King Shura

The coronation of the Heir. Thanks to the Guardians of the church paying close attention to it, it was steadily becoming a very stable and perfect event.

And finally, the day had come.

Cho Ryu Hyang put on the Black Dragon Robe (黑龍布), the Long Red Shoes (赤長靴) with beautiful gold patterns inscribed onto it, with the small gold crown that symbolized Cho Ryu Hyang’s status as the Heir.

All the accessories and the clothes on his body were top-notch, and were made for just today, the Heir’s coronation day.

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“You look pretty good in those.”

Gongson Chun Gi came over to Cho Ryu Hyang right before the coronation, and smiled. It had been a while since he last saw Cho Ryu Hyang. Because he too was busy for the past few days, he was unable to go see him.

He just finished all his tasks, and managed to find some time to visit. Cho Ryu Hyang looked at Gongson Chun Gi, and spoke.

“The clothes that I’m wearing are so expensive, I can’t even move properly. I don’t even know why people wear these things.”

“Aa. That’s what everyone thinks at first. It’ll do well for you to get used to those soon, though. You’ll have to wear them till you get sick of it.”

Cho Ryu Hyang shook his head. It almost seemed impossible to get used to these. They were too inefficient. Gongson Chun Gi looked over at Cho Ryu Hyang. His eyes soon began to sparkle.

“Anyways, it seems you’ve gained something. Your eyes changed.”

Cho Ryu Hyang looked at Gongson Chun Gi. What should he call it? After thinking a bit, he decided to just smile.

The confident smile of Cho Ryu Hyang was all it took to show Gongson Chun Gi that what he gained was not small.

“Oho. It seems you more or less understood Ryun. Good job.”

“Something good happened.”

“Something good…….”

Gongson Chun Gi made a mysterious smile. As expected, it seemed the thing that Zhuge Liang fellow did worked pretty well. It really was ‘something good’.

‘But…….’

It looked like Cho Ryu Hyang still didn’t know that he knew about Zhuge Liang.

Gongson Chun Gi smiled evilly inside. He didn’t feel like telling his disciple that he knew about Zuge Liang just yet. It would be interesting to wait till Cho Ryu Hyang told him about it, wouldn’t it?

‘You’re supposed to eat tasty things at the end, after all.’

Gongson Chun Gi made a satisfied smile, and spoke up.

“Now, we can begin learning Shura Environment.”

Cho Ryu Hyang blinked. This was too fast. Was it alright to learn something new, especially when he didn’t take in the Moon Edge Blade Technique completely?

“This is the best time to learn it. After all, you’re body is just about done maturing.”

Gongson Chun Gi looked over Cho Ryu Hyang from head to toe, and spoke.

“Shura Environment isn’t as gentle as the Moon Edge Blade Technique. It’s barbaric and cruel. I took the technique that was already like that, and made it worse. It should be fun for you to learn it.”

Cho Ryu Hyang showed an uncomfortable smile in response to Gognson Chun Gi’s playful one.

His teacher, who didn’t really like fighting, found joy in annoying others. And the victim of his would almost always suffer terribly.

‘I’ll just have to endure it.’

This was what Cho Ryu Hyang decided to do from the start, anyways. He couldn’t complain now.

“You’re still set on becoming stronger?”

“Yes. I want to become stronger.”

More so than he was now. He wanted strength that would lose to no one. That want for strength just kept getting bigger every day.

“What do you want to do when you become strong? Revenge? What do you want to do after that?”

Cho Ryu Hyang began to think. What would he do after becoming stronger? What comes after revenge?

Cho Ryu Hyang’s mind got filled with various thoughts. Gongson Chun Gi looked at his disciple and smiled.

“What do I look like to you?”

What does he look like? What was that supposed to mean? Cho Ryu Hyang looked at his teacher quietly. Recently, he had been feeling the true strength of his teacher.

The Heavenly Demon Church was a small nation. Gongson Chun Gi was the leader who led the nation without any discord whatsoever. He always had an air of carefreeness about him, too.

