Episode 277 Can You Handle It?
Jin Ha-gun took his hands off the doll he was trying to raise.
Square, square.
The sound of wood carving was heard again.
Normally, the master would not have cared whether the doll was standing up or lying down.
Who is this doll?
Jin Ha-gun looked down at the fallen doll again.
For some reason, his eyes kept going to it. In the end, Jin-Ha didn’t dare to raise it up, but he turned his back to the doll and glanced at it as it lay face down.
At that moment, Jin Ha-gun was startled.
The wooden doll was me. It was the size of a finger, but I could instinctively tell that it was me. The clothes were like that, the hair was like that.
“Are you going?”
The sound of wood carving stopped at the soft question.
“Yes, it’s you.”
Jin Ha-gun looked at his master with a puzzled mind.
‘You said it was me and told me to just leave it lying there?’
Jin Ha-gun could tell that his master knew what was happening in Honam.
‘Even so,’
It would be better to just get angry. It felt worse than being yelled at. What on earth was the master thinking as he carved this doll and laid it down in front of me? I felt a sense of regret and distance that I had never felt before.
‘I thought you would understand why I did that.’
Yes, I guess that’s because you don’t know the circumstances of that day.
“The son of the Heavenly Flower Lord murdered innocent people.”
The master was silently absorbed in his work. He was listening, so he was telling me to continue talking.
Jin Ha-jun couldn’t say the most important part of the explanation. He had to say that he realized that giving up the Heavenly Flower Gate was his grandfather’s test, but if that were true, wouldn’t that mean that his master didn’t realize that it was his grandfather’s test in the first place?
“I couldn’t do anything because the inspector came out.”
The master didn’t say anything, either because he already knew or because he thought it was an excuse.
In the past, I would have been restless and asked my master for forgiveness first.
But Jin Ha-gun just quietly looked at his master.
‘What would I have done if it was a sword dance?’
Was it because I was thinking about the sword dance all the way back? It really felt like a lie.
His image came to mind. His face, smiling brightly as he looked at me.
-Let’s have a drink!
One thing was certain: if it were a sword dance, they would have dealt with this moment with a smile.
Yeah, if you get excited you lose.
Jin Ha-gun said calmly.
“I’m sorry for disappointing you.”
In an instant, the sound of wood being cut stopped.
Baek Cheon-gyeong slowly raised his head and looked at Jin Ha-gun.
If it were before, my heart would have been pounding like it was going to burst, but strangely, I wasn’t scared.
A strange light flashed across Baek Cheon-gyeong’s eyes. He felt that his disciple was different from usual.
Baek Cheon-gyeong put down the doll she was holding and stood up from her seat.
And then he slowly walked towards Jin Ha-gun.
Jin Ha-gun looked at his master quietly. In the past, his head would have moved before his eyes.
Master must be feeling this way right now. What should I say to make him calm down?
But Jin Ha-gun was thinking differently now. The words from the sword dance were engraved in his heart.
-Have you been looking straight all this time?
Jin Ha-gun looked at his master walking towards him.
The master’s eyes, footsteps, hand movements, and even facial expressions.
‘It’s unfamiliar.’
Baek Cheon-gyeong’s gaze, which had been staring at his disciple, turned to the doll that had fallen on the display stand.
“Were you upset that your doll fell over?”
Jin Ha-gun answered in a calm tone.
“Because it’s my first doll that my master made for me.”
Baek Cheon-gyeong put the doll in its place.
“Is it okay?”
Jin Ha-gun looked down at the doll for a moment and then laid it down again.
“No, this time I lost to the Swordmaster. I should be down.”
Baek Cheon-gyeong nodded as if he had been waiting for that reaction.
“Yes. You should have gotten the Heavenly Flower Gate into your hands somehow and saved them.”
Jin Ha-gun looked at Baek Cheon-gyeong silently. As expected, he was unfamiliar. Thinking about it, I had never looked at his face so closely from the side, and up close. When I saw my master, I looked at him, and when I saw my grandfather, I looked at him. That was how I lived looking at people.
“Someday, when a war breaks out, hundreds of people from the Celestial Empire may die. Can you take responsibility for that?”
In the past, I would have immediately knelt down and asked Master for forgiveness. Because what Master said now would have resonated with me. No, even if I hadn’t, I would have thought that what Master said was right.
But now I don’t feel that way. Instead, I feel like this.
‘Why do you bring up such an extreme example that never happened?’
Suddenly, I remembered what Geommugeuk had said.
-The person who connected you with the Heavenly Flower Clan does not want you to become the leader.
At the time, I thought it was nonsense, but now it has started to grow into a small doubt in my mind.
