Childhood Friend of the Zenith – 423 (Part 2)



423 (Part 2)

All sorts of sounds were piercing into Woo-hyuk’s ears.

‘This is troublesome.’

He was trying hard to maintain a calm facade with a forced smile but the noise he hadn’t heard in a long time was still overwhelming.

He had known from the start that the noise would return if he distanced himself from Gu Yang-cheon.

It had been a long time since it had gotten this loud.

It was just like before he met Gu Yang-cheon.

Perhaps it felt more intense because he hadn’t heard it in a while. As a headache gradually crept in Woo-hyuk felt exhausted in an instant.

‘What’s going on?’

Feeling this way Woo-hyuk looked down at the river. The noise had suddenly started just a few minutes after Gu Yang-cheon fell into the water.

It was around the time when the chaos caused by the demonic beast had quieted down and the waves had stopped.

It was a sudden phenomenon. Seeing this Woo-hyuk wondered if something had happened to Gu Yang-cheon.

And then.

‘Them too.’

Woo-hyuk’s gaze shifted to Namgung Bia and Wi Seol-ah.

Right after the noise began to reach him.

He could see that their expressions had also changed abruptly as if startled.

‘Could it be? Do they have something going on too?’

Seeing that made him wonder if they were experiencing something strange like he was but right now Gu Yang-cheon’s safety was more important.

Just before Woo-hyuk was about to set out to hunt the demonic beast he recalled what Gu Yang-cheon had said to the group.

[Just do as I say. Don’t be surprised if something strange happens.]

He had definitely said that.

If someone else had said it he would have thought it was nonsense.

Yet strangely Woo-hyuk found himself trusting Gu Yang-cheon’s words.

Was he someone that could be trusted that much? Not really… that wasn’t the case.

Still for some reason his words felt credible.

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In fact by following what he said Woo-hyuk was able to confront the demonic beast.

It was nothing short of miraculous.

How could that be?

When Woo-hyuk first felt the barrier of the demonic beast he was shocked wondering what it was.

A barrier that absorbs qi.

What kind of thing is this?

How on earth was he supposed to hunt something like that?

For a moment of astonishment Gu Yang-cheon had given instructions while observing it and the moment Woo-hyuk drew his sword in response.

He had to face an even greater shock.

He felt he could vaguely understand why Gu Yang-cheon was giving such orders.

After swinging his sword a couple of times.

Woo-hyuk could feel a distinct difference in the transparent barrier.

It was a very subtle difference.

Capturing this sense of alienation was quite a difficult task for Woo-hyuk.

This meant that Gu Yang-cheon was feeling all of this from behind and giving instructions.

‘…He really is an unbelievable guy.’

Every time he looked at Gu Yang-cheon he felt an inexplicable wall between them.

Woo-hyuk knew he had talent.

He had never become arrogant or conceited because of it.

But he was aware that he possessed superior talent compared to others.

However.

Whenever he saw Gu Yang-cheon he often felt that even that was meaningless.

Their paths were different.

Though they were born in the same generation Gu Yang-cheon was somehow different.

Unless something extraordinary happened Gu Yang-cheon would rise to a higher place at a different speed than the rest of them.

Before long he would reach a position that Woo-hyuk couldn’t even imagine.

Woo-hyuk was convinced of this.

Moreover he was curious about that future.

So.

‘Hurry up and come out.’

He gripped his sword while looking at the river.

Gu Yang-cheon was someone who shouldn’t die in a place like this.

At least that’s how Woo-hyuk saw it.

As he gradually couldn’t suppress his impatience and frowned.

Sssssss—

“…!”

Woo-hyuk’s eyes widened at the sensation felt beneath the water. He then sensed the noise around him disappearing like a ghost.

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It wasn’t just him.

Namgung Bia and Wi Seol-ah seemed to feel it too. They ran across the water towards the center of the presence.

Bubbles began to rise from that spot.

“Puhak…!”

A head suddenly popped out from under the water gasping for air.

“Wow… this is insane. I almost died… Aah!”

