RPPL C31

“Hey! You! Over there! You punk!”

Someone was yelling haphazardly. However, there would be few people who actually heard that voice properly. Because it was a very small sound, like the chirping of a small bird.

However, there was a man who could rarely hear that voice. The one who had his head bowed pretended not to notice, feigning ignorance even though he knew that sound was calling him.

“Heyyy, you! Disciple!”

Only then did he lift his head as if annoyed.

“Don’t call me this or that, call me by my name.”

Speaking briefly, he bowed his head again and was absorbed in plucking wild chives. Due to the capricious wind, the wild chives had turned autumn colors. It is a welcome thing. Because wild chives that have turned autumn colors are tastier.

One man with a very long beard and two men with medium-length beards opened their eyes wide and glared at him. Black caps bobbed this way and that on top of their heads.

“Youuu….”

Whether the one with the shortest beard ground his teeth or not, Muyun was absorbed in what he was doing. Plucking the wild chives without damaging the roots was far more important than answering that voice.

“Ah, Muyun!”

Eventually, the man with the longest beard among the three shouted with a burst of irritation. Only then did Muyun show a reaction. He put the wild chives, from which he had roughly shaken off the soil from the roots, into the bamboo basket and tilted his chin.

As he straightened the waist he had bent, a large silhouette shot up way high.

Since first cutting it in the village where they met Gwisomok, the distinctively short hair that he cut periodically and stood out anywhere, the sun-tanned skin, and the eye level that had grown significantly higher. Above all, the indifferent gaze and the features that had become distinct were already close to the appearance of an adult.

Between the slightly long bangs, his cool eyes were revealed, and below them, the mouth that looked like it would hang a sneer at any moment was firmly shut.

Muyun left the small field he had cultivated, leaving the bamboo basket by his side.

“Why do you keep calling me?”

The roughened voice with a trace of boyishness left informed them that he was still in the middle of growing. Above the ankles that pushed through the field, the pant legs were cut short dangingly. The three brothers, who liked to dress up, clicked their tongues.

“Look at that, look at that, he looks like a beggar.”

“I asked why you called.”

At Muyun’s blunt tone, the youngest of the three brothers was appalled.

“This rude rascal!”

“I am busy.”

“Hey, you punk. Didn’t you ask for a favor?”

“For what.”

“To tell you when your master returns!”

At those words, Muyun’s face changed in an instant. With a mixture of gladness and bewilderment, he immediately kicked off from his spot and ran out.

“Look at his expression change at the mention of his master.”

“Still, he likes his master.”

“Of course. It’s only natural. He must be like a father to him. Didn’t he save him and raise him?”

Even though they were small voices, the tone was such that it couldn’t fail to pierce the ears. However, Muyun pretended not to hear the three brothers’ words. Father, what nonsense. They didn’t even resemble each other in the first place.

Muyun stopped running at the white hem of a robe visible in the distance. Then, recalling the three brothers saying something about his appearance, he dusted off his clothes.

He could somehow cover the dust, but he couldn’t cover the short pant legs. However, Bipa was someone who wore whatever came to hand anyway. If he had been of a meticulous nature to care about such things, Muyun wouldn’t be wearing pants that had become too small in the first place.

Bipa walked while staggering as he always did. Like someone with no strength in their steps and no certainty even if they had a destination. Looking at the bundle topped with a straw raincoat and the bamboo hat in his hand, Muyun found it hard to wait any longer.

“Master!”

Bipa, who was walking while holding back drowsiness, lifted his head at Muyun’s voice. He saw Muyun waving his arm way over there.

He must have grown again while he was gone, but to Bipa’s eyes, he was still just the appearance of that skinny and dirty child from when he first saw him.

“Muyun.”

Bipa waved his hand. There were gifts for Muyun in the bag. Even so, they weren’t much. Jujubes obtained from somewhere, peach tree branches obtained from somewhere, cornelian cherry fruits obtained from somewhere…. Rarely, it was something like new shoes.

Muyun, who ran in a single breath, volunteered to take Bipa’s bundle and hold it. Only after standing side by side did Bipa notice Muyun’s growth.

“You… you’re going to catch up to me soon.”

Bipa admired purely. How could he have grown suddenly in the short time he didn’t see him?

At Bipa’s surprised look, Muyun made a face that couldn’t be any prouder. However, Bipa added with a slightly regretful look.

“Why are you growing so fast? It’s sad.”

While Muyun was growing like this, Bipa hadn’t changed a bit. Maybe he really would catch up to him and surpass him soon. Muyun grinned.

“If I grow up, there are fewer things for you to worry about, so it’s only good, isn’t it?”

Bipa thought so too at first, but it wasn’t.

It was good if Muyun grew up and could do more things. However, at the same time, that meant the necessity for Bipa to be by his side also decreased. When he thought about that, it was a little, no, very much bitter.

