You will fear falling asleep everyday.
It was as Mush said. Sungmin screamed and lifted his body. How long did he sleep? His time senses were all wrong. His memories were tangled up. He felt like he slept… very little. It was still night, and the moon was still up. He didn’t remember the position of the moon when he slept, but it didn’t seem that it moved much.
No.
Was it?
Sungmin lifted his shoulders. His shoulders were shivering like crazy. It was the first time he had had such fear. The fear of something unknown that he would never know. Sungmin pulled his cape towards him and wrapped it tightly around him. The fear slow disappeared and Sungmin tried to calm down.
Just for a bit.
The dream… he didn’t want to think about it. Sungmin dreamt about his younger self. To think of that, he had to go back 1 year of this life, then 13 years of his past life to the point of his regular self before Eria.
He had parents.
There was no one without parents. Sungmin had one as well. He had parents. They… he didn’t remember much. He didn’t want to have any memories of ‘parents.’ He wanted to forget.
He didn't’ want to be sad over them
Anyway, like every young kid, Sungmin was afraid of ghosts. He was afraid of the darkness that came when he needed to fall asleep, and he used to fear the little sounds in the dark.
He didn’t want to feel it though. Ghosts. If he thought about them, he felt that he would have nightmares about ghosts.
It was the same now. He didn’t want to feel the nightmares that he had.
It didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to have nightmares. Mush told the truth. Sleep wasn’t a time of peace anymore. Dreams were harsher than his penalty of taste.
But humans had to sleep. They had to.
He didn’t know how many times he woke up. Everytime he woke up screaming, his body was filled with sweat and mind tangled. The freezing cold of the mountain shivered Sungmin’s body. Sungmin put up a fire. He pulled the cape close and sat down.
And slept
And woke up.
And slept.
And woke up.
The sun came up.
The nightmares were terrible. There weren’t any rest from the constant nightmares. They changed every time. It was barely a day, no, half a day. A bit less? Sungmin looked up at the sky.
It was still night. He needed more sleep. But he couldn’t. He didn’t want to. Sungmin lifted himself up.
Sungmin took his spear.
[Crazy.]
Sogo came up to him after the sun came up. Seeing Sungmin’s pale face and his closed mouth, she guessed what crazy thing Sungmin did.
[How many more penalties did you get?]
Sogo wrote down. Sungmin put down his spear. He looked at Sogo’s face. She sighed and gave the branch to Sungmin.
[Two.]
[Crazy kid.]
Sogo pointed at the first thing that she wrote.
[What penalty. One must be voice.]
[Dreams.]
Sungmin answered. It was uncomfortable trying to talk using the branch. Therefore, his words were short.
Dreams… Dreams….Sogo whispered the word to herself.
Sogo had 3 penalties. Her left arm. Voice. Telepathy. Those were very specific. She couldn’t use her left arm. She couldn’t use her voice. She couldn’t use telepathy.
Those were the same for the other trainees in the mountain. Same for Scarlet and same for Bejun. But Sungmin. Weight, Dreams, taste… they were subjective.
Those were incredibly harsh.
[Was it on purpose?]
Sogo asked.
[The rewards are better as the penalties are harsher… why are you so rushed?]
[Because I don’t have talent.]
Sungmin answered.
No talent.
Sogo looked down at the words and closed her mouth. She couldn’t say anything, but it seemed as if she was oppressed by Sungmin’s answer.
No talent. It was nothing that Sogo could relate to. This world. Sogo knew that she had talent. It was only after she came into this mountain and met Plam that she felt despair about herself. It was only because of the presence of a true genius Plam that her talent was overshined.
[Talent.]
Sogo wrote down. The lack of talent...did she feel it. When she met Plam, Sogo felt despair about herself. That wasn’t just Sogo. Everyone, Scarlet, Bejun, everyone felt that way.
Those were people with talent, however. Even those people were overwhelmed by Plam. How would Sungmin who was nothing compared to those magnates feel. Sogo couldn’t imagine easily.
Sogo looked at Sungmin. It started from just observation. Since he was the same age as Plam, she thought Sungmin was a genius like Plam.
However, Sungmin was better than his age, but he was not a genius. It was obvious that he was better, but he increases his skill so slowly.
Sogo felt the lack of talent and skill from Sungmin. But she knew now. The lack of talent that Sungmin said was true, and his face was filled with despair.
But his eyes weren’t dead yet.
[Your goal is very high up.]
Sogo wrote down. Sungmin looked surprised at that. He had never said anything about Wijihoyun to Sogo.
[Don’t be surprised. I can see it in your eyes. Everyone has a goal in their mind. But there aren’t that many people who would work that hard to reach it.]
Sogo muttered and stopped writing. She looked like she was thinking and kept writing.
[My goal was to become the best of the martial artists. It changed when I was summoned here. To become the best of the entire world.]
Sogo wrote down and gave the branch to Sungmin. Sungmin tilted his head. He didn’t know what answer Sogo wanted him to give.
Sogo’s face kept changing as Sungmin hesitated. Then finally, Sogo nodded her head. Her hand went inside her pocket.
She pulled out an old book and held it out to Sungmin.
Shadowless.
Sungmin looked surprised as he looked at Sogo. Sogo looked nonchalant. Sungmin wanted to write something, but Sogo didn’t let him. The book that she gave touched Sungmin’s chest.
[You told me before. To tell me a speed technique.]
Sogo took the branch from him and wrote down.
[Shadowless. That is all my technically. My footwork, everything. It’s Shadowless. Now you learn it.]
[Why me?]
Sungmin wrote down. He did ask her once to teach him a speed technique, but that was just a suggestion. He didn’t really think she would give him one.
[Pity.]
Sogo wrote down. Sungmin’s face hardened.
[I have talent unlike you. So I don’t know how hard your despair is and how harsh your goal might be. I want to give you this, but I want to help you even if I don’t understand you.]
Sogo was honest. Pity. Pity… Sungmin laughed.
[And I’m a nice person.]
Pity. Maybe she thought it was embarrassing that she said that because she added that.
But Sungmin didn’t feel bad about Sogo’s pity. If it was like this, he was happy about it.
[Do I have to call you Master?]
Sogo shook her head.
[I’m not the one who created Shadowless. There’s no reason to call me that. Just call me Teacher.]
To think that he would be Sogo’s pupil.
His life was definitely going a different way than before.
Sungmin read the book that she gave him right away. He wasn’t skilled enough to understand just how great the skill was, but he still knew that it was a great technique
‘It’s good enough to be compared to the High Heavens and Amethyst Cloud.’
Sungmin swallowed. There was no opportunity like this before in his life. The only thing like that was that he was reborn.
But how was this life. He had gotten so many things from Wijihoyun and gotten Shadowless form Sogo.
‘The problem is me.’
Would you like to learn Shadowless.
Yes.
Sungmin closed the book.
‘9 years...no…’
8 years