Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: Farewell
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“Take it.”
The money pouch he received felt heavy in his hand. A quick peek inside revealed a generous amount of silver. Perhaps because he was their only remaining son. Or maybe because they were forcing a reluctant boy to leave.
“Thank you.”
It wasn’t as if he had asked for it himself, yet they had gone out of their way to prepare this money for him. Wi Seongcheon felt a twinkle of genuine gratitude as he tucked the pouch into his bundle.
The bundle, which had only held a change of clothes and some barley pills, now felt substantially heavier. The clinking sound it made every time he moved brought a smile to Wi Seongcheon’s face.
“Don’t stray off the main path. There’s no set deadline, but you might as well get there quickly.”
“I’ll go straight there unless something comes up.”
“I’m telling you not to get any funny ideas. Use the money wisely. If you squander it on wine, women, and song...”
“And if I do? You’re not coming with me, Sect Leader. How would you even know where I spend it?”
“...You can call me Father for now.”
He couldn’t bring himself to respond to that. Wi Juseok cleared his throat awkwardly and waved him off, while Wi Seongcheon chuckled.
“Write letters only occasionally. Not too often. Reading them is fine, but writing replies is a hassle.”
“What makes you so sure I’ll write at all?”
“You won’t?”
“Maybe once in a blue moon, if the mood strikes me.”
“If you must, then only send good news. Don’t worry me from afar for no reason.”
“Yes, sir.”
He nodded in response.
The conversation fell silent for a moment. Wi Juseok said nothing, simply gazing at his son’s face. Wi Seongcheon stared back at his father without a word.
His heart felt unsettled. He had been born in the Heavenly Harmony Sect and raised there. To him, the world had consisted only of the sect and Divine Spirit Mountain, where it stood.
He had visited the Murim Alliance with his father at age ten, but the “real” world he saw then had seemed inferior to the sect and the mountain.
“What are you thinking?”
“That I don’t want to go. Why do I have to?”
“You shouldn’t ask such pointless questions. Off you go.”
“It’s a long journey. Don’t you, as my father, master, and sect leader, have any last words?”
Wi Seongcheon asked with a smirk. Wi Juseok looked flustered, his lips twitching as he stroked his beard unnecessarily before glancing back.
The three characters reading Heavenly Harmony Sect were inscribed above the weathered main gate.
“...You don’t have to endure the humiliation.”
Wi Juseok finally spoke. His voice wasn’t its usual light tone.
“I intended to, but you... You don’t have to. You’re different from me. Better to die getting beaten by someone than waste away from pent-up frustration.”
“Who said anything about getting beaten to death?”
“It’s just a figure of speech. Anyway, that’s what I want to say as your father. As sect leader... well.”
Wi Juseok turned his head. He slowly reached out and gripped Wi Seongcheon’s shoulder. The sight of his father felt strangely unfamiliar.
Normally, he would have teased him for putting on such uncharacteristic airs, but not now. For some reason, Wi Seongcheon felt his father seemed “greater.”
“The Heavenly Harmony Sect is strong.”
Even those words.
They didn’t sound light. They carried weight—words he would never say or hear in ordinary times, out of sheer embarrassment. But not now.
The hand on his shoulder... was heavy. Yet it paled in comparison to the weight of those words. Wi Seongcheon looked up at the three characters reading Heavenly Harmony Sect.
“...Yes.”
Wi Seongcheon nodded firmly. Hearing the reply, Wi Juseok smiled faintly. He patted his son’s shoulder once more and said,
“Don’t pay too much mind to what others say. What matters in the end is yourself. Just make sure to take full responsibility for your own actions.”
“Is that because the sect can’t cover for me?”
“That’s part of it. The Heavenly Harmony Sect is strong, but small. It can’t compare to the grandeur of the Nine Great Righteous Sects or the prestigious families. I’m a bit sorry for that.”
“Just a bit?”
“Yes, just a bit. Still... I may not have built the sect into something grand, but I’m proud that I raised at least ‘you’ well.”
Now seeming embarrassed, Wi Juseok released his son’s shoulder. He flexed his hand idly and pointed to the stairs leading down the mountain path.
“I’ve got nothing more to say, so be off.”
“Yes.”
Wi Seongcheon took a deep breath and nodded.
“Thank you for everything up until now. And... I’ll be back.”
“Good.”
“Take care, Young Lord.”
Chief Steward Woo, who had handled the sect’s affairs great and small even before Wi Seongcheon was born, and his wife, bowed toward him.
The chief steward’s two-year-old son, strapped to his mother’s back, was sucking noisily on his fingers. Wi Seongcheon chuckled softly at the sight and nodded.
“Yes, you too, Chief Steward. And keep Father—er, the sect leader—company with some drinks now and then so he doesn’t get too lonely.”
“Of course.”
Chief Steward Woo grinned broadly.
After sending his wife ahead, the chief steward stood alone with Wi Juseok, watching Wi Seongcheon descend the stairs.
He had expected him to pause a few times on the way and look back... but Wi Seongcheon neither stopped nor turned around.