“I was short-sighted.”
At those words, Baek Cheon-gyeong’s expression relaxed somewhat.
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“Okay, I understand. Now we need to find a way to get the Heavenly Flower Gate back.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Baek Cheon-gyeong returned to his seat. Before he started carving again, he said a word.
“The leader would have wanted that too.”
Square, square.
It was completely different from Jin Ha-gun’s thoughts.
‘Could that really be the case?’
My grandfather was truly happy that I had given up the Heavenly Flower. I was able to read his emotions because I tried to look at him clearly. If not, I would have nodded and agreed to those words right now. Because I didn’t look at him properly.
Today, Jin Ha-gun finally realized how important Geommu-geuk’s words of looking carefully were.
‘Leaving everything else aside, shouldn’t we not forgive someone like Seo-cheong? We are the righteous faction. He is the one who will become the leader of the martial arts faction, and he is the master of that leader.’
When I returned after meeting the sword dance, my master looked different.
No, maybe it was only today that he realized that his master was a completely different person than he had perceived.
* * *
That night, Jin Ha had a nightmare.
I was chased all night by a shadowy being whose face I couldn’t recognize. No matter how much I ran, it knew where I was and kept chasing me.
Even now, the bastard was following me from far behind.
I was so tired that I could barely run.
As he was walking with a heavy heart in despair, people on the street were staring at him.
There were some familiar faces among them. There were those who had trained with me since I was young, and there were also some who were sibbi. People I wasn’t even close with. Why did they appear? Nightmares always bring back those I had forgotten.
I continued walking past them. Meanwhile, the shadows chasing me were getting closer and closer.
I thought I was going to die. Then someone called me.
-Your Majesty Jin!
When he looked up, he saw Geommugeuk leaning against the railing on the second floor of the tavern, looking down at him.
-Come up and have a drink.
He was smiling brightly, just like when we last broke up.
I went up to this floor of the tavern as if possessed. He was happy to see me.
He stood on the railing of this floor with the sword dance. The dark shadow that had been chasing him only looked up at him from the entrance of the tavern, and did not enter. He felt that the scary shadow was afraid.
At that moment, the swordsman who was standing there suddenly spoke. It was what he had said to himself at the banquet hall.
– Isn’t that why we’re here? If not us, who can stop a guy like that?
The moment he was looking at the sword dance, Jin Ha-gun woke up from his dream.
“Phew.”
Jin Ha-gun sighed, drenched in sweat.
It wasn’t strange that Geommu-geuk appeared in my dream, because I had been thinking about him ever since I met him.
But the choices I made in my dream today were so foolish. I was just helplessly chased. Whether it was fighting directly, leading the demon slayers to fight, or going to my grandfather to ask for help. I should have made an active effort and made a choice. I was just chased.
What made me even more upset was that I gave up everything at the end. I vividly remember that moment when I was walking away in despair.
He shook off the nightmare and sat up in bed.
* * *
Jin Ha-ryeong was surprised by Jin Ha-gun’s visit.
“Even your brother does things he never did before?”
This is because Jin Ha-gun has not visited his residence recently.
“People do change.”
“Don’t change too much, it’s scary.”
Jin Ha-gun, who had been looking around the room, sat down. Jin Ha-ryeong asked, feeling nervous inside, since it was impossible for his brother to just come to him.
“What happened?”
“I failed.”
“How come you have a nice face despite all that?”
“It was half failure and half success.”
Jin Ha-ryeong looked at him with an expression that asked what he meant, but Jin Ha-gun did not answer. He said that, but he himself did not know. What was right and what was wrong.
“Geummu-geuk, how was that person?”
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t say that, just tell me.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know that person.”
Jin Ha-ryeong nodded.
“Good job, that guy.”
If you ask her what kind of person Geommugeuk is, she will be able to give that answer only.
At that moment, Jin Ha-gun said something unexpected.
“Ha-ryeong, have you ever experienced something in your life that you couldn’t understand?”
Jin Ha-ryeong looked at Jin Ha-gun in surprise.
“now.”
Jin Ha-gun smiled faintly.
“I’m asking seriously.”
Have you ever experienced something like that? Oh, I have.
“When I met that guy at Geommu-geuk, I couldn’t understand everything at that time.”
“How did you get over it?”
“I didn’t hand it over. I was swept away by that guy from Geommugeuk.”
Now Jin Ha-gun could also know exactly what that meant.
Jin Ha-ryeong could tell. A wave of change had come into his brother’s life. He didn’t ask if it was because of the sword dance. He wouldn’t have said yes, even if it was because of his pride.
