Of Course, He Was From the Sun and Moon Cult
At 11:00 a.m., Lee Kang opened his eyes and sat up at once.
Sleeping on the sofa had left his lower back stiff. His neck was rigid too, and his shoulders ached a little. Still, that was tolerable. At least he was alive, and no one had broken the door down during the night.
Lee Kang checked the door first.
The latch was still in place. The thread he had tied across the crack in the door hadn’t been cut. There were no unfamiliar footprints in the dust below the window either.
No problems.
Only then did Lee Kang let out a quiet breath.
When he looked toward the desk, Seol-ah was still asleep. She had the blanket he’d covered her with draped over one shoulder, and she was lying face-down on the desk, breathing softly. Her fingertips were still touching the Breathing Method Manual.
She really did pass out like that.
It made sense.
The slave market, the escape, the fight with Seok Yuha. There had been too much crammed into a single day. For an ordinary person, it wouldn’t have been strange to collapse halfway through.
Lee Kang moved quietly.
First, she needs to eat.
He took rice and a can of tuna out of the Qian Kun Pouch.
This time it wasn’t plain tuna, but spicy tuna. When he opened the lid, a hot, sweet smell rose with the heat. Lee Kang poured plenty of water into the pot, added a little rice, and let it simmer slowly. He seasoned it a little more lightly than yesterday and stirred in the spicy tuna at the end.
Bubble, bubble.
A thin layer of red oil spread across the porridge. He added a little more water so the smell of spice wouldn’t become too overpowering, and stirred slowly until the grains softened and gave way.
Before long, the room filled with a sweet, spicy aroma.
Only then did Seol-ah stir.
Black hair spilled over the blanket. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around with a dazed expression, as if she didn’t quite know where she was.
Then she looked at the table.
The porridge was already done. The pot sat on the table, and two side plates with spoons had been neatly arranged in front of it.
Seol-ah froze.
“……”
Then she looked at Lee Kang.
“Didn’t I say I’d do it?”
Her voice was quiet, but there was unmistakable bewilderment in it.
Lee Kang ladled porridge into a side bowl and answered, “You did.”
“Then why…”
“Because your body’s still a mess.”
Seol-ah’s brows moved very slightly.
Lee Kang looked her up and down.
“You’re still tired, aren’t you?”
“……”
“Your body feels heavy. Your head’s probably a little foggy. And there’s not much strength left in your fingertips, either. Am I wrong?”
Seol-ah couldn’t answer.
That silence was answer enough.
But after a moment, she said softly, “Even so, I can do it.”
“I’m sure you can.”
Lee Kang nodded.
“But is that what you should be doing right now?”
He set the spoon on the side dish and slid it toward her.
“What do you need most right now?”
Seol-ah didn’t answer right away. She seemed to think for a moment. Food, rest, purpose, trust. Several words might have passed through her mind.
Then she said carefully, “Strength…?”
“Right. What you need most right now is strength.”
Lee Kang sat down as he continued, “Recovering your body is for the sake of gaining strength. Eating is for the sake of gaining strength. Dishes? Cooking? You can do those later. Right now, what you need to do is learn martial arts as quickly as possible.”
“……”
“And the situation is worse than you think.”
Seol-ah’s eyes lifted to him.
“Mak Daehan of the Mak Family is after us.”
At that name, Seol-ah’s expression cooled at once.
The man from yesterday, the one who had swung a giant wooden club in the alley. The monstrous bastard who had grabbed a girl by the nape of her neck and insisted she was his property.
Seol-ah remembered him too.
Lee Kang went on, “He posted on the Gallery. Said he’d wipe out the Black Moon Sect. Said he’d be coming for us soon.”
“The Gallery… what is that?”
“I’ll explain later. For now, the last thing you need to be doing with the strength you have left is washing dishes. Read the manual, learn it, and start understanding the Black Moon Sect’s doctrine.”
Lee Kang pulled over the whiteboard he’d set up in one corner of the room.
Written there were the Black Moon Sect’s basic principles.
“Hide. Survive. Grow stronger by any means necessary. And survive however you damn well please. Keep that in mind. Now, eat first.”
Lee Kang took a spoonful of the spicy tuna porridge and put it in his mouth. The sweet heat spread across his tongue. It was sharper than the tuna porridge from yesterday, but not bad.
After the meal, Lee Kang was about to clear the dishes again.
Seol-ah reached out to help, but Lee Kang stopped her first.
“I told you what your job is today.”
Seol-ah’s hand paused.
“Then…”
“You start with Breathing Method.”
Lee Kang opened the martial manual on the table. It was a thin book. Its contents were less like a great secret scripture and more like a basic primer for sensing inner energy and steadying one’s breath for the first time.
But for Seol-ah, this came first.
“Sit here.”
Lee Kang pointed to one side of the floor. The dishes could wait.
Seol-ah sat there without a word.
“Can you sit in full lotus?”
“Yes.”
Seol-ah folded her legs with surprising ease. Her back was straight too. At a glance, she didn’t look like someone doing it for the first time.
