What in the world is going on here?
Contestant No. 7 is the Sword Queen and Contestant No. 501 is the future Hall Master of the Martial Forest Alliance.
I was completely speechless, but regardless of my state, the Members of the Sacheon Outcasts in the Outcast Inn greeted the two with applause.
“Alright! Then let’s drink!”
“Let’s drink!”
Everyone happily raised their cups. I too, instinctively raised my cup to match the vibe.
“Please have a drink, Brain Knife Outcast.”
“I’ll raise a cup as well.”
“…Thank you.”
It felt surreal to have the future Sword Queen and Hall Master pouring drinks.
Despite my shock, the atmosphere in the Outcast Inn grew more festive. It seemed the Outcasts also wanted to enjoy a festival in their own way. The newcomer welcome party was just an excuse, they were simply having a great time drinking together.
Seo I-ryeong was quickly getting intoxicated in Hyeok Gi-rin’s guilt-ridden hands, while Jo Yong-sang was moving around getting to know the Outcasts.
“No matter how fond you are of Miss Yeo Il-ye, it’s time to stop following her.”
“Yeah. At this rate, you’ll drink yourself to death.”
“Ha, but…!”
Hyeok Gi-rin looked at his group struggling to take the bottle from him and stood up. He wasn’t exactly drunk, but there was someone waiting for him outside.
“Phew.”
Could it be because of the chilly night air? My breath came out in a puff.
The identities of Contestant No. 7 and No. 501 were shocking, but I had my own matters to take care of today, so I needed to focus on that too.
While I was lost in those thoughts, admiring the moon, Jo Yong-sang approached me.
“Were you out here catching the wind?”
“Hmm. I was just admiring the moon for a bit.”
“Ha ha. Is that so? The moon is quite bright.”
I wondered if he had something to say to me. I glanced at Jo Yong-sang for a moment.
In fact, the reason I was shocked to learn that Contestant No. 501 was Jo Yong-sang was different.
To my knowledge, Jo Yong-sang was from An-hwi.
But Jo Yong-sang was a native of Sacheon?
No matter how vast the world is, there shouldn’t be two people with that level of talent carrying the name Jo Yong-sang.
If that’s the case, it meant that Jo Yong-sang had always lied about his origin in the game, but why would he make such a choice?
As I watched Jo Yong-sang, my head became messy.
It wasn’t just my thoughts getting more complicated; Jo Yong-sang was looking at me with an expression that seemed to hold some kind of story, as if he had some purpose in coming out to find me.
“…Do you have something to discuss with me?”
Jo Yong-sang stared at me for a moment before showing me a polite fist gesture.
“…Huh?”
“My father enjoyed gambling.”
An unexpected story started to flow out.
“Not just enjoyed, he was an addict. He took all the money in the house and lost it at the gambling table. And that was just the beginning. He leveraged everything we owned to raise money, only to squander all of it at the gambling table.”
…Is this really happening?
“In the end, my father even turned to loan sharks. I only realized that when the rough thugs came knocking on our door. My mother wept bitterly, while my father went off to the gambling den again with the last bit of money he had left, saying he would come back with more.”
“My mother cried for a long time and then told me to pack my things. We needed to flee at night when my father returned to survive. I packed my things while trembled in fear, thinking of my mother with a fierce look and my father, who would probably be red-eyed from gambling.”
“But then, a miracle happened. My father returned, his spirit half gone, but carrying a large bundle. He dropped it and kneeled before my mother and me, asking for forgiveness and saying he would quit gambling. He met a Sacheon Outcast today and realized how dangerous gambling was.”
Jo Yong-sang was looking directly at me.
“I was curious about the Sacheon Outcast that awakened my father, but being just an ordinary person, I had no way to find out who that Outcast was. Days passed, and one day I heard a rumor. It was about an Outcast who showed his gambling skills to the whole world in the Video Tower.”
“…Hmm.”
I gazed at Jo Yong-sang, feeling a mix of emotions I couldn’t describe. Jo Yong-sang’s father was a candidate for a healthy gambling campaign.
I couldn’t even guess who Jo Yong-sang’s father was.
But it was definitely a possibility.
Back then, it was a time when he lost all the money he won. It could’ve easily been enough to cover just the loan amount.
“If my father hadn’t returned with the money that day, if he hadn’t met a Sacheon Outcast and stopped gambling, what kind of life would I be living now? I probably would’ve lived in a different region and never said I was from Sacheon.”
Was that the reason Jo Yong-sang said he was from An-hwi?
Jo Yong-sang hung his head.
“I always wanted to express my gratitude. Thank you for saving my family.”
“…It wasn’t exactly my intention to save your family.”
Jo Yong-sang smiled warmly.
“Still, you are the honorable person to my family.”
I had no words, so I just stared at the moon.
“Did you perhaps decide to become a Sacheon Outcast to meet me?”
