The Moon Blooms in Hwaryong Muin
As the moon bloomed in the world of Hwaryong Muin and the real world carved the silence of dawn, Seol-ah was swinging her sword in one corner of Mount Hua’s grounds, just as she always did.
Her daily life these days began and ended inside Hwaryong Muin. The moment she woke up she would shove some food into her mouth, log in, train in the principles of martial arts, and fall asleep. Anyone watching would think she belonged in a psychiatric ward, yet Seol-ah had never been more satisfied.
Because right now, as she learned the true principles of martial arts, she was certain she was finally drawing closer to the goal she had always longed for.
The wuxia novels she had stumbled upon by chance as a child, back when stepping past the front door filled her with terror. Her yearning for those martial artists who overcame every trial with nothing but their own strength. The world of Hwaryong Muin she had entered to make that dream reality. The stagnant days that followed despite giving it everything she had. The gradual shrinking of her goals, the way she had filled her self-esteem by turning her ideals into videos—until she encountered the one person who was actually realizing those ideals in the real world. The footsteps she had followed as if possessed. And at the end of that path, the principles of martial arts she had learned.
Ever since she had entered under Lady Hwaryeong and begun studying martial arts at Mount Hua, Seol-ah had not touched video editing even once. The only reason she had ever lost herself in editing was that she lacked the confidence to realize her ideals herself. Now that she knew the path toward her ideal—even if it still lay far in the distance—there was no longer any reason to edit.
However.
The sword slipped from her grasp and clattered loudly against the ground. A stray thought had crept in while she swung, disrupting her form. Her movements were still immature; she needed to focus on every single motion, so letting her mind wander had been foolish.
Seol-ah picked up the fallen sword, then remained crouched exactly as she was and let out a long sigh.
Still… the position of Lady Hwaryeong’s personal video editor. That’s just too tempting, isn’t it?
To Seol-ah, Hwaryeong was her ideal, her longing, her dream. A milestone that made her wonder if she might one day become like that. A living proof that her dreams had never been entirely empty.
It was a chance to become the video editor for someone like that. How could she possibly let it pass?
Of course, accepting the role might interfere with her martial training. But what did that matter? It would mean she could shape the very scenes of her ideal with her own hands and make them even more magnificent. It would mean she could deliver the miracles Lady Hwaryeong created to the rest of the world.
Until now she had edited quietly as one fan among many, but once she took the position she could officially show everyone everything under Lady Hwaryeong’s name!
Seol-ah clenched her empty fist tightly at the thought, but another realization soon made her shoulders slump again.
Of course, that was only if Lady Hwaryeong actually chose her. From what she had heard, industry professionals with actual names had applied. There was no way an amateur shut-in like her would get picked. On top of that, because she had been so absorbed in martial training lately, she hadn’t even edited Lady Hwaryeong’s most recent streams. If she had known this would happen, she would have spent less time logged into Hwaryong Muin. She should have poured more heart into her editing work.
“What are you doing?”
Startled by the voice behind her, Seol-ah pitched forward. Laughter rang out.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Face slightly flushed, Seol-ah stood up and saw a woman covering her mouth, smiling. It was Baekju—the new divine spirit Lady Hwaryeong had recently brought with her.
“Is something the matter?”
“You looked like you were deep in thought, so I thought I might offer some counsel.”
“You, Lady Baekju?”
“Despite appearances, I am a divine spirit! In the past, resolving the worries of humans was part of my duties!”
It was true that mountain deities carried that sort of image—appearing before people in distress on the mountain to help them, or easing the troubles of good-hearted souls. Seol-ah had once believed the same, but living with Baru had shattered those illusions quickly. Baru was undoubtedly a magnificent and mysterious being, yet most of the time she was simply a fox sprawled out napping beneath the sun. After seeing that, it became impossible to hold onto any romantic notions about divine spirits.
“Would you tell me about it? I may be able to help.”
Baekju smiled as she spoke, but Seol-ah shook her head.
“It’s not a worry that can be solved in this place.”
It wasn’t the kind of problem counseling could fix in the first place.
Hearing her answer, Baekju tapped her lips, studied Seol-ah for a moment, then smiled and nodded.
“What a shame. If it had been about martial arts, I could have helped.”
“You could, Lady Baekju?”
Does she know martial arts too? She doesn’t look like the type.
“No, I cannot. Now, if it were a question about Taoist magic, I could answer immediately.”
“Then…”
“I was thinking of speaking with Mister Dang Yunok.”
