Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: A Calculated Defeat
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“……Hah.”
A laugh slipped through his lips. Hwangbo Seongu twitched the corner of his mouth and let out a short chuckle. His right arm was still numb, but the sensation was slowly returning.
At least, there was no major discomfort in clenching his fist.
“So you’re not just full of hot air.”
Hwangbo Seongu’s eyes gleamed sharply. Wi Seongcheon was still pressing firmly on his temple.
When Hwangbo Seongu had swung his arm, it had whipped him along with it, leaving a lingering dizziness.
But Wi Seongcheon was in the same boat. It was irritating, but not debilitating.
‘I should have finished him right then.’
Bang Jun and Dang Heeran, who had been watching from behind, were stunned by Wi Seongcheon’s unexpected move, but they couldn’t help sharing the same thought as Seo Il, who was observing from afar.
Just moments ago, it had been a chance for Wi Seongcheon to end Hwangbo Seongu. Wi Seongcheon had perfectly pierced his guard and seized his arm. If he had snapped it clean then……
“You should have finished it.”
Of course, Hwangbo Seongu knew it too.
As the one who had been grabbed, he had no choice but to admit it, even if he didn’t want to. Seeing Hwangbo Seongu’s expression, Wi Seongcheon found it a little surprising.
Frankly, he had expected Hwangbo Seongu to take being “grabbed” as an insult, grit his teeth, and charge in rage. But Hwangbo Seongu’s face was calmer now than at the start.
‘This could be trouble.’
Emotionally volatile opponents were easy to fight. Excitement narrowed the vision and clouded the mind.
Wi Seongcheon had hoped Hwangbo Seongu would react that way. But, contrary to his brutish appearance, Hwangbo Seongu hadn’t let it rile him up.
‘He’s not quite what he seems.’
Hwangbo Seongu raised both arms. It was a stark contrast to his earlier reckless rushes and wild punches. He stared at Wi Seongcheon with cold, cooled eyes and clenched both fists.
A frontal stance, meeting him head-on. To Wi Seongcheon facing him, Hwangbo Seongu felt like an immense mountain crag.
‘Even his presence has changed. This…… is going to be rough.’
There were many eyes on them. He had to conceal some of his capabilities to a degree. That was the plan, so he hadn’t finished it when he grabbed the arm.
He couldn’t win the first clash. That was decided, so he hadn’t twisted the arm.
But now.
A sly thought crept in.
This wasn’t an opponent he could afford to hold back against and still win.
‘Prejudices…… biases. I fell for them too. What a fool.’
He had misjudged Hwangbo Seongu’s temperament. If he’d known, he should have probed the man himself a bit more beforehand. Of course, it was too late for that now.
Still, this encounter would make him sharper next time.
The standoff dragged on in silence. In contrast to Hwangbo Seongu with both arms raised, Wi Seongcheon let his hang loosely. Hwangbo Seongu stared at him with an unchanging expression, and Wi Seongcheon stared back with a hardened face.
It was enough to choke the breath from the onlookers. Dang Heeran swallowed hard as she watched Wi Seongcheon’s expression.
‘He still hasn’t used it.’
That moment.
The speed at which he had yanked her from the Blood Ghost Lord Gezonchang’s assault. The single strike that had crushed her windpipe.
Wi Seongcheon moved first.
That speed.
Hwangbo Seongu swallowed his shock.
Pabak!
A barrage of blows came in an instant, blocked by Hwangbo Seongu’s forearm. It felt like an arm strike wrapping around him like a whip.
Hwangbo Seongu’s fist thrust forward. Wi Seongcheon leaned back to evade it while bending his elbow.
Craack!
The driving elbow strike—Hwangbo Seongu slapped his hand down. That hand spun Wi Seongcheon’s entire body around.
‘Light.’
He had clearly struck and shoved, yet it felt like pushing empty air. How was that possible? There was no time to marvel.
Flung back by the force, Wi Seongcheon planted both hands on the ground and sprang up, aiming a kick at Hwangbo Seongu’s face.
‘And this……’
Hwangbo Seongu hurriedly retreated while leaning his upper body back. He didn’t just dodge. His splayed hand shot out to seize Wi Seongcheon’s ankle. Then Wi Seongcheon’s legs crossed.
‘Such erratic variations……’
The crossed legs. Instead of grabbing, Hwangbo Seongu’s wrist was caught by Wi Seongcheon’s foot.
The two feet clamped his wrist like vise grips. It didn’t stop there. Wi Seongcheon pushed off the ground with both hands and spun his body.
Feeling the pressure on his wrist, Hwangbo Seongu immediately circulated his inner energy. His already robust body grew even more unyielding.
Twisting the captured wrist was out of the question now. Wi Seongcheon immediately released Hwangbo Seongu’s foot.
‘Got you.’
Hwangbo Seongu’s eyes flashed wide. He whipped his braced hand forward and clamped onto Wi Seongcheon’s ankle.
Ah!
Dang Heeran, watching, let out a scream, and Bang Jun’s face drained white.
-Kwaaang!
Hwangbo Seongu slammed Wi Seongcheon’s body into the ground. Shards of pulverized earth sprayed in all directions.
Hwangbo Seongu saw Wi Seongcheon’s mouth gape wide. But it wasn’t over. He hoisted Wi Seongcheon’s body high again and hurled it aside.
Kudangtang!
Wi Seongcheon’s body tumbled across the ground. Hwangbo Seongu huffed out a breath and glared at the sprawled Wi Seongcheon.
“Kuuh……”
Wi Seongcheon groaned. Hwangbo Seongu, still glaring, whipped around to the flustered Bang Jun.
“He won’t move for days.”
“Huh…… huh?”
