My Friend Called Cheonma
Paeng Jong-ho, the vice leader of the unit, recalled the events from half a shichen ago. The moment he had met Mu Yun.
"Just come at the right time."
"Can you make it then?"
"If you take that path, we can adjust it."
"……Can I trust you?"
"I've shown you who I am. It's your call."
"……Alright."
After Mu Yun left, Paeng Jong-ho was surprised once more. By the revelation that Mu Yun had fused internal and external arts to reach the super peak realm.
"Is it true about that incident with the Guangdong Ha Clan?"
"I confirmed it on the way. Thousands in Chim-ju saw it."
He hid the realm Mu Yun had displayed when saving her. It was a promise between just the two of them.
After much deliberation, Paeng Jong-ho made his decision.
"Got it. But we need to inform the leader."
"He's in the middle of something right now. I'll tell him later, depending on the situation."
"Do that."
Dang Seo-ha flashed a bright smile without a hint of pretense. She wanted to ease her lover's worries.
"Trust my eyes, not the leader's."
"……What did you see?"
"Your friend!"
"What're you talking about?"
"He chatted nonstop with your friend the whole way here."
"And?"
"To know the man, look at his friends. Haven't you heard that?"
"……!"
Half a shichen later, on the outskirts of Chim-ju's marketplace.
A man with a bushy beard and tattered martial robes swung his sword wildly. His footwork was decent enough to kick up clouds of dust.
Whoosh!Splat!
In an instant, Baek Ho-min's drunken haze cleared. A chill raced up from his toes to the crown of his head.
'An enemy!'
With the thought, he leaped backward. Creating distance was the priority.
Thud-thud!
His newly advanced first-rate lightness skill mercifully widened the gap. He drew his sword in a flash and locked eyes with his foe.
'Who the hell?'
The assailant's body staggered in a zigzag, his blade slashing aimlessly at the air.
Shick!Whoosh!
The sword winds tearing through the air revealed his skill level. Baek Ho-min finally let out a sigh of relief.
'He reeks of booze!'
At best a fresh first-rate, and the stench of liquor hit hard—even for someone like him who'd drunk his share.
His face was sallow and deathly pale, the picture of illness. Another sigh escaped.
This time, it was his own fault.
'Good thing I didn't overdo the fun.'
A long-forgotten face had soured his mood. But thanks to that, he'd dodged disaster.
That face flashed before his eyes again.
'Guess I owe you one.'
Now it was time to identify the fool. No need to worry about a foe whose breathing was ragged and movements choppy. He wasn't hiding his power—if he were, Baek Ho-min would be dead already.
He shook off the clumsy strikes with ease, circling around.
Whoosh!Thud!
It wasn't even a proper exchange. The man just charged with bloodshot eyes, his flailing sword like child's play.
Irritation surged.
One clean strike would end it.
'Ah, fuck! This nobody!'
Fueled by rage, he stepped forward. No holding back now.
With storm-like momentum, he stomped the ground.
Splat!
His blade whipped toward the stunned foe.
Shick!Riiip!
"Guhk!"
A groan burst out as blood soaked the rag-like robes. As the man curled up in shock, Baek Ho-min swept low and kicked his leg up.
Thwack!
"Gack!"
A fist followed to the temple, then hammered his back.
Thud!Thwack-thwack!Smack!
"Guhk! Kek!"
As pained screams echoed and the man spun around, doubt flickered in Baek Ho-min's eyes.
'I know that face!'
The bone structure peeking through the beard felt familiar. His puzzled gaze narrowed—then widened in shock.
"Hah!"
Baek Ho-min's eyes bulged. The impossible sight yanked words from his mouth.
It was the face he'd just recalled.
"You…… you're……?"
The man spat bloody phlegm and bolted toward the hills.
Thud-thud!
"Cough!"
But Baek Ho-min's feet were rooted. Instead, his lips twisted into a savage grin.
A massive laugh tore from his split lips.
This was pure catharsis.
"Kuhuku! Ha! Showing up like that! Kraahaha!"
For seven years, he'd lived in secret dread. He knew Mu Yun better than anyone.
Soft and introverted like him, but once he set his mind, he went all the way. Of course, that target being his little sister had turned him into a monster.
Still, if he'd survived that day, he'd have etched the grudge deep into his heart.
The softer the soul, the deeper the scar.
But to appear in this wretched state?
His seven years of worry felt pathetic now.
'To end up that pathetic.'
The boiling anxiety of those years vanished in a puff.
Baek Ho-min clenched his teeth. To force down the rising smirk.
Now was the time to steel his resolve.
'He's on death's door. ……Today, I end this tangled karma. No matter what!'
His form exploded forward with unprecedented force.
Splat!
The gap was barely ten zhang.
Soon, at the mountain path's edge.
Baek Ho-min let honest excitement tremble his lips.
"……Even looking like that, you came looking?"
The words had eluded him at first, but finally came.
His foe just heaved ragged breaths.
"Hah! Hah!"
Though he'd gathered his inner energy, his lips quivered faintly. The storm in his chest was too fierce to quell.
