Social Media Is Harmful After All
“Haah… He finished him in one shot…?”
Loro muttered blankly to himself.
To be honest, up until the midpoint he’d been wondering whether he ought to start offering prayers for the rest of Brother Sangongdok Freak’s soul. And yet with a single exchange of hands, the man had crushed two of the enemy’s limbs. Even the last technique he’d used—Loro couldn’t begin to place what martial art it was. It looked an awful lot like Geumnasu, but there was no way that was it.
He hadn’t used so much as the most basic lightfoot technique or footwork that every human alive knew how to use. There was a stubbornness to it, as if he simply refused to rely on them.
Could it be… a handicap? The kind of thing where a criminal like that wasn’t even worth showing his true skill against? Or was he the type who put restrictions on himself mid-fight to hone his abilities? A freak who got off on life-or-death danger?
None of that mattered. What mattered was that he’d won.
“So this is… a Named…?”
Loro marveled.
“Holy crap that’s cool…”
Meanwhile, Gong Ryun…
“Hah… hah… hah…”
He’d burned through nearly all his internal energy and was on the verge of collapse. It was exhausting. He wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep right then and there.
Of course, that wouldn’t fully resolve this drained state. Knowing that, Gong Ryun remained standing where he was, closed his eyes, and began circulating his energy through breath control.
Qi circulation was the practice of sending the internal energy of the dantian through the entire body to restore and realign oneself. It was one of the basic package techniques included in the Honwongong, and it had two main functions.
First, it slowly healed “internal injuries”—damage to the organs and muscles beneath the skin. Internal energy meticulously passed through the body’s interior, performing a kind of self-cleansing. The healing was limited strictly to internal injuries; it couldn’t mend a severed arm or a deep stab wound. Even so, in those cases it could stop the bleeding or keep you from dying, serving as a form of self-administered first aid. That was why, if you got hurt, the first thing you always did was sit still and circulate. Only then could you make it to a hospital for proper follow-up treatment.
Second, it generated internal energy. A kind of battery recharge, if you will. It drew in the energy that always existed in the surrounding natural world through lung breathing and skin absorption, then regenerated it inside the body in the form of internal energy by way of the dantian. That was why meditation was a required cultural practice among martial artists.
Gong Ryun was doing both. He was not only drained of internal energy—he’d also taken internal injuries.
“Haa… haa… haa……”
Bit by bit, his breathing stabilized. Internal energy began circulating through his body, soothing the internal wounds. And the empty reserves of qi slowly, faintly, began to return.
“Haaa… haaa…”
After some time had passed, Gong Ryun opened his eyes again.
Alright. He stretched and checked over his body.
He hadn’t stopped circulating. Circulating with your eyes closed and full concentration was the most efficient method, but in non-combat situations you could still do it at lower efficiency with your eyes open and while moving. This place had been a combat zone until moments ago—hardly an environment where he could keep his eyes shut and focus for long. Since there was no more fighting to be done, he’d keep circulating with his eyes open even if it took longer.
Continuing the circulation, Gong Ryun looked at the bandit collapsed before him.
The man’s body was now thoroughly stained a deep crimson-black. His muscles had swollen grotesquely, to the point of being repulsive. His eyes were still open even in unconsciousness, the whites blackened as if looking at a rotten egg.
Probably a side effect of that Yeokcheon Magong. Gong Ryun couldn’t begin to understand why anyone would practice such a technique.
Was he affiliated with some specific organization? If so, there was only one guess that came to mind.
The Demonic Sect.
Truth be told, Gong Ryun didn’t know much about the Demonic Sect. He knew that long ago, someone called the Heavenly Demon had fired the Heavenly Demon Death Beam and destroyed planets. And that they’d once been at war with the Righteous Faction and were currently under a ceasefire. Both were things the news mentioned often.
Aware of how lacking his common knowledge was, Gong Ryun made a habit of watching the news. Of course, there were plenty of words and terms he didn’t understand, so he never grasped everything. Still, he could get a sense of the atmosphere.
The Righteous Faction were the good guys. The Demonic Sect were the bad guys. The Unorthodox Faction were… the weird ones?
Anyway.
Those wicked Demonic Sect bastards. Reaching their hands even to a rural planet like this.
What was to become of the galaxy’s sense of justice!
Gong Ryun shook his head firmly.
“Ugh, look at that, hyung-nim. Seriously, that’s peak disgusting. Like spoiled crab meat blown up like a balloon.”
At some point Loro had come up beside him and was pointing at the fallen bandit as he spoke.
