You Will Stay Still
"Ah, so for all that you're a man, you still want to flex a little—is that it?"
So Cheonak grinned.
"…"
My eyes were still black. They were clearly a powder keg about to explode, but what mattered was that I remained silent, still seated where I was. I simply watched him.
"…Y-you bastard. That look in your eyes."
Our gazes locked and tangled. So Cheonak flinched, just barely. His face began to pale. It was like a herbivore flinching under the gaze of a predator that crouched motionless and did nothing more.
Without realizing it, So Cheonak took a step back.
"…"
I drew a deep breath. Exhaled. Turned my eyes away. Quietly picked up the chopsticks I had set down, ignored the man, and started eating.
[Truly. You've become human.]
Mumyeong couldn't hide his admiration.
[In the old days, that man's head would already have been torn off by now, his spine snapped in half, both shoulders ripped free while he waved them overhead in a cheer.]
I chewed on the stir-fried greens Eun Seollyeong had pushed aside. The problem was that So Cheonak took my attitude entirely differently.
"You."
His face twisted, if only for a moment, with the humiliation of having flinched. At the same time a desire boiled up in him—the need to fully confirm his victory as a male before the woman he fancied, directed at me, who had met his eyes and then looked away.
"What, go on, glare at me again! Looks like reality finally hit you—that you can't handle the aftermath!"
So Cheonak grabbed the water cup on the table and dumped it over my head in one go.
"Even after this, what the hell do you think a piece of trash like you can—"
"…"
So Cheonak blinked. Not a drop of the water poured from the cup had touched my head.
"What. Why isn't the water pouring."
The cup hung frozen, no longer tipping. The tip of Eun Seollyeong's extended chopsticks was touching the rim.
"What do you think you're doing right now?"
Eun Seollyeong spoke in a voice that could freeze.
"Th-this—!"
So Cheonak tried to shake off the chopsticks and pour again. The chopsticks didn't budge an inch.
"Wh-what?!"
As if nailed into empty air, So Cheonak tried every way he could to move the cup. As he shifted even minutely, the chopsticks adjusted their position, and the cup didn't tremble in the slightest. Even when he put his full weight into shoving it, the slender chopsticks allowed not the faintest movement. Faced with this paradoxical situation, the man's eyes bulged as if they would burst.
Eun Seollyeong spoke like frost. All traces of drunkenness had already vanished from her voice.
"Even allowing for the present age—where the Way of the Jianghu has hit rock bottom, the gentleman's code has scattered like ash, and speaking of righteousness and chivalry has become a pitiful relic of the past that no longer distinguishes between Orthodox, Demonic, Evil, and Blood, until all men have become the same…"
Eun Seollyeong's silver hair trembled faintly. Her face, always tightly bound by conviction and will, grew sharp as frost. It was the bearing of a martial artist—the same one who had massacred the Surayeomrangdae and faced Gang Chisang, Guardian of the Jeomchang Sect.
"Do you truly wish to die."
So Cheonak seemed abruptly flustered.
"Y-you bastards. Fine. So you've learned a bit of martial arts, is that it. Boys!"
At So Cheonak's shout, a group rose from every corner of the inn. At a glance there looked to be more than ten of them.
"What's going on, Boss."
"Which bastards dare mess with our Boss."
Blades rang free from their robes. People screamed and fled. So Cheonak bellowed and pointed at us.
"Cut the tendons in that man's arms and legs and throw him in a pigsty! Capture the woman alive no matter what. I'll give her a night she'll spend begging me to kill her!"
"…"
I was still sitting in my chair. But at the edge of my black pupils, a faint red aura began to seep through. Eun Seollyeong's cool fingertips touched my wrist.
"You will stay still."
"What?"
To my startled self she reminded me of one more fact.
"Do not forget what I told you."
"…"
I recalled what I had momentarily forgotten. During the journey on foot to this inn, I had asked Eun Seollyeong for instruction. She was the Guardian of the Mount Hua Sect. She had called me a monster, but that was only relative strength when measured against ordinary martial artists—and everyone I would face going forward would be no easy opponent. Moreover, I had no faction behind me. No matter how strong I became, it would never be enough.
A sparring request… If you want it I'll grant it, but you won't get what you're after.
Eun Seollyeong had been extremely skeptical of my request. Her expression suggested she already knew how it would end. Even so I had pestered her stubbornly, and she and I sparred.
…Fine. Come to think of it, I should tell you this. Very well.
Truthfully I hadn't been completely without confidence. I had shattered Gwak Ido, and even if the Jeomchang Guardian had been weakened, I had clearly blocked him and driven him back. I figured that even without using internal energy and holding back lethal techniques because it was a spar, I could last at least a quarter of an hour.
And before we had crossed hands ten times, she had completely subdued me.
Lying spread-eagled on the ground, I heard her speak.
This is your greatest weakness.
I had been subdued so absurdly that I charged again several times, but the result was the same. As if every fight I had ever fought were a mirage, I was subdued the way a child has their wrist twisted by an adult.
