Book 20 Chapter 6

Night Fishing

-Hood or handcuffs

"What is it?"

I asked, my tone sharp with politeness mixed with wariness.

"Just a regular fisherman. Came to catch bait first to catch walleye."

If heard differently, Namgungsang's words could have been an insult that would have greatly devalued the value of politeness.

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm nothing but bait?"

He retorted, anger in his voice. It was to be expected: a young man like him, who had never yet tasted setback, would burn like a wildfire at the slightest ember tossed into his modest ego. He himself had once been like that. It's another proof of their immaturity, but they're never willing to admit it.

'Okay, we've got the fire lit and…….'

So far, so good.

"That's easy, I've gotten better.

The plan was moving along at a brisk pace, which is why it's so simple and easy to read.

Apparently, if you get beaten up enough, you learn.

"So let's move on to the next step, shall we?

As Namgungsang loosened the knuckles on his fingers, he recalled the stories he'd shared with Bi Ryuyeon across the grate before coming here.

"Is it today?"

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll show up, we'll go out together once we get outside the academy and then I'll do the patrols by myself, I'm sure they'll be looking for us."

"Only an idiot would do that."

"But you think it will, don't you?"

"I suppose so."

"I know, I know, I deserve to be called out on my lack of thought for doing the same thing every day, but I've been doing the same thing for the last four days, so I can't expect you to make an exception for today."

"That's great. You should try 'it' this time."

"Eh? You mean 'that', but……."

"Why?"

"That's still unfinished."

At his hesitant answer, she burst out laughing.

"Are you an idiot? It's unfinished, so you have to test it. If it's already finished, why bother experimenting?"

Turns out, he had a point.

"Oh, that's right, too."

"Something like that."

"But… can we afford to be so lax?"

Still not convinced, Namgungsang asked again.

"Slack? You'd better be prepared to fail or die. Because that's probably true."

"Is that so?"

"Something like that."

Although her last words were very harsh, Namgung Sang had learned from Bi Ryuyeon's words. It was necessary to practice before the real thing.

"Let's give it a try.

Namgung fiddled with the hilt of his sword as he silently reminded himself of what he was about to do to further tighten his resolve. The desire to feel more confident in oneself before a big task was an instinctive desire for any martial artist. Facing and defeating his opponent in this bout would give him the great gift of confidence, a gift that would serve as a shield to protect his heart.

"Maybe that's what he was thinking, too.

Only now, when he was more or less on the same page, could he partially understand his opponent's psychology. They have someone to take down, too. They have a goal. Toward that goal, he was sharpening his sword. That thought stunned Namgungsang, whose mind had gone crazy.

"Is this what you mean by cause and effect, or self-interest? Is that what the big brother was calculating?

Not wanting to admit it, Nan Gongsang shook his head vigorously.

'No, it's probably just a coincidence…….'

It was easier to think that way. Anything more than that and he'd be in trouble, so he decided to take a break from reality for a while.

"Hey, man, can I give you a piece of advice?"

The perfect distraction was right in front of me.

"Tell me."

The man replied in a blunt voice.

"Why don't you take that bandana off, I don't think it looks good on you?"

This man wore a hood over his face, as per the Southern Palace statue. This is, of course, because he was stirring up something that would reveal his identity.

"I don't need it!"

She said she wouldn't take it off. It was the expected answer, but I wasn't about to accept it.

"We can't just give up because we don't see eye to eye!

The right thing to do was to put aside his hasty abandonment and go through a process of coordination to find a consensus. Luckily, he had a great tool around his waist for emergency consensus building.

"That's awkward. I can't stand eyesores, and I'm actually thinking of you. That tacky jewelry really doesn't suit you, that's for sure. Why don't you find something else to wear while you're at it, like… a black, hard, heavy bracelet. Some people call them handcuffs or shackles, but they're quite a sight to behold! What do you think?"

The ever-improving mutterings of the Southern Palace were now quite sophisticated.

