A Tale Of A Scribe Who Retires To The Countryside [EN]: Chapter 104

104. Warmth

Thud.

Two wooden boxes tumbled to the ground. Though he dropped the precious wooden boxes, Son Bin managed to evade the sudden attack.

If he had remained still, his neck would have been seized, and he would have been pinned to the ground in an instant by the hand of that disheveled young man, Seorin, who was now crouching low, glaring at Son Bin.

“Seorin!”

Hyeonheo Jin-in shouted. However, the sharp glint in the eyes of the monstrous youth, Seorin, did not change at all.

The old Taoist robe he wore was torn in many places, barely hanging on him, and his disheveled hair was enough to cover his eyes.

His face was so dirty that he was unrecognizable, and his hands and bare feet were filthy. Moreover, his posture, crouched as if he would leap at Son Bin at any moment, made him look like a wild beast.

“Is this person Seorin?”

Son Bin asked, as if sighing.

Son Bin clearly remembered Seorin, who had appeared with Hwanghak Jin-in.

His first impression was that he was delicate and fragile, but his attitude while watching the martial arts demonstration was dignified and even mature.

However, he could not find any trace of that in the monstrous youth before him.

The clear eyes that had shown intelligence now only held sharp vigilance and anxiety.

“Hoo.”

Glaring at Son Bin with sharp eyes, Seorin breathed roughly. It wouldn’t be strange if a beast’s cry came out at this rate.

What the leader of the Wudang Sect, Cheongsu Jin-in, had said about him being like a beast was by no means an exaggeration.

‘That is?’

Son Bin suddenly noticed that Seorin was holding something precious.

It was clearly a Buddhist whisk, though it was obscured by the old Taoist robe. The Buddhist whisk that Hwanghak Jin-in had brought with the sword Baekro, which looked like a duster.

Swish.

Son Bin subtly shifted his gaze to the wooden boxes that had fallen to the ground. Seorin’s shoulders flinched, and he immediately bared his teeth, openly wary of Son Bin.

‘It was intentional after all.’

A moment ago, Son Bin had clearly avoided Seorin’s attack. However, at the last moment, Seorin twisted his body and kicked the corner of the wooden box with his toes.

It was very shallow, but as a result, the wooden box tumbled to the ground. The hilt of a sword could be seen between the broken wooden boxes.

“Hmm.”

Son Bin thought. Seorin’s movements were extremely sharp and clean. Moreover, he never gave up until the last moment.

‘If so…….’

Son Bin slowly took a breath. He relaxed his whole body and stood in a natural posture, looking at Seorin.

He could feel the vigilance, anxiety, and hostility being projected directly at him.

Swish.

Son Bin held out a hand. In a soft voice, Son Bin said,

“Let’s go together.”

Seorin snorted as if scoffing. The wariness towards Son Bin was still present in his gleaming eyes.

Flap.

Seorin moved to the side abruptly, as if threatening.

But Son Bin didn’t budge. He simply stood there in the same posture, with a smile on his face.

Seorin felt a creeping sense of displeasure. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt a very unpleasant feeling from the person in front of him.

Gritting his teeth.

Seorin gritted his teeth. At the same time, his strong legs kicked off the ground.

Whoosh!

Seorin’s fingers, bent like hooks, rushed towards Son Bin’s neck at a sharp angle.

Son Bin slightly tilted his head to the side and lightly raised the hand he had been holding out.

Whoom.

Seorin’s fingers narrowly brushed past Son Bin’s ear. But Seorin had already anticipated that much.

Whir.

Seorin’s body spun in the air, and another hand soared from below, aiming at Son Bin.

But by then, Son Bin’s hand, which had been raised, was also falling from above.

Right towards the Buddhist whisk in Seorin’s arms.

“Cough.”

Seorin desperately twisted his body. But the hand was already clutching the Buddhist whisk.

Tear.

At the same time as Seorin’s old Taoist robe tore, Seorin’s outstretched hand brushed Son Bin’s cheek. A streak of red was etched, but Son Bin didn’t even blink.

Grab.

Seorin, who had lost the Buddhist whisk, leaped towards Son Bin again as soon as his feet touched the ground.

“Kaa.”

He forgot that the opponent was someone he could never take lightly, and he forgot the thought that he should avoid or prepare for the opponent’s attack.

Only one thought, that he had to retrieve the Buddhist whisk, dominated his everything.

