Chapter 14: Why Aren't You Here?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 14: Why Aren't You Here?
Kim Hyeon-seung, frozen in a grotesque posture with his neck unnaturally twisted, stared intently at me.
A grotesque laugh spilled from his wide, gaping mouth.
“Heheheh……”
A laugh far too eerie to be human.
Yet the audience seemed to take even that for part of the performance.
After all, it was common for participants to pause briefly for expressive acting or dynamic control.
“Hahahaha—!”
Kim Hyeon-seung burst into laughter and resumed his Sword Dance.
As his twin sword movements grew faster and more aggressive, the audience erupted in cheers and applause.
It was a dazzling and dynamic display, rarely seen in the High School Division Competition.
The problem was that he wasn't in his right mind, and only the two of us had noticed.
‘Of all times…’
If this had happened in the General Division Competition, the judges would have caught on immediately, but the High School Division judges, with less martial arts experience and skill, seemed oblivious.
I leaned into Bok-ja's ear and whispered a question.
“If it's a ghost, is it a Vengeful Spirit or an Evil Spirit?”
Monstrous Beings are categorized into Ghosts, Spiritual Beings, and Disasters.
Among Ghosts, there are Vengeful Spirits and Evil Spirits.
Vengeful Spirits are the souls of the dead unable to pass on, and can communicate to some extent through shamans or spellcasters. Evil Spirits, however, are malevolent entities that have lost their ego and only harbor resentment, leaving no option but to exorcise them.
Bok-ja looked surprised that I knew such concepts, but seeing my urgent expression, she quickly explained.
“An Evil Spirit. It didn't possess him naturally; someone forced it on him.”
“How dangerous is he right now?”
At that moment, a pale blue ghost fire flickered in Bok-ja's eyes.
With their attention captivated by Kim Hyeon-seung, who was moving towards the climax of his Sword Dance, none of the audience members paid attention to us.
Bok-ja carefully observed Kim Hyeon-seung, then clicked her tongue and spoke.
“Tsk. He won't last long. His energy was weak to begin with, and now a ghost has latched onto him. He'll probably start swinging his sword at anyone any moment now.”
Bok-ja said the Evil Spirit was even drawing upon Kim Hyeon-seung's innate energy.
“……Okay.”
As I took off my outer jacket to move more easily, Bok-ja asked with a flustered expression.
“What are you going to do?”
“I have to separate it from him before he causes trouble.”
In my previous life, I'd faced similar Monstrous Beings several times.
I'd killed hosts, and I'd also been tasked with sealing them alongside shamans.
The sheer hell and hardship I endured in the process were beyond words, but...
One thing I definitely learned was that the longer an Evil Spirit is left alone, the greater a disaster it becomes.
“And something feels suspicious.”
It might have been an overreaction, but the moment I saw Kim Hyeon-seung possessed by an Evil Spirit, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult came to mind.
When they launched terror attacks worldwide.
Possessed traitors emerged one after another inside government buildings in various countries, plunging everything into even greater chaos.
‘I'll know once I check.’
Of course, if I stepped forward now, I'd just be a crazy person disrupting the Competition.
I asked Bok-ja for a favor.
“Can you provoke the Evil Spirit?”
Bok-ja, who had been looking at me with incomprehension for a moment, sighed and nodded.
“It's not difficult. That ghost has been finding me unpleasant since earlier.”
That was probably because Kim Bok-ja wasn't an ordinary spellcaster, but one who inherited the blood of a shaman.
Though the fact that I knew that was still a secret.
“Then I'll need your help.”
“……I'm adding all the toppings.”
From Bok-ja's eyes, who grumbled softly, the pale blue ghost fire flared up once more.
And she muttered softly, quietly enough to be heard only by me.
“Evil spirit, evil spirit. What grudge keeps you lingering in this world? Your appearance is laughable. Will you try to show off your tricks before me?”
A singsong voice, completely unlike her usual tone.
Suddenly, Kim Hyeon-seung, who had been cackling and swinging his swords, abruptly stopped, then let out a monstrous shriek and charged towards us.
