Days of Growth (1)
Lin Yan-Qing did not change her mind in the end.
She said she would remain with the organization. She said she would report that it had happened while she was out, and that because the organization needed her, she would be safe. If I could not take her with me anyway, then whatever came afterward would have to be left to her.
I let her go without resistance.
“Go.”
“Are you truly sparing me?”
“I am.”
“Why?”
I stared at her quietly, then spoke with a faint smile.
“That persimmon I couldn’t eat—I only had the tiniest taste of it, didn’t I?”
Perhaps it was something she had not expected at all, because she let out a small laugh. Since it was not a situation in which she ought to be laughing, the laugh only burst out all the more.
“Hahaha.”
She laughed heartily. In her laughter, there was clearly joy at the fact that this research had come to an end.
After her laughter stopped, she looked at me quietly, as if trying to remember my appearance.
“When a persimmon ripens properly, sometimes it falls from the tree on its own.”
Because I understood what meaning was contained in those words, my face flushed slightly.
“Thank you for sparing me.”
With those final words of gratitude, she was the first to leave that place. She would survive. Because she had something she had to protect even if it meant risking her life.
Whoooosh.
Half a shichen later, the estate began to burn.
Every trace of that place was erased. The facilities inside the research compound were completely destroyed, and all the documents burned.
The traces of the battle with the Sword Emperor disappeared as well. The walls that had held marks of the fight were torn down and reduced to powder, and the Sword Emperor’s corpse would be burned so thoroughly that even its shape would be difficult to find.
There were three people watching the burning estate from a distant hill.
They were No. Seven, Goe Mang-Ryang, and Drunken Wolf.
Far away, they could see the Nameless Great Hero walking out of that place.
No. Seven, who had been silently watching him, spoke.
“I will cancel the mission and return.”
At her words, Goe Mang-Ryang asked,
“Is it all right to just let him go like this? I think we’ll be reprimanded.”
No. Seven answered,
“That will not happen.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“You don’t know who was in there, do you?”
“Who was in there?”
“It is top secret, so I cannot tell you, but there was an extraordinary expert there. Even if we did not intervene, the higher-ups will fully understand.”
“Even so, if the two of us move together, we can kill him.”
“Do you truly think so?”
A cold light flashed in Goe Mang-Ryang’s eyes.
“You are looking down on us too much.”
“Yes, I think I must today. In any case, let us say I saved both of your lives.”
Goe Mang-Ryang and Drunken Wolf looked at each other with expressions of disbelief. This was the first time No. Seven had ever acted this way.
Goe Mang-Ryang asked again,
“Fine. Then shouldn’t we at least tail him and find out where he goes?”
“I will not permit that either.”
“Well, you are the one with authority to decide anyway.”
Drunken Wolf, who had been silently listening to their conversation, was the first to turn and walk away as he spoke.
“Do not do things like love. It does not suit us.”
When her decision was misunderstood as love, No. Seven bristled.
“Love? That is not it!”
The instant she snapped, she realized it. She had overreacted too sharply. And because of that, they would misunderstand her even more.
Sure enough, Goe Mang-Ryang said with a smile,
“Love him. Our lives probably will not be long anyway, and our ends will be filthy and miserable. So love to your heart’s content while you can.”
The two of them said completely different things and left in opposite directions.
No. Seven, who had been looking back and forth between them, turned once more toward the estate.
Far away, she could see the Nameless Great Hero walking away. If this emotion truly was love, then she ought to chase after him.
But she moved her feet in the opposite direction.
Because she believed that something like love could never have been permitted in her life.
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I returned to Wuhan once more.
At the same time, the existence of the Nameless Great Hero disappeared for a while. Everything that had happened at the Golden Grand Banquet was connected to the Nameless Great Hero, so I had no intention of appearing as him for the time being.
Gwangdu was truly delighted that I had returned safely. In particular, because he had not known that I had sent a sound transmission to Gong Su-Chan from the inn in Zhengzhou, his worry during that time had pierced the heavens.
When I belatedly told him that fact, Gwangdu’s resentment turned toward Gong Su-Chan.
