King Shura

It’s something that can be done without any concentration. But when you think about it a little you start wondering why such a thing is possible.

Walking, talking, breathing. Everything that can be done naturally. Could it be that these things were powered by some kind of ‘strength’ within the body?

When one assumed that that was truly the case, what would happen if that ‘strength’ completely disappeared? An example of that state would be Cho Ryu Hyang at that moment.

‘It’s dark.’

Darkness was everywhere. That darkness wasn’t caused by something like an absence of light, however.

‘My vision is gone.’

Of course, Cho Ryu Hyang only realized this after quite some time. He tried to stretch out his hand, but couldn’t. He couldn’t even feel his limbs.

No, to be more specific, it felt like his whole body was gone. It was as if his physical body just vanished from the world.

‘Just what is…….’

What happened? Instead of being frightened, Cho Ryu Hyang waited patiently. As expected, after a while, someone talked to Cho Ryu Hyang’s ‘consciousness’.

[How is it, greenhorn? Do you think you can take it?]

An arrogant, mocking voice. The owner of this voice was Zhuge Liang. Cho Ryu Hyang responded.

‘It’s a little uncomfortable, but other than that, I can take it.’

Indeed. He wasn’t feeling too bad at the moment.

[You can take it?]

‘Yes.’

This came as an unexpected answer to Zhuge Liang. Don’t most people get extremely confused when faced with situations like these?

But since this child went through quite a lot of abnormal events recently, the child became a little unresponsive to such events. Zhuge Liang lightly caressed his fan as he spoke.

[You will be able to understand what you desire if you manage to break yourself out of this state alone.]

The thing Cho Ryu Hyang wanted to understand. That would be the world within Cho Ryu Hyang’s body. Cho Ryu Hyang’s eyes lit up automatically. He felt that he was nearing the answer to his problem.

‘So that’s related to the current state of the body?’

When Cho Ryu Hyang asked this, Zhuge Liang nodded. To Zhuge Liang, Cho Ryu Hyang’s greatest power lay in his power to concentrate.

‘But that can also serve to be a critical weakness.’

Zhuge Liang fingered the tip of his fan. Cho Ryu Hyang was a type of a boy who wouldn’t rest until he found out every single detail about one thing.

That kind of a personality would be good for accomplishing something quickly, but when you see it from another point of view, it could mean that one could miss several details on what is happening around them.

That was exactly what was happening here. The boy was missing the most important information here by just thinking about the ‘world’ inside the body. Zhuge Liang decided to tell the boy about that critical information.

[If I were to speak in simpler terms, your body was forcefully separated from your mind. This is a very dangerous thing to do.]

Dangerous? Why? Cho Ryu Hyang made a confused expression for a second. He then thought of something, and became extremely surprised.

‘W, wouldn’t that be extremely troublesome?’

[Of course.]

‘Am I even breathing properly right now?’

Just how was he breathing if his body was separated from the mind? Zhuge Liang faintly smiled when he heard Cho Ryu Hyang’s question.

[If I removed your mind from your body completely, you’d be dead by now.]

That meant that Cho Ryu Hyang wasn’t completely separated from his body at the moment. While Cho Ryu Hyang sighed in relief at the fact, Zhuge Liang spoke.

[But this state won’t last for long. If you do not go back to your original state, your breathing will stop. That will be the end.]

When Zhuge Liang said this casually, Cho Ryu Hyang frowned. Was Zhuge Liang really this irresponsible?

Zhuge Liang, not caring a single bit about what Cho Ryu Hyang thought of him, covered his mouth with his fan as he spoke.

[You have about 15 minutes from now. If your body gets used to being without your mind after this time, it would be the end.]

‘How would it end?’

When Cho Ryu Hyang asked this, Zhuge Liang didn’t respond. After staying silent for a bit, he looked towards the place where Cho Ryu Hyang’s consciousness lay and spoke.

[You will be stuck in the cage known as the body. Forever.]

‘…….’

Cho Ryu Hyang’s current situation was a lot worse than he originally thought.

* * *

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Sunwu Jo Duk tilted his head as he wiped the sweat on his forehead.

He didn’t know much about martial arts and the likes, but when it came to medicine, Sunwu Jo Duk could boast that his talent rivalled that of the Pope.

In other words, he was confident that there was no one else in the world better than he when it came to medicine. He was right about it, too. But right now, that doctor was trying to cure Cho Ryu Hyang with intense concentration.

‘His pulse is normal, no matter how I look at it.’

Cho Ryu Hyang’s pulse was weak, but it was normal. His breathing was shallow, but like his pulse, it contained no abnormalities. There wasn’t anything that gave away a sign of a sickness.

‘He isn’t poisoned, either…….’

He assumed that Cho Ryu Hyang was poisoned at first, but the boy wasn’t.

Plus, Cho Ryu Hyang was someone he personally checked himself, so he knew the most about the boy than anyone else in the world.

Sunwu Jo Duk felt like he was about to go insane. It felt like his lifespan was getting shorter the longer he examined Cho Ryu Hyang.

‘He has no abnormalities? How can this even be possible?’

Sunwu Jo Duk’s mouth went dry. The heir, Cho Ryu Hyang, would look sick even to an idiot. Moreover, the heir seemed to be in an extremely critical condition.

But Sunwu Jo Duk was unable to find the cause of the heir’s current state. This was driving him absolutely insane. Right then, someone opened the door and came in.

“The boy’s hurt?”

“Your Holiness.”

