Chapter 239: Front Lines. (8)
The Hwangbo Family was of the orthodox faction belonging to the Martial Alliance.
They were a household that counted among the foremost of the Renowned Houses situated just below the Four Great Families.
The martial artists hailing from the Hwangbo Family were known far and wide for their robust physiques, rivaling those of the Peng Family.
Simultaneously with the Bi Family, the house of Paejon Biju, they stood at the summit of the martial combat faction.
This was because, following the Fist King Yeon Ilcheon of the past, who was the world's greatest martial artist and stopped the Bloody Calamity of the Bloody Demon, if one looked at how many of those who had inherited the previous generation's title of Fist King bore the Hwangbo name, they were certainly not a force that could be ignored as a martial combat house.
However.
The pride and self-esteem of being a Renowned House.
Could, depending on how one looked at it, be seen as bordering on arrogance and conceit.
These days, the Hwangbo Family had many brimming with arrogant dispositions, no different from the other Renowned Houses.
It could not be helped.
Not only was the Hwangbo Family a renowned house that counted among the countless families spread throughout the Central Plains, but having received innumerable physical blessings, they were a family that possessed many famous experts in the Central Plains.
Unless one was of the Four Great Families or the Nine Sects One Union, there was no need to restrain themselves.
Just by the privileges and talents they possessed as direct bloodline descendants of the main family, their shoulders squared automatically.
Their self-worth likely pierced the heavens.
Just as those of other renowned houses were.
That was what it meant to be a martial artist receiving the privileges of the bloodline.
Rather, it was not strange that those who maintained humility and manners were rarer.
To Hwangbo Seon, who had lived his life in the side branch beneath the direct bloodline of the main family, these words resonated all the more deeply.
Because it was not the main family, but a side branch.
Moreover, Hwangbo Seon, having inherited the Hwangbo blood only shallowly and failing to obtain their characteristic stalwart physique, had lived bearing the scorn and contempt-laden gazes of the main family's bloodline.
His frail frame and lacking stature were ill-suited to learning the Hwangbo Family's martial arts.
Furthermore, possessing a timid disposition made him prone to catching the eyes of predators.
To a talentless side branch member, the main family was a place like hell.
A place swarming with monstrous people who treated him like a toy.
A place where those who hid behind the screen of being a Renowned House, clothed in arrogance and filled with mockery, ran rampant.
That was what the main house of the Hwangbo Family looked like to Hwangbo Seon.
Nevertheless.
The reason Hwangbo Seon could not leave and run away from this family was because, no matter what, he bore the surname Hwangbo.
That single fact became his shackles.
He would have to live his future bound by curses.
Probably, for his entire life.
He would live a hellish life like a slave beneath them.
How could he dare defy the main family?
Let alone raise a flag of rebellion against a Renowned House?
He had no choice but to resign himself and live on.
The future Hwangbo Seon saw was just that.
It had certainly been so, and yet.
‘What in the world is that…?’
Hwangbo Seon felt sharp pain from traces of violence all over his body, yet beyond the immediate pain, he felt nothing but astonishment at the spectacle before his eyes.
Crack-!
"Guaaaack!"
Sounds of breaking bones and screams rang out from all directions.
Furthermore, those wearing thick yellow martial uniforms sank to the ground or collapsed one by one.
Not a single one was in a decent state.
Everyone had something broken somewhere.
Or were vomiting blood repeatedly.
Crack-!
"Kkureuk…!"
Another person collapsed and rolled on the ground.
Having checked the face of the fallen, Hwangbo Seon could not help but be greatly shocked.
"…Huk!"
The one who had vomited blood and lost consciousness was the vice-commander of the bodyguard unit that protected the main family's bloodline.
As far as Hwangbo Seon knew, though he was past forty, he had heard the man was a martial artist who had surpassed the wall.
To think he would collapse so easily.
"…Unbelievable."
It was impossible.
That so many people had been reduced to this state, unable to capture just one person.
