Beneath the moonlight stood a woman clad in pure white robes. Possessed of a noble beauty, she looked as though she had just descended from the heavens.
Cheon So-hui wiped her tears away again with her sleeve. She wondered if the tears that had suddenly come had made her see things. But the beautiful woman smiled brightly before her and introduced herself.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ian. I used to be the young master’s guard.”
Ian greeted her cheerfully. She had always been bright, but of late she had become brighter still. Her every action overflowed with confidence.
“I’m Cheon So-hui of Donggwonmun’s Black Fist.”
“Ah! It’s an honor to meet you.”
“You know me?”
“Of course. You’re Donggwonmun’s foremost Iron Fist, aren’t you?”
Cheon So-hui’s mood lifted. It was not simply because she had been praised. Ian’s praise did not carry that feeling one so often sensed—A woman, using fist arts? How unusual.
“What I said when I came in earlier was just a joke to tease the young master, so if it offended you in any way, please forgive me.”
“It’s all right.”
“Then please continue your conversation. I’ll come again later.”
As Ian bowed and turned to leave, Geom Mugeuk stopped her.
“You’ve come all this way. Stay and talk a while.”
Ian cautiously asked Cheon So-hui,
“Would that be all right?”
“Of course.”
Cheon So-hui had grown curious about this beautiful woman.
The two women gave off quite contrasting impressions. Ian possessed a beauty that carried a noble grace, while Cheon So-hui had a toughness that made it seem she would survive no matter where one threw her.
“Please don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t crying because of the Second Young Master.”
“Really?”
“Pardon?”
Ian’s eyes sparkled as she asked again.
“You really weren’t crying because of the young master? I cry because of him all the time.”
Ian looked at Geom Mugeuk and said,
“He makes me cry every time.”
With a woman’s intuition, Cheon So-hui sensed it. This woman liked Geom Mugeuk as a man.
“You said you were the Second Young Master’s guard?”
“Yes, though I’ve been cast out now.”
“Why were you cast out?”
“He says it was for the sake of my happiness, but surely that’s just an excuse?”
“It is. Be careful. Philanderers are very good with words.”
“He is the best speaker in all the murim, after all.”
Geom Mugeuk laughed and said to the two of them,
“How long has it been since you met, and you’re already getting along?”
The two women felt goodwill toward each other.
Ian had always liked strong women like Cheon So-hui. It was because she herself wanted to become such a person.
Cheon So-hui’s first impression of Ian was also not bad. A woman this beautiful might have had some off-putting quality that made her hard to approach, but Ian had none of that at all.
Ian asked Geom Mugeuk,
“Is your training going well?”
“If even that news has reached your ears when all you do is shut yourself in the training ground and practice, then there must be no one in the Cult who doesn’t know.”
“Yesterday, even the kitchen cooks were making rice while talking about how you passed the Red Fist. I heard there are even people betting on whether or not you’ll become his disciple.”
Geom Mugeuk learning fist arts at Donggwonmun was truly the talk of the Cult.
Ian asked Geom Mugeuk with gentle eyes,
“How is it?”
“It’s fine.”
Cheon So-hui watched Ian smile at Geom Mugeuk’s answer. She felt the deep trust between the two of them, and for a moment, she envied it. She had no one like that—not even anyone who could pretend to be anything close.
“But what brings you here at this late hour?”
“I was training, and suddenly I wanted to see you, young master.”
Geom Mugeuk stared at her, then abruptly asked,
“Has it come?”
At the cryptic question, Ian nodded with a serious expression.
“I think it has.”
At that, Geom Mugeuk sprang up from the rock and walked into the yard.
“Let’s have a spar.”
Ian gave Cheon So-hui a slight bow, then walked out into the yard. It was discourteous to suddenly hold a spar in this situation, but to her, this was something far too important.
Having grasped the mood, Cheon So-hui quickly rose from her seat.
“I’ll be going now.”
Geom Mugeuk stopped her as she tried to leave.
“You may watch. No, watch. This spar will be of great help to you, Miss Cheon.”
It was Geom Mugeuk’s lesson to the person who would become the next Fist Demon.
“Would that really be all right?”
“You shed precious tears, after all. You should earn the worth of those tears before you go.”
At the words precious tears, Cheon So-hui’s eyes grew hot again.
‘Why am I like this?’
Tears kept trying to spill out, as though a tear duct that had been blocked had suddenly opened. Flustered by something she had never experienced before, she was fortunate that Geom Mugeuk and Ian were already facing each other, about to begin their spar.
“I’ll face you with fist arts.”
“Yes!”
