I Am the Youngest Disciple of the Martial Arts World’s Mastermind
Chapter 42
Chapter 42
The Youngest Disciple of the Murim’s Hidden Mastermind
Chapter 42
“…Whew. Oh, Ryang. Come to think of it….”
Once I caught my breath, Ryang finally came into focus.
I hopped around him in a full circle.
“You tied your hair back! It looks great on you!”
A day had passed since Master’s shocking declaration to ‘take Ryang as a disciple.’
In that time, Ryang, having finally left his sickbed in the Medical Hall, had begun preparing in earnest to stay on Cheongsan Peak.
“How’s your room? Do you like it?”
It would have been nice if he could have used the empty room right next to mine, but it was decided he would stay in the same annex as Senior Brother Danhwi.
I’ve never actually been inside Danhwi’s room, so I don’t know what it’s like. Isn’t it incredibly messy?
When I asked with half-curiosity and half-concern, Ryang nodded slowly.
“…Yes. To the point where I wonder if a former slave of the Demonic Cult deserves such extravagant treatment.”
I jumped in place.
“Extravagant? I, well, actually… before I met Master, I was from the Beggars’ Sect. Master doesn’t care about things like that.”
“Is that so,” Ryang murmured in response.
I stole a glance at him, cleared my throat for no reason, and then asked casually.
“But… are you going to keep using formal speech?”
“You are my Master now.”
“No, that’s just a title. Didn’t you feel it too? That was just an excuse to let you stay here. My senior brothers are the ones who will actually be teaching you martial arts.”
“…….”
“So let’s just speak comfortably…. Please? You’re the only friend my age here.”
When I openly pouted and begged, Ryang hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding.
“…Alright.”
“Yay!”
Success!
“Still, I’ll maintain proper etiquette when others are around.”
“Well, I guess…. Do as you like…….”
Realizing there was no further way to persuade him, I nodded reluctantly.
He really is a good kid.
I want to build a good relationship with him…….
“Whew…….”
When I suddenly let out a deep sigh, Ryang spoke up cautiously.
“…The Demonic Cult won’t send pursuers just because a single slave disappeared. They’ll assume I’d die from the Gu poison anyway if I ran.”
“…Huh?”
What is he talking about all of a sudden?
“There were hardly any envoys from the Cult coming and going from White Horse Cave. I will never let you be put in danger because of me…….”
“It’s not that.”
I grinned and grabbed both of Ryang’s hands firmly.
“…….”
He flinched as if startled, but he didn’t push me away like he had during our first meeting.
I squeezed his hands and asked, “I was thinking about the first time we met. You pushed me away back then because you were afraid I’d touch the Gu poison, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Is it okay now?”
“Yes. It’s okay.”
“Good. Then let’s hold hands like this and make a promise.”
For now, indoctrination is the only way.
When I spoke while looking him straight in the eye, Ryang asked back in confusion.
“A promise?”
“Yeah. That we’ll get strong together.”
“…….”
“Strong enough that no one can mess with us. I… I can’t teach you swordsmanship, but just like Master said, I can use my internal force to help drive out the rest of your demonic qi. And, well, I might be able to teach you lightness techniques or mechanisms and formations too…….”
So please, just don’t become the Heavenly Demon later and kill me.
Swallowing those words, I spoke clearly.
“Now, repeat after me.”
“Okay.”
“I will protect you. So you must protect me too.”
“I will protect you, and you will protect me too.”
“That no matter what happens, we will never betray each other.”
“Never betray each other…….”
“And that we’ll never be alone.”
“…….”
Ryang, who had been following along well, slowed down until his voice trailed off, and at the end, he turned his head away entirely.
“……?”
What’s wrong?
I tilted my head and urged him on.
“Hey. Hurry up.”
“…Yeah. So we’re never… alone.”
As he stammered the words, his eyes were wavering violently.
Regardless of that.
“There, it’s a promise, okay?”
I smiled brightly and gripped Ryang’s hands tight.
My second lifeline!
