The Lazy Young Master of the Jin Clan

"Hooooooop—!"

Jin Sohyun flared his small nostrils and inhaled the clear mountain air.

"The smell of freedom."

For five years by the calendar.

It was the time he had been stuck on the mountain, exploited for labor, after leaving the grand estate of the Jin Family, which had everything but what was missing, and where over a hundred servants moved busily to keep their employer's mind and body comfortable.

"Hehehehe... finally! At last!"

Jin Sohyun barely managed to contain his joyful heart, which felt like it would leap, and looked at the three high peaks in front of him.

"I'm returning to my original life."

Now, only three gates remained for the boy.

And the first in order was the lowest peak where O Yoran's gift was hidden.

As he climbed the mountain following the finely tied white cloth, O Yoran's voice was soon heard from eight directions.

It was O Yoran's Eight-Directional Sound.

"From now until the moment you step onto the peak, you must not stop playing the daegeum. You will soon know what piece to play. If you hesitate for even a moment, you will vomit blood and collapse immediately."

A firm warning was contained in O Yoran's voice, which came from eight directions.

As Jin Sohyun quickly picked up his daegeum, the quiet sound of a daegeum began to be heard from all over the mountain.

'This is!?'

Jin Sohyun took a short, deep breath and brought the daegeum to his mouth.

In his mind, the teachings he had learned from O Yoran so far came to mind.

—The basis of sound art is sound. And sound contains the power to move a person's heart, so sound art is a martial art that moves a person's heart.

This is why sound art is easy to enter but difficult to master.

Unlike other martial arts that strike the enemy to subdue their mind and body, sound art had to move the listener's heart at will by imbuing emotions into the sound.

—To imbue qi into sound and strike a person's mind and body is the work of a low-level practitioner. And to imbue one's own emotions into sound and convey them is the work of a mid-level practitioner. To move the listener's heart at will is the work of a master of sound art.

Jin Sohyun had to bite his lip at the quiet yet sad music he heard in his ears.

'Get a grip!'

If he were to be captivated by O Yoran's daegeum performance like this, he would surely lose his mind in the blink of an eye.

Having finished his thought, Jin Sohyun immediately began to play the daegeum.

'I can't fight it head-on.'

Since his skill in sound art was not yet as deep as O Yoran's, confronting her head-on was like extending a hand to stop a rolling boulder.

'Sound art is flow.'

Like the wind that brushes past the cheek, tickles the hair, and then leaves.

Sound art is flow.

Instead of confronting O Yoran's sound art, which was blowing from eight directions, Jin Sohyun naturally made the flow she had created his own.

Screeeech— Shweeeek!

Although what came from Jin Sohyun's daegeum still sounded like the wail of a ghost, the flow he created did not harm or confront O Yoran's sound, but accepted it as it was and cleverly mixed his own sound into it.

The beautiful tone of O Yoran and the bizarre tone of Jin Sohyun harmonized, and soon, the two's duet began.

'Once I've started... I can't stop.'

Jin Sohyun began to slowly climb the peak while playing the daegeum.

Although it was not visible to the eye, he could feel that the sound art O Yoran had created was flowing fiercely on the path to the peak.

'It would be better to just close my eyes.'

Jin Sohyun closed his eyes.

It was a flow that could not be seen with the eyes anyway.

He listened with his ears, felt with his skin, and focused all his senses on O Yoran's performance.

Thud— Thud—!

His footsteps, which were passive at first, now became cheerful in time with the music, and then slowed down.

While climbing the peak, Jin Sohyun diligently played the daegeum against O Yoran's sound art, which was trying to control him.

When the opponent's sound was fast, he played even faster, and when it slowed down, he played even slower.

If his breathing differed from O Yoran's even a little, it was Jin Sohyun who would collapse, so he concentrated, with large beads of sweat on his forehead.

By the time Jin Sohyun had climbed to the middle of the peak, O Yoran's performance suddenly stopped.

'Oh?'

