Jeok Chu-yeong
The men under Seon Do-mu swung their blades with savage force, as if they meant to punch straight through in a single rush.
The guards protecting Waryong Hall were no easy prey, either.
Even under that murderous assault, they didn’t give ground easily. Moving in pairs, they responded with sharp, disciplined precision, and the coordination between each team was surprisingly polished.
They must have trained together constantly, because their timing was perfect. Their movements looked less like those of gangsters and more like soldiers.
It was clear Bok Ha-gyu had picked his elite men carefully.
After watching for a moment, I left the window and ran for the bedroom.
There was no reason for me to jump into that mess and take on Seon Do-mu head-on.
I wasn’t interested in Bok Ha-gyu’s subordinates or Waryong Hall. The only one I cared about was Jeok Chu-yeong.
Jeok Chu-yeong was still unconscious and completely defenseless.
In his prime, he’d been such a formidable master that he had crushed Seon Do-mu and Im Ja-gyeon with raw power, driven them to their knees, and turned them into his subordinates.
But now he was nothing more than a frail invalid who could die under the hand of a snot-nosed brat.
If I left to fight Seon Do-mu and someone slipped in while I was away, that would be the end of him.
“Gang Leader Jeok. I don’t know if you can hear me, but Seon Do-mu is here to kill you. Let’s get out of here first.”
I gave a rough apology and pulled back the blanket.
Carefully, I lifted Jeok Chu-yeong’s upper body. His head drooped forward limply. I hooked an arm under him, hauled him onto my back, and stood.
Jeok Chu-yeong, dressed in a navy robe, felt chillingly light.
He’d lost so much flesh that every part of my back and waist that touched him pressed against hard bone.
The shallow breath brushing the side of my neck felt ghostly cold.
He’d been under the covers until just now, and yet I could hardly feel any warmth from him at all.
How had he managed to hold on like this for two years?
At this point, it wouldn’t have been strange if he died right now, let alone a year from now.
With my hand behind his back, I held his sagging body tight and left the bedroom.
Every time I moved, the thin arms draped over both my shoulders swayed from side to side.
The servants had apparently been evacuated already, because there wasn’t a soul left inside the hall.
After passing through the kitchen and opening the rear door, I heard the clamor of fighting out front.
While Bok Ha-gyu’s men held the line, I had to get out of the Black Night Gang headquarters.
The outer wall was taller than the roof of my house.
Even with inner energy, it would have been impossible to leap that high while carrying Jeok Chu-yeong.
The best option was to follow the escape route Bok Ha-gyu had told me about.
I wondered if they’d planned for a situation like this when they built the Black Night Gang headquarters in Seochon. The back passage from Waryong Hall wound cleverly between the wall and the buildings.
Looking up at the moon, it seemed to be about half an hour past the start of the Rat hour.
By now, Haomun’s carriage should already be waiting at the back door. Once I got out of the Black Night Gang headquarters, I wouldn’t need to worry about anything after that.
Fweeeet!
Somewhere above my head, a whistle shrieked sharply.
I stopped running and turned toward the sound.
It came from the roof of a three-story building a short distance away.
I set Jeok Chu-yeong down to one side, then hurriedly drew the dagger strapped to my ankle and hurled it.
The startled black-clad man dropped flat on the roof. The dagger struck the ridge beam and bounced away.
Fweeeet!
The bastard kept blowing that whistle. If I left him alone, every blade-wielding thug in the area would come swarming here.
I ran while keeping an eye on my surroundings. It was a three-story building, so the eaves were too high. If I opened the door on the first floor and went up the stairs, I’d be far too late.
Then I spotted a wagon parked below.
I gauged the height of the roof against the pile of wooden crates loaded in the cargo bed, then drew up my inner energy from the dantian.
Following the route of circulation, my inner energy quickly spread to all four limbs.
Using up my precious qi made me angry enough to grind my teeth. I clenched my fists so hard they trembled and forced myself to calm down.
This was not the time to conserve inner energy.
I could replenish it again once I got hold of a spiritual herb. If I wanted to find Soso noona’s family, I had to get Jeok Chu-yeong out of here alive.
Just as I had practiced at home, I focused my inner energy into the soles of my feet and kicked off the ground.
Bang!
I landed on the top of the stacked crates and leaped from there to the roof.
The moment my foot hit the tiles, I sprang at him like a shot.
The black-clad man’s mouth fell open, as if he’d never imagined I could reach the roof so fast. The whistle sound cut off at once.
