Childhood Friend of the Zenith-Chapter 569: To the Sky (3)

The heat in my head, which I had barely managed to cool, began to rise again.

Thump, thump.

The sound of my heartbeat echoed throughout my entire body, making even the corners of my eyes tremble. My breathing grew unsteady.

I was aware of it, but I couldn’t control it.

What kind of expression was I making?

The fact that I was wondering about this likely meant I wasn’t managing myself properly.

“Scent?”

The word that escaped Ubong Chwigye’s mouth unsettled me.

He said he could detect my scent at Yeomyeong?

That item had long since aged.

There was no way my scent could still linger on it.

Was he fishing for information? Perhaps.

But—

“Shit.”

It was too late to think about that now.

If I was going to deny it, I should have stuck to it to the very end.

It was far too late to deny it now.

So, what should I do?

What can I do?

‘How can I kill that old man right here?’

Would killing him be enough? Could I erase all traces of him as well?

How exactly should I go about it?

What justification would I have for killing him? What excuse could I make?

No, could I even kill him in the first place?

It would take months for my body to heal naturally.

If I wanted to forcefully exert my strength, at least ten days would have to pass.

On top of that, my opponent had already anticipated that I wasn’t in good condition.

What’s worse—

‘I don’t know Ubong Chwigye’s level.’

I had no way of knowing how much power he wielded.

I had no information on him, yet he likely knew a fair deal about me.

There could be no more despairing situation than this.

So, should I let this go?

That wasn’t an option.

If I was exposed now, everything would be over.

All the plans I had painstakingly set into motion would come crashing down.

Was there truly no way to kill him?

‘No...’

If I searched hard enough, there was one method.

But—

‘I can’t use it now.’

It was a power I hadn’t fully prepared.

Back when Paejon had discovered this power of mine, he had sternly warned me:

“Never use it unless you’re completely prepared. If used improperly, your body could be utterly destroyed.”

But—

‘I have no other choice.’

Right now, this was my only option.

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Letting things remain as they were wasn’t feasible, and if I continued to deny it, it would all come to an end.

I had no other choice.

I didn’t know if this would be enough to kill Ubong Chwigye, but I had reached the point where I had to try.

Of course, even if I succeeded in killing him, I had no idea what would happen afterward.

‘For now, I’ll kill him.’

Right now, the priority was to kill Ubong Chwigye.

As I organized my thoughts in that fleeting moment and gathered strength in my heart—

“Hoho.”

Ubong Chwigye let out a chuckle and spoke.

“Even the look in your eyes resembles your father’s quite a bit.”

“...!”

The mention of my father caused me to involuntarily loosen my grip.

In that brief moment of hesitation, Ubong Chwigye continued to speak.

“I don’t know your intent behind interfering with Yeomyeong, but my reason for coming here is not as you think.”

Hearing his words, I narrowed my eyes.

Ubong Chwigye was only speaking about Yeomyeong.

Watching him, a thought crossed my mind.

‘Could it be that he doesn’t know about the attack?’

Perhaps he didn’t know that I had staged a performance to kill Yu Baek.

‘That’s possible.’

Even if he had found traces of me at Yeomyeong,

it would be difficult to connect that to my impersonation of Cheonma and the attack on Wudang.

Although Ji Cheol had died in the process, I had made it appear as if he had taken his own life using demonic energy.

That part might have been beyond Ubong Chwigye’s understanding.

If that was the case, then good.

If it was only about Yeomyeong, I could find a way to manage this.

As I calmed my breathing and composed myself, Ubong Chwigye spoke again. His words made me frown.

It couldn’t be helped.

“If you tell me how you managed it, I might just let this go quietly.”

It was something I couldn’t possibly understand.

“...Excuse me?”

I instinctively repeated his words.

He’d let it go if I explained how?

“...I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

Was he trying to negotiate?

Was this a ploy to extract a confession from me?

“I owe your father a debt,” Ubong Chwigye said, causing me to frown.

I hadn’t expected my father to be brought up here.

A debt?

