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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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“So, why did you come here?”
Sanyeo asked me why I had come here. I didn’t know much about her, so I hid my true intentions and answered,
“I guess robbing is in my nature. Rather than being under people’s thumbs, I feel most alive when I’m stealing and taking things with my own strength.”
“Is that really the reason? Your ambition is too big for the container you’ve chosen. You don’t look like you believe that a pathetic gang will be able to satisfy you. You have other motives, don’t you?”
“No.”
I shook my head firmly. The most important thing when lying was confidence. I had to be armed with the confidence that even if I was lying, I would not be found out, that was the only way to hide my true self. Sanyeo maintained a relaxed expression even though I kept denying the truth.
“It’s good to be confident, but lying confidently doesn’t make everything true.”
I said no more. Instead, I lightly swung the ax in the air, gauging its weight. The unique weight of the ax caused my body to lean slightly forward with each swing. I thought it was a simple, mindless weapon, but if you swung it carelessly, you were more likely to be led by its weight and destroy yourself.
Sanyeo said after watching me swing the ax,
“An ax. You’ve never handled it before, have you? You are full of ambition, but you have never learned how to use a weapon, and you are convinced that you will find enlightenment in this lowly robber’s den. Your lie lacks persuasion.”
She was convinced that I was lying. I nodded and was about to leave the warehouse. I wanted to ask other people about her first.
“Do-cheol, I understand why you don’t trust me. But, we… we have similar goals.”
I stopped at her words. When I turned my head, Sanyeo’s eyes were still shining red as she glared at me. Her piercing gaze was filled with self-assurance and desperation. I stopped my departure and returned to her.
The robber who had brought me here was dozing off, and the camp was quiet. It didn’t seem like it would be a problem if I was a little late.
Wasn’t this also fate?
Talking to her for a little longer would be a good idea.
I sat down again, facing her. I heard Sanyeo exhale in relief.
I asked,
“What is your goal?”
“To devour the martial world.”
Sanyeo spoke calmly about her grand goal. She understood what her words meant, and she was also confident that she could do it. It was such a huge claim that I couldn’t react for a moment, only blinking and falling into silence.
Sanyeo looked up at the sky like a person intoxicated by their own goal and said,
“Cool, right?”
“That’s a grand goal to be having inside a Green Forest camp’s cage.”
Sanyeo did not seem to be offended by my cynicism. She looked at me and asked,
“What is your goal?”
“In a broader sense, power and authority. I want people to bow their heads when they call my name, and I want to have a powerful strength that I can wield freely.”
I said this, then mimicked swinging the ax roughly. It looked like a child playing with a toy, and Sanyeo smiled. She spoke in a mocking tone, just like I had been cynical,
“A vulgar and crude dream. But still, our goals are the same.”
“Okay. So, what are you trying to say? You must have something to propose to me, that’s why you’ve been holding me back like this, right?”
Sanyeo wouldn’t have spoken to me to create a connection. She must have wanted something from me. Sanyeo nodded at my question and said,
“You. You’ve never learned martial arts properly, have you?”
I nodded.
“Yeah. I came here to earn money to learn.”
“Money?”
Sanyeo tilted her head at my words. It couldn’t have been that long ago when the innkeeper said that the sects were charging a lot for entrance fees, so it seemed like Sanyeo hadn’t heard any news from the outside for a long time. Had she been trapped here all along?
“The big sects are taking entrance fees. What I was planning to do is get the money to join one, and then learn martial arts properly there.”
“That’s not a very smart plan.”
I didn’t respond to her words, but I clicked my tongue because I partially agreed with her. The reason I chose that method was because it was almost the only way I could learn martial arts properly right now.
Even if I called myself a fatalist, I knew it was stupid to keep throwing myself off a cliff hoping for a lucky encounter.
Sanyeo said,
“Don’t do that. Learn from me instead.”
I let out a hollow laugh. She was trapped in the prison of the sixty-somethingth leader of the Green Forest; who was she to teach someone martial arts?
It was ridiculous.
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t believe me?”
Sanyeo spoke as if she had anticipated that I wouldn’t believe her. I agreed with her words.
“Of course I wouldn’t. You’re trapped in here. In the camp of a leader of the sixty-somethingth stronghold out of seventy.”
“I guess it looks that way.”
Sanyeo stood up.
Now that I could see her whole form, she was quite tall.
Sanyeo showed me the shackles on her hands. Made of some unknown hard material, the shackles were as thick as a gravestone, and they were restraining her wrists, but Sanyeo moved her hands as if they had no weight at all.
