The basement is a no-go.
"Little Sister, even so, wouldn't it be a bit problematic for you to enter a stranger's quarters alone? Especially as a disciple of the Emei Sect, which shuns men..."
Cheongwol seemed puzzled by my intense reaction. Even so, she didn't back down.
"...Don't worry. I can protect my own body just fine."
It was as if she were saying, *As if someone like you could do anything to me.*
...Well, fair enough.
But I couldn't give up either.
"What I mean is, it would be troubling if even a blemish fell on your reputation, Little Sister. Who would look kindly on the noble one called the Emei Sect's Thousand-Year Flower getting tangled up with filth like me from the marketplace?"
At those words, Cheongwol's gaze turned icy cold in an instant.
"...That title of Emei Sect's Thousand-Year Flower—I don't like it all that much."
It felt like I was standing in the middle of a minefield.
One wrong step, and I'd end up like the cooling chunks of meat beside me.
Cheongwol opened her mouth again.
"To begin with, there aren't many people awake at this deep into the night, and the reason I want to borrow the basement is precisely to avoid people's eyes—so who do you think has seen me?"
"..."
She had a point. Not a single flaw in her logic.
..Wait, but what the hell did I leave lying around?
Why is she so damn brazen...!
*You just barge in scratching your belly, demanding a room, and I'm supposed to go, "Ah, yes"?*
"..."
...Yeah, I do. Otherwise, I'd get a sword to the gut.
But getting caught with the basement would be just as bad.
I hurriedly came up with another excuse.
"...T-Truly, Little Sister."
"Speak."
"There's already... a woman I'm secretly involved with staying in the basement."
As if my words were unexpected, Cheongwol's eyes widened for a moment.
I didn't miss the flow and added on.
"We're seeing each other in secret, away from the villagers' eyes... O-Oh, and actually, we'd arranged to spend tonight together too..."
"..."
"E-Even if you go to the basement, there's no hiding it."
Cheongwol soon composed her expression calmly and spoke.
"May I hear that lady's name?"
She already seemed skeptical.
"...As I said, it's a secret relationship."
"I've already revealed one of my secrets to you, Shop Owner. Wouldn't it be fair for you to share one of yours with me?"
*Did I ask to know your secrets?*
I really wanted to cry.
But I couldn't even spit out words like that.
Right now, the cold sword at her waist held far more persuasive power than any logic I could muster.
In the end, I couldn't withstand the pressure she was exerting and blurted out some random name.
"O-Okji's there."
"Okji...? That's a name I've never heard. Daughter of which house?"
Ah, right. She knows the village situation too.
"O-Okdan. I-I was nervous and misspoke."
"Okdan... Ah, you mean the second daughter of the village head's house?"
I'd never exchanged a word with Okdan, but right now, I had no choice but to sell her name.
*Sorry, Okdan.*
"Y-Yes, that's right."
"Isn't that Little Sister Okdan already involved with the blacksmith's son?"
...She is?
Wait, but how does a nun reciting sutras in the mountains know the village gossip better than I do?
Even if I keep my distance from people, isn't this a bit much?
"...No, how do you know that, Cheongwol Little Sister?"
At my question, Cheongwol averted her gaze slightly for the first time and answered.
"...My senior and junior sisters are quite interested in worldly romances between men and women, so I end up hearing things now and then."
*High school? News spreads like wildfire when someone dates.*
...*And yet you didn't know my name?*
I answered for now.
"W-Well... Okdan-i and I have a c-complicated relationship, I'll say."
Cheongwol looked unconvinced.
After fidgeting with her lips for a while, she finally spoke.
"...As I said, my senior and junior sisters are so interested in men-women affairs that I've heard a bit about you too, Shop Owner. I know you don't get much attention from the village women."
"...Pardon?"
"...You're a bit of a loner."
*Fuck off.*
"Is Little Sister Okdan really in the basement?"
I couldn't answer.
My brilliant lie had been exposed just like that.
"..."
"..."
Cheongwol softened her attitude.
"...I know it's troubling for you, Shop Owner. But I can't very well show this state to our Sect Leader either."
Her blood-soaked appearance.
"If you feel even a shred of gratitude for me having dealt with those bandits you might have run into... please help me out this once."
"..."
I had no more excuses to pull out.
Thinking about it, she probably didn't like my attitude either.
I hadn't even fully become a villain yet, and she'd wiped out bandits I might have encountered, but here I was refusing to show even a bit of thanks.
...From that perspective, this could come back to bite me later, couldn't it?
When I'm one of the Demonic Cult's Seven Heavens, slaughtering people left and right, today's events might become an issue.
In the future, what if she says, *"Shop Owner, you turned your back on me that day,"*?
