Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign

Chapter 13: The Slacker Meets His Match (2)

"Yeonho."

Baek Muhan called Wi Yeonho in a low voice.

"Ah, just let me sleep a bit more..."

Wi Yeonho was completely letting his guard down.

Lately, Wi Yeonho had grown strong enough to surpass even Baek Muhan’s violence.

As Wi Yeonho grew stronger, Baek Muhan weakened.

Once Wi Yeonho was finally freed from Baek Muhan’s torment, his long-lost laziness had gradually returned.

"Yeonho."

"I said, just a little more sleep. Don’t you trust me?"

At this point, a stone would usually come flying his way. Having endured endless torment from Baek Muhan, Wi Yeonho could easily guess what was coming.

He braced himself, ready to dodge the incoming rock.

"Come here for a moment."

But Baek Muhan gently coaxed him instead.

"Huh?"

Without another word, Wi Yeonho got up. He had a strange feeling—Baek Muhan seemed different from usual.

As he rose to his feet, he saw Baek Muhan seated in meditation before him.

"What’s going on?"

Baek Muhan smiled and pointed to the spot in front of him.

"Sit."

At his words, Wi Yeonho knelt and sat before Baek Muhan. There was an air of gravity in Baek Muhan’s voice that was hard to disobey today.

"Listen to me carefully."

"Yes, sir."

"I’ve spent my whole life mastering martial arts."

"......"

"My only wish was to reach the end of martial arts. So I turned away from everything else. In pursuit of martial arts, I became a crotchety old man and found myself alienated even by my own clan."

"I can imagine."

"You want a beating?"

"No, sir."

The brief gentleness that had appeared on Baek Muhan’s face vanished, and the demonic look he usually wore returned.

‘Of course. He hasn’t changed.’

This man had tormented Wi Yeonho nearly to death for the past five years.

"Looking back, it makes sense that the clan never came to find me. Thinking about all that I’ve done... I ignored my child and abandoned my family for the sake of martial arts. I thought that once I reached the pinnacle, everything else would follow. But I was wrong. Martial arts are something done by people. If one doesn’t walk the path of a human being, what meaning is there in reaching the end of the sword?"

"......"

Baek Muhan smiled as he looked at Wi Yeonho.

Wi Yeonho had helped him realize that.

For the first time, he had tried teaching someone. He’d gotten angry, frustrated.

But as he watched Wi Yeonho slowly improve, he had felt joy—had come to understand what true happiness was, and what it meant to feel affection.

"I was foolish. That’s why I didn’t teach you the Radiance Sword Style."

"Then what have I been learning all this time?"

"That was me giving you the framework."

"The framework?"

"I gave you the framework I created when I devised the Twelve Radiant Sword Forms. Martial arts, too, are something expressed by a person. If the person isn’t reflected in it, then it’s nothing but a shell. I gave you the framework. So now, fill that framework with yourself."

"I don’t really understand what you mean."

To the confused Wi Yeonho, Baek Muhan merely smiled.

A gentle smile, like one a grandfather would give to his grandson, made Wi Yeonho's heart grow uneasy for no reason.

"You don’t need to understand it just yet."

"Then I guess I haven’t gotten that strong, huh?"

"That’s not true!"

"......"

"A disciple of the Radiant Sword, weak? Don’t be ridiculous! You think I’d sit back and let that happen?"

"But you said you regretted your cranky nature."

"Silence!"

Wi Yeonho flinched and shut his mouth.

People don’t change so easily.

He could talk like that, but if Baek Muhan really wanted to fix his personality, he'd have to be born again.

"Anyway, I’ve given you the framework. Now, it's up to you to pour your life into it and forge your own martial arts."

"You say that like we won’t be seeing each other again."

Baek Muhan smiled.

Wi Yeonho felt strange as he saw that smile. It had already been five years since they started living together. He had seen countless expressions from Baek Muhan over that time, but this was the first time he had seen him smile like this.

A smile that seemed gentle, yet tinged with sorrow. One that somehow comforted the heart, yet also stirred unease.

That was exactly the kind of smile Baek Muhan wore now.

"Yes, it’s time."

Wi Yeonho’s face turned to stone.

"What do you mean?"

He shook his head and gave a faint chuckle. But his movement looked strangely desperate.

"Master, come on now, that’s a bit much for a joke. You think I’ll fall for that?"

Baek Muhan simply gave a quiet, serene smile.

"You’re serious?"

"I am."

"You said thirty years! You told me at the beginning it would take thirty years to master it! There are still twenty-five years left! You have to live at least twenty-five more years!"

"Yes, that could’ve been the case."

"Then let it be so. Or maybe not. Actually, if I had to spend another twenty-five years with you, I might shrivel up and die."

Wi Yeonho shook his head side to side, but an unmistakable unease rose on his face.

Baek Muhan wasn’t the kind of man to joke about things he didn’t mean.

"Yeonho."

"But there’s still time! You said once you speak something aloud, no matter what, you’ll keep your word! That means there are still twenty-five years left!"

"I did say that."

"Then!"

"Controlling your qi within your body was not as easy as it may have seemed."

"......"

"My strength is spent now. It's time for us to part ways."

"Is it because of me?"

Wi Yeonho's voice trembled.

