Star Instructor, Master Baek-Chapter 334: Who Painted It?

TL: FoodieMonster007

Bright summer sunshine dappled a forest path where a woman stood looking straight ahead. Her face was fresh, brightened by a radiant smile that seemed both exotic and saintly at the same time.

That's definitely Master Eun.

The woman looked younger than the Eun Yerin Baek Suryong was familiar with. Perhaps it was painted before she acquired the alias 'Ice Moon Goddess'.

So you could smile like this.

Baek Suryong stared blankly at the portrait. The Ice Moon Goddess in his memory was either expressionless or looked somewhat vacant, her gaze directed somewhere far away.

If they had managed to escape the Blood Cult together that day, he might have seen that smile in person. He could have attended Master Eun's wedding and congratulated her along with the other masters, and they could have met up once in a while afterward to share a drink and reminisce about the good times.

Unfortunately, that was not to be.

Baek Suryong recalled the final moments of the Ice Moon Goddess as she lay bleeding to her death. The words she whispered as she stared into the distance with unfocused, hazy eyes.

The words she had wanted to convey to her lover, who would be waiting endlessly for her in some old bookstore in Xi'an.

Is this the bookstore where they met? If it's not too late, I will deliver your message.

Feeling a pang of sorrow, Baek Suryong unconsciously took a step closer to the portrait.

"Step back!"

A sharp voice instantly snapped him back to reality. The owner of the old bookstore was glaring at him coldly.

Only then did Baek Suryong realize his mistake.

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If this old man is Master Eun's lover, and some random bum just showed up and stared at his beloved's portrait, it's only natural that he would be mad.

Baek Suryong tried to clear up the misunderstanding first. "My apologies. Seeing the painting reminded me of an old friend…"

"Leave. It is already past closing time," the old man said firmly, cutting Baek Suryong off with a frown.

Baek Suryong pleaded, "Wait, Elder, I think there's been a misunderstanding. If you could just listen to me for a moment…"

"Did I not tell you to leave? Are you looking down on me because I'm a helpless old man?" The old man grabbed a large broom leaning in a corner with both hands and swung it at Baek Suryong. "Get out this instant!"

Baek Suryong sighed. The old man was an ordinary civilian who had never learned any martial arts. He could overpower him anytime he wished, but he simply stepped back and dodged the broom. "Please wait just a moment, Elder. I can explain…"

"You rascal! I told you to get lost!" the old man bellowed, swinging the broom again.

Fighting a Blood Cult Elder is easier than trying to reason with this stubborn old codger… but I can't carelessly use force on someone who might be Master Eun's lover.

Again and again, Baek Suryong dodged the broom nimbly. They were tussling around inside the old bookstore when suddenly, he noticed people approaching from outside.

KWAANG!

The door burst open violently, and rough-looking men entered the bookstore.

Among them, a man with narrow, fox-like eyes demanded, "I was wondering why your lights were still on this late. What's this? You have a customer? You?"

The old man, who was panting from swinging the broom, shouted with a flushed face, "You rascals! So you were all in it together!"

"…In what together?" Baek Suryong asked.

"Have you gone senile? What nonsense are you spouting?" The man with slanted eyes scowled, before finally turning to look at Baek Suryong, who had positioned himself in front of the portrait at some point. "Don't tell me, did you come here to buy that painting too?"

He unleashed his killing intent. He was only at the level of a neighborhood thug, but since Baek Suryong remained silent, he judged that the man was merely an intimidated run-of-the-mill scholar and sneered. "Give it up. That painting already has an owner."

Baek Suryong asked curiously, "…And who might that be?"

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"Bastard. Didn't you hear me tell you not to get interested?" The thug approached Baek Suryong and poked him repeatedly in the shoulder with his finger. He didn't seem to be concerned about the sword hanging from Baek Suryong's waist, as scholars often wore them for fashion. "Get lost while I'm still asking nicely, or there'll be trouble. Got it?"

"……" Baek Suryong said nothing. Understanding the situation was the priority.

The thug turned his attention back to the old man. He had lost interest in the cowardly scholar shaking in his boots.

Meanwhile, the old man blinked in confusion. "…Aren't you with that scholar?"

The thug scoffed. "What makes you think we'll allow some nerd to hang out with us?"

Baek Suryong chucked inwardly. From his coarse speech to his swagger, everything about this idiot just screams third-rate hoodlum.

Approaching the old man, the man scratched his neck. "Damn old geezer. Won't you just sell it already? It's because you keep dragging this out that you attract annoying flies like him. It's not like we won't pay you."