“Were you truly such a heartless person?”
Gong Su-Chan replied with a laugh.
“Haha, did I not tell you he would return safely?”
“What am I, some wayward child of darkness without dreams or hope? Even knowing he would return safely, I kept worrying anyway. You could have hinted at it a little.”
I could tell that the two of them had become much closer through this opportunity. Since both of them had very different personalities, I thought they must have influenced each other quite a bit.
I said to Gwangdu,
“You worry too much.”
“It is not worry. It is affection.”
“Fine, let us call it affection. Then what are you going to do later if you have and raise children? In this harsh Jianghu, will you even let them step outside the door?”
Perhaps he could not deny it, because Gwangdu let out deep sighs.
“That is exactly the problem. I suppose I should live alone like this.”
“I do not even want to imagine you when you are old, nagging and worrying about every little thing. So marry Do-Sun.”
“What marriage, when I cannot even meet her? And Young Master, you must marry first before I can. Ah, Young Lady Song stopped by here.”
At those words, I was startled.
“Hwa-Rin did?”
“She said she had come while attending to other business, but it seemed like she came because she wanted to see you, Young Master.”
Then he added one more remark.
“Ah, she was still beautiful.”
Her pure and beautiful appearance came to mind. The fact that she had come all the way here to find me was somewhat moving.
Suddenly, Lin Yan-Qing’s image came to mind. When I thought of her, No. Seven naturally came to mind as well. No. Seven never revealed herself until the very end. Neither did those assassins. When I left Zhengzhou, I paid attention several times in case there might be any pursuit, but they did not tail me.
One woman had come looking for me, another woman had left me, and yet another woman had not appeared.
In any case, to think I would recall three women at the same time in a single moment! It was something that had never happened even in my previous life.
I quickly changed the subject.
“What about Martial Artist Baek?”
“Since then, he has not shown himself at all.”
Baek Pyo had received my order to create a powerful organization. He was probably absorbed in that task right now.
I was not worried about him, nor about the mission he had been entrusted with. Baek Pyo was the person best suited to the saying that no news was good news.
In that regard, Gong Su-Chan was the same. He had handled the tasks I had entrusted to him splendidly. The Taeseong Merchant Company had been created, and small branches had been established in Qufu of Shandong, Wuhan, and Zhengzhou.
“I will take care of managing the merchant company.”
“I will place my trust in Chief Steward Gong.”
“Still, this work of mine was made easier thanks to Martial Artist Gwang.”
Gong Su-Chan was sincerely grateful to Gwangdu.
“There is no need to give me empty credit. I merely followed you around.”
Perhaps he felt good hearing praise in front of me, because a smile blossomed on Gwangdu’s face like cherry blossoms.
“You do not know how much help that was.”
“In what way?”
“It gave me the reassuring thought that someone was protecting me, so I was able to do my work better.”
“Thank you for saying so.”
Gwangdu turned to me with a triumphant smile.
“So he says.”
Of course, I did not let this opportunity slip by.
“I am sure there were occasionally reassuring days like that. But most days, it must have been bothersome and made you feel concerned. You would have been concerned about making him wait outside, and even when eating, you would have had to consider the other person.”
Gwangdu looked at Gong Su-Chan with an expression of disbelief and repeated his earlier words.
“So he says.”
Gong Su-Chan, who ought to have denied it, obediently nodded.
“Of course, there were days like that too. Hahaha.”
Everyone laughed along with him.
Once that bout of banter ended, Gwangdu asked,
“How was it?”
The playfulness had disappeared from his face, replaced by a serious expression.
I answered honestly.
“It was difficult.”
This time, I had come to understand a certain amount about the true nature of those bastards.
They were the ones who had recruited Ma Ryeong-In and recruited the Sword Emperor. They were the ones trying to modify the already vanished Blood Sky Cult’s Bulhoe Ma-Ryeongdan.
These were only the things I had encountered at the tail. I could not even imagine who else had become their ally or what else they were preparing.
One thing was certain: they possessed a force far greater and more formidable than I had imagined.
