Chapter 27: Heuksangbang Raid-1
Chapter 27: Heuksangbang Raid-1
It was after lunch, when I had finished external training with Bi Sa-yeong and Bae Jong-gwan as always.
A young lady suddenly approached me as I was taking off my upper garment and pouring water on my body.
She was a rather cute young lady with a flushed red face.
"Excuse me...."
Hmph, another one?
I grinned and asked her.
"Do you have some business with me, my lady?"
Then, with her face turning even redder, she held out a handkerchief to me.
"To at least wipe your sweat with this...."
It was a pretty handkerchief with the name 'Song Yeong-yeong' embroidered on it.
Just then, Bi Sa-yeong, who had been watching with a disapproving gaze from behind, muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Jong-gwan here really sweated a lot, you know."
But it seemed she didn't hear him.
Or perhaps she didn't want to hear.
She was continuing to hold out the handkerchief with trembling hands.
I, unable to bring myself to ignore her hand, reluctantly took the handkerchief.
"I will use it gratefully, Lady Yeong-yeong."
Then her expression brightened, and she screamed, 'Kyaak! He called my name!' and ran away.
I watched her retreating figure for a moment, wiped my sweat with the handkerchief, and muttered.
'What a sinful man I am. It's just a pity that I can't accept her heart. Heh.'
At that moment, Bi Sa-yeong smacked the back of my head refreshingly.
Smack!
"Stop smiling and say that, you bastard!"
Perhaps because I trained in external arts, it didn't even hurt much.
I grinned and teased him.
"Jealous again? Shouldn't you be used to it by now?"
"Hmph! I'm used to this situation now. It's just you, who got used to it too quickly, that I'm not used to!"
I smiled at the guy spitting out anger as if he had a lot pent up, and held out the handkerchief I had just received.
"Come on, relax and wipe your sweat with this."
"You bastard! Forget it!"
Then Bae Jong-gwan, who was beside us, spoke as if finding it amazing.
"It's amazing every day. It's already been four days, right? And they were all different young ladies too. Jin-i lost weight and became unrecognizably handsome a long time ago, so why are they only doing this now?"
Then Bi Sa-yeong answered in an annoyed tone.
"Naturally, it's because of the match with Ju Tae-gyeong. Before, he was handsome but a weird guy who only trained in external arts, but after defeating Ju Tae-gyeong, he came to be seen as a handsome gentleman with both looks and skill. No matter how good-looking you are, if your martial arts are weak, you become a fool, right? This front line."
At those words, Bae Jong-gwan spoke with a hurt face.
"What do you mean 'only external arts'? Sa-yeong, you don't mean you've been thinking that, do you?"
"No, not me! The other young ladies thought that way!"
"Ahhh, the other young ladies."
Bae Jong-gwan nodded as if immediately convinced, then suddenly asked again.
"Then if my martial arts get strong, will I become popular like Jin-i?"
At Bae Jong-gwan's question asked with an innocent expression like a child, Bi Sa-yeong glanced alternately at my face and Bae Jong-gwan's, but couldn't bring himself to answer.
Then soon he said scoldingly.
"Jong-gwan! You don't mean you think it would be nice to be popular with other ladies besides Lady Cheon?! If Lady Cheon finds out, she'll be very disappointed!"
Then the flustered Bae Jong-gwan hurriedly shook his head.
"No, no. No way! It's absolutely not like that! I was just asking!"
"Right? I also thought there's no way you would."
Looking at the two, I smiled slightly.
Handsome gentleman....
It was actually a rather awkward word.
Because in my past life, I had never once received the attention of women or had a deep relationship.
When Lady Na was alive, I was just a pig busy surviving, and after Lady Na died, I was completely busy training myself, and the situation on the front line became so urgent that I had no leisure for such relationships.
To think that such a me would become popular with women.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
It felt extremely awkward and shy.
But somehow, it wasn't a bad feeling.
"Have you all finished training?!"
Suddenly, a bright and clear voice was heard.
Turning around, I saw the three women of our squad, having finished their own training, walking toward us.
My gaze naturally focused on Lady Na Seo-yu, who stood in the middle of the three.
My heart began to pound suddenly.
