Chapter 65

Jin Mukyung wondered.

What happened over the past three years?

He hadn’t felt this bewildered in a long time, and with every passing moment, his bewilderment snowballed.

Whoosh!

Boom! Crash!

The air exploded. The bedroom furniture—and even the walls—shattered to pieces.

But that was all. Jin Taekyung was narrowly dodging every one of his attacks.

He’s dodging this? That guy?

Mukyung could hardly believe his eyes.

Jin Mukyung knew Jin Taekyung well. A scion of a martial family in name only, he was a pathetically weak man in both mind and body.

Mukyung had been willing to overlook it when they were snot-nosed children, but Taekyung’s behavior had only grown more absurd with each passing year.

I used to wonder how someone like that could possibly be my little brother.

Had Taekyung been fifteen? Mukyung still remembered the day he brought a chair to the training hall with perfect clarity.

“Little brother, what’s that?”

“A chair.”

“You left off the last syllable.”

“A chair, sir…”

“Why did you bring it?”

“To use during horse-stance training.”

“Ah. Because horse stance is too hard?”

That groundbreaking idea had made Jin Mukyung smack his forehead.

At the same time, he had attained enlightenment.

Ah. Words won’t work on this one.

“Get down.”

And so the Reformation Fist had been born.

And now that same guy is what? The Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi?

When Mukyung first heard the story at an inn, it was so ridiculous that he couldn’t even bring himself to snort. If the storyteller had been twenty years younger, Mukyung would have beaten him senseless.

That was also why he had gone straight to Taekyung’s room as soon as he arrived at the family.

Has he gone so far as to fabricate rumors now?

It was obviously the Three Calamities Sword Technique. Mukyung could already picture the whole thing.

The only thing Taekyung knew how to do was chase women. He must have decided he wanted a taste of fame and started pretending to be a Peak master.

You’re in for it today.

He had barged in with exactly that attitude.

But then…

He’s different.

Mukyung had realized it the instant he saw Taekyung.

His bones and muscles had grown larger and harder. Deep within eyes that still looked like those of a Third Rate wastrel, there was a sharp, piercing aura.

The hand they clasped afterward was rough and strong.

Peak? No. Not yet. He’s at the upper reaches of First Rate.

Mukyung knew because he had already walked that path himself. Jin Taekyung was still unrefined. He merely stood before the wall of the Peak realm.

That made it all the more astonishing.

How on earth?

Water and sunlight alone did not make everything grow. Just as a sprout needed spring to emerge, there was a proper time to learn martial arts.

Jin Taekyung had been born with a decent physique, as befitted the bloodline of the Jin Family of Taiyuan, but he had squandered those years and missed his chance.

And yet that same man had grown this much in only three years.

Unless he’s undergone a complete transformation…

Whoosh!

The sharp sound of splitting air shattered Jin Mukyung’s thoughts. He narrowly avoided Taekyung’s fist, his face hardening.

He’s getting faster.

It wasn’t his imagination. The more time passed, the faster Taekyung became.

Whoosh!

Even now.

Thud!

Jin Mukyung raised an arm to block the attack, and his feelings were nothing but bewilderment. Watching him, Jin Taekyung snickered.

“You didn’t think you could dodge that, did you? That’s why you blocked.”

“You…”

“I told you. I’m catching up.”

“What happened to you? Did you drink gongcheong seokyu¹ or something?”

“Why would I drink oil? You’re completely insane.”

“…”

Jin Mukyung trembled at the first verbal abuse he had ever heard in his life.

Who was he? A youthful Peak master and a martial-arts genius! Even the scions of prestigious families throughout the Central Plains who envied him would never dare speak to him so rudely.

And yet his own younger brother, only three years apart in age, had called him a crazy bastard.

“You’re dead.”

Jin Taekyung had flinched for a moment at the ominous aura, but then he let out a quiet laugh.

“Getting pretty casual, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“Didn’t you say that if I lasted a quarter of an hour, I’d be your hyung? It’s been a quarter of an hour. Right, Mujin?”

Hyuk Mujin, crumpled in a corner and barely able to breathe, cautiously answered.

“Yes, I think it probably has.”

But when he saw Jin Mukyung glaring at him as though he meant to kill him, he answered again, nearly in tears.

