“…It’s pleasant to hear.”

At the beautiful melody faintly drifting in, Cheon Mungyeong unconsciously muttered.

“The sound of the performance comes every day, so really. When this time comes, I find myself automatically listening.”

A faint smile appeared on Cheon Mungyeong’s lips.

The time when the sun sets.

When this time came, Cheon Mungyeong and Cheon Yuhwa would put aside all their work and quietly sit facing each other, drinking tea.

It wasn’t always like this.

It became like this at some point, and it was thanks to the daegeum performance that was being heard right now.

“Certainly, Mubaeck seems to have the makings of a musician.”

“It’s pleasant to the ear and so beautiful that it makes you forget all your worries. Wouldn’t he be at least the best musician in Henan?”

“Well, we’re drinking tea like this to appreciate that performance, after all.”

At Cheon Yuhwa’s words, Cheon Mungyeong turned his gaze outside.

It was midsummer, so the door was wide open, and the scene of the escort agency came into view at a glance.

Beyond the wall, the escort warriors were washing away the fatigue accumulated from training while listening to the performance carried on the cool breeze.

The servants who were sweeping the yard also took a seat on one side as if they were taking a break and listened to the sound of the daegeum.

The porters who were organizing the warehouse, the cooks who were preparing food.

All of them had a comfortable look on their faces.

“…It’s a good sight.”

It’s a good sight.

Cheon Yuhwa was naturally pleased with the sight of the escort agency.

The reason for the naturally rising pleasant feeling was not just because of the beautiful melody and peaceful scene.

“The sound of music comes after training every day, which means that Mubaeck is really training his body hard.”

“He’s working hard without missing a single day.”

“Old Man Jang was praising him a lot, wasn’t he?”

“I don’t know if this is true. He was praising him for his innate talent, wasn’t he?”

“At this rate, won’t he really become the best martial artist in Henan?”

“…”

Sigh, you doting fool.

Cheon Yuhwa smiled quietly as she watched her father, who was completely engrossed in boasting about his son.

In fact, she felt the same way.

Old Man Jang was praising Cheon Mubaeck so much that she even felt a little suspicious. He said that he was not just hardworking, but showed a natural talent.

But putting aside his talent, Cheon Yuhwa was very moved by the sight of the hardworking Cheon Mubaeck.

The frustrating Cheon Mubaeck had changed. In fact, she liked the previous Cheon Mubaeck too. Because he was her one and only lovely younger brother. But he was becoming healthier as he changed while learning martial arts. She liked that fact very much. Cheon Yuhwa’s heart warmed.

As it was, the escort agency was facing a big problem due to a recent failed escort mission. Even though she racked her brain all day, she couldn’t find an answer. If it weren’t for the sound of Cheon Mubaeck’s performance, she wouldn’t have been able to cool her head even for a moment like this.

“Then, please take good care of Mubaeck and the remaining escort agency family while I’m away, Vice Chief.”

Cheon Mungyeong suddenly said.

The fact that he called her Vice Chief instead of her name.

Cheon Yuhwa nodded with a firm face and turned her gaze in the direction of Cheon Mubaeck’s room.

Whether he becomes the best martial artist in Henan or the best musician in Henan.

Cheon Yuhwa made up her mind as she appreciated the end of the performance.

‘I have to overcome this crisis well so that Mubaeck can do what he wants to do. I must.’

* * *

Jeombak looked at Cheon Mubaeck, who was putting down the daegeum, with a strange gaze.

‘When he’s playing the daegeum, he’s really just the youngest young master.’

A smile that filled his face.

The curved eyebrows and the faint blush that appeared while playing the daegeum.

Wasn’t that the look Cheon Mubaeck always showed before he fell ill with a fever?

That hadn’t changed even now.

The problem was…

“Kya, that was killer.”

Jeombak gave him a side-eye.

He didn’t do that in front of other people, but that side of him would pop out especially when he was with him.

“Why? What.”

“…It’s nothing.”

“Hmm. Isn’t it time for dinner?”

“I’ll prepare it and bring it right away.”

“Alright!”

Although Cheon Mubaeck was clearly his superior, before, it felt more like he was serving an immature youngest young master rather than a superior.

He still had an immature feeling now, but…

It was different from before.

‘It feels like I’m serving an unpredictable old man, this.’

Jeombak smirked at the thought that suddenly came to his mind.

An old man.

