“Therefore, I will pass this on to my disciple who takes after me.”
The boy was startled and widened his eyes.
“Since you cut off the cloth, I will give it to you as a reward.”
“Really? You said it was a good thing. Can I have it?”
Myojeong smiled and nodded.
“It’s quite a tricky item, so I’ll teach you how to use it gradually, step by step.”
“Wow!” The boy smiled broadly, grabbed the bow with both hands, and raised it high into the sky. This is mine. This is the bow Myojeong gave me. The wooden pole was a bit long for an unfledged boy to use, but the boy was happy nonetheless. It didn’t matter if it’s dull by a sword. Since I take after my master, I will become stronger with this bow.
“Aye, how nice. Even though I am good with a sword, I am not good at shooting a bow, but your master handles a sword well and shoots a bow very well. Study well. Because there is nothing that Myojeong cannot do.”
Hwirim patted the boy on the shoulder and cheered him on. “As long as you know that,” when the boy retorted with a chuckle, Hwirim replied incredulously. “I knew before you did.” Myojeong turned his head and stared at Hwirim. A breeze blew from afar, ripping through Hwirim’s short hair.
“…”
Myojeong, who was silent for a moment, took out an empty canteen from the bag and asked nonchalantly.
“Gyeom-ah. Would you like to go to the spring and get some drinking water?”
“Huh? Oh. Okay.” The boy nodded and accepted the canteen. Just then, Hwirim immediately tried to dissuade the boy by rummaging through the briefcase hanging from her pants. It was because there was water left in the canteen that he had brought beforehand.
“Wait a minute, here…”
Just when Hwirim was about to say something. Myojeong, who was standing behind her, tugged at her sleeve. When she looked back at him with puzzled eyes, Myojeong opened and closed his eyes quickly, then shook his head very slightly.
“Ah.”
Hwirim just kept her mouth shut.
Myojeong and Hwirim silently watched the back of the boy holding a canteen and walking away. There was a spring that used to come and go nearby, so it shouldn’t take too long. Finally, the figure became so small that the boy’s back could not be seen. Myojeong, who had been looking around, moved to the back of a dense tree. Hwirm followed behind him.
“Myojeong. You seem to be getting along very well with the child?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Did you name the child yourself?”
“That’s right, I named him ‘Jaegyeom’.”
Myojeong smiled wryly as he remembered something.
“One day, he asked me why he didn’t have a family name. I told him that I wanted a family name too, so I told him to go out on the side of the road and pick a family name he liked, and he said he liked Kim, so he called himself Kim Jaegyeom from then on.”
As soon as she heard that, Hwirim laughed loudly. “How cute.” He was a bit savage and ferocious, but… The child must have a clear and warm disposition. After seeing it in person, it seemed like she could understand why Myojeong attached a special affection to the boy.
“What do you plan to do with that child in the future?”
Hwirim’s, who had been laughing for a while, laughter died down after a while and asked.
“…”
Myojeong did not respond. At the end of her question, a heavy silence fell between the two. He looked down at her with subdued eyes, then quietly opened his mouth.
“It is really heartless. Isn’t it?”
At Myojeong’s words, Hwirim replied with blank eyes.
“As long as you know. Six years ago, you disappeared and never looked back…”
Myojeong stuck his head out and glanced in the direction the boy had disappeared, then looked down at Hwirim, who was standing in front of him. It was a reunion after several years. It was the first time they had met since the collapse of Naryecheong. Hwirim hadn’t changed at all from then.
“How have you been for the past six years?”
Myojeong asked in a low voice.
“I ended up living in a foreign land for a long time while traveling through the mountains and the streams. I met various people. The world is indeed wide. Oh, recently, I got to know an intelligent ghost with a pretty outstanding talent, and he’s quite a find. Haha, Myojeong also showed a cute disciple, so I’ll introduce you to him if I ever get the chance.”
Hwirim smiled and patted Myojeong on the back.
Naryecheong, which had been doing well, collapsed overnight, and six years have passed since that day. Six years. It was also the years when Myojeong and the boy first met and lived together. During that time, the child who was only young grew up and became a youth.
“Is that all you have to say to me?”
When Myojeong asked back, Hwirim clapped her hands.
“Ah! Myojeong, have you heard news from Soohyang? Some time ago, Soohyang came to me and asked me about your whereabouts, so I asked why. She is summoning exorcists with a plan to rebuild Naryecheong. That is why Soohyang is desperately searching for Myojeong. Wait… Myojeong? Are you listening to me?”
