The Sword Immortal's Test
Geomseon rested his hand on the hilt of his sword as he gazed at Ha-rin. There was no hostility in his expression, yet Ha-rin could not let down her guard. After all, the person who had just killed Naseol was undoubtedly the martial artist standing before her.
When Ha-rin openly sharpened her edge, Geomseon let out a soft chuckle.
Ha-rin could not deny his words. If he truly intended to kill her, she would have no choice but to offer her neck.
"...No. I belong to another place."
Ha-rin wondered how she should respond if he demanded proof, but Geomseon did not press the matter. He simply scanned her with indifferent eyes.
So that's why he's angry?! Ha-rin finally understood. She had wondered why someone who rarely left his own territory would personally come all this way. It turned out he had been hunting down the people who were bothering him. Of course he would be furious if strangers destroyed his home, then demanded he take them as disciples and challenged him to fights!
If she answered yes here, she could clearly picture what would happen next. Yet Ha-rin could not bring herself to say no. While she had done nothing today because she had been sleeping, it was true that she had fought in the bamboo forest yesterday. Her sect had undoubtedly played a part in leaving the forest half-destroyed.
When Ha-rin carefully nodded, Geomseon gripped his sword hilt.
"It's true that I was involved, but that was yesterday! The fight hadn't even escalated yet, so I barely did anything! I swear!"
Panicking at the sight of death staring her down, Ha-rin hurriedly made excuses. But Geomseon did not remove his hand from the sword.
"You're going to kill me anyway!"
One or the other, it was all the same! Either way, she'd suffer permanent limb loss and have to die to respawn! Ha-rin screamed internally, but Geomseon showed no intention of showing her mercy. This was exactly why she had tried to hurry back to Hwaeum!
That damn Naseol bitch!
The moment Geomseon drew his sword, the air around them completely changed. It was nothing like the tense standoff between Ha-rin and Naseol. This was the presence of a single person pressing down on the entire world. Even while being crushed by that pressure, Ha-rin calmly assumed a stance.
"I've been through similar situations quite a lot."
To Ha-rin, who had grown accustomed to killing intent being fired at her every time she collapsed from exhaustion, this level of pressure was something she could endure.
Hearing her answer, Geomseon looked at her with interest before lowering his sword.
"...Pardon?"
What kind of whim was this? Though the question arose, Ha-rin did not dwell on it deeply. Whether she died this way or that, if she was going to die anyway, it was better to charge in first and die after giving it her all.
Three moves, huh.
Ha-rin had experienced something similar before. Hwaryeong would often make her do this whenever she was bored. She would say that if Ha-rin could land a hit within a certain number of moves, she would give her a break.
To Ha-rin, the bets Hwaryeong proposed were like oases in the desert. They were mirages that vanished the moment you thought you had reached them, yet occasionally proved to be real. Hwaryeong was vicious. Most of the time she gave Ha-rin failure and stole her rest time, but every once in a while she granted success so that Ha-rin could never completely abandon hope.
Who would have thought the day would come when she used what she learned back then?
When Ha-rin charged forward, Geomseon leisurely followed her with his eyes. The gap between them was like an ocean, so shaking him off had been impossible from the start. Trying to bewilder him with speed was out of the question, so there was no reason to focus on illusions. Therefore, she had to pour everything into speed.
The first move Ha-rin delivered upon reaching him was an obvious probing strike. Geomseon caught her lightly thrown fist with his palm. He did nothing else. He simply observed her fist as if studying it.
He really intends to take all three moves properly.
Having confirmed this, Ha-rin immediately prepared her next move.
Her second move was an all-out assault. A fist carrying every ounce of power, as if she had no regard for what came after. Unlike the Heavenly Demon's body in Apis, the one Ha-rin used in Hwaryong Muin could be said to have been created solely for the Wind Flow Fist. The acupoints within her. The muscles she had trained. Her joints. Her bones. Even every single breath she took—everything had been made to chase the wind.
There was no need to prepare for maximum speed. Ha-rin had always been following behind the wind.
It seemed Geomseon had not expected full power to follow immediately after a probe, as his eyebrows rose slightly. The strike Ha-rin had prepared certainly succeeded in surprising him, but that was all. Geomseon did not even move the hand holding his sword. He simply struck away her fist with his other hand. The full power Ha-rin had prepared was nullified by a single light punch from Geomseon.