"Scram, you scum!" The old man swung the broom with all his might.

However, the thug caught it effortlessly. "Have you lost your mind?"

Snapping the big broom in half, he pushed the old man lightly, sending him tumbling backward onto his butt.

Baek Suryong shook his head. He's just a frail old man who has never learned martial arts. There's no way he can stand up to a healthy man in his prime. Still, just a little longer…

"How many days do you have left before you need a coffin, huh? Why are you so stubborn? If you keep acting like this, it makes us look like the bad guys."

"You rotten scoundrels…!"

The thug crouched down in front of the fallen old man, sighed, then glanced at the portrait of the Ice Moon Goddess with a lewd expression. "My, she's quite pretty. Even though it's just a painting, I get excited just looking at it. Old fart. Why don't you stop bothering our sect leader and just sell it?"

The other ruffians snickered in agreement.

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"…You. How dare you look at her with those kinds of eyes?" an icy voice rang out.

"What?" The man spun around, but it was too late.

CRACK!

Things seemed to blur together, and then an intense pain shot through him. His jaw was broken.

"You bastard!"

"Hyung-nim!"

Baek Suryong mercilessly thrashed the thugs who had broken into the old bookstore. He deliberately didn't use any inner arts. It would cause them more pain if he stuck to only external arts.

He also made sure not to spill a single drop of blood. He didn't want to defile this place, which was filled with Master Eun's memories, with the blood of vermin.

"P-Please spare me! Master!"

"I'm sorry! We didn't recognize a great master!"

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Realizing that they were facing a master beyond their abilities, the men who had only moments before been mocking the old man prostrated themselves on the ground, begging for mercy.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

Baek Suryong ruthlessly stepped on the back of their heads, grinding their faces into the floor. Muffled screams escaped from beneath his feet, but his eyes were glacial as he glared down at them.

"If it were up to me, I'd kill you all, but I'll hold back because I don't want to soil this place with your filthy blood."

The men's hearts constricted from Baek Suryong's terrifying killing intent, and their entire bodies trembled with fear. Fainting would have been better, but they were not allowed that reprieve.

"T-Thank you…"

"Fuck off."

The battered thugs supported each other and staggered out.

The old man, who had watched everything, sighed. "…So you were a martial artist."

I thought he would be afraid, but he's a man with backbone.

Baek Suryong hadn't wanted to use martial arts if possible, but the thugs had gone too far. Hoping the old man wouldn't misunderstand, he asked politely, "Are you Mr. Moon Yul?"

The old man's eyes widened momentarily, and Baek Suryong did not miss it. The answer that followed, however, was not what he expected.

"…How do you know Moon Yul-hyung?" the old man asked incredulously.

Hyung? I see. He isn't Master Eun's lover, but he does know him.

Baek Suryong thought for a moment before replying, "He is a close friend of my master. I heard a long time ago that he worked in an old bookstore in Xi'an, so I've been asking around, hoping to at least greet him."

"Oh… so there was such a connection. I apologize for the misunderstanding earlier."

"Please, speak freely. There's no need to be so polite."

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The misunderstanding was finally cleared up.

Finally, the old man answered his burning question. "It's true that Moon Yul-hyung worked here before, but he doesn't anymore."

Baek Suryong's heart sank. He asked anxiously, "Could it be… has he passed away?"

The old man shook his head and gazed at the portrait, seeming to be reminiscing about times long past. "I don't know. One day, he brought this portrait to me and asked me if he could hang it up here. When I said yes, he made me promise never to sell it. I agreed. After that, Hyung-nim thanked me and left. I haven't seen him since."

"……" Feeling somewhat lost, Baek Suryong looked at Master Eun's portrait. In the end, he had still failed to locate her lover.

Suddenly, he wondered who painted the portrait.

"Did Mr. Moon Yul paint that picture himself?" he asked.

"I heard he asked an acquaintance to paint it. Hyung-nim could draw reasonably well, but he wasn't talented enough to create something like this."

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An acquaintance… I wonder if the painter might know something?

Baek Suryong asked, "Do you happen to know who that acquaintance is?"

The old man shook his head. "No. I only heard he was an outstanding painter."

Baek Suryong sighed dejectedly. Since that was all the old man knew, his business here was finished, but the earlier incident bothered him. Judging by the thug's words and behavior, it didn't seem like the first or second time they had come to cause trouble.

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"Who were those men from before? The ones that demanded you sell the portrait," he asked.

"They are thugs hired by the Pure Cultivation Sect," the old man replied.

