The Woman's Vital Point
Clearly, the blade hadn't even touched her.
No, in the first place, she hadn't even intended to swing it properly.
I mean... how could she possibly get serious against such a soft, delicate boy?
She had only lunged forward slightly, intending to give him a moderate scare.
But then.
It was as if she had struck an invisible shield; her body was repelled instead, and she tumbled to the floor with a loud crash.
"Wh-what was that...?"
Jin Areum, sitting dazed on her backside, blinked her eyes and slowly looked around.
Before she could even regain her senses, her gaze locked perfectly with Hyunwoo's.
And he, too, had a look on his face just as blank as her own.
The moment she saw that, the blurry pieces of the puzzle began to click into place.
Herself, collapsed; Hyunwoo, standing perfectly fine; and the black dagger in his hand, pointed right at her.
...This is impossible.
Did I really get pushed back by that blade?
"I... I was pushed back by a man?"
It was absurd.
That was the kind of scene that only appeared in 'extreme adult videos' made for women.
The scenes where women would drool and pant, saying, "This is the power of a man...♥" while getting slapped on the cheek.
But for that to be reenacted in reality right now?
"No, this is... there must be some kind of mistake...!"
Vrrrrrrrm.
The Soul Weapon gripped in her hand, Hwangmyeong, began to tremble once more.
As if disappointed by its master's helplessness, Jin Areum gritted her teeth and reset her stance.
This time, she would be a bit more serious, adding just a tiny bit more strength, though she still intended to go easy on him.
And the moment she lunged at Hyunwoo again.
"!?"
A short, heavy metallic sound.
In an instant, Jin Areum's body was sent flying into the air again, and this time, her plump backside slammed elegantly into the floor with her face toward the sky.
"Again... I was repelled again?"
Let's say the first time was a mistake.
She had intentionally held back her strength, after all.
But if she was repelled exactly the same way a second time, it was no longer an accident—it was a formula.
Jin Areum stood up in an awkward posture and looked forward again, and there was Hyunwoo, still wearing the same expression, in the same stance, pointing his blade exactly the same way.
It meant that not only had he blocked her charge head-on, but he had also precisely landed a counter.
"...!"
And then, a piece of news finally surfaced in her mind.
"The youngest sidekick in history, promoted to E-rank in just one week...!"
It was something she had heard in passing from Chairman Kim Mija.
Of course, she had let it go in one ear and out the other at the time.
Honestly, who would believe that?
Even a super-rookie like Shin Yura took three years to reach E-rank.
Even the legendary #1 ranked hero in the US took three months.
A 'man' had broken that record?
But the fact she had initially dismissed as a 'male bonus' or 'association propaganda' was now standing right before her eyes as reality.
Herself, repelled twice.
And Hwangmyeong, vibrating like crazy every time it happened.
Jin Areum's expression gradually hardened.
Shame?
Humiliation?
...No.
A heat, completely different from before, began to rise in Jin Areum's eyes.
It was clear as day.
That wasn't a mistake.
This was a 'match'.
I have no idea what's going on!
As soon as I entered the Colosseum arena, I gripped Ego in a reverse hold.
It was a stance I had learned in a three-day crash course from Master Baek Seungha a few days ago.
Honestly, I doubted it would work in a real fight, but I prepared for battle as if I were grabbing at a straw.
But the moment the match started, Jin Areum literally vanished from my sight.
It was truly in the blink of an eye.
It didn't look like the person standing in front of me had just evaporated.
Without a sound, without a presence—the moment I realized that fact, my body froze.
The beast-like momentum of someone cutting through the air to strike at me pricked the back of my neck, but I couldn't even sense the direction.
This wasn't a fight.
It was, for all intents and purposes, a slaughter.
In that brief gap where time seemed to have stopped, I was convinced to my very bones.
I had already lost.
Clang!
"Huh?"
"Guek?!"
However.
When I opened my eyes, the situation had completely flipped.
Jin Areum was collapsed on the floor, and my hand was holding the dagger, though I didn't even remember swinging it.
'Well done! My husband!'
"E...go?"
That was when it happened.
A voice that rang out clearly, as if it were familiar.
Not through my mouth, but deep inside my head, a voice that seemed to strike my brain directly.
There was definitely no sound, yet it was so vivid it made the inside of my ears tickle.
It seemed Ego, having transformed into her Soul Weapon state, had connected directly to my consciousness to speak.
'As expected of my husband! The way you countered by seizing that momentary opening was so cool!'
But what she was saying was a bit strange.
'I did...?'
I did that?
Honestly, I don't even remember it well.
I just closed my eyes and swung my arm blindly, and the result was... that?
No matter how I thought about it, it didn't make sense.
To call it luck... it was too clear, and too precise.
The dagger gripped in my hand.
A strange sensation transmitted from that solid grip climbed up to my fingertips.
It felt as if something that had granted me power had awakened.
I was suddenly gripped by a single thought.
Ego.
My one and only Soul Weapon.
The day I found out she was such an existence, I immediately opened a search window on the internet.
And I read countless stories.
Countless legends of humans who obtained Soul Weapons and instantly became heroes.
If so, could this nonsensical phenomenon happening to me right now... also be one of those cases?!
