Chapter 45: Heartless (4) (1/2)
Chapter 45: Heartless (4)
Translator: hwarang
Editor: Klaurem
Surprised by the news that Song Hwa Rin visited their house, Im Ae Hwa rushed to the guest house.
At the guest house, Song Hwa Rin was there waiting.
“Rin-Ah! Why are you here?”
“Have you been well?”
“I am sorry, but Dan-ee is not home today.”
“I came to see you today, mother.”
“Me? Why me? Let’s sit down and talk.”
The two people sat across each other and the maids brought out some tea.
Im Ae Hwa stared at Song Hwa Rin’s face in silence. She still had signs of swelling.
“I am sorry.”
“No. Rather, I should be the one apologizing.”
“You?”
“I am sorry for making all of you worried because of our problems. I am truly sorry.”
Im Ae Hwa was a bit puzzled by this situation. Aside from liking Song Hwa Rin and wanting to make her their daughter-in-law, she knew that Song Hwa Rin had a feisty att.i.tude. For her to visit their house like this was a bit different than norm. Nonetheless Im Ae Hwe just wanted the two of them do be happy.
She thought there was might have been some sort of misunderstanding when Song Hwa Rin came over just to visit her.
“Did something happen?”
Song Hwa Rin smiled and answered, “Dan-ee said something like this. ‘I grew up after getting beaten up by you.’ Now, after getting beaten up by him I think I grew up a bit”
“Hahaha”
Im Ae Hwa was smiling happily. Im Ae Hwe was able to tell what kind of changes Song Hwa Rin was experiencing.
To be honest, Song Hwa Rin hesitated many times before coming here. She even thought about going back when she arrived at their door, but she didn’t. Aside from the divorce situation with Byuk Lee Dan, she wanted to tell Im Ae Hwe that she was doing fine. This was because she was worried her mother-in-law was worrying about her.
“Rin-Ah”
“Yes”
Im Ae Hwa said, “You can do things slowly. See everything that you want to see, do everything that you want to do. And there are bound to be times when you go down a wrong path. But it’s alright.”
Since that was a privilege only the youth have.
She was reminiscent of her youth; her youth that had flown past her as fast as a throwing knife. Back then, even when someone had given her advice such as to ‘slow down’, she’d still been in a hurry. She’d been in a hurry to get older. She wanted to know what awaited her as she got older.
Seeing the eyes of Im Ae Hwa grow brighter, Song Hwa Rin said calmly, “Can I visit you occasionally?”
Im Ae Hwa leaned into her ear and whispered, “You can live in our house starting today if you want.”
Im Ae Hwa laughed as Song Hwa Rin got quiet and her face grew brighter.
Song Hwa Rin thought it was a good day to visit. Even though she was thinking of Byuk Lee Dan, she quickly put that thought aside.
“Should we have another cup of tea?”
With a better mood Song Hwa Rin answered with a smile, “Yes!”
The next morning, Old Man Flower Fan walked into the forest.
It looked as though he was casually enjoying his morning walk but he arrived at the meeting point at the same time as yesterday.
The man who he usually met had his back turned looking into the forest.
Old Man Flower Fan approached him and asked, “What are you staring at?”
It was the moment when he took couple of more steps.
That moment the Old Man Flower Fan froze in place feeling threatened.
Swooos.h.!.+
The man who had his back turned threw couple of throwing knives.
Old Man Flower Fan tilted his body to dodge those attacks. But he had no room to breathe after dodging the throwing knives because I slashed my blade as fast as speed of light.
s.h.i.+ng!
The Heavenly Origin Sword cut through the air, aimed at his heart.
Clangg!
Old man Flower Fan quickly deflected my sword with his fan. The effectiveness of his fan that was enhanced with his ki was put on full display. His prowess showed with this single clash how, with his fan alone, he’d been able to withstand multiple a.s.sa.s.sination attempts.
Most people’s blades would’ve been broken by this, but if they were a bit stronger than average they would’ve let go of their blade, and if they were stronger than that they would’ve missed their mark completely.
But I, as well as my blade, shouldn’t be compared to others.
Even though my blade had missed its intended target, it still buried itself inside of his body.
Stab!
Old Man Flower Fans’s shoulder was split open and blood gushed out.
Step, Step, Step.
Without even checking the status of his shoulder, he swung his fan around and quickly retreated a couple of steps.
Others would have used this opportunity to pressure him but I didn’t.
He may have looked like he was just aimlessly retreating, but I’d seen his footwork clearly.
This was a trap.
By pretending that he was in danger, it was his ploy to bait his enemy.
If he was given the chance, he could have turned the situation around.
A dozen steps away, Old Man Flower Fan stopped his bleeding by pressing the pressure points around the wound.
“Who are you?”
“Have you forgotten already? We just met yesterday. Don’t we usually meet here?”
Although I was wearing the clothes of the man that I killed, I’d expected him to figure something out.
All I’d wanted was enough distance between us that I could surprise him. Luckily, I’d been successful with my attack and had managed to stab his shoulder.
I was confident enough to face him head on, but there was no need to do something so dangerous. He wasn’t someone worthy enough for me to fight head on. It would’ve been best if I had ended his life with my previous attack, but I couldn’t.
“He must have died.”
“So will you,”
I wanted to keep him alive a bit longer so that I could question him, but I pressed my attack.
In a battle between high-level experts, the most important things were gaining the advantage. If you lose the advantage you’ll be pressured and be on defense until you lose.
I started pressuring him; I wasn’t too quick nor too rash with my attacks. The best way to gain the advantage was to chain your attacks into a flawless set so that it will make force your enemy into blocking all of them and raise the pressure.
With every clash between us, sparks of ki flew out.
If it was an ordinary steel fan, even when infused with ki it still would have been ripped to shreds under the attack of the Heavenly Origin Sword. However, his fan wasn’t ordinary. The reason that Old Man Flower Fan had been able to survive for so long was because of his weapon as well as the amount of ki he’d acc.u.mulated during his life.
Old Man Flower Fan could be considered one level below Si Gon, but this was this was only taking into consideration head-to-head fights. In situations which called for surprise attacks, Old Man Flower Fan might be one step ahead of Si Gon. The reason why I hated old experts was because I knew fully well how dangerous they were.
If they showed even the slightest opening you must be prepared for death.
Why?
Because by them showing their opening, it was equivalent to you showing your opening.
No matter how much pressure he was put under, he was still a worthy opponent.
Flap!
The sound of him repeatedly opening and closing his fan was heard. Each time we clashed, Old Man Flower Fan revealed a fw of his techniques. However, after some time, his face darkened. He knew that he was losing this battle slowly.
Slas.h.!.+
This time I was able to cut his arm and blood spilled everywhere. It might have looked like a deep wound, but I knew that it was a light wound.
But this injury shook Old Man Flower Fan’s concentration since he was injured while he was on the defense.
Flaapppp!!!
Through his fan, the Old Man Flower Fan released his killing intent. It was his hidden trump card.
From his fan, few throwing knives barely grazed my face. And the price for missing his target was severe.
Slas.h.!.+
My sword cut off his hand.
“AHHHHH!!!”
This was the first time that he screamed.
He was now in a defenseless state since his fan was on the ground along with his hand.
Slas.h.!.+
I cut into his side.
“Kuuaahhh!!!”
After crying out in pain, Old Man Flower Fan stumbled and fell down. This victor was decided.
“Please! Please Wait!”