RCFDC CH 10

Chapter 10

Not only was his stance decent, but honestly speaking, I couldn’t see a single opening.

‘So Master didn’t just bring him here for nothing.’

Still, as the senior disciple, there was no way I could lose to a junior.

Putting strength into my legs, I kicked off the ground and rushed forward.

Papapat.

The wooden swords clashed repeatedly in midair.

If Eun Hwigyeom had been a fully grown adult, I might have been at a disadvantage, but right now I was older and physically stronger than him.

As I pressured him, I could clearly see the panic in Eun Hwigyeom’s face while he defended against my attacks.

‘An opening!’

Not wanting to drag the fight out, the moment I spotted a gap, I spun my body and thrust my wooden sword forward.

At that instant, the eyes of the previously defensive Eun Hwigyeom suddenly changed.

Bang!

Knocking my sword aside, Eun Hwigyeom instantly stepped into my space.

‘Ah, crap!’

My legs tangled, and I couldn’t counterattack properly.

Did he aim for this from the beginning?

‘I don’t want to lose!’

Instinctively, I formed a quick hand seal and activated the Azure Flame Technique.

Papapat!

Blue light burst around me and shot toward Eun Hwigyeom.

“Ah…!”

I could see the panic in Eun Hwigyeom’s eyes at the unfamiliar attack.

At the same time, I realized I had made a mistake.

Paaang!

Baek Unjin stretched out his hand, and the streams of light flying toward Eun Hwigyeom exploded in midair and vanished.

I had no idea how he did it, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.

Startled, Eun Hwigyeom’s legs gave out, and just as he was about to collapse, Baek Unjin caught him.

“……”

“……”

Thunk.

The wooden sword slipped from my hand and fell onto the training ground floor.

Baek Unjin’s gaze sharpened as he held Eun Hwigyeom.

“I’m sorry.”

“Do you know what you did wrong?”

“……Yes.”

“Then say it.”

Even if Eun Hwigyeom had become Baek Unjin’s disciple, right now he was still an ordinary mortal who had not learned cultivation arts.

“I carelessly used a cultivation technique against a mortal.”

The strength and lifespan of cultivators were fundamentally different from ordinary people.

Cultivators were forbidden from casually harming or using their powers against mortals.

That was the greatest teaching of the cultivation sects belonging to the Eight Great Orthodox Sects.

“You made a mistake, so you must be punished.”

I was doomed.

***

‘As punishment, copy every volume of the Thousand Heavenly Scriptures stored in Yeongseo Pavilion.’

The Thousand Heavenly Scriptures were introductory books that taught how to read the heavenly flow of fate.

‘Introductory books, my foot.’

There were a total of 1,002 volumes!

Still, a mistake was a mistake, so I had no excuse.

Because of Eun Hwigyeom, instead of catching up with Baek Unjin after he returned, I ended up locked inside Yeongseo Pavilion copying scriptures by hand.

‘Cultivators really do have a different sense of time. Even their punishments are outrageous.’

I was trapped in Yeongseo Pavilion for a full three months.

At this point, I had only reached Volume 80.

‘That part isn’t even the problem though…’

Wanting to finish quickly, I barely returned to my room more than once a week.

Sometimes I just fell asleep right there on the desk, and whenever I woke up, steamed buns would be sitting nearby.

Since I was starving, I happily ate them.

At first, I thought Baek Unjin was leaving them there, but another cultivator later told me that Baek Unjin was currently away from the sect on a mission.

“Ugh, maybe I’ll stop here for today.”

Stretching lazily, I put down my brush and collapsed face-first onto the desk.

How much time had passed?

Creeeak.

The closed door slowly opened, and a small figure quietly slipped through the gap.

“Haa…”

The figure sighed softly in the darkness before gently placing something on the floor.

That was the moment.

“Aah!”

I suddenly shot upright from the desk.

Startled, the other person fell backward onto the floor.

Moonlight poured in behind me as I stood up, brightly illuminating both me and Eun Hwigyeom despite the lack of lamps.

Hands on my hips, I looked down at him.

“I thought you were asleep…”

“I was pretending to sleep.”

“……”

“I was wondering who kept bringing the steamed buns every day. So it was you after all.”