Bang Jun stammered in confusion, but Hwangbo Seongu paid him no more mind. He left the area without so much as a glance at Dang Heeran.
‘……Was it an illusion……?’
When he had grabbed Wi Seongcheon, slammed him down, and thrown him.
There had been a faint sense of wrongness. ……No, just his imagination. Unlike the glancing blows before, he had clearly grabbed, slammed, and tossed Wi Seongcheon.
‘Heavenly Flower Sect…… Wi Seongcheon……’
Crunch.
Hwangbo Seongu ground his lower lip between his teeth.
His right arm.
The pain in the right arm that Wi Seongcheon had seized and tried to snap twice—it nagged at him. Pain came in many forms.
The kind Hwangbo Seongu felt now was utterly foreign to his innately superior physique.
Which made it feel all the more repulsive.
* * *
“Hey!”
Bang Jun bellowed as he rushed toward Wi Seongcheon. Midway, he faltered to a clumsy halt. He wasn’t the only one rushing over.
Dang Heeran—the “enemy” in this class—was already there ahead of him, her face ashen.
“Uh…… um. You sure it’s okay for you to……?”
Bang Jun asked with an awkward expression, but Dang Heeran didn’t spare him a glance. She rolled up both sleeves and hastily checked Wi Seongcheon’s pulse.
‘Huh……?’
The instant her fingers touched his pulse.
Dang Heeran’s hand stiffened. She stared down at Wi Seongcheon with unmistakable panic on her face.
Just moments ago, his eyes had rolled back and foam bubbled from his mouth. Now, Wi Seongcheon was gazing up at her with bright, sparkling eyes, as if it had never happened.
Dang Heeran’s mouth fell open dumbly.
“You…… wha…… what……”
“Ow.”
A groan escaped Wi Seongcheon’s lips. He bolted upright and rubbed his neck and shoulders.
“Thought something actually shattered for a second there.”
Dang Heeran couldn’t make sense of it. Hwangbo Seongu had “really” grabbed him and smashed him into the ground. The impact had been genuine. Even she, standing at some distance, had needed to steady her stance from the quake.
Yet now, Wi Seongcheon looked perfectly fine, as though nothing had happened. He stood fully upright, twisting his waist side to side and rolling his shoulders.
Then he craned his neck to check where the vanished Hwangbo Seongu had gone.
“You…… you okay……?”
“Not totally fine, but nothing serious.”
When he’d been slammed down, he had deployed the Heavy-Light Receiving Guard. Subtly enough that Hwangbo Seongu hadn’t noticed. Thanks to it, his whole body was just sore and stiff—no broken bones or torn muscles, no internal injuries.
“Why’s that?”
Bang Jun, arriving late, pressed him. If he was this fine after that savage pounding, he could have kept fighting without letting Hwangbo Seongu go.
But Wi Seongcheon hadn’t pressed the fight. He had even played dead to force Hwangbo Seongu’s retreat.
“There’s still five days left.”
Wi Seongcheon stretched languidly as he replied. Bang Jun and Dang Heeran’s mouths gaped open.
“……That’s it? So you threw it on purpose?”
“Not exactly threw it. Even if we kept going, it would’ve been hard to win.”
There were many ears around.
It wasn’t that he distrusted Bang Jun or Dang Heeran. The instructors watching them were another factor.
If his only target was Hwangbo Seongu, going all-out against him would be fine.
But that wasn’t the case, so he hadn’t. The chance…… had been there. If he’d wanted, he could have pulverized Hwangbo Seongu’s arm on that first grab. What then?
Too much spotlight. Which was why he couldn’t beat Hwangbo Seongu today. Wi Seongcheon planned to clash with him at least two more times over the next five days.
And.
He had no intention of beating Hwangbo Seongu. Hwangbo Seongu wasn’t the top of the Dragon-Phoenix ranks. Four Fairies’ Dang Seona—even from a mere glimpse, she outmatched him. The Dragon-Phoenix core, Little Buddha Jinu, would be even stronger.
Among the tricky ones, Plum Sword Sang Irin would be tougher than Hwangbo Seongu, and he had no gauge on Sword Summit U Hayeon’s level since they’d never crossed paths.
And the Heavenly Ones.
Muyeon Jun too.
“And he was different from what I thought.”
Having loosened up, Wi Seongcheon plopped back down onto his seat.
“Hwangbo Seongu. Not as much of a total prick as I figured.”
“……That’s some fresh nonsense. What kinda metric are you using?”
“He didn’t pull any ‘How dare you, you worm’ crap.”
Who knew what he was thinking inside. But he hadn’t said it aloud. And that line. ‘I don’t want to say the Heavenly Flower Sect Leader’s teachings are wrong.’ He hadn’t openly insulted the sect. He’d even shown some respect with ‘Sect Leader.’
“The clincher’s this: when I grabbed him, he didn’t flip out.”
“……And?”
“No matter my background, he acknowledged the surprise I pulled off.”
Bang Jun blinked with a look of utter incomprehension. Dang Heeran sighed and shook her head.
“……Beats me. I’ve never once thought that bear was a good guy.”
“Not calling Hwangbo Seongu good. Just saying he’s not a complete asshole.”
Wi Seongcheon grinned as he said it. Dang Heeran let out a sigh and turned away. There was no reason for her to linger. In the current situation, she was still their enemy.
“……Your martial art. What is it?”
“Heavy-Light Receiving Guard.”
Wi Seongcheon answered frankly.
“It’s just a technique for taking hits without the pain.”
Such simple words.
But Dang Heeran and Bang Jun couldn’t accept them at face value.
To their limited experience, Wi Seongcheon’s art felt like some arcane supreme technique.