Chapter 554: Side Story 54

Chapter side_54

“Wow… You’re an amazing person. Isn’t she, Dad?”

“I suppose so.”

Dan Wu-hyun stared intently at the fortune teller woman.

Just a calm gaze, the look of looking down without emotion as if it was nothing, seemed to pour down relentlessly towards the woman.

Flinch-!

Instantly, the fortune teller woman trembled.

‘What is with this person? Why is his gaze so terrifying?’

The woman swallowed her breath and tried hard to avert her gaze.

She prided herself on having gone through more things than anyone else and also lived a rough life. Therefore, she could be said to be used to people’s gazes, but she couldn’t bear to look at Dan Wu-hyun, perhaps because she couldn’t get used to his gaze in particular.

However, work is work.

“Ahem! Young Lady, perhaps… haven’t you been experiencing good things recently? Or maybe unwanted things keep happening?”

“Ah! That’s right! Somehow… only strange things keep happening.”

Phew- Dan So-mi let out a sigh.

At that moment, the woman smiled slightly and nodded her head readily.

Of course that would be the case.

If one is a human, unwanted things are bound to happen one or two times. Since it’s something eight or nine out of ten people would nod their heads to, it’s not exactly something to consider surprising.

However, Dan So-mi had an expression of genuine surprise.

This is it.

Wasn’t she doing this for the fun of deceiving people who made such expressions?

The fortune teller woman, trying not to look at Dan Wu-hyun as much as possible, kept her eyes on Dan So-mi and smiled brightly.

“That’s because the Young Lady is currently walking the wrong path. Only by walking the true Tao will good things happen… and you can save yourself from the disaster that is coming soon.”

“Di… disaster?”

Instantly, Dan So-mi opened her eyes wide.

Perhaps quite flustered by the word disaster, a look of not knowing what to do was evident in her eyes. However, when Dan Wu-hyun lightly placed his hand on her shoulder, the flustered expression instantly subsided as if it had never been there.

“Yes! Soon the sky will collapse and the earth will split, and destruction will come to the world. So… our Heaven….”

“Wow-! By the way, what is this puppy? It looks incredibly fascinating.”

“Heaven and Earth… Eh? P-Puppy?”

“Yes, this puppy here.”

Just when she thought she had cornered her, at Dan So-mi’s abruptly heard words, the woman’s lips trembled. The conversation leaking elsewhere was also something she wasn’t entirely pleased with, but calling her spiritual creature a puppy?

She unconsciously put strength into her fists.

“P-Puppy? This child is B-Baek-ho. It’s a spiritual creature among spiritual creatures.”

“Baek-ho?”

“Yes! One axis of the four directional divine beasts! Baek-ho is exactly this child! Isn’t it holy?”

Dan So-mi quietly looked at the dog called Baek-ho.

It was large, its fur was white, and black stripes were drawn here and there. At a glance, it definitely seemed to represent Baek-ho, but the fact that it was a dog no matter how one looked at it remained unchanged.

As she unconsciously reached out her hand to touch it, the sleeping thing slightly opened its eyes and howled.

Woof! Woof woof-! Grrr!

“…….”

“…….”

Instantly, Dan So-mi looked at the fortune teller woman.

She too, facing Dan So-mi, broke out in a cold sweat. She hurriedly tried to cover the dog’s mouth, but she couldn’t take back the sound that had already been heard.

Dan So-mi unconsciously backed away.

“T-That’s cool. A Baek-ho that makes dog sounds….”

“No, that’s… hoho. This child makes various sounds quite well.”

The fortune teller woman wanted to cover this up somehow. She had seen many people up until now, but no one had actually tried to touch the dog, and after numerous trainings, she had made it so it wouldn’t bark in front of people.

But why of all times was it barking here?

Even if she had bad luck, this was too bad.

“Excuse me?” he tried calling out.

“…What? What do you raise?”

“Baek-ho.”

Instantly, perhaps thinking her ears were wrong, the woman dug out one of her ears. However, Dan So-mi’s words heard a moment ago echoed clearly in her mind, proving that it was by no means nonsense.

She unconsciously opened her eyes wide.

“You… raise a tiger…?”

“Yes! And it’s a pure white Baek-ho. Ah! I also have Baek-myo, so that’s two.”

“Baek-myo… Baek-ho…?”

She had heard that there were people who tamed and raised tigers. It was said they lived with the beasts in the wild, communicated with them, and made their strength their own.

She meant the wild men of the Southern Man over there.

However, no matter how one looked at them, Dan So-mi and Dan Wu-hyun didn’t look like Southern Man people. Both their attire and way of speaking were like those of people from the Central Plains.

Then what on earth was this girl that she raised a tiger?

Not even just a tiger, but a Baek-ho?

Instantly, she recalled the letter she had received last time in her mind.

“Wait… you raise… a Baek-ho?”

“Yes! It’s incredibly big!”

Dan So-mi spread both her arms wide to show off the size. However, no matter how wide she spread her arms, she wouldn’t be able to completely express the size of Baek-ho.

It was quite considerable even when she first saw it, but having grown its size even more over the nearly ten years, now even the mountain lords would be terrified and run away.

