***
The first one to welcome the visitor was Hong Sa-ryeon.
After finishing her class at Bu-saeng-dang, she discovered the visitor on her way to go for individual training.
He was wearing a luxurious sword at his waist, his clothes were much more luxurious than the clothes Sa-ryeon had, and his handsome face and tall stature made him seem extraordinary.
The bold air that he did not feel strange even though he entered an unfamiliar place made her feel that he was an extraordinary existence.
Above all, it was a face she had seen somewhere, but she could not remember it at all.
“What have you come for?”
“I am looking for someone. By any chance, is there a person named Jin So-un here?”
Sa-ryeon’s eyes narrowed at the unexpected words that came out of the nobleman’s mouth.
It was clearly a face that looked four or five years older than So-un, so she wondered when he had made friends with such a person without her knowing.
“What is it for?”
“I came to meet him for personal business.”
“Senior Brother Jin has not been coming in for a few days already. It seems you will have to come again next time.”
“Hmm.......”
She had spoken the order to leave in a roundabout way at his rudeness of not introducing himself, but the nobleman was not budging.
“Then, may I wait here?”
“......What are you doing now? The Tae-eul Sect is not an inn.”
The nobleman had a look on his face that he realized his mistake only then.
“Ah, I made a mistake. I will greet the Sect Leader first and get permission. Will you guide me to the Sect Leader?”
“Excuse me!”
The moment Sa-ryeon’s patience finally ran out and she screamed.
The nobleman smiled at the corner of his mouth and said.
“I am Nam-gung-san of the Nam-gung-se-ga.”
“Gae-byeok-sin-ryong (Opening Dragon)?”
Only then did Sa-ryeon remember that he had been there at the place where she was humiliated at the Cheol-geom-mun (Iron Sword Sect).
“That is right. That is me.”
The Tae-eul Sect was a little excited because of Nam-gung-san’s presence.
Gye-cheol-yeong was going back and forth until the door of the detached house was worn out, and the leaders of other halls also stopped by the detached house implicitly to build friendships.
Especially among the young disciples, the commotion was even greater.
A new master she had only heard of through rumors in the Jianghu. Since a person famous for being a beautiful young man was staying at the Tae-eul Sect, it was just hard to endure.
“Nam-gung-san, Great Hero is so cool.”
“How good would it be if I were born in a place like the Nam-gung-se-ga.”
“At least if I could learn the Chang-gung-mu-ae-geom-beop of the Nam-gung-se-ga, it would be nice. They say they select disciples carefully there, too?”
Anyway, I had no idea why he had bothered to find me.
There was no way he was related to Nam-gung-sang-won.
In the first place, Nam-gung-sang-won’s goal was to suppress the direct line of the Nam-gung-se-ga and for the branch family to become the master of the family.
He was practically an irreconcilable enemy with Nam-gung-san, who was practically the master of the next generation of the Nam-gung-se-ga.
Then, he came to find me to commend me for what I did?
The timing was too early.
Even if he knew about that work, the Nam-gung-se-ga of the world would send their only legitimate son to meet one warrior runt of the Tae-eul Sect? Even the Gae-byeok-sin-ryong, who is the greatest talent in Anhui Province?
No reason made sense.
The fact that Nam-gung-san came to find me was something that did not happen in my previous life.
The fact that something that did not exist in the previous life happens in this life means that something is needed to fill that gap.
‘Something that existed in the previous life but does not exist in this life...... or vice versa.’
At the end of such thoughts, I had an inkling.
“......Was it that?”
“What do you mean?”
“It is nothing.”
“Anyway, hurry and go. Since he has been staying for a week already, everyone in the Tae-eul Sect is uncomfortable.”
“I understand.”
“That is the Dae-hyeon-jeon (Great Virtue Hall). The guest is staying in the detached house.”
“I will greet the Sect Leader first and then go. You, go and tell that person that I have come.”
“No, I told you he has been waiting for a week!”
“Waiting is that person’s heart, since there was no promise, I will also do as I planned.”
“No! What on earth......! And, since when did you greet the Sect Leader properly!”
“......I originally did it well. You go and deliver the news.”
Sa-ryeon grumbled, ‘If you are going to go later anyway, why tell me to deliver the news.......’, and headed to the detached house.
When I entered the Dae-hyeon-jeon, Father and Hong Mun-gi were talking about matters within the sect.
“Sect Leader. Disciple Jin So-un has returned from going out.”
Father and Hong Mun-gi could not hide their surprised eyes at my greeting.
Seeing them so surprised, it became established that I indeed did not greet them well usually, just as Sa-ryeon said.
“Yes, did you return safely?”
Hong Mun-gi, who recovered his expression first, accepted the greeting with a benevolent smile.
On the other hand, Jin Tae-san could still not hide his surprised eyes.
“What on earth happened? You, who even come to greet the Sect Leader.”
“Father, if you say that, you are spitting on your own face.”
“This damn guy.......”
Unlike the boisterous Sa-ryeon, Hong Mun-gi smiled elegantly.
“There is a guest of yours in the detached house. Did you hear?”
“Yes. I heard.”
“Yes, then go.”
