Chapter 447: Chapter 447

“Where did he go again?”

“Yeah.”

The three children were walking together, chatting amiably.

Perhaps because of Dan So-mi, who was somewhat depressed, Ju Ji-yak’s expression was full of worry and anxiety. Knowing that when Dan Woo-hyun disappeared, she would remain depressed for quite a long time, it seemed that such anxiety was at work.

Hong Jin-rang keeping his mouth shut tight was in the same vein.

Every time he said a word, he had to receive Ju Ji-yak’s fierce glare.

This was because Hong Jin-rang sometimes made Dan So-mi cry with his thoughtless remarks.

“It’s mean of the Mister to leave So-mi behind and go!”

“No, it’s probably because it’s better for me not to go.”

Dan So-mi waved her hand and denied Ju Ji-yak’s thought.

Of course, she didn’t think she was genuinely insulting him, but she didn’t want to hear even a small bad word directed at Dan Woo-hyun.

Dan Woo-hyun was Dan So-mi’s life itself.

His absence was the same as the absence of So-mi’s life.

Since she followed Dan Woo-hyun to that extent, it was somewhat a precarious thing in a way.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. My dad also frequently goes to Beijing and other places, but I don’t feel lonely at all.”

At that moment, Hong Jin-rang spoke while picking his nose.

Hong Won-chang was always busy going around.

Perhaps because his status had risen even more recently, he went to Beijing more often. So much so that words were exchanged among many people that he might be called to the center soon.

Of course, considering the achievements he had accumulated so far, it would have been a situation where he should have been called to the center, but the one blocking that was none other than Ju Ji-yak’s father.

Even if another magistrate came, there was no expectation that they would do as well as Hong Won-chang, and public order improved just by him being in this land of Yueyang.

In the Hunan area, many thieves and bandits had disappeared, which was thanks to Hong Won-chang and the Hunan Dan Family, whom he always asked for help.

Knowing such facts, Prince Yeong didn’t want to send Hong Won-chang to the center, and as a result, he was blocking Hong Won-chang’s advancement to the center.

Hong Jin-rang was also well aware of that fact.

When he glanced at Ju Ji-yak, she smiled brightly.

“What is it?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Hmm… Is that so? But Eun-wol isn’t here today?”

“She’s training with the grandpas.”

“Ugh… That must be incredibly hard, right?”

Hong Jin-rang unconsciously frowned.

He had once trained at the Hunan Dan Family, if only for a short time. Thinking of that time, it could be called nothing short of hell, so Yeo Eun-wol, who was enduring all of that with a young girl’s body, even felt amazing to him.

“Then since we have nothing to do… should we go to Yoo-baek’s house?”

“Come to think of it, we only know where he lives and nothing else? Did he say a sect…?”

“I think he said a family?”

Hong Jin-rang and Ju Ji-yak tilted their heads.

Although he was a child they had been hanging around with recently, in fact, they still didn’t know much about him. Perhaps at most they knew the location of the house he lived in?

Where he came from, why he came to Yueyang, many such questions arose, but strangely enough, all those questions would fly out of their minds when they stood in front of Yoo-baek.

“That guy, he’s a bit strange.”

Hong Jin-rang frowned as if something didn’t please him. Certainly, if you just looked at the kid named Yoo-baek himself, he was kind enough to get along well with.

However, Hong Jin-rang thought that maybe he had a hidden side that no one knew about. It was because the expression he showed occasionally was scary.

“Umm… I guess there is something like that sometimes?”

“A little?”

Ju Ji-yak and Dan So-mi also nodded.

The moment he bumped into a person while walking on the street, Yoo-baek’s menacing expression was revealed.

A gaze as if looking at a bug, a feeling as if he would beat the person he bumped into to death at any moment.

Of course, those moments were fleeting and disappeared quickly, but it was certain that he was a child who gave off a somewhat bizarre feeling.

“Not everyone can be the same… More importantly, where did you say his house was?”

Dan So-mi asked, clapping her hands.

She knew it, but they were words spoken to change the atmosphere.

The two children, who had been lost in thought, flashed to their senses and pointed to the northwest with unreserved smiles.

“You know the place where there used to be some sect in the past? They say it’s there.”

“Isn’t it incredibly huge?”

She couldn’t even remember the name of it now, but there used to be a sect. It collapsed because it provoked the Hunan Dan Family, but that land still maintained its place without an owner.

Because it was a considerably large and expensive land, those without money didn’t even dare to think about buying it.

However, Hong Jin-rang and Ju Ji-yak looked at Dan So-mi with rather dumbfounded eyes.

“Your house is bigger.”

“That’s right… bigger than our house…”

The place bigger than the world’s Prince’s Manor was exactly Dan So-mi’s house. Considering its splendor as well as the surrounding scenery, they thought it might be the most expensive place even in this Hunan.

‘Of course, it was built arbitrarily…’

Ju Ji-yak smiled awkwardly.

A house was built there, but it wasn’t theirs. That place was the Prince’s Manor’s land, and Prince Yeong was merely turning a blind eye to it.

So they couldn’t even sell it.

“Anyway, shall we go first?”

Whether she knew it or not, Dan So-mi smiled brightly and set the path. Hong Jin-rang and Ju Ji-yak let out a small sigh and followed behind the child who was running off with quick steps.

***

Gu Mu-ak was looking at a letter with a peculiar expression.

There was the Hunan Dan Family in this Yueyang.

