Reunion – 2

Master’s Master… so should I call her Grand Master? Anyway, I followed the Grand Master up the hill.

The two women moved forward as if walking on a moving walkway, making it hard to catch up.

“Please, slow down a bit.”

It was so hard to keep up that I spoke breathlessly, and the Grand Master apologized and slowed down.

On the other hand, our Master….

“Hmph, whining about walking a little.”

She pouted and grumbled.

Is she really my Master? There’s a higher chance she’s just someone else who looks the same, right?

Her behavior is completely childish. Of course, she is a child, but still.

Currently, Master’s height barely reaches below my chin.

Considering she used to hover around my nose, she’s definitely underdeveloped.

Hmm… but it’s kind of amazing that she can come to the past.

I’ve always moved to different dimensions, so I’ve never thought about time.

Is it the past? Or a parallel world?

There are these two possibilities, but I think it’s more comfortable to think of it as the former for now.

If it’s the latter, it would feel a bit bitter.

It would be a little sad if the person I’ve built a bond with just has the same face but is a completely different person.

“What are you doing, not coming quickly?”

Hmm… maybe losing the bond wouldn’t be so bad.

Damn it.

I followed at a quick pace and asked the Grand Master.

“But where are we going now?”

“We’re going to the Martial Arts Alliance,” the Grand Master said, sweeping her reddish hair back.

“The Martial Arts Alliance?”

Bad memories come to mind.

“Is the Martial Arts Alliance in this kind of rural area?”

I don’t know much about the martial arts world, but this is just a village. After leaving the houses, all I see are fields.

The bustling streets in my memory weren’t like this.

“It’s an temporary encampment, to be exact.”

Master adds.

“Soyou is right. The Martial Arts Alliance’s elites are here to subdue a very vicious martial arts menace.”

A martial arts menace….

When I possessed this body, Master was a martial arts menace. Was there another being like the Heavenly Demon?

“Could the menace’s name be….”

But no one answered my question.

Because everyone’s eyes were drawn to the scenery below the hill as we climbed the steep slope.

Below the hill was an open space.

The ground was unnaturally hollowed out, and around it were burning flags and broken weapons.

And like the ones I saw in the village, there were withered corpses and corpses pierced and crushed by something.

“Ugh….”

Without permission, a retching sound came out, and I spilled some saliva, or maybe stomach acid, onto the ground.

Seeing my appearance, Master subtly distanced herself.

“It must be a shocking scene…. I’m sorry. But to explain the situation, I had no choice but to show you this.”

The Grand Master said with a bitter expression.

“What happened here?”

“These are the people who sacrificed themselves to catch a single martial arts menace. Do you see that?I could see a small figure lying in the shape of a big character in the very center of the huge pit.

That person’s condition was worse than the others, first of all, his whole body was covered in blood.

“That’s?”

“The martial arts menace. Blood demon Dok Wook. He was a great disaster in this Sicheon land.”

“Blood demon….”

“To become stronger, he consumed Elixirs and Inner cores without restraint, and as a result, he became a monster that craves human blood. That’s the information we’ve gathered so far.”

The Grand Master takes a step towards the steep hill.

I thought she would fall forward because it was a slope, but she stood in the air as if stepping on a foothold.

“Soyou, come down with me.”

The Grand Master left those words and slowly descended, stepping on the air.

Master watched the Grand Master descending, without saying a word.

“……”

She slowly turned her head and looked at me.

“Tch.”

She clicked her tongue and turned her head, as if she didn’t like something.

“Hey, what is it.”

At this point, I’m also annoyed.

“Give me your hand. But don’t hold it too tight. And don’t grope.”

As I was about to grab the hand she offered, she pulled her arm away and spoke urgently.

I understand that it’s because it’s a strange man’s hand, but would it hurt to say it politely?

“Here, here you go.”

I gently placed my arm on top of her hand, and she grabbed my hand and jumped.

“Eek!”

An unsightly scream came out involuntarily.

I closed my eyes tightly, thinking I would fall freely, but for some reason, I was slowly descending the hill.

…It feels like it was like this when I went to the Black Heaven Cult.

I feel a bit nostalgic.

“Hmph, an unsightly scream. For a man.”

Ah, never mind.

As we descended the slope, my feet touched the wide open space.

Waving away the acrid smoke with my hand, Master and I followed after the Grand Master, who had gone ahead.

The Grand Master was talking to some high-ranking people.

