In any case, having come this far, I had no choice but to meet the Bangju of the Gaebang.Our goal was to obtain medicine for Jung Eunho’s treatment.If this really was the Gaebang of the martial world, then even if it had declined, there should still be a few useful elixirs.Jung Heewon spoke.“Let’s go together.”“I’ll go alone this time. Please take care of Eunho in the meantime.”“If anything happens, you shout right away. Got it?”I nodded.Normally, I would of course take Jung Heewon along.But this time it was inconvenient.Because right now, I was “a disciple of Baek Cheongmun,” and the disciple of Kyrgios would never cower before something as small as the Gaebang.In other words, there was no need for an escort.“I’ll just take this one with me.”I jerked my chin toward the spotted boy who was our hostage.Perhaps resigned to his fate, he now followed obediently.“Straight that way.”At the Gaebang disciple’s words, I started walking along the path toward the main concourse.That was when the boy on my back spoke.“Mister.”“Yeah.”“Taking me along is useless. Someone like me has no value as a hostage.”I paused briefly, then lowered him to the ground and untied the ropes on his wrists and ankles.The startled boy looked up at me.“You’re letting me go?”I grinned.“You said you’re worthless as a hostage.”“I—I might run away.”“Do you want to?”The boy hung his head.Of course he knew. There was nowhere in this world for children to run.Anywhere you went, the scenario was hell.Without any real stats to speak of, the only thing this boy could do was use his youthful face to bait a trap.“Your dad—you said he suddenly changed.”The boy flinched and raised his head.“How exactly did he change? Explain it.”“Just… he suddenly became a completely different person.”“His appearance changed?”“No, his appearance stayed the same. He still looked like a homeless bum.”The boy hesitated before continuing.“My dad was homeless, but he wasn’t a bad person. Even after he ruined his business and went bankrupt and lost everything, he never hurt anyone.”The closer we came to the concourse, the more the boy stammered.“It was when he touched that strange stone that he changed. All of them did…”A strange stone?Before long, the concourse of Seoul Station came into view, screened off by a massive sheet of canvas.It looked like a relief camp had been set up right in the middle of Seoul Station.Inside there—the Bangju of the Gaebang.I entered the tent with the trembling boy at my side.In the center stood a massive stone driven into the floor, with broken concourse tables and chairs arranged beneath it.The Bangju of the Gaebang sat in one of the chairs, sipping tea.As though he were leisurely enjoying this age of catastrophe.Even knowing I had entered the tent, he didn’t acknowledge me. He simply sipped his tea and spoke.“The Yongjeong tea here is peculiar.”The four beggars standing beside him bowed deeply.“The Yongjeong I knew did not taste like this.”“We apologize. This was all we could procure here.”“It can’t be helped.”The Bangju sipped again.“Just as the martial world we remembered has vanished, so too must the fragrance of Yongjeong that people spoke of have changed.”It felt as though I had stepped into the middle of a wuxia novel.The place and time were clearly different. This was nowhere near the Central Plains or the martial world.And yet, the moment he opened his mouth, this place became the martial world.Wherever he was, with his words alone, he could transform the scenery around him.“Don’t just stand there gawking. Come, sit. Welcome to the Gaebang.”This really was the Gaebang.The thought struck me again.“Excuse me, then.”Feigning calm, I sat across from the Bangju.Once I had taken my seat, the Bangju sipped his tea and asked:“Why did you bring that child?”The boy shivered under his gaze.I lightly gripped the boy’s shoulder.“Ah, he’s a hostage.”“A hostage?”As expected, his eyes didn’t hold the faintest recognition of his own child.I added deliberately:“You have a brave son.”Only then did the Bangju’s gaze shift.He studied the boy intently before speaking.“The children of the Gaebang are all brave. Even when orphaned young, even when begging scraps off the streets, they can still fend for themselves.”“…”“Whatever you expected, I have no intention of giving special treatment simply because he is my son. From the moment they enter the Gaebang, the distinction between child and adult is meaningless. We are nothing more than beggars living under the same sky.”With my hand still on the boy’s shoulder, I said:“Even a beggar’s a child when he’s a child, and an adult when he’s grown.”“To the universe, there’s not much difference between the two.”It sounded convincing.But it wasn’t something one could say from the perspective of a human.“Perhaps from a ‘star’s’ perspective.”The boy had said:His father had suddenly become “someone else.”[Activating exclusive skill, ‘Character List’!]+Name: Myeong SewoonAge: 44Backing Star: The Last BangjangExclusive Traits: Homeless (Common), Martial Artist (Rare)Exclusive Skills: [Camping Lv.3], [Fishing Lv.3], [Begging Lv.3]…Stigmata: [Tagubong Technique Lv.3]…Overall Stats: [Stamina Lv.25], [Strength Lv.25], [Agility Lv.25], [Magic Power Lv.25]Overall Evaluation: This individual is acting as the proxy will of the great Constellation ‘The Last Bangjang.’+An incarnation with impressive stats.But what really bothered me wasn’t the stats, but the evaluation.「Acting as the will of a Constellation.」Was it a kind of possession?But how?There was no way a Constellation-level being could possess an incarnation this early in the scenario.I tested the waters.