Chapter 108 - Spring Arrives

At his words, peculiar expressions crossed the faces of the Weapon Monster, Hwa Yeji, and Ha Seonhyang. He was saying that he was no ordinary man—that he was strong—but his delivery was far too matter-of-fact.

The words themselves were boastful, yet his flat tone made them sound like anything but a boast.

They did not quite know what to make of it. Something about it defied understanding.

The Weapon Monster felt this most keenly.

To the best of his knowledge, external martial arts alone could never make someone an outstanding master. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, he found the claim convincing. Intriguing, too.

That... brat.

Come to think of it, he still did not know the boy's name.

"Hey, you."

Dong Bongsu turned to look at the Weapon Monster. His bangs still hid his eyes.

"What's your name?"

"Dong..."

Bongsu.

"Gwangcheon."

Then he turned his gaze back to Central Avenue.

Watching his back, all three repeated the name Dong Gwangcheon to themselves.

Dong Bongsu. No one here knew his real name even now.

He had yet to reclaim his name. He had no need to, nor any reason.

Spring had arrived, the cruelest and most beautiful of all seasons. And the lunatics who had lurked in the darkness blended into the clouds and shadows, converging here, in Zhengzhou.

19. Divine Iron

There can be no such thing as the impossible. Because I believe that, I can take another step forward.

- Someone

"Are you registering now?"

The Weapon Monster glanced at Dong Bongsu as he asked. By registering, he naturally meant entering the All-Under-Heaven Youth Sparring Tournament.

Dong Bongsu surveyed Central Avenue once more. Spectators and applicants were still jumbled together in a chaotic throng. Only the area around the path Jong Jihang and Namgung Hye were taking had a little breathing room.

"When is the deadline?"

He asked because he doubted today was the only day they would accept entries. If he was right, there was absolutely no reason to register today.

"No idea, brat. How would I know? Those young ladies might, though."

The Weapon Monster jerked his chin toward Hwa Yeji and Ha Seonhyang behind him. Dong Bongsu turned to look at them.

His hair stirred, briefly revealing his indifferent eyes. The two women gave a faint shiver. That alone showed how deeply they had already been drawn into his performance.

"Ten days. Registration lasts ten days, and the tournament starts in fifteen."

Ten days to spare. As expected, there seemed to be no need to register today.

And the tournament would begin fifteen days from now, on the Awakening of Insects.

Dong Bongsu stored both pieces of information from Ha Seonhyang deep in his mind, then offered a polite acknowledgment.

"Thank you. Anyway."

"Hehe. It was nothing."

Ha Seonhyang rubbed lightly beneath her nose as she answered, apparently embarrassed. It was rather cute. Not to Dong Bongsu, of course; that was merely his estimate of how ordinary people would see her.

Her eyes curved like crescent moons, Ha Seonhyang studied him intently with a sparkling gaze. She was undoubtedly interested. That interest had begun with his movements and response when he and Hwa Yeji had nearly collided in midair.

Dong Bongsu already knew instinctively what interested the people of this world, particularly martial artists, and how to win their favor.

He had not investigated what the women here especially liked, or what sort of man they found attractive, either. Judging by their reactions now, however, they did not seem all that different from the women of the other world.

A capable man with prospects.

Put simply, that was it.

How clear and straightforward. A universal truth. At least, it was a law of the universe as Dong Bongsu had experienced it across two worlds.

Humans were complicated animals, yet they also had a tendency to make themselves exceedingly simple. That made it easy for someone like Dong Bongsu to deceive them.

The two 'female humans' before him were likewise making themselves very simple. That was why the simple illusion he planted in their minds could so easily beguile them.

In the other world, capability meant money and power.

In this one, it meant strength and martial arts.

One's background would matter in any world, but Dong Bongsu covered that with an air of mystery. Knowing his own weaknesses well, he packaged and concealed them to keep them from showing, taking extra care with his performance.

The small measure of strength and martial arts he had displayed, the talent that stood in for future prospects, and finally the accessory at his side called the Weapon Monster—all lent him an almost uncanny mystique.

For now, these women's interest was no more than curiosity or attention, rather than affection or romantic longing. But who knew what might happen later? If necessary, he could heighten their emotions from here.

Of course, there was no need to go any further yet.

It had to be done when needed, at the right time and place.

Not yet.

"Good grief, you brat. You'll go your whole life without so much as holding a woman's hand. If you're grateful, just say thank you. Why tack on that 'anyway'? Why? Tsk, tsk."

The Weapon Monster clicked his tongue, criticizing Dong Bongsu's curt delivery and the word he had tacked on.

Dong Bongsu gave him a brief glance, then promptly turned away again.

Whether the man had ever held a woman's hand was impossible to tell, but he had certainly never been in a proper relationship.

He knew nothing about women. Absolutely nothing.

He had completely failed to notice that the rough tone and added word had just deepened the interest in the women's eyes. To think he did not even grasp the basic fact that, given the right mood and circumstances, a bad man could become an attractive one.

