Chapter 18 – Fly Me To The Moon

&R;&e;​&a;&d; ｏn ̀K​&a;ｔR‌e​ɑd‍ｉｎg̈Ϲaf̂ｅ

‘Persona, themes….’  

On the first floor of a factory with only its frame remaining, I was pacing around busily, alone and with no one else around.  

I needed time to digest Mertzel’s words, and the priest had also said something similar.  

The priest dismissed everything—religion, nation, culture—as extensions of such personas.  

He even said that the absurd was part of such personas.  

‘A world where nothing is surprising….’  

Fantasy exists, and the grotesque exists.  

A world I should’ve lived my entire life without knowing.  

I almost went to my grave without knowing this larger world.  

That’s how peace settles in, I guess.  

To borrow Mertzel’s words, a tense and unstable peace and a world of knowledge.  

Within such themes.  

‘Wait, martial arts….’  

Of all things, why martial arts?  

I pondered deeply.  

‘Hmm, since fantasy has its own lineages, I guess it’s natural.’  

It would’ve been strange if all cultures were exactly the same.  

But since martial arts novels aren’t a genre I usually read, I don’t know much about them.  

I also don’t know what kind of adaptations were made during the process of becoming human creations.  

There must be some gap between reality and fiction.  

‘What about werewolves?’  

From what I’ve observed, they’re more like ascetics than martial artists. Ascetics with physical training.  

Should I try mimicking them?  

It seemed cool, at least.  

But the only martial arts I know are…  

*Tap.*  

I stopped in my tracks.  

I gently lifted my right foot and lightly tapped the cement floor with my toes.  

“Heavenly Demon’s Descent.”  

Only the popular stuff.  

“What are you doing?”  

“Wahhhhhhh!!”  

Instinctively, I covered my face with both hands and slumped to the ground.  

“Are you okay?”  

Who is this jerk who spoke so carelessly? He has no sense of consideration from start to finish.  

Did you see that? Damn it, did you see that? You must have, right? You heard a voice right behind me, so you must have seen it, right?  

So, I was muttering to myself, spinning around, and then suddenly striking a pose, shouting “Heavenly Demon’s Descent.”  

“Your naming sense is impressive.”  

“Damn it!!!”  

“…Martial arts? The name sounds familiar.”  

It’s fine if I’m alone, but being caught by someone else is a whole different story.  

I want to die, I want to die, I want to die, I want to die.  

I was caught. This embarrassing, shameful, childish act—someone saw it, from start to finish…!  

Kill me. No, just die.  

“…Let’s die.”  

“Huh?”  

“Should I die, or should you die? Choose.”  

My vision is blurry. Maybe it’s because I screamed so much that I’m drained, or maybe tears are welling up.  

When you’re embarrassed, your face turns red. If your face is red, blood must be rushing to it, so your head temperature must be rising, right?  

Tears will pool, so damn it, damn it, damn it…!  

The one who took away my will to live was the white werewolf who introduced himself as Baekrangdok in the afternoon.  

I couldn’t even muster the courage to look him in the eye and just bowed my head as I approached him.  

But before I could resort to physical memory-erasure therapy, I stopped when I noticed bloodstains.  

“Have you calmed down?”  

“Ah, no. Uh, uh, damn it, just forget what just happened. No, don’t even bring it up!! Ah, no. More importantly, this isn’t the issue.”  

I had previously judged Baekrangdok to be a great master. After all, all his actions and movements were calm and sharp.  

For someone of his level, it should’ve been impossible to even scratch him.  

…That’s how it should’ve been.  

“I had some personal business to attend to.”  

“…What happened to leave you so battered? The sword on your back is clean, so you didn’t even draw it, did you? Why did you just take the hits?”  

“You’re quite observant. But… it’s not something you need to concern yourself with yet. Yes, not yet….”  

The werewolf, who called himself Baekrangdok, trailed off.  

By the way, I’ve been referring to him as Baekrangdok because I already knew it was an alias.  

I knew that from the start.  

Baekrangdok looked down at me, who was still rubbing my eyes in shame, and spoke.  

“Vampire Lord, let’s dance for a moment.”  

What is this guy saying?  

“A sword dance. Just cross blades with me for a moment.”  

His battered body, the sword he hadn’t drawn, his utterly confused expression.  

