SYM 91
by Emerlyn“Cheong-un. If you happen to meet a Kunlun Taoist in the future, just pretend you don’t know me. Don’t bother revealing that you’re my disciple. Revealing it will only cause unnecessary trouble…”
“Pretend I don’t know you?”
Eun-hyeon realized he had made a mistake at Cheong-un’s sharp tone.
Sure enough, Cheong-un’s eyebrows were raised sharply.
“Oh, um…”
Eun-hyeon swallowed hard, looking at his fiercely raised, sharp eyes.
He knew from experience how stubborn the young one could be; once his mood soured, it took a long time to resolve. Moreover, even though he was clearly the Master, it was overwhelming to deal with him when he glared and questioned him like that.
“No, I’m sorry. I misspoke.”
From past experience, Eun-hyeon knew that the longer he delayed apologizing, the harder it would be to improve his mood.
So he quickly apologized, but Cheong-un’s fierce momentum did not subside.
“Master, you are precious to me. How can you say such a thing to me? To hide who my Master is?”
“I, I apologized because of that. I made a mistake thinking it would be better if we could avoid trouble.”
Only then did Cheong-un’s eyebrows, which had been raised high, lower slightly as Eun-hyeon repeatedly apologized.
“…I have no intention of hiding who my Master is in the future. No matter when or what the situation, I will always reveal it.”
“Yes, yes. I understand, I understand. I must become a Master that you won’t be ashamed to reveal. Haa, still, Cheong-un, try not to clash with the Kunlun Sect people unnecessarily.”
The man who would later become the Heavenly Demon was extraordinary from the start. Cheong-un’s Martial Arts were already beyond comparison with his peers.
At the same time, his bloodlust was also extraordinary, so Eun-hyeon would flinch when he glared like that.
“…Master.”
“Yes?”
“Is Kunlun still a special place for Master?”
“…That’s…”
Eun-hyeon tried to gloss over it, but sighed at the sight of the eyes staring straight at him.
“I thought I had abandoned all lingering attachments, but seeing that I can’t answer your question easily, I guess that’s not the case.”
Eun-hyeon smiled bitterly.
“Is Master still waiting for your Eldest Senior Brother to come and find you?”
Eun-hyeon flinched.
Cheong-un was so quick-witted and sharp for his age that he sometimes pointed out things that even he hadn’t realized.
This was one of those times. Eun-hyeon unknowingly opened his mouth and rubbed his reddened face with his hands.
“…Haa. I’m showing a lot of embarrassing sides in front of my disciple today. It seems that was the case.”
Only after Cheong-un’s pointed remark did he become aware of his childish heart.
After being expelled from the direct line of disciples in Kunlun, he couldn’t bring himself to leave far away and settled in the Cheonsan Mountains, not far from Kunlun. Even though he knew he would encounter Kunlun Sect disciples, he still went down to the nearby village.
Eun-hyeon now understood the reason for his actions, which he had foolishly repeated for years.
Kunlun was the first place Eun-hyeon had relied on after being suddenly dropped into this world alone. He had unknowingly thought of Kunlun as his hometown and Eldest Senior Brother as his parents.
“Why doesn’t Master’s Eldest Senior Brother come to find Master? If Master was framed while he was away, shouldn’t he look for Master after he returns?”
Eun-hyeon smiled weakly. Each word Cheong-un spoke felt like a direct hit to his vital points.
He, too, had initially waited for Eldest Senior Brother like that.
He would linger around the village, listening for news, wondering if the Dragon Phoenix Gathering was over.
It wasn’t that he expected Eldest Senior Brother to clear his name.
Since it was a decision made directly by the Sect Leader, the chances of him, without any backing, becoming a direct disciple again were slim.
He just thought that, given their past relationship, he would come to find him once or twice.
But a month passed, two months passed, and the year passed without any news.
After several years had passed, Eun-hyeon had to admit that Eldest Senior Brother had abandoned him. He felt as if the wound he thought had healed had been reopened by the young disciple’s remark.
“Cheong-un.”
“Yes, Master.”
Eun-hyeon knelt down in front of Cheong-un to meet his eyes at the same level.
