Fortunately, the Alliance Leader gave up after asking a couple more tis.
It's a little scarier that he seed to be serious and not just saying it, but for now, I seem to have gotten through this sohow.
"When you co to the Martial Alliance next ti, I'll set up a eting for you."
"If you say that, I might not be able to co to the Martial Alliance with a comfortable heart anymore."
"Is that so? Then I won't set up a eting. Co comfortably."
"Yes, Alliance Leader."
The Alliance Leader, continuing to say things that I couldn't tell if they were serious or a joke, eventually returned to the Martial Alliance.
"Phew... I'm exhausted."
Ti had passed, and the day had brightened, becoming morning.
I slapped my thigh with my palm, and by raising my internal energy, I hurriedly chased away the drowsiness that was about to co, and returned to the inn.
When I went up to the room where my senior brothers were, they had already finished preparing to return to the Wudang Sect and were waiting for .
"Unhwi-ya. You're here."
"You're a little later than usual today?"
"Yes. It turned out that way. Since today is the last day, the Alliance Leader had more to say."
I honestly told my senior brothers that the Alliance Leader had called every night to teach martial arts separately.
Since we were staying in the sa room, I would have been caught anyway, so I just ca out and said it.
Fortunately, my senior brothers didn't seem to think it was strange that I was receiving special treatnt from the Alliance Leader, and just accepted it naturally.
Thanks to that, I was able to go out at night until today with a comfortable heart.
"Hwi-ya. How about getting so sleep before we leave?"
Un Cheol, my senior brother, asked worriedly.
"? I'm fine."
"How can you be fine? Haven't you not slept a wink for three days? You were wandering around with us during the day, and at night, you were learning martial arts from the Alliance Leader... Unless the martial art you learned from the Alliance Leader is one that doesn't require sleep, there's no way you're fine."
Co to think of it, I had stayed up for three days and nights.
Is it because my internal energy has deepened that I feel so clear-headed? Or was it because learning martial arts from the Alliance Leader was so enjoyable?
"Is there such a martial art? Unhwi-ya! If it's that kind of martial art, I want to learn it too. Teach too!"
Un Gwang, who hadn't been listening to our conversation, suddenly said nonsense to .
Un Gwang, my senior brother, was about to do sothing to Un Gwang with a troubled expression, but I opened my mouth.
"Senior brother. It's not that there is such a martial art, but that I would have to have sothing like that to not be tired."
"Ah. Was that it? I was thinking about sothing else and only heard half of the story."
"What were you thinking about?"
"Uhm. The martial art I got from the Martial Alliance's secret vault. I was thinking about that, and Un Cheol was talking about martial arts, so I only heard that."
Although I'm definitely not laughing at him, I couldn't help but chuckle.
He's such a consistent person. How can he think about martial arts all day like that?
Even I, who was once crazy about martial arts, didn't show as much obsession as Un Gwang.
"Hmm... then how about we get an hour of sleep and then leave? Would that be okay?"
"Yes. That's fine. Then we'll go out for a while and finish looking around Kaifeng."
"Senior brother. I think that was your purpose, wasn't it? Since we won't be able to eat delicious food again when we go back, you want to eat at least one more thing?"
"Ahem. That's not it. I'm just trying to broaden my horizons by seeing many people and many wide roads. And it might look strange if we just wander around looking, so we might naturally buy sothing to eat."
"I knew it."
I took out a few copper and silver coins from my bosom and gave them to Un Cheol, my senior brother.
"Since it's morning now... I'll sleep for about two hours. Everyone, play in the morning and then co back, and we'll all have lunch together and leave. Use up all that money before you co back."
"Shall we? Will it be okay to leave then?"
"Well. It doesn't matter if we leave late. We just have to run that much more."
"Hup..."
"So since we're going to be late anyway, eat a lot of delicious food and play hard. I'll just sleep for exactly two hours then."
"Ahem... now that I think about it, I think it would be good to just leave now."
"I didn't think about it before, but now that I think about sleeping, I feel drowsy. I'm really going to sleep."
I, without even changing my clothes, went to the bed and collapsed.
Although I could sense my senior brothers looking at each other with troubled eyes, turning their heads left and right, I pretended not to know and went to sleep.
"Since it's co to this, let's play hard since it's the last ti. Let's go out quickly. To save even a little ti."
In the end, my senior brothers, as if they had realized that it was more beneficial to enjoy this ti now since they would be running anyway, rushed out.
"Really. Anyone would think I'm going to eat them."
I, with my eyes closed, chuckled and fell asleep.
***
I had a dream.
And a very clear and vivid dream at that.
"Ugh!"
In my dream, I was stabbed in the stomach with a sword and, in pain, I rolled around on the floor.
Fortunately, perhaps because it was a dream, blood didn't flow out onto the floor.
They say that dreams express what you have experienced more vividly.
Perhaps because I had the experience of dying once, the pain and gruesoness of being stabbed with a sword felt even more vivid.
"Unhwi! I will never go alone. I will make you my companion on the road!"
