Childhood Friend of the Zenith

༺ It Is Fate (2) ༻

A quaint hut, charming in its simplicity, built only with the purpose of making it look good, it was betrayed by the cracks that allowed the biting winter breeze to enter.

The season was particularly harsh for the hobos, many succumbing to the hellish cold, and never seeing the light of the day ever again.

Chuwong, a skilled martial artist, having reached a high martial level, could endure by enveloping himself in a barrier made of Qi,

A luxury not afforded to those under him.

Winter, therefore, held little appeal for Chuwong.

It was a season that rendered him helpless.

“Boss…”

A member of Beggar’s Sect called out to Chuwong, from within the hut.

“What’s up?”

“Shouldn’t you retrieve the pass?”

Chuwong glanced at the wooden pass laying on the table.

It was the wooden pass he had intended for the True Dragon just earlier.

“Hmm.”

But it wasn’t that wooden pass that the hobo was talking about.

He was referring to the First Class Beggar’s Pass that the True Dragon had.

He was asking Chuwong if he should have taken that pass away from The True Dragon.

“You lunatic, how could I have taken such a thing?”

“But… Isn’t it only right for us to get something in return since we listened to his request?”

That was going to be the original case.

The pass that Chuwong was trying to give wasn’t that rare and many others had it.

But that wasn’t the case for the pass that the True Dragon had.

It was a pass that provided one access to any information that the Beggar’s Sect could provide one with.

And if they didn’t have the information one wanted, they would have to go out to get that information.

It was only given to a savior of the sect’s leader.

The leader himself would act on his own for the one with the pass and would even treat it as a top priority.

‘So why does the True Dragon have that?’

Chuwong was flabbergasted when the True Dragon took out the First Class Beggar’s Pass from his pocket.

After all, that wasn’t something that a young prodigy could have.

‘Was it a fake?’

Chuwong had that thought for an instant, but he dismissed it immediately.

The Gu Clan may not have been as highly ranked as the four noble clans, but they were still a high-ranking noble clan and there was no way that the heir to that noble clan would do such a crazy thing while bringing a fake item around.

Of course, he still felt the need to verify if that First Class Pass was real or not, but he himself believed that it was real.

“Boss?”

“Wait for one second dammit, I’m already confused as is.”

Chuwong, scratching his head, responded to the constant calling.

As the hobo had said, the First Class Pass was only a single use item.

It was correct procedure to take the pass away since the value of that pass would disappear along with the pass once it was used.

‘But that’s not for me to decide.’

Because the one who possessed the First Class Pass had taken out the pass to ask for a personal request from him instead of the Beggar Sect, it was hard to decide whether the pass had been used or not, it lay in a gray area.

‘And the True Dragon probably knew already, which was why he showed that pass to me.’

“…Hmm…”

Though he was called the True Dragon, aside from his martial strength, he also seemed to be as cunning as a fox.

Chuwong, scratching his head, asked the hobo standing behind him.

“…Do you remember what the True Dragon had said?”

The hobo responded right away after hearing Chuwong’s question.

“He asked us to get information on Hwangbo Sun from the Hwangbo Clan, and on the Dragon Warrior right?”

Hwangbo Clan was the clan that had Hwangbo Cheolwi participate in the tournament as a representative of their clan.

He didn’t show anything impressive, despite coming from a noble clan, still he seemed to be a young prodigy with potential.

‘But who’s Hwangbo Sun?’

‘Considering this is my first time hearing that name, it doesn’t seem to be a renowned relative of that clan.’

‘I wonder why the True Dragon had asked us to get information on such a person.’

‘As for the Dragon Warrior…’

The Dragon Warrior was the least renowned among the ones being called the Dragons and Phoenixes.

That individual had only appeared once in the world, yet was impressive enough to have earned the Dragon Warrior title in that one appearance.

They had never again appeared in the Dragons and Phoenixes tournament and were now being forgotten due to their lack of activity.

Chuwong had once tried to meet the Dragon Warrior too, but…

‘…I don’t want to think about what happened back then.’

He was only left with a sad memory.

The Dragon Warrior was somehow even thornier than the Sword Phoenix.

Putting aside that fact for now, Chuwong started to think about the True Dragon, Gu Yangcheon who had left the scene.

‘I can’t understand his intentions.’

‘No, it’s actually more because of how obvious it seems.’

‘It seems like he wants to make a connection between us.’

‘The fact that he insisted on talking to me despite his bothered and unamused face, and the fact that he made a personal request to me by showing the First Class Pass when he didn’t have to.’

‘All of that feels like he’s testing me.’

‘Even though he was just a young prodigy who hasn’t even lived half of my life.’

Chuwong was a Martial Artist as well, so he didn’t like the feeling of getting tested, but funnily enough, he felt that it was okay since it was the True Dragon testing him.

