Chapter 110. Master
The Weapon Eccentric made a dumbfounded expression, then let out a hollow laugh and said.
"The world? Hahahaha. What are you, some Confucian scholar? What kind of dog-shit nonsense are you babbling about?"
There was no way the Weapon Eccentric could understand it.
Dong Bong-su had analyzed the system, followed the path it created, and occasionally dug into the system's loopholes to grow stronger and survive. But one thing was certain: he had walked the path the system created.
So his master was clearly the system itself, this New Murim Online.
"I looked at the world and tried to understand it better, and I used what I understood in different ways. Doing that, little by little, the world started to become clearer to me."
Only then did the Weapon Eccentric realize that Dong Bong-su was not joking, and the smile vanished from his lips.
"... Is that really all?"
Dong Bong-su answered immediately without stopping his steps.
"If I had to name another master, it would be humans."
"... What kind of dog-bone nonsense is that?"
After dog grass, now dog bones. It was a natural reaction for the Weapon Eccentric.
But for Dong Bong-su, it was the truth.
Before coming to this world, that is, when he was in the other world, there was no one who could be called his master.
If there was something like that for him, it was precisely humans, their essence itself.
"Just like the world, I studied humans, analyzed them to understand them, and tried to imitate them."
It was for hunting. There was no other reason at all.
Of course, the meaning the Weapon Eccentric heard, understood, and interpreted would be completely different.
"Is that really all?"
Tap.
The Weapon Eccentric suddenly blocked Dong Bong-su's path and brushed aside his hair. It was to see his eyes.
He read sincerity in Dong Bong-su's eyes. However, he did not understand at all what that sincerity was based on.
Dong Bong-su brushed past the Weapon Eccentric and started walking again.
"That's right."
"... I can't believe it."
"Then don't."
"Hehehe, hahahaha! You really are a crazy bastard, a crazy bastard."
A crazy bastard.
Maybe that was true.
But to Dong Bong-su, he himself was more normal and honest than anyone in this world. At least by his own standards.
He would continue to be so. In some ways, he would become even more so. The more that happened, the more he would look like a crazy bastard to the Weapon Eccentric, but that was none of his concern.
Because that was who he was.
"Come on, let's go. Let's go and have a big drink together."
The Weapon Eccentric said as he slung an arm over Dong Bong-su's shoulder.
Dong Bong-su did not like people touching his body very much, but for now he stayed still.
After all, it was acting.
The Weapon Eccentric had to become his absolute ally and reliable support from now on. Maybe it would go even further than that. So there was no need to waste energy taking the trouble to remove the Weapon Eccentric's arm from his shoulder.
Dong Bong-su and the Weapon Eccentric, with their arms around each other's shoulders, turned their backs on the still-crowded Main Avenue and walked toward that small structure. The Martial Alliance was big, so the distance was not short, but it was not very far either.
After brushing off a few of the Weapon Eccentric's trivial questions, they arrived in front of it before they knew it.
Seen up close, the structure looked like a semi-basement rental room or a storage room from the other world. The entrance was open, and there were stairs leading down right away.
"Come in. It may look like this, but it's huge down below."
The Weapon Eccentric gestured noisily and went down the stairs first.
The cylindrical staircase had more steps than expected, meaning it was quite deep despite appearances. Looking again, it was not a semi-basement but a real basement.
When Dong Bong-su felt he had gone down about six to seven meters, a large iron door appeared.
Clank.
The Weapon Eccentric pushed the iron door open and stepped inside first.
Dong Bong-su followed right after him.
Inside was, as the Weapon Eccentric said, extremely spacious. Perhaps it had originally been used as a forge, because various weapons and tools that blacksmiths would use were scattered all over, and strangely enough, there was even a bed installed on one side so someone could sleep.
A place that was just right to be used as the Weapon Eccentric's lodging. That was the first impression of the place.
However.
"I have been waiting, elder."
There was a guest who had arrived first.
Eulji Tae, it was him.
He had arrived first and was waiting, and when the Weapon Eccentric entered, he greeted him with a respectful fist-and-palm salute.
The Weapon Eccentric glanced at him once with an annoyed expression, then went further inside the workshop.
"Tsk. I was about to have a nice drink with Gwangun, but this unlucky guy comes and ruins the mood from the start. Damn it."
"I'm sorry."
"If you're sorry, then tell that old man to stop giving me so much work. I'm old enough now that if I run around too much, my bones start aching."
From the moment Eulji Tae appeared, the Weapon Eccentric already knew that he had come carrying the order of True Immortal Hyeon-cheon. But even if it was annoying, he could not refuse the task.
He was, after all, one of the Hall Masters belonging to the Martial Alliance.
Eulji Tae looked at Dong Bong-su, who was standing near the entrance, and said.
"I want to talk with you alone."
Creeeak.
