When Baek Woo Jin stepped down from the arena, Shin Ye Hwa gently wiped his sweat with a neatly folded silk cloth.
“This feels a bit too much.”
As he spoke with a tone of discomfort, Shin Ye Hwa brushed it off and retorted,
“We’ve always been close enough for this, right? Are you feeling self-conscious around me now?”
“…….”
Had she always been this shameless?
Her brazen response left him at a loss for words.
Because of the sweat, his slight drunkenness had faded a little. To replenish it, he sat down on the ground, opened the lid of the gourd, and poured the liquor down his throat while watching the arena.
The third match of the Round of 16 was about to begin.
Namgong Soo who stepped into the arena with a relaxed expression attacked his opponent from the start with a dazzling display of swordsmanship, unlike the Round of 64 and 32 where he held back a little.
“That’s the Emperor Sword Form!”
The last move he displayed was, once again, the Emperor Sword Form.
Unable to withstand the intense pressure, Namgong Soo’s opponent kept retreating until he eventually fell backward and landed on the ground.
“Namgong Soo wins!”
As soon as the victory was declared, Namgong Soo glanced down at Baek Woo Jin and gave a sly smile.
“Heh, look at that bastard.”
The only reason he had showcased the Emperor Sword Form, which he didn’t even need to use, was to flaunt it in front of Baek Woo Jin.
His arrogant expression, as if to say, “Can you still dismiss the Emperor Sword Form after seeing this?” was utterly repulsive.
Baek Woo Jin replied with exaggerated lip movements so that even his distant opponent could clearly understand.
“Idiot.”
Judging by how Namgong Soo’s face crumpled instantly, it seemed the message had been received loud and clear.
The Emperor Sword Form.
As expected of the Namgong clan’s ultimate technique. In fact, even across the entire martial arts world, it’s rare to find a martial art of this caliber.
Baek Woo Jin couldn’t belittle this extraordinary martial art. He had merely looked down on the fool who had only scratched the surface of such a formidable technique and yet carried himself around with arrogance.
“When will that guy ever learn?”
Namgong Soo certainly possessed exceptional talent, but his personality was far too arrogant and haughty. Unless someone humbled him and guided him onto the right path, it seemed nearly impossible for him to reach the realm of Transcendent State, which was the pinnacle of martial arts where one transcends humanity.
“Oh well, it can’t be helped.”
They say loving your comrades is the same as loving your country, after all.
No matter how much he disliked and looked down on the fool, he couldn’t just stand by and watch as a fellow disciple headed down the wrong path.
Baek Woo Jin resolved to wield the rod of love, with a heart as if stepping into hell itself.
While he was chuckling to himself with trivial thoughts, Myeong Jin who was another strong contender for the championship like Namgong Soo, subdued his opponent with a single blow and secured his place in the finals.
As Myeong Jin clasped his hands in prayer toward the unconscious opponent, Baek Woo Jin felt a chill run down his spine.
“Is that the Buddha’s mercy…?”
The martial arts of the Shaolin Temple, known for their fierce and overwhelming power, seemed to embody the Buddha’s mercy by ending things with a single strike rather than causing prolonged pain.
As the fallen opponent was carried away on a stretcher, Myeong Jin descended from the arena. And then—
Cheers erupted.
A single beautiful flower bloomed on the stage.
In the Jeongmu Academy, there was a term known as the “Four Beauties of Jeongmu”. These referred to the four most beautiful female students from each year, from first to fourth.
This tradition of the “Four Beauties of the Jeongmu” was surprisingly long-standing; and not only inside the academy but it was also well-known outside of it, which explained why the audience’s cheers were even louder than when Namgong Soo and Myeong Jin appeared.
It was because the woman now standing on the stage, Yoo Hwa Yeon, was one of the Four Beauties of Jeongmu.
“Yoo Hwa Yeon! Yoo Hwa Yeon!”
“Miss Yoo! Please, just look this way once!”
“I’m holding my breath until she looks this way, huff!”
The crowd was in a frenzy, with everyone chanting her name and wishing for her victory. It was a situation that would make even the most steely-hearted opponent nervous.
“What a commotion.”
Unfortunately, her opponent today was Jegal Yeon Ji.
Jegal Yeon Ji hesitantly stepped onto the stage. Even at a glance, it was clear she was more nervous than usual.
“Tsk.”
Baek Woo Jin grimaced.
That sullen expression of hers should belong to him alone, and it irritated him to no end that the whole world was seeing it.
“Hoooop.”
He immediately gathered his energy and started cheering for her.
“Jegal Yeon Ji—! Stay strong!”
A voice reminiscent of the lion’s roar at Shaolin Temple rang out. The people were so surprised that the audience’s shouts for Yoo Hwa Yeon stopped for a moment.
“Don’t be scared, fight with confidence!”
And the gazes of the two on stage turned to Baek Woo Jin.
Jegal Yeon Ji looked deeply moved, while Yoo Hwa Yeon had a complicated expression on her face that was difficult to describe.
“Hehehe… Young master Baek cheered for me.”
As if she had never been nervous, Jegal Yeon Ji was now all smiles.
“Let the match begin!”
With the steel fan in her hand, she was the first to speak to Yoo Hwa Yeon who was staring intently in this direction.
“Thank you, Miss Yoo.”
Yoo Hwa Yeon responded with a bewildered expression to the sudden words of gratitude.
