3
7
9.
Even though I had only faced a novice who hadn’t even learned martial arts, I felt completely drained of energy.
A thought that suddenly crossed my mind, one I had never had before. ‘Have I… …gotten old?’ I have met all sorts of people amidst the harsh storms.
He was someone whose blood would always boil even more whenever he met the outstanding ones among them.
The connection with the current leader of the Martial Arts Alliance was also an extension of that.
Exuding youthful energy by competing in discourse with outstanding talents, and often becoming friends through fierce debates.
I have lived such a life, and I have enjoyed such a life.
However, for some reason, even though I met an outstanding talent named Damak today, my blood did not boil.
With every word Damak spoke, with every topic he raised, stories to refute flashed before my eyes, but
They soon showed only their tails and vanished like smoke.
Several topics that would be interesting to discuss came to mind, but despite circulating my internal energy, I felt a significant level of mental fatigue.
It was also Zhuge Xiaoming who eventually dismissed the group.
He closed his eyes tightly and sank deep into the chair.
“Right… I see. I’ve just gotten old, haha.”
Time is fleeting.
It feels like just yesterday that I was galloping through the martial arts world full of youthful vigor, but has enough time passed already to turn me into a toothless tiger like this?
Suddenly, I felt like putting everything down and resting, but I soon shook my head.
The world of martial arts is more chaotic than ever.
To evade responsibility and step down now was tantamount to saying that one would not pay the price for the peace enjoyed until now.
So, you have to endure it.
Because I am not such a shameless person.
Still, after seeing Damak, I look forward to the day I retire.
How will his successors govern the Murim Alliance and the Jianghu?
Even if the Demonic Cult disappears, it will not be as easy as it was in his time.
Because at that time, the Black Alliance was consolidating its power, and the Green Forest was steadily expanding its influence.
However, it seemed like a moderate trial of that magnitude would be fun to watch. ‘Hmm… then we would need someone who can take on Damak.’ As I went on to think that way, the image of Damak I had just seen came to mind.
That intelligent gaze, a bold voice, and even an upright posture.
Despite his young age, he exudes an unapproachable authority.
And inside his mind, he held the myriad things of creation, which were even greater than the world.
I’m sure whoever has to deal with that child will have a headache.
“Hmm… who would be good?”
It was about time he also chose a successor.
Jegal So-myeong became extremely curious.
I wanted to see children competing and fighting fiercely against each other, eventually changing the world.
Although there may be some outstanding individuals in the Murim Alliance, I thought it would be better to choose from the younger ones since I was making a selection anyway.
I wonder who would be good.
For some reason, a heartwarming smile plays on the corners of my mouth.
“Jin So-un is too young… and also dangerous. Il-myeong or Il-gak are fine, but they lack ambition. Hmm… Ah! Come to think of it, wasn’t Dam-ak about the same age as our Director of the Mantong Department?”
While trying to guess the age of Maeng Ju-won, whom I usually had no interest in.
The sound of hurried footsteps was heard from outside the door.
Then, the door burst open.
“General!!!”
It was none other than Maeng Ju-won who rushed into the reception room barefoot.
Maeng Ju-won burst into maniacal laughter with a deeply flushed face.
“There are a whopping five, five people who passed the entrance exam for the Department of Communications!!! Hahahaha! Overtime is over now!!! It’s over, I say, over!!!”
“…….”
Zhuge Xiaoming frowned deeply as he scanned him up and down, looking as if he had lost his mind.
“only……
Director Tong.
“yes!”
“What on earth is that in your hand?”
“Ah? Ah! This is candy.”
Jegal So-myeong suddenly felt pain in his temple as if it had been stabbed with an awl.
He pressed his temples firmly while simultaneously suppressing his emotions and asked back.
“You mean… that thing children eat as a snack?”
“Yes! Yeot is too sweet for me to eat easily, so I actually prefer sweets for dinner!”
Zhuge Xiaoming was seriously considering whether to smack the subordinate on the head to get him back, as he seemed to be malfunctioning.
While Zhuge Xiaoming was experiencing internal conflict like that.
In the sudden silence, Meng Zhuyuan blinked his eyes and looked back and forth between Dang Guo and Zhuge Xiaoming, then reached out his hand with a look of realization.
“Would you like to try some, Commander-in-Chief?!”
Zhuge Xiaoming barely managed to hold back his curses as he examined his subordinate’s appearance…
“Oops! When did this get on me??”
His gaze was fixed on the sugar water smeared near Maeng Ju-won’s chest.
Maeng Ju-won was busy wetting his finger with saliva to wipe away the sugar water stain.
“……
How old are you?
“Me? Of course I’m at the age where I should be married, having kids, and getting nagged by a foxy wife…….”
“Get lost!”
