The Smiling-Face Fox and the Cold Swallow

"Cadet Yu Ha versus Drill Instructor Geum So-so!"

In an instant, every gaze on the training grounds snapped to a single point.

The boy who had always watched the matches from the sidelines with that easy, knowing smile. The host of the night duels, a figure whose true depths no one had ever managed to fathom. It was only natural that the cadets had coined a nickname for him.

"It's the Smiling-Face Fox!"

Smiling-Face Fox — a fox that wears a grin.

Yu Ha shrugged off the hundreds of eyes fixed upon him with effortless composure, then strode toward the center of the dueling platform with a light, unhurried gait. His entrance stirred a strange, keen anticipation in the crowd — something entirely unlike Yayul Hui's fighting spirit or Muk Ha-jin's venom.

Because no one had ever seen the full measure of his skill.

"...That guy is weirdly relaxed all the time."

"How strong is Yu Ha, anyway?"

His opponent would be Drill Instructor Geum So-so, the 'Cold Swallow,' a mistress of the lithe, whipping swallow flex-whip. One of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠precious few female instructors among the drill officers, she was beloved by the cadets for both her formidable martial arts and her striking beauty.

"...This match should be entertaining."

"A swallow against a fox. What a rare spectacle."

Geum So-so swept her icy gaze up and down Yu Ha's slender frame before she spoke.

"Yu Ha. I know better than anyone that you've been hiding your abilities — I was the one who taught you. So don't expect me to go easy on you."

Even her warning couldn't wipe that untroubled smile from his face. He tossed back a jest instead, easy as breathing.

"The honor is mine, Instructor. Masters of the whip are a rare breed, after all."

"...Hmph. Enjoy your confidence while it lasts. Let's see if that smirk survives to the end of the match."

Dang—!

"Begin!"

The instant the referee's cry rang out, the swallow whip in Geum So-so's hand came alive like a living creature, slicing through the air.

Paaang!

With a shriek of parting air, the tip of the whip traced an unpredictable arc and lashed toward Yu Ha's cheek. It was no ordinary strike — like a living swallow toying with its prey, the attack's trajectory shifted from moment to moment, impossible to read.

But Yu Ha was already moving.

His frame swayed like a willow leaf surrendered to a raging wind, perilous and delicate to behold. Yet that was precisely his footwork.

'Lost Willow Step!'

His body fluttered and drifted, letting the whip slip past him by the width of a single sheet of paper.

There was no collision of force against force. Only an exquisite duel of technique against technique — a probing exchange so breathtaking it stole the breath of everyone watching.

Yu Ha's eyes glittered with delight.

'Three variations in every strike... predicting the end of each attack won't be easy. But...'

Geum So-so's brow, meanwhile, drew faintly together.

'That footwork... I can't pin down its rhythm. Fine, then — let's see how long you can dodge!'

Realizing that probing attacks were useless against footwork that refined, the cold drained from her eyes, leaving them sharp and still.

Then the referee who had opened the match called out the next stage.

"From this point onward, the duel resumes with the black iron plates worn!"

With the black iron plate fastened to her chest, Geum So-so no longer regarded Yu Ha as a mere cadet. She acknowledged him as an opponent she had to break with everything she had.

Yet Yu Ha's tactics only grew craftier.

As if the black iron plate on her chest didn't even exist, he circled the edges of the platform, darting in with small, nipping strikes — the movements of someone content to skim easy points off the margins. And that alone was enough to send the cadets into raptures over his movement art.

"Look at him move! He's going to break Yayul Hui's record!"

"...No — he'll go beyond it! If this keeps up, he might actually outscore Muk Ha-jin!"

"That sly fox really is a fox!"

The bonus-point record Yayul Hui had clawed together through a desperate assault was shattering beneath Yu Ha's fingertips as lightly as a game of dice.

Geum So-so's face hardened.

'This brat — he's not even aiming for the black iron plate. He means to rack up a high score on safe exchanges alone. If I let a whelp toy with me like this, what becomes of my reputation?'

Worried for her standing, she drove the swallow whip into ever more aggressive flourishes.

"Your insolence ends here!"

Her cherished ultimate technique exploded forth — the Swallow Triple-Severing Whip.

Chwachwachwachwachwa!

The afterimages of a single whip multiplied into dozens, raining in from every direction. Like a net of shadows cast over the training grounds, they sealed off every escape route Yu Ha could take, layer upon layer.

