Ready to be taken out? (4)
He had never really thought about it. No, thinking about it at all was a little strange in itself.
But perhaps precisely because of that, Chung Myung was now feeling it keenly, down to his bones.
The preciousness of having someone he could hit.
“H-hiiii, hihieeeeeek!”
Baaaaaaam!
Chung Myung’s fist buried itself straight into the cheek of the Black Water Manor member who had been backing away.
“Grrrrrrrr!”
At the same time, Chung Myung trembled as if a recoil had run through him.
This impact! This feel in his hand!
Why had he never known? That this sensation was what made life worth living.
– Get a hold of yourself, Chung Myung. You’re a Taoist…
Ah, that’s just because you’re dead, Sahyeong, and can’t taste this pleasure.
Chung Myung’s eyes began to gleam more and more with madness.
He had been beaten before for hitting someone he wanted to hit, but Chung Myung had never once been unable to hit someone he wanted to hit. Wasn’t his life one in which he would rather choose to drop dead than live while holding that back?
But after meeting that scoundrel Seok Hanbin, and enduring the need to restrain his fists for the first time in his life, an unimaginable fury had built up inside him.
And now, before his eyes, there were bastards he could hit. Sapa bastards, at that.
“Come here! Aren’t you coming here?”
“H-hiiiii, hiiiiiek!”
Baaaaaaam!
Chung Myung struck the jaw of the Sapa bastard before him and sent him flying up into the sky, then burst into maniacal laughter and pounced on the Black Water Manor member behind him.
“Aaagh! S-Spare me…!”
“What? Spare you? The bastard begging to be spared is charging at me with a sword?”
“I was wrong! I’m sorr…”
“Then why did you do wrong in the first place, you bastard!”
Bam!
“I’m at the end of my damned rope! Huh? I’m not even someone with a temper, but because of you bastards, I can’t help but get angry! Die! You bastard! Die!”
Chung Myung, his eyes rolling white, cheerfully beat the man pinned beneath him. He beat him so violently that even armed Black Water Manor members turned pale and could not bring themselves to approach.
Yoon Jong, who had been staring blankly at the sight, glanced over at Baek Cheon.
“…Shouldn’t we stop him?”
“How? A Taoist says he’s going to beat up Sapa bastards. How am I supposed to stop that?”
“…To my eyes, it looks like nothing but a mad dog biting people.”
“It’s what other people see that matters, I suppose.”
Would it really look any different to other people?
Yoon Jong shook his head.
“Well, true enough.”
At that moment, one of the Black Water Manor members rushed in, swinging a great broadsword in one stroke and aiming for his head.
Paaat!
Yoon Jong’s sword, extending cleanly, met the incoming blade with precision.
Kaaang!
“Keurgh… W-What is this?”
The instant the sword and blade collided, the Black Water Manor member, unable to withstand the recoil, staggered backwards and then farther back like a drunken man. With eyes full of disbelief, he stared at Yoon Jong’s sword, which remained extended without the slightest tremor.
“Then I’ll put my mind at ease too.”
“Go easy. Easy.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not as if I’m Chung Myung.”
“That’s exactly why I’m saying it…”
Baek Cheon let out a deep sigh.
Because he had seen the corners of Yoon Jong’s eyes twitching little by little for a while now. He could not know for certain, but it seemed that from the moment Yoon Jong had seen the torture tools Chung Myung pointed out, his anger had risen all the way to the top of his head.
As Chung Myung had said, those torture tools surely had not been used among themselves, which meant the victims must all have been common folk of Jinan.
In such a situation, telling Yoon Jong to hold back his anger was asking too much.
“I am merely going to teach them the way human beings ought to behave.”
“Yes… just don’t kill them.”
Yoon Jong rushed forward without even answering. Baek Cheon could only shake his head.
“Mm, then I suppose I should do something too.”
Baek Cheon lifted his sword and looked for a place to charge into.
“Let’s see. Over there is…”
“You bastards, do you have any idea who I am!”
Where Baek Cheon’s gaze landed, Jo Geol was quite literally running wild.