“That was part of my purpose. Hmm… honestly, I’m not sure.”
Jo Yong-sang chuckled awkwardly.
“I just wanted to be a Sacheon Outcast, and it was a good opportunity.”
“…I see.”
The healthy gambling campaign changed Jo Yong-sang’s life. And he became a Sacheon Outcast by ranking second in the tournament I organized for the selection of the Sacheon Outcasts.
I couldn’t help but smile in disbelief.
“Work hard.”
“Yes! Of course. I’ll be counting on your guidance as well, senior!”
“Ha ha. Understood.”
I heard Jeong Sam’s voice from a distance.
“Hey! Yong-sang! The star of the banquet shouldn’t leave their seat for too long! Leave the awkward clowns to their own devices and come back!”
With a serious expression, I sent a light punch to Jeong Sam, causing him to jump up and down while pointing at me.
“There will be many looking for you, so you should head back first.”
“Then I’ll go back first, senior.”
Jo Yong-sang was pulled back to the dining hall by Jeong Sam. I watched his back and thought.
The Sword Queen and the Hall Master of the Martial Forest Alliance.
Is it okay for Seo I-ryeong and Jo Yong-sang, who are meant to shine in the whole Martial World, to just be guarding Sacheon?
Such worries crossed my mind, but thinking about Jo Yong-sang’s words, I felt it might be a good thing.
If I hadn’t demonstrated my gambling skills at the Video Tower.
Or if I hadn’t held the tournament for the selection of the Sacheon Outcasts.
Would Jo Yong-sang have walked the path of a Martial Artist?
It’s not easy to shake off the burden of loan sharks. Considering Jo Yong-sang as a participant in the additional qualifiers, it was highly likely he had been working hard to earn money to shake that off until recently. If he hadn’t heard the news from the Video Tower or if the tournament for the selection of the Sacheon Outcasts didn’t happen, Jo Yong-sang might have just lived his life as one of the many people from Sacheon without becoming a Martial Artist.
“Ugh, I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
I realized anew.
I’m not someone who can scheme for the long term; I can’t even see what tomorrow holds.
Despite everything being revealed, I can’t even tell if this event is good or bad for me, or if it’s good or bad for Jo Yong-sang.
“Ha ha.”
Staring at the moon drew a wry smile from me.
At this moment, I felt the shortcomings of myself.
Being here right now was the reason.
While I self-deprecate, knowing I can’t see a step ahead, I think about how to express my position in this situation where I’m keeping this place to carry out my original plan.
I couldn’t put it into words.
Maybe life is just this kind of tangled mess, logically mismatched, neither this nor that.
Whether it was because of the drink, the cold night air, or simply the awkwardness of realizing that a healthy gambling campaign really saved someone, I found myself lost in such serious thoughts.
Finally, the person I had been waiting for came out.
He was a big guy, but surprisingly weak when it came to alcohol.
When he got drunk, he would stay outside until he sobered up.
It was Jaso-gyeong.
“Finally came out, huh?”
“Hmm?”
“What do you think about the situation in Sacheon lately?”
What kind of mischief is this guy up to now?
After hearing Ho Cheon-an’s question, Jaso-gyeong thought for a moment.
“I don’t have any thoughts.”
“I see. Then how do you feel about the Sacheon Outcast who has reached the Peak Stage?”
“Well… even if they’re at the Peak Stage, they’re still just an Outcast. If they get a commission, they just need to sell their strength.”
“Then I’ll ask one more thing.”
Ho Cheon-an turned to Jaso-gyeong and said.
“Do you want to reach the Peak Stage?”
“Of course I do.”
Jaso-gyeong’s answer was exactly what Ho Cheon-an wanted to hear.
“But I’ll refuse your help.”
And it was also something unexpected.
Jaso-gyeong recalled the matches between Ho Gyeong and Ho Cheon-an. He had observed them closely and thought.
In less than a year, they had achieved a lot.
It was astonishing that just by reaching the Peak Stage, he not only raised his level but also embodied the qualities of a Martial Artist.
Looking at Ho Cheon-an tirelessly sweeping away the Outcast Faction Forces of Sacheon, he realized that the reason Ho Cheon-an returned to this Sacheon was to clean up Sacheon as it is now.
Watching that scene, Jaso-gyeong felt ashamed.
It felt as though he was becoming an obstacle in Ho Cheon-an’s path.
Wasn’t Ho Cheon-an someone who should keep working diligently on his training?
But in the end, he had been caught up in the chaos of Sacheon.
“Surely, I couldn’t have been the only one who felt that way.”
So it was understandable that Yu Sa-yeon, who didn’t want to get involved, made things even bigger because of Ho Cheon-an’s involvement.
Even though the Members of the Sacheon Outcasts were being called to various matters, they actively moved around.
It was to create an environment where Ho Cheon-an could dedicate himself to training without worrying about things going on in Sacheon.