The dazzling footwork of the Lost Willow Step began to visibly falter. Seizing that split instant, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Geum So-so's whip finally carved into the gap in his guard.

Paaang!

With a sharp crack of displaced air, the hem of his sleeve tore away, leaving a vivid red welt across his forearm.

"Guhk!"

The training grounds erupted into commotion.

"Yu Ha's been hit — the first time!"

"That's a drill instructor for you!"

Geum So-so was certain she had seized the momentum.

'No matter how dazzling he looks, he cannot slip free of my net.'

Yu Ha was cornered on the defensive. But his eyes showed no trace of panic — if anything, they burned cooler and clearer than at any point in the match. His gaze was fixed not on the tip of the whip, but on the wrist and shoulder that wielded it.

'The instant of retraction! That's the only opening there is!'

The absence of internal energy created the faintest momentary stiffness in her form — and Yu Ha caught it.

The next moment, the swallow whip came rushing in for his head. Just when everyone believed the match was over, Yu Ha raised both hands for the first time — not to attack, but to defend.

'Now!'

Flowing Cloud Palm Art.

Srrreureuk—.

His hands moved with the liquid grace of flowing water, gently enveloping the oncoming whip's trajectory. Then, as if tracing a great taiji symbol across the empty air with an enormous brush, he drew the whip's furious power into the current of a turning circle.

Geum So-so's brow furrowed. An ugly sensation crawled up the whip — the explosive force stored in its tip was melting away into a soft vortex. Instinctively, she hurried to retract it.

And that was the very instant.

Catching the fractional stiffness of her retraction, Yu Ha's frame shot forward — a burst of blinding speed utterly unlike the supple footwork he had shown until now, a swift and agile light-body art of an entirely different lineage.

'That soft palm art is like something out of the orthodox sects. But that footwork is a completely different school — a rapid lightness technique. To weave opposing arts together that seamlessly... impressive. Very impressive.'

Yun Cheon's eyes gleamed.

The image of Yu Ha cascading forward was nothing short of lightning given form.

"No—!"

Flustered, Geum So-so whipped her retracted whip out again and again. But for some reason, the strike radius that had only moments ago reached the far end of the dueling platform had shrunk to an absurd degree. The swallow whip flung from her hand fell short of Yu Ha's body, slicing only empty air.

"What—!"

Shock flooded Geum So-so's eyes. And then Yu Ha's low voice slid into her ear.

"That will be all, I believe, Instructor."

At some point, he had penetrated all the way inside her guard. He had not merely deflected the whip with the Flowing Cloud Palm — feinting as though he were letting it flow past, those supple hands had wound around the middle of the whip and knotted it fast. Its length had been halved.

'That fox! Did he ask to duel a whip mistress on purpose — all for this one move? How many steps ahead was he looking?'

Yu Ha's Flowing Cloud Palm coiled around her arm like flowing water, gently subduing her wrist.

Thud.

The whip that had been a living swallow only moments ago now dropped lifeless to the ground like a severed rope.

"...You brat! All this time you responded with footwork alone — was it all for this single move?"

Yu Ha halted his palm a gentle distance from her chest, bowed with a respectful fist salute, and stepped back.

"That's correct, Instructor. So long as internal energy is forbidden, a duel against a whip mistress was always a losing proposition. Now — the black iron plate, if you please."

The match was decided. Not by strength, but by a victory of flawless calculation and pure technique.

"...I acknowledge defeat."

At Geum So-so's admission, Yu Ha saluted once more and withdrew. Had she been permitted to use her internal energy, the shape of the contest would no doubt have been transformed entirely.

"No wonder... it was suspicious from the moment you asked to duel me. Don't tell me — you even predicted the test itself?"

A thin, foxlike smile curved Yu Ha's lips.

"...It was merely one of the possibilities."

Which was to say — yes, he had. With a rueful laugh, Yu Ha kept his composure to the very end.

Even she, a drill instructor, had failed to foresee the contents of the test. It was a perfect defeat.

"Heh, you really are something... that cunning brain of yours is impressive in its own right. Call it part of your skill. Here — take the black iron plate."

Geum So-so conceded cleanly and handed it over.

Thunderous cheers broke out across the entire training grounds.

"Unbelievable! A cadet subdued a drill instructor?"

"That fox! He was aiming for the fact that without internal force behind it, a whip's power drops by more than half!"

On the dais, one of the Ten Thousand Horse Battlefield observers murmured softly.

