Episode 136: Because I am a more heartless person than I look.
The next day, with a ten-day deadline, we began training at the closed facility.
I entrusted the work of Hwangcheongak to Seo Dae-ryong and forgot about the Magons.
This training was an emergency training.
For everything, there is a reason and a time. Just as you have to bet on competition when you are dancing, there are times in training as well.
The trigger for me was a still vivid meeting with my father. I had to melt this mixture into my own before it disappeared from my mind.
The mazons decided not to think about it.
The next day, a horse might come to visit me, or a fight might break out between the mazons. Since these are not people I can control at will anyway, I only focused on what I had to do.
I recreated the fight at the Pungryu bar where we fought in a trance.
I replicated the dance with my father, down to the smallest movement. When I moved like this, my father moved like this. Also, when I attacked like that, my father blocked it like that. I compared and analyzed my father’s movements and my movements.
This meeting had great significance in many aspects. The fact that I fought without setting limits for myself and the great constraint of not touching things even in the midst of that urgency was the same.
So I felt a lot and had a lot to learn.
It was not a training that was hard on the body, but a training that involved deep thought and reflection. I only thought about martial arts and I fell deeper into it than ever before.
Ten days later, I left the training center with a bushy beard.
At that moment, the strong smell of alcohol wafted through me, and that person spoke to me from behind.
“Who on earth are you so eager to kill? I go? “Isn’t it?”
To my surprise, Chuma was waiting for me.
“Why are you here?”
“Why? I was waiting for you to come out. The day after I drank at the Pungryu bar, I went to see you and found out that you had been attending a 10-day training camp. “When I heard that, I immediately came running.”
“Are you saying you’ve been waiting here the whole time?”
“then! “I’ve been waiting since day one.”
After staring at him, he smiled and said.
“You’re lying. W You must have told the warrior. Please let me know when the museum closes in 10 days. So, you had fun drinking and having fun, right? When did you come today? “You came here a little while ago, right?”
“hmm. “Has Yeobin turned towards you?”
I laughed at his honest confession.
Chuma asked with a suspicious look in his eyes.
“But you didn’t close the building because you were annoying me, right?”
“To be honest, I enjoy drinking and having fun with Chuma. Rather, the problem is that I am having too much fun.”
“When I heard you were closing, I thought the sky was falling. “If it had been closed for 100 days, I would have been ruined.”
“Do you have any other drinking friends?”
“who?”
“You can drink it with Geomzon.”
“After suffering such humiliation from Soma that day, who would I want to meet and drink with? “You need to give yourself time to let off steam.”
Where would that be? This is the person who comes to the front of the training center and waits. Right now, she’s more interested in me than Geomjon, so she’s not in my sight.
“Don’t you need friends at times like these?”
“I’m avoiding you because you’re my friend.”
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?”
“I heard you don’t treat me well for drinking twice?”
That’s what I said to him at the Pungryu Bar. That seems to have remained in my mind.
“Would you mind if I drink it about two hundred times?”
“If you’ve had a drink together two hundred times, wouldn’t a title be meaningless anyway?”
“No, it’s important. “If you drink 200 times and can’t even respect one another, isn’t that a strange relationship?”
“That’s true.”
“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 are you trying to be friendly with me like this?”
Then an unexpected reason emerged.
“It’s simple. As of now, your chances of becoming a Heavenly Demon are half and half, right? “Isn’t there a half chance of having the Heavenly Demon as your younger brother?”
“You are making one big mistake.”
“What illusion?”
“If I become a Cheonma, I won’t be treated like an older brother. “Even two hundred drinks will all disappear in that moment.”
“It may seem that way on the outside, right?”
“I don’t even do it mentally. I’m not going back either. “In fact, I might treat you more strictly for fear of being misunderstood.”
Chuma looked at me with strange eyes.
“I thought you would show an open mind even if you became the Heavenly Demon. “I thought you would break the formalities and get along with the Mazons like brothers.”
