Walking the Path of Chivalry
It wasn't just their expressions; their movements were clumsy beyond measure. Stiff and rigid, their bodies gave the eerie impression that only a handful of joints were functioning properly.
What on earth does it take to reduce a person to such a state?
Had they practiced some bizarre martial art, or were they the victims of a botched attempt at brainwashing? Yet despite their awkwardness, they seemed remarkably formidable.
"You bastard!"
The moment one of them unlocked the cell door and stepped inside, Namgung Geol's fist exploded forward. Apparently, they had merely locked him away without bothering to seal his acupoints.
Yet the strike failed to leave so much as a scratch.
"Aargh!"
The blow had landed squarely on the creature's abdomen, yet it was Namgung Geol who cried out in agony.
That wasn't the sound of striking human flesh.
It rang out like a hammer pounding solid iron. The sight of Namgung Geol clutching his fist and groaning in pain only reinforced that conclusion.
Did they train in an external martial art?
And an exceptionally profound one at that—sturdy enough to deflect a punch backed by Namgung Geol's internal energy without even flinching.
Perhaps those bizarre, stiff movements are a side effect of some specialized external art.
The wooden puppet-like figures seized Namgung Geol by the limbs. He thrashed violently, but they did not budge an inch. Both their grip and raw physical power were abnormal. With brutal, unyielding hands, they dragged him out and slammed him onto the examination table right beside the coffin.
Dark crimson stains were splattered across the tabletop and the surrounding floor. Their nature was sickeningly obvious.
"Aaaaargh!"
Realizing what lay in store, Namgung Geol twisted his body in renewed panic, yet his pinned limbs remained completely immobilized.
Pacing before the table like a butcher sizing up livestock for slaughter, Seo Won-gil drew a gleaming, cold blade.
"Do not fret. I am merely giving you what you wished for. Did you not say you wanted to become strong? I shall make you strong. Granted, it might differ slightly from the strength you had in mind, but well, that is a minor detail. Rare is the occasion in this world where things turn out exactly as one desires. Consider this an opportune lesson."
Seo Won-gil leveled the blade toward Namgung Geol.
From the shadows, Namgung Yun watched the spectacle coldly.
To Namgung Geol, the present situation felt like a dream. No, it had to be a dream.
A vile, suffocating nightmare.
He was a rising talent of an eminent orthodox clan. Naturally, he had never once doubted that a glorious future lay ahead of him. Once he came of age, he would make his grand debut in the Jianghu, amass endless prestige and renown, and exalt the name of the Namgung Clan. That was the future he had always envisioned.
Even after suffering a humiliating defeat at Namgung Yun's hands, he had never imagined that destined future would change.
Yet what was this?
Forget prestige and honor; he was going to die before he could even set foot in the Jianghu. And in such a foul underground pit, no less. Living as a martial artist, he had entertained the possibility of falling to an enemy's blade in battle. But never in his wildest nightmares had he envisioned an end like this.
The clan he had trusted so deeply was utterly useless to him now. Just as Seo Won-gil had pointed out, he had moved in secret without notifying the clan, terrified that someone else might snatch his serendipity away. It was a textbook display of the average martial artist's covetous obsession with martial power. At the very least, he had merely threatened Seo Won-gil never to speak of it to anyone else rather than trying to take the man's life, which showed he wasn't completely rotten to the core.
Even so, the clan wouldn't be coming to rescue him anytime soon. With the resources of a great noble family, they might eventually track him down given enough time.
The problem was that time was the one luxury Namgung Geol did not possess.
I... I am not meant to end like this!
Yet no matter how frantically he struggled, the iron grip pinning his limbs did not waver.
Was this truly how he died?
Just as deep despair etched itself across his face—
A flash of silver cleaved through the darkness.
Whoosh!
A fierce sonic boom tore through the cavern.
In an instant, the crushing weight pinning his limbs vanished. Namgung Geol scrambled to roll off the table and dropped onto his feet.
