Galaxy Martial God Temple - Amusement Park Kidnapping Incident (6)
I kicked the kidnapper in the stomach like I was shoving him away, yanking my sword free as the blade slid out of his body. In the brief moment of panic that followed, I swung my blade at the remaining kidnapper.
Clang!
The unarmed kidnapper pulled a fountain pen from his pocket and formed sword qi around it, blocking my strike. The fact that he could manifest sword qi meant he was at the First-rate realm. In other words, an opponent I couldn’t possibly defeat.
Sure enough, the kidnapper who had blocked my sword flew into a rage and kicked me. I barely managed to intercept it with the flat of my blade, but the force behind a First-rate expert’s blow sent me flying straight into the wall. The impact knocked the sword from my grasp, and it clattered somewhere far away.
Whether it was because his comrade had been taken down or because I’d attacked him, the kidnapper’s eyes were bloodshot with fury. He clearly had no intention of killing me cleanly. One hand clamped around my throat while the other curled into a fist.
“You damn brat, how dare you!”
“Ghk! Ghk!”
Strangled, I thrashed desperately, unable to breathe properly. Just as Siwoo had warned, once my breathing became disrupted, I couldn’t manipulate my inner qi at all. Well… I guess I should just hope he kills me as painlessly as possible.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I saw Cheon Soyeon leap high into the air behind the kidnapper, her eyes blazing with murderous intent. In her small hands was the sword I had dropped, and a clear layer of sword qi shimmered along its edge.
The chilling aura of the sword qi made the kidnapper flinch. He tried to turn around, but before he could fully rotate his head, Cheon Soyeon’s blade sliced clean through his neck. The severed head tumbled to the ground.
Schlick!
Thud.
Roll… roll…
Splurt!
A powerful fountain of blood erupted from the stump of his neck.
Whoa, you actually know the roller coaster murder scene! From the very first chapter, just like the historical tale of Icha-don, the head gets sliced clean off and blood sprays everywhere. How did you even know to recreate it so perfectly? Though technically this is an amusement park, we’re not on a roller coaster. And in the original story, the culprit was killed with a necklace, not a sword.
Even in this surreal situation, my brain supplied equally surreal thoughts. But the overwhelming metallic stench of blood quickly dragged me back to reality.
“Ugh… Bleeegh!”
The gruesome sight made me vomit right there on the floor. It was the first time in my life I had ever witnessed a person being murdered. Even if the victim was human trash who had tried to kidnap me, the physiological revulsion was unavoidable.
If I had truly been a three-year-old, this scene would have left me with lifelong trauma. Thank goodness I had already sliced up horned rabbits and goblins in the Tower. If not, I don’t know what I would have done. Honestly, this was the kind of sight that could traumatize even an adult.
When I started throwing up, Cheon Soyeon flinched and moved to check on me, only to hesitate when she realized her hands were covered in blood. I waved at her weakly.
“It’s fine. This is my first time seeing this much blood. The smell is way worse than I expected.”
It had the metallic tang of iron, yet carried something else underneath. Scientifically speaking, it was probably due to the metabolic waste and lipids produced during life processes. Psychiatrically, it was likely the shock of seeing another human being slaughtered so brutally. Either way, whether in a futuristic era, the Middle Ages, or a martial world, I had always known I would eventually witness scenes like this. I just hadn’t expected it to happen quite so soon.
I took the sword back from Cheon Soyeon’s hands and gave it a light flick.
“Ta-da. The disappearing sword trick.”
As I waved the blade, I released a faint wave of energy to disturb her senses while hiding the sword behind my arm and body, slipping it into my inventory.
“Huh?! Where did the sword go?!”
Cheon Soyeon looked genuinely shocked. I pressed my index finger to my lips in a shushing gesture.
Then I used the rope lying on the floor to tie up the other kidnapper, who was still writhing in pain after I had destroyed his dantian.
“Should we just leave? I really want to wash up.”
I had been standing right in front of the guy when his neck was cut, so I was absolutely drenched in blood.
“No, wait a little longer. People are coming this way.”
Just as Cheon Soyeon said, the belated rescue team smashed through the door and burst inside. What they found was one kidnapper with his head severed and rolling on the floor, another tied up and crawling pathetically, and two three-year-old children.
The rescue team’s faces were filled with confusion, clearly wondering what the hell had happened here. This is going to be annoying.
In times like these, there was only one solution: divine art.
“Waaaaaaaaah—!!”
The ultimate child technique: crying.
With this one move, most troublesome situations could be bypassed. As I sobbed, I shot Cheon Soyeon a meaningful glance. She immediately caught on and began wailing along with me.
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
“Waaaaaaaaah!”
Faced with two blood-soaked three-year-olds suddenly bursting into tears, the rescue workers could only stand there looking utterly lost. Just as planned.
The two of us kept crying nonstop until we were handed over to Siwoo and Cheon Soyeon’s parents. Having already heard the situation over the phone, Siwoo and Cheon Soyeon’s parents furiously scolded the rescue team for failing to do their jobs properly. The squad, composed of Peak and Transcendental Peak experts, could only whimper and retreat before the overwhelming pressure emitted by three Transformed Realm masters.
So both of Cheon Soyeon’s parents were Transformed Realm experts. From what I understood, that rank was enough to qualify someone as at least a Unit Commander in the Cheon Clan’s military forces. Of course, in the elite units, Unit Commanders had to be at the Profound Realm, so Transformed Realm practitioners were more like squad leaders there. But that was precisely why they were called elite—the numbers were small.
I later learned that Cheon Soyeon’s parents each commanded their own military unit as Unit Commanders.
