## Chapter 60 – (11)
“Then, I’ll be going.”
“Me too.”
“Both of you, go in carefully.”
I saw Seol-yeong and Jeong-seon off at the door.
Seol-yeong’s face was still as white as winter snowflakes, but her cheeks were flushed red, making her look different from before.
It seemed this act had been a great help to her Nine Yin Severed Meridian.
[Remaining Time: 4 months]
Even the remaining time had increased.
Thinking about it again sent shivers down my spine.
The fact that the remaining time had increased meant that if I hadn’t treated her today and two months had passed…
Seol-yeong’s Nine Yin Severed Meridian might have worsened, causing a major problem.
As I was thinking that, I suddenly felt a gaze and turned my head.
“Hup.”
Someone covered their mouth and hid behind the wall.
However, although they hid their body, they couldn’t hide their scattering hair.
“…”
The hair alone was enough for me to recognize who was hiding.
After all, I had a Wall-Gazing Affection.
[Wall-Gazing: Sadist, possessiveness, destructive desires, bold and proactive man]
“Aha…”
It was obvious that it was Namgung Yu.
I didn’t know why she was here at this hour, but hiding like that meant she must have seen something, right?
I could have ignored her, but curious about her reaction, I slowly approached Namgung Yu, who was hiding behind the wall.
As if noticing that I was approaching, I heard her take a deep breath, and then she suddenly popped out.
“Don’t come any closer!”
“…”
She looked as if she had seen a criminal.
Namgung Yu’s cheeks were red, and she was taking a stance as if she were about to attack at any moment.
It was quite threatening.
Internal energy slowly rose above her tightly clenched fist.
If I got hit by that fist, my body wouldn’t be in good shape.
“Calm down, what’s wrong?”
“Two men and one woman, how could you do such a—!”
Namgung Yu closed her mouth as if she couldn’t bring herself to say the words.
Even her ears were red.
“You seem to be mistaken. It was simply treatment.”
“Liar. I already heard everything.”
“Heard what?”
“Are you asking me to imitate the sounds I heard?”
Namgung Yu glared at me with murderous intent in her eyes.
She must have heard something properly.
Okay, I admit it.
The sounds were a bit embarrassing for it to be called treatment.
It wasn’t a lie that I was treating her, but Namgung Yu didn’t seem to believe me at all.
So, I decided to be confident.
“So? What’s the problem?”
“What’s the problem… unmarried men and women doing such impure things… and with two men…”
“It’s not against the law, is it?”
“…Well, it’s not…”
Faced with my confidence, she couldn’t retort and muttered in a subdued voice.
The strength in her fist, which had been filled with internal energy, was also loosening.
I hadn’t committed a crime, had I?
Or had I?
Honestly, there was no way I would know the laws of the martial arts world.
However, judging from Namgung Yu’s reaction, it seemed it wasn’t illegal.
“Come to think of it, you decided to marry Poong-woon with just a hug, right?”
“It’s not just because of the hug! It’s the process leading up to the hug…”
Namgung Yu waved her hands as if feeling wronged.
“Poong-woon doesn’t seem to want it, though?”
“…”
Namgung Yu lost her words at my words that seemed to poke at a sore spot.
Then, after contemplating, Namgung Yu slowly opened her mouth.
“Clearly, someone must have bewitched my Gaga.”
Bewitched, huh.
Come to think of it, Poong-woon was currently infatuated with Seol-yeong.
Even though Seol-yeong wasn’t giving him any attention.
“Do you happen to know who it is?”
Namgung Yu, who was attending the same Martial Arts Academy as me, asked.
“Why are you asking me that?”
“I just have a feeling you know.”
They say a woman’s intuition is scary.
Namgung Yu was piercing through me with gleaming eyes.
However, it was necessary to correct the misunderstanding Namgung Yu had.
“It might not be what you think.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s not that someone bewitched him, but that Poong-woon just has someone else in his heart besides you.”
“So, you’re saying Poong-woon has someone in his heart right now?”
“…That’s right.”
There was no need to hide it.
It was true that Namgung Yu was the pride of the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy, but there were few people in the Human Martial Arts Academy who didn’t know that Poong-woon had feelings for Seol-yeong.
In the first place, the reason he said he would learn martial arts from Cheol-woong was simply because Seol-yeong was learning it.
“Who is it?”
Namgung Yu leaned in, getting closer.
I hesitated for a moment before making a suggestion.
“If you win against us in the martial arts competition tomorrow, I’ll tell you.”
“…What if we lose?”
Namgung Yu was quick-witted.
“Then, how about you give me a hug?”
“Ha!”
Namgung Yu shouted loudly and glared at me, as if she was angry that I was mocking her.
“Okay! Let’s do it! If I lose, I’ll do anything, even more than a hug.”
Namgung Yu turned around with gritted teeth.
“But if we win, Gaga must give up the woman he has in his heart and offer his right cheek.”
“…Okay.”
It seemed the provocation had worked well.
I was confident that our Martial Arts Academy would win.
Above all, we had Poong-woon, who had discovered the inner core of a divine beast and the Sword King’s tomb.
However, I also had a thought.
‘Is it okay to target Namgung Yu?’