Of course. She’s from the Sun and Moon Cult.
Lee Kang decided not to ask anything unnecessary.
“Breathe in and out exactly as the book says. Don’t force yourself to grab onto something. Just feel it like you’re sensing a flow.”
“A flow…”
“Yes. It’s normal not to feel anything at first. So don’t get impatient.”
Seol-ah nodded quietly.
Lee Kang moved behind her. Then he gently rested his palm against her back.
Seol-ah’s body stiffened at once.
“Don’t tense up. I’m helping you.”
“...Yes.”
She said that, but her shoulders were still slightly rigid.
Lee Kang let out a short breath inside.
I’m not exactly in a position to be helping other people.
In truth, forcing internal energy into another person was something even a mediocre martial artist would struggle with. His own internal energy was limited, and Black Moon Concealed Heart Art was still only at the introductory stage. If he mishandled it, he could end up draining the energy he needed for his own training.
But Seol-ah wasn’t an ordinary person.
Talent for Transcendence.
A living stroke of fortune.
He could justify this much investment.
If you grow strong quickly, I survive too.
Lee Kang slowly circulated Black Moon Concealed Heart Art.
A very thin trace of inner energy rose from his dantian. He pushed it to the tip of his palm. He didn’t force it in hard, because that might have been too much for Seol-ah’s body to bear. Instead, he let it spill out in a thin current, like showing her the path with a fingertip.
“Breathe in.”
Seol-ah slowly inhaled.
“Don’t hold it. Think of it as letting it descend below.”
“……”
“Now exhale.”
Seol-ah let her breath out in a long stream.
At first, nothing changed. Only a few quiet cycles of breathing passed. Lee Kang frowned as he felt his own energy trickle away.
This is a little taxing after all.
It felt like letting a small stream run continuously. It wasn’t a great burden, but even this was fairly tiring for him.
But not long after, something changed.
Seol-ah’s back muscles trembled ever so slightly.
Under Lee Kang’s palm, a tiny response returned.
Already?
Lee Kang narrowed his eyes.
Seol-ah was following her first small heavenly circuit. It was still far too weak to call it true inner energy, but a current had definitely formed. Qi was moving with her breathing.
It was absurdly fast.
For reference, it had taken Lee Kang more than a month to get this far.
“...That’s strange.”
Seol-ah spoke quietly.
Keeping his hand in place, Lee Kang asked, “What is?”
“Inside my body… I can feel a strange power. It’s not the same as the path my breath is moving through, but it feels like it’s moving together.”
“That’s it. Think of it as the seed of inner energy. Feeling it, gathering it, making a path, and moving it is what a heart method does.”
With her eyes closed, Seol-ah gave the tiniest nod.
“Again.”
Lee Kang let a little more energy flow out, this time more slowly. Seol-ah inhaled and exhaled according to the breathing formula in the manual. Her breathing was steadier now than it had been at first. The tension in her shoulders was gradually loosening too.
Only the sound of their breathing remained in the room.
With his hand on Seol-ah’s back, Lee Kang guided the flow so she wouldn’t lose the qi. Seol-ah followed faster than he’d expected. When she hit a blockage, she waited; when the flow weakened, she adjusted her breathing again.
How many times had they repeated it? Suddenly, Seol-ah opened her eyes.
“This heart method… and the one you use are different.”
Lee Kang’s hand stopped.
“What?”
Seol-ah slowly turned her head. Her white eyes were on him.
“The energy that entered my body just now is cold and dark, but the breathing formula doesn’t move like that. The formula feels flatter, shallower, more spread out. But your energy…”
Seol-ah paused as if choosing her words.
“It sinks like a shadow.”
Lee Kang had no words.
She noticed that?
Breathing Method was a basic breathing technique.
What Lee Kang had learned, on the other hand, was Black Moon Concealed Heart Art. Even if it was a trash-grade technique, it was a Black Moon Sect heart method specialized for concealment and inward sinking. Of course its nature was different.
But for a beginner to notice that was another matter entirely. Unless she was a seasoned martial artist like No Hyeonjin, she shouldn’t have been able to tell.
A chill ran down Lee Kang’s spine before he even realized it.
“That’s right. The heart method I learned isn’t Breathing Method.”
Seol-ah looked at Lee Kang in silence.
Keeping his expression as calm as possible, Lee Kang continued, “But right now, you need Breathing Method more. It’s better for building your foundation than my heart method, and it’ll be more useful for your growth later on too. If you start with a heart method that’s too aggressive, your body might not be able to handle it.”
“Then why do you…”
Because I need to survive.
Lee Kang thought it, but didn’t say it aloud.
“Because Black Moon Concealed Heart Art suits me better. Besides, not every martial artist has to learn the same heart method.”
He paused briefly before adding, “Don’t worry. They’re both trash-grade techniques. You’re not losing anything.”
Seol-ah looked at him for a moment.
Her white eyes still seemed to be reading for more.
But this time, she didn’t press him further.
“I understand.”
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