CLS-Chapter 519

Chapter 519:

“You brat.”

Wei Yan-ho waved both arms.

“Ah, please don’t look at me with those eyes.”

It was burdensome.

Wei Yan-ho had seen his master’s various gazes over time. Most were looks of disapproval toward him, but sometimes there were warm gazes, and sometimes mischievous looks as well.

But he had never seen such consoling eyes like now.

“What’s so special about it? How many people in this world suffer injustice, and how many can’t resolve their grudges even in death? It’s not like I’m going to die from something like this. So please don’t…”

Wei Yan-ho sighed.

“Don’t look at me with pitying eyes. It feels strange.”

“Pity, you say, you brat. What master pities his disciple?”

“Exactly!”

“It’s not pity!”

Baek Mu-han clicked his tongue.

“I’m just thinking that your life is too twisted, even for being twisted, you brat.”

“Compared to you, Master, there’s no one whose life isn’t twisted, is there?”

“Hm?”

“That’s right.”

Wei Yan-ho grumbled as he spoke.

“Born into the most prestigious family, spending a childhood lacking nothing, famous as a prodigy from childhood, then Late-Stage Greatest Under Heaven, Greatest Under Heaven, Greatest of All Time… You’ve lived a truly unstoppable life. Even if someone wrote it down, they couldn’t live more perfectly than this.”

“Tsk tsk, you brat.”

“Yes?”

“Why did you leave out the part about being overwhelmingly popular with women? That’s the most important part.”

“Ugh…”

Wei Yan-ho trembled, but didn’t dare have a fit.

Although Wei Yan-ho was now recognized for his strength by all the mighty ones under heaven, to Baek Mu-han he had only grown from a fly that could be swatted with one finger to a dung beetle that required two fingers to swat.

Baek Mu-han’s bamboo stick was always ready to fly toward Wei Yan-ho’s head. So he had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

“…It’s nothing special.”

“It seems like something special though.”

“It’s fine. I can solve it.”

“That doesn’t seem easy.”

Wei Yan-ho’s face flushed red.

“It’s not like I’m being unreasonable!”

“Where do you get off raising your voice!”

“…”

Wei Yan-ho, who had become like a mute who ate honey, stared at Baek Mu-han with vacant eyes.

Wait, didn’t you say you were trying to comfort me?

“Hey, you brat. Is this something you can solve?”

“Why can’t I solve it?”

“She says she doesn’t like you, so what are you going to do about it?”

“She’s acting like that because she’s lost her mind. A few beatings will bring her back to her senses.”

“You brat…”

Baek Mu-han’s voice carried regret.

“You know that’s not it, don’t you?”

“…”

Wei Yan-ho closed his mouth.

Baek Mu-han sighed and continued speaking.

“Your older brother, that Wei San-ho fellow, isn’t someone who would decide his path based on temporary impulse or whim. You already know that, don’t you?”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes wavered.

Right.

He knew.

Baek Mu-han’s words were what his heart was saying. Perhaps Wei Yan-ho already knew. That changing Wei San-ho’s mind was impossible.

Wei San-ho was that kind of man.

He wasn’t someone who would be troubled by delusions. He was someone who deliberated and deliberated again before deciding his path, and once he decided on a path, he never looked back. Hadn’t he seen this all along?

Just as Wei San-ho knew Wei Yan-ho well, Wei Yan-ho also knew Wei San-ho well.

Though he denied it, Wei Yan-ho already knew. That it was impossible to change Wei San-ho’s mind with words.

“That’s why I said I’d bring him back by force.”

“It’s a path a man has chosen. Are you saying you’ll use force to crush that path and make him turn back?”

“Then what do you want me to do!”

Wei Yan-ho shouted angrily.

But this time, even Baek Mu-han didn’t scold Wei Yan-ho.

“I can’t do this, and I can’t do that either!”

“You stupid brat.”

Baek Mu-han clicked his tongue.

“Then why don’t you just do nothing?”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s my brother!”

Wei Yan-ho’s tightly clenched fist trembled.

He knew.

Perhaps all of this might be useless. But how could he just watch and do nothing?

His brother had become a member of the Demonic Cult.

“You must know that the Demonic Cult isn’t absolute evil, right?”

“That doesn’t matter. That doesn’t mean I can condone it. If my brother becomes a member of the Demonic Cult, I’ll never see him again. How is that different from dying?”

“You brat.”

Baek Mu-han shook his head.

Even he, who always showed Wei Yan-ho the way, had nothing to say this time. Wei Yan-ho’s situation was too twisted.

“Do you think anything will change if you forcibly bring your brother back?”

“It’ll be better than doing nothing.”

“It might be worse than that.”

Baek Mu-han’s eyes sank.

“You felt it, didn’t you? The way he looked at you hasn’t changed.”

“…”

“If he had looked at you with hatred, at least it would mean something had changed. But that fellow…”

“Yes.”

Wei Yan-ho answered weakly.

“He was just my brother. The brother I always saw. Wei San-ho.”

That fact made Wei Yan-ho unbearable.

Even at this moment, he was conflicted.

Setting aside whether it was possible to pull Wei San-ho out of the Demonic Cult, was that really the right path?

It was a problem he couldn’t answer.

“Life is like that.”

