Chapter 281 - Those Who Have Lost Their Way

“Is it too soon to see each other again?”

Standing at the door, Jin Haryeong greeted her warmly.

Water dripped from Yi An’s hair. She had returned from martial training, washed, and just changed into comfortable clothes.

“The sooner you see someone you’re glad to see, the better, isn’t it? Come in.”

Jin Haryeong smiled and stepped inside. Some people could lift your spirits with a single remark. That was probably why she had come to see her.

As she sat down, she noticed a bottle of liquor on the table.

“Were you going to have a drink?”

“Oh, I looked around and found some liquor.”

It seemed to have been left there for visitors to the safe house.

“Would you pour me a cup too?”

“Of course. Just give me a moment. I was only going to have a quick drink, so I haven’t prepared anything to eat.”

“That’s fine. Let’s just drink.”

“Are you sure?”

“You don’t think I need a lavish feast whenever I drink just because I’m the alliance leader’s granddaughter, do you?”

Yi An smiled and shook her head.

They poured each other a cup and shared a toast.

“Did something good happen today?”

“Why do you ask?”

“There’s the liquor, and you look happy, Miss Yi.”

Something good? Of course it had. Geom Mugeuk had given her martial instruction for the first time in a while, but what had made her even happier was something he had said.

[“Then why did you bring me?”]

[“Why else? I wanted to go out and have fun with you for a change, so I made an excuse.”]

How could she not give her utmost loyalty to someone who had taught her a martial art reserved for the Heavenly Demon’s blood kin, who always told her that her happiness came first, and who said things like that?

Yi An gave no answer, but Jin Haryeong could tell that her good mood had something to do with Geom Mugeuk.

Yi An smoothly changed the subject.

“Isn’t it hard? Living as the Martial Alliance Leader’s granddaughter?”

“You ask the opposite of everyone else, Miss Yi.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone asks how wonderful it must be to be the Martial Alliance Leader’s granddaughter.”

“I suppose I’m a negative person.”

“I’ve never seen a negative person describe themselves as negative.”

Jin Haryeong emptied her cup before telling Yi An,

“It is hard. Much harder than you might think.”

“I thought it might be.”

“I imagine it’s hard for you too, Miss Yi. Serving someone who isn’t easy to serve.”

Quite apart from her question, Jin Haryeong found herself envying the woman who had spent so long at Geom Mugeuk’s side.

“It isn’t hard. When I’m with him, things happen that I might otherwise never experience in my entire life. Sometimes I even get to drink with the Martial Alliance Leader’s granddaughter.”

Jin Haryeong wholeheartedly agreed with Yi An’s half-joking remark.

“Exactly. You never know what life will bring.”

That was true of her relationship with Geom Mugeuk, and of this very moment.

They talked about this and that. Life in the Orthodox Martial Alliance and life in the Demonic Cult—each a life the other had never experienced—passed between them with every emptied cup.

At times, a subtle tension arose between them, and they talked about Geom Mugeuk. They talked about martial arts, then about Geom Mugeuk again.

In all honesty, Jin Haryeong had hoped to find some shortcomings in Yi An. Yet the more they talked, the more she found herself thinking how likable this woman was.

When the bottle was empty, Jin Haryeong stood up. She did not suggest drinking more. Instead, she made a proposal that startled Yi An.

“Miss Yi, shall we be friends?”

“Just like that? This is only the second time we’ve met.”

“What does it matter? In Murim, people even kill someone the first time they meet.”

It was the first time Jin Haryeong had ever asked someone to be her friend.

People lined up to befriend her, but she had never asked any of them to be friends. Yet here she was, taking the initiative with Yi An after only two meetings. Jin Haryeong realized that she understood herself no better than she understood the unpredictable workings of the world.

“Are you really all right with that? Being friends with a demonic martial artist?”

“I am. Are you, Miss Yi?”

Yi An gazed silently at her for a moment, then broke into a radiant smile.

“How could I possibly object to gaining a wonderful friend like you?”

In that instant, Jin Haryeong’s fleeting regret over making the offer vanished entirely.

* * *

Jin Hagun visited his master again.

SCRITCH, SCRITCH.

“Have you found a way?”

His master kept asking him for a way. Now Jin Hagun understood. His master did not want to hear a solution; he wanted to corner him. To hold him firmly in his grip. After all, the quickest, surest way to bind someone was to cow them.

“No. I’ve come for a different reason today.”

Something in the firmness of his reply made Baek Cheongyeong stop carving. When he looked up, Jin Hagun frankly laid bare his feelings.

