Talent
In the early hours before dawn, Ye Hajun slept.
Even with Juddak Ye Hajun sound asleep, the gallery kept running.
The gallery was on fire over what had happened with Ye Hajun earlier—more precisely, over what the Spirit of Seeking Justice had witnessed that afternoon.
Three weeks had already slipped by since I first made contact with the Uwhadeungseon Gallery. In that time, my daily life had grown steadily more used to it.
Not many posts today.
I woke, worked the stiffness of another night on the ground out of my body, dropped into a horse stance, and opened the gallery first thing.
Three weeks of learning martial arts through the Spirit of Seeking Justice, and the techniques themselves had come surprisingly fast—so I was just drilling the same forms over and over. Most of what remained was building stamina and muscle.
So every day was the same cycle: fall asleep aching in every muscle, wake up, do it again. And because I was still on the road to Cheonmu Academy, dodging pursuers the whole way, the schedule was brutal on top of that.
If I hadn't run into some slash-and-burn farmers and gotten food from them, it would have been far worse. Luckily they'd given me provisions and a few essentials for camping, so these days I could at least light a fire and sleep in something resembling comfort.
I was turning over the past few days in my head while checking the gallery when a new post went up.
Here we go again.
Almost the same instant I saw the post, the Spirit of Seeking Justice manifested.
"Juddak. You see it?"
"I saw it."
"Like I always say—"
"Yeah, yeah. Chase the posture and you get the form. Gather the forms and you get the style. But how you actually use that style in a real fight—that only piles up through real combat."
The Justice gallery spirit's usual lecture came out of me before he could finish, and he grinned wide.
"That's right. So today, you want to handle it yourself without the coaching?"
"If the pursuers are too strong, I'll ask for the coaching. This is already the fifth run-in, so the stronger ones should start showing up soon, right?"
Heuksabang, run by the Heuksabang Lord, was divided by skill into three squads: Snake Tail, Snake Belly, and Snake Head—named for the tail, body, and head of a serpent. The previous squad leader and the four pursuit teams I'd met since had all been Snake Tail. It wouldn't be strange for Snake Belly to start showing up now.
No way the Snake Head squad, the ones who take a gold coin a day just for being on retainer, are coming out just for me.
I was waiting for the pursuers, hidden behind a tree, when the Justice gallery spirit spoke.
"They're here."
I lifted my head. Five of them this time.
That's a lot of people. They bunching up now?
Until now they'd always come in pairs. The pattern had changed. And more than that—
"One of them stands out. Might be that Belly unit you mentioned, Juddak."
So the stronger ones were finally coming. I'd known it would happen eventually, but it was sooner than I'd expected.
"What's the call, Juddak? Need coaching?"
"Good. That's the right call."
I steadied my breathing and watched for an opening. Footfalls—thud, thud—let me place them. The moment a pursuer passed my tree, I burst out.
Sacheoljung, a mid-rank martial artist of Heuksabang's Snake Belly squad, was on the hunt with four Snake Tail members. The target was Ye Hajun, accused of stealing from the Heuksabang Lord himself.
Ordinarily the tails should have handled it among themselves; the fact that a belly like him had been called in meant the target was skilled enough to warrant it, and Sacheoljung knew that. He was not, by any means, letting his guard down.
They lit a fire nearby. Either they aren't worried about pursuit, or it's bait…
The campsite traces left so openly put him on edge; he was fully aware someone might jump them at any moment. Even so, Ye Hajun's ambush was sudden.
In the split second Sacheoljung was scanning the surroundings—
Crack!
"Ghk—!"
Ye Hajun came out from behind a tree and smashed the lead Snake Tail member across the throat, then immediately seized the next man by the collar.
What the—?!
Sacheoljung's hand flew toward the sword at his hip on pure reflex. In the same breath, Hajun hooked the collared man's ankle, dumped him, and broke the formation of the remaining two. Sacheoljung himself had to take a step back—and in that brief window:
Thwack!
Hajun had already dropped another one.
What just happened? What even was that?
Shing.
No time to process. Sacheoljung drew his blade and called out.
"Ye Hajun!!"
Numbers still favored the pursuit team, but they'd lost the initiative. He needed a second to seize it back, so he tried to talk—and Hajun didn't answer at all. Instead he launched himself at the two tails still standing.
This little bastard…!
Sacheoljung swung, determined not to let him. Hajun shoved the man he was holding straight into the path of the blade.
"Hiiiik!"
Damn it—!
If he finished the cut, he wouldn't reach Hajun at all—he'd only carve up his own man. With his own teammate in the way, Sacheoljung checked the swing short. Hajun simply shoved the collared man into him.
"You stupid bastard! Get out of the way and stop cluttering things up!"
While Sacheoljung snarled and shoved his own man aside, another Snake Tail was already going down under Hajun's hands. Five of them had arrived, and in a handful of heartbeats three were sprawled on the ground. Cold sweat ran down Sacheoljung's back at the sight.
This bastard… I was told he'd never learned martial arts.
Stronger than expected. Sacheoljung adjusted his grip—and then:
Fwoosh!
Dirt exploded into his eyes. He squeezed them shut on instinct.
He kicked the ground—
He swung blind. Nothing connected. Pain slammed into his throat next.
"Ghk—!"
A clean hit to the larynx folded him forward, and a heavy blow crashed into the back of his skull. The cold of the dirt rose up under him, and Sacheoljung blacked out.
Having dropped four pursuers in an instant, Ye Hajun looked at the last remaining Snake Tail member.
"You want more, or you walking away?"
"J-just spare me and I'll go. Please."
"Fine. But empty your pockets first—money, food, whatever. You brought something, right?"
The tail frantically unslung the pack from his back and handed it over.
"Hmm. Jerky and medicine?"
"Y-yes."
"What are you waiting for? Hand over everyone else's too."
"Then how are we supposed to get back…?"
"That's your problem. I let you live, didn't I?"
"Ah—right. Yes, of course!"
In the end the tail collected everything off the four comrades lying unconscious on the ground and handed it all over.
With this, I can stop rationing and still last about two weeks easy.
Hajun eyed the now-heavy pack and smiled, pleased.
"Any more pursuit teams coming after this?"
"We're… the last team in Guizhou Province. That's why a Snake Belly was included. Sichuan's next, so…"
Already Sichuan.
They said the branch changes when you cross provinces, so word might travel a little slow. I could get greedy and rest a day at an inn…
Three weeks of sleeping rough, and the thought of finally sleeping under a roof was enough that he couldn't hide the grin. The moment he actually had a reason to spend the money Cheon Ryeonghwa had given him properly, she suddenly came to mind.
I wonder how Cheon Ryeonghwa's doing right now…