Chapter 23

Chapter 23. Galactic Martial God Chronicle - Amusement Park Kidnapping Incident (6)

While the abductors were panicking, I shoved away the abductor with the sword stuck in his stomach as if kicking him off, pulled out the sword, and swung it at the remaining abductor.

CLANG!

The unarmed abductor pulled a fountain pen from his pocket, formed sword qi, and blocked my sword.

If he had created sword qi, then the abductor’s realm was First-Rate.

In other words, he was an enemy I could not handle.

Sure enough, after blocking my sword, the abductor kicked me in rage.

I barely blocked with the flat of my sword, but since his kick contained the power of a First-Rate, I was sent flying and slammed into the wall.

Because of that, the sword slipped from my hand and flew far away.

Whether it was because his comrade had been taken down, or because I had attacked him, the abductor’s eyes turned bloodshot.

Perhaps he did not intend to kill me cleanly, because he choked me with one hand and clenched his fist.

“You dogshit bastard, how dare you!”

“Ghk! Ghk!”

As I was being choked, I could not breathe properly and thrashed.

Just as Si-woo had said, once my breathing was disturbed, I could not handle my internal energy properly.

Tsk. I guess I have to hope I die as painlessly as possible.

The moment I thought that, I saw Cheon So-yeon’s murderous eyes as she leaped high behind the abductor.

In Cheon So-yeon’s hand was the sword I had dropped, and clear sword qi lingered around its blade.

At the chilling qi wave of the sword qi, the abductor was startled and turned around, but before he could turn his head properly, Cheon So-yeon’s sword severed the abductor’s neck, sending it falling to the ground.

SLICE! THUD! Roll, roll. SPURT!

A vigorous fountain of blood sprayed from the severed neck.

Wow, I see you know the Roller Coaster Murder Case!

How did you know enough to recreate a damn head getting sliced off and spraying blood like Ichadon from the very first episode?

This place is an amusement park, sure, but we aren’t on top of a roller coaster.

Besides, the killer murders someone with a necklace, not by slicing them apart with a sword.

As I thought absurd things in an absurd situation, reality was soon forced back into focus by the intense stench of blood.

“Ugh! Bleeegh!”

At the gruesome sight, I ended up vomiting onto the floor.

This was the first time in my life I had seen someone murdered.

Even if he was trash who had kidnapped me, I could not help feeling a physiological revulsion.

If I had really been a three-year-old, this would have been a sight that left me with trauma for the rest of my life.

It was only because I had at least sliced up Horned Rabbits and Goblins that I could still manage. What would I have done otherwise?

Honestly, this was a sight that could traumatize even an adult.

When I threw up, Cheon So-yeon flinched and tried to check on me, but hesitated when she realized her hands were covered in blood.

I gestured to Cheon So-yeon.

“I’m fine. It’s just my first time seeing this much blood. The smell of blood is much more disgusting than I thought.”

It was like the fishy smell of iron, yet somehow different.

Scientifically speaking, it was probably because of waste matter or fat produced through life activity in the blood.

Psychiatrically speaking, it was probably because of the shock of seeing another human being die horribly.

In the first place, whether this was the future or the Middle Ages, if it was a martial arts world, seeing blood like this was something I had already resolved myself for.

That resolve had simply arrived much earlier than I expected.

I took the sword back from Cheon So-yeon’s hand and waved it lightly.

“Ta-da, a magic trick where the sword disappears.”

While waving the sword, I leaked qi waves to disturb Cheon So-yeon’s qi sense, and at the same time, I hid the sword with my arm and body and put it into Inventory.

“Huh?! Where did the sword go?!”

Cheon So-yeon was startled.

I pressed my index finger to my lips as if to say it was a secret.

Then, with the rope rolling on the floor, I tied up the abductor who had a hole in his qi center and was writhing weakly on the floor.

“Should we just leave? I kind of want to wash up.”

Since I had been right in front of the abductor, I was truly covered in blood.

“No, wait a little. People are coming here.”

Just as Cheon So-yeon said, the rescue squad arrived late and smashed through the door.

The sight the rescue squad saw was one abductor rolling around with his head cut off, one abductor crawling across the floor while tied up, and two three-year-old children.

