Chapter 87. Let's Say I Lost.

At first, Jwasa seemed to be using ordinary palm techniques, but then he mixed in chilling binggong in a situation that surprised even me.

I watched his expression and dealt with him calmly.

Come to think of it, I had never heard of Jwasa losing to anyone. Far from being defeated, he had toyed with martial artists dispatched by the Murimmaeng, and the enraged Maengju's Order came down, extending even to the Cheollajimang.

The two men who had escaped the Murimmaeng's Cheollajimang were now fighting to determine superiority.

Jwasa didn't just use palm techniques; like me, he combined various footwork, tanji gong, fist techniques, and geumnasubeop to attack and defend. The exchange of offense and defense was so novel that I wondered if there was any martial art he didn't know, so I exchanged over thirty moves frantically with that shitter.

In the midst of it all, I kept taunting Jwasa.

"Not bad for a shitter."

"Shut up."

"Use your binggong."

This bastard was conserving his binggong as much as possible. He had no choice. It was a martial art whose effects were tremendous but consumed an enormous amount of internal energy. Moreover, since I wasn't losing to Jwasa at all, his dilemma was bound to deepen.

Indeed, if I wanted to utilize the energy of geugeum—equivalent to half of the Cheonok—I needed to completely steal Jwasa's binggong.

Even while fighting, I was curious about many things.

Why was this bastard so strong at such a young age?

The Pungunmongga was famous as a martial family that used spears and swords, so why didn't this bastard use weapons?

No matter how I looked at it, palm techniques, footwork, tanji gong and the like didn't seem to be martial arts learned from the Pungunmongga. While exchanging palm forces, I asked casually.

"Who is your master?"

"Then who is your master?"

Suddenly, the moment I smelled a foul stench, I startled and retreated three jang in an instant.

I had nearly suffered humiliation from his blatant attack trying to smear feces on me. And I happened to be wearing white robes, which made it even more horrifying.

In this situation, Jwasa's feces were more frightening than hidden weapons coated in lethal poison.

When I retreated in alarm, Jwasa smiled meaningfully, as if he had found my weakness.

"Scared? You must be."

"I didn't avoid it because I was scared. I avoided it because it's filthy, you stupid bastard, you parasite-like bastard, you shitter."

Jwasa looked down at his soaked jangsam and nodded.

"I can't be the only one humiliated. Don't run. That way is the busy street."

I looked toward the busy street, crossed my arms, and spoke in a serious tone.

"Your skills exceed my expectations. It's been a long time since I've fought a man who battles this well. You're not just some common shitter. I'll give you an antidote."

"I've already gone, so I don't need it."

"Still, wash yourself clean and challenge me again."

Jwasa replied with a cold expression.

"How could I eat something given by you?"

I pinched my nose with my fingers for a moment and spoke in a nasal voice.

"Don't come near me. I'm getting dizzy."

Jwasa charged at me like a madman again, so I quickly turned and fled toward the busy street.

As I deliberately giggled while fleeing, Jwasa cursed at me in a refined tone. As expected of a young master from a general's household, etiquette was ingrained in his body.

'But no matter how crazy you are, you can't enter the busy street in that state.'

You dare compete with me in cunning?

There would be no hesitation in a fight between men, but Jwasa was a man crazy for women. Meaning he wasn't someone who could stroll through Baengeungji with soiled pants. If he could follow me this far, then I had misjudged him.

When I arrived at the busy street where many people were walking, Jwasa, who had been following urgently, stopped his gyeonggong as I expected.

"……Hey, stop running."

With my back to the busy street, I turned around and beckoned.

"Come in."

"You come here."

"The shitter should come here."

"This should be settled between men. Must we harm others?"

"They say a shitter throws a tantrum, and that's you. Reveal who your master is, and I'll come over there."

"Shut up."

Suddenly, I had a strange thought because Jwasa had refused to reveal his sect twice.

'He must have learned binggong from his maternal family, so does that mean he has a separate martial arts master?'

Jwasa had not yet been driven into the public eye of Murim. It was a time before he could commit perverted acts, so his honor and popularity must have been very important.

Mixed among the crowd of people, I glared at Jwasa.

Honestly, I hadn't been able to properly display my skills while fighting earlier.

Who knew shit could be this scary.