Cheong-un’s eyes were deep and wise, unlike those of a child his age.
Eun-hyeon knew how Cheong-un had come to have such eyes, and he felt sorry for the child who was more mature than his age.
“Yun, don’t worry about what others think and live your life doing everything you want to do.”
Eun-hyeon stroked Cheong-un’s hair.
He hadn’t fully realized it when he only saw it as a story in a novel. What it was like for a young child to experience such sorrow.
Cheong-un quietly stared at Eun-hyeon.
“I often regret realizing what I truly wanted only after a long time.”
“What did Master want?”
Eun-hyeon chuckled at the sight of his young disciple speaking as if he would grant his wish if he said what he wanted.
Ironically, that word felt very reassuring.
“Did Master want to protect Kunlun with that Eldest Senior Brother?”
“No, no. I think I thought so for a while, but now I know for sure what I wanted.”
Eun-hyeon paused for a moment.
Cheong-un’s words made Eun-hyeon confront his deepest feelings, which he hadn’t even realized himself.
What Eun-hyeon wanted was family.
After his parents suddenly died in an accident and he lived alone with his sister, what he wanted most was for his parents to come back and return to the way things used to be.
That was Eun-hyeon’s biggest wish, hidden deep inside.
And now, from Cheong-un’s question, Eun-hyeon realized that he had been looking for it in Kunlun.
“I guess I wanted a family. I regarded Kunlun as my home and thought of them as family. But they weren’t my family, so it was just my delusion.”
But the Eldest Senior Brother he had given his heart to was not his sister, and the Sect Leader was not his parents either.
“Master. I will become Master’s family! Master is not alone.”
Eun-hyeon blinked and then burst into laughter. And he lifted Cheong-un up in his arms.
“Eek…! Master! Put me down! I’m not a child anymore!”
Cheong-un shouted, his ears turning red. The hands slapping his back were so firm that his back was burning.
“Not a child anymore? Not even close. Master can lift someone like you, Cheong-un, with one hand.”
It wasn’t that the child, who had been skinny and small when they first met, had grown quite a bit now. It was worth the effort he had put into feeding him well, even with their meager living.
Cheong-un snorted at Eun-hyeon’s words.
“…Someday, the day will come when I will carry Master around like this!”
“Hahaha, good, good. I’ll be waiting for that day.”
…I’ll be waiting for that day.
Eun-hyeon slowly opened his eyes, repeating the last words.
A smile escaped his lips. It was the first time in a long time that he had seen the young Cheong-un.
Seeing the young Cheong-un trying so hard to protect him, he had many thoughts. Eun-hyeon clenched and unclenched his fists and moved his head from side to side.
His body was stiff because he had fallen asleep in an uncomfortable position. It didn’t seem like a long time had passed, but he felt like he had slept very deeply.
“Cheong-un was really cute when he was young…”
He felt strange thinking that he was the only one who knew about the cute childhood of the man who had now become the Heavenly Demon.
“I should tell Cheong-un about my dream when I see him.”
Who would have imagined that a child who was extraordinary from a young age would grow up to be someone who shared a body with him?
‘Thump.’
At that moment, the carriage wheel bounced up sharply. Eun-hyeon’s body floated into the air and then fell with a thud. Fortunately, he fell on the soft cushion inside the carriage and was not injured.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t see the big rock and it got caught in the wheel…”
“It’s okay. How much further is it?”
“We’re almost there.”
Eun-hyeon nodded, looking at the man who was answering from outside the window.
They hadn’t introduced themselves to each other yet, but Eun-hyeon already knew that he was Yoon Ju-myeong, the leader of Amhon.
The man with the stern expression pointed in one direction with his hand.
It was dusty and hard to see, but something like a village could be seen faintly.
“That village over there is it. There is a small Manor at the innermost part. I will send Amhon to check inside first.”
Eun-hyeon nodded. Not long after, the carriage came to a stop.
Looking out the door, he could see Amhon returning from afar. It was too fast to have gone around the entire village.
Seeing that, Eun-hyeon felt instinctively that something was wrong.