I could see the rescue squad’s expressions fill with the question of how in the world this had happened.

Damn it, this is going to get troublesome.

At times like this, I needed to use a divine art.

“Waaaaaah-!!”

The Child Divine Art, crying.

With this one thing, most troublesome situations could simply be passed over.

When I cried and signaled to Cheon So-yeon with my eyes, Cheon So-yeon also caught on and began crying after me.

“Waaaaah!”

“Waaaaah!”

Faced with two three-year-old children covered in blood and suddenly crying, the rescue personnel could only look troubled.

Just as planned.

---

Cheon So-yeon and I, who kept crying, were handed over to Si-woo and Cheon So-yeon’s parents.

Si-woo and Cheon So-yeon’s parents, who had been listening to the situation over the phone, laid into the rescue squad and asked whether they were doing their jobs properly.

The rescue squad, made up of Peak and Transcendent Peak experts, backed down with their tails tucked before the pressure emitted by three Transformation Realm experts.

So both of Cheon So-yeon’s parents were Transformation Realm.

I had heard that at the Transformation Realm, one was at least around the unit commander level in the Cheon Family’s armed units.

Of course, in the case of elite armed units, a unit commander had to be Profound Realm, so Transformation Realm was only around squad leader level, but why were elites called elites?

Because their numbers were few, weren’t they?

I later heard that Cheon So-yeon’s parents were each unit commanders who led an armed unit.

Safely rescued? In any case, after being rescued, Cheon So-yeon and I did not particularly receive a victim interview because we were children.

They said they would investigate once we calmed down later, but since there was the guy whose qi center I had smashed, they would probably catch the remaining accomplices through him.

After returning home without even properly saying goodbye to Cheon So-yeon, I washed off the blood on me and fell asleep in Si-woo’s arms.

It had been an exhausting day.

---

One day after the kidnapping incident, Si-woo was summoned by Cheon Gyeong-ho.

Because Cheon Gyeong-ho was busy as the Outer Hall Head, she did not actually go to meet him. Instead, she contacted him through a video call while he was traveling by car.

-I heard. You overstepped your authority.

“...I apologize.”

At Si-woo’s apology, Cheon Gyeong-ho was silent for a moment, then said,

-No, you did well. The Family Head also has an interest in the Heavenly Martial Body, so compared to having her taken by the abductors, this is a minor matter. In fact, there will be a reward for this.

At Cheon Gyeong-ho’s words, Si-woo answered expressionlessly.

“Thank you.”

Cheon Gyeong-ho seemed to have no interest at all in his own grandson’s safety.

Well, the reason he had given her the emergency code was only to avoid creating a weakness that could be used against him as a candidate for young family head.

In ordinary civilian society, it would have become an issue of a high-ranking politician misusing a state system for private purposes, but the current world had the form of a constitutional monarchy ruled by great sects.

Sects where the position of sect leader was inherited solely by ability might take another form, but in the case of family sects like the Cheon Family, the position was inherited by bloodline, so it would not be wrong to view each family as a space empire.

It was a structure where multiple planetary autonomous governments existed beneath a great sect.

Naturally, in a bloodline-connected family, neglecting one’s own blood relatives and standing by was a bigger problem than an individual misusing a social system.

For Cheon Gyeong-ho, who had children, grandchildren, and descendants several generations removed, descendants were nothing more than bothersome existences.

Of course, in family society, no one forced someone to personally look after descendants several generations removed, but one had to at least show that one was looking after underage children and grandchildren.

The emergency code had been given to Si-woo merely as a provocative performance to show that he cared about his descendants.

Cheon Gyeong-ho had never imagined it would actually be used.

Si-woo, who knew that fact, did not look favorably upon Cheon Gyeong-ho.

-There are two things I must inform you of. One is that you will be given a new emergency code.

Since an emergency code that had been used once was exposed to the outside, reissuing it was standard.

Si-woo thought this was unexpected, but she understood the reason from the next matter.

-The child with the Heavenly Martial Body will be moving in next door. If anything happens, use the emergency code. You may overstep authority as you did this time. No, it is a permitted right now, so I suppose it will no longer be overstepping authority.