“I know I’ve disappointed you greatly of late. I’ve offered excuses, Master, but deep down I’ve been reflecting seriously on my mistakes.”

Baek Cheongyeong’s expression still changed little.

“There is something I would like to ask of you, Master.”

A flicker of puzzlement crossed Baek Cheongyeong’s eyes. Given the recent strain between them, as Jin Hagun himself had mentioned, he had not expected a request. In other words, it must be an important one.

“Tell me.”

“At the last Young Dragon Tournament, Haryeong became acquainted with Geom Mugeuk, the Demonic Cult’s young lord.”

Jin Hagun gave a faint sigh and added,

“She seems to have developed feelings for him then.”

Baek Cheongyeong listened without a word.

“That foolish girl invited the Demonic Cult’s young lord to this gathering of promising young martial artists. And he is now here at the Alliance in secret.”

“The Demonic Cult’s young lord is here at the Alliance?”

Baek Cheongyeong’s gaze sharpened.

“I only found out a short while ago myself.”

“Are you telling me Geom Mugeuk has come to see Haryeong?”

“Yes. He seems to have feelings for my sister as well.”

Baek Cheongyeong did not believe him.

“From what I’ve heard, the Demonic Cult’s young lord is no easy opponent. You’ve met him yourself and even suffered at his hands, so you should know that well. And you say a man like that came to the Alliance merely for a woman?”

“That’s right. He is no ordinary man. Which is precisely why there can be no other reason.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Would someone so clever choose to come to the Orthodox Martial Alliance alone? There is only one thing that turns a clever man into a fool.”

Some of the things Jin Hagun said were words Geom Mugeuk had supplied.

[“Will this work on my master?”]

[“It will, because it concerns your sister. Matters involving blood kin are neither understandable nor explainable.”]

Baek Cheongyeong still looked unconvinced.

“So? What is it you wish to ask of me?”

The request was something Baek Cheongyeong had never anticipated.

“Please meet Geom Mugeuk.”

He rarely showed emotion, but this time he could not hide his surprise.

“What do you mean?”

“Meet him and warn him. Tell him to stay away from my sister.”

Baek Cheongyeong looked incredulous. He truly had not expected such a request.

“After losing the Heavenly Harmony School, now you want me to keep you from losing your sister too?”

The rebuke cut deep, but Jin Hagun did not back down.

“I can lose the Heavenly Harmony School. I cannot lose my sister.”

“Then why not warn him yourself, as her brother?”

“He won’t listen to me. Throughout the Heavenly Harmony School affair, he ignored me completely and toyed with me. He would only pursue her all the harder to spite me. The Geom Mugeuk I saw was that relentless.”

“If you cannot do it, you should ask the alliance leader.”

“You know my grandfather’s temper, don’t you? He would throw him out at once. We would be fortunate if he didn’t attack him in his anger. If he’s driven out, that man will certainly bear a grudge. He’s a madman who came all the way to the Orthodox Martial Alliance alone to see my sister.”

“This is not my affair. How am I to handle something neither you nor the alliance leader can manage?”

Baek Cheongyeong refused firmly.

Jin Hagun dropped to his knees where he stood.

“You know better than anyone what my sister means to me, Master. All this time, I have regarded and served you as my father.”

Since that was true, this moment must have been unbearably painful and frustrating for Jin Hagun.

“Please grant your unworthy disciple this earnest request.”

SCRITCH, SCRITCH.

Baek Cheongyeong carved the wood, lost in thought.

Jin Hagun did not leave, remaining on his knees.

How much time passed that way?

What had he been thinking? Finishing the carving in his hands, Baek Cheongyeong spoke.

“Bring him tomorrow.”

* * *

“My master agreed.”

Jin Hagun spoke with a delighted expression.

Geom Mugeuk replied as though he had expected that result.

“I knew you could do it.”

Praise was not important right now.

“What exactly do you intend to do when you meet him?”

“I’ll have to decide.”

“Decide what?”

“Whether he is someone who can be allowed to live, or someone who must be killed.”

Geom Mugeuk looked Jin Hagun in the eyes and asked,

“Will you trust my decision?”

“How can I trust someone who does nothing but play games? I’ll trust only my own judgment.”

Jin Hagun rose. As he was about to leave the room, he stopped at the door.

“Have you ever felt that you had lost your way?”

It was a thought that had been troubling him lately. Even as he set these events in motion, another part of him was tormented by the thought that his master was a good man, and that Geom Mugeuk was using him.

