The Moment Time Stops
The old saying goes, watch the fire whether sleeping or awake, and even check the ashes of a dead one. Sometimes in life, there comes a moment when time seems to flow so slowly it might as well have stopped, stretching a single instant—the blink of an eye—into what feels like eternity. It could happen in the face of mortal danger, or when someone or something more precious than life itself is at risk. Or, they say, when you fall in love.
For Ryu Mang-yeok—Geumuiwi Special Forces officer, thirty-seven years old, married—that miraculous moment arrived the instant he stepped into the grain warehouse, hoping to find a pretty woman after hearing movement inside.
The woman who had been crouching down turned her body. Perhaps mistaking him for someone she knew, she flashed a bright, welcoming smile. That smile slammed straight into his pupils and lodged there. The moment stretched on forever.
A true beauty remains beautiful from any angle. And here, in that infinitely prolonged sliver of time, stood the greatest beauty under the heavens, slowly turning to look at him.
Her enormous eyes, deep enough to drown in, held long, delicate lashes that fluttered up and down in greeting, blooming like flower petals. Ryu Mang-yeok simply stood there, frozen like a child who didn’t know what to do with himself, staring endlessly.
To him, it was an incredibly dramatic moment.
To Cheong, it was not.
What the hell is wrong with this guy?
She had thought he was Prince Jayu, but some stranger stood there with his mouth hanging open like an idiot, eyes glazed over like a junkie, staring holes through her face.
She had disguised herself with a hat and scarf while pulling the cart, but after swimming in the river, her face veil had gotten soaked. Now she was out in the open with her bare face while it dried.
Cheong knew she was pretty. What she didn’t know was just how destructive that beauty could be—especially to men—how it could blow their eyes and brains apart.
Still, looking at his dazed expression and fancy clothes, she could tell he wasn’t a local. After all, no one in this rural backwater village would be wearing silk. And the sword at his waist made it even more obvious.
When Cheong’s expression turned fierce, Ryu Mang-yeok finally snapped back to his senses.
“Ahem. Young lady, this officer is not a bad person. Please don’t look at me like that.”
“Have you ever seen a bad person actually admit out loud that they’re a bad person? Well… actually, a lot of them do.”
Human scum tend to take great pride in just how rotten they are. Thanks to that, more than a few had bragged about their evil deeds in front of Cheong, only to end up suffering even more unfairly. Of course, numbers don’t lie.
Cheong glanced at the three characters floating above the officer’s head. From the density of the text, she could at least make out the number one. But the first digit was so thick and bloated that it clearly exceeded one hundred and ninety-nine.
“Anyway, who are you?”
“This officer is called Ryu Mang-yeok of the Jeongjeong Ryu Clan. Do you, by any chance, know of the Jeongjeong Ryu Clan?”
“Is it a famous family?”
“Indeed. Though it may sound like boasting, we are one of the great landowning families of the Jeongjeong region, owners of a one-hundred-and-four-room estate. A prestigious house among prestigious houses in the capital. And this officer personally owns a seven-room estate in Beijing.”
What is this? Self-promotion? Yeah, definitely bragging.
“Furthermore, this officer belongs to the Geumuiwi Special Forces, an imperial army unit.”
Ryu Mang-yeok introduced himself with great flair. In truth, for someone in the Geumuiwi, a self-introduction was practically a marriage proposal. Good family background, separate property in the capital, excellent profession with a hefty salary, and work that kept him away from home most of the time. The perfect son-in-law material!
But Cheong’s face only grew sour.
So what? What do you want me to do about it?
And weren’t the Geumuiwi the bastards who had been chasing them like they wanted to kill them earlier?
Ryu Mang-yeok saw her expression and realized his mistake. She must be a country girl who had no idea how impressive all of this was.
“The Geumuiwi are the highest elite soldiers who serve only the Emperor’s commands. And this officer is among the very best of them—a member of the Special Forces, the elite unit where even breathing earns you promotions and a smooth path to success.”
Cheong stared at Ryu Mang-yeok.
