Episode 302: Now is the time for us to be strong.
“Are you serious?”
That one question from my father contained the meaning of, ‘Are you really going to make such an uncertain choice?’ There was a possibility that we wouldn’t be able to connect, and even if we were, it could turn out to be completely useless.
“If you don’t have a connection with me… …you can use it to chop off the enemy’s head. Or you can melt it down and make a sword out of it.”
“Well, the choice is yours anyway.”
“I’ve only shown you my perfect side so far, so I’ll choose this to let you know that I sometimes make mistakes like this.”
I slowly reached out towards the stairs.
The moment you carefully touch it.
“iced coffee!”
My father asked me as I sighed deeply.
“Why are you doing that?”
“When I pick this up, I should feel something tingling, or I should be the only one who can hear a mysterious gurgling sound… … .”
He added with a sigh.
“I don’t feel anything.”
Father shook his head.
“It was your choice. If you look among the evergreen trees, you should see a bottle with a few drops of Gongcheongseom Oil in it.”
“No, please! Please tell me you’re joking!”
I ran to where the elixir was. There was indeed a bottle of Gongcheongseom between the elixir and the herb. It was as if it was saying, “You didn’t see me? This milky, radiant thing?”
“You should have told me earlier!”
“Why should I tell you when it’s not enough even if you hide it on purpose?”
I asked my father with a pretended look of pain.
“Surely there isn’t something else?”
My father was completely absorbed in teasing me.
“It’s called the school’s report, but is that all there is? There’s also the ice and snow fruit.”
I walked over to my father and spoke softly.
“Please pass it on.”
“No way!”
Yeah, if you give this up, you’re not my father.
“Don’t use these, and make sure to leave them as they are! Make sure to leave them until I become a cult leader! Father!”
I thought it was great that my father kept this. Wouldn’t a father be greedy? He must have saved it to use it when it was crucial, not now. As expected, my father was thinking of the big picture.
I said, looking down at the stairs.
“You punk, you are more valuable than public oil!”
I was just being mean to my father, but my instincts were still drawn to this path. Because I didn’t feel the sinking feeling in my heart when I made a wrong choice.
This feeling that I would have chosen the path again if I had to choose again was not just a foolish stubbornness trying to deny the wrong choice.
Because this dull lump of iron still had a strong pull on me.
My father was no different from me. On the surface, he seemed happy that he was being picky, but on the other hand, he seemed to be expecting me. He wondered if I could solve the secret that he couldn’t.
“It will open when the time comes. Yeonja, you chose well! My pride was hurt when I compared myself to that mere Gongcheongseok oil!”
“Yes, we should live with at least that kind of hope.”
He shouted ‘Lotus!’ again and put the scroll in his bosom.
Oh, why is it so heavy!
I came out to Cheonmabogo with my father.
We walked back the way we came and chatted. In fact, today I received a gift greater than the treasury. The fact that my father gave me a congratulatory gift. That was the greatest gift.
“What are you going to do now?”
“You have to practice. When you get tired of practicing, you can play with the demons. Even if they ask you to play again, you will play. Aren’t you tired? Even if they ask you to play, you will play.”
I asked quietly, keeping an eye on my father.
“Do you call dad when you play?”
My father laughed, but didn’t tell me not to call him.
“Father. I didn’t say that I wanted to go out and play with you earlier. You will go out and play with me soon. If Sima Junshi stops you, we will run away in the middle of the night. We will use the Heavenly Horse Flying Technique and speed away.”
My father never said anything like, “Let’s do that.”
“Then I will step aside. Thank you very much for the gift.”
I was about to turn around after greeting him politely when my father spoke.
“Let’s play a game of baduk sometime soon.”
I said with a big smile.
“You should be nervous from now on. My soldier has started learning Go.”
* * *
As I left Cheonmajeon, the guards of the weekly guards, including Jeokyeon, lined up behind me. It was a silent greeting and a sign of joy.
“Everyone has been practicing hard.”
Just by looking at his demeanor and the way he walks, you can tell the results of his training. It looks like he has been training quite hard.
Yeah, let’s all be strong. Because now is the time for us all to be strong.
I went straight to find Hyeolcheon Doma.
“Elder!”
He ran towards me happily as usual, then stopped.
An unfamiliar sight unfolded.
A flower garden had been created in the yard, and the Bloodthirsty Demon was carefully moving his large sword to prune the branches of the flower trees.
“Oh! I thought you were Namdojong, but you’re actually Bukcheon Geomga. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Geomjonnim. How have you gotten so ugly in the meantime?”
