For the Sake of a Promise
Dokgo Ryeong opened her eyes to the sensation of someone touching her face.
She snatched the hand on pure instinct, and its owner spoke.
"Ah… you're awake, yo~?"
"…Hao Sect?"
"It's Gwanyeong, though?"
"Same damn difference…."
"More importantly, could you let go of my hand? You're getting in the way of the medicine…."
"…"
Dokgo Ryeong released the hand with a sharp flick, and Eun Gwanyeong's fingers returned to her face at once.
"Tss… hurts."
"Did you really think getting hit by me wouldn't hurt? My fists pack quite a punch, you know?"
"…You hit pretty hard."
"Huh?"
Eun Gwanyeong's eyes went wide at the reply.
"Heheh, you're being honest, yo~?"
"Whatever, you brat."
"Miss Dokgo is really strong too. Did you learn from the Mad Demon elder?"
"…Yeah."
She could hardly say I am that Mad Demon, you bitch, so Dokgo Ryeong simply brushed it off as something she had been taught.
…More than that, why is this bitch acting like this?
She was wondering whether the Lust Demon had chewed her out when the girl spoke first.
"Did you hear from Sister Sohyeon?"
"…About what?"
"My past."
"Roughly…."
"Then you know, right? I'm the daughter of a prostitute. I've never even seen the face of the man who was supposed to be my father."
"…"
Dokgo Ryeong had no idea how to answer and simply shut her mouth. Eun Gwanyeong let out a soft snicker.
"Heheheh, so Miss Dokgo has at least the bare minimum of manners."
"You messing around again?"
"…Anyway. The one who helped someone like me is Big Brother Wi. Look at this."
Eun Gwanyeong's hand moved in a strange, fluid motion. A moment later it had become a hand still bearing the hideous scars of old burns.
"It wasn't enough to damage the muscles and bones, but even this wound never became a true scar thanks to Big Brother Wi. From the day this wound appeared, Big Brother Wi has been more precious to me than my own life."
"…That so."
"Yes. He gave a name to a nameless prostitute's daughter, and I who had no surname live under the 'Eun' name thanks to the Sect Leader's grace. If I hadn't met Big Brother Wi that day, I'd probably be a courtesan selling my body to men by now, wouldn't I, yo~?"
"…"
She really just blurts out heavy shit without batting an eye, Dokgo Ryeong thought, frowning at the discomfort of it.
"Huh? Does it hurt somewhere?"
"…No. So what are you trying to say?"
"Ah, so you see, yo~."
Eun Gwanyeong's face drew close. Her silver hair spilled down and tickled Dokgo Ryeong's cheek.
"It's fine if you curse at me. But… please treat Big Brother Wi with a little more courtesy."
"…"
"Aren't you going to answer, yo~?"
"I don't know how you'll take it, but I respect Wi Ilcheong in my own way."
"Eh?"
"There are only two kinds of people I deal with. Those who've done me a favor, and those who hold a grudge against me."
"…"
"And Wi Ilcheong is at least on the side of those who've done me a favor."
"But is that really the only way you can talk, yo…?"
"Ah, so what the hell! I can only talk that way, you brat."
"…"
Dokgo Ryeong snapped, voice rising.
"Fuck, manners are for people who actually have them. How the hell am I supposed to know etiquette for dealing with superiors? Should I offer morning and evening greetings to the Lust Demon every damn day?"
"I'll teach you."
"What?"
"We made a bet, right? I said I'd teach you all sorts of things. I'll include etiquette in that."
"No, fuck. Wasn't it a draw? Then as the relatively weaker one, I should count as the winner."
"Eyy, then we should also take into account that Miss Dokgo used internal energy right from the start."
"…"
Dokgo Ryeong's face twisted.
In truth, she knew better than anyone that Eun Gwanyeong was stronger than her current self. That was exactly why she had tried to win by underhanded means. She understood perfectly well that it had not been fair. Yet the pride of the days when she had still been the powerful martial artist known as Mad Demon Dokgo Jin still lived inside her.
Going all-out against a girl who looked like she had only just passed twenty, even dragging in dirty tricks, and barely managing a draw?
I'd be too ashamed to lift my head.
Talking any further about it would only wound that pride more.
"Haa… fuck."
"Miss Dokgo. It isn't a bad thing for you either, you know?"
"What isn't?"
"Miss, do you know why people wear clothes?"
"What random bullshit is this…"
"The Sect Leader said it is wearing power."
"Power?"
Eun Gwanyeong straightened her posture; her expression grew quietly serious.
