A Long-Awaited Reunion
The instructor's roar echoed through the air as the two instructors lunged toward the twins, who were moving with terrifying speed. At first glance, it seemed impossible for the twins to change their momentum, and it looked as if they would be caught in the instructors' grasp in an instant. In fact, that was exactly how it seemed to be unfolding—until the moment the instructors' outstretched hands brushed past empty air.
I don't know what kind of trick they used, but the twins moved in a way that made it hard to believe they were standing on the same earth as me. They lowered their bodies and slid across the floor as if they were skating on ice.
'What was that?!'
As the two instructors stared at the twins, dumbfounded, the Chief Instructor shouted, "You bunch of idiots!"
The Chief Instructor kicked off the ground. Boom! With a thunderous roar, a cloud of dust erupted, and he vanished. To be precise, in the blink of an eye, he had dashed forward and grabbed both twins by the scruffs of their necks.
'So that... is a Murim master!'
Seo-ah couldn't hide her astonishment as she watched the scene. This was on a completely different level from the martial artists she had encountered until now. The master of the Evil Faction who had caused such trauma to the villagers and Seo-ah in the past had called himself a "First-Class" expert. But given it came from the mouth of a rogue, his true level was likely Third or Second-Class at best. Even that rogue had seemed like an insurmountable powerhouse to me back then...
'Can you even call that... a human like me?'
Compared to the Chief Instructor before her eyes, that rogue seemed like a child standing before an adult. A Peak Realm master. This was the first moment that title truly hit home for Seo-ah. Perhaps, even if someone without talent like her spent their entire life in effort, they would never reach that supreme realm.
'But... someday...'
Even if she could just manage to catch those movements with her eyes, she would no longer be a mere commoner. She would no longer be in the position of the weak, who have everything taken from them without a chance to resist. That level of strength would be enough.
It was just as Seo-ah was fueling her desire for martial arts that she heard the voices of the twins, now held in the Chief Instructor's grip.
The boy, Wi Baek-ak, was shouting, "Let go of me!"
The girl, Wi Baek-ran, didn't even seem to care that she was being held; she kept her gaze fixed firmly in my direction, crying out, "Boss! Boss! Over here, over here!"
The Chief Instructor, having already been infuriated by their unauthorized intrusion into the training grounds, seemed to grow even more enraged at being completely ignored by the children in his grasp. His face turned beet red.
"You brats! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Just let us go! Our Boss is right there!"
"Boss! Can you see me? It's me, Baek-ran!"
Seo-ah was stunned by their complete disregard for the Chief Instructor. 'They really haven't changed at all...' They were just as good at driving people up the wall as they were at acting like they had mastered the art of ignoring others entirely.
Even from this distance, it was clear how angry the Chief Instructor was. The veins on his hands were bulging, and his body was trembling with rage. Seeing this, the other instructors rushed over, grabbing the Chief Instructor's arms and pleading, "Chief Instructor! Please, loosen your grip! You have to let go! Don't you know those little rascals act like this every single day?"
"Exactly! With graduation so close, if a student with a Silver Badge gets hurt, the Academy Master will have our heads!"
Grind. The sound of the Chief Instructor's teeth gnashing made Seo-ah feel as though she were breaking into a cold sweat, her back damp with dread. Was this what they called killing intent? But the twins, true to form, continued to yap as if they were oblivious to any of it.
"Boss! Hey! I think the Boss just made eye contact with me!"
"Let us go! I have to go meet the Boss!"
Suppressing the urge to bury both twins into the dirt right there, the Chief Instructor shouted, "Who is this 'Boss' you keep talking about! And for that matter, is there even a 'Boss' among these trainees?!"
"Ahem... I... I think they're looking for me..."
Fearing what might happen if things continued, Seo-ah stepped forward the moment the Chief Instructor looked her way. Immediately, the gazes of nearly a hundred people in the area converged on her. In particular, Seo-ah was very concerned about the look in Shin So-so's eyes beside her. When she glanced over, So-so looked as if she had returned to the state she was in when I beat up Dan-ryang yesterday. Did I make a mistake? That was the look on her face.
Seo-ah wanted to sigh, wondering how she would convince So-so again, but she swallowed it, knowing she couldn't do that in front of the Chief Instructor. She had looked forward to the reunion, but...
'This wasn't exactly the form I expected...'
Less than half an hour after seeing the twins' faces, Seo-ah felt that she would be perfectly fine not seeing them again for a long while.
In the Gyomaguan, there are three types of badges: the Gold Badge, the Silver Badge, and the Bronze Badge. These are the three badges awarded to high-achieving students. To put it in modern terms, it’s like the difference between the top 1st, 2nd, and 3rd percentiles in a national exam. Those ranked 4th and below seem to be lumped together as general students.
