Her Choice
Episode 11
"Uh...?"
"Wait a second...."
I couldn’t even think of stopping her as she turned and walked away, cold and aloof, without the slightest hesitation.
I wanted to ask if she’d suddenly gotten stronger, but if she was making that face....
...What do I do?
She’d been by my side since childhood, but it was a face I’d never seen before.
It wasn’t the usual bright smile or those warm eyes.
It was a face colder than ice....
No, not even cold.
It was more like....
A face that didn’t care at all.
My whole body trembled.
From the tips of my toes to the top of my head.
"Hmph! Look at him acting all impressive! He’s Jin Sojin, isn’t he? Before long, he’ll come crawling back to us for help."
"...Will he?"
Tang Soyeong said it with absolute certainty, but deep down, I had a feeling this time was different.
"Don’t even think about going after Jin Sojin. You’ll only spoil him if you do!"
"...."
I couldn’t answer right away.
By then, the members of the Heat Heaven Squad and the Splendid Heaven Squad were already walking toward us.
Jung Gyeong-geom, a disciple of the Heat-Piercing Sword, gave a wave and spoke. "Miss Han, what will you do? If you’re thinking of following him, I won’t stop you. Though I don’t know if he’ll even take you back."
"Yeah, do whatever you want~ It’s a pity, but we can always find someone else."
Seon Woojeong curled one corner of his mouth into a slight smile and gave a shrug.
He was acting like he had nothing to lose.
He probably knew that the Jintian Squad had already been broken apart, and that she had nowhere to return to.
How petty. How vile.
Their ranks at the academy were fourth and ninth, respectively. As top-tier experts, there were almost no younger disciples in the central plains who could beat them.
In my mind, I could still see the brief exchange Sojin had had with Namgung Jin.
"...."
For a fleeting moment, I finished my thoughts and shook my head several times from side to side.
As if trying to shake my mind free.
Sojin does seem to have gotten a little stronger....
I didn’t know how he’d done it, but that alone wasn’t enough.
He had definitely done well to avoid Namgung Jin’s attack, but that attack had been full of openings anyway.
Jin Sojin’s internal energy—the single most important thing for a martial artist...
No, the most basic thing of all—was utterly lacking.
What could he possibly do with internal cultivation below second-rate?
In the central plains, most people placed so-called enlightenment and realm comprehension above everything else.
And, to some extent, that wasn’t entirely wrong either....
But even if you were the leader of the martial alliance, you couldn’t use martial arts if your dantian was shattered. Internal energy was the foundation.
A person who couldn’t even walk couldn’t run.
As his childhood friend, I knew that better than anyone.
Jin Sojin had learned the Jin Blood Great Sword Art and the Advance Qi Path Method of the Guangdong Jin Family, yet he still hadn’t reached the fifth star of the Advance Qi Path Method.
Something must be wrong.
Maybe this was just the Namgung Family’s plan to lower their guard and make things easier in the martial contest.
To put it plainly, Namgung Jin wasn’t strong so much as he was backed by a good family.
I wanted to side with Sojin, but reality wasn’t so forgiving.
...Still, should I go to Sojin once?
I hesitated.
After all, we’d known each other for a long time.
Especially me, who’d watched him since we were children.
Jin Sojin was such a lovable man.
But just because I’d abandoned him didn’t mean I was incapable of feeling guilty.
Now that the Jintian Squad had been dissolved, even his skills probably wouldn’t be enough to get by as an average warrior.
Being cast out of the family might actually have been a stroke of luck for him.
At least he wouldn’t have to shoulder anything anymore.
He just needed to endure a little longer and wait.
Because Sojin had me.
"You made the right choice."
As if the decision had already been made, Juha was standing behind Seon Woojeong.
"Miss Tang, because of today’s incident, Namgung Jin is going to be in a rather awkward position within the academy. If he slips up, he could find himself in real danger. What do you think? Why not come to the Heat Heaven Squad? I’ll make sure there’s plenty of room for you."
But Tang Soyeong snorted and shook her head.
"No, I need to talk to Namgung Jin separately."
It was a fairly rude answer, but Jung Gyeong-geom didn’t seem to care.
"Very well, I won’t stop you. But remember this: opportunities don’t always come twice."
"Hmph!"
Tang Soyeong clicked her tongue, laughed under her breath, and walked straight out of the hall.
"A pity."
He’s right. Opportunities don’t always come twice.
His words snapped me back to reality.
In order to defeat the martial alliance heir, Jung Gyeong-geom was recruiting skilled people by any means necessary, even if it meant swallowing a few minor disadvantages.
If he managed to beat the martial alliance heir in the next martial contest, this kind of preferential treatment would disappear.
"I’ll join the Heat Heaven Squad."
"A wise decision."
The members of the Heat Heaven Squad welcomed her as their new companion.
All bright smiles and little waves.
"Miss Han, let’s get along from now on!"
"If you ever have questions, feel free to ask me."
"I’m your older sister now, right? Nice to meet you!"
