Chapter 86. The Meaning of a Swordsman (3)

"Exactly why are you looking at me?"

I asked Banchanbaek, feeling an overwhelming sense of unease. It felt as if goosebumps were breaking out all over my body. When I asked this, Banchanbaek looked at me and said,

"Why look for it from afar?"

Just tell me to look for it from afar.

Why are you looking at me?

I decided to draw a line with a very businesslike attitude.

"First of all, I want to make it clear that I don't want to hear what you're thinking."

It meant that I would never comply with the client's excessive demands. However, Banchanbaek, that crazy old man, started to ramble without listening to me.

"This bait job is very dangerous to entrust to a mere woman. The guy who uses the Guxue Sword Technique will most likely swing his sword recklessly."

"Then, am I safe?"

Banchanbaek hummed and looked at me, then said,

"Well, you seem to be at least a second-rate swordsman, so you should be able to hold out for at least one round, right?"

"So, what exactly are you planning?"

I asked with a look of disbelief, hoping it wasn't what I feared. Banchanbaek, looking excited, said,

"You'll dress up as a woman and lure him. Then, after you hold out for one round, I'll step in and cut him down in one go."

You must be crazy, really.

I shouted in anger,

"Isn't that a crazy idea?"

"Crazy? Then are you planning to use weak women as bait?"

"I don't want to do something so unmanly as dressing up as a woman."

Some people say that cross-dressing is the most manly thing a man can do because it's something only men can do, but I don't agree with such a ridiculous opinion. If it's not, it's not.

"Besides, I'm quite tall, so no one will be fooled."

Even though I look like this, I'm taller than the average in the Central Plains. I pointed to my head, which was almost 5 centimeters taller than Banchanbaek.

Banchanbaek shook his head at my protest.

"If you wear loose clothing and bend your waist a bit, it will be perfect. Your face... hmm. It will be a bit difficult, but you can cover it with white powder. Besides, your hair length is sufficient."

From a distance, it looks like a short cut, so if you tie it back with a headband and stick a hairpin in, it might work, but this is still not right.

Feeling a strong threat that I might really have to cross-dress, I decided to take a strong measure.

"Then, Mr. Banchan, why don't you cross-dress?"

Banchanbaek, with his wild hair, would look like a grandmother if he tied it back and applied oil. When I told him to do it if he wanted, he shook his head.

"Then I'll look like a grandmother, but the Guxue Sword Technique requires a vibrant target, so he might not fall for it."

"Ah, you don't want to, right? Why should I cross-dress? Mr. Banchan, why don't you dye your hair, just like that?"

Banchanbaek, waving his hand, shouted,

"Hey! Do you expect me to cross-dress at my age?! You, the young one, should do it!"

I knew it.

I also waved my hand and shouted back,

"Then, do you expect me to cross-dress at my age?"

"You said you wanted to be a swordsman just now!"

"When did I say that?!"

I just thought I could understand what a swordsman is, but I never said that.

After about 30 minutes of argument, I finally gave in to Banchanbaek's insistence. I couldn't bear it when he threatened to return me and waved his fists in front of my face.

'I will definitely sue him later.'

I will report him to the Bounty Hunters' Union or something. I don't know if such a thing exists, but...

Anyway, that's how I ended up cross-dressing for the first time in my life. I had never done it even at a university festival, and it was a truly humiliating experience.

'I hate being a swordsman...'

While I was making a sad face with this thought, Banchanbaek patted my shoulder and said,

"Ah, Sima Yi also cross-dressed to observe Zhuge Liang's army. Why are you being so reluctant as a man?"

"That's why the assassins get cursed."

This is why cross-dressing is not allowed. The Shu Han, established by Liu Bei and governed by Zhuge Liang, is truly the orthodox Han dynasty.

Anyway, I put on an extremely loose woman's clothing and carried a basket. I also tied a headband around my head.

To make it less noticeable, I shaved and applied white powder to my face... but when I looked at my reflection in the water, it was no better than a man who had gone mad from the practice of alchemy.

