The next day, early afternoon.

I came down early to the pavilion called Cheongmae-gwan at the foot of the mountain. On the way down, I was accompanied by two elders who serve as examiners during the entrance exam.

‘It’s like one adult is in charge of each child coming down.’

Since going down wasn’t a test, it felt like they were carrying us to the starting position. Being carried in the elder’s arms suddenly reminded me of when I had just started training, dangling from my master’s arms near the stairs by the mountain gate.

Wol Young might be feeling a bit embarrassed, but that’s his own business.

As it happened, the elder carrying me wasn’t very strict with me, so I just openly sprawled out, resting my chin on the elder’s shoulder and admiring the winter mountain scenery.

Since the path up and down isn’t necessarily the same, there wasn’t much point in memorizing the way down, so I relaxed.

“Ha Eun, you’re not sleeping, are you?”

“No, I was looking around.”

The elder laughed. Seems he doesn’t believe me.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me.’

It was a useful time to think about how to walk on the frozen rocky mountain to slip less and move more safely. Just being good at lightness skills doesn’t mean you never fall.

After a few hours like that, the group all arrived at the foot of the mountain.

From when the path became somewhat gentle, I walked down on my own feet, and it was also my first time stepping on ground outside the mountain gate in nearly a year, so I felt a bit moved when we arrived in front of the huge pavilion.

The elder who came down carrying a person showed no particular signs of fatigue and muttered lightly.

“We’ve arrived.”

As the elder slowly stopped walking, I stopped with him. I turned to the side and bowed my head.

“Thank you, elders.”

“Yes. We’ll accompany you this far.”

The elder who carried me down responded to my greeting and briefly offered encouragement. The elder who brought Wol Young also nodded slightly to me.

After mentioning a few additional precautions to Wol Young standing near me, they immediately prepared to return.

“Are you leaving right away?”

“We should.”

I thought they could rest for a moment, but this was the right attitude to avoid creating any issues.

They immediately turned back the way they came. I stared at their retreating figures for a moment.

‘They’re fast.’

Not much time had passed, but their figures quickly grew small. Well, they’re people who spent their years on Hwasan from about age 10 until their 40s.

I’m not sure if I’ll stay here in this body until adulthood… but if that happens, and I reach that age, will I be able to do that?

Taking my eyes off them, I stepped back a few paces this time to take in the whole view of Hwasan.

The peak where the mountain gate is located wasn’t visible from here.

I didn’t notice it much when I was at the mountain gate, but looking up from below like this, the fog was quite thick.

‘If this were modern times, there would be a cable car ticket office around here.’

I was standing alone, thinking meaningless thoughts, when:

“Um, Dojang.”

Wol Young, who had been standing nearby, slowly approached and spoke to me.

I snapped back to attention and turned to look at him. Even under the slightly cloudy winter sky, his pale, cool, and handsome face seemed to show a somewhat embarrassed light for some reason.

Wondering what was wrong, I quietly watched him, and after a while, he slowly opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry to say this so suddenly now, but I didn’t intentionally try to make things difficult for you, Dojang. I hope you understand.”

What’s this all of a sudden?

For a moment, I was dumbfounded, not understanding, then I slowly chewed over the sentence again in my mind.

‘…Ah, could it be because of what I said yesterday about not taking the test and being out of place?’

So he doesn’t want me to misunderstand and think ‘that guy used me as a negative example to make things this way’?

I didn’t think that at all since I had already been assured by the Great Elder that it was the Sect Leader’s intention. And I didn’t expect him to worry about such things.

‘It’s not something an outsider child could decide about the test method anyway.’

Before that, do I look troubled? I’m more curious about that. I asked with a puzzled face.

“Do I look troubled?”

“…Well.”

“It’s fine because I’m not. And I’ve already heard that all the decisions were made by the Sect Leader. It’s right to see that they even considered making things a bit easier for me through this incident.”

Only then did Wol Young relax his expression as if relieved.

‘He’s surprisingly attentive to small details.’

Or maybe he grew up in an environment where he had to pay attention to such small things. The fact that he deliberately brought this up to me now and confirmed my reaction to the end, and come to think of it, he always seemed to maintain tension and not let his guard down out of habit.

‘Wasn’t he just 2 years older than the original Ha Eun…?’

Yet he was already an adult from very early on.

Perhaps he was forced to grow up early by being overly mindful of others. He could initiate conversations with others if needed and keep them going, so he appeared sociable on the surface, but in fact, he seemed like the typical person who’s actually difficult to get close to.

‘The future Daoist is complicated.’

Is he really the original protagonist?

Just looking at his appearance, he seems to be the protagonist, but the more I get to know him, the more his personality doesn’t seem like one that would typically be given to a protagonist.

‘Wasn’t the original protagonist just generally good-natured and sociable?’

Or not?

Come to think of it, I might only remember the surface personality descriptions since I only read the early parts.

I entered Cheongmae-gwan with Wol Young. The person who usually guards the foot of the mountain and stays at Cheongmae-gwan greeted us with a relaxed attitude.

“Welcome, both of you.”

He’s an inner disciple but becomes my uncle or elder to me in terms of rank distribution, and his name was Nam Kyung-un.

