SYM 3
by Emerlyn“Young master, are you awake? Oh my! You left the window open again! What if you catch a cold? You’re already in poor health…”
“Ah, I just opened it for a bit of ventilation.”
“You were coughing a few days ago, and now you’re talking about ventilation! I can’t believe this. If you catch another cold, I’ll be the one scolded by the madam.”
Eun-hyeon inwardly sighed as he watched the young maid grumbling while closing the window.
It had been a week since Eun-hyeon had transmigrated into the martial arts world again.
The basic furniture in the room was of high quality, but it oddly showed signs of neglect.
Decorations were broken or damaged without repair, and the cleanliness wasn’t great either.
And the only servant coming in and out of this place was this young maid named Soso.
“Soso, my cold is better now, so there’s no need to worry so much.”
Soso glanced at Eun-hyeon. Her eyes held distrust and faint contempt.
To think he was being disrespected even by such a young maid.
After waking up in this body, Eun-hyeon had gathered various information.
The body he incarnated into was Namgung Eun-hyeon, the eldest son of the Namgung family.
His birth mother had passed away early, and it seemed he was living under the mistreatment of his stepmother.
Hearing the name Namgung Eun-hyeon gave him a strange feeling. It wasn’t a character he had encountered when reading the novel, yet coincidentally had the same name as him.
His name in his original world was also Eun-hyeon, and so was the name of the Kunlun Taoist.
Eun-hyeon wasn’t such a common name, yet he kept possessing people with the same name.
Could this still be considered a coincidence?
“Ahem, Soso. I’m thirsty. Could you bring me some warm water?”
“Oh, look at this. You’re getting cold symptoms again because you left the window open.”
Her words were quite impertinent for a maid.
The cough was actually due to the dust from Soso closing the window and cleaning, but Eun-hyeon hesitated and kept quiet.
Without Namgung Eun-hyeon’s memories, Soso was an important figure for Eun-hyeon right now.
Soso needed to provide him with the necessary information and help him adapt to this body.
Namgung Eun-hyeon’s poor standing was actually fortunate for Eun-hyeon.
With Soso being the only maid, there was no one to notice that Eun-hyeon had changed.
“Young master, since I’m boiling water, shall I brew some Yongjeong tea? We still have some left from last time.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m just thirsty, so water is enough.”
Eun-hyeon had been startled recently when he drank tea Soso had brewed without much thought.
It contained a subtle but definite poison.
He couldn’t identify it exactly, but it was certainly poison.
During his time as a Kunlun Taoist, Eun-hyeon had gathered and sold herbs in the Tian Shan mountains. Thanks to that, he was as knowledgeable about herbs and poisons as any decent doctor.
After discovering the poison, Eun-hyeon had been cautious every time he ate. Fortunately, the poison had only been found in the tea so far.
Eun-hyeon carefully observed Soso as she grumbled in a barely audible voice while brewing tea.
He couldn’t tell if Soso had added the poison herself, or if someone had secretly put it in the tea without Soso knowing.
“Oh, by the way, young master. Starting today, there will be guests staying in the outer quarters.”
“…Is that so?”
In martial arts families, it was common to invite renowned figures to stay in the outer quarters. They would provide various conveniences and engage in mutual exchanges during their stay.
If there were young children, they might also ask these guests to educate them.
“Do you know who’s coming?”
“Of course! The rumors are already spreading. You’ll be surprised when you hear, young master! It’s the Great Hero Ha Yeo-un, known as the White-Robed Divine Dragon. You know him, right? The White-Robed Divine Dragon, Ha Yeo-un! He’s not even from a prestigious family, but he’s the most famous person these days.”
“I see, that is surprising.”
Eun-hyeon didn’t know who the White-Robed Divine Dragon was, but he nodded along in agreement.
This world was 20 years after his death. Eun-hyeon had no idea who was famous in the current martial arts world.
When talking with Soso, he had felt that things were subtly different from what he knew. But he never imagined 20 years had passed.