They were all disciples with very high rankings.
Yeah, I wasn’t wrong....
Did they know?
That this had been their last chance.
*
Bang—
I slammed the door shut.
I’d just seen something I shouldn’t have.
"Hey? Y-you, what the hell are you doing? It’s me! Open this right now!!"
She’d somehow found me right away even though this was my newly assigned lodging.
And this was the men’s dormitory.
I’d come here on purpose instead of the training hall just to get some breathing exercises in, since I didn’t have the time to waste picking fights with some random nobody.
After finishing the Small Heavenly Circulation, I was planning to build up the Sun and Moon Qi by taking all the medicinal pills I’d collected so far.
"...Hah."
What a completely useless woman.
Bang bang—
Bang bang—
Her arm strength was absurdly strong too; every strike made the door creak.
I calmly began my breathing exercises.
"Aren’t you going to regret this? If you open it now, I’ll generously forgive you."
Every word she spoke oozed arrogance.
A proud woman. That was Tang Soyeong.
From the sound of it, she’d definitely come here to spout nonsense.
I wasn’t the devil.
If she’d admitted her wrongdoing as soon as she stepped into the great hall, I might have forgiven her with broad-minded generosity.
But, as expected, she didn’t disappoint me.
In a way, it was impressive.
"Do you have any idea how many missions I’ve solved for you, for the Jintian Squad!! Open this door this instant!!"
If someone asked when I’d first been truly stunned after coming to this other world, the answer would be now.
This woman is insane....
I was almost impressed by her shamelessness.
She was completely leaving out all the elixirs and funds she’d squeezed out of the Jin Family, and only talking about the parts that made her look good.
From the start, without the Jin Family’s help, she never would have reached her current level.
Is she fucking crazy?
Her voice was so self-righteous it was almost nostalgic, in the way only a proper martial arts world could be.
A place where they’d gouge your eye out while smiling sweetly, where they’d stab you in the back with a grin.
That was the martial world.
Why the hell had Cheon Sojin forgiven a woman like that....
Because of that, he got hit in the back of the head again.
A complete pushover—that was Cheon Sojin.
Bang bang—
Bang bang—
"J-Jin Sojin, you... even if you kneel and beg later, I won’t forgive you. This is your last chance!!"
As expected, her nature wasn’t going to change so easily.
Tang Soyeong was no different from the others.
She was the kind of person who made me come back to this damn place again?
I reached for my chest again, but there was no cigarette there.
To push the weak Cheon Sojin this far.... That sin was a heavy one.
And there wasn’t even any soda here.
The central plains’ food, loaded down with bizarre spices, just didn’t suit me.
And dinner would probably be cold noodles again....
Does that even make sense?
Life is nothing but a series of choices.
Which means you have to pick the right line to stand in.
She had already thrown in her lot with Namgung Jin.
A stupid choice. There were no more chances left.
Unlike Cheon Sojin, I had no intention of taking her back....
I didn’t even get to choose. I was dragged here.
You all made your choices.
Now live with them, with grit and sheer stubbornness.
Bang bang—
Bang bang—
"Open up!! Jin Sojin!! Are you ignoring me?"
Slowly, I replayed Tang Soyeong’s ending in my head.
Driven by her overwhelming obsession with martial arts to the point that she betrayed Cheon Sojin and even accepted demonic arts, Tang Soyeong eventually became a demonic cultivator.
When she was cornered, she shamelessly begged him to save her.
And the fool actually did.
And then he got ambushed immediately afterward, suffering serious damage to his dantian.
There wasn’t a shred of chivalry in that—just stupid behavior.
Just showering someone with mercy for no reason wasn’t chivalry.
If you spoiled them every day, of course they’d start climbing over your head.
Vrrrmmmm—
At last, I finished my breathing exercises, slowly opened my eyes, and got to my feet.
That was enough playing around.
The academy dormitory patrol time would be starting soon.
Bang bang—
Bang bang—
"Open the door!! Now! Are you ignoring me?!!"
Her pounding had grown even stronger, and the sound was getting louder by the second.
Apparently she thought she was being looked down on, because Tang Soyeong’s voice was vicious now.
She wasn’t wrong about the ignoring part, either.
But damn, was she loud.
Creak—
"You finally opened it! But it’s already too la—"
Through the curtain of purple hair, I could see Tang Soyeong’s snow-white forehead.
Wham—!!!!
"A-Aaaagh!!"
Bang—
I shut the door again at once.
"Ah... ahhhhh, ouch!"
I slowly looked down at my clenched fist.
There were three things I was most confident in.
The first was the ultimate forehead flick.
I’d cracked plenty of demon heads with this one.
It might not seem like much, but it was actually a high-level martial technique containing the subtle principle of striking after the opponent had already moved.
"Y-you... how could you do this to me? Even after doing this to me now... hic... sob."
Did it hurt that much?
I’d hit her so it would hurt.
The more it hurt, the better.
I felt wonderfully refreshed.
##
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