He was telling her to use the emergency code for Cheon So-yeon, not his grandson.

The reason he was giving it to Si-woo rather than to Cheon So-yeon’s parents was a matter of justification.

Cheon So-yeon was a descendant of the Family Head’s first child, not Cheon Gyeong-ho’s descendant.

However, doing nothing when it came to protecting the Heavenly Martial Body would be a poor choice, since protecting her was good merit as a candidate for young family head.

So he was using this method because there was already a precedent of Si-woo having protected Cheon So-yeon once.

“Understood.”

Si-woo bowed her head.

She was dissatisfied that a treasure that could stimulate greed, like the Heavenly Martial Body, would be nearby, but she could not oppose it.

Even if she opposed it, Cheon Gyeong-ho would casually ignore her and invalidate his promise to overlook the overstepping authority, so she decided to accept it quietly.

In any case, the code was in her hands, so how she used it was up to Si-woo.

Si-woo was Cheon Ji-woo’s nanny, not Cheon So-yeon’s nanny.

Of course, Cheon Gyeong-ho knew that too.

That was why he had arranged for Cheon So-yeon to move next door to Cheon Ji-woo, so that Si-woo could use the emergency code for Cheon So-yeon as much as possible.

The fact that the Heavenly Martial Body had been born into the family was top secret, but the fact that a kidnapping attempt had already occurred meant that the top-secret information had leaked.

Therefore, they intended to attach covert guards in a safer neighborhood.

-Good work.

The screen turned off, and the reward details arrived by text.

A considerable amount of money, spiritual medicine, and android-use equipment were given under Cheon Ji-woo’s name.

Since Si-woo’s owner was Cheon Ji-woo, Si-woo’s merit was Cheon Ji-woo’s merit.

Si-woo looked at the reward details and fell into thought.

“Young master will be pleased if he learns of this. But it would be troublesome if this gives him a wasteful habit.”

Si-woo was always worried about her young master.

Wondering whether it might be better to cut off the internet even now for proper character education, she rose from her seat.

---

After going to the amusement park, I trained in martial arts as usual and gathered information on the internet.

When I reached the Third-Rate stage, Si-woo said it was still too early and forbade me from using internal energy during training.

Just as Cheon So-yeon had said, it seemed I was still in the middle of foundation work.

Instead, after reaching Third-Rate, I learned new martial arts. I learned Yoga Qigong ( yoga using internal energy) for flexibility, and Muscle-Bone Building Art, which prevented muscle hypertrophy and compressed the bones and muscle fibers to make them sturdier.

And since she said it would finally be all right for me to hold a weapon, I finally learned Bluewood Sword Art.

When I did physical training, I was forbidden from using internal energy, but separately, I also began formally learning how to use internal energy.

Several days passed like that, and then someone came over with rice cakes, saying they had moved in next door.

“Huh?”

“Hello!”

The little kid with the Heavenly Martial Body who had gotten me dragged into the amusement park incident, Cheon So-yeon, visited with her mother.

“Things were so hectic last time that we couldn’t properly thank you. I’m Kang Seo-young, and we just moved in next door.”

“Not at all. I will bring out tea, so please come inside.”

Si-woo brought the mother and daughter into the house.

Cheon So-yeon approached me, then asked with a beaming smile,

“Come to think of it, I only introduced myself at the amusement park, and I never heard your name. What’s your name?”

At Cheon So-yeon’s question, I casually told her my name.

“Cheon Ji-woo.”

Originally, I was Han Ji-woo, but since I had been born into the Cheon Family in this world, Cheon Ji-woo was my name.

“Really? J-Ji-woo. Will you be my friend?”

Looking at Cheon So-yeon, who blushed slightly on both cheeks and held out her hand as if she was a little embarrassed, I smiled faintly.

“Sure. Becoming friends isn’t hard.”

I shook Cheon So-yeon’s hand and became her friend.

“Ah, as your friend, I’ll keep it a secret that you’re hiding your realm.”

“Ah! Eh, yeah. P-Please do.”

At my words, Cheon So-yeon showed an amusing reaction.

She had forgotten that she had used sword qi in front of me.

Maybe her memory was fitting for a three-year-old after all.