Tak— Tatak! Tak!
In the blink of an eye, one quarter of an hour became half, and half turned into a full hour, and now it had already stretched into two hours. Namgung Seolhwa and Seop Mugwang had been circling each other in a relentless game of strike and evade for two full hours already.
The moment when she’d first promised herself she wouldn’t give up until he bought her candied fruit skewers had long gone, yet Seolhwa still refused to stop. No, at this point, it wasn’t even about the skewers. It had turned into pure stubbornness.
Whoosh— Tak! Huuk— Tatat!
Seolhwa thrust forward, her right hand wielding her sword while her left palm launched a strike meant to intercept wherever the sword didn’t reach.
“You’re too hasty.”
Seop Mugwang slipped out of reach with casual ease, as though he had seen it coming. From beginning to end, his arms had remained crossed, and even now, he showed no sign of uncrossing them.
Tap.
At last, Seolhwa lowered her sword in surrender.
“Ha… haaa… ha…”
Standing in place, Seolhwa wiped at the sweat pouring down like rain with the back of her hand.
“Still, not bad. A few times you nearly surprised even me with how sharp your movements were.”
“…Was that your movement technique, Unit Leader?”
“Yes. It is a footwork called Thunder Shadow Step. A technique crafted to suit my sword.”