The one who was surprised was Jin Sohyun.

"Why did she stop?"

Jin Sohyun, who had opened his eyes, blinked and looked around.

O Yoran's figure was still not visible, and her performance was no longer heard.

"Aha! It must be a pass if I just come this far. As expected of Master O."

Although she was the scariest master when she was angry, O Yoran was someone who cherished him more than anyone else usually, so Jin Sohyun was greatly pleased and put the daegeum in his waistband.

"I wonder what kind of gift my master has prepared."

Jin Sohyun, who believed that O Yoran's test was naturally over, shot up to the top of the peak like an arrow.

But it was then.

At the sound of the quietly playing music, Jin Sohyun's body stiffened.

No, to be more precise, it began to go limp like waterlogged cotton.

"Ugh...!"

Jin Sohyun had to widen his eyes at the familiar tune.

'This scale is... Master's Four Seasons Drunken Oriole?'

The piece called Four Seasons Drunken Oriole was one of the pieces O Yoran had composed, and it contained the story of an oriole that had enjoyed the world while experiencing the four seasons.

This piece, which started with spring, passed through summer and autumn, and ended with winter, was O Yoran's representative piece that allowed one to feel all the joys, angers, sorrows, and pleasures just by listening to it once, and it was the masterpiece that had made her be called the Heavenly Sound Flower.

What problem could there be with such a wonderful piece, but the problem was when one imbued internal energy into the Four Seasons Drunken Oriole.

"Kkeung—!"

Jin Sohyun forced his listless body to move and took out the daegeum he had stuck in his waistband.

"Hoo... hoo...!"

Jin Sohyun, who barely managed to calm the raging torrent of emotions and put the daegeum to his mouth, focused all his mind so as not to be swept away by O Yoran's Four Seasons Drunken Oriole.

Soon, unable to overcome the rapid change of emotions, his qi and blood twisted.

Following that, his internal energy also began to flow backward.

'At this rate, I'll really die!'

O Yoran's warning that if he stopped playing for even a moment, he would vomit blood and collapse was true.

Even in the midst of his confusion, Jin Sohyun focused all his mind to read the flow O Yoran had created.

Like a sailboat on the verge of being shipwrecked after encountering a whirlpool at sea, Jin Sohyun's mind and body were very unstable.

'My disciple, what will you do now?'

O Yoran continued to play, but she did not take her eyes off Jin Sohyun.

If her disciple could no longer hold on and collapsed, vomiting blood, she planned to stop playing immediately.

But Jin Sohyun did not collapse easily.

'Don't endure it. If you don't bend, you will break.'

O Yoran rather hoped that Jin Sohyun would collapse now.

This was because if he stubbornly endured any longer, his qi might flow backward, and he could fall into qi deviation.

Nevertheless, instead of breaking, Jin Sohyun began to play the daegeum.

Since he was already swept away by O Yoran's flow, the first note was unstable, but as time passed, the sound of his daegeum became clearer.

'This is!?'

O Yoran's eyes widened.

It seemed as if no sound could be heard in the storm she had created, but a single gust of wind blew through it.

It was like a gentle breeze that came without warning, tickled the cheeks, and then disappeared.

It seemed infinitely weak to fight against a typhoon.

But that wind began to completely protect Jin Sohyun from the typhoon.

'As expected... is it a Heavenly Martial Body?'

O Yoran admired Jin Sohyun's talent and began the final season.

The final season in the Four Seasons Drunken Oriole, which had the saddest, most intense, and coldest tone.

Winter had come.

Swoosh—!

Jin Sohyun almost dropped his daegeum at the feeling of his whole body freezing.

'It's winter!'

Realizing that the final season, winter, had come, Jin Sohyun sat down on the spot and took what might be his last breath.

'Alright, let's just do it!'

The gentle and quiet tone, like a gentle breeze, changed abruptly.

At this, O Yoran was greatly flustered.

'Four Seasons Drunken Oriole!?'

