So, following the waitress’ recommendation, we ate a special course meal complete with dessert and an expensive alcoholic drink.
As I got more and more confused, I decided to completely give up trying to understand this world. When I looked at Seol Jungyeon noonim, she was touching her tiny pink lips with her finger. It seems like she wasn’t used to the current situation we were in either. On the other hand, Taylor just looked around with curious eyes as she mumbled ‘This is a strange world.’
“Hey. When you read a martial arts novel, valuable information is always circulating in a tavern. Would it be the same here?”
“Be careful about what you say, many people are paying attention to us.” I said to Taylor. In the martial arts world, there was a group of beggars who could also be called as an eavesdropping expert. Even now, the beggars wandering around our tavern were quite suspicious.
After saying that, I concentrated for a moment. I was trying to feel the aura of Aracelli, who had always followed me whenever I traversed through dimensions. She and I had placed a mark on each other’s souls, and even though I wasn’t as good as Aracelli—who could feel my presence in any dimension—at the very least I could feel her when we were in the same dimension.
…However, Aracelli’s energy couldn’t be felt at all.
<Because Murim is the closest dimension to Earth. It seems like this dimension is too far away for her to come.>
‘Is that so?’
Somehow, knowing that Aracelli couldn’t follow me even after I moved to another dimension made my heart ache. I promised myself to treat Aracelli better next time we meet.
Seol Jungyeon noonim, Taylor and I were still quietly drinking alcohol at the tavern.
“Hey, I told you it was the truth. That guy calls himself ‘Silver Bulldog’!”
“Crazy. There’s no Silver Bulldog in this world! You are being fooled!”
“Huh, is that so? I learned English as my mother tongue.”
It was hard to focus on the conversation around me, because there were too many confusing things that happened.
“I used my footwork to left ducking to dodge an attack, before throwing a punch, and they were all gone in one shot.”
(T/N The left ducking is written by the author…)
“That’s great Hyung-nim! To commemorate the slaughter of them this time, let’s have a drink!”
“Okay! Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
Of course, although we did not have any intention to kill or find anyone there was still a limit to the information we could obtain from the tavern. But at least it helped me get a sense of the atmosphere here. Strangely, the proportion of people who used English in addition to Chinese inside the tavern was quite high, the ratio itself was around 2:1. It’s like Korean pretending to be Korean while writing everything in English.
“Did America even rule the Murim League? Why is it like this?”
As I quietly asked such a question, Noonim who sat quietly next to opened her mouth and said “…it’s probably because of me. At that time, I used English all the time.”
“Is that so? Ah….”
Come to think of it, didn’t Noonim tell me that at one time, as the head of the Cheonma Sect, she had almost united Murim under her? Her title comes from the fact that she was a supreme being who had reached the level of extreme demons that would never be seen again in the world. … although she lost everything after losing to Supreme Dharma.
(T/N a reminder, Cheonma could be translated into Heavenly Demon.)
“Noonim, where is the location of the Cheonma Sect?”
“It’s in Xinjiang. Northwest from here.”
The name seems to be similar to Chinese. However, the spelling of the Chinese characters used was slightly different.
“We need to get a map.”
“Hey, do we even have any money?”
Nope, we don’t have any. I was going to make payment in gold nuggets because I knew that gold was a valid currency in any world. As I opened my mouth to explain that, someone tapped me on my shoulder. I look back, trying to see who it is. And there I saw a group of tall men with sly smiles plastered on their faces.
“Hey, my friend. Is it okay to hog two beauties alone? Shouldn’t you make some concessions to this brother?”
“Oh…”
I sighed. If you go with beautiful women in a martial arts world, a must-have cliché would certainly happen! It was tavern thugs.
I glanced at Taylor. Her face was clearly saying that she was looking forward to this development. Normally, she would hate it when being treated like this, but it seems that currently she was really liking it because of her love of martial arts novels.
In other words, to sum it up,
“Here it is. Our wallet.”
* * *
A tavern could be said to be similar to a hostel. A single room was of course not available. So, I had planned to take two double rooms, one for myself and one for the girls. However, the two of them were very reluctant to do it, so I had to get a four-person room. There was no room for 3 people or something.
While they went to take a shower, I laid myself on a large bed and pulled out a letter from my inventory. When I said that I was going to Murim, Smiling Shadow gave me a letter to meet with ‘Shadow Group’. Unlike the Murim League’s intelligence team, Shadow Group was a group of assassins, so of course they were also proficient in intelligence gathering. A letter from him, who was once the head of ‘Shadow Group’, will certainly be of some help to us.
When I tore the letter, a dark energy leaked out and soon took shape of map and address. Once I memorized it, it quickly disappeared. Just how did he keep it so secure? It seems that mugong also had many strange things in many different ways.
Bump!
The door opened, Noonim and Taylor, who seemed to be finished, came in. Both of them were slightly blushing. There was no convenient technology like a hair dryer in this world, that was why their hair was still wet. Come to think of it, I think I’ve read some groundless article somewhere that a woman with wet hair could look attractive… Just why didn’t they dry it when they could easily dry it with their aura?
I looked at them with those thoughts in my mind. Oblivious to my thought, they just smiled and stared at me. I couldn’t even ask such a strange thing, so I just left it as it is.
“Hey. Do my clothes again.”
Taylor’s clothes were indeed a mess. So, I approached her and organized her clothes. While I was doing that, I could feel a hot gaze from my side. Without hesitation, I quickly fixed her uniform before sitting down on the table and opened the map I had procured.
