Call Of The Spear [EN]: Chapter 495

Tales of Nangsanee – Part 2, Episode 204

It was only after a very long time that I realized the land I was on was just a tiny island, a speck of dust on a divided continent.

The center of the world.

Many who passed through this land, which resembled the center of the Geonwon Sea, gave it names. Some called it Gaegye, others Odo.

But as time passed, those who called it that disappeared, and new names were given and transformed again.

Thus, the name of the land where I resided was solidified by a child’s pun.

“Gaegyeogyeong? Why Gaegyeogyeong?”

“There are so many names, I just made it up. You, Divine Immortal, are also called by many names, aren’t you?”

“That’s true. Yes. It’s just a name.”

As the child said.

I am called San by my fellow disciples, but to these people, I am called Divine Immortal, or Nameless Immortal.

Whatever it may be, it does not change the fact that it refers to me.

All of them were my names, all the words and terms that referred to me.

I realized the importance of names and words.

There was progress in my training.

I was no longer lonely.

And more time passed.

Many were born in Gaegyeogyeong, and many returned to the soil.

As a result, exchanges began to take place between the severed lands.

Interesting people appeared.

They claimed to be Divine Immortals who ruled the lands and tried to subjugate and drive out the residents of Gaegyeogyeong.

It was then that I realized I was located near Bunggye.

“Divine Immortal! Please save us! Those thugs are trying to destroy our homes where we have lived our whole lives!”

The so-called Divine Immortals of Bunggye were people I had never seen before.

If they were Divine Immortals, they would all be disciples under my master.

But these were people I had never seen before, and their divine powers were crude and clumsy.

I subdued them in an instant.

“Who sent you?”

“M-Mangol! It’s Great Master Mangol!”

“Mangol… Mangol…”

If my guess is correct, among my master’s disciples, there was a rather peculiar one named Mangol.

He was a fellow who played with animal bones in a dark cave.

I didn’t visit him often because I rarely saw his face, but I remembered him clearly.

Moreover, there wasn’t a single one of my master’s disciples that I didn’t remember.

Because I was my master’s first disciple.

“Go. Tell your master, Mangol, that San is here.”

“You’ll regret this!”

After those guys disappeared, the residents of Gaegyeogyeong trembled in fear, saying they would come again.

But they rarely came.

After a long time.

After several years had passed, someone came to Gaegyeogyeong.

It was Mangol.

“You’re alive.”

“You’ve changed a lot. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

The guy called Great Master Mangol was now made entirely of bones. [Likely a reference to a skeletal or undead form.]

The sight of a skeleton talking and walking was quite bizarre, and the people of Gaegyeogyeong trembled as they looked at him.

“I didn’t know you were here, San. Everyone thought you were dead, but I didn’t know you were still alive.”

“Why did you think I was dead?”

“That’s…”

Mangol paused for a moment, looked at me, and then answered.

“Many of our fellow disciples died. Back then, when our master ascended to immortality, the land was divided and moved far away, and the Geonwon Sea soared. Many of them died from the aftermath. Didn’t you know?”

“…I didn’t know.”

“San, you’re a frog in a well [an idiom for someone with limited experience of the wider world]. Pure and innocent, knowing nothing… In a way, I don’t know if someone like you can truly be called a god.”

Mangol uttered meaningless words, shook his head, and turned away.

“Bunggye will not invade Gaegyeogyeong in the future. As long as I live. That will be my last respect for you… for my senior brother.”

Mangol said that and disappeared.

After that, Gaegyeogyeong became a land that no one invaded.

Not only Bunggye, but also those who came from other places did not commit atrocities in Gaegyeogyeong.

I thought it was because Mangol’s message had spread everywhere.

The minor immortals of Ogyeonggyeju brought small islands from around me and turned this place into a land truly worthy of the name Gaegyeogyeong.

And then they called me Ogyeonggyeju and called me the owner of this place.

Owner.

I didn’t like that title.

The adoration of those around me reached its peak.

Now, they even started talking about invading other people’s lands.

Over the long years, the number of minor immortals who had built their homes in a safe land had gradually increased, and as they lacked food and jobs, they naturally needed new land and work.

They asked for my consent, but I flatly refused.

Then they stopped asking for my consent.

They invaded other lands without telling me and began a terrible massacre.

Those who had been under my protection and had grown stronger were now becoming perpetrators, not victims.

They appealed to me between their own justification and desires, and I couldn’t stand their ugliness and left.

The space surrounded by the sea and fog was truly mysterious and distant.

I walked and walked on the sea, seeing and hearing many things in the world.

There were many beautiful and enjoyable things, but in general, the current era was one of great upheaval, and the seawater was soon dyed red.

I did nothing.

I thought that no matter what I did, I could not change their will.

Like the people of Gaegyeogyeong.

