The Undefeatable Swordsman

Chapter 14. Dream Awakening (14)

Woo-Moon was curious, but asking about it could come across as rude. He asked the cook to make food for four people, then went up to the second floor and cleaned two guest rooms. He wanted to leave the inn and practice swordsmanship, but he had to wait until they had finished their meal. Only then could he guide them to their rooms, after all.

These women from beyond the Central Plains, the disciples of the North Sea Ice Palace, chatted nonstop as they ate, their main topics being men and martial arts masters: among the brilliant youngsters of the Central Plains, who was the coolest and who was the strongest?

Of course, Ha Yeo-Seol was left out of the conversation from beginning to end. Even if she did say something, her older sisters would scold her without hesitation. At times, he would hear them say the word "waiter," accompanied by remarks about him being rude.

Woo-Moon judged Doa, Si-Hyeon, and Yeo-Seol weren't like those stereotypical snobbish girls. Even after they had finished eating and he had cleaned the dishes from the table, these girls' chatter just wouldn't end.

It was already late at night, and everyone in the inn had fallen asleep except for Woo-Moon. Bored and fatigued, Yeo-Seol had already dozed off, but none of her older sisters were considerate enough to tell her to go to her room and sleep. Woo-Moon was also becoming more and more irritated as well—he couldn't leave his post as long as there were guests, which ultimately caused him to waste precious training time.

'What the hell? Why do they have so many topics to gossip about? It's been over two hours already. These women are inconsiderate toward other people!'

It took two more hours before their chatter ended and they got up from their seats. Ha Yeo-Seol was so sleepy by then that she didn't even notice they had gotten up.

"She's so rude. How dare she sleep while her older sisters are talking? Don't wake her up," Jeong Gyeong spoke coldly, and the other women agreed.

"Guide us to our room," they told Woo-Moon.

Extremely upset by now, Woo-Moon didn't answer. Instead, he just gestured at them to follow him and headed upstairs.

"Huh? Look at how cocky that boy is."

Woo-Moon could hear Jeong Gyeong complain behind him, but he didn't care.

"Be patient, Jeong Gyeong. He's just a random waiter who doesn't even know martial arts."

'Is a person worthless just because they don't know martial arts? Not to mention, assuming that people you've never met don't know martial arts is not terribly smart.'

Woo-Moon led them to the two smallest and most uncomfortable rooms in the inn instead of the ones he had cleaned earlier.

"You can stay here."

Jeong Gyeong looked around the room, then stared at Woo-Moon fiercely. "Isn't this place too small? And it only has one bed. How do you expect us to stay here?"

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it. All the other rooms are occupied," replied Woo-Moon abruptly.

Irked by his tone, Jeong Gyeong gathered her qi without even being aware of it herself. "It looks like you really want to die."

'Alright, give it a try. I won't just stay still, though,' Woo-Moon thought, but Jeong Gyeong's two sisters stopped her.

"Jeong Gyeong! You can't make a fuss here. All of the murim's attention is focused on this area. If our master learns that we attacked a waiter that doesn't even know martial arts, he won't let that slide.'

That was true. The master of the North Sea Ice Palace Sect was very sensitive to their reputation in the murim.

At her sister's words, Jeong Gyeong forced herself to calm down. "Are all the other rooms really occupied, or are you just doing this to screw with us?"

"Why don't you believe what people say? I told you once and you didn't believe me, so what else am I supposed to say?"

"Alright, then I'll check them myself. If you're lying... be prepared to have your arms and legs broken."

They thought even their master would understand this much.

"What are you going to do? Barge into the other rooms this late at night?"

"Hmph! You think I don't dare to do that? Let's go to the room next door."

As Jeong Gyeong walked over to the adjacent room, Woo-Moon pretended to try and stop her.

"Wait, wait! Don't do that. The guests will be angry. Would you like someone else to open the door to your room while you're sleeping?"

However, Jeong Gyeong was already pretty angry, and she barged in without hesitation.

"Aaaaaaaaah... Huck!"

"W-what the hell?! Close the door!"

The room was dark, but they could clearly see a middle-aged man and a woman on the bed, lying on their backs with no clothes on.

Jeong Gyeong and her sisters were already pale white to begin with, but now they looked like ghosts, and their faces turned gray. This was the only time they had ever regretted martial arts practice giving them perfect sight.

Behind them, Woo-Moon could barely hold back his laughter.

Besides these four women, the only ones staying at the inn were a rogue warrior and a prostitute. Woo-Moon had predicted that Jeong Gyeong would come to this room to check if he was telling the truth, so his protests were only meant to incense her further.

"Oh, shit! What are you looking at? Close the door quickly!"

Having exposed his dirty buttocks, the rogue warrior shouted again.

"I-I'm sorry!" Only then did Jeong Gyeong apologize. Her face turned red with embarrassment, and she felt unbearably ashamed and disgusted. Seeing someone else's love affair was never a good memory.

"You....!"

When Jeong Gyeong glared at him, Woo-Moon took the initiative.

"I told you not to do it, didn't I? Are you going to check the other rooms now, too?"

After this experience, she obviously no longer dared to check out the other rooms. She wanted to beat the crap out of this disgusting waiter, but there was no justification for that either. Eventually, Jeong Gyeong and her two sisters bit their lips in anger and entered the small room Woo-Moon had guided them to. The bed was uncomfortable and had a strange smell, which only made them even more upset. Gnawing their teeth, they finally fell asleep.

