Chapter 100. The Entire World is My Home (21)

Chapter 100. The Entire World is My Home (21)

Unfortunately for Woo-Moon, those who had heard the conversation between Choo Moon-Hwi, Yu Cho, and Hyeon Mu-Cheol now judged Woo-Moon solely based on that small part of the story.

“They seem... angry for some reason?” Jeong-Woo said, his gaze growing cold. He could sense the strange mood in the room as well.

Even Namgoong Sung and Baekri Yeong-Woon had stiff expressions from the clear hostility of those around them. In particular, the impatient and proud Baekri Yeong-Woon was on the verge of snapping out at them.

In any case, Woo-Moon reminded himself that he was here as the representative of the Three Great Sword Families and controlled his rage.

“Drop it. Let’s just go back,” he said after confirming that Palan Shin-Tong and the two Martial Ministers had left.

Sadly, just because he wanted to let it slide did not mean others would.

“Haha, It’s been a while, Song Woo-Moon,” Choo Moon-Hwi said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere and acting as if he was chummy with Woo-Moon.

Already in a bad mood, Woo-Moon frowned and looked closely at Choo Moon-Hwi.

“Who the hell are you to talk to me like that? Do I know you from somewhere?”

Choo Moon-Hwi’s expression grew ugly when he realized that Woo-Moon didn’t even recognize him.

“You don’t remember me? And here I thought we were close when we were younger. It’s me, Choo Moon-Hwi.”

Only then did Woo-Moon remember who this bastard was.

“Oh, that’s right, Hook Nose. Yeah, it’s been a while,” Woo-Moon responded half-heartedly.

He tried to pass by and leave the hall, but Choo Moon-Hwi stopped him, clearly offended at being called Hook Nose.

“Just a second. Don’t you think you’re being too cold to a friend you haven’t seen in a long time?”

But did Woo-Moon really have any good memories with Choo Moon-Hwi? Did he think of him as a friend?

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Moreover, it wasn’t as if Choo Moon-Hwi had ever considered Woo-Moon a friend, either. He just thought of Woo-Moon as a pushover he had bullied throughout childhood.

‘I’m going to make sure everyone knows what trash you really are,’ Choo Moon-Hwi thought as he sneered.

On the other hand, Woo-Moon was in a pretty foul mood.

Even without all these constant reminders, Woo-Moon still could not distance himself from the issues he had in childhood, particularly when he was so infatuated with the landscape painting that he turned into a fool. He would get so angry that his blood would boil whenever he remembered how the other kids in the village—among whom, he now remembered, Choo Moon-Hwi—would bully him back then. So, seeing Choo Moon-Hwi in person almost pushed him over the edge.

“I’m busy, so get out of my way. Stop bothering people.”

Choo Moon-Hwi was flustered by Woo-Moon acting in a completely different way than he had expected. He had assumed that Woo-Moon was going to timidly apologize like when they were young, just begging not to be beaten.

He could feel the gazes of the other talents shifting to him. He thought back to when he had made such a big fuss about Woo-Moon being an idiot who only got to where he was because of his grandfather’s reputation. Therefore, he knew he would lose all face if he were to show weakness right now and back down in the face of said idiot.

Moreover, when he saw how Woo-Moon, who hadn’t been able to even look in his direction when they were younger, behaved so arrogantly, he felt his blood boil.

As he was still young, his emotions were stronger than his common sense. In fact, they were strong enough that he forgot he should be careful with his words around the Three Great Sword Families.

“No, I don’t want to. What are you going to do about it? And who do you think you’re glaring at? What, you want to hit me? Do you really dare?”

“I can do more than that.”

“Ha! So it seems that our dear little idiot grew some balls after finding out his grandfather is the Palm Martial Emperor, hasn’t he?”

Woo-Moon froze.

‘You just won’t cut it off with that idiot thing, will you? Alright.’

“Have you said everything you wanted to, Choo Moon-Hwi?”

“And? What are you going to do about it?”

Choo Moon-Hwi was being so ridiculous right now that Woo-Moon had to suppress a laugh.

“Can I take your actions as you acting as a representative of the Mount Heng Sect?”

Choo Moon-Hwi did a double take at Woo-Moon’s words.

“No. I’m not acting as the representative of the Mount Heng Sect right now. These are just my personal feelings.”

“Oh, really? That’s a relief. Then, I’ll also deal with you as Song Woo-Moon, and not as the representative of the Three Great Sword Families. Now, instead of wasting time slinging insults, how about we just spar and get it over with?”

The representative of the Three Great Sword Families!

The other talents were shocked, as they hadn’t known that the Three Great Sword Families had even decided to elect a representative, let alone that Woo-Moon was the one to be represented.

It was easy to assume that he had become the representative of the Baek Family through the backing of the Palm Martial Emperor and not his ability. But then...how great was that backing? Was it enough to cause the Namgoong and Baekri Families to step back and let a weakling represent them as well? Not a chance.

‘Could he be lying?’

