Episode 100. The Leader of an Unmysterious Force
I was truly curious about what was going on inside the Paegeomhoeju's head, coming here alone without fear.
“Why did you come alone? Did you get betrayed? Or did you suddenly find a fortuitous encounter at a cliff or something?”
“How could that be?”
“Baldy, in the dark path they always say to watch out for your second-in-command.”
The Paegeomhoeju tilted his head.
Perhaps because despite looking like a man in black, my tone wasn't fitting for one. The Paegeomhoeju continued with a displeased expression.
“Betrayal holds no meaning in the martial world. The strong seize everything in the end.”
I uncrossed my arms and drew Heokmyoa.
“I see. I've taken your precious words to heart.”
The Paegeomhoeju also slowly drew his sword and spoke.
“How much did the client pay you?”
“Why?”
The Paegeomhoeju continued speaking as if looking down on me completely.
“Tell me.”
“Thirty-nine thousand eight hundred taels, you bastard.”
“…….”
“Why?”
“You people move for money anyway. I don't put emotion in business. I have more money than the one who hired you. I'll match double the commission. You just kill the one who sent you to kill me. I have no feelings for assassins like you.”
“…….”
I suddenly thought the reason this guy was talking so long was to wait for his subordinates. I had a lot to say, but as a man in black with a heavy mouth, I just swung my sword first.
Rather than bickering, it was better to run my mouth while fighting.
The Paegeomhoeju bounced Heokmyoa away with a drawn sword and immediately unleashed a left palm strike, and I immediately countered with the Flame Great Hand Seal.
With a sudden sound like a large drum bursting, the Paegeomhoeju quickly retreated seven or eight steps.
Surprise flooded the Paegeomhoeju's face after we exchanged palm forces, so my mouth opened on its own.
“Baldy, surprised?”
Perhaps because he was hit by Flame-elemental palm force, the Paegeomhoeju was bright red from his face to the crown of his head. It was like seeing a red squid standing on two legs in the pitch-black night, so honestly, I was a bit surprised too.
‘Shit, that startled me.’
The Paegeomhoeju gave the impression of a face gradually changed by villainous deeds, making him all the more unpleasant to look at. Every time he moved his face, the reflection of oil on his skin in the moonlight made his expression shift from moment to moment.
‘An evil man is an evil man indeed. His face changes every time.’
A person's facial atmosphere gradually changes according to their usual thoughts.
This guy had the physiognomy of a dying breed devolving from a human into a foul-tempered red squid.
If you slice up a squid, at least it's tasty, but killing this guy felt like it would leave a bad taste in my mouth.
I stuck close so the Paegeomhoeju couldn't run, swinging Heokmyoa infused with Wood-elemental energy.
“Don't even think about running. Red squid, red octopus, octopus head, red egg, crimson puberty. Red-faced Baldy.”
For some reason, my own nonsense today made my hands and feet feel unsteady.
It must be because I'd used sabers normally but had been thinking about sword arts recently. The flow of the blade wasn't as smooth as I'd thought.
On the other hand, the Paegeomhoeju's movements revealed he was scheming to flee immediately after exchanging palm forces. His complexion tensed in an instant, and he resisted by swinging his sword fiercely.
However, while he had enough internal energy to receive the Flame Great Hand Seal, his swordsmanship wasn't high compared to that depth.
If the Paegeomhoeju had a lot of real combat experience, he would have fought much better than this.
But traces of having been a leader since his youth, ordering subordinates around with a jerk of his chin, were ingrained in his body and sword.
It meant he hadn't personally stepped up to resolve matters very often.
I had often seen leaders like this.
Meeting a master with deeper internal energy while fighting like this would naturally lead to a pitiful defeat, and the Paegeomhoeju's mistake was judging me as just a hit-and-run assassin.
Since there was a possibility of the Paegeomhoeju's subordinates swarming in, I kept pouring out rapid attacks and pressed him hard.
I struck with finger techniques, poured out palm force, and occasionally mixed in the Great Absorption Technique to deliberately pull at the Paegeomhoeju's wrist, arm, and sword.
It was effective at destroying his body's balance, and also had the effect of forcibly compelling him to defend.
I didn't like the blade techniques I was performing today, but by combining various attack methods with my left palm, the power was instead even greater.
* * *
Every time the Paegeomhoeju's expression changed from moment to moment, I muttered in a low voice and combined mental attacks.
“It's too late. Begging is useless. I hope the Paegeomhoe, shocked at seeing your corpse, clashes with the Namcheon Alliance. The Paegeomhoe's wealth will scatter to the winds, the subordinates will become corpses, and the Namcheon Alliance will be battered and bruised from fighting you. You are seafood, and I am the fisherman.”
