The Outcast Writer of a Martial Arts Visual Novel

This was not part of the plan.

I had to insert myself into Cheon Sohee’s blank memories. They didn’t need to be too specific. Just enough to convince Cheon Sohee that I was a villager. Fake memories, but a few that we could share.

If she didn’t plan to kill me, that should have been the end of it. You can’t easily kill someone you know. But what if she still had doubts?

I would touch upon precious memories. My aim was to prevent her from being certain of her memories, so I could wedge myself into them. Then she would eventually accept it.

The plan worked. But it also failed.

“Sohee, should I get a room?”

After everything settled down, we prepared to sleep.

As I arranged the bedding on the bed, I spoke to Cheon Sohee. The room I had was a single. It was a bit expensive, but I got it to save my life.

It was a single room with a single bed, so two couldn’t sleep in it. This was my chance to get rid of Cheon Sohee and buy some time to think.

“I don’t need it. I’ll stay here.”

Cheon Sohee sat in the corner of the room, hugging her knees, having composed her emotions.

“It might be misunderstood if a man and a woman stay in the same room. I’ll go down and get another room…”

“No need.”

“Alright. If that’s what you want.”

Why did her voice sound so deadly? I suddenly felt a chill.

What should I do now?

I hadn’t expected all problems to be solved in one night. I had prepared a few more strategies.

If I used them, I could avoid Cheon Sohee’s suspicions for a while. But the plans I had made were for a short-term confrontation.

If I used up all my strategies and Cheon Sohee still stayed by my side?

Then I guessed I would have to throw in my neck next.

As I finished arranging the bedding, I felt a chill on my neck. When I turned, Cheon Sohee was glaring at me.

Don’t be nervous, Kang Yun-ho.

I was Cheon Sohee’s childhood friend and brother. If I got nervous, she would doubt me. I had to act mature no matter what Cheon Sohee did in front of me.

“Sohee, it’s bad for your body to sleep on the floor. Sleep here on the bed.”

“I’m used to sleeping on the floor.”

Cheon Sohee replied curtly.

“Ah, come on. Why is our sweet Sohee so snappy now?”

Show some respect. We’re from a Confucian country. Couldn’t you speak formally to a childhood friend? I was three years older than you. Didn’t you know the minimum manners? Didn’t they teach you manners in the assassin sect?

“I’ve always been like this.”

“Right. You must have adapted to the ways of the Central Plains.”

Okay. In the martial world, the strongest is the older sibling. My bad. Really, the martial world is ruining everything.

Though my attitude might seem arrogant to Cheon Sohee, I need to act like this to consistently assert my role as her brother.

I slowly approached Cheon Sohee.

“Why?”

Cheon Sohee, sitting on the floor with her knees hugged, looked up at me.

“Here’s a blanket. The nights in Chilgok County are chilly these days. Even if you’re used to sleeping on the floor, you should cover yourself with a blanket.”

I offered the blanket with a friendly smile.

“……”

Cheon Sohee continued to stare at me without taking the blanket.

What? Was a sweet brother a new concept for you? I was just trying to survive here.

The scales of ‘fraudster’ and ‘brother’ in Cheon Sohee’s heart would keep shifting. To add weight to the ‘brother’ side, it’s best to keep acting like this.

“My hands are getting heavy.”

Just take it. She was doubting me, but I was still her childhood friend. Rejecting even this kindness would make for a tough future. Seriously.

“…Give it.”

Cheon Sohee took the blanket and draped it over herself. Was she just going to sit and sleep like that? Could an assassin really sleep like that?

“Alright. Sleep warmly.”

I handed her the blanket and turned back to lie on the bed.

I wanted to turn comfortably and face the wall to sleep, but doing that would imply that I was uncomfortable with Cheon Sohee.

I deliberately lay facing Cheon Sohee, trying to make eye contact.

Suspicion. Dismay. Doubt. Cheon Sohee’s gaze mixed these emotions. I had to keep doing this until her gaze changed to trust. As long as her gaze didn’t change, the situation would continue.

“Sohee.”

“Why.”

“Nothing. Just feels strange that Sohee is here in front of me.”

I showed a friendly smile. A smiling face can’t be cursed at, right?

“…….”

