Chapter 117 – Palace Maid (10)
[Chapter 6- Section 5] One Room!
The writer and director of the historical drama <Palace Maid Deok-chun> had always rooted for the “thief.”
He was a symbolic figure who refused to bow to power and fought to seize love.
It sounded cool and romantic, but in reality, by ignoring practicality and chasing nothing but artistic merit, they ended up creating a monster.
(See that cairn?)
“Oh! You’re right.”
I could see something like a tower built by stacking stones.
(I could just break the formation outright, but I’m going to adjust the cairn so the guy can’t escape and trap him in his hideout.)
Is that even possible?
(Normally, no. The opponent learned immortal arts from some hermit on Mount Baekdu—he’s the greatest practitioner of arts in this world. In this world alone, he’s one step above me.)
“Hmm…”
Please explain it simply.
(But with an idiot like you around, the outcome changes. Your world isn’t affected by formations. If you move the stones as I instruct, we can manipulate the formation to our will without destroying it.)
“Ooh…”
(See the flat stone on the third layer of the cairn? Stand it upright next to the moss-covered stone on the seventh layer.)
Tap.
Knowing absolutely nothing about formations, I diligently followed my senior’s instructions.
(This is the last step. I’m going to add an art that prevents him from finding and destroying this cairn. It won’t last long, so once the art is complete, immediately storm the hideout.)
How long will it last?
(Until the blood you smeared on the formation’s key completely dries.)
“Blood…?”
(Blood is part of you, after all. No matter how great the thief’s immortal arts are, he can’t detect your world. But as time passes, it’ll become ordinary blood. Finish it before then.)
Understood.
(See the pale purple flower blooming between the fourth and fifth layers? That’s the key. Uproot it and place it under the square stone on the eighth layer.)
“Yes.”
I did as told.
(…This is truly unbelievable. If I had to release the arts while doing this, even five days wouldn’t have been enough—yet it ends this simply. Your body, which has infiltrated this world, is in itself an absurd art.)
What about the Sword Demon?
(They’re similar to you. But their structure is far simpler. They’re like mass-produced goods stamped out in a factory—all composed of identical worlds. It’s a matter of individuality. Now! I need your blood.)
“How much…”
(If you’re confident you can quickly bash the thief’s head in, a little will do.)
“…A lot, please.”
If we miss him here, it feels like we’ll never catch him again, so I decided to play it safe.
(Dye the stone pressing down on the key with your blood. If it looks like it’ll take time, soak it thoroughly. It’s fine if it drips.)
I boldly slashed my wrist with the hwandu I had received from the Crown Prince.
Drip, drip…
The blood flowing from my left hand stained the stone and flower a dark crimson.
(What are you doing?)
“…Huh?”
(You frustrating guy! Hurry up and move! Were you expecting some flashy aurora-like magic show effect? The formation has already started.)
“Ah!”
I ran.
A monster born because the writer and director crammed in every possible setting to create a weakling who could rival the strong.
To take down a strong one wearing the mask of the weak, I charged into the hideout.
“Huh?”
“Who…?”
A modest village deep in the mountains, consisting of three thatched houses beside a flowing stream.
The thief doesn’t live alone.
A nine-tailed fox who handles housework in place of the thief, and a mountain bandit boss who became his subordinate after defeat.
The tragic tale of a bachelor bandit who pines for a nine-tailed fox yokai disguised as a human.
It’s a pointless subplot that only eats up screen time—I don’t like it.
(Ignore them.)
“……”
My senior is right.
‘Only the thief!’
He must have burned through a ton of stamina playing tag with me. The fact that he hasn’t shown himself yet—could he be sleeping?
“Intruder…!”
A white-haired beauty with nine snow-white tails sprouting from beneath her skirt fearlessly blocked my path.
A nine-tailed fox (gumiho).
Settings vary slightly depending on the folktale or work, but in the historical drama <Palace Maid Deok-chun>, the gumiho is portrayed as a yokai strong enough to give even the thief a hard time.
Whoosh! Whoosh~!
Nine clusters of blue flames formed around the gumiho.
‘Fox fire.’
Also known as will-o’-the-wisp.
Since they can create one for every tail that grows every hundred years, the older a fox yokai is, the stronger it becomes.
