It was a bright sunset in shades of orange and red, with pink clouds moving along with it, and birds returning home, looking like a painting—if not even better.
The place was quiet, starting to move little by little; some people had finished and were returning home, others wanted to keep selling until night, and the children who had been playing were now heading off, saying goodbye to their friends.
But somewhere else, the poinsettia flowers were blooming, and the house that looked old and quiet from the outside was complete chaos inside. Four students were staring at each other nervously, and the most nervous one was the person sitting on the chair, holding an old scroll and a feather pen. His hair was emerald green—despite tying it in a "ponytail bun," longer strands still fell down, and the color near the roots or in some upper parts appeared darker or mixed with light green.
He looked at the scroll again with exhausted eyes. The color of his eyes was light green or hazel-green with a slight yellow tint, and there was a bright halo around the iris that made them look shiny and sharp.
But all this beauty changed after he spoke: "I really don't know. This language is extremely difficult."
When Byeol heard this, his angry, dissatisfied expression appeared.
"So try again, and if you fail, try again. It's easy."
Cho Zen couldn't stand it. He put the scroll down and looked at Byeol. "You don't understand anything. If I said I can't, then it's impossible. Do you understand?"
Byeol looked at him with doubt, not liking what he heard. "Then why did you say from the beginning that you can read ancient writing?"
Cho Zen went silent for a moment, and Byeol smirked mockingly as if he had won. That look and that smile made Cho Zen angry.
"I said it's the ancient language, but this isn't the ancient language—it's the Black Moon language."
"So you know the name of this language, which means you definitely know it too… try."
Cho Zen: "…"
Cho Zen was tired of this idiot and ignored him. Byeol was about to start a fight, but a soft, gentle voice stopped him. A handsome young man appeared with a kind smile that could make you forget all your worries.
His hair was a bright, vivid blue, leaning toward sapphire or royal blue, with light touches of sky blue at the ends. It was very long and fell over his shoulders.
His eyes were a light, shining blue, close to icy blue or very pale blue, giving him a dreamy, calm look.
He was holding a large book with a cover showing a moon at night with stars.
"I brought it."
Byeol quickly took the book from him, thanked him with a gentle smile, and placed it in front of Cho Zen.
Cho Zen thought: A little while ago the new student came with Kyeon and Shin and asked me to read the ancient scroll, but I couldn't—it wasn't in the ancient language. So I asked "Ning Moyeon" to bring a Black Moon language book. But how did the new student change so suddenly? He was smiling cheerfully earlier, but when he found out I couldn't read the scroll, he became angry—like one of those arrogant rich family kids. Why is he treating me like this when he's only known me for two hours? I've never seen someone like him. Normally people act kind and hide their real face at the first meeting, but Lang Byeol showed his true personality after only two hours.
Cho Zen stared at him for a long time, and Byeol noticed this.
"What are you looking at? Come on, come on—try, try!"
Cho Zen: "…"
Where did this person come from?
He sighed and opened the book; maybe he had already given up.
Kyeon looked at Byeol suspiciously.
"Wait… why do you want to know what's written in the scroll?"
It was very strange. Why didn't he give it to someone skilled? Why Cho Zen, who knew nothing about him?
Kyeon waited for Byeol's answer, and Byeol didn't delay.
"Are you stupid? Of course I want to know if there's treasure in the scroll."
Kyeon was shocked at Byeol's honesty and went silent. He asked Moyeon: "Why not let someone skilled do this?"
Byeol and Zen looked at him. Moyeon became nervous and tried to explain himself.
"I didn't mean Cho Zen is bad, but since this is hard for him, isn't it better if someone else does it? It won't be hard for them."
Everyone waited for Byeol's answer—especially Kyeon.
Byeol was silent for a moment.
"Fine. But tell me: if this skilled person finds treasure, will they tell me, or will they report it to the search team leader? Of course they'll report it. That's why I want Cho Zen to do it. And there's another reason: a skilled person will ask for money."
"…"
Cho Zen tried to act like he hadn't heard anything and continued translating.
As for Kyeon, he gave up and thought he shouldn't have asked. Moyeon considered Byeol very smart.
After an hour, Byeol and Kyeon were playing chess. Shin and Moyeon watched excitedly.
Moyeon stood beside Byeol, and Shin stood beside Kyeon.
Kyeon didn't expect Byeol to be good at chess. He thought it was his first time playing and he'd lose, but he was actually very good—he would have won had Kyeon not regained focus at the right moment.
As for Lang Byeol, he had been playing chess with his old master for five years, so this was very easy. He still couldn't defeat his master after five years, so of course he could beat Kyeon.
Kyeon placed his king beside him, confident he would win—but in the final move, Byeol defeated him.
Everyone was shocked. Shin was stunned, Moyeon was happy, and Kyeon was still frozen in disbelief.
Byeol smirked.
"Oh, I won. I thought you were good at chess, but unfortunately… where did your confident smile go?"
Kyeon went silent, unable to reply. Byeol wanted to tease him more, but Zain's voice interrupted him.
"Guys, look. I found something."
Byeol looked at him and walked over, and the others followed.
Kyeon asked, "What is it?"
Kyeon felt grateful to Cho Zen for stopping Byeol.
