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Chapter 379. Flooding Waves (4)
Even after Dam Ak returned to his lodgings, Jegal So-myeong remained in the reception room, staring blankly into space for a long while.
He'd only been dealing with a greenhorn who hadn't even trained in martial arts, yet he felt as though every drop of energy had been wrung from his body.
A thought surfaced unbidden — one that had never crossed his mind before.
'Am I...... getting old?'
Through all manner of brutal storms, he had met every type of person imaginable.
Ěnu m̊ а
Whenever he encountered someone exceptional among them, his blood had always run hotter.
His bond with the current Alliance Leader had been an extension of precisely that.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Matching wits with brilliant minds, burning through his youth in the process, arguing with passionate intensity and emerging as friends.
That was the life he had lived, and the life he had enjoyed.
Yet for some reason, today — despite meeting Dam Ak, a brilliant talent — his blood did not boil.
With every word Dam Ak uttered, every topic he raised, rebuttals had flashed white-hot through Jegal So-myeong's mind.
Ẅ e b̀ n̄о̀ v e ľ E num̊а
But they would show only the tip of their tails before vanishing like smoke.
Several conversational threads had surfaced that would have been fascinating to explore together, yet even while circulating his inner arts, the mental fatigue weighed on him considerably.
In the end, it was Jegal So-myeong who had been the first to conclude the meeting.
He closed his eyes and sank deep into his chair.
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"Yes...... so that's what it is. I've gotten old. Ha ha."
How fleeting the years.
Ẇ е̊b̀ṅ ov̄ e l̃ Е́n ům̀ а̌
It felt like only yesterday he'd been charging through the murim with the vigor of youth, yet already enough time had passed to turn him into a toothless tiger.
A momentary urge to lay everything down and rest arose, but he soon shook his head.
The murim was in greater turmoil than ever.
To step away from his responsibilities now would be no different from refusing to pay the price for the peace he had enjoyed.
So he would endure, and he would persevere.
Because he was not that shameless a man.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Still, having met Dam Ak, he found himself looking forward to the day he could finally retire.
How would his juniors govern the Murim Alliance — the murim itself?
Even after the Demonic Cult was dealt with, things would not be as easy as they had been in his own era.
The Black Thought Alliance was now solidifying its power, and the Green Forest Alliance was steadily expanding its influence.
But that level of moderate challenge would at least be entertaining to watch from the sidelines.
'Hmm...... then they'll need someone who can match Dam Ak.'
W̆ e ḃn̈о̆ v.е̄l Е̌ǹ ǔ m̀а̇
Following that train of thought, Dam Ak's image from moments ago resurfaced.
Those keen eyes, that audacious voice, and that impeccable posture.
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Young as he was, an authority that was not easily approached overflowed from him.
And inside that head of his lay a universe vaster than the world itself.
Whoever had to face that young man would surely have their wits frayed to the breaking point.
"Hmm...... who would be a good fit?"
Е n̂ um̌ а
It was about time he, too, chose a successor.
Jegal So-myeong found himself deeply curious.
He wanted to see the young ones compete and struggle fiercely against each other, and ultimately reshape the world.
There were several promising figures within the Murim Alliance, but if he was going to choose, he'd prefer someone from the younger generation.
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Who would be a good fit?
A smile of quiet contentment settled on his lips without his noticing.
W_е̃ bn о v̌ еl̈ Ě n̄ ŭ m̂.а̊.
"Jin So-un is too young...... and too dangerous, besides. Il-myeong and Il-gak would be fine, but they lack ambition. Hmm...... ah! Come to think of it, isn't Dam Ak about the same age as our Mantongbu Department Head?"
He was in the middle of estimating the age of Maeng Ju-won — someone he had never paid much attention to before — when hurried footsteps sounded from beyond the door.
Then the door was flung open.
"Grand Strategist~~!!!"
The one who burst into the reception room in his stockinged feet was none other than Maeng Ju-won.
His face was flushed with excitement as he erupted into a wild laugh.
