Chapter 240: Encounter-1
Chapter 240: Encounter-1
"Huff! Huff!"
All throughout the walk, Jin So-eun was gasping for rough breaths.
And that was a natural consequence.
While the other party members simply walked, she alone was moving her body swiftly, treading footwork techniques.
Of course, Jin So-eun had always been diligent from the start.
She was someone who could be called a hardworking genius—possessing both talent and martial arts, yet never growing the slightest bit arrogant and always devoting herself to training.
But now, her appearance seemed somewhat different from those times.
She was driving herself so hard that it felt almost desperate.
Seonwoo Jin subtly observed her condition, then spoke while pretending to gaze at the surrounding scenery.
"The scenery here is truly wonderful. How about taking a brief rest?"
At that, Son Dae-su the Drifting Cloud Guest also quickly chimed in.
"To my eyes as well, this place has rather fine scenery. I had been wanting to leisurely drink a cup of wine while admiring such a view anyway, so thank you. Young Master Yin, no, Seonu Gongja."
At those words, Seonwoo Jin answered with a faint smile.
"I think it would be better if you still called me Inparang for now. There are still matters I must resolve while remaining as him. Then, everyone, let us rest for a moment."
At that, Son Dae-su's granddaughter Son I-rang glanced around with a puzzled expression and muttered.
"Resting is fine and all... but what's so different about the scenery here? As far as I can see, it's the same mountains and trees we've been looking at all along?"
Seonwoo Jin and Son Dae-su deliberately pretended not to hear her and sat down on the spot.
It was then.
Jin So-eun suddenly wiped the sweat from her forehead and asked.
"Um, while everyone is resting, would it be alright if I went into the forest for a short while?"
At her question, Son I-rang looked at her with slightly pitying eyes, and Seonwoo Jin and Son Dae-su briefly exchanged glances.
Then they smiled and nodded.
"Go ahead, Jin Sojeo."
At that, Jin So-eun entered the forest.
But even during the short walk there, she did not stop practicing her footwork.
Once she had moved some distance away, Seonwoo Jin abruptly opened his mouth.
"It seems a bit excessive. I'm worried she might injure her body at this rate."
At those words, Son Dae-su also nodded.
"I concur. It seems something has caused a change in her state of mind since the events of the day before yesterday."
Son Dae-su's words were correct.
The reason Jin So-eun had begun training so desperately like that was indeed since the day before yesterday, after they had parted ways with Seol Pung, Jeung Chil, and Yeon Taejin.
Seonwoo Jin suddenly asked him.
"Could it be because of a competitive spirit, by any chance?"
"Hmm, would that not likely be the case? Jin Sojeo is a prodigy with tremendous talent herself, but she happened to encounter prodigies like Seonu Gongja, Seol Gongja, and also Hawondalgi Yeon Tae-jin, so it is only natural for a competitive spirit to arise."
It was while the two were having such a conversation.
Son Dae-su's granddaughter Son I-rang muttered quietly.
"Ehyu, honestly, men are just..."
It was a small voice, but Seonwoo Jin and Son Dae-su, who had transcended the peak realm, could not possibly fail to hear it.
They looked at Son I-rang and asked with puzzled expressions.
"Huh?"
"What did you say, I-rang?"
But Son I-rang shook her head and refused to answer.
"It's nothing. You must have misheard. I didn't say anything at all."
Answering thus, Son I-rang closed her eyes.
She had clearly spoken, but this was her way of expressing that she did not wish to say any more.
At his granddaughter's sulking, Son Dae-su looked at Seonwoo Jin with a troubled gaze.
That expression meant that when she got like that, even he could do nothing about it.
Feeling frustrated, Seonwoo Jin abruptly asked Mukrang.
'Elder, what do you think? Could the reason Jin Sojeo is acting like that be something other than competitive spirit?'
At that, Mukrang laughed heartily and answered.
- Hahaha! The one thing I have uniquely failed to understand well in nearly a hundred years of living is precisely a woman's heart. Knowing that proved to be an impossible thing. Of course... it was also because I had very few opportunities to encounter any women other than our lady to begin with.
The conclusion was that he did not know.
As Seonwoo Jin let out a sigh at the unresolved frustration, Mukrang added a remark.
- However... it certainly did not seem to be competitive spirit. The emotion I felt within her heart felt closer to a sense of self-reproach rather than such a defiant emotion.
