"Kuak, kuak… kuak… kuak!"
The sky was yellow.
Namgung Dan realized that calling the sky yellow wasn't just a figure of speech. The sky he saw now was truly yellow.
No, it wasn't just the sky.
"Kuak… Kuak…"
Everything before his eyes was turning yellow. More precisely, it felt as if the colors of the world were gradually fading away.
"Ugh…."
At that moment, Namgung Dan's foot caught on a rock. Without the slightest resistance, his body pitched forward.
No, he almost fell.
"Okay!"
But before his body could tilt halfway down, someone ran up beside him and grabbed his shoulder, straightening him.
"…."
Namgung Dan stared blankly at the person standing next to him. Was it Yoon Jong…?
He smiled broadly and spoke as Namgung Dan was about to fall.
"It seems like you still have some energy left, so you shouldn't fall already. Now, let us all cheer up and keep running."
"…."
"Hm? Is there a problem?"
"…tard."
"Uh?"
Namgung Dan's feet weakly trudged forward.
Tak. Tak. Tak. Tak.
Like a puppet with tangled strings, he began to run ahead, the creaking sound accompanying each step.
'Why did it end up like this?'
Right, the beginning was quite simple….
"A bet?"
"Yes."
Chung Myung smiled broadly and said, "You want to be treated right, but if you just want to be treated right, that doesn't seem quite fair. Let's confirm if you deserve such treatment."
"…."
"If you win, I will spit out all the money I took from your family and never bother you again."
"Y-You mean it?"
"But if we win, you don't get to complain and must follow what I say. Easy, right?"
Namgung Dan looked at Chung Myung cautiously.
"But Taoist…"
"Ahh."
Chung Myung waved his hand as if swatting away an annoying fly, "I know what you want to say. I have a conscience, so why would I ask to spar with you?"
"T-then?"
"They will do it."
Chung Myung pointed to the Five Swords behind him.
"And if we did something like a spar, the result would be too obvious, so let's do this fairly. Fairly."
"… Fairly?"
"Yes."
Chung Myung clapped his hands loudly and said, "Running."
"…"
Namgung Dan's face went blank for a moment, but Chung Myung continued calmly.
"The rules are simple. You start running first, and my guys will chase after you. The one who is caught is eliminated. If even one person hasn't been caught by sunset, that is the winner."
"N-no…."
"Instead!"
Before Namgung Dan could say anything, Chung Myung cut him off.
"That's a little unsettling, so let's make them wear a 20 kg stone on each arm and leg."
At those words, the faces of the Namgung family warriors contorted.
"… Are you looking down on us right now?"
"Hmm? Was that too much? Then give them another 30 kg."
"Taoist!"
Namgung Dan shouted without realizing.
"Why are you yelling?"
Chung Myung poked his ear with his little finger and blew on it.
"If you're scared, don't do it."
"I will do it!"
"D-Dan!"
"Hyun!"
Namgung Dan gritted his teeth.
"But make sure to keep the promise!"
Chung Myung smiled.
"You're saying what I wanted to say. Make sure to keep it."
The Namgung family warriors looked at Namgung Dan with concern.
"Will this be alright?"
"This is…"
"Enough!"
Namgung Dan cut them off.
"Even if the long-term strength of Namgung isn't great now, how can we make excuses for getting caught by those wearing weights on their bodies? And it's a spar where everyone has to get caught, right?"
"…."
"Are you just going to let us be ignored like this?"
The faces of the Namgung family swordsmen hardened.
Namgung Dan, watching them make up their minds, glared at Chung Myung, gritting his teeth.
'There should be a limit to arrogance.'
If they had just suggested competing in swordsmanship, he wouldn't have been so enraged. However, they were now competing with their skills and endurance, not swordsmanship.
Wasn't that the area where the prestigious Namgung family was most confident?
"I know the Taoist is great, but this time, you were outright arrogant."
"Ugh. As expected, the world is so big. Some people even point out my arrogance."
"…"
"But shouldn't you be saying all that after winning?"
Namgung Dan, seeing Chung Myung's smug look, gritted his teeth and nodded.
'That happened…'
The first time he felt something might have gone wrong was when he stood at the starting line.
He heard Mount Hua's Righteous Sword, walking with iron braces on both arms and legs, ask Mount Hua's Sword Saint.
"What do we do?"
"Handle it."
"Got it."
An odd feeling.
Even if he didn't know about the acts of Mount Hua's Sword Saint, Mount Hua's Righteous Sword wasn't someone to ignore others. However, hearing him speak so calmly gave Namgung Dan an ominous feeling.
Still, Namgung Dan tried hard to push that thought away. No matter what, it would be impossible to catch up with them while wearing braces weighing 80 kilos.
