It was already two years ago, on a beautiful spring day just like today.
At that time, Ha Hyun briefly thought it was strange that Ha Heun wasn’t visible, even though it was past the time he would normally have left the training room.
He’s someone who can take care of himself, so I don’t need to worry, but somehow it felt odd.
‘That’s why.’
Thinking it wouldn’t hurt to check, he headed towards Ha Heun’s room.
Perhaps Ha Hyun had anticipated something then. When there was no response after calling at the door, a clear sense of foreboding ran down his nerves for a moment.
As soon as he opened the door and entered, Ha Heun was sitting in the middle of the room with his head bowed.
And then…….
The moment he approached, without warning, blood gushed out before his eyes.
Although it was a time when he hadn’t been learning martial arts for long, Ha Hyun could easily infer that something was seriously wrong in this situation. Anyone would think of qi deviation if they saw someone vomiting blood in the training room.
So he carried him and ran straight to the medical pavilion.
‘I think I was half out of my mind.’
It was thanks to the remaining half of his mind that was still functioning.
Fortunately, he was able to immediately entrust Ha Heun to Jin Neung, the elder of the medical pavilion who was also Ha Hyun and Ha Heun’s master.
He was praised for doing well by handling it in time, but honestly, the feelings from that time were so unpleasant that even recalling them now was disagreeable.
Ha Hyun quietly rolled his eyes and swallowed a sigh.
At that time, even after finishing Ha Heun’s treatment, because Ha Hyun couldn’t calm down, Jin Neung had brewed medicine for Ha Hyun as well. Although he calmed down half-forcibly after drinking that medicine, Ha Hyun still vividly remembered the sense of crisis he felt then.
‘Is this really okay as it is…’
Thinking about it now, it seems there was also confusion about himself mixed in there, not just about Ha Heun, as he had been excessively restless.
Still, that incident somehow ended up being resolved well.
It wasn’t just simple qi deviation but something with a more serious cause, and Ha Heun seemed to have struggled quite a bit in the process, but in conclusion, he’s living normally now.
But Ha Hyun sometimes found that very fact not quite believable.
It’s not that he doubted Ha Heun’s talent or ability. Rather, when watching him train after that day, he often seemed to be overcoming even the wall of enlightenment.
Although he had started learning martial arts a year earlier, despite Ha Heun being younger, Ha Hyun had never surpassed him since entering the sect.
‘…Hmm.’
As he thought about it, Ha Hyun became freshly puzzled by this issue himself.
‘There’s no reason to be doubtful.’
He pondered a bit more on the question that had suddenly invaded his mind.
Perhaps he had been staring too intently without realizing it, as Ha Heun turned to look at him with strange eyes and asked again.
“Are you sure you have nothing to say…?”
“Nothing. Just thinking.”
“What have you been thinking about all this time?”
“Ah, well.”
It’s just thoughts about my senior brother, but…
Ha Hyun swallowed those words without uttering them, and when his eyes met Ha Heun’s, he suddenly realized.
Why the words ‘it was resolved well’ seemed unbelievable.
‘Wasn’t it since that incident that he occasionally became gloomy like this?’
Because he was originally not an easy person to understand, he hadn’t realized it until now.
Although his personality couldn’t be completely defined by a single word, even so, the basic framework of Ha Heun’s character could be seen as indifferent… no, unperturbed.
This means he wasn’t the type to suddenly become gloomy alone for unknown reasons like now.
‘Or is it that I just didn’t know my senior brother well enough back then to think he was unperturbed?’
At this point, wondering what use all this thinking was, Ha Hyun couldn’t help but give a hollow laugh.
“Why are you suddenly laughing?”
“No, it’s just… something like that.”
“Hmm.”
He couldn’t very well say ‘Senior brother, you really seem like a strange person’ or ‘Why have you been acting so gloomy occasionally since that day?’ right to his face, so when he brushed it off vaguely, Ha Heun instead stared at Ha Hyun as if he was the strange one.
It felt a bit unfair, but there was nothing he could do, so Ha Hyun didn’t make any further excuses.
‘At least he’s not the type to keep digging if I say something like this.’
As he thought, Ha Heun soon withdrew his gaze.
“Well, alright.”
Then, as he got up with his cleaned sword in hand, Ha Hyun looked up at Ha Heun without getting up and asked.
“Are you leaving already?”
“Yeah. I think I’ve realized something.”
Although he spoke as if it was nothing, for a martial artist, even a small realization can lead to great growth. There are many people in the world who desperately seek even that small enlightenment.
He had known it before, but seeing him grasp enlightenment like that out of nowhere, Ha Heun was truly an unbelievable genius.
‘I don’t know why he seems to be so lukewarm about such talent himself, though.’
Setting aside that issue for now…
Watching his back as he headed towards the center of the training ground again, Ha Hyun rested his chin on his knee.
‘It’s difficult.’
It was really difficult. There probably isn’t anyone as difficult as this.
‘If this were Buddhism, they’d call it affliction.’
With such thoughts, Ha Hyun quietly watched Ha Heun staring intently at the tip of his sword in the middle of the training ground. It was then that he suddenly felt the presence of someone else beside him.
“Ha Hyun.”
Recognizing who it was from the voice calling him, Ha Hyun immediately stood up. Yu Un, his master who had silently approached at some point, gazed at Ha Hyun with calm eyes.
“Master.”