How could he think such a thing while looking at that young face?

‘Well, it’s better now. I can see him getting healthier at a glance.’

His heart naturally warmed.

Always a pale face, limp limbs. Every time he saw him, he couldn’t tell if he was a dying old man or a youth in his prime who could chew on stones.

The muscles that had built up on his body, his height that seemed to have grown a little, the healthy color of his face, and his always dignified attitude and posture.

Anyone could see that he was clearly changing.

‘I hope things continue to go well like this!’

Jeombak liked the Azure Star Escort Agency.

Wasn’t it a place that took in and fed a disabled person like him with a crippled leg?

Jeombak recalled the time he came here.

Because one of his legs was lame, it was difficult for even the Azure Star Escort Agency to accept him.

He couldn’t be used as an escort warrior, nor as a porter, and he didn’t know how to read, so he couldn’t be entrusted with other work.

Cheon Mungyeong was certainly a kind person, but as he was in a position to run an escort agency, he could not carelessly take in people.

Wasn’t personnel a matter of heaven?

So, at the moment he was about to turn back, getting drenched in the rain in the courtyard of the Azure Star Escort Agency.

Cheon Mubaeck, who was only seven years old, came running out.

Then he grabbed his leg and said.

‘Hyung-ah! Let’s play hide-and-seek!’

At that time, there were no children of Cheon Mubaeck’s age in the Azure Star Escort Agency.

Cheon Mubaeck’s mother had passed away long ago, and Cheon Yuhwa had already shown her business acumen and was learning the work from Cheon Mungyeong.

Moreover, there were only rough escort warriors and porters, and the rest were at most cooks or Cheon Mungyeong and Cheon Yuhwa’s servants.

That’s right. Cheon Mubaeck was bored and lonely. Because there were no children his age.

So he had grabbed Jeombak, who looked at most five or six years older than him.

A hand that grabbed him to play together, not for any special reason.

And the performance he had given, saying he would play the flute if he played with him, still remained in Jeombak’s heart.

After that, Jeombak became Cheon Mubaeck’s body servant.

So he regarded Cheon Mubaeck as his benefactor.

‘Young Master…’

No matter how much of a mere body servant he was, he knew what kind of situation the escort agency was in now.

Due to the recent failure of an escort mission where they lost the goods, Cheon Mungyeong and Cheon Yuhwa were struggling a lot to resolve the matter.

The escort warriors whispered that, according to rumors, the very existence of the escort agency was at stake.

Of course, Jeombak did not doubt that the escort agency would be safe. Given the skills of Cheon Mungyeong and Cheon Yuhwa that he had seen so far.

Still, if things got serious.

Jeombak made up his mind. Even though he was a cripple, he would definitely carry Cheon Mubaeck on his back and escape to make him safe.

* * *

“What’s with the face of a general going to war?”

Cheon Mubaeck looked at Jeombak leaving with a firm face and laughed as if it was absurd.

“Is it that hard to go get food?”

Hmm.

Well, he’s been eating at all hours lately. And a lot at once.

This was the good thing about being reincarnated as the youngest young master of the Azure Star Escort Agency.

The fact that he could compose his diet as he wished.

In his previous lives, he was either an orphan or a disciple taken in by a martial arts school, so he ate what he was given or couldn’t eat properly.

But now there was no problem.

The Azure Star Escort Agency was not a large escort agency, nor was it extremely wealthy, but as it ran this escort agency, it was well-off.

It meant that he could easily compose his diet.

‘Change my constitution with Heaven-Shaking Soul Art and accumulate internal energy. And I must continue to train and diet consistently to perfectly polish my body’s constitution and physical strength.’

Ordinary martial artists emphasize internal energy, but Cheon Mubaeck emphasized the harmony of internal and external arts.

When you cross the line of life and death countless times in the martial world, there will definitely be a moment when your internal energy runs out. Or there will definitely be times when your dantian is injured or seriously damaged by various vicious means. The martial world is such a place.

At that moment of crisis, what can pull out a life-or-death move is external arts.

It wasn’t just for this reason.

‘To reach the end of martial arts, the end of the sword, I can’t be careless about anything.’

Everyone wants to reach the end of the sword.

The end of martial arts.

All the martial artists who enter the martial world dream of a life of adventure.

It was the same for Cheon Mubaeck.

It was not a path that could be easily climbed.

