The Wish He Fought For
After finishing their morning spar, the two of them rested and shared a lunch of edible mushrooms and wild fruit confirmed safe by the scanner.
"Kaisent, there's something I want to ask…"
"Yes?"
"Your heart method nullifies poison. So why bother checking whether something is toxic before you eat it…?"
As a poison master, Dang Seol-yeong could, to put it bluntly, eat mushrooms that would drop ordinary people dead on the spot and walk away unharmed. Watching Kaisent—who could overcome even her poison—still take such careful pains over toxicity was hard for her to understand.
"The heart method I learned is only a foundational one. And Father told me to be careful, because somewhere in the universe there might be a poison that ignores everything he knows."
"…A foundational heart method…?"
A method that used the lower, middle, and upper dantian all at once, with outstanding stability and purity, and even immunity to poison—and he called that basic?
And a master skilled enough to create such a method still couldn't account for every poison that might exist somewhere out there in the universe?
"Ah—since you taught me martial arts, should I teach you my heart method in return?"
His father had told him never to teach it to outsiders, Kaisent added, but Dang Seol-yeong was no longer an outsider, so it was fine.
Honestly, she was tempted. Any martial artist who wasn't tempted by an offer like that wasn't a martial artist at all.
"…No, it's all right…. My martial arts and your heart method aren't compatible…."
The heart method Kaisent practiced was built on Extreme Yang. The Dang Clan's poison carried the nature of Extreme Yin, so in the worst case the poison and the yang energy could collide and drive her into qi deviation. He explained as much.
The best-case outcome would simply be the poison vanishing—but for a woman who fought with poison as her foundation, that would mean losing most of her martial power.
"Heh heh heh."
"Why are you laughing?"
Something had just occurred to Dang Seol-yeong. She covered her mouth and let out a pleased little laugh.
"Saying I'm not an outsider anymore… looking at you now, you're awfully bold, aren't you…?"
"Ah! Auu…."
Kaisent realized what he'd said and ducked his reddening face.
But Dang Seol-yeong herself didn't mind in the least.
Even this sparring is something he's working so hard at for my sake.
It had started under the pretext of giving him something to thrash with in the worst situation—but now it had become a way of protecting not only himself, but her as well.
Thinking of such a cute boy striving to keep her safe made a sweet ache bloom deep in her chest.
Once they had filled their stomachs with roasted mushrooms and wild fruit and rested enough, the two of them returned to sparring.
"This time I'll check whether you've forgotten what you learned…."
"Yes!"
People often perform well while being taught, only to find their knowledge tangled and confused when they try again later, and have to sort it out. That was the usual pattern.
I crammed too much into him in too short a time.
Watching Kaisent absorb and immediately apply everything she taught had gotten her so fired up that she'd stuffed him full of technique after technique. As an educator she was still a novice, and she regretted it after the fact. This time her goal was to make his body remember what she had already taught him.
"Um… about that…."
"Hmm…?"
"If I… manage a counter this time too…."
"Pfft. Fine, all right…."
So he still remembered the condition meant to stoke his motivation.
I'm sorry, but for your own sake I won't go easy on you.
If she held back here, the Kaisent of the future would only come to regret this day.
With the same resolve as that morning, she put a proper distance between them and began the spar.
Tak! Ta-ta-ta-ta-tak!
Twenty minutes into the spar, Kaisent and Dang Seol-yeong were locked in a battle of forms.
Poison never guaranteed success. Any martial artist of the murim—especially one of high standing—naturally prepared countermeasures against it. She had been forced to survive alone after being discovered by enemies, and so her experience was broad and deep.
Even fighting without the poison that was her primary weapon, Dang Seol-yeong—who had lived through countless near-deaths—found herself losing the war of tactics against Kaisent.
He's already digested this morning's lessons…!
Swift footwork to dazzle the eye, then a low strike. A surprise attack through smoke that blinded the field of vision. Mid-assault, a stone flung to ricochet off a tree for a second ambush. She threw out move after move—and Kaisent, drawing on everything he had learned that morning, blocked or slipped past every one of them.
In the end, the last method she chose was the straightforward one: crush him with overwhelming force and skill.
My offense isn't advancing at all!
Every form and variation she unleashed was parried as if he already knew it was coming. And Kaisent was using only the martial arts she herself had taught him.
I can't let him push me back like this!
She had seen more than a few prodigies whispered about as geniuses in the murim. But they grew arrogant on their talent, got crushed by the momentum of some low-rank fighter rich in real combat experience, flailed and died—or else coasted on talent alone, neglected their training, and let that gift rot until they ruined themselves.
Kaisent's talent stood on a different plane from theirs, but arrogance born of talent still always led to the worst ends.
I won't let this child meet that kind of fate!
Determined to win this match no matter what, Dang Seol-yeong drew up her internal energy and struck faster, fiercer.
Of course, she had ordered him to use only the Baesan Palm Art—so she had to adjust her own attack patterns to match. What she chose was to pour out a flood of variations and bury him under pressure.
Shhk! Shh-shh-shh-shhk! Sa-sa-sak!
As her variations hammered in from every direction, the sound of hands slicing the air rang sharper than before. Dang Seol-yeong mixed true variations and empty feints at random, intent on shattering Kaisent's stance completely.
Naturally, as Kaisent tried to turn her attacks aside with the Baesan Palm Art, his hands began to miss, and his posture crumbled bit by bit.
I can't knock them away…!
The Baesan Palm Art was a technique for batting aside an enemy's strikes, breaking their stance, and countering. In other words, defense and offense only worked if you could actually turn the attack aside.
At this rate I'll collapse!
Pushed back in the exchange of forms, Kaisent finally staggered, lost his balance, and reeled backward. Dang Seol-yeong did not miss the opening. She poured on the assault meant to finish him.