“Stop talking nonsense and spray some water over there.”
“yes.”
It seems that he has been getting along well with Ilhwageomjon these days and has learned from her how to grow flowers.
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It may seem like a totally unsuitable job at first glance, but I know that tending to a flower garden is something that suits the book-loving Hyeoncheon Doma quite well. Behind that manliness, there is a gentleness to Doma.
“If you give too much water to one place, it will die. Give it evenly.”
I watered other places as the blood clot instructed.
“I see you and Senior Geomjon are doing well these days.”
“She’s busy because she got into martial arts training late. She doesn’t want to see me without makeup, so she doesn’t even meet me.”
It seems that after the last fight with me, she is devoted to practicing martial arts. The fact that the Sword Master, who likes to dress up, is not wearing makeup means that she is truly sincere.
“Is it because of you?”
“no.”
“No, really. You’re all old, so what’s the point of being so arrogant?”
There are things that you only realize when you grow old. Things that you thought were nothing special when you were young seem different now, don’t they? Isn’t that the same for you, too? Giving a sword to your disciple, growing flowers in the yard? Would that have been possible in the past?
Bloodthirsty Horse added one more to it.
“Don’t just take care of the masked man, take care of the drunkard too.”
“Brother Chuma?”
“The day I came back, you were waiting for me on the rooftop, drinking.”
“Oh my, my poor brother. You got drunk and started acting up again.”
Bloodthirsty Horseman only said that and didn’t say anything else about the horse. In fact, the fact that he took care of him was enough of a change.
“Okay, that’s it. That’s it for today.”
The blood crow stopped pruning and went inside the house.
When I tried to follow him in, he tried to chase me away.
“I’ve seen your face, so that’s enough. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“I feel most comfortable and happy here.”
“I’m uncomfortable. I’m comfortable alone.”
I quickly went in and threw myself onto the bed, but stopped floating in the air due to the empty water of the Blood Heavenly Sword.
“I’m the cult leader! I’m the cult leader!”
My body slowly flew towards the window.
“You can’t become a cult leader! Wash, change your clothes, and lie down.”
While Hyeolcheondoma was changing clothes, I sat down at the window seat. On the table was the book Hyeolcheondoma had been reading. It was a book about how to take care of a flower garden.
Although it is a book unrelated to Taoism, I believe that his Dao of Destruction will become more powerful and fearsome. Sometimes, it is more effective to cut off a branch of a flower tree than to cut off the neck of an enemy.
Moreover, if Ilhwageomjon runs to train, Hyeoncheondoma, who was already training hard, will not just sit back and do nothing. In order not to lose to Geomjon, he will run with him. It wasn’t intentional, but they are all getting stronger together.
“Sir. Do you know what this is?”
I took the case out of my bosom and showed it to him. I thought he would show curiosity and ask what it was, but he just kept changing his clothes and said nothing serious.
“It’s a shame.”
“How do you know?”
“How would you know? When the cult leader was young, he made such a fuss about revealing that secret.”
It is a moment to confirm once again that there was a time when the young Hyeolcheon Doma and his father were close. Compared to that time, it seems that they are somewhat distant these days.
By the way, I thought that if Dad was going to make such a fuss, he should have stopped me before I made my choice. That was really fatherly of him.
“Why do you have that in your hand?”
“I received it as a gift for becoming a cult leader. No, I chose it.”
“Why did you choose that one?”
“It is only open to those who have a connection. How can you resist hearing this? I’m sure you chose it too, Elder.”
“I wouldn’t have chosen it. There’s no way someone as unlucky as me would have a connection to treasure.”
This is what Hyeolcheondoma said when we first met.
It was a life full of misfortune.
I looked at him intently and asked.
“You’re not like that anymore, are you?”
Bloodthirsty Demon smiled faintly and nodded.
“I might choose now.”
Of course, you should do that. You should do that, if only for the sake of me who is running to see you right after seeing my father.
My gaze turned to the stairs.
“One day, it will suddenly open with a click. Until I open, I will say, ‘Open, please open,’ every day, so it will open even if you don’t want to hear it.”
After taking care of the luggage, I got up from my seat.
“I’ll go then. Don’t forget. But I came to see you first, sir.”
“What a color.”
But in his words, he was a bloodthirsty horse that he secretly liked.
After leaving the Bloodthirsty Horse’s residence, I returned to my residence. I originally planned to see Kwonma, but I postponed it until tomorrow.
The escorts didn’t tell me to rest. How much would they have wanted to escort me on my first day back?
