DKM 24

“You’re one to talk, being so strict with the Gongs.”

“I’m not as strict as you. I can handle a trashy Gong, but you’d rather die than read a trashy male lead.”

I put on a serious face again.

“I don’t get it. How can they do such trashy things to our female lead? They should be pampering her 24 hours a day, and even that wouldn’t be enough.”

“I used to think that way too, but I found that some stories are more interesting when the Shou suffers. Ah, of course, that doesn’t mean I want you to suffer. I want you to walk only on a path of flowers.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

As we talked and drank tea, the teapot soon became empty. After bickering for a while, quite some time had passed, so we left the teahouse and returned to our lodgings. As always, talking with Myoryeong is a joy.

“I want to talk a lot with Myoryeong tomorrow, too….”

“You two siblings always seem to get along so well.”

Before going to bed, I went up to Soseo’s room with a fan. I asked Soseo, who was lying on the bed.

“Is it still hot?”

“Yeah, it’s still a bit warm.”

I knew that would be the case, which is why I brought this. I immediately sat beside the bed and fanned Soseo diligently. Soseo asked with eyes full of laughter.

“Doesn’t your arm hurt?”

“Are you underestimating me too much? I might not be able to swing a sword like you, but I can swing a fan as much as I want.”

However, before long, beads of sweat began to form on my forehead. I must have fanned too hard. The quick-witted Soseo noticed my condition immediately. Soseo spoke, stifling a laugh.

“I’ll do it for you now.”

“Huh?”

Soseo patted the spot next to him.

“Lie down here.”

“Still, since I started, I should do it a bit more…. Sorry.”

Contrary to my words, I quickly lay down next to Soseo.

“Actually, my arm does hurt. I want to stop now.”

“Then you should stop.”

I closed my eyes. I felt a gentle, pleasant breeze. This feels so good…. I became soft and squishy, like a freshly made rice cake.

“Do you like it that much?”

“Yes, I love it.”

Ah, I should go to my room and sleep, but I’m so drowsy. My body won’t listen to me. Soseo continued fanning me and then called my name.

“Myoha.”

“Yeah….”

“I don’t think I could ever hate you for the rest of my life.”

“Really? Thank you so, so much….”

“I’m the one who’s truly grateful.”

Soseo said as he lay down beside me.

“Thank you for replacing me.”

“It’s really embarrassing when you put it that way….”

Soseo hugged me tightly. Wow, we look like a couple right now. If Myoryeong sees this, won’t he misunderstand again? Friends can hug, right? Right, Soseo? But I couldn’t ask that and fell fast asleep.

The martial arts tournament drew near, arriving the very next day. The lodging where Soseo stayed was so noisy that people passing by covered their ears. People whispered, wondering how on earth they were preparing for the tournament to be this loud, but it wasn’t because of the preparations. In fact, the reason was—

“Brother! It feels like only yesterday that I sat beside you to watch the martial arts tournament; time truly flies!”

“Soyu, can’t you see people glaring at us?”

“As long as you and I are here, victory belongs to the Paeng Clan! I’m not afraid of other Sects at all! Gahahaha!”

“This won’t do. Let’s just move.”

It was because of Soseo’s younger brother, Soyu. Moyong Hwa had become a completely different person over five years, but Soyu hadn’t changed at all. Though his body had grown to about twice the size of others, Soyu was still Soseo’s innocent younger brother. After seeing off Soyu, who didn’t stop laughing even as he was dragged away by Soseo, we also headed out into the street. We felt like we should prepare something for tomorrow. Myoryeong said, mimicking the motion of waving an arm.

“I want to wave a cheer stick while watching the tournament.”

“How about waving a tree branch?”

“A branch is too weak. I feel like I have to wave at least a sword for it to feel like a martial arts tournament.”

“If you drop your sword while waving it, you’ll drop your life too.”

“I know, I was just joking.”

But really, what should I prepare? I didn’t want to cheer empty-handed and bland. However, no matter how much I thought about it, no good ideas came to mind. Myoryeong pressed his finger against his forehead. He was clearly recalling the moments when the protagonist’s team played in a sports manga.

“How did I cheer for the protagonist’s team back then?”

“…Let’s be honest. You weren’t cheering for the team, you were cheering for the protagonist’s love life.”

When the protagonist and a teammate happened to lock eyes during a match, he’d almost get angry, saying, ‘Do you really have to make it so obvious that you’re dating during a match, you idiots!’ He was truly scary back then. At that time, Myoryeong couldn’t stay still for a single moment throughout the manga, waving a placard like crazy—huh? A good idea occurred to me. I could write the Chinese character symbolizing the Paeng Clan in large letters on a piece of paper and wave it when Soseo and Young Master Soyu competed. Then, anyone would see me as someone cheering for the Paeng Clan. After my explanation, Myoryeong asked.

“Why go through the trouble of waving it?”

“Because it feels like it wouldn’t be very exciting if I just stood still.”

“I agree. Cheering should be done with exciting waving.”