“That guest is a guest who does not have an appointment with me. I have a few things to tell you, so I will sit for a moment.”
This time, Hong Mun-gi could not hide his surprised expression like Jin Tae-san.
“C, can you give me a cup of tea?”
“You are going to drink tea and go? You guys, Nam-gung-san is waiting.”
“Father, what on earth is the Nam-gung-se-ga that I have {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} to go meet with them without even reporting to the Sect Leader? If you look at it, Father seems to be a person of the Nam-gung-se-ga, not a person of the Tae-eul Sect.”
“Th, this...... damn!”
“Hehe, Tae-san, I am sorry, but can you prepare tea? It would be pleasant to drink tea with So-un for a long time.”
“Haa.”
Jin Tae-san prepared tea with a skilled appearance, and a tea with steam rising was placed in front of me soon.
I left out the unnecessary things and reported the story of saving Wang So-so.
“......Hehe, so you chased them and saved them because it seemed like the child was kidnapped.”
“Yes, but while saving her, it seemed the child had an illness, so I passed on the Tae-eul Heart Technique. I apologize for not getting permission.”
“It is fine. Martial arts are meant to benefit people. If it was something that could be saved with basic martial arts, you did enough of what you had to do.”
Hong Mun-gi and Father understood it to the extent of saving a woman from a human trafficking group, and the reason I said it like this was to prevent Wang Geum-san from coming later and misunderstanding.
“But why did the Nam-gung-se-ga’s San young master come to find you? I have been racking my brains to treat him to three meals a day while he occupied the best room in the Tae-eul Sect for a week.”
“Well. Perhaps he came to learn a move?”
“What?”
Father’s face, crumpled like a piece of paper, is always pleasant to see.
“Am I not a person who even defeated Seong Mo-hyeon of the Cheol-geom-mun in my own way? I even snatched the Gu-jung-geom (Nine-Layer Sword) there, so wouldn’t the great Nam-gung-se-ga’s eldest young master also want to learn a move?”
“Ei! Damn guy. If you are going to talk nonsense, get out!”
“Yes, Sect Leader. This disciple will stop now and go to welcome the guest.”
Nam-gung-san felt a strange emotion.
He had not even seen or talked to the opponent, but he felt a feeling of anger.
The strange thing was that the feeling had risen suddenly.
He did not feel anger when he knew of his absence.
Because he did not make a promise with him.
He spent seven days in shabby accommodation and had a poor meal, but he did not feel anger.
Because it was himself who said he would wait. He could not complain that the level of the Tae-eul Sect’s guest welcoming was only this much.
However, the moment he heard that Jin So-un had returned to the Tae-eul Sect.
Anger surged from deep within his chest.
It was the first time in his life he had such an experience, so it was a situation that flustered him, too.
“What kind of person is Jin So-un?”
A girl who was restless while delivering the story beside him.
She was a girl he was a little interested in because she was a girl who had to bear the burden of continuing the next of her sect, although she could not be compared to him.
“Senior Brother? Well. He is a person who is so unpredictable.”
The girl who was talking about something she disliked while wrinkling her brow became a face that became more and more excited as the story progressed.
“He does many unpredictable things, but it does not seem like he is trying to do as he pleases. Anyway, he cherishes the junior disciples of his sect a lot. He is ill-mannered, but he takes care of adults terribly. He does not even greet people properly, but when others ignore things, he flips his eyes and rushes at them.”
“It seems Senior Brother is reliable.”
“Ye? What are you saying? I told you just a moment ago.”
“Is that so?”
The girl whose name he did not know stuck her tongue out and showed a face that had chewed on gall.
“I heard you were looking for me.”
A young man entering the detached house.
A common Cheong-gang-geom (Blue Steel Sword) hanging at his waist. Martial arts clothes that looked old but seemed to have been washed cleanly. Even with his long hair tied up neatly, he did not look special in anything.
‘It is strange.’
However, Nam-gung-san’s emotion looking at that appearance boiled like heating iron.
“Are you Jin So-un?”
“Did you come to find me without knowing me?”
The girl whose name he did not know, who had been talking to him, was trying to understand what the situation was while looking at Jin So-un and Nam-gung-san’s faces alternately.
“I only heard what was delivered about you.”
“That day...... were you not at that place.”
“That day?”
“Cheol-geom-mun.”
Come to think of it, he felt like he had seen that boy and this girl whose name he did not know at the place where the Cheol-geom-mun was stripped of the Gu-jung-geom.
“Aa! That is right. Come to think of it, we were together at that place.”
“......Do you have a problem with your memory?”
What should I say, is the existence of Jin So-un itself drawing out resistance from deep in his heart?
Even in words that seemed to be uttered meaninglessly, emotional turmoil rose.
“It is not. I tend not to give my gaze to things I am not interested in at all.”
“......Then why did you come to find me?”
Where should I start talking?
From the fact that the object Jin So-un had was his? Or from the fact that Jin So-un intercepted it in the middle.
Nam-gung-san turned his head and said to the girl whose name he did not know.
“You, step aside for a moment.”
“Ah...... Yes. I understand.”
“What did you just say?”
Jin So-un wrinkled his brow deeply.