"Martial artists sometimes believe they prove themselves with nothing but their own flesh, but that isn't true. Everything they wear proves the martial artist."
"Bullshit."
"Why do you think that?"
"Then why is Mukseon a beggar?"
"But Master Mukseon wears the Beggar Sect's divine artifact—the Dog-Beating Staff."
"That's a weapon."
"If it isn't drawn, a weapon is also clothing."
"…"
Thinking about it, the point landed.
"Moreover, why do those from the great prestigious clans eat every spiritual medicine from childhood, receive bone-washing and marrow-cleansing, inherit the true transmissions of their famous arts, and still write their affiliation in huge characters across their clothes? 'I am from a prestigious clan! Know your place and crawl!' Isn't that it?"
"…Hearing it put that way, you're right. Makes sense."
"Right?"
"But why clothes?"
"Miss Dokgo doesn't know how to wear clothes at all."
"Me?"
"Yes. Not at all."
"…"
Well, she had lived her entire life as a man; of course she wouldn't know.
"If clothes are power, then demeanor speaks of a person's life. I don't have the great insight to see through everything, but at least I can tell that Miss's life was like a horse turned loose in open fields."
"What?"
"Legs always positioned ready to bolt. Eyes that first map every exit the moment you enter a new place. Clothes always worn in a form that lets you move freely, never able to stand anything confining."
"…"
"Like someone who has been chased their whole life. Well… if you grew up beside the Mad Demon elder, that would make sense too."
Dokgo Ryeong was quietly startled.
Eun Gwanyeong was a woman she could never quite get a handle on. For all her vacant-seeming speech, her eyes were far more meticulous than expected.
"So?"
"You need to change."
"What?"
"When the people one lives with change, one's conduct must change as well. But Miss hasn't changed at all, so I thought perhaps you simply don't know how."
"Do I have to?"
"If even I can notice that demeanor, do you think the Wulin Alliance and the Moyong Clan won't?"
"Ah…."
Dokgo Ryeong suddenly remembered why she had come to this tiny fishing village called Cheonniwa in the first place.
"From now on, Miss must become an entirely different person. Otherwise Big Brother Wi will keep clashing with the Wulin Alliance, and one day—when he meets an enemy he cannot handle… Big Brother Wi will die."
"If his life is in danger he'll just get out of the way on his own…"
"No."
Eun Gwanyeong answered with absolute conviction.
"Big Brother Wi will buy time until he dies right there. Because he promised Miss Dokgo's safety."
"…"
"That is the way Wi Ilcheong-oppa has always lived."
Only then did Dokgo Ryeong understand why Eun Gwanyeong had offered to teach her so many things.
She was not fretting over Dokgo Ryeong herself. She was fretting over Wi Ilcheong, who had made a promise with Dokgo Ryeong. She was worrying about the man who treasured promises as dearly as his own life.
In the end, Dokgo Ryeong nodded.
"…Fine. I got it. I'll try to change my demeanor."
"Really? This easily?"
"…I also know what a promise is."
"…"
Eun Gwanyeong regarded her with faintly suspicious eyes for a moment, then her usual vacant, unfocused gaze returned and she grinned.
"Heheh, okay, yo~. Then starting today, don't call Sister Sohyeon 'dunce' either?"
"Ah, fuck."
"Tsk! Swearing is forbidden too."
"No, fuck. Why!"
"Swearing makes a person vulgar. People expect pretty words to come out of a pretty Miss's mouth—not that kind of language, yo!"
"Damn it, fuck."
"…Aren't you going to keep the promise?"
"Aigoo, fuck. I've lived my whole life like this, fuck. You think it gets fixed overnight, fuck!"
"Haa…. We have a long way to go, yo…."
Eun Gwanyeong sighed and began unfastening Dokgo Ryeong's upper clothes.
"…What are you doing?"
"I'm applying the medicine, yo~?"
"Ah… right."
"Heheh, did you have dirty thoughts?"
"Ah… no I didn't, you lewd bitch!"
"Hihihi."
Eun Gwanyeong dabbed ointment onto her fingers and began spreading it between Dokgo Ryeong's breasts.
"Eut…!"
The cold touch of the ointment against her chest made Dokgo Ryeong tremble lightly.
"Miss Dokgo has really pretty breasts, huh?"
"Eu… are you going to keep making lewd comments!"
"Why is this a lewd comment, yo~? Fellow women can talk about these things."
"W… what?"
"You even bathed together with Sister Sohyeon, so why are you acting like this now, eit."
"Ha-eung…!"
Without warning Eun Gwanyeong seized Dokgo Ryeong's breasts in both hands.
