Chapter 277: Orthodox Faction (2)
4.
I was never meant to be part of the righteous path.
"Hmm."
After leaving the cave, Venomous Snake roamed the world.
Beautiful places, famous for their scenery, breathtaking views.
He went to a place where waterfalls poured from the sky, sitting alone on a rock, getting drenched, trying to withstand the force of the waterfalls. He climbed to the highest peak, where he was closest to the sky, and gazed endlessly at the world below for days and nights.
"This isn"t it."
He felt no particular emotion.
The [Self] nestled in his heart didn"t react at all.
Venomous Snake scratched the back of his head, recalling the advice of the martial arts leader Namgung Un.
"Blew it. This is all wrong… Righteous path involves incorporating nature into the sword, but no matter how beautiful and stunning things I see, I feel nothing. Rather, watching people commuting in the city feels closer to my heart."
The majestic power of the waterfall.
The vastness of the world spread beneath the mountaintop.
The terrifying lightning and torrential rain.
"I"m not impressed. It"s like, oh wow, so grand! Truly befitting of the leader of Chen Mu-mun!… I feel absolutely nothing like that."
None of it charmed the [Self] within him.
"Ah, I should have gone to the demonic sect. Kim Gong-ja is lucky. Why did he get matched with a teacher that fits him perfectly? d.a.m.n it…"
Day 407 since his emergence.
The [Self] lurking in his heart continued to speak only of jealousy, lamentation, and sighs. A black blob. Squirming and oozing sticky slime, Venomous Snake felt its outline clearly in his heart and moved on.
Clang!
The sound that echoed from the market streets initially went unnoticed by Venomous Snake.
With his senses honed from years of training and a sharp aura, he certainly detected the metallic sound. However, while his body"s senses reacted, the [Self] entrenched within him remained indifferent.
Clang!
The place he was wandering through was Guru, the homeland of the Dokkaebi Race. Venomous Snake often visited Guru, hoping to find some insight into how to defeat Kim Gong-ja, and watched the Fire Painting Plays.
As a result, Venomous Snake could recite all 11 lines of dialogue that Kekkeruker used to confess to Raviel, even with his eyes closed. He sometimes wondered why these people were acting so absurdly, but then realized the most absurd [Self] was within him, and he became contemplative.
Clang!
And then, slowly.
Clang!
The [Self] coiled up within him slowly raised its head.
Various scents and aromas wafted through the streets. Among them, there was a sharp, metallic scent. The [Self] twitched its nose, tracking the source of the smell.
Clang!
It led him to a blacksmith"s forge.
Located a few blocks from the main street, this area was less crowded. Smaller theater troupes huddled together here, and Dokkaebi with slightly tight purses wandered around.
Clang!
The blacksmith"s shop was set up in a secluded spot by the roadside.
It was more like the shop was slowly sinking rather than just being established. The roof was partially collapsed. The pillars were rotting. Some had already lost their support, precariously pus.h.i.+ng against the roof like a tilting tower.
A place that would vanish if time blew on it.
Clang!
A burly blacksmith swung his hammer there. Clang! The red-hot iron spit sparks as it was. .h.i.t, and Clang! it slowly twisted and bent under each blow.
There was no impressive skill.
No eye-catching performance.
"Just a moment, master."
Just.
"Your hammering technique is quite unique, isn"t it?"
"Hoo."
The blacksmith wiped his face with a towel. Up close, he was indeed tiny. Much smaller than even the Dokkaebi, let alone the n.o.ble Race. The blacksmith, not even reaching his own waist in height, was,
"What is it? Are you a customer from the n.o.ble Race?"
A small Fairy Race member.
"Do you need something? Just so you know, I don"t make weapons."
"Huh? Why no weapons? In the Dokkaebi blacksmith industry, weapons are the pinnacle, especially swords. Dokkaebi give a sword as a gift when their children reach adulthood, and if it wears out within a year, they gift another. It"s a delightful custom."
"Ah…"
The Fairy blacksmith finished wiping off his sweat.
He seemed somewhat indifferent.
"Don"t you find it odd? Maybe even absurd. It"s great that they treat us minority races well and without prejudice… But including that, it"s just too much. You know what I mean, right?"
"Oh, I know exactly what you mean."
Despite being strangers, they quickly found common ground, nodding in agreement.
One was a Fairy running a modest blacksmith shop, despite it being his livelihood, and the other, a human Hunter wandering around in the guise of a n.o.ble Race. Despite their dark pasts and murky intentions, they briefly united in spirit.
