Childhood Friend of the Zenith

༺ Looking for the hint (1) ༻

Namgung Cheonjun was grabbing his crotch area while shaking.

He couldn’t even scream as a mix of blood and drool streamed down his nose and parted lips.

The man with what had once been a great reputation had been thoroughly humiliated.

The Namgung Clan.

The center of the four noble clans and the clan that had served as the biggest pillar of the Orthodox faction.

Namgung Cheonjun was supposed to become the future owner of such a great clan.

But that man was now crawling on the floor while holding onto his crotch and crying tears of blood.

“Stop overreacting; it didn’t pop.”

I had controlled my power so he would feel the pain of his balls breaking, when they actually hadn’t.

Or… just enough for the injury to be treated.

I had done this countless times in my previous life.

Though I still wasn’t completely used to my current body, it wasn’t hard to do it again. Although,

‘…If I went just a bit harder, I would have been in big trouble.’

I had actually almost popped them.

Well, in the end, nothing big happened.

“You… You… You piece of shit…”

“Woah, you can still talk even after going through all of this.”

I was expecting him to roll on the floor for a few more minutes, but he surpassed my expectations.

I went closer to him and snapped one of his arms.

– Crack!

“Arghhh!!”

He was trying to use his Qi again, so I snapped his arm just before he could.

Even after all that had happened, I could still see in his eyes that he wanted to kill me.

I spoke to him while smiling.

“Why cross the line so many times? I was going to let you go if you didn’t use your Qi.”

Namgung Cheonjun was serious.

The Qi he put into the wooden sword, and the aura he’d unconsciously let out during the duel.

He was seriously trying to kill me.

A mistake caused by his emotions? That would’ve been correct at the time.

But, even now, I could still see the same desire in his gaze, and killing intent continued to ooze from his person.

I was quite sure of my thoughts, so I asked him a question.

“You, how many people have you killed?”

Namgung Cheonjun shook visibly at my question.

“At least tens of people, right?”

“What… What nonsense!?”

Namgung Cheonjun’s voice was shaking.

At this point, whether or not he admitted to it or not didn’t matter; I’d already gotten my answer.

Did he only kill the evil that threatened the weak? No, I didn’t think so.

It was very thick.

His ominous aura was extremely thick, particularly for one still at his age. I didn’t know about others, but it was only a matter of time until I found out.

Now, why does a blood descendant of a royal clan, Namgung Cheonjun, have such a strong ominous aura?

Then again, it didn’t come as a huge shock after I thought about the Lord of the Namgung clan in my previous life.

– Creak…

“Ughhh…”

I put more strength into the arm I had snapped, causing him to groan.

‘Now, what do I do with him?’

I could completely break his arm here, or even pull out the entire shoulder.

I shouldn’t make it so that the injury is unrecoverable, since that would be a big deal.

But then again, I had no intention of letting him go.

I would be a retard if I let him go when he just tried to kill me.

“Young Master Gu…!”

While I was considering my options, Tang Jooyeok rushed in.

“How about you stop here, the duel is already-“

Amusing.

It was so amusing that I couldn’t hold in my laughter.

Tang Jooyeok stopped at the sound of my laughter.

After a few seconds filled with nothing but the sounds of Namgung Cheonjun’s pained groans and my amused laughter, I stopped and asked him a question.

“Did you not feel his murderous Qi? I think you did.”

I didn’t know about the others, but someone at Tang Jooyeok’s level had most likely felt it.

That Namgung Cheonjun was seriously trying to kill me.

Because of that, Tang Jooyeok couldn’t respond to my question.

“He put Qi into his sword, intending to kill me during a small spar, but you want me to let him go?”

That wouldn’t be right as a martial artist.

Ignoring the fangs that had been directed at me was an absurd thing to do as a martial artist.

I would need to at least pull out all of its teeth, if not outright kill the dumb animal.

“Perhaps, you thought that he made a mistake because of his young age? But he’s older than me.”

To be fair, I’m technically twice his age, but that doesn’t really matter right now, right?

I put more strength into my arms, and Namgung Cheonjun groaned, the pitch of his groaning slowly climbing as I put in more power.

Tang Jooyeok quickly responded.

“Cheonjun is from the Namgung clan. If something were to happen to him, then many bad things might happen to you.”

“Yes, he indeed is from Namgung. But, did you know?”

– Creeaaaack…

“Aghhhhhhh!!!”

“It is only because he is a Namgung that he is alive right now. It’s because of the Namgung name that I’m holding my anger in so much. But what if the situation was switched?”

The Gu clan was also on par with a noble clan, but compared to the Namgung clan, it still had a long way to go. But what if that was switched?