Each time sword flashed once through the air, two or three Black Water Manor members clutched some part of their bodies and collapsed. It did seem he was avoiding their vital points, but that absolutely did not mean his sword strikes were merciful.
Jo Geol’s sword energy, which seemed to have grown even faster in that short time, was sweeping through the enemies like rays of light.
‘Not there.’
Baek Cheon turned his head to the opposite side.
“That way is……”
Swaaaaaaaaaa!
“Aaagh! My eyes! My eyes!“
“What do you mean your eyes? I hit your eyebrow! Stop whining and stand straight!”
“Aaaagh!”
Tang Soso, with a sword in one hand and a long needle in the other, was tearing into the Black Water Manor members like a starving tiger.
That place was no good either. If he pointlessly went near her, he might end up with a needle stuck in his back…
“Then…….”
“Amitabha!”
Buuuuuuuuung!
“Aaaaaaaaaagh!”
Those struck by Hye Yeon’s fist force were sent flying over the wall four or five at a time.
“We definitely agreed to go easy……”
No, wait, for a monk, that was going easy. Right…
As for Yu Iseol… There was no particular need to say anything. If he suddenly thought he heard a scream from somewhere, Yu Iseol had already cut down two or three and moved somewhere else.
Baek Cheon scratched his head, then lowered his sword slightly. There was simply nowhere for him to step in.
To begin with, this was not an evenly matched fight. Were these not the seven who had fought even against those men they met in the Northern Sea Ice Palace? Telling people like that to deal with an Evil Sect group whose name had merely spread around the streets of Jinan? This was no different from hoping that a dragon and a loach would have a serious fight.
Kiiiiiiiiii!
“Ah, right.”
How bad must it be if even that weasel was running wild?
“You bastard, I can see your front paws, you know? Fine. Just you wait till later.”
Kiiiiiiiiii!
In the midst of all that, Chung Myung spotted Baek Ah and glared fiercely. Baek Ah, startled out of its wits, charged straight at the Black Water Manor member in front of it, and slammed its head into the man’s solar plexus.
‘So it knows it did wrong.’
Though whether that would be enough to keep it from getting hit, Baek Cheon wasn’t sure… Wow, and in the middle of all that, it even kicks that guy away and keeps going. That devilish little beast.
Baek Cheon clicked his tongue and shrugged.
“I, I can’t believe this…”
A trembling voice came from behind him. When he turned his head, he saw Seok Hanbin with his eyes so wide they nearly took up half his face.
‘Ah. He was here, wasn’t he.’
Still, there was one thing left for him to do. It was unlikely, but someone might target this child again, so at least one person ought to guard him.
“Why, why did you lie?”
“Lie about what?”
“You never said you were this strong.”
Seok Hanbin spoke with a dazed expression.
He could see it with his own eyes, and yet he still could not believe it. The Black Water Manor, that very Black Water Manor, was collapsing. No, to say it was simply collapsing was not enough. This was closer to being toyed with.
There was probably no one who had believed the Black Water Manor would last forever. But who could have ever imagined that that it would fall at the hands of not even ten people?
“You could at least have told me……”
“I did tell you! I told you! I told you several times! You ignored all of it!”
“…Ah, right.”
Seok Hanbin nodded awkwardly.
He did feel as though he had heard something about Hwasan a few times from this pale-faced man. But even admitting that did not make his sense of injustice disappear.
No – who in the world could have imagined that such incredible people would barge into Seok Hanbin’s cramped house and live in such miserable conditions? And all because of Seok Hanbin alone.
“Why on earth?”
“What?”
“Why did you come? Why? Am I really that…”
What was he supposed to ask? Worth that much? Or useful? Or perhaps – whether his family was so remarkable that they would come all this way, seek out its descendant, and help rebuild it?
He did not know. He did not know what he was supposed to ask.
But Baek Cheon seemed to have roughly guessed what he was feeling without needing him to ask.
“I’m not exactly sure what you’re curious about.”
Baek Cheon shrugged and said.
“Just because someone is remarkable doesn’t mean they must only do great things.”
“…”
“On the contrary.”
Baek Cheon spoke calmly.