“No, Ian! I’m saying I’m fighting without even a sword, and you’re not worried?”
“Worried? If it’s you, young master, even if you fought without either your hands or feet, I still wouldn’t be able to beat you.”
“That’s true. As long as I have this mouth.”
Watching them, Cheon So-hui gave a slight nod as if in agreement.
With his back turned, Geom Mugeuk said to her,
“Don’t nod.”
At that, Cheon So-hui nodded even more emphatically. Since he was a man with eyes on the back of his head, the presence or absence of a sword was clearly not the issue.
The spar began, and at first Ian could not focus. She had said she trusted him, but she was worried that Geom Mugeuk might get hurt fighting barehanded.
But after exchanging a few moves, she concluded that no worry could have been more needless. Geom Mugeuk was fast—far too fast. Even if she swung ten swords at him now, she felt she would not be able to touch a single hair on him.
‘Honestly, who is worrying about whom?’
Geom Mugeuk pressed her fiercely.
A fist with enough force to shatter her jaw flew toward her face.
When she barely dodged it, another fist came for her ribs. This time as well, she twisted her body and narrowly avoided it. Had it landed, it would have broken all her ribs.
Whoosh! Whooosh!
A crisp sound, no less sharp than the wind raised by a blade, rang out every time Geom Mugeuk’s fists flew.
She barely blocked and evaded, trying somehow to put distance between them, but Geom Mugeuk clung to her like a shadow. Once she allowed him to close in, it was not easy to shake him off.
‘Ah, so this is how I die!’
Ian was experiencing something new: a fight against a master of fist arts.
Because she could not secure distance, not even half the power of her swordsmanship could be brought to bear. Meanwhile, Geom Mugeuk’s fists flew mercilessly toward her vital points.
She truly had to use everything she had just to evade them.
Thinking that she would be taken down if she did nothing but dodge, Ian tried to counterattack by any means possible.
At the decisive moment, she found an opening in Geom Mugeuk and used it to widen the distance.
‘Now!’
Only one chance!
Her sword embroidered the air. As the Flying Heaven Sword Art’s Second Form, the Changing Heaven Form, was unleashed, her sword brought forth twelve transformations.
An exclamation that Cheon So-hui had held back throughout the fight burst from her lips.
“Ah!”
Geom Mugeuk evaded that attack, which seemed absolutely impossible to avoid, using the footwork of the Black Fist’s fist art.
That footwork could do that?
Only now did she truly realize how remarkable the fist art she had learned was. The entire time she watched, her heart felt as though it would burst. She wanted to jump in and fight with them. She wanted to unfold it herself as Geom Mugeuk did.
That was not the only impact this spar had on her.
Geom Mugeuk, who, despite having the skill of an absolute master and being the Cult Leader’s second son, had come to the Fist Demon to learn martial arts.
Ian, who, despite being beautiful enough to be called the greatest beauty under heaven, had come here in the depths of night to learn swordsmanship.
Shame and respect arose in her at the same time, and the sight of the two of them was engraved upon her heart like a scene from a painting.
“Well done!”
Geom Mugeuk smiled brightly at Ian. He had driven her to an extreme situation while giving her a chance to escape, and she had not missed it; she had found a way through. It was the fruit of the harsh training she had endured.
“I still feel something tickling at me.”
Geom Mugeuk could tell. She had nearly reached the ninth level and was searching for its entrance.
“Starting tomorrow, come to me every night.”
“Thank you, young master.”
Just as his father had forcibly led him to the Great Completion of the Wind God Four Steps, Geom Mugeuk intended to throw her Flying Heaven Sword Art into the ninth level. Once the Flying Heaven Sword Art reached the ninth level, he would be able to feel at ease no matter where she was.
When Geom Mugeuk and Ian finished speaking, Cheon So-hui said in a trembling voice,
“To be honest, the sword the Second Young Master used against me felt too unreal, so it didn’t frighten me. But the sword she wielded tonight, while everyone else slept, frightened me.”
Could she defeat that sword, trained with until late into the night?
Deep down, she had been confident that among women of a similar age, she was the strongest in the murim. But after watching the spar, she realized that had been nothing but arrogance. At her refusal to lose, both her fists clenched tight.
It was the moment a fire caught in her heart as well.
Feeling that burning heat, Cheon So-hui suddenly said,
“Please teach me too. Senior Brother.”
Senior Brother.
She must have known.
If those words reached the Fist Demon, she would be in tremendous trouble. Even if she were expelled, she would have nothing to say. It was a single word spoken with her life staked upon it. Senior Brother.
Perhaps, once she returned to her quarters, she would regret saying those words all night long.
