Surviving as the Villainess’s Servant in a Martial Arts Novel – Chapter 145

Author: Cireng

Chapter 145

In the past, Baek Seol-yeong had a question while learning martial arts.

‘Why do we learn how to hurt people while helping them?’

That was what martial arts were like.

They were supposedly techniques for keeping one’s body healthy and protecting oneself, but from Baek Seol-yeong’s perspective, they seemed more like something meant to hurt others.

So when she was young, she wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about them.

She was diligent by nature, so she still devoted herself earnestly to martial arts training, but she could never shake that question.

But now, she understood.

Why she needed to learn martial arts.

It wasn’t merely to protect herself…

‘It was to protect other people as well.’

From that day onward, Baek Seol-yeong sharpened her blade. She waited constantly for an opportunity to bring down the Pleasure Pavilion.

At first, she worked to stop them from distributing their medicine to the poor. Later, she planned to create a cure for the medicine.

After all, even if the Pleasure Pavilion were destroyed, those who were already addicted to the drug wouldn’t return to normal.

While working to save them, she also gathered skilled martial artists in preparation for the full-scale war that would eventually come.

Her father, the Cult Leader, knew about Baek Seol-yeong’s preparations but did not interfere. However, he didn’t actively help her either.

If they engaged in a full-scale war with the Pleasure Pavilion and happened to lose, there was no telling whether the Holy Flame Cult itself would survive.

But in the end, the Pleasure Pavilion were the ones who lit the fuse first. They had set fire to a village where Holy Flame Cult members were staying and committed murder. They killed and imprisoned not only the village residents but even the cult members.

This had clearly crossed the line, and if they let the matter go unaddressed, the Holy Flame Cult’s reputation could suffer.

In the end, her father allowed them to wage a full-scale war against the Pleasure Pavilion, and Baek Seol-yeong devised a plan to strike their hideout at the moment they were off guard in order to secure a decisive victory.

And when she learned the location of their hideout…

‘Now.’

She knew the time had come. The time to purge a heinous evil.

‘But…’

Had that been a rash judgment on Baek Seol-yeong’s part?

While fighting the gang leader, Baek Seol-yeong glanced to the side.

There were many cult members lying on the floor.

They had gathered only the most carefully selected elite fighters from their cult in order to settle things quickly, but the Pleasure Pavilion’s strength was by no means insignificant. They had stormed in before word could reach the Pleasure Pavilion that their hideout had been discovered, so they had easily broken through the initial defenses.

The problem was that the Pleasure Pavilion had always been thoroughly prepared. They hadn’t merely gathered ordinary gang members. They had also used their money to recruit skilled martial artists.

They should have had the advantage, yet they were gradually being pushed back.

‘If we die here.’

What would happen afterward?

They had killed many of the Pleasure Pavilion’s skilled martial artists. Would that be enough to make the organization collapse as it was?

Or would that be difficult because they hadn’t managed to kill the gang leader?

Either way, she would have regrets.

If only she had prepared more thoroughly.

If only she had made her move when victory was certain…

Perhaps it was because her heart had been shaken without her realizing it.

“……!”

The tip of her flexible whip wavered.

What Baek Seol-yeong had used at the end was a finishing technique. Among her family’s unconventional techniques, it was also a vicious killing move capable of taking a person’s life in an instant. But precisely because it was a finishing technique, its method was so peculiar that it required greater concentration and stamina than most ordinary techniques.

And unfortunately, Baek Seol-yeong was lacking in both at that moment. As a result, the flexible whip that would normally have smashed straight into his skull merely passed by his side, leaving her exposed.

When she came to her senses, the golden blade was already right in front of her eyes.

Her body felt frozen, and she couldn’t move.

Was this the end?

Just as she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut…

Bang!

“What…!”

The golden blade suddenly veered past her and knocked away a stone flying in from the side.

Immediately afterward, someone stepped in front of her.

Baek Seol-yeong slowly opened her eyes.