A man I had seen somewhere before was among the group of high-ranking people.

“…I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere.”

“You saw Azure Dragon Unit Lord Dokgo Nam? A mere villager?”

Master, Namgung Soyou, looked at me, putting her hand to her mouth.

…I want to flick her forehead.

Ignoring her reaction, which for some reason didn’t like me, I arrived behind the Grand Master, and attention was focused on me.

“To think there’s someone who survived in the midst of all this. Amitabha.”

An old monk put his hands together.

“Hmm, since Yeomjin vouched for him, it’s certain that he’s not a spy sent by the evil sects or someone related to the Blood demon.”

A middle-aged man with caterpillar eyebrows, leaning a large axe diagonally, flexed his muscles and said.

At the man’s words, the Grand Master replied with a deep smile.

“Don’t worry about that. He has a good physique, but he’s just an ordinary person with no Inner Force.”

“That’s amazing in itself. The Blood demon must have sucked up all the life force of the residents of the nearby village, but he survived like that.”

“He may have a lot of energy to begin with, or he may have been hiding somewhere by sheer luck.”

It felt like they were playing drums and gongs among themselves, so I didn’t say anything in particular.

Well, if they asked, “How did you survive?” I wouldn’t have anything to say either.

I’d have to start another amnesia story and build it up, but I don’t know if they’d buy it.

I might get beaten up for being even more suspicious.

It seems like the right answer is to stay quiet in these situations.

The conversation continued for a while.

When the conversation ended, the Grand Master immediately prepared to leave.

“Then, since we’ve subdued the Blood demon, we’ll take our leave now.”

As the Grand Master made a fist and palm salute, Master next to her also made a fist and palm salute.

After giving their greetings, the Grand Master walked away.

I instinctively followed the Grand Master and Master.

Had I been following for about 10 minutes? The Grand Master turned around.

“Ah, but what’s your name?”

She asked me with a gentle look.

“Kang In-ho,” I said.

I was able to introduce myself about an hour after meeting them.

“The place you used to live is in ruins, do you have anywhere else to go? If you have relatives nearby, I’ll take you there.”

“I don’t have any relatives.”

“Hmm… this is troublesome. Even if you go back to the village, it’s already in ruins and may be infested with bandits….”

The Grand Master’s gaze scanned me from bottom to top.

I felt a chill down my spine at her gaze, as if she was trying to scan me.

“Perhaps….”

The Grand Master trailed off.

“Perhaps, if you have nowhere to go… would you like to come with us?”

“Ah, as a porter?”

“Haha, we can carry more luggage than you.”

“Then?”

“I’m asking if you’d like to become a disciple of the Yomryun Skill.”

“Excuse me???”

I raised my voice at the unexpected words, and

“Master!!”

Namgung Soyou, who had been listening quietly next to me, shouted.

“What’s wrong, Soyou?”

“No! Master! How can you let such an unproven lanky guy into the Great Yomryun Skill?”

“First of all, his physical development is excellent. He’s just a body of someone who’s only done farming, but it’s a body that’s very optimized for accepting Martial arts.”

“But he has no Inner Force.”

“Inner Force can be solved to some extent with cultivation and Elixirs. And since we’re not going to be making a martial arts debut right away, we can look at building Inner Force from a longer perspective.”

“But… but….”

Looking at Master’s face, which was turning red, I could guess how angry she was.

She swallowed her words as if she didn’t want to say them out loud, and the Grand Master waited quietly for her to speak.

“But! The Yomryun Skill is passed down to one person only…! Am I so lacking that I have to be pushed aside by this kind of man? Am I that insufficient?”

With tears welling up in her eyes, or rather, almost crying, she shouted.

As if shouting wasn’t enough, she took a deep breath, and the Grand Master burst into laughter at the sight.

“Pwahahahaha! That’s right. The Yomryun Skill is passed down to one person only.”

After laughing for a long time, the Grand Master rubbed her eyes with her fingers and continued.

Even as she spoke, her words were filled with laughter.

“And Soyou. You’re my disciple. So there’s definitely something that’s been decided, right?”

“…???”

Namgung Soyou tilted her head, not understanding her Master’s intention.

Ah, I think I know what it is.

“That man is now ‘your disciple,’ not ‘my disciple.'”

“……”

Okay, silence.

One.

Two.

Three.

“What did you sayyyyyy?????”

My Master couldn’t easily accept this situation.