Having been safely rescued—or rather, extracted—Cheon Soyeon and I were spared any formal victim interviews because we were so young. They said they would conduct proper questioning once things calmed down, but since I had already destroyed one kidnapper’s dantian, they could extract information about the remaining accomplices from him.
Unable to even say a proper goodbye to Cheon Soyeon, I returned home, washed off all the blood, and fell asleep in Siwoo’s arms. It had been an exhausting day.
One day after the kidnapping incident, Siwoo received a summons from Cheon Gyeong-ho. As the Outer Hall Master, he was extremely busy, so they didn’t meet in person. Instead, they held a video call while he was traveling by car.
“…I apologize.”
At Siwoo’s apology, Cheon Gyeong-ho remained silent for a moment before speaking again.
Siwoo answered with an expressionless face.
“Thank you.”
Cheon Gyeong-ho didn’t seem to care at all about his grandson’s safety. Of course, the emergency code he had given her was only meant to prevent any scandals that might tarnish the young master candidate. In normal civilian society, a high-ranking politician privately misusing national systems would have been a major scandal. But the current world operated as a constitutional monarchy ruled by the Great Clans.
While some clans passed down leadership purely through strength, the Cheon Clan was a family-based sect where positions were inherited through bloodline. Each of their branches could practically be considered its own interstellar empire, with multiple planetary autonomous governments beneath them. Naturally, in blood-related families, neglecting one’s own kin was a far greater crime than misusing social systems for personal reasons.
To Cheon Gyeong-ho, who already had children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren, descendants were nothing more than bothersome existences. While family culture didn’t demand that he personally look after every single descendant, he was at least expected to show some care toward his minor children and grandchildren.
The emergency code given to Siwoo was merely a performative gesture to show that he cared about his descendants. He had never actually expected it to be used.
Knowing all this, Siwoo couldn’t look at Cheon Gyeong-ho favorably.
Siwoo thought that was unexpected, but the next message explained why.
In other words, he was telling her to use the emergency code for Cheon Soyeon, not his own grandson. Giving it to Siwoo instead of Cheon Soyeon’s parents was a matter of justification. Cheon Soyeon was a descendant of the Clan Head’s firstborn child, not of Cheon Gyeong-ho himself. Still, protecting a Heavenly Martial Body was an excellent achievement for a young master candidate. Since Siwoo had already protected her once, this was the method they chose.
“Understood.”
Siwoo bowed her head. Having a greed-inducing treasure like the Heavenly Martial Body living right next door was unpleasant, but she couldn’t object. If she did, Cheon Gyeong-ho would simply ignore her and revoke the permission he had just granted. So she decided to accept it quietly.
After all, the code was in her hands. How she used it was entirely up to her. Siwoo was Cheon Jiwoo’s nanny, not Cheon Soyeon’s. Cheon Gyeong-ho knew this as well. That was precisely why he had arranged for Cheon Soyeon to move in next door—so Siwoo could use the emergency code for her as well if needed.
The fact that a Heavenly Martial Body had been born into the clan was supposed to be top secret, but the kidnapping attempt proved that information had already leaked. Therefore, they planned to place hidden escorts in a safer neighborhood.
The screen went dark, and a message listing the rewards arrived shortly after. A considerable sum of money, spiritual medicines, and android maintenance equipment were all granted under Cheon Jiwoo’s name. Since Siwoo’s owner was Cheon Jiwoo, her achievements were considered his.
Siwoo stared at the reward list and fell into thought.
“Young Master will be happy when he finds out. But if this gives him a habit of wasting resources, that would be problematic.”
Siwoo was always worried about her young master. Wondering if she should cut off his internet access right now for the sake of proper character education, she stood up from her seat.
After the amusement park incident, I continued training in martial arts as usual and gathering information through the internet. Upon reaching the Third-rate realm, Siwoo declared it was still too early and forbade me from using inner qi during training. Just as Cheon Soyeon had said, I was still in the foundation-building phase.
Instead, upon reaching Third-rate, I learned new techniques: Yugagigong—a yoga-based internal energy technique for improving flexibility—and Chukgeungolgong, which prevented muscle hypertrophy while compressing muscle fibers and bones to make them incredibly dense and durable.
And now that I was finally allowed to wield a weapon, I began learning the Blue Wood Swordsmanship.
While inner qi usage was prohibited during physical training, I was also separately taught proper methods for utilizing inner qi in earnest.
A few days later, someone from the house next door came over with rice cakes to celebrate their move-in.
“Huh?”
“Hello!”
The Heavenly Martial Body child who had dragged me into the amusement park incident—Cheon Soyeon—had come to visit with her mother.
“I couldn’t properly thank you last time because of the chaos. My name is Kang Seo-young, and we’ve just moved in next door.”
“Not at all. Please come inside. I’ll prepare some tea.”
Siwoo invited the mother and daughter into the house. Cheon Soyeon approached me with a bright smile and asked,
“Now that I think about it, I only introduced myself at the amusement park and never got your name. What’s your name?”
I answered casually.
“Cheon Jiwoo.”
I was originally Han Jiwoo, but since I was born into the Cheon family in this world, my name here was Cheon Jiwoo.
“Really? Ji… Jiwoo. Will you be my friend?”
Cheon Soyeon blushed slightly in embarrassment and held out her hand. I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Sure. Being friends isn’t that hard.”
I shook her hand, and just like that, we became friends.
“Oh, and I’ll keep it a secret that you’re hiding your true realm. As a friend, of course.”
“Ah! Y-yeah. Th-thank you.”
Cheon Soyeon gave a rather amusing reaction to my words. She had completely forgotten that she had used sword qi right in front of me. Her memory really was that of a three-year-old.
(To be continued in the next chapter)