Dyed Red in Blood

"…How did you do it?"

After the Ascendance Ceremony had concluded, Seong Gyu-ho called me aside.

"What exactly are you referring to?"

"That technique you showed at the end! That was unmistakably one of the Azure Dragon Seven Forms!"

Anger, shock — or perhaps both at once. Seong Gyu-ho squared up to me, veins standing out on his neck.

"Was it, now?"

"I saw it with my own eyes. The shape of a dragon unfurling behind your back!"

The draconic silhouette that manifests whenever a form of the Sword Sect's art is unleashed — that, more than anything, is the defining emblem of the sect's secret art, the Azure Dragon Seven Forms. As one's mastery deepens, the image grows ever more distinct, until at last it molts into the form of a perfect dragon.

Though at this point in time, the only person to have reached that realm is Seong Yong-ho.

I rolled my eyes and let out a dry chuckle.

"Well, as I understand it, the dragon I manifested was a crimson dragon. Not an azure one."

"Don't play word games with me…!"

"Let me put it another way. If I had truly received instruction in the Azure Dragon Seven Forms through some means or other — why on earth would I have bothered going through this whole tedious ordeal?"

"Th… that's…"

Seong Gyu-ho's eyebrows twitched.

The whole point of my wagering the Ascendance Ceremony was to obtain the Azure Dragon Seven Forms. But if I could already wield them, what reason would I have to stage such a farce?

"Acting Sect Leader Seong Gyu-ho. I want to grow stronger."

I said this as I leisurely bent down and picked up the wooden sword lying on the floor.

"I wanted to cast off the pathetic fool I used to be."

"…"

"So I watched."

"Watched… what?"

"The strong. The way they fought."

Over and over, I had watched.

I pored over the secret manual of the Azure Dragon Seven Forms, its core principles long since burned away and lost, tearing my hair out as I tried to decipher what remained. I dug up old footage that hadn't yet vanished from the world and wrung analyses out of it that could never hope to be complete.

"Again and again."

What principle connected each movement to the next. How one form flowed into the following one. I strained to read the logic threaded through the martial art itself.

"Again and again."

A technique made for geniuses stood impossibly high above the merely competent.

"…Again and again."

All I could do was squirm. So I twisted my body and crawled. What I couldn't do, I abandoned without hesitation — trimmed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it down, refined it, dismantled it, rebuilt it to fit.

"And so, this is where it got me."

Raising the sword, I stirred my mana — and swung.

From earth to heaven. The sword's path struggled to connect.

Krrrraaaah—!

A dragon red as blood coiled and circled at my side.

The blade's tip dipped earthward like a petal loosed from its bloom.

Like a wind scattered into dizzy disarray, it stabbed through the empty air.

Like bolts of lightning keening in grief, it shredded the space before me at blistering speed.

Like a blaze swallowing the world whole, it carved through everything in a full arc around me.

And so, without pause, I demonstrated the Second through Sixth Forms of the Azure Dragon Seven Forms.

"Whew… hah…!"

My breath climbed all the way up my throat.

"The Azure Dragon Seven Forms, I'm told, tells the story of an imugi that breaks open the heavens, becomes a dragon, and descends into the world to reign as its king."

"…"

"Acting Sect Leader Seong Gyu-ho."

No matter how many times I dissected the art and taught it to myself,

there were forms I simply could not replicate.

"That's why I came. To this place."

"So you truly… learned the remaining forms by watching and studying them on your own? Simply for the sake of growing stronger?"

"That's right."

"What in the world…"

The look in Seong Gyu-ho's eyes shifted. The gaze that had once regarded me as nothing but a headache now stared as if at some incomprehensible monster.

"That is nothing short of talent fallen straight from heaven…"

"Talent, huh."

I gave a bitter smile at those words.

Because "talent" and I had always been the farthest-apart of words.

"Well, you're free not to believe me."

"Excuse me?"

"In any case — I did win the right of succession to the Azure Dragon Seven Forms through legitimate means, didn't I? So you'll have to honor your promise."

"…Ugh!"

