Chapter 103
The young lady’s face was completely different from before.
Gone was the sorrowful expression she had worn while crying pitifully as she looked at me, and gone was the expression of terror on her face when she had been held in Bang Chang-seung’s arms.
Her face was twisted into the likeness of a hideous demon. Even so, tears continued to fall from her eyes, making her look miserable at a glance.
“Because of you, because of you…!”
The young lady’s hands trembled violently. Unfortunately, perhaps because she had failed to finish him off with a single stab, Bang Chang-seung was still alive despite coughing up bloody foam.
Bang Chang-seung croaked,
“…Why, why…?”
“Why?”
The young lady suddenly screamed.
“You’re asking me why? How dare you have the nerve to ask me why?!”
“…”
“You killed my younger brother!”
Tears poured endlessly from the young lady’s eyes. She continued in a trembling voice.
“Did you think I didn’t know anything? How long did you think I would tremble in fear like an idiot and do whatever you told me to?!”
“…”
“I was only waiting for an opportunity. An opportunity to escape this pavilion and run away with Awi! I actually managed to get out of the pavilion once. But then… I heard it.”
“…”
“I heard that all the medicine you gave us was fake!”
I sucked in a breath.
I had wondered how much of what she had told us was true and how much had been a lie, but it seemed that most of the circumstances she had confessed to us were actually true.
Then, the part where she had asked me for help…
“I always thought something was strange. After Awi took the medicine, he would get better for a while, only for his condition to become worse than before. I desperately hoped it wasn’t true, but… that medicine wasn’t a treatment at all. It was nothing more than a drug that numbed the body’s senses!”
The young lady panted heavily.
“And yet you lied to us and told us it was medicine, locked me up, and threatened that you wouldn’t give me the medicine if I resisted…”
“…”
“Haha, how amusing must it have been to watch me trembling in fear over medicine that didn’t even exist? How ridiculous must I have looked? Just thinking about it made my teeth chatter with rage, but… I was still all right. As long as Awi was alive…”
“…”
“But why did you do it?”
The young lady gripped the dagger and brought her face right up to Bang Chang-seung. Then she glared into his eyes and shouted furiously.
“Why! Why did you abandon Awi? Why did you order them to throw that completely innocent child away in the mountains?!”
“…”
“If there was no medicine, you could have just left him alone. He was a child who couldn’t do anything anyway. You could have just kept him locked up!”
“…”
“But you said his crying whenever he looked for me was annoying, and ordered them to throw him away…”
The young lady sobbed as she whispered.
“…That was too cruel.”
“…”
“At that time, I really wanted to die. I even thought about jumping from the pavilion… but I gritted my teeth and endured it. Do you know why?”
Suddenly, the young lady pulled the dagger from Bang Chang-seung’s neck.
As the blade that had been lodged inside came free, blood spurted out.
The young lady raised the dagger once again.
“So that I could kill you with these hands!”
After that, the young lady’s revenge began. Again and again, she plunged the knife into Bang Chang-seung’s neck.
“Die, die, die! I’ll curse you even after you’re dead. I’ll follow you even in death. I’ll make sure you can never close your eyes in peace!”
Bang Chang-seung had already been dead for quite some time.
The young lady’s hands and face became drenched in blood.
Even I, who had become desensitized to human death, could not help but frown at the sight.
Just as I picked up a fragment of the sword to stop the young lady…
Drip.
The young lady stopped moving.
“Haa… ha, haha…”
Suddenly, the young lady let out a small laugh. The laugh sounded happy, yet at the same time, it also sounded hollow. For some reason, I had an ominous feeling.
I knew that face.
The woman who had been gasping for breath raised the dagger once again.
This time, she pointed the blade somewhere else.
Straight at her own neck.
Tears trickled down the corners of the young lady’s eyes.
“Awi… I’ll come to meet you.”
And just as she was about to exert force…
Ting!
The fragment of the sword that flew from my hand struck the dagger. Since I hadn’t infused it with internal energy, I couldn’t completely knock the dagger away, but I was able to change its direction.
The blade veered aside and grazed the young lady’s neck.
I didn’t relax just because of that. I hurriedly rushed over and grabbed the young lady’s wrist. Then I twisted her arm behind her back, restraining her so she couldn’t move.
As expected, the young lady struggled.
“Let go! Let gooo!”
I hurriedly spoke to the beauty nearby.
“Excuse me! If you don’t want to see an unnecessary life sacrificed, please help me. I can’t use my internal energy because of the poison, so please seal this young lady’s acupoints!”
“…”
The beauty looked at me for a moment before saying one word.
“I will.”
The beauty bent down and quickly sealed the young lady’s acupoints.
