Chapter 21
Chapter 21
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: The Prickly Woman in Disguise
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‘Oops!’
I must have forgotten that Sang Gang-jo was injured. I’d flown off far too quickly.
No, even if he hadn’t been injured, it would have been difficult for him to keep up with my Heavenly Striding Arts.
After landing and waiting for about ten breaths, Sang Gang-jo finally shot toward me. As he drew closer, I could see his face was flushed, and he was gasping for air.
“Pant… pant…! We don’t have to… go this fast…! The pursuers are… over ten li away…!”
Because we had fled so quickly, the reinforcements that had been seven or eight li away were now more than ten li behind us.
“The leader of the reinforcements is closing in, now within two li.”
“A leader?”
“You couldn’t sense him? One of them is pursuing us at a rapid pace.”
Whether it was a leader or reinforcements, I was confident I could beat them all, but getting needlessly entangled in another incident was a hassle. I figured it was best to just leave.
“Is… that so?”
Sang Gang-jo wore a troubled expression.
“But I cannot move any faster.”
The desperation of the situation had made him more polite. His speech had gradually grown more deferential.
It was rather amusing to see the man who was once the Hall Master of Discipline—the Yama King of the Martial Alliance’s main headquarters—and now its Chief Hall Master, slowly become more courteous toward me.
I thought for a moment before grabbing one of Sang Gang-jo’s arms.
“I’ll take you with me.”
“If you do that…”
Sang Gang-jo was about to say that it would slow us down, but I had already shot into the air, drawing on a little more of my power than before.
*Shiiik!*
“Ah…”
***
*Swish!*
A person had just arrived on the bank of the Qiantang River.
He was a young man clad in a red silk tunic, a coiled black whip at his waist, and an ancient sword slung across his back.
The man in red had been chasing someone but had lost their trail and was now searching the vicinity.
He spotted the back of a person in a yellow light uniform standing at the edge of the riverbank, arms crossed, gazing at the water. He spoke.
“Hey! See anyone suspicious?”
He was blunt and informal.
The man in yellow continued to watch the river as he replied quietly.
“What do you consider suspicious?”
He, too, responded informally. An informal reply to an informal question.
The man in red frowned slightly.
“A stranger.”
“In that case, I have.”
“Where is he?”
“Right there, isn't he?”
The man in red glanced down at his own feet, then raised his voice.
“…Are you messing with me?”
“To me, you’re the stranger, the suspicious one.”
Having said that, the man in yellow was quite pleased with himself.
‘Hahaha! That was a great comeback.’
It was the first time I, the man in yellow, had ever felt such a thrill.
I don’t know what my personality is like, because I’ve never really had one. So even I don’t know which way I’ll jump in any given situation.
I lost my parents when I was very young and wandered as a beggar. It was a miracle I even survived that time.
Then, at the age of six, I was taken in by my master and spent twelve years as a servant to him and his family, leaving no room or opportunity for something like a personality to form.
After that, as a low-level warrior in the Martial Alliance, I was called into battle almost daily for two years. During that period, all I had was the fierce instinct to survive.
Finally, I spent three years and five months on Mount Gwalchang, immersed day and night in martial arts training inside a cave. How could a personality form when I was all alone?
If I had to say I had a personality trait, it would have been taciturnity.
A person’s character is shaped through a stable life and interactions with others.
Therefore, the period when my personality began to form is right now.
Living like a human being for the first time at the Martial Alliance’s Dong-ro Grand Branch, after twenty-three years—no, adding the ten years I was frozen in the Yin Essence Abyss, thirty-three years—the pure personality of me, Ak Bi-ryong, is finally beginning to sprout like a new bud.
And the important thing is, from now on, I will forge my personality myself.
Not the personality of a weak, low-level Martial Alliance warrior, but that of a true master of combat, one who wins every fight he enters.
The voice of the man in red came from directly behind me.
“You, are you with the Martial Alliance?”
“And where are you from?”
I didn’t turn around, but I could almost see the man in red scowling.
“Are you playing games with me?”
The man in red snapped, his voice as thin and shrill as a woman’s.
“You approached me while I was minding my own business. Who do you think is playing games here?”
‘Oho! So this is what wordplay is like!’
I was starting to enjoy this verbal sparring. The fact that you could play with people using just words was fascinating.
Right now, I was giving my opponent a sharp lesson with my words.
I sensed him approach until he was about a pace and a half away, but I didn’t turn.
This was a kind of adventure. I had a strong belief that if he attacked, my body would react on its own.
I also felt that doing this could overwhelm my opponent’s spirit.
I realized again that a sense of adventure was just as fun as wordplay.
In my view, the man in red was clearly the leader of the reinforcements who had been pursuing us from three li away.
I could feel him glaring daggers at the back of my head, because it was starting to tingle.
Still, I didn’t unfold my arms, keeping my posture ramrod straight as I gazed at the Qiantang River.
“If you don’t turn around, I’ll attack.”
“Oh? I won’t turn around, so go ahead and try.”
“…”
The wordplay was getting more and more fun.
It seemed that whatever the man in red said, he was only being played for a fool without gaining any ground.
