EP.31 Endure Only Three Times (1)
Two shichen before the incident occurred.
The point when I entered the dining hall amicably with the Nangong madman.
It seemed only late-blooming talents who had visited the Tang Clan were invited, as the only one appearing to be past twenty was Tang Juyeok.
Sichuan is known for preferring intensely strong flavors, and among them, spicy food is particularly famous.
The food was spread out in abundance enough to make the table legs bend, and the scent that pierced the nose the moment I sat down was overwhelmingly intense.
'Just smelling it makes my stomach want to flip.'
Of course, milder dishes were also served here and there for the guests, so I figured I could just eat those.
To come all the way to Sichuan and have dumplings again...
...maybe not bad?
Tang Juyeok looked at the gathered people with a slight smile, then called the servants and had them eat the food one by one.
Due to the Tang Clan's characteristic of using poison, it was an implicit courtesy to demonstrate safety when eating with guests by having servants eat first.
Of course, whether that actually helped with trust was uncertain.
"It is humble fare. Please enjoy your meal."
When Tang Juyeok spoke, everyone slowly began to eat.
I didn't tell Wi Seol-ah before coming, but she wouldn't sulk, right?
'....Hmm.'
I'm not confident about that, but she'll probably eat well on her own.
Even as I slowly reached for the food with my chopsticks, I kept hesitating.
It was because of Tang So-yeol, sitting next to Tang Juyeok across from me, glaring at me without even eating.
'...I'll get indigestion at this rate.'
Why is she acting like that again.
Due to Tang So-yeol's inexplicably burning gaze, I kept picking up and putting down a dumpling repeatedly.
Even in my past life, whenever I encountered Tang So-yeol a few times, she would look at me with those same eyes.
She wouldn't even talk to me and just kept glaring, so eventually I got fed up and cursed at her, asking why she kept doing that.
Absurdly, Tang So-yeol cried her eyes out right in front of me then.
No, I just asked why she was glaring at me. Why is she the one crying?
'But I have to see her doing this again in this life...'
Does she hold some kind of grudge against me? There shouldn't be anything connecting me to the Tang Clan.
Is she displeased that I'm eating dumplings?
...Or do I look displeasing to her?
I've heard talk about my bad appearance my entire life, so it doesn't faze me anymore at this point.
I tried my best to ignore it and barely managed to pick up one dumpling and eat it.
Gulp!
'...Shit.'
I almost spat out the dumpling the moment I chewed it.
Why is this so spicy? I let my guard down and almost went down.
Spitting out the food here would be a problem with all the stares that would pour in from around.
While I was wondering what to do, someone next to me offered a water cup.
It was Nangong Bi-a.
I was briefly flustered, but since it was urgent, I took it and drank first.
What did they put in it that the dumpling could be this spicy? After barely swallowing, I conveyed my thanks to Nangong Bi-a.
"Thank you, miss."
Nangong Bi-a nodded slightly as if to say it was fine, then carefully placed something on my plate.
Wondering what it was, she had torn the flesh of an unknown grilled fish and placed a piece on it.
When I looked at her wondering what this was.
"This one isn't spicy..."
"...Pardon?"
"Since you seem like you can't eat spicy food..."
She was watching all that?
"I'm thankful, but why the sudden informal speech...?"
"...Yo."
"...."
What is this? Is she trying to pick a fight?
Thinking she was suddenly provoking me, I glanced at her and it didn't seem like that was her intention.
Then why is she acting like this again.
It felt a bit unpleasant being treated like a child, but since there didn't seem to be bad intent, I had nothing particular to say.
Crack!
At the sudden sound of something breaking, I checked and found that the chopsticks in Nangong Cheon-jun's hand had snapped.
Tang Juyeok saw that and said in surprise.
"Ah, it seems the chopsticks were in poor condition."
"No, it's just that I tend to use a bit more force when using chopsticks."
"I'm sorry, Cheon-jun, I'll bring something else right away."
