By Zephyria Just Once (5)
“Alright. I’ll spar with you. Let’s go outside.”
“Yes, yes? Now?”
Baek Ryeo-il grabbed Jang Han-soo by the scruff of his neck and dragged him out. As people flocked out after them, Seong Mu-yeon awkwardly joined the crowd.
Reaching the center of the courtyard, Baek Ryeo-il roughly tossed Jang Han-soo aside.
“What is this! You said you didn’t want to.”
“Draw your sword.”
Baek Ryeo-il drew his sword from his waist and took a formal stance, the starting posture for a proper spar. It was a way of greeting each other and asking for guidance.
Jang Han-soo quickly adjusted his posture and bowed his head in the same way as Baek Ryeo-il.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but you better be prepared today.”
‘Oh dear…’
Seong Mu-yeon, standing at the back and watching the spar, looked utterly forlorn.
Because he knew.
Thwack-!
“Ugh!”
With a single blow, Jang Han-soo was sent sprawling to the ground.
‘You can never beat Baek Ryeo-il in your life…’
Seong Mu-yeon covered his face.
He couldn’t bear to watch.
Subsequently, a one-sided beating ensued.
Thud, whack!
“Agh! Ack!”
Judging by the dull thuds, it seemed he was being struck with the flat of the blade or the hilt.
“Wait, stop! Aagh!”
“Admit defeat.”
“I-I yield! I yield!”
“Hmph.”
Baek Ryeo-il turned away, looking as if nothing had happened. Sang-geol and his disciples couldn’t close their gaping mouths as Baek Ryeo-il approached.
“Is that enough?”
“……”
“……”
There had never been such a one-sided spar before. Of course, Baek Ryeo-il had always won, but it usually ended after several tens of seconds. That’s why they thought of him as a wall that could be overcome with enough effort.
This incident made it clear.
Baek Ryeo-il’s martial arts prowess was so outstanding that it was beyond reach within the same generation.
“H-How did this happen…”
Sang-geol looked back at his Senior Brother as if he had been scammed. Ma Jin-cheon could only offer an awkward smile.
Seeing that expression, Seong Mu-yeon thought.
‘Now you know? You idiot.’
…or so it seemed.
“Let’s go, Seong Mu-yeon.”
“Yes? Yes…”
Baek Ryeo-il strode across the courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard, Jang Han-soo lay in a miserable state. He nonchalantly stepped over Jang Han-soo.
“Ugh!”
Jang Han-soo glared at Baek Ryeo-il as if he wanted to kill him. He glared just as fiercely at Seong Mu-yeon, who was following behind.
‘What did I do?’
The kind-hearted Seong Mu-yeon couldn’t bring himself to step on him. Instead, he stepped over his body.
He heard the sound of teeth grinding from behind.
Seong Mu-yeon quietly mourned in his heart.
‘You’ll have to get used to it…’
Even after achieving great merit and earning the title of Unrivaled in the World, Jang Han-soo continued to chase after Baek Ryeo-il’s shadow. If he couldn’t win anyway, wouldn’t it be better to at least feel good about it?
“Hurry up!”
“Coming!”
Seong Mu-yeon didn’t know.
What kind of repercussions this incident would bring.
After that day, Baek Ryeo-il became busy.
This was because many people incessantly requested spars to confirm his martial prowess.
“Ugh, annoying!”
Baek Ryeo-il would peek out the window, and if he saw Ma Jin-cheon or someone else entering the courtyard, he would dash out the back door. But he would soon be caught by Ma Jin-cheon and dragged back.
Watching this, Seong Mu-yeon let out a sigh of pity.
‘You should have been nicer in your daily life.’
Seong Mu-yeon shook his head and sipped his tea.
Leaving the Emerald Pavilion, one could find Second-Generation disciples of Mount Hua beaten up by Baek Ryeo-il all over the place.
Even knowing they would be thoroughly beaten by Baek Ryeo-il, people lined up for a chance to hit him even once.
‘Martial artists, really.’
He truly didn’t understand.
Thanks to this, Seong Mu-yeon, who had more time alone, was returning from the Library by himself.
It was when he stepped into a secluded alleyway.
“Well, well, who do we have here? Isn’t it the Young master of the Demonic Cult?”
Two people were standing in the middle of the alley. It was Jang Han-soo, who had been miserably defeated by Baek Ryeo-il a few days ago, and his unknown Junior Brother. He still had yellowish bruises that hadn’t faded.
“Where are you headed?”
The attitude and tone of his voice suggested ill intentions.
The fact that Jang Han-soo had been beaten by Baek Ryeo-il had spread throughout Mount Hua, so he couldn’t have been in a good mood. Moreover, he hadn’t liked Seong Mu-yeon very much from the start.
