The room was dimly lit.
In a place where the only source of light was a candle flickering on the table, Tang Seon Yeong took a bitter sip of tea.
In front of her stood a man dressed in black martial robes with his head slightly bowed.
“The clan head has expressed concern.”
“What?”
“You helped the second-year Divine Team students with their mission, didn’t you?”
Tang Seon Yeong’s fine eyebrows knitted slightly at his voice, which was as blunt as his expression.
So it seemed news had reached her father, the clan head, that she had gone out to help Baek Woo Jin with his team mission.
“I simply offered some help, nothing more. Is there a problem with that?”
She spoke calmly while gulping down the tea she had been sipping. At her words, the man asked directly.
“The clan head is worried. He is wondering if perhaps you hold a fondness for him.”
“……”
Tang Seon Yeong placed the half-emptied teacup down.
She turned her head to gaze out the window. There, she saw the wide-open sky, with the moon and stars hanging in place.
A bird in a cage. There was no better way to describe herself.
Even with the vast sky stretching out so openly, she felt as if invisible bars blocked her from going any further.
“Fondness, huh…”
It might have been easier if it had just been fondness.
The intense kiss she had shared with him in that old, rundown house clung to her mind and refused to fade.
It was a mix of an exhilarating thrill that could lift a person into the clouds and a bittersweet sadness.
I should have stopped.
She should have stopped before curiosity turned into fondness and before fondness turned into love.
Would it have hurt less than it does now?
She shook her head. Even if she could somehow go back, she was sure she would make the same choice.
He was simply too charming. His confident way of speaking, his near-excessive shamelessness, the unbreakable self-control that held firm even with her faint scent lingering right before him, and his strikingly handsome features.
If she started listing his qualities, there would be no end; he had everything that a woman might find herself drawn to.
On top of that, he had even earned the title of the Divine Dragon, which was a sign of a promising future that made him an ideal husband who could be welcomed with open arms by any clan. Unfortunately, the Tang Clan was anything but ordinary.
The clan head’s concern was, in truth, a warning to never do it again. If she disobeyed, she would most likely be expelled from the academy which was the only place she had ever been outside the clan’s territory.
“Let him know he doesn’t need to worry; it’s not like it’s anything close to fondness.”
Yes.
It’s not fondness.
This had long since passed the point of being mere fondness.
“…Understood.”
The man gave a slight bow of his head, then disappeared from sight.
When she felt his presence gradually fading, Tang Seon Yeong let out a deep sigh.
“It’s suffocating.”
He was precisely the source of that suffocating feeling.
Since her childhood, she had longed to see the world beyond the secluded Tang Clan territory. She had begged her father, the clan head, to let her experience life beyond the territory, even if it was just once.
After endless pleading, she had finally gained permission to come here, to the Jeongmu Academy.
Of course, it hadn’t come without conditions. One condition was that, after graduation, she would obey her father’s orders with no complaints. Another was that she entered the academy accompanied by a guard who would monitor her every move under the guise of assisting her.
The stoic man from moments earlier was none other than that so-called guard. For the past three years, he had acted as her father’s loyal eyes and ears; he was meticulously observing her every action. Whenever anything unusual occurred, he would always send a direct report to her father.
“I can’t go back…”
Though even this place felt stifling in its own way, at least here, there was a chance to seize small moments of freedom.
Such a moment had come when she had slipped away from his watchful gaze and joined Baek Woo Jin on his team mission.
“Fufu…”
She had spent her days wandering the mountains. She alternated between energy circulation exercises and martial arts techniques, and even slept in a shabby old house… but in those moments, she had truly tasted freedom.
The kiss she shared with him was also a memory she could only savor because she had managed to slip away from her guard.
She was reminiscing about that time and soaking in happiness, but suddenly she wore a pout.
“That’s too much, Baek Woo Jin.”
She felt a pang of resentment toward Baek Woo Jin. No matter how coldly she had acted toward him recently, weren’t they at least close enough to have shared an intense kiss?
When someone is fond of another, they’ll usually come looking for them at least once, but he hadn’t come to see her even a single time.
“Ahaha…!”
She burst into laughter out of the blue.