Also, since they were in a position of symbiotic relationship with that place, it was also his role to check if there were any potential threats.

If there were such people, he sent a letter to Zhuge Un faster than anyone else.

That was precisely the relationship between Gu Mu-ak and the Hunan Dan Family.

Conversely, no one could touch the Beggars’ Sect in this Hunan land, the reason being that the power of the Hunan Dan Family could be considered the Beggars’ Sect’s backing.

So there were still those in many places who ignored the Beggars’ Sect and tried to cut them out, but in this Hunan land at least, the Beggars’ Sect’s power could be considered quite significant.

Gu Mu-ak, the head of such a place, was currently sorting out information coming in from here and there today as well.

Then suddenly, looking at a letter, he frowned, sighed, or made a puzzled expression.

“Yoo Family?”

It was a place he was hearing of for the first time.

If it was a family that operated somewhere in this Central Plains, its name should naturally be familiar to his ears, but he had never heard of the Yoo Family even once.

“What’s more? What are these records that look like they fell out of the sky?”

There was nothing.

He had obtained a lot of information to dig into their background, but where the Yoo Family had been, why they came to Yueyang, and where they used to operate, not a single piece of such information had come in.

That continually bothered him.

Gu Mu-ak scratched his head vigorously.

“It seems they’re getting along well with Dan So-mi… so it should be fine, but…”

Gu Mu-ak sighed and put down the letter. It was one of the children that Dan So-mi, of all people, was close with.

With the eyes of Prince Yeong’s Manor and the people of the Namgung Family and the Demonic Cult unknowingly guarding her side, nothing would happen.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, Gu Mu-ak began to write a letter.

No matter how trivial it might be, he had to inform Zhuge Un.

That was also Gu Mu-ak’s role.

***

“Kkuwek!”

The beaten Jang Sam-tae let out a strange noise and fell flat. Sprawled on the floor, he was stretched out like a frog and trembling uncontrollably, unable to even stand up properly, as if he didn’t have the strength to lift a single finger.

“Please… spare my life.”

Jang Sam-tae muttered and let out a wronged voice.

It was a hundred times better to deal with bandits or thieves instead. For Jang Sam-tae, who was forced to spar with Dan Woo-hyun of all people, all these situations were just difficult and exhausting.

It was natural for him to become haggard.

However, Dan Woo-hyun smiled nonchalantly.

In a way, he seemed to be enjoying the sight of Jang Sam-tae suffering.

But all of these things were clearly for Jang Sam-tae’s sake.

Dan Woo-hyun was practically throwing away his precious time to raise Jang Sam-tae.

“Do you know what’s the most important thing in a fight?”

“Is it… lightning-like movements and sky-something swordsmanship?”

Jang Sam-tae muttered the story he had heard last time and scowled.

Even if such words came out again, it was hard to understand, and he didn’t have the desire to do it either.

But Dan Woo-hyun shook his head.

“It’s understanding the difference between the opponent and yourself.”

“What kind of dog…”

“Don’t dismiss it as dog shit and listen carefully. How can you win if you don’t understand the opponent? You’ll just be dragged along as the enemy wants and eventually die like that.”

“Ah…”

“Develop your five senses. Don’t blindly trust your eyes; trust your senses and listen. You have to know what the opponent is doing even from a small sound.”

“Does something like that help?”

Jang Sam-tae couldn’t understand.

Senses aren’t something you can develop just because you want to. It solely arises from the talent the person possesses, unceasing effort, and tremendous enlightenment.

Also, what would change by listening to sounds?

It was an overwhelming situation just to watch the blade flowing in right in front of his eyes.

“Sound sometimes tells you more than what you see with your eyes. The sound of footsteps, the sound of a blade cutting through the air, the rustling of clothes. Every single one of those becomes a decisive clue to read the next move.”

“…That makes no sense.”

Smack!

“Ouch!”

Jang Sam-tae grabbed his head and rolled on the ground. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand Dan Woo-hyun’s words, so he soon sent a wronged look and stroked his aching head.

“For example, let’s say you fall into a formation where you can’t help but lose your senses.”

“Y… Yes…”

He wondered how many people could create such a thing, but looking at Dan Woo-hyun speaking seriously, he felt that trying to refute it would only result in a club flying at him.

“Fighting someone in such a place is extremely disadvantageous. Ninety-nine out of a hundred, you have no choice but to die.”

“I suppose… so?”

“But if you can only hear the sound of the wind and feel the swaying according to the enemy’s movements, it’s not that disadvantageous of a situation.”

“Is that possible, something like that?”

When Jang Sam-tae asked with his eyes wide open, Dan Woo-hyun smirked. As if nodding, he paused for a moment and opened his mouth.

“You have to make it possible.”

“…”

Flinch!

The startled Jang Sam-tae squeezed out his strength and sprang up from his seat.

The moment he quickly kicked off the ground.

Saaak! Something flew in. As he reflexively threw his body to dodge, a large tree next to him was cut down completely with a swishing sound.

Crash!

As the severed tree plummeted helplessly to the ground, Jang Sam-tae poured out cold sweat and shouted.

“I’ll die! Are you really going to kill me?!”

“See. You can do it if you try, right?”

Dan Woo-hyun smiled faintly and slowly raised his hand. Bizarre energies began to gather at the tips of his fingers, and soon the air trembled and something invisible poured toward Jang Sam-tae.

“S… Save me-!”

His ringing shout spread out in all directions.

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