episode_0094

“Umm….Hmm?”

The black cat paused for a moment, perhaps because it received a completely unexpected answer. I turned my head towards Hyuk Kirin, who was listening to the assessment.

I closed my eyes tightly, looking quite shocked.

“Definitely androgynous..? Although it looks like that. Even so, it wouldn’t be enough to just call her a cross-dressing woman.”

“It’s a black cat. Didn’t we talk about illusion resistance last time?”

“Could this be because Hyuk Kirin is using a martial arts skill that produces an illusion effect? Hmm…but I kept observing the white giraffe on the way, and there was no such sign…”

On the way, I stared at Hyeok Kirin endlessly. It was heartbreaking to hear that I kept looking because I wanted to know even one more thing.

However, I was in a position where I had to continue to inform the black cat of the cruel reality.

Hyeok Kirin did not actually learn martial arts with an illusion effect. A martial arts attack with such an effect should in fact be classified as a color attack or a magic attack. There was no way Hyuk Kirin, the great disciple of the Jeomchang sect, could have learned such magic techniques.

“Hyeok Kirin I think we should look at the object, not the person.”

Perhaps it is not Hyuk Kirin himself, but among the items he owns, there are items that help Hyuk Kirin disguise himself as a man. There’s a high possibility that it’s jewelry or a belt, but…

“As expected, that case is suspicious.”

There are various Gijinibos in this world of martial arts, so it would not be surprising if there were items that had the effect of helping crossdressing. When I thought about it, I was a little curious. What effects do certain items have that help with cross-dressing?

As long as I am a man, there is absolutely no chance of me becoming a cross-dresser, so a feeling that could be called useless curiosity suddenly rose up.

“That might be possible.”

The calm words of the black cat brought me back to my senses.

Is it because of my mood that I can feel some anger or joy in the profile of the black cat staring at Hyeok-rin? It’s probably not because of my mood. Yes, black cat, it is right to brush it off now. The deeper your feelings become, the more difficult it becomes.

“A woman dressed as a man…Hmm. But is there any reason to hide your gender?”

“Well. If your information is correct, something will happen regarding power.”

“Hmm… They say he stole it from the imperial power structure and into the martial arts to protect his own blood relatives… It’s a traditional method that has been around since ancient times…”

The black cat suddenly touched its forehead and sighed.

“It certainly makes sense. It is unusual that even though he is the leader of the Huye Shishi, his family name and background are not known… Even though fortune tellers are not all fools, they are not so good that they would accept a cross-dressing woman as a disciple without any benefit, so Hyeok Kirin is helpful to fortune tellers. Should I say that I was riding on the back of someone with enough power?”

“If you have that level of background, I might be able to get you one or two items to help with cross-dressing.”

“Mmm. I found out the not-so-pleasant truth.”

The black cat raised his finger and put it to his mouth and said.

“Senior. Please do not tell others about this matter and keep it secret. I know Hyeok Kirin’s secret so I can use it somewhere. It would be helpful to just pretend not to know and move on.”

I nodded silently. If Hyuk Kirin went around telling women that he was a princess, it didn’t do any good to me. If Black Cat didn’t have a crush on Hyuk Kirin, he might not have said this in the first place.

There was only silence between me and the black cat.

*** ***

Black Cat felt his mind becoming complicated. He is powerful enough to push a cross-dressing woman into the fortune-telling group… Is Hyeok Kirin someone’s illegitimate child? The black cat, who had instinctively guessed the identity of Hyeok Kirin, shook his head and shook off his thoughts.

‘Who cares who they are?’

Revealing Hyeok Kirin’s identity was something that had long been concluded to be dangerous. Even if a new lead came in, there was no reason to change policy.

And what was important to the black cat was not the identity of Hyeok Kirin.

The black cat slumped its shoulders in disappointment. It was a clue that I really managed to catch. A way to get the attention of Hocheonan, who doesn’t even nod even when you hold his hand. The method disappeared before it could be used properly.

Hyuk Kirin was a woman!

So, no matter how much I praised Hyuk Kirin, the likelihood of Ho Cheon-an reacting was very low. No, if you praise Hyeok Kirin’s appearance now, you’ll get some strange misunderstanding!

“Wow, I can’t believe things ended up like this…”

The black cat looked at Ho Cheon-an with resentful eyes. Even though I knew that no emotions could be conveyed because it was covered by the black spirit qigong, I automatically gave myself that look.