Did she really expect him to come seek her out, only to be turned away at the door, knowing full well she wouldn’t meet him if he did?
“How foolish.”
Thinking of him dulled her usual rationality, and emotions filled in the gaps.
Looking back, she would berate herself and feel a pang of regret, yet she never truly wished to go back or erase those moments.
Was this too part of Baek Woo Jin’s unique charm?
“This is such a problem…”
She had thought the feelings that flared up so intensely like wildfire would quiet down with time. But even though a fair amount of time had passed, his face still popped into her mind as vividly as ever.
“What could he be doing now…?”
“Who?”
Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed, and her eyes widened in surprise.
A dark shadow fell across her face that was tinged with bewilderment.
“Huh?”
They say “Speak of the tiger and it shall appear”. (TN: The Korean/Chinese idiom uses tiger instead of devil.)
“I came to see you, Miss Tang.”
Appearing just as suddenly as a tiger springing forward was Baek Woo Jin. He was clad in a deep purple robe and wearing a satisfied smile.
***
It was a relief they had reserved a spacious guest room.
The four of them sat spread out with a dining table between them. Though they were fully absorbed in circulating their energy.
“Burp.”
In the midst of this, Baek Woo Jin who had already emptied most of the food spread lavishly across the table, finished his drink and patted his stomach contentedly as he rose from his seat.
“Took longer than I thought.”
From the amount of energy contained in a single cup of wine, he estimated it to be about half a decade’s worth. While it wasn’t a small amount, it was far less than the potency of spiritual elixirs or spiritual herbs, so he hadn’t expected it to take this long.
“Well, at least… everyone seems fine.”
Judging from the relaxed look on their faces, it seemed like they had absorbed and contained the energy from the wine and were now entering the final stages of stabilization.
Only half a decade’s energy had been added, yet the aura surrounding each of the four had noticeably deepened. While they still couldn’t handle a beast on the level of the White Tiger, they would likely hold their own against most creatures.
“Lucky bunch.”
Internal energy was essentially like the blood flowing through a martial artist’s veins. So when an elixir or spiritual herb appeared, most wouldn’t share it, not even with family members. Yet here he was, generously giving it to mere team members. What a benevolent team leader he was.
He praised himself as he left the guest room, then stopped a busy waiter who was passing by.
“Prepare fresh food and send it up to the guest room in about half an hour. And if any of my team members want something specific, bring that up too.”
“Yes, master! I’ll make sure everything is taken care of!”
After extensive energy cultivation, hunger was bound to set in. He made sure that food would be ready for them afterward and went to the dormitory where Tang Seon Yeong was staying.
In each dormitory, entry by the opposite gender was strictly prohibited. Anyone caught breaking this rule would be given a huge penalty, so no one would dare pull such a crazy stunt just to meet someone of the opposite gender unless they were exceptionally reckless.
According to the academy’s “historian”—one who loved to boast—there hadn’t been a student caught sneaking into the opposite gender’s dormitory in the last five years.
“Though, realistically speaking, five years ago probably wasn’t the last time.”
After all, if you didn’t get caught, then there is no crime. It had likely been quiet these past five years only because those bold enough to sneak into the women’s dormitory hadn’t been discovered.
Baek Woo Jin stood in front of the women’s dormitory and looked up at the building with a confident smile.
I’m quite skilled in stealth, after all.
In the fantasy world, Baek Woo Jin was a warrior of many talents. No, rather, the two old sword demons who trained him were the ones truly talented. These two old masters were skilled in every craft except magic and had even taught him stealth and lockpicking, claiming that someday he might need to rescue a princess imprisoned in the Dragon’s Blood Castle.
Thanks to that, he was able to pass through one floor of the Demon King’s Castle, which had tight security, using only stealth.
A mere dormitory, where the dormitory supervisor might occasionally pass by, was a piece of cake in comparison.
“Well then, let’s get started…”
Just when he synchronized his energy with the surrounding energy to activate his stealth, a dark shadow suddenly shot up from the women’s dormitory. It quickly rose into the air before disappearing out of sight.
“Would you look at this?”
What caught his attention was that the figure had launched from none other than the window of Tang Seon Yeong’s dorm room which was his exact destination.
“Oh my.”