When he had drawn his last breath, his disciple was fourteen years old.
Unlike in modern times, in the martial arts world, fourteen was an age where one could roughly fend for themselves.
So he had comforted himself thinking his disciple would be fine without him, but he couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
Un was an orphan. He had no one but Eun-hyeon as his master.
Could such a child have lived well after his death? Was he living happily, following his last words?
If his disciple was alive, his age would be…
“…Are you listening? Young master! Young master!”
“Huh?”
It seemed he had been lost in thoughts about his disciple for too long and missed what Soso was saying.
Soso glared at him with frustration.
“I clearly delivered the madam’s message! She said you’re not to step a foot outside the separate quarters.”
“Uh… What?”
Seeing Eun-hyeon’s dumbfounded expression, Soso smirked as if to say she had expected this reaction.
She seemed to have been waiting for this reaction.
“You’re saying I shouldn’t go out because guests have arrived in the outer quarters?”
“The separate quarters where you stay are part of the outer quarters, and while the guests can’t freely enter the inner quarters, they can move around the outer quarters. She’s probably worried you might embarrass the family in front of the esteemed guests if you wander around unnecessarily.”
Eun-hyeon remained expressionless at Soso’s impertinent words.
He had only just learned that Namgung Eun-hyeon’s residence was in the separate quarters of the outer compound.
Eun-hyeon quietly looked around the room once again.
It was quite spacious, but it was sparsely furnished and felt empty.
This alone showed Eun-hyeon’s position in the Namgung family.
Eun-hyeon hadn’t left the room once until now. Or rather, he couldn’t because of his cold.
Namgung Eun-hyeon was extremely frail.
From the perspective of a former Kunlun Taoist, this wasn’t a body, it was closer to garbage.
He couldn’t understand how a child of a martial arts family could end up with such a body.
All of Namgung Eun-hyeon’s eight extraordinary meridians were blocked, and he had no inner energy whatsoever.
In wealthy martial arts families, they usually start with medicinal baths right after a child is born and feed them all sorts of precious elixirs
This was why even those without talent could become high-level martial artists if they were from a martial arts family bloodline.
Yet this body, supposedly the eldest son of the Namgung family, was in worse condition than an ordinary person from a common household.
He was so weak that it was difficult to go outside when the weather turned cold, and he frequently caught colds.
It was obvious what kind of existence Namgung Eun-hyeon would be in the Namgung family, where martial arts were the standard.
“Tell mother… I’ll be careful.”
Soso glanced at Eun-hyeon, who responded quietly and bit her lips.
She had tried to provoke Eun-hyeon but now seemed uncomfortable as he appeared hurt.
“You should be able to go out to the garden. The cold has subsided somewhat and we’ve passed the start of spring, so you shouldn’t just lie down all the time, young master. Take a walk too. You used to quite enjoy walking in the garden before.”
“Yes, hearing that makes me want to take a walk after a long time. Please help me prepare.”
Eun-hyeon hesitated for a moment before nodding.
Until now, his physical condition had been too poor to even attempt a walk. However, over the past week, Eun-hyeon hadn’t just been lying down. He had been steadily expelling the impurities in his body and purifying it.
Thanks to that, his body was now in a state where he could at least take a walk.
“Then, young master, wear this as your outer coat. I’ll also give you some heated stones, so keep them in your pocket.”
Though the clothes were so thick that they looked ridiculous, he put them on without complaint.
“I’m going for a walk in the garden, so you can take a rest, Soso.”
“Alright! Be careful, young master!”
At the words to go, Soso left without looking back.
Eun-hyeon put the heated stones Soso had given him in his pocket and slowly headed toward the garden.
“Ah…!”
It really hit him that he was back in the martial arts world.
Seeing the snow-covered garden made him realize he had truly returned to this world.
As Soso had said, the garden of the separate quarters was quite spacious. There was a small pond inside, and also a pavilion.
Though it was too cold now, it seemed like it would be nice to sit here and appreciate the garden once the weather warmed up.
