Hands Off My Meal Ticket
“Son~ When are we gonna get there~?”
“I told you to stop calling me that?!”
Yeon-woo pouted and stuck out her lower lip. He had told her to follow him as if he were about to treat her to something scrumptious, yet she couldn't catch even the faintest whiff of anything edible. Just as she was growing thoroughly bored wondering how much farther they had to trudge before food appeared, Gwan Hyeok abruptly ground to a halt.
“Ooh,” Yeon-woo murmured, poking her head out from behind his back to see where they had arrived.
Her face instantly crumpled in disgust.
The place Gwan Hyeok had brought her to was the martial training ground of the Guan Clan Residence—a barren, rigid expanse that reeked of warriors' sour sweat rather than savory cooking.
“I'm leaving.”
Yeon-woo spun around on her heel without a second thought. But she didn't get far.
“Grab her.”
At Gwan Hyeok's curt command, Yeon-woo found herself immobilized. Gwan Hyeok's attendant page had clamped both hands onto her arm.
“What's this?”
Yeon-woo's brow furrowed as she looked back. She stared down at the hands clutching her sleeve for a brief, heavy silence.
“Aren't you going to let go?”
In an instant, the warmth drained from Yeon-woo's eyes, plunging into a chilling, bottomless calm. It was a mere gaze, yet the quiet dread radiating from it made the young page flinch and shudder involuntarily.
Even so, he couldn't bring himself to release her. Terrifying as the younger girl's stare was, the boy feared the young master he served every day far more.
“Um, excuse me…”
Swallowing hard, the page leaned close and whispered in a voice too faint for Gwan Hyeok to overhear.
“I-I'll give you beef jerky.”
“…?”
“I heard… that you like it…”
Though she had been brought in as a penniless beggar child, the moment the clan adopted her, her status became that of a young lady of the Guan family. The page was carefully extending a bargain—one that showed her due deference without disobeying his master's direct order.
“How many pieces?”
“Maybe… one? Two…?”
Watching her reaction anxiously, the boy quickly raised a second finger.
Hmm.
Yeon-woo narrowed her eyes, weighing the offer for a moment.
“Deal.”
She grabbed the page's hand and pumped it up and down vigorously in a firm handshake. Then, reaching into her pocket, she pressed the rest of her dried fruit into his palm. Leaving the bewildered page utterly clueless as to what that violent hand-shaking gesture meant, Yeon-woo skipped straight up to Gwan Hyeok.
“So, what do you want me to do?”
Gwan Hyeok arched an eyebrow suspiciously. Why had she turned completely cooperative after being so stubborn just seconds ago? It was bizarre, but either way, he had what he wanted.
“Follow me.”
He led her deeper into the training yard. The vast dirt grounds were completely deserted. While Yeon-woo glanced around with curious wonder, the page scurried over to the weapon rack, plucked two wooden swords from their pegs, and hurried back to present them to his young master.
“Here.”
Gwan Hyeok thrust one of the practice blades toward Yeon-woo.
“What's this?”
“Have you never seen a wooden sword before?”
“Nope.”
Gwan Hyeok flinched. She's never even seen one? After a beat of stunned disbelief, a surge of irritation twisted his features, and he shoved the weapon roughly against her chest.
“This is exactly why I hate you. Filthy little beggar.”
“Hey, I'm not a beggar.”
In Yeon-woo's mind, true beggars were people who wandered wherever they pleased and ate whatever scraps they scavenged.
“Ha! What, just because you were sold into a great clan and everyone coddles you, you think you're actually somebody now?”
“Coddles? Is that something you eat?”
“Stop playing dumb with me!”
“Cod-dles.”
Huffing with fury, Gwan Hyeok glared daggers at her, raised his wooden sword, and squared off opposite her. He leveled the blunt tip straight at her chest.
“I'll say it again: I hate your guts.”
“Same here.”
“Just shut up and listen!”
Yeon-woo pouted, though she held her tongue. Gwan Hyeok pressed on, his voice trembling with bitter passion.
“Maryonggwan isn't a place for someone like you—someone who's never even held a wooden sword! That's the proving ground where the finest elites of our cult are forged!”
Yeon-woo blinked innocently.
“To think that someone like you, who knows nothing of martial arts, is going to a place like that…! It makes my blood boil! That spot was supposed to be…!”
The hand gripping the hilt shook violently.
“It was supposed to be mine…!”
Yeon-woo tilted her head, thoroughly perplexed.
“Then why don't you just go?”
“Because I can't go because of you! It's all your fault!”
“…?”
“Because Father bought you! There's no way he'll send me now!”
“…?”
Yeon-woo couldn't make head or tail of what he was shouting about. If someone wanted to go, shouldn't they just go? It wasn't like she was dying to visit this Maryonggwan place anyway.
Then, like a bolt from the blue, realization struck her.
Wait a second!
If her new 'son' went instead of her, what if they stopped giving her food?! The only reason they fed her so lavishly was so she would go in his place!
No way. Absolutely not! Over my dead body!
In the blink of an eye, Yeon-woo's gaze flared with profound, incandescent outrage.
“Son, it's very bad manners to covet things that belong to other people.”
“Who stole from whom first, you thief?!”
Oh, right. Good point!
Yeon-woo faltered for a heartbeat. But she swiftly recovered her shameless composure, wagging a finger back and forth with a tsk.
