Chapter 35 : A Genius Above a Genius
"I understand. I will do my best to ensure that Young Master Jin can rest comfortably."
"Yes, Young Lady."
Namgung Seolu, who had turned her back on the maids in charge of the annex, let out a light sigh.
For four days now, Jin Sohyun would wake up at noon, have lunch, go out, and then come back exhausted in the evening, doing who knows what.
Thanks to that, Namgung Seolu, who had been trying to meet him, had to turn back every time.
A girl with a familiar face approached Namgung Seolu, who had come out of the annex.
"Sister!"
"Soyong? What is it?"
Namgung Soyong.
At the appearance of the young girl who had just turned eleven, Namgung Seolu had a puzzled expression.
Namgung Soyong, who had come right up to Namgung Seolu, smiled brightly and said.
"Uncle... ah... ah! No. The Family Head is looking for you!"
Namgung Seolu, who had lightly stroked the head of Namgung Soyong, who was smiling shyly while slapping her own lips, went straight to see Namgung Muhyeok.
At her appearance, Namgung Muhyeok said with a feigned surprised face.
"Oh...! What brings you here at this hour?"
"I heard that the Family Head was looking for me."
"Me?"
As Namgung Muhyeok feigned ignorance with a playful tone, Namgung Seolu turned around.
There, with a flustered face, was Namgung Soyong, with eyes that looked as if she were about to cry.
"Hahaha! Yes. I asked Soyong to call you."
"I know."
"Hmph... Soyong, good work. I will order your father to go on a flower viewing with you."
"Wow! Thank you! Unc... no, Family Head!"
Namgung Muhyeok's gaze, which had been watching Namgung Soyong, who had bowed her waist and disappeared with small steps, moved back to Namgung Seolu.
"What is the reason you called me?"
At her cold attitude, Namgung Muhyeok laughed heartily and stood up from his seat.
"Let's walk for a bit."
The two began to walk side by side along the promenade that existed behind the inner quarters.
How long had they walked like that?
Namgung Muhyeok spoke first.
"It's been a while since I've taken a walk with you. When you were young, we often walked together."
"To be precise, until mother was alive... we did."
As the word 'mother' came out of Namgung Seolu's mouth, Namgung Muhyeok's face hardened.
"I don't blame father. But..."
She could not continue her words.
Namgung Muhyeok gently stroked Namgung Seolu's shoulder.
"I know. Because I felt the same way as you."
Namgung Seolu nodded silently.
Once, there was a turbulent period in the martial world.
In the Righteous-Demonic War that had occurred several decades ago, the Martial Arts Alliance, which represented the orthodox martial world, and the Ming Cult, which stood at the center of the unorthodox faction, had started a great war over the hegemony of the martial world.
And the winner of that war was the orthodox martial world.
Thanks to that, the Central Plains seemed to have found peace.
But peace could not be obtained so easily.
Other fights that had occurred after the war had once again caused the blood of many to be shed, and the Namgung Family also had to shed blood.
Namgung Muhyeok, who was looking up at the dry sky, took a deep breath and said.
"What do you think of Jin Sohyun from the Jin Family?"
"What do I think... what do you mean?"
"I know that you have been visiting the annex. Is the reason not to meet the man named Jin Sohyun?"
"That's right."
Namgung Seolu did not bother to deny it, and at her affirmation, Namgung Muhyeok was both happy and bitter.
He felt as if the baby bird that he had thought would always be in his arms had grown up enough to fly freely in the sky.
The time to leave the nest was coming.
'I will be a help on that path.'
Although Namgung Muhyeok did not say it out loud, he planned to win the bet with Jin Sohyun, even for Namgung Seolu's sake.
Even if it meant using a petty method that did not suit him.
'You will never be able to defeat me, Jin Sohyun.'
***
The day of the promise had come.
Past noon, Namgung Muhyeok had woken up early in the morning and had been eagerly waiting for the appointed time to come.
And as soon as the appointed time came, he ran like an arrow.
Surprisingly, Jin Sohyun was already there when he arrived.
