The Uninvited Guest (6)
The moment the bracket for Match 6 of Ashmoon Knight 200 was locked in, the American communities boiled over with cheers.
Ten Named players. And on top of that, a keyword infamous for how brutally difficult it was: VIP Rescue.
Of course the world's attention snapped toward it.
And there was a man watching that fever from an entirely different vantage, in a very deep stillness.
"……The gap has only widened."
Otori Genji — the Ninja, and Go Tae-min's opponent in the final promotion match of the Japanese amateur league — wore a bitter smile as he read the articles.
He had crossed the death line more than twelve thousand times, fighting opponent after opponent. From prodigies of staggering talent down to worthless beginners, the multitude of human beings he had faced was as varied as it was dazzling. Because of that, he had carved the method of victory into his body, and gained a veteran's eye for finding an opening no matter how hopeless the situation.
The strongest fighter in the Japanese amateur league.
That epithet was no empty title.
But—
It didn't work on that man at all.
Even now, whenever Genji reviewed that match, a chill crawled up the nape of his neck. At first he had thought they were fighting on equal terms. Looking back, that had been an illusion. Demon hadn't been fighting him. He had only been taking the measure of Genji's skill. And the moment he began in earnest, Genji had been no opponent at all.
The gap didn't widen. We were never standing on the same line to begin with.
Genji let out a long sigh, slowly picked up his phone, and placed a call.
The man on the other end was Matsumoto, manager of the legion he belonged to. The line was answered before the ring could sound twice.
"Hello, Mr. Genji? I've been waiting for your call."
"Hello, Manager. I've made my decision."
"Oh, you've finally settled your mind! Yes — you'll be keeping the nickname Ninja, I assume? Shall I register you right away?"
Through the receiver, Matsumoto's voice was thoroughly worked up. The mere fact that the strongest fighter in the Japanese amateur league was at last stepping into the pro league was an enormous boon for the legion.
But the words that left Genji's mouth missed Matsumoto's expectation completely.
"Yes. But…… I'd like to register in the United States. Not in Japan."
"The United States…… you say?"
Bewilderment seeped into Matsumoto's voice. A man who had made his name in the Japanese league, choosing of his own accord to go to a foreign circuit where he had no fanbase at all — by any ordinary measure, it was a decision that made no sense.
"If it isn't impolite of me, might I ask why you wish to register in America? With your ability, Mr. Genji, you could receive an upper-numbering offer from the Japanese pro league immediately."
Instead of answering, Genji stared at the monitor. On the screen was a photograph of a man swinging a sword, red eyes flashing — Demon.
"There's an opponent I absolutely want to fight one more time."
Genji's eyes flashed, sharp.
Three weeks remained until I had to take the field.
I drew up a training plan of my own and got moving. Mornings, I ran through the physical program from my military days. In the end, the foundation under every real fight was stamina. You only got output if the engine was good. Afternoons, I put my head down and trained the sword while watching YouTube.
Hong Ji-hoon, the most famous active Korean warrior, had said it himself in an interview. He'd taught himself on YouTube. The moment I heard that, any thought of paying good money to attend a dojo vanished clean. Run the numbers on cost against return, and there was no manual as fine as YouTube.
I was in the middle of swinging a wooden sword in a corner of the partner gym when voices rose at the entrance.
"Ah, haha. Hello. What brings you here……."
"There's someone I'd like to see, just for a moment."
"Ah…… I see……. Even so, you might have sent word ahead."
A commotion. Wondering what it was, I turned my head — and found the gym owner wearing a thoroughly awkward face, and beside him a face I knew.
……Nova Arena's Korea branch director, wasn't it?
As if the fuss around him were none of his concern, the expressionless man came straight for the corner where I stood. It was the sort of face that looked like it wouldn't give up a drop of blood even if you stuck a knife in it.
"Hello, Warrior. We meet again."
"Ah, yes. Hello."
Caught off guard, I lowered the wooden sword and offered a light bow.
Why was this man here?
And then it occurred to me that I might be in serious trouble. I looked around, and my mouth went bone dry. My senior had definitely told this man that this was our legion's exclusive gym, but the scene in front of me was a long way from that claim. Not a legion member in sight — just people in sloppy workout clothes, sweating in whatever posture suited them. Ordinary civilians, to anyone's eye.
Director Oh Hyun-seok's gaze traveled slowly across the interior of the gym.
Instincts from my days in military intelligence sent up a warning. That man's eye was anything but ordinary. There was no way he could see this and fail to read the situation.
And yet the words that came out of his mouth slipped clean past what I'd expected.
"As I thought, what I saw before was correct. To willingly share the space even with ordinary people. It seems you and Veil Legion are exerting a positive influence on the local community."
Director Oh Hyun-seok's voice was earnest. A thoroughly courteous tone, without a trace of mockery to be found.
……Huh?
Realizing a person could, in fact, see it that way, I hurried to nod.