He stared at me as though he’d seen a ghost, then frantically reached for the blade at his waist.
Before he could even grip the hilt, my long saber pierced his chest. When I pulled it free, he toppled over at once.
I wiped the blood from the blade, sheathed it, and took the dagger back.
Then I hesitated.
The whistle was hanging from the man’s neck, tied on with a cord so it wouldn’t be lost. The uneasy feeling that crawled up my spine made my thoughts knot together.
You could grab a hundred martial artists walking down the street and shake them down, and sure, some of them might have porn pictures on them, but no one was carrying a whistle.
Whistles were for constables. They weren’t something a martial artist would usually have on hand. Being a black-clad thug didn’t change that.
I moved to the spot where he had been standing and looked down below.
It was a position that looked directly over the hidden passage connecting Waryong Hall to the Black Night Gang’s rear door.
Was that just a coincidence?
It felt too off to simply turn around and leave because I’d taken him out.
I lowered my body and climbed the slanted roof in silence.
Peeking over the ridge beam, I carefully examined the buildings scattered around the back lane.
Thanks to the moonlight and the flames, the rooftops were fairly bright.
Just as I thought.
There was more than one black-clad thug lying flat and hidden on the roofs. From what I could see, there were at least three.
“Seon Do-mu, you bastard...”
This wasn’t some hastily thrown-together encirclement after the Five Phoenix Hall burned and he figured out Bok Ha-gyu’s scheme.
He’d prepared in advance, carrying whistles and placing men all along the secret back route the gang leader might use to escape.
They were clearly planning to strike Waryong Hall soon. Maybe they’d even set up a separate pursuit unit.
If I hadn’t pushed Bok Ha-gyu to act first, Jeok Chu-yeong would probably have been stabbed to death within a day or two.
And if Im Ja-gyeon had joined in as well, Bok Ha-gyu would’ve gone down fighting like a mad dog.
Leaping from roof to roof and picking them off one by one would be too much trouble. I didn’t even know how many black-clad men were hiding, and I didn’t want to waste inner energy if I could help it.
I moved to the opposite side of the roof and looked down into the Black Night Gang compound.
Hearing the whistle, the black-clad thugs were already running out from the burning Five Phoenix Hall.
The escape route I’d learned from Jin Seok-man was too far away. There was no guarantee it was even safe.
And I couldn’t just leave Jeok Chu-yeong exposed to the early-winter cold any longer.
I’d have to break through as quickly as possible, even if it meant spending inner energy.
Just as I made up my mind and started to climb down from the roof, someone crossed the open yard between the buildings.
It was a man dressed like a servant.
He wasn’t armed, but he had a large bundle strapped to his back. As if that weren’t enough, he was also carrying a load in both hands.
He was hurrying along and scanning his surroundings anxiously, but for some reason, his face looked almost welcome to me.
I quickly stepped down onto the cargo bed and onto the crates.
The man was so startled by the sudden appearance of a martial artist with a blade that he lost his balance and fell hard on his backside.
He looked up at me with wide eyes and began blurting out an explanation in a panic.
“I-I was sent by the unit leader to call the others...”
“Jin Seok-man, it’s me. Jeong Dae-cheon.”
The moment I said his name, he recognized my face and let out a breath of relief.
“Haaah. It’s you, Master Jeong.”
“Did you get everything done?”
“Yes. Well... more or less, not too badly.”
He was clearly acting like he’d pocketed a small fortune, but Jin Seok-man kept his mouth shut.
He got up quickly and grabbed his bundle with both hands, watching me nervously as though he were afraid I might snatch away what he’d worked so hard to get.
“Are you heading out now?”
“I have to go.”
“Using the escape route you told me about before?”
“No. The black-clad men are waiting there.”
“Then where?”
“There’s a rat hole I found while I was stripping another place earlier. That one’s perfect.”
“I’m coming with you.”
“You are? Fine by me.”
At the news that I’d be with him, Jin Seok-man visibly relaxed.
He’d managed to loot his way here, but he had no weapon and didn’t know how to fight. If he ran into a black-clad thug, he was as good as dead.
He must have decided it was better to give up a little of what he’d taken if it meant staying alive.
“Wait here a second.”
When I came back carrying Jeok Chu-yeong on my back, Jin Seok-man looked at me in confusion.
He’d probably assumed I’d made off with a windfall just like him, so seeing me go through all this trouble for only one person didn’t make sense to him.
Jeok Chu-yeong was in such bad shape that Jin Seok-man didn’t even recognize who he was.