“Huh? Why the sudden…?”
“Stop blabbering and get lost! I can’t stand the sight of you!”
Despite the disappointed look on Maeng Ju-won’s face, Jegal So-myeong left the place without hiding his anger.
For some reason, Jegal Somyeong’s retirement seemed far off for a while. The next day, an open house event was held for the parents attending the graduation ceremony.
The brothers Geum, Eun, and Dong took their parents to the four-person room they shared with Moyong Jaehwa.
Saryeon also introduced the academy, bringing along her father Hong Mun-gi, who had transformed into a different person.
I tried to guide the head of Wang Geumsan, but he declined my offer out of consideration for my son and me, and went to inspect the Wang family branch in Wuhan.
“Isn’t Lord Wang pushing himself too hard? It hasn’t been long since he arrived in Wuhan.”
For some reason, my father’s expression was sullen.
“Anyone would think that Wang Jang-ju is your father.”
“Hmm? Didn’t you know? The father in my heart and the one I wish to serve as my adoptive father…….”
“This bastard…….”
In the end, I got hit.
I was used to getting beaten by my father so many times, but somehow it felt less painful than before.
It probably isn’t because my father has become weak.
“My father is still too vigorous to have withered under the power of time. It must be due to the energy of the Millennium Earth Woong.” Having had more free time recently and experimented with various things, I have come to one conclusion.
I gained the power of the Millennium Earth Woong.
And quite strongly at that.
Even serious wounds are almost fully healed after just one day, and the recovery ability is so good that scars rarely remain.
I felt as though I was becoming closer to a non-human being, but isn’t rapid recovery practically a fortuitous opportunity for a warrior?
I decided to just think of it as good things being good.
This is the dormitory I used to stay in.
I first showed my father the annex for the representative of the Murim Academy.
“welcome.”
The waiting head maid and servants all greeted in unison, and Father awkwardly returned their greeting.
“Ah, hello. Jin So-woon… I mean, I am this guy’s father.”
I have heard much about this.
I am sorry that I have never been able to thank those who have been taking care of my son.
My father, who had hired many servants while at the Taeeul Sect, was somehow intimidated by the head maid and the servants.
The CEO wasn’t exactly high-maintenance. On the contrary, he treated us so well that we were always grateful.
The father’s face softened a little at the servant’s words praising his son, but.
“Oh, is that so? That’s a relief…… Haha.”
Father kept clearing his throat, perhaps because he was uncomfortable with the servants who kept following them even while he was showing them the interior quarters and private training grounds.
“Father, do you want to go to the outhouse…?”
“Hey! What the hell are you talking nonsense! Ahem…….”
Still, the father’s lips twitched, as if relieved to see the space where his son had stayed.
I chuckled, escorted my father out of the lodging, and headed to the academy.
The school building was already packed with students who had gathered to show their parents around.
That building is the education center, and that is the training hall. The classrooms are over there.
Father, who had seemed excited at first, was looking around the academy in a strange silence, as if he had already lost himself in his own world.
I also didn’t want to disturb my father, so I walked quietly beside him.
I wonder how much I wandered around the spacious academy building.
Actually, I wanted to come to the student center too.
With a calm voice that seemed to hold the passage of time, Father began to speak in a composed manner.
“I wanted it so badly… But back then, I thought Kang Chae-seok was the right one to go to the academy. After all, he was several times more excellent than me.”
Father’s childhood, which I had never heard of before.
Somewhere familiar.
The image of a teenage boy who takes giving up and sacrificing himself for granted is right before my eyes.
“But for some reason, I lost interest in martial arts after that. Even during my mandatory service, I just waited to finish my term and return to the sect.”
It is a picture of my childhood.
“Since I’m going to be in charge of the outer hall that handles money anyway, I didn’t think martial arts were that important.”
It was a story that was very similar to my past life.
I just kept running away like that.
Father took in the buildings and scenery of the Murim Academy one by one, as if engraving them into his eyes.
“But my son walked a path completely opposite to mine.”
Father, who had been taking in the scenery of the school building as if trying to engrave it in his memory, soon turns his head toward me.
A small smile hung on my father’s lips as he looked at me with a complex gaze.
It was a sight I had never seen even once throughout my two lives, both past and present.
For some reason, I felt embarrassed and couldn’t look that smile straight in the eye.
Father might not know this, but I… ran away a lot.
My father patted my shoulder as if to comfort me.
You’ve worked hard.
You are too kind… .
And… I’m sorry.
There were tears welling up in my father’s eyes.
The moisture clinging precariously, looking as if it might fall at any moment.
“If he were a father you could comfortably lean on, you wouldn’t be suffering like this.”
Please don’t say that.
The gaze that stares proudly, as if irreplaceable, evokes guilt in me.
