Those Who Meet Must Part, Those Who Leave Must Return (4)

"It was a really strange feeling."

Lying on the ground, I raised my head. Sannyeo was crossing her fingers, gazing up at the sky. She wiggled them, interlocked like a palisade, smiled languidly, and then looked back at me.

"When I walked back into this house, do you know what I was thinking?"

I rubbed my face.

"'Sleeping rough pissed me off, so I should beat the shit out of Docheol.'"

"Oh my, how did you know?"

Sannyeo blinked and asked in return. The way she parried a joke with a joke was even more infuriating.

"You were beating me with extra enthusiasm today. You said you were matching it to around second-rate, but if this is second-rate, first-rate would be shooting palm winds or something."

I frowned, rubbing my waist and chest. I had sparred with Sannyeo after her return, and her momentum was fiercer than before. She'd said she was matching the second-rate level, but no matter how I looked at it, this didn't seem like that. Each blow came in heavier, and attacks from unexpected angles flew at speeds I couldn't keep up with.

She dusted the dirt from the tips of her feet.

"Part of it was that I was a little troubled, so I went at it harder. But in a way, isn't this part of training too? Consider the scenario where you're fighting an opponent who's been hiding their true skill. 'Actually, they were a first-rate master pretending to be second-rate in front of you.' Something like that."

When I thought about it carefully, she had a point. And that was exactly why I was even more pissed off.

"Getting done in by a bastard like that, you really wouldn't have any excuse. It makes sense."

"Because once you're dead, the excuse that you didn't know is meaningless. You can't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even plead your case then."

Saying that, she subtly glossed over the part about having trained harder today. I had no intention of pressing further from the receiving end of the training either, so I went back to the main topic.

"So, what were you thinking when you were coming back?"

Sannyeo tilted her head at my words. Then she tilted it back once, making her hair ripple. She wore no ornaments, yet the rippling motion seemed to conjure the sound of beads clacking together. She looked down at me and said.

"Ah, I've finally returned."

I didn't answer. Seon-go was also looking at Sannyeo with a strange expression. Sannyeo met our gazes and said.

"I was having that kind of thought, and when I collected myself, the feeling was strange. This isn't my place to return to, and yet, I 'returned.' That's strange, isn't it? The human heart, it seems, has its slack and careless moments whenever it relaxes even a little."

"I know that feeling."

I had felt that way before. It was in the military. On the way back after finishing outdoor bivouac training, I'd unconsciously said this to the junior soldier next to me.

'Let's go home.'

Even after blurting that out, a strange feeling seized me. For a while, even resting in the barracks didn't feel like rest. Seon-go, startled by my words, said.

"Huh? Docheol. Do you think this isn't your home either?"

I shook my head and sat down next to Seon-go. Stroking her hair, I said.

"No, this is home. If a place where my wife is and where I rule isn't home, then what is? I meant I'd felt that feeling somewhere else before."

Sannyeo looked utterly unmoved, even while watching the married couple's affectionate display. She said to me.

"I'm grateful you empathized with me."

"Just say the word and I'll do it as many times as you want."

As I looked at Sannyeo and talked, Seon-go subtly leaned her head against my chest. Like a cat rubbing against you in the middle of a conversation, so I played with my fingers on her cheek. It was soft and nice to touch. Sannyeo raised her manacled hands and said.

"Since we got past the inspection well this time, those bastards will come up with other means. Pushing you out peacefully is off the table now, so they'll be aiming for your head."

"What do you mean, aiming for my head?"

"If they use a simple and brutish method, they'll just send an assassin. That's easy to resolve, but the aftermath is troublesome."

"If they send an assassin I can't handle at my level, yet I still manage to kill the bastard, that would certainly be the case."

Of course, there was no chance of me actually killing an assassin. If it's an assassin I can't handle at my level, Sannyeo would just quietly take care of it. Sannyeo nodded and said.

"Right. Your level of caution would go up. They'll think you've got backing, or that you're a guy with something to rely on. Providing the Murim Alliance with grounds to consider you a person of interest isn't exactly a pleasant prospect."

I didn't want assassins breaking into my house either. Because to me, home was a word that signified a place where I could stretch both legs out and sleep.

"What are the other methods? Do they have other ways of dealing with people?"

Sannyeo subtly averted her gaze. Seon-go was listening to our story with a fascinated face. She had rice crackers in her hand, and the way she listened to our conversation while nibbling on them made her look just like a spectator. When I also lowered my head and looked at her, Seon-go looked back and forth between us, then neatly broke off a piece of the cracker and said.

"...would you like some?"

Sannyeo laughed. I chuckled too and accepted the cracker she gave me. Seon-go stood up, took more crackers from the plate next to her, and offered them to Sannyeo. Sannyeo personally walked over to Seon-go, accepted the crackers, and said.

