Chapter 55: I Must See Your Bottom
Although a good atmosphere had been established with Lady Jang So-wol, I could not converse with her for long.
This was because I had come to see Aunt Han San-wol.
After parting with Lady Jang So-wol with a promise for next time, I headed toward what could be called the deepest depths of the Baek Family Escort.
Sister Seol-ah, who quietly followed beside me, spoke.
“We have been staying together for a while, and she is a good young lady.”
“Yes, she seems to be.”
Among progressive people, there are those who do not consider their surroundings. Those who live with their sights set high sometimes do not look beneath their eyes.
Lady Jang So-wol was neither.
She was fundamentally a person with the refinement to look around her. Such a person takes good care of their surroundings. Naturally, the description of being a good person followed her.
She was a good partner to join hands with.
For some reason, Sister Seol-ah’s voice grew pouty.
“She has a bright and cheerful personality. Her martial arts are outstanding, her family is highly reputable, and her face is pretty, too.”
“Still, she is not as pretty as you, Sister.”
“…….”
Sister Seol-ah, who had been praising Jang So-wol to the skies, stopped talking at my reply.
With her eyes slightly narrowed.
“Is it because you have gained confidence? You seem to have become sly.”
“I am just speaking honestly. I am allowed to do that with you, Sister.”
“Thank you very much for the special treatment.”
As if treating an immature younger brother, Sister Seol-ah’s hand rose without hesitation, defying any age gap, and pinched my cheek.
“Did you like her?”
“Of course I like her. There are probably not many people who would dislike Lady Jang. She is a person of upright mind.”
Jang So-wol was indeed an attractive woman. It was not for nothing that people gathered around her wherever she went.
“Well, but if we are talking about affection between a man and a woman, it is not particularly like that.”
“Usually, isn’t the sense of distance between those two ambiguous for men?”
“I am not like that. I only said I would help if she actually needed help.”
It was the truth.
I spoke honestly without trying to clumsily hide it.
“After all, the one I like is you, Sister.”
“This fellow.”
Strength entered Sister Seol-ah’s hand, which was holding my cheek.
“You have become a frivolous man.”
It did not feel like she took it seriously.
“Did you become frivolous because of Mu-ho?”
Sister Seol-ah glanced sideways at Baek Mu-ho.
Because her head was turned, I could not see Sister Seol-ah’s expression, but seeing Baek Mu-ho’s reaction upon receiving that gaze, I could well tell what kind of expression it was.
“You two should have just kept flirting, why are you bothering a quiet bystander?”
Baek Mu-ho grumbled, startled.
Although I could not see because it was in my blind spot, Sister Seol-ah, who pressed down on Baek Mu-ho once more, added one last word to me.
“A man is cooler when he has a serious side.”
“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”
“Right.”
Smiling softly at my submissive acceptance of her words, Sister Seol-ah leaned her head against my chest. For some reason, she seemed to be trembling slightly.
“It will be fine if you treat Mother seriously and sincerely, too. And no matter what Mother says, I am on your side. I believe in you.”
Having finished speaking, Sister Seol-ah withdrew with a faint smile.
Baek Mu-ho, who had been staring blankly at Sister Seol-ah’s retreating figure, poked my side once she had completely disappeared.
“You bastard, you were a scary guy.”
Baek Mu-ho spoke as if seeing me in a new light.
‘Did it feel that different from usual?’
“I just spoke my mind honestly. That is not a bad thing.”
“Well, that is true, but.”
If Baek Mu-ho had seen a different side of me just now compared to before, it meant that much power, which had not been there before, was carried in my words.
I did not dislike such a change.
“Only now have I earned the right to act somewhat honestly, so I do not want to crawl and grovel for no reason.”
“Shouldn’t you spice it up with a bit of a serious side, too?”
Baek Mu-ho tried to keep teasing me.
“Then do you want to get hit seriously?”
“No to violence.”
Baek Mu-ho raised both arms high, declaring surrender.
Having easily suppressed Baek Mu-ho, I moved my steps further inside again.
“Go in alone from here.”
“Huh? What about you?”
“Mother told me to send you in alone.”
However, before entering, Baek Mu-ho dropped out on his own.
‘Something feels fishy.’
“Then why didn’t you leave when Sister Seol-ah left?”
“No, well, just…… seeing you off?”
“…….”
This bastard was trying to tease me. He had stayed behind to run his mouth about what I did with Sister Seol-ah and Lady Jang So-wol.
When I stared at him intently, Baek Mu-ho fled with a hearty laugh.
***
‘It is quiet.’
The deepest depths of the Baek Family Escort.
Being at the center of all logistics moving in Samyang County, the Baek Family Escort was always bustling with people coming and going.
Yet there was no such sign here at all.
Beyond quiet, it felt to the point of gloominess.
A damply settled cold air. It felt as if I had entered a well forgotten long ago.
[Do you feel that the energy has settled?]
As if reading my mind, Master Zhang Sanfeng spoke.
When I nodded instead of answering, Master Zhang Sanfeng’s words continued.
[It is because she has suppressed the surrounding energy. It is a realm of controlling one’s surroundings with willpower. Quite impressive.]
Master Zhang Sanfeng praised. Even the elders of the Nine Great Sects had not received this level of praise.
To think Aunt Han San-wol was an expert of that level.