At that time, Jin Ha-gun asked about something unexpected.
“Are you still having the review index meeting?”
“summer solstice.”
“I guess a lot of people will come.”
“Why are you coming to see me? You’re just coming to look good for your grandfather.”
Jin Ha-ryeong took turns inviting the later indices of the Jeongpa. It was more like managing the later indices at the level of the blind rather than a personal gathering. She was in charge of that work.
“I have someone to invite.”
“who?”
Then, an unexpected person came out of Jin Ha-gun’s mouth.
“A person who should be viewed without prejudice.”
Jin Ha-ryeong was surprised. He was talking about the sword dance now.
“Why that person?”
Jin Ha-gun answered.
“That guy needs help. Call him as your guest and pretend to meet me by chance.”
I couldn’t call him directly. The person who was going to become the leader of the martial arts world couldn’t ask for help from the leader of the Demonic Cult.
“Are you serious?”
Jin Ha-gun nodded. His younger brother was so surprised. Even he thought this was crazy.
But he felt it instinctively. The sense of alienation he felt from his master continued to stimulate his crisis instinct. If he lived like he did until now without knowing, he would not know, but the doubts that had bloomed in his heart were growing day by day.
It was not something to put off, nor was it a time to take care of one’s pride. I needed someone’s help, someone outside the situation who could look at the situation objectively, not someone with vested interests inside. I thought that I should not be helpless like in a dream.
“Why on earth?”
“You don’t have to know.”
“I ask again. Is the Demon Destruction Lord in need of the help of the Demon Sect’s Young Leader right now?”
Jin Ha-gun answered.
“Let’s say your brother needs your friend’s help.”
Even if I thought about it myself, it was ridiculous. But my instincts were desperately telling me, even using my dreams. I needed him.
Jin Ha-ryeong hesitated. Even though it was the first request his older brother had made to him, he hesitated.
The sword dance was also a good memory for her. She also wanted to use this as an excuse to see him again.
But getting involved with my older brother was a different matter. It was the relationship between the person who would become the successor to the Murim Alliance and the successor to the Demonic Cult.
So I was anxious. Could I involve Mine in my brother’s work?
“Can you handle it?”
After a moment, Jin Ha-gun shook his head.
“Sword dance? I can’t do it. I need that person’s help because I can’t handle it.”
Jin Ha-ryeong felt relieved because he had accurately identified his opponent.
“Okay then.”
* * *
I was practicing the time-space transfer technique within the space-time transfer technique.
Since returning, I have met all sorts of people and dealt with all sorts of things, but I have never forgotten that the most important thing is martial arts training. Whenever I have time to myself, I always devote myself to training.
The Shicheon Secret Technique was developing little by little. It was really slow, like a turtle. But I didn’t give up. I kept practicing, hoping that one day I would suddenly reach a new level. Of course, that didn’t happen.
Then, whenever I had to be in a place where people were coming and going, I would close my eyes for a moment and practice the Thousand Horses Breathing Technique. Since I had one level of Daesung left, I practiced as best I could.
Whenever he had free time, Guhwama-gong would practice only the first method repeatedly. There would be almost no opponent that he couldn’t kill with the Twelve Great Stars’ Bicheon Sword Technique, but if they did appear, he would kill them with the first method. That’s why he practiced repeatedly and repeatedly. He saw the four evil spirits over and over again to the point where he felt close to them. The time they stayed was also slightly increasing.
After finishing my training and taking a short break, I saw Kwon Ma walking outside the window.
Kwonma stood tall at the end of the yard and looked out over the fence at the mountains in the distance.
“Master.”
I stood next to Kwon Ma.
“Let me guess what you were thinking about just now.”
Then Kwonma showed interest.
“What was I thinking?”
“You were thinking of the cliff, right?”
“If anyone heard me, they would think I was crazy about breaking cliffs. Why did you think that?”
“Master and others said so.”
Kwonma looked at me with an expression that asked what I meant.
There are people who say who they are by their backs. My father is like that, and Kwon Ma is like that.
The reason why I feel lonely when I look at his back is because I know how honest that back is. If it is his father’s order, he will walk alone against tens of thousands of enemies without a single moment of hesitation.
“Master, I don’t think we should collapse the cliff.”
“why?”
“When are you going to clean all that up? And wouldn’t it be cool if there was a cliff there?”
Kwonma smiled at me. I like this man’s smile, a smile I don’t see often.
At that time, a Honamjidan soldier came and delivered a message. Surprisingly, it was a message from Jin Ha-ryeong.
―You told me that if something strange or incomprehensible happens in your life, you should definitely tell me, right? Right now.
