Many Things Had Happened
“Then, Cheonga, could you show me the way?”
“Of course, sister. Follow me.”
In the end, we agreed to switch to informal speech.
I was relieved that being called “sister” felt less awkward than I’d expected.
Back in the market streets, there were plenty of smooth-talking old men who would occasionally call a man “sister,” so I was already more or less used to it.
Maybe it was enough to think of Cheonga as a slightly shameless young lady.
Which, to be fair, she actually was.
“The clue is simple.”
At some point, a blood-soaked person was found in a back alley alongside a Bigeup.
When someone took the Bigeup beside him, they would be found in the same place two days later, equally drenched in blood.
Cheonga explained as we walked down the road, holding up one finger.
“The strange part is that it doesn’t seem like the culprit is after their life.”
They didn’t kill them.
And they left the Bigeup behind, untouched.
It was a crime with no obvious purpose.
There had been a fearful murmur spreading among the townspeople, but it had also fizzled out into nothing more than a baseless rumor.
Cheonga seemed unusually excited to be talking about something she actually knew, her voice brighter than usual, and I had to admit it was kind of cute.
“You seem happy about this.”
“Do I? This is my first time fighting villains together with a comrade.”
Ah. That kind of mood?
“If you’re an ally of justice, shouldn’t you not be happy when ordinary people get hurt?”
“Huh? I’m not an ally of justice. I’m the enemy of evil.”
She gave a small, satisfied nod, as if she’d just said something incredibly cool, and even flared her nostrils a little.
I let out a long sigh.
Yeah. That definitely sounded like something I would’ve written.
The fallen angel concept—someone who had received power descended from the heavenly realm.
It was the line her character had tossed out when she refused to cooperate with the Murim Alliance, meaning she belonged to neither side.
Watching my own middle-school chuunibyou dialogue come out of someone else’s mouth was honestly an unbearable experience.
It had been humiliating enough when the so-called Heavenly Demon had shown up in front of me, but this was enough to make my teeth ache.
“...Still, it’s better to be careful. This is connected to that book, after all.”
“Probably.”
Cheonga crossed her arms and nodded when she heard my concern.
Her chest was pressed up and pushed together by her arms, rising prominently.
My eyes were naturally drawn to the violently distracting sight.
Seriously, how was that seventeen?
I looked down at my own body in secret.
From the looks of it, my feet were the only thing stopping my line of sight from traveling straight to my ankles.
It’s not like there’s nothing there...
That was a little unfair.
If they were going to TS me, they could’ve at least given me some proper curves.
Sure, it’d probably be inconvenient, but I didn’t think having them would be a bad thing.
The harmony of a peerless beauty and a peerless figure would’ve elevated me to something like a heavenly maiden descended from the sky.
This body of mine might still have its own market appeal, but wasn’t the public’s pick still the ample option?
My confidence, which had been soaring higher than the heavens ever since I became a beauty, was now momentarily stalled by two enormous peaks.
As I walked with my head bowed, staring only at my own body, Cheonga, who had been walking beside me, spoke up in confusion.
“Sister. Is there something on the ground?”
“...Yeah. The residue of a sorrow that never got to bloom.”
“I see.”
Cheonga nodded as though she genuinely understood.
Even if I was the one admitting it, hearing someone else confirm the blow for me didn’t feel great.
Then Cheonga lowered her body and placed a hand on the ground.
“As expected... I can feel an uncontrolled current of evil. You really are amazing, sister. Not missing even a trace like this.”
Huh? That wasn’t what I meant.
I could only give an awkward nod as I watched her mutter with a serious expression.
Was she... not acting?
What the hell was she supposedly feeling?
I glared at the ground her hand was touching, but to me it was just a normal dirt road.
She was a weird girl with a chuunibyou streak, sure, but her skill was the real deal.
She wouldn’t suddenly start acting in a situation like this, so I guessed there really was something there.
“Then we should assume the culprit came this way.”
Cheonga fell into thought, glancing back and forth between the road we’d originally been taking and the new direction.
I’d only just arrived in Yanghwajin today, so I didn’t know the area well, but she had already spent two days investigating it.
After thinking it over, she tilted her head.
“If that’s the case, then maybe... but...”
She voiced her doubts, and I voiced mine right back.
Don’t keep it to yourself; let me in on it too.
“Why?”
“The first place that comes to mind is the headquarters of the Gwanjung Trading Company.”
“The Gwanjung Trading Company?”
The most famous trading company not only in Yanghwajin, but in all of Shaanxi.
Even someone like me, who’d once been nothing more than a street-level drifter, had heard the name.
“Why would they be short on anything?”
Kidnapping people, given the setting of Murim, was at least understandable.
But abducting someone, turning them into a bloodied wreck, and then sending them back?
Why would a perfectly respectable trading company do something that bizarre?
Cheonga thought for a moment and then answered.
“Because it involves a Bigeup, maybe.”
Wow. What exactly did these Murim people think a Bigeup was?
“Is a Bigeup really that important?”
“If it’s not just any manual, but that kind of Bigeup, then maybe.”
That kind of Bigeup?
Wait. Was she talking about my black-history collection?
“Hey, is the Bigeup we have famous?”
“You didn’t know? Sister, were you living on some mountain somewhere?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Had I really been that oblivious to the state of the world?
When I nodded along, Cheonga looked genuinely surprised.
“I see. Recently, at the Shaolin Temple, there was a huge uproar with the demonic sect over a Bigeup, and the abbot himself was so furious he personally issued a bounty.”
“What?”
Was this for real?
Shaolin—the very head of the orthodox sects, the origin of martial arts, praised as the place where all under heaven’s martial skills came from?