No matter what happened, he would lead his people out of a crisis wisely. That was the power of Gongson Chun Gi, something that no one could imitate.

“A person who I want to be like.”

Gongson Chun Gi smiled. It was a smile filled with absolute happiness.

“You see, I’ve been feeling very happy recently.”

“…….”

It was a strange response. To think Cho Ryu Hyang would be able to hear something like this from his teacher, who always complained about everything. Gongson Chun Gi tapped Cho Ryu Hyang’s shoulders lightly, and kept talking.

“Never try to make something like a standard when judging others. Never try to consider their feelings, either. Just ask yourself, would making this decision make me happy? You should become extremely greedy. Only then would you be like me.”

His words were dripping with pride.

But how many people would there be, that could tell and teach his disciple something like this?

This was something only Gongosn Chun Gi could do. After all, he really was like that.

“Soon enough, you’ll be the disciple of the strongest person in the world.”

Cho Ryu Hyang’s face flushed as he turned his head away.

“…….It’s true that you’re great, but doesn’t it feel awkward saying something like that outright?”

Gongson Chun Gi tilted his head.

“Why should I be? I’m just telling the truth here.”

“…….”

Cho Ryu Hyang thought that no matter what happened, he didn’t want to inherit this aspect of his teacher.

‘Well, I don’t think I can even if I try.’

If he said something like this, the whole place would just turn awkward. But Gongson Chun Gi, on the other hand, seemed extremely natural. Everything he did and said made sense, just like how air existing everywhere made sense.

“We’re starting. Let’s go.”

Cho Ryu Hyang nodded. It was finally happening. The path that he would walk upon. It would be decided here, today.

“I got a special present, just for you, too.”

Present? The first thing that Cho Ryu Hyang felt was fear, thanks to the nature of his teacher. Cho Ryu Hyang looked at his teacher with a curious look on his face, but the only thing he got back was an evil smile.

“It wouldn’t be fun if I told you beforehand, don’t you think? You should learn to be patient.”

“I feel like throwing up.”

Gongson Chun Gi grinned when he saw his disciple’s sick face. He could see how nervous Cho Ryu Hyang was.

And his present truly was something that should make Cho Ryu Hyang feel that way. A moment later, Cho Ryu Hyang realized what his teacher’s present was, and chewed on his lip nervously.

‘So it was this.’

The coronation proceeded smoothly with many people cheering around him.

But Cho Ryu Hyang couldn’t see or hear any of that. He saw one person out of the whole crowd.

‘Father…….’

In the high seats filled with the nobles was a familiar figure. It was Cho Ryu Hyang’s father, Cho Mu Ryung. He was looking at Cho Ryu Hyang with a complicated expression.

[How do you like my present?]

Cho Ryu Hyang looked at his teacher. Gongson Chun Gi grinned when he was faced with Cho Ryu Hyang’s fierce gaze.

‘As expected, his reaction is enjoyable.’

Seeing how he couldn’t bring himself to stop playing with other people like this, it seemed that he matured a little less on this side of things.

‘Well, that’s not all that bad.’

Not being mature had its own perks. Gongson Chun Gi stubbornly thought that, and looked elsewhere.

When he turned to the Sun-Moon Pavilion, he could see No Jin Nyung who had eyes full of envy directed straight at him.

‘That guy’s pretty fun, too.’

It looked like there were all sorts of people out in the world. To be truthful, Gongson Chun Gi met No Jin Nyung right before he went to meet Cho Ryu Hyang. He had the promise with his senior brother he had to keep, and honestly, he was a little curious about what No Jin Nyung was like.

And when he first met No Jin Nyung, he just stood in his spot, doing nothing other than blink.

“How did you of all people get into the harmonious stage?”

That was Gongson Chun Gi’s first question. He couldn’t understand. It should’ve been impossible for No Jin Nyung to become a harmonious expert.

While it was slightly different from what Cho Ryu Hyang possessed, Gongson Chun Gi too possessed Godly Eyes.

He had it from a young age, but he took it and trained it into a new level.

And according to what he saw, it was impossible for No Jin Nyung to become a harmonious expert. He lacked talent.