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"Five — FIVE new recruits passed the Mantongbu entrance exam!!! Ahahahahaha! Overtime is OVER!!! It's over, I tell you, OVER!!!"
"......"
Jegal So-myeong looked the man over from head to toe, his brow creasing deeply.
"Man......tongbu Department Head."
"Yes!"
"What is that in your hand?"
Ӗn̂ ů m a
"Oh? Oh! This is candied fruit."
Jegal So-myeong suddenly felt as though an awl had been driven into his temple.
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He pressed his fingers firmly against his temple while simultaneously fighting to keep his composure, and asked.
"The...... kind that small children eat as a snack?"
"Yes! Taffy is too sweet and a bit much, so in the evening, I find candied fruit more agreeable!"
"......"
Е̃ň ŭm̊а
Jegal So-myeong seriously considered whether he should give this apparently malfunctioning subordinate a solid smack to the head.
While Jegal So-myeong wrestled with his inner conflict, Maeng Ju-won, blinking in the sudden silence, glanced back and forth between the candied fruit and Jegal So-myeong before his face lit up with an expression of realization.
He extended his hand.
"Would you like to try some, Grand Strategist?!"
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
"......"
Jegal So-myeong barely swallowed the curse rising in his throat and was inspecting his subordinate's appearance when......
Ѐn̄_u̇m̈.a
"Oh! When did this get on me??"
His gaze fixed on a sugar-water stain near Maeng Ju-won's chest.
Maeng Ju-won was busy licking his finger and dabbing at the stain, completely absorbed.
"......How old are you?"
"Me? Obviously old enough to be married with children and getting nagged by a vixen of a wife......"
"Get out!"
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"Huh? Why all of a sudd......"
"Stop babbling and get out when I tell you to get out! I can't stand the sight of you!"
"......"
Even at Maeng Ju-won's wounded expression, Jegal So-myeong made no effort to conceal his fury as he stormed out.
Somehow, Jegal So-myeong's retirement seemed a long way off.
***
E ňû m а . і̃ d̄
The following day, an open house event was held for the parents attending the graduation ceremony.
The Gold-Silver-Copper Brothers led their parents to the four-person room they had shared with Murong Jae-hwa.
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Sa-ryeon, too, took her transformed father Hong Mun-gi around the Academy for a tour.
I had intended to escort Estate Master Wang Geum-san, but he, considerate of our father-son time, declined my offer and went off to inspect the Wang Estate's Wuhan branch.
"Isn't Estate Master Wang pushing himself too hard? He's barely arrived in Wuhan."
For some reason, Father's expression was sour.
Ѐn̂ùm̈ а̄ . і̄ď
"Anyone watching would think Wang Geum-san is your old man, not me."
"Hm? Didn't you know? In my heart, he's my father — the one I'd like to call my foster fath......"
"Why, you......"
I got hit, of course.
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Getting smacked by Father was nothing new, but somehow it hurt less than before.
It wasn't that Father had grown weaker.
Ẅ е̄b̂ n̈о̊ v̊е̌ l̀ Ẽ nú_m̂а
He was still far too hale for the years to have withered him.
'It's probably because of the Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Bear's energy.'
Having had more rest time lately, I'd run plenty of experiments, and one thing I could now confirm with certainty:
I had gained the Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Bear's power.
And quite potently, at that.
Even considerable wounds healed almost entirely within a day, and my recovery was so efficient that scars barely formed.
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There was a creeping feeling of drawing closer to something inhuman, but for a martial artist, rapid recovery was nothing short of a fortuitous encounter.
I decided to take the "good things are good" approach and leave it at that.
"This is the dormitory I used."
The first place I showed Father was the separate quarters reserved for the Academy representative.
"Welcome."
The Head Maidservant and attendants who had been waiting bowed in unison, and Father awkwardly received their greetings.
Ènu m̆а .і́d̂
"Oh, hello. I'm Jin So-un's...... that is to say, I'm this one's father."
"We have heard much about you."
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"I'm sorry I never came to thank you for looking after my son."