Dokgo Ryeong's waist lifted clean off the bed at the sudden contact; a moan rose unbidden from deep in her lungs and escaped her lips.
"You… crazy bitch!"
"Oh my, I'm sorry, yo…. I didn't know you'd be this sensitive, yo…."
"…"
When Eun Gwanyeong lowered her eyes as though truly apologetic, Dokgo Ryeong forced the anger down.
…She's still acting out of goodwill. She's just applying medicine. Fellow women can talk about each other's chests…
At that exact moment Eun Gwanyeong lightly flicked Dokgo Ryeong's nipple.
"Ha-eut!"
"Miss Dokgo's nipples are pretty too. The areola is such a lovely light pink…"
"Stop it, you crazy bitch!"
"Oh my, this is all for Miss Dokgo's treatment, you know?"
"You gonna keep talking bullshit?"
"It's true, yo…. Internal energy still needs to circulate if you want to heal quickly, yo."
"…How the hell is that related to you touching my… that place?"
Embarrassment kept Dokgo Ryeong from even saying the word nipple.
"So that Miss Dokgo can more easily accept Big Brother Wi's yang root later, of course."
Dokgo Ryeong gritted her teeth against the pain and swung a foot at Eun Gwanyeong.
Eun Gwanyeong simply caught the leg and forced both of them wide apart.
"Eu… lewd wench! Can't you stop?!"
"Eyy~, why are you like that. If someone saw they'd think you were an Emei Sect martial artist. It's not as if you're going to keep your virginity forever."
"Wh… what…. Ha-eung…!"
Eun Gwanyeong's tongue brushed the inner side of Dokgo Ryeong's thigh. Her whole body shuddered again.
Once more she felt the deep, throbbing ache in her lower dantian.
"Anyway, Miss Dokgo already said you'd give your virginity to Big Brother Wi later, right?"
"Th… that's why…. Haut…!"
"Big Brother Wi's yang root is re~ally big. I suffered terribly on my first night with him too. It was so tearfully painful, yo."
"Heu-eut…. St… stop…!"
Eun Gwanyeong rolled her tongue in slow circles, licking steadily higher along the soft inner thigh.
When she finally reached the space between Dokgo Ryeong's legs she blew a soft, warm breath straight through the fabric of the underwear.
"Ha-eut!"
"So back then I really regretted it, yo…. If only I'd practiced ahead of time it wouldn't have hurt so much…. I could have left the memorable day of offering my virginity to Big Brother Wi as a better memory…. you know?"
She switched to the opposite thigh and licked her way upward again.
"Heut…! P… please… stop…! Ha-eut!"
Dokgo Ryeong trembled as though lightning had struck her. Somewhere along the way she had forgotten the fierce pain of their earlier fight; her entire body was growing hotter by the second.
"Miss Dokgo is really amazing."
"Heut…! W… what?"
"This is enough aphrodisiac that even an ordinary virgin would already be grabbing a passerby and begging to be fucked by now—yet you're still holding on."
"Eu… lewd wench… heup!"
Before the words finished, Eun Gwanyeong sealed Dokgo Ryeong's mouth with her own.
To escape the soft, warm tongue sliding inside, Dokgo Ryeong clenched her teeth and tried to bar the way. Eun Gwanyeong simply sucked on her lips and kept speaking.
"Chuuup…. Ha… every time you say something bad I'll do this, yo. Got it?"
"Ssib…. Heup…."
Eun Gwanyeong claimed her lips again. This time the tongue slipped in before Dokgo Ryeong could react, and it toyed with her mercilessly.
"Ha-eum…, chuuup…. Ha."
The wet slide of tongue against tongue turned Dokgo Ryeong's thoughts to fog. She twisted and dodged inside her own mouth, yet Eun Gwanyeong's tongue expertly tangled and held her.
"Chuwap…, eum…."
When that captured tongue was drawn out and sucked long between plump lips, Dokgo Ryeong tried to wrench her body free.
Then—
"Eit!"
"Ha-eut…!"
Eun Gwanyeong pinched a nipple between two fingers and pulled.
"If you keep running away I'll just make you feel even better, yo?"
"Heut…!"
She rolled the nipple with her fingertips; Dokgo Ryeong's back arched like a drawn bow.
Still no answer came, so Eun Gwanyeong pinched harder.
"Aren't you going to answer?"
"He-euk…!"
"The answer, yo~?"
Realizing at last that there was nowhere left to flee, Dokgo Ryeong forced the words out in a tiny, broken voice.
"Nye… nyehet…."