Chapter 417: Chapter 417

Bi Cheon-ung opened his eyes once again.

Checking that his senses were slowly returning, he looked at the scenery that came into his view.

It was the same place as before, and the sunlight coming through the broken planks strangely bothered him.

He frowned and looked around.

The child was nowhere to be seen.

The child might have gone somewhere or possibly abandoned him and ran away.

At the thought of being alone, Bi Cheon-ung breathed a sigh of relief.

Bi Cheon-ung quietly closed his eyes and began to circulate his qi.

He kept his senses sharp for any unforeseen events, making it feel somewhat dangerous, but it felt like his body wouldn’t last any longer if he didn’t circulate his energy.

The faint remaining internal energy circulated through his body and completed one cycle.

Just with that, his body condition seemed to have improved slightly.

When he finished all the energy circulation and opened his eyes, the sun was slowly setting, as if several hours had passed.

“It’s a little better.”

Bi Cheon-ung muttered as he checked his physical condition.

He wasn’t at the level where he could move his body intensely, but he had recovered to a certain extent.

As it was a situation where he had to be satisfied with just that for now, Bi Cheon-ung smiled bitterly.

It was right then that the shabby door opened.

The child he thought had abandoned him and ran away stepped inside holding a bowl. Soon, upon discovering Bi Cheon-ung with his eyes open, the child was startled and shrank back.

“…….”

“Are… are you awake…?”

The child hesitantly came inside. The child was keeping their head bowed low, perhaps not wanting to show their ugly face.

Bi Cheon-ung, who was quietly watching that sight, slowly stood up from his spot.

His body had not recovered enough to move around.

But he had no intention of staying here any longer.

He still had things to do, and he had to accomplish them.

“Ah…”

Bi Cheon-ung, who was trying to stand up, staggered greatly.

It was partly because he had been lying down for a long time, but his wounds weren’t fully healed, so he wasn’t in a state to move his body yet.

Seeing that, the startled child rushed in.

The bowl in the child’s hand dropped to the floor and spilled.

Along with a loud clattering sound, the child’s body caught the staggering Bi Cheon-ung.

Then, as if surprised, the child hurriedly backed away.

“Hic… I’m sorry…”

“Why are you apologizing?”

Bi Cheon-ung frowned as he watched the one backing away suddenly.

He seemed displeased to hear an apology without knowing the reason.

Sitting carefully on the bed, he stared silently at the child.

“Be… because I touched you…”

“…Is that something to apologize for?”

Bi Cheon-ung couldn’t understand.

How could it be wrong for a young child to support a falling adult? While thinking that, he suddenly realized something and let out a scoff.

This child’s appearance was truly hideous.

It was obvious even from Bi Cheon-ung’s perspective, so how much worse would it be in the eyes of others?

That was why the child was living hidden in such a remote place.

Avoiding contact with people as much as possible.

Bi Cheon-ung, whose thoughts reached that point, realized something and asked the child.

“Were you the one who brought me here?”

“Yes.”

The child hesitated and nodded.

Thinking back to that time, it was truly a huge ordeal. Moving Bi Cheon-ung, who had suddenly fainted, with the strength of a young child was by no means an easy task.

What was fortunate, however, was that it was close to home, and there was a cart, albeit a worn-out one.

Moving him to that spot itself was quite difficult, but the child spent a long time putting him on the cart and bringing him back here.

A sigh leaked from Bi Cheon-ung’s mouth after hearing the whole story.

It felt like the biggest mistake and the most absurd event of Bi Cheon-ung’s life.

An existence called one of the Five Emperors, revered by many, barely surviving with the help of a young child?

There would probably never be another incident that crushed his pride this much.

It was right then that another sound was heard.

“How funny.”

While he was letting out a dumbfounded laugh, the child was doing a strange act.

Holding the dropped bowl in hand, the child picked up the spilled food from the floor one by one.

It had already become food unfit for human consumption due to dust and dirt, but as if not caring about even that, the child brought the bowl filled with the gathered food and offered it to Bi Cheon-ung.

“You eat it.”

“Aren’t you… hungry?”

“It doesn’t matter to me, so you eat it.”

Bi Cheon-ung was indeed hungry as well.

However, he didn’t have a strong enough stomach to eat such food. Moreover, if he ate that food, there would be nothing left for the child to eat.

Seeing something smeared around his mouth, he could also tell that the child had used the money from selling the sword to make porridge and feed it to him.

Of course, he couldn’t know if the child had filled their own stomach or not.

The child studied Bi Cheon-ung’s face and then frantically began to bring the food to their mouth.

It seemed as if they hadn’t been able to have a proper meal for a long time. Watching that, Bi Cheon-ung frowned. Just by seeing that behavior, he could tell that he himself had consumed all the food over the past few days.

‘That aside… I should get the sword back…’

Bi Cheon-ung thought, not even looking at the child eating.

It was a sword bestowed by none other than the Heavenly Martial Emperor. Since it was sold for a mere ten iron coins, it was an absurd situation that only elicited a hollow laugh.

Bi Cheon-ung shook his head and erased the thoughts of the sword.

Getting it back was also important, but he first had to focus on fully healing his body. On a day he was attacked by an enemy while unable to move, it would never end well.