…At that moment, I had no idea why Ryang was acting that way.
…That they would protect each other so they wouldn’t be alone?
‘Thinking coldly, those are foolish words.’
Ryang thought as he slowly opened his eyes while sitting in a lotus position.
Throughout his cultivation meditation, Soso’s innocent words and bright voice had not left his mind.
“Whew.”
Despite the thoughts, his body felt incredibly refreshed, likely because the Gu poison was gone.
To the point where his entire physical form—his four limbs and his very flesh—hardly felt like his own. It was unfamiliar.
Cheong-ui Sanin had said that he would only be able to completely drive out the dark qi once he finished clearing the Ren and Du Meridians, but…
‘…Even now, I doubt there are many masters capable of seeing through my origins so thoroughly.’
The Left Envoy of Light, who had kept an eye on him since he was a slave, came to mind.
However, he felt that even that man would find it impossible to locate this Cheongsan Peak.
“…Hmm.”
Ryang looked down at his fists, slowly clenching and unclenching them. His fingers, once stained black by demonic arts, had all regained their original color without exception.
At first, he couldn’t believe it.
Had the Gu poison truly vanished?
After confirming several times that his surroundings in the provided room were truly safe, Ryang circulated his inner energy through his body to complete a full cycle.
Only then was he perfectly certain.
‘I have truly gained a new life.’
To think such a miraculous encounter existed in this world.
Yes… a miracle.
“…….”
‘I will never give up on you.’
The voice that had continued steadfastly despite trembling echoed in his head.
Soyoung. Soso. The young girl his own age who had become his master.
She had truly kept her word.
‘The Demonic Cult will surely track you down.’
‘Wow…! That’s great…….’
Even when she was clearly burdened, hadn’t she immediately changed her expression at a single suggestive word from Cheong-ui Sanin?
And then that voice, smiling thoughtlessly as she said she would take responsibility for him…….
“…….”
Ryang impulsively placed a hand over his chest. It was where his heart was thumping.
Again, his stomach felt uneasy.
It was the same feeling he’d had when he thought of Soso while dwelling on the pain of the whip wounds in the prisons of White Horse Cave.
Back then, he was facing death and in so much pain that he thought he’d simply gone mad…….
“…….”
His body didn’t hurt anymore. While his past still hadn’t returned to him, his mental state could be called optimal.
Yet his heart was still whispering the same wish.
Even now, standing on the same Cheongsan Peak where he could go see Soso whenever he set his mind to it, he still…….
‘…I want Soso.’
It was an undeniable greed.
Even if it was only in name, he was uncontrollably happy to be bound to Soso in the relationship of ‘junior brother.’
The heart that had once only wished to see her one more time had become a greed to survive. And that greed had transformed into a resolve to live while protecting her.
That was why. When Cheong-ui Sanin had made the extreme demand that he take his own life if he failed to protect her, Ryang had answered like this:
‘I felt that… my life ahead would have no meaning if it weren’t by Soso’s side. I felt that destiny.’
Young as he was, Ryang was a man of the martial world.
He had seen time and again how ‘destiny’ moved people.
Pyeon-ma had been born with a talent for the whip and thus took up that work, and the Left Envoy of Light had said that one born under the Star of Heavenly Slaughter would become the Heavenly Demon.
If everyone was born with such a destiny, then perhaps his destiny was to meet Soso like this.
He felt an instinctive pull so strong it felt like a certainty.
Ryang closed his eyes and, lost in thought, let out a sighing murmur.
“…Have I gone mad?”
To be this impulsive.
The reason Ryang had been able to survive for so long in White Horse Cave was because he had shunned impulse and struggled to find composure, maintaining a tight rope between the Gu poison and his reason.
It was no easy feat for one so young, but his craving to survive had been greater.
‘…But now, even that time feels like something I endured just to meet Soso.’
Does this even make sense?
To be honest, it was almost frightening.
Why was the heart that had held on so stubbornly to keep from breaking as a slave now moving so suddenly, as if swept away by a gale?
