As Prophet - Chapter 26



Only Krnovel

Episode 26. The Grand Prince and the Master

Dalcheon, who arrived at dawn, felt a presence as he climbed over the wall and returned to his quarters. It was Baek Ui-hyeong, the executioner. It seemed like he had been waiting in front.

“Where have you been?”

“… … I brought the man who spoke to the Grand Prince.”

“Is it there? There?”

“It seems that while he was there, he acted as the prince’s teacher… … . What he said out of curiosity seemed to have fueled the prince’s greed.”

“How did you do it?”

“I didn’t kill him. I told him to confess to the king and set things straight.”

“What happened?”

“I promised that I would put my life on the line to make things right even if it meant one of us dying.”

“so?”

“I said it wasn’t worth my life.”

“You are so weak-hearted and feeble. You should have killed me.”

“Shouldn’t we do it according to the laws of the lower world? If it’s a mountain, it doesn’t matter whether you live or die at the end of a fight… … .”

“Good job. What’s his name?”

“I didn’t even ask.”

Even though the conversation was over, Baek Ui-hyeong, who was standing in the yard, showed no intention of going back.

“why?”

“It seems like the priest was caught in the act.”

“I won’t cause any trouble anymore.”

“It’s not like that’s what I want. You’re the one with the martial arts skills to pierce the heavens, so it’s a shame that you’re wasting your time in such a rotten place.”

“It’s only for a little while.”

Baek Ui-hyeong agreed with the reason for leaving that was included in the word “for a while.” After finishing my studies in the world, I will return to the mountains. Baek Ui-hyeong nodded slowly.

“I’ll make sure to fix this and settle down. If I just leave, Your Majesty the Magistrate might get into trouble.”

When Baek Ui-hyeong nodded again, he grabbed Dal-cheon’s shoulder.

“Please do so.”

* * *

The next day, the Grand Prince, who had been searching for Yanggeun’s gold again, looked for him first. Normally, he would have seen him coming and come out to greet him.

“Why can’t I see it?”

The performed Cheolmuwoong bowed his head.

“I will go and come back.”

As he unpacked his clothes in the temporary barracks he had set up in Geumwon, he appeared with one shoulder wrapped in cloth. The general politely greeted him only verbally.

“Has the teacher arrived?”

“Master.”

“Why the shoulder?”

“I got hurt.”

The Grand Prince frowned. As far as he knew, there was no one in the world who could do this to him. He was a man with martial arts skills beyond the heavens.

“By any chance, that guy… … .”

“Yes, it was an unmanned operation that I could not handle.”

“Oh, you’re saying I’m stronger than you, Master?”

“Yes. I didn’t get a single counterattack. It was over in four, no, three rounds.”

He bowed his head gloomily. The general took a deep breath and asked.

“Are your wounds okay?”

“I broke my shoulder blade. I fixed it, but I won’t be able to use my left hand for a while.”

“this.”

“If he hadn’t seen me, I would have lost my neck. But at the end, I relaxed and changed direction, so it ended like this.”

“Are you that good? You’re quite young.”

“So-saeng left the school midway due to his teacher’s misfortune. He was not able to study properly until the end.”

“Then he.”

“In our terms, you could call him a mainstream. He studied hard from a young age, and now he hasn’t come down from the mountains, but has come out into the world for a while for some reason. So he’s someone who will return to the mountains. He’s the ultimate unmanned person.”

“Oh my, the mainstream… … . You look down on yourself too much.”

“I am taller than the average unmanned person, but below average in the mountains. He is… … .”

“he is?”

“He is still young, but he already seems to have mastered the art of extremes.”

“It’s extreme… … Ahehe. I can’t even guess how extreme it is… … .”

“There are probably not many people in Joseon who can put him in danger right now.”

“Are you saying he is the best?”

“There are many eccentric people. I can’t say he is the best, but he stands shoulder to shoulder with those at the top.”

“Ohhh.”

He saw a smile on the prince’s lips and knelt down. Whether it was out of pain or courtesy, he placed his right hand on his left shoulder and bowed, causing the prince to hesitate.

“There is a blue one.”

“moore?”

“I ask you to erase everything that has to do with him.”

The Grand Prince’s expression became blank. He knew what he was curious about, but he couldn’t go any further and was told to stop here.

“Why all of a sudden? You told me to recruit him.”

“I told you that it is an extreme unmanned force. It is an unmanned force that cannot be included.”

“I said it was an unmanned vehicle that you couldn’t miss.”

“I’m sorry. I made a promise with him. Please don’t look for him.”

“Hoo! I can’t just watch that guy go to that guy.”

He half-raised his body. Although he was injured, his small movements brought him back to life with great momentum. It was as if a mountain had risen from under the ground. The great general’s guard, Cheolmuwoong, unconsciously took a step forward and grabbed the handle of his sword with his hand.

“Please step down from your job, thinking that you are saving one person.”

“I got beat up by him. I promised to stop.”

“Yes.”

“What if I don’t like it?”

“One person must give up his life.”

It’s hard to say. He said it indirectly, saying that it was him or the Grand Prince. Could it be conveyed that he would fix things even if it meant killing you? The Grand Prince’s expression hardened as he got up.

“What should I do when the more I talk about it, the more I want it?”

“Such a being is a disaster. Please understand.”

Since he was treated as a teacher, there was not much difference in the level of speech, but now he was speaking in the language of a subject. He was ready to hit his head on the ground until his forehead bled.