“Why is a Constellation here at all? Yongdu Bangju Cheonga. This is not the martial world.”The Constellation, The Last Bangjang.If the records in The Most Ancient Myth were right, the Gaebang had been expelled from the martial world after losing to Kyrgios and the Heavenly Killing Sword in the and .Then this “Last Bangjang” could only refer to the Gaebang’s final Yongdu Bangju.In other words, the one manipulating this incarnation was—「The Bangju of the Gaebang who had become a Constellation.」The Bangju slowly opened his mouth.“An interesting young man. To have seen that much already.”When he set down his teacup, the air itself shifted.I instinctively knew.The pressure radiating from him was at least that of a “Grade-6 Aberrant.”A powerhouse so strong that even if Jung Heewon were here, I couldn’t be certain of victory.“Yes, I am Yongdu Bangju Cheonga.”Was it my imagination? With that declaration, I could almost see the signboard of the Gaebang appear behind him.That must be his fable.The Gaebang, a prestigious sect of the martial world that had endured for over a thousand years.Behind him, a banner fluttered.A purple banner.In the Flag War, the flags began with white, then advanced through red, navy, brown, purple, and finally black.Yet this man had already claimed a purple flag so soon after the scenario began.No doubt the other representatives around Seoul Station had all fallen by his hand.A growth rate chilling enough that even Yoo Joonghyuk would be wary.I couldn’t help but wonder.If he appeared in the main story of The Most Ancient Myth, who on earth had ended his life?I spoke evenly.“I don’t understand. Why would a great star degrade himself by meddling in incarnations’ trifles?”The very existence of a Constellation’s possessed body in an early scenario defied all narrative plausibility.“A great star, you say. You seem to know a lot about Constellations.”Cheonga laughed.“Could it be you’re also someone who knows the future?”Damn it.That’s right—Jung Munho had been captured and spilled all sorts of things.“That fellow told me an amusing tale. That this world is actually inside a story, and we are all merely its characters.”Really, reader? Just how much did you blab?“I found it an entertaining metaphor. I often thought something similar myself.”Thankfully, the distinguished Bangju of the Gaebang seemed to take the literal reality as mere metaphor.“If this truly were a story, then what story would my ‘Gaebang’ remain as? Has the history of the Gaebang already ended? Will it be remembered only as a den of beggars no one speaks of anymore?”His voice was heavy with regret.From the half-empty cup of Yongjeong tea drifted a faint aroma—so faded it was hard to tell what leaves it had come from.“I was simply given a chance. A chance to begin again. A chance to raise a new fable, to etch the Gaebang once more into this .”Given a chance.By whom?Who could provide narrative plausibility for a Constellation to interfere in the early scenarios?I didn’t know.All I knew was that I had to stop this lunatic beggar.“Then you’ve come to the wrong place. That sort of thing should be done in the martial world. What are you doing throwing tantrums in a lower ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) scenario?”“I too have given up much in return. Do you feel the dignity of a Constellation from me right now?”Now that he mentioned it, something was off.The Bangju of the Gaebang was certainly strong, but not on the level of a Constellation.If he truly carried the dignity of a star, the moment I faced him I would have been crushed under the weight of his fable, my limbs exploding.“Let’s get to the point. I hear you’re a disciple of Baek Cheongmun.”His eyes turned cold. Instinct told me: from this moment, the real battle of words began.“Can you prove it?”Of course I wasn’t actually a disciple of Baek Cheongmun, so I had no token or relic to prove it.But—[Activating exclusive skill, ‘Incite Lv.5’!]Luckily, I did know the true disciple of Baek Cheongmun.「I am Kim Dokja.」The moment I uttered the phrase, I truly became Baek Cheongmun’s disciple.Nothing could frighten me.The smallest thing is the greatest.And I wanted to smack Yoo Joonghyuk on the back of the head.Sensing the shift in my aura, the beggars arrayed behind the Bangju paled.The finishing touch was the [Baek Cheong Aura] that LiteratureGirl64 had passed down to me.[Activating exclusive skill, ‘Baek Cheong Aura Lv.1’!]Blue-tinged mana surged from my body, and the Bangju’s eyes widened.“You really are the Disciple of Paradox.”Even the beggars guarding him erupted in an uproar.“For his true disciple to come here… do you understand what that means?”A creeping murderous pressure filled the air.I grinned.“I understand. And I also know that your violence has hurt someone I know.”“And so?”Should I really be saying this?But my mouth was already beyond my control.Because right now, I was that Kim Dokja.“Hand over the So-hwan-dan.”[Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’ is startled by your audacity.]The living mouthpiece of Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint: Kim Dokja.“So-hwan-dan? Why are you asking the Gaebang for Shaolin’s elixir?”“If you don’t have So-hwan-dan, then Ja-so-dan, or anything similar will do. Just hand over a medicine that can heal internal injuries. If this is truly the Gaebang, surely you have at least that much.”The Bangju gaped at me as if dumbfounded.“That’s what you came for?”“No. There’s one more thing.”Even I wanted to shut my own mouth.The man before me was a Constellation-possessed lunatic beggar, and if I kept running my mouth, my head could literally explode.But my tongue wouldn’t stop.“That flag. Hand it over too.”Because right now, I was the insane Kim Dokja.“Otherwise, next time my Master himself will come here in person.”[Constellation, ‘Sneaking Schemer’ nods in satisfaction.]

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