Ha Hyun looked up at the face of the man who had been his master for two years, Hwasan’s First Sword.
If Ha Heun was the first person to give Ha Hyun certainty, this one was another life choice that Ha Hyun had first made.
Two years ago, while fleeing without a destination, he had barely managed to knock out a soldier chasing him and decided to kill him to eliminate future troubles.
It was Yu Un who stopped him.
He was someone who looked strong at a glance. Unlike the soldier, it seemed difficult to take him down and run away, and he couldn’t leave this loose end behind anyway, so Ha Hyun had no choice but to agree to his proposal.
After a moment of silence at his answer, Yu Un said, as if sighing.
He didn’t really agree with those words, but Yu Un then pressed acupoints to ensure the soldier wouldn’t wake up for at least a day, buying time. Because of this, Ha Hyun outwardly pretended to accept his words.
Only then did Ha Hyun notice Yu Un’s attire.
White robes and a Taoist hat. Anyone would recognize him as a Taoist priest. Moreover, the plum blossoms embroidered on his collar and sleeves clearly showed which sect he belonged to.
Hwasan.
A renowned sect among the Nine Schools.
A fairly large Taoist sect.
The moment he realized this, Ha Hyun decided where to flee.
But there was nothing of value among the things he had brought. A Taoist priest wouldn’t need poison or daggers. Even if he had something, he couldn’t bargain with such things.
So Ha Hyun, banking on the humanity that had led him not to ignore this situation, suddenly knelt down and asked for help. It wasn’t difficult to do that much.
Although he looked troubled, fortunately, Ha Hyun obtained such an answer before long.
But in truth, Ha Hyun didn’t trust him even then. He just thought he’d try to follow somehow, since he couldn’t blame him if he left him behind on the way.
Even after performing the discipleship ceremony, when he heard about Ha Hyun’s “loose end,” he consulted with the sect leader and found out what had happened on his behalf.
Ha Hyun, who had been anticipating the worst outcome until then, still remembered how he felt when Yu Un unexpectedly informed him that things had been resolved well without any intervention.
The reason Ha Heun helping Ha Hyun during the entrance exam became the second instance of unconditional kindness was because Yu Un had occupied the first place like this.
In the martial world, the relationship between master and disciple is like that between parent and child, and for Ha Hyun, the existence of birth parents was as good as nonexistent, so Yu Un was also a significant person to Ha Hyun in a different way from Ha Heun.
“What’s wrong? You look like you have something on your mind.”
Because it was a question from such a person, he didn’t bother hiding his thoughts.
If it had been someone else, Ha Hyun would have glossed over it with some plausible words. But Yu Un was also another person who noticed that Ha Heun often became gloomy for unknown reasons like this.
“Senior brother is being strange again. I was thinking about what might be the problem.”
“Hmm.”
Yu Un gave a bitter smile.
Ha Hyun knew that Yu Un cared quite a bit for Ha Heun. He’s not someone who discriminates among his disciples, but Ha Hyun understood that Ha Heun was special to him as his first disciple.
He also knew that after Ha Heun started becoming inexplicably gloomy like this a few times, Yu Un would casually ask his other disciples, Ha Hyun’s senior brothers and sisters, about Ha Heun’s situation.
He also knew that the senior disciples, not knowing much else, laughed and said, “Kids just go through phases like that.”
Of course, Ha Hyun didn’t believe in the “just a phase” that the senior disciples talked about. If you looked closely, you could see it wasn’t that kind of problem.
“He has a sensitive nature, so that’s probably why. Try to understand.”
Yu Un said quietly, still with a bitter smile.
‘That’s not sensitive, it’s more like being overly sensitive, isn’t it?’
Ha Hyun unconsciously thought of a rebuttal, but he didn’t voice that thought. When Ha Hyun remained silent, Yu Un spoke again.
“Or have you thought of some problem you can guess at?”
At that question, Ha Hyun finally returned to the real problem he had originally been pondering.
‘…How did I even get here?’
Feeling deflated, he finally gave up on his previous concerns.
“I don’t know.”
At that, Yu Un chuckled softly.
“Don’t worry too much. As you know, he’s not a weak-hearted child. You might wear yourself out worrying instead.”
“…Yes.”
“Still, it’s good to see that you two are close.”
With those final words, Yu Un lightly patted Ha Hyun’s shoulder and passed by him.
Ha Heun, who was in the middle of the training ground, seemed to have just noticed Yu Un and was seen greeting him. Slowly following Yu Un into the training ground, Ha Hyun silently let out a sigh.
He wasn’t getting tired.
‘Rather, the problem is wanting to find out what the cause is.’
At this point, it was an obsession.
But apart from that, Yu Un was right. Even if he’s gloomy like that now, Ha Heun will return to his normal state on his own, as early as this evening or at the latest in about two days. In that sense, he was strangely quick to recover.
The reason it bothered him even though he knew this was probably because Ha Heun was particularly special to Ha Hyun.
‘He is my senior brother, after all.’
Even though he’s called senior brother, because he’s a bit younger and not growing taller at all, there’s a part of him that’s viewed somewhat like a younger brother internally, but anyway, Ha Hyun didn’t want to see him looking gloomy even for a moment.
‘To be concerned about someone else to this extent.’
Ha Hyun suddenly felt strange and inwardly clicked his tongue.
Such was that spring.
__________
He Said He’s Pregnant, and It’s My Child (Female-dominant)
Intro 1
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro 2
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
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