazons decided not to think about it.
The next day, the devil might come looking for me, or the demons might fight each other. Since they are not people I can control at will anyway, I just focused on what I had to do.
I replayed the fight at the Pungryu tavern where we fought like crazy.
I recreated every little movement of my fight with my father. When I moved like this, my father moved like this. And when I attacked like that, my father blocked like that. I compared and analyzed my father’s movements with mine.
This fight was significant in many ways. It was the fact that I fought without limiting myself, and the big constraint of not touching things even in the midst of such tension.
So, I felt a lot and learned a lot.
It was not a training that made the body suffer, but a training that involved deep contemplation and reflection. I only thought about martial arts, and I became more deeply immersed than ever before.
Ten days later, I came out of the training center with a bushy beard.
At that moment, I couldn’t believe it because of the strong smell of alcohol, but then Seolma spoke to me from behind.
“Who on earth are you trying to kill so desperately? Me? Or not?”
To my surprise, the horse was waiting for me.
“Why are you here?”
“Why would you? I was just waiting for you to come out. I went to see you the day after drinking at the Pungryu Bar, and you said you had been in a ten-day retreat. I came running right after hearing that.”
“Are you saying that you have been waiting here the whole time?”
“Then! I’ve been waiting for you since day one.”
After staring at him intently, she smiled and said.
“You’re lying. You must have told the lady. Ten days later, when the Leegongja Hall is closed, let me know. And then you drank and had fun, right? When did you come today? You came a little while ago, right?”
“Hmm. Did Yeo-bin turn towards you?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his honest confession.
Chwima asked with a suspicious look.
“But you didn’t go into hiding because I was annoying, right?”
“To be honest, I enjoy drinking and hanging out with you. It’s actually too much fun, which is the problem.”
“I thought the sky was falling when I heard you were in a coffin. If you had been in a coffin for a hundred days, I would have become a stone statue.”
“Don’t you have any other drinking buddies?”
“who?”
“You can drink with your majesty.”
“After being treated so humiliatingly by that Soma that day, who would you want to meet and drink with? You should give yourself time to cool down.”
Why would that be? She’s the one who came all the way to the training grounds to wait. Right now, she’s more interested in me than in the Sword Master, so she’s not paying attention to me.
“Isn’t it times like these when we need friends?”
“I’m hurting you because we’re friends.”
That was also true, so I couldn’t refute it.
“Come on, let’s go have a drink.”
“Do you really like drinking with me?”
“You’re saying that you won’t be able to get along with your brother if you drink twice?”
That’s what I told him at the Pungryu tavern. I guess it stayed in his mind.
“Would you mind if I drink it about two hundred times?”
“If we’ve already had a drink together two hundred times, then titles don’t really mean anything, right?”
“No, it’s important. If you drink two hundred times and still can’t be a brother and sister, isn’t that a strange relationship?”
“That’s true, but.”
“If I were to drink tea with you, I wouldn’t be able to fill it five times, but if I were to drink alcohol, I could fill it two hundred times.”
“Why do you want to be like this with me?”
Then an unexpected reason emerged.
“It’s simple. Right now, your chances of becoming a Heavenly Demon are 50/50. Isn’t that a 50/50 chance of having a Heavenly Demon as your younger brother?”
“You are making one big mistake.”
“What kind of illusion?”
“If I become a Cheonma, I won’t treat you like an older brother. Even if I drink with you two hundred times, it will all disappear in an instant.”
“It may seem like that on the outside, but?”
“I won’t do it in my heart. I won’t do it behind my back either. Rather, I might be more strict with you, Lord Chwima, for fear of being misunderstood.”
The horse looked at me with a strange look.
“I knew you would be open-minded even if you became a Heavenly Demon. I knew you would break the mold and treat the Demon Lords like brothers.”
“That must be a prejudice against me. I’m a colder and more unfeeling person than I look. That’s why I might be pretending to be more affectionate to hide that. When I become the Heavenly Horse, I’ll be sharp as a knife in the division of public and private affairs. If you expected me to be a quick and easy brotherly person, it would be a better investment to spend the remaining one hundred and ninety-eight drinking parties with my brother.”