Seong Mu-yeon stiffened his face, nodded his head in greeting, and tried to pass by.
Thud.
“I’m asking you. Where are you going?”
Jang Han-soo stretched out his arm and blocked his path. It was a narrow path, barely wide enough for three or four adults to pass through. Seong Mu-yeon tried to pass them by the side, but simply stretching out his arm trapped him between the wall and them.
Seong Mu-yeon asked with a weary sigh.
“Is there something you need from me?”
They looked at each other and burst into laughter.
“Haha! Junior Brother, he’s asking if we need something from him.”
“That’s right, Senior Brother! Hahaha.”
The laughing men wiped away their smiles.
“A Demonic Cult bastard, of all people.”
“……”
“Did you have fun the other day? Watching me get beaten by Senior Brother?”
Not at all. Seong Mu-yeon wasn’t a pervert, nor did he have the strange habit of enjoying watching others get beaten. But it was clear that saying such a thing now wouldn’t help.
Jang Han-soo wasn’t trying to confirm the facts, but rather trying to fill his inferiority complex through others.
“Wandering around alone without Baek Ryeo-il… Aren’t you too lacking in a sense of crisis? This is enemy territory. You’re a demonic cultist.”
“I don’t want to cause trouble. Please, just let me pass.”
“What trouble are you talking about? What’s the big deal if someone like you gets hurt? What kind of guy are you, anyway?”
“……”
He should have just stayed cooped up in his room.
“Tell me. How did you win over Baek Ryeo-il? The Sect leader? I don’t understand. How can a demonic cultist be allowed to sit in the sacred Taoist Sect? Isn’t that right, Junior Brother?”
“Of course. Senior Brother is right. Even now, someone outside might be losing their life to the Demonic Cult.”
“You’re shamelessly impudent.”
Jang Han-soo smiled bitterly. His lips were smiling, but his eyes were bloodshot as he looked at Seong Mu-yeon.
“You took my father away. You guys did.”
“……”
“He died in battle while fighting the demonic cultists.”
Apparently… his inferiority complex towards Baek Ryeo-il wasn’t the only thing.
Seong Mu-yeon knew it too. Jang Han-soo was also someone who held a grudge against the Demonic Cult. Who wouldn’t? Here, the Demonic Cult was everyone’s enemy.
Seong Mu-yeon’s mouth felt bitter. He had been seeing only people who were friendly to him, like Baek Ryeo-il or the Sect leader, so he must have been mistaken about something.
‘There’s no place for me.’
“I heard your father is going to die soon too? Our father died lonely in a foreign land, on the cold ground, but that guy is dying in his own home, lying in bed with his family watching over him. Does that make sense? Isn’t that too unfair?”
Jang Han-soo’s eyes gleamed wildly.
“If you’re human, if you have even a shred of conscience, you shouldn’t just let that happen, right?”
Unrivaled in the World, Jang Han-soo.
Seong Mu-yeon knew that he wasn’t a bad person. He was someone who would mature and become a great hero in the future.
Looking at it, it wasn’t like he was taking his anger out on the wrong person. Behind his angry face, there was a deep sadness. A longing for his lost family…
“What would you like me to do?”
Seong Mu-yeon replied quietly.
But he shouldn’t have.
He shouldn’t have engaged. He should have just ignored them and left.
A strange light flickered in Jang Han-soo’s eyes.
“I didn’t want to do this if I could help it, but I’m just too angry.”
He looked around. His Junior Brother was carrying dozens of wooden swords, probably for the disciples’ use.
Jang Han-soo took out two of the swords and threw one at Seong Mu-yeon’s feet.
“Pick up the sword.”
“S-Senior Brother. Wait a minute. That person is just a regular person who hasn’t learned any martial arts. This is a bit much.”
Even his Junior Brother, who had initially agreed with Jang Han-soo, seemed flustered. Jang Han-soo scoffed at his Junior Brother’s dissuasion.
“You expect me to believe that? That he really hasn’t learned any martial arts? I don’t believe it.”
It seemed he wanted to beat Seong Mu-yeon to a pulp, no matter what excuse he had to make.
“……”
When Seong Mu-yeon didn’t show any signs of moving, Jang Han-soo directly took the wooden sword and thrust it at his chest.
“What are you doing! Pick up the sword! If you have even the slightest bit of conscience towards my father!”
“Senior Brother! Stop it! This is too much!”
“Get out of the way!”
Jang Han-soo roughly pushed his Junior Brother away. The look in his eyes as he turned back to Seong Mu-yeon was wildly gleaming.
Seong Mu-yeon flinched at that look. Not because he felt guilty or anything.
Something was wrong.
The illogical reasoning, the rough attitude, and so on…
‘This guy, could he be…’