Chapter 3 (1)
Chapter 3 (1)
"If you insist on protecting that lecher, you too shall pay the same price!"
Despite Hong Seol-rin's shout, Jincheon did not back down.
'He's violent and has a boomer mentality, but he's not a lecher.'
In his eyes, Lee Won-dae didn't feel like 'one of his own.'
Should I say he just feels like a frustrating old geezer?
Furthermore, thinking that he could finally repay his debt, Jincheon sensed that now was the time for him to shine.
Though, inside, he was burning with anxiety.
'Fuck. She beat a Sect Leader, can I even handle her?'
Winning against a Sect Leader means that even if she looks young, she learned orthodox martial arts from a prestigious sect.
Can I catch up to such an opponent with second-rate martial arts and half a year of time?
'If learning martial arts for a long time meant you always won, why would UFC and K-1 exist!'
With that thought, Jincheon steeled his resolve and rushed toward Hong Seol-rin.
'Not all the sect members have been taken down yet! In that case, I have to catch this woman and turn the situation around!'
Subdue Hong Seol-rin and resolve this situation through conversation.
Unlike Jincheon, who sensed that this was the best-case scenario, his opponent swung her spear with the intent to kill him.
"Hah!"
Swik-swik-swik-swik!
The spear tip thrusting at his whole body with speed fast enough to leave afterimages.
'Can't dodge it!'
A continuous attack that cut off his retreat.
Jincheon felt it was too late to force a dodge.
'Then, head-on!'
Jincheon raised his sword blade, blocking the rapidly pouring spear tips as he moved forward.
However, Hong Seol-rin stepped back just as much, utilizing the spear's range to the fullest.
Kang-kang-kang-kang!
'Ugh! It's hard to get close!'
Enemies using swords or axes could be finished by just dodging or parrying their weapons to attack their openings, but with a spear, the distance made even closing the gap a major problem.
However, Jincheon was not a simple martial arts novice.
Although not quite like real humans, he had dealt with NPCs in virtual reality that had various patterns, and his experience from virtual reality began to melt into the real fight.
Jincheon's movements, which were initially desperate for defense, gradually found a sense of balance.
He was instinctively feeling the 'nature' of the opponent's martial arts.
This is a result created by countless experiences, training, and sensory talent, but Jincheon was growing to the point where it was possible during the battle.
'What!? Why is a mere warrior of the Jugeom Sect blocking the Hong Family Spear Technique!'
Hong Seol-rin was bewildered.
The Jugeom Sect's Sect Leader was overwhelmingly weaker than her.
But how could a subordinate of that Sect Leader fight on par with her?
'Now!'
In the end, feeling the flow, he found an opening and quickly approached, stepping with the Hojinbo.
'His movements changed?'
Hong Seol-rin was surprised to see Jincheon, who had been desperate to block, regain composure and approach while dodging the spear tip.
It felt as if he had been using an unsuitable tool and was gradually getting used to it.
Feeling a sense of crisis at his rapid approach, Hong Seol-rin changed her goal from suppression to killing.
'If I can't even subdue a mere warrior, I'll become a laughingstock!'
She had prioritized suppression to fairly distinguish between those who were deceived by Chuihwa-eumryeong and those who cooperated with him.
However, if he came at her like this, the answer she had to choose was already decided.
"Haaat!"
With a shout, Hong Seol-rin rotated her spear and delivered a one-hit-kill thrust aimed at Jincheon's solar plexus.
'I'm going to die!'
Jincheon felt a large, fast, and fierce sense of intimidation.
However, he actually became cool-headed at the killing intent.
'A big attack has a big opening!'
He stepped forward with the Hojinbo even faster, utilizing the Cheonchu Ganggeom form, and struck down with his sword toward the spear tip aiming for his solar plexus.
Ka-ka-deuk!
Hong Seol-rin's spear, which even used the subtlety of rotation, collided with Jincheon's sword, destroying the sword too easily and aiming for Jincheon's solar plexus.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Hong Seol-rin's eyes widened as Jincheon's figure vanished.
