Cowardly Warrior | Taehyung ✔

The Cheater

PART 2: ADULTHOOD     

7 years later - Mongol Empire, Yuan Dynasty

As time went by, I became stronger both physically and mentally. It took me years, but I thought less and less of Tae. I became closer to Suga and Jin and they became my best friends. We robbed rich people's houses occasionally, which was ironic since Jin and I both were rich.

    But they still didn't know about my true identity, and thought I was poor. Jin obviously couldn't rob his own house, although he wish he could. Jin's business wasn't that evil though- his father just went out of the kingdom to bring foreign, valuable items and sold it to other wealthy people. So we robbed the tax keepers who stole much more from the poor than required.

    We distributed those riches to the townspeople.

     But I became bored with the occasional robberies- I wanted to do some good on my own.

Chinua loved cooking and learning so many new things at the women's academy, so she extended her class time there. Which meant I was able to walk around the kingdom, free from the palace walls for hours. And whenever I saw trouble, I'd jump to help.

If I saw an old woman's purse being stolen, I'd chase after the thief. If I saw wealthy  merchants threatening storeowners, I'd protect them. I was surprised with how common these small crimes occurred.

Inside of the palace, I was so guarded and was so sure that the outside world was the same. But it wasn't- there was nobody to protect the poor and defenseless. Which means I had to.

    Suga nicknamed me the Cheater. If there are no rules involved, I'll usually win the fight. Or At least escape from it successfully if there were too many opponents.

Suga remained to be the fastest runner in the class, Jin was the strongest and beat everyone in arm wrestling. Hobi was great at throwing spears- he had a fantastic eye and could hit the target the best and farthest.

I had an odd talent. I sometimes lost at the battles if there were various rules involved, but when it was a "free for all" battle, I almost always won. I was great at avoiding people's attacks and defending myself. My talent was to calculate other people's attacks and focus on using less energy while the attackers prioritized using all of their energy.

Master Haden says he's never seen a battling style like mine. Fighting is upon strength- who's more muscular, who's more agile, who's better. But mine was based upon both braun and brain, and it worked.

I was the best at tying knots though. Hobi used to make fun of it for being an "easy, girly" talent, but he saw how I'd tie my opponents sleeves and even entangled limbs at strange angles. He's even asked me to teach him once, but I don't think we're friends yet.

It's okay, because I've definitely gotten Hobi's respect. Even though he'd never admit it.

     Although Jin and Suga acted strange with me at times, they barely questioned my identity. They never even questioned my gender either- maybe I fooled them or they didn't care enough to ask. I think they valued our friendship more than who I really was.

     And after the day I sent Tae the letter, Erden's Academy never contacted me again. I never received another strange letter from them. Was Tae behind those letters from my past? Or someone else? 

     I guess I'll never know, but I had too much in my own life to care. I was now twenty one years old, a formidable marriageable age. I didn't accomplish much in school because I simply did the bare minimum. Although I was academically talented when I was younger, hours of roaming outside the palace was physically draining.