Long ago, her father had told her this: "Protecting someone else is much harder than protecting yourself. Guarding another person's body is far more difficult than guarding your own."
At that time, her father had passed down everything he knew to his daughter.
It wasn’t so much martial arts as it was the tricks of the trade for a mercenary.
‘The wind direction is good, and the moon is dark.
I hope the enemy doesn’t notice us like this.’
At that moment, a flock of birds suddenly took flight.
To the untrained eye, it might have seemed like startled mountain birds flapping their wings.
But even as she thought it might be nothing, she tightened her grip on the bow.
And as soon as the birds began to chase after Jin Cheon-hee, five arrows flew from her hand.
Swish!
Each bird was struck in the head by her arrows and fell to the ground.
Seeing this, she realized.
‘Tracking scent!’
It was a special perfume designed to be detectable even from a distance.
It seemed that Hwang-gu had been marked with the tracking scent.
But even so, there was nothing the two children could do about it.
It wasn’t something that could be washed off with water, and to properly neutralize it, they would have to go to the Eui-gak.
‘Hwang-gu must have known that too, which is why he went deep into a cave… But now that he’s come out, the tracking has started.’
Even after seeing Wang Gak-yeon’s arrows, Jin Cheon-hee’s speed didn’t slow down.
‘She’s terrifyingly calm.’
She had heard that the most important virtue for a doctor was composure.
In that sense, Jin Cheon-hee never seemed to be fazed by anything.
Piiik—!
A horn sounded in the distance.
It seemed their location had been discovered.
At the same time, a masked figure in black appeared under the moonlight.
In the dark night, where an ordinary person might struggle to even see a blur, she drew her bowstring again.
Thunk!
The arrow struck the masked man’s collarbone.
She had aimed for the neck, but it was a miss.
Still, that wasn’t the important part.
‘A one-shot kill is every archer’s goal.
But in real combat, it’s not easy.
The opponent also knows martial arts, so they’ll know how to dodge vital points.
So what do you do then? What do you do…? Well…’
Wang Gak-yeon fired another arrow.
Thud!
The second arrow pierced the masked man’s forehead.
It seemed he couldn’t dodge due to the pain from the first arrow.
‘You don’t need to put too much meaning into each arrow.
If one arrow can slow the enemy’s movements, that’s already a gain.’
‘Hmm… Right.
What’s important isn’t a one-shot kill, but the positive impact each arrow creates.’
The teachings of her father and mentor swirled in her mind.
She couldn’t remember how to shoot, but her body reacted.
Tang!
She hit the next masked man.
And immediately after, she sensed the presence of another masked man above her head.
Her father had said, ‘Don’t fear close combat.
If your body freezes, you die.’
Her body spun.
The bow staff struck like a blunt weapon, hitting the man’s jaw.
Thunk!
A hollow sound came from the skull.
The impact shook the enemy’s brain.
It was a clean hit.
She took two steps back, and at the same time, an arrow left her hand.
Thwack!
Her breath was heavy.
The enemies were now fully aware of her presence.
As she ran down the hillside, Jin Cheon-hee thought, ‘Gak-yeon, are you okay? This is scary.’
Outwardly, she was a boy, but inside, she was an ordinary modern-day doctor.
She had studied, taken exams, and trained like any other doctor in South Korea.
Her medical service had been limited to the country, and this was her first time abroad with an NGO.
‘I’ve seen scenes like this in martial arts novels.’
But there was a world of difference between imagining it and actually experiencing it.
The masked assassins were genuinely trying to kill children.
They had no intention of holding back.
Their goal was the yellow dog in Jin Cheon-hee’s arms.
They had wanted to capture it alive, but now that there was interference, they seemed to have no qualms about killing to get the letter.
Against them, Wang Gak-yeon was firing arrows with all her might.
She was calm and determined.
It was hard to imagine that she was the same girl who played with the neighborhood kids and came home with barley candy in her mouth.
The arrows from her small hands pierced the enemies’ bodies.
She didn’t always hit vital points, but each arrow passed through their bodies without fail.
Jin Cheon-hee let out a small laugh. ‘I’m the most scared here.’
For Jin Cheon-hee, who had lived her entire life as a modern person, this situation was terrifying.
Yet, her movements were flawless.
Even Wang Gak-yeon couldn’t understand why Jin Cheon-hee was so composed.
It was all thanks to the Samjae Bobeop she had practiced relentlessly.
Five masked men appeared. ‘I’ll trust Gak-yeon to handle two of them.’
Before her mind could process anything, her body kept moving.
The boy’s steps found the gaps in the enemies’ defenses with precision.
Whoosh—!
Before the masked men could swing their swords or throw hidden weapons, the boy had already slipped past them.
Jin Cheon-hee saw the masked men’s eyes widen slightly.
Kung!
Hwang-gu seemed pleased and barked softly, praising Jin Cheon-hee.
Contrary to everyone’s admiration, Jin Cheon-hee felt like her heart was about to burst.
The boy smiled out of habit.
The tension pulled at his facial muscles.
‘Smiling?’
The masked men, perhaps enraged, attacked Jin Cheon-hee.
A poisoned sword flew toward the boy’s neck.
Jin Cheon-hee twisted her shoulder, spinning her body once.
Like a cogwheel, she avoided the sword strike with minimal movement and kept running.
Throughout the series of movements, time didn’t slow down at all.
