In a remote village somewhere in China.
This village, a common underdeveloped region in China, was not one tourists would typically visit.
Yet, amidst the undisturbed flow of peaceful daily life, a foreigner arrived, shattering the tranquility.
He possessed long white hair and a mysterious appearance that made his gender indistinguishable.
Initially, the villagers regarded the unfamiliar stranger with suspicion, but they found themselves unable to tear their gaze away from the captivating charm of his face.
“Please accept me as your disciple.”
For three days, the foreigner who had visited the village remained kneeling before a dilapidated shack.
He had neither eaten nor drunk anything.
For three days, he waited motionless for the owner of the shack to emerge.
‘Why is he going to such lengths?’
‘Why does his gaze still burn so fiercely?’
Eventually, the shack’s owner, yielding to his unwavering resolve, invited him inside.
“I won’t ask how you found me. However, what compels you to go to such lengths for an old man who has already retired from the underworld?”
“It is absolutely essential for my master.”
‘Indeed, a master.’
Humans are beings whose resolve only strengthens when acting for someone else’s sake.
Perhaps this ‘master’ is someone more precious to him than anything.
‘I don’t know who they are, but they certainly have a fine subordinate.’
Ultimately, the old man of the shack, swayed by his conviction, smiled and handed him a single needle.
“Tell me, are you prepared to receive the teachings of the world’s foremost acupuncturist?”
“Ah…! Yes!”
Subsequently, the foreigner became his disciple and trained under the acupuncturist for approximately one month.
He possessed formidable talent and an iron will.
In a mere month, he managed to absorb everything the acupuncturist had dedicated his entire life to researching.
“Are you leaving now?”
“Yes, I am truly grateful.”
“Hmm, I hope it proves useful to this ‘master’ of yours.”
With those words, the acupuncturist bid farewell to his first and last disciple, whom he had taken in his twilight years.
In truth, he wished to detain him and learn the full story, but in this underworld, it was a principle not to inquire into each other’s affairs.
‘Yes, may you achieve your goals. My only disciple…’
Thus, the acupuncturist could not even imagine.
That his disciple had learned acupuncture merely for a part-time job at a maid café.
****
The training ground, once empty, gradually filled with people as time passed.
Initially, they had come to the training ground simply for training.
However, the intense fighting spirit emanating from the two individuals made it impossible for anyone to focus on their own training.
“Is your rest over?”
“Yes, you may begin whenever you are ready.”
The atmosphere was so charged that a fight could have erupted at any moment without seeming out of place.
Nevertheless, Meris waited for Unnamed to finish their rest.
It was a measure of respect and conscience towards someone of conviction.
Like gears that could never mesh, these two individuals were fundamentally incompatible.
Yet, for those who held convictions, respecting others who shared that trait was an essential virtue.
Unnamed, who had been seated, rose from their chair, and the two individuals moved to the center of the training ground.
As they moved, the other members who had been observing them also shifted,
and soon, an arena centered around the two fighters was formed.
“Now that I think about it, my introduction is overdue. I am U of the Journey. I began accompanying the journey towards martial arts three months ago.”
“I am M. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
After exchanging brief greetings, the two fighters simultaneously took their stances, neither waiting for the other,
-Bang!
-Whoosh!
and charged towards each other.
****
‘She is strong.’
U, as if to prove her muscles were not mere decoration, imbued each punch with overwhelming destructive power.
‘Bang!’
A deafening roar that was impossible to believe came from a mere fist.
“Ugh!”
I retreated, dodging U’s punch, but fragments from the exploding floor grazed my cheek.
However, these numerous fragments presented an opportunity for me.
The shadows created by the fragments transformed into sharp spears, each one hurled towards U.
“It’s useless no matter how many times you try!”
Shadow spears flew from all directions.
Yet, U didn’t even assume a defensive stance, simply enduring all those spears.
“No magic in this world can penetrate highly trained muscles!”
‘What absurd nonsense…!’
Though dumbfounded by the sheer ridiculousness, it was true: just as U claimed, none of my magic could penetrate her muscles.
While U also failed to inflict a fatal wound on me, my defeat was inevitable if things continued like this.
“Haa… haa…”
U’s weakness was clear.
A fighting style that relied entirely on muscles.
Her reactions were sluggish, and she possessed no discernible techniques.
It was a truly terrible match-up against my shadow manipulation.
U’s overtly predictable movements failed to ensnare my shadows.
However, my weaknesses were also evident.
The overwhelming talent and shadow magic abilities wielded by Unnamed’s body were undoubtedly potent.
Nevertheless, Unnamed’s body was simply too young.
Both its strength and stamina were far inferior to U’s.
Thankfully, speed was the one area where I could compete, thanks to shadow magic.
Moreover, I lacked a definitive strength to compensate for these weaknesses.
