Chapter 572: Even if I Go to Hell, I’ll Go as the World’s Strongest
Chapter 572: Even if I Go to Hell, I’ll Go as the World’s Strongest
“I’m Geom Yeon, a new recruit for the White Dragon Unit. The ‘Yeon’ in my name doesn’t stand for ‘connection,’ but rather…”
Whoosh!
Before he could even finish his sentence, Yeon Baek-jin launched a surprise attack, his fingers darting out to seal Geom Mu-geuk’s pressure points.
However, Geom Mu-geuk lightly shifted his weight, effortlessly evading the strike with a fluid twist of his body.
“I use the character for ‘smoke.’ I’m someone who will vanish once this business is over. Forever.”
Yeon Baek-jin felt a strange tremor as he looked at his empty hand, which had grasped nothing but thin air. Was it fear? No, it was something else entirely.
In that moment, he realized the truth. The reason he had seen openings where there should have been none was that those openings were, in fact, his own.
“Ah, and for the record, I didn’t come to the Yellow Dragon Martial Arts Hall to learn martial arts.”
“Then why did you come?”
“I came to help a friend.”
“Who?”
Geom Mu-geuk had revealed himself today for two reasons.
First, he wanted to confirm that Yeon Baek-jin stood in opposition to Pyo-san. While the enemy of an enemy isn't always an ally, he judged that joining forces with Yeon Baek-jin wasn't a bad choice—especially given the urgent situation where their enemies were willing to slaughter even the blood kin of the Ghost Gate.
The second reason, of course, was Seo Jin. If the wheel of fate carrying the two of them was rolling toward catastrophe, he was willing to climb aboard that wheel with her. To do that, he needed to get close to Yeon Baek-jin.
“I don’t belong to the Ghost Gate, but I personally owe them a great debt.”
It was his way of saying he had come to protect Seo Jin. It wasn't a lie; in his past life and this one, he truly did owe the Ghost Gate a great deal.
“Surely you didn’t think the Ghost Gate Leader would let his daughter wander around unprotected?”
“Then that woman named Lee An is also…?”
Geom Mu-geuk nodded.
“We are her guardians.”
They are protecting the Ghost Gate Leader’s daughter?
It was a plausible claim. The two of them had entered the hall the day after Seo Jin arrived, and they had been inseparable ever since.
“I revealed myself because I suspected that the target of Seo Jin’s revenge and Great Hero Yeon’s enemy are one and the same.”
Geom Mu-geuk pulled another weapon from the scrap pile and handed it to him.
“Do you feel like searching together now?”
Yeon Baek-jin tossed the sword back onto the heap of junk.
“I decline.”
His gaze shifted toward the rows of brand-new weapons hanging on the wall.
“With so many new blades pouring out every day, there’s no need to go rummaging through scrap metal.”
Even if the man’s words were true, he couldn't bring himself to trust a stranger so easily. Yeon Baek-jin turned and began to walk out.
“If you’re a recruit, don’t be late for class.”
As he reached the exit, a sudden thought struck him.
Wait, did this man hear me pressuring Pyo-san about 'that place'?
Yeon Baek-jin looked back.
But Geom Mu-geuk had already vanished without a trace.
*
“Great Hero Yeon has realized the existence of that place.”
Pyo-san’s burned face throbbed with heat, but he didn't even have the luxury of applying medicine.
“Knowing his personality, he will keep digging.”
Yeon Baek-in, the Master of the Yellow Dragon Martial Arts Hall, simply stared out the window with his hands clasped behind his back, silent.
Gi Seok, the leader, shook his head as a signal for Pyo-san to stop talking, but Pyo-san couldn't help but add one last thing.
“As long as he knows you will forgive him no matter what he does, Great Hero Yeon will never stop.”
If he had been alone with Gi Seok, Pyo-san would have spat out a string of curses.
Yeon Baek-in let out a soft sigh and turned toward Pyo-san.
“Yes, I suppose he will.”
With a worried expression, he walked toward the instructor.
“That burn looks severe. Let me see. Are you alright?”
“I am fine. Thank you for your concern…”
Snap.
With a flick of Yeon Baek-in’s fingers, Pyo-san’s neck twisted at an unnatural angle.
It was a move so swift that Pyo-san didn't even have time to register it. His cervical vertebrae shattered, and he collapsed instantly.
Looking down at the corpse, Yeon Baek-in let out a low, rage-filled groan. That anger, vibrating through his breath, wasn't directed solely at Pyo-san.
In contrast, Gi Seok showed no reaction to the death of his subordinate. He considered it appropriate to remove Pyo-san now that Yeon Baek-jin had officially involved himself. However, now that his "lips" were gone, his "teeth" would surely feel the cold.