For a moment, Nam-gung-san felt the emotion of, did I do something wrong?
However, nothing was wrong.
“I asked you to step aside because the story I have to share with you is important.”
“‘Step aside’ is a command. It is not a request.”
“......O, Oh. Se, Senior Brother. Why are you like that? I am fine. Have a conversation. I will stop going.”
The girl whose name he did not know left the seat, flustered instead.
The person called Jin So-un was staring blankly at the girl’s back.
“What did I do wrong?”
“Does the Gae-byeok-sin-ryong not know the difference between ‘step aside’ and ‘would you step aside’?”
“.......”
Only then did Nam-gung-san know what the cause of all this unpleasantness, anger, annoyance, and rage was.
“You...... are quite arrogant.”
Emotions he felt from everyone existing in the Tae-eul Sect.
Reverence, awe, fear, respect, admiration, praise.
He could not find such things even as much as an eyelash in Jin So-un.
Rather, he was exuding emotions Nam-gung-san had never felt once in his life, such as contempt, disdain, scorn, and insult.
“It is strange. When did the Nam-gung-se-ga become the family of the Emperor?”
“.......”
Nam-gung-san decided to stop.
Because he thought that if he talked to Jin So-un any longer, he might get angry.
“Perhaps you do not know why I visited suddenly and am looking for you?”
Somehow, he understood Jin So-un’s feelings, too.
There are such people. People who show hostility when they meet a huge opponent because of their own insignificant presence.
People who fear even more because they know nothing.
It was also a virtue of the strong to consider such people well.
“The reason I came is......”
“Is it not because of the entrance token?”
“!!!”
This guy, did he know from the beginning?
What reason would Nam-gung-san, who had no interest in the Tae-eul Sect at the Cheol-geom-mun, have to visit the Tae-eul Sect.
Most of the spiritual medicines and secret books I obtained were things no one knew about, so in the end, if I count what I obtained that someone knows, there is nothing but the Gang-cheol-ho-sin-dan (Steel Protection Pill) and the entrance token.
There is no way the legitimate son of the Nam-gung-se-ga came because he was sorry for the Gang-cheol-ho-sin-dan, so it must be the entrance token.
His attitude is quite brazen.
He must clearly be a person who came to ask, but there is no such thing.
Just a look that he thinks I will give it if he asks for it.
“That was originally my thing.”
The tone of talking was also a natural tone of repaying borrowed money.
I was not planning to give it anyway, but it is inevitable that my stomach twists even more as he comes out like this.
“The Chief Military Advisor did not say such a thing.”
“From the beginning, it was an object I requested, and that is why it ended up in your hands.”
If the Chief Military Advisor had made a certain promise to Nam-gung-san, Nam-gung-san would not have come to me and asked me to return the entrance token.
Because the Chief Military Advisor could just make one more and give it to him.
In the end, the Chief Military Advisor who intended to give the entrance token to Nam-gung-san thought that it would not matter much even if he gave that entrance token to me.
The conclusion is that the entrance token is not Nam-gung-san’s thing.
“It is strange. If it was so certainly the Great Hero’s thing, why did the Chief Military Advisor give it to me? It seems like this problem is a problem that should be quarreled with the Chief Military Advisor, not a problem to quarrel with me? Perhaps, the Chief Military Advisor is hard to deal with and the Tae-eul Sect is easy, so you came like this.”
Nam-gung-san sighed long.
“You have a talent for bothering the other person’s mood.”
“Since my words do not deviate from reason, if your mood was bothered, that is the Great Hero’s problem.”
“Of course, I am not asking you to return it just like that.”
“.......”
“I came prepared to pay a sufficient price. This is a jewel called Chil-chae-bo-ju (Seven-Colored Treasure Pearl). It is a precious treasure that you can buy at least a ninety-nine-room mansion. I will give you this.”
On Nam-gung-san’s palm, a jewel emitting seven colors was shining brilliantly.
In my memory, it was a treasure worth enough to buy three ninety-nine-room mansions at the very least.
“The reason I came in the name of the family and did not make it public is all for the Tae-eul Sect and you. If the people of the Jianghu know that you coveted the Nam-gung family’s thing, how would they see you, and also how would they see your sect, the Tae-eul Sect.”
As he said, if he makes it public, things will get big.
And the story of the Nam-gung-se-ga will spread even more strongly and tighten the Tae-eul Sect.
On top of that, he didn’t ask for it for free and even said he would give the Chil-chae-bo-ju, so it was to the extent that I would be short even if I expressed gratitude to him.
“Do not open it.”
“......What?”
Expressing gratitude came out as inner thoughts.
“Well, do whatever you want.”
“Do you think I...... cannot do it?”
“The Tae-eul Sect is not such a small sect. You are underestimating me too much, who has an enemy there.”
“......You seem to hope that things will happen big. Can you handle the Nam-gung-se-ga?”
“Even if I cannot handle it, you will not be able to find the entrance token.”
“.......”
“And you must choose well. The Cheol-geom-mun is acting together with the Great Hero now and was stripped of the Gu-jung-geom.”
“......!”
Nam-gung-san’s face hardened stiffly for the first time.