Chapter 12. Dream Awakening (12)
Si-Hyeon looked around, went to an empty table, and sat down. She didn't even remember meeting Woo-Moon when he was still a fool a few days ago. Both his facial expression and his actual appearance were quite different, not to mention the fact that she hadn’t even paid much attention to him at the time.
Yim Choo dusted off a chair at another table and ran to Si-Hyeon with a sheepish smile.
"Would you like to sit here, lady?"
When the young man with buck teeth tried to sit next to Si-Hyeon, Jo Mu-Jae, the guard that always followed Si-Hyeon, raised his sword and blocked him.
"Are you out of your mind? Where do you think you’re trying to sit?"
‘Fucking bastard!’
Yim Choo was secretly in love with Si-Hyeon. He wanted to sit at the table and eat and talk with her, since it was only the three of them, but the terribly strict Jo Mu-Jae ruined his plans.
‘Go to hell and be a guard for the rest of your life, you damn slave bastard.’ Yim Choo cursed Mu-Jae in his mind. He then said, "Ha-ha, I didn't mean to sit down. I was trying to take out a chair for you. Please have a seat."
Yim Choo quickly and naturally adapted to the circumstances.
However, Jo Mu-Jae shook his head. "How can I sit down and eat with the daughter of the Leebi Guild owner?"
"It's alright. Sit down, both of you," Si-Hyeon said. "I'm not a member of the royal or noble families. The courtesy just makes me feel embarrassed."
Jo Mu-Jae hesitated, but then Si-Hyeon sighed. "Please sit down, uncle."
Jo Mu-Jae was turning forty-three years old this year, and he had been a guard of the Leebi Guild for a long time, but he was more than just a subordinate. His relationship with Si-Hyeon’s father was so close that they were like actual brothers. In private, she called him uncle.
"Excuse me then."
Jo Mu-Jae took a seat.
‘Look, punk. Lady Yeon is on my side,’ Yim Choo thought as he sat down on Si-Hyeon’s other side.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going to take orders?" he shouted, making Si-Hyeon frown under the veil.
Yim Choo wasn't her favorite subordinate.
As if he read her mind, Jo Mu-Jae tried to say something like "we aren’t gangsters," but Woo-Moon suddenly appeared behind them, seemingly out of nowhere.
Seeing him behind them surprised Jo Mu-Jae. He actually hadn’t felt anyone approaching.
"Aren't you a fool? How are you going to take orders..." Yim Choo frowned but was soon rendered speechless as Woo-Moon looked into his eyes quietly. It was so clear, transparent, and intense that Yim Choo felt as if Woo-Moon could read his mind.
"What would you like to order?"
"What do you recommend?" Si-Hyeon replied.
"Plain noodles and Northern-Style Roast Duck."
The Northern-Style Roast Duck was a dish originating in the northern capital city. The cook would insert a straw between the skin and the flesh of a duck and blow some air through it, creating a pocket of air. The pocket would be filled with herbs and spices, and then the duck would be smoked until it was ready to eat.
Since she liked meat, Si-Hyeon had already eaten that dish a few times, finding it delicious.
"Okay. Then we'll have one Northern-Style Roast Duck and two noodles."
Si-Hyeon preferred eating meat by itself, without rice or noodles. Even so, she did not eat all that much in general, so even if she ate duck until she was full, there would still be enough left for the other two.
After a while, their table sported a well-baked duck with a mouthwatering aroma.
Throughout the meal, Yim Choo was in a bad mood. He felt irritated because of Jo Mu-Jae, who had almost stopped him from sitting next to Si-Hyeon, and because of the local fool, Woo-Moon, whom he usually ignored.
‘Does that bastard want to die?’
Woo-Moon hadn’t really done anything to Yim Choo. The man was just angry at himself for momentarily fearing Woo-Moon.
"I ate well, it was really delicious," Si-Hyeon said when they were finished. She then paid Dae-Woong for the food.
Yim Choo laughed. "I have an urgent matter to deal with, my lady, so I probably won’t be going home for a while. Please head back first."
"Okay. Be careful not to stay out too late," Si-Hyeon replied, then glanced at Woo-Moon, who was cleaning up their dishes. She then headed outside with Jo Mu-Jae, unaware that Jo Mu-Jae had also been looking at Woo-Moon for quite a while now, his eyes filled with suspicion.
Yim Choo saw the two off with a smile, but his expression swiftly hardened when he went back into the inn. As he entered, he directly kicked the table where they had sat, "What kind of inn is this? There was hair in the food I ate earlier! How dare you ignore the Leebi Guild?"
That was a lie. Yim Choo made it up on purpose to vent at the cook and direct his complaint against Woo-Moon.
Woo-Moon felt angry. He knew how careful Mr. Jang, who was running the kitchen, was in that aspect. Yim Choo kicking a table violently in his family's inn only made him feel even madder.
"That punk!"
Enraged, Woo-Moon tried to step forward, but Dae-Woong stopped him.
"Stop right there. What do you think you’re doing? Didn't you see it earlier? He's a man of the Leebi Guild. Don't mess with him."
There were three leading groups in this neighborhood: the Guan-Un Martial Hall, the Leebi Guild, and the Hwaryong Merchant Guild.
From Dae-Woong’s perspective—that of a powerless inn owner, he had no choice but to bear the behavior of Yim Choo, since the latter belonged to one of these groups.
"How can I put up with that?"
"It’s okay, just hang in there. I'll talk to him, so stay right here."
Woo-Moon watched his dad butter up Yim Choo, even resorting to paying him money.
Yim Choo wanted to vent his anger directly on Woo-Moon, but Dae-Woong stepping up and comforting him with money relieved his anger.
"Hmph! I’ll let you off this time! But remember, if you dare to treat the Leebi Guild like this..."
