Chapter 43 – Seol Mu-jin

Semin stood in front of Wugeukhoe’s headquarters.

Guards in suits managed the entry and exit of people from the entrance. They appeared to be those with aura aptitude. As expected, it was worthy of being the headquarters of the largest raid enterprise in South Korea.

“What brings you here?”

Their eyes showed that they recognized Se-min.

There was only one Raider who carried a claymore while wearing a souvenir jacket.

“I came to see the chairman.”

Their eyes changed.

As the title of chairman was mentioned, they stood with more discipline.

A man contacted the inside through a radio connected to his ear.

“Is there a visitor scheduled for the chairman? Yes. Yes. Understood.”

He stepped aside.

Se-min stepped inside the headquarters.

True to Wugeukhoe being motivated by martial arts, the interior was also decorated in a classic, antique style to evoke a sense of the past. Antique weapons and armor were exhibited in the lobby, and calligraphy by famous figures was also hung.

“Please come this way.”

Rather than the pathway where ordinary members of Wugeukhoe came and went, there was a separate, dedicated elevator. Se-min was guided there.

Before going up, Se-min had to undergo a body search. They checked Se-min’s pockets and clothes once. Strangely, they left the claymore as it was.

“We cannot go. You must go alone.”

Se-min nodded and boarded the elevator.

There was only a single floor button.

The button to go from the first floor to the top floor.

When Se-min pressed it, the doors closed.

The elevator ascended rapidly.

Soon, the elevator reached the top floor and opened its doors. Se-min could not see anything. It was an entirely dark space.

Se-min could feel that someone was lurking beyond that darkness.

Seol Mu-jin would be here.

He had invited Se-min.

If he harbored other intentions and wished to harm Se-min, it would be like walking straight into the enemy’s mouth.

“Are you there?”

His voice rang out loudly.

As the elevator doors tried to close again, Se-min gently held down the open button.

Somehow, he felt reluctant to step forward.

“Are you there?”

However, there was still no answer. Se-min felt a stubborn streak and called out to the host once more.

“Come out!”

Then, a voice returned from the darkness.

“Impudent fellow.”

“Ah, you were here. Since there was no answer.”

Seol Mu-jin’s voice was low and rough. Se-min expected that he was sitting cross-legged beyond where the elevator light could not reach. His voice burst out from a low place toward him.

“Please turn on the light. I have night blindness.”

“Relying on one’s eyes is for amateurs.”

“But…”

Se-min said, taking a step from the elevator toward the darkness.

“You have blocked my senses, Chairman.”

Inside this place, Seol Mu-jin’s aura was spread out densely. Thus, Se-min could not detect the interior through energy waves.

“Because I cannot trust you.”

Relying on his voice to gauge the distance, Se-min took another step. His footsteps echoed inside. Se-min walked toward Seol Mu-jin.

In the darkness, he spoke.

“What are you curious about?”

Se-min could not understand those words.

He had summoned him. That meant he should have business with Se-min. Yet, he was instead asking Se-min what he was curious about.

“You should ask what you are curious about first, Chairman.”

He let out a low snort.

“I have nothing to be curious about regarding you.”

“Then why did you call me?”

“Because you need to get involved in this game.”

“What game are you talking about?”

He did not answer.

Se-min decided to trace things back from the very beginning of his entanglement with Wugeukhoe.

“Did Jin Bu-sik send the guys who trailed and attacked me?”

“Correct. A foolish fellow.”

Se-min thought that he would have to punch Jin Bu-sik once when they met.

“Were the tailers from the Triad?”

“Correct.”

“What is the relationship between Wugeukhoe and the Triad?”

Seol Mu-jin let out a sigh.

He had expected such a question to arise, but speaking of it right away seemed burdensome. Se-min waited for his answer. Seol Mu-jin soon opened his mouth.

“The chairman of the Triad is my senior martial brother.”

Although the Triad was famous as a Chinese underworld organization, they had now become an entity that controlled the raid industry.

In China, Raiders were called martial artists, and there were even rumors that China’s Wulin Alliance was moved by the Triad’s chairman.

Such a person was schoolmates with Seol Mu-jin.

“That does not mean I like the Triad. Let’s just say I have my own reasons.”

“They sell drugs.”

“They call it Gift.”

“Are you just leaving it alone?”

“Leaving drugs alone…”

Seol Mu-jin laughed.

His laughter filled the black space.

“I envy that you have the leisure to be angry at such trivial matters.”

“Is that a trivial matter?”

“Lee Se-min.”

He called Se-min’s name.

Vast internal energy was contained within it. For a moment, Se-min felt as if the air had sunk to the floor.

Se-min felt Seol Mu-jin’s eyes piercing through the darkness, glaring at him.

“Everything is connected.”

It was a statement whose meaning was unclear.

“We kill monsters. Everything originated from the monsters.”

Se-min listened to his words intently.

“That is the only thing you should worry about.”

“Do you mean the monsters?”

“The world will fall into chaos.”

Se-min was taken aback.

He came to talk about the Triad, drugs, and smuggling, but the world was brought up.

“It is not far off. Monsters will pour out, and Seoul will burn.”

“What do you mean by that…”

“That is why the Raider Bureau intends to utilize black aura. You also saw what that is.”

Se-min closed his mouth.

To him, black aura meant the demon that appeared from North Korea and Hell’s Gate. It seemed to be an entity closer to a monster rather than a human.

