A Woman Scary Enough to Gouge Out My Eyes
A lightning-fast thought flashed through his mind.
Won Seung quickly left the medicine room and headed to the room in question. There, beneath one wall, he saw a gap had opened, and a girl's head was peeking out. The way her long hair spilled through the narrow crack in the wall made her look like a ghost emerging.
The girl's gaze met Won Seung's as he flung the door open.
Won Seung grinned.
"Hide-and-seek's over."
He fired a paralyzing needle. No mercy, even for a child. Better to subdue her first and ask questions later.
The girl slumped as the needle struck her neck. Won Seung pulled her out and laid her on the floor inside the room. In that moment, the wall panel slid shut.
When he pushed it, the lower section opened. It was a cleverly designed entrance, just wide enough at the base of a horizontal beam for a person to slip through sideways.
Pushing open the wall entrance revealed a space narrow enough for one person lying on their side, with a stone chamber below the floor. Won Seung shoved the panel aside and lowered a lantern into the depths to check. He had to make sure no one else was hiding.
"Stay put. I'll be back to free you soon."
Speaking in his gentlest tone, Won Seung slipped through the entrance. Heightening his inner energy, he sensed no presence inside. As he entered, the wall panel clicked shut behind him. There was a locking mechanism on the inside. The floor hatch had one too, once pushed up and secured.
Got it. Locking from inside means no one outside can force it open—no way to tell.
It was a solid setup. With dual entrances on wall and floor, even if fire broke out and the house collapsed, the stone chamber would remain safe.
Beyond the entrance lay a passageway lined with three connected stone rooms without doors—like cells without bars.
Aha! So that's how she survived.
Examining the chambers, Won Seung understood how the girl had endured. In the first room's wall, a water channel ran in and out.
The second was a food storage, shelves lined with empty baskets that once held dried provisions and grains.
The third seemed to have been her bedroom, with a wooden bed and a simple chest.
How'd she get air?
Looking around, Won Seung spotted a hole high in the bedroom wall. Holding his hand there, he felt cool, fresh air flowing in.
Damn good hideout.
Finishing his scan, Won Seung climbed back out. The girl still lay in the room, about twelve or thirteen years old, her hair disheveled but her face strikingly pretty. Months without sunlight had left her skin not just pale, but ghostly white under the lantern light.
Won Seung scooped her up and carried her to the guest room, laying her on the bed.
Then he fetched some pastries from the tea room.
"Hungry, right?"
He'd seen the empty shelves in the stone room—food must have run out recently. Probably despaired, cried, and got caught.
Won Seung removed the paralyzing needle and fed her the antidote.
"This is all I got right now, so eat up. I'll make something tasty tomorrow."
Seeing no murderous intent and that he looked only a few years older, the girl relaxed and took the pastry.
"Drink some tea too. Been a while?"
She nodded. Up close, her large, clear eyes marked her as a beauty. Give her a few years, and she'd rival Hwa Yeo-wol.
Thinking of Hwa Yeo-wol suddenly soured his mood. He'd planned to go in spring... but could he?
Moments later, she finished the pastries. Won Seung swiftly jabbed an acupuncture needle.
Her eyes flew wide.
"Don't freak. This isn't poison—just a needle to paralyze. No harm."
But why paralyze her? Her fearful eyes demanded.
"We just met. Not enough time to trust each other yet. So, as my guest, bear with it. Sweet dreams."
Won Seung pressed her sleeping acupoint.
It was past midnight by then. Won Seung retired to his own room.
* * *
The next day, Won Seung bought pork, chicken, fish, and various ingredients at the market.
He stopped at a clothing shop too, picking out outfits for her size, plus shoes and accessories. Gifts were the way to a kid's heart.
Won Seung was as good a cook as Jong Bi. He'd scored second in cooking practice, but with full effort, first was possible.
Unleashing top-tier skills, he prepared a lavish spread and entered her room. The sleeping point had worn off; she rolled her eyes anxiously.
Freeing the paralysis, Won Seung watched as she lunged, clawing for his throat.
