A Strange Turn of Events

The woman named Do Ok-myeong had no business being here.

According to the novel's original setting, she ought to have been on Mount Zhongnan, in the southern reaches of Xi'an. She was the only daughter of Do Gi, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber — and the very reason that man had risked his life to seize the Gongcheong Seokyu was to cure her illness. Seo Joo-cheon had never imagined that a daughter who should have been so far away would be standing right in front of him, and for a moment he was thrown.

Kang Chu-mi frowned.

"Didn't you tell Young Lady Baek your name was Jin-hwa?"

Do Ok-myeong bowed her head toward her.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't give those people my true name."

"And why hide who you are?"

Do Ok-myeong's gaze passed over the three of them. Then she let out a long breath.

"This young woman cannot carelessly give her name to martial artists of the Righteous path. My father is known by the epithet Black-Faced Fluttering Saber."

Ham Cheon-yeong and Kang Chu-mi both looked startled. Seo Joo-cheon, who had already expected as much, did not.

"Hero Po, you look as if you already knew."

At Do Ok-myeong's question, Seo Joo-cheon offered a smooth deflection.

"Of all the Righteous martial artists you might have summoned, you specifically asked for me. It occurred to me that the young lady might belong to the Unorthodox path, or to the Black Way. Still — the beloved daughter of Do Gi, the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber. That is a surprise."

He mixed in a touch of astonishment for good measure.

"Then how did you end up kidnapped by the Undying Demon? And where is your father now?"

At Kang Chu-mi's questions, Do Ok-myeong lowered her head.

"I suffer from a rare illness, so I left home with my father in search of a cure. After we arrived in Weinan, he suddenly said he had urgent business, left me at the inn, and went out. He told me he would be back in a day. When two days passed and he still had not returned, I left the inn to find out whether something had happened to him. That was when the Undying Demon's men spotted me, and I was taken."

The explanation was brief, but her voice trembled in fine, fractured notes — a measure of how much she had endured. Ham Cheon-yeong felt a swell of pity, imagining how terrified a sick young woman must have been, seized by scoundrels. Seo Joo-cheon, however, could tell that this woman was sharp enough to weave truth and falsehood in just the right proportions.

Do Ok-myeong knows her father went out to find the Gongcheong Seokyu. And she's keeping that to herself.

Well — who wouldn't change, once they learned that the Gongcheong Seokyu was involved?

She's afraid we might take her hostage ourselves.

Seo Joo-cheon nodded as if he understood, and asked,

"Then what is it that Young Lady Do wants from us? Shall we escort you back to the inn where you were staying?"

"No."

"Then how can we help you?"

Ham Cheon-yeong stepped in to ask. Do Ok-myeong regarded him for a moment before she spoke.

"Once my father learns that I was kidnapped by the Undying Demon, he will surely go looking for him — to save me. He won't know that I'm here. He would have gone after the Undying Demon together with my uncle."

"Your uncle?"

"Yes. He is the man we were supposed to meet at the inn where I was staying. He is known as the White Salt Blade."

"Ah! The White Salt Blade!"

Ham Cheon-yeong and Kang Chu-mi exclaimed in the same breath. In the martial world, the White Salt Blade, Jeo Pung, was a guest expert even more famous than the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber. Seo Joo-cheon murmured inwardly.

So that's why the White Salt Blade hasn't shown himself. Just as she says — he may already have gone after the Undying Demon.

Even so, he had no intention of sticking his nose into the affairs of people who had nothing to do with him.

"You're not asking us to help your father, I hope?"

Kang Chu-mi spoke before Seo Joo-cheon could. Do Ok-myeong bowed her head again.

"I know it is shameless. But there was no one else I could ask. I believed that if you were of the Unorthodox path yourselves, and possessed a chivalrous heart, you would hear my request."

Kang Chu-mi bristled at that.