“It will become even more difficult from now on.”
Gwangdu smiled and said,
“Because of you, Young Master, things will become far more difficult for them.”
He was not afraid or frightened in the least. Neither Gwangdu nor Gong Su-Chan.
I changed one word in his statement.
“Not because of me, but because of us.”
Baek Pyo returned ten days after I had come back.
As soon as he returned, he said to me without preamble,
“Please come with me.”
Without saying anything more, I followed him.
The place we reached together was Pingdingshan in Henan Province, located between Wuhan and Qufu.
After we followed a deep valley into Pingdingshan for quite some time, a cliff appeared.
We crossed a rickety wooden bridge that looked so old it might fall at any moment, and beyond it stood a mountain stronghold.
“They say this was a place used by the Green Forest in the past. It was wiped out by the Grand Martial Alliance, and after changing owners several times, no one uses it anymore. Aside from the bridge we saw earlier, there is no way to come here, so the terrain is also very good for defense.”
In the broad yard of the mountain stronghold, thirty-three martial artists were absorbed in training.
At a glance, it was no ordinary training. It was arduous training so harsh that it seemed their breath might stop at any moment.
“These are the ones I gathered in the first round.”
Judging from their visible presence and the movements they made while training, their skills were not ordinary. At the very least, they were at the level of the martial artists of the Fierce Tiger Unit, and many among them were even more outstanding.
“Now, everyone assemble!”
Baek Pyo called them over and lined them up before me.
Their presence was as rough as their panting breaths. Fierce gazes and strong temperaments. What I liked most was that, despite being so rough, they did not seem vulgar.
“This is our lord.”
“It is an honor to meet you!”
They spoke in booming voices. It would not have been strange if some of them had shown signs of looking down on me because I was young, but there was not a single one like that. Baek Pyo must have disciplined them in advance.
“What kind of people are they?”
“They have various stories. Some left Jianghu and returned, some came forward because of money, and some came because of their relationship with me.”
Baek Pyo added that, even at this very moment, Yang Cheong and Myeong-Do were traveling through the Central Plains looking for people. Yang Cheong and Myeong-Do were subordinates from the Fierce Tiger Unit whom he had taken in previously.
“What was your standard for selecting them?”
Baek Pyo had probably chosen and chosen again.
“Whether they can dream together with us.”
Thinking that this was just like Baek Pyo, I let out a small laugh.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because I like that standard very much.”
“I intend to grow it starting with them. Have you thought of a name by any chance?”
“I will name the organization the Black Panther Unit.”
The Pyo in Baek Pyo’s name was the character that signified a panther. When I explained that I had taken one character from his name and given them the name Black Panthers, Baek Pyo was greatly moved. In a Murim organization, it was not common to have an organization named after oneself.
I pressed down the spirit of those who had newly been reborn as the Black Panther Unit.
“But you are still cats.”
Everyone’s expressions hardened. Their pride had been hurt.
“You cannot accept it?”
“We cannot!”
They answered in one booming voice.
“Who among you is the strongest?”
Then one person stepped forward.
“Come at me.”
The man looked at Baek Pyo with his eyes, asking how far he was allowed to go.
Baek Pyo said to him,
“You may use your greatest technique. No, you will have to.”
The moment those words fell, the man drew his sword and charged in swiftly.
Swish!
Whirl.
Thud.
Lying on the ground, the man looked up at me and blinked.
“…What happened?”
The same was true of those watching. It had happened so quickly that they had not even been able to see how he was defeated.
Because they were all quite skilled, they would at least know this much: if I had not shown mercy with my hands, the man would have been gravely injured or killed.
I extended a hand to the fallen man. The man took my hand and rose to his feet.
“When you become a panther rather than a cat, you will come to know on your own how you were defeated.”
The gazes directed toward me changed at once. Of course, it was a positive change.
When leading strong people, it is necessary to show strength. It was also the moment when the authority of the place to which they belonged was determined.
Lastly, I said to Baek Pyo,
“Please raise them into splendid panthers.”
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