"Ah, that's right! Our representative is just that good a man. People before money, that's his principle…… so if there's space left over, we share it. That sort of thing."
Didn't look like I'd been caught.
See? It paid to live like a decent person.
"You do seem the type. A fine legion like this ought to grow larger."
Director Oh Hyun-seok nodded, wearing what could only be called a benevolent smile.
"Which brings me to my business. I've received several slots for an observation visit to Baekungwan. I was thinking of offering one of them to Veil Legion. What would you say?"
"Uh…… a slot to observe Baekungwan?"
What was that? Some kind of department store?
I didn't really know, but if a man this high up had come in person to talk about it, it clearly wasn't anything trivial. Even so, I didn't answer right away. Annoying decisions like this were never mine to make in the first place.
If I don't know, the right move is to ask my senior first.
I put on the most respectful face I could manage.
"I'll mention it to our representative. It isn't a decision for me to make."
"Of course. But it is a rare opportunity, so I hope you'll come back with a positive answer."
Director Oh Hyun-seok bowed with perfect courtesy, as if his business were concluded.
"Then please continue your training. I'll see you again soon."
"Yes. Please, go ahead."
I ducked my head, still a little dazed.
"What? Who came?"
Chae Geon-wook's voice boomed through the workshop.
Beside him, Go Tae-min — who had been calmly downing a bottle of water — picked at his ear and answered, utterly unimpressed.
"Director Oh Hyun-seok. Nova Arena."
"That guy? Why? Why'd he come this time? What'd he say was wrong?"
Go Tae-min relayed the little incident at the gym, calm and orderly. Chae Geon-wook's face, however, twisted into something stranger by the second. Far from relief, it was the look of a man with a chill running down his spine.
"……And he just left? No way. A branch director doesn't swing by after work because he's bored."
Chae Geon-wook called the informant he had planted inside Nova Arena's Korea branch.
"Hey, Chief Kim. You messing with me? If Director Oh Hyun-seok was scheduled to visit this afternoon, you should've told me on the spot!"
"What? What are you talking about? The director stopped by there?"
The informant's baffled voice leaked through the receiver. Chae Geon-wook's brow dug in even deeper.
"So you think I'd grab a busy man just to make things up?"
"That can't be right……. Today the director had no official schedule at all after four. He left earlier than usual, and everyone was pleased, wondering what had gotten into him. He didn't even bring an aide — just drove his own car out. And to think he stopped by there……."
"You sure? You're not trying to run a job on me right now, are you?"
"I'm telling you, it's true. There wasn't a word about him heading that way. He just dropped in on his way home from work — how was I supposed to know that?"
"Which is my point. Does it make any sense for a man that high up to drop by on his way home?"
Chae Geon-wook rang three or four more contacts after that and checked again, but every answer came back the same. Oh Hyun-seok really had stopped in alone, without a single aide, in the middle of a personal route. More than one thing about it smelled wrong, but it didn't seem as if he'd caught a scent and come storming in.
"What the hell is this? He really came, pure and simple, just to hand over that slot? That guy?"
Chae Geon-wook scratched at his head, irritable. If he wanted to read the other man's intent, he first had to look at the card that had been played. He typed Baekungwan — the name Go Tae-min had mentioned — into the search bar.
A moment later, a gasp tore out of him on its own as his eyes ran down the screen.
"……Damn. This place is no joke. So he really might have come just to hand over a slot?"
"Why? What kind of place is it?"
"Supposed to be the best kendo hall in the country. The master's name is Baek Jin-hyeon. They say he handles a sword better than anyone in Korea."
"Whoa."
"Retired a good while ago, though, from the look of it. And checking this — Director Oh Hyun-seok was a student there too. He brought a visitor's pass to his own master's dojo in person."
Chae Geon-wook tapped the table with his index finger, the old habit that surfaced whenever he sank into hard thought. His brow drew in of its own accord. One question had hooked him and would not let go.
Why?
Why would Director Oh Hyun-seok personally deliver, on his way home from work, a visitor's pass to the finest kendo hall in the country — a hall that no longer even took disciples? No matter how he turned it over, he couldn't begin to guess the intent.
But—
This is something we absolutely have to go see.
A chance to stand in front of Baek Jin-hyeon himself. For Go Tae-min, who had learned the sword by nothing but teaching himself off YouTube, a meeting with Baek Jin-hyeon would be a lesson in its own right — a place where something might actually break open.
Judgment made, Chae Geon-wook asked.
"So? You want to go?"
Even as he put the question out, he was thinking it. Just don't say you're not going. Please. Knowing this junior's temperament, the kid was more than capable of turning it down — grumbling about why he'd bother with the hassle, since he could learn the whole thing on YouTube anyway.
Contrary to expectation, Go Tae-min nodded without a fight.
"Yes. I want to go."
"Huh? For real?"
Chae Geon-wook's eyes went wide.
Go Tae-min went on, calm, without a hint of a joke on his face.
"Yes. I want to know what a sword looks like when the greatest swordsman in Korea swings it."