I Am the Youngest Disciple of the Martial Arts World’s Mastermind
Chapter 14
Chapter 14
The Youngest Disciple of the Murim’s Hidden Mastermind
Episode 14
I pulled out a small cloth pouch that had been tucked away in my pocket along with the feed.
Inside was….
“…You want this?”
It contained the elixir I had received from Master when we first met.
He had told me it wouldn’t have much of an effect if I took it myself, but I had kept it as a memento of our first meeting.
I had tucked it so deep into my pocket that I’d forgotten it was even there. How did this lizard manage to sniff it out?
“…….”
Could this thing be a spirit beast too?
Since this was Cheongsanbong, it didn’t seem entirely impossible.
Right before my eyes, the creatures swimming around like common carp were actually Ten-Thousand-Year Carps—rare, mystical beings that ordinary martial artists could only hope to encounter through a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of karmic luck.
Though I doubt anyone expected those Ten-Thousand-Year Carps to be treated like livestock….
“Hmm?”
The lizard had been quite aggressive about dragging the pouch out, but now it didn’t even try to open it. Instead, it just sat there, flicking its tongue over its lips.
Testing a hunch, I spoke to it.
“Do you want this? If you do, tap the ground twice.”
Tap, tap.
“Oh.”
It understood me. Even if it wasn’t a spirit beast, it was certainly an intelligent little creature.
I pondered for a moment before deciding.
“…Here. You can’t do anything bad after eating this, okay?”
I took the elixir out and handed it to the lizard.
In any case, this elixir wasn’t of the highest grade compared to the ones stored in the warehouse managed by Sahyeong Hyeonhak. And if this lizard truly was a spirit beast, there was no harm in getting on its good side.
After all, haven’t they say even a magpie repays its debts?
Slurp!
Sure enough, the lizard flicked its tongue out happily to taste the elixir before snatching it away with lightning speed.
“Ha, look at you….”
Then, in a flash, it dove into the water and vanished.
Soon, not even a shadow remained.
…It didn’t get eaten by a Ten-Thousand-Year Carp, did it?
“…….”
I suddenly felt a bit worried.
Just as I was staring anxiously into the water where the lizard had disappeared—
“What are you doing?”
A familiar voice called out from behind me.
“……!”
This voice….
“Danhwi Sahyeong!”
I quickly brushed off my palms and scrambled to my feet.
“Kiddo.”
Danhwi, who had arrived with sweets in one hand as usual, laughed and gave my head a rough, affectionate rub.
“I told you, if you keep sticking your face in there, an imugi will pop out and gobble up a little kid like you.”
Good grief. Does he really think I’ll keep falling for that?
But to stay on his good side, I had to play along for now. I pitched my voice into a fearful tone and asked back.
“Then have you ever seen an imugi, Danhwi Sahyeong?”
“Of course. You have no idea how terrifying they are….”
A devious smile, entirely ill-suited to his handsome face, spread across Danhwi’s lips as he began to weave his scary tale in earnest.
“It might just swallow a brat like you in a single gulp. Besides, an imugi close to ascending can change its size at will. It could become as massive as Cheongsanbong itself, or as tiny as the palm of your hand.”
“Oooooh….”
My gaze as I looked at Danhwi turned stone-cold….
After all, I’d fed those Ten-Thousand-Year Carps countless times and hadn’t seen so much as a whisker of an imugi. If it really existed, I would have seen it by now.
Whether my reaction was lukewarm or not, Danhwi continued his passionate lecture on imugis, practically spitting in his excitement.
But then.
“That thing is so greedy for spiritual medicines to gather the strength it needs for ascension. Still, its limbs are currently as thin as a lizard’s, so….”
“……?”
Wait. A lizard?
The small creature I had just seen flashed through my mind. Those shimmering, lustrous scales, and that pink tongue that had snatched the elixir from my hand so deftly.
A cold sweat suddenly broke out on my back.
No way… right?
Misinterpreting my stunned expression, Danhwi paused, quirked an eyebrow, and popped a sweet into my mouth.
“Mmph.”
It was delicious.
While I chewed on the sweet, Danhwi changed the subject, acting as if he didn’t care whether I believed him or not.
“Enough about the imugi. Master is calling for you.”
“Mueh?”
I swallowed the sweet before asking.
“Master? Right now?”
“Yeah. He said, ‘Tell Soso to come see me~’ or something like that.”
“Wow.”
His impression was spot on.