“I’ll carve the Peak Stage by my own effort.”
Jaso-gyeong recalled when Ho Cheon-an first came to the Outcast Inn. A sixteen-year-old boy with a head still stained with blood.
“You were suspicious from the start.”
The Outcast Inn was too perilous a place for a mere sixteen-year-old kid to hold on to, yet Ho Cheon-an settled there with ease.
From that moment on, Jaso-gyeong thought.
This kid appeared to be just a brat on the outside, but inside he was a strange one whose true contents were unreadable.
Years passed since then.
Ho Cheon-an transformed the fierce atmosphere of the Outcast Inn into a place where people could live. Because of that, most of the Outcasts liked Ho Cheon-an.
But to Jaso-gyeong, Ho Cheon-an was still a suspicious one.
He had just been accepted as one of the Outcasts, still maintaining his strange nature.
Ho Cheon-an kept repeating his suspicious actions.
As an Outcast living within the confined bounds of Sacheon and the Outcast Inn, he would naturally stand out.
Yet, Ho Cheon-an would sneak around, picking up useful Secret Texts and somehow procuring Spiritual Medicine.
He may have tried to conceal it, but since Ho Cheon-an’s level was only Iryu, the experts could see right through his actions.
Then at some point, he even stopped such behaviors and just focused on gambling.
But a mere Martial Artist, spending years on gambling and returning empty-handed every day, how does that make any sense?
After that, Ho Cheon-an continued to repeat suspicious actions.
Yeo Il-ye offered to serve him as an Honorable Person, giving him the Gratitude Plaque.
A Black Cat showing up, having clung to him like a rock.
A guy who always returned empty-handed from the gambling den suddenly playing tricks on Contestant No. 501, the Peak Expert, Tang Do-gyeong.
From Jaso-gyeong’s perspective, Ho Cheon-an was suspicious in every conceivable way.
Yet that suspicious guy left the Outcast Inn to stop Jeong Cheol, who was trying to use the Sacheon Outcasts.
And strangely enough, he returned as a Peak Martial Artist in less than a year.
Even if he knew someone became enlightened, it was still someone who could be regarded as suspicious.
A colleague who is a bundle of suspicions.
To Jaso-gyeong, that was who Ho Cheon-an was.
Jaso-gyeong raised his internal energy for this suspicious Ho Cheon-an.
Sssssss!!!
The energy gathered in Jaso-gyeong’s fist as something began to manifest.
The strands of active energy.
An unstable vapor-like manifestation of energy that lies between internal energy and Qi. Jaso-gyeong calmly looked at Ho Cheon-an’s shocked expression as he spoke.
“You think you’ll need a Peak Expert to continue looking after the Outcast Inn after you leave, right? I agree with that. But can I rely solely on your help?”
“…This is different from my expectations.”
Jaso-gyeong accepted Ho Cheon-an’s surprised gaze calmly and continued.
“It’s been a long road. Now, there’s only one step left. I’m sorry, but I want to take this last step by myself.”
Jaso-gyeong sent a gaze of apology toward Ho Cheon-an.
From Ho Cheon-an’s standpoint, it couldn’t simply be an agreeable situation.
Yet Jaso-gyeong was confident.
He was confident that he would soon be able to step into the Peak Stage.
Did Ho Cheon-an read the strong will in Jaso-gyeong?
He nodded at Jaso-gyeong.
“Alright. Jaso-gyeong, I’m sure you’ll reach the Peak Stage.”
“Thank you for your support.”
With sincerity, Jaso-gyeong offered a polite gesture to Ho Cheon-an.
He had been making great efforts to stabilize Sacheon thus far.
For Ho Cheon-an, having a Peak Expert to secure the Sacheon Outcasts must have been significant.
Even so, Ho Cheon-an believed in Jaso-gyeong’s potential and chose to step back.
So Jaso-gyeong also thought he should express his gratitude sincerely.
As Jaso-gyeong made his gesture, Ho Cheon-an simply scratched the back of his head.
Seeing that, Jaso-gyeong laughed lightly.
“Thanks to you, I fully sobered up, so I’ll head back now.”
Ho Cheon-an watched Jaso-gyeong’s back as he went back to the dining hall and thought.
Sacheon had stabilized to some extent, and the tournament for the selection of the Sacheon Outcasts had concluded, so now the individual matches would gradually regain their vibrancy.
And Contestant No. 501, the Peak Martial Artist, Da Jeryong, would surely challenge Jaso-gyeong to a match.
Ho Cheon-an, who had originally planned to elevate the two of them to the Peak Stage together, scratched the back of his neck.
“Hmmm… I hope this goes well.”
Imagining the clearly visible winner and loser, he shook his head.
“Well, it’s the path you’ve chosen. Jaso-gyeong, just grit your teeth and endure.”
Ho Cheon-an mumbled and set off toward the dining hall.
It was a night perfect for setting off on a journey.