I remembered the expression Namgung Yu had when she looked at Poong-woon.
That murderous intent, which was more intense than the murderous intent she sent towards me.
Even though things were going well according to my plan, I felt uneasy when I thought about that time.
Even if we win, I should really think about only hugging her.
***
“Wowwww!”
“Alright, sweets here!”
“Line up!”
“Ugh…”
The sounds coming from outside the window forced my eyes open.
I wasn’t a light sleeper, but it was impossible to endure and sleep.
To find out the source of the sound, I staggered to the window and threw it open—
Overnight, the front of the dormitory had become a marketplace.
“…Until yesterday, this was the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy.”
Was I sleepwalking or something?
Did I move to a lodging near the marketplace while I was sleeping?
But looking at the room and the few structures outside, this was definitely the dormitory of the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy.
A marketplace had really sprung up inside the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy.
There were even merchants and people bustling about.
The sight was so astonishing that I was completely awake.
I rested my chin on the window and blankly watched the scene.
Perhaps because they were people who had gathered to watch the martial arts competition, many people were talking loudly about the upcoming competition in various parts of the marketplace.
“Surely the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy will win with 5 consecutive victories?”
“Hey, come on. Even so, the Human Martial Arts Academy has Poong-woon. He’s the second disciple of the Mount Hua Sect and from the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy, so he’ll take at least one win.”
“That’s true. But did you hear that story? About Poong-woon’s impure relationships with women. It’s said that all he did was hug them?”
“Haha, surely he wouldn’t be kicked out for just hugging?”
“There’s also a rumor that he ran away on his own…”
As expected, they didn’t seem to care about anyone other than Poong-woon, who was from the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy.
I thought they might at least mention Namgung Hyuk of the Namgung Clan or Seol-yeong of the Northern Ice Palace.
But since they were people living around the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy, their pride seemed to be quite great.
Far from defeat, they weren’t even expecting a single loss, except for Poong-woon, who was from the same Heavenly Martial Arts Academy.
For some reason, my fighting spirit flared up.
Knock, knock.
Someone was knocking on the door, so I went out and saw Cheol-woong standing in front of the door.
“Let’s get ready soon.”
“Yes.”
He had already woken up all the other disciples, and I was the last one, as the other four disciples were gathered behind Cheol-woong.
I put on my clothes and followed Cheol-woong outside.
“Hey, over there…”
“It’s them…”
“Are they the opponents for this martial arts competition?”
As soon as we left the dormitory, many people in the marketplace looked at us.
Some glared at us with hostility, while others looked at us with pity.
There were hardly any friendly gazes.
The few friendly gazes that were there were from…
“Let’s bet on the underdog…”
Only a few people who had bet a lot of money on the match.
However, we walked confidently without paying attention.
It wasn’t bad.
After all, we weren’t the type to be intimidated by something like this.
“Those gazes, we’ll make them change after the martial arts competition. And after this martial arts competition—”
“Please, be quiet.”
I stopped Namgung Hyuk from setting up another defeat flag.
It was true that I felt a little uncomfortable receiving so many gazes, but there were also good points.
Even though the marketplace was full of people, they avoided us, so the path in front of us was clear.
Thanks to that, we were able to arrive at the martial arts venue without stopping.
“Wow…”
“It’s different.”
Exclamations popped out from among us.
The training ground in our Martial Arts Academy was fundamentally different.
Following Cheol-woong into a building, there was a circular arena reminiscent of the Colosseum.
Around the arena were circular spectator seats, and in the center was a huge martial arts stage.
The spectator seats were already filled with many people holding food in one hand and looking at the martial arts stage, and on the opposite side of the martial arts stage, we saw the contestants from the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy that we had seen yesterday.
“The order will be Namgung Hyuk, Jeong-seon, Seol-yeong, and… Poong-woon and Seong-han in that order.”
“Yes.”
“Am I last?”
“Yes.”
I was a little surprised that I was last instead of Poong-woon, but there was a reason why Cheol-woong had arranged it this way.
“They know as much about Poong-woon as we do.”
Since Poong-woon had been in the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy, they understood the martial arts he used and his strength well.
Cheol-woong thought that since Poong-woon was the only one they were wary of, they would have prepared in various ways.
Moreover.
He thought that Mount Hua Sect’s martial arts were too famous, so it wouldn’t be difficult to prepare for them.
‘Maybe my turn won’t come.’
My thoughts were a little different.
If they could have prepared just by preparing, the name of the Mount Hua Sect wouldn’t have been so high.
It didn’t seem like there was anyone who could beat Poong-woon, who had absorbed two fortuitous encounters into the Mount Hua Sect’s martial arts.
“Now, have both Martial Arts Academies attended?”
A man came up onto the martial arts stage and asked the instructors on both sides, and Cheol-woong and the instructor from the Heavenly Martial Arts Academy nodded.
As soon as he received the signal that both sides had arrived, the man looked at the audience from the center of the martial arts stage and shouted in a loud voice.
“Then, we will begin the martial arts competition!”
As the man shouted, the audience followed suit and let out a huge roar.
My heart started beating fast at the huge roar that I was hearing for the first time.