With her hands restrained, she raised them to the iron cage. After positioning her fingers above the lock, she focused her breathing.
“Haa….”
She breathed out for a long time as if she was exhaling her last breath, and she moved her wrist lightly.
Thud!
At the same time, the lock that had been holding the cage door in place fell off with a heavy thud. Before the heavy mass, now cleanly separated as if it had never been attached, hit the floor, Sanyeo extended her leg to catch it.
“Oops.”
Her footwork was as light as catching a soccer ball.
She pushed the lock on her instep into the cage, opened the door, and walked out.
I subconsciously stepped back, gripping the ax tightly. As she got closer, I felt the hairs on my body stand on end, and I began to feel nervous.
It didn’t feel like I was facing a person. A strange fear, as if I was facing a beast, wrapped around my heart.
As if she was unaware of my sense of danger, Sanyeo closed the distance with light steps.
After facing me, she said,
“Come at me.”
“…Damn!”
I gritted my teeth. I charged my hand holding the ax with inner energy, and mindlessly swung it towards her head.
“Clumsy. Too clumsy.”
But even before I could swing the ax completely, Sanyeo spoke in a mocking tone and lightly touched my body with her long leg. It seemed as if she was moving very slowly, but she was clearly faster than my ax swing, and the moment her leg touched my body, my legs gave out.
“Ugh…!”
I couldn’t even scream as I rolled on the floor. The ax fell to the ground, and I couldn’t even catch my breath as I had to look up and make eye contact with her. Because she was wearing an open-chested outfit, her white skin was fully visible, and I could feel her red gaze staring down at me.
“Do-cheol. Think about it. If the big sects are taking entrance fees, will they really teach you all of their techniques? They’re just taking advantage of people who are caught up in the illusion that they’ll be able to learn their techniques someday. I can see it even from inside this iron cage. Why are you pretending not to know?”
“That’s…”
It was true. What she said made sense. I could see myself nodding at her words, even while trying to get up.
“What about learning from me? You’ll gain as much power as you want and grow even further. And I’ll gain an ally who will overturn this martial world with me.”
She extended her leg again and poked my body.
“Urgh…! Ugh…!”
Sweat poured down like rain, and my strength was returning to my body. As the feeling returned to my numb legs, I thrashed like a fish that had fallen onto the pier.
Sanyeo said,
“Of course, I’m not planning on teaching you for free either. I won’t stop you even if you refuse. Just because I beat you once, doesn’t guarantee I’ll be a good teacher.”
I got up. When I looked up at her after shaking the dirt off my chin and lips, she was already stepping back into the cage. I spat the dirt out of my mouth and asked.
“….What do you gain from this?”
Sanyeo smiled and said,
“I told you. I’m gaining someone who will overturn the martial world with me.”
She was a truly enigmatic woman.
She was seeking a disciple for that reason? Had something gone wrong with her mind?
I smiled along with her. We were both grinning, revealing our white teeth in the dark space, expressing the same emotion.
“…It’s intriguing.”
But it was an intriguing story.
Wasn’t it a truly romantic and interesting story?
And it was also a story that had a hint of fate in it.
“Yeah. You’re right. It’s a really intriguing story. People who share the same destiny joining forces to overturn the world.”
Sanyeo was looking at the sky again.
Even though she was blocked by the tent, could she see the stars clearly? Sanyeo changed her expression as she gazed at the air. The smile disappeared from her face, and the warm, fuzzy feeling in the warehouse also suddenly ceased.
“But what about you? Will you be a good disciple, and will you be able to run all the way to the end with me?”
Sanyeo looked at me again.
She was blinking her red eyes as she waited for my answer. I picked up the ax again and said,
“If I want to be taught, I need to prove myself to you, right?”
“That’s right.”
“It would be nice if you could tell me specifically. I’m a bit of an idiot, so…”
Sanyeo raised her shackled hand and said,
“I’m not going to do anything from here.”
She casually reattached the lock on the iron cage. The device that had seemed so sturdy just moments ago, was now a proof that she could leave at any time.
“Take me and escape from here safely.”
Sanyeo tilted her head and added,
“It’s okay to give up if you’re scared.”
I shook my head.
I welcomed this kind of challenge.
It was no fun to get anything easily.
Only when one gains something after their bones and flesh are broken and mixed could you say that it was a real result.
Looking at Sanyeo, I said,
“That’s what makes it fun.”
Good