“Anyone who uses Yeokcheon Magong is a total psycho, no exceptions. You don’t mess with them. Still, thank goodness you won. I never doubted for a second that hyung-nim would win from the start. As expected of Sangongdok hyung-nim.”
Loro poked the bandit’s bright red chest muscles with a finger.
“But wait, hyung-nim, that thing you used in the middle—was that Parangjang? It looked at least intermediate grade, but didn’t you just learn that today?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“No way… You mastered it in a single day?”
“I only learned one form. Though to be fair, even I didn’t expect to pick it up in a day. Honestly I agonized quite a bit over whether to use it just now. I’d only practiced it in simulation—never used it in actual combat. But it worked out well. Lucky.”
“Heeh… That’s seriously amazing. The type who’s strong in real fights like people talk about?”
“Hmph. Is that so.”
“That’s right. Hyung-nim is seriously the best. The coolest for real.”
Gong Ryun wiped his nose.
Haha, this kid. Always pumping people up. He really was free with the praise.
And as Loro went on lavishing praise on Gong Ryun, he very naturally pulled out his personal device and started taking selfies—framing Gong Ryun into one corner of the shot as well.
—Click!
“Kyakyakya. As expected, the post-duel selfie is the unwritten rule. With this I’ll farm SNS aggro—”
“You brainless little—!!!!!!”
—SMACK!!!!!!!!!!!
Gong Ryun’s palm smash to the back landed with full force. He’d even put internal energy into it.
“KAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!”
Loro’s single piercing scream rang out.
“My baaaaaack!!!!! Hyung-nim, why would you suddenly do that!!!!!”
“That damn SNS!!! You already got wrecked once for it and you’re posting again!!!”
“There’s no way we’ll get ambushed again! That last time was just a coincidence!”
“Coincidence my ass!!! Why don’t you go ahead and share your location, personal info, and bank account password while you’re at it!!! Delete that right now!!!”
“Eek!! I can’t do that!!! That’s the joy of my life!!!”
“Ugh, this dense little—really.”
Gong Ryun grabbed the back of his own neck. Ah, Un-rang. So this was what that felt like.
“I still can’t give this up! Leaving proof after a duel is an ancient tradition! Even the Martial God acknowledged it!”
“Martial God my foot! What are you going to do if the Demonic Sect comes looking for payback because you posted this!”
“…? The Demonic Sect? Why are we suddenly talking about the Demonic Sect?”
“Because you’re dense! Because this bandit here is from the Demonic Sect!!!”
“Eh……? Wait, is that actually true? How do you know that?”
“Because of course! He used Yeokcheon Magong!!! Anyone practicing a lunatic technique like that has to be from the Demonic Sect, don’t they!”
“Eeeeh??? What kind of nonsense is that, hyung-nim? Why would the Demonic Sect even learn Yeokcheon Magong?”
Huh?
They’re not?
“Uh… they’re not?”
“The Demonic Sect cut ties with Yeokcheon Magong thousands of years ago, didn’t they?”
“Ah?”
The common-knowledge gap strikes again.
Gong Ryun was mortified.
“Ah… uh… is that so?”
“Hyung-nim. You’re not someone who just crawled out of a cave after a few thousand years, so this is weird.”
“…So that means we don’t have to worry about retaliation?”
“That’s right.”
“Aha… Ahem!! Cough-cough!!! Well, either way!! You still can’t post this on SNS!!!”
“Why not!!!”
“No means no! Delete it!”
“Ugh.”
Loro looked deeply disappointed.
—Cough!!!
Just then, a cough sounded from the bandit’s direction.
He hadn’t woken up. Quite the opposite. He was dying.
His muscles were locking up, hardening like stone, and his red skin was twitching.
“Uh… Loro. That guy’s about to die?”
“Eh… He overused Yeokcheon Magong way past the limit… so the internal energy inside his body is reversing on him.”
“Hmm… Should we call an ambulance?”
“Looking at the state of him, he’ll die before the ambulance gets here.”
Gong Ryun turned it over in his mind.
If the bandit died, that was clearly the man’s own karma. Choosing to assault people as a street robber had been his decision. Gong Ryun had also made a choice he didn’t regret. He’d stood his ground and won. That was all. A common enough incident in the murim. Even on the Slave Planet, people dying had been an everyday occurrence. Gong Ryun’s resolve wasn’t going to be shaken by something like this.
Still, if there was something that snagged on him—
Gong Ryun looked at Loro.