Already off-balance, Kaisent looked at her hands and felt defeat settle over him.
No! I don't want to lose like this!
His usual self would have flinched and answered passively. But if he landed even one successful counter, he would be allowed to ask Dang Seol-yeong for a single wish.
To anyone else it might have seemed a small thing. To the boy, it was a wish he absolutely had to win.
This much, at least!
This much, he wanted to claim with his own strength.
And in that same moment, something that had slept inside the body of a boy who had lived his whole life a coward woke up.
Kaisent aimed for the hand that was about to seal his defeat and lashed out with the Baesan Palm Art. Dang Seol-yeong had expected exactly that response and adjusted her trajectory slightly, intending to turn it aside with ease.
Tak! Shhrik!
"!?"
What happened next made Dang Seol-yeong doubt her own eyes. Kaisent took the force of her counter and used the impact itself to restore the balance he had completely lost.
It wasn't mere redirection of force. You had to know the opponent's movement and the distribution of their power to pull that off.
But there was more still to shock her. Kaisent—who until now had only followed what she taught—surged past that level and unleashed the Thunderchase Body Art at blistering speed.
Thud!
"Guh—!"
She tried to strike the Kaisent driving into her guard, but his movement had already outstripped the Thunderchase Body Art she knew, and the Baesan Palm Art drove straight into her abdomen.
"Huh? A-ah! Noona! Are you all right!?"
Having landed the hit in a trance of pure motion, Kaisent snapped back to himself at the sound of her cry.
"Cough! Cough! I-I'm fine…."
She said it first to calm him, and in truth the impact to her stomach hadn't been that severe. In the final instant she had felt the danger and raised her protective energy to blunt the blow.
But Kaisent, fixated on the fact that he had hurt her, fretted and didn't know what to do with himself.
"Huu…. I'm really fine…. It happened in a spar, so don't worry…."
"Y-yes…."
Even after she said she was all right, the guilt still sat on him. Kaisent kept his head bowed.
Could a boy this kind ever grow arrogant on talent alone?
What had just happened was no different from a third-rate fighter who had only just learned martial arts fairly and squarely toppling a far stronger, far more experienced warrior of a great clan. Anyone else would have swelled with pride at a miracle wrought by their own ability—yet Kaisent, simply because he had caused her pain, refused to take pride in that miraculous result.
Only a truly kind nature made that possible.
Realizing her earlier worry had been needless, she felt her heart grow much lighter.
"As promised, I'll grant you one wish…. Of course, it has to be something I can actually do—you know that…?"
"Yes!"
The moment the talk turned to the wish, Kaisent's whole mood brightened, his face lighting with eager expectation. Seeing him hunger for it so openly was adorable—and left her with a strange little unease.
"First, please match my eye level."
"Like this…?"
"And open your mouth a little."
"…?"
She bent her knees slightly to bring her height level with Kaisent's and parted her lips. While she was still wondering what any of this meant, Kaisent stepped in, a little tense.
Chuuup—
"Mmph!?"
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, Kaisent slid his tongue into her mouth. Startled, Dang Seol-yeong jerked upright—but the boy who had already caught his prey stretched out his arms and wrapped them around her waist and the nape of her neck so she couldn't escape.
"Mm… haah… nngh…."
Caught in Kaisent's arms, Dang Seol-yeong couldn't manage any resistance. Head bowed, she could only tremble.
Tseuup— juuup—
"Nngh-huuuk!?"
Kaisent's tongue—narrower and longer than an ordinary person's—began to sweep and stir inside her mouth.
S-stop… not that far… aah… ♡
The pleasure of that tongue-tip scraping the underside of her own tongue and every corner of her mouth made her body flinch small and shudder. But Kaisent's assault didn't end there.
Squish!
"Khh-heung~~♡"
Confirming she wasn't pulling away, the hand that had been around her waist seized her backside hard. The full curves that spilled past the scrap of cloth cut like hot pants were kneaded and crushed out of shape by those small, delicate hands.
"Pwah~"
"Nngh♡ K-Kaisent…♡"
"Noona's butt— I can feel how soft it is even through the cloth. And because you're a martial artist, it's nicely firm, too. It's really worth squeezing."
Watching this small boy demand her body so fiercely made heat rise in her own chest. For a woman who had once given up on living as a woman, being pressed so hard for her femininity was not something she could adapt to easily.
Squeeze—!
"Hah-heung~~~♡"
When the hand at her nape dropped as well and both hands crushed her buttocks hard, Dang Seol-yeong's body arched and a thoroughly feminine moan spilled out of her.
Every time he touches my butt… my waist goes tingly…♡
She had never imagined her body could be this lewd—and Kaisent, unconcerned with her state, kept kneading her backside with firm strength.
Smack!
"Kyahk!"
Then, without warning, Kaisent spanked her. The pleasant tingle surged into something fierce, and the strength went clean out of her lower back.
Grab!
She nearly sank to the ground, and only by throwing her arms around Kaisent's neck did she barely keep from falling.
"Oh? Noona—your butt is a weak spot, isn't it?"
"W… weak spot…?"
"Well, you've reacted more intensely to this than anything so far."
"No! I don't have any weak spots like—!"
Smack! Slap!
"Kiihiiit~~~!"
Mortified that a place like her backside could be a weak point, Dang Seol-yeong denied it desperately—but when Kaisent's palm struck her twice in a row, her legs went as wobbly as a newborn four-legged beast's.
Her upper body clung to Kaisent's neck, but her lower half sagged awkwardly back, trembling legs shaking under her.
At first Kaisent's entire wish had been simply to kiss her and hold her like a lover. But her unexpectedly fierce reactions made something dark begin to stir in his heart.