I Became the Hidden Chapter 97

Baek Sowol, unable to overcome the sticky and turbid feelings she felt upon seeing her master, set out on the road.

Having sent back her subordinates, who had been following her with faint emotions, to the Heavenly Mountains, Baek Sowol walked endlessly.

A little distance from her.

In front of her, Namgung Jehyun, who had become a completely shabby old man with pure white hair and wrinkled skin, was walking.

Grit.

Baek Sowol wanted to cut down Namgung Jehyun right away.

But she couldn't.

'Third-rate.'

The word her former master used to refer to his own realm.

Baek Yoonjun had clearly told Namgung Jehyun.

That he had reached the third-rate.

She didn't know what realm her current master had reached.

But her former master, the master who called himself third-rate, was a being that even the current Baek Sowol could not dare to look up to.

That's why Baek Sowol couldn't cut him down.

No, she tried to cut him, but she couldn't.

When she saw him in Shaolin, it wasn't to this extent.

At that time, although she was overwhelmed by just his appearance, she could still cut him.

On the other hand, now he just looked like an old and shabby, worthless old man.

'I can't cut him.'

The instinct engraved in Baek Sowol's body warned her.

Not to even attempt to cut that old man.

Unconsciously, her body screamed and tried to step back.

Nevertheless, Sowol did not stop.

If he showed even a single opening, she would surely plunge her blade into the enemy in front of her.

She chased after that withered back with venomous eyes.

After walking for a long time, the sun began to set.

On the dark mountain path, Namgung Jehyun stopped walking and settled down.

He lit a fire and began to roast the beast he had caught.

Baek Sowol, from a distance, watched everything he did with wide-open eyes.

Crackle. Crackle.

In the dark mountain, only the sound of the crackling bonfire echoed quietly.

"Are you going to stay there?"

In that silence, Namgung Jehyun's voice was heard quietly.

Rustle.

At that sound, Baek Sowol got up from her seat and approached Namgung Jehyun.

She was sure that Namgung Jehyun knew she was tracking him.

Because he was a being who had reached the sacred realm that her master called 'third-rate'.

Baek Sowol glared at Namgung Jehyun with wide-open eyes and drew her sword.

She brought the sword to Namgung Jehyun's neck.

Woong!

Since she had no trouble operating her internal energy after leaving Mount Song, Baek Sowol's ferocious internal energy was imbued in the sword and began to run wild.

Namgung Jehyun, even with Baek Sowol's sword touching his neck, held out a skewer of roasted meat to Baek Sowol without any agitation.

"Your body must be very injured. Eat."

"The only thing I will receive from you is your life."

Of course, Baek Sowol did not receive it.

To Baek Sowol, Namgung Jehyun was an enemy, nothing more, nothing less.

Towards such a Baek Sowol, Namgung Jehyun continued to offer the meat skewer.

"Don't you need strength for revenge? I can maintain my strength without eating, but what about you?"

Baek Sowol shut her mouth at those words.

Although she tried to ignore it, it had been quite a while since she had eaten, let alone drunk water.

Baek Sowol looked at the meat.

It was well-cooked meat.

Gulp.

Having swallowed her saliva without realizing it, Baek Sowol hurriedly took her eyes off the meat and glared at Namgung Jehyun.

"There is no poison in it. In the first place, if I had the intention to harm you, you would know that I don't even need that."

As if he had interpreted such a gaze from Baek Sowol, Namgung Jehyun quietly emphasized that there was no poison.

"I didn't care about that."

Saying so, Baek Sowol snatched the meat skewer from his hand as if to take it away and then brought it to her mouth and bit into it.

Although it was meat given by an enemy, meat was meat.

Looking at Baek Sowol, Namgung Jehyun quietly opened his mouth.

"You should care. At your age and level, you may have no rivals, but poison is a means that can overturn even that difference in martial prowess."

"Don't mind me. You are not in a position to advise me."

"I see."

Namgung Jehyun shut his mouth at Baek Sowol's irritable reply.

Baek Sowol, who was watching him from the side and chewing the meat, could not understand at all what he was thinking.

A silence flowed between the two.

