Then again, Ji Myung preferred the life of solitude as he did not like listening to others lecturing him at his old age. The only problem of the solitude was the loneliness it brought.
It was good that he retired from the Commander position of the Hwachun Clan's Demon Destroyer Regiment, but it was quite lonely living in quite a wide temple alone.
Ji Myung was a monk, but he never liked training in solitude or memorizing sacred Buddhist doctrines, so being alone was another form of burden to him. For him, it felt like when he was locked up alone in a gladiator ring's iron cell back in his youth.
To get out of solitude, Ji Myung left his temple and began traveling around. Six years had pa.s.sed since then. It was then when the limit of his actions had come. Soon, he returned to his temple. Sorim Temple had maintained his temple every month, so the temple he built was still in a liveable condition.
"Amidabuddha… Buddha, you shouldn't do this to me! d.a.m.n it! It's too boring to live like this!"
Ji Myung then began cursing at the Buddha sculpture at the center of the worshipping room. It would've been considered a heresy for others, but Ji Myung had a habit of doing this from time to time. He always believed that it was right to raise an objection when there was one.
It was then that...
"Kyaaaa!"
A girl's shrill scream was heard coming from within the forest. Ji Myung immediately ran toward the location of the sound. He didn't think about why there was a girl deep within such a forest since he wasn't the type to think about that sort of thing anyway. When he got to the location, Ji Myung found a girl below a large man, trying to resist.
"NO! NOOO! Kyaaa! HELP!"
"Shut up! No one's around here to help you! Shut the h.e.l.l up and stop resisting, or I'll make you shut up myself!"
"NOOO!"
It was clear what was going on. Ji Myung immediately knew what to do.
"The f.u.c.k are you doing, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
Ji Myung immediately ran towards them and kicked the man away.
"UGH!"
At once, the man's friends realized that something was wrong and ran towards the scene.
"Who the h.e.l.l are you?!"
"A M-monk!?"
They all bowed at Ji Myung once they realized he was a monk.
"B-Bhante, I think there's a small misunderstanding here. This girl is our servant girl. We were just trying to give her medicine, but she resisted because it was too bitter. With no choice, we had to force her to eat… and may have caused a commotion. Please understand."
Ji Myung could not help but scoff at such an explanation.
"Ey! You! Yeah, you. The ugly one. Do you think you can just explain your way out of this? Who in their right f.u.c.king mind would give medicine through their middle leg? Huh?!"
The one who was kicked away by Ji Myung had his pants down, and his friends gritted their teeth as they saw that.
"s.h.i.t…"
"And with that, cut the bulls.h.i.t and get lost. Will ya?"
"We can't do that."
At that, they all pulled out their weapons.
"There's no harm killing one old monk."
"Hmph! How dare you speak like that in front of a monk?"
"Hah! You think a human trafficker would care about that?"
"Tsk tsk tsk. This area is under Sorim Temple's rules and I'm their monk, you know?"
"That makes us feel concerned, but you won't be able to say anything if you die."
Ji Myung then grinned at their reply.
"Right? Dead men tell no tales! And well s.h.i.t, since you folks are trying to kill me, it ain't a crime killing you all as well, right? Uh, self defend? Defending?"
Hearing those words, a girl, who was shivering with fear, spoke in a small voice.
"It-it's self-defense, Bhante."
"Oh. Yeah. Self-defense. It's self-defense, you f.u.c.kers! I'll pull your spines out and stick it up your a.s.ses, you a.s.sholes!"
That's when one of the men could not help but have a conflicted expression on his face. Noticing this, another man in the group asked him.
"What's up with you? You don't feel good about killing a monk? Are you some Buddhist or some pious believer?"
The man then shook his head.
"N-no, it's not that. Don't you think it's weird?"
"What is?"
"I mean, see how we're talking with him… can you even figure out who is a monk, and who isn't?"
"Uh-… erm…"
"A monk known for his dirty talks… dirty temperament… don't you understand where I'm going with this?"
"W-wait… Demon Destroying Monk?"
Ji Myung then turned to look at them as he heard them mention his nickname.
"Oh? You know me?"
"s.h.i.t!"
They all became pale as their theory proved to be true. They tried to run, but it was too late. It was because one of them had already charged at Ji Myung with his sword.
Of course, the man's attempt to attack failed with a single punch breaking the momentum of the attack...and the man's arm.
"I don't like pointless killing. So, why don't all of you get lost before I pull that arm of yours and whoop all of your a.s.ses?"
Ji Myung was no ordinary monk who refrained from killing. There was a reason why Ji Myung was known as the Feral Dog of the Sorim and Hwachun Clan.
"Aaaaaargh!"
It wasn't about just losing a girl. It was a matter of life and death for them. They all began running away with all their might, with Ji Myung laughing so hard at such a sight.
"Hahahahaha! Look at you all! Amidabuddha!"
Ji Myung then turned to look at the girl he just saved and sighed.
"We can't talk here, so let's go to my temple."
He then grabbed the girl and ran back to his temple.
At the very moment Ji Myung arrived at his temple and placed the girl down on the courtyard, the girl let out a large breath and began shouting in an excited voice. It seemed like her terror for almost being raped was now gone.
"Whoa! Bhante, you're so fast! You ran through that forest like the wind!"
"It's called the Light Foot Art."
"Oh. Is it a martial art?"
"Yeah. So, what is your name, pretty one?"
"Ah. I'm Ha Goyun."
"Flying Swallow? The name fits you quite well. Anyways, you seem like a gal raised in a good family. Where you from?"
"I… I… I'm from Munyun Ha Family."
"Munyun Ha?"
"Yes, Bhante. Sadly, my family collapsed, and I was sold to slave traders and was separated from my brother. I was being taken to a brothel."
The girl began to shed tears of sadness. Ji Myung became uncomfortable at that. Because of his experience of being sold to the gladiator ring, he had a soft spot for young ones who were sold to slave traders.
'Then again… I don't like being alone in this large temple anyway.'
"Oh well. You can stay here then."
"Thank you!"
And just like that, there was a new addition to the temple. Ha Goyun had a keen eye, as well as a high rate of comprehension. Not only that, her personality was also straightforward. As such, she went along nicely with the hot-tempered Ji Myung. Her tireless jabbering kept Ji Myung out of boredom. Ji Myung wasn't well educated, so he gave up on teaching words, teaching her martial arts instead.
Of course, he did not teach her the ways of Sorim Temple as it would be dangerous to her. Instead, he taught her a martial art that he created himself, and Ha Goyun proved to be a perfect student with a high rate of comprehension, no matter the method of teaching Ji Myung used.
And so, they lived together for two years until Ji Myung heard the news of the gladiator ring, coming to Hakyung Village to solve it.