Whoosh.

But at that moment, Seorin was startled. It was because the Buddhist whisk was flying towards him.

The moment Seorin leaped, Son Bin had already thrown it lightly towards Seorin as if handing it over.

Thud.

Seorin instinctively embraced the Buddhist whisk flying towards him.

In that way, Seorin, completely defenseless, brushed past Son Bin, but Son Bin simply stepped aside and did nothing.

Tap.

Seorin immediately distanced himself from Son Bin. He was holding the Buddhist whisk in both hands, looking at Son Bin with a bewildered expression.

He had clearly taken away his precious thing. But he returned it immediately. He was confused as to how to interpret this act.

Swish.

Son Bin reached out to Seorin. And he said in a soft voice.

“Let’s go together.”

Seorin’s eyes trembled uneasily.

After his teacher, who was his whole world, disappeared, Seorin faced only cold gazes.

There were gazes that pitied him, and gazes that looked at him with contempt. But there was never the same warmth as his teacher’s.

Like a chick that had lost its mother, he trembled with anxiety and fear. Protecting the Taoist temple where his teacher’s traces remained and holding the Buddhist whisk in his arms was the only thing he could do.

In that way, he gradually became a thorny beast. And those sharp thorns were pouring out towards Son Bin at this moment.

“Kaa!”

Seorin bared his teeth at Son Bin without realizing it.

He didn’t even know why. He just felt anger and hostility towards the existence in front of him boiling in his heart.

Anxiety and fear about an irresistible being trying to enter his life. Seorin expressed that impulse in its simplest form.

It was a blind and destructive aggression.

Kwaang!

At the same time as Seorin kicked off the ground, a pile of dirt flew backward.

Hoo.

Seorin charged towards Son Bin with a terrifying momentum. It was a speed that couldn’t be compared to before.

The Buddhist whisk, which he had cherished so much, slipped from his arms, but Seorin didn’t care.

Only hostility towards Son Bin seemed to be his only reason for existence at this moment.

Woo-oong.

A chilling blue aura rose in Seorin’s hand.

“Hoo.”

Looking at Seorin charging in front of him, Son Bin calmly took a breath instead.

Son Bin knew that this moment would determine everything.

The cry of Baekro had been piercing his head since earlier, but he must not grab the sword. It was not because he had come to subdue Seorin.

He must not return Baekro either. If he returned Baekro now, Seorin would embrace the Buddhist whisk and Baekro and return to that crumbling Taoist temple.

That was not what Son Bin wanted.

Swish.

Son Bin quietly raised his hand, raising his index and middle fingers. As if he were holding a sword at his fingertips.

It was awkward to replace the sword with his hand, but it didn’t feel so strange when he thought he was holding a sword.

Didn’t Saja Hyuk also say that it doesn’t really matter what you’re holding in your hand?

‘What’s important is…….’

Hoo-oook.

Son Bin raised his eyes. Seorin’s hand, covered in a deathly blue aura, was charging in.

A storm-like current was raging all around, but Son Bin did not miss the one current he had to see.

‘The path, the Tao.’

Shwii.

Son Bin reached out his hand. The next moment, like fate, Son Bin and Seorin’s fingertips met.

Kwagwagwag!

A tremendous force erupted from Seorin’s hand. However, the energy of the Hyeoncheon Grand River Art [a martial art technique] at the fingertips of Son Bin did not allow the invasion.

Seorin’s energy, having lost its way, tore Son Bin’s sleeves in an instant like an enraged beast, and etched sharp scars on Son Bin’s arm.

Flap flap.

The raging energy of Seorin turned Son Bin’s arm into rags in an instant.

But Son Bin did not back down. If he backed down here, everything would be over.

‘Keuk.’

Flesh tore and blood splattered. The teeth of the beast, howling in anger, left its merciless scars not only on his arm but also on his shoulder, chest, and face.

Pick, peek.

Red lines were etched here and there on his cheeks. That frenzied, storm-like current, which seemed like it would never end, gradually lost its power and slowly subsided after a while. And Son Bin was still standing there.

“Huk, hee-uk.”

It was Seorin who couldn’t bear the rising breath. He thought he had poured out everything he had, no, even more than that.

But far from knocking Son Bin down, he couldn’t even make him move a single step. Now, it seemed that nothing in this world could do anything to this person, the one standing in front of him.

With convulsions running through his body like a chill, Seorin raised his head and looked at Son Bin.