The sight didn’t feel cold or regrettable. He knew the son well enough not to think that way. The boy simply understood that stopping or looking back held no meaning. Pressing onward without halting was the right thing for those left behind.
“Don’t you feel a little sad?”
“Do you want the obvious answer or an unexpected one?”
“I’d like to hear what the sect leader truly thinks.”
“Not sad.”
Wi Juseok replied.
“You can’t swaddle and raise a child forever. He’s grown, yet wouldn’t leave. Had to send him off somehow.”
“That’s not the only reason.”
“Telling him to see the world is genuine.”
Wi Juseok turned his body.
“Whether the world is worth stepping into is for Cheon to decide himself.”
“There are many in the world with prejudices.”
“Do you think I don’t know him? It’s not just me. Cheon knows too. He has eyes and ears. The Heavenly Harmony Sect’s background doesn’t win it any favors.”
“With the Young Lord’s temperament...”
“He’ll endure what’s bearable and won’t endure what isn’t. He won’t if there’s no need.”
Wi Juseok muttered indifferently and lifted his head. He narrowed his eyes at the three characters reading Heavenly Harmony Sect.
“But he’s strong enough not to get beaten everywhere he goes.”
“If he weren’t, you wouldn’t have sent him off.”
Chief Steward Woo chuckled. Wi Juseok shoved his old friend’s shoulder playfully and grinned back.
“I just hope he can tell who he can beat, who he shouldn’t, and who he mustn’t.”
“He will.”
“Damn right.”
Wi Juseok strode casually back through the open gates of the Heavenly Harmony Sect.
“My son, so I’m biased, but the kid’s got instincts like no other.”
“Though he occasionally misses the mark.”
Their laughter mingled,
and the gates of the Heavenly Harmony Sect closed.
* * *
He walked for a long time.
He had long descended the mountain and followed the road straight ahead. Only as the sun began to dip did Wi Seongcheon’s steps halt.
Despite walking far without a single break, not a drop of sweat beaded his skin, nor did his legs ache or weaken.
He stopped because
he simply wanted to look back once. Since leaving the Heavenly Harmony Sect, he hadn’t glanced back even once. What was so hard about it? He thought that inwardly, but found himself ridiculous for only doing this simple thing now.
Far away.
Very far, Divine Spirit Mountain was visible. The sect’s gates at its foot were nowhere in sight. Wi Seongcheon glanced around.
Though it was an unfamiliar forest, to him—who had roamed the mountains since childhood—it held no strangeness or fear. He chose a suitable spot for camp and gathered some branches for firewood.
The sun hadn’t set yet, but he lit a campfire and sat before it. The forest was familiar... but his current mood was not.
His stomach wasn’t hungry despite the long walk. Yet he felt empty inside. Was it just a lack of appetite? Wi Seongcheon unpacked his bundle.
The silver pouch slid out with a clink. Its drawstring had loosened slightly, and the silver gleamed in the firelight. He stared at it for a moment.
Sniff.
He tried sniffling, but no tears came. They felt on the verge of spilling, but refused to, leaving him irritated.
On top of the haphazardly packed clothes lay a parcel of barley pills, a sealed scroll, and a single book.
The scroll was his admission certificate to the Heavenly Academy, and the book beside it was something Chief Steward Woo had given him to read on the way. It compiled the names and backgrounds of particularly promising prodigies among the academy’s students.
‘How many months ahead did they prepare this?’
Wi Seongcheon clicked his tongue and picked up the silver pouch. Come to think of it, this was the first pocket money he’d ever received from his father, the Heavenly Harmony Sect Leader.
He had never left the mountain before, so he’d never felt the need for money, nor asked for any.
That thought made the tip of his nose tingle. He felt he might actually cry if he dwelled on it a bit more.
Wondering how much they’d given, he opened the pouch and poured the silver onto the ground. The gleaming metal dazzled his eyes. Then Wi Seongcheon’s eyes widened in surprise.
Something else had spilled out with the silver. It looked like a crumpled piece of paper at first glance. He picked it up and unfolded it.
[I forgot about this one I received long ago. Felt uneasy eating it now that it’s old. You’re younger than me, so your digestion’s better and you can handle stale stuff. Eat it or toss it.
P.S. Forgot to mention. It’s a Revival Pill. If you eat it, do so in hiding and immediately circulate your qi. Otherwise, it’ll just turn to shit.]
Wi Seongcheon’s shoulders trembled. A Revival Pill—that famous elixir from Shaolin Temple. He couldn’t fathom why his father had one, given that even Shaolin only gave them to their most promising talents.
Did he steal it? Buy it? Shaolin wasn’t so careless as to let one be stolen, and his father didn’t seem the type to buy something so expensive.
Or... was it fake? But the scent wafting from it was intensely real. He’d never seen a real one, but sniffing it, it unmistakably smelled like a Revival Pill.
“...If you were going to give it, why not hand it over yourself.”
Wi Seongcheon sniffled.
At last, the tears began to flow freely.