…But he wasn’t supposed to go outside the separate quarters?
Saying that only makes one want to go out more.
Eun-hyeon began to wander beyond the separate quarters.
“Wow… damn.”
Eun-hyeon wiped the sweat off his forehead while breathing heavily.
When told not to wander around freely, he thought he’d be able to meet people just by going outside the separate quarters.
But no matter how far he walked, there was nothing in sight.
Was it because his stamina was too poor, or was the Namgung family compound just too vast?
Once, he had run around the Tian Shan mountains as if they were his own backyard, but now he was about to collapse just inside his own home.
That wasn’t the only problem.
“Where… exactly is this place?”
He had gotten lost in a place without a single servant in sight.
The thick clothes kept him warm but also sapped his energy due to their weight.
To make matters worse, his legs were shaking.
“Wow, at this rate I’m going to be someone who got lost in their own house and froze to death. What the hell is this? It’s dog shit.”
“…Dog shit?”
Startled by the sudden voice, Eun-hyeon quickly turned his head.
For a moment, he couldn’t open his eyes properly due to the sunlight and covered his face with his hand.
“Where did you learn to say things like that?”
A dark figure leaped down from above.
Since possessing this body, Eun-hyeon had only interacted with Soso, whose height barely reached his shoulder.
As a result, he hadn’t had a chance to realize how small he was.
Seeing the man standing before him, Eun-hyeon finally understood how small and insignificant Namgung Eun-hyeon’s body was.
“Wow…”
He could only exclaim in awe at the man before him.
The man was easily a head and a half taller than Eun-hyeon, with long limbs that looked like the epitome of a swordsman.
His muscles, appropriately toned in all the right places, didn’t give off any sense of sluggishness.
Rather, he had the air of an agile leopard.
Eunhyun couldn’t help but look the man up and down.
There had been a time when Eunhyun was called the greatest swordsman of Kunlun. But even that Eun-hyeon would have been unable to contain his amazement at the man before him. The man’s body was truly that of a born warrior, one that any swordsman would dream of and envy.
Even in thick winter clothes, the man’s excellent frame and build were not hidden.
Truly a heaven-sent talent.
The man had leaped down from the roof to Eun-hyeon’s front, but there wasn’t a single sound of footsteps.
“You, where did you hear such words?”
“Uh…?”
The man asked abruptly with a stern face.
As a confused Eun-hyeon just frowned and stared at the man, the man strongly gripped Eun-hyeon’s arm.
“W-wait… Ugh.”
It was a grip strong enough to make him wince, even through the thick coat.
“The words you just said, who did you hear them from?”
“Ah, let go of this! It hurts!”
Eun-hyeon slapped the man’s hand and pulled his body back.
Even after escaping the man’s grasp, his arm was throbbing. It would surely be bruised black and blue under the clothes.
Namgung Eun-hyeon’s body was like fragile glass. It was a body that would fall ill if the balance was even slightly off, yet to be grabbed so roughly.
He had been barely keeping this precarious body alive through constant cultivation day and night!
Eun-hyeon glared at the man while rubbing his painful arm.
The man’s thick eyebrows twitched as he watched. It seemed like he might get angry, but the man soon let out a light sigh.
“…I apologize. It’s an important matter to me.”
“So, if it’s important, you think you can just grab someone’s arm like that?”
“…It seems I lost my composure. I apologize again.”
“If you’re going to apologize, shouldn’t you first introduce yourself? That’s basic manners, isn’t it?”
Eunhyun stood crookedly and stared at the man. The man bit his lip for a moment before sighing deeply.
“People call me the White-Robed Divine Dragon. I’ve been invited by the head of the Namgung family and am staying in the outer quarters starting today.”
“Wait… Ha Yeo-un, the White-Robed Divine Dragon?”
The man nodded at Eun-hyeon’s words.
“I just want to know where the young master heard the words he just said.”
The White-Robed Divine Dragon, Ha Yeo-un.
Wasn’t this who Soso had mentioned earlier? The incredibly famous person staying in the outer quarters…
Eun-hyeon took a step back and looked the man up and down.
