Chapter v18c13

Namgung-Sang was being dragged along like a piece of laundry strung between Tang Sam and Hyun-Woon. When they released his arms, the dejected Namgung-Sang collapsed to his knees, unable to stand. Hyun-Woon and Tang Sam tilted their heads back, their gazes directed upwards, and said,

“We brought him back, Eldest Senior Brother!”

They were looking up because their Eldest Senior Brother, Bi Ryu-Yeon, was floating in mid-air, lying on his back. It wasn’t some special levitation technique. Nor was it his internal energy overflowing and propelling him upwards. There was simply a rope strung between two trees, and he was lying on it. Bi Ryu-Yeon opened his eyes slightly.

“You’re back?”

He asked nonchalantly, turning his head slightly.

“Where did you catch him?”

“Downstream by the river.”

“Hmm, he got farther this time.”

“Yes, he was caught midstream last time.”

Hyun-Woon replied.

“How many times has this happened?”

Bi Ryu-Yeon asked, counting on his fingers.

“Three times.”

Hyun-Woon answered after counting on his fingers.

“Isn’t it a friend’s duty to support a friend with weak resolve? Weren’t you supposed to be watching him? What did I say would happen if you let him escape again?”

“W-well…”

Hyun-Woon stammered, unable to answer. Perhaps his brain was refusing to recall the horrifying consequences.

“What? Don’t you remember?”

“Of course, I remember.”

“Answer me.”

“S-special training…”

The mere thought of it made him nauseous. He wasn’t the only one feeling queasy.

So far, they had only been repeating their previous training.

“You have to keep your promises, right? You two can ask Master Kwak for special training. The other one will be busy.”

Master Kwak referred to Yeomdo.

“Any objections?”

“N-no.”

Of course, they had objections. They had enough complaints to last a month. But if they tried to shirk their responsibility and break their promise, they would face dire consequences. The source of those consequences hopped down from the rope and stood before the kneeling Namgung-Sang.

“Now, let’s decide what to do with you.”

Bi Ryu-Yeon said, circling him slowly.

“…I’ll accept any punishment.”

Namgung-Sang closed his eyes, resigned to his fate. Resistance was futile, even harmful, now that his escape attempt had failed.

Tang Sam also closed his eyes.

‘Triple Summer Beating Fist Technique…’

That was probably Namgung-Sang’s fate. But then…

“Excellent.”

Bi Ryu-Yeon said, clearly addressing Namgung-Sang.

“Huh?”

Namgung-Sang looked up, bewildered. His face, already pale with dread, turned even paler with confusion. It was an unexpected turn of events. Bi Ryu-Yeon hadn’t punished him, but praised him instead. Namgung-Sang looked up at the blue sky, wanting to see it one last time before it crumbled. He hadn’t expected the apocalypse to arrive so soon. But the sky showed no signs of collapsing.

“I commend your spirit, for not giving up after two failed attempts. Very good. You shouldn’t give up so easily after a few setbacks. Don’t you agree, Gungsang-ah?”

“O-of course.”

Namgung-Sang nodded vigorously. A faint glimmer of hope appeared in his dark future, but it was still as dim as ignorance.

Bi Ryu-Yeon nodded, looking pleased.

“Good, good. Failure is common in war, you know. It’s an everyday occurrence. Sometimes, you have to be willing to die before giving up. It seems like Gungsang understands that.”

He patted Namgung-Sang’s shoulder a few times. Everyone suspected that he had infused his touch with internal energy. He might look fine on the outside, but his bones could be shattered, his organs ruptured. It was entirely possible.

“Y-you’re too kind, Eldest Senior Brother.”

The atmosphere shifted as the praise continued.

“So you shouldn’t give up on training just because you failed a few times, right? It’s a disgrace for a martial artist to show such weakness. No family would want a coward like that as their son-in-law. What good is a coward in these turbulent times? Don’t you agree, Jin-Ryeong?”

Jin-Ryeong was startled by the sudden mention of her name. But she couldn’t just stand there, speechless. Bi Ryu-Yeon’s invisible gaze was pressuring her. There was only one answer she could give.

“Y-yes! You’re absolutely right, Eldest Senior Brother.”

She agreed reluctantly.

“You wouldn’t want to marry a coward, would you?”

“W-well…”

She hesitated. Bi Ryu-Yeon didn’t let up.

“What? Do you really want to spend your life with a coward? A spineless man who constantly disappoints you? A man who gives up at the first sign of failure, who’s too afraid to try again? A man with less courage than an ant? Do you really want to spend your life with someone like that?”

“Of course not! What woman in her right mind would want to spend her life with a coward? Marriage isn’t child’s play.”

Marriage was about sharing your soul with someone. It was on a completely different level than dating. It was natural to want to spend your life with someone you could trust.

“Exactly! You marry a man to be his wife, not his babysitter!”

“That’s right! Men are already immature enough as it is. We women have to put up with enough. It’s not okay for them to be spineless cowards on top of that! Why would we want to suffer for the rest of our lives?”

Bi Ryu-Yeon nodded in agreement and turned back to Namgung-Sang.

“See? Even Jin-Ryeong agrees. Gungsang-ah, you wouldn’t want to disappoint the woman who believes in you, would you?”

Namgung-Sang broke out in a cold sweat.