"…Just who is he?"
Hwangbo Seon clutched his throbbing chest.
He looked at the martial artist standing alone not far away.
His eyes were fierce-looking, so much so that Hwangbo Seon could not bear to meet his gaze.
But the martial artist did not look any older than himself.
Even compared to those sprawled around him, his build was not particularly large.
If anything, perhaps he was on the smaller side.
Maybe even more so than himself.
‘How could someone like that possibly…?’
Hwangbo Seon could not understand.
And when he saw who was in the martial artist's hand, even more so.
‘The First Young Master… lost?’
In the hands of the nameless young martial artist was Hwangbo Cheok, the next Young Master of the Hwangbo Family and the man who would one day lead it.
The young martial artist's small hand gripped Hwangbo Cheok's thick neck.
The body of Hwangbo Cheok, which should have possessed weight proportional to his massive frame—
That martial artist held it up so casually.
He saw it clearly with his own two eyes.
Hwangbo Cheok, who had been so terrifying and frightening to Hwangbo Seon, could not even resist slightly and was being beaten.
Hwangbo Cheok's fist, which looked larger than his own torso, was shattered by the young man's light hand gesture.
And knees that had seemed like they would never buckle collapsed like breaking twigs.
How could this be?
Not just Hwangbo Cheok, but even the Hwangbo Family martial artists surrounding him had attacked together.
Yet that young martial artist looked unhindered while fighting so many at once.
‘I couldn't even see him move in the first place…’
Yes, it was more accurate to say that he could not even tell what had happened.
Because he had not captured how that martial artist moved with his own eyes.
While Hwangbo Seon's astonishment and self-loathing mixed into an indescribable emotion.
"Tch."
The unidentified martial artist who had knocked everyone around him down made a brief clicking sound with his tongue.
"…Ah, they were acting so annoying I beat them all up… I'm fucked."
Contrary to his profound martial might, his tone was quite thug-like.
"If this happens, that crazy bastard will try to spin this saying I got caught in something… What should I do? Should I just bury them all in the ground so no one finds out?"
He spat it out so calmly that for a moment Hwangbo Seon thought he had misheard.
It was an excessively cruel statement.
Bury them all in the ground… what kind of terrifying…!
"The problem with doing that is there are still eyes watching…"
"Hup…!"
The young man's eyes turned this way.
Meeting those vivid red pupils, Hwangbo Seon had to hold back a scream that tried to burst out unconsciously.
Combined with his fierce-looking face, those blazing red pupils were too terrifying to face.
How could a person look so frightening…?
And.
"Kkup…"
It seemed he was not the only one thinking that.
Hwangbo Seon turned his head at the sound from behind.
"Uh…?"
Surprisingly, there stood one more person.
"Y-Young Master Yi…?"
He was Hwangbo Cheolwi, the Second Young Master of the Hwangbo Family.
Lately, Hwangbo Cheolwi was someone Hwangbo Seon felt somewhat comfortable around.
Originally, he had been someone who looked down on and despised Hwangbo Seon just like Hwangbo Cheok.
But at some point, he had stopped showing such behavior.
‘…Did the Second Young Master not join the fight?’
If so, why?
Well, watching someone get beaten like that, who would easily jump in?
Still, seeing Hwangbo Cheolwi standing in the back watching while his older brother was being beaten looked rather strange.
After a brief moment of confusion.
"Hey. You there."
The young man who had wrecked everyone around him walked this way.
Hwangbo Seon truly wanted to crawl across the ground and flee.
But his legs, frozen in terror, were stiff against his will.
"I wondered who it was."
The young man looked at Hwangbo Cheolwi and grinned.
That smile was so terrifying that Hwangbo Seon found himself trembling without realizing it.
‘…I think I might have slightly wet myself.’
He hoped not, but since he had no feeling in his lower body, he could not be sure.
The young man approached close and opened his mouth with a grin.
"You came here too?"
Hwangbo Seon wondered who he was talking to for a moment, but a reply was heard from beside him.