The fisherman's gain.
I remembered that it was about a fisherman catching two things fighting by the shore, but I couldn't remember which two were fighting, so I just lumped them together as seafood. Actually, whether it was a frog and turtle fighting, or a squid and eel contesting, I didn't give a damn.
Anyway, the important thing was that I am always the fisherman who catches black fish.
The moment I saw the Paegeomhoeju's hands and feet getting tangled up, I cut his forearm with Heokmyoa, not too deep.
The moment I saw blood slightly gushing out, I felt my eyes spin and unleashed the Great Absorption Technique on the wound.
The wound the size of a finger opened up, and blood spurted out in a long stream. It was an unconventional technique discovered mid-combat, but I named this combination technique to remember it.
Excessive Hemorrhage.
When I split the blood drawn out by Excessive Hemorrhage with Heokmyoa again, a sizzling sound burst out due to the Flame-elemental energy. Seeing the blood droplets disperse into smoke in mid-air, I pushed them away with palm force.
With a crackling sound... the Paegeomhoeju jumped in surprise after being hit by the hot blood and retreated. His clothes were pierced with holes by the blood droplets everywhere.
I had completely seized the upper hand.
Although I was currently holding a sword unsuitable for thrusting...
it didn't matter much, so I advanced by aiming continuously at the Paegeomhoeju's vital points with swift sword thrusts.
Cha—Cha—Chang!
Even amidst that, the Paegeomhoeju accurately deflected as many as seven thrusts. He was someone with the skill to stand at the top of the Paegeomhoe. But the Paegeomhoeju's movements defending with the swift sword looked like the squirming of a red squid, so my stomach turned.
“The squid is blocking well.”
A sudden thought occurred to me.
If I didn't kill this guy here, he would become a giant squid who would exert great influence on the martial world later. I had a premonition that he would grow into a fairly powerful dark force while spraying black ink around.
Of course, in my previous life as the Mad Demon, he had been a nobody.
I thought he must have died at the hands of the Namcheon Alliance Leader, another dark force, or an enemy called Cheon Dangju.
At close range, I wreathed Heokmyoa in Blazing Incense and sent it flying with a blade wind, and while the scattering Blazing Incense obscured the Paegeomhoeju's vision, I extended my left palm downward, grabbed his leg, and pulled.
As the Paegeomhoeju tried to step back, his body lost balance and swayed, then he kicked off the ground with his planted foot and surged into the air. Moving simultaneously, I grabbed his right ankle and slammed him straight into the ground.
Kwaaaaang!
I then twisted and crushed his ankle, and systematically subdued the struggling Paegeomhoeju as he screamed.
I knocked his sword away and sent it flying.
I slammed him into the floor another three or four times, then pulled him in and reached to grab the leader's hair, realized my mistake, and seized his throat instead.
“Kek....”
Feeling a sudden wave of sleep deprivation, I squeezed the Paegeomhoeju's throat with all my grip strength. My temper flared, and my true feelings, ignoring all schemes and strategy, spilled out of my mouth.
“Why the hell did you send assassins, you bastard. I almost died from exhaustion.”
“...!”
“Let me sleep in peace.”
When I loosened my grip slightly, the leader's strangled voice came out.
“Who are you?”
I pressed the Paegeomhoeju's pressure points and whispered in his ear.
“I am the leader of the Hao Sect.”
I grabbed the stiffened hand of the Paegeomhoeju. For a so-called swordsman, there weren't many calluses on his hand.
I crushed the Paegeomhoeju's hand as it was and drew internal energy from his dantian. After dropping Heokmyoa, I covered the screaming leader's mouth.
The moment I thought the Paegeomhoeju's internal energy was foul, I stopped the Great Absorption Technique and struck his throat, cutting off the red squid's breath. He wasn't much different from the guys I'd beaten to death in my previous life, so I didn't feel much.
Only then did the Paegeomhoeju's body slump heavily onto the cold ground.
I stared into the surrounding darkness for a moment.
“…….”
It seemed the troops waiting at quite a distance had finally started moving.
“Wow, these guys...”
I hadn't come to fight like a madman today, so I barely suppressed my temper.
I picked up the Paegeomhoeju's sword and attempted to converse with the corpse.
“Did you die knowing you were done in by your second-in-command?”
“…….”
“You didn't know?”
Only after killing the Paegeomhoeju did the composed figure of Cheon Dangju come to mind.
When I threw the spear, Cheon Dangju had hastily dodged.
Because the Paegeomhoeju didn't know my skill, he grabbed the spear and mistook the Wood-elemental energy for my full power.
Because it's normal for an assassin to go all out in that moment.
It wasn't particularly surprising, as it was all too common for them to engage in covert strife and rack their brains to seize power.
