Chapter 110 - Master

“As with the world, I studied human beings, analyzed them to understand them, and tried to imitate them.”

To hunt them, of course. There was no other reason whatsoever. Though the meaning the Weapon Monster heard, understood, and interpreted would be entirely different.

“Is that truly all?”

The Weapon Monster abruptly stepped into Dong Bongsu’s path and brushed his hair aside to see his eyes. He read sincerity in them, without the slightest understanding of what lay beneath that sincerity.

Dong Bongsu brushed past him and resumed walking.

“... I can’t believe it.”

“Then don’t.”

“Heh heh heh! Hahahaha! A madman! You really are a madman.”

A madman. Perhaps he was right. But to Dong Bongsu, he himself was more normal and honest than anyone else in this world. By his own standards, at least.

And he would remain so. No, he would become even more so. The more he did, the madder he would seem to the Weapon Monster, but that was no concern of his. That was who he was.

“Come on, let’s go. I need to get you there and have a good, long drink with you.” The Weapon Monster slung an arm over Dong Bongsu’s shoulders as he spoke.

Dong Bongsu did not particularly like people touching him, but he let it be for now. It was all an act anyway. The Weapon Monster had to become his unwavering ally and dependable supporter. Perhaps their relationship might go much further than that. There was no need to waste energy on the trouble of lifting the man’s arm off his shoulders.

With the Weapon Monster’s arm around his shoulders, Dong Bongsu walked toward the little structure, leaving the still-crowded Central Avenue behind. The Murim Alliance grounds were large enough that it was no short walk, though it was not terribly far either. After fielding a few of the Weapon Monster’s inane questions, he found they had arrived.

Up close, the structure resembled a rented semi-basement room or a storage shed from the other world. The entrance stood open, with stairs leading straight down.

“Come in. It may not look like much, but it’s enormous down below.”

Gesturing extravagantly, the Weapon Monster went down first. There were more steps spiraling down the cylindrical shaft than Dong Bongsu had expected, suggesting it was considerably deeper than it looked. Now he saw that it was no semi-basement, but a proper underground chamber. After descending what felt like six or seven meters, they reached a large iron door.

CLANK.

The Weapon Monster pushed the iron door open and entered first. Dong Bongsu followed immediately.

As promised, the interior was enormous. Perhaps the building had originally served as a smithy; weapons and all manner of tools a blacksmith might use lay scattered everywhere. Curiously, a bed had also been set up on one side. A place perfectly suited to serving as the Weapon Monster’s quarters—that was Dong Bongsu’s first impression.

But someone was already there.

“I’ve been waiting, sir.”

It was Eulji Tae.

He had arrived ahead of them and waited, and now respectfully saluted with his fist cupped in his palm as the Weapon Monster entered. The Weapon Monster gave him an irritated glance and walked farther into the workshop.

“Bah. I was looking forward to a nice drink with Gwangcheon here, and this unwelcome bastard turns up to spoil it before I’ve even started. Damn it.”

“My apologies.”

“If you’re sorry, tell that old fart to stop working me so hard. Tell him I’m old as hell now, and all this running around makes my bones ache.”

From the moment Eulji Tae appeared, the Weapon Monster had known he had come on the Taoist Sage of Heaven’s orders. Still, he could hardly refuse an assignment just because it was a nuisance. He was, after all, one of the Murim Alliance’s Secret Retainers.

Eulji Tae looked toward Dong Bongsu, who stood by the entrance.

“I would like to speak with you alone.”

Dong Bongsu glanced at him and pushed against the iron door, which had not yet closed completely, preparing to leave.

“He can stay.”

Dong Bongsu stopped pushing. Needless to say, his feet stopped too. He recognized this as an important moment. Eulji Tae’s appearance might bring about what he had intended sooner than expected.

“But sir, this is important. I understand your fondness for the young man, but this is Alliance business.”

“No business matters more to me right now than that fellow, Heaven-Splitting Tyrant Saber.”

The Weapon Monster’s voice dropped slightly. His eyes narrowed halfway, a lightning-sharp gleam spilling from them. He had no intention of yielding an inch. Yet Eulji Tae could not simply back down.

“I told you this is important, sir.”

“And haven’t I told you to say it here? This important business of yours concerns the Extreme Yin Cursed—”

“Sir!”

“You little bastard! What if you scare me into miscarrying a baby I’m not even carrying? How will you answer for that? You’re shouting my ears off, and over nothing!”

Alarmed by the Weapon Monster’s words, Eulji Tae had hastily interrupted him. Under ordinary circumstances, he would never have raised his voice like that.

“Even you must not speak so carelessly of that... thing, sir.”