He would probably still be alive, but the result for me would have been a lot different.

What if I brought one of those spectators that were just watching nervously and put them in Namgung Cheonjun’s position right now?

The answer was simple to guess.

“I held my anger in countless times, but Young Master Tang wouldn’t know, and I’m not asking you to understand me.”

I finished my thoughts and came to a conclusion while talking to Tang Jooyeok.

I put Qi into my arms.

An amount similar to what Namgung Cheonjun had put into his sword.

– Crack.

“…!!!”

Namgung Cheonjun shook wildly.

Then shortly after, a sharp scream echoed throughout the training area.

His screaming was getting too loud, so I tapped his neck, causing him to faint instantly.

Then Tang Jooyeok rubbed his face.

He was the one who gave us permission to use the training area in the first place, so it was understandable why he felt so conflicted.

Of course, that was still not going to make me go easy on this fucker.

‘Did I mess up?’

I suddenly got reminded of the Second Elder telling me not to cause any trouble.

What would I say when they found out I made a mess of Namgung Clan’s son?

‘At least I didn’t kill him.’

I would probably say something like that.

The tea had already been spilled, and it would seem like the Namgung clan would do something about it, but,

I doubted that anything would happen when I remembered the current lord of the Namgung Clan.

‘There is still evidence that this Namgung fucker started all of this after all.’

And they wouldn’t dare to mess with a clan like the Gu clan.

I turned my back to Namgung Cheonjun, who had fainted, and stood up.

For some reason, Tang Soyeol was on her knees, watching me with a red face, and Namung Bi-ah still had her stoic face.

It was weird to see her like that, even though her brother had just been treated like that.

Her visage held no anger, nor anything resembling a grudge. If I could, I would say that she resembled a river—flowing on without a care in the world.

“Here…!!”

People from the Tang Clan had appeared.

It was probably to bring Namgung Cheonjun to a place where he could receive aid.

The people from the Namgung clan appeared after them.

Were they escorts? Every single one of them felt pretty strong. Then again, it was to be expected from the escorts of one of the four noble clans.

One of the escorts came to me.

“I am the Young Master’s escort, Macheol.”

The man lowered his head, showing me respect.

Just by looking at him, I could tell that he was a very strong martial artist.

“Now that the duel is over… We will bring Namgung Cheonjun to receive aid.”

“I presume that you were watching all along, since you aren’t saying anything.”

Macheol didn’t respond to my question.

So that was it.

He was the reason I felt a strange presence watching me.

“I don’t care what you do with him, so do as you please.”

He would struggle with his arm for a few days, but other than the arm, all his other injuries would heal in a day.

The place I kicked him though… I feel like I went a bit hard, but it shouldn’t be a big problem.

…Hopefully.

Namgung Cheonjun was taken away, and only his blood remained on the floor of the training area.

Tang Jooyeok seemed like he was still trapped in his conflicted thoughts.

Maybe he’s the one that’s in the most trouble right now.

‘Why would you invite all of us here in the first place if you weren’t ready to deal with any surprises?’

I just decided to not think too much about it.

In the end, it’s all that Namgung fucker’s fault. Why cross the line that many times?

“I don’t think I should stay here any longer, so I shall take my leave.”

Maybe I can use that as an excuse to run away from the Military Exhibition of Tang? That would mean I would get an additional day to look for the secret vault.

My clan would scold me for it, but my main goal here was the secret vault after all.

Father wouldn’t care that much, but the General or the Second Elder would very likely give me a scolding.

Then again, the Second Elder would probably agree with my actions, so I would hopefully only get scolded by the General.

As I turned to leave,

“Hm?”

Someone grabbed my clothing.

It was Namgung Bi-ah.

“What’s the matter?”

The people of the Namgung Clan left a while ago, so why is she still here?

Did she have something to say about Namgung Cheonjun?

Namgung Bi-ah finally opened her mouth after staring at me for a while.

“Your name…”

“…What?”

“Tell me your name.”

“I told you already.”

I told her that I’m Gu Jeolyub, did she forget already?

Namgung Bi-ah responded without any shaking in her eyes.

“That…was a lie.”

“…”

“You lied. Tell me your real name.”

…How does she know?

Namgung Bi-ah was looking at me with the utmost confidence that the name I told her was fake.

In my previous life, she would sometimes have sharp senses regarding unnecessary things.

“…Before that, I would like to ask you something.”

“Yeah.”

It was an important question. I asked her while looking into her eyes.

“Why do you always speak so informally to me?”

“…”

Namgung Bi-ah broke eye contact, unable to answer.