The sight of Son Bin in front of him was miserable. But the look in his eyes had not changed at all.

“Seorin.”

That one word pierced Seorin.

Son Bin said.

“Let’s go together.”

At that moment, Seorin saw. An overwhelming presence that seemed impossible to do anything about. But the only person who gave him a gaze that was neither pity, contempt, nor hostility.

It was the gaze of his teacher, Hwanghak Jin-in.

“T-Teacher.”

A voice leaked from Seorin’s mouth as he dropped his arm. Although it was so awkward that it was difficult to understand properly, it was definitely a language.

“I’m sorry. I’m not your teacher.”

Son Bin shook his head. And he bent down and picked up a sword from among the broken wooden boxes. Son Bin’s red blood was spreading on the cloth covering Baekro.

Sarak.

The blood-stained cloth was removed and the sword Baekro revealed its appearance.

“It’s your sword.”

Seorin’s eyes shook violently. What was in front of him was clearly his teacher’s sword. The sword he had cherished more than his life, but had disappeared like his teacher.

Seorin raised his head. Son Bin’s face was stained with blood, but the look in his eyes was more than warm.

Swish.

Seorin’s trembling fingertips reached for the sword Baekro. But before his hand could touch the sword, Seorin’s vision was blurring.

“Teacher…….”

Seorin, who muttered in an awkward voice, hugged the sword Baekro.

Tuk, tuduk.

Seorin’s hot tears, the first he had ever shed since he was born, dripped onto the sword Baekro.

And Seorin realized. That his teacher’s warm warmth had returned with his teacher’s sword at this moment.

*

*

*

Whir.

An old man landed on a shabby vacant lot with a nimble appearance like a swallow. And following behind him, a slender young lady wearing a veil slowly revealed her appearance from the darkness.

“This…… what is it?”

The small old man, Namak No-gun, frowned at the sight that unfolded before his eyes. However, the young lady wearing a veil, Dang Wol-ah, instantly emitted a bluish aura.

“Wait.”

No-gun immediately stopped her. But Dang Wol-ah’s energy did not subside.

“Even though Young Master Son is in that state?”

Son Bin’s clothes were all torn. He was wearing an old coat that was not his, but what was seeping out from between them was clearly blood stains. No, just looking at Son Bin’s face with clear bloodstains, you could tell his condition.

“Tsk. But this is…….”

No-gun clicked his tongue. He could tell at a glance that Son Bin’s condition was not good.

But Son Bin’s expression looked so peaceful.

Sitting under an old tree with one hand on the head of a strange young man, asleep, it was like a scene where he was comforting his younger brother and fell asleep together.

The expression of the young man, who seemed to have just left his boyhood, who was asleep with his head leaning on Son Bin’s chest, was the same.

His hair was a mess and his clothes were ragged, and the tear stains on both cheeks were clear, but the expression on his face as he slept holding a sword precious was more than peaceful.

“It seems to be over already?”

No-gun muttered with a bitter smile. And he turned his head and looked back at the old Taoist with white hair, Hyeonheo Jin-in. He was standing there as if protecting the two sleeping people.

“What happened?”

No-gun asked. He seemed to be the only one who could answer.

“It was No-gun.”

Hyeonheo Jin-in politely bowed to Namak No-gun.

“He calmed the crying Seorin and fell asleep together. He bled, but the details are not serious, and I have done a simple treatment as much as I can, so you don’t have to worry.”

In the meantime, Dang Wol-ah approaches Son Bin and examines his condition. The bleeding has stopped and the breathing is regular. As Hyeonheo Jin-in said, Son Bin looked fine.

The condition of the young man leaning on his chest is also not bad. Dang Wol-ah glared at him once, though.

“Keueung.”

Suddenly, the sleeping Seorin frowned.

“No one in Wudang could control Seorin. No, they didn’t even try to understand.”

Hyeonheo Jin-in said, looking down at Son Bin and Seorin.

“But this young man willingly accepted Seorin’s heart, his anxiety and anger, with his whole body. Only he, who no one tried to look back at…….”

Hyeonheo Jin-in couldn’t finish his words. His eyes were already moist.

“Perhaps the teacher knew.”

He recited the Taoist name in a low voice.

“What Seorin, no, what Wudang really needs.”

Hyeonheo Jin-in bowed deeply to Son Bin, who was sleeping quietly.