Did this guy come alone? There were quite a few of them earlier. Where are the rest? Can I run away in my current condition? That fire-spitting bastard seemed to be in the Harmonious Realm. One-on-one might be doable, but if I have to fight him while dragging enemies and a burden along…
“There is no need to be so wary. I will speak honestly. I fell for you at first sight. Will you become my wife?”
Cheong’s eyes widened into perfect circles.
A sudden marriage proposal at first meeting? In a sweet potato warehouse in the middle of nowhere? What the hell? Is this guy brain-dead?
If anything, it would be more accurate to say he thought she was the brain-dead one. Since she was a country bumpkin, he figured she would be moved to tears at the offer of becoming not a concubine but an official wife, and obediently follow him.
A shiver of disgust crawled up Cheong’s spine.
Still, this was a good opportunity to gather information about the current situation. While physical contact made the truth-seeking process far more enjoyable, it took too much time and the reliability of the information wasn’t particularly high.
“Hmm. We’ve only just met, so how could you suddenly say such teasing words to this young lady?”
“Ah! I haven’t even asked your name. Please forgive me. Would you do me the honor of telling me your esteemed name?”
Cheong smiled brightly and answered.
“This young lady is called Eon Yeonyeong of the Jinju Eon Clan.”
By now the name rolled off her tongue without the slightest hesitation.
Using the alias Eon Yeonyeong.
It was the first time in a while she had used Eon Yeonyeong’s name, but it didn’t feel particularly rewarding. After all, even if the now-deceased Ryu Mang-yeok went to the afterlife and tattled to the King of Hell saying “Eon Yeonyeong killed me, that bitch is evil,” the official record would undoubtedly read: “Death by shock due to full-body compound fractures and multiple organ damage from being thoroughly beaten by Seomun Cheong.”
Still, better safe than sorry. Even if she was going to kill him anyway, using a fake name to prepare for any unforeseen risks showed that Cheong’s caution had clearly grown.
Meanwhile, Ryu Mang-yeok, completely unaware he was standing before the murderous demon of the world, spilled every story he knew and didn’t know just to flatter her. At least his departure would be a relieved one.
The total number of Geumuiwi currently stationed near the north gate was twenty-four. Two were severely injured and out of commission, leaving twenty-three. Among them was one Harmonious Realm expert, five in the Transcendent realm, and the remaining seventeen were all Peak realm masters.
They had all supposedly received the Emperor’s special grace. As far as Cheong knew, that meant they had undergone some kind of technique that hardened their bodies by sucking other people’s blood.
According to the officer, it was called the Hwang-eun Seonghyeol Daebop. It was the highest form of imperial grace, infused with the blood of the true Son of Heaven, and only the most elite received it. The other officers had received the slightly inferior Hwang-eun Banghyeol Daebop, which still contained imperial blood but was considered lesser.
Apparently these drugged-up officers who received the technique were grouped together and called the Special Forces.
Is imperial blood some kind of miracle drug? If I fed people my blood, would they get harder too?
But according to the Poison Old Man, the former head of the Tang Clan, it was originally an evil technique from the Blood Sect. They gathered human blood and applied it, then mixed in a drop of imperial blood and called it a grand imperial favor. It was easy enough to guess.
Just like how they stole all those martial arts and twisted their names by slapping “imperial” in front of them.
That was why the officers who had ground people into their technique to gain steel-like bodies and, as an added bonus, rock-hard virility capable of destroying women, felt loyalty that pierced the heavens.
She really didn’t want to know about the latter part, though.
From the moment he bragged about it in front of a woman, that bastard was already beyond saving.
No wonder all their karma scores had been stretched out horizontally when she was pulling the cart. They were all utter trash who deserved to die.
That aside, the officers’ combat power was no joke. Of course, the technique came with the side effect of reduced speed. The fact that the original thirty-one couldn’t even properly catch up to a single cart and had floundered around showed the side effect was quite severe.
Thanks to that, only Cheong’s complexion grew serious.
Side effects or not, if that many rock-hard bastards came rushing at her all at once, there was no answer.
