After Baek Woo Jin finally let go of the unconscious Namgong Soo and stood up confidently, Yoo Hwa Yeon’s mind erupted with thousands, even tens of thousands of thoughts that spread like wildfire and started heating her insides.
Could a person really change that much? If so, what kind of experience would be necessary to make such a transformation?
Or had he deceived her from the very beginning? Could he have been pretending to be weak all along just to test her and see if she would recognize the sincerity of this suddenly changed fiancé?
Why on earth…?
The very image she had longed for over the years stood right before her. The ideal picture she had envisioned, where she comforted his weary heart and soothed his wounded soul, was finally being brought to life by him.
But he was no longer hers. To be precise, she had been the one to let go first.
It was painful. Seeing him smile so brightly on the martial arts stage felt as though he was mocking and criticizing her. As if he was telling her that she had been wrong all along.
“Haa, haa…!”
Her chest tightened, and she struggled to breathe.
Suddenly, she remembered the words Baek Woo Jin had spoken on the day she announced the breakup.
You said you wanted to get what you wanted….
From childhood until now, all she had ever wanted was to be in a position that others admired. She wanted to become like that wise woman she met on a boating trip with her father.
But now, she found herself doubting the value of those ambitions.
Since the day she parted ways with him, it felt like she had been losing something each day, piece by piece. Each loss seemed insignificant on its own, but together, they felt like they might amount to something incredibly precious.
At that time, she didn’t know what it was. While she kept losing, she couldn’t quite grasp what she was losing. This left her feeling uneasy and anxious multiple times a day as the unsettling sensation brushed against her heart.
Her discomfort grew even more when she saw Jegal Yeon Ji. The place that had once been hers was now occupied by her.
Even though she had been the one to leave that position, paradoxically, it still felt like it had been taken from her.
The breaking point came when she faced Jegal Yeon Ji on the martial arts stage. When that Jegal girl thanked her for stepping aside, it irritated and infuriated her to no end.
Because of that, she fought emotionally in the duel, and although she claimed victory by drawing blood from her opponent, she paid dearly for it in the next match, where she couldn’t even show her true abilities and had to forfeit.
Only now did Yoo Hwa Yeon realize what she had been losing all this time.
It was you….
It was Baek Woo Jin.
Whenever she saw him with Jegal Yeon Ji, memories they had shared gradually faded away, and every time she saw that bright smile he once reserved only for her now directed at others,
She felt her vitality draining.
“I… I was wrong.”
She had believed that she was the one taking care of him. Like a delicate porcelain that could easily be shattered and wounded, she thought she was the one holding and protecting him.
Only after losing him did she realize that just as she had embraced him, he had been soothing her weary heart with his unclouded smiles and kind words.
She hadn’t even considered what she had received and remembered only what she had given.
“Oh, oh no…!”
The tall walls she had built crumbled to reveal her fragile inner self.
“Young miss! Are you alright?”
“What’s happening?”
“I don’t know. She just suddenly collapsed to the ground.”
She heard the murmurs of people around her, but she couldn’t afford to pay them any mind.
Overwhelming regret and a sense of loss consumed her entire being.
“Why only now…?”
There were times she had resented him for starting to shine only after leaving her embrace. But now, the “why” was directed solely at herself.
Why?
Why did she take his love for granted?
“Ah, ah…”
…
…
After crying for a long time, she staggered to her feet, her appearance drenched in despair and frustration.
She looked once more at the now-empty martial arts stage before turning away.
Baek Woo Jin’s final words replayed in her ears.
“I hope you get what you want.”
“It was you…”
What she had wanted all along.
The one who had always been by her side, whom she had now lost due to her foolish greed.
“Baek Woo Jin… it was you…”
Her sorrowful voice lingered in the air like a mournful melody.
***
Many things had changed in just one day.
Namgong Soo, the pride of the Namgong clan and a strong contender for victory in the Dragon and Phoenix Martial Arts Tournament, had been defeated. And not by another top contender like Myeong Jin or Han Baek, but by Baek Woo Jin who was infamous within the academy for his lack of talent.
The sight Baek Woo Jin had shown was indeed shocking. When he unveiled a mysterious sword technique to counter Namgong Soo’s Emperor Sword Form, even the leader of the Moorim Alliance who had been watching, leaped from his seat in awe and exclaimed that it was a blessing for the righteous martial arts world. Many had witnessed this.
However, that didn’t justify Namgong Soo’s defeat. People would only remember that Namgong Soo lost, not the fact that his opponent’s martial strength was so overwhelming that losing wasn’t surprising.
“Huff, huff!”
Namgong Soo regained consciousness only after a full day had passed.
The lingering image of Baek Woo Jin’s devilish smile and the sight of the approaching fist increasing in speed and size made his entire body tremble.
When he hurriedly tried to rise, the pain from all over his body made him wince and forced him to lie back down.
“Ugh!”
He had become used to pain through his training. He had often pushed himself too far, causing his inner energy to become twisted, and had countless times broken bones in near-real combat with the elders of his clan.