“Ah, so you’re the famous Great Hero Ha, the White-Robed Divine Dragon.”
The words “this rude person” were omitted from the beginning of Eun-hyeon’s statement. Ha Yeo-un’s eyebrows twitched as if he understood even the omission.
“And who might you be, young master?”
Eun-hyeon hesitated at Ha Yeo-un’s words.
The “madam” had said not to go out, but was it okay to reveal his identity to Ha Yeo-un?
“The outer quarters aren’t a place where outsiders can freely come and go. Then, could you perhaps be the eldest son of the Namgung family staying in the outer quarters, Young Master Namgung Eun-hyeon?”
The man looked at Eun-hyeon with a slight smile.
…He asks while knowing everything.
Eun-hyeon realized that Ha Yeo-un wasn’t just skilled with a sword.
They said he wasn’t from a prestigious family, but he gave off the feeling of an old monster who had grown up in the martial world.
“It’s difficult to observe proper etiquette according to family rules when we meet so suddenly.”
“Is it a habit to blame others for everything?”
Eun-hyeon raised the corner of his mouth and looked back at Ha Yeo-un.
He was confident in sarcasm too.
“Then is it Great Hero Ha’s habit to intimidate strangers? Or is it a new rule that I’m unaware of?”
“Hahaha. I heard you were bedridden due to poor health, but your tongue is sharper than most swords.”
Eun-hyeon stared intently at Ha Yeo-un with displeased eyes.
Was it because of his handsome face? Even his annoying way of speaking made him look like a protagonist who had defeated a villain.
Did that make Eun-hyeon the villain? As Eun-hyeon tilted his head, he realized he knew someone like this. The protagonist from the novel who used to follow him around.
“Great Hero Ha! Great Hero Ha! Were you here? Phew, I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Ah, Great Hero Paeng.”
Another person jumped down from the roof where Ha Yeo-un had leaped from earlier.
He was about the same height as Ha Yeo-un, but with a much larger build, looking just like a mountain bandit.
“Ho ho, what’s with the ‘Great Hero’? I told you to just call me Yeon-ho comfortably. If you keep calling me that, I can’t call you big brother.”
Paeng Yeon-ho…?
This mountain bandit-like man is from the Paeng family?
The caterpillar-thick eyebrows and large build did seem to match the Hebei Paeng family.
However, it was surprising to see someone from the notoriously proud and ill-tempered Hebei Paeng family being so polite…
It made Ha Yeo-un suddenly seem more impressive.
This White-Robed Divine Dragon might be an even more remarkable person than Eunhyun had initially thought.
“Great Hero Ha, the head of the family is coming tonight for dinner. We need to hurry if we don’t want to be late. Let’s go quickly!”
Despite Paeng Yeon-ho’s urging, Ha Yeo-un remained still.
Ha Yeo-un’s gaze was fixed on Eun-hyeon.
However, Eun-hyeon was lost in other thoughts.
A banquet hosted by the family head.
Was that why he was told not to come out?
It was too early to meet the family head when he hadn’t yet grasped the full situation.
He was planning to retreat after an awkward greeting.
At that moment, Ha Yeo-un reached out and pulled Eun-hyeon.
“Wha…!”
In an instant, Eun-hyeon was embraced in Ha Yeo-un’s arms.
“W-wait, what is this…!”
Eun-hyeon was so surprised that his face turned bright red.
“Great Hero Paeng. I’ve met an important person here.”
“What? An im-important person?”
“Yes. This person right here. This is the eldest son of the Namgung family.”
“Huh?!”
At Ha Yeo-un’s words, Paeng Yeon-ho looked at Eun-hyeon in shock.
“Not just a young master, but the eldest son? Ah, c-could it be, the frail young master of the Namgung family?”
…The frail young master of the Namgung family.
So that was Namgung Eun-hyeon’s nickname.
It was such a fitting nickname that there was nothing to say.
Paeng Yeon-ho was startled by his own words and covered his mouth.