A storm of conflict raged within him. Baekrangdok’s mind was pure chaos.  

But I was beyond disbelief.  

‘He’s just a veteran trying to bully a newbie, isn’t he?’  

I’ve never learned martial arts except for Taekwondo as a child.  

I quit Taekwondo in elementary school, so there’s been a gap of nearly ten years.  

As for swords, I’m a complete amateur.  

Until now, all I’ve done in combat is swing something with all my might.  

The description of being strong but clueless fits me perfectly.  

But even after I refused, Baekrangdok persistently requested again.  

“It’s just a light spar. No blood will be shed. It’s just to teach and learn.”  

“Well, to me, it just sounds like you’re trying to bully me….”  

But when he asked in such a vulnerable voice.  

He wasn’t tearful, but his voice was filled with immense regret and frustration.  

After a few more minutes of internal conflict, I agreed when Baekrangdok offered to use a wooden sword while I used a real one.  

The location for the sword dance was the open area in front of the first floor of the factory where we met.  

The moon was heavily ringed, and the sky was cloudy. It would probably rain for a while after tomorrow.  

A cold wind blew as we faced each other.  

The height difference was so extreme that it seemed impossible to properly cross swords, but so what?  

“Let’s begin.”  

My opponent was a master of the sword, someone who had crossed continents with just a single blade.  

His title must be extraordinary. I didn’t plan to pry into what he was hiding.  

So, I already assumed my defeat.  

I widened my eyes to at least witness the technique.  

“…Huh.”  

But it was strange.  

The sword wasn’t heavy or fast.  

It was just a calm, ordinary speed, clearly visible to the eye.  

What’s going on? Did I misjudge?  

But that momentary illusion was shattered by the ensuing dance, a movement that could be defined as a dance.  

“Ugh, ah?!”  

It was clearly slow, but for some reason, it kept slipping out of my sight.  

I frantically swung the heavy real sword in my hand, but none of my strikes landed.  

When I turned my head to the right, Baekrangdok’s massive figure disappeared beyond it, and his sword continued to trace its path without stopping.  

It wasn’t so much annoying as it was bewildering.  

It was clearly slow, yet I couldn’t catch it with my eyes, and when I swung my sword, his wooden sword was already grazing the back of my neck and passing by.  

There were no physical wounds, but the mental exhaustion was overwhelming.  

The sword was starting to feel stifling. Within the constraints of a sword dance, just swinging the sword wasn’t enough.  

“Ah.”  

And then, at some point.  

Frustrated by the pointless spar, I swung my sword down with all my might, and the sword itself shattered.  

Even though it was a real sword.  

“Ah….”  

“It’s okay. It was a strong sword, but it seems it couldn’t withstand its wielder’s strength. Impressive.”  

He didn’t seem to be mocking me.  

Panting, I looked down at myself.  

As Baekrangdok said, there were no wounds. Only my clothes were sliced cleanly, as if peeled off.  

“Amazing skill….”  

“If you learn to control the direction of your strength, you’ll soon reach the pinnacle. You’re already complete in terms of raw power. It’s just that your flow is chaotic and disorganized, so you can’t manifest it in a proper form.”  

“Well, I’ll admit that.”  

I’ve never properly learned martial arts, after all.  

If I could fight like a master from the start, that would be the real problem.  

I just rely on my strength.  

The absurd power to rip out a concrete pillar and swing it around. That’s my only pride.  

Baekrangdok quietly gathered the shattered pieces of the sword and said,  

“…Vampire Lord.”  

“Yeah.”  

“Someday, perhaps soon, we may face each other again.”  

His battered body and the torn traces of his uniform spoke for themselves.  

It seemed Baekrangdok had gone through something significant after meeting Baekmo Cheong-an.  

The determination for a life-and-death duel was nowhere to be found.  

Baekrangdok spoke in a heavy, serious tone that would weigh down even the listener.  

“When that time comes, don’t hesitate. I hope you’ll come at me with all your might. I wish for your strength to find its direction. Then….”  

With that, Baekrangdok disappeared into the darkness of the moonlit night.  

As quietly as he had first appeared, without a trace.  

“At least tell me your real name before you go.”  

Maybe he’ll tell me when we meet again.  

Whether meeting again is truly important or not, I felt a strange unease, connecting it to his final words.