Retrieving the sword wouldn’t matter even after his body was fully healed.

The bowl was held out before Bi Cheon-ung as he was thinking that. Although it was a small amount, perhaps the child had eaten their fill, as they seemed to be trying to give the rest to him.

Watching that series of actions, Bi Cheon-ung shook his head firmly.

* * *

“Are you talking about that child?”

“Yes!”

Dan So-mi, having settled in at the inn, quickly ran out toward the marketplace with the other children.

However, it was unknown where the child had disappeared to, and people seemed reluctant to easily speak of the child, as if avoiding the topic.

The street vendor frowned as he looked at the three children asking while eating sugar candies.

“I won’t say anything else. If it’s about that monstrosity, it’ll be the same wherever you go. No one will tell you anything, so don’t go around asking pointless things.”

“Why?”

“There’s a reason for that, you rascal!”

“Why?”

“Why is that?”

“…….”

When Ju Ji-yak and Dan So-mi asked while staring piercingly at the vendor, he sighed and grabbed his head. They didn’t seem to want to listen to whatever he said.

Children like these were indeed the most troublesome opponents.

‘They even look like kids from wealthy families…’

He could tell just by looking at the clothes they were wearing.

Ju Ji-yak, of course, as well as Dan So-mi and Hong Jin-rang, were wearing clothes made of rare silk, so no matter how you looked at it, they seemed like children of high-ranking officials or nobles of equal status.

Getting on their bad side would result in a situation where he couldn’t laugh.

The vendor sighed once again and crouched down as if to match the children’s height.

“That child… is a child of a demon.”

“A demon?”

“Yeah, there’s a reason the villagers are keeping quiet. Look at that hideous face. Is that the face of a person? It’s definitely cursed.”

“But it might just be a disease…”

“Where in the world is there such a disease? And if it’s a disease, you should stay even further away!”

The vendor shouted angrily.

He didn’t care whether the child was cursed or not.

Originally, that child’s family was quite prominent in the village.

But after the child’s face changed like that, they poured massive amounts of money into fixing it, causing the family to decline and fall into ruin.

In the end, didn’t the parents also catch the same disease and die recently?

It was only natural for people to shun the child.

It was a demon that devoured its parents.

With such words going around, no one wanted to get close, and they all shunned the child.

Letting the child live up to this point meant they were enduring a lot.

“Even a few days ago, the child even sold a strange sword, who knows where they picked it up.”

“A sword?”

“Yeah, a sword with weird patterns engraved on it… It wasn’t an ordinary item.”

The vendor made a meaningful expression.

Rumors had spread widely that the blacksmith took it for a bargain.

Since it was obvious the child picked it up somewhere, people were knocking on the blacksmith’s door one after another, claiming it was theirs.

“That child caused trouble again.”

There was no knowing when blood would splatter.

He hadn’t seen the sword himself, but didn’t he hear it was a considerable treasured sword?

He had heard people who knew a little about swords chattering, and they went around saying that one might be able to touch a sum of money large enough to buy a huge manor.

“Heh…”

“Anyway, don’t go around prying about that child so carelessly. You’ll only get glared at for nothing.”

Saying so, the vendor looked toward the west.

A blacksmith shop could be seen not too far away.

He smacked his lips while looking at that place.

The three children glanced at the vendor and sat huddled together a little distance away.

Perhaps because they had wandered around for a long time trying to find out about the child, they all seemed quite exhausted.

Dan So-mi let out a deep sigh.

“It’s super exhausting.”

“Yeah… How about we head back now? I don’t think we should be any later than this.”

Ju Ji-yak glanced at the sky.

The sun was already setting.

It would get dark soon. It wasn’t good for young children to wander the streets at night, so it seemed best to return to the inn as soon as possible.

Dan So-mi was somewhat dissatisfied with that, but it wasn’t wrong.

She strongly wanted to see the child at least one more time, but she had no desire to do so at the cost of worrying Dan Wu-hyun.

“Then tomorrow morning…”

“To begin with. What are you trying to do by finding that kid?”

At that moment, Hong Jin-rang opened his mouth with a very reluctant expression.

“Just… I wanted to talk to them…”

“What will you say? Why is your face like that? Where are your parents and where do you live? Aren’t you lonely? Are you hungry? Do you want to eat this? Stuff like that?”

“…….”

Hong Jin-rang’s voice had a somewhat sharp edge.

He already knew the child was pitiful, but what could Dan So-mi, who was still just a child and not an adult, say or do to help by seeking the child out?

“Are you going to live together?”

“No…”

“Are you going to fix that face?”

“That’s not… it either.”

“Then what on earth are you going to do by finding them?”

He was well aware of Dan So-mi’s kind heart. However, if she truly intended to help the child, adults like Dan Wu-hyun needed to step forward, not Dan So-mi.

Judging by the atmosphere of this village, Dan So-mi’s help might actually end up harming that young child.

Hong Jin-rang stood one step in front of Dan So-mi.

Then, putting his face right in front of hers, he spat out harsh words.

“Don’t try to do things you can’t.”

That was what Ju Ji-yak and Hong Jin-rang had wanted to tell Dan So-mi for a long time.

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