Thinking that was the end, Geomseon moved his lips as if offering an evaluation. He believed Ha-rin had given up on the third move in favor of surprise. But Ha-rin was different. She did not stop moving. Who had decided that exhausting oneself once meant there was nothing left afterward? Ha-rin was the wind. She was a wind that flowed without end. A wind that had blown fiercely once could blow fiercely twice, three times. Just like before.
Seeing an attack that seemed even fiercer than before, the corner of Geomseon's mouth rose slightly. He slowly moved the hand holding his sword. There was nothing particularly impressive about it. He simply swung it from bottom to top at a speed even Ha-rin could follow with her eyes. Yet with that seemingly ordinary strike, the wind Ha-rin had harbored scattered apart.
"The person teaching me often makes me do similar things."
The strategy Ha-rin had just used against Geomseon was something she had developed while facing Hwaryeong.
'Even if he says he'll give you moves, you must not naively believe him. You don't know what intentions he harbors. Therefore, the first move must be a probe.'
'Usually, when someone says they'll give you moves, they intend to show their best on the final one. So if you unleash a killing blow in the middle, you can catch them off guard.'
'Even if your all-out strike fails, you must not give up. If moves remain, you must struggle until the very end. No one knows what will happen next.'
It was logic she had desperately created while listening to Hwaryeong's advice and rolling across the floor countless times.
Geomseon smiled as if satisfied with what Ha-rin had shown him.
"It's NyanNyanFistLaw."
Ha-rin could not deny what Geomseon said. Among the players of Hwaryong Muin, how many had bizarre names? NyanNyanFistLaw was actually quite normal by comparison. Some even used the fact that NPCs had to state their names to create truly strange ones. PantiesForYou—who had saved a city during the Evil Faction's attack—was a prime example.
What Geomseon offered was an absurd act of goodwill. Considering the blood players had shed trying to receive his teachings, it was nothing short of a miracle. If she told the swordsmen in the same sect, they would shed tears of blood in jealousy.
Logically, there was no reason to refuse, but Ha-rin shook her head.
"I'm sorry. I have no intention of abandoning the fist."
"Yes. I already have someone teaching me the fist."
She didn't know what Hwaryeong thought, but to Ha-rin, Hwaryeong was someone she wanted to follow for the rest of her life. She had no desire to leave her behind and receive teachings from someone else.
When Ha-rin answered that way, Geomseon clicked his tongue.
"I'm sorry."
Geomseon looked Ha-rin up and down before suddenly speaking as if something had occurred to him.
"Yes, that's right."
"How did you—?"
Feeling puzzled, Ha-rin nodded, and Geomseon let out a long breath.
"How did you know?"
So that's how it looks to a master. While Ha-rin was marveling, Geomseon sheathed his sword.
"You're not going to cut me?"
Even someone of Geomseon's caliber would find it difficult to face Lady Hwaryeong? Well, if she thought about a monster like Lady Hwaryeong charging in without fear of death, it did seem a bit terrifying.
As Ha-rin nodded to herself in understanding, Geomseon hurriedly added more.
"Then why?"
At Geomseon's words, Ha-rin unconsciously found herself agreeing. If someone who could blow away a mountainside with a fist, carve massive paths through mountains, and split the sky had a serious bloody battle with Geomseon here, the result was obvious.
"Thank you."
Having said that, Geomseon was about to turn away when he suddenly spoke again as if something had just occurred to him.
"Hwa... No, that's not it." That was the name used elsewhere. It wasn't the one used in Hwaryong Muin.
"It's MintChocoPineapplePizza."
"MintChocoPineapplePizza."
Upon hearing Hwaryeong's name, Geomseon's eyes hardened. He stammered, repeating the name several times before pressing hard on his forehead.
"Haha. It's a difficult name, isn't it?"
"That's why she usually introduces herself as Mint."
With those words, Geomseon vanished as suddenly as he had appeared. After confirming he had gone far into the distance, Ha-rin collapsed to the ground. It seemed he had taken care of all the Murim Alliance members in the area, so she could rest a bit before leaving.
This was really mentally exhausting. The moment she entered the game, she ran into that crazy bitch Naseol, and right after that she met Geomseon. She had turned on the game to help Lady Hwaryeong, but somehow...
Ah. Lady Hwaryeong. She had to go help Lady Hwaryeong! Nothing bad had happened in that short time, right?