RM-Bab 575

Chapter 575 Isn’t it alright to get a few bruises on the chest?

The next day, on the way to the White Dragon Class, Seo Jin asked with concern.

“What if that man takes us hostage again to try and kill the Young Cult Master?”

Ian looked at Geom Mugeuk’s back as he walked ahead of them and said nonchalantly.

“The Young Cult Master will stop him.”

However, Seo Jin knew just how much of a touch-and-go situation it had been yesterday.

“If you’re thinking of staying because of me, I’m fine.”

Seo Jin was worried that Ian might be overextending himself by staying for the sake of her revenge.

When Ian stopped walking, Seo Jin also came to a halt.

“You asked what kind of person the Young Cult Master is, right?”

“Yes.”

“If he had judged that we needed to go back, the Young Cult Master would have personally packed our bags and sent us away. Honor? Justification? Pride? He’s not one to push himself for such things. If the Young Cult Master says nothing, then it’s fine.”

After finishing class and returning yesterday, Geom Mugeuk had gone out somewhere before coming back.

She hadn’t asked where he went, but it was surely an outing to prepare for this incident.

And at dawn, she heard the sound of Geom Mugeuk’s window opening.

He had been awake until then.

Lying on her bed, Ian stared at the stars visible through the half-open window.

Geom Mugeuk was probably looking at those same stars right now.

“If the Young Cult Master were to say the sun won’t rise tomorrow, I’d bet my entire fortune that the sun won’t rise.”

It was Ian’s absolute faith in Geom Mugeuk.

“When you place your bet, please be sure to let me know.”

“Are you going to bet with me that it won’t rise?”

“No, I can’t do that. I also have a lot of things to spend money on since leaving home.”

Ian and Seo Jin looked at each other and smiled.

Just then, Geom Mugeuk, who was ahead of them, turned back to look at them.

“What are you doing? Hurry up!”

The two women began walking again.

As they walked, Ian offered another optimistic view.

“The Young Cult Master isn’t just any master. With his skills, and against a master skilled enough to threaten him, hostages would be meaningless. It’s like this. If it’s someone the Young Cult Master can defeat, he’ll win even if they take us hostage. And if it’s an opponent he can’t defeat, they wouldn’t bother taking us hostage in the first place.”

As a blood relative of the Ghost Gate, Seo Jin had lived a life without want.

And now, she was feeling an unfamiliar yet intense desire.

“I want to become strong too. Truly.”

She wanted to fight alongside them in this world of the strong.

Not as a hostage, but as a protagonist.

How could Ian not know her heart? She herself had once felt the same desire and had devoted herself to training like a madwoman.

Being with Geom Mugeuk naturally made one this way.

It wasn’t because someone ordered it.

It was probably because the path that man walked was one that could not be walked together unless one’s heart was pounding to the point of bursting.

“If you want that, then don’t you dare fall asleep during class!”

+++

The Sword King’s second class began.

He looked slightly different from yesterday.

The worn martial uniform, the tightly bound hair, and the single iron sword were the same, but today he had come out barefoot.

“Try walking barefoot sometimes. You can feel the energy of the ground, it’s great.”

The hall members laughed at the sight of him with his shoes dangling on the opposite side of his sword.

He had also dragged a large box with him.

“Brought it from the warehouse.”

When he opened the box, which was covered in a thick layer of dust, it was full of wooden training swords.

In the early days of the Yellow Dragon Martial Hall, students would train with wooden swords for the first few years.

But as the Yellow Dragon Martial Hall became famous and started selecting students through examinations, the wooden sword classes had disappeared at some point.

“Alright, each of you grab one.”

Until now, they had trained with their own real swords, so the members were bewildered when he suddenly handed out wooden swords.

“You fools, with your skills, who are you trying to kill with a real sword already? Even a wooden sword is more than you deserve.”

The members inwardly thought it was absurd as they picked up the wooden swords.

From his appearance yesterday to his barefootedness and the out-of-place wooden swords today, he was truly a slacker instructor.

