Chapter 5
Act 1. Always Be Careful with Lightness Skill Never Use It When You’re Sleepy!
“…Junior Sister, what in heaven’s name are you doing?”
Yeong-ho finally spoke, unable to contain himself any longer.
Normally, he avoided talking to this walking disaster of a girl whenever he could. But in this situation, he had no choice.
Everyone who had come to see them off was already gone—there wasn’t a single strand of hair left in sight. A few more steps and they’d enter the protective formation surrounding the Ice Palace.
And yet, out of nowhere, Woo-hee started digging into the ground.
Yes—digging.
Like a dog burying its droppings. With her bare hands, no less—on the frozen tundra of the North Sea, where the ground was as hard as steel.
No, to be more precise, she was channeling her internal energy as if performing a martial technique. Energy gathered in her palms, and with each strike, the frozen soil shattered and flew in chunks.
How was anyone supposed to not say something while watching that kind of insanity unfold?
Of course, Woo-hee couldn’t have cared less about Yeong-ho’s perfectly reasonable confusion.
“Don’t talk to me right now. Can’t you see I’m busy?”
Indeed, even Yeong-ho could tell she was very busy digging holes.
It was just that the whole scene looked so absurd he couldn’t bear to stay silent.
“Damn it. It should be here somewhere…”
Thud. Thud.
Chunks of frozen earth went flying through the air, each blow echoing like metal striking metal. Her energy control was frighteningly precise—she really was a tiny monster.
If Baek Dan-hyeok saw his granddaughter using the internal energy he’d painstakingly passed down to dig holes, his shiny bald head would probably turn crimson.
“Found it!”
By the time Woo-hee had dug a hole deep enough that her head had disappeared completely from view, she suddenly shouted triumphantly and sprang out of the pit.
In her arms was something long and massive, wrapped in black cloth and caked in frozen soil—something that most definitely did not belong underground.
She didn’t bother explaining what it was.
And Yeong-ho didn’t want to ask.
But of course, he couldn’t help himself.
“…Why—why in the world was that buried there?”
The item Woo-hee had unearthed was unmistakable.
“Did you inherit it from the Grand Elder?”
He didn’t even need an answer.
That long, black-wrapped blade was none other than the Bloodless Sword—Baek Dan-hyeok’s treasured weapon, the sacred relic of the North Sea Ice Palace, passed down only through its masters.
A priceless weapon forged from eternal cold iron, said to freeze even the blood of what it cut.
Dan-hyeok had refused to part with it even after stepping down as Palace Lord, keeping it at his side until his dying day—or so everyone thought.
Had she… stolen it?
Of course she had.
Woo-hee wasn’t the rightful heir, and even if by some miracle she were, the sword would not have been buried underground.
Yeong-ho stared at her, disbelief and despair mingling in his eyes.
Did this girl even have a conscience?
He seriously doubted it.
“You always act like I’m crazy, Yeong-ho, but you still ask every time just to make sure. Doesn’t it get exhausting?”
“That’s my line. The fact that you keep giving me reasons to ask is what’s exhausting. I’m begging you—please tell me that sword isn’t what I think it is.”
Woo-hee grinned, clutching the sword that emanated a faint chill even through its wrappings.
“Oh, come on. You already know the answer. Why even ask?”
“…Because I was praying it wasn’t true. But of course, the heavens hate me.”
“Too bad for you—it’s exactly what you think.”
“Damn it all!”
“I stole it this morning.”
“Damn it twice!”
He wanted to scream.
Woo-hee, however, looked as proud as a cat that had just eaten a canary.
“I couldn’t risk getting caught, so I planned it days in advance! Early this morning, I sparred Grandpa one last time, then told him to wear something nice to my send-off so he wouldn’t suspect anything. Once he was distracted, I shoved him toward the bathhouse and—boom!—snuck into his quarters and grabbed it!”
Grabbed it.
Snuck in.
Was this brat seriously bragging about stealing the sect’s most sacred relic? Her grandfather’s sword, no less?
“I thought if I hid it along the route out, no one would find it. But you never know—someone might stumble across it. So I buried it! No one in the North Sea ever digs, right? I’m a genius!”
Her logic was as frozen as the ground she’d just torn apart.
No one digs frozen earth, yes. But using internal energy to dig a secret hole to hide stolen property was… well, psychotic.
Even Yeong-ho, who had seen plenty of madness in his life, was speechless.
“Grandpa’s not the type to suddenly go, ‘Oh, my sword, I should check on it before my granddaughter leaves!’ So yeah, I totally got away with it. He really must love me best.”
Woo-hee beamed, her grin bright enough to melt glaciers.
Yeong-ho rubbed his temple.
Of course she was satisfied. She’d already taken her grandfather’s inner power—and now she’d snatched his sword too. Truly, a model of twisted filial devotion.
Then again, it wasn’t like Baek Dan-hyeok didn’t deserve it. He’d spoiled her rotten. Maybe he even let her take it.
The man was the strongest sword master of the demonic faction—he might have sealed his energy, but his senses were still sharp. There was no way he hadn’t noticed the sword missing.
Maybe he just pretended not to know, out of affection.
Yeong-ho had almost convinced himself of that when—
“Hey, Yeong-ho, what if Grandpa actually left it out on purpose? He always said he didn’t want to give it to Dad, right? Maybe he wanted me to have it.”
As if reading his thoughts, she said exactly what he’d been thinking.
Coming from his own mind, it had sounded reasonable. Coming from her mouth, it sounded appallingly shameless.
If Yeong-ho ever had a granddaughter like her, he was sure he’d drop dead on the spot.
He made a solemn vow right then and there: he would never get married. Never have children. Never risk the chance of ever producing a creature remotely like Woo-hee.
He would live alone until the end of his days. That was the only way to stay sane.
“What are you staring at? We’re done here. Let’s go.”
Woo-hee scolded him lightly as she strapped the enormous Bloodless Sword diagonally across her back with a cord she’d prepared in advance. The sword at her waist was already a rare treasure, but the one on her back was a divine relic.
What other fifteen-year-old in the martial world set out on their first journey so extravagantly armed?
“Hey, stop zoning out and take the lead. I don’t know how to get past the formation.”
She nudged Yeong-ho, who was still lost in grim thoughts about his future as a proud, childless hermit.
Of course, she had no idea how to pass through the Ice Palace’s protective array—she’d spent her whole life inside its walls.
“Ha…”
A long, heavy sigh escaped Yeong-ho’s lips. It might have been exhaustion, or despair, or both.
“Come on! Move it! Don’t tell me that’s the best you’ve got—put your back into it! With passion! With spirit!”
Woo-hee’s voice rang cheerfully through the cold air, brimming with confidence and delusion alike.
“I haven’t even left yet, and I already want to go home,” Yeong-ho muttered under his breath.
And thus began their long, miserable, and absurd journey—a road that would test his patience, his sanity, and his will to live.
