Yoo Arin widened her eyes and stared at me.
"What did you just say?"
"I asked you to give me yin qi."
"...."
Yoo Arin just opened and closed her mouth with a flustered expression.
Why is she reacting like that?
Asking for yin qi shouldn't be such a strange thing to say…
"Wait! Whatever you're thinking, that's not what I mean!"
Thinking about it again, that was almost disastrous.
There is a way to share yang qi and yin qi.
And the most representative one is—
That sort of thing between a man and a woman.
You just need to know it as that sort of thing.
That sort of thing…
But that's not what I meant.
"Don't misunderstand. It's absolutely not like that. Got it? I'm not a pervert."
"...Then what is it?"
Yoo Arin took a small step back.
I understand.
It's more than enough to be misunderstood.
Let's explain it slowly.
So it won't be twisted again.
"The basic mental method I learned is called Shinro Mental Method. If you learn it, you can receive other people's qi. You can also inject your own qi into others."
Yoo Arin nodded.
"That's how it usually is. But then both yin and yang qi get mixed in, right? So then… that… that… you divide it with that."
"No, you don't divide it like that!"
I need to pull the conversation away from that direction.
As Yoo Arin said, normally when you infuse qi, you can't choose only yin or only yang to give or receive.
But Shinro Mental Method makes it possible.
Why else would it be a technique from the future?
Shinro Mental Method is a mental art that illuminates and trains all the blood vessels and meridians in the body.
It allows you to operate only yang qi, inject only yin qi into others, or even create an internal filter to receive only the qi you want.
"Just explaining it won't convince you, so I'll show you. First, may I hold your wrist?"
With an uneasy expression, Yoo Arin slowly held out her wrist.
She must still be thinking about that sort of thing.
I quickly took her hand.
I had to show her fast to properly clear up the misunderstanding.
"Alright, now try infusing qi into me."
"Just do it normally?"
"Yeah. I'll filter it myself."
"...Okay."
Yoo Arin closed her eyes and focused.
I could feel her qi trying to flow in through our joined hands.
I immediately created a barrier that wouldn't allow yang qi to pass.
Soon, unobstructed yin qi slowly seeped into my body.
"Ahh...."
Wait, I made a strange sound without realizing it…
I quickly let go of her hand and laughed heartily.
"Hahaha, you felt it just now, right? Only the yin qi leaving your body."
"Yeah. I felt it."
Yoo Arin held her wrist and nodded.
Her face looked a little moved.
Fortunately, it seemed she hadn't noticed the moan(?) I made.
"If you give me yin qi like this, I can use it to cultivate the divine art I'm practicing right now. Good for you, good for me. Mutual benefit."
"...Yeah."
Yoo Arin fiddled with her wrist and spoke.
"But…"
"Yeah. If you have something you want to ask, ask. I'll answer everything."
"Does it feel good when yin qi goes in?"
"...Huh?"
"No, I'm just asking... No, never mind. Just forget I said anything. I'll get going."
"Huh? Ah, okay. Take care."
Yoo Arin ran off as if fleeing.
And my composure was fleeing right along with her.
"Ah...."
Suddenly, I felt disillusioned with life.
"Should I kill myself?"
On a night with a full moon.
For the first time since regressing, I felt like I wanted to die.
Hidden Moon Group.
A man in silk clothes fluttered as he headed toward the study.
A young man in his twenties.
The same person who had competed with Lee Kangjin over a celadon vase at the auction house.
His name was Lee Juwon.
He had no clan.
After entering the study, Lee Juwon picked up an apple and took a bite while waiting for someone.
After a long while, a man wearing glasses entered.
"Hey, teacher. Where did you go off to?"
The young man glanced at Lee Juwon, then walked straight over and sat in front of him.
"There was something I had to take care of. Have the list of children admitted to Seongmu Academy come out?"
"Of course. I got everything, rankings included. One of my clients happens to be the mother of a kid at Seongmu Academy. When I said I needed it, she wrote everything down for me."
Lee Juwon was the information broker of the Hidden Moon Group.
He ran a pleasure house while also working in the field himself.
"Here, the list of successful applicants."
Lee Juwon pulled out a piece of underwear and handed it over.
The man called teacher frowned as he took it.
"Did you really have to write it on something like this?"