...Of course, in reality, Soul Weapons only had the ability to accelerate growth.
Any cheat item that could instantly spew out monstrous power was, at best, just a delusion of Hyunwoo's own making.
However, what he was holding right now wasn't just a simple 'fragment' with only that much power.
It wasn't a piece fallen from the stars, but life itself.
A heart.
The core that moves existence, and the first divinity.
Something too noble, lacking even to be called a Soul Weapon.
And that heart was, unknowingly, moving Hyunwoo's body.
The angle of a fingertip, the timing of a waist twist.
In every single moment, Ego was 'just naturally' adjusting her husband's body.
'Actually, I'm controlling my husband's body... but if I told you that, you'd think I'm a very expensive woman for having such an ability, right?'
Ego, not wanting to be remembered as a burdensome woman to Hyunwoo, was still smiling coyly while manipulating his entire body.
And making up excuses to suit her own taste was just a bonus.
'This is all because the "combination" between me and my husband is so good.'
'Combination?'
'Yes! Soul Weapons can become stronger the closer they get to the master they recognize. And we even slept in the same bed!'
Naturally, no such setting exists.
It's the truth.
It's just a lie.
But the problem was, Ego said those things as if they were the truth.
Damn it, think about it carefully.
We only slept together, and this kind of power came out?
That means if we go to an even 'deeper relationship' from here?
Then a development where I could exert even more power than that is also possible!!
'Ego... so that's why you were in my bed even when I hung you on the rack every night?'
'Of course! I have to do that to properly help my husband grow!'
'Honestly, I was a bit suspicious every time you snuck into my narrow bed. I wondered if you had strange thoughts.'
(Sting!)
'But you were staying with me with those thoughts in mind. Thank you so much.'
(Sting, sting!)
In fact, just as Hyunwoo suspected, Ego had been sneaking into his bed every night with very lewd intentions.
Every night, she would hug Hyunwoo tightly, sniff his scent, and even do the very impure act of licking the sweat he shed while sleeping.
But because Hyunwoo was misunderstanding it in such a positive way, Ego felt her conscience explosively shattering for a moment, but the water had already been spilled.
'H-husband! Rather than that, it looks like an attack is coming again!'
'Ah, right!'
Ego, who hurriedly changed the subject, turned Hyunwoo's head forward again.
Perhaps because of the shock of being pushed back by a man twice.
Jin Areum was standing there with an expression completely different from before.
"Hyunwoo, my disciple... I was so wrong."
"Yes? ...About what?"
"That I underestimated you too much."
Complete seriousness was now etched into her eyes.
"Thinking about it, you are an E-rank hero who clearly possesses the qualifications of a pro hero. I must have held back too much. I'll take this seriously from now on."
At the same time as those words.
Whoosh!
Jin Areum vanished completely from Hyunwoo's field of vision once again.
Only small sparks remained in the spot where she had been standing, as if sparks had flown.
The moment he took a stance, dazed, not knowing what to do.
'Husband! It's from behind!'
At Ego's shout, Hyunwoo reflexively turned around and swung his blade.
The problem was that the strike was truly, nonsensically pathetic.
His arm was twisted, the timing was off, and the trajectory of the sword was truly third-rate.
In a normal situation, it should have ended with Jin Areum dodging and tapping Hyunwoo lightly on the back of the head!
But.
Clang!
"Ugh?! Y-you blocked this too...?"
The twisting of the arm. The creaking of the pelvis, and even the lower body that had become unnecessarily stiff due to tension.
Ego utilized all those twisted postures in reverse, blocking Jin Areum's attack at that exact moment with perfect timing.
Cold sweat beaded on Jin Areum's forehead, and even Baek Seungha and Chairman Kim Mija, watching from the spectator seats, couldn't keep their mouths shut.
And.
'Husband! Now is the time!'
'Now...?'
'Yes! That female who has an opening because she's surprised, hit her now and finish it!'
'Ah, okay!'
A moment where an ordinary beginner would have just been dazed together.
Ego, in a voice full of conviction, drove a wedge into Hyunwoo, saying now was the time to let that 'gladiator female' know her place.
And so, Hyunwoo swung his sword randomly.
But this time, too, it was such a clumsy slash that it should have been blocked midway.
However, Jin Areum's spear trembled as if it had been hit by some kind of vibration, and suddenly, with a thwack sound, it was sent flying across the air.
"M-my weapon?!"
Not missing that opening, Hyunwoo clenched his fist with his other hand.
I knew it intuitively.
This was definitely the chance to finish it.
But... the face was a bit much.
No matter how much it was a sparring match, sticking a fist into a pretty woman's face was something that bothered me.
So I changed the aiming point.
The fist naturally extended toward her solar plexus.
...I intended to, but.
'Husband, a woman's vital point isn't there.'
'...Huh?'
In an instant, my arm bent subtly.
Ego had added just a tiny bit of force to Hyunwoo's forearm.
As a result, the angle changed, and the trajectory shifted.
And the place where it landed was Jin Areum's navel... no, the lower abdomen, which was still soft and slightly plump, too soft to be called abs, located just below it.
"Unghooooooook?!"
With that one blow, the sparring match came to an end.