I thought they were only filled with the desire to satisfy their own interests and desires with the power they possessed.

I thought that was wrong.

I wandered around the upper realm.

Occasionally, I rescued minor immortals and destroyed those who were stained with slaughter, and many stories about me spread.

They called me Nangseon.

A divine immortal wandering aimlessly.

“Nangseon.”

I liked the sound of it.

The meaning of living without being bound by anything touched my heart.

There were countless names that referred to me, but none of them pleased me. But it seemed like there would be in the future.

“Nangseon. Let’s go with Nangseon.”

From that day on, I became Nangseon.

How long has it been since I wandered around under the name of Nangseon?

As I wandered aimlessly, I saw some familiar faces and familiar lands and mountains.

But there was nothing that could hold me back.

I just walked and walked.

Whether it was a mountain, the sea, or clouds.

I walked anywhere and headed anywhere.

Was it because I had destroyed and seen so much while walking like that?

My fire changed into anything.

Sometimes into a sword, sometimes into a spear.

Sometimes it turned into a beast and became my hands and feet.

The more it changed into many things and the more it changed, the deeper and higher my inner strength became.

“My fire changes into anything.”

When I realized that.

I wandered the world and created and delivered many things.

Fire to heal the sick.

Fire to supplement those who had lost their bodies.

Fire to catch beasts for those who were starving.

As I went around like that, I gave them my fire with one condition.

From then on, people said that a new era had opened, calling it the Manbo Era.

Many were delighted.

But I wasn’t.

Unlike what I had given with a happy heart, my fire was not beneficial to their lives.

The fire I gave soon became a sword that stabbed their own families, and those who were caught up in greed tasted the sorrow of losing loved ones.

I was depressed for a while because of that fact.

Those who possessed my fire gained great power and killed many people.

They expanded their power, ruled the land, and killed those who could not, using them as fertilizer for the land.

“What… what have I been doing?”

Haven’t I plunged the world into even more misery?

I was in despair and didn’t walk for a while.

Then someone called me.

“You were here, San.”

In a dark cave.

It was a sharp woman with green hair who found me entangled in vines.

I could recognize who she was at a glance.

“Sinwi…?”

“Yes, it’s me, San.”

Sinwi was no longer a small child with the body of a girl.

Her power had also greatly increased, and her physical growth had reached maturity.

For some reason, she was smoking a pipe and blowing smoke, boasting that it was called a Kkomppangdae [a traditional Korean smoking pipe].

“Let’s go together, San. There are many of our master’s things left there. All the places similar to the land where we lived are all there. You’ll like it there too.”

“Master’s treasures?”

“Yes. Ageom and Yedong are there too. They’ve all been waiting for you to come.”

I see.

They were waiting for me.

Tears welled up.

“Rin has been looking for you a lot too. Let’s go together.”

“That, the land is…”

“Seongye. We call that place Seongye. It’s the land where our master rested.”

Seongye.

I headed to Seongye with Sinwi.

Sinwi said.

Don’t be called Nangseon anymore, let’s live with them.

Let’s continue a peaceful life and head to a higher sky like our master.

I agreed with Sinwi’s words.

“San!! You bastard!!”

The first to greet me was Yedong. He had become a very strong and handsome man. He still had a bow and quiver on his back.

“Yedong. Long time no see. You’ve grown a lot.”

“Do you know how worried we were about you? Why did you only show up now!”

I caught up with Yedong.

Then Ageom appeared.

“San, you were alive. I’m glad.”

Ageom was more calm than before. He was carrying a large wooden armor on his back, and Sinwi whispered that it was full of all kinds of swords.

I was happy to see Ageom, and Yedong also said that it had been a long time since we had gathered like this and treated us to delicious food and drinks.

I was wondering why Yedong and Ageom weren’t bickering like before.

But I thought they had both changed over time and didn’t think much of it.

Sinwi had also changed a lot.

I thought it was natural and was busy catching up with my old friends.

“San, what have you been doing? Your divine power far surpasses ours. You’re not going to leave with us soon like our master, are you?”

Ageom asked.

I replied that it was not at all.

“San, many changes have occurred in this land since our master left. There is no longer as much primordial energy of heaven and earth as before. As time goes by, it gets worse and worse… I see it as part of the phenomenon of the increasing number of beings called minor immortals. San, what do you think?”

“Ageom. Today is a day to enjoy reuniting with San.”

When Yedong sharply checked him, Ageom crossed his arms and took a deep breath as if something was bothering him.

Just as the atmosphere was about to become heavy.

“San!!”

A woman came down from the sky and hugged me tightly.

Thanks to this, the table was turned into a mess, but the woman didn’t care.

“San! San!! I missed you!!”

Her appearance had changed into that of a woman, but the inside was still the same child.

It was Rin.