"What do you want me to do? That woman wrote it down like this. Should I have copied it over? The original is better for you too, isn't it?"
"...Yes. You've worked hard."
Not wanting any further argument, the teacher shifted his gaze and began reading through the list from the top.
Or rather, he tried to.
But after checking the very first name, he couldn't continue.
"Lee Seoha... the Blue God."
"Yeah, that clan that took the Ten-Thousand-Year Hasuo. Lee Kangjin's grandson."
"Top rank? I've never heard of someone like that in the Blue God."
"That's what I'm saying. Either the information never reached me, or he suddenly shot up out of nowhere. One of the two."
"Is Seongmu Academy a place you can enter just by working hard for a year?"
"No, it's not."
"I don't understand. At the very least, he should have shown promise a year ago..."
After thinking quietly for a moment, the teacher spoke.
"What do you think the chances are that Lee Seoha consumed the Ten-Thousand-Year Hasuo?"
"How would I know?"
Lee Juwon said as he stood up.
"That's for you to think about, teacher. I'm just an information broker."
"He could become a variable, so let's eliminate him."
"Wow, that's decisive. That's what I like about you. You gave up cleanly even when the Ten-Thousand-Year Hasuo was taken."
"We can't fight Lee Kangjin. Not yet."
After saying that, the teacher began writing a letter.
"Please deliver this to the Hundred-Headed Sword Ghost."
"That's a pretty strong card to play. Just to kill a single cadet."
"It has to be someone who can infiltrate Seongmu Academy, kill Lee Seoha, and escape. In about three months, the new cadets will go out for practical training. Tell him to move then. As for the details, Branch Leader Lee Juwon can look into them."
"Alright, I'll pass it along. Things suddenly got busy. Tsk."
"Ah, and wait a moment. I forgot to write something important."
The teacher stopped Lee Juwon as he was about to leave and added something to the letter.
"...Yoo Arin?"
"If the mission requires it, the others can be killed, but make sure he never touches Yoo Arin."
"Yoo Arin… the runner-up?"
"Yes."
"Why her?"
After thinking for a moment, the teacher smiled and said,
"She's on our side."
The next day.
All the new cadets gathered in the open space in front of the dormitory.
They were there to greet the Immortal-level instructors from each clan who would soon arrive.
As I was yawning, Sanghyeok came up beside me and asked,
"Why do you look so tired? Did you train by yourself?"
"Huh? Yeah. I trained, but I couldn't fall asleep."
How could I possibly sleep?
I swore so firmly that I'd never create a dark history, yet the worst dark history of my life was created yesterday.
I must have kicked the blanket about twenty times.
I'll probably kick it two thousand more times in the future.
"So yin qi feels good, huh. I didn't know."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing. You don't need to know."
"...Aren't you a kid too?"
"What would you know?"
Sanghyeok will find out someday.
This feeling adults have.
Anyway, starting today, life at Seongmu Academy truly begins.
Except for two days of academic classes, the remaining five days are spent training martial arts with instructors from one's clan.
For me and most of the cadets, there's no choice.
That's how it's always been, and that's why people pay a fortune to enter Seongmu Academy.
But there is exactly one person.
Someone who doesn't fall under that rule.
Han Sanghyeok.
This guy.
"What are you going to do?"
"I'll learn at Unseong. They did something for me."
Even as he said that, Sanghyeok's expression didn't look very good.
Of course it wouldn't.
Blood ties aren't something you can easily throw away.
Even if he's lived being treated worse than a servant as an illegitimate child.
Even if contempt and neglect followed him every day.
He still can't deny that he's a member of the Unseong clan with the surname Han.
So even though he's been given the chance to learn the martial arts of Iron-Blooded Lee Kangjin, there must still be lingering attachment in some corner of his heart.
"Unseong's martial art was Heavenly Thunder Twin Swords, right?"
"Huh? Yeah, that's right."
"You want to learn it, don't you?"
"...Was it that obvious?"
"It's written all over your face. Anyone who can't tell is an idiot."
Caught out, Sanghyeok scratched his head awkwardly.
"It's just… I was curious what kind of martial art my dad used. The main family wouldn't even let me watch."
If it's Unseong, that makes sense.
If Sanghyeok grew bigger than Han Youngsu, the line of succession would get tangled.
