136 – Martial World Nymph # 6
I'd heard that in the old days, people traded by barter instead of using currency. You bring rice, and the other party catches a chicken for you in return.
Each side brought something the other could recognize and accept as fair value. Fairness. That was the fundamental principle of any transaction.
So what if one party stood to gain far more than the other from a proposed deal?
It meant something was wrong.
"Ha Ildo. I'll help you win the Martial Arts Tournament, and in return you take So Sohee back to Korea with you. Mutual benefit—that's all this is. Pretty good deal, right?"
It was a good deal. A deal that was too good, for me. And that was exactly the problem.
"This offer is way too one-sided in my favor. What's your angle?"
According to Madam Dang Yeong-yeong, the Dang Clan specialized in hidden weapons and poison. People who wielded such tools were naturally masters of schemes and underhanded tricks. I couldn't shake the feeling that this whole meeting was some kind of trap, and I stayed on guard.
"My angle? What angle?"
Buuuum—
Dang So-hae gathered the bees onto her palm. I tensed up, but Oinoi let out a great cry of admiration.
"Now that this Oinoi looks closely, those honeybees are similar to the Bashkir honeybees, that is the truth of it…! Bashkir honeybees are nymph-friendly bees, and their honey is so exceedingly sweet it rivals the candy made by honey ants…!"
I knew Bashkir honeybees well enough myself. They mostly appeared in D-Rank rifts—big, chunky bees, every one of them. And considering I'd once had Queen Bee nectar stuck to my shoe, which got me thoroughly roasted by Seo Yerim, they were bees I couldn't forget on many levels.
"They are extremely adorable honeybees, that is the truth…! This Oinoi once loved bees so much that she even wanted to become a nymph of honeyed water, that is the truth…!"
A nymph of honeyed water—or so the story went—was a nymph who befriended bees and commanded them freely. Something about a ditch water nymph being able to evolve if she ate a special honey? And now that I looked closer, Dang So-hae's bees weren't really honeybees at all. With those plump little bottoms, they were closer to bumblebees.
━Beeeeng—.
━Beeeng—.
Honestly, they were adorable. I could picture them burying their faces in flowers, bottoms sticking straight up in the air.
Just then, Dang So-hae flushed red and shouted.
"What's wrong with honeybees?! I'm called Poison Bee now, but I was originally the Poison Phoenix! Then So Sohee shows up out of nowhere, steals my title, and demotes me to a mere bee…!"
Poison Bee and Poison Phoenix. The pronunciation was nearly identical, but the difference between them was as vast as the gap between a fighter jet and a paper airplane. In my terms, it would be like going from "Legend Ha Ildo" to "Normal Ha Ildo."
"Honestly though, I think Poison Bee sounds pretty cute too."
Honeybee. That's cute, isn't it? "Honeybee Ha Ildo." Maybe not quite "Living Legend," but what a magnificent title, really? Which meant "Honeybee Dang So-hae" sounded like a perfectly splendid epithet to me.
"C-cute, you say…?"
Dang So-hae's face went scarlet. Then she spoke.
"Everyone just laughs at me—you're the first person who's ever called me cute…! You're obviously making fun of me…! I won't be fooled…! I've sworn to defeat So Sohee and become the Demon of Sichuan…!"
Well. One thing was clear: Dang So-hae really did hate So Sohee.
So Sohee had never been popular among girls her own age, even back in the day, and apparently China was no different. As for Dang So-hae, she believed So Sohee had stolen her title and her achievements.
"Anyway, take So Sohee back to Korea. Then I can reclaim my standing and authority in the vast martial world of China. I'll become the head of the clan, and once I get my hands on the Tang Clan Secret Manual…"
Heh heh heh—
Dang So-hae wore a somewhat sinister smile. And yet she didn't seem like a bad person. These adorable "Bashkir honeybees" of hers seemed genuinely devoted to her.
"Bashkir honeybees are picky of temperament, and if you don't pour your heart into caring for them, they whoosh—fly right away, that is the truth…! How did she tame them? This Oinoi is curious, that is the truth…!"