In my past life, while Lady Na was alive, I had merely been a being who received care.
A being who could hardly take care of his own body, and couldn't even dream of daring to express his heart to her.
But after she died, I changed.
I became a completely different person from before.
Of course, she couldn't see it....
And finally, the me of now had finally come to have a little confidence in myself.
Perhaps because of that, I now occasionally asked myself.
'If it were now, could things be a little different from then?'
That kind of question.
A while ago, after much thought, I had yielded one of the spiritual elixirs I originally intended to take to her.
My internal energy was now close to one gapja.
It was a situation where a few more years of internal energy would completely fill one gapja.
So taking a spiritual elixir immediately before reaching the peak was a bit wasteful.
Of course, leaving it for later wouldn't have been a bad choice either, but that would have made me feel sorry toward Bi Sa-yeong, who had yielded half of his elixir to me.
So after deliberating, I eventually decided to yield one of the two my father had given me to Lady Na Seo-yu.
Of course, the kind-hearted her was surprised and refused.
But to her, who refused saying she absolutely couldn't accept it, I said this:
'My lady, of course, I could give this to Jong-gwan or Lady Cheon to raise the average martial prowess of our squad. But through this incident, I realized that our squad must have another peak-level master besides the squad leader. As you may have heard, the squad leader was in a truly dangerous situation this time. Therefore, along with Cheong-yeon and myself, I judged that Lady Na must quickly rise to the peak level and assist the squad leader. That is why I am giving it to you, Lady Na, so please do not refuse.'
After hearing my words, Lady Na hesitated for a moment, then eventually took the elixir while saying thank you several times.
At that moment, watching her take the elixir I gave her, I felt deep pride.
As if she had accepted my heart.
Of course, however inexperienced I was with women, I wasn't a fool to not know it didn't mean that.
Nevertheless, I had a little hope.
A hope that my feelings might have been conveyed, even a tiny bit....
Lady Na, approaching with a bright face, suddenly saw the handkerchief clutched in my hand and asked with a smile:
"You received another handkerchief? Who was it this time?"
"Ah, this, well."
I was startled.
You idiot, to show this in front of her.
As I flusteredly tried to make an excuse, Bi Sa-yeong first answered in a sulky tone.
"Today it was Lady Song Yeong-yeong of the Third Squad."
Then Lady Na retorted with a surprised face.
"Lady Song Yeong-yeong? Oh my, I know she's quite popular with men?"
When she said that, I suddenly felt a little expectation.
The expectation that she might be a little jealous.
But she soon smiled brightly and congratulated me.
"Wow, Sir Seonu, you've really become popular? I'm even proud. Is this how a mother feels looking at her successful son? You're truly admirable!"
...It seemed I was a son.
Then the spiritual elixir I gave....
Did I become a filial son?
Cheong-yeon suddenly patted my shoulder, which was slightly staggering from despair.
I wondered if she knew something, but it was still comforting.
Lady Na, completely unaware of my feelings, suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke again in a bright voice.
"Ah, they said it's definitely decided that our new squad member will be received after the Jeonghyeol Summit ends. They said it's because it's burdensome to accept a new member before the summit, so after just three weeks we'll get a new family member."
At her words, everyone nodded with bright faces.
"Oh, that's great!"
"It's only great if proper guys come in."
"Come on, there's no way someone like Ju Tae-gyeong will come in again. Definitely a good person will come."
Listening to her, I rummaged through my memories of the past life.
Hmm, if it's the guy who comes in after the Jeonghyeol Summit, is it that guy? I didn't know in detail because he was in another squad, but I vaguely remembered him as a very amiable and energetic guy.
If my memory of my past life was correct, it was certain he wasn't a bastard like Ju Tae-gyeong.
Ju Tae-gyeong, who had been forced to serve me as his hyungnim after losing the duel, once again showed behavior befitting the Jeomchang Sword Fool.
Rather than serving me as his hyungnim, the bastard had requested a transfer to the Fourth Squad and gone over to Squad Leader Ma Yu-gyeom's side.
Rumor had it that he'd even shed tears while making his request.