They probably wanted to prevent that situation in advance.
But it was nothing more than a foolish act of knowing one thing and not two.
It was behavior that made the clan rot instead of prosper.
'If they had just raised Sanghyeok properly, Unseong probably wouldn't have ended up like that.'
Thinking about it, maybe not.
No matter how precious a fish is, it can't survive in a rotten lake.
Perhaps it was because he escaped from there that Sanghyeok was able to remain a hero.
As I was thinking that, I suddenly felt a gaze and looked over.
Sanghyeok was watching my reaction.
Even if we're friends, I'm practically his patron, so it couldn't be helped.
At times like this, the older one should know how to wisely give the answer the other person wants.
"What are you worrying about? Just learn it. You have the right to attend Unseong's classes."
"Is that really okay?"
"Of course. But you also have to learn the One-Sword Style. And put more effort into training that."
"Of course I will. I just want to see it. What kind of martial art my dad used."
Sanghyeok couldn't hide his happy expression.
Looking at him like that made me feel a pang of pity.
Unseong probably won't teach him anything.
They can't drive him out like they did within their own clan, so at best they'll just seat him off to the side.
But even that is enough.
With Sanghyeok's talent, just watching will let him absorb the essence of Heavenly Thunder Twin Swords.
At that moment, Han Youngsu's voice came from behind us.
"I've got my eye on Yoo Arin, so don't you guys touch her."
"Do you even have a plan?"
"I'll help her train, help her study, that kind of thing. It'll be quick. You know me, right? I'm Han Youngsu of Unseong."
"Yeah. I know, you bastard."
Good grief.
A laugh slipped out in disbelief.
I looked at Han Youngsu's group and smiled brightly.
"Idiots."
It seems he heard that.
Actually, I said it loudly so he would.
At fifteen, it's about time they learn their place.
"Hey, what did you just say?"
Han Youngsu reacted immediately.
I turned to him and delivered the harsh truth without hesitation.
"Yoo Arin is the runner-up. Do you really think she'd accept help from the likes of you? Wake up. Yoo Arin is better than you at studying, and she's better at fighting too."
Han Youngsu bristled and walked up in front of me.
"Just because she studies well doesn't mean she knows everything, and being runner-up doesn't mean she's good at fighting. Can't you tell just by looking at how someone like you got first place?"
"I know very well, since I got first place. Don't I know better than someone like you who passed while riding in a sedan chair?"
"Who rode in a sedan chair? Who did? Huh?"
"You didn't?"
"I didn't. They're insurance. And one of them is the guy you took with you."
Han Youngsu glared at Sanghyeok and said,
"What? Do you like Yoo Arin too?"
"What?"
"Well, look at that. This bastard likes her too. What are you going to do? I'm Han Youngsu of Unseong, a real man. Give up."
Where does that baseless confidence come from?
Humans are truly profound beings.
To think that even after living 180 years, I still can't read the thoughts of a fifteen-year-old.
Should I take the opportunity to open his head and take a look inside?
Just as I was thinking that—
"Um...."
An emotionless, dry voice.
A strong orchid scent made my head turn on its own.
Yoo Arin in the morning looked healthier than she did last night.
"Uh...."
I was about to respond.
But Han Youngsu cut in.
"Hi. Good morning."
Yoo Arin glanced at Han Youngsu, then immediately turned her head back to me and said,
"What we did last night. Can we do that again?"
Han Youngsu's expression froze.
What we did last night.
Just hearing that makes it sound like we did something incredible.
When all we really did was exchange a bit of qi.
I looked at Han Youngsu and gave him a winner's smile.
Let him misunderstand.
"Of course. Then let's meet at the same place at the same time."
"Okay. I will."
Yoo Arin nodded and walked away, then suddenly turned back as if she'd forgotten something.
"Oh, and... good morning."
Han Youngsu was the one who greeted her, but she responded to me.
I blankly placed my hand on the shoulder of Han Youngsu, who was busy staring after Yoo Arin, and said,
"Give up. It's already over."
"Get your hand off!"
Han Youngsu slapped my hand away and returned to his group.
Poor guy.
I kindly waved at him and offered some consolation.
"Don't cry. A man shouldn't cry over something like this."
It felt like it was probably good consolation.