“Just because someone is insignificant doesn’t mean they must only do insignificant things.”
Seok Hanbin closed his mouth.
“Well, that’s just how it is.”
Baek Cheon scratched his head.
“If there’s something you want to ask, take your time and ask. We have plenty of time. But not right now, a little later.”
Baek Cheon chuckled.
“Looks like things are just about wrapped up now.”
⠀
Two-Faced Ghost Fiend, Seo Gunhong, felt as if he were truly about to lose his mind.
‘Am I dreaming?’
If it was a dream, that would be a relief, but there was no way this was a dream. No nightmare in the world could be this cruel.
The Black Water Manor he had built over his entire life was quite literally being smashed apart at the hands of young brats who looked barely old enough to have reached twenty. How was he supposed to accept this dreadful reality?
“Hwasan…”
Thud!
At that moment, someone fell in front of him.
“Chief Administrator Gam.”
“Kkeureureuk…..”
Chief Gam, his right hand man, was convulsing violently with white foam spilling from his mouth. Just what kind of blow could leave a man in such a state?
“Phew. Now I finally feel refreshed.”
“…”
And the one who had reduced Chief Administrator Gam to that state was approaching him while swinging one arm round and round. As if he had merely warmed up a little.
And the moment Seo Gunhong saw that figure, a nickname flashed through his mind. A name he had been hearing so often lately it felt like it had been hammered into his ears.
“Hwasan Shinryong…….”
“Oh?”
Chung Myung let out a small chuckle.
“I guess I really have gotten a bit famous lately. Even a Sapa bastard from the eastern part of the Central Plains knows me.”
“Heheh…”
Seo Gunhong laughed weakly.
Yes, then there was no way they could win. From the very beginning, these were people who lived in a completely different world.
Why were bastards who ought to be living like hermits on a mountaintop deliberately jumping into this filthy water and making such a mess? What had he and the Black Water Manor even done to deserve this?
Crack.
Seo Gunhong drew the blade at his waist in one swift motion.
If the person standing before him now was the Hwasan Shinryong, then fleeing would have to be considered difficult as well.
Then at the very least, even if he had to die, he would not die in disgrace.
“It seems that after gaining some empty fame, the world looks easy to you.”
“Ho?”
“Come. I may not have lived cleanly, but I will not die in filth!”
Seo Gunhong cried out boldly, drawing out every bit of inner energy he had. But the eyes of the Hwasan’s disciples looking at him were merely blank.
“What’s he saying, that one?”
“Looks like he’s heard a few heroic tales somewhere.”
“Only now?”
Seo Gunhong, who had been steeling himself with grim resolve, flinched for a moment.
“No, why is their reaction…?”
And then, Chung Myung, who had been previously staring fixedly at Seo Gunhong, dug in his ear with his pinky and blew on it.
“Honestly. Why are Sapa bastards so arrogant these days?”
“…”
“Hey. You’re that, uh… What was it again? Two-Faced something?”
“They said it was Two-Faced Ghost Fiend.”
“Yeah, that. I heard from Uncle Sunhak Gae that when you get that angry, you can’t see what’s in front of you?”
Seo Gunhong stared blankly at Chung Myung. Was he supposed to nod to this, or shake his head?
“I’ve been a little curious for a long time. Whether punks who can’t hold back their anger really can’t hold it back, or whether they only act that way because their opponent looks easy.”
“What is that supposed to…”
“Well, it’s not really important. I’m going to test it once.”
”…Huh?”
“From now on, if you get angry, you die.”
“…”
“Take the beating with a smile. With a smile. The moment you get angry, I’ll snap your neck. Got it?”
Chung Myung lifted his tightly clenched fist and smiled brightly.
Seo Gunhong, who had been staring blankly at that bloodstained fist, opened his mouth without realizing it.
“Um, well…….”
“Hm?”
“…As long as I don’t get angry, that’s fine, right?”
“…”
Seo Gunhong smiled awkwardly and carefully lowered the blade he had been holding up.
That day. In the Black Water Manor’s estate. One man’s wretched screams rang out endlessly.
________
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