NoveLight ™
Like the blazing flames of her red hair, the girl made a vow when she entered the academy. She swore she would never lose to Choi Si-woo, chosen by the Celestial Star as the next user of the Divine Sword, and especially not to Yoonha, the younger sister of the current Divine Sword wielder, Yoon Jin-seok.
The reason was simple.
Her mentor, Kim Jae-soo, the famous S-class spear hunter from Korea, had taken her in after she lost her parents to monsters near a gate. He had raised her as the successor of the Flame Spear, and she owed him a great deal. But there was one thing her mentor was particularly obsessed with: defeating Yoon Jin-seok, the man who had risen to the ranks of heroes solely because he was chosen as the Divine Sword user, even though he was a junior to Kim Jae-soo.
Kim Jae-soo had never managed to defeat him due to the vast difference in power. Thus, the girl vowed to surpass both Choi Si-woo, known as the second Divine Sword, and Yoonha, the Divine Sword wielder’s highly regarded younger sister. Ultimately, she aimed to defeat Yoon Jin-seok himself.
However, on the very first day of the ability test, she lost to both of them.
When she first saw the results, she couldn’t believe it. Impossible. How could a score of 9999 even exist? Yoonha must have cheated, leveraging her brother’s influence to rig the results. There was no other explanation for why she, the disciple of the renowned Flame Spear Kim Jae-soo, had ranked fifth.
Even worse, she lost to Choi Si-woo as well. It was a disgrace.
But the time for redemption came swiftly. The very next day, there was a practice sparring session that allowed those with abilities to test their strength against one another. Choi Si-woo, fitting of a Divine Sword wielder, advanced through the ranks, while Yoonha defeated her opponent with nothing but taunts, not even using her abilities. Choi Si-woo she could understand, but Yoonha was just a fraud.
She revised her assessment of Yoonha and reached her fateful duel with Choi Si-woo.
"Choi Si-woo, I’ve wanted to fight you!" "Haha, did I do something to upset you?"
He looked like a pretty boy, the kind who believed he was righteous and misunderstood just how great he thought he was. He unsheathed the Divine Sword. In response, she raised the Flame Spear, passed down to her by Kim Jae-soo.
"Don’t go showing off just because you’re the Divine Sword! I’ll take you and Yoonha down!"
She had to win, no matter what. She had to.
"Damn it. It’d be one thing if it was just me, but you’re going after Yoonha too? Isn’t that a bit unfair?"
Choi Si-woo must’ve fallen for that fraud, Yoonha. A hunter who gets caught up in romance becomes weak, and there was no way she would lose to such people.
"Hmph! You’re just obstacles in my way! Once I take you down, I’ll make that white-haired girl kneel before me!" "Don’t call my friend a white-haired girl!" "Hmph, come at me."
The battle that followed was fierce. If not for the practice match limitations, it could have been to the death.
Clang! Clang! Clash!
But something was wrong.
As Kim Jae-soo’s disciple, she was supposed to surpass him. Yet, she was being pushed back by Choi Si-woo, who had no mentor other than his connection to the Celestial Star. She couldn’t keep up.
"Kuh!"
She tried to resist until the very end, but it was futile. No matter how many times her spear clashed with his sword, she was being driven back. Some say that in a match of equals, the spear should win, but here she was, losing to a sword. She had to admit it—this was a total defeat.
As she came to terms with it, her grip faltered, and she dropped the Flame Spear. Choi Si-woo, smiling in victory, held his sword close to her. As much as she hated to admit it, she had lost. Just as she was about to declare her surrender, Choi Si-woo sheathed his sword and raised his hands.
"I think we should end it here. I surrender." "What?"
She couldn’t understand it. Surrender? Was this some pathetic attempt at pity?
"It’s not just my fight to beat you. Yoonha deserves revenge too. I believe in lady’s first."
But it wasn’t even pity. He was saying she should face Yoonha. It was a humiliation of a different kind. Fine. If that’s how it was going to be, she’d do it. Han Soo-ji steeled herself, picked up her spear again, and prepared to spar with Yoonha once the instructor gave the go-ahead.
"Choi Si-woo may have beaten me, but I won’t lose to you!"
