The Heavenly Demon Copies Martial Arts
I rose from the bed.
A cold wind swept in through the cracked window.
The room felt unusually quiet after the usual morning bustle of guests at the Moyong estate, one of the quietest courtyards in the Jegal family.
A brief calm settled like a breeze right before noon, right after the day began.
—Chiiik…
I felt a sharp pain mixed with the scent of something burning.
I twisted my wrist.
—Chizik. Chizijik…
It was on the inside of my left wrist.
As it scorched, strange patterns were being carved into my skin at a frantic pace.
They were letters I had never seen before—unreadable, like nothing from my past.
Yet they were elegantly formed, serene, with a calm stroke.
The final stroke, though, jutted out nerve-free and sharply, completely opposite to the controlled anger in the rest of the writing.
—Pishik.
I rubbed the pattern on my wrist with my thumb and laughed.
—Geureuk.
“What? What’s this? You’re actually up today?”
Jegal Sea opened the door and looked at me sitting on the bed, startled.
“I thought you were still sleeping.”
“Talking about that now that the morning is so late?”
I gazed at the bright morning sun streaming through the clouds outside the window.
“It feels like the maids of the Jegal family have already finished their morning routine, so I feel oddly embarrassed.”
“Is it like waking up on a cold New Year’s morning as a kid under a thick blanket, only to see all the servants already dressed and starting the day?”
“…I don’t want to hear about your embarrassing childhood memories.”
Jegal Sea chuckled.
“Now I get up before dawn, but… ugh, it’s even cold in the morning now.”
She rubbed her arms as she entered the room.
“You should warm up now. The weather changes so quickly these days. Gentle scholars must protect their bodies like wild warriors do.”
Then she looked at my face.
“Speaking of which, what’s wrong?”
“Why?”
Jegal Sea pointed at my face.
“No. You’re smiling really nicely.”
“Oh, this?”
I looked out the window.
A small bird flew by.
Under it, a servant was trimming the garden trees with tiny scissors.
“Thanks to your teachings. The first time I gave that supposedly all-knowing bastard a proper beating, he looked really pissed off.”
“My teachings? What did I teach you?”
Jegal Sea scratched the back of her head and made a dumb face.
The sharpest person I’d ever met looked dumb, but in that short moment she clearly analyzed a dozen things at once.
Aha. I clapped my palms.
“The Eight Demon Dragons’ Brain Devil extermination operation? Hey, that was almost thanks to you guys more than my plans. Now you’re taking credit for it.”
“…Sure. Whatever.”
I wiped away the image of a mad beast exploding with yellow light from one side of my head.
Jegal Sea sat in the chair and stared at my face.
“You look really ugly like this.”
“…Suddenly?”
Jegal Sea turned her gaze elsewhere and muttered.
“No, I like seeing you smile.”
She hesitated for a second, then added one more line.
“It’s not a bad smile.”
“What are you saying. First thing in the morning. Don’t use your high-level rhetoric—I’m not as smart as you. Just say it straight.”
Jegal Sea frowned.
“These damned martial artists. Idiots full of nothing but martial arts in their heads. Berserk idiots who can’t fight. Idiots who eat a week’s worth of meals in one sitting. And yet they don’t get fat.”
“…What did I do wrong?”
“No, you’re actually really smart. Awesome.”
Jegal Sea took a deep breath and exhaled.
Then she straightened her face back to normal.
“You woke up, so I came to talk about your future schedule. How’s your body? You seem a bit recovered, right? Emergency recovery? You said your super recovery would last another week beyond the next cycle, didn’t you?”
I looked at the bandaged body wrapped in white cloth.
“Thanks to you.”
“Five of the Jegal family’s top doctors stayed for three days. It had to be different.”
I sat on the edge of the bed.
I examined my body afresh.
I’d slept like a mouse for a week.
Mumyeong had forced deep sleep so I wouldn’t wake during the night, even without emergency recovery, so he could prepare for anything.
He had deliberately altered my senses to block the normal warrior sleep and force true slumber.
In exchange, he had stayed awake and guarded me the entire time.
If I had slept without moving at all, the doctors would have come at night, re-bandaged me, applied new medicine, and re-stitched over and over.
At the end of it all, my body was wrapped tightly in white bandages.
A crutch leaned against the wall on one side of the room.
Jegal Sea crossed her arms and looked me up and down while I sat on the bed.
“Ugh, you wrapped so many bandages I look like I’m wearing a white robe…”
Jegal Sea blinked.
“Clothes?”
“Hm?”
I looked down.
I saw myself, lower body half-covered by the white blanket.
My legs were also wrapped in bandages along with countless medicine packets from the inside of my thighs to my belly.
A jagged, curved thigh muscle was visible through the gaps in the bandages, covered with scars.
I let out a soft sigh.
…
…
Jegal Sea quickly took off her white outer robe.
She covered her eyes as if she had seen dirty trash and flung the robe toward me.
“I’m not angry anymore.”
“…I didn’t even know the bandages had more layers.”
“In this situation, should I be screaming or should you be screaming?”
I rolled my eyes left and right.
“…Should we scream together?”
“You’re crazy.”
I pulled the blanket over my body carefully.
I stuffed her outer robe’s sleeves into my arms.
—Zizik.
The seam of her outer robe burst open on my forearm.
Jegal Sea’s feather fan slipped from her hand and fell.
Her mouth gaped wide.
“Damn it, crazy. The phoenix outfit I only own three of…”
I felt sweat pouring down.
I quickly rubbed the outer robe with my hands.
“You were supposed to give me the robe to cover me, not to shove my arms into it? Are you a big dog that still remembers your puppy days and likes to headbutt people?”
