CHAPTER: Chapter 15
------------------------------------------
Chapter 15
"Uncheon has wagered every Instruction Token he possesses on his own victory. You all know that he correctly called all five matches tonight, do you not?"
Yuha's declaration poured oil onto the seething fervor.
"Wooooah!"
A roar of voices burst forth, as though it might swallow even the sound of the waterfall.
"How many Instruction Tokens is that?"
"Now this... is going to be entertaining!"
"This is the biggest pot of the Night Sparring Matches!"
Mist rose above the crackling bonfire, and the heat of the excited cadets made the damp night air grow hot.
What had once been a board where no more than ten Instruction Tokens could be wagered had, in an instant, become a full-fledged gambling table several times greater in scale.
"So then... who from the Sagal Muk Family will step forward for the match?"
The moment Yuha asked in that easy tone, all the noise in the clearing died as though it had been a lie.
Naturally, every gaze turned toward where the Muk Family's group was gathered.
The collateral-branch lackeys had long since been humiliated once already by Uncheon.
Now, they could do nothing but bow their heads low.
"Useless trash...!"
Muk Hajin ground his teeth.
Collateral branch or not, the Muks were still Muk.
'It is already infuriating enough that the name of the Muk Family was trampled by a beggar brat like him....'
His intent had been to establish dominance in Hidden Demon Cave by throwing even the collateral branch members into the fray, but after Uncheon crushed that entire pack, even that plan had become difficult.
And now, on top of that, they were to fight in a sparring match with actual stakes on the line.
This was no longer merely a matter of pride.
"To think you cannot even deal with one such piece of vermin!"
Muk Hajin was just about to step forward himself.
"Please wait, Young Master."
A low, cool voice sounded from behind him, and someone placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Young Master Hajin, why use an ox-slaughtering blade to kill a chicken? I will deal with him."
He had a point.
For Muk Hajin, a direct descendant of the Sagal Muk Family, to step forward at all would itself have been a humiliation.
The matter had to be settled at the level of the collateral branch if the Sagal Muk Family's name was to be restored.
"...Muk Wijin! Yes... you were here!"
Though Muk Wijin was of the collateral line, the air around him was different from the other lackeys from the very start.
He gave a single nod, then stepped into the sparring ground like a shadow sliding free.
Yayul Hui unconsciously swallowed.
'That one... he is said to be the greatest among the collateral branch of the Sagal Muk Family! I heard that in terms of raw talent, he does not even fall behind Muk Hajin of the direct line...!'
All eyes in the clearing fastened upon the two of them.
As though he had been waiting for this exact moment, Yuha introduced the stage with exaggerated flourish.
"Now then, the greatest spectacle to bring tonight to its grand finale! First, the hidden Venom Fang of the Sagal Muk Family! The heir to the Snake-Scorpion Exploding Scale Fist—Muk Wijin!"
Crack—
At the introduction, Muk Wijin rolled his neck from side to side, and the ugly sound of bone echoed out.
Yuha then extended a hand toward the other side.
"And his opponent! The master gambler who burst upon the Night Sparring Matches like a meteor and saw through every board set before him! Are his martial skills as sharp as his eye? The mysterious boy clad in iron weights—Uncheon!"
No sooner had the introductions ended than all manner of analysis and predictions burst forth among the cadets like a flood.
"It is Muk Wijin! The one said to be the very best among the collateral branch has stepped in person!"
"The ill-fated genius born to the collateral line!"
"If anything, considering he was born to the collateral line, his talent itself may even exceed Muk Hajin's...."
Muk Wijin's reputation was already well known even within Hidden Demon Cave.
But the rumors surrounding Uncheon were the exact opposite.
"Is that not the thief who got lucky on the first day and rose straight to the highest rank thanks to Instructor Jeok Mugwang?"
"Even so, the fact that his natural foundation is the very lowest has not changed. He is no match for a house of the Twelve Guardian Families like the Sagal Muk Family."
"No match? He will not even count as an opponent. I am wagering every remaining Instruction Token I have on Muk Wijin! I will recover everything I lost earlier in this single round!"
In an instant, the stakes all flowed toward Muk Wijin.
The vast majority foresaw his victory.
Seeing his advantage confirmed by the mountain of stacked Instruction Tokens, Muk Wijin turned toward Uncheon with an arrogant expression.
"I am not like the riffraff you fought last time. Those wretches were merely among the collateral line of the Muk Family—"
"Is it because you belong to the Sagal Muk Family? Your tongue is long like a serpent's."
The instant Uncheon cut him off, Muk Wijin's face flushed red, then blue.
"What...! You bastard!"
Just then, Yuha stepped in with easy smoothness.
"Now, now... the match has not begun yet. Let us settle the stakes first."
He looked back and forth between the mountain of Instruction Tokens stacked on Muk Wijin's side and the pitiful few lying on Uncheon's side, then let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Ah, now this is a problem... The odds are far too lopsided! If it stays like this, where is the fun in the board?"