Then Chwima said in a meaningful tone.
“Your brother shouldn’t become a cult leader.”
“why?”
“I’ll tell you over a drink.”
Chwima walked quickly.
I walked in the opposite direction of the horse.
The horse that was walking over there chased after me.
“This guy is going too far. Aren’t you curious, Lee Gongja?”
“Not at all.”
“Why shouldn’t your brother become a cult leader?”
“yes.”
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“why?”
This time I spoke in a meaningful tone.
“Are you curious as to why I’m not curious?”
“That’s right.”
“I pretended not to be curious so that you would be curious. I’m sure you’re the same. You’re trying to bait me into drinking with me for no reason by making me curious, right?”
“Even if a person is too smart, he or she lacks humanity!”
“I already told you that I am a heartless person.”
As I walked briskly, the horse doggedly followed me.
“I’ve been waiting for ten days. Is this really the case, Lee Gongja?”
Yeah, I guess I have to give it some credit for that level of effort.
“I lost. I’ll wash up and rest for a bit, and then I’ll come see you at Daechurim in the evening.”
Only then did Chwima’s expression brighten.
“I’ll be waiting. You have to come.”
“Instead, I must tell you. Why you should not become a cult leader.”
“You said you weren’t curious?”
“Is that so? Then I’ll see you later.”
I returned to my quarters, shaved, washed, and changed into new clothes.
And stood in front of Tokyo.
The me of ten days ago and the me of now were different.
With the last closure, I took Pungshinsabo to a new level.
The eight stars of the Wind God Sabo.
As I entered the closing ceremony, I had expected the results.
He mastered the Twelve Heavenly Sword Techniques and gained enlightenment from the writings left by the Mansajongju. He fought against Baekmanggi and later had the unique experience of watching the fight again with a third party’s eyes in a dream.
The fight with my father was decisive. As if he had anticipated this outcome, my father used the Pungsinsabo method to fight me throughout the fight.
Oh, there was one more thing. There was a sense of urgency that I had to achieve greatness as the Wind God Sabo before I could somehow learn the Nine Fire Magic Techniques.
As a result, he was able to achieve what could be seen as an obvious feat: the creation of the Pungsinsabo Palseong.
When the level of the Wind God Sa-bo reached the level of the Eight Stars, the biggest change was that he was overcome by the desire to run somewhere at high speed. His body was so stiff that he had to hold back the urge to run to the training ground right away. He had to properly relieve that desire, and that wasn’t enough.
First, I lay down on the bed and slept. Maybe it was because I felt good? For the first time in a long time, I slept soundly without any worries.
* * *
That evening, when I bought a bottle of alcohol and went to see Daechurim, Chuima was lying on a boat floating on the lake.
I got on the boat that Yeo-bin had given me and slowly approached the boat that Chwi-ma was on.
There was nothing on his boat, only bottles of alcohol.
“As expected! You don’t eat snacks when I’m not looking.”
“If you drink with me every day, I’ll eat side dishes every day. Here, have a drink.”
“I will drink the alcohol I brought.”
One of the good things about Chuma is that he doesn’t force you to drink. He doesn’t care what kind of alcohol you drink, or if you just put it down after a sip. He doesn’t force you to get drunk with him. I think Chuma is the one who really likes drinking.
“I felt this way when I came here before, but this lake is really nice.”
“There are places even more wonderful than this in Daechurim. I’ll take you there next time.”
“Do you really think we have a next step?”
“Why do you think there isn’t one?”
Instead of answering, I drank my drink.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. The Bloodthirsty Demon hates me.”
He drank alcohol too.
“Right. Am I the only one he hates? Is he really going to get the Blood Heavenly Sword and lose the three? Isn’t that a very losing deal? That guy, if the conditions are right, he’ll go to the Grand Duke at any time.”
The drunkard slowly began to stir up trouble and began to push away the bloodthirsty demon.
“I told you that day, you would get all three of them. That’s why I came here today.”
