episode_0027

“Hmm?”

I wonder if he never thought he would hear such words from the mouth of a five-year-old.

As if this was unexpected, Jo Deung tapped the datak with his finger.

“It’s hard to believe.”

“The reason you say it’s hard to believe is because I’m only five years older than you?”

“It would be a lie to say that there is no reason, but the bigger reason is that it does not make sense.”

What does it mean that it doesn’t make sense?

“I heard that the one who received the favor was definitely my granddaughter, but how can I believe that it is the one who received the favor and not the one who received the favor that said that.”

“You only know one thing, but you don’t know the other.”

“What?”

“It is I, not Aman, who has received the favor. The reason Aman’s arms were like that in the first place was because he was trying to protect me from a beast and was attacked by that bastard.”

I would have never dreamed of this inspiration before my eyes. That’s because my father, who later checked the situation inside the cave where we were kidnapped, was worried that strange stories might come out, so he covered up everything related to it.

“It is said that a gentleman will risk his life for someone who recognizes him.”

“Are you referring to the famous story of Ye Yang from Sima Qian’s Chronicles of the Assassins?”

“But what about the grace that saved your life?”

“You speak as if you are a gentleman.”

“I am still young and cannot become a gentleman, but I am the son of a gentleman.”

“What?”

If you don’t trust me, try trusting this body’s biological father.

That’s exactly what I meant when I said it.

I don’t know what point of laughter I had in what I said, but Cho Deung, who momentarily opened his eyes, burst into laughter until the entire room was gone.

“Indeed… Yuneosa is enough to be called a gentleman.”

“Then…?”

“I don’t know what you saw in my granddaughter that made you do this, but I’ll send someone here soon.”

Words that in fact have the same meaning as acceptance,

The moment I opened my eyes, Jo Deung stood up from his seat. Then, as if that was all he had to say, he told me to take care of myself and left the room.

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He was truly a strange boy.

It clearly had the appearance of a five-year-old, but inside it looked like a grown-up young man. It was just that I felt a strange sense of difficulty.

Even though he has been in the imperial palace for decades and has seen all kinds of strange people, this is the first time he has encountered this type.

There was some reason why I reluctantly accepted the boy’s offer.

In fact, the bigger reason than that was that his granddaughter, who always walked around with a dark face, had a human expression at least next to the boy.

“It looks like that kid has already made up his mind. What do you plan to do next?”

At that moment, the darkness next to the door made me flinch.

“Don’t you want to take revenge on those who hurt your arm and that child?”

“I want to, yo.”

In the darkness, purple eyes opened.

Eyes that are beyond ugly and hideous,

Yes, those are the eyes.

Those burning eyes, that will be the starting point that will leave his family and the name of the Cho clan for generations to come.

“I will give you a chance, a chance to develop your strength.”

Feeling a joy that he had not felt even when he had both hands full of power filling his body, Cho Deung made a suggestion to his granddaughter standing in the dark.

“However, the condition is that you leave here and come to Luoyang.”

Leave this place and come to Luoyang, the land where he is.

*****

When he said that he was a person with a clear mind, wasn’t he just saying it?

Cho Deung certainly kept his promise.

He stayed at Jojo’s house for about four days, and right before he returned to Luoyang, which could be said to be his territory, a person who introduced himself as someone sent by Lord Bijeong came to our manor.

The problem is that he is only seven years old this year.

‘no···.’

Didn’t you make it sound like you were going to send someone to teach me Uicheonmu? But what is that…

The absurdity dominated my mind like that, but that didn’t stop me from taking my eyes off the scene in front of me.

No matter how absurd I may be, would I be as good as Mr. Jang, who suddenly ended up having a serious sparring with a seven-year-old?

It is said that this was a confrontation that was brought about by the extremely powerful request of a girl who had the power of Jo-deung on her back, but no matter how much I thought about it, I thought this was not right. Mr. Jang’s expression as he looked at the girl sitting across from him was one of ambiguity itself.

Perhaps he was wondering to what extent he should control his strength?

Of course, that look disappeared as soon as I raised my hand upward as I had decided in advance.

Just like that, the one-on-one dance between the girl who came to teach me martial arts and Mr. Jang began.

“I’ve heard of scarlet hair and sky blue eyes that remind me of a sunset…”

“···? What are you doing here?”