Soon, the young lady’s body trembled violently before going limp.
I placed a finger beneath the young lady’s nose. Fortunately, she was breathing safely.
“Phew…”
Only then was I able to relax.
It was only belatedly that the scene around me came into view. Every gaze in the room was directed at the young lady and me.
Paeng Ga, leaning against the wall with his eyes wide open in surprise; the Taoist, wearing a flustered expression; and the impassive beauty, whose thoughts were impossible to read.
The entire floor was shattered and gouged up, turning the room into a complete mess, and the area around me was even covered in blood.
I looked around and laughed.
“Haha…”
Then I finally said one thing.
“What a complete mess.”
***
“I am Woonhak, the second-generation disciple of Wudang. May I ask your esteemed name?”
“So you are Daoist Woonhak. I’ve heard quite a lot about you from Young Master Paeng and Young Master Zhuge. My name is Dan Yeonjeong. My friends in the martial world sometimes call me Flower-Glutton.”
“So you are Fellow Daoist Dan. Flower-Glutton… huh?”
The matter was wrapped up rather vaguely.
Indeed, the martial artists from the Murim Alliance had been brought here by this Inspection Unit. While we had been fighting Bang Chang-seung, the wooden palisade of Yongcheok Stronghold had already been breached.
They said they had split into two groups: one group went to rescue their comrades, while the other went to capture the chieftain. The captain had even taken to the roof because he wanted to hurry in case the chieftain escaped.
‘That explains it.’
I had wondered why he had suddenly appeared through the window.
Thanks to that, he had left an even deeper first impression on me. After all, at first I really had thought a fairy had descended from the heavens.
‘He still looks like one now, though…’
I stole a sideways glance at the beauty’s face. Despite everything that had happened, not a single drop of blood had splashed onto the beauty’s pure-white clothes.
They remained perfectly clean. Even though I was staring intently at him, he seemed accustomed to such attention and ignored me as he spoke.
“What is their condition?”
“Both young masters have suffered internal injuries, but they aren’t particularly serious. The problem is that they’ve been poisoned with Sanggong Poison.”
I considered giving them the antidote I had, but decided against it. I had a feeling they wouldn’t readily take an antidote given to them by Flower-Glutton.
“It would be better to leave that to Miss Tang.”
“Yes. Miss Tang is well versed in poisons, so she should be able to help.”
“Take the two of them downstairs and have them treated.”
“Then what about you, Captain?”
“I need to search the chieftain’s corpse and quarters. He may have hidden something. We’ll regroup downstairs in a little while.”
“Understood.”
The two finished their brief conversation. It seemed difficult for them to discuss anything in detail with me there.
Just then, Daoist Woonhak was carrying the unconscious Zhuge Ye.
Thinking this was my chance, I picked up the young lady and approached him, holding her out toward him.
“Daoist, I would appreciate it if you could take this young lady downstairs with you as well.”
“What?”
Daoist Woonhak looked at me in bewilderment.
“Considering what my nickname is, it would be better for you to take the young lady rather than me. That way, she won’t get caught up in any unnecessary rumors either.”
“Ah, yes.”
“And when she wakes up, please persuade her well. It’s unfortunate that her younger brother died, but shouldn’t the living continue living? Perhaps if she keeps living, better days will come again.”
“…”
“So please tell the young lady to live even for her younger brother’s sake… Daoist?”
Daoist Woonhak was silently looking at me.
Then he smiled warmly and said,
“No. I had already thought that the rumors spread about you and the reality were different.”
“Haha. Well, I understand.”
“Leave her to me. I will make absolutely certain that I don’t let her die.”
I smiled back at Daoist Woonhak.
Then I respectfully cupped my hands and said,
“I’ll trust you, Daoist.”
The four of them went downstairs, and the surroundings became quiet once again.
Before long, only the beauty and I remained in the room.
I glanced at the beauty. However, he seemed completely uninterested in me and was absorbed in examining Bang Chang-seung’s corpse.
‘Hmm. That aloof attitude. Not bad.’
I chuckled, then sat down and crossed my legs into a meditation posture.
I had something I needed to do right away, anyway.
The Sanggong Poison had almost completely dissipated.
Unlike before, when even the slightest attempt to circulate my internal energy caused it to scatter completely, my internal energy had now begun to move again.
I circulated my energy and drew out the effects of the medicine, completely cleansing the remaining poison from my body. Only after circulating my energy through a full cycle did I open my eyes.
And then I felt a gaze directed toward me.
I remained seated and faced the beauty. Although I couldn’t see his eyes because they were covered by the blindfold, I somehow felt as though our gazes had met for an instant.
Strangely, a peculiar sense of longing blossomed within my chest.
“By any chance…”
Comments (0)