A strange feeling of overpowering pressure that he couldn’t feel from other young prodigies.

He felt like his pride was about to collapse because of the fact that he was feeling that from a young boy, but he also felt differently when reminded of the boy’s true worth.

‘It’s not like I had any pride left to begin with.’

Chuwong smiled slightly after being reminded of his own words.

What pride could a hobo have when they lived on the floor while begging to others?

It was enough as long as they could live by doing that.

‘The True Dragon title fits him way too well.’

He didn’t seem to like that title, though.

Thinking for a bit, Chuwong came to a conclusion.

“Bangchu.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“I’ll take responsibility for the pass that the True Dragon had, so shut your mouth about that.”

“Huh? You don’t want me to inform the Branch Leader?”

“Just shut your mouth and do as I say. I’ll inform him about it myself.”

“Boss… You got beat up last time because you were late on informing him about the new star and the True Dragon.”

“…Do you want to get beaten up instead?”

“I’ll shut my mouth.”

‘Branch Leader my ass.’

‘For a case of this magnitude, I’ll have to go to the Leader himself rather than the Branch Leader.’

‘Since it’d be faster to just ask that man instead.’

‘Though finding him is the problem.’

That old man was probably out drinking out in the streets, so he was the hardest person to find in this world.

-Student.

-Yes.

-Hic, life is a line.

-What? A line?

-Yes, a line. As long as you get on a good line… hic, you would have an easy life.

He was a bastard of a man who only lazily drank while making his young student do the begging work for him.

He was the Alliance Leader of the past generation, and though it must be false, he used to be called the Ear of the Sword Venerable, one of the almighty Three Heavenly Venerables.

“Boss, then what should we do about the request?”

“What do you mean what should we do, we’ll do it since we told him we would.”

“…For free?”

Hearing Bangchu, Chuwong picked up the wooden pass on the table and threw it towards him.

“That’s the payment, roughly.”

“…R-Roughly?”

“If that won’t do, just leave my name and I’ll take care of the payment.”

“Boss, if we had a nickel for everything that you put under your name, then we would have- Aghhh!”

“You piece of-, just do as I say! Why do you keep talking back!”

Bangchu shouted back, rubbing the lump on his head.

“You are going to end up dead if we keep doing what you tell us to do!”

Bangchu knew that his boss never did his work in the proper way.

‘He gives away all the money away to other hobos and leaves nothing for himself, but what? He’s trying to become the Branch Leader?’

Bangchu thought that such a thing was absurd, thinking that getting a promotion was impossible when he gave away everything.

“I’ll take care of it on my own. I’m warning you for the last time.”

“You always say that.”

“Jeez! I swear this is the last time.”

Chuwong kicked Bangchu outside while puffing in anger.

Chuwong understood that Bangchu was worrying for him, but he thought that he was in no position to worry about him.

‘Instead of worrying about me, worry about surviving today if you are a hobo too.’

Chuwong didn’t like their pointless concern. He knew that his sight would blur if he made any deep connections with anyone.

Hobos shouldn’t believe in each other.

Only then, will you survive another day.

Chuwong let out a sigh as he sat down, as he thought about Gu Yangcheon’s parting words.

-I’ll see you next time.

He was the one who had reached his hand out the first time, but this time, Gu Yangcheon did it first.

‘Doesn’t he get the feeling that it’s dirty?’

The fact that the boy grabbed his hand filled with dirty stains without frowning even the slightest made Chuwong feel something he had never felt.

‘Even though it was just shaking hands.’

‘I have met countless people from noble clans that put up a fake appearance like that.’

‘Fuck.’

Chuwong kept wondering what meanings the boy’s eyes held as he had stared at him.

He wondered what that boy’s fierce gaze saw in him.

‘What does The True Dragon even want from me?’

“I seem to know nothing despite my old age, this is why hobos can’t succeed.”

Chuwong stood up after finishing his thoughts.

He didn’t find an answer.

If he was good at doing that, then he wouldn’t have ended up in his current state in the first place.

“Ugh, this piece of shit world.”

Getting up immediately, Chuwong kicked the door open and went outside.

He had to inform the upper-ups about everything that happened in this tournament.

‘But I’ll let them find that info on their own…’

‘Although the Branch Leader will yell at me again for it.’

‘But just fire me if you can’t deal with me. It’s already been years since I’ve rolled around in this place. Whether it was my teacher or whatever, I have to find a life of my own.’

‘Because at this rate, I seriously won’t achieve anything.’

“Hey.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Deliver these words to the Branch Leader.”

“What should I deliver?”

“That I’ll be going to the west for a bit.”

“Pardon?”

Saying those words briefly, Chuwong jumped up into the sky.

The direction he jumped to was to the west of Hanam.

His destination was the Xi’an Bi clan, where Bi Eejin was.

******************

“I wonder if he’ll get the job done properly.”