Afterward, Hell’s Gate was destroyed by No Hak-jae, but not long ago, he saw a video of the same entity appearing at the Raider Bureau.

“The Raid Alliance is split into two factions. Whether to accept black aura, or to oppose the monsters using pure aura to the end. And South Korea can be said to be the world’s best at researching black aura.”

It was a scoffing voice.

“China and the Triad oppose that path. However, who knows which side is right? Soon, they will invade Earth in earnest.”

“Do you mean the monsters?”

“Yes. When that time comes, you will not be able to fight monsters as easily as putting a spoon on a well-set table like you do now. It is warfare. The entire Earth will become a battlefield.”

Se-min wondered if Seol Mu-jin had gone out of his mind.

However, his aura was still woven like a net throughout this entire room. It did not seem likely that a man who controlled aura so delicately would have mental issues.

“Unless you are a fool, you must have understood at least the gist of it.”

“I am not sure. So the black aura is…”

“That is all for now. Find out the rest on your own.”

Seol Mu-jin closed his mouth.

Se-min pestered him.

“Ayy, please tell me a little more, big brother.”

“Who is your big brother?”

“Since we are in the same industry, you are my big brother.”

Seol Mu-jin chuckled.

“Forget it. Let’s drop the previous topic, and if it is about something else, I will listen to more of it.”

“If it is about something else…”

“Tai Chi is everywhere, and it repeats infinitely.”

Se-min’s eyes widened.

“Anyone who pursues martial arts cannot fail to know Tai Chi. There is no need to be surprised. Now, what are you curious about?”

He meant that he would teach Se-min.

Se-min asked Seol Mu-jin several questions. He answered readily. However, no enlightenment arose from that.

Yet, he felt as if he understood somehow.

“Do not try to know it with your head. From now on, it is a realm that your head cannot understand. Human reason cannot transcend the phenomenal world.”

“Then what do you mean I should do?”

“Everything is already within you. Do not try to harbor Tai Chi with your head. Tai Chi is not such a thing. The body only assists. You must become Tai Chi yourself.”

At that moment, words passed through Se-min’s mind.

‘The body only assists.’

They were the words of Big Brother Dokgo Cheonma.

At that time, he had taken it to mean not to be bound by the physical body in the utilization of aura. However, Seol Mu-jin’s words pointed to something beyond that.

They were the words of a senior who had already walked the same path.

‘Do not try to harbor Tai Chi with your head.’

‘Become Tai Chi.’

Like a hole forming in a blocked dam, light began to enter his frustrated mind.

Until now, Se-min had thought that advice from other Raiders was meaningless. This was because Dokgo Cheonma’s martial arts belonged to a different lineage.

However, their martial arts were influenced by Dokgo Cheonma’s master, and therefore had parts shared with Tai Chi Wisdom.

Se-min bowed his head.

“Thank you.”

“It is only a matter of time before you become a Black Mark. Never be satisfied with that level.”

“You do not need to worry about that.”

Se-min grinned.

In the first place, he did not even care about Seol Mu-jin in front of him, or the world’s Unique Mark Raiders.

He had already met a transcendent.

“Why are you teaching me these things?”

“I said it earlier. I want a new variable. It cannot go on like this.”

Seol Mu-jin’s voice was somehow devoid of strength.

His words sounded as if he wanted to modify the equation by adding even a tiny variable because the answer was already set.

“Become strong, and run wild. That is the price I want. Now, I will give you a chance to ask just one last question.”

One last thing.

Se-min still had many things he wanted to ask. However, Seol Mu-jin would not listen further.

Se-min pondered for a while before asking.

“In the process of handling the smuggling of Gift, I searched a container from Geoseong Metal Industry. Do you know about this?”

“I know.”

“Ah, this is not the question. This is not it. The last one is not over, right?”

“I said nothing. I am not that petty.”

“As expected of you, big brother. Anyway, I picked up a sword, do you know what kind of object this is?”

Se-min drew the claymore slung across his back.

Although it was in the darkness, it would look as clear as day to him.

Seol Mu-jin laughed.

“So that went to you.”

“Is it something you know?”

“That was something I was trying to obtain and import.”

“…”

Se-min realized his mistake and hurriedly put the claymore back into its sheath.

It looked like he was about to have it taken by its owner.

Seol Mu-jin laughed.

“I will give it to you, so just use it.”

“Thank you, big brother!”

“That is an artifact discovered in the basement of Glasgow Cathedral in Scotland.”

“A cathedral?”

“It is a cursed sword that kills whoever uses it.”

“Yes?”

“Those who used that sword were, without exception, eroded by demonic energy and died in pain.”

Se-min toyed with the claymore.

He did not feel that it was a cursed sword at all. Rather, because Se-min had felt that it matched well with Tai Chi Wisdom, he could not believe his words.

“However, calling it a cursed sword is also judging it through human eyes, so I do not know either. It is said that ancient Celtic magic dwells within it. I was also obtaining it as a collector’s item.”

“Does the sword have a name?”

“It is called Lupus.”

Lupus.

The name meaning wolf.

Se-min thought it was a name that suited it well.

“This is it. Now go.”

Se-min gazed in the direction where Seol Mu-jin would be sitting.

Even Se-min could not understand why he had invited him and said these things, or what he truly meant.

He did not seem like a bad person.

Rather, resignation and melancholy could be felt in his voice.

“Thank you.”

Se-min bowed.

He felt the corners of Seol Mu-jin’s mouth turning up in the darkness.

“You should.”