Chapter 20 

“…Huh?”

It was the huge man from earlier.
Why was he here?

I was confused, but I didn’t drop my guard.
He was someone I needed to watch carefully.

The big man stared at me for a moment, then the corner of his mouth twitched.

“Little girl. Do you know where the latrine is?”

“The latrine?”

“… I came out to find it, but this place is so big I lost my way. Can you show me?”

On the surface, his manner seemed proper enough.
But his eyes were insolent, his tone slightly rude—though he pretended to be polite—and his expression hid his intentions poorly.

I can’t just smack him first since he’s “asking for help.”
If I caused a mess, Sehwa would suffer for it later.

Normally, I would’ve bitten his neck first and asked questions later.
But as a “child,” I had to play along.

He looked slightly annoyed, but he didn’t refuse my help.
I stood up and brushed off my bottom.

“Fine. I’ll guide you.”

Actually, this was better.
I should separate this suspicious man from the weaker humans in Cheonwolru.

With that thought, I walked ahead quickly.

Ugh. Why is this body so tiny?
No—why is my spiritual core so empty?

At least with 10% qi restored, I can maintain a human form for an hour…

Still, I didn’t have energy to spare.
I needed to get this over with and go back to tiger form as soon as possible.

The latrine soon came into view. I turned around to tell him.

“The latrine is over—”

The next moment, a hand lunged at me.
I instinctively stepped back.

The man’s eyes widened a little.

“Ho… I thought you were just a clueless little girl.”

Oh?
So that’s what you thought?

This guy had been suspicious from the beginning, and now he openly revealed his intent?

The fox made this place carefully for my sake.
I must protect it.

And Sehwa’s room wasn’t far from here.
The girl served me with all her heart—I needed to repay that.

I kicked off the ground and charged straight at the big man.

“—?!”

He clearly didn’t expect it, but he still moved defensively.
So he wasn’t inexperienced.

But he miscalculated one important thing—

I was small.

Much smaller than any adult human.

A man who casually targets a small child has never fought a proper “child-level” battle.

A sickening crack sounded as his shin bent at an unnatural angle.

“Ghh—!”

He didn’t scream, but veins bulged on his forehead.

He used his massive dao as a crutch to keep from falling, but…

That’s all you’ve got.

I immediately kicked his weapon, knocking the dao loose before he could react.
His balance faltered—

“Gah!”

I moved in before he could recover.

Crack!

His arm broke cleanly.

His face showed more shock than pain.

“Y-you brat—!”

“Yes, I’m a brat. But what in the world are you?”

I kicked his dao far away, then planted my foot on his left palm, pressing down hard with qi.

“Grrrrgh…!”

“To reach out and grab a little girl—shameful, man.
You deserve a beating to fix that rotten personality.”

“Who… who are you?! Whose child are you?!”

Whose child?
I hadn’t thought that far.

“Hmm… Mister Bad Man. I’m going to beat you until you cry and beg.”

His expression was an absurd mix of confusion and disbelief, but I ignored it.

Finding out why he did this was more important.

“Why did you try something so vile?”

As expected, he clamped his mouth shut.

I had anticipated that.

“If you don’t talk, I’ll keep going until you do.”

Whether human or beast, one rule was universal:

Power wins.

Let’s see how long a grown martial artist could endure with broken limbs.

May as well test human durability while I’m at it.

My tiny hand curled into a fist.
The man’s eyes trembled.

“Talk quickly, and the pain will end faster.”

***

The man endured surprisingly long.

His pride, or stupidity, convinced him a child couldn’t hurt him much.

That attitude only made me stomp him harder.

How dare he underestimate me just because this body is small?
I know exactly where to hit to make it hurt the most.

Since he intended to kidnap someone, I saw no reason to go easy.

Eventually—

“F-Fine! I’ll talk!!”

He cried out with a whistle in his breath.
I finally let go of his hair.

“Are you willing to talk now?”

He nodded furiously.
His face was… very colorful.

I might’ve broken a tooth or two, but he could still eat.

While brushing my footprints off his back with my hand, I listened.

His words came out in a messy hiss from his broken teeth, but I understood the important parts.

“So… A guy named Ma Baek hired you?
Because he lost to a baby tiger and couldn’t see Sehwa, so he held a grudge?”

He nodded.

Unbelievable.

That pathetic man wasn’t even a real martial artist, and his male pride was so weak he resorted to hiring kidnappers?

“And you’re from something called the Dark Soul Society?
And you tried to kidnap me to lure Sehwa out?”

“H… heh… yes…”

“And the demand was:
‘If you want the child back, bring the baby tiger and 5,000 nyang.’ ”

The more he said, the more absurd it became.

“That Dark Soul Society is useless.
Stopped by a child.”

Tsk tsk. They’d starve to death soon at this rate.

The man stared at me resentfully, but losers didn’t get to complain.

“Where is this place you’re taking her to?”

“T… th… that…”

He shut his mouth.

Maybe some last bit of loyalty, or habit. Either way, he wasn’t going to reveal it.

That was fine.

“If you won’t talk, then I’ll ‘work’ on you until you do.”

His eyes shook violently.

Before he could answer, I stuffed a wad of cloth into his mouth.

I’d let him speak when I wanted.
Besides, he was too loud. Sehwa would come running.

The poor girl would faint if she saw this.

Humans were fragile. I had to protect her from such sights.

I smiled sweetly at the terrified man.

“Want more beating, Mister Bad Man?”

Which meant: Brace yourself.

His muffled screams echoed for quite a while.

Two incense sticks later, the man finally broke and spilled everything:

The meeting spot.
Who was involved?
What they planned.
Even unnecessary details—he begged for his life so desperately he couldn’t shut up.

I grabbed his head and slammed it into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Honestly, I didn’t need his words.
I could track the scent anyway.

But he annoyed me.

How dare this happen the moment the fox leaves?

Sehwa was as fragile as any ordinary human.
Yet that Ma Baek had the nerve to target her?

“To think you aimed to kidnap someone favored by an exalted spirit.”

Trying to lure my human caretaker?
How insolent.

The more I thought about it, the more irritated I became.

I smacked the unconscious man’s head again for good measure, then stood up.

It wasn’t just one culprit—
A whole group planned to kidnap a child and ensnare a young woman.

I’d just have to teach them all a very painful lesson.