Conversely, U possessed a definitive strength that covered all her weaknesses.
That overwhelming musculature of U’s.
It covered all of her weaknesses.
U’s muscles were both the strongest spear and the strongest shield.
No matter how many spears I dodged, I couldn’t pierce her shield, leaving me with a suffocating sensation as her muscles seemed to tighten around my throat.
“Hahahaha! Overwhelming muscles! Only muscles are the truth of this world!”
‘Hoo…’
‘Calm down.’
‘The more anxious I become, the narrower my vision will grow.’
‘Surely U’s muscles aren’t invincible.’
‘If she truly possessed such overwhelming, invincible power, there would have been some mention of her in the original story.’
‘Even though I only played the game for a year before quitting, I still kept up with the news occasionally, so I know.’
‘U was not among the members of the Journey’s executive ‘Numbers’.’
“Pure muscles are invincible! Now, admit defeat!”
“No. Not yet.”
‘Damn it.’
‘There must be some weakness.’
‘A fatal flaw that prevented her from becoming an executive, despite possessing such muscles…’
‘Hmm?’
‘What did that person just say?’
”Pure’ muscles?’
‘Wait, could it be…!’
My narrowed vision expanded.
The hazy fog that had obscured my sight vanished, and a clear, bright light led me to the answer.
“Ha, how could I have not realized this?”
It was an absurd mistake, even to myself.
‘Did I only just realize this now?’
‘Even though the body is Unnamed’s, it seems I myself forgot that the ‘contents’ had changed.’
“U! I have a proposition.”
“Hmm? What is it? If you’re trying to call off the match now…”
“No. Let’s make a wager. If you win, I will train my muscles just like you. But if I win, you shall become a maid of this castle.”
Perhaps my words were too preposterous, for U wore a blank expression for a moment before snorting and accepting my proposal.
Although her overwhelming physique was a bit daunting, her immense stamina made her too valuable a maid candidate to let go.
****
“Heh.”
Among the spectators in the training ground.
Eight, Number 8 of the Journey, watched the spar between the two.
He was well aware of U’s overwhelming musculature, so there was nothing particularly surprising about her appearance.
However, M’s fighting style, while not astonishing, was certainly intriguing enough to capture his interest.
‘Shadow magic, that definitely has value.’
But it was merely a level of interest.
Ultimately, if she couldn’t penetrate U’s muscles, then her limits were clear.
Even considering M’s young age and the rarity of those who could pierce U’s muscles within the Journey, it was still insufficient.
Yet, Eight found himself unable to tear his gaze away from M.
‘The atmosphere has changed. Has she realized something?’
“U! I have a proposition.”
“Hmm? What is it? If you’re trying to call off the match now…”
“No. Let’s make a wager. If you win, I will train my muscles just like you. But if I win, you shall become a maid of this castle.”
“Fufu.”
At M’s audacious proposal, the murmurs among the spectators grew louder.
‘To make such a wager in such a clearly disadvantageous situation.’
‘And to tell U to become a maid—wasn’t that, to anyone’s eyes, a declaration to shamefully humiliate her?’
But her momentum had undoubtedly shifted.
M’s eyes, visible through her white mask, now burned with fighting spirit, unlike the clear exhaustion they had shown moments before.
“What are you thinking, M?”
****
‘Do you know? No matter how strong a human is, they ultimately have their limits.’
‘Humans possess countless acupoints connecting muscle to muscle.’
‘No matter how strong a human is, those acupoints cannot be trained.’
Each person’s physique and physical characteristics differ.
But acupuncture does not discriminate between individuals.
To find the gaps in the muscles and penetrate them with a fine needle.
That was the fundamental posture of acupuncture I learned from my master.
However, this was a world where a mysterious power called mana existed.
I hadn’t even considered that such a fine needle could pierce a body enveloped in mana.
‘But U clearly said ‘pure muscles’.’
Just as U had said, I hadn’t sensed any mana from her until now.
It was a blind spot I hadn’t noticed until now, precisely because I had only just awakened to the new sensation of mana.
‘So she really performed such feats with pure muscles?’
For a moment, I sensed an indescribable madness emanating from U.
‘But if it’s a pure physical body, then gaps in the muscles are bound to exist!’
“Kwahahaha! Come on, you too! To the world of muscles!”
This time, U charged at me, executing a grand, sweeping motion.
It was an action riddled with openings to any observer, but U must have acted that way, relying solely on her muscles.
“Ugh!”
Once again, I hid within the shadows, evading U’s attack.
However, I deliberately didn’t widen the distance.
At this range, even if I dodged the direct punch, I couldn’t escape its aftershock.
Fragments embedded themselves all over my body.
Minor pains clustered and converged, transforming into a massive agony, yet I could still endure this much.