While I was surprised by this unexpected level of martial power, Aunt Han San-wol appeared and looked at me quietly.
“…….”
It was the same as back then. It felt as if I had returned to the past.
Even though several years had passed, her posture had not changed at all. The beautiful middle-aged woman, who resembled Sister Seol-ah, quietly fixed her gaze on me.
It was a gaze that had struck fear in me in the past.
I steeled my mind and held my ground.
The déjà vu, as if having returned to that time in the past, still remained, but there was something clearly different.
I was not the me from back then.
Seeing my unwavering appearance, Aunt Han San-wol opened her closed mouth.
“You have become quite imposing.”
“Yes. It has been a long time since I last saw you.”
“I understand it has not even been a year since you properly learned martial arts.”
Her voice was beautiful. It was almost a waste to listen to it alone. The clear and elegant voice, unlike Sister Seol-ah’s, did not feel repulsive at all, even though she had not a single shred of goodwill toward me.
‘This is troublesome.’
She spoke as if measuring the level of my achievement.
It meant that it was not something that could be achieved in less than a year.
Frankly speaking, even for me, the person concerned, there were times when I wondered if this was a dream, so it was not an incomprehensible story.
“Fortunately, it seems I had talent.”
“Talent, talent, indeed……”
It became clear as the conversation continued.
Aunt Han San-wol was not friendly toward me. No, rather, she was feeling uncomfortable.
The fact that the intensity rose as the conversation continued meant that there was a part of my words that caught her attention.
“In the past, there was someone who said the same words as you. The path he walked was similar to yours, too.”
“Because the world is wide.”
The world is wide and people are many. Among them, those with talent are but a fraction, but the number of that fraction is sufficiently large.
However, I was certain. No matter how many people there were in the world, there would be no one like me.
That was why.
“Do you know the name Ximen Dacheng?”
“I am sorry. I do not think I have heard of it.”
“He was a genius that all the Nine Great Sects paid attention to. He was called a peerless genius, to the point that they said his name would be talked about for a thousand years. Although now, he has vanished in vain like a mirage.”
“It seems so. Although I studied at Wudang for a short time, I have not heard that name.”
Aunt Han San-wol’s next words were shocking.
“Then, have you ever contacted someone who is not normal, who might exist in the realm of fantasy beyond human perception?”
“……!?!”
Excuse me? Masters?
‘Is she perhaps talking about the Masters?’
I tried my best not to show it, but it might have leaked to the outside.
That was how much the words Aunt Han San-wol brought up just now shook my inside.
Aunt Han San-wol’s words sounded like a question aimed at my specialness, its very source.
[I understand that there has been no case of the heavens reaching out to the earth separately until now.]
[It is correct that no such thing has happened. It is an impossible thing to begin with.]
[Indeed, the law of causality would not have left such a variable alone. If such a thing had happened, we would not have been rolled around in lowly government positions until now in the first place.]
To the doubt I harbored, Master Zhang Sanfeng and Master Bodhidharma exchanged such words, denying that hypothetical story.
It was impossible.
‘Is that really so?’
What happened once can happen twice.
Although such a special case is an exception, was there really never once in the past?
‘But, if there really was room for the heavens to intervene on earth, it would also be strange that there are no new Immortals ascending to the heavens.’
Just looking at the Masters suffering from overwork, one could guess that the heavens were experiencing a severe labor shortage.
If the rules imposed on causality were loose, wouldn’t they have exercised some flexibility and taken action?
The inferences followed one after another, but no clear answer came out.
Aunt Han San-wol’s words continued.
“At that time, people called Ximen Dacheng a peerless genius, but a few, including myself, knew. His talent was not innate but acquired, and that an invisible hand had intervened. A power beyond the present world had intervened. It was a matter I had folded away in one side of my memory for a long time, but after returning home from the escort mission, I saw traces of a realm detached from the present world in Mu-ho’s sword. In the midst of that, I heard news of you. You are following a path similar to Ximen Dacheng’s. Thus, I had to confirm it.”
“What happened in the past?”
“There was. Both to Ximen Dacheng and to me. My family has a deep grudge and debt of gratitude with the existence suspected to be behind Ximen Dacheng. Therefore, I cannot overlook this matter. That is because you are already connected to the family.”
‘Suspicion? Existence? Grudge and gratitude?’
Aunt Han San-wol spoke as if pointing to something that actually existed on earth.
‘In that case, she is not talking about the Masters.’
Aunt Han San-wol was not bringing up the Masters, the celestial existences, right now.
It was clearly something else.
Even a martial artist of Aunt Han San-wol’s caliber dismissed it as a realm of fantasy, but it was a reality.
Thanks to that, I could solve one problem that was conjugating complexly.
“You might not have recognized it yourself, or a restriction might have been placed on you, preventing you from speaking. However, no one can completely hide their origin. I must see your true limit.”
Although unlike inside my head, reality was still tangled.
[Be careful.]
Master Zhang Sanfeng warned, which was rare for him.
‘I know.’
Certainly, it was worth Master Zhang Sanfeng’s warning.
The energy that had been pressing down on the surroundings stirred.
As if responding to Aunt Han San-wol, the surrounding energies shed a cold chill.
“Whew!”
The temperature fell so much that white steam misted my breath.
An existence that changes the time of the world just by changing her mind.
“Do your best. Otherwise, you will die.”
Such an existence bared her teeth at me.