Unlike ordinary people, you have treated every fight and every real combat as a life-or-death duel. In that process, without intending to, every technique, every breath, every footwork, even your bearing, came to be composed of nothing but pure, extreme killing moves. Simply put, the concept of holding back does not exist for you.
She held out a hand to me where I lay.
When you try to fight under the premise of not harming your opponent, as in the spar just now, you lose all your colors. Your hands and feet tangle, and you can't even bring out half your usual skill.
…Ah.
The foundation of sparring is exchanging offense and defense to cultivate each other's martial skill. But just now, after being pushed back a few times, lethal techniques began to seep into your movements—and every single one of your actions carried a flow that, within four exchanges at most, would absolutely break the opponent's neck or leave some part of them half-paralyzed. You were probably keeping multi-opponent fights in mind. Asura seems to have reinforced that tendency of yours through training.
Hearing my current self objectified through a master's eyes was an experience that felt almost foreign. Throughout the journey she had advised me that except in unavoidable circumstances, if I laid hands on someone there would be blood, so I should stay still as much as possible.
"Even so—you're telling me to stay still in a situation like this?"
I said it while watching the men approaching.
"I'm not telling you to stay still. We're leaving. Now."
Eun Seollyeong shoved her chair back and stood.
"Follow behind me. We've finished eating, so there's no reason to remain."
"…You going to be all right? Your face is still a little flushed."
"I'm fine."
Eun Seollyeong walked forward without hesitation.
"Heh heh, look at this. The silver cat's walking right up to us on her own. Wants us to pet her, is that it?"
Huge, burly men licked their lips as they watched her approach.
As she advanced, her hands vanished like lightning.
"Ugh?"
The jaw of a man built like a mountain twitched minutely—then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed.
"Uh… uhh!"
The man thrashed trying to rise, but his brain was already rattled; he couldn't control his body.
"Wh-what the."
The other thugs panicked. Eun Seollyeong, a faint flush of drink still on her face, strode forward without pause. As if no one stood before her, she never stopped.
Every time her right foot and both hands vanished, men toppled like rotting timber—crashing, tumbling, folding one after another.
"I can't see her hands!"
"Pressure points? This is ridiculous!"
Following behind her, I witnessed her movements vividly.
No—it's not pressure points.
It was pure striking. In an instant, enormous pressure was applied precisely to the body's vital points. They weren't dead. But while they hadn't died, they were equally incapable of action. It was something impossible without an extremely fine modulation of force. The time it took for the whole gang to fall wasn't even worth discussing.
When all of them were down, Eun Seollyeong stood before the only one left—So Cheonak. She blinked her long lashes and said,
"Ah. You were rather rude with your mouth. And you said you were wearing something called Dragon Scale Armor. For you alone, I need not show mercy."
Faced with a woman a full head shorter than him, So Cheonak broke out in cold sweat and shrank back. He seemed to have realized she was a martial artist of formidable skill. He had hurled a tremendous insult at such a woman. Anticipating the harm she would inflict, So Cheonak's face went pale.
"W-wait—!"
Eun Seollyeong's feet vanished. So Cheonak squeezed his eyes shut.
The backs of So Cheonak's knees were tapped by the tips of her toes. His legs lost their strength and he dropped to his knees. Without any further action, Eun Seollyeong walked past him, opened the door, and went out.
"…Huh?"
So Cheonak made a dazed sound.
"I-is that it?"
The corners of So Cheonak's mouth twitched. Sweat beading on his forehead, he began to laugh.
"Kh… khkhkh! Of course—no matter how strong a martial artist you are, you can't ignore Unwol Jiju's backing! Fine. If that's how you're playing it, then when I take my revenge soon enough, I'll go easy on you…!"
Beyond the open door, Eun Seollyeong beckoned. So Cheonak scowled.
"What, is there something behind me—"
So Cheonak's hair was seized.
"Uh… uhh?!"
His body slowly lifted. At the pain of his scalp about to tear free, So Cheonak thrashed.
"Ah… aagh! What is this! What the hell is this!! It hurts! My head!"
He rose and rose until the tips of So Cheonak's toes left the floor. Held by the crown of his head at my fingertips, So Cheonak dangled. Our eyes met head-on.
"Y-you're that bastard from earlier! Let go! Let go of me! You dog of a bastard! Do you know who I am, daring to—!"
Beyond my black pupils, a quiet yet lava-like red aura was swirling. So Cheonak flinched.
"Do you know wh… who I—"
My right hand, which had crushed granite whole, clenched with the sound of bone.
"I-I'm sorry. I think I went too far—"
With a noise like an explosive detonation, a fist drove into So Cheonak's abdomen.
Through the torn Azure Dragon robe, the Dragon Scale Armor could be seen shattering to pieces.
"Keh… kehehk!"
Spilling stomach acid over his expensive Azure Dragon robe, So Cheonak tumbled.
"Cough, cough! How—my… my Dragon Scale Armor…!"
As if shocked by the shattered armor fragments, So Cheonak kept coughing up stomach acid. Passing the red-faced So Cheonak, I said,
"Pretty cheap for something worth a gold ingot. Is it a fake?"