Dong Bong-su glanced at Eulji Tae once and then pushed the iron door, which was not yet fully closed, and tried to go back outside.
"He can stay."
The Weapon Eccentric said.
At that, Dong Bong-su stopped the hand that was pushing. Needless to say, he also stopped his feet. It was an action taken because he recognized it was an important moment. With Eulji Tae's appearance, he felt that what he had intended might happen faster than he thought.
"But elder, this is an important matter. I know you cherish that young man, but this is a matter of the Alliance."
"For me, there's nothing more important right now than that guy. Heaven-Splitting Sticky Blade."
The Weapon Eccentric's voice dropped a little. His eyes became half-open, and lightning-like sharp light flowed out. It was an expression of his will that he had no intention of yielding even a little.
Still, Eulji Tae could not easily back down.
"I told you it is an important matter, elder."
"No, that's why I'm telling you to say it here, isn't it? What you're calling important is the Extreme Yin Heavenly Slaughter Star... "
"Elder!"
"Hey! You bastard. What if you scare away even a kid that wasn't going to leave? You're shouting so loud my ears are going to burst. Over something so trivial."
Eulji Tae was startled by the Weapon Eccentric's words and hurriedly cut in. It was a loud voice that Eulji Tae would never normally utter.
"No matter how much you are our elder, you must not speak so carelessly about that... thing."
"You idiot. Everyone who needs to know already knows. They say it was hidden by the Heavenly Demon Star for several years, but it was floating in the sky for months in plain sight? Do you think that's some kind of huge secret?"
"But..."
"Enough. What if that guy is my disciple?"
"...!"
At the Weapon Eccentric's sudden bombshell-like remark, Eulji Tae's cold face stiffened even more.
On the other hand, Dong Bong-su.
'Good.'
He muttered inwardly. It was an unexpected development, but the result was exactly as planned. Perhaps it would even produce more than that.
"Then that settles it, right?"
The Weapon Eccentric said again.
Eulji Tae stared at the Weapon Eccentric for a moment longer, then turned his head to look at Dong Bong-su.
Not only his eyes but half of his face was covered by his hair, so it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Since there was no reaction at all, maybe the Weapon Eccentric's words about him being a disciple were true.
'But Dong Gwang-cheon's age...'
Eulji Tae already knew to some extent how extraordinary Dong Bong-su was.
Even so, to take someone that old as a disciple?
That was not easy to understand. Dong Bong-su did not look extremely old, but he still looked to be at least around twenty.
At that age, not only the muscles and bones but also the meridians would have hardened a lot. The muscles and bones looked excellent thanks to a steady life as a wanderer, but once the meridians hardened, it was very difficult to open them again. In short, it meant it was already too late to properly learn an internal energy cultivation method.
And yet that old monster had taken him as a disciple?
"Is it true?"
Instead of answering the Weapon Eccentric, Eulji Tae asked Dong Bong-su. But Dong Bong-su said nothing.
"Are you not going to answer whether it's true?"
Eulji Tae's voice rose a little, but Dong Bong-su still remained silent.
Because it was an important moment.
Depending on how he answered here, his future course might change completely.
What answer should he give? What should he say to produce the best result? But the answer was already decided. And he had already given that answer.
The best answer he chose was.
"..."
That.
If he had to put it into words, it was silent waiting. That was it.
"See? That guy is staying still too. That's fine, right? Then?"
The Weapon Eccentric was satisfied with Dong Bong-su's waiting.
Although it was something he blurted out suddenly after being swept up by the atmosphere...
It was certainly his true intention. And didn't he say he had no master? No, to be precise, he said something about the world and humans, but in the end, wasn't that basically the same thing?
He might be a little old, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that he liked Dong Bong-su.
"..."
After staring at Dong Bong-su for a while longer, Eulji Tae turned his head back to the Weapon Eccentric.
Right after that, his lips moved quickly. Even so, no sound at all came out of his bleak voice.
"Heaven-Splitting Sticky Blade, you weren't this kind of guy. Staying too long in a place like the Martial Alliance has only made you more cunning."
It was voice communication.
That way, he did not need to perfectly confirm whether Dong Bong-su was truly the Weapon Eccentric's disciple, and he thought it was fine even if Dong Bong-su was here.
The Weapon Eccentric did not like Eulji Tae's voice communication very much, but he did not bother to scold him. Since Eulji Tae was going to speak, there was no need to stop him. In any case, Eulji Tae was the one who had brought the Martial Alliance Leader's message.
"Is that all?"
After Eulji Tae's voice communication, which had gone on for quite a while, ended, the Weapon Eccentric tossed out a single question as if it were nothing.
"Yes, elder."
With that, their secret talk was over.
But that was only their misunderstanding.
The voice communication between the two had not been secret at all.
Dong Bong-su heard everything Eulji Tae said. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say he read it.
He read Eulji Tae's lips.
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