The braces weighed close to 80 kilos, about the weight of a human. How could they catch up with someone running ahead while carrying the weight of a person on their back?
That's why Namgung Dan didn't worry. He saw it as a chance to flatten the nose of Mount Hua's Sword Saint. And it was a chance to properly teach Namgung Do-Wei, who was watching silently, what to do.
When they first set off, his thoughts hadn't changed. It was the same when the Mount Hua disciples started chasing them a little later. The Five Swords couldn't close the gap Namgung had initially opened and just kept chasing.
But…
After a while, Namgung Dan realized why Mount Hua's Sword Saint insisted on the condition that it would last until sunset.
Exactly half an hour later, those chasing him began to speed up.
Being caught by those wearing weights on their bodies? That wasn't a problem their pride could allow.
And from that moment on, hell began.
"Yah, you're too slow."
"Oh my, let's hurry up."
"Did you eat worms or what?"
Those insane Mount Hua people clung to their backs and began to poke them.
It was insane and shocking.
How could they possibly be in their right mind when these people, carrying the weight of a person, were calmly talking to them as they ran at full speed?
"No, you can't give up already!"
"You can go more!"
"Cheer up!"
Just curse at them instead, these damned monsters.
The Namgung family literally ran until their legs gave out amidst their torment. This was no longer a competition but a matter of pride.
However, after an hour, people began to foam at the mouth and collapse one after another.
"Ugg."
"Ehh. One of you is here."
"E-euk!"
"Kuak! Don't puke!"
What shocked them most was that the Mount Hua disciples chasing them showed no signs of difficulty.
Namgung Dan lifted his heavy head, shaking like iron. He could see people scattered here and there.
Annihilation. Complete annihilation.
The proud descendants of the Namgung family, who survived wars with pirates until the end, now lie like sick chickens in this manor.
'H-how could this be…'
Namgung Dan tilted his head back and stretched out his legs, sobbing.
They were the Namgung family.
In terms of purity, they were confident they wouldn't fall behind any other sect in the world. Their tenacity, having endured intense training since childhood, should be incomparable.
Why did it come to this?
"E-euk…"
He suddenly felt like vomiting. Namgung Dan instinctively covered his mouth with both hands.
No matter how much he tried, he couldn't show this kind of disgrace.
'O-oh, I feel like I'm dying….'
Now, it wasn't a situation where he could argue about the sky being yellow or anything. Every step felt like his limbs moved separately, and every time his feet touched the ground, his body felt folded in half and then unfolded.
At that moment, a clicking tongue sounded from behind.
"Doesn't this feel like the end?"
"No. Don't you think they can go further?"
"Then let's make a bet, sahyung. Can they endure a little longer or not? I bet they can't hold on."
"… I bet they can't hold on either."
"Ehh. How can that be!"
"If it's a bet, you need to judge the situation coolly."
Those words almost broke Namgung Dan's last faint will.
But even so, he ran and ran. There was a reason he had to run.
"Try pushing more!"
With every step, a familiar face appeared in his vision, changing suddenly.
'So… Soso….'
The sight of her looking at him and clicking her tongue threw Namgung Dan's mind into chaos.
'How is… Soso….'
The Tang Soso he knew had nothing to do with martial arts. Whenever he interacted with the Tang family, wasn't she the daughter of the prestigious family who was pampered in the mansion?
That Tang Soso was now following him with an incomparably calm face, cheering him from the side.
'Insane…'
Plop.
In the end, Namgung Dan's body, unable to hold on, hit the ground.
He collapsed, face down on the dirty ground, panting violently. The air was sucked in roughly, dust blowing around, but he couldn't even turn his head.
It felt like his entire body had been pounded with a massive club. This wasn't just difficult or painful. Had he ever fallen into this state just from training?
"No, you can't even endure for two hours?"
"… You didn't even run that fast."
"Soso. What happened?"
"Why—why are you doing this to me? Even the Tang family isn't like this!"
The voice tapping him from the side didn't even reach Namgung Dan's head.
His head felt submerged in water. If he closed his eyes, he felt like he could sleep forever.
But…
Strangely, even amidst all that, Namgung Dan could clearly hear the sound of footsteps approaching.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He pushed his eyelids open with great difficulty.
"Okay."
After feeling someone gently push him back with their feet, the blue sky filled his vision. The sun was high in the sky.
Someone suddenly poked their face out from a corner of that deep blue sky.
A face filled with grudge…
"That."
"…."
"Should we have started with 100 more pounds?"
"…."
"Crying?"
"…."
"Sasuk, is this kid crying?"
"Don't do that, you bastard!"
"Aren't you human?"
"Yah! Cover him! Cover him quickly!"
This was… this was barbaric.