Chapter 33: To Survive, One Must Do It
Young Sa Wol was chasing after a butterfly.
The white butterfly fluttered just out of reach, teasing her fingertips.
"Eek!"
Sa Wol stretched her hand further. In that instant, her foot caught on a rock, and she tumbled down.
"Ouch..."
Her knee was scraped raw and swelling red.
"Hic..."
Little Sa Wol's eyes welled up immediately, big tears ready to spill from her wide eyes.
"So this is where you were."
At that moment.
A voice reached Sa Wol's ears. She turned her head.
There stood a man with a gentle face. A smile bloomed instantly on Sa Wol's face.
"Big brother!"
"You're hurt. Let me see."
The man strode over and knelt down. He examined her scraped knee, then put on a mock stern expression.
"If we leave it like this, it'll scar. What are we going to do?"
"Hic..."
"I'll let it slide this time. But from now on, you have to tell me before you go anywhere, okay?"
"Yes, big brother."
The man stroked Sa Wol's head, then opened his palm. With a whoosh, a white flame flickered to life. It was fire, but not hot—warm and cozy instead.
It was the Holy Fire Divine Art, the symbol of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
"Whoa... so pretty..."
"Hwayeon, when you grow up, you'll be able to wield it too. Our Hwayeon has more talent than your big brother, so you'll probably handle an even bigger, cooler Holy Fire, right?"
The man called her Hwayeon. As he did, he brought the flame to the wound on her knee. Astonishingly, the injury healed without a trace.
"Heehee, big brother is the best after all!"
"You rascal."
The man stood up.
And extended his hand.
"Time to go home?"
His voice was as warm as spring sunlight, soft as silk.
"...Yes!"
Little Sa Wol took his hand.
In that instant.
"Are you back to your senses?"
Her vision shifted.
Standing before her was not her beloved big brother, the one she longed for more than anyone.
Stubborn lips and a thick yet paradoxically refined jawline.
The hated blood of the Sado family.
Sado Hwan stood there.
And his shoulder bore her dagger embedded deep.
Sa Wol flinched and met Sado Hwan's eyes. There was no anger, no hesitation. The old Sado Hwan would have screamed, "How dare a lowly bitch like you—!" and thrown a tantrum. But...
Why... how...?
Why did those eyes hold the warmth her big brother once showed? Sa Wol stammered in confusion.
"How did this—"
"I know you want to kill me. However."
Sado Hwan smiled, somehow forlorn.
"This time, take my hand."
With that, he pulled the dagger from his shoulder and handed it to her. Sa Wol took it blankly.
He knows... I want to kill him?
How? She'd hidden it desperately.
"We have to go home, don't we?"
"..."
Sa Wol bit her lip at his words.
It felt awful.
Like her precious memory with her big brother was stained by Sado Hwan.
But why?
Why did those words, that expression, make tears well up?
Get a grip. He's just the target of your revenge.
Sa Wol hardened her face. Coldly, even colder. So her true feelings wouldn't show. So her expression wouldn't give her away.
Sa Wol grabbed Sado Hwan's hand. It was callused and rough. She tried not to remember the feel of it.
"Let's go, Sa Wol."
Whoosh!
Sa Wol's thoughts cut off. They'd moved and reappeared at blinding speed.
Illusory Form Shift?
Sado Hwan, who never used lightness skills for long distances and always insisted on horses or carriages, was using Illusory Form Shift?
And it wasn't just any— he'd carried her along in a near-transcendent realm technique.
Whoosh!
Once more, even.
Sado Hwan and Sa Wol's bodies shifted again.
How much power... how much have you been hiding, Sado Hwan?
In the Divine Cult, where strength was virtue, why hide it?
My revenge... he'll be first.
They appeared above Jo Yang's head.
"It's the Myofang Merchant Group."
Sa Wol's dagger traced a streak of light.
"Gahk—"
Jo Yang vomited blood.
Sa Wol's dagger was buried in his abdomen. She'd aimed for the heart, but some trick of his had twisted the blade's path. Still, it was only a matter of instant death or not—he was done for.
"Kiiiiik!"
As Jo Yang took the hit, perhaps the spell broke. The Little Water Witch clutched her head and rolled on the ground.
I approached Jo Yang. His face was deathly pale from blood loss.
"Sa Wol. Seal his acupoints. I have questions."
At my words, Sa Wol struck Jo Yang's pressure points. The gushing blood slowed to a stop.
My right shoulder throbbed. I didn't try to ignore the pain. I accepted it.
To think of myself as a martial artist now.
"Jo Yang."
"You bastard..."
Jo Yang shrieked hysterically.
"You ruined my plan! You! Sohyang, Sohyang could have lived!"
"How many did you kill?"
"Heh heh heh... In this vast martial world, what's the big deal about killing a few bugs?"
"I see. What about the others?"
"They're probably still wandering the ruins. Heh heh, the unlucky ones are dead."
Un Yeop Ja or Dang Si Hyeok wouldn't go down easily.