On the other hand, I had to suppress a burst of laughter, having just discovered how enjoyable it was to toy with someone using words.
‘Go on, chatter all you want. I’ll take on anything you’ve got,’ I thought.
At the same time, the direction of my future life became clear.
‘That’s right! I’ll just live freely, without a single care!’
The man in red frowned, conflicted. Attacking and felling an opponent who stood with his back to you from a mere pace and a half away should be as easy as flipping one’s hand.
But that was only when the opponent was unaware. The situation was fundamentally different when the opponent openly says, “Oh? I won’t turn around, so go ahead and try.”
It wasn’t a simple statement of submission, like, “Sure, if you attack me from behind, I’ll just let you kill me.”
The man in red couldn’t possibly miss the stronger underlying meaning: ‘Go on, attack. You’ll get a taste of something nasty.’
And so, the man in red clenched and unclenched his fists, growing tense without even realizing it.
In truth, the man in red was a high-ranking figure in the Demonic Emperor's Grand Union. He was known for his cruelty and sharp temper, and he had never found himself in a situation like this when facing a fight.
Yet here he was, hesitating. And the one who had caused it was none other than me, Ak Bi-ryong.
I was at the pinnacle of verbal sparring.
“If you’re not going to attack, shall I?”
*Swish!*
Though I hadn’t even turned, the man in red flinched and immediately retreated two paces.
Only then did I slowly turn around, laughing cheerfully.
“Hahahaha! Are you scared?”
I was genuinely amused, my chest shaking with laughter.
The man in red’s face flushed with shame at the fact that he had been frightened so easily.
“You…”
The man in red glared sharply at my face.
He looked surprised to see that I was younger than he had expected.
While he sized me up, I did the same to him.
He looked to be twenty-two at most, with very handsome—no, beautiful—features.
Coupled with a petite and slender frame, anyone would think he was a woman dressed as a man.
Come to think of it, his voice had been thin and high-pitched.
“You’re a woman, aren’t you?”
“I am not!”
The man in red snapped, his voice a shrill, high-pitched woman’s shout.
“You’re definitely a woman.”
“I told you, I’m not!”
Veins bulged on his forehead and neck as he clenched his fists and screamed in frustration.
I was already convinced he was a woman based on his words and actions.
“Take out your identification tag or travel permit and prove to me that you’re a woman.”
“I don’t have an identification tag, so how am I supposed to prove it?”
“Then prove you’re a woman some other way.”
“Why do I have to do that?”
The man in red was clearly not listening properly.
The conversation was getting strangely twisted, but that was because I was twisting it on purpose.
“So you’re saying you have no way to prove you’re a woman.”
“Hmph! I’ve been a woman since the day I was born!”
‘She took the bait.’
“Oh, really?”
“That’s right!”
“Then why are you dressed as a man?”
“The reason I’m dressed as a man is…”
The man in red trailed off, then flinched as something dawned on him.
“You bastard! I’m a man, I tell you!”
She was still insisting, even after her gender had been all but revealed.
“Oh, really?”
“I’m a man!”
When I glanced down at her lower body, she hastily covered herself with both hands and shrieked.
“You pervert! Where are you looking?”
Her face turned as red as a sunset. She was being thoroughly beaten with words for the first time in her life.
I stepped toward her.
“Shall I check for myself, then?”
“Aah! You crazy bastard, don’t you dare!”
*Whoosh!*
The woman in red fled in a panic, disappearing from sight in an instant.
It seemed she had concluded that I was some crazy pervert who had nothing to do with Sang Gang-jo. Why else would she have vanished without a second glance?
I watched the direction she had disappeared in and licked my lips.
‘She seemed like a formidable master. I wanted to have a fight, what a shame.’
In truth, I had been about to leave with Sang Gang-jo, but I sensed that the leader of the reinforcements was quite a master. Unable to resist my fighting spirit, I had waited for him in a suitable location.
Things had taken a strange turn, but it all worked out for the best. Fighting a girl wasn't something I was keen on. If I had known she was a girl, I wouldn't have waited.
Besides, I had driven her off with just a few words—with verbal sparring. It was truly exhilarating. More exhilarating than felling an opponent in a fight.
I started walking toward the main road and called out.
“You can come out now. Let’s go.”
Sang Gang-jo, who had been hiding in the forest and watching, came running out.
He knew who the woman in red was, and he was both overjoyed and astonished that I had managed to toy with her using only words and make her flee before a fight even began.
“That was incredible!”
“What was?”
I feigned ignorance, though I knew exactly what he meant. It felt like it would amplify my sense of triumph.
“You made her run away with just a few words!”
“So she really is a woman?”
“Yes, she is.”
“If I’d known from the start she was a girl, I wouldn’t have waited to fight.”
“You don’t fight women?”
“I try not to, if I can help it.”
“Is there a reason?”
“She’s a woman. What more reason is there?”
“I see.”
Sang Gang-jo and I walked side by side along the road.
“What will you do now?”
Treating Sang Gang-jo like a subordinate had already become second nature to me.
He had been wary of me before, but after witnessing the exchange with the woman in red, he had become even more deferential.
Therefore, there was no reason for me to tell him what to do.