A debt, he said.

What kind of debt could my father possibly owe Ubong Chwigye?

An unexpected question surfaced in my mind.

However, unlike my curiosity, Ubong Chwigye continued speaking.

“This won’t settle the entire debt, but if I can save his child, he might look upon me more kindly.”

Hearing the old man refer to my father as “child” was jarring, to say the least.

The idea that my father could have a connection to the Beggar’s Sect Leader was equally shocking.

Ubong Chwigye, with his signature chuckle, continued to speak. From the outside, it seemed like a favorable situation for me.

But I couldn’t bring myself to smile.

With narrowed eyes and tension filling the air,

I hesitated before finally speaking.

“How can I trust you on this?”

Saying that was tantamount to admitting my involvement with Yeomyeong.

But for me, there was no other choice.

There were no viable alternatives aside from killing Ubong Chwigye, so I couldn’t help but speak.

“Hoho...”

Ubong Chwigye let out a short laugh at my question.

“If you can’t trust me, do you have any other options?”

“...”

The only remaining option was to kill him.

But I refrained from saying that out loud.

It didn’t seem like Ubong Chwigye would expect me to go that far.

“You seem troubled by what I’ve discovered. Child, what other choice do you have?”

He was right.

For now, trusting Ubong Chwigye was the best option.

The problem was whether I could bring myself to trust him so easily.

As I pondered this, Ubong Chwigye suddenly extended his hand toward me.

I looked at it, puzzled.

“Take my hand.”

Ubong Chwigye asked me to shake his hand.

I hesitated for a moment.

For martial artists, shaking hands could be extremely dangerous.

Especially in my current state, with my body still suffering internal damage.

However, after a brief hesitation, I clasped Ubong Chwigye’s hand.

If needed, I could channel demonic energy directly through the contact.

Using demonic energy was risky in my condition, but it was the safer option in comparison.

With that thought, I tightened my grip, maintaining my tension as I took his hand.

Voom—!

“...!”

The energy of Ubong Chwigye was instantly palpable.

I instinctively prepared to release my demonic energy, wondering what he was trying to do.

Hum.

But as I realized what Ubong Chwigye was attempting with his energy, I had to hold back the movement of my own.

‘This is....’

The flow of his energy was peculiar. Ubong Chwigye wasn’t directing his energy toward me.

Instead, he was doing something to himself.

Was clasping hands meant to show me this strange movement of energy?

Once I realized this, I carefully observed the energy flow. Soon, I understood.

‘A restriction?’

Ubong Chwigye was placing a restriction on himself.

And not just any restriction—it was a remarkably strong one. The sheer amount of internal energy and the complexity of the formula made that clear.

What exactly was he planning to do?

As the thought crossed my mind, Ubong Chwigye looked at me and spoke.

“Child, if my words about letting this matter go prove false, I will end my own life.”

“...!”

His words made my eyes widen like lanterns.

At the same moment—

Clink!

A sensation swept through his body as if the energy within him had been intertwined.

The restriction accepted Ubong Chwigye’s words, sealing them as an unbreakable promise.

From the flow of energy and the state of the restriction,

there was no doubting the truth in his statement.

I looked at Ubong Chwigye with trembling eyes.

At this point, I couldn’t help but ask.

“Why... why are you going to such lengths?”

“Hoho.”

Ubong Chwigye chuckled softly.

“Didn’t I tell you? I’m doing this purely for the sake of your father.”

Even with that explanation, it made no sense to me.

However—

‘He placed a restriction right before my eyes.’

He had risked his life to bind himself with his energy and words.

Such a restriction was on a level that bordered on the impossible.

He even clasped my hand to cast it in plain view, as if to ensure I would believe him.

And on top of that—

‘...I mixed in my demonic energy.’

While Ubong Chwigye was forming his restriction, I secretly infused it with demonic energy.

It was a contingency, meant to be used if things went awry.

Demonic energy was hard to detect unless actively activated.

I had controlled it to a faint trickle, so Ubong Chwigye wouldn’t have noticed.

