The Dominating Tiger Strikes.

It may not be his strongest technique, but amongst all, he was very comfortable and familiar with it.

He was so confident with this technique that he dared to declare he was as good as even the creator themselves.

So it was only logical that he was aware of every flaw in this method.

…But it was precisely because of that.

That the scene in front of him would be etched inside his mind for years to come.

Clang! Swoosh!

Tae Hyun Goo deflected the first strike before barely dodging the next one. While doing so, he flicked his wrist as a sword blasted toward Gan Jin Hwan’s chin.

Although Gan Jin Hwan easily repelled such a flimsy attack, it completely disrupted the flow of the technique, rendering it useless.

‘He… he obstructed my technique?!’

To easily stop someone’s technique. Especially to someone that has extreme expertise in the skill. You will require either overwhelming strength or a high familiarity with that exact skill itself.

But… the boy had neither of those. But he was still able to do it because of his stance.

He was truly in the perfect position to defend that technique.

‘N-no! It was just mere luck! That stance was just a coincidence!’

Every technique must start from a certain posture. Every attack must start from a certain angle.

But if that’s the case, that meant there was a perfect stance to defend that particular attack.

Of course, it was not as simple as that, it was way more complicated.

But just like what Gan Jin Hwan had thought. The boy was truly in the ideal position to defend his Dominating Tiger Strikes technique.

Gan Jin Hwan immediately changed his posture and prepared himself to use an entirely different technique.

But his back gained a sudden chill.

Tae Hyun Goo had changed his stance once again.

Gan Jin Hwan was horrified at the sudden reality he was facing.

He promptly changed his technique again.

Tae Hyun Goo follows right after.

Such exchange kept going back and forth several times as Gan Jin Hwan kept changing the techniques while Hyun Goo would adapt to it.

This caused great confusion amongst the spectators.

Some even speculated that they were doing some sort of comedy here.

Even Tae Hyun Goo felt annoyed for following this stupid act.

‘This guy… can’t he be decisive and attack me? Stop changing your posture!’

The boy then thought to himself.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

‘Sigh… after this, I’m going to call it a day. I’d rather spend my time eating!’

But then, a realization struck him and made him fall into silence.

‘…Wait the minute. Did I cook some food for So-Young this morning…?’

Slowly but surely, his eyes turned wider as his mind failed to find even a trace of that memory.

“Shit…”

He accidentally uttered that with his real voice.

Luckily enough, it was too small to be heard by anyone… other than Gan Jin Hwan himself.

When Gan Jin Hwan heard such a child-like voice, he was frozen in place for a moment.

His brain couldn't make sense of what he had just heard.

He reasoned that he must have misheard it. Hence, he quickly recovered hims-.

Slash!

Because of his momentary blank, it gave Tae Hyun Goo a chance to attack him.

Visible energies could be seen coursing through the boy’s sword as he leaped into the air and slashed down at his opponent.

Clang!

The sound of metal against metal could be heard throughout the training field.

But before anyone could react, the boy ran past his opponent.

The boy didn’t stop and ran back to the building inside and past the counter, leaving behind a flurry of crowds and Gan Jin Hwan at the training field.

The crowd was left stupefied over what just occurred.

“W-was that sword ki?!”

Not all first-rate warriors could utilize sword ki. But if a person could utilize that skill, then they are regarded to be the top amongst the first-rate warrior.

“But why did he run away from the fig-”

Bang!

Everyone returned their attention back to the training field.

There, Gan Jin Hwan had collapsed to his knees.

In front of him, the sword that he had purchased had been broken.

This immediately gave rise to the crowd’s reaction.

But what made them surprise was how the sword shattered. Instead of becoming two blades. The sword was broken into many tiny pieces.

This proved that Tae Hyun Goo’s mastery over his sword ki was so strong that if this were to hit Gan Jin Hwan’s body, his inside would have been destroyed to bits.

This sent shivers to many warriors.

And when one looked at Gan Jin Hwan, everyone noticed that he was shuddering in fear.

But contrary to what the people had thought…

He wasn’t scared by the fact that Hyun Goo could utilize sword ki. After all, he too could use it.

But he was also not scared by Hyun Goo’s expertise over his sword ki. After all, He had seen countless others that had better control over this.

He was only scared over one thing. The only thing that made him failed to fight back.

‘That glare… what was that…’

Looking down at his own hand, for the first time since he had held a sword, it was quivering uncontrollably.

He recalled the moment of that slash.

Those golden eyes, for some reason, caused goosebumps all over his body.

It was as if he was being glared at by a demonic entity. A being that would reap his soul if he dared to fight back.

It was as though he had faced some kind of mythical creature… like a horrifying look of a dokkaebi that emanated an awe-inspiring aura.

Whatever it was… that eyes were not normal.

.

.

.

Bang!

The door of the wooden house was slammed open when the boy entered the house while bringing a ton of stuff.

“So-Young! I brought food here! Let’s eat!”

No answer…

“So-Young?”

Tae Hyun Goo began searching inside the house. But he couldn’t find her anywhere, not even at the backhouse.

This was still afternoon. How could she go missing in such a short period of time?

“Where did she go…?”

“She… she didn’t run away, right?”

Tae Hyun Goo swiftly refuted that claim.

“No, even if she did, she would have left a message for me…”

Suddenly Tae Hyun Goo fell into silence. One thought in particular, one that had a very unlikely chance sprung into his mind.

‘Don’t tell me… did those ‘people’ come here?!’

As his thought spiraled downward, he began having the worst thought.

‘Nonono… that is impossible! Unless they know that I am here. They wouldn’t come here for no reason… right?’

Despite reasoning with himself, he was still left unsettled. Hence, he abandoned his low-quality sword and dashed to the storage room to grab the only sword that he treasured greatly.

But wait… wasn’t that… an iron sword…?

The sword that he won’t use for his job… as if it was a precious heirloom… was just a normal iron sword?

…Leaving such a bewildering fact aside, Tae Hyun Goo came out of the house and towards the garden as he began deliberating over what to do.

‘Dammit… what should I do…’

Lie… he knew exactly what to do.

The forest. No matter what reason she was to be missing. Whether she was kidnapped by those ‘people’ or if she left by herself.

She could still be found inside the forest.

But the problem was, how could he find her without any lead?

There’s only one answer.

All of a sudden, Tae Hyun Goo’s golden eyes began radiating in slight light.

‘I can only brute force this…’

Whooom!

In that instant, the boy, Tae Hyun Goo, vanished from his placed and moved at rapid speed toward the forest.

The forest was actually rather safe… other than the shaded area that was drawn on the map.

So as long as he could clear the shaded area first, there was a good chance that she was still safe.