Part of me wanted to tell Jin Seok-man to carry him, but if I told him to drop the bundle, he would definitely run off halfway through.
He’d slow us down anyway, so it was better that I carried Jeok Chu-yeong myself.
“This way.”
Following Jin Seok-man’s lead, I ducked into the narrow space between the storehouses.
The Black Night Gang headquarters was far too large to call it some backwoods thug’s den. There were plenty of halls and buildings, and the internal layout was complicated.
Even while moving under high tension and keeping a wary eye out, I still couldn’t quite make sense of it.
Just how much money were they making in Seochon...
“Who the hell are you!”
As we crossed between two open buildings, we ran into three black-clad thugs who looked like highway robbers.
“Move.”
Jin Seok-man hurriedly stepped aside.
I drew my saber and charged. Supporting Jeok Chu-yeong’s lower body with my left arm, I swung the saber with my right.
The continuous slash from the first eighteen forms of the Thousand Steel Saber Technique was one of my favorites.
Even with one hand, the force behind it was terrifying because my inner energy was fully driven into the blade.
“Kraaaah!”
Like a maddened bear crashing down, the three black-clad men were split apart before they could react at all.
Blades snapped, arms and heads flew, and torsos were nearly cut in half. Even though I was the one who’d struck, the sheer savagery of it made me stare.
“Damn it...”
I checked my dantian and swore under my breath. In my rush, I’d poured in far too much inner energy.
I sheathed the saber and bounded over the ruined corpses.
Jin Seok-man was nowhere to be seen. When I looked back, he was standing there frozen, his face pale as paper.
“What are you waiting for? You want to die here?”
“Huh? Y-yes! I’m coming!”
Only then did Jin Seok-man come to his senses and scramble ahead of me in a panic.
After that, things went smoothly. Either everyone was busy doing the wrong thing in the wrong place, or there wasn’t a single black-clad thug left to be seen.
Seon Do-mu apparently hadn’t expected another escape route, either.
We reached the grain store without incident. When I yanked the door open, a stale, dusty smell hit me full in the face.
Two eyes flashed atop a pile of rice sacks.
I tightened my grip on the saber and glared, only for a cat with a mouse in its mouth to dart up to the beam and vanish.
“There’s a passage here?”
“Yes. Absolutely.”
At my suspicious question, Jin Seok-man answered with complete confidence and headed straight for the far corner.
Just as he’d said, there was a fist-sized hole gnawed into one side of the wooden wall by rats.
Jin Seok-man set down the bundle in his hands and kicked at the wall.
The old wooden boards were sturdier than they looked.
No matter how hard he kicked, only tiny chips flew off; the wall barely gave at all.
Without an axe or some other tool, it didn’t look easy to break by hand.
“Huh? Why won’t this thing break?”
“Move.”
I pushed past the flustered Jin Seok-man and stepped in. After a few kicks packed with inner energy, the rotten wall finally shattered into a large opening.
Still crouched low, I squeezed through and made my way outside.
When I emerged from the narrow back lane choked with weeds and rotting abandoned sacks, my eyes suddenly felt as if they’d opened wide.
Jin Seok-man pointed ahead with a hand.
“See? I told you. It’s over there. Right there.”
His voice was hot with triumph and emotion, as if he’d finally accomplished something great.
It was a strangely shaped building that wrapped around one side of the wall.
Once we got through there, we’d come out the back door Bok Ha-gyu had opened for me when I first entered the Black Night Gang headquarters.
We were almost there.
Letting out a quiet breath, I nodded.
Since we’d agreed to escape on our own, there was no need to wait for anyone else.
Then a cold sensation spread across the small of my back.
When I slipped my hand in, I found a faint surge of energy somewhere in the part of Jeok Chu-yeong’s body pressed against mine.
After groping around for the source, I was struck with shock.
The dantian.
Something I’d heard before flashed through my mind.
Could it be that the hidden force was reacting to my inner energy?
When the master Bok Ha-gyu had brought in used True Qi Guidance to inject inner energy into Jeok Chu-yeong, the hidden force had gone berserk.
If it started raging again here, I couldn’t guarantee Jeok Chu-yeong’s life.
I withdrew the inner energy I’d been circulating at the minimum level for the sake of guarding against ambush, and a faint, ghostlike voice drifted into my ear.
“Who... are... you...”
In the shiver that felt like my breath had stopped, I slowly turned my head.
His unfocused eyes, dim and empty, were fixed on me. Moonlight glinted across his pupils.
Blurring his gaze with obvious effort, Jeok Chu-yeong asked again.