Book 20 Chapter 23

The Day of Destiny

"Money! Money! Money! Dance in the palm of my hand!"

The morning of destiny dawned. Namgung Sang stretched and got out of bed. Fortunately, he wasn't suffering from insomnia. He seemed to have slept enough.

"Not being able to sleep is proof that you've lost your composure. It's a bad omen that you've already lost before the fight. I want you to rest well and maintain your best condition. If you get a trivial illness like insomnia, you'll die! Got it? If you really can't sleep, ask me now. One shot is all it takes to send you to dreamland immediately."

He declined. A slight misstep and he'd be on his way to the afterlife. He was still young and didn't want to visit that place yet.

'But did what he said actually work?'

Namgung Sang had slept soundly last night, to his own disbelief.

"It's really happening."

When the "various things" in the Governor's office yesterday were roughly wrapped up and it felt like time to leave, Jin So-ryeong called out to him.

"Young Hero Namgung, come to think of it, because of all the things that happened, I didn't pay attention, but the time we agreed upon seems to be approaching, doesn't it?"

"Y-yes, it does."

Namgung Sang replied, resenting Jin So-ryeong's excellent memory.

"When was the date of our agreement?"

Namgung Sang inwardly gasped at Jin So-ryeong's question.

'Oh no! I forgot.'

Come to think of it…

"W-well…"

Namgung Sang hesitated for a moment.

His tense mind couldn't work properly when he tried to calculate from the day they first met.

"It's tomorrow."

It was Bi Ryuk-yeon who suddenly popped his head in front of the hesitating Namgung Sang.

"T-tomorrow?"

"That's right! Tomorrow!"

'Gasp! Was it already tomorrow?'

Come to think of it, it seemed so. He had been pestered by his senior disciple and completely forgotten.

"You, you didn't seriously forget, did you?"

The gaze transmitted through Bi Ryuk-yeon's bangs was unusual. It was like the gaze of a predator in the forest, eyeing its prey shining between the trees.

"Of c-course not. How could I?"

Namgung Sang vehemently denied it.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it for now. Until you win tomorrow, that is."

Namgung Sang was about to exhale in relief, but he coughed. That meant…

'If I lose, he'll investigate that matter again!'

This person was fully capable of doing that.

"All preparations are complete. So, rest assured and come to the agreed-upon location."

Bi Ryuk-yeon said to Jin So-ryeong in a polite voice.

"Preparations? What preparations?"

She hadn't heard of any.

"You'll know when you come tomorrow."

Bi Ryuk-yeon replied with a confident voice.

'Preparations? Were there any?'

Namgung Sang had also heard this for the first time.

'I was locked up all this time? When did you make such preparations…'

Of course, he wasn't the type to stay idle just because he was locked up… It seemed he had done everything he could.

'He always boasted that the chains that bind oneself are not made of iron but of one's own mind…'

He never imagined that he would actually put it into practice, not just say it… Bi Ryuk-yeon was a truly terrifying person. He could vaguely guess what kind of means were used.

'I wasn't the only one who suffered!'

It was obvious that the children must have suffered greatly while making those preparations. There were people working hard in places he couldn't see. That was what made the world turn from unseen places. Thinking like that, Namgung Sang felt a little comforted.

'Still, I suffered the most!'

He would never yield on that fact alone.