"Don't bother. If you really want to change someone's clothes to the point of death, what are your skills?"

"Try it with force, is that it? That's good."

A thin smile tugged at the corners of his mouth at that.

"Looks like we're in agreement on that one. No need to say no, I was going to anyway!"

After meeting her, he had long since tossed the idea of the world bending to his will into the trash.

It is better to move once than to speak a hundred words and pray a thousand prayers.

"I'll take it off then."

With a friendly warning, Namgung Sang walked toward the man with an easy gait.

"Uh, uh……."

The naturalness of its behavior caught him off guard. He knew it was coming, but he hadn't expected it to come so slowly. He'd been expecting it to storm in, and the tension in his body seemed to dissipate at once.

"What the hell is this?

He tugged tautly at the strings of tension that threatened to unravel again. He waited for the other man to politely remove his hood, and he too began to walk toward the South Palace.

The relative space between them grew shorter and shorter as they moved, and when his right shoulder finally lined up with hers, the tension grew inversely proportional to the shrinking distance. As space disappeared, time seemed to disappear as well.

The next step seemed to come too slowly. In the stillness of time, hundreds of offensive moves and an equal number of defensive moves flashed through their minds.

Boom!

Their left feet hit the floor at the same time. Time was still passing slowly. Namgungsang could count the fine hairs on the back of his hand as it moved toward the hilt of his sword. When he had counted them to two hundred and fifty, his hand finally reached the hilt and touched it.

Namgungsang turned around very slowly. In front of him, his opponent's sword was approaching. It was a fine sword, forged under a blazing fire and a master's powerful quenching. The blade was well-honed with a blue chill, and the decoration was flawless. It was undoubtedly a famous sword.

'A sword of that caliber must be a family heirloom. To my knowledge, there is only one other sword in the Southern Palace City that can match its excellence! Then…….'

It was easy to guess that he came from a pretty prestigious family.

"So you're one of the eight great powers, and you're using such a precious item for such a menial task! You must be a lesser master, as my brother in law deduced.

After a while of ruminating, Namgungsang realized that he had forgotten one thing.

"Oh, and the sword was flying!

The sword he'd fought so diligently through the tedious hours was now almost touching his uvula with its tip; it was a specialty sword, and even a glance could cause a deep wound.

"I should probably avoid it.

Namgungsang moved slowly, thinking to himself, the stabbing sword was approaching at a very slow pace anyway, but his body wasn't moving as fast as he thought.

"What? What's going on?

His movements were as slow as the oncoming sword. It suddenly occurred to him that if he made a mistake, he might not make it in time.

Fortunately, Namgungsang slowly sidestepped the sword by a mere inch.

The man's eyes, peeking out from under his hood, widen in horror. By the time you've finished counting the lashes, his eyes are wide open. He looks a little startled. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Namgungsang clicked his tongue, the hole that had been the size of a grain of rice suddenly growing into a deep pit.

'Tsk, tsk, you can't lose your composure. What's on your mind is what's on your face, right?

Namgungsang clicks his tongue and extends his sword. The blade digs beneath his hood. The man's bulging eyes are almost tearing up now.

We had plenty of opportunities to catch our breath.

'Don't worry. I'm not going to kill you.'

Dead bait is not worthy of bait. It should have been avoided. Otherwise, it wouldn't be worth getting yourself killed.

A sword slips from beneath the hood toward the man's cheek. With a flick of his wrist, the hood parted diagonally, revealing a face. A fairly compliant face. Still young, more like younger than young. Nineteen or twenty? He must be a candidate for admission. With his skills, he shouldn't have to do this. It was clear that the young man's goal wasn't just to enter the Academy of Heavenly Martial Arts.

The young man, surprised that he had been recognized, drew his battered sword back in front of him, preparing to strike. Flesh as dark as night glowed at the tip of the expensive blade.

An old powerhouse adage (?) popped into my head.