Father had hired plenty of attendants while managing the Taeul Sect, yet for some reason he seemed intimidated by the Head Maidservant and her staff.
"The young master was never much trouble. If anything, he always treated us so well that we were constantly grateful."
Father's face relaxed a little at the attendant's praise of his son, but —
E nǔm̌а.ĭ d
"I-is that so? I'm glad, then...... haha."
— he kept clearing his throat uncomfortably as the attendants trailed after us through the private quarters and the personal training ground.
"Father, do you need the outhouse or someth......"
"Boy! Don't say weird things! Ahem......"
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Still, seeing the space where his son had lived seemed to put his mind at ease, because the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
I grinned and guided Father out of the quarters and toward the Academy grounds.
Ẃ е̌ b̆ nо́v̊ ẽl̀_ Еńu ṁа́
The campus was already teeming with students who had gathered to show their parents around.
"That's the education hall, and over there is the training facility. The classrooms are that way."
"......"
Father, who had seemed excited at first, at some point slipped into his own world, surveying the Academy with a peculiar silence.
I didn't want to disturb him, so I walked quietly beside him.
How long had we wandered the sprawling campus?
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"......The truth is, I wanted to come to the Academy, too."
In a calm voice, layered with the sediment of years, Father began to speak.
"Desperately...... I wanted it. But at the time, I thought the one who should go was Kang Chae-seok. He was several times more talented than me."
Father's childhood — something I had never once heard about.
Somehow familiar.
The image of a teenage boy who took it for granted to give up and sacrifice — it was as though I could see him right before my eyes.
Е ṅ_u m̀ а́
"But strangely, after that, I lost all interest in martial arts. Even during my mandatory service, all I did was count the days until I could go back to the sect."
That was the image of my own childhood.
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"I figured I was going to handle the money side in the Outer Hall anyway, so martial arts didn't matter much."
And a story far too similar to my past life.
"I just kept running away."
Father took in the Academy's buildings and scenery one by one, as if etching them into his memory.
Én̊u̇ m̄ а . і d
"But my son walked the exact opposite path."
As though he meant to engrave every view into permanent memory, Father's eyes traced the Academy's landscape — then turned to me.
A small smile rested on the lips of the face that regarded me with a complicated gaze.
In two lifetimes — past and present — it was a look I had never once seen.
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For some reason it made me feel bashful, and I couldn't meet that smile head-on.
Father doesn't know this, but I...... ran away plenty too.
Énú ma
As if to comfort me, Father patted my shoulder.
"You've worked hard."
"......You're too kin......"
"And...... I'm sorry."
A sheen of moisture gathered at the edges of Father's eyes.
Barely clinging, on the verge of falling — a fragile film of water.
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"If I'd been a father you could lean on comfortably, you wouldn't have had to struggle this much."
"......Don't say that."
The gaze that looked upon me as though I were something irreplaceable, something to be proud of — it stirred guilt in me.
Because the me of my past life was not a person Father could have been proud of.
A person who ran and ran until, at last, he could no longer forgive himself.
It was only now, in this second life, that I'd finally been able to take a single step forward.
Еn̂ù ṁ а.і ḋ
"I'm not that great a son."
"Don't say that. Just growing up under me is an accomplishment in itself."
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"That's tr......"
"This little punk!"
I dodged Father's charge — or pretended to — and turned my back.
What had Father thought as he died in the Taeul Sect, in my past life?
W̆ eb n̂o̊v̄.е ĺ E̊ nüm̆ а
Had he resented me, holed up in the Mantongbu memorizing documents?
Had he suffered, dying in agony?
Or had he......
Once the nightmare surfaced, my chest plummeted as if it had dropped out of me.
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Then, as though to rescue me from the abyss, Father's voice reached my ears.
"Even if...... you had done nothing but run, as I did, I would not have resented you."
W é b̆ n о v е l̆ Е̃ n u̇ ḿа
Words that seemed to answer the very thoughts I'd been turning over.
"......What?"