I spoke, both of my hands filled with food.

Gu Jeolyub, who was next to me, asked what I was talking about as he took the food.

“What job?”

I was obviously talking about the request I made to Chuwong.

‘Though I don’t really have high hopes.’

The story would’ve been different if I had made an official request to the Beggar’s Sect, but since I made this request personally just to Chuwong, it didn’t really matter if he didn’t succeed.

Because the request wasn’t the important thing.

‘Well it seems okay since he didn’t take the pass.’

It honestly didn’t matter too much even if he had taken the pass.

Yes, it would feel like a waste, but I didn’t want to seem like a weird person by being stubborn with the pass.

As I was walking calmly, Gu Jeolyub asked me about something else as he didn’t find the silence comfortable.

“…Um, Young Master.”

“What.”

“Is it okay for you to talk to the Beggar’s Sect?”

Hearing him, I stopped walking and stared at the bastard.

Gu Jeolyub flinched when our eyes met.

“What do you mean?”

“I know that they are from the Orthodox Faction, but I just thought that maybe you should have asked the clan first…”

“Well, I don’t need to.”

“Huh?”

“Since you will.”

Gu Jeolyub’s eyes widened as I responded in a calm tone.

And that reaction of his was actually quite strange to me.

“Will you not?”

“Uh… it’s-“

“I don’t want to make any more trouble for myself for something quite obvious, so I don’t care if you tell the clan everything about it.”

From his reaction it seemed he didn’t expect me to just bluntly say everything.

Well, whether it be Muyeon or Gu Jeolyub, the ones following me were pretty much the ears and eyes of the Gu Clan.

The only one I could believe was probably Wi Seol-Ah.

Well to clarify, Gu Jeolyub wasn’t necessarily a person of the clan, but more of a person of the First Elder.

“I don’t care if you tell your grandfather everything.”

“…”

“Because not much would change even if he knew about it.”

After staring at Gu Jeolyub who had shut his mouth, I started to walk once again.

I did have some desire to keep him next to me and train him a little since he seemed to have talent and a good nature, but Gu Jeolyub, at the end of the day, worked for the First Elder.

As such, I didn’t really have high hopes.

Well, if there was a silver lining, then it would be something like that fox-like old man hadn’t yet crossed the line?

The First Elder was like a moth that couldn’t resist flying into the flames.

I could be so relaxed because I knew that he would eventually burn in flames by himself.

All I wanted was for him to not cross that line so that I wouldn’t have to burn him with my own hands.

Of course, that wouldn’t probably happen.

‘…Just this much is enough for the Beggar’s Sect, at least for now.’

The Beggar’s Sect, or more accurately Chuwong, I was thinking of setting a boundary between us.

Since he wasn’t someone with whom I had a deep connection with in my past life, I didn’t need to make a deep connection with him in this life, as well.

It would be nice if we forged such a deep connection, but it also wouldn’t matter if we didn’t.

Honestly at this point, I think I have made a lasting impression on him and although I wasn’t sure if that impression was positive or negative, I was able to notice that he had some interest in me.

After buying some more skewers and throwing them to Gu Jeolyub, I spoke to Muyeon.

“Muyeon.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“I have some business to take care of.”

Muyeon nodded after hearing my words.

He was still the same as ever in how he didn’t even bother to ask what business it was.

Seeing that, I spoke to Muyeon and Gu Jeolyub with a smile.

“Go deliver these words to them.”

“Pardon?”

As soon as I finished talking, I put some heat around my body and kicked the ground to launch myself.

It was a speed fast enough for the two, especially for Muyeon, to not be able to catch up to me.

Muyeon tried to desperately catch up to me by charging his Qi, but froze with a dumbfounded expression upon witnessing my speed.

This was another reason I had deliberately left the girls when I went to Chuwong.

I would probably get scolded a lot when I go back.

‘…Ugh.’

But I didn’t have any other choice.

I really didn’t want to go with Muyeon, and he wasn’t the type of person to let me leave by myself if I had asked him to.

‘It’d also be better for him to just stay back since he’s weaker than me.’

The words I could so easily say to Gu Jeolyub, felt a bit hard to say to Muyeon.

I knew how hard he worked, swinging his sword almost to the death every day.

‘I feel bad, but I’m sure he’ll go easy on me since I’ll be back right away.’

This wasn’t going to take that long.

The time right now was around a little past noon.

So I could likely return before the sunset.

Or at least that’s what I had thought back then.

“…Why are you here?”

If it wasn’t for the woman that spoke to me from underneath the staircase leading to the Shaolin Temple that is.

An extraordinarily beautiful woman with a chilly aura around her.

The Snow Phoenix Moyong Hi-ah, spoke with a seductive smile on her face.

“What a coincidence, for us to meet here of all places.”

“…”

No way in hell was this a coincidence.

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