Is she really looking for a fight…?

Namgung Bi-ah looked at me again, and finally answered.

“If you aren’t going to tell me, I’m going to keep following you around… Young Master.”

I almost collapsed.

‘…Is she crazy?’

Did she already know that I hated her following me around? Let alone me lying to her?

‘This crazy bitch… was she like this even in her young age?’

“I’m the one who just made your brother into a bloody mess. You know that, right?”

“That was Cheonjun’s fault.”

“Even so, why try to be friendly to the person that just beat up your brother?”

No matter how much I tried to push her away, she was persistent in not letting me go.

I don’t think she would surrender after she’d come this far.

‘…What if she follows me around forever?’

I got goosebumps from that thought.

I wouldn’t put it past her, considering all the mess she caused in my previous life.

“What’s so great about me for you to be so curious about my name?”

Namgung Bi-ah didn’t give me a response; instead, she continued to stare at me.

I frowned and rubbed my face at the difficult sight before me.

How did it come to this?

“…If I don’t tell you, will you continue to be annoying?”

“Yeah.”

“As well as your informal speaking?”

“Yeah-yes Young Master.”

Sigh… I sighed at Namgung Bi-ah’s responses.

I feel like I’m sighing more often than before these days. I hesitated for a bit, then spoke.

“…Cheon.”

“Hm…?”

“Gu Yangcheon.”

I spat out my name.

After I told her my name,

“There, are you happy? I’ll be leaving now. Please don’t follow me around.”

I turned my back, and left while walking at a fast pace.

Namgung Bi-ah repeated my name.

“Gu Yangcheon.”

Tang Soyeol, who had been watching from afar, was shocked as she saw Namgung Bi-ah’s face.

Namgung Bi-ah quietly whispered,

Gu Jeolyub is fake.

“This one… real.”

She smiled while saying that.

A smile so beautiful that it brightened the area around her.

***

After the duel, I returned to my guest room.

Luckily for me, Wi Seol-Ah didn’t seem to get pissed about me being gone for a while.

I heard that she had spent the time just having fun with the servants, which made me want to fool around with her, eventually resulting in me bonking her head.

It was soon nighttime; I was now eating dumplings next to Wi Seol-Ah, who was eating yakgwa.

‘…I messed up.’

‘I shouldn’t have taken things that far,’ I thought to myself.

To be more precise, I shouldn’t have gone to the meal in the first place. I didn’t regret beating the shit out of that Namgung fucker.

I could’ve just pulled his right arm out completely, making him a lefty, but—graciously—I only broke his left arm.

I honestly felt proud of myself for my self-control.

‘It was close.’

Namgung Cheonjun was a talented swordsman.

Compared to his shitty attitude, his body form truly showed that he was from a royal clan.

The only problem there was that he was a swordsman from the Namgung clan.

I had watched The Namgung Clan’s sword art countless times.

Because I followed around the crazy bitch who wanted to get rid of the weakness that it possessed.

I was forced to get used to the clan’s sword art.

One of the reasons why I told Namgung Bi-ah my name after her begging me for a while was because of the guilt I felt.

…Though the biggest reason was my fear that she would actually follow me around forever.

But, I felt like I now had a good excuse.

That I didn’t think I could attend the Military Exhibition after the trouble I’d caused.

Even if the people of Tang tried to make me stay, what could they do about my choosing to leave in guilt?

The main issue there was what would happen when I returned to my clan. I guess I’d get scolded for a bit… The General could be pretty scary when he got angry.

Wi Seol-Ah handed me something while I was thinking.

It was a yakgwa.

“Young Master.”

“Hm?”

“You want a yakgwa?”

“…You are offering me food?”

What in the world!?

When I made a shocked expression, Wi Seol-Ah frowned in response.

I laughed at her reaction.

“…Ah, how funny. So, what made you want to give me this?”

“Young Master’s face looked really conflicted…”

Really?

Wi Seol-Ah offered me a yakgwa while shaking her hand.

I accepted without a thought of declining.

The face Wi Seol-Ah made when she thought, ‘Wait, he really accepted…?’ was cut—was funny.

I put the yakgwa in my mouth, inviting her to watch, and felt my mood rising at Wi Seol-Ah’s despair-filled reaction.

It felt like I was getting better just by watching how funny it was.

“Yeah, what’s the point of a dumbass like me thinking about anything?”

“Ya… yakgwa is gone in one bite…”

I turned my back to Wi Seol-Ah, who was in despair, told her to go to sleep, and went into my room.

Let’s not think too much about it.

‘Let’s first focus on the Golden Nature.’

Starting tomorrow, I was seriously going to be busy.