He whipped his head up to grasp what had just happened.
He saw Seo Won-gil's panic-stricken face. He saw the figure that had held his legs darting back to the physician's side, and the one that had held his arms—now decapitated, spouting a fountain of foul black liquid.
And then...
"Tsk, tsk, tsk!"
The sound of someone clicking their tongue.
For some reason, merely hearing that sound made a surge of fury bubble up in his chest. He spun around to identify the speaker.
"Namgung Yun?"
Thwack!
"Gack!"
A merciless fist cracked against the back of his skull, sending Namgung Geol crumpling to the floor clutching his head.
"Put 'Hyung-nim' at the end of that, you insolent little brat."
Having administered immediate discipline, Namgung Yun looked down at him with an expression that declared there was nothing more pathetic in the entire world.
"You hopeless bastard. So you really thought I got strong thanks to this quack? And you came crawling here without even telling the clan? I'm asking out of pure curiosity—does living like a brainless fool somehow make your internal energy accumulate faster? Just what kind of education did you receive, and how in the world were you raised, for your skull to sprout such a brilliantly novel brand of bullshit?"
"H-Honestly, it didn't make any sense... sir!"
Seeing Namgung Yun raise his fist once more, Namgung Geol scrambled to adopt honorifics.
"Weren't you... wasn't Hyung-nim the undisputed king of absolute disgraces in the clan? Then out of nowhere, you suddenly transformed like that!"
"Didn't I already tell you it's because I'm a genius? I told you time and time again that all it took was a change in mindset. This damn clan never listens when someone speaks the honest truth."
"Do you honestly think that makes a lick of sense?!"
"So because it didn't make sense, you came running to this bastard? And did you find that miraculous encounter of yours?"
"..."
Namgung Geol was struck utterly speechless.
"Pathetic fool."
Clicking his tongue once more, Namgung Yun turned his gaze toward Seo Won-gil.
Though the physician had been visibly shaken by the sudden ambush, he was already regaining his composure. In fact, a faint air of leisure clung to him once more.
"I never imagined I would meet you here, young master."
"I didn't expect such a place to exist either. You certainly know how to scurry into an abandoned rat hole and make yourself at home."
Perhaps taken aback by Yun's abrasive tongue, Seo Won-gil's brow furrowed.
"Your speech has grown quite savage."
"Why waste courtesy on trash?"
"...The dogs of the Namgung Clan truly lack manners, one and all."
"On that, we agree."
Namgung Yun meant it from the bottom of his heart, but to Seo Won-gil, it sounded like mocking insolence. The physician's face twisted further into a scowl.
Yet, after glancing toward the tunnel entrance from which Yun had burst, Seo Won-gil's expression smoothed out.
"For a moment, I feared the Namgung Clan had uncovered my whereabouts. But it seems you came all alone."
"What?"
Namgung Geol turned pale and stared at Yun in disbelief.
"What are you staring at? Don't need those eyeballs anymore? Want me to pluck them out for you? I can set them nicely in a display case in your room if you'd like."
"N-No, that's not it..."
Why on earth was he talking like a foul-mouthed market thug? Namgung Geol knew Yun had changed, but seeing him this drastically different left him completely bewildered.
Still, Yun's personality shift was not the pressing issue right now.
"Did... did you not alert the clan?"
"Where would I find the time for that? If I'd run off to report to the clan, you'd have been finished long before anyone arrived."
Yun raised his thumb and drew it across his throat in a slicing motion.
Namgung Geol was at a loss for words. After all, hadn't Yun walked straight into danger purely to save his life? Looking at it through that lens, Yun's actions suddenly appeared in a completely different light.
"...Did you come here just to save me?"
"What else would I be here for?"
"...Why?"
No matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't fathom a single reason why Yun would save him.