Would Loro feel guilty that someone was dying because of him? Because the SNS post he’d uploaded had been the spark?
“Ugh, so satisfying. Drop dead already. Bye-bye to the living world. Kyarruk.”
This little—
Not a shred of guilt?
Gong Ryun’s head throbbed.
“Loro… This won’t do. For the sake of your proper moral compass, if nothing else.”
At the very least, if this kid’s first brush with killing someone left him with zero guilt, the future looked a little dark.
Of course, calling it Loro’s kill was a stretch—he’d barely put a spoon on the table. And the galactic murim was an unlucky Valhalla of murder, slaughter, strangling, threats, and schemes of every kind. Even so, a first kill shouldn’t feel this light.
Maybe I’m still not a real martial artist, Gong Ryun thought. Maybe Gong Ryun was the abnormal one and Loro was normal. The murim had always been a carnival of the absurd. This might just be pointless meddling—or, from a martial artist’s point of view, a bad call.
Even so, Gong Ryun decided to act. He would make a small attempt to save the bandit. It wasn’t going to be some huge undertaking anyway. Looking at the situation, the method for keeping this bandit alive was simple.
“Loro. You’ve still got that San-gong-cho powder I gave you, right?”
“Ah, yeah. I’ve got it. Why?”
“Give it here. I’m dumping it in his mouth.”
“Eeeek!!! No way! I promised I’d show this to the kids! Why would I waste it saving a criminal’s life! And this isn’t even Sangongdok—it’s San-gong-cho powder, so who even knows if it’ll work!”
“This is all your fault, you rotten little brat. It’s for Loro’s morality as a human being, got it?”
“What are you talking about, hyung-nim!! I almost always got perfect scores on morality tests at school!!”
“What kind of— Aigoo. Yeah, hearing that just made me more sure. Hand it over right now.”
“Eeeeh…”
Loro looked deeply crestfallen.
“In exchange, film this guy with your camera.”
“Huh!? For real! Yes!!”
“Well, he’s not even Demonic Sect so there’s no retaliation to worry about. And bragging to your friends with this will be better than San-gong-cho powder, won’t it?”
“Yesss!! That works for me!”
Gong Ryun took the San-gong-cho powder from Loro and carried it over to the bandit. Then he roughly shook it into the man’s mouth.
Truth be told, Gong Ryun had no idea if this would work. He was just thinking that with the energy-dispersing effect, it would have to help at least a little, one way or another. As long as the man lasted until the ambulance arrived, that was enough. If he didn’t make it… well. I did my best. He was trying to kill me—if I do even this much, I’m practically a buddha, aren’t I?
Either way, if the man died he’d pay for his crimes in death, and if he lived he’d pay for them at the hands of the police. Galactic law was strict.
—Shake-shake-shake!
He really did just dump it in any old way.
Loro was capturing the whole scene on video. He’d carefully angled it so Gong Ryun’s face wouldn’t show.
“Whoa…! This is insane!! This is planet-trending-video material!”
“Please don’t let it be.”
“Aww, don’t be shy!”
Once it was all poured in, they looked at the bandit.
“Oh. It’s working?”
Amazingly, the red skin color was lightening a little, and the muscles were starting to settle back toward normal. The reverse-flowing energy from the Yeokcheon Magong was being partially scattered by the energy-dispersing properties of the San-gong-cho.
Not quite healing… more like delaying the moment of death? At the very least, he’d last until the ambulance arrived.
“As expected of my San-gong-cho powder.”
Gong Ryun felt a surge of pride.
“Kyarruk! It filmed perfectly! Thank you, Gong Ryun oppa!”
Loro hopped in place, overjoyed.
“If it’s going to spread as a video anyway, make sure you also spread the info that the Sangongdok Freak does not sell Sangongdok.”
If the video was going to get popular, Gong Ryun decided he might as well use it.
“Yes sir! I’ll make it crystal clear that some idiot dared to propose a Sangongdok deal to the Sangongdok Freak and got wrecked that horribly for it!!”
“Uh… yeah… go ahead…”
Gong Ryun felt a certain sense of enlightenment settle over him.
Soon after, Loro called an ambulance. It would take quite a while to arrive, so the two of them used the gap to leave the scene in a hurry.
The ambulance crew would just assume it was another ordinary life-or-death duel event and wouldn’t request a police investigation.
Having finished what needed doing, the two young men trudged home. Both planned to stop by a pharmacy on the way and buy medicine for internal injuries.
The sunset had long since faded, and the cool night air wrapped around them.
And so another ordinary day in the galactic murim passed by.