Martial Arts Ain't Anything Special-Chapter 53: Grown Up Chunbong

The evening of the day the martial arts tournament ended.

He waited until evening for Chunbong, who always fell asleep after treating her blocked meridians.

For the first time in his life, Seojun truly understood what it meant for the seconds to feel like a year.

No joke, his hands and feet were literally trembling.

He had to destroy the meaning of his life with his own hands.

It was akin to taking his own life, comparable to an unforgivable act of impiety.

“Argh...!”

“Sigh... Should we just not do it?”

“No! We have to! My Chunbong needs to live long and healthy!”

“Then stop that you bastard! Listen for once?! I said stop with the bullshit!”

“B-But...”

“What, am I just a pair of cheeks to you!?”

“Not entirely... maybe about thirty percent?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

An annoyed Chunbong started nibbling on Seojun.

Her cheeks were 30% of her? So if her chubby cheeks disappeared, only 70% of her would remain?!

As she thought about it, Chunbong started to get genuinely angry and widened her eyes.

“Oh come on, Miss Geum. It’s just a joke. You’re still Chunbong even without the chubby cheeks.”

“Hmph.”

“I mean it, I swear! Though I might get a bit depressed.”

What am I supposed to touch if her chubby cheeks disappear?

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Should I make her gain weight in her belly instead?

Chunbong looked at Seojun seriously contemplating this with disdain before plopping down on the floor.

“Enough, let’s just start. If we keep this up, I might fall into qi deviation from anger.”

“Ah...! We can’t have that.”

Seojun quickly took out the Plum Blossom Pill.

A fragrant plum blossom scent instantly filled the room.

“Alright, say ah~”

“Ah~”

“Good girl.”

Seojun patted her head as she swallowed the pill like a baby bird.

Then, gulp—

She swallowed the Plum Blossom Pill.

Now it begins.

Seojun’s eyes turned serious.

*Today’s goal was to almost completely heal Chunbong’s blocked meridians.

While he couldn’t yet touch the cold qi clustered deep inside, he felt he could purify everything else.

Seojun placed his hand on Chunbong’s back, concentrating as he guided the distinct yang qi of the Plum Blossom Pill.

The yin qi inside Chunbong and the yang qi of the Plum Blossom Pill.

As these opposing energies met, they both began to lose strength.

What happens when you mix hot and cold water?

If you get the ratio right, you end up with lukewarm water.

It means the qi becomes neither strongly yin nor yang.

And that qi is the most comfortable state for most martial artists to absorb.

With both the Plum Blossom Pill’s energy and the energy from the blocked meridians turning into this neutral state, wasn’t this like a buy-one-get-one-free deal?

Thus, Chunbong’s inner qi began to increase exponentially.

During this process, Seojun caught the overflowing energy and packed it back into Chunbong, intervening to make the treatment of her blocked meridians more efficient.

After about two hours, the treatment was complete.

Seojun nodded with satisfaction as he confirmed Chunbong’s now full dantian.

“Yep. That’s how it should be.”

Since her cheeks would slim down, at least her dantian should be full.

His eyes were filled with sorrow as he watched Chunbong sleeping peacefully.

*“Mmm...”

Chunbong woke up and her eyes flew open at the overflowing energy that made her feel like she could fly.

“Oh, ohh...?”

She felt full of strength, and a quick check confirmed her inner qi was also brimming.

“Oh!”

Even her blocked meridians were almost completely healed.

At this level, she wouldn’t fall too far behind compared to Lee Seojun.

If he tried to do something dangerous again, she could fight alongside him now.

“Hey! Lee Seo... jun?”

When she looked at her big brother with a beaming smile, she couldn’t help but be bewildered.

“What are you doing...?”

Seojun was sitting cross-legged in a corner of the room.

His expression was so serene, as if he were about to ascend to immortality.

With that guy, it wouldn’t be strange if he suddenly did ascend.

Worried, Chunbong cautiously approached him.

“A-Are you okay...?”

“I’m fine. More than fine.”

Seojun chuckled.

This bastard’s finally lost it!

Chunbong felt a chill run down her spine as she grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

“Hey! Snap out of it! Do you want to touch my cheeks!?”

“Your cheeks? Touch them? How?”

Seojun opened his eyes.

In his profound gaze, Chunbong saw her own reflection—her figure, now more mature with her baby fat gone, revealing her womanly features.

“Wh-Wha...!?”

A surprised Chunbong fumbled around to find her sword and drew it.

Her reflection in metal showed a fresh-faced appearance befitting her seventeen years.

While she looked a bit younger than other women her age, it was to a degree that could be explained away as having a baby face.

Pat pat—

Chunbong felt her cheeks.

Her baby fat hadn’t completely disappeared, but it had noticeably reduced compared to before.

Chunbong was secretly pleased, but also a bit worried.

She couldn’t predict how that crazy chubby cheek lover would react.

“Ah...”

Just then, Seojun’s lips parted.

There was a strange eeriness in the way only his lips moved while maintaining an expression of enlightened serenity.

“Life and death are one. Chubby cheeks are there and then they’re not, not there and then they are. I’m overjoyed that you’re healthier, but devastated that your chubby cheeks are gone.”