I approached him.
"Cheon Gi-ja. What do you know about him?"
"Nothing."
"You do know."
I'm just an ordinary guy from the modern world. Sure, I got into a fistfight or two in school, but I never intentionally hurt anyone.
But I have to survive. To survive, I must do it.
It's impossible to endure in this martial world without getting blood on your hands.
So I act. I discard Kim Dong Yun and play the heartless psychopath. The most vicious guy I know from here is Sword Saint Maeng Wi-hak. I'm Maeng Wi-hak. Maeng Wi-hak.
I repeated it to myself.
"Those eyes..."
Jo Yang, meeting my gaze, recoiled in terror. But no need to say it aloud.
I reached toward Jo Yang's abdomen, where the dagger was lodged.
And.
Twist.
I wrenched the dagger. Jo Yang writhed in agony, unable even to scream properly.
I said calmly.
"Talk. About Cheon Gi-ja."
"Heh heh heh..."
Jo Yang laughed mockingly at me.
"You've ruined all my plans. You think I'll give you what you want? I'm dying anyway."
He seemed to have accepted his death.
"If you talk."
I pointed to the still writhing Little Water Witch.
"I'll send you off painlessly. Together."
"..."
"Or else, you'll rot in an underground prison forever, mad like that. Never to revive."
"You dog..."
"So tell me everything you know about Cheon Gi-ja."
Jo Yang ground his teeth. Then he spoke.
"I don't know much. Just brushed past him once."
"Talk."
"Cheon Gi-ja said this world is twisted. Someone warped the heavens' will, changing the story that should flow naturally. So it must be corrected back."
Someone warped the heavens' will. Was that me?
But more than that, "the story that should flow naturally" stuck out. It was like...
Cheon Gi-ja knows this world is a novel.
Even with his "knows everything" gimmick, that? A chill ran down my spine.
Ultimately, I had to meet Cheon Gi-ja to know.
"When did you meet him?"
"...Ten years ago—"
"Ten years ago?"
Did that mean he'd foreseen this mess ten years back? Ridiculous. The novel itself hadn't even been out that long.
"Where? Where did you meet?"
"Mou... mountain..."
"Mountain? Which one?"
Jo Yang's words slowed. The acupoint seal had only paused the bleeding temporarily; he'd lost too much blood. His gaze drifted to the Little Water Witch.
"...I wanted to see her smile one more time..."
Jo Yang's head drooped.
[Dead.]
I know.
I took the puppet string from Jo Yang and stood.
Then approached the Little Water Witch. She still clutched her head, unaware even that Jo Yang, who'd doted on her, was dead. Her reason was gone.
Pa Cheon. Don't absorb the energy.
[Got it.]
I drew Pa Cheon. And plunged it straight into the Little Water Witch's heart. A faint, soft resistance met my hand.
"...Thank you."
It was not the Little Water Witch, but the original Baek So Hyang speaking. There was no saving her, consumed by the jade. Her body crumbled like ash and scattered.
Where Baek So Hyang had been lay only a white jade pulsing with ominous energy.
I picked it up. A bone-chilling cold bit into my fingertips.
I'd been just an ordinary office worker in the modern world.
And now I'd killed people. But I couldn't dwell on it. I killed to survive. No room for sorrow or regret—that's shallow hypocrisy.
So I had to keep acting—
Dizzy.
My vision warped.
Someone grabbed my arm.
"You're bleeding badly."
I turned. Sa Wol was there.
Her face was expressionless, devoid of worry.
But no cold hostility either. At least, she didn't seem about to kill me now.
With the Gu Poison in me, she couldn't act rashly anyway.
"Your arm."
I extended my right arm. Rolling up my sleeve revealed the shoulder wound where the blade had pierced.
Whoosh!
Sa Wol's fingertips brushed above my shoulder. The blood flow stopped.
With practiced skill, she pulled golden wound salve and bandages from her waist pouch and began emergency treatment. Honestly, it hurt like hell—I felt like passing out. But whining about this would ruin my high-expert act. I gritted my teeth and endured, pretending it was nothing.
Sa Wol avoided my eyes, looking down as she spoke.
"I'm sorry."
"Forget it. Don't worry about it."
This wound would heal in days with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art's power anyway.
I turned and spotted a flat rock ledge. I sat on it.
My side felt cold; I touched it absentmindedly and realized the jade was there. The one the Little Water Witch had swallowed. Full of icy energy. I didn't know the name, so I'd call it the Little Water Jade for now.
Pa Cheon chided me.
[Why take an ominous thing you can't even use? Pathetic. A true martial artist has no time for guilt.]
Not guilt.
In wuxia, moping after killing makes readers bail. Since I'm in Return of the Martial Master, I'll shake it off like the protagonist.
But I had another reason for the Little Water Jade. Not for me, obviously—I couldn't even use qi.
The Heavenly Demon.
This Little Water Jade would be the weapon to bring the Heavenly Demon to my side.
Pretending to Be the Heavenly Demon