Although it was a piece she had taught, the situation was too unfavorable to play it now.

Since O Yoran had already brought the Four Seasons Drunken Oriole to its peak, her flow had reached its climax.

But Jin Sohyun had suddenly inserted his own flow into O Yoran's flow, which had reached its climax.

'This arrogant...!'

O Yoran was so confused that she wondered if she should stop playing.

If Jin Sohyun made even a slight mistake, he would surely be swallowed up by O Yoran's flow and suffer a severe blow to his mind and body.

'I can't stop now!'

O Yoran wanted to stop playing, but if she did, the two's flows might get tangled.

If that happened, both of them would be in danger, so O Yoran had no choice but to finish the performance, whether she liked it or not.

'Please! Don't stop and follow me!'

Like O Yoran's desperate wish, Jin Sohyun focused all his mind on the Four Seasons Drunken Oriole.

And finally, the two's performance came to an end.

"Ah..."

"Hoo..."

The two took their mouths off the daegeum at the same time.

Jin Sohyun, who had finished playing, lay down flat on his back and gasped for breath.

"Haa... haa... I almost... I almost died!"

In fact, following O Yoran's flow was a kind of gamble.

In reality, every time the flow was slightly off, Jin Sohyun had to feel the fear of falling into qi deviation.

"...Is it over now?"

Jin Sohyun looked up at O Yoran, who was standing and looking down at him, while lying down.

"You foolish and arrogant brat! Why on earth did you follow me! Do you really not know what you've done!"

"I know."

Jin Sohyun struggled to sit up.

"But I didn't think I could endure it without doing so."

At Jin Sohyun's answer, O Yoran shut her mouth.

As he had said, if Jin Sohyun hadn't followed the flow, the winter tune O Yoran had created would have frozen his body and mind together.

So the best way was...

'To just collapse.'

It was to give up and collapse.

But instead of giving up, Jin Sohyun threw himself into O Yoran's flow and finally finished the long journey of the four seasons.

Like an oriole that had finished a long journey.

"Can you stand up?"

"Can I lie down like this for a little longer?"

"As long as you want."

O Yoran stroked Jin Sohyun's head with a gentle smile.

The touch was very gentle and warm, and it felt good.

"This is a master's gift to a disciple who has successfully completed the climb."

What O Yoran gave him was a new daegeum made of the finest ebony wood.

"It's a daegeum made by the best master craftsman in the Central Plains. Its name is Black Snow Sound."

"Wow!"

Jin Sohyun was sure that this was the first time he had seen such a beautiful daegeum.

This daegeum, made of ebony wood, was a work of the best master craftsman in the Central Plains, with birds, trees, and peaks harmoniously carved, and a snowflake-shaped engraving.

"Shall I try playing it?"

"P-Playing it?"

"Yes! Since it's my new daegeum, as a test..."

"Now... the other masters will be waiting, so let's play it next time."

"Aha! Yes."

As Jin Sohyun put the daegeum in his waistband, O Yoran let out a sigh of relief.

'Phew... that's a relief. I almost fell into qi deviation.'

Although she had succeeded in suppressing it with her sound art so far, if she had listened to Jin Sohyun's performance without any preparation, she would surely have fallen into qi deviation.

As O Yoran, hiding her inner thoughts, guided him to the next peak, Jin Sohyun was able to stop in front of the next highest peak.

"Good luck with the next test too."

"Thank you."

As O Yoran, who had finished the test, went down the mountain, Jin Sohyun, who was taking a deep breath, found a table that was out of place on the mountain.

On the table was a long red cloth.

"Don't tell me this is..."

As Jin Sohyun glared at the red cloth with a face as if he had seen something he shouldn't have, Bieunggaek appeared, laughing heartily.

A blue cloth was tied to his waistband like a tail, fluttering.

"Is it tag?"

At Jin Sohyun's question, who had picked up the red cloth, Bieunggaek grinned.

"Correct."

(End of Chapter)