“Ah, that was unconscious on my part. When something’s a robe, I just put my arms in and wear it.”
Jegal Sea collapsed into the chair like she’d fainted.
“…Yeah. You’re the hero who saved the Jegal family. This is nothing compared to my one robe…”
She picked up the fallen feather fan, stared at the ceiling as if cooling her blood, and sighed.
“I’ll start talking in this posture. Moyong Bi.”
—Tap!
As if answering, Jegal Sea’s outer robe tore further down my back.
I whispered.
“…The real stuff is different. Even the sound of tearing is different.”
“The next lecture on martial arts is titled ‘How to apologize effectively while comforting someone so they don’t go crazy in this situation.’ If I forget, remind me. Got it?”
I swallowed and nodded.
I wanted to turn the topic.
“By the way, what about Eun Seollyeong?”
Jegal Sea covered her face with the feather fan.
“Yesterday she confirmed your condition improved dramatically, so she left early this morning to find meat.”
“…Meat?”
“She said she wanted to feed you the highest quality. I have no idea what you guys think, though. Let’s get to the main point.”
Jegal Sea leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling, kicking her feet.
“The Jegal family is genuinely grateful to you for saving the Shaanxi. But since it’s an unofficial affair, there’s no way our father, the Jegal family head, would punish or anything like that. Understand?”
“Yeah. It’s nothing new. I’m used to it.”
Jegal Sea’s toes stopped kicking for a moment, then started again.
“The real power behind the Jegal family here remembers you well. I’ll repay you somehow later.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
Jegal Sea perked up.
“Really! What kind of soulless reply is that!”
“I didn’t say anything.”
Jegal Sea sighed as if the floor had disappeared. She stared at the ceiling again and placed something on the table.
“This is small, but it’s gratitude for this matter.”
“What is it?”
“Promissory note. Along with that.”
“You don’t have any money.”
A month had passed since the Eight Demon Dragons’ Brain Devil was exterminated.
It wasn’t an orthodox alliance, nor was it one of the official powerful families.
Of course the five great families had strong power, but even among them, one family that focused on wealth rather than martial force had managed to kill one of the Demon Dragons alone.
That was enough to shake the rivers and lakes.
But the rivers and lakes stayed eerily quiet.
The incident also exposed the weaknesses of the Murim Alliance, which led the orthodox camp.
Before the Brain Devil extermination, the Jegal family had requested support from the Murim Alliance several times through official channels.
But the Murim Alliance had flatly refused, saying they couldn’t move troops based on the unreliable judgment and rumors of an individual.
Frustrated Jegal Sea had sent personal letters in between, but they still wavered, worried they might accidentally provoke the Blood Cult or Demonic Cult.
Long-lasting peace had turned everyone into fat pigs.
Even though it was rotting, no one dared to cut it out.
Even if the Blood Cult and Demonic Cult were really eating away at it, the Murim Alliance wouldn’t move right now under the excuse of preventing immediate chaos.
Mutual distrust was piling up.
Except for one thing, everything was clear.
No matter what happened next, the Jegal family would never help the Murim Alliance or the orthodox union.
No one would ever have a reason to ask for Jegal family cooperation.
In this extermination, the Jegal family had handled all cleanup and repairs of destroyed facilities with their own wealth.
The promissory note Jegal Sea casually handed over was clearly from that background.
Even among the five great families, who would rather lose everything than second, the Jegal family’s money line was temporarily depleted.
They couldn’t even pay a certain cost to their benefactor in cash immediately.
Of course, time would fix that.
“This money…”
I didn’t show any reaction.
I quietly accepted it.
To Jegal Sea, who was almost the real head of the Jegal family, this was tied to the family’s pride.
And yet she had no choice but to do it.
I understood her feelings.
“Thank you. I’ll use it properly. As expected from the Jegal family.”
It was an extremely sensitive matter, so I didn’t ask any questions—no rejection, no need, what is this promissory note, how do we change it to cash later.
She muttered like a faint breeze.
“Too smart for useless places…”
Jegal Sea didn’t move from staring at the ceiling.
“The Jegal family’s advice that watches the rivers and lakes is worth a fortune. This is a special favor and reward from me. No matter what anyone says, you’re the benefactor of our family.”
Jegal Sea kept staring at the ceiling and held up three fingers.
“You’re probably confused about many things right now? What to do next. What happens to the Guardian. How the rivers and lakes are going. Think of it as family business and I’ll analyze and give you advice.”
It hit the mark.
I had so many un-sealed issues from Cheonsubaekryeonsa to the Guardian and everything else.
Jegal Sea lifted her head and looked at me.
“And before that, you should eat first. Hungry? You’ve never had a proper meal yet.”
At those words, I suddenly remembered the hunger I had forgotten.
My face flushed as I scratched my head.
“Um… a little…? Now that I think about it.”
And then I heard a sound like something breaking far away.
The sound of the floor cracking.
Jegal Sea muttered as if guessing the source.
“Hah, the tiger that catches flies when spoken to comes.”
—Kw aaaaaaang!!!
The door couldn’t even open before it shattered under overwhelming force.
The world slowed.
Wood shards flew like fireworks.
—Ching!
A porcelain piece decorated with bamboo patterns, which had decorated one side of the room, shattered.
Jegal Sea’s face turned pale.
“Ah, my 120-year-old porcelain…”
A cold autumn wind blew in.
Beyond the doorway, a person was panting so hard their shoulders shook.
“Moyong Bi…!”
It was Eun Seollyeong, her silver hair fluttering.
The Heavenly Demon Copies Martial Arts.