Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Leaving the Sect
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The forest path leading to my personal training ground in the mountain behind the house.
I walked side by side with Hwa-ryeon through the woods.
“…….”
“…….”
It was hard to start a conversation first after having that incredibly embarrassing situation from earlier exposed.
It wasn't quite like getting caught by my little sister watching porn... was it?
In any case, an indescribable awkwardness hung between us.
And it was Hwa-ryeon who first mustered the courage to shatter that awkwardness.
“The 'trial'... it was about your family, huh.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah... Especially my big sister—you know her. She dotes on me so much. About six years ago? She showed up at the hall late at night with a bunch of people. Remember that?”
“Of course. I could never forget. From my position, at least.”
“Yeah? Your position...? Oh, right.”
I had been on the run, hiding out.
So when a crowd suddenly burst in like that...
“...Sorry. Apologizing late, but still.”
“No. We're in no position to receive an apology from you, young hero. If anything, we should be the ones apologizing.”
“What's that supposed to mean?”
I tilted my head, puzzled, and Hwa-ryeon, who had been staring at me, let out a small chuckle.
“Ahaha... You keep embarrassing me over and over.”
“Shouldn't I be the embarrassed one right now?”
I scratched my head with a small grumble.
Amid that, Hwa-ryeon's subdued voice reached my ears.
“I'm sorry.”
“...So, sorry for what? I need to know what you're apologizing for to accept it or not.”
“For using you all this time, young hero.”
“…….”
Using me...
Probably that story.
Teaching me only the third-rate street martial art, the Three Talents Technique, for the past ten years.
They must have disguised it as a third-rate hall to divert the eyes of those chasing them from Tyrant Heaven Fortress.
She seemed to think I'd feel betrayed learning that fact...
“I don't really feel any sense of betrayal. I don't think it's something worth feeling that over.”
“...Why not?”
Hwa-ryeon looked utterly baffled by my reaction.
But to me, she was the one making a fuss.
“I already knew Heavenly Wind Martial Hall only taught third-rate techniques and was a shabby place. I knew all that, and still chose to learn even those third-rate arts.”
Back then, at ten years old, I was gripped by impatience.
The fated encounter I'd waited for aimlessly for years hadn't come, and ten was a precarious age to start martial arts.
Every martial arts novel says it: too late to begin cultivating internal energy.
Of course, protagonists in those novels become masters despite such harsh conditions, but around then, I was realizing I wasn't one of those protagonists.
Once I snapped out of my self-delusion that I was the main character, I couldn't help but grow anxious.
So I looked around.
To the one and only martial hall in Goon River County: Heavenly Wind Martial Hall.
Of course, at first, I had some wild imaginings.
Like maybe Hall Master Wang-sam was a hidden supreme expert who abstained from grains.
But hearing they taught the Three Talents Technique shattered those dreams.
I was disappointed right away, thinking, 'Yeah, figures.'
Looking back now, those imaginings weren't entirely off.
Not quite grain-abstaining supreme, but Master was still a fairly famous figure in the jianghu.
Though a fake expert who barely knew how to use his internal energy.
In any case,
“I paid the price to learn the Three Talents Technique, and Master taught me martial arts worth that money. What's there to feel betrayed about?”
“...So, since you had no expectations from the start, no betrayal either.”
Hwa-ryeon looked a bit downcast.
I sneaked a glance at her profile and casually added,
“And well... I could tell you guys didn't really want to use me.”
“...Huh?”
Hwa-ryeon looked at me with slightly widened eyes.
Meeting her clear gaze, I continued.
“You or Seol, you never treated me like a senior brother, always itching to chase me off. Always asking if I wouldn't quit, or sprinkling tons of salt in my food to mess with me.”
“Th-that was really a mistake...!”
Hwa-ryeon's face flushed as she hurriedly defended herself.
I chuckled at her cute reaction, and she put on a sulky expression.
Her face naturally doesn't show emotions much, so at a glance it doesn't show, but after ten years together, I'd gotten good at spotting the subtle changes.
Hm, looks like her eyes aren't twitching now?
“Not lying, huh. Alright, I'll believe you.”
