Chapter 287: Yangzhou Dong Clan-2
Chapter 287: Yangzhou Dong Clan-2
Jeung Chil flinched.
Gwangju, where the Jin Family Estate was located, was a place so crisscrossed with waterways it could truly be called a city of water.
So there was no way Jin So-eun, a native of that place, could be weak in water techniques.
Only after hearing Yeon Taejin's words did Jeung Chil realize that for someone weak in water techniques like himself to discuss water combat with Jin So-eun, a native of the Jin Family Estate, was truly a case of trying to teach writing before a scholar.
He gave a dry cough and tried to change the subject.
"Ahem, ahem, well, rather than being skilled in water techniques... Oh, right, shouldn't we depart immediately before something happens? Couldn't those bastards come after us in pursuit, even if belatedly?"
But Yeon Taejin, having seized her prey, would not let him go.
She spoke to Jeung Chil.
"Oh my! What is there to worry about regarding pursuit? I'm with my Jeung orabeoni. Isn't that right? In fact, if the enemies do pursue us, wouldn't we get to see Jeung orabeoni's superb water techniques? Ah, I'm so looking forward to it! I wish the enemies would hurry up and chase after us!"
Having said that, Yeon Taejin clasped her hands together and gazed across the river as if genuinely waiting for enemies.
Jeung Chil, now feeling the sting, said to her.
"Ah, no, wait, why go as far as waiting for them? It's better if we don't have to fight. As for water techniques, there will be a chance to show you someday..."
That was when it happened.
Yeon Taejin suddenly cried out.
"Ah, enemies!"
At those words, Jeung Chil jumped in alarm, scanning beyond the river as he urgently asked.
"En, enemies?! Where?! Where are they coming from?!"
Jeung Chil's expression was one of genuine panic.
Truth be told, ever since his encounter with Oh Ik-deok of the Hainan Sect last time, Jeung Chil had been in a state of utter revulsion at the mere thought of water combat.
And now, in a situation where he had been boasting so much, enemies had actually appeared.
For him, it could not be anything but a dreadful situation.
Suddenly, a vision of his own future, utterly disgraced before Yeon Taejin and Jin So-eun, flashed through his mind.
Jeung Chil screamed internally.
'No! How much more will that half-naked wench ridicule me? Those damn bastards, why do you have to show up right now?!'
It was while Jeung Chil was raining curses upon the unseen enemies like that.
Jin So-eun, unable to hold back, burst into a soft laugh.
It was because Jeung Chil, completely taken in by Yeon Taejin's teasing, looked far too ridiculous.
At Jin So-eun's laughter, Jeung Chil, unable to grasp the situation, was still wearing a blank expression.
Yeon Taejin smiled alluringly and spoke to him.
"Over there, that spot looks really dark. It almost looks like a ghost might pop out, you know?"
'Over there? Not enemies, but over there?'
Jeung Chil, who had been momentarily dazed, could finally understand that Yeon Taejin had been teasing him.
His expression turned furious as he tried to yell at Yeon Taejin.
"You, you half-naked wench, how dare you!"
At that, Yeon Taejin asked with an expression of pure innocence.
"But why are you acting like that, Jeung orabeoni? Surely a master of water techniques like you, Jeung orabeoni, couldn't have been worrying about enemies, could you? Or perhaps were you scared of ghosts too, orabeoni?"
At her question, Jeung Chil ultimately found himself unable to continue speaking.
It was because he realized that to call her out for teasing him, he would first have to acknowledge his own ignorance of water techniques.
In the end, at the sight of Jeung Chil, his face a mask of fury but only his mouth opening and closing without a single word, Jin So-eun had to exert all her strength to hold back her laughter once more.
Yeon Taejin glanced sidelong at Jin So-eun and gave her a wink.
Even to Jin So-eun, a fellow woman, it could not help but be an utterly captivating expression.
Jin So-eun suddenly found herself recalling the very first time she met Yeon Taejin.
At first, what with her being from the Evil Faction, and her immodest attire, she seemed like someone Jin So-eun could never possibly become close with.
But now that they were as close as real sisters, Jin So-eun knew it very well.
Just what a wonderful person she was.
No woman Jin So-eun knew was as confident as her, nor as true to her own life as she was.