“Though maybe not… Could I just go outside?”

“No.”

Jin Mukyung muttered the word in a sinister voice and drew up his internal energy.

The aura of a Peak master pressed down on the air. Cracks split the floor, and the atmosphere swelled as though it might burst.

Gr-r-rk.

The smile vanished from Jin Taekyung’s face.

“Hyung-nim. I don’t think that’s quite fair.”

In contrast, a broad smile filled Jin Mukyung’s face.

“Just keep doing what you were doing, you little bastard.”

Bang! Cra-crash!

A deafening roar.

Then, collapse.

Jin Wikyung arrived too late and dropped to his knees before the ruined pavilion.

“Youngest—!”

Rustle. Thump!

At that moment, someone emerged through the wreckage. Wearing a wind cloak, he tossed out a shapeless lump like a piece of luggage. It was impossible to tell whether it was alive or dead.

“He’s not dead yet.”

After thinking for a moment, he continued.

“One of them might be dead.”

As if answering him, a groan rose from the pile of rubble.

“Ghhhh…”

“That’s the Captain of the Gatekeepers!”

“Save him! Take him to the Medicine King Hall!”

Looking refreshed, Jin Mukyung gazed up at the sky.

“Ah. Beautiful weather.”

A rude younger brother needed a good beating now and then.

The distinctive smell of medicinal herbs stung my nose. I slowly opened my eyes.

The room had been cleaned up. A dozen or so people hurried back and forth outside the door, and Hyuk Mujin lay asleep in the bed beside mine, swathed in bandages.

The Medicine King Hall.

At this point, it was practically my second home. Come to think of it, I had probably woken up here more often than I had in my own pavilion.

Oh, right. The pavilion had collapsed too.

Great.

“Goddammit.”

That ignorant bastard, Jin Mukyung. Where was I supposed to sleep now?

As I stared blankly at the ceiling, something began squirming beneath my blanket.

What the hell is this?

I lifted the blanket, revealing a small, round, white life-form clinging tightly to my side.

A brief silence passed before I opened my mouth.

“What are you doing here?”

“Shh! Quiet! Quiet!”

It was Soyul, Socheon’s little sister. The five-year-old stared at me with the most desperate eyes in the world.

“What are you doing?”

“Be quiet!”

“Your voice is the loudest one here.”

“Shh!”

Whatever she was doing, she certainly knew how to live an interesting life.

I sighed and pulled the blanket back over us. That lasted only a moment.

Squirm, squirm.

“Pwah!”

Soyul poked her face out and huffed.

“I can’t breathe!”

Was this really the Medicine King Hall? Could just anyone wander in and out of a patient’s room while he was supposed to be resting?

“Are you sorry or not!”

She tapped my chest with her tiny hands, and her expression was surprisingly stern.

“All right. So what were you doing here?”

“Playing hide-and-seek.”

“With whom?”

“With my big brother!”

Soyul smiled sweetly.

“He’ll never dream I hid here!”

“We’ll see.”

I glanced at the closed door. I had sensed someone hovering outside for a while now. It was obvious who it was.

“Come in.”

“…”

“It’s all right. Come in.”

Only then did the door cautiously open. Looking deeply humbled, Socheon said,

“Please excuse the intrusion, Benefactor.”

At the appearance of her brother, Soyul stared at me in shock.

“You betrayed me!”

I answered with a benevolent smile.

“Life is a series of betrayals.”

“That doesn’t count! It was a dirty conspiracy!”

“Where did you learn words like that?”

At the sight of his five-year-old sister showing off such sinister vocabulary, Socheon’s face turned red.

“Yul, you mustn’t say things like that!”

“Big brother’s a whole heap too!”

“You mean he’s in on it.”

At this point, any chance of getting some rest had gone out the window.

Suppressing a sigh, I sat up.

“Urgh.”

“Benefactor, are you all right? You haven’t recovered yet…”

“It’s not that bad. I’m just bruised.”

I had been beaten a little—or rather, quite a lot—but all that had happened was that my bones ached and my entire body was covered in bruises.

Jin Mukyung must have held back because I was his only younger brother. I’d counted on that, which was why I’d acted so recklessly.