"I translated the language and found old language writing too. It had the names of rivers written in ancient language, and in Black Moon language the names of mountains. If you combine the mountain names with the river names, you get this: 'To the one who can reach the intelligence of his mind and imprison his heart, he will be able to reach…' and the words stop there. I couldn't continue because there are no more mountains or rivers."
Byeol was shocked by Cho Zen's intelligence and thought he definitely deserved the title "Dragon Genius" in his past life.
He didn't just praise him in his heart; he said it out loud.
"Well, this is expected from the talented son of the Cho family."
When Byeol praised him, he did it with the personality he had before turning back time—with a gentle smile and his clear violet eyes showing.
Cho Zen went silent for a long time. Suddenly his whole face turned red.
Byeol didn't care and looked at the scroll. Maybe Cho Zen didn't notice, but should he tell him?...
Fine, it's better to tell him.
"Cho Zen, why does the river look like an arrow there?"
Cho Zen looked, shocked—and so was Byeol, because the one who said it was Moyeon.
Byeol thought Moyeon was really smart and had a pretty good imagination.
Zen thought for a moment, then spoke:
"Oh, this arrow points to the location of the ruins of the destroyed 'Sun Sect.'"
Then he lowered his voice carefully:
"I heard from my uncle that search teams from the empire are trying to find the tomb of the swordsman Lixing from the Sun Sect, but they found nothing, so the search stopped."
Shin spoke and asked: "Then how do they know his tomb is there?"
Byeol answered: "Someone must have told them."
Zen nodded in agreement. "That's right, but my uncle didn't tell me who that person was."
Then Byeol spoke seriously:
"Of course he didn't tell you. It's dangerous for anyone to know who the spy was that revealed the location of Lixing's tomb. But if the search stopped, it means no one believed him—and he was killed."
Byeol noticed the silence and saw everyone staring at him.
Kyeon spoke mockingly: "I thought you were an idiot, but I changed my mind. You seem to have a bit of intelligence."
"What did you say?!"
Byeol became angry at Kyeon's mockery and was about to fight him, but Shin spoke:
"So what's in Lixing's tomb that made the emperor send a search team?"
Cho Zen thought and replied: "Of course there are many important things."
Byeol found this the perfect chance to speak:
"Well then, I have a brilliant idea. What do you think if we go there and see? If we find nothing, we'll consider it an experience trip. But if we find something…"
Byeol smiled, letting them imagine the rest.
Everyone was silent for three minutes.
Then Byeol spoke: "I'll go. Anyone wants to try?"
They were silent again for three minutes, but this time Cho Zen spoke:
"Fine, I won't lose anything. I have nothing to do anyway, and I'm curious about the things my uncle saw."
Moyeon asked in surprise: "Is your uncle one of the empire's researchers?"
Cho Zen nodded.
Meanwhile Shin was thinking. Byeol noticed and smiled—he knew he'd agree.
"Fine, I'll go with you. Maybe I'll benefit from something important."
Kyeon also agreed: "Fine, this is better than going to lessons."
Only Moyeon was left. They all stared at him until he agreed under pressure.
"Okay, okay, I'll go too."
"Then the group is complete."
Byeol was excited; the first step had succeeded.
But not everything you want will come easily.
The five stood before Leong Hyeon, who was staring at them.
"I refuse!"
With this blunt rejection, the first step collapsed as fast as it succeeded.
Lang Byeol tried to calm himself and gather the words he'd say.
He looked at him seriously:
"Listen, Master. If you're always afraid for us and never let us go out into the world, then when the day comes that we have a real mission, we won't succeed. Do you know why? Because we have no experience. And also—"
Leong Hyeon raised his hand to tell Byeol to be silent and stopped writing.
"Fine, but I'm not afraid for you—I'm afraid of the trouble you'll cause."
It didn't work, so Byeol tried guilt.
"But Master, look at Shin. He's the type who will jump into a fight if he sees people arguing. That will put him in danger in the future—all because he has no experience."
Riong Shin: "…"
Leong Hyeon looked at Shin nervously from the corner of his eye.
Byeol saw his plan working. He looked at Ming Kyeon with pity.
"And also poor Kyeon, who always hits people, and if someone tries to talk to him, he mocks them. In the future he'll have enemies, no friends, and he'll be unsociable—all because he has no experience."
Kyeon: "!!!"
Well, it wasn't a lie. When he was twenty, he had more enemies than his age.
Hyeon looked at him the same way he looked at Shin and thought these two would cause trouble in the future.
He looked at Byeol, who was about to continue with Cho Zen's name, but thankfully Hyeon stopped him.
"Fine, I agree. But on one condition: the leader will be… Moyeon."
Moyeon, who wasn't even paying attention and was lost in thought, snapped out of it when he heard his name. He pointed at himself to confirm, and Hyeon nodded seriously.
Shin thought he agreed with this, but he looked at Byeol. He assumed Byeol would object—he'd known him for only a few days, but he was sure his personality wouldn't allow someone else to be leader.
"Fine, I agree."
That's what Byeol said with a satisfied smile, making Shin realize you can't understand someone in just a few days.
After Hyeon agreed, everyone left, but Hyeon stopped Lang Byeol to talk to him.
Byeol froze nervously, and Shin glanced at him with pity as he left.
"Maybe he will be punished…"