As Ian picked up a wooden sword, she sent a mental message to Geom Mugeuk.

-This is unexpected.

I thought you would create a frightening atmosphere with a class that felt even more like real combat.

Then, an unexpected mental message came back from Geom Mugeuk.

-I’m even more scared.

-Pardon? Why?

-They’ll swing these wooden swords freely because they’re not real, won’t they? A wooden sword in the Sword King’s hand will be sharper than a treasured sword, Ian.

Geom Mugeuk looked down at his wooden sword.

‘By the way, how long has it been since I last held a wooden sword?’

He once recalled the day he first held a real sword in his father’s training grounds.

Come to think of it, he had considered the day he first held a real sword to be special, but he had completely forgotten the day he first held a wooden sword.

Perhaps that moment had been even more important.

The martial art taught at the Yellow Dragon Martial Hall was the Yellow Dragon Sword Technique.

The Yellow Dragon Sword Technique played the biggest role in making the Yellow Dragon Martial Hall the greatest martial hall in the Central Plains, not because the sword art was powerful, but because it was a martial art designed to allow one to wield the sword art without conflict, no matter what inner energy cultivation method they had learned.

“The Yellow Dragon Sword Technique is composed of a total of twenty-six forms.”

At that, the hall members said.

“It’s twenty-nine forms.”

“Ah, was that it?”

The members had an ‘I-knew-it’ expression, but the Sword King was not ashamed at all.

“If you learn this sword technique properly, you can give the Demon Sect’s Young Cult Master a good spanking on the bottom.”

The hall members laughed at his words.

The person who laughed the loudest among them was Geom Mugeuk.

He was enjoying the Sword King’s joke without feeling any displeasure.

Ian could feel it.

The two of them were engaged in an invisible battle of wills.

And they were both enjoying it.

“Alright, today we’ll learn the first three forms of the Yellow Dragon Sword Technique.”

The Sword King stood before everyone with his wooden sword.

Only Geom Mugeuk truly felt it.

Though it was a wooden sword, the moment he held it, his presence completely changed.

What kind of presence would he exude if he drew a real sword? The Sword King holding a sword felt like a different person, to the point that such fear arose on its own.

“I don’t usually teach this kind of thing wherever I go.”

The hall members took him for an instructor who just spouted nonsense, but Geom Mugeuk focused on his every word and gesture.

The hall members would never know.

Who they were learning swordsmanship from right now.

The Sword King’s movements were truly fluid.

It seemed as if he wasn’t using any strength at all, to the point that it looked like he was dancing.

Everyone tilted their heads.

The Yellow Dragon Sword Technique they had learned so far was a martial art executed with fast and strong movements.

So, they all thought this.

It seems like he’s planning to slack off and leave like yesterday.

He even changed the movements while demonstrating the forms.

“Ah, it would be better to do it like this.”

Everyone shook their heads, but it looked different in Geom Mugeuk’s eyes.

He could see that the Sword King had reinterpreted the powerful Yellow Dragon Sword Technique with a foundation of softness.

How could he have properly and for a long time learned the Yellow Dragon Sword Technique? He must have briefly looked at the secret manual to become a temporary instructor, yet he had reinterpreted one martial art and presented it as a different one.

After demonstrating the forms, the Sword King sat on the box from which he had taken the wooden swords and dusted off his feet.

“Did you all see that well?”

As he said that, the Sword King’s gaze turned to Geom Mugeuk.

From the look in his eyes, Geom Mugeuk knew.

‘The fight has begun.’

I have demonstrated it like this, so how will you demonstrate this Yellow Dragon Sword Technique?

It was a probing move to see Geom Mugeuk’s skill, a game of a master who had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship, and also the beginning of a fight that could take the opponent’s head at any moment.

“Alright, everyone try it!”

The hall members all thrust their wooden swords forward.

As if to say, ‘this is the Yellow Dragon Sword Technique,’ they executed the forms quickly and powerfully, just as they had learned.

A few tried to imitate what the Sword King had done, but they soon felt like it was a foolish act and reverted to performing the martial art in the original way.