His face crumpled to the verge ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of tears. He'd never dreamed I would defeat Baek Seo-ha in a crushing sweep and pass the Ascendance Ceremony on top of it.

Ahh, this is going to sting.

After all, he'd just coughed up the Sword Sect's entire treasury for pocket change.

"That's why you should always study your opponent carefully."

"I hate to say this now of all times, but… Tae-hyun, sir, weren't you more than worth betting on…?"

"…"

Well. He had a point there.

"Mmnh…"

The scent of herbs brushed the tip of her nose. Starting with smell, her senses returned to her one by one.

"Where… am I?"

"You're awake."

"…?!"

The moment that all-too-familiar — and all-too-irritating — voice reached her ears, Baek Seo-ha shot upright and pressed herself against the wall.

"Why… why are you here…?"

"Where I go is my business."

Lee Tae-hyun bit into a slice of apple he'd apparently cut himself. Crunch! Juice sprayed out.

"Tastes good. The cutting job's a disaster, though."

"You…"

"Honestly, I've never been able to manage this fiddly sort of work. I don't even get why people bother peeling fruit at all."

This was the Sword Sect's infirmary — a space built to treat disciples injured for any number of reasons. And since it existed to protect the wounded, no outsider could simply walk in.

"How did you get in here?"

"Walked."

"…Cut the crap."

"No fun at all."

Lee Tae-hyun swallowed the apple and slipped a hand into his coat. From it, he produced a single book — a secret manual bound in azure covers, radiating an aura of mystic power.

"Ah…"

The sight of it wrenched a groan from her lips.

She'd known, deep down, from the moment she opened her eyes in this infirmary.

I lost. To him.

She had been cast down. Worse, she'd shown the undignified spectacle of losing consciousness right after her defeat. If the Sect Master ever learned of it, he would surely be disappointed in her.

"Now that I'm a duly recognized successor of the Azure Dragon Seven Forms, places like the infirmary are free for me to wander in and out of…"

"…Hk."

"Hm?"

"Hhic… sob! I looost… hic…!"

Sorrow welled up and spilled over in fat droplets. Showing tears in front of this man made her want to die of shame — and yet her tear ducts, utterly oblivious to her pride, kept producing more.

"Hh… hhic…!"

Lee Tae-hyun said nothing, quietly watching her cry.

…She's young.

The Baek Seo-ha Lee Tae-hyun knew was a person who never cried. No — a person whose tears had already dried up and withered away long ago. Betrayed by the man she trusted, robbed of the people she cherished, branded a traitor's mark and forced to live half her life under it.

Right up until the moment she died, she had chosen laughing over weeping. If anything, it was Lee Tae-hyun who had been the one to cry.

Through all the time he spent with her, he wept a great deal. Spilled tears at every opportunity, wailed until he broke. And every time he did, Baek Seo-ha would say the same thing.

"Hey. Are you crying?"

"Hhk… s-shut uuup…! Hic…"

"You really are crying."

"I'm… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠n-not cryinggg… hhic…"

Somehow, those days seemed to surface before his eyes again.

'Crying, are we?'

'I'm… hic… not crying.'

'You totally are. Why do you keep crying like this?'

'I said I'm not!'

The situation was reversed now, compared to back then. And precisely because of that, it struck him all the more vividly — that he had returned to the past. That he'd been given the chance to change everything.

"Here. Take it."

"…?"

Lee Tae-hyun held out the secret manual of the Azure Dragon Seven Forms to her.

"Why… why are you giving this to me?"

"I looked it over and it barely made sense to me. Who even learns from books these days?"

Deciphering secret manuals was old hat to him, in truth — but he saw no need to mention that.

"Learning from text and diagrams would take you forever. It's hopelessly inefficient."

"…Then?"

"You teach me."

"What… did you say…?"

The color drained from Baek Seo-ha's face in an instant. Her tears vanished as if they'd never existed, and gooseflesh raced up her spine.

He wants ME to teach LEE TAE-HYUN?!

Wasn't that a task even a legion of saints couldn't accomplish?

"…You hate it that much?"

"Obviously."