Then she drew in a sharp breath in surprise.

That person was…

“You had quite a good time using me as bait, didn’t you?”

Baek Seol-yeong involuntarily shouted,

“Flower-Glutton!”

A flash of surprise passed through Flower-Glutton’s eyes.

“You knew even that?”

“T-That…”

“Haha, I was completely fooled. I thought you were a rabbit that knew nothing, but now that I see you, you’re actually a tiger wearing the hide of a rabbit who has already finished investigating us from top to bottom?”

“……”

Baek Seol-yeong felt her face grow hot.

He was right… Baek Seol-yeong had already investigated them beforehand.

She couldn’t simply ask just anyone for help. Even though she had intended to use these people as bait, if they happened to be spies for the Pleasure Pavilion, things could have gone terribly wrong.

As it turned out, they were members of the Inspection Team of the Murim Alliance.

She had wondered, ‘Why is an Inspection Team chasing the Demonic Cult here?’ but in a way, it was fortunate. After all, if they were people of the orthodox sects, they would at least understand righteousness.

In truth, however, there was someone even more surprising than the Inspection Team. The man who had saved her.

“Now, now, sir. Don’t bully a delicate woman. How about you play with me this time?”

Flower-Glutton.

He was also the man with whom she had shared food in Jinhae. She had never imagined that she would meet that man again, much less that he would turn out to be Flower-Glutton.

She had been quite shocked when she investigated him afterward. Baek Seol-yeong was well aware of Flower-Glutton’s infamous reputation. But rumors were always exaggerated, and the man she had seen didn’t seem much like a womanizer.

Rather…

“What kind of bastard are you? Just who the hell do you think you are, interfering in this leader’s fight!”

“Oh dear, this uncle sure has a rough mouth, calling people bastards and whatnot. If you’re going to call me a bastard, don’t you think I can say something about you too? You look like a rat wearing an expensive robe.”

“What, what did you say, you bastard!”

“Pfft.”

Baek Seol-yeong covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing. However, perhaps the gang leader had heard her laugh, because his face turned bright red, and Flower-Glutton also turned toward her with an expression of surprise.

Taking advantage of the moment, Baek Seol-yeong spoke.

“I really am sorry.”

“You know an apology won’t be enough, right?”

“Of course. If there’s anything I can do later, I’ll repay you somehow.”

“Even if I asked you to repay me with your body?”

Baek Seol-yeong smiled softly.

“I know you’re not that kind of person.”

Flower-Glutton grinned as well.

“You trust me too much.”

“You bastards…!”

The gang leader’s nearby face turned so red that it eventually became dark and sullen.

The two of them chatting and teasing each other without paying him any attention seemed to make him feel as though they were deliberately ignoring him.

Flower-Glutton turned back toward the gang leader.

“Sir, if you want to be loved by a woman, you shouldn’t use such crude language. I understand you’re jealous because I’m having such a pleasant conversation with this beautiful young lady, but that’s your fault for being so lacking, not mine, isn’t it?”

“When did I!”

“Whew, they say a jealous, ugly man is frightening, and I’m experiencing it firsthand just by looking at you. If a person’s appearance isn’t pleasant, shouldn’t they at least have a beautiful heart?”

“Shut up!”

“Don’t shout. Your face is already ugly, and shouting only makes it look worse, doesn’t it? Come to think of it, you never got married either, did you? Tsk, tsk. Just looking at you, I’d say you’re destined to spend your entire life alone…”

“You bastard! I will never let you off!”

In the end, the gang leader fell for Flower-Glutton’s provocation and charged at him with his blades.

BOOM!

The battle between the two began.

At a glance, Flower-Glutton seemed to be at a disadvantage. Unlike the gang leader, who wielded the Black-Gold Twin Blades, Flower-Glutton was fighting him with his bare hands.

He had clenched his fists, so he seemed to be using a fist technique.