“...It really wasn't a lie, but how can you be so sure?”
“Your face shows it all when you lie.”
“…….”
She had the look of someone hearing utter nonsense for the first time.
Her reaction felt a bit unfair?
“It's true! Your expressions are subtle, but they totally give it away when you lie.”
“...Whatever, I'll let that slide.”
She wouldn't believe me?
No matter how much I insisted after that, Hwa-ryeon didn't buy it.
I gave up on convincing her.
Figuring she'd realize someday, I returned to the main topic.
“Anyway, that was you. And Seol was even worse. Or not worse, but more thorough in messing with me?”
Just off the top of my head, plenty came to mind.
On a scorching summer day after training, sweat-drenched and going to wash up, but no warm water I'd prepared... or hiding my wooden sword so I couldn't train.
Hm, thinking again, less chasing me away and more just not liking me...?
Hwa-ryeon flatly denied that notion.
“That was partly your fault too, young hero. How much did you bully Seol?”
“Bully? I was just doting on her! How much did I look after Seol? Giving her rides on my shoulders, buying her candy...”
“Poking her cheeks for no reason, messing up her hair while petting her, throwing her around like a toy all the time.”
“…….”
Her icy reaction left me speechless, like honey stuck in my mouth.
W-wait, didn't Seol like that? She seemed to...
“Every time you tossed her high, she'd go 'Kyaaak!'...”
“You wouldn't think she liked it normally, right?”
“...Sorry.”
I meekly apologized.
Even when Hwa-ryeon said to apologize to Seol later, I quietly nodded.
Before long, we arrived at my personal training ground (aka forest clearing).
And a thought hit me belatedly.
“What were we talking about again?”
“…….”
It had started with Hwa-ryeon seriously apologizing for using me, but somehow I'd ended up getting scolded for bullying Seol.
Hwa-ryeon seemed to realize it too, her face going slightly blank.
Seeing that, I grinned and said,
“Yeah, you forgot, huh~?”
“Kyaaak! That speech pattern of yours...!”
I burst into laughter at Hwa-ryeon, who reflexively freaked out at the words.
*
“Puhahaha...!”
Hwa-ryeon sighed deeply as she watched the man clutching his stomach in laughter.
Why did she always lose her cool and get dragged around whenever she got involved with this guy?
“That 'ju-ju' thing. Can't you drop it?”
“Sorry. Couldn't hold back. The impact feels too good to resist.”
What did 'impact feels good' even mean?
That it was fun to tease?
Hwa-ryeon glared at the man with cold eyes.
He tried to suppress his laughter, but his lips kept twitching.
Thinking that only made her more annoyed, she sighed again.
'He looks like such a childish kid at times like this.'
She couldn't understand this man named Goon Ja-seong at all.
Sometimes he seemed younger than his twenties, full of mischief and lacking any maturity.
Especially that '~haju? ~haju?'—it grated on her every time.
But other times, he'd show a maturity unbelievable for just a one-year age gap.
'Like earlier.'
To stay so calm and considerate toward someone he'd been used for ten years without even proper martial arts.
If she were in his shoes, she wouldn't have reacted like that.
She'd have grabbed his collar and punched him.
Honestly, coming to the Goon family manor alone, she'd braced for a beating...
'...No.'
Hwa-ryeon shook her head.
Bracing for a beating was a lie.
Truth was, she already knew. That Ja-seong was this kind of person.
That's why she'd hoped he'd join her.
Because this man made her forget grim realities sometimes, and gave her a place to lean her heart...
“...Heup.”
Oh no. Don't think.
If she thought, then...!
Right away, heat rose to her face.
Before she could do anything, her burning cheeks made her hurriedly turn her head away, but
“What's wrong? You okay?”
“Kya, kyak!?”
Ja-seong's face was right in front of her nose.
She shoved his face away with a short scream.
D-did he notice!?
“Wh-why are you so close?!”
“No, you suddenly went quiet and still...!”
Ignoring Ja-seong's aggrieved mutter, she belatedly turned her body away.
And to cool her flushed face, she began deep breaths.
-Thump thump
Even staying still, her heart raced so fast and hard that her face wouldn't settle.