"Please don't worry about it, Brother Tang. I apologize for breaking things carelessly as well. I'll be careful."
Saying so with proper etiquette, he looked at me with a glare.
I, as if to show off, neatly popped the side dish Nangong Bi-a had passed into my mouth.
Seeing that, the corners of that guy's eyes trembled.
Why would he be so angry over something like this. It was something I couldn't understand.
Ignoring the gaze and only picking relatively less spicy food to eat, the meal time quickly ended.
I wanted to just eat and bolt, but from Tang Juyeok's perspective, this invitation wasn't just for eating.
It was a gathering of Nangong and Gu clans, and probably other Sichuan clans and sects friendly with the Tang Clan.
They probably wanted to foster camaraderie, even if on a small rather than grand scale.
After the meal ended, during the conversation session, most questions were directed at Nangong Cheon-jun.
As expected, being the direct descendant of the Four Great Clans, which are the pillars of the orthodox faction, he received concentrated attention.
Naturally, many questions were also thrown at Nangong Bi-a, but with her characteristic short answers and emotionless blunt tone, the questions quickly dried up.
'Yes...'
'Huh...?'
'Um...'
When she gives answers that don't even seem like answers, who would keep trying to talk to her.
The Gu clan, also being a prestigious family, approached me to have a conversation. I just smiled appropriately and brushed them off.
Just talking with that many people seemed like it would exhaust me quickly, but the Nangong bastard seemed to rather enjoy it.
'It's a calling, a calling.'
As I was blankly waiting for it to end, I felt someone sit next to me.
Wondering what it was this time, it was none other than Tang So-yeol.
"...?"
Tang So-yeol cleared her throat once and casually drank tea, but I could see her ears slightly turning red.
Even during the meal, something seemed off about her.
"Miss Tang."
"Ye... Yes?"
"Do you have something to say to me?"
"No...! N-no, I don't."
You say no, but it looks like there's extremely something.
When I frowned and looked at her with a slight glare, her ears turned even redder.
And as if she couldn't bear it, she averted her gaze.
Do I look that scary? Then there's no need to purposely sit next to me.
What on earth is the reason for this behavior.
"Ahem... Ahem..."
Tang So-yeol kept clearing her throat as if something was stuck in it.
After hesitating for a while, Tang So-yeol quietly whispered to me.
"Young Master Gu, by any chance... do you like..."
"Brother Tang, is that the training ground down there?"
She was trembling while trying to ask something, but it was drowned out by Nangong Cheon-jun's voice.
I looked to see what it was about, and he was asking about the large building visible through the window.
Thinking she might have been trying to ask me something, I asked Tang So-yeol again.
"Miss Tang, what did you say?"
"...It's nothing."
For someone saying it's nothing, she was looking at Nangong Cheon-jun with murderous eyes.
'If it's important, she'll ask again.'
Tang Juyeok answered Nangong Cheon-jun's question.
"Ah, that's the exclusive training ground for the bloodline. Didn't I show it to you when you came last time?"
"Even though it's that large?"
"We maintain it steadily, but... actually no one uses it even though it's built. Everyone has their own separate training grounds."
Nangong Cheon-jun looked at the training ground with a strange expression and said to Tang Juyeok.
"I'd like to see it, would it be alright to visit?"
"Hmm... Since it seems the conversation is about done anyway, would everyone like to take a look together?"
Was it finally the final stage?
Thinking about it at this point, if this much bothersome stuff was going to be involved, it might have been better to run away like Elder Lee said.
Wasn't that practically the wisest method?
'To think the day would come when I'd consider Elder Lee wise.'
I thought there would never be such a day...
The interior of the training ground we came down to according to the guidance was cleaner than expected.
Despite saying it wasn't used, they said they maintained it, and it was actually kept quite neat.
It looks at least four times larger than the training ground I used when beating Gu Jeol-yeop.
Was there really a need to build it this large?