"Guess it's true. They say when death nears, home calls. So why not go home? Why seek me?"
At last, the man's voice erupted in fury.
"Cough! You pretending not to know?"
"That's why I'm asking."
"Kuhuku! Send me home in this body? Unless it's to settle the score."
"Score? With me?"
Mu Yun's gasping mouth roared skyward, cursing the heavens. His heaving breaths betrayed boiling rage.
"Yeah, you bastard! It was you! Why? Why frame me as a demonic cultist? What'd I do wrong? Why!"
Excitement shook Baek Ho-min's lips. How long he'd waited for this.
"Kuku! Seven years is long, and you still don't know?"
"I thought you were my friend! I spilled my guts! So why!"
Joy filled Baek Ho-min's face, like he'd conquered the world. His neck cracked satisfyingly.
Crack!
No easy answers. He wanted to savor this.
"What're you on about? When did I? What'd I do?"
A glint flashed in Mu Yun's eyes.
'They're here!'
With his audience arrived, time for the full show. He channeled the furious energy of the Body-Mind-Intent Art toward the man.
Woooong!
"Think I'd forget? The ying incense! You burned it!"
"Ying incense? Yeah, I did. First time sneaking it out without Dad knowing. Saw Uncle having fun with it. Waited forever, finally snagged it that day."
"Denying it now? That demonic manual was yours too!"
"Oh, that! Yeah, I slipped it to you. So?"
Fury ground through clenched teeth, echoing into the void.
"Grit, you bastard! You admit it all, so why play dumb?"
Baek Ho-min's inner furnace boiled over. Now it was his turn to rage.
He bellowed like a beast.
"Ha! You're a riot! Back then, you were so ashamed you blocked it out on purpose!"
"……?"
Baek Ho-min's eyes widened slowly. Mu Yun's blank face told the tale.
"What? You really blacked out then and now?"
Mu Yun's gaze deepened for the first time. An inexplicable chill crawled his spine.
"……What're you saying?"
Baek Ho-min's lips curled slowly. A huge grin split his face.
"Kuhuku! Figures, for scum like you. Kukuku!"
"……Spit it out."
"Kuku! Fine, I'll tell a dying man."
"……?"
A sinister smile deepened on Baek Ho-min's lips. He pictured the shock on Mu Yun's face.
"I snuck the ying incense too, first time for me. We all got hazy. Then you bolted—said you had to see Eun-jin."
Something absent from Mu Yun's past memories. To seek Ham Eun-jin in that state?
Now was the time to hear more.
"……Keep going."
"Think back. You'll remember. You stormed back, chugged booze like water. Said you went to meet Eun-jin, saw her hugging your sister—flipped out."
Mu Yun froze rigid. A hazy image stirred in the fog.
Baek Ho-min rambled on.
"You probably drained every drop. Mixed with the incense haze, you passed out. Then word spread: Hyeong-sanpa warriors incoming. I panicked over the demonic manual I'd saved, slipped it to you. Still sorry about that. But you know me—scaredy-cat."
With those words, forgotten memories—not erased, but desperately buried by his past self—flickered back.
A deep sigh escaped involuntarily.
'……It's true.'
The day's events had been blurry overall. He'd shrugged it off as incense-induced amnesia.
He hadn't known his past self had wanted to forget. Hated even recalling that painful day.
Baek Ho-min continued.
"Still, the incense scared me, so I shook you awake. 'Let's bolt!' But you opened your eyes, grabbed a sword, yelling you wouldn't let your sister and Eun-jin off. Ran into the Hyeong-sanpa guys—and boom."
"……!"
Silence blanketed the hills. Even the distant Murim Alliance's Demon Subjugation Squad and Hyeong-sanpa paused.
For different reasons, of course.
Moments later, Mu Yun exhaled heavily.
'This just got messier.'
He was cleared of being a demonic cultist, but now family ties tangled deeper. Far harder for current Mu Yun to unravel.
Baek Ho-min sensed it. The memories had returned.
Still, he confirmed.
"Memories…… back?"
"……Yeah."
"So you really didn't remember back then either?"
Mu Yun confessed the truth of his newly recovered memories. Other recollections of Baek Ho-min forced his honesty.
"No, I vaguely did back then."
"Then?"
Mu Yun met his once-friend's eyes with raw truth.
"Like you said, guess I couldn't face my sister or Eun-jin. Demonic or not, I just wanted to run."
"So you babbled nonsense to your dad on purpose too?"
"……Yeah."
And inferences followed.
'Cheon Ga-jang's lord—no, Father—might've known.'
His father Cheon Jung-seo's conflicted expression now burned clear. And why he'd let it happen: fear his foolish son might do worse if stopped.
Meanwhile, Dang Seo-ha, sighing repeatedly, gazed at the clouded distant sky.
'Must hurt.'
The relief washing away her worries mingled with fresh melancholy, brushing her heart.
Paeng Jong-ho's hand settled gently on her shoulder.
Slide.
He offered only a warm smile, no words. Better than any now.
"……!"