A/N: Theres quite a few things I wish to say before everyone starts reading the chp. First of all, I imagine most of you all have noticed the change in the story's title. I have recently came to the decision to break the story up into a trilogy, hence the reason for the change.
Next up, I usually don't comment about what you the readers say but i feel as though I need to clarify to you all the questions you had last chp. First off, the reason why Yong Hwa immediately denied he wasn't Ryther. It might not seem like it since there was such a large gap between chps, but Yong Hwa had already spent 4-5 yrs going by his current name. During those yrs, he was mostly in seclusion training and going just by that name. He was already used to his new persona. Then suddenly, a random girl he never met called him a name he never heard before. There's a lot of times when people mistake others for someone else, so why would he think out of the blue that the name a girl he met for the first time was his name? You have to remember, even though he does know Yong Hwa isn't his real name, he hasn't had much time to think about the past he doesn't remember and is already used to his current life.
Next, about the question of Raia not asking him to pull out his sword. Even though it hasn't been stated in the story yet, its considered disrespectful in this world. The reason for this is two. !st: The soul weapon is basically an extension of the person. In this world, it is similar to asking someone to show them their arm, leg, etc. 2nd: since most weapons have an aura related to their element, most people won't randomly show their weapon to strangers as its giving them an advantage by knowing what element they use ahead.
Last of all, I want to apologize for the late release. I needed to get surgery on wednesday so was busy preparing for it and recovering the last couple of days. I hope this note's section helps answer everyone's question. Feel free to comment on questions as I am more than willing to answer them. Thank you for viewing and enjoying this story. If you like it, i ask you leave a comment or review as they do encourage me! Thanks!
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“Jeez, you two! Hurry up, we’ll miss the show!”
In the middle of a crowded street, Seol Hwa was waving her hand back and forth, trying to urge the two young males to move more quickly. The two young men, who looked exhausted and were moving sluggishly, shook their heads simultaneously when they saw her impatient facial expression. Of course, the two were Yong Hwa and Chang.
It was the day after their rescue mission. Even though they arrived back at the inn a couple of hours before dawn, they were greeted by the anxious Uncle Ray. Once he saw Seol Hwa returning, multiple emotions such as worry, anxiousness, shock, and joy appeared on his face. Not even waiting for them to reach the inn, he rushed forward with haste. After inspecting Seol Hwa and making sure she wasn’t injured, he cried out in relief and fiercely hugged her.
After maintaining the hug for a while, he reluctantly released Seol Hwa and looked at the other four. He profusely thanked them and the four were even able to see water starting to gather at the corner of his eyes. After repeatedly telling Uncle Ray that it was nothing, he finally calmed down before he told Yong Hwa and Chang to rest for a couple days until Elder Shin arrived.
Hearing Uncle Ray tell them to rest for a couple days, Chang jumped and hollered. Even Yong Hwa had a large smile on his face. It felt as if they hadn’t slept in days. After saying goodbye to everyone, the two of them dragged their bodies to their room, excited at the thought of sleeping in after the tiring night.
Their wish, however, was thoroughly shattered when a loud banging abruptly ended their blissful slumber around noon. They tried to resist at first by pretending to be still asleep, but much to their horror, it was to no avail as Seol Hwa slammed into their rooms and dragged them out.
“Haaa….Say Yong Hwa, just why is Seol Hwa so excited to go see a puppet show?”
With half closed eyes, Chang let a large yawn loose before he asked the question. Stifling a yawn himself, Yong Hwa shook his head before he replied.
“How am I supposed to know what goes through a girl’s mind? You’re the expert when it relates to girls. You tell me.”
During the four-five years that Yong Hwa and Chang trained under Elder Shin together, the majority of the time, they were in seclusion with just the three of them. On the few occasions they had guests or ran across a group of people, Yong Hwa mostly minded his own business and didn’t interact with them much. The only exceptions were Seol Hwa and Uncle Ray. Although his attitude was more open toward the other members of the Samjoko, he was still more reserved than the others.
Chang, on the other hand would chase after any females that came across his view. There were numerous occasions when Chang would force Yong Hwa to be his accomplish as he attempted to woo them. Thinking back on those times, a chuckle escaped Yong Hwa’s mouth before he noticed it. If Elder Shin were to know of these events, it was amusing to think of just how furious he would be. Even though he would occasionally blackmail Chang over that, he never really planned on telling as the thought of the punishments made him shiver.
Chang was the more outgoing of the two, not hesitating to engage with strangers. His personality made others feel at ease and that he was easy to get along with. He made friends quickly with others. Although Yong Hwa chided him about it sometimes, in truth, he was quite envious about how easy going and sociable Chang was.
After another fifteen minutes of shuffling their feet and Seol Hwa’s constant urging, the trio finally arrived at the area the show was going to take place at. It was in the center of the market area and had been set up with chairs and a booth in front. The area was pretty full with people as they surrounded the booth, which had curtains drawn down. After paying the entrance fee, the three found a spot where there was three open seating and sat down, waiting for the show to begin.
They didn’t have to wait for long. Ten minutes after they seated themselves, the curtains started to draw open, to the applause of everyone present. In the open space where the curtains used to be, stood two hand puppets.
