Chapter 165. Even If I Have to Paint Myself with Lacquer or Swallow Charcoal (11)
Woo-Moon then told her about Dae-Woong, Jin-Jin, and Gun-Ha. He felt at ease, perhaps because he had heard Ah Hee’s secret just moments earlier.
“... so I’d like to ask the North Sea Ice Palace for help.”
“Hmm... a middle-aged man with a robust frame, a beautiful middle-aged woman, and a small child. I don’t know about a place with a lot of people, but in a place as desolate as the North Sea, they would attract attention wherever they go. That said, unfortunately, I haven’t heard anything regarding anyone matching that description yet. I’ll have my subordinates inquire about them. Don’t worry, I’ll do everything that I can.”
Woo-Moon bowed his head with deep sincerity.
“Thank you."
Suddenly, Ah Hee smiled mischievously.
“By the way, aren’t you also hiding something, too?”
Although he was shocked, Woo-Moon pretended to be calm.
“What do you mean? Definitely not.”
Ah Hee burst out laughing. Just like her youthful appearance, her laugh was as clear as that of a maiden’s.
“I’m much more perceptive than I look, and I can clearly see you trying to keep your distance from her. Seeing how you’re acting, I can guess what you’re thinking. You plan to leave once you’ve achieved your goal, right?”
As Ah Hee had already noticed this much, Woo-Moon realized he couldn’t keep up the facade any longer.
“I’m sorry. You’re right.”
“Does she know?”
“Yes. She said she would leave the North Sea Ice Palace at that time as well.”
“I see, it makes sense. The North Sea Ice Palace isn’t a welcoming place for that child.”
Ah Hee's voice was weak.
“I have a favor to ask you.”
"What is it?"
“That child must be in immense pain from the wounds I just opened for her. I know this is a selfish request... but can you comfort my daughter? I’m afraid of what that weak child may resort to if you leave her as well. If she were to make the extreme choice...”
The words “extreme choice” pierced Woo-Moon’s heart.
People kept dying around him.
Woo-Moon had already experienced that loss three times.
His grandfather.
His junior sister.
The Night Spear Devil.
Two of them weren’t just acquaintances either but loved ones.
It was said that experience hardens a person. However, for Woo-Moon, the death of someone he loved didn’t harden him whatsoever. No, the more it happened, the weaker his heart became.
Thus, Woo-Moon was both scared and worried when Ah Hee said that Yeo-Seol might even consider an extreme choice in the end.
‘To be born an orphan and live a difficult life, only to find out that the master you held so dear was your real mother... she must have felt betrayed by her mother, who pretended not to know her even though they were right next to one another. If the person she loves says he wouldn’t accept her either... yes, she might really think that way...’
Woo-Moon’s heart became heavy.
“I will try my best.”
Although he hadn’t yet decided what he would do, Woo-Moon could at least put Ah Hee at ease by saying he would do his best.
“Thank you.”
“Also, there’s one more important thing I have to tell you.”
"What is it?”
Woo-Moon described every single person he had seen send a homing pigeon from the day he arrived at the North Sea Ice Palace, handing over hand drawn pictures of each person.
At first, he found it difficult to draw their appearances. However, he tried time and again, erasing and drawing once more, until the drawings seemed reasonably accurate to the faces he had in his memories. It didn’t have to be anything overly artistic, after all; as long as they were recognizable, it was good enough.
Among those who sent the pigeons, there would definitely be moles from Martial Heaven, as well as from other forces. Either way, it was an issue that the North Sea Ice Palace needed to address.
Ah Hee took the papers Woo-Moon handed over and stored them in her sleeve.
These papers would lead to a bloody storm in the future.
With nothing more to say, Woo-Moon gave his farewells and walked to his quarters.
“Whew...”
With each step forward came another sigh.
As he wandered about, for some reason, his steps took him not to his quarters but to Yeo-Seol’s.
“Ahem, hmm...”
Woo-Moon cleared his throat outside the door, and after a few moments, he could hear Yeo-Seol's voice.