“You said the excavation is in its final stages?”
At Yeon Baek-in’s question, Gi Seok answered respectfully.
“Yes. They’ve broken through almost every layer. They will find the entrance soon.”
A flash of intense emotion crossed Yeon Baek-in’s eyes. Yes, they had to find it. He had become a Hall Master who snapped his own instructor's neck just for this moment.
“We are almost there.”
Yeon Baek-in looked down at Pyo-san’s body once more, then gazed far out the window.
“Yes, I suppose the gates of hell are waiting for us.”
At Yeon Baek-in’s self-mocking reply, Gi Seok bowed his head deeply.
“Even if you go to hell, you will go as the world’s strongest.”
*
Geom Mu-geuk was drinking alone at the inn, waiting for Lee An and Seo Jin to return.
Yeon Baek-jin strode over to his table and set down a worn iron sword.
“I found one sword that didn't deserve to be thrown away.”
He had gone back to the scrap heap at the workshop and retrieved a usable blade.
Geom Mu-geuk looked up at him. The man felt different than he had earlier—more agitated, more driven.
“Don't tell me you actually went back for that?”
“I found it myself.”
“I wouldn't have known if you’d just bought a new one on the way.”
Yeon Baek-jin snorted. It was a brief glimpse into his true, unvarnished character.
“What made you change your mind?”
“A death.”
Yeon Baek-jin’s voice was heavy.
“Pyo-san is dead. They say he hanged himself.”
Yeon Baek-jin knew better. He knew his brother had killed him. The suspicion that had been flickering in his mind had finally hardened into a cold certainty.
“What does he take me for?!”
Despite the shocking news, Geom Mu-geuk remained calm.
“Did you expect this?”
“I wouldn't say I expected it, but it’s not surprising. These are people who tried to kill the blood kin of the Ghost Gate. Cutting off a limb whose identity has been compromised is nothing to them. Come, sit. If you haven't eaten, join me.”
Yeon Baek-jin took a seat. His mind had been a mess of confusion and doubt on his way here, but seeing Geom Mu-geuk made him feel he had made the right choice. This young man had a strange way of putting one at ease.
“Give me a drink.”
Geom Mu-geuk poured him a cup.
“Another.”
After draining three cups in a row, he revealed a fact Geom Mu-geuk hadn't anticipated.
“Instructor Im came to see me before he died.”
The reason Yeon Baek-jin had gotten involved in this matter was because of Im Hyeok.
“He told me something strange was happening within the hall.”
Yeon Baek-jin recounted exactly what Im Hyeok had told him.
Im Hyeok had first noticed something odd two years ago. Back then, there was a student in the White Dragon Unit whom he had taught personally—a truly talented young man. He was skilled and possessed a great hunger for success.
At that rate, he was guaranteed to pass the graduation exam for the elite Yellow Dragon Squad. But one day, he came to Im Hyeok and said he was quitting the martial arts hall. He said he at least wanted to say goodbye to his instructor.
Im Hyeok tried to stop him, telling him he could graduate if he just held on a little longer, but the student left, saying there was something he absolutely had to do.
At that moment, Im Hyeok had seen an inexplicable longing in the student’s eyes. What could he possibly have hoped to gain by throwing away all the time and effort he’d invested?
That incident passed, but a similar thing happened again this year. It was another student guaranteed to pass the graduation exam, and Im Hyeok saw that same longing in his eyes.
Unable to let it go, he began a secret investigation. He discovered that over the last three years, many students who were more than capable of passing the graduation exam had suddenly quit.
Because so many people passed through the hall, no one else had noticed. If someone wanted to quit, what was there to say? Everyone had their reasons.
“He came to me saying it was too strange to ignore. He asked me to look into it. To be honest, when I first heard it, I didn't think much of it.”
He emptied his cup again.
“Instructor Im died two days after he came to see me.”
Yeon Baek-jin shifted his gaze from his empty cup to Geom Mu-geuk.
“That was truly strange.”
Around that time, he had begun to feel that his brother, the Hall Master, had changed. He had become inexplicably sensitive and cold.
Even so, he hadn't imagined his brother would be involved in murdering an instructor. But Pyo-san’s death today made it certain. His brother was involved in Im Hyeok’s death as well.
“Earlier, when you were questioning Pyo-san, what did you mean by ‘that place’?”
“So you did hear.”
Yeon Baek-jin had come here intending to tell him everything.
“I found out after secretly investigating the hall’s finances. I discovered that massive amounts of money were being spent to purchase supplies for a large-scale construction project.”