Even by his own admission, he had tormented Yun mercilessly in the past. If cruelty alone were the measure, Namgung In undoubtedly took first place, but when it came to sheer frequency, Namgung Geol led the pack. Sharing the same training grounds had made harassment a daily routine.
"What? Unhappy that I saved you? Don't want to live anymore? Speak up if you've got a complaint. I can easily grant that request right now."
"No, it's not that..."
"You're thinking you wouldn't have done the same if our places were swapped?"
"..."
Namgung Geol couldn't bring himself to answer.
Why was he in this predicament in the first place? Because he couldn't stomach the humiliation of losing to Yun in their spar, which had driven him to recklessly poke his nose where it didn't belong. That was how fiercely he had resented Yun.
If their roles were reversed and Yun had been the one in mortal danger, what would he have done?
Honestly... I wouldn't have jumped in to save him.
He would have laughed, savoring the poetic justice of it all.
So how could Yun, the very victim of such unrelenting abuse, choose to rescue him?
"The reason is simple."
"...?"
"Because your Hyung-nim is a great man operating on a completely different plane than the likes of you."
It was brazenly arrogant. In the past, Namgung Geol would have sneered, mocked him, and dismissed him as pitiful.
Yet right now, not a single disparaging thought crossed his mind.
"Haven't I been telling you all along? Your Hyung-nim intends to live a life devoted to chivalry. If I refused to save someone simply because I dislike him, or because he used to torment me, how could I dare call myself a chivalrous hero?"
If anything, this situation delighted Namgung Yun to no end.
Rescuing even one's enemy without letting past grudges interfere. Now this is what a true chivalrous hero does.
All that remained was to beat Seo Won-gil into a bloody pulp.
Across the cavern, the physician stood with his arms crossed, watching them.
For a man who had clearly never learned a lick of martial arts to carry himself with such smug confidence, the reason had to lie with the figures flanking him.
Those doll-like creatures.
Their numbers had even increased.
Eight in total.
They were the ones previously positioned just outside Yun's line of sight. Naturally, he had already sensed their presence.
What I'm truly curious about is what the hell these things are.
Yun glanced at the one he had decapitated.
Black blood. Under no circumstances could that belong to a living human.
"You've hired yourself quite the interesting bodyguards."
"Ah, is the touching family reunion over?"
"Family, my ass. He's just a nuisance."
"So I've heard. Namgung Yun, the disgrace of the Namgung Clan, notorious as an outcast whom everyone shunned and bullied. And yet, how did that very outcast become such a formidable master?"
As expected, he's gathered quite a bit of information on the clan.
It wasn't particularly surprising. Yun's circumstances were hardly a state secret; anyone paying even a shred of attention could have uncovered them. But looked at another way, it meant this man had been keeping a close eye on him for some time.
"Did your little scheme fall apart or something?"
"It fell apart. Quite thoroughly, in fact. But it matters not. In the end, both you and that fledgling have walked right into my grasp. For me, this is an outcome far beyond expectations."
"Aren't you putting a bit too much faith in the things standing next to you?"
"Of course I trust them. These beings are my ultimate masterpieces."
"They seemed pretty flimsy to me."
"Do not let a successful ambush inflate your arrogance. You should have taken my head when you had the chance. You threw away your only shot at victory."
"If you're so confident, why don't you tell me what they are? No matter how I look at them, they're not ordinary people."
"You wish to know?"
Just like that bastard Yoma.
Yun had suspected as much the moment the man began babbling about test subjects. Yoma had been identical in that regard.
He loved boasting about his achievements.
Even if his audience was an enemy.
Yoma had always claimed it was an unavoidable flaw shared by those blessed with superior intellect, but to Yun's ears, it was just pure nonsense.
Furthermore, judging by his demeanor, Seo Won-gil was utterly convinced of his own triumph.
The stage was set for the man's tongue to loosen completely.
"These are Jiangshi!"
Yet the identity that spilled from Seo Won-gil's lips was something even Namgung Yun had never anticipated.