Myojeong, Hwirim, and Soohyang have known each other since they were children, and they shared the joys and sorrows together at Naryecheong. However, as Naryecheong was disbanded, all the exorcists who belonged to it were scattered and each walked their own path of life. It was the same with Hwirim and Soohyang. After leaving behind his life in Naryecheong, Myojeong suddenly disappeared, and he had been wandering around the country until now.
“No, I don’t know…”
Myojeong lowered his head and put his forehead on one of Hwirim’s shoulders.
As he wandered from place to place, he often heard news of other exorcists who passed by, even if he didn’t want to. Some had entered temples, some had become shamans who enshrined divine spirits, and some were living a normal life by farming. The news that he wasn’t particularly curious about was heard well in his ears. On the other hand, it was ironic that the news he had longed for, hoped for, and eagerly awaited was as elusive as showers in a drought.
“It’s not me who is heartless, it’s you… Over the years, I’ve sent you several letters… You haven’t sent me a single answer until now…”
Myojeong muttered to himself while resting his forehead on Hwirim’s shoulder. Then, she scratched her short hair with a somewhat embarrassed face. “I mean, anyway, since I came to meet you like this, isn’t it fine?” Myojeong replied in a muffled tone. “Mm, no.” Hwirim looked around without realizing it.
“Ah, okay, let’s get out of the way for now!”
In the distance, the boy’s voice echoed back from the spring.
Myojeong… where did you go…
That day the boy called and called his master.
***
“My master is dead.”
And after many years, the boy answered.
“Because I killed him with my own hands.”
Yoon Taehee’s lips slowly drew an arc.
The boy was betrayed by the teacher he trusted and followed, and the teacher gifted the student with a curse of immortality, and the student brought death to the teacher.
“So how does it feel to get your revenge?”
Yoon Taehee asked, resting his chin at an angle. Jaegyeom stared blankly at him with an expressionless face. The light of the sunset filtered through the library window. The sound of the second hand of the clock was unusually loud, and the books stacked tightly on each of the large bookshelves created a calm, heavy smell. Revenge, huh. Was it his revenge? Normally, one would ask how it happened, but Yoon Taehee was curiously asking about the ‘feeling’ after taking revenge. The man always puts focus on strange places.
“So so.”
Jaegyeom, who had been silent the whole time, responded after a while.
“Why? If it were me, I would have felt relieved or thrilled.”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t relieved, I wasn’t thrilled.”
Yoon Taehee raised one corner of his mouth and whispered playfully.
“You are indeed a good-hearted person.”
Yoon Taehee added, flicking his straight, neat-looking fingers across his table. “You killed your enemy, so you should be happy enough.” The advice was out of character for his affectionate tone. Jaegyeom looked at his hand with a n impassive face.
“I was happy at first too. No, I thought I was happy. But after killing the enemy, I knew. That my real enemy is different. So I wasn’t happy…”
Yoon Taehee asked again, frowning.
“What do you mean, a different enemy?”
Jaegyeom murmured with a thoughtful face.
“I am my own enemy. This life is my enemy.”
Feelings of betrayal, hatred, anger, and bloodstained emotions snowballed and suppressed the boy’s heart. The pit of his heart felt stuffy and heavy. At first, he believed that after taking revenge on the man, he would shake off this weight and feel at ease.
But it was only after he killed the man with his own hand that he realized; that he was mistaken. As the man he thought was his enemy disappeared, the life he left behind became his enemy.
‘I am the owner of your life.’
He could now understand what the man said. He truly understood. Revenge was over, but this life left as a remnant of revenge would never end. He neither owned it nor could throw it away. Everything was in the shadow of his master.
There was no more of his master in this world, but the owner of this life was still his master.
Thank you for the chapter ☺️
Just a suggestion: “I is my own enemy.” should be “I am my own enemy.”
“Am” is used for first person, while “is” and “are” are used for third person. Grammar is tricky 😉
im a native english speaker and am aware of those grammar rules haha its just a typo cuz I edit mtl and don’t proofread my work after 😫
Two chaps….. I m quite happy…… Thank you 😀
Okay, so
Gyeom’s master used to be a Naryecheong exorcist along with Hwirim( who he seems veeery intimate with) and also seems to have had affection for his disciple, even though he obviously took him in knowing it wasn’t gonna end good for the boy. But is it all just a revenge plan? Is he that malicious to let the biy suffer for eternity without a plan?
Something else that I’m curious, is it possible that old intelligent ghosts know about Jaegyeom, his past or even his mater like some old gossip among the ghost community?