True Education
I slammed the door open and stepped inside. The boss bastard was sitting there like he owned the place, barking orders at the top of his lungs.
“You bitch! Who the hell do you think you are, spouting nonsense in my territory? Is anyone out there?!”
He was screaming so loud his neck veins bulged, trying to call his underlings inside. But no one came. Strange, right?
“Ugh! Is nobody there?! Where did all these idiots run off to?”
I couldn’t stand watching his pathetic display any longer and shot back, “Hey. Why wouldn’t they come?”
“...What?”
“Your goons were swarming the place outside. How else do you think I walked in here without a scratch? Don’t you hear the screams coming from out there?”
Only then did the guy finally calm down enough to actually listen. From beyond the walls came the unmistakable sounds of his subordinates shrieking in every direction. His face twisted horribly. Looks like he finally realized something was very wrong.
What an idiot.
“Who the hell are you?! What grudge do you have against me that you’d barge in here and start causing trouble?!”
Before me stood a middle-aged villain with a shattered forehead and nose, blood pouring down his face as he glared at me. My honest review was simple.
“Your face is fucking disgusting.”
At my words, the bastard’s expression turned into something straight out of a horror story, but he still couldn’t figure out the situation well enough to attack me recklessly.
“What grudge do you have against these people that you’d pull this crazy stunt? No? Then don’t ask for a reason. ...Wait, that’s not right. There is a reason, actually...”
I stared straight at him with pure contempt.
“You look like absolute shit. I bet even your own mother was shocked when she gave birth to you, right?”
“Kuaaak! I’ll kill you, you bitch!”
The moment I dropped the classic mother insult, the boss’s eyes rolled back in pure rage.
“Wow... you actually fell for such a basic provocation? No wonder your parents aren’t doing so well.”
“Kuaak! Die!”
He bent his fingers into hooks and swung his arm straight at my throat. I thought I’d dodged it cleanly, but at the same time his other hand came slashing in from the opposite side, aiming for my ribs.
‘Huh?’
I twisted my body desperately, but the edge of my clothes still got torn away.
[Riiip!]
“Ack! I only have one set of clothes, you bastard...!”
Thankfully only the fabric was damaged. My actual side was fine. He must have been caught off guard earlier by my surprise attack. Now that he’d regained his senses, his strikes were fast and vicious.
[Swish! Whoosh!]
Attacks flew in from multiple directions in rapid succession. He’d aim for my face, then suddenly switch to my thigh. When that failed, his hook-like hand twisted like a snake and shot straight for the soft spot under my chin.
‘He’s fast!’
I used the Iron Bridge technique, bending my waist backward to evade. His assault grew fiercer by the second. I had no choice but to keep retreating.
The truth was, the only things I’d learned since falling into this Murim world were swordsmanship and light footwork. Using a sword against someone attacking me bare-handed felt lame. It didn’t suit the image of a great hero at all.
‘Oh, right! I can use the Phantom Butterfly Soul-Bewildering Steps!’
I must have gotten too worked up after seeing this disgusting bastard’s evil deeds. I’d been fighting like some brainless thug again. I reflected on my mistake. This wasn’t the attitude of an Ultra S-Class Awakened.
The moment I realized it, I immediately began moving according to the Phantom Butterfly Soul-Bewildering Steps. My body flowed like the wind in every direction, sometimes like drifting clouds. The boss’s hands started getting tangled and confused, swinging wildly.
He seemed to notice and stopped his reckless attacks, leaping backward to create distance. Then he watched my movements with sharp, predatory eyes.
The sight made me feel uneasy, so I debated whether I should draw the imitation sword strapped to my back.
Actually, on my way up here I had asked Gapjil Jijon and the Heavenly Poison Old Man about martial arts. I still didn’t fully understand this world’s power system.
My question was this: If there’s a gap in realms, can someone of a lower realm never defeat someone of a higher one?
Can a first-class martial artist never beat a peak expert? Can a peak expert never defeat a super peak master?
The answers from the two Madu were “No.”
They said the difference in power grows larger with each realm, but it isn’t impossible to overcome. Extremely difficult, yes, but not impossible. Talent for combat, experience walking the line between life and death, and that unpredictable thing called luck could allow someone to bridge the gap. There were many such cases, they said.
From the Transcendence realm onward it might be nearly impossible, but up to Super Peak, it was possible.
If martial rank decided every victory, there would be no conflicts in the Murim. People would just ask, “What’s your level?” and the lower one would obediently follow the higher one. There’d be no reason to fight.
Yet in the Murim, hundreds or even thousands of conflicts break out every single day.
So I was curious. Just how well could I fight against a peak expert? How would I fare against someone at a similar level of strength? That kind of burning curiosity no man can resist.
That’s why I was testing the waters right now.
Just what level am I at these days?
Is there anyone in this Murim with more real combat experience than me?
I was certain the answer was no, whether here or back on Earth. Every single night I crossed the line between life and death dozens of times in that dream world.
So exactly how strong am I now?
This was the perfect chance to find out. And here was the perfect disposable bastard I could beat to death without any consequences!
I moved lightly, circling around him and looking for an opening. The boss seemed to have the same idea. With both hands and eyes shaped like hooks, he tracked my every move.