Whether he realized this or not, Ubong Chwigye continued to smile at me.

“Now that I’ve shown you this much, doesn’t it make it easier to talk?”

“...”

I recalled what he had asked earlier.

What was it he wanted to know?

‘Why I interfered with the relics?’

That was all he had asked.

It was a simple question to answer.

He wasn’t asking about the attack or anything incriminating. He only wanted to know why I tampered with the relics.

The real issue was whether I could trust Ubong Chwigye’s claim that he would let this go.

‘With a restriction like that...’

It was harder to doubt than to believe.

After hesitating for a few seconds, I cautiously spoke while looking at Ubong Chwigye.

“...I suspected that Wudang would misuse Mount Hua’s relics.”

Ubong Chwigye’s expression shifted upon hearing my answer.

“Ho...”

His interest was evident.

“And how did you come to such a conclusion?”

This, too, was an easy question to answer.

‘Because the circumstances pointed to it.’

The sudden reappearance of the Ghost Thief after disappearing for over a decade.

His abrupt visit to Wudang was suspicious enough.

And it just so happened to coincide with the timing of Mount Hua and Wudang exchanging relics.

What’s more, Wudang was in a precarious position and seemed likely to exploit this situation for their benefit.

I explained this reasoning to Ubong Chwigye.

“Hm.”

He stroked his beard, his barely visible eyes glinting with interest.

“So, you stole Yeomyeong because of that?”

“Yes.”

I nodded in response.

This was the answer I had prepared.

The part about Ji Cheol’s death during that night could raise concerns,

but Wudang would never share such details with Ubong Chwigye.

On the contrary, they would likely try to cover it up.

Ubong Chwigye sipped his tea, seemingly contemplating my words.

Did he accept it? For a moment, it seemed so, but unfortunately—

‘No, he didn’t.’

The answer sounded plausible enough,

but it contained flaws that Ubong Chwigye surely wouldn’t overlook.

And as expected—

“That’s strange.”

Ubong Chwigye looked at me with a sharp gaze.

“They said there was nothing wrong with the tracking device you were wearing at the time.”

“...”

“And how did you manage to bypass their defenses and take Yeomyeong?”

Ubong Chwigye was meticulously probing the gaps in my story.

The tracking device Wudang had prepared to monitor us.

The fact that I bypassed their strict security to steal a relic.

How was I planning to address this?

His questions were natural and expected. I had anticipated this and was prepared.

“I can’t answer that.”

Rather than risking a problematic response,

I chose not to answer at all.

I spoke as if there was a reason I couldn’t answer, creating an air of mystery.

“Hoho...”

Ubong Chwigye chuckled quietly at my response.

Seeing this, I inwardly wiped the cold sweat from my brow.

‘There’s no way he’ll let this slide.’

There was no way that old man would let an answer like this pass.

I knew that full well when I said it.

The reason was simple.

‘So that he’ll press me further.’

I had prepared my explanation.

I would reveal a critical flaw in the tracking device and explain how I infiltrated and stole Yeomyeong.

Even so, I gave a vague response to create a moment.

Because—

‘It makes things more dramatic.’

If Ubong Chwigye accused me of mocking him or refusing to take him seriously,

it would give me the perfect opportunity to reveal the flaw in the device.

‘Specifically, the critical flaw in the tracking device.’

The reason I could bypass Wudang’s tracking device was due to an unknown flaw.

This was information I had learned in my previous life from Woo Hyuk.

Wudang had forcibly placed the device on Woo Hyuk after catching him repeatedly fleeing.

In his desperate attempts to escape, Woo Hyuk had discovered this fatal flaw.

I planned to use this information to turn the situation in my favor with Ubong Chwigye.

That was my intention, but—

“That’s enough.”

What?

“Elder, what did you just say...?”

“If you can’t answer, then so be it.”

“...Excuse me?”

“By the way, I snuck in some snacks. Would you like some?”

Watching Ubong Chwigye casually say this, I couldn’t help but stare in disbelief.