Because in my previous life, I wasn’t someone my father could be proud of.
Because he was a person who always ran away and ran away, only to eventually become unable to forgive himself.
It is only now that I have been given a second chance at life that I can finally take a step forward.
He is not such a great son.
“Don’t say such things. It is a great achievement just to have grown this much under my tutelage.”
“That’s right…….”
“This guy!”
I turned my back, pretending to avoid my father who was rushing at me.
What thoughts might the father of the previous life have had while dying at Taeeulmun?
Did they resent me for just memorizing documents at the Communications Department?
Did he suffer as he died in agony?
or not…….
As soon as the nightmare came to mind, it felt like my heart was sinking.
Then, my father’s voice was heard as if to save me from falling into hell.
“If… even if you had just run away like me, I wouldn’t have resented you.”
Those words, as if answering my thoughts.
yes?”
Even if you tried hard to look away to avoid your fear, it would have comforted you.
Father smiled benevolently with his characteristic fierce face.
It was a truly unsuitable expression.
“I’ve always wanted to tell you this someday. That I’m always on your side.”
So, I told you not to push yourself too hard.
My father probably has no way of knowing what I went through in my past life.
Nevertheless, somehow, my father’s words comforted me for the long time I had barely managed to survive.
When I was immersed in such warm sentiment.
“But… I simply cannot overlook them constantly forming friendships with those scoundrels of the Dark Path.”
I poured cold water on it.
“What are you talking about?”
Why is your evil getting worse day by day?
number of people.
Is this spreading widely?
“How would I know that!”
“It is all because of your behavior!”
I felt like I had been stabbed in the back by someone I trusted.
I spun around, looked at my father, and shouted.
“I am so disappointed! How can you not trust your only son!! And listen to the words of those scoundrels from the dark path who have deceived the people!”
“Then are you saying it’s not your fault that your nickname is getting more famous day by day?”
“Isn’t that all just a scheme by swindlers to somehow draw out a hero as outstanding as me! Why are you so naive, Father!”
I poured out my emotions to the fullest.
“I’m disappointed! I’m disappointed! I’m so disappointed that I think I’m going to become Jin Seo-un instead of Jin So-un, Jin Seo-un!!”
When I spoke up strongly, my father’s gaze softened.
Then can I trust you?
“Even if everyone in the martial arts world doesn’t believe me, shouldn’t you believe me, Father? I even gave you the Seven-Colored Jewel!”
Even though I said that, the look of suspicion seemed to have no intention of lifting.
Only when I kept staring intently did Father finally soften his mood.
I will be watching from now on.
“Father, please make sure to see it with your own two eyes. Whether or not traces of the Dark Path remain on my journey. Just wait and see, and you will know.”
I said confidently.
Is this what you meant by telling me to see it for myself?
I could not lift my head at my father’s words. [Congratulations to Young Hero Jin So-un, the Divine Star of the Dark Path Martial World, on his graduation from the Martial Arts Academy.]
-All members of the Four Black Dragon Alliance-][We welcome the Black Flame Dragon’s entry into the Martial World. The Leader of the Four Black Dragon Alliance and ten
person]
A banner with congratulatory words written in a single stroke on a large piece of cloth.
It was a banner commonly seen at graduation ceremonies, provided the sender wasn’t strange.
Of course, the banners didn’t stop there. [Congratulations on the graduation of Young Hero Jin So-un, who has found a new path in Mukrim.]
-Mandokmun-]
Starting with the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect, with whom I recently formed a connection. [Hero of the Demonic Plateau. Congratulations on the graduation of Young Hero Jin So-un.]
-Guryongbang-]
Even the Black Dao Sect, who have not forgotten their past ties.
No, why would someone like the Black Dao be so deeply ingrained in the bones that it is unforgettable
I’m doing it, you know? It’s okay to just live recklessly like a true Black Way!
They competitively hung up banners as if the entire Black Dao martial arts world were dying to congratulate me.
Seriously, what is this… …
“How on earth did this happen!”
Ugh… who would have thought I’d get caught in something like that?
I mean, no sane person would ever think of hanging a banner in the middle of enemy territory, right?
Moreover, how is it that the Black Alliance and the Black Dao Sects hung a banner right in the middle of the Murim Academy graduation ceremony and no one tried to stop them?
Where did the Alliance Leader go! Where did the Commander-in-Chief go…!
If you have a mouth, explain it yourself!
“Ahem, Father, that is…….”
I can vividly hear the sound of teeth grinding in my father’s mouth.
“Well, the thing is…”
“Even after seeing this, you’re saying these are actions meant to frame you?! Are you telling me to believe that right now!”
I felt incredibly wronged, but even if I had ten mouths, I wouldn’t have anything to say.
