The Justice-Seeking Fallen Angel
Even a run-of-the-mill magical girl story could send shockwaves through someone’s heart.
From Song Daehyeon’s perspective as a modern-day man, it was nothing but a pile of overused clichés.
Girls who encountered an unknown life form awakened as magical girls through a contract, fought the forces of evil, and saved the world.
But for Cheongha, who had been born and raised in the Central Plains, it was an astonishing, exhilarating story she had never seen before.
And because the heroine’s circumstances were so much like her own, Cheongha found hope in Amheuktacheongeom.
And so Cheongha became an ally of darkness.
“In the name of darkness, I will not forgive you.”
Seeing Cheongha cross her arms and declare it so boldly, the black-clad man bared murderous intent in his eyes above his mask and roared in fury.
“What nonsense!”
It happened in an instant.
His body vanished as if dissolving into the shadows, only to reappear behind Cheongha as he sent a sharp sword strike at her back.
But Cheongha turned at once, as though she had eyes in the back of her head, and casually caught his blade.
Cheng—
With the sharp ring of metal striking metal, the black-clad man jumped backward in shock when he realized his attack had been stopped, putting distance between them.
“What in the—!”
Cheongha spun her sword lightly once and struck a lively pose, lifting one knee just a little before saying brightly, “Villains are so predictable. Did you really think a trick that uses shadows would work on someone who walks the path of darkness?”
“Grrr….”
At her cheerful, utterly innocent words, the black-clad man let out a breath in disbelief.
But Cheongha’s expression was more serious than anyone else watching the scene.
No matter how strange others might find it, to walk one’s own path without wavering.
That was justice.
The path of a fallen angel was to protect the innocent and judge evil.
Cheongha leveled her sword and looked around.
Thanks to the commotion, the inn’s patrons had already fled, and only onlookers remained at a distance, watching the bizarre fight unfold.
The victim…
The man who had been attacked by the black-clad assailant had also vanished somewhere along the way.
With the citizens safe, it was time for the fallen angel to unleash her true power.
She held her sword straight before her face and closed her eyes, beginning to recite softly as though chanting an incantation.
“For the righteous wrath due to the one who harms the innocent….”
“You fool!”
The black-clad man was not going to stand around and watch her do it.
He unleashed Jeolyeongsinbeop, a movement technique he had refined over a lifetime, and lunged for Cheongha’s exposed opening.
As his sword, merged with shadow, silently drilled toward her throat, a strange sensation slapped his wrist aside.
Thunk.
It should have been empty air, and yet a shock like being struck by iron rang through his wrist.
“What…?”
His involuntary gasp of disbelief burst from him.
The strange black energy that had gathered around her without him noticing writhed like a living thing and deflected his blade.
For a brief moment the black-clad man froze, but then he quickly reset his grip and tried to rush in again.
That was when it happened.
Cheongha, who had been mumbling her spell all this time, suddenly opened her eyes.
A cold light flared in their depths.
“I bring down justice’s judgment. Dark Star-Shattering Flash!”
Whooosh—!
As Cheongha swung her sword, the wind surged and gathered along the path of her blade.
Before long, a sphere of white light condensed at the tip of her sword, mingled with the surrounding black energy, and shot forth as a bizarre black-and-white beam.
“What in the….”
Before that overwhelming blast, the black-clad man didn’t even have time to scream. He was engulfed in light and slammed straight into the inn wall.
With a deafening crash, the wall cracked like a spiderweb.
The people watching from the sidelines began to murmur.
They had stayed in Yanghwajin for a long time and seen countless martial artists clash here.
But they had never seen anything like this.
Shooting beams from a sword?
Still, what in the martial world was ever truly impossible to explain?
If he was a top-tier master they had never laid eyes on before, then perhaps it could happen.
Cheongha paid their reactions no mind, keeping her solemn gaze fixed on the black-clad man embedded in the wall.
“Khuh….”
Dark blood spilled from the man’s mouth.
Even through the agony of having his organs twisted by the force of the impact, his mind was a whirl of confusion.
He had rolled around the martial world all his life, but he had never seen such a bizarre, grotesque technique.
It wasn’t even an invisible mass of internal energy—this was a beam of light mixed with black and white.
A scene he had never seen before, something that could not be explained by the logic of martial arts.
He staggered away from the wall and shakily tightened his grip on the dagger he held reversed in his hand.
“Not enough? I suppose I can’t help that.”
Seeing him steady himself again, Cheongha shifted her sword horizontally and rested her other hand on the hilt.
“I didn’t want to show this to a nobody in a place like this.”
The moment she slid her fingers slowly over the blade and seemed ready to utter something else—
The black-clad man lost what little strength he had left and collapsed face-first to the floor.
“Hmph. How fortunate.”
After confirming that, Cheongha gave a snort, sheathed her sword, and fastened it back at her waist.
She glanced around once, then flicked her finger toward the trembling waiter as if nothing had happened.
“Waiter, contact the magistrate’s office, have them take that man away, and bill him for the repairs as well.”
“Y-yes! Right away! Th-thank you, great hero.”
With the situation neatly sorted, Cheongha moved toward her companion among the townsfolk.
A breeze lifted her veil slightly, and beyond it, I caught sight of a smile full of satisfaction.
Another case solved today.
Her heart was full of the fulfillment that came from upholding justice.
**
This is… what in the world am I looking at.
Cold sweat trickled down my back at the absurd spectacle before me.
The one in black had looked like a pretty serious expert, too.
And yet Cheongha had taken him down with absurd ease.
More importantly, a beam?
She shot a beam from her sword?!
There had definitely been something like that in the hazy memories I had of Amheuktacheongeom.
Some setup where the heroine borrowed the power of the stars to fire a destructive ray, or something along those lines.
