Chapter 38

Descending Down the Mountain

The 6th penalty .

He chose smell . Like taste, smell didn’t work like not smelling anything . A human could throw up with just the smell . Sungmin knew that . Because of the terrible smell that he felt during the first day, he threw up many times .

It was harder getting used to the bad smell than the taste . Because of both, food was especially terrible .

But he ate .

He swallowed the blech, closed his eyes, and tried to ignore the taste and smell of the food .

[Did you have to take smell?]

Sogo asked . She looked terrible . She was also had 6 penalties . The first time he met Sogo, she had penalties of speech, telepathy, and her left arm . She had gotten 3 more since then . She couldn’t use her left eye, and she was hearing things in her ear .

And taste .

Sogo knew the harshness of food now . It was inevitable that she would be disheveled . Sungmin bitterly smiled and answered .

[Better if it’s harsher . ]

Sogo didn’t ask anymore . She knew that harsher sufferings had more meaning .

But humans .

They knew the answer sometimes but didn’t take it . They know that it’s too painful . Yes, that was humans . Even if it’s the answer, if harsh pain comes with it, they would avoid the correct answer .

Sogo was like that . She picked up voice and telepathy first . That wasn’t too harsh . She didn’t talk too much, and she would write if she needed to . It was uncomfortable when she couldn’t use her left arm, but it wasn’t too bad . It was the same for her left eye .

But taste and hearing were different . How bad it was having your senses away from you… Sogo was understanding it now . She was regretting it much . To take something else . That regret .

To be honest, she didn’t need to take such harsh sufferings .

She had talent . Even though it was nothing compared to Plam because he was the avatar of Mush, but Sogo was considered a genius as well .

But not Sungmin . Since he wasn’t, he had to take such sufferings . There was the difference . Sogo was unable to pass the despair that Plam gave . Sungmin took the despair and made his path, while Sogo attempted to avoid it . It was strange . Sungmin who wasn’t talented was able to fight through the despair, while the genius Sogo avoided the despair .

[I have something to tell you .

Sungmin couldn’t tell Sogo about Plam’s existence . Because of what Mush said . Sogo… did she pass Plam . Sungmin was curious but couldn’t ask to her .

[Yes?]

[I think I’m going to leave this mountain . ]

Sogo answered . He… was slightly surprised, but wasn’t panicked . It was already 2 years since she came in this mountain . It didn’t seem that long, but seeing the penalties and the talent of Sogo, she would have gotten what she wanted in the 2 years .

[I see . ]

Sungmin breathed and wrote down . She was leaving . If that was true, Sungmin would be the longest lasting trainee here .

[I feel a bit bad about leaving you and Plam here alone in the mountain… or do you want to leave with me?]

[No, I want to stay . ]

Sungmin answered . He knew now because of her answer . She didn’t know Plam’s existence .

[ . . . I see . ]

Sogo nodded . She didn’t offer anymore . Also, Sungmin didn’t try to stop here . Seeing Sogo’s personality, if he asked her to stay, she would definitely stay for him .

He knew that, so he didn’t asked . Sogo had things to do herself .

[Right now?]

[Yes . [

Sogo nodded . Sungmin stayed silence and asked .

[Can we meet again . ]

[Probably . I’ll be wandering after I leave this mountain . . . but we’ll be able to meet . Defeinietly . ]

Sogo answered . No, he will defeintly be able to meet her . Sungmin will go for her in 7 years .

[How long are you going to stay here?]

[I don’t know . ]

Sungmin answered . He wanted to stay here for 2 years . After that, he was going to go to Behengeru to become a mercenary .

But he didn’t know anymore . There was nothing that he needed to do when he went to Behengeru . The only thing that he could do was to get a spot like his previous life .

But he wasn’t content yet .

He didn’t get to the point that he wanted to . He wasn’t sure that he would be able to reach the end of martial arts even by staying, but he wanted to at least fulfill his goal that he had in mind

[ . . . Don’t overextend yourself . ]

She hesitated and wrote that down . Sogo didn’t feel right about this . They were all the same . No Classes . Martial artists . Magicians . Everyone was summoned here . They lost their family and friends .

