Chapter 83: The Place that the hidden message led me to (2)

Translator: hwarang

Editor: Kidyeon

I headed straight home. Since everyone was busy with their own tasks, it wouldnt matter if I left Mu Han alone for a bit.

I got the feeling that I needed to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible, thus I decided to go straight to Elder Jong right after meeting my parents.

What is it? Elder Jong asked when I laid a couple of gifts in front of him.

Just some good medicine. And these are some new clothes for you, so that youll have some to wear in the spring.

Why are you giving me these things?

Why? Theyre my gifts to you.

Gifts?

Theyre gifts of gratitude for you giving me your wonderful disciple.

Elder Jong laughed. Ha! Stop trying to impress me. Get to the point.

So you really know how to read someone.

He looked down at the gifts and replied, You were extremely obvious with these.

Hahaha. I gave him a piece of paper with the encoded text written on it.

Please decode this for me.

After looking at the paper Elder Jong replied, This looks pretty challenging.

In other words, it excited him to solve such a thing.

Kong Soo Chan had said that hed learned how to decode things from his master. Originally, Elder Jong had wanted to become a scholar, but somehow, hed ended up becoming our financial manager. One day, I wanted to hear his story.

Come back after dinner.

That early? Really.

Make sure to bring a bottle of wine with you.

I will.

He then asked me, How is he?

Although he was cold and stiff, he was still a caring master.

Hes doing well.

Alright.

I left Elder Jongs room.

***

These days, Song Hwa Rin was training from sunrise to sunset.

Shed even told her father that she was going to temporarily stop learning the family business so that she could focus on her training.

Which martial artist family wouldnt allow this? Song Woo Kyung had allowed her to focus on training right away.

After that, shed begun training the martial art that Id taught her.

Although she was still only at practicing the basic steps, she was able to feel how profound and different this martial art was. The more she practiced it, the more she liked it.

She jumped from the floor and swung her sword.

Shing!

Hermovement was fast yet precise; gentle yet firm.

Even though shed only been practicing for a short time, it looked as if shed been practicing for a long time. This sword art was a high-level sword art, yet shed been able to assimilate it rather quickly because Id taught it to her.

If someone else had taught it to her, it would have taken her years to reach where she was now.

Really, hes

She didnt understand him. She became confused whenever she thought about him. When she turned around, she screamed in surprise.

Ahh!

The person who was standing behind her was exactly the person shed been thinking about, Byuk Lee Dan. She was even more surprised because it was me.

Sorry. I didnt mean to scare you.

No, its fine. However, why are you here?

Because I need to do something at home. I must return as soon as possible.

Oh.

However, I have until dinner-

Before I was able to finished she cut me off and said, Wait for me, Ill go change.

Alright.

She quickly left the practice ground. After she was out of my sight, she sped up her steps as she rushed to her room. She had so many things left that she had to do. She needed to take a bath, put on good clothing, and put on makeup.

Half an hour later, two people were walking down the street together.

Some of the passersby stopped to stare at her; they were jealous of me when they saw Song Hwa Rin. However, I didnt feel bad at all. Rather, I was enjoying the attention. I enjoyed their jealous glances at me and her.

Today was a good day to go out on a stroll. The skies were clear, and the birds were chirping.

It seems that winter is over, and that spring is on its way.

How is Mu Han?

Way more complicated than this place. There are tons more people.

There must be a lot of girls prettier than me.

Probably. Yeah. What?

Surprised at her attack, I turned around.

She continued on as if she was agreeing with me, Yeah, there are probably many girls whore prettier than me, considering the fact that its such a big city.

Someone prettier than you

Seeing her act like this made me want to tease her. There was no one I knew who was prettier than her.

There are a few here and there.

She instantly began to pout.

Hahaha.

Knowing that I was only teasing her, she laughed along with me. This was the first time that shed looked jealous in front of me. She seems to shows me a new side of her every time I meet her.

We reached the end of the street while talking about various things.

Where should we go now?

I dont know?

This was the first time that I realized that Id gone on a date like this with a beauty.

We should walk around a bit more.

Sounds good.

We walked back the way wed come. And when we reached the other end, we went back again.

Going back and forth like this wasnt boring since we didnt have a destination in mind.

By the time Id finished spending time with Song Hwa Rin and come home, Elder Jong had already finished decoding the message.

Ive decoded it. He said as he handed me the piece of paper.

Ha Nam Castle, Bang Sung, Chu Manor, any time, any month.

Any time, any month... wouldnt that mean any time this month?

Its going to occur exactly eight days from now.