While I was momentarily dazed by Danhwi’s unexpected talent, he asked casually.
“By the way, is today a training day?”
“No. Today is….”
Wait, I think I just took the bait.
Danhwi immediately roared like a thunderclap.
“Gotcha! What do you mean, a scheduled training day! For those in the Murim, every single day is a training day! Do you think you can get strong like that!? Have you been reviewing the lightfoot techniques I taught you?”
He was a training monster.
“Ack! I-I’m doing it!”
Ever since I first woke up on Cheongsanbong and said I ‘wanted to become strong,’ it seemed to have touched something in Danhwi’s heart. He had developed a particular obsession with my training.
“…I-I’ll go see Master now!!”
I stuffed the remaining sweets into my mouth and fled from Danhwi.
***
Once Soyoung had disappeared on her short legs, Danhwi, standing alone by the pond, slowly lowered the hands he’d had on his hips.
Then, with a voice laced with amusement, he spoke.
“Did you hear what she said? She said she’d pull someone’s hair out.”
“Tsk.”
Immediately, a sharp click of a tongue sounded from nearby.
It came from behind a large old tree near the rock where Soyoung had been sitting.
Gwangeum emerged with his long, unkempt hair flowing down, his arms tightly crossed and a look of irritation on his face.
“What an insolent brat….”
“Phew.”
Danhwi let out a short sigh and playfully patted Gwangeum’s shoulder.
“The way I see it, your own insolence—complaining about the attitude of an eight-year-old—is much worse, Gwangeum-ah.”
“…….”
Stung by the truth, Gwangeum fell silent for a moment before speaking again, his voice an octave higher.
“…She certainly has a silver tongue. That must be how she bewitched Master!”
“You’re right. The child does speak very prettily.”
When Danhwi nodded calmly, Gwangeum flared up in anger.
“That’s exactly what I hate! She’s useless to Cheongsanbong. She doesn’t fit in. I wanted the next disciple to be someone with the resolve to learn my crafts. Why on earth did Master go out of his way to take in a beggar who doesn’t even have a tragic backstory?”
“You.”
Danhwi cut off Gwangeum’s outburst and said teasingly.
“Why are you taking this out on me instead of asking Master directly?”
“…….”
Gwangeum bit his lip in frustration.
“This was Master’s decision. Both you and I owe our lives to Master, so we shouldn’t question him.”
“…I still find her suspicious.”
Gwangeum turned his head away and muttered under his breath.
Danhwi knew exactly what kind of unease Gwangeum was feeling.
This was a place that was extremely secluded, focused solely on raising successors to carry out Master’s will.
The arrival of an outsider—and a young girl at that—to Cheongsanbong was something no one had expected.
It was only natural for someone like Gwangeum, whose wounds from the martial world had yet to heal and who was fiercely protective of his own techniques, to be wary of the child.
However, Danhwi believed there was a purpose behind Master’s decision.
‘Because he is Master.’
That being the case, he couldn’t let even the busy Sahyeong Hyeonhak get involved in soothing Gwangeum. He had to handle it himself.
Danhwi gazed down at Gwangeum’s stiff profile before speaking.
“Gwangeum-ah. You know, Soyoung… no, Soso probably already knows.”
“…You’re calling her by a pet name now? Knows what?”
“That you dislike her. Soso likely knows. Didn’t you even ask Sahyeong Hyeonhak to make sure she stays out of your sight?”
“…….”
It was a request he’d made just last night, and it had already reached Danhwi’s ears.
Instead of denying it, Gwangeum blurted out an excuse.
“That’s…… because she just waltzes into Jinmyeonggak and tells me she’s jealous of how strong I am. It’s not like she’s mocking me or anything. So, since I rarely come down from Jinmyeonggak anyway, I just asked that we don’t have to run into each other….”
“Is this Jinmyeonggak?”
“No, I just came down for a moment to get some medicine….”
“Exactly. No matter how large Cheongsanbong is, it’s still just one mountain peak. How can you completely avoid each other?”
Hadn’t they almost run into each other just now? Though Soyoung seemed not to have noticed.
If Danhwi hadn’t hurried Soyoung off to see Master, she might have sensed his presence.
“I know what you went through before you came to Cheongsanbong…. But Soso is just a child your age who knows nothing. You shouldn’t treat her with the same coldness that once made you suffer.”
“…….”
Gwangeum flinched, visibly shaken, before falling completely silent.