“No, that's not true. Why would it be yours? Father bought that spot specifically to give to Yeon-woo, didn't he?”
“Don't you dare call him Father with that dirty mouth!”
A mere beggar bought off the streets! How dared she!
“Father just doesn't understand yet! I can do it! I know I can!”
If only he entered Maryonggwan, he would prove it beyond all doubt…!
“…So raise your sword, right now! I'm going to show Father once and for all!”
“And what are you going to show him with this stick?”
“That I'm worthy! And that you're nothing but a pathetic, talentless fraud who has no right to be here! I'm going to show him everything!”
Gwan Hyeok leveled his blade toward her once more. Yeon-woo remained utterly oblivious to his dramatic turmoil. So… what on earth does he want to show him?
Twisting her eyebrows in thought, she turned the wooden sword over in her hands, inspecting it from every angle. Then, copying Gwan Hyeok's grip on the short hilt, she raised the tip toward him.
“Like this?”
“From this moment on, you and I are having a duel.”
“A duel?”
“It means we're going to fight, dummy.”
“Aha!”
Now she got it!
“So basically, Son and I are fighting to see who gets to go to Maryonggwan?”
“Exactly. Finally, you're speaking sense.”
A cocky smirk spread across Gwan Hyeok's face.
“In a duel, you might get hurt, and blood might be shed. But whatever happens, neither of us can complain or blame the other afterward. Got it?”
Yeon-woo gave a firm nod.
“Good. Then you make the first move. It'd be disgraceful for me to launch a preemptive strike against an amateur who doesn't even know what a wooden sword is. Believe it or not, I've already trained in martial arts for five whole years—”
Patter-patter-patter!
Before he could finish his sentence, Yeon-woo raised the wooden sword high and charged headlong at him.
So… all I have to do is hit him with this, right?
Whoosh!
“—?!”
Her small figure closed the distance with startling swiftness, forcing Gwan Hyeok to scramble into a hasty defensive guard. Yeon-woo brought the raised practice blade crashing down with all the brute strength in her body.
CRACK—!
Her blow smashed brutally into Gwan Hyeok's horizontally raised guard as he sank his weight into his stance. The sheer violence of the impact rattled his bones, forcing his feet to skip backward two rapid paces.
“Y-You cheap cheater! Who attacks someone in the middle of their sentence?!”
“What? Didn't you say to start?”
“Guh…!”
Gwan Hyeok raised his sword again, but his hands were trembling noticeably—far worse than before. And this time, it was neither fear nor fury rattling his grip.
H-How is this little shrimp so absurdly strong?!
It had felt less like parrying a wooden practice blade and more like having a solid boulder dropped on his arms from the sky.
I thought my wrists were going to shatter…!
Swallowing his panic, Gwan Hyeok tightened his grip. Though her raw strength was wildly beyond expectations, there was no way he could afford to lose to a snot-nosed brat who didn't know the first thing about martial arts.
“Now I'm really not going easy on you…”
“Hmph!”
Yeon-woo stuck out her tongue with a cheeky raspberry. It was the petty provocation of a young child, yet it grated on Gwan Hyeok's pride like sandpaper.
Thwip!
Gwan Hyeok kicked off the ground and dashed toward her.
Her brute force makes her strikes too heavy. If a single block had numbed his fingers to the bone, absorbing a few more would surely split the skin on his palms. Which means… I just have to avoid clashing directly!
Mid-stride, Gwan Hyeok suddenly dropped his center of gravity. Yeon-woo, bracing herself with solemn determination for a frontal collision, let out an alarmed squeak as he vanished from her sightline.
Tap-tap—THWACK!
“Ow!”
Slipping effortlessly behind her flank, Gwan Hyeok struck her square across the upper back. The sharp impact sent Yeon-woo pitching forward with a yelp. But Gwan Hyeok gave her no room to recover.
Smack! Crack!
Back! Shin! Forearm!
“Ouch! Ow, ow, ow!!”
Yeon-woo squirmed and flailed in agony as the blunt wood peppered her limbs. Gwan Hyeok's strikes fell relentlessly, granting no mercy.
“That hurts! It really hurts!!”
Her head spun. Blows rained from every angle, and the sharp stinging was so overwhelming she couldn't even tell where he was standing or where the next strike was coming from.
“Stop it already!!”
Whoosh!
Unable to endure the barrage any longer, Yeon-woo blindly swung her sword in a massive, clumsy arc. To any trained eye, it was an amateurish, desperate flail riddled with openings.
Now!
Ducking beneath the wild swing, Gwan Hyeok danced behind her exposed posture and raised his sword high.
Swoosh!
I'll knock her out cold with this!
The hardened practice blade swept downward with full force toward the nape of Yeon-woo's neck. But the instant before impact—
The sword froze dead in midair.
“—?!”
Gwan Hyeok's eyes widened in sheer disbelief.
Resting lightly against the tip of his wooden blade were two slender fingers.
“That will do.”
Those two fingers held the full momentum of his strike suspended in the air as effortlessly as if balancing a stray feather.
“……”
Gwan Hyeok raised his trembling gaze to look upon the newcomer.
Standing tall with the sun blazing behind his back, a man wearing a black half-mask looked down upon them. A suffocating, crushing pressure radiated from his towering silhouette, bearing down upon the boy's shoulders with the weight of an entire mountain.
Meeting the chilling, fathomless stare behind the mask, Gwan Hyeok could only swallow hard in silence.