Woo-Moon forcibly held back his laughter. He sat down on the stairs to the first floor and waited for about half an hour.

'I'm sure those devilish girls are asleep by now, right?'

Woo-Moon went downstairs and carefully woke Ha Yeo-Seol up as quietly as possible to avoid waking up Jeong Gyeong and her sisters.

"Excuse me."

"Um... ah, waiter?"

Her face reddened again as soon as she woke up, embarrassed that she dozed off on her chair.

"Fortunately, a guest staying here left early due to an urgent business, opening up a room for you. I'll guide you there. The room your sisters are using is too small and uncomfortable, so you can sleep by yourself instead."

"Huh? But if they were staying in a small room, my sisters would feel uncomfortable. Why should I be the only one...."

Ha Yeo-Seol had a very kind heart.

"No, no. The others seem to be sleeping deeply now. If you wake them up, won't they just be angry at you for disturbing them?"

He had a point. If she woke them up, it would just anger them.

"Yes, I got it. Thank you, Mr. Waiter."

"You're welcome."

After guiding Ha Yeo-Seol to the room, Woo-Moon finally let out his long-stifled laughter. He then grabbed his wooden sword, and headed to his usual training site.

Entering the room, Ha Yeo-Seol was surprised. Even though she had little worldly experience, she could tell that such a room would be quite expensive. It was spacious enough for twenty people to sleep in, and it had a table and chairs, curtains on the windows, and a large bed with silk sheets and a golden quilt that looked incredibly soft and fluffy.

"Wow...."

She wondered if this was just a dream. The North Sea Ice Palace was cold and desolate. Hence, even though she was a disciple of the palace master, she couldn't even dream of luxury. Throughout her life there, Ha Yeo-Seol had gotten accustomed to a bleak room and a hard bed.

Tucking her slender body into the bed, Ha Yeo-Seol exclaimed, "Wow, wow!"

The bed was truly soft and warm, and she fell asleep with a satisfied smile.

Near the inn, where Woo-Moon was practicing, a group of people appeared.

"There! There he is."

"What the hell are we doing here at this time of the night? Yim Choo, you fucking cunt. You better be ready for the consequences if you can't pay me properly for this."

"Hey, don't worry, if you teach him a good lesson he'll never forget, I'll give you everything."

'I'm going to take my money back from Woo-Moon. I just hope that fucking idiot hasn't spent a penny of it. Did he really think I was just going to stand still and live the way I did as a kid just because he came back to his senses?'

Yim Choo had lost forty silver taels to Woo-Moon because he was afraid of leaving the money at home so he carried it everywhere in his pocket.

Yim Choo extorted money from others, but he couldn't bear losing his money in the same way. Hence, he asked a small group of nearby bandits he had connections with to catch Woo-Moon and teach him a lesson for thirty-five silver taels.

'I'll get back the money he took from me, even if I have to give all of it to these guys.'

Yim Choo was confident. Together with them, he'd certainly defeat Woo-Moon. Yim Choo didn't know where or how Woo-Moon had learned martial arts, but with the bandits of the Great Axe Yaksha, he wouldn't stand a chance.

Although the bandits led by the Great Axe Yaksha were small in number and kept running away due to his violent personality, the man was still a First Class martial artist and a proficient axe wielder.

As they hid in the bushes, they watched Woo-Moon wobble around, muttering incomprehensible lines to himself.

"Is that guy crazy?"

The Great Axe Yaksha didn't even think for a second that Woo-Moon was practicing his footwork. Since he had no idea about its existence, he naturally couldn't tell that Woo-Moon was practicing the Divine Phantasm Step.

'But why does he look so blurry?'

The Great Axe Yaksha rubbed his eyes and looked at him again, but Woo-Moon still appeared blurry.

'Is it because it's dark?'

The Great Axe Yaksha didn't think much of it.

Woo-Moon soon began swinging his wooden sword around. As expected, to the Great Axe Yaksha, who knew nothing about the higher-level martial arts, Woo-Moon just looked like a lunatic swinging his sword haphazardly.

"That bastard's crazy. Hey, I'm sleepy! Let's hurry up and finish this!" the Great Axe Yaksha shouted. He approached Woo-Moon. "Hey, you there! The hero of the mountains has arrived and you don't even have the decency to come over and say hello?"

Even as the Great Axe Yaksha walked with the great axe on his shoulder, Woo-Moon showed no interest in him. He just kept moving around and swinging his sword.

"You fucking bastard! Are you deaf?"

Woo-Moon still didn't respond even as the Great Axe Yaksha approached him. As he came close, he noticed that Woo-Moon wasn't even looking at him, but rather through him, and his gaze seemed lost as if he was in a daze.

"What am I even looking at? He's got to be insane. A good beating should serve as medicine for this crazy bastard!"

When he swung his fist at Woo-Moon, however, the Great Axe Yaksha had a shock.

"Huh...?"

Woo-Moon's sword instantly accelerated, and the wind generated by the swing actually cut across the Great Axe Yaksha's forehead, causing blood to flow out.

"Huh? What the hell?"

He didn't even know how Woo-Moon's wooden sword had wounded him. Unable to grasp the situation properly, he jumped at Woo-Moon once more.

"How dare you make me see my blood!"

The moment the Great Axe Yaksha got closer, the wooden sword flew like a beam of light and struck his chest.

"Ugh!"