"Huh... did he give up?"
Jin Sohyun was sleeping while sitting, and the stick on the cauldron in front of him was still there.
'It seems he failed after all.'
In the first place, it was impossible for a young martial artist of this age to succeed in Void Object Manipulation.
Therefore, Jin Sohyun's failure was also an expected result.
'Tsk... but I had hoped he would do his best until the end.'
Was it just Namgung Muhyeok's greed to hope that he would do his best until the last moment, even though he had realized it was impossible?
He was quite disappointed that Jin Sohyun seemed to have given up too quickly.
"You brat! Get up now! The sun is already at its zenith."
At Namgung Muhyeok's roar, the awakened Jin Sohyun got up, rubbing his eyes.
"So, was there any progress for five days?"
Although he knew the result, Namgung Muhyeok pretended not to know and asked, and Jin Sohyun looked at him with a dissatisfied eye, as if he had been waiting.
"This is too much!"
"If you knew it was too much, you shouldn't have accepted the bet. Are you trying to go back on your word now?"
"Kkeung... but that's too heavy."
Namgung Muhyeok, who had looked at the place Jin Sohyun had pointed to with his hand, had a puzzled expression.
Of course, even a wooden stick was a heavy object to bring with Void Object Manipulation, but it was not to the point where he would glare with such angry eyes.
"That's heavy?"
"Yes! It's hard to even lift and move it, but to ask me to pull it with Void Object Manipulation or whatever... I almost died for five days! In the end, I couldn't even pull it this far..."
At Jin Sohyun's incomprehensible words, Namgung Muhyeok walked towards the cauldron with a surprised face.
'Come to think of it...!'
The cauldron was a little closer than its original position.
'No, that's... that's impossible!'
Namgung Muhyeok went behind the cauldron.
And there, a mark as if the cauldron had been dragged was left on the floor.
The distance was a whopping two steps.
'He pulled a cauldron weighing over two hundred geun with Void Object Manipulation? And this much distance!?'
It would have been a miracle just to move it slightly, but to have pulled it more than two steps was an unbelievable thing.
"...You moved this cauldron?"
"That was the condition of the bet."
'My goodness!'
What Namgung Muhyeok had wanted him to move was the wooden stick stuck on top of the cauldron.
If he had pulled it out from the sand, it would have been Jin Sohyun's victory.
Of course, if he had succeeded, he had also been thinking of stubbornly insisting that he should have moved the cauldron!
But Jin Sohyun had moved the cauldron itself, not the stick.
"No... no... you must be lying to me! You moved this cauldron!?"
"Why would I lie to you, Family Head! What would I gain?"
"Then try it! If you've done it before, you can do it again!"
Namgung Muhyeok, who had stepped back with his arms crossed, glared at him with his Dragon's Scolding Eyes, and Jin Sohyun extended his hand with a sigh.
The gazes of the two were fixed on the cauldron at the same time, and even as time passed, the cauldron did not move.
'Of course! This brat moved the cauldron with his hands and is trying to deceive me...'
Clank—
The cauldron, which had not even budged, began to move slowly.
Looking at the cauldron moving slowly, dragging on the floor, Namgung Muhyeok uncrossed his arms and even opened his mouth.
"Hooah—!! I'm going to die!"
Jin Sohyun, who had succeeded in moving the cauldron, panted and wiped the sweat on his forehead.
"This is the maximum for one day. No matter how much I squeeze out my internal energy, this is the limit. I guess it's because I'm still a third-rate martial artist."
"..."
"I lost the bet... so tell me your favor."
"You..."
"What? I can't hear you well, Family Head."
"You won the bet."
"But... I couldn't pull it this far."
"You won, so just know that. Congratulations. Now that you know the subtlety of Void Object Manipulation, you won't need anything else."
With these words, Namgung Muhyeok turned around and left.
Jin Sohyun scratched his cheek with an embarrassed face.
"Did I do something wrong?"
He had no way of knowing what he had done wrong, but wasn't it important that he had won the bet anyway?