“That must be a preconceived notion about me. He is a more cold-hearted and affectionate person than he appears. So maybe he’s pretending to be more affectionate to hide that. When I become Cheonma, I will be like a sword in the division of construction and construction. “If you were expecting me to be rude and polite to you, it would have been a better investment to spend the remaining 198 drinks with you.”
Then Chwima spoke in a meaningful tone.
“Your brother shouldn’t be the leader of a religious cult.”
“why?”
“I’ll tell you over a drink.”
Chwima walked quickly.
I walked in the opposite direction from Chuma.
The horse that was going as far as I could go chased after me.
“This person is doing too much. Aren’t you curious about Lee Gongja?”
“Not at all.”
“Is that why your brother shouldn’t become the leader of the cult?”
“yes.”
“why?”
This time I spoke in a meaningful tone.
“Are you wondering why I’m not curious?”
“I see.”
“I pretended not to be curious so that Mr. Chwima would be curious. The same goes for Chuma. “Aren’t you just trying to hook me up for no reason by wanting to drink with me out of curiosity?”
“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 with great strides, the horse followed me persistently.
“I’ve waited ten days. “Is Gongja Lee really like this?”
Yes, I have to admit that it is this level of effort.
“I lost. “First, I will take a shower and rest for a while, and then I will come to Daechwirim in the evening.”
Only then did Chuma’s expression brighten.
“I’ll be waiting. “You must come.”
“You must tell me instead. “This is why my older brother shouldn’t become the leader of a religious cult.”
“You said you weren’t curious?”
“Is that possible? See you later then.”
I returned to my residence, shaved my beard, washed my body, and changed into new clothes.
And I stood in front of Tokyo.
The person I was ten days ago and the person I am now are different.
With the recent closing, I raised Poongsinsabo to a new level.
Poongsinsabo Palseong.
Coming into closing, I expected results.
He mastered the Bicheon Sword Technique to the Twelve Masters and gained enlightenment from the words left behind by the Master of all things. I had a unique experience fighting Baek Mang-gi and later re-watching the fight through the eyes of a third party in a dream.
The relationship with my father was crucial there. As if my father had anticipated this outcome, he dealt with me using the Pungsinsabo technique throughout the training session.
Oh, there was one more thing. There is even a sense of desperation to achieve great success as a Poongsinsabo before one can somehow learn the Nine Fire Magic Gong.
As a result, he was able to achieve the feat of being named Poongsinsabo Palseong, which was a natural achievement.
As Pungshinsabo rose to the level of eight stars, the biggest change was that he was overcome by the desire to run somewhere at high speed. My body was so itchy that I suppressed the urge to run to the training ground right away. You have to properly resolve that desire, but that’s not enough.
First, I lay down in bed and slept. Was it because it felt good? For the first time in a long time, I had a good night’s sleep without any worries.
* * *
That evening, when I bought a bottle of alcohol and went to Daechwirim, Chuma was lying on a ferry boat and floating on the lake.
I boarded the ferry that Yeobin had given me and slowly approached the ferry where Chwima was riding.
There was nothing in his boat, only bottles of alcohol.
“also! “You don’t eat snacks where I’m not watching.”
“If you drink with me every day, I will have snacks every day. “Here, take a drink.”
“I will drink the alcohol I brought.”
One of the good things about getting drunk is that there is no pressure when it comes to drinking. He didn’t care what kind of drink he was drinking or whether he just put it down. I didn’t force anyone to get drunk together. I think a drunkard is a person who truly enjoys drinking.
“I felt this when I came before, but this lake is really good.”
“There are even more beautiful places in Daechwirim. “I’ll take you with me next time.”
“Do you really think we have a next?”
“Why do you think there isn’t one?”
Instead of answering, I drank.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. “Hyeolcheondoma hates me to the core.”
He also drank alcohol.
“but. Am I the only person he hates? Are you really planning to get the Blood Heaven Chopping Blade and lose the three? Isn’t this a very loss-making business? “He is someone who will go to the Archduke at any time if the conditions are met.”
The Chuma slowly began to fight against each other and began to push the Hyeolcheon Doma away.
“You told me that day, right? All three of you will get it. That’s why I’m here today.”