Here, the only ones who followed the Sword King’s demonstration exactly were Geom Mugeuk, Ian, and Seo Jin.

Of course, the only person who accurately understood the Sword King’s reinterpretation was Geom Mugeuk.

Geom Mugeuk’s movements were identical to the Sword King’s.

Softly, like flowing water.

He poured all his sincerity into each and every movement as he executed the three forms of the Yellow Dragon Sword Technique.

A peculiar light flashed in the Sword King’s eyes as he watched Geom Mugeuk.

He really did it in one try?

“Geom Yeon, come forward.”

The Sword King called Geom Mugeuk out.

Ian was inwardly nervous, but Geom Mugeuk walked forward fearlessly, wooden sword in hand.

“Demonstrate it once.”

Geom Mugeuk perfectly reproduced what the Sword King had shown.

He did not add his own interpretation to this martial art.

He performed the art exactly as the Sword King had taught him.

One’s own interpretation is for when one can perfectly execute the original.

Knowing that originality can sometimes be a trap that hinders the completion of the essence, Geom Mugeuk tried to be faithful to the original.

Laughter erupted from here and there.

In the eyes of the hall members, it looked ridiculous.

The instructor’s demonstration was strange to begin with, and they thought he was imitating those clumsy movements just to curry favor with the instructor.

Some members openly mocked him.

It was even more so because he was being subjected to jealousy and hatred since becoming Shield Geom Yeon, not the newcomer Geom Yeon.

After one round of demonstration, the Sword King asked the hall members.

“Alright, is there anyone who wants to have a promised spar using the forms we learned today?”

Just as everyone was looking around, one person stepped forward.

“I will do it.”

It was none other than Yu Gwang.

He had no personal grudge against Geom Yeon.

He stepped forward for two reasons.

Half was the desire to catch Ian’s eye, even just a little, and the other half was curiosity about why Ian kept this friend so close.

What was so special about him?

“Alright, face each other and execute the forms you learned today.”

The two men performed the forms.

While he executed the forms quickly and powerfully as he had always practiced, Geom Mugeuk moved with unparalleled softness, just as he had learned today.

The problem was that Yu Gwang’s execution speed was faster, so it seemed the promised spar would not be established.

But the two men’s promised spar matched up perfectly.

When Geom Mugeuk performed alone, it looked really slow, but when he actually matched with Yu Gwang, it wasn’t slow at all.

So everyone thought that Geom Mugeuk had performed slowly earlier and was now executing the forms quickly.

But only Ian saw it accurately.

‘His speed is the same as before.

It just looked slow because it appeared so soft.’

However, what truly surprised Ian happened next.

When facing each other and performing the Yellow Dragon Sword Technique, the swords were supposed to clash on the third form.

The moment the two wooden swords clashed in the air.

Shhhlick.

The wooden sword in Yu Gwang’s hand was cleanly sliced through.

Not only Yu Gwang himself, but also those watching were startled.

For a wooden sword to break, it should snap with a cracking sound.

But it really made the sound of paper being cut by a knife.

Yu Gwang, the person involved, was the most surprised.

He looked down at his severed sword.

The cut surface was as smooth as if it had been cut by a sword.

There wasn’t even an impact when the swords clashed.

‘Was it already cut from the beginning?’

He had no choice but to understand the situation this way.

Excluding the Sword King, the person who realized this secret was, of course, Ian.

Geom Mugeuk’s movements were as fluid as water, and that water was something that could never be ignored.

The moment this water was concentrated in one place, it became water that could cut through anything.

It was water that moved so fast that it seemed to be standing still.

The Sword King’s reinterpretation, which had planted extreme strength within softness, was contained in the forms that Geom Mugeuk executed.

A look of deep emotion flashed in the Sword King’s eyes.

With just a single demonstration, Geom Mugeuk had perfectly accepted his interpretation.

The Sword King strode forward toward Geom Mugeuk.

You, you are worthy of dying by my sword!

His steps were such that it seemed he would draw his sword at any moment.