Using cultivation arts, I lit the candles around the room.

As the dark room brightened, Eun Hwigyeom’s appearance became fully visible.

He turned his head away while covering his bright red face with his sleeve.

“I-It’s not like I felt bad because you had to copy over a hundred books because of me or anything!”

That literally just means you felt sorry.

Staggering back to his feet, Eun Hwigyeom glared at me.

“Master said you were being punished because you beat me using cultivation techniques by mistake… but you still won, so…”

It seemed Eun Hwigyeom thought it was unfair that I was punished when he was the one who lost.

“You’re seriously adorable!”

I rushed over and pinched his cheeks playfully.

Eun Hwigyeom struggled and tried to push me away.

“I said it wasn’t for your sake!”

“Okay, okay! You’ll bring more tomorrow too, right?”

“W-Who said I would?!”

“I have to stay up here again tomorrow night… Ahh, if I wake up in the morning and there are no steamed buns, then I’ll starve all day. And if I don’t eat for two whole days, I might die of hunger…”

Pretending to look pitiful, I teased him.

The redness that had faded from Eun Hwigyeom’s face instantly returned.

“Go to the dining hall! Anyway, tonight’s the last time I’m bringing them!”

Escaping from me, Eun Hwigyeom slammed the door behind him and stormed out.

The next day.

“Hi.”

“At least pretend to be asleep.”

“You were going to come anyway, so why bother?”

Sure enough, he came back.

The next day too. And the day after that.

And at some point, Eun Hwigyeom stopped leaving immediately after dropping off the steamed buns and started lingering beside me instead.

“If you want to say something, then say it.”

“It’s not like I have anything to say.”

“Then suit yourself.”

Eun Hwigyeom quietly watched me copy the Thousand Heavenly Scriptures from beside me.

As I copied the scriptures, I could feel my ability to read heavenly fate steadily improving.

Not perfectly like Baek Unjin yet, of course.

When I looked up, I saw a clear blue sky without a single cloud outside the window.

“It’s going to rain tomorrow.”

“But the sky is so clear.”

“The heavenly flow says so.”

Eun Hwigyeom, who still couldn’t properly read heavenly fate, didn’t understand what I meant.

But just as I predicted, heavy rain began pouring down the next day and continued for several days.

“When is Master coming back?”

“I don’t know either.”

The length of Baek Unjin’s trips varied every time.

Sometimes he returned in a single day, while other times there would be no word from him for months.

Still, the mission where he brought back Eun Hwigyeom after defeating the Three-Life Ghost had been his longest absence.

Since this one probably wouldn’t take that long, I had already accepted that he’d return whenever he returned.

“What exactly are cultivation techniques?”

“I thought you were only watching.”

“I’m curious.”

“If you call me senior sister, I’ll tell you.”

“After all the steamed buns I made for you, that’s so petty!”

Although we had become much closer after the steamed bun incident, Eun Hwigyeom still acted prickly around me.

Even though he didn’t have to.

“Wait, you made those buns yourself?!”

“Did you think steamed buns grew out of the ground at this hour?”

“……I thought you stole them from the kitchen.”

“I’m not a thief. Though I did ask for the ingredients.”

“How do you even make steamed buns?”

I couldn’t cook.

I couldn’t before transmigrating, and apparently that remained true afterward too because I had absolutely no talent for cooking.

How did I know?

Because I once tried making food for Baek Unjin’s birthday and nearly blew up the kitchen.

If you ask how someone manages to almost destroy a kitchen while cooking…

I don’t know either, but somehow it’s possible.

Strangely enough.

Eun Hwigyeom scratched his cheek and nodded slightly.

“My family used to run a street stall. We sold street food.”

Since his family wasn’t wealthy, Eun Hwigyeom, as the eldest son, took care of his younger siblings and handled household chores while his parents worked.

“When my parents came home, I also helped make food for the next day’s sales.”

Thanks to that, his cooking skills naturally improved.

“You’re only ten years old though.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Maybe because this world had no concept of child labor, Eun Hwigyeom didn’t even think there was anything strange about it.

“Never mind.”

“Well, they’re all dead now anyway.”