Chapter 161
Chapter 161
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Translator: penny
Chapter Title: Seo Ok-rang (6)
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The Watchman's Temple at the entrance to So-ho.
The trio who had survived last night's fierce battle looked utterly wretched.
Seo Ok-rang pulled a miserable face as she examined the chunk sliced clean off the end of her hair.
"Ugh. Ow, ow."
As she clutched her side and groaned, a voice came from beside her.
"A young punk making noises like some old geezer."
"You done talking?"
Seo Ok-rang shot back sharply, her twin hearts aflame.
"Dragging someone off to a dangerous hellhole like Horse Sword Cave out of nowhere—what were you thinking?!"
"I told you."
We were going to catch up over drinks.
"You came tagging along all carefree, so I figured you knew what you were getting into."
"Ugh, seriously."
Seo Ok-rang huffed through her nose as she recalled last night's fight.
The ceaseless flashing sword gleams and the murderous intent fueled by rage.
Just thinking about it gave her chills, so she pursed her lips like a duck.
"We really almost died!"
"As long as we didn't, it's fine."
Did this guy even realize what he'd done?
"What? Was it a bit too risky for Silver Hall's flower?"
No. Absolutely not.
Seo Ok-rang realized.
'All the rumors about people were spot on.'
- The lunatic of Bronze Hall.
'The rumors were actually understating it.'
Who in the world seeks out a place of death to kick up a fuss?
He was utterly reckless, giving no thought to the safety of his students.
'Thinking about it just pisses me off all over again.'
As Seo Ok-rang grumbled and clutched her side.
"Ow, ow."
"Quit your whining."
"Whining?! My side got a hole punched through it!"
"Not embarrassed in front of the guy next to you?"
Seo Ok-rang turned her head and fell silent.
There sat Il-pyo, his upper body wrapped in bandages.
He was even on crutches.
The blood seeping through the bandages made her feel guilty even for complaining.
As she shot him a pitiful look, Il-pyo moved his pale lips, his pupils dilated.
"I'm alive."
Yeah.
Alive is all that matters.
"Why didn't I run away?"
Chu Un-hwi teased the reflective Il-pyo.
"'Cause you're an idiot."
"Indeed. Holding one's ground at the risk of life isn't easy."
"How about running next time without even looking back?"
"...I'll try."
He grumbled but never said he'd definitely run.
Hearing this, Seo Ok-rang suddenly let out a chuckle.
'Why's that?'
Covered in wounds and a total mess, yet her mood wasn't half bad.
'We were in mortal danger so many times.'
They'd fought a battle unlike any she'd experienced before.
She'd nearly died several times, but it didn't feel gruesome or despairing like before.
'What a strange thing.'
This feeling wasn't just the post-battle high.
'It was a novel experience.'
Fighting to the death surrounded by countless ronin was something out of a storybook.
And that finale was just as bizarre.
Il-pyo pointed it out as well.
"We were lucky. I never expected the Horse Sword Cave leader to step in."
So-ho Black Wolf Sang Gwang.
How shocked they'd been at the arrival of the one who ruled Horse Sword Cave.
"Right. I really thought we were goners."
"Never dreamed he'd fight alongside us."
"The world's full of unpredictable things."
Seo Ok-rang shook her head in disbelief.
"If he hadn't been escorting an important guest, we'd have been in real trouble."
"We were pushed to our limits. It bruises the pride, but without him, it would've been fatal."
At first, they'd been stunned as to why this famed ronin was helping them.
"You there. Quite the flashy past, huh? Seems you've got plenty of enemies."
With guests already lining up for him.
Shring-!
But when he pointed to the one lurking silently off to the side, they understood.
"--Damn it."
Sang Gwang hadn't stepped in to help them—he'd done it for a commission.
Shiiiik!
The man hidden among the ronin wielded brutally vicious swordsmanship.
Shishishik!
His thin longsword peeled the air with such sharpness they couldn't even dream of facing it.
But once So-ho Black Wolf clashed blades with him, they could hold their own.
Puk.
And the one who'd stabbed his side was none other than Seo Ok-rang.