...Hmm.
That assumption deflated my momentum, even if I'd die before letting it happen.
...Fine, as long as I don't show her the basement.
"...Help you this once, and then we each go our separate ways."
I said.
"I'll completely forget today's events, so believe me when I say you'll forget too. And after this, don't... bring any harm to me."
"How could I ever harm you, Shop-"
"-Promise me."
I said firmly.
We both understood our situations were abnormal.
She'd mercilessly killed people, so how could I refuse a simple request like this?
Since things had come to this, I had to get something out of it.
"I promise."
Cheongwol replied.
Making a pact with a future villain felt strange, but in the end, I was the one who backed down.
"Use the room inside the shop as you like. I'll go down to the basement and won't come out until dawn... Rest well or leave at first light, whatever suits you."
Cheongwol brushed back her hair and nodded.
"...Thank you."
****
After deciding not to get involved with the martial world, the hardest thing for me was...
Hunger?
Actually, that wasn't a big issue.
It was harder to starve clinging to Beggars' Sect beggar uncles.
Cold?
The Beggars' Sect saved me there too.
They had plenty of chivalrous middle-aged guys, and I endured the cold with them.
They stank a bit, but their blankets kept me warm.
As I grew up, I wondered if I should keep begging, but the Beggars' Sect is for people with no material desires and pure chivalry.
A greedy, ordinary guy like me couldn't hack it.
I'd already decided not to get tangled with the martial world anyway.
Over those ten years, I learned skills, honed them, gained independence from the Beggars' Sect uncles, and set up my own Leather Room on this land.
The Leather Room I established sounded nice, but it was really just a general store.
I made and sold straw ropes, grass shoes... anything to make a living.
Loneliness?
That wasn't much of an issue either.
I just wasn't the type to get lonely easily to begin with.
Plus, unlike modern society, in this martial world, even if you want to live alone, you have to mingle with people to survive, so frequent chats with neighbors left no room for loneliness.
Nostalgia?
I thought of my homeland now and then, but just occasionally.
It didn't shake me much.
So what was the hardest?
Boredom.
In martial arts novels, staying away from the martial world made daily life drab.
There was just nothing to do.
A forced detox life imposed on me, whose dopamine system was wrecked by smartphones and games.
I was going insane from the tedium.
There was nothing.
Games, YouTube, SNS, movies, even porn—only after they vanished did I realize how good they were.
No books, no news.
Nothing but staring at clouds.
It'd probably feel like an FM temple stay.
Ever wondered what you'd do if dropped in the Joseon era?
I know the answer.
What else? Just sit counting ants.
Scavenge scraps when hungry.
The Beggars' Sect didn't survive on info for nothing.
Surprisingly, in this world, beggars eat well.
Beyond being proud members of the Nine Great Righteous Sects, they lived as martial world journalists, you could say.
This world was so damn boring that demand for the Beggars' Sect's info overflowed.
Beggars' Sect beggars picked up fun stories from inns and relayed them to other innkeepers, getting light meals in return.
The innkeeper sold those stories to customers paying premium for drinks.
Then those customers bragged the info around, scoring free drinks from bored folks.
That was this era's entertainment. That's why someone like Cheongwol became hot gossip.
Why am I telling this story?
The Beggars' Sect info held little thrill for me, who roughly knew the future, so to alleviate the boredom, what I chose was...
...Out of nowhere, but SM.
I had a slight fetish for that side, and learning leatherworking... they kinda merged.
The small two-pyeong space behind the Leather Room sales counter.
Cheongwol had washed up in a nearby stream and changed into clothes I provided.
It was a fairy-and-woodcutter moment earlier. Horror edition.
She was so beautiful like this, but I had zero urge to peek.
If caught, she'd really gouge my eyes out.
"...Sleep here."
I said to Cheongwol, whose hair was still damp.
"Thank you."
"...I'll head down."
After guiding her to my bed, I opened the basement door three steps away on the floor.
Cheongwol knew I was hiding something, and I knew I was acting awkward.
After a suffocating game of chicken, I swallowed dryly and descended to the basement.
Being careful not to let the basement interior show through the open door was a given.
-Thud.
I closed the basement door, went down the stairs...
"...Ha."
The room revealed by the flickering candle.
Beyond the tools for making drums...
Leather handcuffs. Collar. Restraint frame. Whip. Gag. Cat-ear headband.
A wooden doll hanging from the ceiling in a turtle-shell binding.
Anyone could see it was a torture chamber.
Dim and sinister.
"...I'm losing it."
I plopped down in place and sighed.
I hadn't noticed when making them out of boredom, but now they were utterly embarrassing.