Swish! Swish! Swish…!
The fox fires shot toward me like living creatures.
Unavoidable! Inextinguishable!
They never go out until they hit their target, which is why even the great thief struggled against them.
However,
“Sorry about that.”
The moment every fox fire touched my body (my world), they turned to smoke and vanished.
Poof…
“What the— Gah?!”
Had she expected me to run or get hit by the fox fire?
Startled by the phenomenon that defied common sense, the gumiho’s eyes widened in shock—and I gifted her forehead with my fist.
Thwack!
(Is this fox a bonus? Fox fire—an interesting art.)
The gumiho, concussed, fainted without even having time to revert to her true fox form.
Thud!
“Miss Fox?! You bastard…!”
The bandit boss bravely charged at me, raising his axe high.
Thump.
I didn’t even look at him—just sent him flying with a taekwondo spinning heel kick.
“…He’s not here?”
If he heard the commotion, the thief should normally have burst out of the house.
It was too quiet.
Startled!
I reached the door of the dark thatched house and twisted my body.
Right after that—
Boom!
Before the severed door even hit the ground, the thief lunged at me.
‘A pretty decent ambush, huh?’
I quickly drew the hwandu at my waist and aimed for his leg—somewhere that wouldn’t threaten his life.
“Tch.”
But just before I could slash his leg, he vanished without a trace.
‘Teleportation. Annoying.’
Still, I could now clearly sense his movements even without seeing them.
Without stopping the downward swing of my hwandu, I raised it upward.
Clang—!
Sparks flew as my hwandu clashed with the thief’s invisible blade.
“Are you a monster…?”
“That’s harsh.”
Unable to get proper rest, the thief glanced quickly at the two collapsed figures nearby with fatigue-heavy eyes.
The gumiho, the bandit boss.
Then, without hesitation, he teleported, disappeared from my sight, scooped the gumiho into his arms, and fled.
(As expected.)
“Yeah.”
(Stop sightseeing and finish this quickly. I’ve got a taekwondo match soon.)
“Gah!”
In the time it took me to eat a bowl of gukbap and move a few stones, a whole day had passed?!
The speed of reality is insane.
***
“Un-hyeon oppa. After eating gukbap at the tavern, what is Moon-soo doing now?”
“Stop asking already.”
Blood God So Un-hyeon was utterly fed up with Song Sun-young, who kept pestering him with questions the whole way to the taekwondo venue.
“You promised to tell me.”
“I didn’t promise to tell you this often!”
“I didn’t promise not to ask often either, did I?”
“…Hold on. He just subdued the thief who was fleeing while carrying the gumiho.”
So Un-hyeon, dressed in a taekwondo uniform, relayed the situation from the dream in a slightly weary tone.
“Why didn’t Moon-soo kill the gumiho? She attacked him first.”
“…He didn’t kill the bandit boss either.”
There was no real need to defend an unattractive junior, but he figured it would save him trouble later, so he helped a little.
“That’s a relief, then.”
“Miss Song Sun-young.”
“……”
Song Sun-young neatly ignored the girl one year her senior, Jeon Ji-eun, who was calling her from right beside her, treating her as if she didn’t exist.
Still, Jeon Ji-eun persisted unflinchingly.
“Kang Moon-soo will be competing in his first match soon. It would be troublesome if you disturbed him.”
“…Disturbing?”
The irritating word finally elicited a reaction from Song Sun-young.
“Miss Song Sun-young. It’s your freedom to act as you please, but if he unfortunately misses out on a taekwondo medal, that resentment will be yours to bear.”
“I get it, so stop meddling.”
“This isn’t meddling, it’s…”
“Unnie. Could you please not force your opinions on me? I don’t think Moon-soo ever competed in the Olympics.”
“But it’s Kang Moon-soo’s body. Are you going to deny that too?”
“We’re not getting through to each other.”
“That’s what I want to say.”
Zap—
Watching the two girls engage in a tense stare-down, So Un-hyeon muttered quietly.
“Don’t they ever get tired…?”
By this point in the fight, you’d think one of them would surrender or give up, but neither backed down an inch.
“Kang Moon-soo player!”
“Hm.”
A reporter and cameraman approached.
