Childhood Friend of the Zenith – 322 (Part 1)



322 (Part 1)

<Chapter 323> Practice. (2)

I wonder if it started after I had a meal that felt like it would make me sick.

Or maybe it was from the moment Wi Seol-ah made her bombshell statement to me.

For some reason Wi Seol-ah began to change.

Around the time we started our afternoon training.

After finishing the tedious theoretical education.

During a brief break.

I felt a gaze from somewhere.

Curious I looked around and saw something peeking out from the door.

It was a person’s head.

“Hmm?”

I frowned wondering what kind of terrifying sight that was.

It was a face I recognized.

Of course it was Wi Seol-ah.

For a moment I was startled and thought I had seen wrong.

But it was really Wi Seol-ah.

What on earth is she doing like that?

It seemed I wasn’t the only one who noticed Wi Seol-ah.

The other group members in the room were sending her strange looks.

After all she was known as the successor of the Sword Master among the Three Greats.

Wi Seol-ah was the center of attention.

As she grew her appearance blossomed.

I heard that she was particularly receiving a lot of interest from the boys.

I can understand that.

With looks like that who wouldn’t want to take a second glance?

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I personally preferred when her cheeks were chubby back in the day.

“Hyung-nim?” It seemed that Pae Woo-cheol also noticed Wi Seol-ah and called out to me immediately.

“I know.”

Creak.

As soon as I made eye contact with Wi Seol-ah I stood up.

It was obvious she came to see me.

If I said otherwise it would hurt a bit but… it must be true.

As I tried to approach her

Wi Seol-ah flinched in surprise but fortunately she didn’t run away.

Recently she would run away whenever she saw me.

Is she really thinking of not running away anymore?

‘She’s not some wild animal.’

The fact that approaching her was that difficult meant something.

I chuckled at the fleeting thought.

I approached Wi Seol-ah and asked

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah…!”

“What do you mean ‘ah’?” Now that I’m this close why are you surprised again?

Her eyes widened slightly in response.

It still showed that Wi Seol-ah had big eyes.

Her slightly sharpened gaze was gradually resembling her past life self.

But the reactions she was showing now seemed to indicate she was a different person from the past.

“Do you have something to say?”

“No not really…”

Every time Wi Seol-ah shook her head her hair swayed.

Her hair which hadn’t been that long had grown a lot over the years.

I guessed it was about waist-length now.

As I looked at her golden hair peeking through

I heard Wi Seol-ah’s voice.

“I just wanted to see you…”

Those words dug deep.

I never expected to hear such a thing from Wi Seol-ah.

“”

Maybe that’s why I lost my words.

While I was momentarily speechless

Wi Seol-ah seemed to have finished what she wanted to say and suddenly dashed away like before.

Every time she tried to say something she would just run off.

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Is she really a wild animal?

Wi Seol-ah’s strange behavior didn’t stop there.

During training whenever there was a break she would peek at me.

If I approached to say a few words she would run away.

What I could definitely feel during all this was that Wi Seol-ah was at least trying to do something.

The good thing was.

She didn’t run away immediately like before.

But her constant peeking was quite distracting.

What on earth is she doing?

I was already feeling overwhelmed with thoughts in the morning.

And now the person involved is acting like this…

Is she trying to complicate things for me?

If that’s the case she succeeded.

I felt very complicated.

After all the scheduled training for the day was over.

Personal training time arrived.

Originally it would have been around the time to eat together.

But since I heard everyone had their own plans I decided to skip dinner.

Coincidentally I had been feeling a bit dazed lately.

I thought it might be due to a lack of training so if it turned out well then it was for the best.

At least during meal times I would see everyone’s faces.

I had been trying to make an effort to attend meal times.

But it had been a while since everyone had their own circumstances and were scattered like this.

Recently I heard that Mo Yong-hee had been busy.

Dang So-yeol said she had plans with Paeng Ah-hee.

Nam Gung-bi mentioned she was having dinner separately with Gu Yeon-seo out of the blue.

Wait when did they become close?

Is it right to say they became friends?

I heard they were assigned to the same group but it seemed like they were often hanging out together.

I had been a bit concerned about Gu Yeon-seo.

But since Nam Gung-bi was with her I felt a bit relieved.

Rumor has it that Nam Gung-bi has quite a big mouth in their group.