"Guh... grrrk."
What was surprising was So-ho Black Wolf's reaction.
"Tch. Looks like a guest got snatched away."
Take him away.
He didn't even glance at the man pooling blood as he turned and vanished.
Recalling this, Il-pyo rubbed his Adam's apple.
"How did you know this guy was a wanted man, Instructor?"
Chu Un-hwi answered, eyeing the bound, unconscious man off to the side.
"No big deal. Overheard some North Gate Hero from the Delicious Food House mentioning it."
Said a real nasty piece of work had slipped into the Black Path.
'Was there talk like that?'
Seo Ok-rang chimed in.
"But pinpointing him hiding in Horse Sword Cave..."
"Fugitives all think alike."
Especially vicious ones hunted by the authorities and the murim world.
"Bet he figured Horse Sword Cave was the safest spot."
"That dangerous place?"
"No one pries into ronins' pasts when they could drop dead any second. If the guy next to you croaks by luck, it's easy to steal his identity and wash your history clean."
"Ah-."
"Anywhere gets to feel like home once you're used to it."
Though the end was a bit different.
"Anyway."
How about it?
The feeling of being a vigilante hero.
Vigilante hero?
"As you saw, he was a top-notch expert with a nasty past."
Not someone a mere student should take down.
"I just helped out a bit."
"The finishing blow matters. Forgot? Even So-ho Black Wolf acknowledged it."
"......"
He had, certainly.
But Seo Ok-rang still couldn't quite feel it.
"It was just coincidence..."
Seeing her wavering gaze, Chu Un-hwi said.
"The world's one big coincidence from the moment you're born. You just got lucky along the way."
"Is that so?"
"Some die from bad luck, others survive on good fortune."
That's just how the world works, right?
Light words, but they somehow stirred a creeping sense of accomplishment.
Still, Seo Ok-rang remained dazed.
"I don't really get it."
She was too stunned to view the situation objectively.
Chu Un-hwi smirked at her reply.
"If you can't even pick up luck rolling your way, the unlucky bastards dying out there must feel real hard done by."
"Can't help it. It was so sudden."
Chu Un-hwi added.
"Sometimes it's good to just bask in the fortune."
You can believe it.
Coming from me, no less.
"Says the Blade of Great Fortune."
Today, too, Baek Ri-seol poked around every corner of the Myo-jin Sect grounds.
"...Not here."
She'd passed by the White Cat Divine Point and even stopped at the now-famous White Cat Tavern.
But still no sign.
"Not here either."
She checked restaurants and even rooftops where people rarely appeared, but no trace of the instructor.
"Where did he go?"
He often vanished without a sound.
But disappearing without a word like this...
"...Happens a lot."
This time felt different somehow.
Her woman's intuition was blaring crisis signals fiercely.
"Doesn't feel good."
As she stamped her feet in anxiety, a familiar face appeared from around the corner.
"Hmph!"
"Tch!"
The moment their eyes met, they looked away, and the other responded in kind.
"......"
"......"
Just as irritation bubbled up.
"Huh?"
Moyong So-hye came trotting over from the opposite direction.
"Were you looking for the instructor too, Sister?"
"Yeah."
But no sign of him.
"Hmm. This is a problem."
He always disappears exactly when you need him.
"What about Brother Nangong?"
Jegal Tan stepped in for the suddenly disinterested Baek Ri-seol.
"Yun-ho? He got up at dawn and left. Said something about finding a quiet spot."
"...I see."
"Something wrong?"
"Moyong Sister said she has something urgent to tell him."
Moyong So-hye prettily chewed her lip and whispered.
"Said his younger brother is coming here. Is it a big deal?"
"Mm. Yong-ho..."
Jegal Tan, knowing his friend's complicated family situation, swallowed a groan.
"...Hope he doesn't get too hurt."
"Are they on bad terms?"
Right. She wouldn't know about the Nangong Family affairs.
Realizing this late, Jegal Tan gave a brief explanation.
"...I see. Even brothers can have bad blood."
"Yeah."
Actually, bad relations are more common.
Direct descendants of the family often compete fiercely for better martial arts and key positions.