Gongson Chun Gi casually greeted Sunwu Jo Duk, and immediately began to investigate Cho Ryu Hyang’s current state. He began to ask a few questions.

“So, how long do you think it would take for him to wake up?”

“…….I don’t know.”

“Mm? What do you mean by that?”

“I didn’t manage to find the cause of the heir’s current condition.”

When Sunwu Jo Duk said this with a pained face, Gongson Chun Gi’s eyes began to turn a little more serious.

“You examined him, and didn’t find the cause? You?”

“…….Yes.”

“You’re losing your touch.”

“…….”

“Move.”

Normally, Sunwu Jo Duk would never let someone else examine his patient, but this was an exception.

When Sunwu Jo Duk moved away, Gongson Chun Gi stretched out his hand and grabbed Cho Ryu Hyang’s artery. He soon began frowning.

“What the heck? What’s wrong with him?”

The boy’s breathing was extremely shallow. His heartbeat was equally faint.

If that were the case, then there definitely had to be a problem within the body somewhere. But the boy didn’t have any problems. This was almost like…….

“It’s like he’s hibernating, isn’t it?”

When Gongson Chun Gi blurted this out, Sunwu Jo Duk nodded. He had been thinking the same thing.

“But as you know, humans don’t hibernate.”

“Right.”

Then what was this? When Gongson Chun Gi began to think, Sunwu Jo Duk sighed deeply.

“I really might have to retire at this rate. It seems my old hands are losing its touch.”

When Sunwu Jo Duk looked down on his hands and said this in a depressed voice, Gongson Chun Gi smirked.

“If you lost your touch, doesn’t that mean I lost mine, too? Don’t get depressed over nothing, and go over there for a bit.”

“What are you trying to do?”

“I’m actually beginning to think that this kid might actually be hibernating.”

“What?”

Are you serious? Sunwu Jo Duk barely suppressed himself from saying that. Seeing how Gongson Chun Gi was joking in a situation like this, he felt that the man really was on a different class than others.

While Sunwu Jo Duk looked at Gongson Chun Gi with complex emotions, Gongson Chun Gi sat down comfortably, and put his hand on Cho Ryu Hyang’s head.

“If medicinal techniques don’t work, you gotta resort to magic. I’m pretty confident about magic, you know. So just stay over there for a second.”

Sunwu Jo Duk wanted to say something, but gave up on it. As a person who couldn’t even figure out the cause of the heir’s current condition, he felt that he had no right to say anything.

‘But there is no way for a human to be hibernating, is there?’

Should he try to stop the Pope here? Gongson Chun Gi grinned while staring at the conflicted medicine man, then began to focus on Cho Ryu Hyang. He then tilted his head in wonder.

‘His consciousness is locked away deep inside.’

If one was simply sleeping, the defenses of the mind wouldn’t be this strong. It was almost as if Cho Ryu Hyang was trying to prevent anyone from getting to him. When Gongson Chun Gi thought this, he smiled.

‘Do you really want to hibernate or something, disciple?’

surawang_60

Gongson Chun Gi began to think a bit here. It wasn’t that hard for him to forcefully wake Cho Ryu Hyang here.

But he didn’t really want to resort to that. After all, he didn’t even know why his disciple got to this state in the first place.

After thinking a bit, he glanced at Sunwu Jo Duk and steeled his resolve.

‘This isn’t a good time for this to happen.’

Come to think of it, the boy’s coronation should be happening soon. Preparations for that were being made, and there really wasn’t any time for the main character of the event to be sleeping like that.

‘I’m sorry, but I’ll have to wake you up, disciple.’

Gongson Chun Gi decided to take his consciousness and use it to forcefully wake Cho Ryu Hyang.

Gognson Chun Gi’s eyes began to be filled with red energy. He was activating a sort of a mind’s eye technique (心眼術).

‘Come to think of it, something like this happened in the past, huh.’

Didn’t he wake his unconscious disciple like this in the past? He could still see his disciple’s shocked face when he showed himself in the boy’s dream.

‘Shall I go surprise him this time, too?’

Gongson Chun Gi smiled playfully, and focused. Normally, getting into another person’s brain wasn’t an easy task.

But Gongson Chun Gi just happened to be extremely talented at these kind of techniques. That was why he just jumped into Cho Ryu Hyang’ mind without much worries. But……

‘Eh?’

The first thing Gongson Chun Gi saw was darkness. He frowned and waved his hand. He didn’t like seeing something so dark in his disciple’s dream.

The darkness faded away with the wave of his hand. This time, an empty white space appeared in front of Gongson Chun Gi. His eyebrows twitched a bit as he looked at this scenery.

“What the hell are you trying to pull? Come out.”

There was someone in this place. Gongson Chun Gi could clearly feel it.

But it seemed that the opposing party had no intention of revealing himself. The man simply hid in the white shadow, observing Gongson Chun Gi.

“Che, you seem to be an annoying one. You think I can’t find you if you hide?”

Gongson Chun Gi clicked his tongue, then he clapped his hands together then opened his arms out widely. When he did so, countless butterflies with blood red wings flew out.

“Find him.”

When Gongson Chun Gi said this, all the butterflies began to gather towards a single place. They eventually gathered to a single spot and formed into a vague shape of a human.

[You really are quite talented.]

Paan–

With a sound of something breaking, the butterflies all flew away. What appeared was an old man holding a white feather fan on one hand.

Zhuge Liang.

He had finally revealed himself.