So? Did Someone Force You to Become the Heavenly Demon?

Chapter 70: The First Test (5)

‘Damn it!! I have no choice but to look straight at her face when fighting.’

The moment Il-mok made direct eye contact with Bang Mi-hwa, his obsessive-compulsive symptoms began flaring up.

And while Il-mok hesitated…

Bang Mi-hwa and her team members, who had approached nearby, boldly charged at Il-mok’s teammates.

As expected, Bang Mi-hwa charged towards Il-mok, but she wasn’t alone.

‘Still, just in case, wouldn’t it be better to have at least one more person provide support?’

It was because Mi-hwa had accepted Ha Young’s advice.

Ultimately, Il-mok found himself facing Bang Mi-hwa and one Lower Class disciple.

“Urgh! These annoying bastards!!”

Ha Young and another disciple from the Lower Class charged at Choi Woong.

Lastly, Ju Seo-yeon, the weakest of the group, faced a disciple from a different group.

If there was any silver lining…

Swoooosh!

…it was that Jeong Hyeon, having positioned earlier, provided long-range support for his teammates.

However, that merely prevented the worst-case scenario.

They were barely holding on, thanks to Jeong Hyeon’s covering fire.

Il-mok, in particular, was on the verge of losing his mind.

—Now’s the time!

—We’re fighting because of the test anyway, right?

—Just carve her face as you desired!

—Balance out the left and right sides! She’ll probably be happy about it too!

The other persona burgeoning within his mind relentlessly tempted him to use his sword on Bang Mi-hwa’s face. Only the last vestiges of his sanity, recognizing the flawed logic of those inner voices, held him back.

‘Test or not, the moment I put my sword to her face, it’s over!!’

Subduing opponents without inflicting serious injuries was a prerequisite for combat in this test. A major facial reconstruction surgery would be a blatant violation of that rule.

“Urgh.”

Il-mok unconsciously swung his sword, almost slashing Bang Mi-hwa’s face, but managed to stop his arm at the last moment.

“Hmph.”

Misinterpreting his restraint as affection, Bang Mi-hwa smirked and swung her fan.

‘For fuck sake. Let’s at least avoid eye contact for now.’

Il-mok had no choice but to awkwardly avert his gaze while fighting.

He tried to focus only on Bang Mi-hwa’s body and weapon, making an effort not to look at her face.

Thanks to that, he managed to hold out, but the basics of fighting involve reading the opponent’s movements.

Clang!

“Tsk.”

Not being able to read her eyes was a major handicap in many ways, and above all…

“Damn it.”

His forced attempts to avoid Bang Mi-hwa’s face made his movements awkward and clumsy.

***

Meanwhile…

Unlike Choi Woong or Il-mok, Ju Seo-yeon, who ended up in a one-on-one match with a single Martial Arts Disciple, was in a somewhat less dire situation.

Obviously, just because she had trained like a madman for twenty days doesn’t mean that her skill had caught up with the rest of her classmates.

Her opponent was from the    Upper Class, while she had barely passed the entrance exam for the Hall of the Demonic Way to begin with.

Furthermore, even if she had trained her hardest for twenty days, her opponent hadn’t been idle either.

So…

Swoooosh!

She was only managing to hold on thanks to Jeong Hyeon’s perfectly timed arrows.

Also, test rules, which prevented the use of dangerous techniques, also played a role.

Thanks to these two factors, Seo-yeon, who had some breathing room, could quickly realize…

…that the current situation was dangerous.

‘If we all get subdued like this, I can’t achieve the second rank!’

Frankly speaking, if she managed to defeat her opponent with Jeong Hyeon’s help, it would be meaningless if Choi Woong or Il-mok were defeated in the meantime.

Their martial prowess was much greater than hers. Especially the young master, who was considered unmatched.

But why was this unmatched figure struggling against just (?) two attackers?

As Ju Seo-yeon’s thoughts reached this point, a memory she had completely forgotten suddenly surfaced.

—He’s already in love with me, so you’ll only end up hurt, Disciple Ju.

Looking at the current situation, the nonsense that Bang Mi-hwa had gone out of her way to tell her in the past doesn’t seem like nonsense after all.

‘So the Young Master’s preferences leaned that way.’

Such a thought naturally crossed her mind, but that wasn’t what was important right now.

Ju Seo-yeon, believing that the young master couldn’t attack Bang Mi-hwa because of the emotion called love, made a bold decision.

For her goal of becoming the second-ranked disciple within two years, for a rosy future with Jin Hayeon!

Clang!

While her opponent was momentarily distracted after blocking an incoming arrow…

Instead of swinging her spear to attack the enemy, Ju Seo-yeon…

Whoosh!

Suddenly launched her body and rushed toward where Il-mok was fighting.

“What!?”

Startled, the confused enemy quickly launched himself and chased after Ju Seo-yeon. He hurriedly swung his sword at her, but it was a bit late.

Ju Seo-yeon, having launched a surprise dash, threw her entire body directly at Bang Mi-hwa.

“!?”

Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, Bang Mi-hwa, who was about to swing her fan, had to quickly change its trajectory as her opponent threw herself defenseless.

This was because she was supposed to just subdue, not kill or seriously injure.

And in that brief moment when Bang Mi-hwa hesitated, Ju Seo-yeon covered Bang Mi-hwa’s face with her entire body…

‘Now!’

Freed from the petrifying gaze, Il-mok’s sword moved decisively.

The sword lurched like a snake, curving around Ju Seo-yeon’s body and precisely struck Bang Mi-hwa’s paralyzing point.

“Urgh.”

In that moment when Bang Mi-hwa’s body stiffened from having her acupoint struck…

Thud.

Ju Seo-yeon, who had launched herself, tackled her, and the two of them rolled on the ground together.