Each badge comes with various privileges befitting its rank, and one of the privileges of the Silver Badge is the right to have a private residence and personal servants. The reason I bring this up is simple: because of the request of the twins, Baek-ran and Baek-ak—absolute geniuses who were among the few to earn the Silver Badge—So-so and I had become their servants. To be more precise, So-so was just noticed by the servant-master and ordered to come along with me.
So-so and I stood before the twins' residence. So-so said, as if bewitched, "Wow, it's huge..."
The residence where a Silver Badge holder lived wasn't quite a palace, but it was the size of a house owned by a wealthy merchant in a small village. In short, it was a place where ordinary people like So-so and me wouldn't even dare to set foot.
"Yeah."
"Can we... go in?"
Seo-ah looked at So-so, who was using honorifics again. Someday, she would have to correct the misunderstanding, but today was not that day. Her head was already aching enough from the twins, and the fact that the misunderstanding she had worked so hard to clear up hadn't even lasted a day made it even worse.
We entered the empty residence. The room was quite messy, likely because they hadn't had a dedicated servant until now. We decided to finish a quick cleaning before the twins, who had gone off to receive punishment for disobeying instructors and violating order, returned.
Several hours passed.
Bang! With the sound of the door being thrown open, the two twins, covered in dirt and sweat, rushed into the room without even taking off their shoes.
"Boss!!!"
"Ugh!"
Before Seo-ah could even respond, the two twins lunged at her. Seo-ah couldn't withstand the force and tumbled to the floor along with them. Just like a year ago, back when they lived in the village, she felt as if she had returned to the past. She was about to shout at them to get off immediately, but then—
"Waaaah... Boss, I missed you."
"I don't know how hard it was without you, Boss, waaaah..."
The twins, clinging to her, burst into tears. Only then did Seo-ah realize a small truth. No matter how high they had graduated in the Gyomaguan with their Silver Badges, or how powerful their martial arts had become, the twins who greeted her so noisily were still just fourteen-year-old children.
How much must these children have suffered? Being sold to an unknown place by their parents, thrust among strangers, and forced to undergo grueling martial arts training without even knowing why. If I had truly been a fourteen-year-old child, I would never have been able to endure the Gyomaguan so easily.
Feeling a pang of sympathy, Seo-ah patted the twins on their backs with both hands. "Yeah... it's been hard, hasn't it?"
And so, the three children began to resolve their long-awaited reunion. Among their stories, their reaction to hearing about how I had scolded Dan-ryang yesterday was the most intense. Of course, I left out the part about learning martial arts. I didn't know if they would blab about it somewhere, and I was worried—unlike So-yul, who I hadn't met yet and could trust.
"That girl is a total bitch!" Baek-ran agreed with me.
"This won't do! When the Vice-Boss comes out, let's grab our weapons and go find her like in the old days!" Baek-ak was suggesting we teach the person who picked a fight with us a lesson, just like when we were in the village.
Since the topic of the Vice-Boss had come up, I asked the twins, "By the way, guys. Where is So-yul?"
"The Vice-Boss? Where did she say she was going... closed-door something..."
"You idiot! It's closed-door cultivation!"
"What? Idiot? Didn't I tell you not to call me an idiot?!"
"What else am I supposed to call an idiot if not an idiot?!"
"You... you! Come outside!"
Seo-ah was used to the twins' usual bickering, so she decided not to pay it any mind—until she heard a terrified voice beside her. So-so was trembling, not knowing what to do about the two disciples' fighting. She looked terrified, as if she were worried the sparks might fly her way.
"Stop! Guys. You're scaring So-so..."
"So-so?"
"Who's that?"
At my words, the twins stopped fighting and looked at the terrified So-so beside me. "Boss. Who is she?"
"You idiot! What were you listening to when the Boss was talking! She's the Boss's friend!"
Only then did Seo-ah realize she hadn't formally introduced So-so to the twins.
***
In a room even more luxurious than the twins' residence, a boy with ash-colored hair looked down at a servant kneeling before him.
"Are you certain you delivered it properly?"
"Y-yes. I definitely placed the letter inside the closed-door training room..."
"I'm asking if that bitch Sim So-yul actually read my letter."
"T-that... I'm not sure..."
A dagger was plunged into the floor right by the trembling servant's head.
"H-hic!"
"Useless thing. I'll spare your life, so get out of my sight immediately."
The servant didn't even look back as he scrambled out of the room. Left alone in the room, the ash-haired boy muttered words filled with madness.
"Sim So-yul... I'll see if you can still act like that even after I tear those children you cherish so much to pieces."
The boy thought of the person who dared to stand above him and ground his teeth. No one was allowed to stand above him.