Thanks to that, we got to see the rare sight of that prideful Ma Yu-gyeom speaking humbly to Squad Leader Seolpung.
And on top of that, when Ma Yu-gyeom had originally asked to have just Ju Tae-gyeong sent over, we'd thrown in all his remaining cronies as a bonus.
It was because of my insistence that a crew whose trust had collapsed was better off gone anyway.
At any rate, that was why our Seventh Squad was now severely short on personnel.
Compared to the other squads that averaged ten members, we only had seven.
But I didn't feel the slightest regret.
'Because even with seven, we've become stronger than before!'
It went without saying that seven tightly united members were better than ten who had splintered apart.
Furthermore, Na Seo-yu, having consumed the spirit medicine, had risen an entire level, meaning we now had three martial artists of first-rate upper class or higher, excluding the squad leader.
So in terms of combat strength, it had only improved, not worsened—there was no deficiency.
There was one thing I did regret, though.
If only I'd had more spirit medicine here, I could have raised the level of the remaining members too.
It was a moment where I keenly felt the loss of old man Seok Gyeong-dal's knowledge, who had manufactured spirit medicine from poison.
'Even aside from the spirit medicine, he was too valuable a person to die like that—in terms of getting intel on how to counter the Blood Cult too...'
On the day we killed Ji Gwang-ok, we hadn't been able to meet Dakam again.
Dakam and his younger siblings had completely vanished, heading to old man Seok Gyeong-dal's hometown, and that younger sibling named Rakun who had been soul-subjugated—Ji Gwang-ok had already killed him.
Not a single trace remained in the treehouse. It seemed Dakam had taken all of old man Seok Gyeong-dal's materials with him as well.
Of course, fortunately, I had learned a fair amount about poisonous herbs and antidote herbs, but the fact remained that there were many areas where the loss was sorely felt.
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, someone flew in like a bird and landed beside us.
It was Squad Leader Seolpung, who had been attending the officers' meeting.
"Squad leader!"
"Did it go well?"
"Was there anything special?"
At that, Squad Leader Seolpung smiled bitterly and spoke to us with an apologetic expression.
"I have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"
Cheon Ju-eun raised her hand cutely and spoke first.
"The bad news! If you save the good news for later, the happiness doubles!"
Squad Leader Seolpung chuckled and told us.
"We've been assigned another cleaning zone by the vice-leader. He asked us to tidy up the Jinip Road area."
At those words, everyone's faces contorted as they shouted.
"What?! We just did that place a few days ago!"
"We even trimmed the trees into angular shapes!"
"That's right. I said the same thing, but the vice-leader told me that organizing and cleaning are things that must be done every single day."
At that, we could only burst into hollow laughter.
Cleaning must be done every single day?
Bi Sa-yeong exploded with rage.
"What kind of bullshit is that?! How do you not do something so important for over ten years and then suddenly do it every day now?! Telling us to just do cleaning when the Great Blood War might break out again at any moment—isn't that completely insane?!"
It was somewhat aggressive language, but everyone nodded in agreement with his fury.
Vice-leader Heon Yeong-bo had truly staked his fate on this upcoming peace summit between the Murim Alliance and the Blood Cult.
But recalling the summit from my past life, I clicked my tongue and shook my head.
Because in my past life, Heon Yeong-bo had desperately prepared for the Blood Summit too, but in the end, he hadn't gained a single thing.
Even after that, he had still remained in the Thirteen Squads as vice-leader.
It was pathetic, and at the same time, in a way, it was pitiable.
The Blood Summit, where the Murim Alliance Leader and the Blood Demon met face to face and conversed, had been so devoid of substance that it ended feebly, having exchanged only meaningless words—rendering completely moot all the tension over whether a second Great Blood War would break out.
'It was so meaningless, seriously, that you couldn't even figure out why they met at all.'
Thanks to that, my past-life self, who had been on pins and needles, had breathed a sigh of relief, glad that nothing had happened—but it was after that that the truly significant events began to unfold.
Remembering those days, I swallowed hard without realizing it.
'Back then, it felt like we'd been hit with some kind of curse, seriously.'
It had started with Vice Squad Leader Mae Yeo-kyeong of the Fourth Squad being found dead, her blood drained by a demon.