“Y-young Hero Song?”
“Yes, Young Lady Ha.”
There was a loud rustling sound, and Yeo-Seol opened the door slightly and came out.
“What is it?”
Yeo-Seol's eyes were red. Although she seemed to have wiped her face before coming out, her eyes were still wet with tears.
‘She must have been crying ever since she found out.’
His heart pounded.
Woo-Moon’s heart ached as he saw her big eyes welcoming him with joy, like that of a chick following its mother, even in such a sad time.
“I came because I have something to tell you.”
“S-something to tell me?”
Even though he knew that his plans would go astray if he were to continue right now, Woo-Moon still acted impulsively as he was so heartbroken and sorry for what Yeo-Seol was going through.
“Eek...!”
Woo-Moon tightly hugged Yeo-Seol.
“It hurts, doesn’t it? I’m really, really sorry. I was too selfish. I don’t dislike you; you know that, right, Young Lady Ha?”
He hadn’t said that hoping for an answer, and whether she understood that point or not, Yeo-Seol just shivered like a bird caught in the rain, not saying anything.
“I’ll promise you right now. I, Song Woo-Moon, will never leave you.”
Zzzt! Zzzt!!
Yeo-Seol shivered as if she had been struck by lightning.
Her entire body went limp, her mind went blank, and something hot filled her entire chest and spread throughout her body.
Even though she tried to tell herself not to cry again, her eyes started to tear up once more.
“Thank you...”
“No, thank you. Thank you for loving me so much. However, I can’t promise anything else so far because I still haven’t settled everything within me. Is that okay?”
Yeo-Seol nodded vigorously.
“That’s more than enough. Thank you so much. I-if even you pushed me away... if even you decided to reject me... if you had said you didn’t need me... I really... I... I might...”
Woo-Moon didn’t dare to keep on listening.
“I do need you, Young Lady Ha. I really do. Even now, feeling your warmth makes me feel at ease. When I said I wanted to part ways last time, it wasn’t because I didn’t have any feelings for you. I just needed time to clear my mind.”
Having someone new in your life is easy, but filling in the void when someone leaves is a whole different story.[1]
After Woo-Moon lost those who were most important to him, he, too, was feeling a great sense of loss and loneliness. After all, he was human, too.
It was inevitable that Yeo-Seol, who expressed her love for him with such sincerity, would end up occupying an important place in his heart.
His words just now had been impulsive, but also sincere.
***
Ra-Mi woke up from her slumber.
For some reason, she felt good today. She felt refreshed, and for some reason, she had a bright smile on her face.
What’s going on, I wonder?’
She felt that something was strange, but she couldn’t figure out what exactly it was.
She opened the window with a black iron frame that her father, the sect master of the Hainan Sword Sect, had made himself. A salty and cool sea breeze blew in and enveloped her slender body.
As she stood there in the sea breeze, she was indeed beautiful.
A beauty with eyelids still heavy, her thick and luscious hair blowing in the wind as she squinted cutely in the morning sunlight.
Ra Mi had returned to the Hainan Sword Sect immediately after the war against the Black Bull Gang had ended. She planned to rest at home for a while before going out into the gangho again.
“Hehe~”
Standing by herself, Ra Mi blushed as she let out a cute laugh that didn’t match her mature and sensual appearance.
‘Woo-Moon... hehe.’
Thinking of Woo-Moon made her feel better.
She laughed to herself for a moment before suddenly stopping.
Then, her eyes closed.
After about an hour, the sleeping beauty opened her eyes again and smiled as she kept thinking of Woo-Moon, almost as if she had never fallen asleep.
“Ahem. Miya, are you awake?”
Miya.
That was the nickname the daughter-obsessed, good-for-nothing sect master of the Hainan Sword Sect called Ra Mi. He was famous for pampering his daughter excessively.
“Yes. Come in, Father.”
Feeling happy just from hearing his daughter’s cute voice, Ra Baek-Do opened the door and entered.
When he saw his daughter standing there with her hair blowing in the sea breeze, he was filled with admiration and was moved to tears.