“Are you in trouble?”

“Everyone is in trouble, even Your Majesty.”

“A guy like that is giving me trouble?”

“A person who has transcended everything on earth, right and wrong, good and evil, victory and defeat.”

“Are you saying that it is even possible to become a god?”

“As time goes by, it will happen.”

“I am still lacking.”

“Many of my friends who entered the mountains at a young age have little experience in the world. It is good for their studies to be free from worldly taint, but when they pass an important stage, it becomes an obstacle. That is why they come down to the lower world to study the world. Since he said that he would stay for a while, I think he came down for a while to study the world.”

“I’ve heard that too. I thought it was just drunken babble.”

He wore black clothes and a black hat and hid in a dark place, so they called him Mukhyeong. I don’t know if that was his real name, but since he didn’t say no, that became his name.

“If that’s what Mukhyeong said, then this is something we need to be careful about.”

“You are a great ruler who values ​​talent and seeks them out from far and wide, but I hope you will restrain your greed this time.”

“Or does that mean you’re going to cut off my head?”

Finally, he asked what he wanted to ask. Mukhyeong nodded.

“Your Majesty, I would rather die.”

Mukhyeong pulled out the sword that had been cut in half and stuck it into the ground. Cheolmuwoong lowered his posture and took a stance as if he was going to pull out his sword, but he didn’t pay any attention to it. Daegun clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“How can I live in peace after witnessing my teacher’s death? It is regrettable, but I will do as you say. Get up quickly. I will pretend that this never happened.”

“Loyalty.”

Mukhyeong raised his body. His left arm dangled down, as if he hadn’t been firmly secured.

* * *

Dalcheon settled on a mountaintop overlooking the river. There was an uproar at his family home because he was moving. He said he was going to find a house in Hanyang, but he would leave his elders at his family home and only go to the direct line of Baek Sa-ban.

I couldn’t commute from Yangju to Hanyang every day, so I got it in a hurry, but it didn’t seem that big. Dalcheon said he would stay at his parents’ house before I asked. After telling them that, I went up to a nearby mountain, and I could see Hapsumori in the distance. It wasn’t as good as Yanggeun’s Geumwon, but it was good because it had a wide view. It was difficult to climb a steep mountain path every day, but it was a height that Dalcheon could easily go up and down.

The village and the houses are overlooked, and the water surface widens as the two streams meet. Boats going up and down the Han River occasionally pass by, and I saw some pretty big ones. I heard that the boats coming down from Chungju are pretty big. I thought that I should go down to the water and ride a boat sometime.

I sat down on the high mountain where I had chosen to study and took another deep breath. The events of the past came crawling up like a recollection and unfolded before my eyes. Memories come and go like worries, and memories simply scatter like dust when I shake them off. If my mind is rippling like waves, I should shake them off cleanly, but if not, I can just let them flow.

The prince said he would send someone to the house, but no one came. Every time he returned home, he asked the man at the gate, but the answer he always got was the same.

“No one came.”

I thought that the scolding of Mukhyeong earlier had worked, but I was still worried because I knew that human greed was not something that could be easily controlled. I thought that either he had great self-control, or he had killed one of them like Mukhyeong had said.

Dalcheon focused on studying. It says that he learns about the world, but if he doesn’t study, he will stagnate. He climbed the mountain every day, found a place with good visibility, prayed, and studied. He settled down on a rock near the top of a mountain whose name he didn’t even know, and within a few days, he was settled.

The breath is broken by the sunlight. Beyond the distant water bends and the comfortable scenery, an infinite world opens up. With each step Dalcheon takes, he sees another world. The thought that he should return to the main mountain came to him when time seemed to unfold infinitely, with no way of predicting how it would unfold. It was because he had something to ask the teacher, and he had to study in a place filled with the energy of the teacher and his disciples.

When the quiet time was shattered in the endless sunlight, Dalcheon opened his eyes. The sunlight energy that had filled his entire body shattered dazzlingly and scattered in all directions. As his studies deepened, he could see the energy.

I looked up at the sky to estimate the time, then jumped down. I jumped over the wide rock and flew down like a gliding bird, stepped on the tip of a tree branch, and floated lightly before sliding down a dozen or so steps. If someone who didn’t know saw me, they would think I was a swallow full of water.

When the afternoon came and I came down, Baek Sa-ban and his party had left for Hanyang. The old man who had been praising Dalcheon for being kind was nowhere to be seen, and the lady of the inner quarters who had been sitting on the veranda sewing was nowhere to be seen. I went to the servants’ quarters and looked around, and the old man at the gate came and bowed his head.

“What are you looking for?”

“They’re all gone.”

“He said several times that he would like me to come with him if he could.”

“I’ll go if you need me. I told you to contact me.”

“Have you been to the mountain?”

“yes.”

“But the lady is waiting.”

“Miss? You’re not going?”

“Yes. He said he would go and see me… … He asked me to tell him to come and support him when he gets here.”

Dalcheon took a deep breath. It must not have been easy for a woman to go out on business, but she remembered him asking her to come and watch over her father on the day he was going to be dispatched. Asking Dalcheon would have been the most accurate way to find the answer given the circumstances at the time. Baek Ui-hyeong would have to command the army, so he wouldn’t be able to look after his father closely, and Dalcheon, who was one rank below him and thus had a less important duty, but was skilled in martial arts, would have been the best fit.