Giving a Little, Taking a Little
After finishing his meal, Lee Kang gathered up the empty bowls and got to his feet.
A little rice porridge had stuck to the bottom of the pot. Two side dishes, two spoons, one pot. Under normal circumstances, he would have scraped the pot clean and called it a day, which meant this wasn’t the kind of dishwashing mess that would have existed otherwise.
Right. The more people you have, the more annoying work there is.
Just as he was about to carry the dishes away, Seol-ah spoke softly.
“I’ll help too.”
Lee Kang turned his head.
Seol-ah was holding the empty side dish bowl with both hands. Her face looked a little better than before now that she’d eaten, but the exhaustion still hadn’t left her. Her eyelids looked heavy, and there was no real strength in her slender wrists.
“Aren’t you tired? Rest.”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, I mean, you know...”
“I said I’m fine.”
“...”
Seol-ah fell silent for a moment. Then, looking down at the bowl, she said, “I want to do my part too.”
There was a strange weight in those words. After a brief moment of thought, Lee Kang took the bowl from her as though snatching it away.
“Then let’s set a rule. I cook and do the dishes today. You do it tomorrow.”
“...Tomorrow?”
“Yes. Your condition is a mess today. Washing yourself and eating a meal doesn’t make you back to normal right away.”
Lee Kang picked up the pot and headed toward the corner that was barely dignified enough to be called a kitchen.
“I want you rested today. So rest.”
Seol-ah looked at him quietly after hearing that. In the end, she gave a slow nod.
“...All right.”
Lee Kang laughed to himself.
Good. Rest up today.
Of course, his real thoughts were a little different.
Someday I’ll dump all of it on you lot.
Disciples, subordinates, sect members. Once there were more people, the work could be divided. The Black Moon Sect he wanted wasn’t a place where one person had to shoulder everything alone. No, to be precise, it was a place where he didn’t want to shoulder everything alone.
He let the pot soak, then roughly washed the side dishes and spoons. The old sink didn’t run cleanly. Trying to wipe the grease away with water that came out in a thin, uneven trickle took more time than expected.
Still, Lee Kang didn’t rush.
The room was quiet.
Until a moment ago, there had been the breathing of an unfamiliar woman, wary glances, the status window, bloodline, names, the smell of food all tangled together until his head had been spinning. Only now was everything beginning to settle.
When he came back after finishing the dishes, Seol-ah was lying face-down on the desk.
At first, he thought she had merely lowered her head for a moment while reading a martial manual. But when he stepped closer, he heard a tiny, even rhythm of breathing.
She was asleep.
The Torhyeop manual was still open, and her fingers were still hooked around the edge of a page. The notebook for Night Moon Killing Sword lay beside her elbow. It looked as though she had been reading, then simply fallen asleep right there.
Lee Kang watched her in silence. Then he quietly fetched a blanket. He carefully draped it over her shoulders.
Seol-ah shrank ever so slightly, but she didn’t wake. Lee Kang looked down at her for a moment longer, then sat on the floor in a corner.
I should do what I need to do too.
He closed his eyes, settled into a seated posture, and regulated his breathing.
Black Moon Heart-Calming Art.
Still only an introductory mental art. For Lee Kang, the only thing left between him and becoming a third-class martial artist was the Black Moon Heart-Calming Art.
He slowly drew in a breath.
At first, his mind was crowded with stray thoughts. Mak Daehan’s face surfaced. The sensation of driving a blade into Seok Yuha’s throat came back to him. The slave mark disappearing from Seol-ah’s hand, the words Sun Moon Holy Cult Security Company in the status window, and even the number 26 for affection.
But as time passed, those thoughts gradually settled.
Lee Kang suddenly realized something.
The conversation he had just had with Seol-ah strangely resembled the rhythm of breathing.
Trust wasn’t something you inhaled all at once. You gave a little, took a little, then gave a little more. Pull too hard, and you’d choke; hold too long, and the body would stiffen.
Inner force was the same.
It wasn’t something to wrench out by force, but something to receive a little at a time and let pass through.
The energy resting in his dantian softened ever so slightly.
Lee Kang didn’t miss the flow.
Time passed.
An hour and a half.
Roughly three hours later, Lee Kang slowly opened his eyes.
“Hoo...”
A dull breath slipped from his lips.
It felt as though some of the foul energy packed inside his chest had drained away. It wasn’t that his body felt lighter so much as a blocked passage inside him had been opened, however minutely.
At that moment, the status window appeared.
That went up a lot.
It was definitely faster than usual.
Simply sitting and regulating his breathing had caused his proficiency to rise significantly. It was probably thanks to the strange realization he’d gained from talking with Seol-ah.
Trust, concession, breathing, waiting. Abstract as those words were, they somehow lined up with the flow of dantian breathing.
Lee Kang smiled without making a sound.
At this rate, becoming a third-class martial artist isn’t just a dream.
He just needed to keep secluded himself a little longer. He had food, he had money, and he had even obtained Seol-ah. Looking at the situation alone, the Black Moon Sect was finally beginning to look like a proper sect.
First, I need to see how things are unfolding.
Habitually, Lee Kang raised a finger into the air.
Modern Murim Gallery.