In the midst of our exchange, his lower body was literally invincible. In other words, it was no different from competing palm forces with an opponent whose half body had become invincible.

Naturally, I couldn't help but fail to demonstrate my proper skills.

Only after competing palm forces did I learn that his martial arts were already in a fairly completed state.

Actually, it wasn't that strange. Experts who had escaped the Murimmaeng's Cheollajimang were extremely rare.

As far as I knew, me from my Gwangma days, the shitter from his pervert days, and members of the Samjae had succeeded in escaping the Murimmaeng's Cheollajimang. In other words, among the experts I had faced directly since regressing, that shitter was by far overwhelmingly strong. And that bastard was deliberately refraining from using binggong unless it was truly dangerous. A man with many restrictions in various ways.

Jwasa tried to enter the busy street several times but turned back again.

What did it mean that even such a vicious bastard couldn't bring himself to enter Baengeungji with feces in his pants?

This was precisely the power of Baekdo, the might of etiquette and decorum, and the desire for honor.

I crossed my arms and mocked Jwasa.

"Huhuhu."

Just then, some woman called out to Jwasa from the street tree side.

"Mongnang orabeoni? What are you doing there?"

After checking the woman's appearance and looking back to where Jwasa had been, the bastard had already vanished without a trace.

I suddenly made eye contact with the woman who had recognized Jwasa, then nodded.

"It is indeed the young master Mongnang."

"Right? His face looked pale."

"Did you not see?"

"See what?"

I said with a blank expression.

"He soiled his pants. Seems he drank too much."

"Oh, come on, no way."

"Didn't you see the wet white jangsam wrapped around his pants?"

A rather plain-looking woman suddenly flared up at me in anger.

"That can't be! Why are you lying!"

"Why are you angry..."

Was this a woman harboring a one-sided love for Jwasa? She suddenly looked at me as if I were the one who had soiled his pants, then turned away with a huff.

"Our orabeoni couldn't possibly do that," is that what she's saying?

"Tsk tsk tsk."

While I clicked my tongue, Jwasa's ventriloquism was heard from somewhere.

"Come out while I'm asking nicely."

"There is one thing I fear in life, and that is a man who fights with shit in his pants."

"……"

I quietly stepped forward and replied.

"Stupid bastard, this is the law of cause and effect. I'll let go of the matter of you breaking my younger brother's arm to this extent, so go home and change your pants. Young Master Mongnang of the Pungunmongga, the Mongga's shitter, the Mongga's shit diaper, the young master of the Mongga who can't tell shit from piss."

"Shut up!"

I put my palms together however I could to mock him.

"Poor sentient being. Namu Amita—tanji gong!"

Because a sudden pffft— sound burst from the darkness, I reflexively flicked my fingers and unleashed Yeomgye Tanji Gong.

Smack!

I deliberately shouted loudly.

"Mongnang! You son of a bitch of the general's household! Change your shitted pants and come at me again!"

After hearing my string of curses, Jwasa used his gyeonggong and grew distant.

I crossed my arms and watched the black human figure growing distant.

"Come back when you're clean. Filthy bastard. A bastard like you has no right to be in Baekdo."

There was no reason for me to desperately chase after him. When I had asked around, the Pungunmongga was near Baengeungji. I strolled leisurely through the busy streets of Baengeungji with a relaxed mind, because only when the invincible domain generated on his lower body was dispelled could I unleash my Gojasingong.

Clean streets, clean clothes, and even much whiter skin tones than other places.

As expected of Baekdo.

Since I retreated to Baengeungji and the bastard fled, for now it was a draw.

Suddenly, a crowd had gathered in front of the Baekhyangjuru I had visited earlier.

Everyone was talking at the entrance with displeased expressions, and as I passed by, I heard that pretty ladies inside the pavilion had soiled themselves.

Seeing how Jwasa had randomly pressed acupoints on his abdomen in haste, the diarrhea medicine made by Moyongbaek must have been truly vicious.

So the women must have gone before reaching the restroom. Once again, I had a master of both diarrhea medicine and poison as my attending physician. Looking around, I found a noodle shop that looked truly delicious, sat at an outside table, and ordered.

I ate noodles while watching the young people passing by on the street.

How come there were so many women dressed so prettily with such lovely faces.

