Who threatened Cheonma Hara with a knife - Chapter 2



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Who threatened to call me Cheonmahara with a knife? Episode 2

Heavenly Demon

A crazy old man was talking nonsense and holding a knife to his throat.

If it were normal, I would have just gotten down on my knees and asked for forgiveness.

When I was a civil servant, I threw away half of my pride when dealing with citizens. I had too many experiences in my first year where things got messed up because I tried to take care of my pride.

I did more when I came here.

In this world where martial artists run wild, if things go wrong, you are more likely to become disabled or defeated.

But for some reason, my knees didn’t bend easily.

What should I say?

It just sucked.

Is it disillusionment with yourself for having lived a life of throwing away your pride for several years?

Or maybe it was a rebellious spirit, not wanting to kneel before those who might have killed Taehyun, who had taken care of me like a father for a year.

Or maybe it was because this young body gave in to instinctive anger as opposed to reason.

Maybe it’s because such complicated things are mixed up.

I don’t know why.

I just ignored the reason that my body and my mouth were screaming, ‘Get on your knees and beg for your life!’

“You’re talking shit.”

At the impudent expression, the eyebrows of the old man who had been radiating a mountain-like aura twitched.

“…What did you just say?”

But despite that tremendous momentum, my mouth moved on its own.

“You killed someone like my father, and now you want to be my disciple? If you’re going to be crazy, go crazy nicely, you senile murderer!!”

After hurling insults at my old lady, I feel a lot lighter.

At the same time, a sharp pain runs down the back of my neck.

In the midst of my vision blurring for a moment, that thought occurred to me.

‘I’m going to get stabbed again like this.’

Is this really the end?

Or will I have to go through reincarnation or possession again?

With such vain thoughts in my mind, I lost consciousness.

* * *

“Ugh.”

I opened my eyes with a groan, feeling a dull pain throughout my body.

What appeared to my eyes was an unfamiliar ceiling.

‘Crazy. Is this the possession again?’

But my expectations were shattered by a voice I heard from the side.

“Are you awake?”

“!?”

In an instant, goosebumps appeared all over my body.

We didn’t have a long conversation, but it was a voice I could never forget.

Because it was the voice of the old man who had stuck a knife into my neck.

“Uh, how?”

As I muttered to myself, which contained many meanings, the old man who was looking down at me from the side asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Why, why am I alive?”

As soon as I asked the question, a terrible thought came to my mind.

‘Are you saying that the venting isn’t over yet!?’

Wouldn’t it be boring to kill someone with one stroke of a sword, so they take them around and torture them little by little until they die?

While a terrible future was being imagined in my head, for some reason the old man burst into a refreshing laugh.

“Hahahahaha.”

It was a strange feeling.

The old man who had shown off his mighty power like a mountain before I lost my memory was nowhere to be seen.

Even though they clearly had the same face and voice, the old man did not give off any ferocious aura, as if he were a harmless being.

Perhaps it was because of the old man’s calm demeanor. I barely managed to come to my senses and look around.

‘A carriage…?’

It seems that I was traveling in a carriage with an old man.

At that moment, the old man, who had once burst into laughter, opened his mouth with a calm face and stroked his long beard.

“First of all, I think we need to clear up some misunderstandings.”

“If it is a misunderstanding, what misunderstanding do you mean?”

“Hmm. I don’t know if you’ll believe it or not, but it wasn’t us who murdered the owner of that inn.”

“… .”

When the topic of the old man came up, my expression hardened without me realizing it.

It seemed that this young body could not easily hide its intense emotional changes.

What should I say? I could bear to bend my own pride, but it was difficult to smile and face the enemy of my benefactor.

“If so, who are you saying killed him?”

“It is the work of the Murim Alliance.”

“… Are you trying to blame the Murim Alliance?”

The Murim Alliance is a union of political factions. Most of the Murim people are modern-day gangsters or thugs, but the Murim Alliance is made up of those who pretend to be ‘good’.

Judging from the fact that he was throwing a tantrum at those guys, this old man was definitely a villain or a madman who had a grudge against the Murim Alliance.

“On the contrary. He killed the inn owner in the majesty and tried to place the blame on Nobu.”

“Why did the Murim Alliance do something like that?”

“Only then can we put a stain on this old man’s name and unite them as one.”

As I listened, I thought he might be an old man with dementia.

What did that old man say? Are you saying that the political parties are united because one old man is being framed?

However, when I recalled the old man’s incredible momentum just before he fainted, it didn’t seem like complete nonsense.

“So, what was that squeaking noise I heard in the kitchen?”

“It was the sound of killing the assassin of the Murim Alliance who murdered the inn owner. In the first place, I had no plans to visit that inn. I just stopped by spontaneously. Isn’t it absurd that the owner of such an inn would give me poison as if he had prepared it?”

The old man, who had finished speaking up to that point, wiggled his eyebrows as if something had occurred to him, and then spoke in a calm tone.

“Now that I think about it, it must be unfair to you and the inn owner. That I ended up going through all this just because I stopped by that inn.”

It felt strange to see the old man with his face looking genuinely sorry.

When I was working as a civil servant, even if I apologized like that, the person who filed the complaint would get even more upset and try to bully me even more.

That means now is the perfect time to get angry at that old man or to bully him.

‘It’s something similar to us, yet completely different.’

Maybe it was because I had once glimpsed the old man’s true power, but that was the feeling I had.

Could this be the predator’s last act of kindness?

If you underestimate the kindness of the other person, your whole body is screaming a warning that you might get torn to pieces.