“Kuaaaah!”
The audience, who had thought it was a performance until now, were startled and screamed when Kim Hyeon-seung leaped off the stage.
“Stop him!”
“What do you think you're doing?!”
The judges sprang to their feet and shouted, but Kim Hyeon-seung was already stepping on the shoulder of an audience member in the front row, lunging at Bok-ja, savagely swinging the twin swords he held in both hands.
“Kyaaaah!”
As people screamed, cowered, or fled, I shot forward in an instant and tackled Kim Hyeon-seung.
Thud! Bang! Crash!
We tangled together and rolled on the floor.
I struck Kim Hyeon-seung's wrist with a knife-hand strike, making him drop one sword, then pressed down on the other with my knee, immobilizing it.
“Kuaaah! Kraaah!”
Kim Hyeon-seung, possessed by the Evil Spirit, resisted violently, twisting his body.
I used all my strength to pin Kim Hyeon-seung down with my body and shouted.
“Kim Hyeon-seung! Snap out of it!”
“Kuaaaah!”
Among the ways to deal with Evil Spirits, the easiest was to kill the host.
In the past, as a Vagrant, I'd chosen that method either because I didn't know any other way, or because my employer demanded it.
But now was different.
“There's something in his stomach. Make him vomit it out.”
Following Bok-ja's advice from behind, I strongly punched Kim Hyeon-seung's abdomen with my fist.
“Cough!”
One time wasn't enough, so I hit him two, then three times in a row. Then foam appeared at his mouth, and something mixed with saliva came out.
It was finely torn Strange Yellow Paper. It was blurry, but it looked like the Chinese character 'Ma' (魔).
‘Found it!’
The moment I subtly grabbed one of the torn papers in my hand, the High School Division judges, having used Lightness Skill, landed around us.
“What in the world is going on?!”
“Stop both of them!”
Then Kim Hyeon-seung, weakened from vomiting the Strange Yellow Paper, glared at me as if to kill me, then his eyes quickly unfocused, and his expression became blank.
“Why are you…?”
The strength slowly drained from Kim Hyeon-seung's violently resisting body, but I didn't let my guard down.
I'd met many ghosts that pretended to return to their senses like this, only to stab me in the back.
“First, let's get the rest of it out.”
“W-wait a minute!”
I again struck his abdomen with both fists, with all my might.
“Ugh! You son of a bitch…!”
Kim Hyeon-seung, with wide eyes, glared at me with resentful eyes, then quickly lost consciousness and slumped.
“A participant possessed by an Evil Spirit…”
As Kim Hyeon-seung went berserk and rampaged, the High School Division Competition became a complete mess.
The organizers announced it was Qi Deviation from a student under excessive stress, but not a few people realized it was a more serious situation than that.
So now, all the Competition judges were gathered in one place.
No Gu-cheon, the most senior elder of the Martial Alliance, asked the High School Division judge with a serious expression.
“What happened to student Kim Hyeon-seung?”
“He was immediately transferred to a hospital with a Qi Deviation specialist.”
“……And the origin of the object that came out of his mouth?”
“His family seemed completely unaware. We'll have to ask the student when he wakes up, but for now, we suspect it was obtained from the Underworld.”
“……”
As No Gu-cheon fell silent, a heavy silence fell upon the room.
And I, too, was awkwardly standing there, included in the group.
‘This is incredibly uncomfortable.’
Because I was the one who stopped the rampaging Kim Hyeon-seung, I was called before everyone to give my direct testimony.
“Hyeon-seung and I had often seen each other at the Competition venue. He seemed to be in poor condition today, so I was watching him carefully, but when he suddenly shrieked and charged, I thought I had to stop him. So, I just rushed in... I was so flustered that my actions became excessive. I am reflecting on that point.”
I had said all I needed to say, and now I was subtly waiting for the conversation to end.
Just then, No Gu-cheon called me.
“Student Ki Mu-hyeok.”
“……Yes.”
