Connections Are a Critical Matter
In the galactic age, children's rights had advanced by leaps and bounds.
The fastest way to commit suicide in the martial world was to kidnap a child along a school route. Passing civil servants and righteous citizens would kill you on the spot.
Crimes against children carried heavier sentences than any other violent offense, and trials were so merciless that lawyers were useless. A criminal's social background made no difference whatsoever. Even the most prestigious, high-flying clans would plunge straight to the bottom of the ocean and lose everything they had built.
How greatly had the Martial God emphasized children's rights? Even that benevolent Martial God would smash a child offender's skull without a second thought.
For that reason, protecting children was the single most important priority in any city. The schools children attended were clustered in the safest central district. That central zone bristled with every kind of anti-terror defense system, and city defense officers kept a hawk-eyed watch over it as a designated safety zone.
From the center out to each dense residential quarter ran broad roads built for children's commutes—the school routes. Cars were forbidden, and even light-footwork techniques had speed limits.
Safety-guardian civil servants maintained order along those routes, but the territory they had to cover was vast compared to their numbers. Parents therefore stepped in to help, forming a voluntary patrol known as the Green Parents' Association—a civilian organization.
Despite a name dripping with civic virtue, they were, absurdly enough, the strongest martial force in the entire city.
Every parent in a city who could throw a punch worth mentioning joined. The word "parent" normally meant someone with a child currently in school, but in the galactic age—where seven sons and daughters were considered the bare minimum—one child or another was always enrolled, so adults remained permanent parents. Even after the youngest graduated, the eldest was by then old enough to produce grandchildren; people simply stayed in the Green Parents' Association, saying they would help guard their adorable grandchildren's walk to school.
In the end almost every married adult was a parent, so the Association's roster was anything but ordinary. Masters and experts from every orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic background gathered as one, united by love for their offspring. A cadre meeting looked less like a committee and more like a regular summit of the region's strongest fighters.
Consequently the president of a city's Green Parents' Association wielded enormous influence. In truth it was less that the presidency conferred power and more that only an already formidable person was ever nominated. The group was, at root, a civilian armed force; becoming its president required more than ordinary mettle.
Just like the woman in green who had come to visit this tteokbokki shop.
Her realm was the peak of the Nature Realm. Officially, she was the strongest master in the city. She never volunteered her age, but her fashion sense suggested three digits at the very least.
That green-clad president launched into her complaints.
"Aigoo, Vice President. You have no idea how startled I was. Just thinking about it makes my heart hammer all over again. A city-terror-level attack in the middle of the night! It's a good thing I woke the instant I felt it and dealt with it."
"Well… President~~ It wasn't aimed at the city, it was fired outside the city, so isn't it fine~~?"
"Are you even listening to yourself? The barrier was smashed to pieces. The moment it broke I took internal injuries forcing up a temporary qi membrane over the city sky. I pushed myself so hard my dantian still aches. Honestly, without me this city would have been soaked in cosmic radiation."
The green president spoke in a calm, methodical stream that left nothing unsaid.
Her realm was clearly lower than the Succubus Boss's, yet somehow she was the one delivering the lecture.
She had every right to be bold. She had long used her position to shield the Succubus Boss's true identity, had taught the novice mother every parenting skill she needed, and had even handled all the paperwork the Succubus was supposed to do as vice president of the Green Parents' Association.
For the record, the Succubus Boss was the Association's vice president.
She preferred to keep her power hidden, so she lived quietly. Although stronger than the president, she had refused the top seat and taken the vice presidency instead. Within the Association, only the president herself knew the truth; everyone else assumed the Succubus had been chosen for her paperwork skills. In reality she never touched the paperwork—the president did it all for her.
Out of sheer guilt, if nothing else, one had to listen to the president's grumbling.
"At my age… aigoo… working myself to the bone… every joint aches… and I still have documents to finish later…"
Of course the green president gained something from the arrangement as well. She was placing a personal debt upon one of the strongest masters on the planet. And even when the Succubus did nothing, her mere presence helped the Association. An unknown hidden master was a joker card that could be played in a crisis.