No matter how fast the leader's movement arts were, the fact that his subordinates hadn't arrived yet spoke volumes about the internal situation of the Paegeomhoe.
Cheon Dangju, who had seemed like the second-in-command, would likely be controlling the situation. He might be playing the fisherman like me.
But what meaning is there in grasping power before your eyes? The Paegeomhoe would either be annihilated fighting the Namcheon Alliance, or burn to nothing by my hands.
There is nothing as hollow as power seized through betrayal and conspiracy.
I untied the sword and scabbard from the Paegeomhoeju's waist and used my movement arts to leave the place. I didn't really know whether the instigation was going well or not. What was important was that I had killed the Paegeomhoeju, so I didn't put much meaning into it.
In the martial world, disputes end when you kill anyway.
* * *
“I've come to entrust a parcel.”
I placed the Paegeomhoeju's longsword on the table. Gong Du-chan, the Chief Escort of the Byeokan Escort Agency, looked at the longsword carefully and asked me.
“Where... should this be delivered?”
“It is a gift to be delivered urgently to the Namcheon Alliance Leader. As quickly as possible. Please set the price.”
Gong Du-chan replied with a bewildered expression.
“Ah, excuse me, but may I know whose sword this is?”
I ran my hand over my head and replied with a blank expression.
“It is Baldy's sword.”
“So if you could tell me who that Baldy is, that would be helpful.”
I looked around and yawned.
Still in a state of sleep deprivation.
I had come to entrust just one parcel, but the main hall doors kept opening and escort guards and escort leaders gradually filled the main hall.
I fought back sleep and spoke bluntly to the Chief Escort.
“I told you. It's the sword used by Baldy.”
“We need to confirm whether it's stolen goods or not, so please tell us. It's not a common longsword.”
“It's not stolen goods. It's the Paegeomhoeju's sword.”
“…….”
I confirmed the cold silence descending upon the Byeokan Escort Agency with my own eyes, and knew that this was the escort agency Nam Garak had anticipated.
These guys were an escort agency attached to the Paegeomhoe. If it became known that they were openly clinging to a dark force, their shipments would decrease, so they only pretended to have no connection on the outside.
I looked around and asked Gong Du-chan.
“Everyone's expressions are rotten. Is the parcel that strange?”
Gong Du-chan replied with an impassive expression.
“Is the Paegeomhoeju dead?”
“He's dead.”
Gong Du-chan said.
“It seems you know we are an escort agency feeding off the Paegeomhoe. What do you want?”
“Chief Escort, first of all, this is a normal escort request. Deliver the Paegeomhoeju's sword to the Namcheon Alliance Leader. Unless Sa Do-haeng is an idiot, he'll gather troops and attack the Paegeomhoe immediately. I came to the nearest escort agency because it was a hassle to deliver it myself. Did I come to the wrong place?”
I tapped the table with my hand.
“An escort agency should work like an escort agency. And give me a guest room. I need some sleep. You have no idea how much sleep I lost because of the assassins the Paegeomhoeju sent. If Cheon Dangju of the Paegeomhoe comes looking for me, tell him you haven't seen anyone like that. This guy seems to have betrayed the leader, but to pin the blame entirely on me, he'll probably be tracking me.”
I slurred my words carelessly in my drowsy state.
“…….”
Gong Du-chan was left speechless. I looked at Gong Du-chan through heavy eyelids.
“Oh, right. Don't ambush me while I'm sleeping. I'm the guy who killed the Paegeomhoeju because I woke up while sleeping. Chief Escort, got it?”
The Chief Escort, unable to answer, gauged the expressions of the escort leaders gathered in the main hall before replying.
“Guide the guest to a room for now. Please, get up.”
I blinked and stood up.
“What about the parcel?”
“We will assign someone immediately and begin the escort mission.”
I nodded as I followed the person guiding me to the guest room.
“The fate of the Byeokan Escort Agency rests on this escort mission, so let's see how things turn out.”
I lay down on the bed in a fairly spacious guest room and spoke to the young escort guard who had guided me there.
“Hey.”
“Yes.”
“If you happen to wake me up, you lot will be annihilated. Just keep that to yourself.”
“Yes, I understand.”
As the escort guard was leaving the room, he cautiously asked.
“But is the Paegeomhoeju really dead?”
“Yeah.”
“You killed him yourself?”
“Of course.”
“May I ask your identity or affiliation?”
I replied with my eyes closed.
“I am the man who was always being chased, the man who fell from a cliff, the man who obtained a fortuitous encounter there, the master of the black curtain, the leader of an unmysterious force, a black-clad man with a clear identity, a strong man who isn't bald....”
My eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
“...That is me.”