"You understand what I mean. So, what would you like to order? I"ll make it cheap for you."
"Ah."
Only then did Venomous Snake remember his original purpose for coming here.
His pitch-black heart urged him to speak up quickly.
"I didn"t come to buy anything, just got curious and stopped by."
"Hmm?"
"Don"t worry, I"m not suspicious. Anyway, I happened to hear you hammering while pa.s.sing by. The sound of the hammering was incredibly consistent. I thought it was just regular hammering, but the interval and strength of each clang were exactly the same."
Indeed.
There was not even a 0.1 second deviation; the sound of the hammer echoed continuously.
To an ordinary person, it might just seem like regular hammering, but Venomous Snake was extraordinary. He easily noticed the anomaly in the blacksmith shop.
"Could it be? Despite its shabby appearance, this blacksmith shop actually possesses extraordinary skills…"
"Ah, please don"t sit on that chair. It wobbles so much that I had to fix it to the floor, and now the floor wobbles too. If you sit there for more than 15 seconds, the floor will collapse. It took me 15 seconds, but if you sit, you"ll fall right through."
"…A first-cla.s.s blacksmith hiding in a modest shop? An S-rank twist or something?"
Venomous Snake was thrilled.
His heart and the [Self] making nonsense noises inside were both pounding.
Venomous Snake always preferred "these things" over beautiful nature or grand landscapes. Things that seemed ordinary but were actually extraordinary. Hidden powers, hidden statuses, hidden setups, hidden masterminds, hidden worlds. These "stories" always made his heart race.
"Uh…"
Feeling overwhelmed by his bright, eager eyes, the Fairy blacksmith felt uneasy.
"S-rank, whatever that means, but our blacksmith here is nothing special…"
"But you must have a hidden past and special talents, right?"
"I was born into a normal family and started blacksmithing after our fortunes declined. Sir, I have no talent. How can I compare to the Dokkaebi, born with built-in muscular strength, in blacksmithing?"
"Ah, you"re clearly lying."
"…"
"…Really?"
"I have no reason to lie to a customer. It won"t make me any extra money."
"…"
"If you"re not going to order something, could you please leave? You"re disturbing my work."
"…"
It seemed to be true after all.
Venomous Snake mumbled to himself, "Strange, very strange," as he lingered around the blacksmith. The Fairy blacksmith sighed, "Bad luck…" but eventually ignored Venomous Snake"s presence and continued hammering.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
"…"
Watching the hammering from a distance, Venomous Snake suddenly spoke up.
"It"s still the same, isn"t it?"
From Venomous Snake"s perspective, he could only see the back of the blacksmith, the small frame of the Fairy, tirelessly working. Well-toned back muscles, balanced shoulders, and arms moved ceaselessly.
"What, are you leaving?"
"The rhythm, the interval, the force, it"s all the same. There"s no deviation in the hammering. It would be easy to mimic with enhanced time perception using aura, but it"s clear there"s no aura here. So, it"s all about feeling."
"Huff. Hoo…"
Venomous Snake furrowed his brows.
If this Fairy blacksmith had walked the path of martial arts and learned to harness aura, he might have become an excellent warrior.
"Remarkable, but what"s the point? Why insist on such hammering?"
Without turning, the Fairy replied, "It makes it a bit more interesting."
"Interesting?"
"Yes, the work. Blacksmithing."
Clang!
"How tough it is. Customers take it home, use it for cutting, chopping, hammering… It"s easy to use but hard to make. If it was just a hobby, it"d be different, but this is my job."
Clang!
"d.a.m.n, I really don"t want to work."
Clang!
"So hard…"
Clang!
"I want to die…"
Clang!
"I"m dying!"
Clang!
As the hammering continued, the Fairy blacksmith"s curses became more intense. Though it seemed directed at someone else, it mostly seemed self-directed.
Venomous Snake was at a loss for words. Despite not hearing due to the sharpness of the hammering, this blacksmith shop was noisier than any workshop in the city.
"Ah, I see. You time your curses with the hammering. The sound of the hammer conceals the curses, so they go unnoticed."
Venomous Snake realized.
"…Are you insane?"
"Sir, you"ve been quite disruptive. It"s time for you to leave."
Realizing that all kinds of oddities abound in the city created by Kim Gong-ja, regardless of race, Venomous Snake commented.
"So, it"s fun for you. You don"t look like you"re having fun, though. Are you really enjoying it?"