“If you can’t distinguish between ideals and reality like this, then the Grand Duke will end up being the successor. The successor to Cheonma isn’t just someone who is more skilled in martial arts or smarter. It’s not determined by these things.”
“Then what decides it?”
“Think about it. Choosing a successor isn’t about choosing the best swordsman in the world. It’s about choosing someone who can lead the sect well. A leader who can compromise and get along well with Palmazone. If not, the sect will split and eventually be eaten by the Murim Alliance. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I didn’t know that Mr. Chuma was someone who thought about the future of our school so rationally.”
“A typical victim of misunderstanding and prejudice.”
“If you don’t like it, why don’t you just quit drinking?”
“A drunk who quits drinking? The entire martial arts world will laugh at me.”
Then, the drunkard drank alcohol.
“Can I ask you something? I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a while.”
“Something?”
After a moment, I asked him.
“Do you drink to forget, Mr. Chuma? Or do you drink to not forget?”
“… … !”
Chwima, who was startled for a moment, stared at me and answered that neither of us were right.
“To enjoy it. I just drink it because I like alcohol. I like alcohol itself. I drink it because there’s a story behind it, but that’s also a prejudice.”
Then, Chwima drank again. I couldn’t tell if he was being sincere or just making excuses. It was hard to see the truth in him while he was drinking.
I also drank the alcohol I brought. I keep drinking when I’m with him. There was definitely a reason why I drank so much.
At that time, did I drink to forget? Or did I drink to not forget?
“Then why don’t you support my brother as your successor? My brother won’t say anything like I did, saying that he must reconcile with Elder Doma.”
Then, Chwima said something unexpected.
“The Archduke should not become the successor.”
He brought up the same thing he had brought up in front of the training center. I could tell that the fact that he was the first to bring up the topic wasn’t just to drag me into a drinking party.
Maybe that’s why this person approached me? Saying, “Let’s be brothers.”
“The Archduke… … loves the leader too much.”
“… … !”
An unexpected remark came out of the horse.
“I like my father too.”
“I like you more than anyone else.”
It was an undeniable statement. Whether it was because he truly loved it, or because he was pressured by his father’s authority, or because he wanted to become the successor, he was a brother who would do anything his father said.
“I admit that you are superior to the Archduke, but I am not yet certain that you will be the successor.”
I admit it. My father was the kind of person who could have bluntly told me that my older brother would be the successor tomorrow after having a fight with me today.
“Okay. Let’s say that’s true. Why shouldn’t my older brother, who likes his father, be the successor?”
“The Archduke will not be able to go against the will of the cult leader.”
“What does it mean?”
Once again, surprising words came out of the horse.
“The will of unifying the martial arts world.”
Chwima knew that his father had ambitions to become the unified martial arts world.
I remembered a conversation I had with my father about the leader of the Pungcheon cult.
– It’s not time yet. Just know that.
At that time, I thought that my father might be dreaming of unifying the martial arts world.
Chwima had noticed his father’s ambition. Maybe it was not only Chwima, but also some of the other Ma-zones who knew. The Ma-zones avoided mentioning anything related to their father.
“The Grand Duke will become the successor and faithfully follow his father’s orders. He will definitely become the vanguard and go out to conquer the martial arts world. But what about you? You will stop the cult leader. From what I’ve seen so far, you have never been a person who supports war.”
“That’s right. I don’t want war.”
“Then you must become the successor and stop the cult leader.”
I never dreamed that Chuma would choose me for this reason.
You chose me to prevent the coming war? This drunkard who is always drunk? This person who seems to have no thoughts at all among the Palmazones?
I brought my face close to the horse’s face.
“Why is this happening?”
“I want to find out how much of it is true and how much is false.”
“Everything I said is true.”
“You’re saying that the drunkard who only drinks alcohol chose me for the peace of the martial arts world? Are you asking me to believe that?”
“Let’s call it my last prejudice.”
Looking at me with drunken eyes, Chuma confessed the truth.
“That’s why I sent the broken bottle of wine to the Archduke.”