'I am ashamed...'

Banchanbaek, who saw my humiliating first cross-dress, said,

"Hmm, don't look at me, turn your head a bit. It's very hard to see your double chin."

This was a very beneficial comment that made me realize why I am not a killer.

"Face is fine, but how about this?"

While I tried to make myself less noticeable as a man by bending my knees and posing, Banchanbaek, who kept shaking his head, said,

"Your build is too big. Can't you make it smaller?"

"How can I make my body smaller?"

What a ridiculous thing to say.

When I said this with a look of disbelief, Banchanbaek clicked his tongue and said,

"Then I'll teach you my Shukugong. Try to follow it."

"Shukugong?"

Shukugong is one of the martial arts that came from India, capable of changing one's body shape. It's called the Yoga system in the martial arts world, and it includes many very peculiar martial arts that make the body more flexible or stretchable.

'Where did you learn such a thing?'

Assassins and killers, who often need to sneak into places, and street performers sometimes learn Shukugong out of necessity, but it's not a martial art that ordinary martial artists learn.

I had only heard that such a thing exists, and this was the first time I saw someone who actually knew it.

I asked with a look of disbelief,

"Why do you know such a thing?"

"You'll learn all sorts of odd skills if you live long enough. Surprisingly, they can be helpful."

He added, "Like now."

'Really, what a ridiculous thing to say.'

Anyway, I ended up learning Shukugong from Banchanbaek.

Shukugong is a martial art similar to yoga. It's so strange that I wondered if it could even be called a martial art.

After a whole day of twisting my body, squeezing my joints, and taking strange yoga poses while circulating my inner energy and regulating my breathing, I could feel my body gradually shrinking.

'Why did the Indians create such a thing?'

They are truly incomprehensible.

Following Banchanbaek's instructions, I regulated my breathing and continued to circulate my inner energy, and my build did shrink a bit.

Ultimately, my height decreased by about 5 centimeters?

"Ugh, with just a day of practice, this is the limit."

Banchanbaek shook his head. From my perspective, my body had shrunk to almost the size of a first-year high school student, but he still looked dissatisfied.

I asked, annoyed,

"How much did you expect me to shrink?"

"At least 5 chok (155.5 cm)."

"Is that even possible?"

That's almost the height of an elementary school student.

However, Banchanbaek, looking very dissatisfied, said,

"I can shrink my body to almost 4 chok 5 chun (140 cm). Completely like a child."

He started to circulate his Shukugong, and surprisingly, it wasn't a lie. After taking a strange pose and exhaling a few times, he gradually shrank to a child-like body, about 140 cm tall.

"See?" He puffed up his body again and said,

"Phew, it's been a while since I used it, so my body feels stiff. My joints are aching."

He kept stretching his body. Even though I had shrunk quite a bit, seeing a man who was almost 170 cm tall suddenly shrink to the size of a child was quite bewildering.

Anyway, I looked at my reflection in the water again.

'Well, at least this much should be enough...'

Overall, my muscles had shrunk along with my height, making my build much smaller. If I cover it with loose clothing, I might look like a woman from a distance.

Not in the sense of "Oh! A beautiful woman!" but more like a village woman working in the fields.

Of course, only from a distance. There are people who can look pretty up close, but I am not one of them. My face would definitely give me away if seen up close.

"Alright, let's go out and try to lure him."

"Uh... okay..."

I sighed deeply and followed Banchanbaek to the mountain where the previous murder took place.

***

Upon arriving at the mountain, I squatted and pretended to pick wild herbs. Even with the Shukugong, my body was very uncomfortable, and pretending to pick herbs while squatting was no easy task.

'Is Banchanbaek in position?'

I started to carefully pick the herbs. Being detail-oriented, I didn't just pick anything. I picked them properly by type.

I had lived in the mountains for a while when I first entered the martial arts world, so I was quite familiar with wild herbs.

