Chapter 385: Running Away From Home.

It’s an unfamiliar ceiling.

As soon as I opened my eyes, that was the thought that came to mind. Sunlight was coming in through the window frame.

Judging by the state of things, it felt like it was a little past noon.

I immediately sat up. Because I had to grasp the situation.

However, as I tried to get up, placing my hands on the bed.

“Ugh….”

Due to the throbbing pain in my head, I had to cradle my forehead with my palm.

What is it? Why does it hurt so much?

‘…This.’

While cradling my forehead, I surveyed the room. It was a room I had never seen before.

Judging by the appearance, it looked like a room in an inn. It was a different place from the Baengnim Inn where I was staying.

Only after confirming that much did I recall what had happened right before losing consciousness.

That moment when my father’s fist appeared right in front of my nose.

Did I faint after getting hit?

‘Then, this is unbelievably embarrassing…?’

After going so far as to perform Tua Pa Cheongong, when I thought I’d properly try.

It means I got wrecked after getting hit with one punch.

After showing off all my fancy moves and talking all that big talk, so shamefully.

‘Even…’

‘Since I lost… does it mean I won’t even be able to speak?’

It was a sparring match to ask about my mother’s whereabouts.

It was a matter where just one successful attack was all that was needed.

In the end, I failed. Moreover, Father had even set the condition that he wouldn’t use one arm.

I was defeated, unable to overcome the difference in skill level between us.

‘Losing was a given, but…’

In the first place, I didn’t even think I could win, but I didn’t know I would be defeated so incompetently.

It means Father’s level was higher than my expectations.

Staggering, I lift my upper body.

First, it was to find out how long I had been unconscious and how the situation proceeded after I fainted.

Then.

“Huh?”

As I reached out my hand, I felt an unknown sensation.

On one side of the not-so-wide bed, someone was lying down.

“…What…?”

Startled, I retracted my hand. Who is it? Who is lying on my bed?

My mind grew cold and started racing.

The people who could have possibly snuck onto the bed while I was asleep were, at most, two… no, maybe three.

Anyway, among them, the most likely person was…

‘Namgung Bi-ah?’

She used to sneak in often even before.

It seemed she wasn’t doing it lately, but if she had, it would only be her.

With my hesitant hands, I pull back the blanket.

What if Namgung Bi-ah is there?

What else could I do? As usual, after scolding her a bit, we’d go down together for a meal…

“Hmm…?”

Unlike what I expected to see first, the blue-white hair.

What was visible was black hair.

Black hair…? Who has black hair?

“Grrr….”

The groaning voice was also somewhat deep.

From this, I could tell it wasn’t a woman’s voice, at least.

While I stood there with a bewildered expression, being clueless.

The other person also seemed to have felt my presence and sat up.

“Ugh… It’s morning… Gasp!”

As I confirmed the guy slowly getting up, I unconsciously kicked him.

He was knocked off the bed by the sudden blow.

“Ouch…! You bastard, kicking me!”

The guy clutching his stomach and screaming ‘ppyaek’ was Jamryong U Hyuk.

“…What are you doing here?”

Why the hell is that guy here? And why is he shirtless?

His unnecessarily well-built body caught my eye.

How is it? What the hell else could it be? It’s messed up. I couldn’t help but feel disgusted seeing a guy’s bare body as soon as I opened my eyes.

Suppressing the disgusting feeling, I first spoke.

“Why are you here.”

I’ve really become nice.

If it were the old days, I would have thrown a punch first. But I’m asking a question first, aren’t I?

“Why would someone be in a bed? They’re trying to sleep… Lower your hand. Why are you clenching your fist?”

Of course, that didn’t last long. I’m barely holding back even now.

Barely suppressing that feeling, I say to U Hyuk.

“I’ll count to three.”

“What meaning does that number have?”

“It means I’ll tolerate it three times until I hit you. Answer within that.”

“What kind of vague standard is that, seeming so kind yet so quick? What kind of nonsense is that!”

It was even more absurd coming from the guy who set such a vague standard for me.

Ignoring his reaction, I hold up one finger.

“One.”

“Wait a moment. Hey, why are you acting like this towards a friend? You don’t need to be so violent, do you?”

“Two.”

“Hey! At least give me a sword so I can counterattack! How unfair!”

U Hyuk looked around flustered, but there was nothing useful to be found.

“People should resolve things through conversation from the start…!”

“Three. You bastard, come here….”

“I ran away from home!”

Abruptly.

My body froze as I lunged forward to grab U Hyuk’s head.

“What did you say?”

“…Ran away from home?”

“I ran away from home. I ran away… Ow!”

Unable to hold back, I smacked U Hyuk on the head.

U Hyuk, who screamed, looked at me with an aggrieved expression.

“I told you, why are you hitting me!”

“Sorry, but when you’re spouting bullshit like that, I can’t help but hit you.”

There was never such bullshit.

What is this ‘running away from home’ nonsense? In the first place, isn’t that something someone who lives at the Wudang Sect, with a separate main residence, shouldn’t say?

Even more so, from the perspective of knowing U Hyuk’s real name, it was an even more incomprehensible story.

“…If you ran away from home, then what? Where did you run away from?”