The person who had stabbed with a sword said to .
It's a voice I've heard a lot sowhere. The owner of that voice, which even feels strangely nostalgic, is...
"Mok Hwa-shin! You son of a bitch. You're trying to kill ?!"
That bastard was Mok Hwa-shin.
Mok Hwa-shin, who had fought with as if we were sworn enemies in my past life.
In the end, the very Mok Hwa-shin who had even ended up in a mutual destruction with .
The Mok Hwa-shin who had ended my first life so that I could live this life!
"If you're going to die, die gracefully. Why are you trying to drag with you? Do you want to die at my hands one more ti?!"
I, even in pain, shouted stubbornly.
Of course, perhaps because it was a dream, my mouth moved on its own.
"One more ti...? I don't know what you're talking about, but not killing you at first was my biggest mistake."
"If I was going to die at the hands of a bastard like you twice, I wouldn't have lived so desperately."
"What nonsense have you been spouting since a while ago!"
The bastard rushed at again.
The wound in my stomach hurts more and more.
If I don't stop the bleeding and treat the wound quickly, I feel like I'm really going to die.
What happens if you die in a dream? Do you just wake up from the dream? Or do you never wake up from the dream?
While having these miscellaneous thoughts, I couldn't even think of blocking Mok Hwa-shin's sword, and I was just looking at it.
Just then, a sword blocked my front.
The owner of the sword deflected Mok Hwa-shin's sword and even overwheld him.
That wasn't all.
At that mont, several people jumped out from both sides of and blocked my front.
"Everyone, take care of Hwi first! We'll hold this place, so hurry!"
The owner of the voice that spoke with great force was... Un Gwang.
'Un Gwang can shout like that.'
In the midst of that, I started to laugh, wondering what was so funny.
Only then did I see the people around .
They are my room's senior brothers, the Five Swords of Wudang senior brothers, and other senior brothers of our Wudang Sect.
The senior brothers surrounded , who could barely move.
"Unhwi. Don't worry and go get treated first. You know very well that that person can handle Mok Hwa-shin on his own, don't you?"
Co to think of it, the person who blocked my front at first was not one of our senior brothers.
He was smaller and more slender. Now that I see, his hair is also long.
Even his body is curved, it's a woman's body.
That person, no, she, swung her sword and continuously overwheld Mok Hwa-shin.
I almost exclaid, 'Wow, she fights well,' without realizing it.
But since I couldn't see her face well, I tried to see who it was by turning my head this way and that without realizing it.
Even while doing so, I was getting farther and farther away from the battlefield... and at that mont when I couldn't see her face.
I finally recognized who she was.
"Miss Zhuge Ling?!"
The mont I shouted that, I woke up from my dream.
For a mont, I had fallen so deeply asleep that I didn't even know where I was.
Looking around, I realized that this was an inn in Kaifeng, and I rembered that I had fallen asleep for a while.
"Phew..."
I let out a sigh of relief that the situation just now was a dream.
Fortunately, my senior brothers don't seem to have returned.
Because it seed I had called out Miss Zhuge Ling's na out loud as I woke up.
But at that mont, the door slowly opened... and behind the door stood my senior brothers.
For so reason, my senior brothers are looking at with a troubled expression.
"......"
"......"
After a mont of awkward silence...
"Unhwi-ya. You woke up just in ti. It's lunchti now."
Un Hwang, my senior brother, said very naturally and ca into the room.
Then the other senior brothers, as if they thought they should also act naturally, ca in, saying a word to as if nothing had happened.
"When I have so free ti later, I want to co here to play, not because of the Martial Alliance. The market is so big."
"I know, right? It would be fun to co together then too."
"There will be a chance to co when the Dragon and Phoenix Assembly is held. The Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, which is held at the Martial Alliance every four years, is next year."
I also got up as if nothing had happened and greeted my senior brothers.
"Did you have fun? It seems I woke up just in ti."
"Yes. You woke up well. Let's go down and have lunch and then leave for the Wudang Sect."
"Alright."
In the care of my senior brothers, we had lunch and started running south, towards the Wudang Sect.
While running at a moderate, not-so-fast speed, I organized my thoughts inwardly.
'Although it's definitely not that dreams predict the future, this dream seems to have a great aning for .'
The reason I thought so was because my senior brothers and Zhuge Ling... had appeared in my dream.
Until now, I had often dread of fighting Mok Hwa-shin.
But, the in the dream was the lonely . The Self-Taught Swordsman Unhwi.
But this ti, I appeared as Unhwi of the Wudang Sect and dread of receiving help from others.
Doesn't that an that I have co to trust my senior brothers more?
And, it also seems to an that he, whom I had always thought of as a mountain to overco, is no longer an object of fear.
'Soon, in the not-so-distant future, I must et Mok Hwa-shin.'
Until now, I had not actively sought out future enemies.
I had only dealt with the enemies I t by chance, and the enemies who ca looking for .
But, I thought that I don't have to do that from now on.
From now on... I will find and eliminate them first.
(End of Chapter)
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