Chapter 31

Genius

Plam came closer . He looked to be of the same age as Sungmin and looked similar to Sungmin in stature . His eyes looked just like the stars on the sky .

“Lee Sungmin . ”

Plam muttered . He was bare handed . He didn’t have any smell like Scarlet, or wasn’t blind like Bejun . He could use his left hand and talk unlike Sogo .

“How long has it been?”

Plam asked . Sungmin was curious what penalties Plam got, but he didn’t ask that right away . Sungmin answered as he looked at Plam’s face .

“About… 3 months?”

He wrote down how long it was since he came here every night . It was perfectly 90 days since he had arrived .

“3 months!”

Plam acted frivolously .

“You stayed here for 3 months . You’re amazing1”

“ . . . You stayed for a year?”

Sungmin asked dumbfoundedly . Plam widened his eyes .

“You know me?”

Plam asked .

“I heard it from Sogo . ”

‘Ahah, that mute girl . Then you must know my name?”

There was no reason to introduce myself . Plam laughed . He came closer to Sungmin .

“You should have come and talked to me . There’s only people older than me here . I needed a friend . ”

Friend . He thought of Wijihoyun and erased the image that came up .

“But you use martial arts?”

Plam asked . Sungmin nodded with a surprised face . To be honest, he didn’t really like the meeting with Plam . Plam… could copy techniques or magic just by looking at them .

Everyone would feel the same way . Techniques were martial artists fortune, and it was same for magicians . But Plam took all of that away just by looking once .

“ . . . Yes . ”

“I can tell . ”

Plam laughed . He twirled his hair with his fingers .

“Sogo must have told you . That I can copy a technique just by looking . ”

Sungmin didn’t answer . But his face was filled with caution . He had met Wijihoyun, and he knew very well by living with her for a while . What kind of people geniuses were .

They were different . Their thoughts exceeded their age . They were proud and self righteous .

“Let’s see… hmm…”

Plam lifted his hands . He didn’t have a spear, but his figure looked like he was holding a spear . Plam looked at Sungmin’s face and laughed .

He moved . He performed the ran, na, zhe, and then performed the High Heavens . Not the whole thing, of course . Sungmin could only do up to the 3rd step .

Still, Sungmin was horrified at Plam . He could do anything that he saw . It was like Sogo said .

“It’s a good technique . ”

Plam put his hands down and muttered . Like he was rating the technique .

“How is it?”

Plam turned towards Sungmin . HIs eyes were shining . What was he asking for . Sungmin knew what Plam wanted .

Plam wanted Sungmin to be horrified and surprised .

“ . . . It’s great . ”

Sungmin hesitate and muttered . Plam smiled widely at that .

“I do it better than you, right?”

To that, Sungmin’s chest turned cold . Evil intentions… he didn’t know . It could be his personality . But it was always like that . A frog would die because of a kid’s innocent rock throwing . Sungmin was the frog . .

“Everyone is like that . It’s strange . Sogo and Bejun, they probably practiced it more than me, but if I do it, I do it better . ”

Plam laughed and said . He knew now . Why Sogo didn’t want Sungmin to meet Plam . Why Bejun said it wasn’t good for him .

To a normal person, Sogo and Bejun would be considered geniuses . Sungmin thought they were geniuses as well .

But how would a true genius see them .

And what about a normal person seeing a true genius .

‘It’s this feeling . ’

It was a different feeling than with Wijihoyun . She said that she was a genius, but she never tired to brag about her geniusness . Sungmin never tried to compare him to Wijihoyun . The High Heavens that he was using was made by Wijihoyun, and the basics that he had learned was all from her .

Instead of being a comparison, Wijihoyun was more of a teacher to him and a goal .

But not Plam . This cruel young kid knew of his talent . He knew how other people felt about his talents .

Sungmin understood very well . Why Sogo said not to fall into despair .

A true genius makes people fall into despair just by meeting them .

“What penalties did you get?”

Plam asked . He probably felt that Sungmin’s silence wasn’t very fun .

“I have 4 penalties . You're curious, right?”

