Chapter 560: Side Story 60

Chapter side_60

“……?”

“What? Why?”

At the place where valley water flowed, Jang Sam-tae, who threw down the laundry, frowned looking at Geum Ji-ran who wore a puzzled expression.

Even though at a glance it was surely a situation where the answer of what to do came out, whether this woman could not catch the vibe at all, she tilted her head.

“Why pretend you don’t know. Do the laundry.”

“Are you… telling me to wash clothes someone else wore now?”

On the other hand, Geum Ji-ran was also dumbfounded just the same.

Although it was true that she lived in a bad environment in her childhood, she is one who had never done such a thing since the Heavenly Earth Cult was established.

Overwhelmingly superior beauty together with overflowing holiness.

Because the ability to charm people even though she did not perform any tricks like Chu Jak-han was precisely the reason why she could live without lifting a single finger.

But, what is this man saying now?

“I will believe that I heard wrong.”

“Hear wrong, my foot. Do the laundry, you wench. Have you lost your mind after stuffing your face, seriously.”

“W-What?!”

Geum Ji-ran, who stared while frowning with all her might, could not catch the clue of what to do. Since her ears were not wrong, doing the laundry was correct, but does it make sense to do such chores with the body of the Holy Maiden?

After catching her breath with a sigh, she glanced away toward another place.

Looking at a place not very far away, Jin Tae-gong was seen sticking his head in the ground. Just looking at his face which was crushed to a complete mess, it seemed he was beaten up by someone once again under the pretext of discipline.

He is of no help.

“Should I… help you?”

At that moment, someone approached stealthily and spoke.

Surely, was she called Dan So-mi?

Even among these ridiculous people, she is a child who at least seems in her right mind. She smiles well, and her personality is also truly good, so she receives help in many aspects.

Geum Ji-ran naturally nodded her head and tried to stand up from her seat slightly.

“Then I leave it…”

“Ah, first you must soak the clothes in water.”

“What?”

“I told you to soak the clothes in water.”

“L-Like this?”

“Yes! Correct. You are doing very well. Next, you just rub it with hands snugly, and pound it bang-bang with the laundry bat.”

Thud thud thud!

Holding the bat in her slender hand, she began to lash toward the dirtied clothes. She had never done it even once, so why was it this natural.

The snapping sound coming from the laundry echoed pleasantly. Geum Ji-ran, who was engrossed in it for a moment, wiped away the flowing sweat and glanced beside her.

But… why is that child standing without doing anything?

“You are doing exceptionally well. For me, my wrists hurt all over…”

“Hoho, th-this kind of thing is not even a task!”

“Correct! It is really easy, right? You just keep doing like this in the future.”

Geum Ji-ran, who looked at Dan So-mi wearing a gentle smile, nodded her head without realizing it. That soft voice coming from that innocent expression somehow felt like holding and shaking a person.

However, she herself did not realize such a thing at all.

* * *

“Is it them?”

“Yes, it looks certain.”

The figures of the Tang Family, who were observing the situation from a place not very far away, nodded their heads while checking the portraits of Jin Tae-gong and Geum Ji-ran.

The unmistakable Holy Maiden of the Heavenly Earth Cult.

And he is surely Jin Tae-gong, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

To think there would be two giants in a place like this.

“Who are the others?”

“They have not been confirmed yet.”

“It means they could be the Heavenly Earth Cult fellows, or they might not be.”

“We apologize.”

The man stroked his chin while listening to his subordinate’s words.

Considering that they were the Holy Maiden and Jin Tae-gong, the other six figures were also thought to be cultists of the Heavenly Earth Cult. However, why on earth was Jin Tae-gong sticking his head in the ground, and the Holy Maiden doing the laundry?

It is a scene not understood by common sense.

“Could it be an intention to deceive us, perhaps?”

“Deceive?”

“Yes, in order to hide their identity to prepare for when they are captured by us, I mean.”

Indeed, he thought it could be so.

If they had not tortured the captured Heavenly Earth Cultists to obtain the portraits, even if they met them, no one would have thought they were the Holy Maiden or the Four Heavenly Kings.

To that extent, the appearances of the two were like a maidservant or a servant.

Without realizing it, he smirked.

“To try to deceive us with such a shallow trick… trivial.”

“What shall we do?”

“What do you mean what? The Lady will arrive soon. Since I want to wrap up the situation before that… do not choose means and methods.”

“Understood.”

Rustle-

At that moment, a bizarre sound was heard from somewhere.

The man urgently turned his head and looked at the side where the sound occurred, but there was no sign of anything existing, and also nothing was felt.

Was it just a mountain beast?

The moment he had that thought.

Growl-!

A low growling sound was heard from somewhere.

That hovered exactly in his ears, and soon cold sweat flowed down.

“A tiger…!”

“B-But it is not seen.”

Gulp, dry saliva went down.

The tiger’s low roar was heard, but where it came from could not be grasped at all. As if the world’s hand-picked experts killed their presence, it was not perceived at all.

“Could it be… the Mountain King?”

“Whichever it is… be tense.”

Tigers are strong.