Yim Choo was the typical ass in lion’s skin. If Si-Hyeon or Jo Mu-Jae had seen this, they would have fired him without even asking who was right or wrong. However, it was clear that the organization had some internal problems if an employee dared to act like this while they weren't looking.
After Yim Choo left, Woo-Moon helped the cook cut green onions.
Tak... tak... tak...
The sound of Woo-Moon's kitchen knife hitting the cutting board continued to resonate. However, his breathing gradually accelerated, and his cutting speed gradually increased.
Tak, tak, tak, tak, tak! Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-tak!
Just as the speed of his knife reached its peak, Woo-Moon put the kitchen knife down and went outside.
"I’ll be going out for a while, father."
"What? Punk! Hey, Woo-Moon!"
Woo-Moon heard his dad calling him, but he just walked away quickly without looking back. After a while, he entered a secluded alley and spotted Yim Choo in the distance.
"Hey, Buckteeth! Come over here."
The word that Woo-Moon had just uttered was Yim Choo’s nickname, and also the word that he hated the most.
"What did you just call me?"
Yim Choo found it even more absurd and embarrassing that Woo-Moon was the one calling him out. Yim Choo had put great effort into wearing his most ferocious and frightening expression in order to make sure that Woo-Moon was well and truly scared.
However, in Woo-Moon’s eyes, Yim Choo just looked ridiculous. Woo-Moon had served as Yim Choo and the other children’s leader before his physical illness no longer allowed him to do that. Since then, however, he hadn’t gone out. In addition, although he had recovered physically while observing the landscape painting, his mental state only allowed him to be bullied further.
Now that he was healthier than when he was younger and had also escaped from that dreamy state, there was no way that Woo-Moon was afraid of someone like Yim Choo.
Woo-Moon remembered the man kicking down the table at the inn earlier and Dae-Woong kowtowing and soothing him.
Crunch!
Woo-moon gritted his teeth and ran toward Yim Choo.
"Huh, you really are out of your mind!"
Woo-Moon was a fool the entire neighborhood had ignored, and he had been a target of Yim Choo and his friends’ ridicule for years. To think that man was now running toward him...it was absolutely ridiculous.
‘I thought you were slowly recovering from being a fool, but you haven’t changed at all!’
Under Yim Choo's ridiculing gaze, Woo-Moon ran at him in a disorderly manner. As expected, Woo-Moon didn’t know any martial arts.
Yim Choo couldn't help but laugh.
‘I’ll finish him with a counter.’
Yim Choo recalled a technique among the Sun-Cloud Seven Fists—a set of melee techniques that he had learned at the Guan-Un Martial Arts School. He would first block Woo-Moon’s attack with his forearm, then approach him and kick his knee.
'I'll show you the difference between us!'
Woo-Moon finally reached Yim Choo and clenched his fist. He pulled his arm back as far as he could and threw a punch at Yim Choo's cheek.
Watching his offensive, Yim Choo laughed. An instant later, his forearm and Woo-Moon's fist collided.
‘What?’
Yim Choo had misjudged two things. The first was the speed of Woo-Moon's fist, which was much faster than what he had expected. Fortunately, he managed to block Woo-Moon’s attack as he had moved in advance, but it still surprised him.
The second was that Woo-Moon's fist had enormous power behind it.
Pow!
Yim Choo's arm failed to overcome Woo-Moon's punching power, which simply folded his arm at the elbow and caused him tremendous pain.
‘Huh? What...’
Having pushed away Yim Choo's forearm, Woo-Moon’s fist continued unimpeded on its trajectory to Yim Choo’s face.
Pooooow!
"Argh!"
With a scream that perfectly suited his usual talkative and frivolous personality, Yim Choo fell backward.
"You son of a bitch!"
Yim Choo cursed and flailed about. Noticing that blood was flowing from his nose, he pointed at Woo-Moon. "You’re going to die, punk! Argh, it hurts. I'll kill you! Who do you think I am? You dare ignore the Leebi Guild?"
Of course, Woo-Moon's technique was crude. No, actually, he had never learned any hand-to-hand combat to begin with. However, he had something that made him far superior to Yim Choo: internal energy and a good eye.
If Yim Choo had decided to dodge Woo-Moon's attacks instead of blocking, he would’ve lasted longer in the fight. Thinking of stopping Woo-Moon's attack and counterstriking was a mistake.
There was an unbridgeable gap between their level of qi. If Woo-Moon had any idea how to reinforce his arms and legs with qi, then not only would he have broken Yim Choo's bones, but probably even killed him with that one punch.
Having taken Yim Choo down with that one angry blow, Woo-Moon took a short breath, with his arm still outstretched. He approached Yim Choo with big strides as the man rolled on the ground cursing
Yim Choo then stepped back and shook his arms. "Don't come closer, bastard! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
Despite such threats, Woo-Moon continued to approach. Yim Choo tried to kick him in the chest.
However, Yim Choo was already on the defensive. His mind had grown tense and his body followed suit, which resulted in his attack being even worse than Woo-Moon's punch that he had laughed at moments earlier.
Woo-Moon swiftly avoided it, then grabbed Yim Choo's nape and pulled, kicking his legs from underneath him at the same time.
"Argh!"
Yim Choo fell down, and Woo-Moon grabbed him by the collar.
"Consider this a warning. Don’t ever come to our inn again. We will no longer offer our services to you. And what was that question you asked? Am I not afraid of the Leebe Merchant Guild? Yeah, you're right, I'm not afraid. I didn't do anything wrong. Also, your companions have no idea what you're doing here, do they?"
"What, punk? You'll see. How dare you take the Leebi Gu—MMMGH!"
Woo-Moon grabbed Yim Choo’s by the jaw and tightened his grip, cutting the man's sentence short.