'...Ah, so that's why no one uses it.'
If it's too large, it's inefficient in its own way.
It was a training ground with nothing particularly worth seeing other than being really spacious, but perhaps because everyone was a martial artist, they had the most interested expressions among all the faces I'd seen today.
The floor was made of a hard material.
It didn't seem like they had just laid down ordinary stone. Even if one used sword qi, it didn't look like marks would easily form.
Was the wide space also due to the Tang Clan's characteristic of handling hidden weapons? Then shouldn't the walls have been made of a material that things stick into more easily?
"It's quite spacious."
"They say it was our ancestors' intention that it's better to use it large if possible... I'm not really sure about that myself."
Nangong Cheon-jun looked around here and there a little and said.
"Such a fine training ground... It's a shame it's no longer in use."
"Sometimes training separately is more efficient. This isn't for regular training, it's used as a sparring hall."
"Sparring, you say."
"In the past, So-yeol used it a lot saying she'd beat me up... Now that she's all grown up, she doesn't want to spar anymore."
"Brother!"
Tang So-yeol, who was standing next to me, shouted out loud.
Then she sneakily glanced at me.
Nangong Cheon-jun took down a wooden sword mounted on the training ground wall and began to swing it a few times.
Setting aside his personality, as expected, the name Brain Dragon was no empty reputation—even in movements that seemed casual, there was a sense of precision.
"Now that the meal is over, how about a brief sparring match to help with digestion?"
At the sparring proposal from Brain Dragon, the eyes of the others flashed.
A sparring match with Nangong's Brain Dragon—everyone seemed thrilled at something not often experienced.
But why so suddenly?
"How about it, Young Hero Gu?"
"...Huh?"
I thought I heard something wrong.
As if that couldn't be the case, Nangong Cheon-jun was looking at me while holding the wooden sword.
"Would you like to have a sparring match with me?"
"Me?"
I thought I misheard, but I didn't. And he specifically pointed at me.
The intent was blatantly obvious.
'This bastard?'
Perhaps he was angrier than I thought and wanted to vent his anger somehow.
Of course, I had no intention of doing it.
I was about to casually refuse when.
"I won't..."
"You can't!"
"Pardon?"
Everyone's gaze turned to the person who suddenly shouted, cutting off my words.
It was Tang So-yeol.
Tang So-yeol also had an expression of not knowing herself why she did that, her face dyed bright red.
Still, she seemed determined to say what she had to say and continued speaking.
"There's an age difference and probably a skill level difference between Brother Cheon-jun and Young Master Gu, how can you do a sparring match. What if you get, get hurt in the face or something."
"It's fine. We won't use internal energy either, so wouldn't it essentially be like a guiding sparring format?"
Nangong Cheon-jun said with a good-natured smile.
That statement almost made me laugh.
Guiding sparring?
No internal energy?
Reading his true intentions, he just needed a justification to beat me up.
Why is that bastard so desperate to not let me off?
I asked Nangong Cheon-jun.
"Is it possible?"
It was a tone with slight emotion contained in it.
"What do you mean?"
"If it's guiding sparring, that means you intend to teach me. I'm asking if you're at a level where you can teach me without even using internal energy."
At my words, the others gasped in surprise.
To Nangong Cheon-jun, son of Nangong Jin, the current patriarch of the Nangong Clan and the Heaven Covering Sword King, and the Brain Dragon of the current Five Dragons Three Peaks.
A late-blooming talent whose name hadn't even spread yet was asking if he was at a level to teach him.
At this, Tang Juyeok, sensing the situation was going a bit strange, hastily intervened.
"Young Hero Gu, even so, Cheon-jun is a senior, your words are too..."
"The level is more than sufficient. If you wish, I can face you without using one foot."
Nangong Cheon-jun's face was smiling, but so much tension was loaded into his neck from restraining his anger that it was visible.
"Alright then."
Tsk.
In the past, someone once told me to endure three times.