So eight days from now, there was going to be some sort of meeting at the Chu Manor, which was located inside Bang Sung, near Ha Man Castle.

If it was somewhere near Ha Nam Castle, I could make it in time.

Thank you for helping me.

What do you mean? But with this could it be that youre doing something dangerous?

Who knows.

There was some worry present on his face. However, he didnt express it and simply took the wine.

Next time dont take so long.

Hahaha, its a bit late. Youre getting old.

You rascal.

The next day, I said my farewells and left.

The place I was headed for was Ha Nam Castle.

***

When I arrived at Bang Sung, I asked around for the location of the Chu Manor, and discovered that it was located to the west.

With a different face, as well as different clothing, I headed to the Chu Manor. I put on a straw hat as well. Although most wouldnt be able to force my hand, I put it on just in case. I didnt know what I would be dealing with.

I saw more and more people as I neared the manor. There were both martial artists and non-martial artists. I sensed that these martial artists were pretty seasoned, and saw that these non-martial artists had pretty good clothing on.

There were even merchants with guards who had gifts on-hand.

I decided to ask someone what was going on. Wheres everyone going?

Today is Lord Chus birthday.

Lord Chus birthday.

Birthdays are a good opportunity to hold meetings, as they wont be suspected as much despite so many people being present.

Where are you from?

One of the receptionists asked me. I answered him by simply saying the name of the person that Id killed, Jo Byuk. As the man wrote my name down, he looked at me with a strange look, but he couldnt see what I looked because of my straw hat.

Despite that, I was able to enter as if nothing happened.

The banquet hall was full of people who were there to congratulate the lord. They were all chattering with each other whiledrinking wine and eating. I stood to the side and observed the room.

Why had Jo Byuk kept this secret letter?

After the banquet hall filled up, Lord Chu entered the room and welcomed everyone.

You didnt have to come to this old mans birthday.

Afterwhich, someone from the crowd replied, Of course we need to be here for the Lord of Bang Sungs birthday.

What if someone elseheardthis?

To us, youre the big lord.

Everyone else in the room agreed with the speaker.

Of course.

Yes.

Congratulations.

Happy birthday.

The crowd was cheering for him.

Thank you. Thank you all for coming to this old mans birthday banquet. Because of all of you being here, I wouldnt regret it even if I died tomorrow. Please enjoy the food and drinks, and have fun. Thank you all for coming a long way just for me.

The crowd cheered again.

My Lord, you must live to be over hundred.

So far, it had just been a normal birthday banquet.

But something abnormal occurred with the appearance of two maids who approached me. You are Lord Jo?

Yes.

They mustve been keeping an eye on me from the moment Id given my name to the receptionist.

Please follow us. The maids led me away. Since there were so many people, most of them simply ignored us.

There was a single expert guarding the front of the building. From what I could see, he was someone on the same level as Yeom Hwa.

Why wouldsuch an expertbeat a place like this?

I followed the maids inside the building. There were two others whod arrived before me. It seems that theyd been invited here as well.

One of them was in their twenties, while the other was in his thirties. It seems that they both have a decent amount of skill.

Why had we arrived at such a place?

The door in front to the front of the building opened, and ten or so people entered. The person who was on the lead was the expert whod been guarding the building, while the people whod come with him seemed like they were also experts.

If the expert guarding the door was similar in power to Yeom Hwa, then these experts were at least at the level of the Divine Swords.

One Yeom Hwa and ten Divine Swords. This was certainly a rare sight.

The man proceeded to introduce himself. I am Sim Hwang.

He didnt mention whether he was an expert from inside or from outside.

Before we get started, I will verify the invitation.

Invitation?

I didnt know what he invitation he wanted to verify, since I didnt have a invitation.

Luckily Sim Hwang took out a small piece of paper. I knew what it was at first glance.

It was the letter that Jo Byuk had had. So the invitation was that piece of paper.

So that was the reason that Jo Byuk had kept the paper.

Afterwards, Sim Hwang set the paper inside a dish full ofwater, which in turnturned blue. It was probably smeared with a special chemical that allowed them to verify the paper.

When it was my turn, I dipped my paper into the water. When it turned blue as well, I returned, feelingrelieved.

But as I was walking back-

Shiing!

Someone slashed at me withtheir sword, andI barely managed to dodge it.

Sim Hwang stared at me, his eyes cold. You are not Jo Byuk.

All the experts around me drew their weapons and surrounded me.

I replied in a cold voice, You really dont know the meaning of an invitation card. If you were already going to do something like this, there was no need for us to take out our invitation cards.