Unaware of Bipa’s complex insides, Muyun just wanted to grow up more as soon as possible.

The small world where only he and Bipa lived was very comfortable, so it was a paradise to him. This was the home Bipa would return to, and since he was monopolizing Bipa all to himself right now, there was no reason to be nervous or anxious. The relationship between the two was like a very calm water surface.

Therefore, Muyun wanted to grow up quickly enough to be reliable to him, so that he could go with Bipa when he went outside for a while like now.

“Master, so did you have a good trip? What did you see this time?”

Since coming here, Bipa taught many things. Muyun now knew very ordinary studies, a little bit of martial arts, and how to destroy malicious arrows that anyone could shoot at any time.

However, he didn’t take Muyun around anymore. Looking back, whether it was when meeting the centipede monster, or Gwisomok, or Eoduksini… it was too dangerous for Muyun.

Instead of preventing reckless things, Bipa used to tell him this and that about what happened after he returned.

“As for what I found at the place I went to, some eccentric made a mask in the shape of a cow’s head.”

“A cow head mask?”

“Well, if you wear that, whatever you say sounds like moo-moo, the crying sound of a cow. All sorts of things happen.”

“How did that come all the way here?”

“I know, right.”

It was a path he left on after hearing the words of those sky three brothers who were annoying, saying they felt a strangely odd energy, but to think what he faced was merely a mask that made cow crying sounds.

It was absurd and dumbfounding, so Bipa walked with his body drooping in fatigue. Then he spotted the three brothers standing in the yard and crumpled his face.

Whether they knew it was embarrassing, or if they were trying to be brazen and hold out, the sky three brothers raised their noses and cut in.

“Ahem. I wondered why the disciple had such a rotten personality, turns out it was because he takes after his master.”

“Who is this? The people who made me suffer for nothing. What are you doing here again? Do you have so little to do?”

“That’s because we have something to say!”

“Again? I won’t listen. I won’t listen to words telling me to go somewhere anymore. You made a fuss as if a big disaster happened, and what is a cow mask, barely?”

Bipa sat on the wooden floor, openly showing an unwelcome look. The polished wood supported his tired body firmly.

Just when they first settled here, the assortment of the house, which was no different from an abandoned house, had become quite decent. The wooden floor, which had sunken parts in every corner, was fixed anew, the dust that was piled up white in every room was all wiped away, and the rafters and roof that looked like they would collapse immediately if snow fell were also repaired anew. It was all done by Bipa and Muyun together. The time of the two was melted into every corner of the house.

Was that why? It was the place he felt most attached to among the houses Bipa had stayed in so far. If people didn’t return to that neighboring village, he thought it would be okay to stay here longer.

The three brothers, who were reading Bipa’s mood, quietly approached.

“There must be something you saw on the way.”

“Ah, I told you I went thinking there was something like that, but it was merely a cow mask?”

“Not that. Did anything fall? Like hail with human faces drawn on it….”

At those words, Bipa opened his eyes fiercely.

“Why are you saying such unlucky things? That’s a sign of ruin. Now that I look at it, you sent me to see the sign of ruin? You know that even the person who sees the sign of ruin gets bad luck, right?”

He waved his hand with a burst of irritation. Then he says as if driving a nail in.

“I saw nothing. Not a single thing. And even if I see something like a sign of ruin, I will pretend not to know.”

“Rude fellow.”

“Heartless fellow.”

“Fellow who only knows himself.”

At the words each of them said one by one, Bipa, who was trying to lie back down, suddenly sat up straight. He was about to retort asking why he would have gone on that difficult path if he was heartless and only knew himself, but Muyun stood blocking Bipa and the three brothers.

“He said there was nothing. Stop and go. Master is tired.”

“Rude fellow.”

“Ominous fellow.”

“Fellow who only knows his master.”

They add one word each again. Bipa burst into laughter at those words.

“Better than a master who only knows himself! Okay, please go.”

“Bipa, you will find out soon. You must know.”

“We’re telling you heaven and earth are opening up.”

“We’re telling you it’s the end of the world, a turbulent age!”

“Ah, always spouting only such unlucky sounds. And even if I see that, what am I supposed to do? Huh?”

Bipa, who turned his body while shuddering, covered his ears and curled up altogether. Muyun glared at the three brothers with intense eyes.

The three brothers babble profanities with voices considered holy and divine. Then they tossed a greeting, tok.

“Even if we tell you to take care of your body in advance, you throw a fit. Anyway, guys who play with Dokkaebi are all bad news. Hey! We will come next time.”

“Don’t come.”

“Going. See you again.”

“I said don’t come.”

Bipa’s words flowed in one ear and out the other of the three brothers, who raised their knees high to their chests and lowered them as if dancing, walking with loping strides. They gradually became blurry. They weren’t moving away, but were being erased.