"Jojang! Below!"
Hearing the team member's shout, she lowered her gaze, and Jincheon, who had already approached to point-blank range, grabbed her legs and knocked her down.
"Eek!?"
Caught in a street fight that was on a different track from general martial arts, Hong Seol-rin couldn't overcome Jincheon's strength and fell.
She tried to hurriedly raise her upper body and take a stance, but she froze at the sight of his thumb and index finger, bent like hooks, aiming for her eyes.
"You don't want to lose both your eyes, do you? You'd better stay still."
Jincheon, having succeeded in mounting her, forced her to give orders.
"You... filthy...! Even if you're Evil Faction, to fight in such a dirty way...!"
"Filthy? Dirty? Bullshit. This is all high-level technique, you know?"
If a modern martial artist saw this, they would exclaim, 'To connect a tackle to a mounting position like flowing water! Amazing!', but to a Murim person, it could only look like a pedigree-less dogfight.
"Stop everything! If you don't want to see this woman get her eyes gouged out!"
When Jincheon, who had subdued Hong Seol-rin, shouted at the Jeongmumae Vermilion Bird Unit members, they all looked at each other at the sight of their Jojang being taken down and then separated from the Jugeom Sect.
"No! We can't lose Chuihwa-eumryeong here! Don't mind me and...!"
Pow!
"Aaaack!"
She shouted at the members, but Jincheon just punched her in the face.
"Th-that...!"
"Evil bastard...!"
Just being on top of a woman's body was enough to be shocked, but on top of that, he punched the defenseless woman's face.
It would be condemned in modern times, but in this place, which is at least hundreds of years before modern times, he could only be called the worst piece of trash.
"I'm not joking right now! It's a fist now, but next time it's this!"
Thinking that his fingers didn't look threatening enough, Jincheon raised the dagger he used to dig for herbs.
'First of all, this position is uncomfortable.'
If you're in a mounting position, it's hard to react when someone acts crazy and rushes at you.
"Eek!"
Judging so, Jincheon grabbed Hong Seol-rin's smooth hair roughly, pulled her up, and took a threatening stance by holding the dagger close to her neck.
"Ugh..."
"What should we do..."
The situation where the Jojang was taken hostage.
They didn't know what to do in this situation and were flustered.
'To be caught by such a despicable guy...! Rather than suffer this insult, I'd rather...!'
She wanted to achieve merit, but instead, she ended up being taken prisoner.
The moment she felt shame and humiliation and steeled her heart,
"It's a big problem!"
Someone who looked like another Vermilion Bird Unit member hurriedly entered the Jugeom Sect.
Rather than grasping the situation inside, he focused on shouting his words with internal energy.
"The traces left here are a trap left by Chuihwa-eumryeong! The real Chuihwa-eumryeong is being tracked by Team 2!!"
"!!"
"!!"
Hearing that news, the Vermilion Bird Unit members looked bewildered, retrieved their weapons, and began to distance themselves from the Jugeom Sect.
"Heard that? You barked up the wrong tree, didn't you?"
"Ugh...!"
Jincheon smiled at the sight of the Vermilion Bird Unit member who delivered the new news and released Hong Seol-rin.
After retrieving the spear that had fallen to the ground, she glared at Jincheon as if to kill him.
The desire to thrust her spear into that smirking face surged.
However, she had to handle more important cleanup than that.
"All of this is my responsibility. If you formally protest to the Jeongmumae later, I will provide compensation."
She bowed to Lee Won-dae, who had been injured and received emergency treatment, and with the words that she would pay compensation at any time, she led the Vermilion Bird Unit members and exited the Jugeom Sect.
Lastly, she glared at Jincheon with a hateful gaze, but that was the maximum action she could take.
"......."
"......."
And all the Jugeom Sect warriors' gazes gathered on Jincheon.
Because they never imagined he would defeat the Jojang of the Vermilion Bird Unit who had beaten the Sect Leader.