"Well, it can't be helped. I did pass the Ascendance Ceremony, didn't I?"

"All passing the Ascendance Ceremony earned you was the right of succession to the Azure Dragon Seven Forms. There's no reason on earth for me to teach you anything."

"Oh? Are you sure you should be saying that?"

Lee Tae-hyun grinned, sly as a fox.

"The final duel… mana use was strictly forbidden, wasn't it?"

A jolt! Baek Seo-ha's whole body flinched.

"But you used mana at the very end. I nearly got seriously hurt because of it."

"…"

"And if that fact got out… I imagine it would reach Sect Master Seong Yong-ho's ears in short order, don't you?"

"St… stop…"

"Losing the match, and then resorting to a foul on top of it — and him finding out. Whew, I honestly couldn't say what he'd think."

"Stop!"

Baek Seo-ha's cry cracked through the room.

"I… I'll teach you, okay…?"

"Hm? What was that? Didn't quite catch it?"

"I'll teach you! The Azure Dragon Seven Forms! Me! To you!"

"Excellent."

Lee Tae-hyun narrowed his eyes, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.

"Haaaa…"

Baek Seo-ha slumped down where she sat. They'd only exchanged a handful of words, and yet it felt as though every drop of energy had been wrung out of her.

Who on earth is this person…?

What could he possibly be, to be so cunning — and so strong? Never once in her life had she been defeated so utterly one-sidedly. Even in the informal sparring match against Seong Yong-ho, she had landed a single blow through sheer, dogged effort.

It was like he'd sparred against me thousands of times before.

In that final bout of the Ascendance Ceremony, there hadn't been even that sliver of an opening. If the one-sidedly strong were a high, unyielding wall, then Lee Tae-hyun was a swamp that kept pulling her under. The more she tried to do something, the more her strength drained away and the deeper she sank — a swamp.

"…Teach me."

Her mouth opened before she could stop it.

"How did you get that strong?"

She wanted to know. What method could he possibly have used to grow that powerful in so short a time? If only she could learn the answer—

Then even the Sect Master would…!

He would acknowledge her all the more. Baek Seo-ha held her breath and waited for his reply. And at last, the words that left his mouth were—

"Desperation."

—preposterous beyond belief.

"…Desperation?"

"Yeah. Not effort — desperation. You believe you'll die if you don't get stronger, and so you'll do anything, whatever it takes, to claw your way up."

Effort is lonely, but noble. Desperation is loud — and pitiless in its anguish.

"Getting stronger by any means necessary. That's the secret to my growth."

"That's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠really all there is to it…?"

"Yep. That's all of it. Take it as a reference if you like, but there's one thing you should understand."

Lee Tae-hyun rose lightly from his seat.

"A person can never truly fight for their life on someone else's behalf."

"…"

"If you're trying to get stronger for Seong Yong-ho — for the Sword Sect's sake alone — then you'll be treading water for the rest of your life."

"And how would you know that?"

"I heard it from someone reliable, so you can trust me."

He had, after all, heard it directly from her own future self.

"The Sect Master took me in when I had nowhere else to go. He's the reason I'm alive. He's not someone you get to pass judgment on."

"…Is that so?"

The Baek Seo-ha of today couldn't know. That the benefactor she revered had in truth been the puppeteer who manipulated the entire first half of her life. And that, in the end, he would leave her left arm ruined beyond use.

"Never insult that man again."

"We'll see."

"Why, you…!"

"Well then, looking forward to tomorrow~ I'm off!"

Lee Tae-hyun closed the door behind him and stepped out of the infirmary. The sun had already slipped behind the ridge, the hour of dusk settling in. Breathing the cool mountain air, he thought, briefly:

"…No good after all."

It wouldn't do.

"Let's change it — the Sect Master."

Seong Yong-ho. As long as that lecherous old man remained, neither the Sword Sect nor Baek Seo-ha would ever change. So in this life, the seat of Sect Master had to pass to someone else.

And for that to happen—

He had no choice but to keep growing stronger.

"Claim them."

A rise in potential, riding on the coattails of the Status Window's level. And then—

one more kind of growth.