Star Instructor, Master Baek-Chapter 319: Secrets

TL: FoodieMonster007

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Ryu Seol shouted sharply at Moyong Jun.

She wanted to chase after him and smack him on the back of the head, but Moyong Jun's movement arts were much faster than she had thought. Right now, she was barely able to keep up with him.

He was actually this fast?

Ryu Seol bit her lip hard. The friend she had known for twenty years felt like a complete stranger.

"…Just follow me a little longer. We're almost there," Moyong Jun replied.

Some time later, he stopped halfway up a small mountain and turned around to face a tense Ryu Seol.

"Do you remember this place?" he asked, smiling faintly.

"……"

"There's no ambush, so stop looking around so nervously. You really don't remember, do you?" Moyong Jun mumbled in disappointment, scratching his cheek.

His composure drove Ryu Seol up the wall. Glaring at him, she snapped, "Why are you acting all high and mighty, you bastard? You're just a filthy traitor who clung to the Blood Cult…"

Moyong Jun interrupted her with a mischievous laugh, "Back in the day, do you remember how you'd run here and cry whenever you got beaten by the Chairman?"

"W-What the hell are you talking about!" Ryu Seol immediately denied, her face turning red.

That was a story from more than ten years ago, but Moyong Jun still remembered how she had been back then, since they had joined at the same time. She had only cried during her first year in the Elimination Corps and never again after that, but he remembered it as if it had happened only yesterday.

"See that rock over there?" he asked.

"……"

It was a dark night, but the two of them could see clearly enough to notice even the movement of tiny insects. Where Moyong Jun pointed, there was a massive rock the size of a small house. The surface was covered with countless cracks, and Ryu Seol immediately recognized them as her handiwork from the past.

"You still don't remember?"

"Shit. This place did feel familiar."

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Embarrassing memories flooded back. Memories of being beaten for defying the chairman and running here to cry her eyes out. Memories of feeling so unfairly wronged that she had repeatedly slashed that rock, only to come back drunk out of her mind, crying and sniffling as she caused a scene.

Damn it.

In most of those memories, Moyong Jun had been right beside her.

"Whenever you got drunk, you'd slash the hell out of that rock. You said it looked like the Chairman's big flat face, and when you got stronger, you'd split it clean in half…"

"Shut up, seriously?"

Moyong Jun chuckled. Mischief glittered in his eyes. "I never thought that crybaby girl would become the Elimination Corps Commander."

"What the hell, you idiot…"

No one would believe it now, but when Ryu Seol first arrived at the Murim Alliance, she was incredibly weak. The Elimination Corps wasn't the kind of soft organization that would go easy on a scrawny girl with an eye patch. Most people either looked at her unkindly or tormented her at the martial arts academy.

"Moyong Jun. Help Ryu Seol get settled."

"What? Why me?"

"Shut up and do it, you little punk."

Back then, the Elimination Corps Commander had practically dumped Ryu Seol on Moyong Jun. They were about the same age, and the Commander thought their circumstances were somewhat similar. Moyong Jun had run away from his family and Ryu Seol had become an orphan overnight.

Moyong Jun didn't like being tied to Ryu Seol, but an order was an order, so he had no choice… even though he had a pretty rough personality himself at the time.

"Hey, Cyclops. Let's go eat. You need something in your stomach if you want to get through afternoon training."

"Call me that one more time and I'll kill you."

"Look at you, acting rude when I'm trying to be nice. Want me to beat you and drag you along?"

"Should I beat you until you shut up?"

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That was how Moyong Jun and Ryu Seol's friendship began. After that, they ate together for twenty years, protected each other on the battlefield, and crossed the line between life and death many times.

…And then all the trust they'd built up in each other collapsed in a single day.

"Why did you betray the Alliance?" Ryu Seol asked, devastated.

"I told you. I wanted to become stronger than you." Moyong Jun laughed softly and slowly drew the sword from his waist.

SHING!