In the eyes of the old master, recognized as an elder of the Martial Alliance, a sharp aura lingered even amidst the calm.
With eyes that seemed to pierce through me, I waited for his next words, slightly tense.
“I was so flustered I couldn't even thank you. If it weren't for you, someone in the audience would have been seriously injured. I'll speak to the Martial Alliance so you can receive some compensation.”
No Gu-cheon's wrinkled eyes curved gently.
I sighed in relief inwardly and bowed my head.
“I believe it was simply what had to be done in that situation. Anyone else would have done the same.”
At the textbook-perfect answer of an Orthodox Faction Member, No Gu-cheon smiled with a pleased expression, and the other judges also praised me, saying I was admirable.
“Hmph, isn't that a mindset hard to believe from a young person these days?”
“He showed outstanding performance in the Competition too; the future of the Korean Martial is bright.”
“Have you perhaps thought about your career path?”
Yeom Myeong-hwan, the Vice-Sect Master of Pine Moon Sect who judged the General Division, and Elder Gu Ja-seung of Great Heaven Sect also showered me with praise.
‘If a little scuffle with a ghost left a good impression on the judges, that's a profitable business.’
I also received a Golden Wound Ointment as a gift. It was a product of excessively good quality, almost too good to use on the minor scratches from rolling on the floor.
“Then may I ask one more thing?”
“Yes.”
Then No Gu-cheon, who had smiled with a benevolent face, took advantage of my moment of complacency and threw an unexpected question.
“Your Swordsmanship is quite extraordinary. From which venerable master did you learn it?”
“……I built my fundamentals at an entrance exam academy. I've never formally served a Master and mostly learned through self-study.”
Martial Arts Experts can discern lies just by observing an opponent's breathing, complexion, or subtle movements.
No Gu-cheon before me was an expert capable of doing so, but he wouldn't have found anything strange in my words.
Because what I had just said was not a lie.
“Self-taught, you say… That's remarkable.”
It might have been my imagination, but even so, No Gu-cheon didn't seem to fully believe my words.
‘He didn't ask 'who taught you,' but 'from which venerable master.' That means he saw someone's trace in my swordsmanship.’
In my previous life, I was inspired by or referenced the swordsmanship of various masters, including Richard Han, and developed my own Swordsmanship.
However, the existence of one particular Swordsmanship that formed its foundation could not be denied.
If No Gu-cheon recognized the trace of that Swordsmanship...
‘Things might get a little troublesome.’
But for now, there was only suspicion; he didn't seem certain.
Even if he found commonalities, they would be very faint.
Since there was no longer any need to be there, I asked the judges for their understanding.
“I apologize, but I have a very important appointment. May I leave now?”
No Gu-cheon, who had stared at me for a moment, readily nodded.
“We've kept you too long. You may leave now. However, please keep silent about what you heard here today.”
“Understood.”
“Then, I'll see you at the awards ceremony.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
After giving a Fist Salute to the other judges as well, I left the extremely uncomfortable place.
Only after hurrying outside did I recall what he had said a moment ago and felt flustered.
‘See me at the awards ceremony?’
It might have just been a greeting, but it didn't seem like a cunning old master would say such a thing for no reason.
“……Well, I'll think about that when the time comes.”
I shook my head to clear away unnecessary thoughts and checked the group chat messages piled up on my smartphone first.
[Rabbit: I'm starving to death. When are you coming out?]
[Rabbit: Why aren't you here?]
[Rabbit: F*, I'm going home, okay? I'm going, you hear? Huh?]
[Rabbit: I'll just go ahead and order tteokbokki, so hurry over.]
[Rabbit: Hey! I've ordered tteokbokki, so hurry up and get here!]
[Rabbit: Oh, how embarrassing. Because you didn't come, I'm now the person eating 3 servings of instant tteokbokki alone.]
Kim Bok-ja had sent a photo of instant tteokbokki piled high with toppings, along with a bunch of rabbit threatening emojis.
[Kimoo: I'll be right there. Save some for me.]
After leaving the message, I started running towards the instant tteokbokki restaurant.