"Phew! That's a relief! I was worried about what he would ask me to do this time. With this, I won't have to go around picking up flying swords either."
Jin Sohyun, who was in a good mood, took out the wooden stick stuck on the cauldron with just a gesture of his hand and then sent it flying.
The stick, which had flown like a flying sword, stuck in a tree, and Jin Sohyun, who had discovered it, smiled brightly.
"I should have learned this earlier! It's so convenient!"
***
Namgung Muhyeok, who had returned to his quarters, sent everyone around him away, saying he wanted to be alone.
Instead of lying down on the bed, Namgung Muhyeok, who sat next to it with his legs crossed, closed his eyes tightly.
'At his age, I was called a genius just for releasing sword qi.'
The moment he had achieved the realm of Sword Qi Manifestation, the Namgung Family had rejoiced, saying that a genius of the century had been born.
Namgung Muhyeok had thought so too.
At that time, he had a talent outstanding enough to be called a genius.
And a short while later, the Righteous-Demonic War broke out.
Namgung Muhyeok, who was full of vigor, had fought fiercely with the martial artists of the Ming Cult under the flags of the Namgung Family and the Martial Arts Alliance.
But the power of the Ming Cult was too strong for a young and talented martial artist to handle.
In particular, the power of Dan Yegang, who was the young leader of the Ming Cult at that time, was terrifying.
In front of Dan Yegang, who was cutting down the martial artists of the Martial Arts Alliance like paper while swinging a sword imbued with black demonic qi, Namgung Muhyeok was thoroughly weak.
'I trembled in fear and realized my own weakness.'
When he was trembling, unable to dare to face Dan Yegang, he appeared.
Cheon Yusin.
Cheon Yusin, who had been called a genius at a young age, just like Namgung Muhyeok, had confidently faced Dan Yegang, and after exchanging hundreds of blows, he had succeeded in cutting off his head.
At that moment, Namgung Muhyeok had felt the difference in innate talent and the difference in class.
'I had to admit that there was a genius above a genius.'
He had realized then that there was a place higher than the sky.
"This has become interesting, Cheon Yusin."
Namgung Muhyeok opened his closed eyes and smiled faintly.
"It seems a genius who will surpass you has been born. And that... in a merchant family, not a martial family."
***
"Shall we go back home now?"
It was the most welcome news he had heard.
Thanks to Namgung Muhyeok, he had been able to gain some enlightenment about the Heavenly Hand.
Now that he had no more business, Jin Sohyun wanted to return to his family estate as soon as possible.
"I can finally eat Mr. Yu's apples."
Mr. Yu's apples, which were so sweet that he worried his teeth might rot.
The only thing that Jin Sohyun, who had no interest in eating, was obsessed with, along with lazing around, was Mr. Yu's fruit.
"Yes. I should go back to the family estate and organize things. I've achieved a lot this time!"
Jin Gahyeon, as if being a merchant was her calling, was full of pride on her face, even though she had been moving busily without a moment's rest at the Namgung Family.
Jin Sohyun looked at his younger sister's face with a pleased expression and then had to greet Siu, who had appeared, huffing and puffing.
"Young Master!! You took my money pouch again, didn't you!"
"Me?"
Let's just pretend I don't know.
"Yes! The only person who would covet my poor money pouch is you, Young Master!!"
Siu rushed at him like a beast, armed with a sharp logic.
"What did you do with my money pouch!!"
"H-Here!"
What Jin Sohyun extended was a money pouch that had already been emptied of everything and had only its leather left.
"Aack! My blood-like money! Give it back quickly! Spit it out!!"
Siu rushed at him like a tigress, and Jin Sohyun had to run away from the small beast.
"I'll give it to you when we get back to the family estate! I'll give it to you!"
"Give me six times the amount!"
"You daylight robber!"
"You're the daylight robber, Young Master!"
While Siu and Jin Sohyun were bickering, Jin Gahyeon discovered the guests who had come to the annex.
"Welcome, Young Lady Namgung."
(End of Chapter)