"Murder hole?

No, you're not kidding, I thought, as I took a moment to confer, and it came again. It was even more ferocious and vicious than the first.

"Are you so freaked out that you've lost all sense of reason? You can't die anyway.

Oh, sure, he had to die, but not like this. So he twisted his sword again, disrupting the man's blade tip. The sword slipped from the man's grip and drifted disoriented.

Pavabababat!

The off-track sword vibrated loudly. Then the sword image blurred and the number of swords began to count. One, two, three, four, five. Two of them, the one in the upper left and the one in the lower right, didn't seem to matter.

'I'm a dummy…….'

Nan Gongsheng moved his sword in a swift motion, meeting each of the spawned swords in turn. His opponent wasn't the only one slow, so there was no room for waste in his movements. He drew the shortest straight line toward the three swords. He imagined the shortest, most efficient path he could take. If he lacked distance, he could make up for it by moving his body.

"Space is relative anyway, there's no such thing as absolute space!

I think that's what you meant, right?

"One!

Boom!

He parried the first sword that came toward his heart.

"Two!

It was time to stop the swords flying toward the second ship.

"Third time's the charm!

You didn't have to block with your sword to neutralize the attack. All he had to do was keep it out of his body.

"Then the story is easy!

Namgungsang slowly drew his left leg back, his body forming a semicircle behind him. The blade grazed his stomach with a swift kick.

"It's a cash register!

The distance between him and his opponent's sword was rapidly decreasing. Satisfied, Nan Gongsheng extended his sword slightly. He could feel the sword power at the tip completely dissipate. Here he paused for a moment. He was very confused about where to touch his head, shoulders, knees, and feet. For a moment, he felt as if he could understand his master's usual struggles, even though he shouldn't. He decided to go for the stone rather than the finesse. He chose the spot between the knee and the foot, commonly called the shin.

"Always be the best at everything you do."

"Father, don't worry!

With his father's words always echoing in his mind, Namgung Sang kicked the man in the shin as best he could.

Bam!

The man's mouth opened very slowly, but as wide as a whale's. For a moment, Namgungsang had the illusion that he was walking, step by step, into the dark interior of a deep, massive cave. He could see the number of teeth in it and even the protrusion of the tongue. If he tried hard enough, he could even measure the depth of the throat, but he gave up.

It seemed to be screaming something. But it was hard to hear, so he could feel little remorse for drawing such an inhuman sound from a human mouth. It was only then that Namgung Sang came to his senses, feeling like he was waking up from a languid, dreamy dream. And then he tried to think.

"What? What just happened?

It was a useless idea. At best, I tried. It was as if Namgungsang had dreamed something, too.

"Uh-rah?

No matter how hard he tried to recall it, he couldn't remember it, couldn't recreate that hazy, dreamy, somehow languid and a little boring sensation. No matter how hard he tried to recall and recreate it, all the memories had already volatilized in his mind. Now it was only his body that remembered the sensation.

"Can we recreate that someday?"

An unknown thirst consumed his throat.

One thing is for sure, he was unknowingly traveling into uncharted territory.

"Maybe… this is what open vision is all about?

He was well aware that what he was seeing was nothing like what they were seeing, but he had only gotten a brief taste of the world. He was still not at eye level.

"Raise your game. If you don't, you're doomed."

It was something Bi Ryuyeon had said to him while he was practicing for his duel with the Ami Goddess.

"Was Daehyung looking at the same world he was a moment ago?

"It's impossible for you to maintain such a vision for any length of time. The watch is a tremendous drain on your mind. It's still too much for you, but it's not impossible. It's impossible for a long time, but it's not necessarily impossible for a short time. The question is whether you can enter that world of your own volition, when you want to. You must endeavor to have that clock, even for a moment. That is the only way you can win her."

Grrrr!

The two newcomers intersected.

After they had passed each other's side, they had taken eight more steps before Namgungsang stopped walking, spun around, and looked into Gong Zhenghui's astonished face.