“No, I’m not . ”

Sungmin said coldly . He was curious to be truthful . What did Plam have to suffer . Sogo had 3 penalties, while Scarlet had 2 . Bejun probably had 2 as well .

Sogo started off with 2 . Was it the same with Plam . a new penalty came every half a year, then it makes sense that Plam would have 4 penalties .

“Lies . You’re curious . ”

Plam laughed .

“I’ll tell you . This mountain . A stronger penalty makes Mush more happy . Therefore, suffering makes your reward better . ”

I don’t need it . Plam muttered and added .

“Your spear technique is a great one . But the one who has to wield it, you, isn’t very great .

He knew . He had heard it before . You don’t have any talent . To a real genius . . . . Sungmin was probably nothing .

“So . how’s this . You should just give up and leave the mountain . Well, with your talent, you could go to a city and live easily . Don’t try to use something that doesn't even fit you…”

“Leave . ”

Sungmin’s hands that was holding the spear tightened . Plam widened his eyes .

“I’m not done yet . ”

“Leave . ”

“Why are you saying that? It’s for your own good . Why . I’m trying to help you . Your wasting time . ”

“It’s my time . ”

Sungmin spit out .

I wanted to kill him . It was a long time since he had felt this violent . But he couldn’t actually kill him . Mush would block him, and even without Mush, there was no way that he would win against Plam .

He was a genius .

“Come on . ”

Plam muttered . In his face, there was no smile anymore . Plam stepped back a few times and looked at Sungmin’s face .

“It’s for you . Why do you hate me?”

“I never said I wanted you to say stuff like that to me . ”

“So I can’t say something without your permissions?”

“Like you said to me, I have permission to say stuff to you”

Plam couldn’t anything to that . Plam’s shoulder shook . As he was about to say something .

Phee .

It was as if there was a wind . Sogo arrived in between Plam and Sungmin . Her cold face was looking at Plam . Sungmin was surprised at her arrival, but Plam didn’t seem like it . Plam felt her coming unlike Sungmin .

“I thought you would have kept listening while hiding . ”

Plam mocked . Sogo shook her head . To that, Plam opened her mouth . But he didn’t say anything . Sogo put her hand and blocked his face .

“You take care of him too well . I’m jealous . ”

Plam muttered and turned around . In a few steps, he turned back around towards Sungmin .

“I’ll see you later . ”

Sungmin didn’t say anything . Plam walked away quickly . Seeing that Plam left, Sogo turned around . She pulled out her branch and wrote down .

[You held it in . ]

“I had to . I’m not leaving this mountain just yet . ”

Sungmin turned around . HIs steps felt a bit heavier than usual . It wasn’t just the weight, but Sungmin’s mind felt heavy .

“ . . . Thank you for coming . ”

He didn’t hear a reply . She couldn’t say anything . Sungmin lifted his spear . He swung with just his outside strenght .

His chest was stuffy . There was something stuck in his mind . Don’t despair . That’s what she said . 10 years later . He thought of the promise . The 13 years he lived and died in his previous life . The shameful death . And now .

When he looked up, the sun was already going down . Sogo wasn’t there, but there was a deer that was in her place . His energy supply was depleted . HIs body was filled with sweat and his muscles were dying .

‘It’s not enough . ’

Talent .

How much work would a regular person have to put in to follow a genius . 10 times, 100 times to follow that . That much might not even be enough .

Talent . Talent .

He didn’t have talent . Wijihoyun said that, and Plam confirmed it . He didn’t need anything . Sungmin knew that . He was going to rely on something else because he didn’t have talent . He got the martial skeleton and the Genuine Heavens and the potion and everything other to make up for his lack of talent .

Talent .

That was heavy . That made him despair . No, the real horror was this . When he would meet Wijihoyun in 10 years .

That I wouldn’t be strong enough .

That she would be disappointed .

He was afraid of that .

“Mush . ”

Sungmin opened his mouth . He held his shivering hands . His despair turned into fear . This life that he had gotten again… would end uselessly .

“Mush…!”

The call turned into a cry . He was crying . After he came back, it was the first time that he was crying .

[Human . ]

A voice came .

[Why have you called a God . ]

A haze appeared in front of him .