Even setting shame aside, if anyone saw this space, I'd be branded an unorthodox fiend and lose my head.
If Cheongwol found out.
*"...Why is this wooden doll tied up?"*
*"Ah, that's a pig."*
*"...It's human-shaped?"*
*"But we call it a pig."*
...I'd die. Definitely.
Even after returning to the Demonic Cult, Cheongwol never shed her haughtiness, elegance, and femininity.
The chaste Emei Sect ethos was etched into her bones.
She couldn't possibly understand this.
Was it even possible?
Even modern people recoil at SM, thinking of violence and perversion first.
Could martial artists without that knowledge understand?
Truthfully, once you get past the entry barrier, you realize SM isn't that weird.
It's not about wearing weird winged blindfolds, cackling "ohoho," and whipping.
People come in all forms, and so do SM forms and intensities.
Low-intensity SM tendencies are more common than you think.
People who want choking during sex, or begging.
Those who like hair-pulling, giving or receiving.
People who want to bite and mark their partner's body, or thrill at seeing bite marks on themselves.
Spanking lovers, giving or receiving.
*"You're mine,"* forcing possession, or *"I'm yours,"* submitting and thrilling in response.
The base desire for your partner to depend only on you, or wanting to depend on them.
Wanting to be called "Master" or call someone "Master."
Even those craving liberation by shedding pressures and expectations, following only their master's word.
All of it has a touch of BDSM.
It just makes relationships stickier and more intense.
That's all it was for me.
I had sadistic tendencies too, but not to the point of wanting to see someone battered and writhing.
Just seeing a woman's eyes tear up from a gentle slap?
Or a woman who, despite the shame, follows my every word through deep trust?
If this weren't such a brutally boring world, I wouldn't have gone this far.
I'd have kept it all to fantasies.
But here, with no audiovisual stimuli, not even dirty thoughts come easy.
In the end, I had to craft actual toys to fuel my headcanons.
Fantasies alone work once or twice. After that, reality hits, and you can't.
I'd learned that bone-deep in the military.
I'd just made the toys one by one to kill time, without much thought...!
Not grinning lecherously or anything—just doodling them like hentai sketches...
"...Haa."
I scratched my head and steeled myself.
...Still, don't freak out too much.
It'll be fine for now.
First, I just need to survive today.
...Gotta find a place to hide this stuff for now—
-Knock knock knock.
Someone knocked on the basement door above.
*'Shop Owner.'*
It was Cheongwol.
"Y-Yes... yes!"
I bolted to the door and grabbed the handle in panic.
From beyond the door, she said quietly.
*'Can we talk for a moment?'*
"T-The day has been exhausting, and I wish to rest now! P-Please understand!"
*'...'*
Silence again.
Her footsteps, her breath—everything vanished into quiet.
I pressed my forehead and exhaled deeply.
"...Haa..."
...I'm losing it.
Could I really make it through the day unscathed—
-Rattle!!
In that instant, the basement door flew open.
I lost grip on the handle I'd been clutching.
"Wha... wha..."
Frozen in the sudden turn, I didn't know what to do.
Cheongwol looked down at me with cold eyes.
Chill air flowed in.
My heart clenched. A shrinking sensation.
"L-Little Sister... wh-why so suddenly..."
Why. What the hell.
Why are you doing this?
Doubt filled her eyes, and seeing me sitting on the stairs as if blocking her deepened it further.
"....I suddenly felt uneasy."
After a long silence, she whispered.
And only then did her future moniker come to mind.
Life-Pursuing Ghost Cheongwol.
The ghost that chases lives.
The incarnation of obsession that never lets go once it bites.
...Thinking about it, she wouldn't tolerate unease.
"...What are you hiding so desperately? And why were you so afraid of me, Shop Owner? I was clearly helping you."
My lips dried up. I barely opened my mouth.
"S-Seeing someone die like that... it's my first time...!"
But this crazy woman didn't seem to grasp such perfectly reasonable words.
"...No. That wasn't the feeling. Something was off. That subtle wariness, as if facing an unorthodox master... it bothers me."
*How is her intuition this sharp...!*
"...The basement seems suspicious too. Do you have ties to the Hao Gate?"
"Pardon?"
Her suspicion stabbed at me without hesitation now.
"Or perhaps some collusion with those bandits earlier...? No, I'll check myself. That way... that way I can trust the Shop Owner who knows my secret."
"H-How can you...!"
Cheongwol didn't wait any longer and tried to pass me.
I clung to her legs.
"Wait...! Hold...!"
But I couldn't stop a martial artist, especially Cheongwol.
Clinging to her hem, I tumbled down the stairs, dragged into the basement.