Hwang-gu, excited, wagged his tail.
Kung, kung!
“Are you having fun? I’m scared.”
Kung!
Using minimal movements to dodge all the enemy attacks, Hwang-gu seemed amazed.
The masked men were going crazy.
‘No matter how you look at it, it’s the Samjae Bobeop, right?’
Their opponent wasn’t a martial arts master but a child.
And not even a high-level martial artist, just a low-level martial artist who had learned the most basic of footwork.
Yet, he was dodging all their attacks.
And every time the boy dodged, an arrow filled the space.
Swish!
The masked men fell one by one, their brains spilling out.
The two children fought the masked men as if they had been practicing together for a long time.
‘No matter how talented they are, they’re still children.
Their stamina will run out soon!’
‘……?’
It was strange.
Neither child showed any signs of losing their breath.
The girl kept pulling the bowstring with a cold expression, and the boy kept dodging attacks with a smile.
There was no sign of exhaustion.
But the problem arose unexpectedly.
Wang Gak-yeon’s quiver was getting lighter.
‘I should have brought more arrows.’
She wasn’t at the level of her father, a master archer.
She still needed arrows.
Just then, a hidden weapon flew toward Jin Cheon-hee’s back.
There was no time to hesitate.
She drew her last arrow.
Clang!
It was a move that would have brought tears to the eyes of any archer.
Hitting a flying hidden weapon with an arrow was an incredible feat.
Doing it in real combat meant she had become a true archer.
The hidden weapon was deflected by the arrow.
Wang Gak-yeon shouted, “Go! Don’t look back!”
At her voice, Jin Cheon-hee felt a sense of foreboding.
The sound of arrows no longer came from behind.
Instead, the sound of a dagger being drawn echoed.
It was the dagger Wang Gak-yeon always carried.
Drawing it meant one thing.
Jin Cheon-hee said, “I’ll handle it from here! You run away!”
“Are you telling me to abandon my friend and run?”
“……I mean, go call for help.”
It was nonsense.
By the time she returned with help, Jin Cheon-hee would already be a corpse.
Wang Gak-yeon gritted her teeth. “Cheon-hee, throw Hwang-gu away! Run! Save yourself!”
If it came down to choosing between a dog she had a bond with and a friend who had saved her life, she would choose the friend.
Gak-yeon had already made up her mind.
No matter what important information the dog held, it wasn’t more important than her friend’s life.
But Jin Cheon-hee had made a different decision.
The boy tightened the knot on the bundle. “Gak-yeon, run with all your might.”
The boy’s face twisted into a smile.
He looked almost like a madman.
At that moment, Jin Cheon-hee’s fist struck the ground.
Kwaaaang!
It contained the powerful internal energy of the Five Elements Divine Art, Metal.
But it was strange.
‘How does he have such internal energy?’
It had started with the Fire element of the Five Elements Divine Art.
Wang Gak-yeon couldn’t understand the principle of circulating and amplifying internal energy.
She was just stunned by the powerful strike.
It wasn’t even a high-level martial art. ‘That’s just the lower strike of the Samjae Fist Technique, right?’
The immense internal energy exploded through what was considered the most basic and lowly fist technique in the martial world.
And why had he struck the ground?
Some of the masked men staggered from the shock, but it wasn’t enough to incapacitate them.
However, Jin Cheon-hee had planned for the next move.
Kug—
Not far away, the sound of cracking ice could be heard.
On the snowy mountain slope, like the photos of Mount Baekdu she had seen as a child, the snow had piled up.
And snow doesn’t always stay in one place.
A slight impact could easily cause an avalanche.
Kugugugug—
“Avalanche! Run!”
Gak-yeon shouted in alarm, but Jin Cheon-hee was already gone.
The boy had already moved far away.
“Aaaah!”
Tracking and pursuit were useless against the forces of nature.
The masked men also began to run in panic.
Suddenly, Wang Gak-yeon remembered what her father, the master archer, had said.
‘The Zhuge family… they’re masters of strategy.
Their minds are more dangerous than their swords.
Strategy… I’m not sure how to explain it, daughter.’
‘Just say it’s about using the surrounding terrain and nature to annihilate or drive away the enemy.
Would that make sense?’
‘Haha, honestly, even I don’t fully understand it.
I’ve faced countless enemies, but strategy is something entirely different.’
Wang Gak-yeon realized. ‘Is this what strategy is…?’
It was different.
Very different.
The strategy she knew was about preparing in advance and waiting for the enemy to attack.
But in terms of using the surrounding terrain and natural environment to cause chaos, it seemed similar.
Kwagwagwang—!
Even the masked men cursed as they ran down the slope.
Wang Gak-yeon was no different.
And at the forefront was Jin Cheon-hee.
Amazingly, the boy was running on the snow.
He was using the Ice element of the Five Elements Divine Art on his feet.
Seeing this, the masked men panicked. “C-could it be… the Snow Treading Without Trace?”
Another fool had fallen for it.
But it was understandable.
The slope was steep, so instead of using qinggong to move his feet, the boy stepped on branches and slid down the snow quickly.
There was no way to catch up to his speed.
Jin Cheon-hee said, “I may not play golf, but I’ve done some skiing!”
To be precise, it was snowboarding.
Kung!
Hwang-gu, not understanding what was being said, wagged his tail excitedly.