"As for my name… it's Kang Yu-min." Before even thinking twice, he introduced himself to Song Ki-tae while revealing his real name out of habit. Yu-min totally forgot that his current name was Moon Gi-wan.
'Kang Yu-min… As in Kang!?' Lee Byoung Chul who was listening to their conversation twitched his eyebrows as he was lost in thoughts.
"Sir, are you perhaps an outsider?" Song Ki-tae asked immediately.
"Woah! How did you figure that out?" Yu-min was surprised to see that everyone can identify him as an outsider just by a single glance.
"Well, I know every family around here and there's no family whose surname starts with Kang. Hence, I assumed that you might be an outsider."
"Oh, I see." He smiled bitterly.
'Am I that predictable? I should watch my mouth from now on or else I might get into trouble in the future.' He sighed inwardly.
"However, it's surprising that I'm meeting an outsider like you in this way." Ki-tae mumbled to Yu-min.
"What does that mean? Are outsiders that special?"
"Sir, you don't know?"
"Don't know what?"
"I guess, you came here without knowing that. Fine, I'll tell you myself. But first, let me take a certain pill."
"Oh, I didn't know you were on medication though."
Song Ki-tae tilted his head in confused. "Medication? Sir, I don't know what you mean by that but it must be an outsider language that I'm unaware of. Let me just take this pill, okay?"
"Umm… Sure." he replied with a nervous smile. 'Sh*t! I'm still not used to 'how people talk here'. My modern days habits are reflecting now and then. I guess, they don't have English Language here.'
While Kang Yu-min was busy cursing himself from inside, Byoung-chul took that chance to run away from there. He didn't know what Yu-min will do next if he stayed there. So, he got away when they weren't looking.
'Looks like this bastard's name is Kang Yu-min and surprisingly, he's an outsider. But no matter what you are or how strong you can be, I'll pay you back someday. Just you wait.' He left with eyes full of vengeanance.
On the other hand, Song Ki-tae took out a green pill from his pocket and swallowed it.
'He took that medicine without any water? So courageous. I can't do that in my entire lifetime. Respect!' Yu-min thought to himself while looking at Ki-tae with eyes full of admiration.
As soon as Ki-tae intook it, his body started glowing a bit and strangely, his external injuries started to heal on its own. Yu-min was baffled. He never saw something magical as this happening in his entire life. Ki-tae healed himself by consuming a pill which was like a magic potion to Yu-min.
'Unbelievable! He healed just like that. What was that pill anyway?' Yu-min wanted to ask about it but suppressed his curiosity for the time being since it might raise suspicions unnecessarily.
After Ki-tae was healed completely, he looked at Yu-min and spoke. "Sir, I want to invite you to my house and treat you for a dinner if you don't mind. I want to repay your kindness somehow. Can you please come."
"I already told you there's no need for that. I just did what my gut feeling said to do."
Song Ki-tae shook his head. "No. You have to come or else I might not be able to sleep tonight of letting you go just like that without thanking you properly."
Yu-min sighed. "Fine, then. Lead the way."
"Sure!"
Song Ki-tae then took Yu-min to his mansion 'The Song House'.
Upon entering the mansion, Yu-min saw that the frontyard was divided into two sections with a road in between for the visitors to go through.
It was lot similar like an open karate dojo. Numerous people were practicing fighting moves in a group and even sparring with each other.
"Woah! There are so many people practicing here. Are they all students?"
"Yes, they're all disciples and the members of the Song Family. They practice the cultivation techniques which are given to them while imitating the moves in the scroll of the technique and even spar with each other to increase the proficiency of the technique."
Yu-min widened his eyes in surprise. "Are you saying these are all your family members?"
Kang Yu-min lived a pretty modern life and in those days and there was never a concept of cultivation or cultivation families in his era. So, he was new to all this.
"Indeed, they are. I don't know how the outside world works, but here, cultivation families like ours scouts talented people who has a potential to grow in the path of cultivation and invites them to our family to become a full-fledged member of our Song Family while pledging loyalty to us. This tradition of bringing the talented people into our house who aren't blood related to the family has been going on for centuries now. Our ancestors started it first and now, we're doing the same in their stead. It's all for the sake of the family."
"Oh, I see. I didn't know there was such a reason behind it."
"No worries, sir. I understand. Since you are an outsider, you might have been unaware about it."
When Ki-tae mentioned the word 'outsider', Yu-min immediately remember how he forgot to ask him about it.
"While we are on the topic of outsiders, can you tell me what's so special about them?" Yu-min asked.
"Oh, I totally forgot about that. My apologies."
"No problem."
"You see… For us, the outside world is vast and unknown. But there's one thing we are certain of, which is that anyone who came from the outside world were transcendent beings who surpassed everyone on this island in terms of strength, knowledge and cultivation. Each one of them were powerful enough to eliminate thousands of cultivators like us in an instant. They were like gods to us. According to the ancient history, there was a time when we didn't know about their existence or the existence of Supernova Continent itself. I don't remember the exact year, but it was 500 years ago when they showed up."
"Who?" Yu-min asked curiously.
"Spirit Masters" Ki-tae took a brief pause before speaking again. "There were only three individuals who arrived at this island."
"How did they reach here?"
"By flight. They were controlling strange creatures who could fly and reach here by travelling through the oceans which was an impossible feat to do. We tried various things to travel through the oceans but there was no success. No one came back alive after going into the ocean." He said.
'Seems like people in this world don't know about boats and ships.' Yu-min thought to himself.
"When spirit masters arrived mounting on a ferocious creature, we thought they were enemies and launched an attack on them. Our actions agitated them and they killed few of our soldiers in response. Since our ancestors were a prideful beings, they didn't back down and kept fighting against them with their full force. On the other hand, those spirit masters didn't want to fight them. They were sent here on a mission. However, our ancestors didn't listen and kept pushing them into a corner until they had no choice left. In a blink of an eye, more than thousand soldiers died in the hands of a certain spirit master who used his abilities and launched a single attack on them."
"After seeing that, our ancestors had no fighting spirit left in them and surrendered voluntarily. Later, those spirit masters explained about their identities and where they came from. They also told them that they were sent here to build a device which can connect this island to the outside world, which is Supernova Continent. Our ancestors were dumbfounded when they heard about their mission. They couldn't believe that such a thing was possible. But in just a several months, a teleportation device was ready to take them to the Supernova Continent."
"Since then, spirit masters and outsiders are respected greatly by the citizens of the Ruby Kingdom."
"I see. That's the case then." He mumbled and after a few seconds, a thought came to his mind. "I have a doubt though."
"What is it, sir?"
"Since there's a teleportation device available to take you anywhere, why won't the citizens nor even you went to the outside world?"
"Well, powering such a device needs lots of spirit stones and they're scarce in the world. So, only talented people who are chosen by the major sects of Supernova Continent can go through the teleportation device and visit this new world they're unaware of. Also, those who awaken martial spirits have a free pass to go there without any problem since spirit masters are rare to be found."
"I see…"
"Sir, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure. Why not?"
"Can you tell me about the outside world a bit? I desperately want to know about the Supernova Continent." Song Ki-tae asked with eyes sparkling like stars in the night sky.
On the other hand, Yu-min was taken aback.
"Supernova Continent? You want to know about it, huh?" Yu-min smiled bitterly.
Ki-tae nodded vigorously in excitement.
'Sh*t! There's no escape from here. I need to tell him something or else I'll get caught. But I have no f**king idea what to tell. What should I do?' he cursed inwardly.