“…”

“It’s always a repetition of choices. It always seems like there’s a path, but in reality, a path isn’t always prepared. Sometimes situations arise where you have to make that path yourself.”

“Did you make your own path, Master?”

“I could never walk on paths.”

“Why?”

“Because there was no one who went before me. I always had to pioneer the path.”

Baek Mu-han smiled broadly.

“Just like you are doing now.”

“Master.”

“Yes, my disciple.”

Wei Yan-ho revealed what was truly in his heart. Words he wanted to hide. But it was impossible to hide his true feelings from Baek Mu-han.

“Can we go back?”

Baek Mu-han silently looked at Wei Yan-ho. Those eyes were so deep and profound that it was impossible to know what Baek Mu-han was thinking.

“Can we go back? To the past, to those times when we could live without thinking about each other’s positions. Can we go back?”

It was a difficult question.

So difficult that even Baek Mu-han couldn’t answer immediately.

But he had to give an answer.

“Everything in the world changes.”

“…”

“The only thing that doesn’t change is the fact that everything changes. Everything changes. Nature, the world, and even the relationships between people. Even what feels unchanged is in fact changing. You asked if you could go back? You cannot. You change, and your brother changes, so how could things be like the past?”

Wei Yan-ho bit his lip hard.

It was a piercing statement.

“But that doesn’t mean you should give up. Change isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It might become better than the past.”

“Is that possible?”

“It won’t be easy.”

Baek Mu-han smiled.

“It’s difficult and hard work. Maybe it’s impossible. But you have no intention of stopping, do you?”

“Yes. I’ll never give up.”

“Heh heh, so this lazy brat can make such eyes too. Hey, you brat. If you had rushed at martial arts training with that kind of spirit, wouldn’t you have overcome this current situation much more easily?”

“…You want me to do more than that? I almost died as it is.”

“Such exaggeration, you brat.”

Baek Mu-han’s gaze was warm.

He was a lacking disciple. A fellow who was incredibly lazy. But his disciple had a quiet tenacity.

Those who hadn’t deeply experienced Wei Yan-ho wouldn’t know, but his disciple was quite good at not giving up. If he had been someone like that, he wouldn’t have endured that harsh cave training in the past.

No matter how much Baek Mu-han threatened and beat him while teaching, enduring that whipping was something an ordinary person couldn’t do.

“Yan-ho.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Look straight.”

“…Yes?”

“What kind of fellow is Wei San-ho you know?”

“Well…”

Wei Yan-ho tilted his head.

He didn’t understand what his master meant by saying this.

“What kind of fellow?”

“He’s not the kind of fellow who makes unreasonable demands, is he?”

“…That’s right.”

Baek Mu-han’s words were correct.

Wei Yan-ho might not trust himself, but he could trust Wei San-ho.

“He’s not someone without manners either. Even if he decided his path on his own and sided with the Demonic Cult, he wouldn’t have appeared in that manner. If so, it means there’s some urgent reason why he had to take their side.”

“Ah…”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes lit up.

It felt like something hazy was clearing up.

“Then?”

“That’s what you should do. Think about why he had no choice but to make that decision.”

Looking back?

‘Certainly something was a bit strange.’

His mind seemed clear, but there was something suspicious about his attitude.

‘That means there’s something I don’t know…’

If there was something he didn’t know, he just had to find it out.

The somewhat vague goal felt like it was becoming clear.

“Yes, Master! I know what I need to do.”

“Right. Just don’t go snooping around the Demonic Cult and get beaten to death.”

“…Do you have to be so discouraging?”

“Tsk tsk, so weak.”

“The Demonic Cult isn’t the Demonic Cult of the past! They’re really strong, those guys.”

“Shut up, you brat! The fellow who calls himself a disciple of Baek Mu-han getting beaten up by such guys! Looking at it this time, your brother has also become quite strong.”

“…Brother was originally strong.”

“Not to that extent.”

“I thought it was strange too. No matter how much he learned demonic arts, can a person become that dramatically stronger?”

“It doesn’t seem like something you should say, but I have doubts too. It’s impossible through normal methods. It seems like he learned some special demonic art, but for them to readily give out such demonic arts…”

It wasn’t strange.

Wei San-ho was the son of the Great Demon Emperor. He could be called the legitimate heir of the Demonic Cult. If they were aiming for the revival of the legitimate line through Wei San-ho, they would pour superior demonic arts on him without reserve.

“Are there demonic arts that can rapidly increase martial prowess like that?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“But you said you studied them.”

“That’s what Baek Mu-han did. As you know, I am Baek Mu-han, but I’m not Baek Mu-han.”

“It seems like it might be subtly helpful, or maybe not… The one thing certain is that you’re not helpful when it really matters, Master.”

“That would be the limit of your ability.”

“Grr.”

Wei Yan-ho shook his head vigorously.

This was enough.

It was sufficient that the confusion had settled. From now on, it was up to him to accomplish it.

“Master.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t worry. I’m your disciple, aren’t I? No matter how strong the Demonic Cult guys are, can they be stronger than the Sword Emperor?”

“…You brat.”

Baek Mu-han spoke with a pleased smile.

“But just because I’m stronger than the Demonic Cult doesn’t mean you’re stronger than the Demonic Cult, does it?”

“…”

He was someone who upset people until the very end.