'No need to go into that.'
Jegal Tan held back, hoping the perceptive girl would only hear the good parts.
"Umm. What about Grandfather?"
"Grandfather?"
Where'd grandfather come from all of a sudden?
"Truth is, I'm closer to Grandfather."
Ah, so that's why.
He tried to brush it off, but Moyong So-hye was quicker.
"If the Nangong Family Grandfather coming this time straightens him out, that'd be great."
"Huh? Nangong Family?"
Grandfather?
"Isn't it usually the family elders who step in and fix these things?"
Moyong So-hye added brightly with a smile.
"Someone like the Sky-Piercing Divine Lord should manage it just fine, right?"
Jegal Tan's face darkened at the cheerful response.
Panting as he backtracked the strolling path, Jegal Tan found Nangong Yun-ho deep in meditation under a great tree.
'He's changed again.'
Lately, his friend had been immersing himself in solitary meditation.
He hated to disturb him over trivial matters, but this couldn't wait.
"Yun-ho. Got something urgent to discuss."
Waking from meditation at the urging, Nangong Yun-ho gave a good-natured smile.
"Haha. What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Close enough. For you."
"What could..."
"The Divine Lord is coming."
As the explanation continued, worry gradually clouded Nangong Yun-ho's face.
By the time the talk ended.
Nangong Yun-ho muttered in dismay.
"The jianghu is vast, yet turns narrow upon looking back."
"The Nangong Family Great Elder is heading here. The Patriarch too."
Nangong Yun-ho could guess why Jegal Tan had come so urgently.
'Because he knows my situation.'
A bitter smile escaped him.
"You. This isn't the time to be sitting around."
The Sky-Piercing Divine Lord, no less.
"Your brother is an issue, but he pales compared to the Divine Lord."
"True."
Where do you think his brother's temperament came from?
The father had dyed the once-blank child with arrogance.
'And Father learned it from Grandfather.'
Not something to fault him for.
The Nangong Family's current strongest expert.
The grandmaster who had perfected the family's unique secret, 'Emperor Sword Form,' rare even in their long history.
That was the title for the Sky-Piercing Divine Lord.
- What the Nangong Family wants, it gets.
He was the one who coined the family motto everyone repeated like a mantra.
'Tan's right.'
Father was trouble, but meeting the Divine Lord was the worse choice.
He judged people by their martial arts.
Once, lost in a sword dance trance, he'd said to him:
- This won't do.
Never spared him a glance after that.
Same when departing for ten years of secluded training.
As far as Nangong Yun-ho knew, utterly cold-hearted.
Knowing this well, Jegal Tan waved his hands persuasively.
"Still not too late. How about leaving for a bit?"
Fair point.
"Tempting offer."
"He's a busy man, won't stay long."
Closing his eyes, Nangong Yun-ho hesitated briefly before speaking.
"Has the instructor returned?"
"Not yet. The other instructor said he's out on a mission by senior instructor orders."
"Haha. Luck really isn't on my side."
The one person he wanted to see most, when his heart wavered.
Pain flickered briefly in Nangong Yun-ho's eyes.
"You're right, not a normal matter."
"Then, right now."
"But I won't run."
How could a student leave his instructor behind?
"I've had enough of fleeing gazes and avoiding attention—that was enough as the Ghost of Bronze Hall."
Jegal Tan smacked his lips at the frustrating words but couldn't push further.
He knew his friend well: once decided, he kept promises with stubborn tenacity.
'Tough choice.'
Regretful, but Jegal Tan decided to respect his friend's resolution.
"Sigh. Can't be helped."
But really okay?
His eyes asked, and Nangong Yun-ho replied smoothly.
"They believe the family became the world's best thanks to the Emperor Sword Form."
In other words, blood kin without it held no value.
Jegal Tan, who had witnessed the Nangong Family's treatment of Nangong Yun-ho, fell silent.
"......"
"Well, it's not that I have zero hopes."
Nangong Yun-ho said it like a joke.
Just.
"Just hoping ten years of seclusion has softened that icy temperament a bit."
His voice held no real expectation, dried up entirely.