'Self-reproach, you say?'
- As far as I could sense, it was clearly so.
Seonwoo Jin furrowed his brow.
Excessive competitive spirit would not be good, but if it was self-reproach, the situation could be more serious than he had thought.
This was because if martial artists let such negative emotions grow excessive, they could easily fall into a mind demon.
There was also a chance they could fall into qi deviation.
For a martial artist who cultivated internal energy, peace of mind was not important for nothing.
"Hmm..."
After pondering for a moment, Seonwoo Jin suddenly made a request to Son Dae-su.
"I apologize, but could Elder Son perhaps go and speak with her a bit? Her mental state seems unusual, and if I were to talk to her, I do not think it would be a proper conversation."
His words were accurate.
These days, Jin So-eun could not even manage a single proper word in front of Seonwoo Jin.
Son Dae-su readily nodded.
"I understand, Gongja. I shall go and see her once."
And he began to enter the forest after Jin So-eun.
The place where Son Dae-su found Jin So-eun was slightly deeper inside the forest.
There, she was still fervently devoted to her training, wielding even a long staff alongside her footwork.
"Huff! Huff!"
Whiririririk!
Son Dae-su stopped walking and admired her movements for a moment.
The footwork Seonwoo Jin had taught her last time was something called the Three Illusions Step, a slightly simple yet very high-level footwork technique that, when taken to the extreme, could create three afterimages.
Though others did not know it, that footwork was something Mukrang had transmitted in a dream, telling him to teach it to her.
Yet in only a few days since learning it, Jin So-eun was already showing the achievement of creating two afterimages.
Around her body, which had split in two, the wooden staff also split in two, whirling and striking as if two dragons were dancing.
Whiriririririk!
Whiriririririk!
But Son Dae-su, who had been admiring her briefly, soon saw her expression and let out a small groan with a heavy look.
"Eum."
The reason was that Jin So-eun's expression, despite displaying such astounding achievement, was not bright at all.
Rather, she was muttering with a desperate expression, as if being chased by something.
By the shape of her lips, Son Dae-su could discern that the words were 'Just a little more, just a little more.'
Son Dae-su could not help but acknowledge that Seonwoo Jin Gongja had once again seen correctly.
She looked sufficiently anxious right now.
It seemed he truly needed to have a talk with her.
Son Dae-su decided to stop her and strike up a conversation.
Not interfering with another's training was something of an unwritten rule among martial people, but this time it could not be helped.
He raised his voice.
"Hm, hm. Are you not finding it difficult, Jin Sojeo?"
At that, Jin So-eun looked at him with a startled expression.
It was because she had been so absorbed in her training that she had not even sensed the presence around her.
Perhaps it was also because her mind had been impatient.
Jin So-eun fumbled about, glanced at the sky once, and then, not knowing what to do, spoke to him.
"Ah, El-Elder Son! What to do... It seems I have taken up too much time. To think I was just swinging my staff for a moment. I apologize. Everyone has been waiting long, haven't they?"
At her flustered words, Son Dae-su smiled warmly and shook his head.
"No, Jin Sojeo. Not much time has passed. It is just that... this old man wanted to talk with you a bit and so followed you."
"Pardon? Talk with me?"
Son Dae-su walked over to her side and plopped down onto the grassy field as he spoke.
"Aigo, now that I am old, even standing is difficult. May I sit for a moment?"
"Pardon? Ah, yes. Of course. Please do."
Son Dae-su asked her, still standing blankly with a bewildered expression, as if in passing.
"Anyway, as I came along, I saw that Jin Sojeo's achievements were remarkable. It seemed you have already embodied the footwork Seonu Gongja taught you to a certain degree."
At that, Jin So-eun's expression darkened at once.
And she smiled weakly and answered.
"I still have a long way to go. And..."
Jin So-eun trailed off there, letting her words fade.
At that, Son Dae-su could perceive that what came after that 'And' was the crux of the matter.
He stroked his neck and spoke.
"Aigu, my neck. Having to keep looking up while speaking has made my neck a bit stiff. I am sorry, but could you sit down for a moment for the sake of this old man?"
"Ah, yes! I apologize."
Startled, Jin So-eun wore an apologetic expression and hastily sat down on the grass.
Then Son Dae-su smiled faintly, gazed around briefly, and suddenly spoke to her.