"…Long time no see."
Surprisingly, the young man was talking to Hwangbo Cheolwi.
Judging by his reaction, Hwangbo Cheolwi seemed to know him too.
"Good to see you, has it been a year?"
"Y… yes."
In the midst of this, Hwangbo Seon saw.
That as the young man approached, Hwangbo Cheolwi took steps back.
"I heard the Hwangbo Family had come to the front lines, did they send two direct bloodline members?"
"…"
"You need to answer."
"Y-yes…! There was a matter I missed last time, so we came together."
At Hwangbo Cheolwi's urgent words, the young man sent his gaze behind him and asked.
"So that's your older brother?"
"…That's right. He is the one who will become the Young Master of the Hwangbo Family."
"That?"
"…"
It was a tone of surprise, as if saying, someone like that is the Young Master?
Even knowing he was of the Hwangbo Family, and even knowing that the man he had beaten unconscious was to be the Young Master, the young man seemed not to care at all.
Rather, he looked even more displeased.
Hwangbo Seon found this amazing.
"No wonder he talked like a piece of shit… If I had known beforehand, I would have beaten him more."
"…What do you mean?"
"Since we're talking about it, should I beat him some more?"
Just as the young man seemed to really be thinking of beating him more and was about to move, he looked at Hwangbo Cheolwi again.
"Ah, right."
"…?"
"Will you seek revenge?"
"Excuse me…? Ah, no. What did you say?"
"I beat your brother, right? So I'm asking if you'll jump in too."
Keuk.
The way he asked with such a thuggish demeanor looked quite obnoxious and pathetic even to Hwangbo Seon.
Yet to call him a neighborhood thug, the display he had shown just moments ago was too far removed.
At the same time, he was curious what Hwangbo Cheolwi would answer.
Because the way the young man asked was strange.
Whatever the case, his older brother had been thoroughly wrecked before his eyes.
"…Th…that is."
Hwangbo Cheolwi's eyes rolled around.
The deep deliberation and worry could be felt even from here.
Would Hwangbo Cheolwi stay still even after witnessing his brother's beating?
Or would he raise his fists to uphold honor and brotherly loyalty?
A brief moment passed.
Hwangbo Cheolwi seemed to have finished his deliberation.
He faced the young man, his face full of determination.
It was nothing less than a firm resolve, even in Hwangbo Seon's eyes.
Thick muscles swelled.
An indescribable atmosphere arose.
It seemed Hwangbo Cheolwi was thinking of fighting the young man.
Crack—.
The young man cracked his neck looking at such a Hwangbo Cheolwi.
Could he possibly win against a young man who had toyed with Hwangbo Cheok like a child…?
While Hwangbo Seon watched this with slightly trembling eyes.
Hwangbo Cheolwi glared at the young man and opened his mouth.
"Men may fight as they live. I believe interfering in this is rather unmanly!"
"…"
"I, Hwangbo Cheolwi, respect my brother's will and shall not do something so dismissive!"
"…Uh, okay."
…
In conclusion, it meant he wouldn't act cocky.
Watching Hwangbo Cheolwi shout so boldly.
Hwangbo Seon felt ashamed of himself instead.
‘Hm…?’
Was he imagining things?
Putting Hwangbo Cheolwi behind him, Hwangbo Seon felt the young man's two eyes looking at him.
‘Th…this doesn't seem like my imagination…?’
Hwangbo Seon desperately hoped it was his imagination.
Unfortunately, the young man's eyes were truly directed at him.
Those clearly shining red pupils were directed at him.
Hwangbo Seon could not bear to meet them.
‘…Wh-why is he looking at me?’
Moreover, he was faintly smiling, which was even more horrifying.
No way…
Was he thinking of beating him instead of Hwangbo Cheolwi?
As questions piled up and fear filled to the brim, touching his adam's apple.
Hwangbo Seon could not bear to meet his eyes and only stared desperately at the ground in terror.