As always, the hardest part of fighting the Sword King is the moment when you must do nothing.

Fortunately, there was no surprise attack this time either.

Instead, the Sword King, who had stopped in front of him, extended his wooden sword forward.

His action made it clear.

It was a sign that he wanted to have a promised spar with him.

‘What have you been doing at this martial hall? With what thoughts did you show yourself before me, and with what thoughts are you giving a martial arts lecture?’

After staring at the Sword King for a moment, Geom Mugeuk nodded his head.

‘Are you truly a man who keeps his promises?’

As if by agreement, the two men moved at the same time.

Their movements were identical.

The position where the sword was aimed, the speed, the movement of their feet, it was as if they were performing the forms while looking in a mirror.

If their movements were overlapped, it would look like a single person was performing.

The wooden swords grazed each other’s shoulders and faces.

They executed the promised forms exactly as they were.

If they had tilted the angle of their hands even slightly, they would have stabbed each other’s faces, but the two men executed the forms as they were.

Even while doing so, they were staring only into each other’s eyes.

Finally, when it was the third form, the two men’s wooden swords clashed.

Shhhliiiick!

The wooden sword in Geom Mugeuk’s hand was cleanly cut, just like Yu Gwang’s had been.

With that momentum, the Sword King’s wooden sword flew toward Geom Mugeuk’s chest.

It was the wooden sword of none other than the Sword King.

If it hit properly, it would be a fatal attack that could kill him.

Shhhlick.

Before it reached Geom Mugeuk’s chest, the Sword King’s wooden sword was also cut like paper and fell to the floor.

It just fell a step later; from the beginning, both wooden swords had been cut together.

“Aah! What a shame!”

The Sword King jumped up and down on his bare feet as if it was truly a shame.

What bloomed on his face was not anger.

It was an indescribable ecstasy.

The joy of having someone who cut his sword right in front of him.

“I was only going to stab you three times with this wooden sword. Isn’t it alright for a man trying to protect a woman to get a few bruises on the chest?”

Would it only have been bruises?

If he had been stabbed three times by the Sword King’s wooden sword, he wouldn’t even be able to stand.

Geom Mugeuk smiled and replied.

“It’s a good thing the wooden swords were old.”

“Then shall we try it with real swords?”

At the unexpected suggestion, Geom Mugeuk returned the words the Sword King had said to the hall members earlier.

“As a newcomer, who would I be trying to kill with a real sword?”

“That’s why this instructor is offering to be your opponent, isn’t it?”

Shh-shhring.

The Sword King began to draw his iron sword.

“They say both an instructor and a student died in this class, didn’t they?”

At Geom Mugeuk’s words, the half-drawn iron sword stopped.

“Then who will die this time?”

“If we go by turns, it should be the instructor’s turn.”

The two men were smiling brightly at each other, but an invisible tension was rising.

Just then, the bell signaling the end of class rang.

Clack.

The Sword King’s iron sword went back into its scabbard.

As soon as the bell rang, he spun around and left the place without a single look back.

“See you tomorrow!”

His happy departure was no different from the first day, a slacker instructor just waiting for the bell to ring.

In everyone’s eyes, all they could see were the shoes dangling from his waist.

The hall members gathered and examined the cut wooden swords.

“He cut them with a sword beforehand.”

The instructor of the White Dragon Class couldn’t possibly cut a wooden sword with a wooden sword like this.

“Ah, come to think of it, didn’t the instructor bring these wooden swords?”

“It’s obvious, so obvious.”

Everyone concluded that the instructor had cut the wooden swords in advance.

They even suspected Geom Mugeuk with looks that said, ‘weren’t you two in on it together?’ They believed the two had conspired to act like masters.

After all, the conversation they had at the end was not one between an ordinary instructor and a student.

But Ian could see it.

The same ecstasy that had bloomed on the Sword King’s face earlier was now blooming on Geom Mugeuk’s face.

That face right now was not the face of the Young Cult Master, but the face of a martial artist.

In a situation where everyone thought it was a prank and pre-arranged.

‘The two of them, they’re really fighting.’