Cheon Sohee’s gaze, a mix of suspicion and doubt, shifted to bewilderment. She didn’t tell me to shut up or not to talk like that, unlike before.

“Sohee, I’m going to turn off the lights now.”

If I was to die tomorrow, I still needed to sleep.

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

“The name Sohee… don’t use it in front of others.”

Her words were cautious. That was fine by me. A name that only she and I shared. A secret deepened the relationship.

“What should I call you then?”

“Call me Okbun.”

A female character in a martial arts visual novel named Okbun? It was a rare name, even among elderly women these days. Truly a name from the Joseon era.

“Okay, Okbun. Let’s sleep.”

I calmly turned off the room’s light.

Thankfully.

She trusted me a little.

She rejected my kindness but not completely. She wanted to keep a secret just between us. Asking me to call her by a pseudonym was a good sign.

Right now, Cheon Sohee was like a hedgehog. Always ready to prick someone, but if approached carefully, she lowered her spikes.

To survive, I needed to make her lower her spikes even if I just reached out.

It was a long way to go.

If I didn’t want to give up from the start, I’d better sleep for now.

“The guests! Are you two coming out of the room together!”

The next day, we were caught by Jeom So-i while leaving the room together. Young Jeom So-i, entering puberty, looked at us with a shocked face.

Shock!

Cheon Sohee came out of a man’s room in the morning.

She hadn’t changed clothes from the previous day. Even though she was a villain character, the norms for female characters in martial arts visual novels had faltered. Where was our society heading?

She looked like someone who would report this as news.

“Ah! Is it not allowed for two to sleep in a single room?”

I quickly said it wasn’t allowed for two to sleep together and sent them to different rooms.

“No. You just have to pay double the rate!”

Was that all? I had hoped she would immediately send us away. Too bad.

“The room size doesn’t increase with more people, so why double the rate?”

“In this town, we charge by the number of people.”

“I haven’t heard such a thing before.”

Was this some kind of pension? Charging by the number of people?

I remembered arguing with a pension owner who had asked us to pay extra for friends who joined late during a trip.

The room got more crowded, yet they demanded more money, claiming it was their principle to charge more during the busy season.

“Of course, we didn’t mention it since you came alone. When did the person with you arrive?”

“I came at night.”

She had entered after unlocking the guest room door.

“It’s strange. I locked the inn door myself yesterday, but I don’t recall seeing such a person.”

Jeom So-i looked at Cheon Sohee with a puzzled expression. Had she not seen her properly yesterday because she entered wearing a hat?

Following Jeom So-i’s gaze to Cheon Sohee, I noticed her face had changed from when she left the room.

It was neither a man’s face nor Cheon Sohee’s original appearance.

Was that the face of Okbun she usually wore when wandering around?

With Cheon Sohee’s face and figure, if she were to walk around in modern times, men would flock to get her number.

On the other hand, Okbun’s face was just an ordinary Joseon woman’s face. Like one you’d question in a high school yearbook, wondering why the same girl appeared in both Class 1 and Class 2 photos.

With such a face, making excuses would be easy.

“She’s a close childhood friend from my hometown who came all the way here disguised as a man to find me. Do you remember a man wearing a hat yesterday?”

“Ah! That really suspicious person?”

Jeom So-i’s expression showed that she had realized who it was.

“Right. It’s dangerous for a woman to wander alone, so she traveled like that.”

“Ah, I see. That makes sense. Let me calculate your bill first. Just pay the same amount as yesterday.”

Jeom So-i extended two fingers, indicating double the room rate.

These highway robbers, charging for two in a single room.

“No. If it’s for two, give us a double room. It’s too much to pay double for a single room.”

“We don’t have double rooms, only single or quadruple. Do you need a quadruple room?”

Jeom So-i changed her gesture from two fingers to four. Pay four times the amount? That was too much for someone who used to sleep in a shack.

I glanced slyly at Cheon Sohee.

Do you have money? Just pay three times.

“I don’t have money.”

Cheon Sohee said, looking away. Ah, avoiding eye contact now.

I wanted to scream a curse for every coin that came out of the pockets of the Heavenly Death Star, but I restrained myself since I was the weaker party.

“Just pay double for the single room.”