I was circling him irregularly when I suddenly reversed the direction of my footwork. That was when he moved.
In his eyes, it must have looked like a momentary gap.
‘Not quite... I baited him by making it look like an opening...’
The boss’s claw technique split into three directions, rushing toward the vital points on my upper body. But the Phantom Butterfly Soul-Bewildering Steps was a footwork as unpredictable as dandelion seeds dancing in the wind. I reacted naturally to his movement, taking a large step to the side and tilting my upper body at an angle to let the attack flow past me.
‘Opening!’
His right side was completely exposed. I drove my left fist straight into the gap.
But the bastard wasn’t so easily beaten. He twisted his center of gravity at the last second and snatched my fist with his hook-like hand.
[Grab!]
Like an eagle’s talons seizing its prey, he clamped down hard on my fist.
‘...Ugh, it’s hot!’
Only now did I notice both of the boss’s hands were glowing a burning red. The sharp nails gripping my fist were slowly digging into my snow-white skin.
Wait, scratch the “snow-white.” My left fist was covered in black geometric tattoos... so maybe “mottled fist” would be more accurate.
Anyway, I have no idea what kind of bastard (Sacheon Il-ma) taught him this martial art, but it was seriously nasty. I silently swore that one day I’d pay his master back for this, then tried to pull my captured hand free.
If I let him keep holding on, my fist might end up completely shredded. But his grip was as solid as a rock. It wouldn’t budge.
“Hehehe... where do you think you’re going? I’ll crush one of your hands first.”
The boss gave a sinister smile. Seeing him prematurely celebrate victory, I casually remarked, “Hey. Your nose is bleeding.”
“...?”
His forehead was split open and bleeding like a faucet, while twin streams of blood poured from both nostrils like waterfalls.
“You look really handsome right now.”
At my sarcasm, the ugly bastard’s already hideous face twisted even more grotesquely. In that instant, his focus wavered ever so slightly.
‘Now!’
I whipped my leg like a lash, slamming my shin precisely into the outside of his knee, right on the Yanglingquan point.
[Thud!]
“Kugh!”
He staggered. The Yanglingquan point controls the muscles and tendons. Get hit there properly and even an expert’s leg will lose all strength. Anyone who’s never experienced it wouldn’t understand just how sickeningly powerless it feels.
I didn’t give him any breathing room and kicked the same point twice more in quick succession.
[Thump! Thump!]
The crushing grip on my fist loosened for a split second. I immediately put my entire body weight behind my captured arm and yanked backward with all my strength.
[Splat!]
A spray of blood erupted as my hand broke free. Sadly, it was my own blood. Five deep gouges from his nails were carved into my fist like furrows, tearing the skin open.
“You bitch!”
Even though he’d lost his grip, the bastard didn’t give up. This time he came at me with claws raised, aiming to rip out my throat.
‘...But after getting kicked that hard in the Yanglingquan, how are you still charging in?’
His lower body, which had been rushing forward aggressively, suddenly wobbled. There was no way the shock from those kicks would fade so quickly. This guy... he clearly had never been hit there before.
This is exactly why you can’t ignore experience.
I didn’t miss that fleeting moment of imbalance. His middle finger was right in front of my throat. I snatched it with my right hand and twisted it backward with brutal force.
[Crack!]
“Kaaaak!”
The bastard screamed like he was dying. This guy had been making a racket with his “kyaa kyaa” noises since earlier. I kept a firm grip on his reversed middle finger and started swinging my right hand around wildly.
“Uwaaa! Kuaaak!”
Every time I moved, the boss shrieked like a five-year-old girl and danced helplessly in whatever direction I pulled him. When I yanked my hand toward myself, his body came stumbling after me like a reed. When I twisted it to the right, his whole body whipped around to the right.
Hilarious, wasn’t it? A finger takes up such a tiny portion of the body, yet when it gets broken, the entire body follows it obediently. Pain rules the brain. The will breaks. The victim begs for mercy, pleading to be let go. Strength leaves the body. The will to resist vanishes. Control over one’s own body is handed over to the opponent far too easily.
“Aaaagh! Hic! Kuaaaak!”
As I twisted and swung his middle finger around, a truly diverse array of screams poured out of him. He might be ugly, but he clearly had a natural talent for producing a wide variety of screams.
“Does it hurt? Want me to let go?”
At my words, the bastard’s eyes actually welled up with tears as his face turned into a pathetic plea for mercy. I nodded and promised to be merciful.
“Sure. I’ll make it easy for you.”
I twisted his middle finger all the way back until it touched the back of his hand.
[Crunch!]
“Kaaaaaaaaaaak!”
When the massive scream erupted, a strange sense of satisfaction filled my chest.
“There we go~.”
With a satisfied smile, I stomped down on his knee. His knee bent in the completely wrong direction.
[Crack!]
“!!!!”
He couldn’t even scream anymore. Foaming at the mouth, he collapsed to the ground.
Looking down at the crumpled boss, I thought to myself: Clearly this guy wasn’t at the Peak realm. Judging by his physical ability and internal energy being similar to mine, he was probably around the same First-class level as me.
So why had he been so one-sidedly destroyed?
That was the difference between greatness and mediocrity.