I Am the Youngest Disciple of the Martial Arts World’s Mastermind
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
I Am the Youngest Disciple of the Murim’s Hidden Mastermind
Episode 4
No way, that’s impossible.
A character I don’t know, even though I’m the story developer? It’s not like there’s some secret mastermind lurking in the Murim. Could such a thing even exist?
I tried to calm my racing heart and waited patiently for about an hour.
“Yawn… I need to go to the bathroom…”
Stumbling as if half-asleep, I slipped out of my blankets and left the inn.
One step, two steps—then I started running with all my might.
Success!
The moonlight was so bright that I didn’t even need a lantern. At this rate, I’d be there in no time…
Thump.
“Ugh.”
A sudden, sharp pain struck my heart.
I clutched my chest and skidded to a halt.
“Whew, ha, whew… Why, why is this happening?”
Was it because I tried to run after resting so comfortably for once?
Suddenly, my insides felt as if they were boiling hot one moment and piercingly cold the next, as if frost had seeped into my veins.
“Uuuugh…”
To be honest, I had felt this sensation before whenever I ran for a long time.
It was just that the pain used to be much weaker.
‘Why is it so bad today?’
Once I rescue Master, I’ll have to ask him to look into these symptoms first. What if it’s a terminal illness?
“I-I can do it. Endure it!”
To make that happen, I had to suck it up and go intercept the fortuitous encounter right now.
I took a deep breath, and once the pain subsided slightly, I resumed my run.
There were countless caves around the vast Dongting Lake, but I was able to find the one I had described without much wandering.
And then.
“…It’s here!”
The object I was looking for was at the very back of the cave, resting atop an artificially carved stone pedestal.
A cloud of black mist, exuding a strangely eerie and sinister aura, swirled around it. However, because I knew that what lay inside was a spirit medicine, I wasn’t scared at all.
In the game, consuming that item allows one to restore a destroyed dantian.
Conversely, that meant if I, who lacked a dantian, ate this, I could create one and step into the world of martial arts on my own…
“Hehe.”
The cave was quite bright thanks to the brilliant moonlight pouring through the holes in the ceiling.
I was about to run straight toward the stone pedestal when I suddenly came to a halt.
“Ah.”
I hadn’t realized it, but there was a long waterway, about twenty zhang wide, flowing right in front of where the item was placed.
Looking down into the water, it was pitch black, making it hard to gauge the depth.
“…….”
There were no boats nearby.
Instead, I saw small fragments of rock poking out of the water here and there.
Could I reach those with my short stride?
“…Hmm.”
As I hesitated, the lightness technique Danhwi had shown me while we traveled to Dongting Lake suddenly flashed through my mind.
“Was it… like this?”
I tentatively tried to move my feet.
I felt like I could do it.
I might not be able to replicate it perfectly, but surely I could mimic it to some extent?
Because…
Something boiling inside my belly gave me that confidence.
“…Hup!”
Trusting myself, I leaped with all my might across the scattered, jagged stepping stones.
And like a miracle.
“Huff, huff.”
‘…I made it!’
It actually worked.
By the time I barely managed to cross the water, my insides weren’t just boiling; they felt like they were about to explode.
“Still, I’m almost there…”
Soothing my stomach, which felt like it was jumping between a hot spring and an ice bath, I finally approached the black mist surrounding the stone pedestal.
Now, if I just take this fortuitous encounter…
“…Huh?”
Inside the mist, there was someone who had arrived before me.
Who is it?
“……!”
Since I was so small, the other person didn’t seem to have noticed me yet.
I narrowed my eyes to get a better look at him, and in my shock, my mouth opened before I could stop myself.
“Danhwi-daehyeop…?”
At my trembling voice, he turned toward me.
“…Kid?”
Why are you here?
The two of us stared at each other with blank expressions.
Then, he pointed a finger at me and asked vacantly.
“Why are you here?”
“I-I was going to ask you the same thing…?”
“Weren’t you sleeping at the inn?”
“That’s also what I was going to say…!”
After exchanging those few words, the confusing situation naturally became clear.
Danhwi had also tried to sneak out of the inn without me knowing!
I had kept my eyes shut until I heard the sound of Danhwi getting into his bed, and I hadn’t actually checked if he was under the covers.
This meant he had pretended to sleep and then slipped out to reach this place.