Namgung Jehyun couldn't figure out what he was thinking, and Baek Sowol's mind was in such a turmoil that she couldn't bring herself to speak.

And so, as time passed quietly, Baek Sowol gritted her teeth and asked quietly, as if muttering.

"Why... did you do it?"

Since her thoughts were not organized, it was a question that contained various meanings.

Namgung Jehyun, whether he had understood the question properly or not, his lips moved as if to say something for a while, and then he let out a deep sigh.

"Whatever I say will just be an excuse. It was just something that I, a foolish, lacking, and pathetic petty person, did."

Various emotions were imbued in Namgung Jehyun's words.

Regret, self-reproach, depression, frustration...

Nevertheless, he was nonchalant.

He was very nonchalant, as if it could not be undone.

Baek Sowol was choked up at those words.

Countless negative emotions raged in her chest without rest.

"That's not what I want to hear!!"

Baek Sowol spewed out her resentment.

The raging madness seemed as if it would tear apart the Namgung Jehyun in front of her at any moment.

Namgung Jehyun nonchalantly accepted such a gaze from Baek Sowol.

"An excuse..."

The voice of Namgung Jehyun, who had brought up the word 'excuse', was very heavy.

"The matter of the Baek family clan... the imperial palace was already eyeing the Baek family clan. I made the first move and took the advantage."

"The imperial palace...?"

Baek Sowol's eyes widened at the unexpected word 'imperial palace'.

"Why would the imperial palace... the Baek family clan?"

But the surprise did not end there.

"To be precise, they were aiming for the Zhuge clan that the Baek family clan was protecting."

"Zhuge?"

When even the word 'Zhuge' came out, Baek Sowol could not understand at all.

Although the name 'Zhuge' was not unfamiliar due to the existence of her senior brother, Zhuge Hyun, she could not understand at all why that surname was related to her family.

"You didn't know?"

Baek Sowol shut her mouth at Namgung Jehyun's question and nodded her head roughly.

Seeing that, Namgung Jehyun quietly leaned his back against a tree, closed his eyes, and continued his story.

"Originally, those with the Baek surname were a vassal clan that followed the Marquis of Wu."

"I have not heard of that."

"That's right. Because the Marquis of Wu, foreseeing his own end, hid the existence of the Baek clan."

It was all a story that Baek Sowol was hearing for the first time.

Therefore, she doubted the truth of Namgung Jehyun's words and glared at him, but no matter how she looked, it did not seem he was lying.

"It's not unreasonable that you didn't know. As time passed and the Baek gained power, it became a situation where they were hiding the Zhuge. In that process, there were even those who did not know that they were originally descended from the Zhuge surname, so it can be said that their positions were completely reversed."

As the story of the family she had not known at all poured out, Baek Sowol was confused.

At the same time, there was a strong question that was not resolved.

"But why would the imperial palace...?"

She could not understand at all the statement that the imperial palace had been aiming for them.

Since the target had just changed from Baek to Zhuge, it was a natural question.

Hearing Baek Sowol's question, Namgung Jehyun fumbled in his bosom and then took something out, lightly tossing it to her.

Since it was not thrown with much force, Baek Sowol caught it lightly.

"This is...?"

It was an item that was also in Baek Sowol's memory.

A stone tablet piece similar to the ones that Namgung Jehyun had taken out in Shaolin.

It was that stone tablet piece that had made the internal energy of Baek Sowol's party disappear and had given power to Namgung Jehyun.

"The Wu Hou's Eight Gates Formation Diagram."

"The Wu Hou's Eight Gates Formation Diagram?"

"I heard it is a divine object that the Marquis of Wu left behind after his death, and that if one obtains all of it, one can obtain the world."

"Obtain the world...?"

Baek Sowol was surprised to hear about the Wu Hou's Eight Gates Formation Diagram.

Although it was an explanation that was so absurd that its truth was doubtful, for Baek Sowol, who had already experienced its effects with her own body, it was difficult to doubt.

And at the same time, her heart became uncomfortable.

If the story so far was true.

"Just... just for something like this, you betrayed my father...! Your close friend?"

