Chapter 209: Every Last One

“He woke up a little while ago after sleeping.”

Kim Muhyuk explained Choi Geon’s condition to the crew members who had come to visit him in the hospital.

Choi Geon kept drifting in and out of sleep. When he was awake, he sat there blankly and, now and then, spoke only in brief, simple phrases.

“Cast out demons and destroy evil.”

“Karma repays in kind.”

“Encourage good and punish evil.”

“Justice will prevail.”

The Blue Wolves crew members watched Choi Geon with worried eyes. Hwang Suksu carefully glanced around before broaching the subject.

“Uh, this is an Inner Demon, right? It’s not dementia or anything...”

Smack!

Kim Bokja slapped Hwang Suksu sharply across the back, ghost fire blazing up in her eyes.

“Don’t say unlucky things like that!”

“No, I’m saying it because I’m worried. Everything coming out of his mouth is a four-character idiom!”

“Didn’t you hear what Kim Muhyuk said? He’s in the middle of gaining enlightenment!”

“I’ve never seen anyone gain enlightenment like that in my whole life! What is this, the Magic Thousand-Character Classic?”

As the two of them raised their voices and started arguing, Choi Geon furrowed his brow, clicked his tongue softly, and said,

“Mutual aid.”

“S-Sir?”

“...That means we should get along, right?”

When the two of them stopped fighting with bewildered expressions, Choi Geon nodded with a satisfied look.

Seeing that he seemed to recognize them, Shin Kangheon stepped forward in front of Choi Geon and waved his hand wildly.

“Teacher. Do you know who I am? The future greatest saber in Korea, the youngest Martial Alliance Leader, Shin Kangheon, the Strange Sword Heroic Swordsman!”

“......”

Shin Kangheon tried hard to talk to him, but this time Choi Geon did not react.

“Looks like he doesn’t respond to bullshit.”

“Seems that way.”

At Kim Muhyuk’s words, Kim Bokja nodded as if that sounded right.

When Shin Kangheon insisted that was absolutely not true, this time Han Jaechun stepped forward.

“Sir. Do you recognize me? I’m Han Jaechun, an employee at < cafe Naru > and a wandering martial artist.”

Nod.

“H-He just nodded!”

“...As expected of Master. So he really doesn’t answer lies.”

“Ah, Teacher, isn’t that too harsh?”

No one had suggested it first, but everyone tried their best to toss out jokes and brighten the mood before it could turn too serious.

Choi Geon looked at them as they surrounded him like family, then smiled innocently and said,

“When the family is harmonious, all things succeed.”

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”

It was a classical idiom meaning that when a household was at peace, everything went well.

But that was not why everyone was shocked.

It was Choi Geon’s smile, innocent and guileless as a child’s, something they were seeing for the first time.

Everyone stared at him with all their defenses stripped away, then snapped back to their senses.

“Uh, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but he looks kind of cute...”

“Did anyone take a picture?”

“Teacher! Look here and smile like you just did. Say cheese!”

Everyone pulled out their phones to capture the sight, but Choi Geon quickly returned to a blank expression, lay back down on the bed, and closed his eyes.

“...He fell asleep again.”

Kim Muhyuk watched him for a moment, then turned to the crew members and said,

“You don’t need to worry too much. The time he stays awake is getting longer and longer. He’ll be back to normal soon.”

The crew members, who had all been worried deep down, let out sighs of relief and nodded.

“That’s a relief. When I heard Inner Demon, I thought something terrible had happened.”

“It is something terrible. Still, since it’s him, I’m sure he’ll shake it off and get back up soon.”

“We’ll never get to see that baby-like innocent face again, will we?”

“Damn it. I should’ve taken a picture...”

“Let’s take turns staying by Teacher’s side, one person at a time.”

The crew members set up a rotation and took turns keeping watch at Choi Geon’s side.

Like children and grandchildren visiting every day to chatter about every little thing.

“After hardship comes happiness...”

Amid everyone’s worry and care, Choi Geon’s condition fortunately improved little by little with each passing day.

When he was awake, he still spent most of his time looking out the window or lost in thought, but now he had begun to recognize his disciple and the crew members, and the amount he ate gradually increased.

When Kim Muhyuk and the Blue Wolves crew members were all too busy and had to leave, Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon came with lunchboxes and fruit and stayed by his side all day.

“Teacher. Please try some watermelon. I thought it was a little early for the season, but it’s much tastier than I expected.”

“...Mm.”

When Park Jiyeon speared a cut piece of watermelon with a fork and put it in his mouth, Choi Geon silently moved his mouth and chewed.

Kim Chanho saw that and hurriedly turned on his phone camera.

“Honey, move aside just a little. I have to leave this one as a photo!”

Click, click.

“...?”

Choi Geon quietly accepted the watermelon as he stared blankly at the camera. Over his hospital gown, he was wearing the pajama top Kim Muhyuk had bought for him the day before.

“If you keep doing that, Teacher is going to scold you later, you know?”

“Come on, it’s all memories. When else will I ever get to take a photo like this? I’ll take one with you too, so do a V.”

“You’re trying to make me an accomplice too, aren’t you?”

But Park Jiyeon soon stood beside Choi Geon and posed with a V sign.

Choi Geon turned his head and stared blankly at her. A moment later, when the two of them checked the photo, they burst into laughter at the same time.

“Hahaha! Look at this!”

“I’m sorry, but isn’t he way too cute?”

“......”

They were laughing and chatting merrily, but Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon had also heard things from here and there.

The old conflict between the Eight Great Sects and the Martial Alliance.

And what sort of person the martial artist named Choi Geon had been in the past.

“......”

But there was not the slightest change in how the two of them treated Choi Geon.