Ju Seo-yeon, having also been struck in her paralyzing point by her pursuer mid-lunge, had no leeway to execute a breakfall.

But even while having her acupoint struck, Ju Seo-yeon didn’t stop talking.

“I’ll hold her down, Young Master!!”

And Il-mok, now completely freed from the binding, wore a chilling expression.

“Ah, ah. It’s been a while. This feeling.”

Il-mok’s Qi Deviation, triggered by Bang Mi-hwa, had begun.

He didn’t exactly massacre the enemies into a thousand pieces.

His obsession had simply transferred to his swordsmanship.

Il-mok’s sword moved, drawing a perfect path that would naturally elicit the word beautiful.

“Urgh…”

The disciple who had been double-teaming Il-mok with Bang Mi-hwa was neutralized in a single strike, struck on his paralyzing acupoint.

“…Damn it.”

The disciple who had hurriedly chased and subdued Ju Seo-yeon quickly realized something was going wrong and cursed.

Prick

But just as he was about to retreat, Il-mok’s sword, as fast as lightning, had already struck his acupoint.

Having subdued two more in an instant, Il-mok moved with uncharacteristic haste. Not to help Choi Woong, who was facing a combined attack…

Swoosh!

…but simply because only by swinging his sword could he expel the reflux of this maddening compulsion.

“Urgh…”

Caught off guard by Il-mok’s sudden intervention, Ha Young and the other disciple attacking Choi Woong couldn’t hold out for long before having their pressure points struck as well.

Ju Seo-yeon, who was watching the fight while lying on top of Bang Mi-hwa, exclaimed in an admiring tone.

“As expected of you, young master!”

Even while lying down with her acupoint struck, she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.

“Huff. Huff.”

Choi Woong, who had been under attack until just now, caught his breath and thought.

‘To think we tried to catch someone like this with just three people. I must have been crazy.’

It was a moment when he freshly realized how foolish his past self had been.

Then, Jeong Hyeon, who had retreated far away to provide support from the start, belatedly pushed through the bushes and returned.

“Young… master?”

Stopping ten feet away, Jeong Hyeon called out to Il-mok, who, for some reason, was still gripping his sword and trembling slightly.

Instead of answering the question, Il-mok uttered something completely unexpected.

“Do not approach me.”

With those words, Il-mok suddenly began performing a sword dance.

—Still not enough.

—To make that woman’s face symmetrical, I need more precise swordsmanship.

It was a rehearsal for Bang Mi-hwa’s plastic surgery, but…

“…….”

Faced with that beautiful sword dance, which far surpassed their level, Choi Woong and Jeong Hyeon could only stare in awe.

“Young master! Now that it’s over, could you release my acupoint!?”

“Eek! Get off me quickly!”

Only the desperate cries of the oblivious Ju Seo-yeon and the pinned Bang Mi-hwa echoed in the air.

***

The day after the test ended.

Although everyone was engrossed in martial arts training as usual, there was a somewhat peculiar atmosphere in the hall.

Unlike usual, the martial arts training was being conducted under the supervision of an assistant instructor instead of Instructor Chu Il-hwan, and one by one, disciples were being summoned by the assistant instructor to visit a certain pavilion.

And Instructor Chu Il-hwan was in that very pavilion.

He was conducting individual interviews to discuss the results of yesterday’s test.

“Disciple Il-mok, please enter.”

At the assistant instructor’s summons, Il-mok’s face darkened.

It wasn’t because the strategy of hiding his abilities had gone down the drain due to yesterday’s test.

‘To think I have to be alone in a room with that lecherous instructor!’

The mere thought of it made his skin crawl, and now it was about to become reality.

Il-mok entered the pavilion feeling like he was being dragged to a slaughterhouse.

“Welcome.”

“Yes, Instructor.”

Like Jeong Hyeon, Il-mok maintained a distance of three meters from Chu Il-hwan as he greeted him.

“Please take a seat.”

“I prefer to stand, Instructor.”

“???”

Chu Il-hwan stared at him with a bewildered look for a moment.

Then, shrugging as if it didn’t matter, he asked with a playful smile.

“I saw your sword dance at the end of the test.”

“Ha… Hahaha. I-I suddenly had an enlightenment during the fight.”

Il-mok tried to laugh it off.

He didn’t want to be exposed for hiding his skills, and more importantly…

‘I can’t exactly say it was a rehearsal for plastic surgery!’

It was a complicated story in many ways.

Chu Il-hwan, mistaking Il-mok’s answer as a lie, smiled slyly.

“Enlightenment… you mean your skills suddenly improved.”

“Th-that’s right. Hahaha.”

“Haha. If that’s what you say, well, I guess that’s what it is.”

Chu Il-hwan narrowed his eyes, a mischievous glint appearing in them as if he had thought of something amusing.

“By the way, I heard a rumor that you and Disciple Bang Mi-hwa are quite close.”

Having observed Il-mok’s group throughout the test, he hadn’t missed their final battle. He had seen Il-mok’s initial hesitation to attack Bang Mi-hwa.

Normally, he would have dismissed it as just a baseless rumor, but having seen it with his own eyes, he couldn’t help but be suspicious.

Of course, the Hall of the Demonic Way didn’t particularly care whether the disciples were in relationships or not, he was simply feeling playful.

And Il-mok, who was about to deny the absurd nonsense from Instructor Chu Il-hwan, realized something important.

‘Why would that lecherous instructor ask such a question? Don’t tell me!?’

Quickly composing his expression, Il-mok replied in a solemn tone.

“I can’t speak carelessly as someone might get hurt. But, let me make one thing clear. I only love… women, Instructor.”

“???”

Chu Il-hwan looked at Il-mok with an expression that seemed to question what kind of bullshit he was suddenly spouting.