After grabbing the idiots lying on the ground and tossing them in one place.
To the Hwangbo fatty standing there blankly… by the way, what was his name? I can't remember well.
Anyway.
I told the Hwangbo guy standing there to take all the ones lying on the ground and go.
He answered that he would at my words, but his fighting spirit was completely absent.
Still, he would probably do as told.
Honestly, I wanted to beat them more to vent my anger, but.
‘I saw a welcome face after a long time, so I should hold back.’
I decided to let it go moderately.
‘Though the vibe is different from what I knew, it was definitely him.’
The man lying on the ground groaning as if thoroughly beaten.
The martial artist with a frail face and ordinary build that didn't match his surname.
‘Mukgwon.’
The Demon of the previous generation, the martial artist who had been my subordinate. Mukgwon Hwangbo Seon.
It was definitely him.
‘I had roughly heard the news through the Beggar Sect, but I never thought I'd see him here.’
Mukgwon was a master who made his name massacring demons as if slaughtering livestock in his previous life, but he was a man who joined the Demonic Cult due to what happened in the Hwangbo Family and lived as a Demon.
‘The vibe is very different, though.’
If he recalled the Mukgwon of that time.
He was a man of few words, living up to his nickname.
Of course he did what was ordered without hesitation.
He was a man who never refused a fight, regardless of whether his opponent was stronger or weaker.
He felt far removed from frailty or weakness.
‘So this is how he was at this time.’
The Hwangbo Seon he met now looked far too frail compared to expectations.
The sight of him trembling in fear was pitiful even to me.
‘Interesting.’
A martial artist said to have properly mastered the Hwangbo Family's secret techniques.
To think he was such a weak character at this point in time.
It was merely fascinating.
Would he obtain some miraculous encounter in the near future?
Furthermore, thinking of the guy called the next Young Master of the Hwangbo Family.
Honestly, there was nothing worth reflecting on.
He had good bone structure but was a useless good-for-nothing who couldn't make use of it.
Rather, the Hwangbo… Cheol whatever-ssi who had been stealthily watching from the back seemed far better in terms of talent.
‘Maybe I should have half-killed him.’
For that guy, rather than any reflection, only that kind of regret remained.
Hwangbo Cheok was the reason and root cause why Mukgwon Hwangbo Seon would later fall and become a Demon.
The past.
Having returned from hunting demons by order, Hwangbo Seon witnessed a shocking sight as soon as he returned to his family.
Hwangbo Cheok, jealous of Hwangbo Seon who was gradually making a name for himself in the Central Plains along with the Bloody Calamity, killed Hwangbo Seon's wife and young child.
And furthermore tried to kill Hwangbo Seon as well. That event had been the starting point.
Thinking of this.
I wondered if I should eliminate the bastard called Hwangbo Cheok in advance, but hiding my distaste, I decided to endure.
‘Because revenge is not something done on another's behalf.’
If I had asked the Mukgwon of my previous life about this.
He would have told me not to.
If he had to ask for anything, wouldn't it have been to ask for a little help so he could take revenge himself?
In the days when he lived as a Demon.
Recalling the face of the man who walked behind me, I nodded my head slightly.
"…I can at least do that much."
Helping rather than handling it myself was several times more difficult.
But I could do at least that much.
‘Though I don't know if the current Hwangbo Seon would wish for that.’
He looked utterly terrified earlier.
Why?
I was happy to see him, so I looked at him with as gentle eyes as possible.
Ah.
Was he scared because of the guy standing next to him?
Well, with that physique standing beside him, who wouldn't be scared?
Even I would be in pain; if a guy like that stood blankly beside me, it would be scary.
"Besides, I saved him in my own way, so I must have left a good impression, right?"
I'm sure that was the case.
Wouldn't I have appeared like a hero to Hwangbo Seon?
"Hm, that feels refreshing."
Was it because I did a good deed I don't usually do?
My body, which had been steeped in fatigue, felt completely refreshed.