That was why Geom Mugeuk spoke warmly to her.
“All right. You come too, Junior Sister.”
Regret would be regret later; for now, Cheon So-hui’s face was filled with joy.
It would not have been strange for Ian to feel needless resistance, as though her own training were being interfered with, but she gladly welcomed Cheon So-hui.
A person must change for their martial arts to change.
Geom Mugeuk was certain that Ian’s broad heart would lead her to the seat of an absolute master.
And following the drinking gathering, Ian created a second gathering.
“Welcome to the Midnight Training Gathering.”
* * *
My training with the Black Fist continued.
In the meantime, I was locked in a battle of wills with the Fist Demon. It was a fight over who would raise the white flag first.
I was confident in this fight.
After all, my life was one in which I had to prepare and prepare again.
It was not that I had to learn the Fist Demon’s fist arts before moving on to the next stage. His fist arts were merely one part of the process of preparing everything at the same time.
I could learn the Fist Demon’s fist arts now, tomorrow, or a year from now. Why? Because I had much to do, much to learn, and many people to look after. Because I was endlessly preparing other things as well. And you think you can beat me?
From time to time, my eyes met the Fist Demon’s. Each time, we conversed with our gazes. Give up. You give up. I can go to the very end. So can I. I am young. That is why you will not endure.
He probably thought that because training was tedious, I would eventually fail to withstand it. But that was the Fist Demon’s miscalculation. I was no ordinary young man.
* * *
At night, I taught Ian and Cheon So-hui.
On the first day she learned martial arts from me, Cheon So-hui asked,
“Senior Brother, Martial Artist Ian is learning such an important martial art. Is it really all right for me to be beside her?”
Though she had earnestly asked to be taught together that day, once she was actually joining us, she seemed to feel sorry.
I said to her,
“You are more important than that martial art. The current Fist Demon is my father’s Fist Demon, and my brother’s Fist Demon. My Fist Demon is you.”
The future Heavenly Demon and Fist Demon.
Emotion flashed across her face. Soon, she asked about the worst-case scenario.
“Then what if I don’t become the Fist Demon, and you don’t become the Heavenly Demon, Senior Brother?”
“Then the three of us will have to open a gukbap shop in front of the Murim Alliance and live there.”
Perhaps imagining bowls of gukbap flying out from the kitchen through Void Object Seizure and being served with Form-Shift Transposition, Cheon So-hui laughed loudly. It seemed to be the first time I had seen her laugh so brightly since meeting her.
“But why in front of the Murim Alliance?”
Ian answered in my stead.
“Maybe there’s a woman he wants to see.”
“Aha!”
I shouted that it wasn’t true, but the two of them were already nodding and beginning to discuss the characteristics of philanderers.
On the fifth day after we began our midnight training, Ian finally found the door to the ninth level.
Her sword became faster and stronger, bringing forth dazzling transformations.
No words of thanks or congratulations were needed. Ian ran over and threw herself into my arms. I held her tightly. You worked hard, Ian. Now only one hurdle remains until Great Completion.
At that moment, Ian and I were startled by the sound of sniffling and looked at Cheon So-hui.
She was crying.
“I think my tear ducts opened that day. I never cried in my whole life, but tears keep coming.”
When she cried, Ian began shedding tears as well.
“Why are you crying?”
“Because Martial Artist Cheon is crying.”
The two women turned their bodies away from each other and cried.
“What is wrong with you tough women who could beat up every man in the world?”
Wiping her tears, Cheon So-hui said,
“Senior Brother, please keep teaching me.”
She was deeply saddened at the thought of the midnight training ending like this.
Ian stepped forward on her behalf.
“Young master, let’s continue this Midnight Training Gathering.”
It was right then. From behind us, someone spoke coldly.
“Who gave you permission to call him Senior Brother?”
Cheon So-hui was startled out of her wits, her face turning deathly pale.
The Fist Demon was entering the place where we stood, his face terrifying like that of an evil spirit.
I greeted him with a calm expression.
“Welcome.”
In truth, I had known the Fist Demon was there. He had come twice before. He had hidden himself and secretly watched before simply leaving. Just what had he been thinking as he watched?
The Fist Demon stood in the yard and glared at me, Ian, and Cheon So-hui.
Cheon So-hui in particular was utterly shaken. Since the Fist Demon had heard her call me Senior Brother, there was no room for excuses. In terror that she might be expelled from Donggwonmun, she kept her head bowed low and trembled all over. She was surely praying that the words “You are excommunicated” would not come.
With that evil-spirit-like face, the Fist Demon uttered words none of us had imagined.
“Include me in this Midnight Training Gathering as well.”