He couldn’t possibly say, “I’d rather be a coward” at this point. It would be the same as saying, “I have absolutely no intention of marrying Jin-Ryeong.”

“O-of course not. How could I betray someone who believes in me?”

He answered, but his heart sank. Technically, he had already betrayed her trust three times! He was suddenly overwhelmed with guilt, feeling like the worst person in the world.

“Then make your choice.”

“W-what choice?”

“Do you want to continue your training, or give up? I won’t interfere with your decision.”

Namgung-Sang’s eyes widened in surprise. Even if this was a dream, it was more believable than reality.

“A-are you serious, Eldest Senior Brother?”

“Have you ever seen me lie?”

“N-no.”

The problem was that he always made his outrageous claims a reality. Bi Ryu-Yeon had never lied because he had never needed to.

“So you really won’t interfere?”

“Of course not.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really!”

Bi Ryu-Yeon answered firmly.

“Th-then…”

Namgung-Sang looked at his comrades, one by one. They were all watching him with anticipation, waiting to see what he would decide. His gaze finally settled on Jin-Ryeong. He felt a pang of guilt as he met her worried eyes.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. The thought of his past training made him nauseous.

‘Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it…’

If he remembered what he had endured on this mountain, his resolve would crumble.

‘Well, I’m already dead anyway.’

He opened his eyes and quickly blurted out, afraid he might change his mind.

“I’ll do it! I’ll endure any training! Please train me, Eldest Senior Brother!”

His decision showed just how confused he was.

“Good! I’m glad you’ve come to your senses! Leave it to me! Trust me, trust only me!”

Bi Ryu-Yeon nodded, a satisfied smile on his face.

“What is training? The character for ‘training’ means ‘to refine.’ And what is refining? It’s the process of hammering metal to make it stronger. A good sword is forged through countless refinements.”

Everyone listened intently.

“There’s a saying: ‘One refinement, one thousand strikes.’ It means that it takes a thousand hammer blows in the fire to achieve a single refinement. So a sword made from Hundred Refinement Steel has been tempered a hundred thousand times. I’ll turn you into a sword stronger than any Hundred Refinement Steel Sword. So…”

He paused for dramatic effect.

“Prepare yourself!”

He said with a grin.

Namgung-Sang felt uneasy, as if he had been tricked. But it was too late. He had crossed the point of no return. He had voluntarily walked into Bi Ryu-Yeon’s trap. He had no idea what awaited him. He didn’t know that the torturous training he had endured so far was just the beginning.

Bi Ryu-Yeon’s true terror lay in his ability to make you open the gates of hell yourself.

* * *

## A White Meteor

– Outing

She was the king. No one in her kingdom dared to challenge her authority, to commit such a blasphemous and suicidal act. Her power and majesty were absolute, her radiance reaching every corner of her emerald kingdom. Her gait was always proud and majestic, her white mane, whiter than the first snow, gleaming in the sunlight. She was faster, stronger, and larger than any male.

She stood at the edge of her kingdom, gazing at the vast expanse that stretched out before her. Clouds swirled beneath her feet like a carpet. The pure white, soft as cotton, was her color.

It wasn’t just this mountain. All the mountains, stretching as far as the eye could see, were under her rule. Even the peak where a group of arrogant female humans had gathered, boasting of their size. That peak, the tallest in the area, was also under her dominion.

Roar!

She roared from the summit, her voice echoing through the air, shaking the mountains. Her roar was a declaration of her power, her fury making the trees tremble. No one dared to challenge her throne. Her subjects instinctively knew the folly of such an act. Her world was a world of survival of the fittest, and only the strongest earned the title of “King of Kings.”

Her reign had been unchallenged for one hundred and fifty years.

But there was another reason why this powerful, benevolent, and majestic mother ruled as king. She knew of the existence of the true ruler of this mountain, the Unseen Ruler. No one who ignored this fact had ever survived on this mountain. This ruler had been here since before she was born, ruling this land since her mother’s mother’s generation. The ruler of darkness had never encroached upon their territory. But challenging its dominion was the ultimate taboo.

A few years ago, one of her sons had encountered one of the ruler’s subjects. He was still young, and like all young ones, he was overconfident in his strength, his claws as sharp as blades, his fangs capable of crushing steel.

He was the strongest and largest of her sons. He would have been the next king if he hadn’t broken the mountain’s taboo. But he ignored her warnings, and the consequences were severe.

His claws swiped at empty air, and the ruler’s subject unleashed a bolt of lightning, faster than a flash, piercing his pure white body. His fur was ripped off, his claws and fangs torn out. The ruler’s subject knew no waste, and all that remained for her were a few strands of white fur that had fallen during the skinning process. Her son’s death had left behind a valuable pelt, and it had been sold for a high price.

She mourned for three days and nights, but she didn’t seek revenge. The true ruler’s authority was as absolute as the movement of the sun and moon, and survival of the fittest was the law of the forest. She couldn’t defy the natural order, the law of the jungle, where the strong ruled over the weak.

Today was the day the true ruler would leave the mountain after twenty years. As the king of the mountain, she had a duty to see it off. She leaped, her powerful legs propelling her through the air, her silver fur rippling in the wind.

With another roar, the white tiger transformed into a white meteor, streaking across the sky, leaving a long trail behind her as she descended towards the earth.