The ferociously looking young man who had jumped out of the water tried to say something but Namgung Bia and Wi Seol-ah leaped and hugged him.

“Wait…! It’s a bit dangerous right now!”

As Gu Yang-cheon struggled in the embrace of the two women he fell back into the water.

But Woo-hyuk could finally let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that.

******************

Right after the chaos with the demonic beast ended they returned directly to the ship.

Normally it would be appropriate to collect the carcass of the demonic beast and take its bones or skin.

However the carcass had already sunk deep into the river.

Given that the situation wasn’t over it was deemed impossible to search for it right now.

Under the command of the Poison King they returned to the deck.

When they arrived on the deck Woo-hyuk remembered the surprised expression on the Poison King’s face.

It was no wonder as the area was filled with the carcasses of demonic beasts.

They seemed to be the ones who had been targeting the ship along with the red demonic beast.

Fortunately they were all dead.

The number of carcasses floating around the river and lying dead on the deck was considerable. It was hard to count them all.

And at the center of it all stood a martial artist holding a spear.

It was Tang Deok.

Before he jumped down to hunt the demonic beast I had given him the order to protect the people. So he had to protect them by force.

His expression was sour at the fact that he had to protect the Tang Clan members himself.

But that was none of my concern.

Especially when the Poison King expressed his gratitude to Tang Deok the expression he wore was quite a sight.

The Poison King also made a strange face upon seeing that.

Seeing that I felt the need to explain to him that this guy was mute and that his face was originally like that.

It was a bit of a pun but from that I gained a conviction.

‘The Poison King doesn’t know Tang Deok.’

He had covered his unique hair with a hood.

Although Tang Deok hadn’t learned the Poison Art the fact that he didn’t sense anything even when facing him so closely meant that he didn’t know about Tang Deok.

‘But that could also be an act by the Poison King.’

Thinking that far was too complicated.

The sudden appearance of the red demonic beast had already made the situation chaotic.

The martial artists were at a loss due to the level that had appeared after hundreds of years.

They were debating whether it was okay to continue sailing like this.

First they argued that it would be better to return to Henan and report this.

But in any case the leader of this group was the Poison King.

The Poison King stated that ensuring the safe passage of the transport fleet to Sichuan was the top priority and concluded by sending a brief letter to the Murim Alliance.

Even if others wore dissatisfied expressions nothing would change.

If they were unhappy they could jump into the river and swim back.

If that wasn’t possible they had to stay quietly on the ship.

They probably wouldn’t choose the former for now.

Having seen the majesty and power of the red demonic beast firsthand they couldn’t ignore the anxiety about the possibility of another red demonic beast.

To sum it up they couldn’t stop heading to Sichuan anyway.

“Haah…”

Sitting alone on the bed in the ship I let out a sigh.

It was truly an unexpected situation.

Because of that I was tense from head to toe.

Only after the situation ended did my body which had been tense finally relax.

Now I could finally catch my breath.

When I returned to the ship Tang So-yeol and Mo Yong-hia had heard about the situation and nagged me endlessly.

They probably told me to stop doing dangerous things.

From my perspective it felt a bit unfair.

But it was a situation where I couldn’t not act.

How could I just stay on the ship when such a thing appeared right in front of me?

“…No maybe it would have been better to just stay still.”

It was absurd that I almost drowned of all things.

If I had known that would happen I would have stayed quietly on the ship.

Letting out sighs repeatedly I extended my hand in front of me.

After going through the trouble of killing the demonic beast how could I almost drown?

“…Now come out.”

This was all because of this guy.

Swoosh…

Hearing my call something slipped out from inside my sleeve crawling along my hand.

In terms of thickness it was about the size of a pinky finger.

In length it was at most from my wrist to my elbow.

The creature that wriggled and wrapped around my hand turned its small head towards me.

Slurp.

The tongue that flicked out from its mouth and the familiar yellow glow reminded me of something I had seen before.

Yes it was exactly like the eyes of the demonic beast I had encountered earlier. The feeling and the type were the same.

A snake. Yes it was a snake.

A very small snake with red scales.

It was looking at me while wrapped around my hand.