"What do you think?"

In his hand was a hood that he had somehow managed to remove.

"That looks much better."

"Hard to believe."

This was Qin Xiaoling's first reaction as he listened to the story of the Southern Palace with a dazed look in his eyes.

"That's true."

But his claim was based on an unreliable memory.

"That's your claim… and first of all, you don't remember it, so how do you know if it's true or not?"

Eunsung Yoo pointed out.

"It's a hunch!"

Namgungsang replied with shameless pride.

"You must be out of your mind today, man. Is this guy telling the truth?"

Thinking it would be futile to ask the party, Yoo Eun-sung changed her mind and decided to use polite language to ask for authenticity.

"I don't know."

The polite man answered honestly.

"All I know is that I lost. What do you mean by slow? It was a duel that was faster than the wind and as swift as lightning. I've never fought a duel that made me yawn just listening to it."

Gong Gong Zhenghui glared at Nan Gongsheng for a moment.

"How am I supposed to know what happened in that person's conscious world?"

"Oh, yeah, that one too."

"Just……."

Politeness still had something to say.

"All I remember is that in the midst of the dizzying array of lights, he kept asking what was so great about it."

"No, when I……."

At that moment, Qin Xiaoling raised her hand to stop the argument. With a single gesture, the two men shut their mouths simultaneously, as if they had made a promise. It was a clear demonstration of the initiative and power hierarchy of the current situation.

"So what you're saying is… you're saying that at such a young age, you've already reached the state of 'mindfulness'?"

Qin Shaolin had said something that hadn't occurred to him as a Southern Palace official. This made the story even less credible.

"What? Deep inside?"

Namgungsang replied in a puzzled voice.

It was disconcerting to see someone claiming to have such amazing abilities in a bird he didn't even know.

"So you don't even know where you are?"

Qin Xiaoling asked, saying that he had never seen such a pathetic person in his life.

"So is that really……."

Namgungsang replied with a dumbfounded look on his face. Qin Shaolin suddenly felt like sighing.

"That's definitely mindfulness."

When even Qin Xiaoling admitted it, Nan Gongsheng was stunned.

"But can you really say that you're fully in that trance, that you're just experiencing it for a moment, like a daydream, and you're not able to recreate it?"

Namgungsang himself was in disbelief.

"No, it's amazing enough that you were able to get into that state of mind in a moment that wasn't even a crisis."

After a pause, Qin Xiaoling resumed his rhyme.

"I owe you an apology."

"I don't think I deserve an apology, but……."

Namgungsang replied in an uneasy voice. I had a bad feeling about this.

"No, I don't think so. Perhaps I have been too dismissive of your skills."

"You don't have to apologize for that……."

But Qin Shaolin wasn't listening.

"As a tribute to your skill, I'm going all out in this one. I shouldn't have cut you any slack. I apologize."

"No, really, you don't have to apologize……."

Namgungsang felt like crying. Why do I have such a good sense today!

"Finish your story. I'll know if it's true or not when you're done."

"I really don't think so… you shouldn't do that……."

Namgungsang was not pleased.

* * *

"We finally have the bait… and the mood seems to be picking up… now we just need one more person to cast the net with us."

Bi Ryuyeon waved the chopsticks she was holding back and forth in the air.

"Who is that?"

Jang Hong couldn't contain his curiosity and asked.

"Yeah, that guy. The one who owes me money several times over."

Bi Ryuyeon's answer was short.

"Tsk, tsk, to have someone like you as a debt collector… I don't know who he is, but his life is a real mess.

You're a creep."

"Don't tell anyone else, you know him."

"Huh? Who is that?"

"Yes. A young man with a good life, neat and tidy, and well-groomed is the kind of man who would make a good bridegroom."

He had a point.

"Is that Mo Yong-hui?"

Bi Ryuyeon replied with a smirk.

"That's right, who else but him."