"Thank you, I'll enjoy them."

Her nonchalance was far better than getting agitated and fussing with worry. Sannyeo picked up a cracker with both hands and said.

"The Murim Alliance has several ways of handling a guy they don't like. Framing him as a murderer and killing him. Pinning false charges of corrupt conduct on him and killing him. Killing him in an accident."

"What's killing him in an accident?"

I understood how the other two methods removed someone, but the word 'accident' was beyond me. Did they push you off a building? Drop a boulder on you? Sannyeo gave me a cryptic look, as if she could guess what I was imagining. I awkwardly avoided her gaze, and she continued.

"Died in an accident during a sparring match, or died during a public duel. There are plenty of situations that can be chalked up as an accident, right? And when a guy with no backing like you dies, he won't have anywhere to plead his case."

"Ah, so an 'accident' that happens during a match?"

"Exactly. The opponent inadvertently used a strong technique, and you couldn't defend against it. More people die like this than you'd think. Among the masters of the unorthodox sects, there are even specialists in 'accidents' that happen during these kinds of matches."

"There are bastards who intentionally kill people 'by mistake' during a match?"

"Of course. A lot of people enjoy the notoriety that clings to their name. When people whisper, 'They say he's even killed someone during a match!', seeing them shrug their shoulders—I find it absolutely insufferable."

Sannyeo went so far as to mimic the whispering gossips to express her dislike for them. She shook her head side to side and added.

"The current Murim Alliance doesn't push those bastards out and re-establish the righteousness of the martial world. On the contrary, they actively make use of those bastards, devoting their efforts to removing figures who rise ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up in defiance against them."

She put a moment's force into her manacled hands. The sturdy manacles didn't budge even when she pulled her arms.

"Docheol. I don't want you to get caught up in the schemes of bastards like that and die a futile death."

She gestured with her chin toward the yard. I didn't understand her nod, so I picked up another rice cracker and ate it. Sannyeo, still smiling, said to me.

"What are you doing? I'm saying you need to train more. To handle any situation, I'll have to raise the intensity of the training."

Oh, fuck.

I cursed inwardly and ran out in front of her. Seon-go straightened up as if she had never been lying down and said.

"Docheol! Hang in there!"

Along with her spirited cheering.

Ppak!

"Ack! Fuck!"

I couldn't even react and got kicked in the face.

"What happens if you look away?"

Sannyeo said that and changed the trajectory of her leg. Her leg moved like a whip, swishing here and there, so I couldn't grasp the trajectory at all. When I tried to roughly swing my axe to defend, Sannyeo's leg disappeared from before my eyes and then came slamming down from a completely unexpected direction.

"Shit—!"

"You shouldn't defend blindly. You have to get used to the speed. You have to see it through to the end and even read the next trajectory of the attack."

Easier said than done. Putting it into practice was a different matter entirely. I couldn't see the trajectory at all. Gritting my teeth, I said.

"I can't see it at all. Is this an attack I'm really supposed to block at my level?"

Tok.

The next attack stopped just before hitting my arm. Sannyeo's sleek thigh extended in a straight line.

She lowered her leg slowly, like a crane, then took a step back and said.

"Focus your gaze. You can see it perfectly well. The reason you can't is because you think my level is too high. Think of it like this: it's no big deal."

Easier said than done. Putting it into practice was hard. How could I look down on her, someone who appeared to anyone as an overwhelmingly high master?

Was such a thing even possible?

Seeing my expression, Sannyeo continued.

"Even if you can't do it, I'm going to keep training at this intensity. It can't be helped if it's unreasonable. The world isn't only full of reasonable fights, is it?"

She ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was right.

I had to do it even if I hated it. As she said, dying with nothing but excuses after meeting a master stronger than me was far too pathetic. In this martial world, there would be any number of fights more unreasonable than sparring with her. Right before my very eyes, such an unreasonable fight might be closing in at any moment.

Thinking that way, sparring with her was nothing.

"Hoo...."

I forced myself to draw a breath.

She was raising her foot at a diagonal. The tip of her foot looked like a sharp spear, and in the next instant, it blurred and vanished.

I quickly rolled my eyes, chasing the afterimage. I couldn't see the foot's trajectory, but my eyes were definitely following the afterimage it left behind.

The foot that had been raised to my upper right came slashing in sharply from the front.

"Fuck!"

Kang!

With a metallic clang, my body was forced a step backward. The axe blade wavered, and Sannyeo was looking at me with her leg outstretched. I drew a sharp breath and met ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her eyes.

"That's how I do it, right?"

I could do it.

What she was showing me now was nothing.

I was going to become the king of the world, so this much was nothing.

I squeezed the axe tightly.

I could clearly see the corners of Sannyeo's mouth rising.