"Whoa, vicious move!"
He'd sensed her martial arts training. Prepared, he easily grabbed her wrist. Pinned at her pulse point, she grimaced.
"I'm way above your league, kid. Mess around, get smacked."
Even so, he was inwardly shocked. A twelve- or thirteen-year-old with twenty years of inner energy?
Is she really from the Bi Sword Sect?
Won Seung had pondered her identity at the market. Daughter of Bang Kyung-pyo, no doubt—the sole survivor of the massacre.
But who was Bang Kyung-pyo to possess the Flying Sword Saint's legacy? He'd considered him a successor, but inconsistencies nagged. If so, why let his family get slaughtered?
A once-top swordsman's heir chased down and butchered miserably, supreme manual and all? He'd dismissed it. But her inner energy revived the theory.
Twenty years at thirteen? Absurd. He'd chugged three Blue Blood Rejuvenation Pills, endured Fate Building Pill poison, Dok Sabu's hornet baths—years of aid for his forty years. Dok Sabu had been stunned and proud. And this girl, younger than he was then, had twenty?
He wanted answers, but forcing her wouldn't help. She'd lie, and he'd struggle to spot it.
Besides, those eyes.
Sharp and sly. Surviving half a year underground meant she was poison-tough.
To get truth, show sincerity first.
The girl seemed shocked by his power too. Outwardly boyish, disguising as a youth with makeup couldn't fully hide his age.
No names exchanged yet—she'd peg him as three or four years older. A peak expert with decades of energy? Natural surprise.
Won Seung jabbed another paralyzing needle into her and flicked Energy-Scattering Powder at her nose.
"Your inner energy's stronger than expected. Price for attacking me."
When the powder took effect, he removed the needle and led her to the dining room. Showing the feast, he said,
"I cooked all this for you, and you try to kill me? Harsh, no?"
Her eyes locked on the food.
"Forgiven once. Don't try again. Eat."
He sat first; she followed, devouring. Voraciously.
Damn. Starved or not... that's too much. Won't her stomach burst?
Worried, but she swept the table clean, then primly wiped her mouth.
Demon child?
As Won Seung stared, she snapped,
"Why the look? Know how many days I starved?"
"Right, yeah. Starvation does that."
He pointed to the bath.
"Go wash. Clothes inside."
She eyed him warily.
What, that gaze? Like I'm Sa Gyo-du?
Won Seung sighed.
"Got a girlfriend. Scary as hell—she'd gouge my eyes out for looking twice."
Hwa Yeo-wol, sorry.
She hesitated, then went.
Emerging clean and dressed, she stunned him. Pretty before, now radiant—lighting the room.
"Come. Tea time."
This time, premium leaves. Sipping across the tea room built rapport.
"Spill. Who are you, hiding in someone else's basement?"
"What? This is my house!"
She bristled.
"Nonsense. Officials sold it to me. Want the deed?"
Her face paled. Won Seung wondered why she hadn't asked about her family—he couldn't pretend ignorance of Bang Kyung-pyo.
"Murder happened. Family wiped out. Officials seized, sold to me."
Her expression darkened.
"The original owners all died?"
You knew that. Deeper facade than I thought.
She insisted,
"Still my house. Paid twenty-one nyang!"
"Deed?"
"……."
"You're young, don't get it. Deed's everything. I have one, you don't. Mine now."
Her big eyes trembled. She knew he was right. Sullenly,
"Fine. I'll leave."
"Not kicking you out now. Why hide?"
She pondered.
That night, enemies attacked. Uncles held them off; she hid in the stone room—as planned if foes came.
From the bedroom vent, she heard faintly. Weapons clashed, then silence. Searching noises followed.
Uncles defeated. Survivors would signal. She hid under the bedframe, holding breath till dawn.
Next day, commotion. Vent caught officials' talk.
Days passed; couldn't emerge. Enemies from Fujian—relentless hunters.
"If trouble, hide max, then come out. Hold on—fellow disciples will find you."
But second and third uncles never came. Time blurred underground.