Moonlight reflected off the blade, giving it a shimmering glow. As he took his starting stance, he looked solemn as if he was performing a ritual.

Moyong Jun pointed his sword at Ryu Seol and smiled faintly, his eyes filled with a cold killing intent. "I chose this place because it's full of memories. I thought it would serve well as your grave."

"You're mad…" Ryu Seol couldn't understand what was going through Moyong Jun’s mind.

This bastard has completely lost it!

She gripped her twin blades tightly and gathered her strength. Her martial arts uniform fluttered wildly from the surge of energy.

"Stop yapping and come at me! I won't feel better until I crush you right now!"

Whatever. She would beat him half to death and then think about other things.

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Moyong Jun stared at Ryu Seol calmly. "Ryu Seol, can you really kill me?"

"Ha! Looks like you finally got scared!"

CLANG!

Ryu Seol stomped on the ground and shot forward like a cannonball. Her twin black daos crossed, slicing through the darkness, while dark qi flickered over her body like flames.

Moyong Jun didn't dodge, instead thrusting his sword at her with sophisticated swordsmanship. A thin layer of intensely purified transparent qi surrounded his blade.

Their clash was like fire against ice. Ryu Seol cloaked her Black Dao in dark, enhanced dao qi and swung fiercely, while Moyong Jun's sword moved calmly, rendering her attacks useless.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Each time their three blades collided, the resulting shockwaves distorted the scenery. Soon, the small mountain that held their memories began to crumble, as if to symbolize the catastrophic end of their relationship.

"You act all high and mighty, but all you do is block. Is that the only sword style you learned after betraying the Murim Alliance?" Ryu Seol sneered.

Moyong Jun smiled coldly. "Ryu Seol. When will you get serious?"

"What the hell are you talking about…"

At that moment, Moyong Jun blurred and reappeared right in front of Ryu Seol, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.

Ryu Seol's eyes widened. She had lost sight of him for a split second.

SPLURT!

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Ryu Seol jerked her head back. A thin line appeared on her neck and tiny beads of blood formed along the shallow wound.

It was a blow that made the hairs on her neck stand up. Had she been a fraction slower, she would have been decapitated.

Moyong Jun giggled eerily when he saw the blood. "I betrayed you with the intention of killing you, so don't insult me by going easy on me. If you carry on like this…"

Moyong Jun's aura began shifting as the elegant qi of the Unlimited Sword boiled over.

Is that… Berserk Qi?

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That was the only way Ryu Seol could describe what she saw in Moyong Jun's eyes.

Moyong Jun whispered, "…You're going to die in the most painful way."

"You're crazy…!"

Moyong Jun, who now resembled a sword demon, launched his assault. His blade overflowed with killing intent so violent, it was hard to believe that he was the same person from a few moments ago.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Ryu Seol gritted her teeth as she blocked his ferocious strikes.

What kind of martial art is this?

She felt more pressure from Moyong Jun than she'd ever felt from the Murim Alliance's greatest swordsman, the Divine Sword Commander. However, it wasn't demonic arts. She would have noticed that.

At the same time, it didn't look like a complete martial art either.

It’s only been a year or so since he betrayed us.

In that short time, Moyong Jun had become unnaturally strong.

"Did they give you an elixir? Or a divine art?" Ryu Seol asked even though she knew that it couldn't be that simple.

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This abnormal situation could only mean one thing.

"…No, that's qi deviation. You've been consumed by that martial art."

Moyong Jun burst out laughing, "Hahaha! I'm sure you want to believe that. After seeing that I've surpassed you, you must want to dismiss me somehow!"

BOOM!

Moyong Jun flung Ryu Seol away and raised the tip of his sword to the sky, admiring it with a spellbound expression. "…I have been chosen by the sword."

Moyong Jun felt an indescribable thrill and exhilaration. He was overpowering the martial artist he'd admired for half of his life. He believed that he could do anything now.

ROAR…!