Still, seeing an old woman nursing a damaged dantian was a little pitiable.
…But I wasn't the one who fired that Heavenly Demon Death Beam.
The Succubus decided to swallow her indignation and let the misunderstanding stand.
No one would believe a mere Profound Realm fighter had used such a technique anyway.
And if people assumed she had fired it, the cleanup would be far simpler.
"No matter how badly you wanted to try out a new technique, you can't just use it inside the city. As a fellow martial artist I understand that irresistible urge… but you're not some hot-blooded youth. Someone who's lived as long as you… aigoo, never mind. Counting by the long lifespan of a succubus, you're still in your springtime, so I suppose it can happen."
"Well, something like that~~~?"
An Earth-leaving Realm master could get away with this sort of accident. Had there been casualties it would have grown complicated, but no one had been hurt—only property damage. And the Succubus Boss had cheerfully paid full restitution.
Thus the incident could be quietly reclassified as the thrilling prank of a reclusive master who, in the middle of the night, suddenly achieved martial enlightenment and could not resist blasting the sky.
That's right! I fired a laser beam! Mad about it? Too bad! No one can judge an Earth-leaving Realm master like me! That is the limit of this city's administration!
That was roughly the vibe. In this galactic martial world of absolute power, the strong were extraordinarily difficult to hold accountable.
Above the Earth-leaving Realm stood the Stars. And Stars were walking planet-destroying strategic weapons; they had no reason to visit a place like this. Nothing on this rural planet was going to disturb the Boss's quiet child-rearing retirement.
"But Vice President, what martial art was that laser beam? Surely it wasn't the Heavenly Demon Death Beam."
"Aiyu~~ I'm not a Star—how could I use something like that~~? Just an ordinary laser-beam technique~~"
"Well, that makes sense. If city hall asks me about it, I'll just mumble something along those lines."
The construction site that had been the battlefield had no CCTV, so no one could reconstruct what had actually happened.
The full truth of the incident would remain unsolved. With no casualties and compensation already paid, there was little reason to dig deeper.
The unreal story of a Profound Realm nobody with Sangongdok poison qi firing a knockoff Death Beam would become nothing more than a private memory of that single night.
City hall will wash its hands of it now~~~ The president will tidy up the aftermath nicely~~
In truth, anyone who needed to know already knew that an Earth-leaving Realm master was living in seclusion at a tteokbokki shop in this city—high-ranking city officials, for example. They simply pretended not to notice. What could they do about it anyway? What power did the bureaucrats of a rural city possess? Want a taste of urban terrorism? Mind your own business.
All that remained was to slip the green president a suitable "hardship fee."
"Aiyu~~ You've worked so hard, President~~~ Please use this to heal those internal injuries~~"
"My goodness! An elixir? I don't need anything like this~"
"It's a new shipment that just arrived~~"
"Aiyu, you're too kind~!"
For treating internal injuries it was an absurdly high-grade elixir—an extravagant gift wrapped in the excuse of medical care.
Since she planned to dump every future nuisance on the president, the price of maintaining the connection was a bargain.
"Bring your great-great-grandchildren by for tteokbokki sometime~~ I've stocked some elixirs that are perfect for growing kids~~~"
"Honestly, who else but you, Vice President? I'm truly grateful."
After a little more chatting, the president of the Green Parents' Association took her leave.
Soon afterward Gong Ryun came downstairs.
"Whew. Thank goodness none of the Sangongcho died. This planet is so dry the little things just drop dead."
"Oh my~~ Gong Ryun~~ Perfect timing~~~ Come eat~~"
"Oh! Thank you. I was just getting hungry. Uh… what dish is this supposed to be?"
"It's called golbaengi somyeon~~"
A full bowl of suspiciously purple golbaengi somyeon sat waiting.
The whelks had been stewed so thoroughly that steam still rose in lazy curls.
"Tastes better than I expected."
"Does it~~? Don't leave a single bite~~~"
Nyam.
It tasted purple.
Somehow the color sparked a half-formed memory… but he could always ask about it later.