“An opening.”
Having weathered the storm of fragments, I was able to burrow into U’s shadow before she could regain her stance.
Soon, shadows gathered in my hand.
The gaps in the muscles are extremely narrow, impossible to pierce with an ordinary knife.
What was needed was not a sharp blade, but simply a thin needle.
“What is that needle?! Do you think such a thing can pierce my muscles?!”
“Oh, I’ve already pierced them.”
Once within range to insert a needle, nothing can stop my acupuncture.
‘A maid cannot keep their master waiting.’
‘Swift, precise, flawless.’
‘How much effort had I poured into perfecting an acupuncture technique that embodied all three?’
“I had even trained by releasing a hundred mosquitoes into a room and piercing every single flying one with a needle.
Even U would be unable to evade my needles, which had overcome such training.
Before U could even react to my approach, I plunged shadow needles into three spots on her left arm.
Now, U’s left arm would be immobilized for a while.
“Ugh…!”
But perhaps it was because she was a member of the Journey.
Even with her left arm suddenly immobilized, U remained calm and composed, not panicking.
A powerful stomping motion, a True Kick (TL Note: ‘Jin-gak’, a martial arts term for a powerful ground stomp), forcefully executed as she slammed her foot down.
Despite being a simple foot stomp, the accompanying shockwave was anything but simple!
‘It’s too late to dodge…!’
“Ugh…!”
A storm of insane pain assailed my entire body.
But in that instant, I managed to implant a needle into U’s left leg as well.
“Haa… haa…”
“Ugh…”
Deep wounds covered my entire body.
The injuries from yesterday had reopened, and blood flowed freely.
To others, I must have looked utterly pathetic.
However, the giant of immense muscles lost her balance and collapsed to the floor.
U tried desperately to stand on one foot, but before she could, I plunged needles into her remaining leg.
“My… victory…”
“Damn… it…!”
****
Quite some time had passed since the duel ended.
I stumbled amidst the cheering spectators and eventually collapsed, only to wake up in the emergency room.
“I admit my defeat. Your conviction was firmer than mine.”
Once U could move again, she immediately sought me out and bowed her head.
I had been quite anxious, wondering if she might not accept defeat even after all this, but it seemed she wasn’t so thick-skinned.
“So, do you understand M’s intention now?”
“Yes, this world is one of the strong preying on the weak. The loser must follow the victor’s ideology. My Muscle Soul was defeated by your Maid Soul. Now, M stands for Maid.”
“Yes, that’s all that matters. If you’ve come to understand the greatness of maids, then I have nothing more to say.”
Thus, U came to acknowledge my Maid Soul, and the next day, I personally went to U’s room to fulfill the wager.
“Alright, as per our agreement, you are now a maid of this castle.”
“Wait, M. I certainly lost our wager. But a maid uniform simply doesn’t suit me…”
“No. For a maid, trivial barriers like gender or age are not an issue. Body size is also irrelevant.”
“No, but a man would naturally be a problem…”
“It. Is. Not.”
“R-Right. It’s not, then.”
Hmm, but finding a maid uniform that fits that size will definitely be difficult.
That size would probably just get in the way during cleaning.
“U, now my maid is superior to your muscles, correct?”
“Yes, as of yesterday, I acknowledge that maids are more remarkable than my muscles.”
“Then, just accept this as well.”
“W-Wait…!”
As I had done yesterday, I conjured needles in my hand and approached U.
Perhaps she remembered yesterday’s duel.
U raised her voice in fear, but realizing that as the loser she had no right to refuse, she didn’t overtly resist my needles.
‘Th-There…!’
‘Haaah…!’
‘N-No…!’
About an hour passed.
Though it was a difficult procedure, seeing the results before my eyes filled me with satisfaction.
“W-What is this…?”
The muscle monster, over 200 cm tall, was gone.
Before my eyes was only a glamorous woman, 170 cm tall.
“How on earth did you do this…?”
“I pressed the acupoints for muscle compression. It’s a basic technique for maids.”
Our café often had customers from the athletic world.
And the female masters who were athletes often confided in me about their worries that their excessive muscles made them look unattractive.
This unique acupuncture technique was something I developed for such masters.
At one point, our café was even filled with customers eager to receive this treatment.
However, it was eventually halted after I was sued by the Korean Society of Plastic Surgeons for illegal procedures.
“Now, all that remains is for you to become an excellent maid.”
Ah, Maid Goddess…
Another one transformed into a maid…
Truly, truly wonderful…♥︎
But is it just my imagination?
For some reason, U’s eyes seemed to tremble with fear, as if she were seeing some terrifying monster.
Ah, no, is she trembling with happiness at the thought of becoming a maid?
Hmm… I suppose the latter must be correct.
****
And one year passed.