Oinoi had taken an interest in Dang So-hae. She wanted to pet the cute honeybees, naturally!
And that was when it happened.
Illinoi, who had gone out for a brief stroll, returned to Lao's hotel room and scrunched her face into a deep scowl.
"This disgusting wench, who da she think she is…? For some reason this Illinoi smells the scent of a nymph of deadly poison, that is the fact…! A poison nymph is mortal enemy to this Illinoi in every way…! We cannot be together, that is the fact…!"
Illinoi clenched her round little fist. She charged straight at Dang So-hae and began swinging wildly.
At that exact moment, Dang So-hae's hand caught Illinoi's wrist.
"Dang Clan Golden Binding Hand."
I was stunned. This was the first time anyone had ever blocked Illinoi's Wild Flailing.
Oinoi was astonished too.
"To break through a Nymph Secret Technique means one knows nymphs well, that is the truth of it…! Just as I sensed from the honeybees, this Kore, Dang So-hae, is surely a woman connected to nymphs, that is the truth…!"
"Break through? How young do you think I was when I embodied the principles of martial arts with my own body? Such a half-hearted fist could never wound me."
"Mhehehe, did you fail mathematics, that is the question…? This Illinoi has two hands, that is the fact…!"
"…What?"
Illinoi slammed her free hand into Dang So-hae's stomach. Caught completely off guard, Dang So-hae crumpled to the floor, and Illinoi, as if thoroughly aggrieved, began beating her even harder.
"You will quietly acknowledge American hegemony, that is the fact…! You will accept the tide of liberalism, that is the fact…! Let's do it…!"
Dududududududududu—
"Aaaagh~!"
I'd noticed this before, but Illinoi simply loved beating people up. Was it a nymph thing? No—neither Coris nor Oinoi did that, so it must have just been an Illinoi thing.
"My body feels… lighter?"
Dang So-hae, staggering back to her feet, looked astonished. Apparently her whole body felt remarkably lighter. Illinoi snickered.
"This Illinoi has properly purified the disgusting poison energy from your body, that is the fact…! This is a something only possible for this Illinoi, the nymph of medicine…. My hands are, in truth, healing hands, that is the fact…!"
"I'll send So Sohee back to Korea for you. In exchange, give me the Tang Clan Secret Manual. With it, I can become the rightful head of the Dang Clan."
Dang So-hae wanted to become the head of her clan. She didn't explain why, but her expression looked remarkably resolute.
"The Secret Manual? You mean this?"
I showed Dang So-hae the manual I'd received from Madam Dang Yeong-yeong, and her eyes went wide with shock.
"That's the real Tang Clan Secret Manual! So Aunt Dang Yeong-yeong really did steal it! If… if only I'd had this…. The contents inside…! Have you read it…?!"
"I have."
Read it or skimmed it, whatever—the inside was blank paper.
"Want to read it yourself?"
"No! Only the heads of the Dang Clan may read its contents!"
Even as she said this, Dang So-hae slowly reached out, snatched the manual from my hand, and without a moment's hesitation flipped it open. Then she froze, mouth agape in disbelief.
"What is this?! It's blank!"
"I was confused too."
"This is…."
Dang So-hae clicked her tongue, looking utterly flustered and indignant. I'd sensed it before—there was some story behind all this. She clenched her fist.
"Still, it's worth researching. Ha Ildo, if you win the tournament, give me that book and the Petroleum of the Blue Hall. Then I'll personally guarantee So Sohee's return to Korea!"
The terms of the deal were getting clearer. The question was whether shaking her hand here was the right move.
Suddenly, I was curious about something.
"You said you'd help me. How, exactly?"
"You don't trust me? I'm going to mix this special Dang Clan vitamin into the other participants' lunch. Then they'll all be suffering violent chills and stomach cramps, running in and out of the bathroom."
I see. So she'd drug the meals to wreck the other competitors' conditioning and hand me the championship on a silver platter. It would be devastatingly effective.
I gave my opinion on how I felt about that.
"Dang So-hae, I'm rejecting your proposal."
"What?"
