Chapter 21

Chapter 21

“Are you already pledging loyalty to me? That seems a bit hasty, doesn’t it?”

Despite Youngho speaking in a flat, uninterested tone, Kang Hosan looked straight into Youngho’s eyes and replied.

“Since you treated Chowon, Fifth Young Master, you are my lord.”

“You could repay a favor in other ways too, couldn’t you?”

“I am not a fool. I know that Fifth Young Master is strong, and I know you treated Chowon because you had some purpose involving me. Especially when it comes to severed meridians, even more so.”

Youngho smiled, seemingly pleased with Kang Hosan’s answer, and said,

“That’s right. I treated Chowon because I had business with you. It wasn’t kindness without reason. Even so, you still want to serve me as your lord?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you are looking far ahead.”

“Hm?”

With that, Kang Hosan simply lowered his head and remained silent.

Looking far ahead. What did that mean? Unless Kang Hosan explained it himself, Youngho would likely live his entire life without ever knowing the meaning of those words.

Kang Hosan had simply seen it. Where Youngho was looking, and how far Youngho would grow in strength in the future.

He could not know the exact extent. Perhaps his imagination was going too far. Even so, Kang Hosan trusted his intuition.

That the being before him would become a monster. A monster that would shake the Unorthodox Alliance—no, the entire world.

Youngho stared at Kang Hosan for a moment without saying anything. In Youngho’s eyes, a sense of relief blossomed.

‘Thankfully, he’ll be able to survive.’

In the Unorthodox Alliance, where plots and schemes ran rampant, Kang Hosan would surely be able to survive.

Youngho unconsciously lifted the corner of his mouth and said,

“You’re only learning the Unorthodox Alliance’s basic martial arts right now, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Then try learning Horyeung’s martial arts here.”

“This person is…?”

“He’s a guy named Horyeung who treated Chowon. He’s stronger than most unit leaders, so try learning from him.”

At those words, Kang Hosan widened his eyes and said,

“Stronger than most unit leaders?”

“Yeah. The Gold-Blood Hall will vouch for his skill. He used to be a unit leader over there.”

This was an opportunity—no, it should be called a fateful encounter. What exactly had he seen in Kang Hosan to offer to teach him martial arts?

And unit-leader–level martial arts at that.

“There’s a condition, though.”

Of course. There was no favor in the world without a price.

“What do you want?”

“Chowon has to learn martial arts too.”

“That is….”

“Well, think it over yourself. Chowon used to want to learn martial arts too, didn’t she?”

“Yes? How did you know that…?”

‘Because I was your master.’

Youngho swallowed the words he wanted to say and brushed it off lightly.

“A hunch.”

Kang Hosan sensed something strange, but since Youngho did not seem inclined to explain, he did not ask further.

“Then, Horyeung. From now on, whether you take him as a disciple or do anything else, do as you please.”

“Understood.”

With that, Horyeung and Kang Hosan went off to find Kang Chowon. Watching them leave, Youngho yawned and said,

“Elder Hyeok, there’s somewhere I need to stop by, so follow me.”

“Yes, Young Master. Where will you be stopping by?”

“The Blood Ghost Hall.”

“Do you intend to pull Kang Hosan out of the Asura Squad?”

“Mm… I’m just planning to use him as my personal guard.”

“You seem to have quite a lot of guards already.”

“So what? That Baekcheong guy has far more than I do.”

“That’s true.”

“If you know that, then just follow.”

Youngho placed a few pieces of taffy into Elder Hyeok’s hand and said,

“Let’s eat while we go. My mouth feels bored.”

“Thank you.”

Youngho chewed on sweet confections while Elder Hyeok chewed on the taffy as they headed toward the Blood Ghost Hall.

Unlike last time, Youngho entered boldly through the main gate and was just about to head inside the building to meet the Blood Ghost Hall Master.

“What? Elder Hyeok?”

At the sudden voice, Youngho and Elder Hyeok turned around.

“Unit Leader?”

‘Unit Leader?’

Youngho quietly looked at the woman Elder Hyeok had addressed as unit leader.

‘She certainly… seems similar to Horyeung, maybe?’

It seemed the unit leader of the Asura Squad was no ordinary individual either.

“Why are you here?”

“I am currently escorting Fifth Young Master.”

“What? Fifth Young Master?”

The woman called unit leader stared at Youngho for a moment, then raised her voice in surprise.

“Are you Fifth Young Master?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Jang Dan.”

“Yeah, nice to meet you too.”

“By the way, what brings you to the Blood Ghost Hall…?”

“Well, there’s a kid I like, so I came to take him with me.”

“A recruit?”

“Yeah. A kid named Kang Hosan.”

“Kang Hosan… I’ve never heard that name.”

“That figures. His performance is average.”

“Yes? You want to take someone with average performance?”

“Yep.”

Jang Dan looked flustered for a moment, but drawing on her experience, she suppressed it as much as possible and spoke.

“May I ask the reason?”

“I liked his mindset.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

Unable to find any hint of deception in Youngho’s expression, Jang Dan let out a troubled sigh.

“Understood. Recruits can be transferred under my authority as well, not just the hall master’s. Please take him with you. I will handle the paperwork later.”

“Thanks. Then I can be on my way now, right?”

“If that was your only purpose, it seems you may leave now.”

“Yeah, good work.”

When Jang Dan lightly lowered her head, Youngho resumed walking on his way.

Jang Dan watched Youngho’s unhurried footsteps and thought,

‘That’s the Fifth Young Master?’

She had heard the rumors, but he was far stronger than she had imagined.

‘But I can’t see all of it…….’

Jang Dan frowned and continued to stare at Youngho’s back.

“Ghh.”