"I've been holding back, but this girl is something else. She really thinks we're suckers, doesn't she? I bit my tongue because she looked sick, but she's cunning down to the bone. Do you even know who we just fought? We barely made it out alive against the Undying Demon. And now you want us to fight that monster again? Even if you don't know martial arts, your father's a famous fighter — you have to know what that means! What you're really saying is go save your father and die doing it!"

"Th-that isn't what I meant."

Kang Chu-mi had come on so fiercely that Do Ok-myeong shook her head in denial.

"Even if that wasn't your intention, that's what your request amounts to. This isn't even the old story about saving a drowning man only to have him ask you to fetch his pack. She's asking us to throw our lives away. Honestly. I don't even know what to say."

Kang Chu-mi looked ready to slap the girl across the face.

"Big Brother, say something. Isn't this girl ridiculous?"

Isn't she ridiculous? The words rang through the room and filled it. Seo Joo-cheon's eyes, however, were fixed on empty air.

"This is truly absurd."

Kang Chu-mi seized on the mutter.

"You heard him. Even our Big Brother says it's absurd."

But he had not been talking about Do Ok-myeong. Seo Joo-cheon was staring at a message floating in the void.

Seo Joo-cheon had believed that Karma Missions were events triggered only by major characters. Do Ok-myeong was a character he had created, yes — but she had been nothing more than a device, a name invented to give the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber a reason to risk his life for the Gongcheong Seokyu. He had never imagined that a figure who ranked below even a passing supporting role could generate a Karma Mission.

So if someone asks me for a favor, a Karma Mission can trigger. I can't go around granting requests carelessly anymore.

That did not mean he could ignore it. The penalty was severe enough that not only Seo Joo-cheon himself, but his sworn siblings, might die.

Wait. Come to think of it—

He remembered that in Antagonist, whenever a Karma Mission activated, a link function appeared that let you view the details. If the reward was an elixir, you could touch the word and learn what kind of elixir it was. He had designed it that way himself.

Could this work the same way? If the setting was brought over from Antagonist, it shouldn't have changed.

He raised his hand and touched the word elixir. Different characters bloomed into the air above it.

I knew it. I was right.

Seo Joo-cheon touched the word martial arts beside it. This time even more characters painted themselves across the air than the elixir had.

"Heh. Heh. Heh."

Looking at the two arts, Seo Joo-cheon let out a hollow laugh.

"See? That's how speechless Big Brother is — he's laughing like a man who's lost his mind and waving his hands at empty air! You need to say something that actually makes sense."

The more Kang Chu-mi scolded, the lower Do Ok-myeong's head sank. Yin-Yang Collision Cultivation and the Thousand-Jin Weight Art — both names that reeked of having been slapped together on the spot — were martial arts Seo Joo-cheon had invented without much thought. When an author created techniques for a wuxia novel, the thing he fussed over most was the name. A good art was one whose name alone let the reader grasp what it did. A name too abstract could yank a reader right out of the story. He had named these two carelessly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— and then set their power so high they could be counted among the greatest martial studies under heaven.

Yin-Yang Collision Cultivation was a mind method that, even without circulating energy, continuously collided true qi inside the dantian and converted the force of that collision into inner energy for accumulation. He had written it so that one Gapja could be achieved in a mere few years. The Thousand-Jin Weight Art, taken from the Thousand-Jin Weight technique, wove that method into every form, so that each sword stroke landed with the force of a thousand jin.

The Black-Faced Fluttering Saber had obtained both as a fortuitous encounter, and now intended to use the Gongcheong Seokyu to raise his martial arts from First-Rate to the Peak Realm. Do Gi had chosen the Gongcheong Seokyu as the means to cure his daughter's illness and elevate his own prowess. But to him, his daughter was more precious than any of it. To save her, he would not hesitate to fight the Undying Demon to the death.

He must have thought that if he and the White Salt Blade attacked together, they could fight the Undying Demon on even terms.