But somehow, there he was, as a Harmonious expert. Gongson Chun Gi checked No Jin Nyung just to make sure if he wasn’t going crazy or not.

“This is my foolish disciple.”

“……..”

Gongson Chun Gi didn’t respond to his senior brother, and fell to deep thought while looking at No Jin Nyung. It’s been while since he last saw something this unusual.

It was strange, and shocking. Unless something went terribly wrong from the origin of the boy’s self, it was impossible for Gongson Chun Gi to make a mistake when observing someone.

“Just how did he get this far…….?”

Gongson Chun Gi thought over and over again. A person, when born, is given a certain degree of talent.

That talent is usually spread out unevenly throughout all subjects, so it often became wasted.

‘Could it be……’

Could it be that all of the boy’s talent got dumped into martial arts? Was that possible? A feeling of suspicion crept up Gongson Chun Gi’s heart, but after looking at No Jin Nyung once again, nodded.

‘It seems that it’s possible.’

It was possible for the boy to reach the harmonious stage if all his talent was condensed into martial arts.

But that also meant that it was impossible for the boy to be talented at anything else other than martial arts, didn’t it?

‘This is really interesting.’

When he reached an answer, he grinned. The boy in front of him was really interesting. He looked at the boy with a face of wonderment. The interesting boy opened his mouth.

“I want to be a Pope.”

“Nn?”

“I became a harmonious expert to become the Pope.”

What in the world was the boy talking about? Gongson Chun Gi looked at his senior brother curiously, but his senior brother avoided his gaze.

Only then was Gongson Chun Gi able to understand everything. He smiled, and spoke at the same time.

“You say you want to become the Pope?”

“Yes, Your Holiness.”

“What do you want to do when you become one, then?”

What would he do when he becomes the Pope? No Jin Nyung made a dumb face. He just wanted to become the Pope. He thought he would be able to do anything if he was the Pope.

But what did he want to do? Gongson Chun Gi’s question penetrated to the bottom of No Jin Nyung’s desire, and No Jin Nyung was unable to answer. He didn’t manage to think that much yet.

“You would be able to do anything if you are the Pope. Was that why you wanted to become one?”

“…….Yes.”

Right. A Pope is a Pope because he can do anything. The pinnacle of power, the symbol of awesomeness. Gongson Chun Gi shook his head, as if he had read No Jin Nyung’s thoughts.

“If that’s what you want, you wouldn’t be able to become the Pope. The Pope is someone who can do everything, and at the same time someone who can’t do anything.”

“……..”

“You can’t become the Pope by yourself, can you now? Are you confident enough to be able to lead tens of thousands of people by yourself? Are you confident enough to prevent them from starving?”

“……..”

No Jin Nyung couldn’t respond. He wanted to be the Pope because it seemed cool, and there really was no other reason other than that.

He didn’t take into consideration the responsibilities he had to shoulder as the Pope. He just wanted to become one was all.

Gongson Chun Gi read what No Jin Nyung had been thinking, and smiled.

‘He’s like a child.’

There was a saying that said that it was impossible to know what a person was thinking. It seemed this boy was an exception. Gongson Chun Gi was able to read the boy’s thoughts already, after all.

The boy was the simplest person he had ever met. Looking at him just made Gongson Chun Gi laugh.

Suddenly, he thought of his disciple, Cho Ryu Hyang, and when he placed No JIn Nyung next to his disciple, an interesting picture came up.

“You’ll have to shoulder many things if you become the Pope. Are you confident enough to do that?”

No Jin Nyung thought for a long time, then shook his head. It was impossible. He couldn’t manage to handle something so complicated. Gongson Chun Gi kept talking.

“There is a way for you to get what you want even without becoming the Pope. Want to give it a go?”

No Jin Nyung looked at Gongson Chun Gi with sparkling eyes. Gongson Chun Gi smiled inwardly. He could feel everything turn out the way he had imagined it to be.

It was really interesting. The picture of Gongson Chun Gi that massively affected the church in the future began right here.