And the demonic sect, too?
Weren’t they supposed to have quieted down after the righteous-demonic war?
Too much information rushed in all at once, leaving me dizzy.
“That happened?”
“It was only two years ago, so if you’d been secluded in the mountains, I suppose you might not have known.”
To think I had been completely unaware of such a massive incident.
No, wait. More importantly—my black history had caused that kind of enormous ripple in the world?!
I couldn’t make sense of how the world was turning.
I should’ve realized something was wrong the moment the TS happened.
Forcing down the lightheadedness creeping up on me, I asked Cheonga, “Wait, then aren’t we in danger too?”
“If we meet orthodox people, yes. But as long as we don’t get caught, it’s fine.”
I was stunned by her calm delivery of something so outrageous.
Was she bold, or just completely lacking common sense?
“A fallen angel’s basic job is to hide their appearance from others. They won’t discover our identities, so it’ll be fine.”
She kept her attitude relaxed, as if she hadn’t done anything wrong at all.
Didn’t you just put on a flashy martial arts display right in front of the tavern a moment ago?
My gaze on her went ice-cold.
Once this incident was over, I decided it would be best to keep as far away from this girl as possible.
If I kept traveling with someone this careless, someone who generated grudges in every direction, there was no telling what kind of danger might come for me.
And besides, if the abbot had personally issued the order, then the entire orthodox world was probably my enemy.
A moment ago I’d been envious of her flashy, powerful martial arts beam and all that, but that feeling vanished without a trace.
From here on out, I’d act as discreetly as possible.
A beautiful girl who hides her power.
That would be the theme of this trip.
“Then why didn’t the orthodox people get involved in this incident? From what I’ve heard, there seem to have been quite a few victims.”
“That... I don’t know. Maybe because this place is on the frontier?”
Cheonga tilted her head and answered lightly.
No way.
Long ago, during the righteous-demonic war, the Heavenly Demon had only wiped out the evil sects, which actually left the orthodox factions stronger than before.
If Shaolin itself had issued a bounty, then everyone would be burning with feverish zeal, hunting down the Bigeup.
Even if Yanghwajin was a border town, it wasn’t some tiny hamlet. An incident this serious should definitely have reached their ears.
Or maybe... the rumor hadn’t spread at all.
...Something feels off.
The uneasy feeling lodged itself in my chest and refused to leave.
If we got dragged into this at all, it would be best to finish it quickly and leave.
I wasted no more time and started moving toward the direction where the Gwanjung Trading Company was said to be.
Cheonga hurried along behind me, keeping tight to my back.
“Don’t worry, sister. We haven’t done anything wrong, have we?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Sometimes, even if you hadn’t done anything wrong, you still got crushed under the boot.
Besides, in the martial world, strength was the law.
There was nothing bad about being cautious.
“We are justice itself. If the power of darkness exists, there’s nothing to fear.”
This time I didn’t respond and just kept walking.
Wow. That was villain talk if I’d ever heard it.
I was afraid someone would overhear and misunderstand.
Once we left the alley, we reached a fairly wide road.
It was spacious enough, yet completely deserted, not a single person in sight.
Even the Beggar’s Sect drifters we’d occasionally seen along the way were nowhere to be found.
“This is the road.”
Cheonga darted ahead and pointed to one side.
Following her finger, I spotted a faint smear of blood on the ground.
“This is the place where the victims are always found. If it’s this morning, then there’ll probably be another victim by dawn.”
“Then let’s wait here.”
Since today was the day, we might as well handle it right away.
After hearing such a shocking story, it seemed better to wrap things up quickly and scatter.
Cheonga seemed deeply moved by my suggestion and nodded vigorously.
“Wise words. Evil must always be punished immediately. Then let’s split up and lie in ambush.”
“Split up?”
“Yes. One of us draws their attention from the front, and then the other finishes them off fast from behind.”
Was that really something a magical girl should be saying?
“...Aren’t you supposed to fight fair and square?”
“Huh? Why would you use fair methods against a villain?”
“You said justice...”
“Destroying evil is justice.”
Ah, I see.
I’d assumed magical girls would naturally fight honorably, but fallen angels were apparently built differently.
That part, at least, I liked.
“Then I’ll hide and take the villain head-on when they show up. Sister, you block their retreat.”
“No, I’ll take them head-on.”
That was a very deliberate suggestion.
If they were truly a criminal, then once they noticed the crime had been exposed, they’d try to flee first, and anyone who blocked their retreat would be attacked without hesitation.
I wasn’t about to take on a dangerous job like that.
I intended to use Cheonga as meat shield while I stayed somewhere safe and issued threats from a distance.
She accepted my proposal with a smile.
“As expected of you, sister. You really do walk the path of darkness.”
Hearing it put that way made me feel a little guilty.
It felt like I was really doing something bad.
Before long, twilight began to settle over the ground.
We split up as planned and hid ourselves.
With nothing to do but wait, all sorts of thoughts came crawling into my head.
It had only been one day since I’d entered Murim, and yet so many things had happened.
Above all else, the most shocking thing was the influence of my own black history.
Swords firing beams? A man turning into a woman?
And now even the abbot, praised as one of the Three Great Absolutes of the world, had designated my black history as heresy.
So much information had come crashing down on me that my head was throbbing.
“There’s no answer to this.”
I muttered to myself while pressing my temple.
For now, I’d recover the Bigeup quickly today and think about what to do next later.
Once I’d sorted out my thoughts, all that was left was the boring wait.
This frail little beauty body of mine couldn’t hold out against mental exhaustion and ended up nodding off before long.
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