I took out the money and handed it to Jeom So-i. Even the single room was expensive, let alone paying double.

“Okay, received. And could you lend me your ear for a moment?”

Jeom So-i gracefully accepted the money and gestured for me to come closer. I bent down to bring my ear close to her mouth. She glanced briefly at Cheon Sohee and then whispered to me.

“Our inn is well soundproofed, so you don’t need to be cautious at night.”

Ah, so that was what she meant.

“Call me if you need anything downstairs~”

Jeom So-i winked at me and went downstairs.

Could it be that the quadruple rate wasn’t actually for four people but just a considerate gesture to give us a single room?

When a man says, ‘there’s only one room left’, and a woman asks, ‘really, only one room left?’, and the reply is ‘yes, only one’, everyone knows it’s a lie, but they all accept it and go to their room.

Was she setting up that situation? Well, a single bed can become a double if you stick together.

But I didn’t need that kind of consideration!

“Why don’t we have to be cautious at night?”

Cheon Sohee asked curiously, having apparently heard the whisper.

“Who knows? Seems like a misunderstanding. Let’s go have a meal.”

We weren’t in a relationship where we ‘ying yang’ at night. Rather, we prayed that the bed wouldn’t be stained with blood the next night.

I gestured to Cheon Sohee and we went downstairs to the first floor of the inn.

The inn was completely empty of diners during the late morning.

Why was it so deserted? Was this inn only busy during the evening drink time?

Cheon Sohee and I chose a spot in the inn where we were least visible and where our conversation wouldn’t be easily overheard.

As we sat at the inn’s table, Jeom So-i, who had shown us unnecessary consideration earlier, approached us.

“What would you like to order?”

Jeom So-i asked with a beaming smile.

“Okbun, is there anything specific you want?”

“Anything.”

An-y-thing.

Wow. Hearing this from the Heavenly Death Star.

The dish must not only suit the Heavenly Death Star’s taste and preferences but also be different from what we had in the past week. It should be low in calories to maintain her figure and not disrupt the atmosphere while eating.

That’s what ‘anything’ truly means.

And if it was a place where you could post a snapshot on social media, even better. Ordering hot soup here? I’d be found dead in my room the next day.

Whew, you know I watched a lot of dramas. Next time, be more straightforward.

Anyway, Zhuge Liang set this trap.

Let’s think quickly.

I planned to use one of my strategies. Let’s go with that.

“Jeom So-i, could you tell me about the available dishes here?”

Since the inn had no menu, I had to ask Jeom So-i to list them.

“Huh? I haven’t been working here long, so I don’t know them all by heart. Let me just get you the menu.”

Jeom So-i fetched a menu from somewhere and handed it to me.

There was actually a menu in the martial arts world—not a ‘set meal list,’ but a proper menu.

Ha. Stop thinking.

“Can I order this now?”

I pointed to a dish on the menu and showed it to Jeom So-i.

“Of course. It’s a bit pricey, though. Is that okay?”

Perhaps because I was wearing old clothes instead of the new ones from Gapsu Trading Group, Jeom So-i scanned my appearance and asked again.

“It’s fine.”

Bargaining here would be embarrassing. I couldn’t appear too stingy if I wanted to score points. I handed over the money Jeom So-i mentioned with trembling hands.

What a waste!

With that money, I could have bought several servings of rich, meaty hangover soup.

“Just wait a moment, I’ll bring it right out.”

“What did you order?”

“I ordered something Okbun would like.”

I replied with a smile.

If you’re going to say ‘anything,’ don’t bother asking. So ‘anything’ was a fake.

Cheon Sohee, even a master of push-and-pull like me won’t fall for such tricks.

It was a good thing I had reached the 5-star level in push-and-pull. An ordinary person would have been fooled.

I hadn’t exactly measured my level, but having never been one to pull but always to push, I had enough experience to claim 5-star status.

Looking at Heavenly Death Star, I could see a hint of curiosity on her face.

I had predicted that Heavenly Death Star might not leave right away tonight.

A situation in which we would share a meal together after a long time, or one in which Cheon Sohee continued to suspect me and refused to leave the following day. A strategy for such an occasion.

The tactic I had prepared for such a time. Another method to convince her that I was her brother.

It was time to put that plan into action.

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