But actually making it real was possible?
Unbelievable….
My black history was apparently a real thing that affected this world somehow, for reasons I still didn’t understand.
First TS, then magical girls.
What was next?
“How was it?”
Cheongha, who had come up beside me without my noticing, asked with obvious pride.
Meeting her clear eyes, so clearly hoping for praise, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything else.
“…It was impressive.”
“Right?”
Her tone was utterly matter-of-fact, as though there was nothing strange about any of this at all.
By then, the citizens who had gathered to watch had begun to disperse.
All they did was greet Cheongha and say they had seen something fascinating.
In the martial world… is firing beams really not weird?
In the martial world, people learned martial arts, flew through the air, and even brought mountains crashing down.
I really didn’t know.
I’d lived in the Central Plains for a long time, but whenever a fight broke out I was busy running for my life, so I was a long way from any common sense of the jianghu.
Judging from everyone’s reactions, this sort of thing must happen fairly often.
In that case, there was no reason for me to be shaken either.
Still, I’m jealous.
Watching Cheongha smile brightly and shake hands with the citizens, a thought suddenly struck me.
Could I also fire beams if I trained a little more, like Cheongha?
Since it was a secret manual that had sprung from the same black history, my side should have just as much potential, right?
Mine was Wolhameiingyeong, so maybe it had something to do with moonlight.
I was lost in such nonsense for a while before Cheongha, having finished greeting everyone, came over to me.
“Miss Song. Then shall we move on now?”
“Huh? Don’t we need to wrap things up?”
“Wrap things up?”
At my question, Cheongha glanced at the black-clad man.
The waiter had brought out ropes and was binding him tightly.
“We’ve already contacted the magistrate’s office, so he’ll pay for his crimes.”
“I see.”
Wasn’t one supposed to make sure all grudges and debts were properly settled in the martial world?
That was an absolute law.
There was no way even that would overturn my common sense, so Cheongha must have spent all this time traveling while carving up countless enmities.
Poor girl. Failing to respect the basic rules.
She might end up badly hurt by the accumulated grudges before long.
I silently wished her well.
Cheongha looked down at the black-clad man, now wrapped in ropes, and muttered, “So even men like that are after secret manuals.”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
When beams came out of swords?
If I were him, I’d abandon every martial art I’d learned and switch over too.
“He must have already reached a considerable level in his original art, and yet he still covets another school. What a sight.”
Hadn’t she switched from learning her clan’s art to this one, too?
I swallowed the words that rose to my throat just in time.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
For reasons I couldn’t understand, Cheongha’s expression as she looked down at the black-clad man seemed strangely pained.
It was awkward enough already, hearing such serious words from the same person who had been striking cheerful poses and blasting beams around.
I casually started walking and tossed out a comment. “I guess, to him, martial arts were just a means to an end.”
Sword-wielding bastards.
They talk about righteousness and brotherhood with their mouths, but the second a shinier martial art comes along, they ditch everything and switch over in a heartbeat.
I had no idea what kind of discipline or mental method they were supposed to be practicing in the middle of that.
At my offhand remark, Cheongha whipped her head toward me.
Her eyes were full of surprise.
“I see… martial arts are not a means, but a practice.”
She muttered my words to herself, then stood still and closed her eyes.
Had I inspired her somehow?
What a nuisance, standing frozen right there in the middle of the main road.
I waited for her there for a moment, and after what felt like a cup of tea, I finally spoke up first.
“Cheongha-sshi? We’re leaving you behind.”
At my words, she opened her eyes.
Then, all of a sudden, she removed her veil and bowed her head to me.
“I’ve received guidance. Thank you, Song-senpai.”
There it was again.
After the Jongnam sect disciple, now another person calling me senpai.
Honestly, these sword nuts only ever talked in ways they themselves understood.
Still, I couldn’t exactly scold her to her face, so I glossed over it and moved on.
“It was nothing.”
At my answer, I studied Cheongha’s face as she lifted her head.
She had the look of someone born to privilege.
She was absolutely a daughter of some prestigious noble family.
Her delicate features and flawless skin, untouched by even the slightest blemish, were especially striking.
“You’ve got a face too pretty to keep hidden under a veil.”
I spoke the honest thought in my head while looking at her.
If I’d still been a man, that would have been an unmistakably sleazy, smug flirtation.
But now that I had the body of a beautiful girl, I could tease her as much as I wanted without worry.
“Thank you.”
Cheongha blushed and put her veil back on.
I figured it was best not to ask why she went around covering such a perfectly fine face.
As expected, it was probably some complicated family matter.
“Then let’s go find that secret manual.”
We’d already put this off long enough.
I’d confirmed the influence of my black history.
Now I just had to find the source quickly before it caused any more victims.
As soon as I said it with determination, Cheongha seemed to perk up and followed eagerly.
“All right, Song-senpai.”
“…Please stop with the senpai thing.”
“Why?”
“Well, how should I put it? It feels kind of pressure-y, considering I’m still young and all.”
At that, Cheongha stopped walking dead still.
“…I see. May I ask how old you are?”
Come to think of it, I hadn’t really thought about that.
It would be a little awkward to tell her my original age, thirty-three, wouldn’t it?
Since things had come to this, I might as well set a new age for this new life of mine.
Outwardly, I looked like a middle schooler… though with how tall I was, maybe a high schooler?
If I set myself too young, people might look down on me.
It seemed better to match Cheongha, who was traveling with me now.
“Nineteen.”
When she heard that, Cheongha smiled lightly.
“Then that’s fine, Song-senpai. I’m seventeen.”
What?!
I whipped my head around and looked her over again.
That curvy figure, that first impression of a mysterious beauty.
Seventeen in that body?
Do kids in the martial world really develop like this these days?