As Yuha said, only a handful of cadets, Yayul Hui among them, had wagered anything on Uncheon.
As though making some grave decision, Yuha pulled out a heavy pouch of Instruction Tokens that he had kept aside for himself.
"Very well! To make this board burn even hotter, this great Yuha shall add to the stakes himself!"
Before everyone's eyes, Yuha poured an entire heap of Instruction Tokens onto Uncheon's side.
"There. Now it is barely two to one, would you say?"
Even so, the Instruction Tokens wagered on Muk Wijin's side were still twice as many.
To the cadets who had wagered on Muk Wijin, the tokens Yuha added looked like nothing more than a greater share of prey to divide later.
At last, Yuha brought the two face to face and shouted, "Sparring match, begin!"
The very instant the signal fell, Muk Wijin's figure darted in like a viper skimming the ground.
On both his hands were gauntlets engraved with strange patterns like the scales of a serpent.
Whish! Whish-whish!
With sharp tearing sounds through the air, his fists struck toward Uncheon's upper body.
Uncheon gave a slight step backward.
But his movement was visibly sluggish.
As though the weight of the iron weights were dragging at his ankles, every step looked unstable.
"Heh heh, to swagger about wearing iron weights. Pitiful. Though for us, it only makes things easier."
"In the end, those lumps of iron have become a noose around his feet! At this rate, he will be nothing but prey for Muk Wijin!"
Muk Wijin drove forward with unrelenting ferocity.
Uncheon looked barely able to evade or block his attacks.
Tak! Rip!
He was driven back step by step, and the ragged hems of his clothing were shredded by the sharp gale from Muk Wijin's fists.
No matter who looked, the situation was one of complete disadvantage.
"Press him harder, Muk Wijin!"
"Well done, Muk Wijin! Teach that brat his place and win back our Instruction Tokens!"
Muk Hajin and the others jeered.
Without realizing it, Yayul Hui clenched her fists tightly.
'Why...? His movements are more unnatural than usual...!'
She was growing anxious, but then she felt a strange sense of incongruity in Uncheon's movements.
'Has he not fully adapted to the weight of the iron weights? To enter a sparring match in such a state is reckless!'
Yuha, on the other hand, saw through everything.
A fascinated smile touched the corner of his mouth.
'That fellow Uncheon is aiming for something. But Muk Wijin is not so easy an opponent that he can be faced while still wearing iron weights....'
Even the cadets who supported Uncheon grew anxious. That was how dire his disadvantage seemed.
'Muk Wijin... his skill is certainly formidable. He is the best opponent I have yet faced in this place.'
Had this been the Uncheon of his previous life, he would already have severed the man's neck ten times over.
But not now.
Even merely keeping up with Muk Wijin's speed was burdensome.
The weight of the iron weights pressed not only on his ankles, but upon his whole body.
'If I cannot be faster than my opponent...?'
In that instant, lightning flashed through his mind.
'Yes... the essence of Limitless Step is not speed.'
It was not a step that pursued the fastest path, but one that occupied the most fitting space.
A footwork that demanded insight into space rather than swift footwork.
'Forget the subtlety of swiftness....'
The swift sword of overwhelming speed that had symbolized him in his previous life.
Uncheon cast it aside completely within his heart.
Because only then could he see the new path.
A sword that subdued the opponent without being faster.
The subtlety of the slow sword that mastered space itself.
'...To think that with this wretched body, I would come to realize a principle of the sword I had never seen in my previous life.'
It was the sword most distant from the Uncheon of his previous life, the foremost practitioner of the swift sword in all Gonryun.
'No... was it דווקא because of a body like this that I could realize it?'
In his previous life, if Uncheon wished to be faster than others, then he was faster. If he wished to cut, then he cut.
It was the paradox brought about by being born with overwhelming talent.
Thus he had never grasped the subtlety of the slow sword: moving slower than the opponent, yet reading that opponent's movements and dominating space itself.
'To move later, yet arrive first.'
Until now, Uncheon had always solved that principle through ultimate speed.
'So long as I am faster than others, that is enough.'
But Limitless Step was a footwork that dominated space without moving faster than anyone else.
That was precisely why its principle was profound, and why it had instead been underestimated as nothing more than a basic martial art.
At that moment, a strange light of exhilaration flickered in Uncheon's eyes.
'Even now... to think that I can still come to understand new martial truths and learn a new sword. How could my heart not tremble?'
Before all else, he had dedicated his entire life to the sword.
With that realization and the joy that came with it, Uncheon's movements changed completely.
The figure that until now had wavered unsteadily beneath the weight now began to slip like flowing water.
'What is this? The aura of that brat, who until a moment ago was flustered and driven by my speed... changed in an instant!'
He no longer retreated in response to Muk Wijin's attacks.
With a soft glide, merely half a step.
As though he had been standing there from the beginning, his body slid like flowing water.