Park Jiyeon picked a watermelon seed off Choi Geon’s clothes and said warmly,

“Some people say you’re a very scary person, Teacher, but we don’t know anything about that.”

“......”

Kim Chanho was the same. As he massaged Choi Geon’s solid shoulders, he said,

“There are just bastards running their mouths when they don’t even know you. Don’t worry. I’ve been fighting malicious commenters every day!”

“......”

Choi Geon merely stared out the window.

They did not know how far their words reached, but the two of them kept speaking to him endlessly, putting their sincerity into every word.

“People will eventually understand that you’re a good person, Teacher.”

“......”

“You know we’ll be on your side even if the sky splits in two, right?”

“......”

With the hospital’s permission, the two opened the window to air out the room for a moment, then did a simple cleaning of the area.

Then, just as they were neatly stacking the empty lunchboxes and bowls,

“...The day is very warm.”

Through the devoted hearts of those two, and through Kim Muhyuk and the Blue Wolves crew members knocking and knocking again and again—

Their voices finally reached Choi Geon, trapped behind the wall deep inside.

“Huh? Teacher!”

“You just spoke to us, right? Right?”

Kim Chanho and Park Jiyeon whipped their heads around and looked at him.

Choi Geon was looking back at them with a kindly smile.

“Shall I tell you one amusing fact? All the pranks you two, Muhyuk, and those rotten crew brats played on me...”

At that moment, Choi Geon’s eyes narrowed mischievously as he glared at the two of them.

“I remember every last one.”

“Hahaha...”

“R-Really?”

Looking at the two as they broke into cold sweat and laughed awkwardly, Choi Geon simply burst into a hearty chuckle.

*****

During the few days Choi Geon was hospitalized because of his Inner Demon,

the Skybreaker Gate sect leader’s scandal snowballed, and eventually the person involved had to explain himself directly through the media.

“The claim that I borrowed money from the Black Night Gang is a corrupt-path conspiracy and a false accusation! I swear I have never done such a thing, and I can prove it as much as necessary!”

But once suspicion had begun, it did not die down easily.

That was because the Black Night Gang kept leaking information, saying the money they had lent him amounted to more than several tens of billions of won, pressuring the Skybreaker Gate sect leader even further.

“This is... the Martial Alliance’s doing! They framed me to cover up the Sword Demon’s crimes!”

In the end, to break through this crisis, the Skybreaker Gate sect leader dragged in the Martial Alliance and the Sword Demon. He sincerely believed it and was furious. He barely listened to the advice of those around him.

In the process, the fact that the Eight Great Sects had reported the Martial Alliance to the World Martial Alliance for illegal acts and abuse of authority became widely known. Naturally, interest in the martial artist called the Sword Demon also rose.

“The Sword Demon? Who’s that?”

“I heard he was an expert who got expelled from the Martial Alliance a long time ago.”

“They’re fighting again? Don’t they ever get tired of it...”

The daily noisy media campaigns drew attention not only from the Korean martial world but from the general public as well.

As the board grew far larger than the Eight Great Sects had planned, the sect leaders’ original plan to wait until the special audit results came out clearly and then announce them to the media was completely thrown off course.

And at last, Investigator Ivan Volkov notified them of the date for the next confrontation interrogation.

<The World Martial Alliance has judged that proper verification and testimony are required for the matter in question, and has decided to conduct the second confrontation interrogation in the form of a public hearing.>

A public hearing.

It meant, literally, that the entire process would be revealed to the world through broadcast.

Far more people would attend than before, and an announcement was made that new witnesses or tips related to the incident would also be accepted.

<All parties related to the Eight Great Sects and the Korean Martial Alliance are requested to appear on the specified date without fail so that the truth of the matter may be precisely determined.>

And on the day itself,

Kim Muhyuk stood at the hospital, where Choi Geon had just completed his discharge procedures, scratching the back of his head with an awkward expression as he watched his master’s mood.

“I didn’t know you’d wake up this quickly, Master, so I made the whole thing bigger...”

The original plan had been for Kim Muhyuk to attend the public hearing in place of his master, who had not yet escaped his Inner Demon.

Crude insults aimed at Choi Geon, or any personal attacks whatsoever, would have no effect on him. He had planned to deal with them while openly laughing at them instead.

But Choi Geon had overcome his Inner Demon and awakened sooner than expected, and Investigator Ivan knew that fact as well.

“...Will you ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) be all right?”

Kim Muhyuk looked at his master, who would have to face criticism while the whole world watched, and asked with worry in his eyes.

“Kle-kle. Who are you worrying about?”

Choi Geon reached out and ruffled his disciple’s hair.

After awakening from his Inner Demon, Choi Geon’s gaze had grown even deeper, and his bearing had become calmer.

“If I have people who will stand on my side even if the whole world becomes my enemy, even if the sky splits in two, what is there to worry about?”

With a meaningful smile, Choi Geon changed clothes and put on his newly bought bomber jacket.

“Master. But...”

Kim Muhyuk watched him, then carefully opened his mouth.

He had planned to ask later if he could, but as a martial artist, he simply could not hold it in.

“...Have you become a peerless master?”

Choi Geon seemed to think for a moment, then crossed his arms and answered.

“I am not sure either. I do not know if I gained enlightenment after shaking off my Inner Demon, or if only my state of mind has changed...”

As if even that was not especially important now, Choi Geon continued with a smile.

“In any case, I am certain of this much. Choi Geon, the Sword Demon, is ready to face anyone in the world.”

Now fully prepared, Choi Geon patted his disciple’s shoulder once and said,

“Let us go.”

“...Yes!”

Master and disciple left together to attend the public hearing.