She couldn’t tell which sect the fist technique belonged to, but the movements of each punch were peculiar. Its transformations were endless and impossible to predict, while the punches were precise enough to target only vital points.

His hands were also light and agile, making it impossible to let one’s guard down, but… Strangely, the fist technique seemed weak.

Unlike the blades, which made a whoosh every time they were swung, his fists made no sound whatsoever. There was no sound of them tearing through the air, nor any fist wind.

They simply looked completely powerless, as though a child were slowly extending their fist.

Baek Seol-yeong’s face grew anxious again.

‘What should I do?’

At this rate, it seemed even Flower-Glutton would lose.

Would it be better for her to join the fight and attack together?

Perhaps she could draw the gang leader’s attention with her flexible whip, then Flower-Glutton could take advantage of the opening to attack.

Just as Baek Seol-yeong gripped her flexible whip again…

“Grrr…!”

The expression on the gang leader’s face suddenly became strange.

At first, the gang leader had been triumphant upon seeing that his opponent was unarmed, but as the battle continued, he grew increasingly anxious.

It was completely different from how calmly he had kept Baek Seol-yeong in check earlier.

In reality, the gang leader was flustered.

If there was one area of martial arts in which the gang leader was confident, it was undoubtedly brute force.

Although his techniques weren’t as refined as his opponents’, he overwhelmed them with sheer power, wielding his twin blades and relentlessly pressuring them. An opponent overwhelmed by his momentum would gradually lose the ability to fight back before eventually being defeated.

But that didn’t work against this man.

The gang leader’s blade had clearly reached his fist, yet it felt as though it hadn’t.

The tremendous force that had been rushing toward him suddenly disappeared, giving him the sensation that he was striking nothing but empty air. Then, in the blink of an eye, the solid target before him disappeared, and the force behind his swing dissipated.

Naturally, the blade tilted and wavered.

In the end, the blade repeatedly sliced through empty air without ever reaching him.

Flower-Glutton never missed the openings and appeared like a ghost, throwing punches, leaving the gang leader with no choice but to hurriedly dodge.

No matter how many times he attacked, no matter how many different moves he tried, the result was the same.

Frustrated, the gang leader screamed.

“What, what kind of trick is this! What kind of sorcery are you using? What kind of sorcery did you use that makes it impossible for me to hit you no matter how many times I cut at you!”

“Sorcery?”

Flower-Glutton spoke leisurely as he threw another punch.

“This isn’t sorcery. It’s the teachings of the Old Master. A vessel is useful because it is empty inside, and a room is useful because it has windows and doors”

“What nonsense are you spouting…!”

“Therefore, the usefulness of existence comes from nonexistence creating its function, and because something is empty, it can be filled with anything.”

“You bastard!”

The gang leader hurriedly leaped to the side to evade his punch. At the same time, he blocked his own vital point with the black blade and thrust the golden blade toward Flower-Glutton.

Flower-Glutton took one step and dodged diagonally, then threw a punch toward the gang leader’s shoulder. The gang leader hurriedly raised the black blade he had been using to protect his vital point and brought it crashing down toward the incoming fist.

But the moment he tried to cut the fist, the force behind it suddenly disappeared, and the fist vanished from sight. His blade once again sliced through empty air.

Empty air.

Once again, empty air.

No matter how many times he slashed, no matter how many times he swept his blades across, no matter how many times he thrust… In the end, there was nothing there but empty air.

The gang leader’s eyes turned red. His movements became increasingly violent. Before long, he was swinging his blades like a madman.

Like a man desperately trying to escape from the empty space in which he was trapped, as though the frustration were driving him insane.

“UAAAAAAAAH!”

“And so the name of this fist technique is…”

Suddenly, Flower-Glutton appeared behind him.

The gang leader hurriedly turned around.

But it was already too late.

Flower-Glutton’s fist was already beneath his abdomen.

“Dangmugwon.”

Thud.

Flower-Glutton’s fist touched his abdomen.

Thunk.