This time, she would win. No way would she lose to a fraud like Yoonha. But Yoonha simply stared at her with that signature blank expression, as if she wasn’t even worth her attention. For a while, she gazed at Han Soo-ji without a word, then looked up at the sky.
"The sky is so clear today." "What?" "On a day like this, it’d be a shame to let a crazy bitch run around not knowing her place."
Was she talking about her? What arrogance.
"Your loose mouth is going to get you stabbed. Won’t that hurt more?"
At her words, Yoonha lazily shifted her eyes back to Han Soo-ji.
"They say the only cure for a mad dog is a beating."
Without paying her any more attention, Yoonha adjusted her stance and drew a small knife from her belt.
"Do you think you can beat me with just a knife?" "Will you make the sky I see darker or brighter?"
What was she even talking about? As she prepared to retort, the instructor slammed her bat into the ground.
"Alright, enough talking. Begin!"
Beep!
There was no way she’d lose to someone like Yoonha. Enveloping her Flame Spear in fire, she charged forward. Yoonha didn’t even move. She thought she could win, but then—
Thud!
Suddenly, pain shot through her lower abdomen. Before she could react, Yoonha’s fist had already slammed into her stomach.
"Urk?" "At this moment, I’m really glad that I’m Yoonha."
Thud!
"It’s better for a woman to hit another woman."
Thud!
Her speed was too fast. There was no chance to resist. Was she even faster than Yoon Jin-seok, who was nicknamed the ‘Flash’? No doubt about it.
"Don’t you think it’s better to watch a woman hit another woman?"
"Argh!" "Too slow."
Yoonha easily dodged her final desperate strike and whispered in her ear.
[I was waiting for this.]
Before Han Soo-ji could react, Yoonha was behind her, kneeing her in the stomach and positioning her like a scolded child about to be spanked.
"What… what are you doing? Stop. I… I’m sorry."
There was no way she would actually—
Smack!
Yoonha’s hand came down hard on her butt. She couldn’t even form proper words, only babbling incoherently.
What kind of hand is this? And why is Yoonha humiliating her like this?
"Didn’t your mom tell you not to bully your friends at school?" "Ack! Why are you acting like my mom?" "Talking back, are you? Stay still!"
Smack! Smack!
"Did you do something wrong or not?" "I did! I’m sorry! I won’t bully anyone again! Please stop hitting me!"
Smack! Smack!
"Think of this as loving discipline!"
"Hic!"
No matter how many times she told her to stop, Yoonha kept spanking her. At first, it hurt, but then… the pain began to feel strange.
"Huff… huff… ugh…"
Without realizing it, she started moaning. She tried to hold it in, but it was no use. Why was she making these sounds?
After what felt like an eternity of being spanked, Han Soo-ji, in tears, apologized profusely to Yoonha and fled the sparring ring. Later, once she had calmed down, she apologized to Choi Si-woo as well.
Now that she thought about it, Choi Si-woo was quite handsome, and he had good manners too. He wasn’t Yoon Jin-seok, but as the new Divine Sword, she could like him. She justified it to herself.
So, she apologized to Choi Si-woo, but…
"Don’t just apologize to me. Apologize to Yoonha as well." "Right."
Choi Si-woo told her to apologize to Yoonha too, but she couldn’t do it right away. She thought Choi Si-woo was being overly protective of Yoonha, and that’s why she went to see her much later than planned.
Looking back, she regretted not just apologizing and leaving that day.
Smooch
Yoonha was a lesbian. A woman who liked women. At first, when she saw Yoonha smoking, she thought Yoonha was no match for Choi Si-woo and intended to chew her out. Apologizing was a separate issue. But then, Yoonha revealed she wasn’t interested in Choi Si-woo at all. In fact, Yoonha liked women, and Han Soo-ji had walked right into her trap.
Caught off guard by Yoonha’s sudden adult kiss, Han Soo-ji couldn’t do anything but passively receive it. Yoonha, seemingly experienced, didn’t stop at just a kiss. Her hands wandered to Han Soo-ji’s chest and under her skirt, teasing and toying with her.
Han Soo-ji, who was supposed to be one of Choi Si-woo’s heroines in the original story, had her first kiss taste like cigarettes.
And that was how she awakened to the world of yuri.