And that, right near the Thirteen Squads' headquarters.
Horrified, we had issued an emergency alert and searched for the demon, but in the end, we couldn't find any trace of the creature.
It was also around that time that Fourth Squad Leader Ma Yu-gyeom, who had been in a relationship with Mae Yeo-kyeong, began to completely fall apart.
Though he had been arrogant from the start, he had been an outstanding martial artist and a capable squad leader—and that was when he had begun to utterly break down.
Even those who hated him had lamented, saying it must all be because of Mae Yeo-kyeong's death.
Moreover, the incident where Third Squad Vice-leader Myeong Sa-hyeon—who had spoken with us before—was soul-subjugated by the Blood Cult, and Third Squad Leader Dang Yeoeun was forced to kill him, had also occurred around then.
As such events occurred in succession, the atmosphere of the Thirteen Squads at the time had completely plummeted to rock bottom.
Thinking back on it now, I suspected that the other events that had happened later also originated from around this period.
Things like Dang Yeoeun suddenly becoming Ma Yu-gyeom's woman one day, or later, when the front lines collapsed, Ma Yu-gyeom—who had proclaimed himself the senior disciple of the Jeomchang Sect—turning to the Blood Cult and shocking everyone.
'Hmm. In that case...?'
Suddenly, the back of my neck went cold.
I had a strange feeling, as if there was some interconnected element to all of this that I didn't know about.
But for this particular matter, I had no way of knowing how to prepare for it.
Even if I wanted to prepare, the Seventh Squad had been on leave at the time those things happened, so I knew nothing about them, and I had no personal ties to those people whatsoever, leaving me completely without a means to prepare.
That was when I was agonizing over it.
Cheon Ju-eun shouted again.
"Squad leader! Then what's the good news?!"
At that, Squad Leader Seolpung smiled and answered.
"Our leave has been moved up to next week. So we'll be able to go out right away, the week after next."
At those unexpected words, everyone's eyes went wide, and then cheers began to erupt.
"Kyaaah! Leave?! Really?!"
"Woaaaah! That's awesome?!"
"Wahahaha! That really is good news, squad leader!"
But I was standing there with a dazed expression.
Leave moved up to next week?
That hadn't happened in my past life.
Flustered, I asked the squad leader.
"H-how did that come about?"
At that, the squad leader smiled and explained.
"Squad Leader Ma Yu-gyeom of the Fourth Squad conceded it to us. He said that since the Seventh Squad is short on personnel, it would be better for us to take our leave in advance before receiving new recruits. It seems he feels a debt of conscience over the matter with Ju Tae-gyeong."
"Ah, I see...."
Huh, a future I didn't know about.
I was bewildered, even slightly uneasy.
But after thinking about it for a moment, I realized that this wasn't bad at all.
In my past life, hadn't I been unable to respond to anything because I'd gone on leave right when all those various incidents were happening?
Of course, back then, I didn't have the ability or even the thought to respond.
But now, it was different.
The me of now could stay and watch over things, and perhaps create some kind of different variable.
No, I had to.
Besides, a memory of yet another matter also suddenly came to mind.
Wait.
Around this time, hadn't something interesting happened in Guizhou Fortress?
In my past life, I had only found out about it after everything was already over, when I went on leave—but this time, if I played it right....
The corners of my mouth were curving upward of their own accord.
I immediately asked the squad leader.
"Squad leader! What are you planning to do on this leave?!"
"Hm? I don't really have anywhere to go, so I was thinking of just staying and training."
Yeah, I'd figured as much.
I jumped up and objected to the squad leader's words.
"You can't! Squad leader!"
At my vehement reaction, he wore a flustered expression.
"Huh? Why not?"
"Didn't you clearly say so yourself?! That rest is also a part of training!"
"Well, that's true, but I don't really have anywhere to go...."
"Let's go to Guizhou Fortress!"
"Huh?"
"We'll go to Guizhou Fortress, and I'll properly play host to you!"
Looking at Squad Leader Seolpung, who was bewildered and just blinking his eyes, I smiled with deep satisfaction.
If I could bring just the squad leader along, this leave looked like it could become some very rewarding days.