âArenât these clothes quite interesting, though? Youâd be nearly impossible to find in the mountains.â Elder Baekhon touched Seol-Hwiâs clothes.
âOh, these are militâuh, âcamouflage.ââ
âCamouflage? Thatâs a good name! Can you get me a set?â
âUh, Iâll bring you one if I can find a spare one.â That was a lie, but Seol-Hwi couldnât bring himself to burst his bubble. Elder Baekhon rambled on for a while before the conversation changed to something more serious.
âRight, captain Seol-Hwi. Can I ask you another favor, as an old man?â
âMeâŚ?â
âWould you take my disciple, Imugi, as your subordinate?â
âHuh?!â
Seol-Hwi suddenly realized why Elder Baekhon had brought Imugi with him.
Seol-Hwi blinked at Imugi, struggling to wrap his head around the situation.
Heâs way stronger! Only about a year ago, his combat power was only around one million, and his health was 40k. His training had to be quite something.
Iâm sure itâll be fine if itâs Elder Baekhonâs request. The Elder may speak roughly, but he didnât forget his debts. No doubt Imugi would be very helpful; Seol-Hwi could learn something from Imugiâs abilities, on top of everything else he could do.
âThank you.â Baekhonâs face immediately brightened. He really wore his heart on his sleeves. Maybe he just wanted to be rid of a troublesome disciple, but the Elder seemed genuinely pleased to transfer Imugi. âAs a sign of gratitude, I would like to give you a present. Is there anything you would like?â
Oh, this is amazing! Seol-Hwi cheered as he examined his choices.
Pills, weapons, armor, or shoes. He liked the idea of pills; his stats were still low compared to his combat power. Fortunately, he had an amazing sword that could compensate, so he skipped the pills.
Shoes? Whatâs that going to do? It could be as simple as a comfortable pair of shoes to walk around in, but it was still tempting.
If shoes were presented alongside the other three options, that implied it would be just as valuable as them. Pills were rareâbut a pair of shoes that were as valuable as a pill?
Even if he was wrong, heâd at least learn something new.
âI knew you would say that. Here, I brought you something good.â
The shoes popped straight into his Toolbox, where he examined its details.
Baekhon started speaking again before he could read it fully.
âRight, please donât worry too much in the future.â
WIth that, Elder Baekhon turned around and walked out the door, leaving Imugi with Seol-Hwi and the Earth Demon.â
âUh⌠I hope I do well, Earth Demon,â Imugi said.
âYou shouldnât be saying that. Youâve been sent by Elder Baekhon, so weâre glad to have you. Talk to Seol-Hwi.â The Earth Demon looked him up and down. âMore importantly, youâve made great progress while we werenât looking. Good luck, Seol-Hwi.â
Seol-Hwi nodded warmly.
Yorim and Seo Ryeong vanished in a flash of light. Time was passing once again.
The month passed in a flurry of windows. Seol-Hwi thought heâd be back in his residence like usual, but something else popped up.
Hidden story? It was rather vague, but he was curious nonetheless. What was it? Iâll just check it out⌠There was no harm in taking a look.
He found himself somewhere familiar.
Is this the room where I was recovering? When he thought about it, it wasnât surprising.
He was now in the 12th day of his rest.
A man came through the door.
âYouâre here.â
âYouâŚâ
It was Bigun. He came up to Seol-Hwi wearing a bamboo hat and sat down.
âI heard people attacked the Earth Demonâs home and you were injured. I should have come earlier, but I barely managed to make time today.â
âThank you. Iâm sure you were just too busy.â
âEven if Iâm busy, I should have come. Weâre all walking down the same path, arenât we?â
âButâŚâ
Seol-Hwi was pleased. Despite their awful first meeting, he felt a strong camaraderie with this man.
âBut howâs your body?â
âI got hit. Itâll take me a few more days to heal completely, but donât worry.â
âThank god. I heard that the intruders were the Supreme Pavilion Lordâs men. Is that true?â
âWell⌠I canât say no.â
âUgh.â Bigun scowled. Anyone in the Hidden Truth Corps would react similarly. Sama Gwi was proving a tough opponent for the Earth Demon. âHonestly, it wouldnât be a huge problem to take him down if we all joined hands. The only problem is the other people he has with him.â
âOther people?â
âThe ones siding with the Supreme Pavilion.â
There were other people who shared the Supreme Pavilion Lordâs way of thinking. Seol-Hwi recalled that there was another pavilion lord with Sama Gwi when he sent Seol-Hwi on the suicide mission. They were the End Demonâs loyalists.
âTake good care of yourself. Iâve instructed my men to be on alert as well.â
âYou did well. Thank you.â
Bigun got up and glanced at Seol-Hwi again before turning around. It was a strange feeling, kind of warm and⌠nice.
âWait, I have to ask you something.â
What?! Seol-Hwi was shocked. Something was taking over him!
Bigun looked back. âWhat about?â
âWhen I first met you. Can you tell me what I said?â
âWhen we first met?â
âYeah. The words I used to provoke you. I said somethingâŚâ
Bigun flushed.
âYouâFor realâ?!â
âAh, donât get me wrong. I meant nothing by it, but I canât remember what I said. Iâm just asking so I donât make the same mistake.â
âAh, this bratâŚâ Bigun clenched his fists. âYou bastard! Why the hell would I grab your ass?! Ugh! So gross. I canât believe you told me to grab it, you fucking bastard!â
ââAh!â Seol-Hwi reeled.
Ass⌠He asked someone to touch hisâŚ
For once, he was glad for the time skip.
Life went on. His body was fine, but his head was pounding.
âDisgusting! I said thatâŚ?!â
He even said it to Seo Ryeong! âTouch my assâ? Not even he wanted to touch his ass. How embarrassing!
âHow am I supposed to face her nowâŚ?â Seol-Hwi was tearing his hair out.
But after a while, he just gave up. Maybe everyone would forget if he never brought it up.
âNow, the pill⌠What was it?â Seol-Hwi dug into his Toolbox and pulled out the Jade Dragon Pill and the True Pepper Shoes.
âItâs cuter than I expected.â The finger-sized pill only had eyes and a mouth, despite what the description said. âShould I eat it?â
Seol-Hwi gulped it down. He was curious to see what a pill from the Earth Demon would do.
âOh!â A whole 210k health and 360k internal energy.
He took out another one and downed it.
âI finally hit one million!â Heâd had trouble raising his health; this felt like his big break.
âNow the shoes.â
He wasnât satisfied with what his eyes could see. Just what power would these odd-looking shoes give him?
SoâŚ
This isâ! Wind God was the most difficult skill he had, one he always failed atâbut wasnât it also the most effective skill he had?
No need to think about it. Of the six movements, there was one that was clearly the most difficult. Without it, using the Wind God would be easy.
He didnât spare it another thought.
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