"The Pure Cultivation Cult? Judging by their name, they sound like an orthodox sect."

"Only their name is orthodox. Their deeds are no different from an unorthodox sect." The old man scowled in disgust. "Their sect leader has a vile hobby of collecting portraits of beauties. He came to me several times and demanded that I sell this painting. When I refused, he sent those thugs to harass me every day. Thanks to him, my business has completely dried up lately, and I have to extend my opening hours in the hope that a customer will show up after all the other bookstores have closed."

Baek Suryong blinked in confusion. "Why didn't you just sell it to them?"

"How many days do I have left to live? I didn't want to break a promise for such a selfish reason. Besides, I've grown fond of it after seeing it every day for decades." Embarrassed, the old man avoided Baek Suryong's gaze and cleared his throat awkwardly.

Baek Suryong smirked. It seems there's another man here smitten by Master Eun.

"You mentioned earlier that the Pure Cultivation Sect Leader's hobby is collecting paintings. Do you think he would know who painted that portrait?"

"He might, but why would he tell you after what you did?"

Baek Suryong shrugged and smiled. The old man was concerned for his safety, especially since he had beaten up the Pure Cultivation Sect Leader's men. "I'm stronger than I look. Please just tell me where to find those bastards."

After hesitating for a moment, the old man finally revealed the location of the Pure Cultivation Sect.

"Elder." Before leaving the old bookstore, Baek Suryong had one more question. He wanted to know if this old man knew Master Eun, since he knew Moon Yul, and if it wasn't just affection for the painting that kept him from selling it. He asked, "The woman in that painting. Have you ever seen her in person?"

The old man smiled sadly. "Hoho… One of the greatest regrets of my life is that I didn't have Moon Yul-hyung's courage."

Ah. I was right.

The old man was a person who had kept a promise for decades, even at the cost of his own safety. Though he had never confessed his feelings to her, he was also a precious friend of Eun Yerin's.

"I will come again later," Baek Suryong said.

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"Safe travels."

Baek Suryong left the old bookstore and made a beeline for the Pure Cultivation Sect.

At the same time, he prayed that this old bookstore, which held the memories of Master Eun and her lover, would stay in business, and wished the old man a long and healthy life.

"You ran away after being beaten by a scholar?" a middle-aged man's voice echoed coldly.

Before him knelt the men who had fled the old bookstore. Their bruised and battered bodies were a pitiful sight, but the middle-aged man looking down upon them had no interest in their injuries.

"H-He wasn't an ordinary scholar. He was a martial master," the thug leader explained.

"Don't tell me he took the painting?"

"N-No, probably not. If he intended to take it by force, he would have done so already…"

BOOM!

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Before he could finish, the thug was sent flying with a single, powerful palm technique, enough to knock him unconscious.

"Useless trash. Throw him out."

"Yes, Sect Leader!"

While his martial artists dealt with the thugs, the Pure Cultivation Sect Leader returned to his room. Its walls were adorned with dozens of portraits of beautiful women, each painted by artists of outstanding skill.

Only one spot was empty, reserved for the painting the Pure Cultivation Sect Leader desired most but couldn't obtain.

The portrait of the Ice Moon Goddess painted by Artist Pung Wol.

"I gave him multiple chances, yet the stubborn old fool hastens his own demise."

To those unaware of its value, it was merely a pretty picture, but to collectors like himself, the painting was a treasure worth more than a thousand gold.

"Do I truly have to kill him to take it…?" he muttered.

That one line sealed the Pure Cultivation Sect Leader's fate.

"Good. Now I can beat you up without my conscience bothering me."

"Who goes there!" Turning around, the Pure Cultivation Sect Leader saw a hand rushing towards his face. "How dare you!"

With a loud roar, he swung his sword like lightning. He was a peak-level swordsman. He was confident that he could defeat any assassin with a single strike.

Unfortunately, he never imagined that his opponent would be a master far beyond his abilities.

CLANG!

A hand parried the sword of the Pure Cultivation Sect Leader and seized his throat in a single move.

Who is this assassin? Even I, the leader of a sect, cannot put up a decent resistance!?

"C-Cough!"

Baek Suryong slammed the Pure Cultivation Sect Leader, whose eyes were bulging in disbelief, into the wall. He had deployed a qi barrier simultaneously with the attack, so no one noticed the commotion.

"The painting in the old bookstore. You know who painted it, right?" he demanded.

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"Y-You, who, who…"

"I hope you know the answer to my question. It's the only reason I might let you live."

A terrifying killing intent exploded from Baek Suryong's eyes.