So he believed he had grown used to pain. But the pain he felt now was unlike anything he had ever experienced in his life.
“What on earth happened to my body…?”
The brief fragments of what he had dismissed as a mere nightmare began to stretch out longer.
He wished he could forget them, or better yet, that they weren’t real, but the brutal memories mercilessly pounded his mind.
“I… I lost.”
The swordsmanship that his clan took pride in had been completely blocked, and even the Emperor Sword Form, which he had mastered through relentless effort, crumbled in Baek Woo Jin’s grasp.
“I lost…”
He was no stranger to defeat. However, he had never experienced a loss against someone his age.
In truth, it felt like his first true defeat. The fact that his opponent was Baek Woo Jin made the shock even more unbearable.
“Oo…Ooh…”
One by one, the things he had lost began to resurface.
The position of the Divine Dragon that everyone revered, his pride in the Namgong clan, the gazes of those around him, and Yoo Hwa Yeon.
“Aaaargh!”
A harsh, fractured scream erupted, like something out of a ghost story.
At that moment, someone hurriedly opened the door and rushed inside.
“Young master!”
It was one of the warriors who had once served as Namgong Soo’s guard in the clan.
“I’ll bring a physician right away!”
When the guard turned to leave, believing that Namgong Soo was writhing in pain, Namgong Soo raised his shaking arm to stop him.
“Stop…!”
The guard who had turned around again at his command involuntarily took a deep breath. Namgong Soo’s eyes were gleaming with madness and killing intent as he stared at him.
“Support me, now.”
“Yes, but… you must remain at rest for a while….”
“That’s an order! If you don’t help me up right now, I’ll cut off your head.”
The room seemed to drop in temperature as a chilling aura filled the air. Reluctantly, the guard supported Namgong Soo’s back and waist to help him stand.
Namgong Soo barely managed to get up and his body swayed before collapsing again.
Thud!
“Young master!”
“Ugh…!”
His anger only grew as he found himself unable to even control his own body.
“What has happened to my body?”
“That, that is….”
The guard’s explanation was absurd.
He had lost consciousness and collapsed, only to be mercilessly beaten down by Baek Woo Jin.
“That son of a bit*h…!”
As fury threatened to consume him, his guard hastily shook him.
“Please calm down, young master!”
“Huff, huff…!”
Namgong Soo who was gasping for breath barely managed to regain his composure. Then he struggled to his feet with the help of the guard.
“There’s somewhere I need to be…!”
Just as he was about to leave the room with his guard in tow, he caught sight of his reflection in a bronze mirror.
“My-My face!”
Both of his eyes were bruised a deep blue. He now resembled the wild cats he had seen in his childhood.
It’s said that when anger reaches its peak, one becomes eerily calm. Namgong Soo felt exactly that. Perhaps it was because he had been enraged so many times in such a short span that his head now felt strangely cool.
“Bring me something to cover my face.”
“…Understood.”
After seating Namgong Soo on the bed, the guard stepped out for a moment and returned with a deeply pressed black hat and a mask.
Namgong Soo used them to cover his face as best as he could, then, he left the room with the help of his guard.
I have to stop him.
The thought that consumed his mind was that he couldn’t let Baek Woo Jin continue to succeed like this.
If by any chance Baek Woo Jin won the final match, Namgong Soo felt he wouldn’t be able to bear it.
I have to stop him.
He considered using the warriors of his clan to injure Baek Woo Jin, but the risk was too high. The boy had already seen through the sword techniques of the Namgong clan, and there was a strong chance he would detect their involvement.
After much deliberation, Namgong Soo decided to use others to accomplish his goal. It was a well-known fact among those in the know that disciples of the Hao Sect were secretly active within this very academy.
Namgong Soo struggled to make his way to a place on the academy’s farthest outskirts. It was a remote and unpopular establishment that still boldly operated despite its lack of patrons. The “Woonjung Inn”.
“Welcome, welcome!”
As they stepped inside, a worker quickly approached them while rubbing his hands together and greeting them warmly.
“I’m here to see the branch leader.”
“Huh…? The branch leader, you say? Are you perhaps referring to our innkeeper…?”
When the worker feigned ignorance with a blank expression, Namgong Soo’s eyes gleamed with a sharp threatening light.
“Bring me the branch leader. If you don’t, all of you will end up buried here.”
“E-Eeek!”
The worker was intimidated by the piercing gaze that seemed to freeze his soul. He stammered that he was going to fetch the branch leader and then dashed away.
Before long, a man in his forties who appeared to be the branch leader approached quickly and bowed deeply before Namgong Soo.
“Welcome, young master.”
“Enough with the formalities. I came here today because I have something urgent to entrust to you.”
“What is it you need…?”
When the branch leader raised his head slightly to ask, Namgong Soo responded with a chillingly cold expression.
“Make sure, by any means necessary, that Baek Woo Jin loses in the finals. I’ll give you as much money as you want.”
Leave a Reply to Anon Cancel reply