Baek Seolhye
[Ding!]
The person closest to the Blue Dragon has established a relationship.
Wood element energy (?) seeps into the body.
After finishing simple preparations, I asked Cheonghwa:
"So what do we do today? Any weird missions again?"
Cheonghwa hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"First, please take out the sword you received yesterday."
I tilted my head and pulled the scabbard from under the bed — Father's keepsake that Aunt Yeoryeong had given me yesterday.
"As you felt yesterday, the basic usage should come to mind in your head, Master."
[Ding!]
Ancient artifact Hwanguk Sword (Replica) acquired.
Succession conditions met.
Skill Hwanguk Sword Method (F) has been released.
Along with the system message I'd seen yesterday, some kind of energy spread through my fingertips.
"Wow... this is really amazing. It feels like something's flooding into my head."
"However, the rank of Hwanguk Sword Method is determined by the user's basic physical abilities. Right now, Master is... still a bit lacking."
"...Well, I haven't exactly been working out..."
"That's why we need to make up for it starting now. The successor of Baekho Hall, Baek Seolhye, should be at the training ground. Please receive her help."
Cheonghwa led me without hesitation.
"But the academy's still on break, right? Can we just use the facilities like that?"
"Principal Chunho said to use them freely. And... even if she said no, Baek Seolhye wouldn't listen anyway."
So she's the type to do whatever she wants. I'd have to meet her to find out the details.
—Clank.
I stepped out of the dormitory, which had been vacant for a night.
"Ugh, the smell. It's really... thoroughly, undeniably done."
"That damn Yu Cheonghwa... puts on such a prim and proper act, then spreads her legs before a single day is up?"
Yu Ryun, who had fallen asleep early in the next room, had not missed the stench of a bitch wafting through the common area in the middle of the night.
***
The training ground was filled with the cool morning air.
—Swish!
The only sounds breaking the silence were the dry whistle of a wooden sword cutting through the wind and the sharp slap of feet striking the ground.
A single figure moved through the exercises without pause, her hair flowing freely.
Her muscular shoulders rose and fell slowly, her heavy breaths syncing with the rhythm.
Cheonghwa spoke carefully beside me:
"Seolhye, Master has come."
Her long silver hair was tied back in a ponytail that cascaded like a mane, and tiger ears stood erect atop her head. Her eyes gleamed with the sharpness of a predator, and the white fangs peeking from her lips conveyed both wariness and provocation. A black crop top that clung to her frame, bright leggings, and beneath her loose jacket, her abs and shoulder lines were prominently defined. Even in her lopsided stance, her taut physique radiated the presence of a beast. One hand gripping the wooden sword, she was a predator through and through.
She narrowed her eyes and spoke. There seemed to be a trace of contempt in those eyes.
"Master? Tch, don't talk nonsense. I don't take orders from some weakling like you."
With just one word — and her sheer presence — I felt utterly overwhelmed the moment I stepped into the training ground.
Seolhye lowered the wooden sword from her shoulder and walked slowly toward me. There was a subtle distrust in her gaze, along with something challengingly bold.
"Even from a glance, you look pathetic. So you're the master? I guess I'll have to groom you like a dog."
"How dare you speak such disrespect to Master! Bow your head and apologize at once!"
Cheonghwa stepped in front of me, scolding Seolhye on my behalf.
I forced an awkward smile.
"I'm just starting to work out. Please take care of me from today."
Seolhye didn't even crack a smile at my words. Instead, her expression twisted into scorn and contempt.
She casually rolled her neck and took one step closer to me.
"Making excuses before you even start, I see. If I threw you into a gate right now, it would be a miracle if you survived."
"...I did experience that miracle a few days ago."
"Draw your sword."
I reluctantly mustered strength in my shoulder and lifted the sword. The touch of the steel against my fingertips felt strangely unfamiliar, and at the same time, cold.
My breath caught in my throat from the tension.
Seolhye met my eyes and snorted.
"You don't even know how to hold a sword, and you call yourself the next Taewonsu? What a joke."
I forced down my saliva and took my stance.
In that instant, Seolhye stamped her foot and closed the distance in a flash. A charge without the slightest hesitation.
"Let's see how long you last."
Her wooden sword sliced through the air.
My mind went blank as I instinctively raised the sword to defend.
—Boom!
The heavy impact of metal meeting wood shot through my fingertips.
My forearm wobbled, and cold sweat ran down my spine.
"What the hell — I'm parrying a real sword with a wooden one, how is the wooden one still intact?"
Looking closely, a thin membrane-like barrier had formed over her sword. Probably something like an aura blade in common terms.