"To my eyes, lately, Jin Sojeo has seemed excessively impatient, beyond just being hardworking. Is there some reason for this?"
To that question, Jin So-eun did not answer immediately and instead stared at the ground with a dark expression.
And after a moment, she opened her mouth weakly.
"Because I am so pathetic."
At that answer, Son Dae-su frowned as if he had heard something absurd.
And he asked her again.
"Pathetic? Miss Jin, who revived the Natural Staff, is saying this?"
At that, Jin So-eun laughed weakly and shook her head.
"That... that was just luck. Though everyone is kind enough to praise me, it's not really something I accomplished because I was great. It was all thanks to my grandfather's efforts and teachings...."
Son Dae-su found himself momentarily speechless.
Among the truly outstanding people Son Dae-su had seen, there were quite a few who thought just like this young lady.
People who, instead of being arrogant about their own achievements, said it was merely luck and never neglected their efforts.
Unlike those who grew arrogant from their achievements, they tended to show that their progress did not slow over time but rather quickened.
So this was a very desirable attitude.
At least, generally speaking.
'But to this degree, it's not a normal situation. No matter how desirable an attitude may be, this much is a bit excessive.'
It seemed this kind young lady might be so excessively humble that she didn't even properly know her own true worth.
And in Son Dae-su's eyes, that was an utterly absurd thing.
In truth, wasn't reaching the peak realm in her twenties already a sufficiently remarkable achievement?
Indeed, a vast number of martial artists met their end without ever reaching the peak realm, and even masters at the initial stage of the peak often ruled as overlords of a small region.
But Jin So-eun was not only someone who had stepped into the peak realm in her twenties, she was the successor of the Natural Staff who had attained the level where she could receive the blade of Yun Sak, the transcendent peak Blood Sea Demon Blade himself.
And the world's sole successor of the Natural Staff at that.
Yet for her to call herself pathetic was truly something that could not be anything but preposterous.
Son Dae-su chuckled hollowly and thought.
'If she is truly pathetic, then the rest of us comrades would have had no worth in living at all.'
Son Dae-su felt he could somehow guess where this mistaken perception had come from.
He let out a sigh and spoke.
"Miss Jin, if you compare yourself to Seonwoo Gongja or his sworn brother, Seol Gongja, then nine hundred ninety out of a thousand martial artists in the world would have no choice but to be pathetic dullards. If it's because of them that Miss Jin has...."
At that, Jin So-eun hastily replied.
"Ah, no! How, how could I ever dare compare myself to them? Such great and noble people. I just...."
Son Dae-su did not press her and silently waited for her next words.
Then Jin So-eun continued weakly.
"He, Seonwoo Gongja-nim, he's far too great. It's not just his martial arts that are outstanding, his resourcefulness is also great, and above all, his righteous spirit is far too great. He fought the Blood Cult for the sake of the world, and to avenge Inparang whom he had met for the first time, he's opposing the Hengshan Sect and the Hainan Sect.... That someone like me can't compare to someone like him, well, it must be only natural. I don't even wish for that."
Son Dae-su looked at her like that for a moment before asking again.
"Then what is it that makes Miss Jin so impatient?"
At that question, Jin So-eun could not answer for a moment.
But Son Dae-su could notice that moisture was welling in her eyes.
With tearful eyes, she looked at the ground and opened her mouth.
"I wanted to be of help to him. And I thought I could be. But... the moment I saw the Six Harmony Sword Formation, I realized it. If back then it had been me and not Miss Yeon who took on another of the Six Harmony Sword Formations, I would have died immediately. And if that had happened, he would have faced an even greater crisis trying to save me, wouldn't he?"
Son Dae-su let out a sigh.
To find herself pathetic because she couldn't be of help to Seonwoo Jin, he could not think of what to say to this kind young lady.
Jin So-eun continued speaking.
"This useless me, and yet I still dare harbor these strange feelings for him, I am so pathetic. So I want to wash these feelings away somehow, but I can't do that at all...."
Having spoken up to there, Jin So-eun finally shed tears.
"Hic! S-sorry...."
As Jin So-eun hung her head low and let her tears stream down, Son Dae-su looked upon her with pitying eyes and slowly stroked her back.
"Miss Jin...."