“I’ve never done anything for which you should thank me, Miss Jegal.”
“No, you have.”
Jegal Yeon Ji replied firmly. Yoo Hwa Yeon had given her the greatest opportunity in the world.
“You broke up with young master Baek, didn’t you?”
Yo Hwa Yeon’s face became even heavier at the sight of her giggling.
“When Miss Yoo was around, I couldn’t even think of approaching him.”
Jegal Yeon Ji first saw Baek Woo Jin shortly after entering the academy.
At first, she was intrigued and wondered how a man could be so handsome. She found herself unconsciously following him around and stealing glances at his face.
Her feelings for him truly began to grow when she realized he was no different from herself.
A half-wit.
Baek Woo Jin and Jegal Yeon Ji were both referred to in this way within their clans.
They were always forced to endure a subtle yet unmistakable disdain, all because they had exceptional siblings.
If it had been only a sense of shared suffering, she wouldn’t have been so drawn to him. Unlike herself, who lived in a state of half-resignation after she got overshadowed by her siblings, Baek Woo Jin relentlessly pushed himself, driving his body to the limit with tireless effort.
Though they were in the same situation, one had stopped in place while the other continued to strive. Where did that difference come from? From that moment on, Jegal Yeon Ji began to observe Baek Woo Jin’s every move.
After some time, Jegal Yeon Ji became certain. She was convinced that if she could be with him, she too could start moving forward again.
However, there was a perfect fiancée by his side, one who left no room for anyone else to even think of approaching.
“I thought I wouldn’t stand a chance, so I tried to give up….”
Meeting Baek Woo Jin at the request office had been pure coincidence. After following him every day, she had fallen behind in her mission scores and decided she needed to complete something quickly. That’s when she encountered him at the office.
Her heart nearly burst when he approached her first and suggested they take on a request together. After a bit of back-and-forth, they accepted the request, and as always, Jegal Yeon Ji secretly followed him.
And then she saw it. What had seemed like a perfect relationship, like something out of a painting, was actually coming to an end as Yoo Hwa Yeon and Baek Woo Jin bid farewell to each other.
“You have no idea how happy I was to see young master Baek and Miss Yoo break up!”
Like an excited child, she twirled her arms as she explained, but Yoo Hwa Yeon raised her sword.
“Let’s just finish this fight quickly.”
Each time she heard those words, it felt like a part of her heart was being cut away. Yoo Hwa Yeon wanted to end this unpleasant match as soon as possible.
“But it’s really strange, isn’t it?”
However, the other party didn’t seem to intend to make it easy for her.
“It must have been you who wanted the breakup….”
But you still seem to be holding on to something, Miss Yoo.
Before she could even finish speaking, Yoo Hwa Yeon lunged at her.
The flexible, flowing sword struck Jegal Yeon Ji from every angle.
In a highly emotional, almost irritable attack, Jegal Yeon Ji calmly blocked her strikes and waited for an opening.
“Did I upset you? I’m sorry! I just wanted to say thank you…!”
Even in the midst of battle, her mouth didn’t stop.
In a fight, the most important thing is to maintain composure. The human body is remarkably honest. There was a clear difference between swinging a sword in anger and wielding it with a calm mind.
Yoo Hwa Yeon’s fluid sword style was no exception. Techniques that should have been more powerful and expansive failed to show their true potential.
Jegal Yeon Ji knew the gap in skill between herself and Yoo Hwa Yeon was significant, so she deliberately provoked her.
To create just one moment where she could turn the tide of the battle.
Right now!
Seeing the attack thrusting in too deeply, she was certain that the moment was now.
Jegal Yeon Ji ducked to avoid the strike and then drove the blunt end of her folded iron fan hard into Yoo Hwa Yeon’s solar plexus.
Just as she was certain of her victory, Yoo Hwa Yeon clenched her teeth.
I can’t lose!
Somehow, Jegal Yeon Ji had secured her place beside Baek Woo Jin. For some reason, Yoo Hwa Yeon couldn’t bear to lose to her.
“Haaah!”
Yoo Hwa Yeon’s movements changed drastically.
Accepting the risk of internal injury, she forcibly twisted her body and used her shoulder to take the blow from the iron fan before swinging her retrieved sword.
“Ah!”
The situation flipped, and suddenly Jegal Yeon Ji found herself in danger.
The sword slashed sharply across her body and started cutting into her from multiple angles.
“Kyaaa!”
When Jegal Yeon Ji collapsed on the stage with her blood spurting in all directions, the referee quickly intervened and stepped between them.
“Yoo-Yoo Hwa Yeon wins!”
Since it was a duel with real swords, a little bloodshed was expected, but this much blood spilling on the stage was a first since the Dragon and Phoenix Gathering began.
“Haa, haa….”
Yoo Hwa Yeon realized only then what she had done. She hurriedly tried to approach her, but someone else reached her first.
“Yo-Young master Baek …”
It was Baek Woo Jin who had rushed over the moment he saw her collapse with her blood spraying everywhere.
With a pained expression on his face, he gently lifted the suffering Jegal Yeon Ji into his arms. Then, after glancing at Yoo Hwa Yeon who had made her like this, he silently went down the stage.
In that moment, the cold gaze he gave her—a gaze she had never seen before even when they parted ways—made Yoo Hwa Yeon’s heart sink with a heavy thud.
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