As the most outstanding individuals in each group stand out

It seemed like Nam Gung-bi would be that way.

The same goes for the others.

Hoo…

The heat escaping from my body spreads with the wind.

I was in a quiet field behind the Shinryong Hall.

The training area was naturally bustling with activity.

Even if I went there I would just be watching Pae Woo-cheol’s training or rolling around with the Nine Leaf.

This time I was looking for a quiet space to do personal training.

Grrr.

I checked my condition while circulating my qi center.

The amount of qi was the same.

Compared to the time I focused on my mental training my growth was slow.

That makes sense; the current amount of qi was at the level of a decent realm master.

I had experienced more than a few miraculous encounters.

At this point I had surpassed the level where I could just increase it.

How about my physical body?

‘It’s empty.’

With the mindset of solidifying my foundation.

I had been tearing and regenerating repeatedly so while I had a stronger physique than my peers

That was only compared to my peers.

When compared to other peak masters I was somewhat lacking.

The level I had achieved now was ultimately.

A tower that looked impressive on the outside built from the application of qi and experiences from my past life.

It wasn’t a tower that would easily collapse.

But it wasn’t well-constructed either.

‘Tsk.’

If the qi supporting it were to drop

It would be at high risk of collapsing at any moment.

I wanted to strengthen my body to fill it up but.

That would take too long.

Training in outer arts truly requires a lot of time.

Even if I tried to think of it as qi transformation.

It was only Body Reformation. Even that wasn’t a perfect qi transformation.

I wasn’t even in a state to dream of Body Reformation.

‘What should I do?’

The qi mixed with heat was still circulating throughout my body.

It filled the middle qi center.

And steadily made its way back and forth to the upper qi center.

‘The path seems a bit cleaner now.’

Unlike when I first attempted to enter the upper qi center.

Now the path felt a bit cleaner.

But it was still just touching.

‘Why is that?’

I couldn’t understand.

Why was it still just touching?

I couldn’t break through even by raising my qi.

It was because the qi was barely enough to reach that point.

That’s why it was even more puzzling.

‘It’s not that I lack qi.’

It was definitely not that my qi was lacking.

But feeling insufficient to reach the upper qi center meant that.

Something else was the problem.

I thought this was a matter of the heart (心).

Somewhere a tangled thought was.

Blocking the qi from reaching the upper qi center.

What could be the problem?

There were so many things that I couldn’t pinpoint one.

When I first regressed.

The problem was my pitiful body and the minuscule amount of qi.

…

..

…

..

Now that I cleared that up is it my mind?

I can’t understand why there are so many problems as time goes on.

“Phew…”

I let out a deep sigh and recalled my qi to the qi center.

As my hot body quickly cooled down.

I finally felt the winter wind a bit.

As a faint mist rose with my breath.

I turned my head and said.

“Come here it’s cold.”

“•••!”

Between the spread-out trees I saw something flinch.

“Stop peeking. Come here quickly.”

As I gestured with my hand.

Only then did the person hiding behind the trees cautiously reveal themselves.

As expected the culprit was Wi Seol-ah.

Her sneaky approach was quite impressive.

Seeing that I circulated a bit of qi and surrounded myself with warmth.

“Is this your hobby?”

“Yes…?”

“Is peeking your new hobby?”

“Ah no.”

“Then what’s with all the glancing since earlier?”

“ ”

“Why do you keep glancing like that?”

While speaking I grabbed Wi Seol-ah’s cheeks with both hands and stretched them.

“Ugh…!?”

She seemed surprised that I would actually grab her and her eyes widened.

Unlike before her chubby cheeks had slimmed down but there was no problem grabbing them.

Her slender face was surprisingly stretchy when I pulled it.

“Is this what you meant this morning? Are you trying to torment me?”

At my words Wi Seol-ah’s eyes shook.

Seeing that I released her cheeks.

I hadn’t held them tightly but there was a bit of a sensation.

Wi Seol-ah touched her cheeks.

“What are you doing?”

What’s her intention?

I didn’t know what Wi Seol-ah was thinking but there must be a reason.

I wanted to know that. At my question Wi Seol-ah bit her lip and spoke with trembling eyes.

“•••I was told that this would work.”

“What do you mean it would work? Who said that?”

“•••If you keep looking the temptation will succeed…”

What temptation?

Did she just say temptation?