In a world where knowing your place is how you survive, you're too fiery, they said.
My answer was always the same.
'That bastard is acting like a fucking asshole.'
'If he acts like a fucking asshole and you act the same way, aren't you just being fucking assholes together?'
'Then I'll just live like a fucking asshole, how can a person just endure and live.'
'What kind of fucking statement is that... No, why does the conversation keep going this way!'
For a martial artist who handles fire arts, being called fiery is actually a compliment, isn't it?
'If it's nothing major, endure just three times. Then you'll definitely be able to survive.'
I ended up not following those words either...
Not long after, after those words became a dead man's last words, I've tried to keep them.
Because it was a world that made the words about knowing your place sink deep into your body.
"I think I've endured about three times now."
In the center of the training ground, Nangong Cheon-jun and I stood facing each other.
I roughly endured the Nangong bastard continuously crossing the line about three times.
Or was it? Did I endure more than three times? If I endured more, then I tried my best, so that's a relief.
The bastard was still smiling.
It was an expression filled with confidence that he absolutely couldn't lose.
Or maybe he was excited about the fact that he could beat me legally.
"I'll yield the first strike."
"Yes."
I had no intention of declining. It was a leap without storing internal energy for the first time in a while.
I slowly raised the sword he had lowered.
He was probably raising it slowly on purpose to mock me.
Approaching close, I thrust out my fist. It was an ordinary straight punch without any particular brilliant move.
—Just as expected.
Nangong Cheon-jun's face, having tilted his head to dodge, was saying exactly that.
I swung my arm in a state of no-thought, no-mind. I didn't mix in any special physical technique.
'I can't do it yet anyway.'
Only the sound of clumsily slicing through empty air could be heard.
Nangong Cheon-jun, who easily dodged even the kick I launched following the straight punch, said.
"I've seen enough, so I'll begin as well, Young Hero Gu."
I didn't answer.
Nangong Cheon-jun immediately swung his sword.
As expected, it was fast and sharp.
"Oh..."
"He's not even using internal energy, but it's that fast..."
Exclamations leaked out from among the other late-blooming talents watching.
Even to their eyes, Nangong Cheon-jun's swordsmanship was worth admiring.
The semicircle drawn through the air had no wobble. Yet it contained speed and the sharpness that Nangong possessed.
One sword, two swords, I barely dodged the sword. But there was no panic on the bastard's face.
Because that was probably what he intended from the start.
Power entered Nangong Cheon-jun's lower body.
I could see the movement of his shoulder connected along his neckline.
Without even a moment to think, Nangong Cheon-jun launched the third sword strike.
As expected, the previous movements were feints, and this was the real attack he was aiming for.
It was a sword targeting my shoulder rather than the head where he could end it in one strike.
I saw that and reached out my hand.
Grab!
Thud—!
"...Huh?"
The sound came from Nangong Cheon-jun's mouth.
The guy checked his own hand. The wooden sword he was holding was rolling on the floor.
"...What."
I looked at Nangong Cheon-jun with bored eyes.
I had no more impressions of the guy's movements.
"What are you doing?"
At my question, Nangong Cheon-jun's pupils trembled slightly.
I dare say.
I probably know Nangong's sword better than that guy right now.
How many times did I grapple with the Mad Sword Marquis to stop him after he went berserk.
How many times did I watch the sword Nangong Bi-a swung day and night.
At that time, her sword had already transcended the chronic weaknesses that Nangong possessed.
Of course, the current Nangong Bi-a was just watching with a dumb expression.
The one who surpassed even the current patriarch and annihilated Nangong was none other than her.
Compared to the sword the Mad Sword Marquis swung back then...
The Nangong sword that Nangong Cheon-jun was showing now was nothing but an empty shell full of weaknesses.
Let alone without internal energy, there was no reason I couldn't win.
I looked at the flustered bastard and said.
"Are you going to pick it up or not?"
Otherwise I'm leaving.