BOOM—!
Muk Wijin's fist struck the space where Uncheon had stood only a moment before, and the air thundered.
"What...! It did not reach?"
For the first time, confusion flickered in Muk Wijin's eyes.
Once more, he hurled his fists with savage force.
But the result was the same.
With only the smallest of movements, Uncheon reduced every one of his attacks to nothing.
'What is this revolting feeling...?! He is right before my eyes, and yet my fists cannot touch him!'
Muk Wijin attacked like a madman.
But he did not realize it.
He was not the one driving Uncheon back. He was merely dancing upon the invisible path Uncheon had already laid out.
Within Uncheon, everything was cold as ice.
'Yes. Come farther in. The moment you commit to the deciding blow, the opening will only grow larger.'
Muk Wijin was like a great beast sinking into a swamp.
The more he struggled, the less hope he had of ever climbing free.
The same question rose within his mind again and again.
'One clean blow should be enough to finish that frail bastard...! Then why... can I not touch him?'
Then, suddenly, Uncheon deliberately slipped and exposed an opening.
Just like the spar between Jang Daesan and Jo Gyeom.
The moment Muk Wijin saw the opening, greed flashed through his eyes.
"So that is how it is! This ends now, you vermin!"
He unleashed the mightiest form of the Snake-Scorpion Exploding Scale Fist with all his strength.
Burst-Scale Strike.
His fist shot toward Uncheon's face.
'You have taken the bait.'
Rather than dodging the incoming fist, Uncheon merely brought the iron weight to the precise place where his face had been at exactly the right moment.
But the result of that smooth motion was horrifying.
CRACK!
What burst forth with that dull impact was not Uncheon's groan.
"AAAAARGH!"
It was the agonized scream of Muk Wijin, the one who had attacked.
His fist collided head-on with steel, and the dreadful sound of bone splintering rang out even over the thunder of the waterfall.
Before everyone's eyes, Muk Wijin's fist twisted into a grotesque angle.
"M-My hand!"
Clutching his shattered fist, Muk Wijin writhed in pain.
Tears welled in his eyes, along with terror at the reality before him, a reality he could not believe.
He lost all reason and charged recklessly with his remaining arm and leg.
"I will kill you!"
As though he had been waiting for the charge, Uncheon rotated his body along the line of the incoming attack.
Rooting his lower body into the earth as though planting himself there by the principle of the Heaven-and-Earth Dynamic Art, he made the weight of the iron weights his axis and spun.
Muk Wijin's fist brushed past Uncheon's rotation by the breadth of a sheet of paper.
Whsssh—
'What?'
Toward the opening that had been laid perfectly bare, an explosive kick of Blood Wind Leg surged forth.
BOOOOOOM—!
With even the weight of the iron weights added to it, Uncheon's kick was like a great battering ram.
Not even a scream had time to escape.
Muk Wijin's huge body flew like a scrap of paper and smashed into a boulder at the edge of the clearing.
'There is no need to show restraint.'
His opponent was the child of a demonic cultist.
'Unless he, too, had been dragged here against his will.'
At the sight of Muk Wijin lying utterly motionless, only the sound of the waterfall echoed eerily through the clearing.
Every cadet stared at Uncheon in shock.
"With that, the match is decided, is it not?"
Uncheon turned toward Yuha.
Yuha, whose eyes shone as though he had just seen a most entertaining spectacle, declared Uncheon's victory.
"The victor... Uncheon!"
The very instant the words fell, Uncheon swept the mountain of Instruction Tokens into his own pouch.
'...A talent beyond belief for a mere cadet! Is the greatest Hidden Dragon in Hidden Demon Cave truly that boy after all?'
No.
He was beyond the level of Hidden Demon Cave alone.
Yuha had seen no shortage of the soaring talents of the younger generation throughout the Central Plains, yet none had pleased him as much as Uncheon.
'To possess talent of that level... and a clean background besides. Is heaven testing me, Yuha? He has the perfect qualifications to become a candidate for Young Cult Leader. I must bind him to my side.'
Yuha's gaze appeared to be resting on Uncheon as he gathered the Instruction Tokens, but in truth it was fixed on something far beyond.
"You bastard, using those iron weights so underhandedly—!"
Muk Hajin was just about to step in on behalf of the unconscious Muk Wijin.
"Enough. Do not move!"
A cold voice rang out from behind the cadets, freezing their heated excitement solid in an instant.
Out of the darkness emerged Instructor Jeok Mugwang, the Mad Blood Saber, his expression chill and severe.
His gaze swept one by one over the unconscious Muk Wijin, Uncheon clutching a mountain of Instruction Tokens, and the cadets whose faces had gone pale.
"All of you... what exactly are you doing here?"
The Night Sparring Matches had been discovered.
Looking directly at Uncheon and Yuha, Jeok Mugwang asked,
"...Are you two the ones behind this?"
0 Comments