“You fool. Everyone who matters already knows. Even if the Strange New Star concealed it for years, hasn’t it been hanging up there in plain sight for months? Do you really think that can stay a secret?”

“Oh, enough. What if that fellow is my disciple?”

At the Weapon Monster’s declaration, as explosive as a Thunderbolt Bomb, Eulji Tae’s cold face grew even more rigid.

Dong Bongsu, meanwhile, murmured inwardly. It was an unexpected development, but the outcome was exactly as planned. Perhaps it might even produce results beyond that.

“That settles it, doesn’t it?” the Weapon Monster added.

Eulji Tae stared at him a little longer, then turned toward Dong Bongsu. His hair hid not only his eyes but half his face, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. Judging by his complete lack of reaction, perhaps the Weapon Monster’s claim was true.

‘But Dong Gwangcheon’s age...’

Eulji Tae already knew to some extent that Dong Bongsu was extraordinary. Even so, taking someone so old as a disciple? That was difficult to comprehend. Dong Bongsu did not look particularly old, but he had to be around twenty at the very least.

By that age, not only his muscles and bones but his pressure points would have largely set. His physique looked excellent thanks to his years as a mercenary, but once the pressure points had set, reopening them was extremely difficult. In short, he was already too old to learn a proper internal energy cultivation method. Had that old monster taken him as a disciple anyway?

“Is that true?”

Rather than answer the Weapon Monster, Eulji Tae questioned Dong Bongsu. But Dong Bongsu said nothing.

“I asked whether it’s true.”

Eulji Tae’s voice rose a little, but Dong Bongsu remained silent.

This was an important moment. How he answered might completely alter his path from here on. What should he say? What words would produce the best result? But his answer was already decided. Indeed, he had already given it.

The best answer he had chosen was, if it had to be put into words, silent waiting. That was it.

“Look. He’s not objecting either. Satisfied, then?”

The Weapon Monster was pleased with Dong Bongsu’s waiting silence. Though he had blurted it out on impulse, swept along by the moment... he had meant every word. Besides, hadn’t the fellow said he had no master? No, to be precise, he had talked about the world, humanity, and whatnot, but didn’t that amount to the same thing?

He was a little old, but that did not matter. What mattered was that the Weapon Monster liked him.

Eulji Tae continued watching Dong Bongsu for a while before turning back to the Weapon Monster. His lips began moving rapidly, yet not a trace of his austere voice emerged.

“The Heaven-Splitting Tyrant Saber never used to be like this. All those years in a place like the Murim Alliance have taught you nothing but petty tricks.”

It was Sound Transmission. Eulji Tae had decided that this way, he need not establish beyond doubt whether Dong Bongsu was the Weapon Monster’s disciple, nor would his presence matter.

The Weapon Monster was far from pleased with Eulji Tae’s use of Sound Transmission, but did not bother rebuking him. There was no need to stop him from delivering his message that way. Whatever else might be said, he had brought word from the Murim Alliance Leader.

“Is that all?”

When Eulji Tae’s lengthy Sound Transmission finally ended, the Weapon Monster tossed out the question as though it were nothing.

“Yes, sir.”

That concluded their private conversation. Or so they imagined. The Sound Transmission between them had not been private at all.

Dong Bongsu had overheard everything Eulji Tae said. Or perhaps “overseen” would have been more accurate. Every movement of his lips... had been read.

Every word the Taoist Sage of Heaven had ordered Eulji Tae to convey to the Weapon Monster had reached Dong Bongsu as well. The heart of the Murim Alliance Leader’s message was an order to investigate whether the ghost incident in Zhengzhou’s bustling district last night had been the work of the Extreme Yin Cursed Killing Star’s chosen one.

The Extreme Yin Cursed Killing Star’s chosen one? Faced with an unfamiliar term, Dong Bongsu’s mind raced, drawing inferences. Soon, he arrived at an answer that fit.

‘Do they mean her?’

He was not certain, but his sixth sense told him so: she was the Extreme Yin Cursed Killing Star’s chosen one. If that was true, he had to extract as much information as possible about the Extreme Yin Cursed Killing Star from the Weapon Monster. For that reason alone, he needed to become his disciple—or something equivalent.

“All right. I’ll take care of it.”

Their conversation resumed aloud, and the Weapon Monster gave his consent.

“Then I shall inform the Alliance Leader, sir.”

At the Weapon Monster’s indifferent dismissal, Eulji Tae offered a brief cupped-fist salute and turned away. He passed Dong Bongsu and headed out. As he did, his lips moved once more. With his back turned, the Weapon Monster did not see.

[“We’ll meet again soon.”]

It was a brief Sound Transmission from Eulji Tae. Though not to the same extent as the Weapon Monster, he too was interested in Dong Bongsu—too interested to simply let him slip away.