He had a good guess who it was.
It was a guard from the Tang clan who was assigned to monitor Tang Seon Yeong’s every move. A loyal servant of the clan head who kept her constantly on edge even from afar.
“I’m glad I met you.”
Baek Woo Jin promptly started following him.
Through the darkness, the faint outline of the man darted lightly across the rooftops of the buildings ahead.
Baek Woo Jin picked up a roof tile and hurled it at the man.
Whoooosh!
With a whistle that could be heard even in the underworld, the tile flew through the air like a fastball from a seasoned left-handed pitcher.
Bang! Crash!
With a shattering sound, the tile smashed to pieces against the man’s fist just as it drew close.
Thud.
The man stopped on the rooftop of one of the buildings and turned to see Baek Woo Jin landing there beside him.
“Baek Woo Jin.”
A peculiar, deadly tone laced the man’s voice.
Baek Woo Jin smirked and spoke up.
“Walking on rooftops, that’s a violation of the school rules, you know.”
“……”
The man was caught off guard and couldn’t muster a reply.
Baek Woo Jin continued.
“You’re Tang Seon Yeong’s guard, Tang Je Woo, right?”
Tang Je Woo. It was a name he had nearly forgotten, one rarely spoken since he’d taken on the role of a shadow. Hearing it now, a menacing glint surfaced in his once-calm eyes.
“Do you have business with me?”
Baek Woo Jin shook his head.
“No, I was just on my way to see Miss Tang.”
Going to a forbidden place at night which was not even allowed during the day… this was an action that clearly showed his intentions.
“That’s not allowed.”
Baek Woo Jin scoffed at his swift answer.
“And why should I have to listen to you?”
It was a rather irritating tone of voice. Tang Je Woo immediately pulled out the dagger he had on his back and held it in his hand.
“In that case, I’ll just have to make you listen.”
“Think you can manage that? I am the Divine Dragon, after all, you know… pretty strong.”
Baek Woo Jin’s smug reply made Tang Je Woo flash a cold smile.
“I have no interest in such empty titles.”
He hadn’t even considered participating in the Dragon and Phoenix Martial Arts Tournament. For someone who had sworn to live as a shadow, a grand title like “Dragon” was more of a poison than an honor.
But he was certainly confident in his abilities. Being assigned to guard Tang Seon Yeong, who was a key figure in the Tang Clan where skill was everything, was proof enough of his own strength. Except for Dokgo Cheon who was known to the students as the incomparable “Heaven Beyond Heaven”, he was certain that he would not lose to anyone.
“Confident, aren’t you?”
A faint smile crept onto Baek Woo Jin’s lips.
As if he had been waiting for this, he spoke up,
“Just fighting seems a bit dull. How about we make a little bet?”
“…What kind of bet?”
“It’s simple. The winner gets one wish granted by the loser.”
“So you have something you want from me, do you?”
“Yes.”
There was no point in pretending anymore. The mood was already set, and with Tang Je Woo brimming with confidence, it seemed unlikely he’d back down now.
“If I win, you close your eyes and cover your ears for three months.”
Tang Je Woo’s face twisted. Talking about closing his eyes and ears meant stopping his reports about Tang Seon Yeong to the head of the clan.
Unlike Tang Seon Yeong who claimed that she held no feelings for Baek Woo Jin, it seemed the latter held a clear interest in her.
What a pitiful guy.
It was a little sad to see him running wild without even realizing that he was merely a plaything in her grasp.
“You’re not going to back down here, are you?”
His eyebrows twitched once again at the cheap provocation.
This fight was pointless. He knew that she would handle this guy herself without his interference.
And yet.
“Fine. I’ll take the bet. If I win, you’ll give up an arm.”
Despite everything, he accepted the bet.
This is the first time someone’s gotten under my skin like this.
Ever since he decided to live as a shadow, his emotions had been as good as dead. But Baek Woo Jin, who was standing in front of him now, was the first to ignite them so fiercely like that.
“Cheap.”
Even with such a vicious condition, Baek Woo Jin readily accepted and drew his sword.
“To win a beauty, that much is worth it.”
The calm flow of energy that had once moved through Tang Je Woo like a calm river now began to blaze intensely.
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