“It’s a pity that Hyuk Kirin was a woman…it was an opportunity…”

“No, that…um.”

Ho Cheon-an scratched the back of his head as he looked at the black cat with slumped shoulders.

“After this request is over, should I stop by the bakery?”

“Yes?”

“There is a bakery in Sacheon that only people in the know know about. You always eat the main dish, right? First of all, the basic skills are excellent, so the fried rice will be delicious.”

The black cat thought. Is this possibly senior Ho comforting me right now? Did you really think I was interested in Hyuk Kirin?

Black Cat’s mind immediately became complex with a different meaning. My heart sank at the sight of Ho Cheon-an thinking that he really had feelings for Hyuk Kirin. Did I praise Hyeok Kirin too much?

“Senior! I’m not interested in Hyuk Kirin!”

“Then. Well, I think so too.”

Although he said that, his eyes were full of pity. The black cat felt the back of its neck becoming stiff.

‘The person I like is senior Ho!’

Seeing that the black cat’s hands were shaking with anger, Hu Chenan urgently opened his mouth.

“Hey, you may be mistaken in deceiving them by mobilizing all your might to deceive them. It’s not something to be ashamed of at all. It’s natural to be deceived! hmm! If I weren’t of a special constitution, I would have been fooled!”

“No..!”

“Look over there. Can you see the way the cowboys over there look at Hyeok Kirin? Look at the honey dripping from everyone’s eyes. Since you were running the Black Spiritual Qigong anyway, no one saw it and it just never happened? There is nothing to worry about.”

“Ugh…”

The black cat sighed. Actually, since I was self-employed, I had nothing to say.

‘I should have made sure to do it then.’

The black cat once again reflected on a regret he had already made about a hundred times. When you show your face. Overwhelmed with emotion, we agreed to the goal of immersing ourselves in training together and reaching the realm of perfection.

At that time, I thought I was happy just by being next to you.

‘I never thought people would only look at martial arts like this…!’

I never thought anyone would look at anything other than real martial arts. Didn’t the underwater cave ultimately fail to attract attention?

‘I was a fool to think I was jealous, I was a fool!’

Ho Cheon-an simply noticed that Hyuk Kirin was a woman and just wanted to stop him from continuously praising the woman’s appearance as being attractive.

The black cat felt a serious sense of crisis. If things continued like this, it seemed like nothing would happen with Ho Cheon-an until Hwa-gyeong broke out.

“Senior! Once this is over! We will definitely go to the bakery together! Do you understand?”

“Huh? iced coffee. of course. I live.”

This senior needs a more active offensive approach. It was when the black cat, making that judgment, was snorting and arousing its will to fight.

Hyeok Kirin returned after hearing the circumstances.

*** ***

A black cat with a clear look of excitement, as if he was quite shocked by the fact that Hyeok Kirin was a woman disguised as a man.

Just as I was about to change the subject and talk more about the bakery, Hyuk Kirin came back. It seems that because his face is dark, he didn’t hear what he wanted.

“Rest. The situation is not good.”

“It looks like the bandits are powerful.”

“It looks like you really made a plan. It seems like they brought in all the four creditors and debtors of Nokrim Seventy-two Houses… and even the elite forces of Sanchae.”

Hyuk Kirin unpacked the information he had gathered from people. The four wild vegetable associations are Howangchae, Bok Choy, Jinmichae, and Palbochae, all of which have delicious-sounding names, but they were notorious bandits near Sacheon.

“Fortunately, people don’t do harm and only take away people’s wealth.”

“This is truly bandit-like behavior.”

“Hmm?”

“I can clearly see their thoughts. I guess they are just greedy people who don’t care about this or that.”

Hyeok Gi-rin gave me a puzzled look at my words.

“Why do you think they don’t harm people? To put it in the extreme, it is much more profitable in the short term to kill planthoppers or capture the entire upstream route.”

What happens when you release a person? Immediately, rumors spread all over heaven and earth. Then, commercial travelers and travelers heading towards Jeongnamsan Mountain will immediately change direction. This means that those who would have helped the living quarters if they had not heard the rumor are running away.

“If you really wanted to take just one big hit and run away, there is no better way. Like an ant hell that quietly swallows ants, it should have eaten it without a word and run away.”