Cheon Mubaeck was given the title of the greatest of all time by the people of the martial world as the Sword God, but as the egg that blocked his path to the underworld said, he had not reached the Sword Kiuk.

It was not a path to be taken recklessly and blindly.

He had to proceed by carefully laying one stone at a time.

It was something that others could not easily do.

Cheon Mubaeck had the experience and memories of countless past lives.

It wasn’t just a simple memory.

It was a memory that contained all the martial arts of the sword, from a mere third-rate martial artist to a Sword Demon, a Sword Saint, and a Sword God.

Based on that memory, Cheon Mubaeck prepared one by one.

In that respect, Heaven-Shaking Soul Art was a very effective martial art.

‘When I play an instrument, my upper dantian comes to life.’

It wasn’t a metaphorical expression, it was real.

The moment he played the daegeum, his upper dantian squirmed violently.

Cheon Mubaeck’s sharp senses instinctively felt that moment and were convinced.

That now was the moment to circulate Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.

He circulated Heaven-Shaking Soul Art while playing the daegeum.

The flow of internal energy changed according to the melody of the daegeum. When he played a fast tune, it moved and accumulated quickly, and when he played a slow and sad tune, the external qi also seeped into his upper dantian as if tears were seeping in.

The effect was not just surprising, but amazing.

Was it just the accumulation of energy? Like the original effect of Heaven-Shaking Soul Art, his constitution and physique slowly changed.

As Jeombak felt, Cheon Mubaeck could feel a considerable change even externally.

The arms and legs that were gradually starting to build muscle.

The straightened back. The height that had grown by a finger’s breadth. Even the bright light emanating from his eyes.

All of this was because he had accidentally awakened to Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.

‘It’s also thanks to that brat Jeombak.’

What if at that time, Jeombak hadn’t told him to play the daegeum to cheer him up?

Of course, Cheon Mubaeck would have eventually thought of a way to bring out the effect of Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.

That was not arrogance. The vast repository of knowledge in Cheon Mubaeck’s head and his hundreds of years of experience in the martial world would have eventually found a way to enhance the effect of Heaven-Shaking Soul Art.

Still, thanks to Jeombak, he had shortened that time extremely.

Cheon Mubaeck felt grateful to Jeombak.

“Young Master, I’ll serve the meal.”

“Alright.”

Just then, Jeombak came in with the dinner table.

Cheon Mubaeck’s gaze moved from the well-prepared dinner table to Jeombak’s limping left foot.

‘Hmm.’

He had heard that when he was young, the village he lived in was attacked by bandits, and he had barely escaped with his life, but his ankle had been twisted by a collapsed pillar.

Cheon Mubaeck carefully examined Jeombak’s foot.

‘The bone seems to have set, but I think I can turn it back to some extent.’

Although he couldn’t make it perfectly normal like a normal person, he thought he could fix the limp.

Cheon Mubaeck had crossed the line of life and death countless times for hundreds of years.

As a result, he had acquired enough medical skills to treat his own body in an emergency.

To him, Jeombak’s twisted ankle did not seem serious.

‘I have something to repay him for too.’

He was the one who had made him realize the effect of Heaven-Shaking Soul Art, and he was a guy who treated him kindly even though he was blunt.

“Jeombak, go and bring the acupuncture case. You can get it from Physician Jin who resides in the escort agency.”

“Pardon? The acupuncture case? Why all of a sudden?”

No, no matter how eccentric the young master had become, why an acupuncture case all of a sudden?

When Jeombak asked back as if he was dumbfounded, Cheon Mubaeck waved his hand.

“Hurry up and bring it. I’ll treat your ankle today.”

“…”

Jeombak gave him a side-eye.

It was as if the words ‘Is this guy crazy?’ were floating above his head.

“I’m not crazy. I know a little about acupuncture, so I’ll fix your ankle. You can’t get this anywhere else, can you? Who in the world would get acupuncture from me?”

“Of course. Who would get acupuncture from a quack doctor?”

“What?”

“No, if my ankle gets more twisted, I won’t be able to walk at all. Young Master. Why are you playing such a mean prank?”

“Ha!”

Cheon Mubaeck laughed as if he was dumbfounded, and then suddenly looked at Jeombak with a serious gaze.

“Hey.”

“Y-Yes?”

“You, you don’t trust me?”

A very serious face. Still, he looked cute, but Jeombak’s face crumpled into a frown.

‘No, how can I trust him?’

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep