The Moon Rises on Its Own
What was the first thing that came to mind?
The feel of the sword in my grip.
The heavy, slightly rough hilt, and a weight vastly different from that of a wooden sword.
And the faint scent of iron.
That was the impression I got before I even swung it properly.
I closed my eyes.
Beyond the darkness of my vision, something came into view.
It was someone's back.
Rather small and thin—it was clearly my own back.
And yet.
It feels so large.
Why did a back that was undoubtedly narrow look so massive? Was it because the presence of the one moving my body was so immense?
The single strike unleashed toward the Socheong Sword.
I recalled the air at that very moment.
I tightened my grip.
Holding the sword, I took a step forward.
I focused entirely on recalling the sensations.
How did my body feel back then?
How much air did I breathe in?
How much strength did I channel to execute the movement?
And what was the flow of the energy moving inside me?
I remembered every single detail, engraving them into my body.
Whoosh.
The sword moved. I felt the resistance of the air.
At this moment, I put more strength into my toes than my waist. I paid close attention to the angle of my elbow.
A bit lighter. And much deeper.
I flexed muscles I rarely used.
I wondered why a single thrust required such complex movements, but the doubt didn't last long.
This is how he did it.
So, I would simply do the same.
Thud!
The sole of my foot stamped against the ground.
There is no part of the body that goes unused. There are only places where you apply less strength.
I also recalled the words the old man had said while watching me.
The way he channeled power from the soles of his feet through his entire body.
Don't think about why it has to be this way.
Just copy it.
I had memorized it, and I wanted to embody it, so I executed it exactly the same way.
Swoooosh!
I didn't look at how the sword was moving.
That was the purpose of keeping my eyes closed.
To prevent myself from doubting. To ensure not a shred of hesitation remained.
Hummm!
A spark ignited in my dantian.
The Cheongwol Mind Method, which had begun to circulate, was faint enough to snap at any moment, yet it still radiated light.
Where would the flow of energy go?
While calculating and mimicking every movement, should I leave the energy alone? There was no time to ponder. I had already let go of my control over the energy.
Whoosh!
The energy, freed from my grasp, flowed through my body.
It surged and wrapped around my hand, eventually extending into the sword itself.
A flash of light gathered at the tip of the blade.
What was the name of this martial art again?
I didn't remember. I didn't need to know.
The energy overlaid itself onto the movements I replicated.
Did he say it creates a moon with the sword?
That was the only thing I needed to remember.
Slash!
The sword sliced through the empty air.
Whoosh!
The moment the movement finished, the energy within my body dissipated, and a wave of heat spread outward.
"Whew... Haa..."
Catching my ragged breath, I slowly opened my eyes.
As I opened them, gazes poured in from all directions, just like before.
But there was a difference.
They look shocked.
Astonishment was written all over their faces.
Ah, I see.
I guess I did pretty well.
The imitation seemed to have gone better than expected.
It had felt ridiculously difficult to pull off, so I had wondered if I could do it at all.
"That was easier than I thought."
It was much easier than I had anticipated.
"Hahahahahahaha!"
Crazy old man.
I frowned at the sudden burst of laughter.
The old ghost was laughing hysterically at me.
What is his problem now?
Why was that specter acting up again? I didn't know, but I didn't want to deal with him right now.
I shifted my gaze to the Moon Fairy Sword.
The handsome middle-aged man was staring at me, his eyes wide as saucers.
"I gave it my best effort. Are you satisfied?"
"..."
No answer came. Silence stretched between us. After waiting for a moment, he finally spoke.
"Young Master Bang."
The Moon Fairy Sword looked at me and asked, "What is it that you wish to achieve in our sect?"
"That question doesn't really match what I asked, does it?"
I asked if he was satisfied, and he asked what I wanted to do. It was a baffling question.
Still.
"Since you asked, I suppose I'll answer..."
Since it was the Moon Fairy Sword asking, I answered with the brightest smile I could muster.
"First, I plan to become the Young Sect Leader. My master told me to become the leader of Cheongwol Gate."
"..."
"That is why I came here."
At my response, the surrounding atmosphere turned ice-cold.
As if midwinter had suddenly arrived.
After Bang Seong-yeon left, amid the heavy silence, a man spoke as he looked at Cheon Seong-hwa.
"He is dangerous."
Cheon Seong-hwa looked at the man.
A single teacup sat on his table, but it had already gone cold.
It meant he hadn't taken a single sip since it was poured.
"Sowol Daeju. What exactly is dangerous about him?"
"That fellow, Bang Seong-yeon... he is far too dangerous of a presence to appear at a time like this."
"Why?"
At Cheon Seong-hwa's question, the Sowol Daeju knit his brows. He knew the Moonmaster wasn't asking out of ignorance.
"The competition for the position of Young Sect Leader has already begun..."
There were four candidates he knew of who had entered the fray for the position.
"To have a storm brew so late in the game..."
"Indeed," Cheon Seong-hwa agreed.
A late storm. That was the perfect description.
"For such a person to bring up the position of Young Sect Leader, it will surely..."
"But why is that a problem?"
"Sect Leader...?"
The Sowol Daeju looked bewildered by Cheon Seong-hwa's response.
"A qualified individual has simply expressed his ambition. What is the issue with that?"
The conditions to rise to the position of Young Sect Leader of Cheongwol Gate:
One must awaken the Moon Eye and be capable of performing the Blue Moon Sword Dance.
Bang Seong-yeon met those conditions perfectly.
"Did you not see it with your own eyes? Did that single strike not impress you?"
"..."
The Sowol Daeju could not find any words to reply.
He had no choice.
"To my eyes, though it seemed slightly unstable, that sword strike was nothing short of admirable."
It was too brilliant to deny.
Anyone who had learned the Blue Moon Sword Dance—no, any swordsman—would have to acknowledge it.
Moreover.
"I saw the former Sect Leader in that young man."
"How could...!"
"Can you deny it? Because I cannot."
"..."
"The face of the young man asking me why I couldn't learn it just by reading the manual. The way he looked at me, and even the faint sensation radiating from him. It was the spitting image of the Elder."
"...Are you saying, Sect Leader, that Young Master Bang is definitely the successor of the Sword Saint?"
"No."
Cheon Seong-hwa's answer was firm.
"There are still too many strange things to be certain. However, we cannot rule it out either."
Only the Sword Saint of Cheongwol Gate was capable of such application of energy and swordsmanship.
If Bang Seong-yeon, who had executed it perfectly, was not the successor of the Sword Saint, then what was he?
While they lacked absolute certainty, the justification was more than sufficient.
It was simply that because they weren't certain, there was less they could do for now.
"Then, do you intend to throw your support behind Young Master Bang?"
"Haha."
Cheon Seong-hwa burst into laughter at the Sowol Daeju's question.
"Of course not."
His voice carried a tone of sheer disbelief.
"As I have said before, I have no intention of supporting anyone."
"Then why..."
"I simply do not understand your concern."
Cheon Seong-hwa added, lightly touching the teacup in front of him.
"Young Master Bang is fully qualified. Whether he appeared late or swept in like a sudden gale does not matter. The position has not been decided yet anyway."
"But..."
"Sowol Daeju. I am well aware of the high expectations you place on my daughter."
"!"
The Sowol Daeju shut his mouth at Cheon Seong-hwa's words.
"That is why I am letting your comments slide for now, but..."
Creak.
Rattle.
The tea inside the cup began to ripple violently, and the window frames shook.
"I will not tolerate you crossing the line any further."
"..."
At the chilling warning, the Sowol Daeju immediately dropped to one knee.
"...I apologize. I overstepped my bounds."
Cheon Seong-hwa looked at the bowing Sowol Daeju, then shifted his gaze.
As if by magic, the crushing pressure vanished.
"There will not be a second time."
"...I will keep that in mind."
"And if you are worried about that child, it would be all the more reason to keep Young Master Bang close to her."
"...What do you mean by that?"
"Should we not put similar existences together to stoke the flames?"
"!"
The Sowol Daeju swallowed hard.
The gaze Cheon Seong-hwa directed at him as he spoke was incredibly cold.
Right after saying those words, Cheon Seong-hwa's eyes grew pensive for some reason.
What was he thinking? The Sowol Daeju did not dare to ask.
A short moment passed.
"Yes, that should do it."
Cheon Seong-hwa nodded as if something had just occurred to him.
"Sowol Daeju."
"...Yes, Sect Leader."
"Send a letter to the Dang Clan."
"To the Dang Clan, you say?"
"Yes."
Just as the Sowol Daeju was wondering why he suddenly mentioned the Dang Clan.
"...Could it be...?"
Realizing something, the Sowol Daeju froze. Cheon Seong-hwa looked at him and spoke.
"Since he showed us something so spectacular, I thought I should give him a gift in return."
In the darkness, Cheon Seong-hwa's blue eyes curved into crescents.
It was a distinctly chilling sight.
"Ugh, freezing cold."
I rubbed my arms at the sudden chill.
"...Is something terrible about to happen again?"
It was an incredibly ominous feeling. The nasty sensation made me shiver.
Please let nothing happen.
I prayed and prayed.
As always, my bad premonitions were usually right. Dammit.
"Son of a..."
While I was trying to calm myself down and rubbing my arms, Yoo Chun-gil looked at me with a bizarre expression.
"...What are you doing?"
"Just feeling a bit cold."
"It doesn't seem like the season to be cold."
"Sometimes I get cold when I get a crappy feeling."
"Hmph. Have you been possessed by a shamanic spirit or something?"
"Well, about that..."
I had never seen a god, but if I had to guess, maybe I was?
Because of that, I had been dragged through the mud in both my past life and this one.
It was incredibly unfair. I was about to say that, but I clicked my tongue loudly instead.
"It has nothing to do with you anyway, old man."
"Hahaha..."
Yoo Chun-gil let out a dry laugh at my attitude.
"Mind your own business."
"Are you still sulking?"
"Who's sulking? I'm not."
"You say that, but your face looks like a rotten cucumber."
"That is a terrible comparison."
A rotten cucumber? What kind of dog crap comparison was that?
As I continued to click my tongue in annoyance, Yoo Chun-gil scratched his cheek and spoke.
"Come now, didn't I tell you there was a reason for it? Don't be so petty for a grown man."
"What?"
Petty? Petty? The words hit a nerve, and my brow furrowed.
"If there was a reason, you should have told me beforehand. How can you say that after pushing me into it out of nowhere?"
"Well, did I know you would suddenly step up and offer to show them? I thought you would use your head a little."
"Where was the time to think in that situation?! Even doing it right away would have been cutting it close!"
Just moments ago, when I had to prove my identity to the Moon Fairy Sword, Yoo Chun-gil had refused to help me.
Because of that, I was still furious at this old ghost.
"Who am I going through all this trouble for, only for you to screw me over?"
"Well, didn't it all work out in the end? I told you, I believed in you from the start."
"Oh, sure you did."
"...You really look terrible. How can a face contort so unnaturally?"
"I'm not doing this anymore."
"I am sorry."
Realizing he had gone too far this time, the old man quickly apologized.
Of course, that wasn't enough to appease me.
I continued to grind my teeth.
"By the way, child."
"What."
The old man addressed me.
"May I ask you something?"
"Do you think you should?"
"When you performed the Moon Wave earlier, why did you leave the energy alone?"
"Right, so you had no intention of waiting for my permission in the first place."
Why even ask if he could ask?
It was absurd. I wanted to ignore him completely, but the question caught my attention.
"...What do you mean?"
"You copied everything perfectly from start to finish, so why didn't you touch the energy?"
"...Ah."
I understood.
When I performed the sword dance earlier, I had mimicked the movements but left the energy to flow on its own.
Yoo Chun-gil was pointing that out.
"Is that not allowed? It seemed to work out fine."
"As I just said, it is out of pure curiosity. Knowing your eccentric personality, I figured you must have had a reason."
"..."
The word 'eccentric' bothered me, but I ignored it for now.
The reason I did that? Honestly, it was nothing major.
"You said it yourself, old man."
"What did I say?"
"That the moon doesn't bloom; it rises on its own."
"...!"
"So I just left it alone. To let it flow naturally. I thought that was the right way. Was I wrong?"
The moon simply rises.
Those were the words the old man had said when he demonstrated the technique. I had recalled that, which was why I deliberately left it alone.
"Haha..."
The old man stared at me, looking completely speechless.
Was it the wrong choice? Just as I was starting to feel a bit anxious.
"Marvelous."
The old man praised me quietly.
"...Hmm."
I scratched the tip of my nose. It was nothing major, but it made me feel a bit good.
Well, I guess I am pretty good.
I thought it was decent enough.
That was what I thought at the time.
But I would later learn that in his entire life, there were only two people Yoo Chun-gil had ever called "marvelous."
One was me.
And the other was.
The Heavenly Demon.
That was the true weight of his praise.