So instead of getting angry, I asked my question in a calm tone.

“Then why didn’t you say so then? I feel like you made up some excuse while I was unconscious.”

In response to my question, the old man stroked his beard and said:

“There are two main reasons. First of all, I didn’t have time to explain everything in detail.”

When I made a face that said I didn’t understand, the old man explained further.

“The fact that the assassin had poisoned the inn meant that Maeng had stepped on this old man’s tail, so it wouldn’t be long before Maeng’s hunting dogs would have swarmed him in droves. Of course, Maeng’s hunting dogs weren’t scary, but it wasn’t easy to fight while protecting a disciple candidate that I liked after a long time.”

“Then why did you force me to make that choice?”

“That’s the second reason. I wanted to test you, given the time constraints.”

“???”

“No matter how talented a child is in martial arts, if their nature is twisted, raising them will only cause trouble. They say it is due to a misunderstanding, but I like the spirit of them willing to lose their life rather than become the disciple of their enemy. Hehehe.”

“… .”

So, are you saying that you liked the fact that I swore at you and talked back to you?

This isn’t some drama that was popular 10 years ago, is it something like ‘You’re the first one to treat me like this’?

But that absurdity only lasted for a moment.

‘If you had said you would become my disciple, you would have died, right?’

Once again, goosebumps ran all over my body.

The rebellious spirit that came out without me knowing ended up saving my life.

At that moment, the old man who had finished explaining everything asked.

“Do you understand a little now?”

“… I can’t completely believe it, but I think it makes sense.”

It wasn’t simply because what the old man said was logical.

The biggest reason was that the old man was keeping me alive.

He brought back Jeom So-yi, who had been cursing and saying she didn’t want to be his disciple.

In this world, that absurd act somehow made the old man feel like he wasn’t the type of person to kill anyone at will.

As I came to my senses, organizing those thoughts in my head, I made eye contact with the old man who had been staring at me.

It was like a calm and deep lake.

I couldn’t dare see the end of it, but the lake reflected me completely and seemed to read my mind.

Despite feeling a strange emotion, I opened my mouth, hoping for something.

“However, I do not believe what you say. I cannot bear to be your disciple. If you would just let me go from here, I will go back to the village and find out what happened at the inn.”

Whether or not what the old man said was true, I had no desire to get involved in the affairs of the martial arts world.

Because it was a harsh world where people died and fell every day.

I have always pursued a peaceful and stable work-life balance, working moderately and resting moderately.

However, the old man who had been conversing gently until now shook his head firmly this time.

“It’s impossible.”

“…Can I ask why?”

“It’s simple. Why would I bring you here when you haven’t even answered to say you’d like to be my disciple?”

“… .”

Well, wasn’t he just kidnapped and brought here by force to use him as a disciple?

I couldn’t bring myself to say those words.

The old man was scary, but when I thought about it, it was because it didn’t make sense.

If he was going to force me to become his disciple, there would be no reason to treat me this kindly.

As I stared into the eyes of the old man, who seemed to be waiting for me to find the answer myself, I soon came to my own conclusion.

“Is it to prevent people like Uncle Taehyun from dying at the hands of the Murim Alliance?”

“You got it right. If you are alive as a witness, their plan to stigmatize the old man will be thwarted. After they kill you, they will blame it all on the old man.”

“I will never say anything that will slander you. No, I will keep quiet about anything I say about you and go into hiding. So, I will leave now… .”

“The Murim Alliance’s surveillance net is tighter than you think. And no matter how hard the human mind tries to be upright, the body can’t. If the Alliance’s hunting dogs catch you, pull out all your fingernails and toenails, burn you with a hot iron all over your body, or tear off your skin piece by piece, and torture you to tell the truth, would you be able to endure it?”

“… .”

I couldn’t bring myself to say that.

No matter how much I tried to fool myself, it was impossible to endure that kind of torture.

As if he had read my mind, the old man drove a wedge into the conversation.

“The moment you became entangled with this old man, there were only two choices left for you. Either stay with him, or be chased by the Murim Alliance for the rest of your life, locked in a prison, and tortured to death.”

“… .”

I stepped in shit. And not just dog shit, I stepped into a world where the entire world was filled with shit.

No, come to think of it, it wasn’t me who stepped in.

The moment the old man entered the inn, the whole world turned into shit.

But perhaps because the options were completely reduced to one, my thoughts became quite simple, regardless of the feelings of resentment and indignation.

If there are no other options, shouldn’t we diligently pursue the remaining options?

“Is becoming your disciple the only option left for me?”

“That’s right.”

“If so, may I dare ask the honorable name of the elder who may become my teacher?”

Shouldn’t I find out if this rope I’m holding onto is a live rope or a rotten rope?

“Heh heh heh. It’s a noble name. The tone seems to have changed.”

“Ahem… .”

“It was a joke. The old man’s name was Hyukryeon Il-hwi.”

When I heard the old man’s name, I almost tilted my head in confusion.

If I pretended that this was the first time I heard it here, the old man might feel offended.

If an old man were to say that the entire Murim Alliance was after him, his pride would be considerable.

If you didn’t know the name of that old man, you might feel offended. That was the way most martial artists thought.

But perhaps my acting was a little lacking, as the old man smiled faintly and opened his mouth again.

“Hehehe. I guess in the Central Plains, this old man is more well-known by his nickname than by his real name. In the Central Plains, this old man is often called Cheonma.”

Heavenly Demon.

That was the nickname of the old man who had turned my world into shit.