#Side Story, Sword Master - 5

Both his temples began to throb with a squeezing pain inside. Thinking about it, it had been a tiring day throughout. Working all morning, encountering shocking accident news in the afternoon, and now having to fight this mentally exhausting pain in the evening.

Seok-ho raised his upper body while tightly closing and opening his eyes once.

"...I understand."

[ Huh? ]

Though they had had countless such phone calls and conversations before, it was the first time Seok-ho had given such a clear "I understand," so there was a moment of surprised silence on the other end before loud laughter came through after a while.

[ Really? You're really going out? Great. I win the bet! ]

"..."

[ Oh, I can't believe it's gotten this late already. I had something I needed to check. Well then, have a good night, and tell me how the date went! Fighting! ]

Click, beep... beep... beep...

Seok-ho placed his mobile phone on the bed and stood up, spreading his coat. Though the call had ended, the pain somewhere in his head and chest showed no signs of stopping.

Though he might not know it, Seok-ho too, as a normal man, resolved his sexual needs periodically by finding partners. Such days were usually like today, when the pain was hard to bear, when past thoughts revived, and when his fingertips became particularly cold and he wanted to warm his blood somehow - and now all three applied.

After easily finishing sex with a one-night partner, Seok-ho sat leaning against the headboard and kept thinking. Tomorrow, he planned to find out more about the unfortunate accident of the boys who could have been of great help to them.

The shock Seok-ho had received upon hearing news of their accident was actually very large for news about others. In the still unrefined forms of the boys fighting with their all, in the maximum strength they displayed, Seok-ho had glimpsed the form of the ultimate, the 'MASTER'.

Though he had helped develop numerous magic and skills until now, he had never been satisfied with how to approach the form when reaching the ultimate. The supreme form that would be realized when one reached the highest skill after accumulating countless training sessions. That was also Seok-ho's ideal of the highest form.

But what exactly was the highest form? Was overwhelming strength alone all there was to being the best?

In the midst of development difficulties where every direction suggested was soon scrapped, even his colleagues had said to him, "Aren't you looking for God rather than a MASTER?" But Seok-ho thought they couldn't fill any part of this amazing achievement they were creating with something incomprehensible.

The 'ultimate' he wanted wasn't just strength alone. He wanted something that could express the greatness achievable at the peak of effort. But no matter how hard he tried, that task remained endlessly far away, and recently he had been in such a dark state that he wondered if even all his passion until now had cooled. At the end of that, the light he had found with such difficulty had absurdly gone out in an instant.

'Am I doing this right?'

Was what I wanted something beyond reach from the very beginning? There was a time when he thought he could achieve both work and love. But now work was only confusing, and love without answers felt more like an incurable cold.

"Mmm... aren't you going to sleep?"

"...I'll sleep soon."

He whispered softly in response to the faint voice speaking while tossing and turning, and soon breathing sounds could be heard again.

For now, tomorrow, after explaining the situation, he would at least visit the hospital where the boy called Kang Mu-heon was. After thinking that far, Seok-ho closed his eyes, trying to endure the stuffiness that felt like something was tightly pressed down.

The next day, the hospital reception staff seemed to take Seok-ho for a reporter covering the incident, and as soon as he asked for the name, stated that visits were absolutely prohibited for the unconscious patient's stability and that no information could be given due to the family's request. However, after long persuasion, Seok-ho was finally able to get at least a hint from the staff member who had become favorable to him.

"Though you're not family, there are people who come every day with the family's consent. It's 2 o'clock now, so if you wait just 30 minutes, they'll come to apply for visitation."

"Thank you."

Though he had come without much hope, somehow during the wait, Seok-ho felt the cool corner of his heart gradually becoming more composed, and thought that perhaps it had been too early to give up on this light.

And exactly 30 minutes later, a middle-aged couple appeared seeking visitation, giving Kang Mu-heon's name. While nodding thanks to the staff member who gave a slight eye signal, Seok-ho carefully memorized the couple's appearance.

Following the couple who left with sad faces several hours later, Seok-ho saw them enter a large kendo dojo and became certain they had a very strong connection to Kang Mu-heon's 'sword'.

"Is anyone there?"

After pressing the intercom beside the dojo where the couple had entered and the door had closed, though there was no response, he continued waiting for quite some time until finally a middle-aged man's voice came through, sounding displeased.

[ ...Who are you? ]

"I'm someone who came to ask about Kang Mu-heon."

[ We have nothing to say, so please leave. ]

Despite the unexpectedly cold answer, Seok-ho wasn't particularly flustered. The accident happened on the 21st. And now it was around the 2nd of the next month. He could roughly imagine how much unpleasant attention the patient's associates had endured over more than a week.

"More precisely, about his... sword..."

[ I said we have nothing to say. Aren't you just another tabloid anyway? ]

The intercom cut off with a click after he firmly expressed his refusal without even listening to Seok-ho's full words.

"Oh dear..."

Though Seok-ho was at a loss, he decided to return, satisfied just with the fact that this kendo dojo couldn't run away. As long as no unexpected accidents happened like last time, he could endure this much.

However, he was rejected on his second visit as well, and by his third visit, Seok-ho wasn't feeling so patient anymore. He had already stayed in Seoul for almost a month. There were still many places left to visit and countless more things to see, but time was getting quite tight for that.

Seok-ho pressed the intercom that had already become familiar after three visits and spoke.

"I'm the person who came before. Please open the door this time."

Though he was prepared to wait a long time again after that, surprisingly, this time an answer came quickly.

[ You came again? What exactly do you want? ]

"I heard you taught Kang Mu-heon swordsmanship. Then wouldn't you know well about Kang Mu-heon's sword?"

He hadn't just been playing around all this time; Seok-ho had been able to find out about the relationship between Kang Mu-heon and the dojo master couple through people who frequented the dojo.

[ ...Yes, I did teach him. ]

At the softest affirmation yet that came after a moment, Seok-ho felt this was his chance. If he couldn't ask the person himself, he had to at least question his master.

"Where do you think the strength that allowed Kang Mu-heon to win came from?"

That question, asked so seriously while holding the intercom, was clearly one the other side hadn't expected at all. Toward the intercom that only transmitted silence for a long while, as if unable to grasp the intent of the question, Seok-ho called out once more.

"Where exactly does the ultimate strength come from?"

[ Good grief. I'm seeing all sorts of strange people. ]

The answer that finally came after a long while contained a hollow laugh, as if the coldness had all drained away from finding it so absurd.

[ Look here. What nonsense is this? Asking where strength comes from. ]

"It's a truly important question."

[ You seem to have watched some matches, but instead of that, you should practice your basics more. If you can't even do a proper downward strike, what use is it whether you're strong or not, whether you can do dozens of techniques or not? ]

The moment he heard those casual words, a shiver ran through Seok-ho's entire body as if struck from the crown of his head.

"...Pardon...?"

[ I mean, go practice your downward strikes! ]

Click!

In front of the harshly cut-off intercom, Seok-ho stood with his eyes blankly wide open. A shiver ran through to his fingertips and toes, leaving him unable to move.

His mind overflowed, boiling and churning with so many things it felt like it might burst. His mind, which hadn't heated up even during mindless sex, felt like it was exploding in an instant!

'Ah...'

Standing there as if nailed to the spot for a long while, Seok-ho tasted the sweetest moment of ecstasy on earth.

It was the moment when the prototype of the skills that would later be most secretly hidden in the depths of THE MIST was completed.