"I'll be taking that boy to the Ten Thousand Horse Battlefield."

Observer organizations might share a title, but a hierarchy among them existed all the same. The Ten Thousand Horse Battlefield in particular was an exceptional organization, crowded with elder masters of the old generation. Its declaration meant that Yu Ha had achieved precisely what he had aimed for from the start.

On the dais, Gal Mu-heun, Lord of the Mad Path Pavilion, wore a satisfied smile despite Drill Instructor Geum So-so's defeat. It was not that she had been lacking — it was that Yu Ha's cunning, which had weighed the weapon's affinities, the ban on internal energy, and every other factor, had simply been superb.

"You have all witnessed it. In a duel, there is no such thing as 'absolute.' Bear it in mind. Between masters, victory is shaped not only by the martial arts one carries, but by the affinity of one's weapon and even the conditions of the field itself."

Gal Mu-heun elevated their contest to the rank of a true battle between masters. And as he drew his brief lesson to a close, the protagonist of the next stage was finally called.

"Next. Cadet Yun Cheon versus Drill Instructor Ma Chung!"

Clank. Clank.

As the heavy sound of iron rings striking against each other — the rings packed around his limbs — rolled across the grounds, the cadets drenched in their fever of excitement finally turned their attention to the new contest.

"...Now this! Is interesting in a completely different way!"

"That beggar boy against Drill Instructor Ma Chung of the Blood Wind Leg — the one whose rank tag he stole?"

"The instructor will have to give it everything he's got!"

And just as that anticipation reached its peak, a low voice rang out from a most unexpected quarter.

"I address the Lord of the Mad Path Pavilion. Drill Instructor Ma Chung already had his rank tag stolen by this cadet during the bone assessment. It is my judgment that another should be the one to evaluate him."

The speaker was Instructor Jeok Mu-gwang. Ma Chung's face, his disgrace aired before everyone, drained to the color of ash.

"Oh ho... a cadet stole a drill instructor's rank tag during the bone assessment?"

As Gal Mu-heun nodded with evident intrigue, Senior Drill Instructor Ya Jin, who had been standing in the shadows, took a single step forward and spoke.

"Then I, who marked the boy's talent and instructed him directly, shall verify him myself."

Ya Jin's entrance left the cadets aghast.

"That's... Senior Drill Instructor Ya Jin of the Shadowless Killing Sect — the one who only teaches cadets he personally selects!"

"That beggar was chosen by Ya Jin? You're joking!"

"How...? Was he born with the makings of an assassin or something?"

Gal Mu-heun nodded.

"Senior Drill Instructor Ya Jin taught him personally? Good. Then it is only fitting."

At that declaration, Ma Chung's face crumpled into a ruin.

'Damn it all — I sank resources into this up to the rank tag itself, even taught him the Blood Wind Leg... and now every scrap of attention is going to be stolen by Ya Jin! I was played completely!'

Yet he dared not raise a single objection to the Pavilion Lord's decision. Just as Senior Drill Instructor Ya Jin stepped onto the platform with a satisfied smile, Jeok Mu-gwang barred his path.

"Hold, Senior Drill Instructor Ya Jin."

At his low voice, every sound across the training grounds died as if by magic.

"I know your skill well enough... but an assassin's methods would only reveal the boy's shell."

"......"

Ya Jin, who had already instructed Yun Cheon firsthand and experienced his talent with his own body, could not easily deny it.

"Lord of the Mad Path Pavilion. Though the instructor calls it a constrained duel, I have already been defeated in matches against three cadets — Yun Cheon, Yu Ha, and Yayul Hui."

The entire training grounds plunged into shock.

"......!"

"The instructor... was defeated?"

"By three mere cadets...?"

For the first time, a light passed through Chief Instructor Gal Mu-heun's eyes that was not mere interest but a chill of genuine awe.

"Oh ho, interesting. Have you some other proposal in mind, Instructor Jeok Mu-gwang?"

"I, this Mad Blood Blade Jeok Mu-gwang, shall verify the boy myself."

An instructor of the Hidden Demon Cave — a supreme-realm master — stepping forward as an examiner was a crisis without precedent. Every drill instructor and cadet, even the observers hidden in the darkness — everyone on the training grounds, swallowed by shock and disbelief, turned their eyes upward to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the dais.

Watching them, a deep smile spread across the lips of Gal Mu-heun, Lord of the Mad Path Pavilion.

"Granted."