I wanted to prepare something better, but it couldn’t be helped. We didn’t have much time to prepare, and if we cheered with tools that were too conspicuous, it might harm the reputation of the Paeng Clan. We bought several sheets of paper from a paper shop and stepped outside. However, a man dressed in black martial arts attire blocked our path.

“Excuse me, do you have a moment?”

I asked, hiding Myoryeong behind my back.

“What is it?”

“Well, um. That is….”

As the man trailed off shyly, the children wearing the same martial arts attire, who had been watching us, shouted.

“Senior Disciple, hang in there!”

“Go win her love!”

“You guys…!”

The man quickly turned his head to glare at the children, then looked back at us. Hearing the term ‘Senior Disciple,’ it was clear the man was a Martial Artist belonging to some Sect. The man cleared his throat and spoke.

“You are as beautiful as a flower, so I had no choice but to speak to you. Would you [visit our site]give me the [visit our site]visit our siteopportunity to treat you to a cup of tea?”

A sly smile immediately appeared on Myoryeong’s lips. Myoryeong poked my side.

“As expected, my brother is popular.”

“…….”

“What will you do, Myoha? Are you going to have tea with that man?”

The man, who had been waiting for an answer with a nervous heart, looked at Myoryeong with bewildered eyes. I looked at Myoryeong silently and then spoke.

“He asked you to have tea, not me.”

“……Ah, really?”

Feeling awkward, Myoryeong quickly and politely declined the man’s offer. I looked at Myoryeong with pathetic eyes. He had clearly confused the genre again.

“Myoryeong, there’s no way a man would hit on me.”

At my words, Myoryeong’s expression crumpled.

“Sigh, fine. I guess so.”

“Why are you doing that again?”

“Shut up, you guilty-looking beauty.”

While we were bickering, the man trudged back to his group, and the group patted him on the back.

“Poor Senior Disciple.”

“……Don’t tease me too much, Junior Female Disciple.”

The man soon left the alley with his group, and I stopped arguing with Myoryeong for a moment to examine the pattern embroidered on the man’s martial arts attire. Having learned from Soseo, I knew the man was a Martial Artist belonging to a Sect, but I didn’t know which one. I hadn’t yet learned which Sect used which pattern. Anyway, ‘Senior Disciple’ and ‘Junior Female Disciple.’ I tilted my head.

“I’m still confused about the titles used in Sects.”

“Young Master Soseo said it back then. It’s easy if you think of a Sect as a family, just with different bloodlines.”

A clan consists only of people with the same bloodline, but a Sect is not like that. They recruit people who wish to enter regularly, but their bonds are so strong that they are practically a family. Thinking of it that way makes organizing the titles easier.

“Within a Sect, the teacher is like a father, so they are called Sabu (Master). A male disciple who trained under the same Master and entered before me is like an older brother, so he’s a Sahyeong (Senior Male Disciple). A male disciple who entered after me is like a younger brother, so he’s a Saje (Junior Male Disciple).”

“A female disciple who entered after me is like a younger sister, so she’s a Samae (Junior [unauthorized copy]unauthorized copyFemale Disciple). A female disciple who entered before me is like an older sister, so she’s a Sajeo (Senior Female Disciple).”

We looked at each other and laughed simultaneously. Then, as if by promise, we high-fived.

“We’ve really improved a lot!”

“Let’s keep learning things one by one like this!”

As expected, if you don’t know something, you just have to learn it. We walked down the street happily, arm in arm. The night air was very cool and refreshing. While we were debating whether to buy dinner at an inn or just eat comfortably at home, a familiar back of a head appeared in the distance.

“If you bump into someone, you should apologize!”

“…….”

“Is your mouth just for decoration? If you have a mouth, speak up!”

People were gathered in one spot, buzzing. Is something happening? Just in case, we pushed our way through the crowd. And we witnessed a shocking sight. Rough-looking men were unilaterally pushing a man around, and as expected, that man was someone we knew. Myoryeong and I reflexively rushed forward.

“Young Master!”

“What are these tiny little rats?”

Rats? That’s too much…! I don’t even expect him to call me a baby hamster, so [Read on Read BL Novels]at least call me a hamster! I almost shouted that out of my wounded [visit our site]heart, but stopped. Ah, people here don’t know what a hamster is. If those people knew what a hamster was, they probably wouldn’t have called us rats so harshly; they would have called us hamsters. I comforted myself with that thought as I stepped in front of Moyong Hwa.

“What is going on? Did our Young Master make some kind of mistake?”

“Ah, this guy bumped into me and hasn’t said a single word of apology!”

While we were talking, the number of onlookers continued to grow. The spectators, who were in an excited state because it was the day before the martial arts tournament, shouted.

“Just have a refreshing fight!”

“Yeah! You’re Martial Artists! Just fight!”

I glanced at Moyong Hwa’s condition. I couldn’t see his expression because of his bangs, but just by looking at his hunched shoulders, I could tell what state Moyong Hwa was in. He was clearly in a state where he was too scared to speak. His inability to move an inch overlapped with the image of myself when I was the first to present in front of a professor.