The reason I don’t do that is because I have a desire to build a proper nest on Jeongnam Mountain on Nangyeong-daero.

Nangyeongdaero is the lifeline that connects Sacheon and Jungwon. A golden road through which money flows from Sichuan Province, where a huge amount of money flows. If you can find a place in Jeongnamsan Mountain, you can build a huge amount of wealth without worrying about money for the rest of your life just by paying the toll tax.

“If you harm people, no matter what you do, you will not be able to settle down on Mt. Jeongnam. Can we really tolerate those who harm people in Sacheon, where there is no Sapa, let alone Madou? ”

“Hmm. Isn’t there something absurd in what Roninbun said? If they really want to establish themselves in Jeongnam Mountain, shouldn’t they have extorted all the merchants’ wealth?”

“That is correct.”

But why do Howangchae and the delicious guys steal all the wealth without harming people?

How can the upper class and people who have been robbed of their wealth by bandits remain silent? Naturally, they would foam at the mouth and go to the martial arts sects and raise their voices to subdue the bandits.

If you really wanted to settle down on Mt. Jeongnam, it would be much easier to settle down just by collecting the toll tax rather than stealing the entire luggage of passers-by.

“But. Why would they be bandits? Would people who are patient and capable of making rational decisions and investments crawl into mountains and harm people to make a living?”

“Ah…”

People expect and think based on their own standards. General knowledge? Even the law? manners? Why would people who know how to set up something like that start banditry? If they were such wealthy friends, they would have committed themselves to Sapa at least.

As many as four of the seventy-two green forest houses joined forces to form an alliance. This can be said to be a big undertaking in which the four living quarters are risking their lives, so it is common sense to think that everything that is done is done with careful consideration.

However, the actions of bandits can only be predicted if you think about them at the level of a bandit.

“If you invest with patience in something that may fail, you are not a mountain robber. First of all, since the bandits must have put in a lot of effort to settle down on Mt. Jeongnam, let’s start with the price. At the same time, if you settle in Jeongnamsan Mountain, the profits you will receive will be good.”

To rob the merchants of Sacheon and make a big deal out of them. To settle down properly on Mt. Jeongnam. Even if we were to aim for only one of the two, it would have been extremely difficult.

“I covet wealth, so if I take it and run away, I can see the profit I will make from Mt. Jeongnam, but if I just leave, I am afraid of the consequences. Although they are scared, they covet wealth, but they also want to make a profit in the long term, and they can be said to be an example of incompetent people who only live for today.”

“Indeed…”

Hyuk Kirin’s way of looking at me changed. What should I say?

Suddenly, his eyes became bright.

“It’s just as Samae said. Samae said that Eungong had an extraordinary view of the world and the wisdom in his head, and it seems that Samae’s assessment was indeed wrong.”

It seems that Yeo Il-ye had told Hyuk Kirin about me.

“Hmph, that’s too much praise.”

“No, no. Hyuk Lee. I spent a long time hanging out with the victims and gathering information, but I hadn’t even thought about what Ronin pointed out. No matter how much I listened to the testimony, I couldn’t understand their thoughts, so I felt like I was walking in a fog. I never thought they would explain it so clearly in just a few words..!”

“Your face is painted with gold, so I don’t know what to do. This is just something I could infer because I was well aware of the physiology of the lower floor.”

“What humble words. Think from other people’s perspectives. Lee Hyuk’s mother also learned the sage’s words, “Yeokjisaji(易地地思之),” but was unable to put them into practice, but Roninbun put them into practice, making him a better person than Lee Hyuk’s mother.”

I kept clearing my throat.

Isn’t there a saying that praise can make even a whale dance?

Even though I was dressed as a man, Hyeok Kirin kept praising me with sparkling eyes, so it wasn’t a bad feeling.

“Sometimes I want to ask for advice from ronin, so please do not refuse my request.”

“Haha. of course. How difficult would it be to give my opinion at best? Please don’t feel pressured to speak up.”

“Hehe, Lee Hyuk feels like he’s won a whole lot of luck since the ronin person so willingly accepted it.”

this. It’s hard to control the corners of my mouth because I keep getting ‘Awesome!’ I’m trying hard to suppress the clown who keeps trying to ascend.

“….Senior.”

For some reason, the cold voice of a black cat flew in.