Perhaps the Weapon Monster really had gone his entire life without ever properly holding a woman's wrist. Perhaps he was what the other world would call someone who had been single since birth.

Not that it was any concern of Dong Bongsu's.

Leaving the Weapon Monster's tongue-clicking behind, Dong Bongsu abruptly leaped toward the quiet road by the inner compound.

"Th-that brat! I'm still talking! Show some respect for your elders!"

The Weapon Monster shouted, but Dong Bongsu had already reached the ground. His unexpected action left not only the Weapon Monster but Hwa Yeji and Ha Seonhyang dumbfounded.

There was simply no predicting his behavior.

He was no flighty young woman, yet there was no telling which way he would jump next. That was how Dong Bongsu appeared to them.

"Heh heh heh. An amusing brat, all right."

Instead of taking offense, the Weapon Monster chuckled under his breath and took a step forward to the edge of the roof.

"Well then, young ladies. Until we meet again."

"Excuse me! Wait a moment, sir!"

At Hwa Yeji's call, the Weapon Monster stopped just as he was about to jump and looked back at her.

"What is it, young lady? Have I caught your fancy, by any chance?"

Was that the sort of cheap joke a street loafer made when he grew old?

The Weapon Monster doubtless intended it as a joke, but no one laughed or showed any interest. Both the timing and the content were a complete disaster.

That was why, despite possessing both strength and martial arts, he had never held a woman's wrist in his life. At this rate, he would never understand why, either.

"I thought I should at least know your esteemed name, so I don't give offense the next time we meet."

"My esteemed name? Well, there's no need to make it sound so grand... In that case, let's say Buk Gunggi for now. Farewell, then."

WHOOSH!

With those words, the Weapon Monster leaped down after Dong Bongsu, entertaining the absurd hope that the young women might call him back again.

But they merely repeated his name quietly.

"Buk Gunggi?"

It was not a name that immediately rang a bell. Yet they had heard it somewhere. It had been so long that they could not quite remember, but those three syllables were definitely familiar.

"Oh! Buk Gunggi!"

Ha Seonhyang gave a short cry of surprise, apparently remembering first.

"You remember?"

"Yes, Senior Sister. You know, that man. His name was Buk Gunggi."

"That man?"

"You know, that man! His sobriquet was..."

She remembered the name but struggled to explain, stumbling over her words. Then her eyes suddenly widened again.

"The Dueling Hammer Monster!"

"The Dueling Hammer Monster?! Oh!"

Only then did Hwa Yeji remember as well.

The Dueling Hammer Monster.

They could not be certain it was not merely someone with the same name, but Buk Gunggi was the name of an eccentric who had roamed the Central Plains on a dueling journey about ten years ago.

A name that had suddenly appeared in Murim, caused an enormous stir, and then vanished just as abruptly one day.

He had appeared in Murim so suddenly that he might as well have fallen from the sky. Carrying a single, oddly shaped claw hammer two chi long, he visited sect after sect and requested sparring matches. At first, all the martial artists laughed at the madman who had made his debut in Murim.

It did not take them long to realize that this madman was no mere lunatic.

Battle after battle, victory after victory.

Battle after battle, defeat after defeat.

The Dueling Hammer Monster won every fight.

The masters of the sects who faced him kept losing.

Although these were sparring matches rather than fights to the death, the sects suffered thorough humiliation. Losing to a newcomer who had only just made his debut, without even managing to put up a fight, was nothing short of a massive stain on a sect's name.

Yet they could hardly condemn him for it.

Condemning an opponent for defeating you in a formal match was petty. Nor was his martial arts tainted with sinister qi. His internal power was so pure and upright that, according to the accounts, his hammer blows carried enough righteous qi to jolt anyone to their senses.

The curious thing was that even the most insignificant martial arts of the Orthodox Faction were known, yet the hammer techniques he practiced and used were utterly unfamiliar. As though they, too, had fallen from the sky.

Moreover, orthodox martial artists did not use hammers as weapons. No, no martial artist used a hammer as a weapon. There was no distinction between orthodox, unorthodox, and demonic in that regard. No one wanted to use something so crude and inefficient.

Its destructive power fell far short of an iron mace—which used the same written character as a hammer—and it was exceedingly difficult to wield freely. Even so, Buk Gunggi swung his claw hammer with consummate skill, defeating the leaders of small and midsized sects one after another.

Gansu, Jiangxi, Jiangsu...

Buk Gunggi crisscrossed the land in every direction, defeating masters without distinction.

When that peculiar duelist defeated his hundredth small or midsized sect, the great sects and the Five Great Families of the Central Plains began to grow nervous.

If he came to them and they happened to lose, there could be no greater disgrace.

They trembled with anxiety, unable to sit still.

Then, one day, as the great sects' worries continued to deepen, the hammer-wielding duelist Buk Gunggi abruptly vanished without a trace.