“Please take care of me!”
“Don’t worry and get some rest!”
I left them to guard me and went into the house. Even though I had been away for quite some time, the house was clean and tidy.
“Still, home is nice.”
I lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
I haven’t had a single full night’s sleep since I left the school. I substituted sleep with energy, and spent the rest of my time practicing martial arts.
I plan to get some sleep today and get rid of the hangover. No matter how experienced you are, a long-distance carriage ride is bound to be tiring.
* * *
When I woke up, it was already night.
I slept really well without even dreaming once. I felt refreshed from the feeling of having slept well.
I lay down and looked out the window for a while at the night sky. Now that I think about it, the view from here was nice.
After rolling around in bed for a while, I came out.
The escort had been replaced by a night shift.
“Are you awake?”
The person leading the night shift today was Samho.
“I’m hungry. I want to eat your mother’s home-cooked meal.”
A smile appeared on Samho’s face.
“I thought you might be hungry when you wake up, so I prepared some simple snacks for you.”
The food prepared by another escort was taken to the room.
“Let’s all go in and eat.”
“We have already eaten.”
“How do you eat?”
“We eat before starting our night mission, and then we take turns eating at dawn.”
“The day and night are reversed, so don’t eat half-heartedly, eat properly. You’ll ruin your stomach.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
“Don’t just say thank you. Be sure to follow through!”
I went into my room and ate.
It was supposed to be a simple meal, but it was a proper meal. I prepared food that would be okay even if it got cold, because I didn’t know when I would wake up.
After eating, I had a cup of warm tea. Sitting by the window and drinking tea, my mind became calm.
It was the first time in a long time that I felt the joy of everyday life.
If there is joy in being with people, there is also happiness in being alone and quiet. The more you act coquettish when you are with people, the more precious your alone time becomes.
Then I thought back to my life before I returned. At that time, I was sick of being alone. People are so cunning.
After finishing his meal, he took the bowl out of his bosom and placed it on his palm.
I looked at it carefully.
What on earth is this? If it’s a box, what’s inside?
I shook the box. It was just a solid lump of metal, and didn’t feel like a box at all.
My father and the previous generations of Cheonmas must have tried everything. They tried injecting it with energy, soaking it in water, and even applying heat.
So I’m going to do nothing.
They say that if there is a connection, it will open. It doesn’t open if you solve a secret.
“Okay, if you don’t want to open it now, open it when it’s convenient for you.”
As I was looking at the stairs, Samho spoke from outside.
“The evil Soma has come to visit.”
When I went out, I saw a truly evil Soma wearing a white mask standing under the moonlight.
“Soma-sama!”
“Little leader!”
“I was planning to come see you tomorrow, but what brought you here?”
I was nervous that something might have happened, but the reason he came was something I really didn’t expect.
“I came to see you because I missed you.”
“!”
“Hasn’t the little sect leader always come to see me? I should come to see him too.”
The moment I heard those words, my heart ached. Whenever I visited him, he was always standing there looking at a white wall. No matter how helpful it was for martial arts training, I always felt bad about being alone in an empty room.
But he came out of that room on his own and came to find me. Today, my father came down from the Taesa Temple, and the evil Soma came out of the white room.
The expressions of the guards standing guard around the residence were full of surprise. They would never have dreamed that the terrifying and extremely evil Soma would say such things.
“What happened when you left school?”
“Thanks for your concern, I had a good trip.”
The evil Soma’s gaze became deeper than before.
“Somehow, Soma-sama feels different.”
“Thanks to the ten thousand year old snow ginseng that the Sogyoju gave me, I was able to achieve great success in martial arts. Thank you very much.”
“How could that be just because of ginseng? It’s thanks to your efforts, Soma.”
Soma laughed out loud, perhaps because he found the expression “just ginseng” funny.
“It’s okay since I saw your face.”
The evil Soma said goodbye right away, as if he had come because he really wanted to see me and not for any other business.
There are times when one action speaks louder than a hundred kind words. That was the case today.
I walked next to the evil Soma who turned around and walked side by side.
“What happened? It’s been a long time since we last saw each other, so we can’t part ways like this. I’m going to stay up all night playing with Soma-nim. I’ve already told my father that I’m going to play.”
After a moment, the evil Soma spoke.
“As things stand now, I don’t know if the fate of the martial arts world will let the young sect leader play.”
Even if it doesn’t go as far as destiny, I can’t afford to be idle, even if I’m in a hurry. Of course, today is an exception.
“Then we should hurry. Before fate gets in the way.”
