“……..The Administrator of the Grass Shoe Garden, Un Hui, will dedicate the remainder of his life serving the Heir of the Heavenly Demon Church.”

When Un Hui knelt in front of him, Cho Ryu Hyang’s eyes met with Gongson Chun Gi’s. Cho Ryu Hyang could see that his teacher was plagued by complex feelings.

‘Was it that shocking?’

His teacher was usually a very carefree person. Cho Ryu Hyang never imagined that he’d see a face like that from his teacher. Cho Ryu Hyang scratched his cheeks.

Ten years was not as short as one might think. Those long years probably let the Administrator and the Pope develop a friendly relationship. But Cho Ryu Hyang didn’t expect that their relationship could be so deep.

Cho Ryu Hyang looked at Un Hui and spoke.

“Stand up. There are too many people watching us.”

“……..”

Un Hui bit his lips while on the ground. He was careless. He was too careless and prideful.

‘Skill is not limited to age.’

That’s right. The words of the Pope were too right. Un Hui misjudged the child’s skills just based on appearance.

He thought that the child was being too arrogant, and tried to teach the boy a lesson. Just thinking about that made his face go hot.

He was acting foolishly without even trying to figure out the boy’s capabilities.

Un Hui was feeling very, very embarrassed at the moment. He began to slowly raise his body as he thought of something.

‘It’s good that I’m wearing a mask.’

He wore this mask so that he wouldn’t be underestimated by others because of his young age. He was quite thankful for wearing that mask at the moment.

“I think you can come out now, teacher.”

When Cho Ryu Hyang said this while looking at something, Un Hui flinched.

‘Teacher? Could it be?’

Un Hui’s gaze drifted over to the direction of Cho Ryu Hyang’s eyes. He could see something blurry there. It was quite hard to see, but once he began to concentrate on it, he could begin to see something.

‘The Pope…….’

Un Hui’s eyes shook a little bit. Since when was he there? Did he watch everything that happened? The Pope’s face clearly indicated that Un Hui’s fears were indeed true.

Un Hui tightened his fist until blood began to seep out. He showed something he never wanted to show anyone to one of the most important people in his life.

When Un Hui looked at Gongson Chun Gi with eyes filled with despair, Gongson Chun Gi, who had been sitting on top of a tree branch, appeared in front of Un Hui.

“I won’t ask you about what happened. After all, this is a matter to be settled between you two. But I must ask you this.”

“…….”

Un Hui became anxious.

The Pope wasn’t just a normal Pope to him.

The Pope always came by to visit and answered his numerous questions, and never failed to provide a solution for even the strangest problems.

To Un Hui, this person was already a teacher to him. That kind of a person was currently looking at him with a complicated face.

“Is this truly what you wanted?”

“…….”

“Is this why you learned martial arts?”

“……!”

Un Hui couldn’t say anything. This incident was a lot different from the bet he had with the Pope a long time ago. This time, he had bet his life too easily.

And he lost.

“I’m not saying that the choice you made was wrong or anything.”

Gongson Chun Gi came up to Un Hui with a serious face, and put his hand on Un Hui’s shoulder.

“This boy is someone you chose. The boy is a talented child. But you haven’t seen this boy’s true capabilities just yet.”

Un Hui bit his lips. The Pope was right. The boy called Cho Ryu Hyang. He didn’t decide to serve the boy because he felt something.

It was just because of a simple loss. He gave away his freedom just because of a bet.

“If you are serving this boy just because of some random circumstance, and not because you felt that this boy was someone worth serving, then you should stop whatever you’re doing now. I don’t know what bet you two had, but I don’t want to see you two destroy yourselves because of a silly bet.”

Un Hui trembled. He could feel how much the Pope cared for him. Because of that, a part of his heart warmed up a little.

‘I’m good with this.’

Un Hui felt satisfied. If he desired any more than this, he’d be too greedy. Right then, Gongson Chun Gi looked at Cho Ryu Hyang and opened his mouth.

“What do you think? I think that the current situation could be undone as long as you desire it.”

Cho Ryu Hyang looked at his teacher. He took off his glasses, and spoke.

“I do not want to let go of this person.”

Gongson Chun Gi widened his eyes as he looked at his disciple. The boy was being a little informal, but from that, he could detect persistence.

The boy was being unusually persistent. Right then, Gongson Chun Gi’s eyes reflected a strange light.

‘Oho?’

It looked like the boy was thinking about something. Gongson Chun Gi hid those thoughts of his as he tried to act ignorant.