In particular, Lee Won-dae had an expression of astonishment throughout watching Jincheon and Hong Seol-rin's fight.
He had to be surprised since a beggar he had half-picked up was showing off martial prowess stronger than his own.
'Now is the time.'
At that sight, Jincheon felt it was time for him to leave this place as well.
"The price for saving my life, I have clearly repaid. Then."
Bowing his head and performing a fist salute, Jincheon quickly moved away from the Jugeom Sect using movement arts.
Because he expected that the more they talked, and as time passed, they would make unreasonable demands to tie him down.
"Wait!"
As expected, Lee Won-dae tried to say something to Jincheon, but he closed his ears and ran at full speed toward his hideout in the mountains.
'This much is enough.'
He thinks he has repaid the debt enough.
If Lee Won-dae had been arrested there, it would never have ended well.
In the worst case, they might frame him and set out to destroy evidence.
Besides, he brought them a lot of money as an herb gatherer.
With this much debt repayment, he can leave lightheartedly.
Arriving at his hideout located halfway up the mountain, where his entire fortune was kept, Jincheon began to pack a mortar, a hunting bow and arrows he had secretly purchased, dried jerky, herbs, and dried spices into a bundle.
While packing the bundle, Jincheon was engraving this battle into his mind.
'Modern martial arts have become sports, but I proved this time that they are not useless at all.'
If he had only learned the Jugeom Sect's martial arts, he would have definitely lost.
The current victory was won not with techniques as a Murim person, but with techniques of modern martial arts.
Although modern martial arts are said to have become sports, because of that, techniques to subdue opponents without killing them have developed.
Modern martial arts used with a body tempered by internal energy is an unfamiliar field to the Murim people of this era.
'Well, techniques that use purely the body, not internal energy, would be considered by Murim people as techniques of street thugs.'
Jincheon decided not to discard the modern martial arts he had learned, but to continue training them.
Thinking that this power would be a hidden card to give a blow to Murim people who are accustomed to martial arts.
Having packed everything, Jincheon tied the bundle to a thick staff.
Jincheon, lifting the wooden stick onto his shoulder and holding it with one hand, chuckled.
Because it reminded him of people traveling this way in old Chinese movies or cartoons.
'Now, shall I head south?'
He had heard from others that the further south you go, the more intense the fight between the Orthodox and Evil factions becomes, and that there is that much more work for wanderers.
'Let's earn real combat experience and money while living as a wanderer. Once I have some leeway, I'll go find the 'fated encounters' I remember.'
Pungun Murim unfolds numerous events, conflicts, and human relationships like friendship even without player intervention.
The problem is that because it is set in the vast Chinese continent, the number of events is beyond imagination.
Among them, Jincheon had memorized a few major events and fated encounters that caught his eye.
The only problem is that most of those fated encounters are in rugged mountains or require a certain level of cultivation, so if he goes right now, he'll either waste his time or suffer greatly.
'It feels like the development is too fast, but it can't be helped. If the Jugeom Sect says they'll look for me, things will get complicated.'
Jincheon himself thinks he has already repaid the debt enough.
But Lee Won-dae, who saw his martial prowess, won't think so.
He will surely try to tie him down somehow and use him.
Jincheon headed south, taking a wide detour around the village with the staff tied with his bundle.
A journey in a situation where what he has is his entire fortune.
A journey not for sightseeing or exploring, but to find a new life.
Experiences different from what he has had so far are waiting for him.
'This is surprisingly exciting. But it's a good kind of excitement.'
Jincheon began to move toward the south with light steps, ignoring the Jugeom Sect people looking for him.
'The goal is... yeah, living as I please. Let's try living a life that was impossible in modern times.'
This place is the world where you can live as you please if you are strong, Murim.
Gaining strong power and living as one pleases.
Hero? Villain? Money? Honor?
That is just one of the processes.
Because for him, there is nothing more important than living as he pleases.
Thus, Jincheon's journey began.