“This is the forest where we first set foot.”
I pointed at a place on the map, it was Baeksan Forest. It was a large forest located in the western region, and it was said that wild plants covered the entire area. Such details were of little use to us and had been skipped over.
“And, if we go about 700 km east from there, we will find ‘Cheonghae’. It’s known as the realm of the Kunlun sect, but I don’t know if that’s still the case. Noonim, what is Kunlun Sect?”
Seol Jungyeon noonim, who had been thinking for a while, said with a shrug. “It was a group that hated us.”
Well, it was understandable. Xinjiang, where the Cheonma sect was located, was almost touching Cheonghae. No matter how much the Hundred-Thousand Mountain and the Cheongsan Mountain range protects them, in the end, it will be impossible for them to escape from the control of the Cheonma Sect.
“There were many Taoists who practiced their technique there, but they were too vile to be called Taoists. They were the first to attack us even though we didn’t even do anything.”
“Hm….”
That’s suspicious. The image of the Kunlun Sect in my head was a well-mannered aristocrat. They couldn’t be that barbarics beyond reason, could they?
“I don’t know what they are thinking about, but Kunlun was the one who kept attacking and starting a war when my family didn’t do anything.”
“Yes?”
“At first, we had no intention of going to war. …No, I had no interest in war or occupation in the first place until the Kunlun Sect continued to attack us after gaining support from the heads of the Murim Alliance.”
Come to think of it, why haven’t I wondered about it? No matter how many times I saw Noonim, she was clearly a gentle person. Even though that slender arm could wield the world’s strongest swordsmanship, it had never attacked anyone first.
By the way, I haven’t even asked her about the reason behind her dream of uniting Murim yet…
“For some reason, the Kunlun Sect had a grudge against us from the beginning. The previous head of Cheonma Sect, Gal Hyuk-jun, had not moved since he settled down in Xinjiang, and as far as I know, in the past 100 years, Cheonma Sect had never attacked Jungwon Murim. Yet, they keep touching my people and family members in Murim…”
There’s only one way to stop it. Putting Murim under her rule. From the story I heard, she had almost ruled the world while only fighting to protect her own people.
‘Should I say it’s great…?’
To summarize, the Kunlun Sect had always been trying to attack the Cheonma Sect since ancient times, and in response, the Cheonma Sect had no choice but to wage war. However, using that as an excuse, Kunlun Sect received support from the Murim Lord at that time. My feeling told me that it was exactly what they were aiming for.
Kunlun Sect whose behaviour was no different from a thug.
“I think there’s a chance that the demon might be hiding in the Kunlun Sect.”
At my word, Noonim’s and Taylor’s expressions turned rigid. I could surely understand their worry. Afterall, It’s a place with a lot of power since all of its members practice magic, so they could naturally fight well.
“Actually, it’s fine, we can just close the portal and run away.”
Saying that, I glanced towards Noonim. For me this world was a world that I don’t know. So, it didn’t really matter much whether the demon conquered the world or cooked Jjajangmyeon here. But for my Noonim, this place was almost like her hometown. So of course she was worried.
However, Noonim only closed her eyes without responding to my words, and our brief meeting ended.
* * *
I forced my tired eyes to open. In this room, there were two large beds that could be used by two adults each. One was supposed to be used by myself, and the other one was supposed to be used by Noonim and Taylor. However, currently, the other bed was empty. There was no one who slept on it. Noonim and Taylor were sleeping at my side while hugging each of my arms.
“… damn it. I thought they would let go last night.”
Till dawn, the two women, who were clearly adults, had quarreled childishly over the bed. I don’t know the reason. So, I forced both Noonim and Taylor to sleep on the other bed while I took one bed by myself, but it seems that they couldn’t stand it. Because before long, Noonim and Taylor had woken up from their sleep. I couldn’t even remember what happened last night, so I couldn’t say anything. But what I knew was that they were both shameless.
“Let’s have breakfast.”
When we went down to the first floor, I saw quite a few people getting up early and eating. Among them, some warriors were also mixed in.
‘Would it be more convenient for me to be a 3rd class swordsman?’
It’s probably a good idea since a 3rd class swordsman identity was a good identity to be active.
Just like yesterday, I called the waitress and ordered the breakfast special set menu before leaning back to the chair. Noonim and Taylor had their whole bodies covered in pure white robes, even their face was half covered with black see-through veil. They had very uncomfortable expressions on their faces, but there was nothing I could do about it. Their appearances were just too eye-catching.
In Noonim’s case, she used to be the leader of Cheonma Sect, and there was a high possibility that someone would be aware of her identity and become an annoyance for us, thus the veil acted as some kind of safety measure.
At that moment, my ears perked up at the voice of whispers from around me.
“I heard that the Cheonma Sect has begun their activities once more.”
“That was what I heard too! The former leader had disappeared and the Cheonma Sect was completely annihilated, I wonder how they could start again…”
“Was there any chance that the current leader was an impostor?”
“I don’t think so. The current leader was so powerful, rumour said that a single swing from the leader could cut through Mount Tai!”
“Hey. That’s an exaggeration, my friend. Do you still believe in rumors?”
Cheonma Sect… they were resurrected But, how? From what I heard, everyone had died.
With a bewildered expression, Taylor and I slowly turned towards Seol Jungyeon noonim. She was staring at the floor with quivering eyes, completely losing her usual serenity.