"I, I don't know why I followed him. I do think I should turn back even now, but I don't want to do that either.... I want to become stronger and be helpful somehow, but my skills keep staying at the same level.... Hic hic!"
Son Dae-su let out a small sigh.
It seemed many things were entangled in this kind young lady's heart.
The inferiority she had felt upon witnessing Seonwoo Jin's overwhelmingly massive talent, and her affection for him, and the self-esteem that had shrunk even further because of that affection.
On top of that, could it be that her kind heart, wanting to be of help to the one she held affection for, was instead wounding herself?
It was troubling.
He couldn't even grasp where or how to begin unraveling it all.
Son Dae-su stroked her back for a moment, then had no choice but to simply say that.
"I, this old man, will stay by your side and watch over you, so just cry. Once in a while, if you have a good cathartic cry, your heart feels refreshed afterward."
Hearing that voice, Jin So-eun cried and cried.
And those tears continued for a long while, as if pouring out everything that had built up in her heart.
***
At the same moment, Son Dae-su's granddaughter Son I-rang, who had dozed off for a moment, blinked her eyes open and spoke to Seonwoo Jin sitting beside her.
"Huh? Did I doze off?"
At that, Seonwoo Jin smiled gently and replied.
"Yes, I-rang, you must have been quite tired too."
"Was I? Strange. I wasn't really that tired. Why did I doze off?"
It was when Son I-rang was tilting her head like that.
Suddenly, Mukrang spoke in Seonwoo Jin's mind.
- You really are a bad man. Exactly how many young ladies are you making cry?
At those words, Seonwoo Jin smiled bitterly and answered.
'Wasn't that intentional? Besides, what do you mean how many, when have I ever made several cry?'
- Hmph, just from what I remember, Lady Dang Yeoeun, Lady Ha Cheongyeon, Lady Jeong of the Ami Sect, Lady Jegal Seoyul. And now Miss Jin makes five.
'No, when did Cheongyeon ever cry? Lady Jeong of the Ami Sect didn't cry either, and what's more, why is Lady Jegal Seoyul being brought up here?'
- Tsk, this is exactly why you're a bad man. Do you really not know a woman's heart at all?
'Didn't you say yourself, Elder, that you don't even know a woman's heart?!'
Seonwoo Jin had just been using the Supreme Dignity God Eye to make Son I-rang doze off for a moment, then followed Son Dae-su and eavesdropped on the two's conversation.
It was something he could do because he had given the five Six Harmony Swordsmen silently following from behind the order to protect Son I-rang.
Mukrang, who had been bickering for a moment, abruptly asked Seonwoo Jin.
- So, what do you intend to do now?
At his question, Seonwoo Jin let out a sigh.
Because he too did not know what to do.
At first, she was someone he had brought along with the mindset of recruiting a promising talent, but now, Seonwoo Jin had come to like Jin So-eun immensely.
Her pure figure felt just like seeing his younger sister Yeon-ha, back in the days when he knew nothing, whom he had thought of as the kindest woman in the world.
The image that Seonwoo Jin had believed to be the perfect younger sister was being shown to him by Jin So-eun with her whole body and her true heart.
So, as far as Seonwoo Jin was concerned, he didn't particularly want to do things that made her struggle, nor things that wounded her.
Mukrang sighed and spoke to him.
- I know well too that you think of her like a younger sister. But she doesn't just like you as an older brother, does she? Besides, though she is so pure it keeps making one mistake, her age is one year older than yours.
'...That's right.'
It certainly was.
Right now, with Seonwoo Jin's age at twenty-two and Jin So-eun's age at twenty-three, strictly speaking, she was the older one.
It was when Seonwoo Jin was agonizing over what to do, unable to coldly sever ties as he had done before with Jeong Yeon of the Ami Sect.
Suddenly, something was detected by his senses.
'It seems the timing is not good for thinking about that right now.'
- Indeed. It seems the real one has finally arrived.
Seonwoo Jin immediately transmitted his intent to the Six Harmony Swordsmen, having them hide in the surrounding forest.
Then he spoke to Son I-rang.
"I-rang, quickly go to the forest and bring Grandfather and Miss Jin. The honored guests are arriving."
At those words, Son I-rang asked with a surprised expression.
"Honored guests?"
At that, Seonwoo Jin answered while gazing at the eastern sky with sharp eyes.
"Yes. Most likely... it seems the people of the Hainan Sect have arrived."