It was unbelievable. To think she could not gauge the martial prowess of a mere brat who had not even come of age yet.

At the very least, he was not an ordinary person. After staring at Youngho’s back for a while longer, Jang Dan let out a deep sigh and returned to her post.

Before anyone knew it, a month had passed.

“Elder Hyeok.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

“You’re the Asura Squad Leader, right?”

“Yes.”

“Does that mean the entire Asura Squad is guarding me?”

“For the most part, yes.”

“No wonder there seemed to be so many.”

“Yes?”

“It’s nothing. That aside, did you get the item I told you to bring?”

“I’m not even your servant, so why am I doing things like this?”

“Sopyung can’t carry it.”

Over the course of that month, Youngho and Elder Hyeok had exchanged plenty of idle chatter and naturally grew closer.

More precisely, thanks to Youngho’s terrifyingly strong affinity with people, Elder Hyeok also became comfortable around him.

‘Honestly, the way he treats me, I’m not even a guard—I’m a servant, a servant.’

No, even if one were a servant, no one would use that kind of tone toward the Alliance Lord’s fifth disciple.

‘I should straighten out discipline one of these days.’

Youngho took the weapon Elder Hyeok handed over with both hands and let out an exclamation.

“Oh my.”

For a moment, the tremendous weight nearly made him release his grip.

The item Youngho had told Elder Hyeok to prepare was extremely simple. It was a large, heavy club with a handle, designed with durability as its sole consideration.

“No, what are you planning to do with this?”

“What else? I’m just going to swing it.”

“What? You’re actually going to swing this?”

“Yeah. But it’s heavier than I thought. It’ll take some time to get used to it.”

Youngho answered casually and swung the massive club. Seeing Youngho wield it far more smoothly than expected, Elder Hyeok could not hide his shock.

‘That’s got to be at least sixty geun.’

It was heavy enough that swinging it was no different from lifting and flinging Sopyung herself.

And yet he was handling it that easily…….

‘Is he even human?’

The thought arose naturally.

Youngho swung the club several times in a stable stance, then nodded and said,

“Hey, this is great. There are recruits in the Asura Squad, right?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s give this to them.”

“You can’t. They’ll ruin their bodies.”

“Hey, I’m strong enough to use sword qi. You think I can’t train a bunch of second-rate kids?”

“That’s exactly why it’s scary! Even if you can endure that kind of training, our kids won’t be able to!”

“Tsk. Is that so?”

“Of course. Don’t measure every human by your own standards.”

“Then I’ll give it to Hosan and Chowon instead. Good thing I ordered two extra, just in case. Horyeung~.”

And so another six months passed.

Elder Hyeok and Horyeung could not hide their admiration as they looked at Youngho’s body.

“Horyeung.”

“What.”

“You’re sure the Young Master has only been training for one year, right?”

“I’m the one who’s watched him since he started training. As of this year, it’s been exactly one year and three days.”

“Is he even a person?”

Youngho’s physique no longer looked like that of a boy his age. Unlike them, his skin was taut as well, making his muscles appear even more sculpted.

In truth, what shocked Elder Hyeok and Horyeung was not simply how quickly Youngho had built such a tremendous body.

‘How does he do nothing but train every single day like that?’

‘As expected, he’s incredible. Hosan and Chowon should learn by watching that too.’

Youngho’s training was excessive. To be precise, he continued training at a level that made it hard to regard him as the same kind of human.

“Now you can handle a sixty-geun club as if it were a wooden stick.”

Youngho swung the club without resting for even a single day. What was even more astonishing was that he had continued this for six months while sleeping only two shijin per day.

Even during rare breaks, he filled the time with circulation and regulation of qi. It was enough to make even Elder Hyeok and Horyeung—whose dreams had faded with age—feel an urge to train again.

Honestly, after training like that for six months, it would be downright unjust if a body like that had not emerged.

That was how brutal and savage Youngho’s training method was.

Yet strangely, that very brutality was making Youngho stronger, to the point where Horyeung occasionally wondered whether he himself had been training incorrectly all this time.

So, as a test, he tried putting Kang Hosan through training similar to Youngho’s……

Before even a quarter-hour had passed, Kang Hosan collapsed flat on his back.

“Master! You might as well kill me!”

“Was it that hard?”

“How can you tell me to swing a forty-geun club for over two shijin! I can’t even last a quarter-hour!”

“The Young Master does it.”

At those words, Kang Hosan had no choice but to shut his mouth.

Staring blankly at the club Youngho was swinging, Kang Hosan muttered,

“I must be insane…… insane to be serving someone like that as my lord…….”

There was such heartfelt regret in his words that it sounded almost sorrowful.

“Would it kill you to go just a little slower…….”

Only Kang Hosan’s mournful lament echoed through the area.

Watching this, Horyeung simply resolved to keep doing what he had been doing.

Youngho was a monster. A top-tier monster at that.

Now, even looking at pure strength alone rather than technique, Horyeung felt like he would lose.

……This was no joke. Seriously.

While Elder Hyeok and Horyeung were talking about Youngho’s monstrous nature, Youngho approached Elder Hyeok and said,

“Elder Hyeok, let me meet the Asura Squad members now. If they’re just guarding me all the time, they don’t even have time to train, right?”

“No.”

“I’ll adjust the training intensity appropriately.”

“Ghh. Even so, it’s training you designed yourself. Our new recruits will all collapse.”

“Then I’ll just train them myself.”

“Yes?”

At that moment, Youngho’s body movement form vanished. Not only Elder Hyeok, but even Horyeung lost sight of him for an instant.

Before they knew it, Youngho was perched atop a distant tree, asking one of the Asura Squad members who had been guarding him,

“Want to train with me?”