One of the puppet was a male who grew a long, black beard. On his head was a black rectangular hat that was taller than it was long, not going past his ears. It was the outfit that the King of the Estrada Kingdom wore.
The other puppet, on the other hand, was dressed in commoner clothing. The clothes’ material looked rough and the colors seemed faded. Her black hair was drawn back into a ponytail.
Shortly after the curtain was drawn, the two puppets bowed. Once they stood upright once more, and the applause ended, a person off to the side announced that the show would begin. With that announcement, the area grew silent and the puppets began to move.
The play told the legend of the third King of the Estrada Kingdom, Julian, the Wise and his forbidden love with a commoner woman in his youth. The two happened to meet when the woman found Julian unconscious within a valley. After nursing his injuries for a couple of days, Julian finally regained conscious and saw her for the first time.
It was love at first sight. Although the woman was dressed in ragged commoner clothing, Julian was mesmerized by her beautiful looks. For the next month, the woman continued to nurse Julian as he recovered from his fall into the valley, within a cave. As the two interacted, they fell in love with each other.
The time the two spent together within that month was filled with bliss. Every day, they would laugh and smile whole heartedly at each other. It was such a beautiful scene that the audience weren’t able to help but laugh and feel warmth inside of themselves.
To their surprise, Yong Hwa and Chang found themselves being engrossed in the story. Chang leaned forward in his seat to see the play better and would laugh heartily occasionally. Yong Hwa, who sat in between the other two, also had a smile on his face as he watched the play. Occasionally, he would glance to his right to see Seol Hwa either smiling warmly or laughing. Seeing that, Yong Hwa felt that her joy was affecting him also and soon after he would shift his focus back to the play.
Julian and the woman’s happiness, sadly, didn’t last forever. Around the time Julian completely healed, he was planning on asking for the woman’s hand. Unfortunately though, the royal guards for the Estrada Kingdom finally found him at that time. Thinking that the woman was holding the then crown prince hostage, they furiously charged and tried to attack the woman. Horrified by the sudden turn of events, Julian tried to stop them, to no avail. The guards believed that the woman had enchanted their crown prince so after a moment of hesitation, continued to charge forward. As a final act of desperation, he even placed the woman behind him and stood in front of the guards in an attempt to protect her.
Seeing Julian’s brave act, the woman was moved. Even though she didn’t wish to part with Julian, she didn’t want to see him hurt even more and thus, she finally acted. Before the guards could reach Julian, a brilliant light exploded forth from behind Julian, causing all the guards to flinch and stop in their tracks.
Even Julian, who had his back to the light, didn’t dare to turn around while the light was still there. Afraid that something happened to his beloved, once the light began to dim, he immediately turned around. What he saw afterwards shocked him.
In the place where the woman used to be, now hovered a brilliant golden phoenix. The phoenix looked at the Julian with crystal clear eyes that showed hints of water. After apologizing for deceiving Julian with her disguise, she told him that he would forever have a place in her heart and would have her divine protection and sadly flew away.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Seeing the phoenix fly away, Julian fell to his knees and cried out, begging for the phoenix to come back. To him, it didn’t matter that the woman wasn’t human. All that mattered was that he loved her. Once he finally came to recognition that she wouldn’t come back, he silently prayed to the High Gods for them to be merciful and let the two be together in his next life.
“Legends tell that after Julian the Wise became King, his very first command was to have a golden phoenix encased within a golden circle stitched onto the King’s outfit. Afterwards, Julian ruled very wisely, leading the Estrada Kingdom enter its golden age. In any battles, it was told that when he led his army, it seemed as though a golden halo surrounded him, giving him a divine appearance. With that halo surrounding him, apparently no weapons were able to harm him. Well then, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the play. We thank everyone for attending our humble performance.”
With those words, the person who stood beside the booth bowed to the audience. The puppets in the booth also bowed to the thundering applause of the audience. Everyone in the audience had been very pleased by the performance.
Chang was clapping his hand furiously in applause while hollering loudly. Yong Hwa also was clapping his hand with a smile on his face. The performance really had been great. As he turned to look at Seol Hwa, he saw her dabbing at the corner of her eyes, wiping away the remains of tears. Just as he was about to console her, his eyes saw two familiar figures at the side where people who arrived late stood and watched the performance.
“Eh? Isn’t that Dal and Geum?”
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’Bool Shin… That by chance, wasn’t you, was it?’
Standing at the side of the performance, Dal was looking at the booth where the performance had just ended with mixed expressions. Even though she knew that the performance was a legend and most likely not true, for some reason she got the feeling that the phoenix in the play was her beast soul. Even while she was asking the question, Dal prepared herself to hear Bool Shin bash her for believing such a ridiculous tale. To her shock though, after a few moments of silence, Bool Shin’s voice, which was filled with sadness and longing, replied back.
’Ah, that silly Julian. Even after knowing my identity, he still longed for me….’
‘EH?! THAT LEGEND IS TRUE THEN?!’