A translucent window appeared in front of him.
In particular, he needed to check the fallout from the auction hall bombing. How far had it spread? Was the Heretic Alliance handling the cleanup? Had Mak Daehan posted anything? Had Seok Yuha’s death already gotten around? And, if possible, whether the Black Moon Sect or Lee Kang’s name had been mentioned.
He quickly scrolled through the gallery posts.
Title: Is it real that the Mapo Auction Hall blew up?
Title: The guys who went to the Heretic Alliance auction hall today hit the jackpot lol
Title: Proof of scavenging right after the auction hall explosion
Title: Is this a real elixir? Someone appraise it
Title: The Heretic Alliance bastards are freaking out right now lol
He started with the post at the top.
There were a lot of photos.
Someone had placed a small jade bottle on the palm of their hand. Unreadable Chinese characters were written on the bottle, and the comments were split over whether it was an elixir or poison.
Another post showed a broken sword. The blade had shattered in the middle, but the ornamentation on the hilt was quite luxurious. The writer was boasting that even if they sold it only for scrap, they’d make a nice profit.
There was even someone claiming they’d picked up a fragment of a secret manual.
Another said they’d collected a talisman whose owner was unknown, and there was even a post about stealing a merchant’s pocket while he was running away from behind the auction hall.
Everyone made a killing.
Reading the posts made Lee Kang’s stomach ache a little.
He was envious. Honestly, he was envious.
If he’d moved a little more boldly in all that chaos, he might have picked up something himself. An elixir, a secret manual, a usable weapon.
If they’d been goods put up at the Heretic Alliance auction hall, even the low-grade items would have been worth something.
But Lee Kang just shrugged.
Still, I got the biggest haul.
Transcendence talent. Lee Seol-ah.
And on top of that, he’d taken Seok Yuha’s Qiankun Pouch. Compared to that, there was no shortage in his harvest. While everyone else was bragging over a single bottle of elixir, he’d brought back one living stroke of fortune.
Thinking that made him feel a little more confident.
Yes. I’m the winner.
Lee Kang glanced over at the sleeping Seol-ah for no reason at all.
She was still lying face-down on the desk, breathing quietly. A little of her black hair had spilled down beneath the blanket.
Lee Kang turned back to the gallery. Then his finger stopped on one post.
Title: I hear the auction hall’s main item disappeared?
The content was short.
The last item at today’s Heretic Alliance auction hall. The girl with the Frigid Yin and Absolute Pulse had disappeared right after the explosion. She had originally been scheduled to go up in the official auction, but after the commotion at the hall, her whereabouts had gone unknown.
The comments were already a mess.
ㄴYeahYeah: Who snatched her away?
ㄴLegendarySwordGuy: Wasn’t that an insider at the Heretic Alliance?
ㄴHaoMerchant: I heard she was from the Heavenly Mountain Sect. Didn’t the righteous faction rescue her?
ㄴBlackPlasticBag: Heavenly Mountain Sect isn’t righteous, it’s demonic
Lee Kang scrolled farther down the post list. Then he found a familiar name.
Title: This is for Lee Kang, the Black Moon Sect Leader
Author: MakgaMakDaehan
The Black Moon Sect will be destroyed by the Mak family.
Lee Kang, Sect Leader of the Black Moon Sect.
No matter where you’re hiding, I’ll find you soon.
Wait for it.
There was a photo attached below.
The moment Lee Kang saw it, his face twisted.
“That lunatic.”
The curse slipped out under his breath.
The photo showed a corpse so crushed it was barely recognizable. Blood, flesh, and shattered bones were all tangled together, and beside it there were scraps of a familiar outer robe.
Seok Yuha.
No, what had once been Seok Yuha.
It was the body Mak Daehan had stomped into a pulp in the middle of his rage.
There weren’t many comments. Most people seemed to have skimmed the post without reading it properly. With the gallery already flooded by talk of the auction hall explosion and the disappearance of the girl with Frigid Yin and Absolute Pulse, Mak Daehan’s declaration of revenge wasn’t much of a draw.
ㄴYeahYeah: Is the Mak family fighting again?
ㄴHapjeongSurvivor: Blur the damn picture, asshole
ㄴMurimGalleryLurker: Where the hell is the Black Moon Sect?
The comments didn’t add much either.
I definitely can’t go outside for a while.
Lee Kang reached a conclusion immediately. Then he looked back at the gallery.
What happened to the HipHop Sect?
Seok Yuha was dead. Since the Sect Leader of the HipHop Sect had died, there should have been posts related to it. Lee Kang entered a string of search terms one after another: HipHop Sect, Seok Yuha, Hapjeong, Rhyme-Enhancing Hallucination, and so on.
But nothing of note came up.
At most, there were a few old posts.
Title: Why the hell is this group called the HipHop Sect
Title: Anyone know information about the HipHop Sect at Hapjeong Station?
There were no new posts.
Do they not know yet? Or have they just fallen apart?
Lee Kang couldn’t let his guard down. Since everything was connected to him, the HipHop Sect might decide to take revenge and come after him.
“I need to get stronger fast. For now... rest comes first.”
Lee Kang climbed onto the office sofa. Then he shut his eyes, now heavier than before.
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