'I don't know if it's good or bad that he shows up.'

To be honest, it was a delicate situation.

If the murderer shows up, it will be awkward, but if he doesn't, I'll have to keep doing this, which is also awkward. It's a headache either way.

'Oh, I don't know. Ah, wild garlic.'

This wild garlic, when wrapped in pork belly, is incredibly delicious. I thought about grilling some pork belly for dinner and picked the wild garlic, putting it in the basket.

*Thud, thud...*

'Huh?'

While I was picking wild herbs and focusing my inner energy on my ears, I heard the sound of someone stepping on the ground. Even from a distance, the footsteps sounded heavy, indicating a large man.

'A man showing up on the mountain where a murder case occurred three days ago.'

Criminals often return to the scene of the crime.

I kept my head down and slightly raised my eyes to gauge the distance.

About... 30 meters?

I reached into my clothes and firmly gripped the sword I had hidden inside, ready to draw and swing it in one motion.

The man approaching me stopped about 10 meters away and spoke.

"Heh heh. You seem to be a woman who doesn't know this area well..."

"Huh?"

The laugh didn't match the image I had in mind.

It should be more sinister and despicable, like "Heh heh. The prey has fallen into the trap."

I slightly raised my head and saw a man with a thick beard, holding an axe and looking at me.

'Who is this guy?'

He seems like a third-rate thug. By the way, didn't you say something about the Guxue Sword Technique? Where did you put your sword?

The man opened his thick lips and said,

"Can you just pick wild herbs from this mountain without permission? Heh heh, you need to pay a proper fee..."

"Shit."

What a waste.

It's like preparing sea urchins and abalone as bait to catch a rockfish, but ending up with a goby.

I sighed in frustration, released the Shukugong, and raised my head. The man, seeing my original appearance, opened his mouth wide and said,

"A man? No, a pervert? Why is a pervert here...?"

"Shit."

Lately, I've been hearing a lot of incorrect terms about me.

I rushed at him and used a fist technique adapted from the Yuan Yuan Sword Technique to knock him down. He became a bloody mess with just two hits.

After I demonstrated my skills, Banchanbaek, who had been watching from a distance, came over and shook his head, then left.

I sighed and asked,

"Hey, I have a question."

"Yes, sir. What is it?"

The man, now very polite, knelt and waited for my question. I pointed to my clothes and decided to correct his mistaken impression.

"First, let me make it clear that I'm not dressed like this by choice. I'm doing this to catch the murderer who roams this area."

"Yes, yes... sir."

"Why do you keep adding 'sir' at the end of your sentences?"

The way he trails off makes him seem untrustworthy, so I hit him on the head again. With a generous amount of inner energy, I hit him with a night fist, making him even more polite.

"Yes, yes! I understand!"

"Good. Good. Your answer should always be 'yes.' Anyway, what do you do here?"

When I asked, the man, trembling, cautiously introduced himself.

He claimed to be a mountain guardian of this area, but in reality, he was just a third-rate thug from a small village. He bullied women picking wild herbs and extorted entry fees from them.

'So, that's what it is.'

I sighed and asked about the murderer. I wondered if he knew anything. The man shook his head and said,

"Well, I haven't seen him, but I've heard various stories. This mountain is already finished. I think you came to the wrong place..."

"What?"

What do you mean 'already finished'? I came here because I heard the previous incident happened here.

"Speak clearly."

When I grabbed his collar and shook him, the man trembled and said,

"Really, really. The murderer committed a crime on this mountain last time, so he won't come back here for a while."

"What do you mean by that?"

I decided to listen to his story in detail.

Upon interrogating the man, I found out that he was just a thug with no remarkable skills or martial arts, but he knew a lot about the mountains in this area because he used them as his territory.

According to him, the murderer follows a specific pattern, moving from one mountain to another to commit crimes.

"A few days ago, I found out that the murderer moves between this mountain, that mountain, and the one over there, committing crimes. That's why