“Put your fist down and talk. Where did I run away from? Obviously, I left the sect.”

It felt like he wasn’t mentioning his own clan at all.

Indeed, since it’s a place U Hyuk hates to death, it made sense.

“So that means… are you saying you’re going to leave the Wudang Sect?”

“Are you crazy? Then what about my dantian? It’s just running away from home. I’ll return someday….”

I don’t know about other places, but usually, if a martial artist belonging to the main sect no longer has aspirations for the sect and wishes to break away from their affiliation, they take back all the martial arts and internal energy they accumulated there.

In severe cases, destroying the dantian is also quite common.

After hearing all that, I asked U Hyuk with a sigh-filled voice.

“What kind of running away from home is this, out of the blue?”

“…”

“One….”

“…My, you’re terribly impatient.”

“Speak quickly.”

As I asked in an annoyed tone, U Hyuk just smacked his lips without speaking.

It seemed like he didn’t want to say something. Normally, I wouldn’t have asked either, but.

“Two.”

Now, I have to ask, even if just out of annoyance.

As I slowly started channeling internal energy into my hand, U Hyuk answered, startled.

“It’s a protest.”

“A protest?”

“Uh… a protest.”

“A protest directed at whom?”

I wondered what this ‘protest’ was about, suddenly appearing out of the blue.

Despite repeated questions, U Hyuk just wore an awkward expression. I knew it. The moment he makes that expression, that guy U Hyuk will never open his mouth.

If it got to that point, beating him to death wouldn’t work.

Tsk. After clicking my tongue inwardly, I asked something else.

“It’s all fine. Running away from home, protesting, it’s all fine, but why are you here?”

Let’s assume it’s personal circumstances. What’s important to me is why U Hyuk is here now.

U Hyuk smiled brightly, as if he had been waiting for this question.

A smile from a good-looking guy like him always gets on my nerves.

“Ah, that. Because I ran away from home, I lost my place to stay.”

“Oh, so?”

“It’s not like I’m running away from home for just a day or two.”

U Hyuk says, grinning.

“So, while I’m away from home, I’ll stay at your place for a bit… Just kidding! It was a joke! Put out the fire! The house is burning down!”

As I smiled and conjured flames around my body, U Hyuk frantically waved his hands, trying to stop me.

“Right? It was a joke, right? Thank goodness. If I had made a mistake, I almost burned you to death here.”

“You speak so menacingly…”

U Hyuk groaned and struggled, reacting to my response. Was this bastard really planning to live like a parasite in my house?

U Hyuk chuckled, seeing my displeased face.

“Don’t worry, it was half a joke. I have a place to stay.”

“That’s a relief.”

“You’re not even asking where…? That’s a bit disappointing.”

“You’ll tell me anyway, even if I don’t ask.”

At my nonchalant words, U Hyuk showed a slightly surprised look.

“Every time I see something like this, it’s amazing, you know? Were we perhaps close since childhood?”

“You’re starting to talk bullshit again?”

“No, if not for that, it’s amazing how you know me so well. Most people don’t know me well.”

“Just say it quickly. Stop talking nonsense and beating around the bush.”

At my firmness, U Hyuk wrinkled his nose, looking displeased.

“I heard you were going to Sichuan.”

At U Hyuk’s words, this time I had to show a slightly surprised look.

“How do you know that?”

“Huh? Cheol Gongja told me.”

U Hyuk casually blurted out the source of the information.

And of all people, it was Cheol Ji-seon.

‘…Just let me meet him.’

My Ji-seon has a looser mouth than expected? He’s going to die…

While I was trying to cool my boiling insides, U Hyuk continued talking.

“Coincidentally, my master is over there. Let’s go together just that far. Because I plan to stay there.”

Hearing U Hyuk’s words, the first thing that came to mind was a question.

A master?

‘Did this guy have a separate master?’

I naturally assumed, like Yeongpung, that we were all learning together from an elder generation figure.

Or were their relationships set separately, like Guryeonghwa and Geomhu?

This was also a story I heard for the first time.

The master of Jamryong.

But meanwhile, he’s in Sichuan again?

“He’s someone who often wanders around anyway, but this time, he happens to be in Sichuan.”

“You had a separate master?”

“Yes, I do. Although I didn’t learn much… Ah, you’d probably know him if you heard his name. He’s quite famous, after all.”

“Who is it.”

Is he that famous? Then it would be stranger not to know that this guy has a master.

As I asked with curiosity, U Hyuk sat up and answered.

“Gyu Do.”

At U Hyuk’s words, I had to tilt my head.

It seemed like a name, but it was one I hadn’t heard of.

Considering he said he was famous, as I was thinking I didn’t really know him.

“By his alias…”

U Hyuk said the rest to me, and upon hearing it, my eyes had to widen like saucers.

“Wudang Eccentric Immortal.”

“…!”

“He is my master.”

He was certainly a famous person. In many ways.

Wudang Eccentric Immortal Gyu Do.

One of the representative masters put forth by the Wudang Sect.

And one of the most embarrassingly viewed ascetics.

Furthermore, a treasure of the Namgung Family.

And also the owner of the treasure sword (Gwimulgeom) Noe-a (Re-ya), used later by Mageomhu.