"Of course. There"s a subtle joy in it."
The blacksmith wiped his face with a towel.
"Work is inherently hard. It"s normal to be tough. Especially since I wasn"t born suited for this job. I lack talent. But while working, I ended up cursing, right?"
"Well…"
"If there"s absolutely no joy in work, really none, I"d feel like dying."
Clang!
"I find just enough fun to keep from dying."
Clang!
"Some colleagues relax on weekends, go on trips, rest, visit new bathhouses, or talk about the latest postponed Fire Painting plays. I don"t really understand that."
Clang!
"Looking at high mountains, I think, "Why are you so tall while I"m so small? Are you challenging me?" When I visit scenic spots, I feel detached, emotionless. Ah, this, feeling like dying while working… it"s unbearable. The despair doesn"t go away."
Clang!
"I"m dying."
Clang!
"But I can"t die, so…"
Clang!
"I find small bits of fun in my work. You praised it as something remarkable, but I"m just finding fun to survive. Look. Clang! See? Clang! Keeping the same rhythm makes it interesting. It"s like unfinished music. Clang! Don"t you think?"
Finally, the blacksmith turned around.
The Fairy was smiling broadly, his face reddened by the forge and smeared with soot.
"Fun, right?"
"…"
At that moment.
"Ah, it"s pretty challenging, you know. Continuously matching those moments. It really ignites my compet.i.tive spirit. It"s like my own personal challenge that no one else is doing."
Venomous Snake, and the [Self] he harbored within his heart, realized something.
A man who already realized who he was, gained further insight from watching a small blacksmith.
"The rules of the game are there too. When it rains, I slow down a bit."
What he finds beautiful, what feels natural to him, and what he truly wants to infuse into his sword until his arms move and his blood pulses.
The Master of the Chen Mu-mun realized.
"When fog rolls in, I slow the hammering to create an auditory effect. Isn"t it poetic? When the sound of clang, clang echoes distantly in a foggy city, it feels like the city, or even the fog, is crying. I find such things more interesting than famous mountains or scenic spots."
It wasn"t the screams of suffering people.
It wasn"t humans scratching their nails in hunger.
It wasn"t the air filled with laughter from those who shared similar scars and were healing—close, yet not quite there.
"Just enough to survive."
Those who endure.
"Although I want to die…"
Those who find joy in enduring.
"I can survive."
That joy.
A fleeting moment of happiness, insufficient to be true happiness.
Every day, enduring by breaking a part of themselves, sighing yet smiling.
Willpower.
The desire to survive.
"…"
Venomous Snake slowly nodded.
"It"s easy to dismiss such happiness as a trivial trick. It"s easy to say that it"s not real happiness but merely a postponement, and thus, one should find their true self and talents."
It"s easy to say that one"s life is somehow wrong.
"It looks quite interesting."
But what does it matter?
"Can I try it too?"
Even the most meager happiness is still happiness.
Even a smile that briefly lingers before fading is still a smile.
Something that undoubtedly existed, exists, and will exist.
Proof of life and the desire to live.
"Eh? Are you sure?"
"You"re a n.o.ble, aren"t you? Use your strength."
"It"s not just about strength…"
"Ah, just give it here. I have a lot of money. I"ll leave my purse here, so if anything goes wrong, let the foreman take care of it."
Everyone works.
Everyone suffers through work.
Everyone finds joy in enduring their suffering.
Therefore, this happiness is something that can envelop the world like a heaven comparable to the Infernal Heavens, regardless of time and place.
"Here we go!"
Venomous Snake took off his s.h.i.+rt and tightly gripped the hammer.
"Alright! Let"s give this a try!"
The beauty of nature, the resonance in the heart, and the scenery he wanted to show the world seemed too far from him. The laughter of children in a wheat field, too happy to be true, seemed beyond his capacity to capture in his sword.
But the happiness of ordinary people.
Just trying a bit harder, struggling a bit more, and finding a little joy to prevent themselves from dying instantly. That kind of happiness.
"I"ve never worked in a forge before! But I can do this! Aja!"
He could capture that in his sword.
He wanted to capture that.
Venomous Snake realized that the beauty, resonance, and landscape he had been searching for were right here, in this form of righteousness.
"After all, what I have in abundance is time!"
Clang!
The sound of the hammer echoed.
Clang!
Again, it echoed.
Clang!
The sound of hissing,
Clang!
Echoed.
Clang!
Echoed.
Clang!
Echoed.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!