"No. It’s not something for you to blame yourself for. It was fate. To be honest, even having this conversation with you like this is already going against the natural order. I must pay the price."

"Don’t talk about natural order. If that’s what it is, then it’s something worth breaking."

"Is that so?"

"I’ll go outside. I’ll eat a ton and fill you up with inner energy myself."

"Just your words are enough. Thank you."

"I can do it! You think I can’t?"

Baek Muhan gave a gentle smile.

"You already know… that it’s impossible, don’t you?"

"......"

"It’s time."

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

There was a quiver in Wi Yeonho’s voice.

"If you had, I would’ve gone out earlier, made sure to eat properly and train! It’s not like I could’ve run away anyway!"

Baek Muhan shook his head.

"It’s fine."

"What’s fine about it!"

The Radiant Sword smiled softly at the furious Wi Yeonho.

"I enjoyed the time we spent together."

"......"

"So I figured… maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to disappear like this. I could’ve bought myself a bit more time if I had done things differently, but… it wouldn’t have been as joyful as it was."

"That’s a strange thing to say."

"It is, isn’t it? I, too, wanted to see you travel the world a bit longer. But this is enough."

"How is it enough?"

"Because I can already see it."

"......"

"I can already see you roaming across the world, clear as day in my mind."

"No. Without you, I’ll probably hole up in my room and never come out again."

"And what of it?"

Baek Muhan's smile deepened.

"Even so, it's fine. No matter where you go or what you do, the fact that you are the proud disciple of me, Baek Muhan of the Radiant Sword, will never change."

"...Master."

"Yeonho."

"Yes."

"Look upon the world. Take the world into yourself. If you do, everything else will follow naturally."

"Yes."

"And before you look at the world, look at people first. I was so busy gazing at the peak that I never looked at what lay beneath my feet. Do not make the same mistake I did."

"I understand."

Baek Muhan looked at Wi Yeonho with warm eyes.

"Do not forget."

"......"

"I will live on within you. Even if I can no longer see you, even if no one in the world knows I ever existed... I reside in each of your gestures, in every stroke of your sword. So even if we part, it’s not truly a farewell. Yeonho, watch people, traverse the world, and complete yourself. You don’t have to be exceptional. You don’t need to be great. Just…"

Baek Muhan’s smile was softer than ever.

"Be happy."

"Master…"

Baek Muhan’s figure gradually began to fade.

"No! No, this isn’t right! You can’t go yet!"

Baek Muhan did not respond.

He simply closed his eyes in silence, a gentle smile lingering on his lips.

"No! I said no! You can’t do this yet! There’s still so much I haven’t learned! No, it’s fine even if I don’t learn it! You don’t have to teach me anymore! So—so just a little longer! Even a single day more!"

At last, Baek Muhan’s figure vanished completely.

Even knowing he could not grasp it, Wi Yeonho instinctively reached out and clutched at the empty air where Baek Muhan had stood.

"Just a little longer…"

The cold air of the cave wrapped around Wi Yeonho’s body.

He stood there for a long time, gazing at the empty space and at his hand that had caught nothing, saying nothing.

His lips slowly parted as he stood, like a statue.

"You could’ve told me a little sooner."

If not today, even if he had said something yesterday, he could’ve at least prepared himself.

"To torment me right up to the end… no wonder people called you cranky."

Wi Yeonho turned to look at the cave wall.

The marks left by his sword during training.

The traces made by Baek Muhan while demonstrating techniques.

And the places where the stones had been embedded from being beaten by Baek Muhan.

Wi Yeonho slowly approached the wall and brushed his hand over one of the sunken spots.

"If this is all you left behind, what am I supposed to do with it?"

He let out a long sigh.

There truly hadn’t been a shred of kindness in that man. If he were being honest, he had suffered so much under him. He should have felt relieved, even freed.

"What am I supposed to do now…"

And yet, for some reason, his eyes kept turning red.

"Master…"

Tears finally flowed from Wi Yeonho’s eyes.

Once they started, they wouldn’t stop. The tears kept falling, as if to wash away all the time they had spent together.

Wi Yeonho remained in that cave for three more days.

Though he knew it was time to leave, his feet wouldn’t move. The moment he stepped outside, it felt like even the memory of Baek Muhan’s presence in this place would begin to fade from his heart.

But no one can stay in one place forever. At last, Wi Yeonho rose to his feet.

It was time to leave this place.

He slung the bundle he had brought over his shoulder and turned his head.

"Let’s go."

But there was no reply.

"I'm going. I'm going to live comfortably now, resting as much as I want."

Wi Yeonho’s monologue continued.

"So don’t nag me for not getting up. Don’t scold me for sleeping too much, and don’t curse me for being lazy. This is all because you went and used your strength recklessly and vanished like a fool."

For a moment, he felt as if Baek Muhan was smiling gently at him.

"I’m not coming back."

Of course, no answer came.

"I'm serious, you know?"

Just then, he heard Baek Muhan’s voice—like a fleeting illusion.

― So what of it? We’re still together, aren’t we?

He knew.

It wasn’t Baek Muhan’s voice.

It was the answer Wi Yeonho had imagined for himself.

Wi Yeonho smiled.

"Well, that’s true, I guess."