It was just too cowardly. Even if I won that way, so what? News that "Ha Ildo won the Martial Arts Tournament through underhanded means" would spread all over the internet, and I'd be drowning in hateful comments for certain! Tarnish my proud career with my own hands? No thank you.
Dang So-hae had been certain Ha Ildo would accept her proposal.
Though overshadowed by So Sohee, she was still a young lady of the Dang Clan. Drugging people's meals was child's play for her, and with that done, Ha Ildo would clinch the tournament title more easily than blowing his nose, without lifting a finger.
But—.
Ha Ildo refused.
"Winning that way means nothing. Sure, part of why I came to China was to save So Sohee, but now that I've decided to compete in the tournament, this is about my future too. I want to fight fair and square."
Fair and square—?
That hackneyed logic so stale it had vanished from even the oldest martial arts films and novels—and he was hitting her with it now!
Dang So-hae felt her hair stand on end.
"Are you an idiot? Ha Ildo, I know you're impressive, but honestly? You couldn't beat me. You think you can take on the Red-Faced Swordsman, Liu Hua? Cowardly or not, only the victor defines justice!"
The awakeners of the mainland followed the logic of power. Strength was truth. All that mattered was winning, by any means necessary. This was a world where the one who cheated, filthed, and groveled their way to victory was worshipped and thrived, while the one who lost honorably was forgotten.
'So Sohee, that cowardly little wench, was exactly the same!'
Dang So-hae remembered the day she'd lost to So Sohee. The girl had won through dirty tricks, yet in the end it was Dang So-hae who became the laughingstock, the disgrace, the one demoted to a mere bee.
'And this man doesn't understand. That in this world, power and victory are everything…!'
Dang So-hae wanted to teach this naive man a painful lesson about the ways of the world.
Dang So-hae was A-Rank. Ha Ildo, promising as he was, was still B-Rank. The gap between them was as vast as that between a crow and a phoenix. Show him that difference in power, and he'd come to his senses and take her hand.
"Calm down."
"No, I will NOT calm down! Ha Ildo! I'm going to show you how bitter the world really is! Justice? Honor? Things like that don't exist! All that exists are winners and losers—."
Just as Dang So-hae began to channel the internal energy within her body—
A chill.
Dang So-hae felt every hair on her body stand on end. When she came to her senses, all of Ha Ildo's powerful beasts had fixed their gleaming eyes on her.
The playfulness they'd shown, wandering around the hotel room in their adorable forms, was gone without a trace. They looked like a single unified army bound by one will.
'Th-these creatures, what the hell….'
Any one of them could have been the boss of a vicious rift without raising an eyebrow. Dang So-hae froze stiff from head to toe, like a rookie trapped alone in a rift crawling with horrifying monsters.
In that moment, Ha Ildo said, perfectly at ease.
"Everyone, calm down. Dang So-hae isn't going to hurt me."
Now that she looked again, it wasn't Dang So-hae he'd been calming—it was his animals.
━Heeong…!
Only then did the beasts flop lazily onto their bellies or resume wandering about, and the frost gripping Dang So-hae's body began, at last, to thaw a little.
"A-anyway, Ha Ildo! You! You'll regret this!"
Whoosh—!
Dang So-hae bolted. But the moment she flung the door open, she collided with someone—and that woman was famous enough that even Dang So-hae recognized her at a glance.
"Seo Yerim…!"
"You're Dang So-hae, China's A-Rank #4, right? Looks like you were planning to toy with Ha Ildo as you pleased, and got smacked down for your trouble. Did you really think a woman like you could tempt that hunk of steel?"
"……."
The blatant contempt stung, but Dang So-hae had no words to offer. Facing off against Seo Yerim here would be as idiotic as dousing yourself in oil and leaping into a volcano.
Thud-thud-thud—
And she fled.
Seo Yerim stepped into the hotel room and held up a small slip of paper for Ha Ildo to see.
"Ha Ildo, your bracket came out. But you're likely to be eliminated in the very first round. Your opponent is the Red-Faced Swordsman, Liu Hua. China's A-Rank #1."