Dang Yunok? The familiar way Baekju spoke of him suggested she meant the elderly man who had arrived together with this divine spirit. If it was him, he would certainly be able to resolve any martial concerns.
The day Lady Hwaryeong had brought the old man, Seol-ah had immediately sensed that he was a martial artist who had reached an exalted realm. Her own level was still too low to judge accurately, yet she could tell regardless—that the old man stood on equal footing with Hak Yeong-chung, her current instructor, or perhaps even higher.
Lady Hwaryeong had introduced him as a new teacher who would instruct them in the principles of martial arts, but that rigid, solemn expression hardly seemed to belong to any instructor. In fact, none of the users currently on Mount Hua had managed to hold a proper conversation with him.
“That person came here only because he had to grant his benefactor’s request, yet he has no intention of adapting and continues living as a loner, just like always.”
When Baekju added that she therefore needed to help Dang Yunok adjust to this place—even if it meant using Seol-ah—Seol-ah could only laugh in disbelief.
So she wasn’t worried about me at all. She was just trying to use me to help that old man. Scratch my earlier thought that she seemed like a normal divine spirit.
“Even now! Instead of looking around Mount Hua, he’s just training in martial arts by himself!”
“He’s training? Where?”
Seol-ah spent far more time on Mount Hua than in reality. If someone had been training, she would have known.
“He’s shut himself away on the mid-slope.”
Ah. So he’s training somewhere far from the Hwasan Sect’s actual grounds.
“He says he must focus on maintaining his current realm or some such. That man will remain a loner his entire life unless someone approaches him first.”
At Baekju’s successive complaints, Seol-ah’s smile stiffened. While Baekju was simply venting about the old man, those words applied perfectly to Seol-ah herself. A shut-in who had cut off all outside communication in her pursuit of the martial path. Wasn’t that the perfect summary of her life?
“You’re right. Someone has to speak to him first.”
“Um… Lady Baekju?”
“Na-seol! Let’s go together!”
“Huh?”
Before Seol-ah could even register her confusion at the suddenly advancing situation, Baekju was faster. The wooden staff she had produced from nowhere waved once, and the scenery changed.
Dropped into the middle of a withered forest, Seol-ah immediately felt an inner energy surging like a storm nearby. Just what kind of martial art produced such overwhelming pressure?
“This person really never sleeps,” Baekju muttered, leading the overwhelmed Seol-ah deeper into the woods.
Before long a vast clearing appeared, and in its center stood the old man, moving.
He took a deep breath and shifted. Each step seemed to stroll across the heavens. The fist he thrust forward did not simply shatter what lay before it—it stretched toward all demons. His movements were endlessly fluid yet carried incomparable ferocity. Nothing, it seemed, could possibly withstand that fist.
As Seol-ah watched in a daze, she recalled a passage from the Heavenly Demon Divine Art she had once read long ago.
In the world of wuxia novels it might be different, but among Hwaryong Muin users, martial verses were no longer secrets. The more popular a technique, the faster its passages spread. The arts of the Heavenly Demon Cult had been among the first to circulate.
In many novels the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was portrayed as the supreme martial art of absolutes, so how could players not be interested? Countless people had believed that mastering it would make them absolutes too.
Yet that belief went unrewarded. The Heavenly Demon Divine Art was weak. Even with system adjustments, it became nothing more than a pale imitation of other arts. The divine technique users had imagined simply did not exist.
After extensive research, players had reached a single conclusion: the Heavenly Demon Divine Art had never been designed for player use. It was an NPC-only skill created for the sake of balance.
Seol-ah had believed the same and given up after a few failed attempts to practice it.
But in this moment, watching the old man train in the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, she wondered whether the problem had been her training method all along.
Because she had never paid attention to its underlying principles. Because she had only looked at the results without caring about the essence. Was that why she had never been able to wield it?
The feeling of puzzle pieces clicking into place made Seol-ah’s eyes widen.
Yes. That had to be it. Lady Hwaryeong was a user, yet she handled the Heavenly Demon Divine Art perfectly. So if—if only—if she herself could learn its true principles, could she wield it too? Could she shatter the heavens the way Lady Hwaryeong did? Could she stand above everyone, just like the protagonist of the novel that had once given purpose to a shut-in like her?
“I wondered where the girl who was always hiding inside Mount Hua had run off to. So you were watching martial arts unfold.”
While Seol-ah was lost in thought, a voice suddenly spoke from behind her. Hwaryeong stood there, gazing down with her usual expressionless eyes.
“Seol-ah. I have something to ask you.”
“Yes.”
“Are you the Park Seol-ah who sent me an email?”