Pupil .

Sogo looked at her pupil . It’s been a year since they’ve met . The young student grew a lot in a year . Even with the taste penalty, Sungmin didn’t shy away from eating . It was to grow his body . It worked pretty well, and he was close to Sogo’s height now .

Sungmin did look a way older than his age . Yet, there was a bit of youth still hidden in his face . Sogo felt a bitter feeling as she sighed .

She wanted to help more . Give advice . It wasn’t that she didn’t give advice and help Sungmin .

She just wanted to help more .

[I’m fine . ]

Sungmin wrote .

[If it weren’t for your help, I wouldn’t have been able to survive in this mountain for a few months . It was because of you that I’m here now . ]

Sungmin never felt this feeling . Like he felt gratitude towards Wijihoyun, he felt gratitude to Sogo .

[Thank you . ]

Sungmin wrote . Sogo came closer to Sungmin . She used her right arm to pull Sungmin in . Sungmin was surprised and attempted to move away, but Sogo didn’t let him go .

For a while… she stayed like that with Sungmin in her arms . Her right arm was sliding down Sungmin’s back . Sungmin felt the warmth of her hand, her hair, and her body . His face was burning hot .

Sogo let Sungmin go . She wrote down on the ground .

[You’ll be able to do well . You… are one of the hardest person that I’ve met . ]

[What does it mean by hard?]

[Doesn’t break . ]

Sogo answered .

[You never gave up . You despaired at Plam, but you never gave up . I… think that’s incredibly . Not giving up, working hard . You’re amazing . [

[It’s not that much . ]

Sungmin answered . Hard . Doesn’t break . That… wasn’t true . Sungmin was already broken many times . He just survived it .

[I’m not hard . I’ve already been broken . Even now . And in the future as well . ]

[It’s fine if you aren’t . It doesn’t matter if you’ve been broken many times . What’s important is not falling hopeless . You’re… amazing . ]

Sogo shook her head and wrote .

[I don’t believe in God . ]

That seemed like a paradox . This was the Mountain of Mush . A place where a God of suffering exists . To train here without believing in God .

[But I want to pray to them . To have you fulfill your goal . To not have you completely break . ]

Sogo wrote that and put down her branch . Sungmin wanted to say more, but she put down the branch . Sungmin wanted to say more, but seeing that she put down her branch, he stopped . It was until here . Sogo looked calm .

If they continued, they would only have attachments .

“Then . ”

Sogo’s mouth opened . The penalties had ended . Her left eye opened, and her left arm started to move . Sogo breathed deeply . And in a low voice,

“I hope we meet again someday . ”

She said farewell .

She left .

From a time, Sungmin ate with Sogo . She was always there when Sungmin was training . She looked at his martial arts and gave him plenty of advice .

She was a kind person . If Wijihoyun’s teachings were harsh, Sogo’s were nice . He didn’t mean to compare them, but the teachings of both were different and gave him much left .

That Sogo had left . Like Wijihoyun did .

Sungmin walked the mountain alone . Lonely… was what he felt . It was a while since he felt this way . He had felt loneliness when Wijihoyun left . But there were people there for him . Hans was there, Jack was there, Lula was there .

But not anymore .

There was no one here . There would be other trainees, but he had no intention of meeting them . Bejun and Scarlet had already left months ago . Sogo left today . Sungmin wanted the company of people .

People cannot live alone .

Don’t forget morals . Don’t forget favors .

He had heard that before . He had heard it… from Hans . People can’t live alone . He couldn't understand that when he first heard it from Sogo, but not anymore .

He wouldn’t have survived if he was alone .

‘Ah . ’

Sungmin stopped his footsteps . A thought came into his mind . It was already night . His body was heavy, his ears heard noise, and his nose had terrible odors . Yes . It was the same old ‘me’

But something was different .

His mind changed . A wall that he kept up wa being broken . His mind brightened . It was a short but long lasting feeling of freedom . Sungmin breathed heavily . In that moment, there was no smell, no weight, no noise .

The world would change if ‘I’ change .

Sungmin laughed in the world of loneliness and solitude