Seolhye didn't stop for a moment. The moment the first strike ended, she twisted the wooden sword and this time swung down toward my forearm.
I hastily blocked with my sword, but the shock traveling up my arm was too great.
My stance crumbled instantly.
"You can't even withstand this much impact? Your fundamentals are a mess. You're nothing more than a useless lump."
Seolhye increased the speed of her attacks.
This time she struck my shoulder, waist, side, and chest in sequence.
Each blow passed through my entire body.
I moved the sword in roughly the same way I had raised it — almost by reflex.
But the sword was too heavy, and my arms and legs didn't move the way I wanted.
My joints trembled, and my breath felt like it was being cut off at the throat.
Seolhye's voice poured out beside me:
"You're only busy running away. You don't have a single proper blocking motion. How much longer do you expect me to watch?"
True to her words, her feet hadn't left the ground simultaneously even once after the initial charge.
Again the wooden sword struck my upper arm full on.
—Thwack!
My arm went numb, and my fingers tingled.
I gripped the sword again, putting more force into my hand.
Seolhye circled around leisurely and this time swung the wooden sword straight down at my head.
I lifted the sword upward almost unconsciously.
—Boom!
My entire shoulder shook, and both arms nearly dropped.
My breath came out ragged.
Seolhye took one step back and sneered at my sword.
"Throwing yourself at me in a state like that is hilarious. A 'master' at this level, huh."
Seolhye's movements grew faster and faster.
This time she twisted her body side to side, striking my side, thighs, and ankles in alternating blows.
I barely managed to fend her off by waving the sword around, but my feet kept tripping over each other and muscle cramps seized my legs.
My mind couldn't keep up. My body seemed to remember on its own, swinging the sword, and every movement was clumsy.
Seolhye's eyes flashed sharply.
"I was foolish to expect you to be a worthy opponent. Being this pathetic... tch."
This time the wooden sword drove straight into my solar plexus.
—Crack!
A shock that felt like my breath had stopped.
My body was shoved back half a step.
As if preparing the final blow, Seolhye crouched low.
Her muscles tensed taut.
"This is the end."
No strength remained in my arms. Numb fingertips, a slipping sword —
My arm went numb, sensation vanished, and the sword fell to the ground with a heavy clang.
—Thud!
I gasped for breath and dropped to my knees. My palms, shoulder, and knees touched the cold stone floor.
Seolhye looked down at me and let out a small laugh.
"This is your limit? A person who can't even hold a sword calls himself master? Useless. You don't even have the value of living."
Seolhye's eyes gleamed coldly. Her fangs were visible between her lips.
"Die just like this."
Her wooden sword came down toward my head like lightning.
—Clank.
Seolhye's body froze in an instant.
Her arm was raised above her head, and it didn't descend even an inch further.
"?!"
Seolhye was startled. She tried to force her arm down, but her entire body seemed to be seized by an invisible force and locked rigid.
"What... what's happening...? Why won't my body move...?"
Her face was a mixture of bewilderment, humiliation, and rage she didn't even understand.
When her body wouldn't obey her, Seolhye shouted at me through gritted teeth.
"How humiliating! Why won't my body—!"
—Zzzzzt.
"Aaagh!!"
Unfortunately for her, her body didn't just freeze. On her lower abdomen, a strange sigil was being etched, accompanied by the smell of burning flesh.
"Hah... hah..."
I caught my breath and slowly lifted my head.
Cheonghwa had quietly approached and helped me to my feet.
"This is the power of the contract, Master. For a servant to dare harm her master — such a thing cannot exist. That girl will regret today's events for the rest of her life."
The power of the master-servant contract had completely overturned the outcome of the fight.
Seolhye knelt there as she was. The wooden sword fell weakly to the ground, and she pressed her hands against the floor, swallowing the unbearable humiliation with her entire body.
"I acknowledge my defeat."
"...You are... my master."
Her trembling voice. Her shoulders and spine quivered faintly. In those beast-like eyes were layered defeat, humiliation, and the new obedience that lay ahead.
I gasped for breath and felt the tremor still remaining in my fingertips.
Glaring down at the kneeling Baek Seolhye, Cheonghwa spoke in a cold tone beside me:
"From now on, Seolhye will oversee Master's physical training. For the time being, I will accompany as well."
"...Thanks."
I couldn't expect things like this sudden ambush to stop happening. Having Cheonghwa there was enough to put my mind at ease.
We looked at each other with warm affection.
"Um... can I get up now?"
"Ah, right. She's still on her knees."