“Things are going to be hard, as you haven’t accepted each other yet. Is that fine with you?”

Cho Ryu Hyang put his glasses back on, and spoke.

“Didn’t teacher tell me that I needed to find a subordinate of my own soon?

“Right.”

“The Administrator will be my first subordinate.”

Gognson Chun Gi nodded, and opened his mouth.

“This guy here hasn’t seen your true potential yet. He hasn’t accepted you. is that fine?”

Cho Ryu Hyang nodded. Right. The Administrator still doubted him. But that didn’t matter.

“He’ll accept me in the future. I’ll make him.”

It was an amazing amount of confidence. Gongson Chun Gi had to change his view of his disciple a bit. He thought that his disciple didn’t even know about his own talent, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

The boy already knew about his talent. That alone made Gongson Chun Gi happy. Gongson Chun Gi was unable to suppress the happiness welling up inside him.

“Kuhahaha! As expected of my disciple. You know my worries don’t amount to much. Good, good.”

“Thank you.”

Cho Ryu Hyang faintly smiled when he looked at his laughing teacher. It seemed that his teacher realized his intentions some time ago.

‘He truly is amazing.’

The feeling he had when he became that man’s disciple. That feeling that he was going to respect the person in front of him very much was beginning to come to life.

“Hui.”

“…….Yes, your holiness.”

Gongson Chun Gi grabbed Un Hui’s shoulder, and made a playful face.

“Honestly speaking, I feel sorry for a lot of things. I need to pay you back someday. But now, I feel as if I’ve already paid you back for what I owed you.”

“…….”

He felt sorry? Those words were too much for Un Hui. He already got so much from the Pope, but the Pope still said such things to him.

‘How should I respond?’

While Un Hui had been thinking that, Gongson Chun Gi resumed talking.

“You will continue living while observing this child. And you’ll come to realize that this child truly deserves to be my disciple. You’ll even become thankful to me for bringing the child here.”

Un Hui smiled when he heard the Pope’s words. He then slowly put his hand towards his face, then took off his mask.

Slip–

He was almost thirty, but a face of a twenty year old man was hidden behind the mask.

“I trust your decision.”

Gongson Chun Gi grinned.

“The only thing you have left is to confirm everything by yourself.”

Un Hui looked at Cho Ryu Hyang. Cho Ryu Hyang didn’t avoid that gaze. Then, Cho Ryu Hyang realized.

‘If the Administrator was inside the formation, I wonder how this would’ve turned out?’

No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t come up with a solid conclusion. Cho Ryu Hyang fondled his glasses, and bitterly smiled.

‘This really was a big gamble for me.’

But that gamble really paid off. Cho Ryu Hyang would’ve done anything to get Un Hui, no matter how big the gamble was.

While Cho Ryu Hyang was thinking that, Un Hui knelt down again.

“You’re going to damage your knees if you keep doing that.”

Gongson Chun Gi said this with a playful grin, but Un Hui didn’t smile back. He bowed down with a serious expression. When his face was nearly touching the ground, he spoke.

“Administrator Un Hui promises to serve the Heir of the church for the rest of his life.”

Cho Ryu Hyang thought a bit when he heard this. What should he say?

He tried to get some advice from Gonson Chun Gi by glancing at him a few times, but Gongosn Chun Gi’s eyes just showed “it’s not my problem, do this on your own”.

‘What should I say.’

Un Hui really was a desirable person. Wasn’t that why Cho Ryu Hyang made the whole situation to be like this in the first place?

Plus, Un Hui was going to be his first subordinate. He wanted to say something memorable to the man.

‘It isn’t easy, eh?’

Gongson Chun Gi was just grinning while he looked at his disciple. Getting on a high position just meant that there were more responsibilities.

One couldn’t make any mistakes, and every one of his/her action would hold significance.

‘What will you say to him?’

Gongson Chun Gi made an expectant face. Right then, Cho Ryu Hyang smiled a little. He thought of something fitting for the situation. Cho Ryu Hyang knelt down, put his hands on Un Hui’s shoulders, and spoke.

“In the future, I will treat you like Fan Kuai (樊噲: The right hand of Emperor Gaozu of Han. Whenever Emperor Gaozu got cornered, Fan Kuai would save the emperor’s life).”

Fan Kuai? Un Hui felt emotional when he heard the child’s words.

“I will protect you with my life.”

“Thank you.”

Cho Ryu Hyang smiled. That was how his very first subordinate was chosen.