I had dressed up following Gongcheol's advice, but once I came here and compared myself with others, I definitely felt like a country bumpkin.

Perhaps because it was the domain of Baekdo, no one picked a fight.

Even those who hadn't learned martial arts were walking around happily, so the mood was truly strange.

By the way, after fighting the shitter, the noodles tasted completely off.

"I've lost my appetite."

I paid the waiter and then asked if there was a stream nearby. The waiter replied.

"If you go straight up that way, you'll find Yongnangcheon."

The direction the waiter pointed was north, where Jwasa had disappeared. It would be difficult for an illegitimate son of a family to enter the house with soiled pants, so I thought he must be carefully wandering along the stream bank, washing his pants about now.

This was my instinctive sense.

The waiter asked me.

"But why are you looking for a stream at this late hour?"

I patted the waiter's shoulder and replied.

"It is the Hyeopgaekhaeng. I am pursuing a vicious killer."

Actually, I'm pursuing the shitter.

The waiter's expression grew serious as if he had always admired knight-errants, and he clasped his fists toward me.

"Young hero, your efforts are commendable."

Perhaps because it was a Baekdo region, even the waiter here was polite.

I nodded and headed toward the stream like a lone knight-errant.

In truth, all my actions since regressing were focused on the peace of the gangho, the happy lives of women and children, the protection of workers' rights, and the punishment of villains. Even if the world didn't know me, wasn't what I was doing actually no different from the Hyeopgaekhaeng?

Or maybe not.

* * *

I followed the moonlight along Yongnangcheon and stopped on an old bridge upon hearing splashing water.

In the secluded Yongnangcheon, Jwasa was washing his body completely naked.

The man turning a perfectly fine stream into shit water—that was Gwangmyeong Jwasa.

I thought about going down immediately and turning Jwasa into a eunuch, but paused for a moment. Because even though Jwasa had spotted me, he showed no sign of surprise and remained calm.

'A trap?'

Suddenly, black clouds drifted away somewhere, and the revealed moonlight illuminated Jwasa's upper body. His upper body was covered with marks that could have been from whips or blades, and between them were tattoos engraved with ink.

Whether he had been tortured or had learned demonic arts, I couldn't tell immediately.

I crossed my arms and watched Jwasa.

"Wash yourself clean, you shitty bastard."

Jwasa came out of the stream with an enlightened expression, shook the water off his upper garment, wrapped it around his lower body, and looked up at me with his upper body bare.

"Come down, you bastard. I'm all cleaned."

"Hoo……"

A sigh escaped me.

The moment that bastard spread his legs to kick excessively, I felt the noodles I had eaten earlier would surely rise back up.

'He's no ordinary pervert.'

How could he properly cover his lower body with an upper garment? He knew women's psychology well, but he was also a master of psychological warfare who perfectly understood men's psychology.

Even the collar of the upper garment was positioned at his groin.

I rebuked Jwasa in a flat tone.

"Just go home, you bastard. Let's fight again tomorrow. Let's say I lost today."

The pervert smiled with a bleak expression under the moonlight.

"Hehehe."

I don't know the twisted mental world of an illegitimate son who grew up as an orphan. Honestly, I don't care. But because he was a man I had known since my previous life, I was curious about the marks engraved on his upper body.

Without high expectations, I asked.

"What are those tattoos. A martial art?"

Jwasa replied.

"You're curious about all sorts of things. I won't forget your face now. You can't run away anymore. Whether you flee to the Murimmaeng or the Magyo, you will be caught by me."

I mentioned the exchange we had fought earlier.

"You know I couldn't fight properly because of your shit."

Jwasa pointed at me and said something strange.

"I will specially ask my master to take you in as my junior brother. You'll probably think dying would be better."

"So who is your master."

Suddenly, my mind snapped alert.

'Huh?'

I knew information about Gwangmyeong Jwasa, I knew about the Magyo, and I had heard about martial arts related to tattoos. For a moment, because he was a man I had known since my previous life, I wondered if even his defection to the Magyo had been a scheme.

Because the master I suspected Jwasa had was a man who had fought for the position of Gyoju and turned the entire Magyo into his enemy.

Jwasa spoke as he went upstream along Yongnangcheon.

"We'll see each other again soon."

I started to reveal who Jwasa's master was but closed my mouth.