Hearing the shocking reply, Dal’s expression froze. She couldn’t believe that the tale that was just told was true. Even more, the main actress was her beast soul, Bool Shin! All of those combined was too much for her to handle at once. Feeling her emotions, Bool Shin sighed and continued on.
’Haa… even though a lot of the things were exaggerated, the fundamental part of the story is true. Back then, while I was flying around lazily in the sky, I came across Julian, who was severely injured and was unconscious. Since I was bored, on a whim I decided to take pity on the child and save him. Who would have known that that one act of kindness would lead to us falling in love….’
Listening to Bool Shin’s tale, Dal’s eyes began to sparkle as amazement filled her. Who would have thought such events happened to Bool Shin. Even though Dal may seem tomboyish because of her personality, she was still a young maiden in heart and imaging such romantic things excited her. As she was having those thoughts, a voice interrupted her imagination.
“Lady Dal, Yong Hwa is approaching us.”
“Eh? Yong Hwa is here?”
Hearing the sudden voice, Dal looked forward to see Yong Hwa walking to them. When she saw the smile on his face as he walked over, Dal felt her heart beat quicken. Out of the blue, she once again remembered what the fortune reader told her.
’I wonder, is what she said really true?’
Ever since she rescued Yong Hwa that one night, and saw the sign the fortune teller told her to avoid, she has been thinking over it constantly. If she really was to take what the fortune teller said to heart, she needed to avoid forming a relationship with him, since it might cause the death of one of them. Still, she couldn’t deny that she had a favorable opinion of him and her feelings for him were growing. Thinking up to there, she shook her head to clear her mind.
’I can’t let the possibility of something happening in the future affect what happens now. If it indeed gets to that point, I’ll figure out something then. Still, it’s not like he’s interested in me, anyways. He likes Seol Hwa, after all….’
A woman’s intuition is frightening. Even though Yong Hwa tried to keep it unnoticeable, Dal was able to tell that Yong Hwa liked Seol Hwa a lot. The way he gazed as her was one where a man looked at his lover. It even made her feel something close to jealousy. Still, she didn’t have more time to think about it, though, as Yong Hwa reached them.
“I didn’t expect to see the two of you here. When did you get here?”
“We happened to be walking around the market when we saw that a play was going on.”
When he heard Dal’s response, Yong Hwa nodded his head in understanding.
“So what brought you two out? I didn’t think expect to see you out since you spend most of your time in the inn.”
“We’re planning to go out to train and hunt a few beasts tomorrow so we came to shop for a few things.”
“Ah, that makes sense. You two sure are hard working. It makes me envious.”
Even though it may have sounded sarcastic, Yong Hwa looked as though he meant what he said. There was no traces of ridicule on face, it was more admiration. Seeing that, without even knowing why herself, Dal invited Yong Hwa to come along.
“If you don’t have anything going on tomorrow, why don’t you come with us?”
“Lady Dal!”
Hearing Dal invite Yong Hwa, a tiny bit of surprise appeared on Geum’s face. Even though she was playful and liked to joke around, Dal was always serious about training. For her to invite someone else to train with her, this was the first time Geum had seen it. Also, the person she invited was someone she met recently and didn’t have too close of a relationship with. To Geum, Dal’s actions didn’t make sense with her personality.
Yong Hwa was also surprised by the sudden invitation.
“Is that really fine?”
“Yeah, why not? It’s only to go training, after all.”
After receiving confirmation, Yong Hwa thought about it for a moment. Truthfully, being able to go out and train with Dal was a big benefit for him. He knew that he paled in comparison to Dal when it came to swordsmanship and most likely experience. Thus, being able to go along with her would let him improve on his weaknesses a lot.
“If it’s fine with you, I would be honored to go.”
“Okay, then! Make your preparations today. We might be out in the mountains for a couple days, after all. We’ll meet at the entrance at seven o’clock in the morning tomorrow. See you then!”
With that said, Dal waved at Yong Hwa briefly and left. Geum, who was there for the whole interaction, had a strange expression on his face as he looked at Yong Hwa and then Dal. After releasing a sigh, he too left. Yong Hwa, who was left by himself, was stunned by the sudden departure of the two. Shaking his head, he turned around and started to return to Chang and Seol Hwa.
’Still, this training should be very helpful to me. I’ve been stuck at ‘One with the Soul’ for a while now. Maybe I’ll be able to improve a lot and reach ‘One with the Earth’ soon after.’
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That night, in Uncle Ray’s office, there were three men who were seated around a table. The room was dark except for the single candle lit in the center of the table they surrounded. The only face which was fully visible was Uncle Ray, who was at that moment talking.
After listening to Uncle Ray repeat what occurred over the past week, the two other men remained silent as they went over the events in their heads. After five minutes of silence, one of them finally spoke.
“Illbon’s actions really have been weird lately. It seems as though there going to make a move soon. What do you think Shin?”
“I agree. Their activities seem to be too public. Usually, they like to move around in the shadows. The abduction of Seol Hwa doesn’t go along with how they usually act. I think it’ll be best for me to go speak to the King about these affairs after this. What are you planning to do, Yoo Hae?”
The two other men in the room happened to be Elder Shin and the Sword God, Yoo Hae!