That was why he had pressed Pyo-san for the location. He needed to find out where and what kind of construction was taking place.
“That is all I know.”
“Thank you for telling me.”
Thanks to him, Geom Mu-geuk finally knew why Im Hyeok had lost his life. He also gained the valuable information that a secret construction project was underway.
Yeon Baek-jin emptied his cup in silence. It was a guilt he didn't need to carry, but Geom Mu-geuk could sense that he felt a debt regarding Im Hyeok’s death.
The Yeon Baek-jin of now was not an evil man. Nor did he seem like an evil man pretending to be good.
Why did a man like this walk such a dark path?
When Seo Jin took her revenge in the past, his brother was already dead. At the time, Mu-geuk had assumed Yeon Baek-jin had killed him.
Why did you walk a path of destiny where you killed your brother and even the woman you loved?
Geom Mu-geuk looked down at the iron sword Yeon Baek-jin had brought. Regardless, one thing was certain: the moment he chose this sword, the wheel of fate had begun to shift its course.
Geom Mu-geuk slowly drew the iron sword and spoke.
“You made a good choice. This sword is no longer destined to melt in a furnace.”
*
The mechanical lift descended endlessly into the earth.
Yeon Baek-in rode alone in the small compartment, which was barely large enough for one person. He stared at his reflection in the cold iron of the lift. It was a face that had become unfamiliar to him at some point.
Thump.
The lift stopped, and the door opened. A martial artist was waiting for him. It was a familiar face—a man from the Yellow Dragon Martial Arts Hall.
“Step only where I step and follow me.”
Yeon Baek-in followed him. The floor was marked with lines like a Go board, each section painted a different color. Yeon Baek-in stepped exactly where his guide stepped.
Along the way, parts of the walls had been torn away, revealing terrifyingly complex mechanical traps within. Some had been completely dismantled, but others remained active; a single wrong step on the floor could mean instant death.
There were sections where they had to cross on a tightrope, and others where they had to crawl through tiny tunnels or even swim through freezing water. It was a labyrinth that was impossible to navigate without a guide. Even though he had visited several times over the last three years, the path sometimes changed, leaving him confused every time.
Finally, they reached the final chamber.
In a space as vast as a plaza, former students of the Yellow Dragon Martial Arts Hall were working feverishly. Some were using Sword Qi to cut through the walls, others were hunched over blueprints, and some were carrying heavy crates.
They hadn't been dragged here. They were all here by choice. They were being paid massive monthly sums, far beyond anything they could have earned after leaving the hall. It was an amount that would allow them all to achieve their dreams once this work was finished.
And there he was. The man who had changed not only Yeon Baek-in’s life but the lives of everyone in this place.
The first thing the man had said when he approached him was this:
— I need to dig a hole with you.
He was a handsome, middle-aged man with a genial impression. There was a relaxed air about him, and a hint of playfulness in the slight curl of his lips.
“Watch out there!”
The man was running around barefoot, his shirt off and his hair tied back. The numerous scars on his body told the story of the life he had led.
“I said watch out!”
The moment the man’s shout erupted toward a young man—
Screeeeeech!
A massive block of iron, several times the size of a person, plummeted toward the youth’s head.
Crack! BOOM!
Yeon Baek-in thought the iron was so heavy that they wouldn't even be able to find a trace of the body.
Fshhhhh.
When the rising dust settled, everyone stared at the spot with shocked expressions. The giant iron block had been split clean in half, and two people were standing between the pieces.
The man was standing beside the youth. He had been quite far away when he shouted, yet he had flown there in an instant and sliced the iron block in two.
The cut surface was so clean and smooth it practically shone. Amazingly, the man had cut this massive piece of iron without even releasing Sword Qi. Nor had he used a divine blade. The sword in the man’s hand was a worn iron sword that could be bought anywhere in a common market.
Everyone there, including Yeon Baek-in, looked upon the man’s prowess with awe. The move he had just shown was truly the ultimate principle of swordsmanship.
The man gave the youth a light smack on the back of the head.
“You trying to die before you even get to spend your money?”
“I’m sorry. Thank you for saving me.”
The youth bowed deeply. The other young men also expressed their gratitude. There wasn't a single person there who hadn't been helped by this man at least once.
“Everyone, clear this out first!”
“Yes, sir!”
The young men gathered to move the iron. They began to use their Sword Qi to break the block into smaller pieces. Most of them hadn't even been able to manifest Sword Qi when they first arrived, but now they all did so with ease.
The man stood for a long time, overseeing the cleanup, before finally turning toward Yeon Baek-in.
“It’s been a while.”
The man walked over with a bright smile, dusting himself off.
“Has something interesting happened in the outside world?”