A fierce storm surged from Moyong Jun's sword.

Ryu Seol sensed something ominous and immediately rushed in, but it was too late.

The Unlimited Tempest, one of the Unlimited Sword's ultimate techniques, was revived in the hands of his descendant.

CRASH!

There was nothing left where the raging wind had ripped through. It looked as if part of the small mountain had been completely torn away.

"Ugh…" Although Ryu Seol had crossed her twin blades to withstand the Unlimited Tempest, slash wounds covered her entire body.

"Haha! Still not dead? That's the One-Eyed Demon Blade Ryu Seol for you." Moyong Jun strode over to the trembling Ryu Seol, confident that the outcome had already been decided. "…I know everything about you. Your habits, how you hold your blade, the movement of your shoulders, the way you shift your gaze when you feint, which technique you use in which situation."

"You perverted swine!"

"Isn't it natural? We've spent half our lives together."

"Creepy son of a bitch…"

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Moyong Jun snickered. "I just wanted you to know that this was a fight I couldn't lose… Goodbye, Ryu Seol."

Moyong Jun raised his sword, aiming for Ryu Seol's heart, when suddenly his head throbbed painfully. He felt nauseous, like he was about to vomit. His heart was beating wildly and his sword hand was quivering uncontrollably.

He felt as if his body was rejecting the very act of killing Ryu Seol.

Why am I…

Suddenly, Moyong Jun found it strange that he was holding a sword at all. Another emotion briefly surfaced in his eyes, clouded by the berserk qi.

He quickly shook his head from side to side. He would feel better once he'd drawn blood. If he killed Ryu Seol with the strongest swordmanship in the world, this trembling would stop immediately.

CLATTER!

"You're so full of yourself. You think you know everything about me?" Ryu Seol screamed, dropping her weapons to the ground.

"What?"

"You think you're the only one hiding some big secret?"

Moyong Jun chuckled, "If you think I'll spare you just because you surrender now…"

"You idiot. No matter what you do, you can't defeat me." Ryu Seol had not given up the fight. Resting her right hand on the patch covering her left eye, she warned, "I really didn't want to do this… Moyong Jun. You can consider yourself dead."

It was the eyepatch she'd never removed—not during training, on the battlefield, not even when she was slept. Made from famously tough silkworm thread, it had never torn or needed replacing.

Not even Moyong Jun, who had been her friend for twenty years, had never seen what lay beneath.

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For the first time in twenty years, Ryu Seol removed the eyepatch in front of someone else.

"Your eye…!"

In her left eye socket, which should've been empty, a violet Demonic Eye shone like a jewel, emitting an ominous aura.

"This is my true demonic art."

Moyong Jun's body froze the moment he met Ryu Seol's Demonic Eye. It only lasted a moment, but that was all she needed.

POW!

Ryu Seol's fist slammed into Moyong Jun's jaw. As he staggered, she attacked mercilessly.

POW! POW! POW!

Her punches landed in rapid succession. Face, abdomen, torso, she didn't discriminate. Her fists, hard as iron, pounded every inch of Moyong Jun's body.

"Do you need a beating to snap out of it? Huh? You think you can pull this insubordination crap on your commander?"

"Guh! Guhuk…!" Moyong Jun groaned and tried to swing his sword to fend her off, but each time, Ryu Seol's Demonic Eye flashed, paralyzing his body and clouding his mind.

Is it an illusion? Sorcery? No, it's not that simple!

Before he knew it, Ryu Seol's entire body was enveloped in a deep violet current, faster and stronger than anything he'd ever seen before.

"W-Wait…!"

A palm strike from Ryu Seol struck Moyong Jun's left cheek.

In other words, she slapped him across the face.

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SMACK!

Moyong Jun spat blood as he flew backwards and landed half-buried in the same rock that Ryu Seol had once used to vent her emotions.

"I will split this rock today, along with your skull," Ryu Seol spat, wiping the blood from her fists onto her clothes.