“Um...?”

“Yin and yang are no different. They too ultimately originate from primordial chaos. They’re not opposites, but merely streams that have branched off from a single source.”

“...”

Has this bastard gained some sort of enlightenment?

Chunbong quietly closed her mouth.

Meanwhile, Seojun, his eyes half-open, gathered and absorbed the rushing streams of thoughts.

Yin and yang. Emptiness and fullness. Chubby and slim. Soft and firm.

Where did Chunbong’s lost chubby cheeks go?

If this were a world where the law of conservation of energy applied, such a massive amount of energy couldn’t have just evaporated in an instant.

Seojun examined his own mental landscape.

Endless sky. Turbulent river. Blooming plum blossoms. Rising and setting sun and moon.

Fragments of images too numerous to count on his fingers were scattered about chaotically.

Seojun examined that world more closely.

It must be here somewhere.

After searching for a long time, he finally found it.

One Chunbong. Two Chunbongs. Three Chunbongs.

As if counting sheep in his sleep, he counted chubby-cheeked Geum Chunbongs, his mind drifting.

I found it...

The chubby cheeks hadn’t disappeared.

Though he could no longer touch them with his hands, Chunbong’s chubby cheeks still existed in his heart.

That’s right. The chubby cheeks are already inside me.

Look! Aren’t there so many Geum Chunbongs inside me!?

His chest swelled with euphoria.

His elevated spirit soared endlessly upward, while his calmed mind settled as still as the surface of a motionless lake.

Only when emptied can one be truly full.

That is the nature of the mind, and of chubby cheeks. Nothing changes even if the chubby cheeks are gone.

The same applies to yin and yang.

Even if yang turns to yin, its essence doesn’t change.

In the end, yin and yang will come together to form the Supreme Polarity that is Non-polar and Primordial Chaos.

“Ah...!”

Seojun’s eyes flew open.

The golden light flowing from his eyes filled the room in an instant.

He suddenly raised both hands and infused them with qi.

Murky primordial chaos dwelled in those hands.

The origin. The single great stream that is the starting point.

Yin and yang merely branch off from it.

Release────────!!

Golden yang qi gathered in Seojun’s right hand and simultaneously, blue yin qi gathered in his left.

“That’s right, Chunbong. Your chubby cheeks are inside me.”

Chunbong, who had been watching him, gaped.

“What the fuck is this bastard doing...?”

In all her life, she’d never seen someone gain enlightenment through chubby cheeks.

*After organizing his insight, Seojun sprang to his feet.

He could feel it.

One step forward.

With that small step, he could cross over.

The Transcendent Realm.

He could see a half-crumbled wall before him.

No longer obsessing and letting it flow, Seojun looked at Chunbong in front of him.

Her face had matured quite a bit overnight.

While she hadn’t grown much taller, her facial features had become considerably more mature.

Her chest...

“Oh no.”

“Where the fuck are you looking?”

“It’s okay. They say a woman isn’t just her breasts...”

“Die!”

He got hit.

“Hey, hey! Wait! Ow, ow! It hurts!”

“Stop talking nonsense!”

“No, really! It fucking hurts for real!”

Chunbong’s eyes widened as she stepped back slightly and felt her own body.

“Ah.”

Had she realized how much stronger she’d become?

She awkwardly approached and rapidly patted his shoulder.

“Ow... Yeah, that’s it.”

This is the right amount of strength.

As Seojun’s expression relaxed, Chunbong chuckled.

“It doesn’t hurt now, right?”

“Nope. It’s just right.”

Seojun reached his hand out of habit.

His target was Chunbong’s chubby cheeks.

Squish—

As he kneaded what little remained of her chubby cheeks, Seojun’s eyes flew wide open.

“Huh...!”

Seojun suddenly sat up straight.

Then he grabbed Chunbong’s face with both hands and started frantically kneading her cheeks.

“Oh, ohh...!”

How could this be possible?

He hadn’t expected this at all.

Beyond the heavens, there are more heavens. It was indeed true.

While the quantity had decreased, the quality had improved.

How can the feel of her chubby cheeks get even better...!?

“I acknowledge you, Geum Chunbong...! Your chubby cheeks have reached the Profound Realm...!”

“...What are you talking about.”

Chunbong’s lips curled up slightly.

*It was while he was lost in the sensation of those Profound Realm cheeks.

“Are you there?”

Seojun snapped back to reality at the familiar voice.

“Huh...!”

It had definitely been morning, but looking out the window, it was almost noon.

“...Who is it?”

“It’s me. Namgung Suah.”

“Ah, I see.”

Seojun looked at Chunbong.

Having gained confidence in her own cheeks, she arrogantly nodded.

“Hmm. Let’s meet her.”

“Okay.”

Hiding behind Chunbong, he opened the door, and the first thing that caught his eye was her chest.

What the...

Come to think of it, he remembered Namgung Suah’s chest being smaller than usual during the martial arts tournament.

Was she wearing a compression bandage or something?

As he looked up from her chest in renewed surprise, his eyes met Namgung Suah’s strange gaze.

“Would you like to touch them?”

“No, what? Are you crazy?”

This woman is really not in her right mind.