“You competed in taekwondo less than a day after running a marathon. Is your physical condition all right?”
“It won’t affect today’s matches.”
So Un-hyeon answered naturally, mimicking Kang Moon-soo’s speech and expression.
Unless someone was a pervert on Song Sun-young’s level—who had even mastered her junior’s lewd demon—no one would ever notice!
“Does that mean you still had energy left after shaving a full twenty minutes off the marathon world record?”
“My stamina is simply exceptional. You’ll understand if you watch the 10km open-water swimming marathon later.”
“Even the swimming marathon…?”
“You can look forward to it.”
Turning his back on the reporter trying to bait him into a slip-up, So Un-hyeon controlled Kang Moon-soo’s body and headed toward the taekwondo competition area.
‘Pathetic.’
Even when the announcer introduced his opponent, it didn’t register. His current interest lay solely in the wondrous immortal arts that the hermit living on Mount Baekdu had passed down to the thief.
“Start…!”
With the referee’s booming command, the first preliminary taekwondo match began.
“Taheup!”
The opponent charged in quickly first.
‘…A bit disappointing.’
If it had been Kang Moon-soo, he could have ended the match in an instant using pure physical ability alone, but So Un-hyeon couldn’t do that.
The same body.
The same knowledge.
Yet he couldn’t understand why such a difference existed.
‘Too slow.’
In the world of the romance fantasy novel <I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Count’s Family>, the escort knight Valentine had flatly declared that Kang Moon-soo had no talent.
Was that statement wrong?
No. It was correct.
But Kang Moon-soo was a Shaman guaranteed by Player P’s aptitude tester. His abnormal strength came from that. The various powers and experiences he gained every time he woke from the dream.
That was a shaman’s weapon.
Then what about So Un-hyeon?
“Hup!”
As if he had become a completely different person, his eyes sharpened fiercely, and he moved each muscle with meticulous care.
A Heavenly Demon born between a celestial maiden and a Blood Demon.
Extraordinary from birth, holder of the strongest class in the world’s setting, with a dazzling record of staining the Central Plains in blood.
Combat?
His talent was so far beyond common sense and norms that even in a baby’s body, he could defeat an adult.
“Uh…?”
The opponent, as if possessed by a ghost, allowed a hit to his cheek with a dumbfounded expression.
Smack—!
Despite being protected by headgear, the athlete reeled from a single kick by So Un-hyeon, spinning unsteadily like a drunkard before collapsing.
Thud.
And he didn’t get back up.
“…This feels awkward.”
It felt strange not to kill an opponent who had shown hostility. Still, he hadn’t made a mistake—thanks to having plenty of mental leeway because the athlete was so weak!
‘Would the referee even understand the concept of using shockwaves to tense and block acupuncture points?’
The athlete was still breathing, but no matter how much he was shaken, there was no sign of movement.
If no one knew how to unblock the sealed acupuncture points, it would end like this.
“…Unable to continue the match! Victory to Kang Moon-soo!”
The referee ignored the scoreboard and declared the winner.
An absurd match. And an absurd result.
It would likely go down in the records as the shortest taekwondo bout ever.
“…What’s with the dissatisfaction?”
After easily securing one win and returning to the athlete waiting area, So Un-hyeon spotted Song Sun-young with her cheeks puffed out like a blowfish.
“So Un-hyeon oppa. You should fight like Moon-soo does. With a spinning heel kick.”
“With this weakened body? You’re joking, right? Do you want Kang Moon-soo’s body to get beaten up one-sidedly?”
“Then do it well without getting hit.”
“……”
He was so flabbergasted that words failed him.
“What’s Moon-soo doing now?”
“If it’s that guy…”
So Un-hyeon closed his eyes and focused to synchronize with Kang Moon-soo in the dream.
“……”
Since it was a sight Song Sun-young had seen as many times as she had asked, she stopped pestering and waited quietly.
Though she didn’t say it out loud, Jeon Ji-eun also looked extremely curious.
Whoosh—
So Un-hyeon quickly opened his eyes again and informed the two girls.
“He’s experimenting with the thief’s body.”
“What kind of experiment?”
“An experiment to break the world-setting of the historical drama <Palace Maid Deok-chun>.”
He, too, was very curious about the results of the experiment.
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