“No. I have an excellent sense of direction.”

Jin Hagun turned to leave with a look that said he was joking again, but Geom Mugeuk spoke behind him.

“Perhaps you haven’t lost your way. Perhaps you’ve forgotten where you’re going.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“Don’t they say all roads are connected? If you know where you need to go, you can’t lose your way.”

“And if you’ve forgotten even where you need to go?”

“Then you sit down on the ground and sob your heart out.”

“Stop joking.”

Geom Mugeuk recalled the days when he had wandered all over the Central Plains searching for ingredients for the great ritual. There had truly been times when he had struggled so much that he wanted to weep.

“You ask the people you meet. If there’s no one around, you look at the constellations. If you still don’t know, you can toss a shoe and leave it to luck. And if you still don’t know after that, you simply walk wherever your feet take you.”

“Doesn’t that frighten you?”

“What is there to fear? You’re already lost.”

“!”

Jin Hagun thought in silence for a moment, then sighed.

“You truly are... a strange man.”

“You people really are polite. Everyone in the Cult called me a madman.”

“Then you must be a strangely mad man. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

With that, Jin Hagun left.

Geom Mugeuk gazed out the window for a moment.

Jin Hagun was still young and did not understand what it meant to truly lose one’s way. He did not know that those who were truly lost did not even realize they had lost their way.

* * *

The next day, Geom Mugeuk arrived at the master’s workshop with Jin Hagun.

“Master, I’m here. I’ve brought the Divine Cult’s young lord.”

“Come in.”

Jin Hagun started when they entered. His master looked different from usual. He wore an ornate red robe, with a long sword at his waist. Jin Hagun remembered him wearing similarly splendid clothes when they first met.

Geom Mugeuk’s and Baek Cheongyeong’s gazes met in midair. Neither Geom Mugeuk’s clear, deep eyes nor Baek Cheongyeong’s long, narrow ones made it easy to read their feelings.

Amid the taut tension, Geom Mugeuk opened up his qi presence to gauge the other man’s martial prowess. A deep abyss drew Baek Cheongyeong in, regardless of his wishes.

Baek Cheongyeong’s opposing qi presence was unusual.

Geom Mugeuk looked around. Before he knew it, he was standing in a dense forest filled with trees that rose endlessly skyward. Amid that boundless vista, loneliness swept over him, as though he had been cast out of the world all alone.

While Baek Cheongyeong sank into the abyss, Geom Mugeuk walked into the forest. Sunlight shone and birds sang. Was his qi presence really this bright? No. Had he been such a man to begin with, Jin Hagun would never have called for him.

Geom Mugeuk continued deeper into the forest. It unfolded the same scene endlessly, tempting him to believe there was no need to go farther. He resisted that temptation and kept walking.

What guided him was neither his own will nor the other man’s qi presence. Astonishingly, what guided him at this moment was the Nine Calamities Demonic Art.

‘There’s something over there.’

It was hidden so deeply that he could never have discovered it without learning the Nine Calamities Demonic Art. That also spoke to the formidable level of his opponent’s martial arts.

At last, in the deepest part of the forest, Geom Mugeuk discovered a wooden statue in human form.

The statue stood with its arms folded, crafted so vividly that it seemed like a living person. Only its face had been left uncarved and flat. It gave off a wondrous sense that the wood might protrude and recede at any moment to form a human face.

As Geom Mugeuk approached the statue, the surrounding trees began moving, extending their trunks. As though alive, their branches blocked his path to the statue and closed around him menacingly.

In that instant, Geom Mugeuk recognized it.

‘The Wooden Form Thousand Souls Art!’

An immensely powerful secret art that made use of every tree in the world.

Shock and intense emotion swept over Geom Mugeuk. It was not because this was a truly wondrous martial art, one that moved all manner of wood at will and made small wooden figurines grow and charge like martial masters.

It was because he knew who had used this art.

After Hwa Mugi went into seclusion, his followers had established the Greatest Alliance Under Heaven.

Twelve supreme masters had ruled that alliance.

The men the world had called the Twelve Zodiac Kings!

They had operated as the Twelve Zodiac Kings while concealing their former identities. Perhaps they had feared that the orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic factions might someday take revenge.

The eighth among those Twelve Zodiac Kings, the Eighth King, had used this very Wooden Form Thousand Souls Art.

Geom Mugeuk’s heart began to pound furiously.

‘It’s the Wood King!’

For the first time since returning to the past, he had met one of Hwa Mugi’s followers.