“Ha Eun, your master is my senior brother, so you can call me uncle. And Wol Young, you should call me Lord Gwanju for now.”

Ah, Uncle Nam.

After that introduction, he didn’t add any particularly serious words or advice.

He just said we should rest today since we’d have to get up early and work hard tomorrow, and only guided us to our rooms, so we spent that day appropriately.

And the next day at dawn.

Since I usually started my day around this time anyway, I got up without any problem, washed up briefly, got dressed, and went outside Cheongmae-gwan.

As I was lightly moving and stretching in the cold winter dawn air, Uncle Nam, whom I had seen the day before, came out carrying various items in his hands.

“You’re up already?”

“Yes. Good morning, Uncle.”

After bowing my head in greeting, I added:

“Actually, I usually get up at this time.”

“I see.”

He smiled back gently and said as if it were nothing:

“In fact, failing to get up on time is grounds for disqualification. I didn’t think you would fail since you’re Yu Un senior brother’s disciple, but still.”

Oh.

‘…He got up, right?’

For a moment, I became serious and my expression hardened.

Seeing my expression, Uncle made a small laugh as if amused.

“You could wake him up if necessary, but when I checked earlier as I was coming out, it seemed Wol Young was up too, so don’t worry. He’s probably getting ready. Do you want to go together from the start?”

“Ah…”

I unconsciously felt relieved.

Of course, there’s no way he would fail to get up here and get disqualified. This kind of… not cool and just pointless crisis doesn’t seem to suit Wol Young somehow.

“Yes, since he’ll end up becoming my disciple once we reach the mountain gate anyway.”

“Hmm. That’s true. I heard how you ended up taking this kind of test. Your decision is very mature.”

He answered in a gentle tone. As I thought yesterday too, the uncle before me had an attitude that was consistently relaxed and warm, making it quite comfortable to converse with him. I smiled faintly and greeted him.

“Thank you.”

He nodded, then seemed to quietly examine me for a moment before speaking again.

“You know what? When you first came to Hwasan, I was probably the first to see you after Yu Un senior brother.”

I opened my eyes wide at the sudden unexpected words. He continued in a low voice.

“In fact, it’s only natural, isn’t it? This pavilion is at the foot of Yeonhwa Peak, you were unconscious, and Yu Un senior brother had to carry you up to the mountain gate. At that time, you looked very weak and I was worried inside, but seeing you healthy like this after a year makes me feel emotional.”

A year ago, it was probably the original ‘Ha Eun’ and not me.

‘…But to Uncle, we’re the same person.’

I felt a bit strange, but I just silently listened to his words. In any case, it was clear that his words were sincere.

“Besides, I’ve heard a few times that your talent is outstanding. Looking at you, it indeed seems so. This test probably won’t be too difficult for you. You’ll be able to do it sufficiently. Hmm… Yes. It seems you’ve already accepted Wol Young as your disciple in your heart, so just work hard for one day.”

“Yes. Thank you, Uncle.”

My voice came out slightly lowered. Uncle seemed to hesitate for a moment, then slowly reached out and lightly patted my shoulder.

Then he handed me the items he had brought out.

“This is a water flask and dried rations. Take them with you.”

“Yes.”

Just as we finished that conversation, Wol Young came out from inside the pavilion.

Uncle Nam also handed Wol Young the water flask and dried rations he was holding. While he explained a few brief precautions and conditions for passing the test again, I stepped back a few paces and waited.

I can pass this test sufficiently enough for the Great Elder to be confident, and even if by some unforeseen accident I don’t pass, the sword token I’ve already received won’t be taken back.

So he acted towards me as an uncle rather than a test supervisor, but Wol Young’s case is different, so Uncle was using a slightly stricter tone with him.

“Well then, work hard.”

Uncle concluded after finishing all the precautions and explanations of conditions. Then he turned to look at me, so I first put my hands together and bowed slightly at the waist in greeting.

That concluded the schedule at Cheongmae-gwan.

As we left the main gate of the pavilion and headed for the mountain path, I sank into a needlessly complicated mood. It wasn’t that I felt bad, but it was a slightly strange feeling. As I walked absentmindedly, Wol Young, following half a step behind, suddenly opened his mouth.

“…Dojang.”

“Yes.”

I turned to look at him. I saw his handsome face wearing a slightly puzzled expression.

“It seemed you were waiting for me earlier too, so I’m asking… Are you going together with me?”

What?

‘Why is he saying strange things again?’

We came down together, so of course we should go up together too. Did he think I would abandon him and go ahead from here?

‘It would be comfortable though.’

Ah, no. Still, I really can’t do that in good conscience.

Since we weren’t close enough for me to scold him about what he took me for here, I inwardly swallowed a sigh.

‘Well, I guess he might not understand.’

How would Wol Young know about my resolve to treat the presumed apprentice and original protagonist well while trying to become a decent adult, as the price for using someone else’s body without permission?

Seeing him ask such things, it also seemed he had a tendency to not accept simple goodwill as goodwill. So I just gave a vague answer.

“I thought it would be boring to go alone.”

It seemed to be an unexpected statement, as Wol Young blinked his eyes a few times. I just smiled and turned my head away.