But the Undying Demon had already surpassed anything those two men could handle. The setting had drifted a little from what Seo Joo-cheon had written, yet the current of this novel would probably still have carried Jang Hyeon-nam to somehow drive off the Undying Demon and rescue Do Ok-myeong — and, as repayment, to receive even a single drop of Gongcheong Seokyu from the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber. Because Jang Hyeon-nam was the protagonist.

By the novel's original flow, the protagonist should have routed the Undying Demon and saved Do Ok-myeong. That was why she had been kidnapped, and why Jang Hyeon-nam had gone to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Suo River instead of the Gwak Family Manor.

It ended well enough, in the end — but the story is getting tangled in knots. Is it because of me?

The thought crossed his mind. In the end, it was Seo Joo-cheon who had driven off the Undying Demon, saved the protagonist, and, without even realizing it, rescued Do Ok-myeong as well. And now the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber, Gongcheong Seokyu in hand, had gone after the Undying Demon to save his daughter. If a Karma Mission to rescue the Black-Faced Fluttering Saber had triggered for him, there was only one way to read it.

"This is insane."

Seo Joo-cheon muttered it to himself, and Kang Chu-mi shook her head hard.

"Huh? Big Brother. That is not what you say in a situation like this. You refuse. Firmly. Coldly. Why is 'this is insane' coming out of your mouth? No. Absolutely not."

Some ominous feeling had taken hold of her; the shaking of her head had become a full, frantic denial.

"I cannot see why I should risk death to save the young lady's father."

At Seo Joo-cheon's words, the unease in Kang Chu-mi's eyes settled. That's more like it, her face said. Do Ok-myeong opened her mouth in a voice raw with desperation.

Thick tears rolled down Do Ok-myeong's face, and still Seo Joo-cheon was unmoved. The Karma Mission was all that occupied him. Ham Cheon-yeong, however, seemed pierced by her heartrending devotion to her father; a muscle jumped in his cheek.

Until now, Ham Cheon-yeong had almost never put himself forward like this. His role had always been to follow Big Brother Po Un's decisions in silence.

"Well I'll be! Second Brother, have you lost your mind? What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"

Kang Chu-mi stared at him, incredulous.

"Do you remember how you met us?"

At that, Kang Chu-mi's mouth closed. Come to think of it, it had been almost exactly like this. A memory from ten years ago rose up — the day she had begged three strangers to help her, offering to become their servant if it would save her sibling.

"Damn it."

Kang Chu-mi had nothing left to say. She knew better than anyone how hard it was to refuse a person who staked everything on a plea. And she knew all too well that Big Brother and Second Brother, however cold and blunt they looked, could never ignore another person's desperate request. Back then, too, the three of them had been unable to turn down a complete stranger, and had fought a dozen warriors of the Thousand Poison Gate with their lives on the line.

Kang Chu-mi looked at Seo Joo-cheon.

"What do you think, Big Brother? I'll follow your lead."

She had taken a step back. Seo Joo-cheon smiled faintly.

"We helped Young Lady Baek of the Mount Hua Sect, didn't we? If we refuse Young Lady Do, that hardly seems fair. And we're of the Unorthodox path besides."

"I've never heard of Unorthodox folk being big on honor, so I think we're allowed to sit this one out."

Kang Chu-mi was still digging in her heels.

"Chu-mi. I'm the First Hero."

"That's right. And I'm the Peacock Unorthodox Saber."

Ham Cheon-yeong chimed in. Kang Chu-mi shot to her feet.

"Looks like we're going to die before ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we even get used to those titles we worked so hard for."

Even as she said it, she gathered up her whip and her daggers. Ham Cheon-yeong broke into a grin.

"Young Lady Do, wait here. This is the safest place we have. We will go and save your father."

Do Ok-myeong looked at him.

"Thank you, Hero. And please — be careful."

Kang Chu-mi shot the two of them a look of pure distaste, tossed out a single remark, and headed for the door.

"Honestly. It's an eyesore."

She could say what she liked. She was already steeling herself for the fight.

"If I run into that Undying Demon bastard this time, I'm taking his head off with my whip."