“Oh dear, there really is no fairy that can compare to you. Just whose daughter are you, and why are you so pretty?”
“She’s my daughter, you good-for-nothing old fart.”
Ra Baek-Do flinched at the cold voice and turned around.
“Ha... haha... I see you’ve arrived, my dear wife.”
Behind him, a middle-aged beauty that could’ve easily passed for Ra Mi’s sister if not for a few age marks here and there, was looking at him with her eyebrow raised.
“Ra Mi, someone sent this for you.”
Ra Mi, who had just fallen asleep again, woke up when her mother called out to her.
“Who...?”
“You’ll find that out when you read it yourself.”
Ra Mi's mother, Geum Ga-Yeon, was the daughter of the Hainan Province’s Regional Military Commissioner. Because she still had a deep connection with the imperial government, the manual Woo-Moon had asked the princess to deliver had arrived through her.
“A manual? What sort of manual is this? This isn’t some love letter from some bastard in the imperial government, is it? No, this won’t do. My dear, give it to me! I should take a look at it first.”
As Ra Baek-Do was about to take the manual from Ra Mi’s hand, Geum Ga-Yeon grabbed her husband by the scruff of his neck and dragged him behind her.
“Do you think she’s still some snotty little kid or something? Stop meddling and come out now!”
“W-well, my dear wife... As a father, I...!”
“How annoying. Fine, I dare you. Keep talking!”
“...”
Ra Baek-Do left with a tearful expression on his face as Ra Mi looked at him with a smile.
“... Who could have sent this?”
Ra Mi opened the manual and began to read slowly.
‘Huh? This... This is from him! He’s really not dead! And... And he didn’t forget his promise to me!’
Not long after returning to the Hainan Sword Sect, Ra Mi also heard the rumors that Woo-Moon had lost his life at the Heavenly Demon Mound.
Although she had a feeling that he hadn’t died, she had still been wracked with worry and cried for some time.
Now, she was naturally ecstatic that Woo-Moon was not only alive but had even written a manual and sent it to her!
‘T-this cultivation method is...!’
Woo-Moon went through a lot of trial and error while creating the qi cultivation method that would lead Ra Mi to the Absolute realm.
Then, at some point, he changed his thought process. If sleeping was the problem, then why not make it possible just to cultivate while sleeping?
Just like he himself had cultivated while in a reverie in front of the landscape painting!
From that point on, he had changed his methodology, and created the cultivation method in Ra Mi’s hands with such speed that he had even surprised himself.
‘Woo-Moon... thank you...!’
This was a qi cultivation method that could literally be practiced even while sleeping.
With this, she could definitely cultivate normally. No... If anything, she could cultivate incredibly fast. This method turned her greatest problem into her greatest asset.
Ra Mi could now see a path to becoming an Absolute Master. She had hope.
***
Having achieved his goal, Woo-Moon exited the North Sea Ice Palace, climbed on Eun-Ah's back, and hurried toward the Kunlun Sect.
Because Eun-Ah moved so fast, Woo-Moon was able to arrive around Mount Kunlun in an incredibly short amount of time.
‘Hmm? What the... Is that blood? What’s this fishy smell?’
Woo-Moon’s developed senses detected the smell of blood and an aura of bloodlust.
Using his movement technique, Woo-Moon rushed in the direction the scent came from.
There, he found a village located on one end of Mount Kunlun.
As he slowly looked around, he noticed something unusual.
A girl who looked to be only about fifteen was walking along with the villagers, her face swollen from crying so much.
Behind them, Woo-Moon could see a boy lying dead on the ground, covered in blood.
‘How vicious. So many people struck him so hard that all of his organs ruptured. He was beaten to death... and then beaten some more.’
Woo-Moon's expression turned cold.
1. This is something rather challenging to translate. It's an idiom that essentially means to treasure your loved ones when they’re around. Literally “you may not notice how large an empty seat at the table is when someone new comes to sit down, but you’ll definitely notice how large an empty seat at the table is when someone you love leaves.” ☜