“If you are unable to distinguish between ideals and reality, the Archduke will eventually become your successor. The successor to become the Heavenly Demon is simply better at martial arts and smarter. “It is not decided by this.”
“Then what is decided?”
“Think about it. Choosing a successor is not choosing the best demon sword in the world. We are selecting people who will lead our school well. A cult leader who makes concessions and gets along well with Palmazon. Otherwise, our school will be divided and eventually eaten by the Murim Alliance. Why do you look at me like that?”
“I didn’t know that Mr. Chwima was a person who thought about the future of our school so rationally.”
“He is a typical victim of misunderstanding and prejudice.”
“If you don’t like it, can’t you just quit drinking?”
“A drunkard who quit drinking? “The entire martial arts community will laugh at me.”
Then Chuma drank alcohol.
“Can I ask you one thing? “I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while.”
“Something?”
I asked him after a while.
“Are you drinking to forget? Are you drinking it so you don’t forget?”
“…!”
Chwima, who was shocked for a moment, looked at me and answered that it was neither.
“To have fun. I just drink it because I like it. Because I like alcohol itself. “I’m going to drink it because there’s a story behind it, but that’s also a prejudice.”
Then Chuma drank again. I couldn’t tell if he meant it or was just making excuses. Because it wasn’t easy to see the truth in him as long as he was drinking.
I also drank the alcohol I brought. When I’m with him, I keep drinking. When I was drinking heavily, there was definitely a reason.
Did I drink to forget about that time? Did you drink it so you wouldn’t forget?
“Then you can support your brother as your successor, right? “You won’t say that you have to reconcile with Elder Thomas like I did.”
Then Chwima said something unexpected.
“The Grand Duke should not be the heir.”
I said again what I had said in front of the training hall. I could tell that the fact that he brought up the story first wasn’t just something he was trying to attract to a drinking party.
Maybe that’s why this person approached me? They say let’s treat each other favorably.
“The Archduke… loves the religious leader too much.”
“…!”
Chuma said something unexpected.
“I like my father too.”
“I like him incomparably with you.”
It was a statement that could not be denied. I don’t know if it was because he truly liked me, because he was pressured by his father’s authority, or because he wanted to become the successor, but he was the older brother who would do anything his father said.
“I admit that you are superior to the Archduke. But that doesn’t mean I’m sure he’ll be the successor yet.”
I also admit it. My father was a man who could talk to me today and then say bluntly tomorrow that the successor is your older brother.
“great. Let’s say so. “Why is the fact that my older brother likes my father shouldn’t be the successor?”
“Because the Archduke will not be able to disobey the will of the religious leader.”
“What do you mean?”
Again, surprising words flowed from Chuma.
“Murim Unification’s will.”
Chuma knew. That my father has the ambition of unifying martial arts.
I remembered a conversation I had with my father a while back regarding the Pungcheon religious leader.
-It is not yet time. Just know that.
At that time, I thought that my father might be dreaming of martial arts unification.
Chuma was aware of his father’s ambition. Perhaps not only Chwima but also some of the other Mazons may know. Because the Magons refrained from mentioning anything about their father.
“The Grand Duke will become the successor and faithfully follow his father’s orders. No doubt, he will become the vanguard and set out to conquer the Wulin. But what about you? I will stop the cult leader. “Because the person I have seen so far is not a person who supports war.”
“you’re right. “I don’t want war.”
“Then you should become the successor and stop the cult leader.”
I never dreamed that Chwima would choose me for this reason.
You chose me to prevent future wars? Are you drunk to meet this drunkard? Who seems to be the most careless of the Palmazons?
I brought my face closer to Chuma’s face.
“Why are you like this?”
“I’m trying to find out how much is true and how much is false.”
“Everything I say is true.”
“Chwima, who only drinks alcohol, chose me because of the peace of martial arts? Are you telling me to believe this?”
“Call it my last prejudice.”
Looking at me with drunken eyes, Chuma revealed the truth as if confessing.
“That’s why I sent the archduke a broken bottle of wine.”