That a single ordinary tiger bites to death a first-class expert is a common thing. What if it is a tiger that is about the Mountain King?

Even experts who reached the peak would not easily guarantee the outcome.

Roar-!

* * *

Dan Woo-hyun sat leaning his back against a tree, closing his eyes gently. Whether he was sleeping or meditating, he did not budge in that spot for an hour already.

Dan So-mi approached stealthily with a worried expression and sat down, taking a seat beside him.

The moment she slantly extended her hand and poked Dan Woo-hyun’s cheek poke!, his eyes, which had not even had a movement, opened stealthily and looked at Dan So-mi.

“You must be bored.”

“Hehe, because you were sleeping so soundly, I tried doing it once.”

“I see…”

“Ah! You know that sister? I think my thoughts at that time were really correct. Since she didn’t even seem to know how to do laundry, I helped her and came back!”

“Haha, you did well.”

Dan So-mi handed the talk with an expression fully excited as if proud. Because she was a child who only learned something from someone always, her mood seemed heightened by the fact that she taught something to another person.

Roar-!

At that moment, a loud roar was heard in the mountain.

Everyone stopped the work they were doing and looked toward the side where the sound was heard.

What was heard was unmistakably the tiger’s roar.

That the entire mountain rang ringingly proved that it was not an ordinary fellow. Also, the spirit gathered in the sound was grand, so despite being somewhat distanced, it was to the extent of getting goosebumps.

Dan So-mi also looked toward the side where the sound was heard and muttered.

“It seems the White Tiger is playing tricks again.”

“I see.”

“Sigh… he has aged as much as he could, so I don’t know why he acts like that.”

Dan So-mi sighed while grumbling with a dissatisfied expression. That fellow whose bulk was as huge as a mountain was roaming the entire mountain while doing childish, kid-like actions.

“Hoho- even so, is it not reassuring since that fellow is here?”

“That is so, but… Last time, you know? I tell you he caught a huge, deep red snake and brought it! Even in a living state!”

“Hoho… Red Snake… that precious thing. H-He brought it in a living state?”

“You must have been surprised.”

“He really did. Not only that, he caught a spider with a human-like face and was playing with it…”

“What?! What did you do with that spider?”

Listening to the talk quietly, Sa Do-hak ran over while losing his breath. He instinctively realized that she was surely talking about the Human-Faced Spider.

“What do you mean what? I scolded him severely to throw it away.”

“How can you tell him to throw that away?!”

“Yes? But it was extremely gross. Even if you, grandfather, saw it, you would have done the same.”

“Sigh… what a waste…”

“Hohoho-”

Namgung Cheon and Sa Do-hak smacked their lips.

Was it not precisely the spiritual beast that is said to be difficult to see in a lifetime?

Yet, to think that tiger fellow caught it and was playing tricks? If they had known, they could have taken countless inner elixirs.

“Sigh… what should be done.”

“Leave him be.”

“Is it really okay to do so?”

“Yes, he won’t be able to correct it in the future either.”

The White Tiger is an existence called the spiritual beast among spiritual beasts.

The reason he is called the divine beast is also like that.

Rather than eating spiritual beasts to survive, he hunts spiritual beasts to take inner elixirs to become stronger. Since that is also the law of nature, they should not stop him and should not try to correct him.

If the White Tiger does not hunt spiritual beasts, would those which have no natural enemy not increase like bamboo shoots after rain? If it becomes so, people, saying they will put spiritual beasts in their hands, will roam and search the entire mountain and damage the forests.

“Th-That sound… surely? It is the Wh-White Tiger, right?! Right?”

At that moment, Geum Ji-ran ran over while spitting rough breath. As she was extremely urgent, in a state where she could not even catch her breath properly, she threw a question looking at Dan So-mi.

“Ye… yes?”

As Dan So-mi replied in embarrassment at that appearance, Geum Ji-ran’s expression overturned in an instant.

Just like a person who received a god, her eyes changed hazily, and soon she sat down and gave her gaze toward the side where the sound was heard.

“Ah- just how stately and cool of a roar is it.”

“Heh…”

Everyone lost their words looking at her actions.

She, who stood up from her seat as if looking at a wondrous existence, slowly bowed and slammed her head to the ground floor.

How polite those actions were that if someone saw, they would think there was an emperor or the like over there.

“Although you are not seen, your strength is felt. I, Geum Ji-ran, shall wait eagerly for the day I will surely meet that honored face…”

Her voice rang out calmly.

Namgung Cheon and Sa Do-hak clicked their tongues looking at that sight.

It is the best policy to pretend not to see this kind of thing instead.

It was the same for Dan So-mi too.

She, who put all of Geum Ji-ran’s actions in her eyes, widened the distance stealthily and approached beside Dan Woo-hyun.

“Indeed… I think her head is strange. Pitifully.”

“I see.”

Dan So-mi looked at her with a pitiful gaze. Whether she wondered what should be done with this, many thoughts seemed to go back and forth in her eyes and expression.

It was then.

“Hey, you crazy wench! Where are you running away without doing laundry?!”

Jang Sam-tae’s voice rang out refreshingly.

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