“The Geumuiwi bastards have entered the village. (crunch crunch) I caught one for now, but we don’t have time. (gulp) We need to get out immediately. Wow, raw sweet potatoes are this sweet? Is it a pumpkin sweet potato?”
Cheong spoke with a grave expression while crunching away on a raw sweet potato. There was no time to bake them, so raw it was.
The content was serious, but the person speaking was busy chewing sweet potato, so it didn’t quite land.
Yeon Pa thought to herself.
Well… maybe to conserve stamina? To save Prince Jayu, she was even saving the time it took to speak by stuffing sweet potato into her mouth… No. That wasn’t it.
She had already devoured more than half of the enormous pot of porridge earlier, and now she was munching on sweet potatoes again?
Yeon Pa, who had been trying to find some way to give her points, finally gave up this time. Even if there was a little water left in a cup, one could say at least there was still water. But when the cup was completely dry, no amount of positive thinking could change that.
“So, what’s your plan?”
“We’ll just sneak out quietly. They said they’re heading to Suyeong County in the north, so if we circle around the mountain ridge and head west, it should be fine.”
It was an extremely simple plan to slip out south while the Geumuiwi were resting.
“There happened to be an ox cart, so I brought it.”
At that, both Prince Jayu and Yeon Pa’s faces turned deathly pale.
Again? Another cart?
Cheong grinned at them.
“Aww, this time I’ll pay attention to the ride quality, so don’t make that face. We can just put a bed on it and cover it with a blanket.”
Yeon Pa snapped back to her senses. This was no time to complain about carts.
“Wait, you’re going to pull a cart again in that condition? With a bed on it?”
“It’ll be good for your recovery too, Grandma Yeon, and it’ll be much more comfortable for Prince Jayu, right?”
At those words, moisture welled up in Yeon Pa’s eyes.
That damn recovery talk again!
How could a woman born into this world happily pull a cart like a beast of burden? From one perspective, it was humiliating enough to be treated like a mare or a cow. It wouldn’t be strange if she trembled with rage, bared her teeth, and swore revenge with a venomous expression.
Yet here she was, volunteering for it. Even though her own body wasn’t in good shape.
How could a person’s heart be so kind and beautiful?
Additional one hundred points for the young lady’s admirable heart.
Prince Jayu could still clearly see Cheong’s jade-white back every time he closed his eyes. It was the most beautiful sight of his life, one that would likely never fade until the day he died.
At the same time, the horrific wound on her side and the rotten sweet potato swollen to the size of a pumpkin (he had now seen a real one with his own eyes) remained burned into his mind.
Even so, there was no other choice. He had already lost several subordinates he considered family. He didn’t want to lose Yeon Pa as well.
It was truly a bone-deep sense of powerlessness.
A dark shadow fell over Prince Jayu’s face.
“Mm. My friend, I have no face to show you. Yeon Pa’s condition is poor, so I cannot bring myself to refuse.”
“Aww, what are friends for?”
“Friends, huh…”
“Alright. Then let’s pack our things first. I’ll put a bed on the cart. Might as well reinforce it here and there while I’m at it. It won’t be as sturdy as a military cart…”
Modifying a cart wasn’t particularly difficult. After all, Cheong possessed the greatest strength under the heavens—a monstrous power that would make even Xiang Yu change his name to Namcheong.
When that was combined with the skill of a novice carpenter, modifying a single cart didn’t even require tools.
And so, Cart No. 2, the Ride Quality Improved Edition, was born.
“This is… unexpectedly…”
“The girl has quite the talent with her hands. Well, it’s good to have any kind of skill.”
Additional ten points for the young lady’s craftsmanship.
In any case, the luggage seemed satisfied as well.
However—whether it was the curse of Cart No. 1, which had suffered all kinds of abuse before finally being smashed to pieces and scrapped, or because she had gotten too absorbed in the fun of modifying it—things that are prepared with great care often end up never being used.
The opportunity for Cart No. 2 to shine never came.
The moment they tried to sneak out through the south gate, they ran straight into a heavily armed army.