Hoping that Woo-Moon was lying, Choo Moon-Hwi looked behind Woo-Moon to Namgoong Sung and Baekri Yeong-Woon. However, instead of finding unpleasant or irritated expressions, he only saw the two nodding their heads as if they completely agreed with Woo-Moon.

He couldn’t understand it. Something was wrong.

‘What sort of bullshit is this...’

Seeing Choo Moon-Hwi struggle to respond, Woo-Moon smiled.

“Martial Uncle!”

Woo-Moon’s fighting spirit dissipated when Jeong Yu-Pung showed up, allowing Choo Moon-Hwi to greet his martial uncle hurriedly.

“What the hell are you doing right now? The tournament to elect the Righteous Warrior Squadron captain is going to begin soon! How could you, the representative of the Mount Heng Sect, act so rashly?!”

Jeong Yu-Pung turned to look at Woo-Moon for a moment before continuing, “You only have to wait one more day to compete with Young Hero Song of the Iron Sword Baek Family, anyway. Now come on, follow me!”

The other talents grew quiet as Jeong Yu-Pung harshly reprimanded Choo Moon-Hwi. Meanwhile, Woo-Moon frowned in irritation, as if he had gone into an outhouse with no cleaning supplies, while the other members of the Three Great Sword Families simultaneously sighed with a hint of regret.

‘He was about to get destroyed in front of everyone. Damn, we were this close to watching a good show....”

In any case, the spar ended in a lackluster manner due to Jeong Yu-Pung’s intrusion. Thus, the remaining talents chatted for a short time before returning to their respective pavilions.

***

As soon as he returned to his lodgings, Woo-Moon called for one of the nearby warriors of the Justice Coalition.

“I heard that the Justice Coalition has its own smithy. May I know where that is?”

“Oh, that place is...”

After listening to the warrior's explanation, Woo-Moon headed to the smithy with Ma-Ra. His sword had broken after taking Ah Hee’s attack, and he needed a new one.

Namgoong Sung, Jeong-Woo, and Baek Ryeong also joined in.

“Uncle! Let us tag along, too.”

“Hyung-nim, please allow me to join you,” Namgoong Sung said.

“Fine, fine. Do as you wish.”

Standing off to the side, Baekri Yeong-Woon hesitated before also walking before Woo-Moon.

“I have something to ask you, Young Hero Song.”

"What is it?"

Baekri Yeong-Woon looked Woo-Moon straight in the eye.

“If you would allow it, I would also like to take you as my hyung-nim!”

Baekri Yeong-Woon’s heart raced as he anxiously waited for Woo-Moon’s answer. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at Woo-Moon’s face properly because he was too flustered, thinking Woo-Moon would find him ridiculous.

Seeing Baekri Yeong-Woon’s normally stoic face turn red, Woo-Moon chuckled inside, but he answered with no hesitation, “Sure. Then call me hyung from now on.”

Baekri Yeong-Woon wondered how many days and nights he had stayed up, nervous about speaking about this with Woo-Moon. He was almost disappointed with how nonchalantly Woo-Moon agreed. It almost seemed... too easy. Of course, Baekri Yeong-Woon was happy, first and foremost, to be welcomed.

“Thank you so much, Young Hero... no, hyung-nim!”

“I’m thinking of going to the smithy, my sword broke and I need a new one. Do you want to come with me? Well, there won’t be much for you to do if you come along.”

Baekri Yeong-Woon glanced sideways at Ma-Ra before nodding vigorously.

“Yes! I’ll come along, too, hyung-nim!” he said, almost painfully loud.

Woo-Moon chuckled and set off.

“Okay. Then, let’s go.”

As they set off for the smithy, Baekri Yeong-Woon suddenly got disappointed as Ma-Ra slipped into the shadows again and disappeared.

***

The smithy was located in the northwest corner of the Justice Coalition Estate.

“What brings you here?” asked one of the smiths while wiping his brow.

The smiths all worked shirtless due to the extremely hot nature of the smithy, and the sweat only served to emphasize their strong muscles.

“Oh my.”

Baek Ryeong blushed.

As Woo-Moon was about to respond, he saw a group of people entering the smithy behind him.

Leading the group was Xiahou Jinxian, the captain of the Wind Sword Squadron—one of the Five Swords of Heavenly Justice—and the most promising talent of the Xiahou Family, and the Sichuan Tang Family’s Poisonous Blood Flower Tang Yu-Ryeon, who was known as one of the Three Peak Flowers of the younger generation.

Following behind them were several talents of the Xiahou Family.

Woo-Moon and Xiahou Jinxian both turned their heads to look at each other the moment they sensed each other’s presence.

"Huh?"

“...?”

The two already had a somewhat... tenuous relationship.

Some time ago, after taking down the Inksmoke Gang, Woo-Moon got into a scuffle with Xiahou Jinxian. As a result, the latter ended up defeated and knocked out.

“You... you, it’s you! That boorish crazy bastard from back then!”