It had become the divine beast Baek-ho in name and reality.

She thought that perhaps even now, it might be playing around while bothering other mountain lords somewhere in the mountains nearby.

“I see. Raising a Baek-ho… huh.”

At that moment, the woman let out a smirk.

Her sparkling eyes made it look as if she had discovered something. She slightly licked her lips, and a peculiar smile hung on her mouth.

“I found you properly.”

“Yes?”

“No… it’s nothing…. Today I’m really… lucky.”

The woman was engulfed in an indescribable sense of ecstasy.

Even up until she read the letter sent from the cult, she only thought it was an impossible matter, but after meeting the person directly and even hearing that she raised it, she seemed to have a little more trust.

To think she would meet them this quickly.

“Right, is the fortune telling over?”

Chill-!

At that moment, Dan Wu-hyun’s voice was heard out of nowhere.

The words heard were so dry that goosebumps rose all over her body. The moment she barely moved her trembling eyes and saw his face, a strong alarm rang in her mind.

“E-… yes, r-… roughly….”

Instantly, Dan Wu-hyun let out a smirk and smiled.

He slyly took out a couple of nyang of iron coins from his embrace and placed them on the table. He merely set them down lightly, but the table cracked with a snapping sound.

“Hic?!”

Instantly, she swallowed her breath in fright.

Not even knowing what to think, her mind turned blank and her whole body started to tremble uncontrollably.

What is this?

Who on earth is this person?

She had met countless people who were called Murim masters in her own way, but there was no one who gave off an atmosphere as fearful and terrifying as this.

Her shoulders instinctively shrank as she deeply bowed her head.

“Nothing is right, but I’m giving it because you entertained the child.”

“T-Thank you.”

“And… I hope there’s no reason to see you a second time.”

“…!?”

What was the meaning of the words he spat out.

The woman couldn’t decipher Dan Wu-hyun’s words.

Because just feeling his gaze and hearing his words was enough that she couldn’t properly collect her mind.

Thus, she nodded her head thoughtlessly.

Without even knowing what words she had heard and what she had understood, nodding her head might have just been an instinct to live that came out naturally.

“Let’s go then.”

“Yes! Keep up the good work.”

However, Dan So-mi, who didn’t know anything, just smiled brightly and waved her hand as she said goodbye.

She then quickly rushed to catch up beside Dan Wu-hyun who was walking ahead with quick steps, and spoke in a voice so soft that others wouldn’t hear.

“By the way, she seems like a slightly strange person.”

“A strange person? You mean that fortune teller?”

“Yes, it’s a dog no matter who looks at it… but seeing her say it’s a tiger… I think she has mental problems. Poor thing….”

“Haha, did it look that way?”

Dan So-mi let out a deep sigh and nodded her head.

Even at a glance, she didn’t seem to be very old.

However, the fact that her mind didn’t seem intact made her a very worrisome woman. Because she had seen many strange people, but it was her first time seeing someone who had reached that extent.

“Perhaps, if I see her next time, I should buy her something delicious. Because it must be because she’s hungry.”

“Right, if you see her, that is.”

Dan Wu-hyun smiled and stroked her head. The kind nature she had since she was young still hadn’t faded.

It meant that not a single speck of foreign matter had stained the pure white paper.

He thought anew that she had been raised well.

His shoulders naturally straightened with pride.

* * *

– Saintess! Should we chase them?

“No… stay still for now.”

The woman left alone bit her lip sharply.

Just what is that man?

An unknown ominousness was dominating her entire body. It felt like something beyond simple fear was swallowing her brain.

Would the Four Heavenly Kings, who were said to be so strong, be like this?

No.

Since she was the one who had directly seen the skills of the Four Heavenly Kings with her own eyes and selected them, she knew that this was definitely not the level.

Then who could he be compared to?

Who was there who could overwhelm a person with just a single word, expression, and atmosphere?

The Cult Leader?

Instantly, she let out an absurd laugh, saying ha!

The Cult Leader was definitely strong.

Perhaps he was the strongest even just looking within the Heaven and Earth Cult, and in the Central Plains where the ones called the Five Emperors had disappeared, it was certain he would be counted among the top three.

Then did the Cult Leader instill as much fear as that person just now?

That wasn’t it either.

– They say Jin Tae-gong has arrived. How about talking with him?

“Is that true?”

– It’s certain.

At the heard words of her subordinate, she let out a sigh of relief for a moment and nodded her head. If it was Jin Tae-gong, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, she believed he would give a somewhat understandable explanation for this phenomenon.

He was a skilled person counted among the top five even among the Four Heavenly Kings, and he was also the person she trusted the most.

“Huu… Good. Has he arrived nearby?”

– Yes, they say he’s waiting for the Saintess with news of the cult.

Soon, at the heard words, she nodded her head and let out a sigh. Perhaps her mind had become a little more at ease, it could be seen that her expression had definitely changed.

Undoubtedly, the name Jin Tae-gong had given her a sense of relief.

With his skills, any difficulty wouldn’t be a problem.

She genuinely thought so.

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