“Ah, I’m sorry…! I’m always criticized for speaking without thinking, yet I did it again…!”
“…It’s fine.”
Eun-hyeon reluctantly responded, watching Paeng Yeon-ho bow his head before him.
Turning his head slightly, he saw Ha Yeo-un with a strange smile on his lips.
Seeing that, he felt exasperated.
Ha Yeo-un leaned in to whisper in Eun-hyeon’s ear.
“…Now, do you feel like telling me where you heard those words?”
What words did I say…?
He had no idea what Ha Yeo-un was asking about.
But whatever it was, he didn’t particularly want to tell Ha Yeo-un.
“…Well, I really have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I see. Then there’s no helping it.”
…What does he mean by ‘no helping it’?
A feeling of unease settled over Eunhyun.
Ha Yeo-un smiled once at Eun-hyeon, then looked at Paeng Yeon-ho.
“Great Hero Paeng. Since we’ve met the Namgung eldest son here by fate, how about we escort him together?”
“…Pardon? Escort him where?”
“Where else? The place we’re heading to now. It seems the young master is also out for the evening banquet, and since it’s cold, I suggest we help him.”
“Ah! As expected, Great Hero Ha’s thoughts run deep. I hadn’t considered that far and wondered what you meant. It’s a good idea. Let’s escort the young master together!”
“Wait, just a moment…! That’s not…!”
Ha Yeo-un placed Eun-hyeon on his arm as if holding a child. Even though Eun-hyeon was small, he was still an adult. To place him on one arm like this…
“What are you doing to a grown adult!”
Eun-hyeon stammered with a pale face, but Ha Yeo-un didn’t respond.
Only Paeng Yeon-ho laughed heartily, thinking Eun-hyeon was refusing out of politeness.
“Young master, don’t worry. Our Great Hero Ha won’t find it difficult to carry someone like you.”
“That’s not what I…!”
“Let’s go, Great Hero Paeng.”
Ha Yeo-un kicked off the ground and leapt into the air.
A sharp, cold wind hit Eun-hyeon’s face, almost painfully.
It felt like sticking his head out of a car window on a highway.
His eyes stung so much he couldn’t keep them open.
Eun-hyeon had no choice but to bury his face in Ha Yeo-un’s shoulder.
He hadn’t really thought about it before, but now he wondered—what speed was this lightfoot skill traveling at? When he lifted his head, a grand building stretched out before his eyes.
“Great Hero Ha, it seems we’ve arrived on time. We can’t use our lightfoot skills inside, so let’s walk from here.”
As soon as Paeng Yeon-ho finished speaking, the two landed on the ground.
Eun-hyeon finally took a deep breath.
The constant cold wind hitting his face had made it difficult to breathe properly.
Ha Yeo-un put Eun-hyeon down.
As soon as he stood on the ground, Eun-hyeon staggered from dizziness.
“Ah! Young master!”
It was Paeng Yeon-ho who caught Eun-hyeon as he nearly fell. Eun-hyeon gave Paeng Yeon-ho a small nod.
Looking up, he saw Ha Yeo-un smiling with just his mouth, his eyes not smiling at all.
That bastard.
He clearly could have caught him when Eun-hyeon staggered but chose not to.
For a famous righteous hero, he was quite petty and held grudges.
How did he become famous with such a personality?
“Come on, Great Hero Ha, Young Master Namgung, let’s go in. Fortunately, it seems the Namgung family head hasn’t arrived yet.”
Eun-hyeon sorted out his complicated thoughts and dusted off his clothes.
There was no helping it now.
He might as well try to gather some information he couldn’t get in the separate quarters.
By hearing about what happened in the martial arts world after his death, he might also learn what became of his disciple.
Eun-hyeon glanced at Ha Yeo-un once more before sauntering into the hall.
“대협” (大俠) is a Korean term that can be translated to “great hero” or “noble warrior.” It is often used to refer to a highly skilled and honorable martial artist, particularly in the context of martial arts novels.