"Even if you had turned your eyes away, struggling to escape your fears, I would have comforted you."
Father smiled with kindness on that characteristically fierce face of his.
A thoroughly mismatched expression.
"I've wanted to say this to you someday. That I am always on your side."
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"......"
"So don't push yourself too hard."
There was no way Father could have known what I'd experienced in my past life.
Yet somehow, his words brought comfort to the long years I had barely survived.
As I soaked in that warm sentiment —
"But...... I absolutely cannot overlook you constantly cozying up to those Black Path bastards."
W е̊b̌ nо̇v̆ е l Е̊n̄ um̀ ȧ
A splash of cold water.
"What are you talking about?"
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"Why does your infamy keep spreading wider by the day?"
"How is that my fault?!"
"It is all the result of your own conduct!"
I felt like I'd been stabbed in the back by someone I trusted.
E ñ ũm а
I spun around to face Father and cried out.
"I'm hurt! How can you not believe your one and only son?! And instead listen to those lying Black Path scoundrels' slander?!"
"Then you're saying it's not your fault that your epithet keeps getting more famous?"
"It's all a conspiracy by swindlers trying to recruit an outstanding hero of the righteous path — namely me! Why are you being so naive?! Father!"
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I poured every ounce of emotion into my plea.
"I'm hurt! I'm wounded! I'm so wounded I'm about to change my name from Jin So-un to Jin So-wounded!!"
Еn uḿ ä.ĩ d́
At my fervent protest, Father's eyes softened.
"Then I can trust you?"
"Even if every person in the murim doubts me, my own father should believe in me! I even gave you the Seven-Colored Jewel!"
"......"
Despite my words, the suspicion in his eyes showed no sign of receding.
I fixed him with a steely stare, and only then did Father reluctantly ease up.
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"I'll be watching."
"See for yourself with your own two eyes. Whether my path leaves any trace of the Black Path or not. Watch and you'll know."
I spoke with perfect confidence.
***
"......So this is what you meant by 'see for yourself'?"
I couldn't lift my head at Father's words.
Ė ñ ǔm_â
[Congratulations to Young Hero Jin So-un, rising star of the Black Path murim, on his graduation from the Murim Academy. — From the Black Thought Alliance —]
[We welcome the Black Flame Dragon's entry into the murim. Black Thought Alliance Leader and Ten Others.]
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Enormous banners with congratulatory messages brushed in a single bold stroke.
Were it not for the peculiar sender, they would have been banners commonly seen at graduation ceremonies.
Of course, the banners didn't end there.
[Congratulations on the graduation of Young Hero Jin So-un, who blazed a new trail through the Black Forest. — Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect —]
W е̇ ḃn о vеl̄ Е̃ n̊.uma
From the Ten-Thousand-Poison Sect, with whom ties had been forged recently.
[To the hero of Demon Spirit Plateau. Congratulations on Young Hero Jin So-un's graduation. — Nine Dragons Gang —]
To Black Path sects that hadn't forgotten old debts.
Why in the world is the Black Path being so deeply grateful? Just live like Black Path people and forget about it!
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The entire Black Path murim seemed to be falling over itself in a competition to congratulate me, plastering banners across the venue as though not doing so would be a personal affront.
Honestly, what even is this......
Е n u m̊ ӓ
"What in the world is going on here?!"
Ugh...... did he think I knew those would be hanging there?
No sane person would dream of hanging banners in the middle of enemy territory, right?
And how the hell did the Black Thought Alliance and those Black Path sects manage to hang banners in the heart of the Murim Academy's graduation ceremony without a single person stopping them?
Where's the Alliance Leader?! Where's the Grand Strategist......!
"......If you have a mouth, explain this yourself!"
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"Ahem, Father, the thing is......"
The sound of Father's teeth grinding was vivid in my ears.
"It's, um, you see......"
"After seeing this, you still expect me to believe it's all just a plot against you?! Is that what you're telling me?!"
It was maddeningly, crushingly unfair, but with ten mouths I still wouldn't have had a word to say.
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