Baek Sowol felt an indescribable sense of betrayal.

She was disgusted with herself for having thought, even for a moment, that Namgung Jehyun might also have some circumstances.

"Just! For something like this!!"

As if responding to Baek Sowol's spewing of resentment, a ferocious aura burst out from around her.

The sword flew straight at Namgung Jehyun's neck, and a small red line was drawn on his neck, and blood flowed down.

Although a line was drawn on Namgung Jehyun's neck, it was not completely cut.

He had grabbed the blade of Baek Sowol's sword with his hand.

As if he had not used his internal energy, blood flowed endlessly from his hand and neck.

That appearance looked hypocritical and disgusting to Baek Sowol.

"You talk as if you regret it!! You must value your life, right?!"

"It would be a lie if I said I didn't... but still, you have a reason to take my life."

"Then die!!"

Baek Sowol spewed out her rough resentment and put strength into her grip.

But the sword, held in Namgung Jehyun's hand, did not budge.

"Die! Die!!"

A black emotion mercilessly cut through Baek Sowol's heart.

Negative emotions overflowed and poured out through her pupils.

Baek Sowol shed tears and continued to spew out her resentment.

Namgung Jehyun listened to those words in silence.

"I'm sorry..."

And so, time passed, and Namgung Jehyun quietly opened his mouth.

"If you're sorry, then die! Just bite the sword and fall down and die!!"

"I'm sorry... but please let me live a little longer."

"You... you...!!"

At Namgung Jehyun's attitude, all sorts of resentment and resentment welled up to Baek Sowol's throat, but she could not spit it out.

The blackened emotions were so out of control that it became difficult to speak properly.

"Just... just let me live a little longer. If I am still alive after finishing my work, I will give you my neck without any hesitation."

"You... you... ugh, uwaaaaah!!"

Unable to control her own heart, Baek Sowol collapsed.

Sitting down on the spot, she screamed like crazy and shed tears.

Namgung Jehyun just stood by her side, silently keeping his mouth shut.

And so, a long time passed.

Baek Sowol screamed and shed tears until she was on the verge of exhaustion.

Still, as time passed, Baek Sowol's tears gradually decreased.

A moment later, Baek Sowol, whose tears had completely stopped, her blurred gaze looked at Namgung Jehyun.

With eyes like a black bottomless pit, Baek Sowol asked quietly.

"So what are you going to do?"

At the question, which was tinged with an emotion as dark as her eyes, Namgung Jehyun swallowed.

He wanted to end his life right away, as Baek Sowol had said, out of guilt.

But since he still had work to do, he killed his heart and quietly opened his mouth.

"First, I will go to Nanjing."

"Okay."

The strange journey of the one who would give his neck and the one who would take his neck quietly headed for Nanjing.

The journey to Nanjing.

That process was neither short nor smooth.

On top of that, Namgung Jehyun never stayed in a village, and Baek Sowol, who was following him, was the same.

A journey where not a single bit of affection existed.

The two did not exchange any idle talk during the journey, nor did they have any intention of interacting.

An unwritten rule that they would not interfere with each other until Namgung Jehyun achieved his purpose.

Although they did not talk to each other, that unwritten rule was being faithfully kept.

Then one day, there was an incident where the unwritten rule was slightly broken.

It was not a big deal.

A clearing where they were camping late at night.

Baek Sowol swung her sword at a place far from Namgung Jehyun.

Although it was her usual training, the current sword was a struggle to shake off all the black idle thoughts that were encroaching on her mind.

Her hatred for Namgung Jehyun and her sense of powerlessness.

'What on earth have I done?'

She had thought that she had obtained strength in her own way.

But she had collapsed helplessly in front of Namgung Jehyun.

'What can I do?'

Her self-esteem, which had been built up in her own way, was shattered, and now only a sense of powerlessness that she could do nothing washed over her.

As a reaction to that, the more her sense of powerlessness deepened, the more her indiscriminate killing intent deepened.

It seemed as if she would indiscriminately slaughter the moving life forms around her if she lost her mind.

From a distance, Namgung Jehyun was watching Baek Sowol with a miserable gaze.

(End of Chapter)