“I remember that among the collateral children that my grandfather had, there was a child with such characteristics, and his name must have been…”

“Hey, teacher?”

“Oh, be quiet! I can’t concentrate!”

“No, isn’t this the time you should be studying with your father?”

If I remember correctly, it must have been so. Why am I sitting here, throwing away the brush and paper that I should have been holding by now?

“Hmph, your father said you could rest today? Without knowing anything.”

“It must be your teacher, not your father. Now, let’s follow along. Seung, Seung, Nim.”

“Father.”

“S, Seung, Nim.”

“I just call you father, what does it matter to you?”

“Of course it matters, bitch! Because he’s my father?!”

“···Hmph, idiot.”

If he appeared out of nowhere like that, it would have been the moment he was arguing with Jo Jo, who was trying to wash his genealogy.

“Kuhhh!”

No matter how you heard it, a scream that clearly came from an adult male echoed throughout the gym. Then, I turned my head, which was facing Jojo, towards the place where I heard the sound, and what caught my eye was the image of Mr. Jang lying on the floor, clutching his solar plexus.

‘···Did you lose?’

To a seven year old?

Is my house okay like this?

It must have been a moment when I was seriously thinking about that.

“in!”

From my perspective, a truly unexpected and meaningless sound came from next to me. Of course, the source was Cao Cao.

“in?”

“His name! It was human!”

“···in?”

His last name is Jo… If they are related by blood, he is probably also Jo, and if his name is ‘In’…

···signature?

Could it be that join?!

“Long time no see. Jongmae.”

I felt like I needed to correct my evaluation of the lighting a bit.

Just as he said, Cho Deung seemed to be a person with a clear mind.

A bit… to the point of being excessive.

“And… I look forward to seeing you in the future. Disciple.”

That’s how Jo In came to stay at my house as my martial arts teacher and guest.

In that way, time passed and it became the day when Cao Cao left for Luoyang.

*****

It was only the day before departure that I learned that Cao Cao had left Chuxian and was heading to Luoyang.

It had no choice but to be like that.

From my point of view, there was nothing I could do because this obnoxious little boy never showed any signs of it.

Because of that, my mind couldn’t help but become complicated.

“There are distracting thoughts in the movement.”

Was that fact even apparent?

Join, who was standing next to me and watching me train, jumped up from his place and lightly hit me on the head with the bamboo stick he was holding in his hand.

Bean!

“Augh…!”

“As I have explained several times, the key to Uicheon Pupil is breathing and concentration. You can only bring out the true power of Uicheonmu by being able to hit every single movement without wasting even a single breath. I realized this fact when I was five years old, and that day too, I was putting my efforts into practicing Uicheonmu. But suddenlyㅡ”

“Oh, I don’t know, let’s say I rested a bit.”

“···There is still some time left until break time.”

“But didn’t Master also say this? It’s not a good idea to overdo it as your body isn’t in good shape yet.”

After observing him for the past few days, I found out that he was so obsessed with looking like an adult that I wondered why he was like that, but he was secretly happy when he received engineering school from me, his student. Jo-in, whose face was almost expressionless, momentarily twitched the corner of his mouth.

“···I didn’t ask you to use it like this, but okay, let’s take a short break and then continue.”

I took Join, who nodded as if there was nothing he could do, and moved to a place under the shade. Then, he plopped down on the small chair that had been prepared there and took out the snacks he had brought with him to eat when he was low on sugar, and Jo In, who was sitting next to him, instantly twitched his nose.

“···Would you like one?”

“Sweet things are the enemy of practitioners as they make the mind slack.”

“Then…”

“But it is not the duty of a teacher to refuse a disciple’s sincerity.”

“Shock,” the snack in my hand disappeared in an instant. It was a gold orchid technique so sophisticated that it was hard to believe that the caster was only seven years old.

As I looked at Jo-in with dumbfounded eyes as he swallowed a mooncake that was almost half the size of his face in one mouthful and munched on it intently, did he feel something like embarrassment at my gaze?

Jo-in, who had finished eating everything in his mouth in an instant, hastily tried to change the topic.

“Today, there were a lot of distracting thoughts mixed in with my movements.”

“Master, there is mooncake powder on your lips.”

“···Jongmae, is it because of Aman?”