Just like I had.
‘How meticulous…!’
To think he acted so convincingly even though he thought I was asleep.
But for Danhwi’s final destination to be the same cave as mine. Don’t tell me…
I was trembling when my gaze suddenly dropped.
That was when I saw what was on top of the stone pedestal.
A box made of fine-grained wood was wide open, and inside sat a round pill wrapped in silk…
…or rather, Danhwi was holding it in his hand as if he were about to put it inside.
“…W-what are you doing?”
The pill gave off a faint pink glow; it was clearly no ordinary treasure. It was undoubtedly the spirit medicine I had been looking for.
Why was he trying to put it in there instead of eating it himself?
After a moment of silence, he muttered softly.
“…I tried to keep you from getting involved.”
“Pardon?”
Suddenly, I remembered the river that only a master of lightness techniques should have been able to cross.
…Was the errand he was going to give me this task?
It seemed he had changed his mind and decided to do it alone.
Danhwi set the box down and grabbed my shoulders.
“You, how did you get here? Did you follow me?”
“No. I didn’t follow you…”
“Fine. More importantly, how did you cross the river inside the cave? You don’t have the skill to cross that.”
“Uh… I just copied what you did, Danhwi-daehyeop, and it worked.”
“…You copied me?”
He paused. Then he muttered to himself.
“…From hiding your presence by pretending to sleep to fool my eyes…”
He seemed to be misunderstanding something, but I decided not to correct him.
That way, I could get out of this situation for now.
The problem was that the spirit medicine I intended to eat was now in Danhwi’s hands.
And I had just witnessed someone artificially planting what I thought was a ‘fortuitous encounter’ of unknown origin.
“…But why on earth would you do this…?”
An ominous foreboding began to creep up on me again.
A game character who seems to know about fortuitous encounters in advance and is manipulating them…
It would be difficult to do such a thing alone.
If it were an organization or a group, Danhwi wouldn’t be the leader.
If he were the boss, no matter if I was a possessor or not, he wouldn’t have been caught by a mere child.
In that case, the one who could be called the ‘Murim’s Hidden Mastermind’ was surely…
The person he called Master.
“……!”
The moment that thought crossed my mind, the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
I felt a presence.
“…….”
I slowly turned my head to look. Sitting in a crevice of the jagged cave wall, right where the moonlight poured in, was a man wearing a clean bamboo hat.
I couldn’t see his face well, but his physique was very lithe.
Danhwi, looking flustered, let go of my shoulders, clasped his hands in a respectful greeting, and bowed his head. He then turned my suspicion into certainty.
“…Master.”
…To think he would show himself in person.
Is he some incredibly old supreme master?
That thought was shattered the moment I heard his voice.
“How interesting.”
“……!”
It was a very clear, elegant voice. He was definitely a young man.
I forced my lips open and asked cautiously.
“Who… are you?”
The man tilted his head slightly.
“Is it not basic etiquette to introduce yourself first, child?”
Child?
I doubted my ears. It was because he used such archaic, old-fashioned phrasing that didn’t match his youthful voice at all.
“And explain why you are here as well.”
“…….”
In that case, there was only one possibility…
He was a master who had achieved Rejuvenation.
Another peculiar thing was that nothing about the man’s blue robes suggested an affiliation with any faction.
He didn’t seem like an old strategist from the Murim Alliance. He didn’t look like an Elder from a prestigious Orthodox sect, a man from the Unorthodox Shadow sects, or an old demon from the Demonic Cult.
The longer one lives, the more their habits and attire tend to reveal where they belong. The fact that I couldn’t feel any such traces meant…
He truly was a hidden master who didn’t belong to the Orthodox, Unorthodox, or Demonic factions, just as I had guessed.
“Master.”
Danhwi opened his mouth as if to say something, but the man raised a hand firmly to stop him.
I felt his gaze fixed solely on me.
Perhaps because his gaze was infused with inner energy, my fingertips tingled even though I wasn’t meeting his eyes.
In an instant, a flash of certainty crossed my mind.
‘…It’s him!’
Someone strong enough not to die easily, yet soft-hearted enough to take me in. A master who lives in seclusion, far from the conflicts of the Orthodox, Unorthodox, and Demonic factions…
“…….”
Isn’t he the perfect candidate?