“Oh, I see. That’s a relief.”

“But how did you know? Have the rumors already spread?”

“Everyone in the family knows.”

Naturally. A two-story pavilion had collapsed early in the morning.

Curious to hear what was being said, I asked,

“So what are people saying?”

The Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi got beaten like a dog by the Heaven Shaking Sword. Turns out he was nothing but hype.

Surely rumors like that had spread everywhere.

I can already see it…

“Everyone is furious. What a treacherous scheme!”

“Huh?”

A treacherous scheme? What was he talking about? Had Jin Mukyung used poison without my knowing? Had I been poisoned?

As I searched my memory in bewilderment, Socheon ground his teeth, his face full of rage.

“If he had crossed my path, I would have torn him apart, even if it meant dying with him.”

“Thanks for caring, but isn’t that a little excessive? Calm down. Seriously, calm down.”

Jin Mukyung probably wouldn’t simply laugh that off if he heard it.

But despite my attempts to stop him, Socheon’s anger did not subside.

“How could I? The Lesser Family Head himself has proclaimed the man’s immediate execution.”

“…”

What the hell? That’s terrifying.

Was this the kind of place where the second son got the death penalty for hitting his youngest brother?

Is this what Murim is like?

I asked in a trembling voice.

“Did they kill him?”

Socheon shook his head regretfully.

“He escaped. The pursuit team should be tracking his trail by now.”

“Are you kidding me?”

They had even formed a pursuit team. I barely restrained the urge to split open Jin Wikyung’s and Socheon’s heads and inspect their brains.

“Was all that really necessary?”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, the guy was a little rough with me, but he didn’t seem like such a bad person.”

“He tried to harm you, Benefactor!”

“That happens. I understand.”

I had a younger sister too, so I knew how it was. Sometimes I wished Hayeon had been a younger brother. If she were some hulking bastard of a man, I could beat him half to death without worrying about social criticism or pangs of conscience.

“Look. I’m barely hurt. Spit on it, give me a day or two of rest, and I’ll be completely fine.”

Socheon’s eyes trembled violently.

“Benefactor… You are truly a junzi.² I, Socheon, am sincerely moved.”

Thump.

This was driving me crazy.

I pressed a hand to my forehead as Socheon abruptly dropped into a full bow.

“Enough. Go tell them to call off the pursuit. No—going myself would be faster. Where’s my eldest brother?”

Socheon immediately answered.

“He should be in the office with the Second Young Master.”

“Huh?”

“Pardon?”

“No, what did you say?”

“The Lesser Family Head is in the office with the Second Young Master.”

My thoughts became tangled. I barely managed to speak.

“Then who is the pursuit team chasing?”

Socheon tilted his head.

“The assassin, of course.”

“An assassin?”

“What assassin?”

Another voice suddenly cut in. Hyuk Mujin had woken up and spoke in a tone that clearly meant What kind of bullshit is this?

“What is he talking about?”

I ignored Hyuk Mujin and gestured for Socheon to continue.

“For now, we suspect he may be the Head Elder’s hidden disciple. His martial arts were so formidable that if the Second Young Master hadn’t happened to arrive, you would have suffered a grave calamity… Isn’t that right?”

Hyuk Mujin’s mouth fell open at the unbelievable story.

“Are you crazy? Do you want me to tell you why I ended up like this?”

Just as the shrimp whose back had been broken in the fight between two whales was about to tell the truth, Socheon spoke up.

“Ah, I left out Warrior Hyuk. I heard that you fought bravely against the assassin.”

Hyuk Mujin’s ears perked up.

“Me? Who said that?”

“The Lesser Family Head. You distinguished yourself in battle this time, and you were badly injured while protecting the Benefactor. Everyone is envious, saying your reward will be enormous. They say you’re a shoo-in to become the next Master of the Gatekeeper Pavilion.”

“T-The next Master of the Gatekeeper Pavilion!”

“But what were you going to tell us?”

“That…”

Hyuk Mujin flinched for a moment, then continued in a resolute voice.

“About the assassin.”

“Ooooooh!”

“He was strong. Even I, the next Master of the Gatekeeper Pavilion, fought him for a hundred-odd exchanges without settling the match…”

What a bumper crop of bullshit.