Of course, the blatant displays of affection Yeon Taejin still often directed at Seol Pung were still hard to get used to.
But even so, she had come to understand now.
That such expressions of hers were all possible only because she was someone who, more than anyone, was honest and true to herself.
Jin So-eun thought that side of her was truly admirable.
It was to the point where she thought that if she could change her current self, she would like to become like her.
That was when it happened.
Seol Pung suddenly spoke.
"Someone is actually coming."
At those words, Jeung Chil, who had been sulking, jumped in alarm again.
There was no way Seol Pung would prank him just to tease him.
If he said someone was coming, then someone really was coming.
"Wh-who is coming?! Where?! Where are they?!"
At that moment, Jin So-eun found herself looking not at the surroundings, but at Seol Pung's face.
That was it.
If he said someone was coming, then someone was really coming, and even if countless transcendent peak masters had them surrounded, if he said he could handle them, then he could handle them.
Seol Pung was the kind of person who gave you that kind of faith.
Jin So-eun, who had believed there would never again be anyone like Seonwoo Jin in the world, had no choice but to admit it after meeting Seol Pung.
That while there might never be another person exactly like Seonwoo Jin, there could certainly exist another man as remarkable as him.
Seol Pung's tremendous martial prowess and the astonishing secret of his birth were the stuff of legends.
But his true charm was not those things.
It was the gravity he always showed, the gentle smile and consideration he occasionally revealed, the beast-like force he displayed once he made a decision.
She could fully understand how Yeon Taejin fell for him.
It was to the point where Jin So-eun wondered if she, too, might not have fallen for Seol Pung had she met him before Seonwoo Jin.
'Of course, if that had happened, I would have been a love rival with eonni, right?'
At that sudden thought, Jin So-eun broke into a quiet laugh.
But seeing Yeon Taejin, who didn't seem to care much even hearing that Seol Pung had a lover, Jin So-eun felt they probably could have managed well even if that were the case.
'Eonni would probably have said to me, with that overflowing confidence on her face, wouldn't she?'
- So-eun, I'm prettier than you, right? I'm stronger and more capable. So I'll be more helpful to Pung as well. Right?
If that had happened, Jin So-eun thought she herself would probably have been completely deflated, unable to say anything in response.
That was when it happened.
Unlike Jeung Chil, who was whipping his head back and forth toward the dark river water, Seonwoo Jin looked behind them and spoke.
"Not that way, this way. There are several of them. A thick scent of blood is drifting over as well."
"Huh?"
Only then could Jeung Chil realize that Seol Pung and Seonwoo Jin's gazes were directed not at the river, but toward the land behind their backs.
Everyone caught sight of him letting out a deep sigh of relief.
It seemed water combat truly was a great burden to him.
But Jeung Chil was, as expected, still Jeung Chil.
As if he hadn't been worried at all, he boasted once more in a spirited voice.
"What a shame! I was just about to show you my water combat skills! Well, I suppose I have no choice but to show you this old Jeung's land combat prowess again! So, who are the bastards, little brother? Which bastards are so eager to die that they'd attack us?"
At that, Seol Pung and Seonwoo Jin exchanged glances.
Somehow, their expressions looked much graver than before.
Seonwoo Jin spoke first.
"It doesn't seem to be enemies."
Seol Pung, nodding at his words, also spoke.
"Let's go for now. We'll need to go and assess the situation."
The rest of the party exchanged glances with puzzled expressions.
And then they followed Seonwoo Jin and Seol Pung, launching their bodies forward.
They still couldn't get a grasp on what had happened.
But after moving a short distance following the two, the party soon understood what Seonwoo Jin had said earlier.
Jeung Chil wrinkled his face into a deep frown and said.
"What the hell, this smell of blood? Did a war break out or something?"
It was a terrible stench of blood.
Caught properly on the wind, the nauseating smell of blood was rushing toward the party.
And a moment later, upon landing on the ground, the party lost all words at the horrifying sight before their eyes.
"Uuugghh."
"Someone please... us..."
"Please, please help us."
The scene they witnessed was people, completely covered in blood, crawling toward the Yangtze River as if dragging themselves forward.
All of them bore horrific injuries so severe it wouldn't have been strange if they were already dead.
Even with such wounds, the sight of them crawling forward was utterly desperate beyond words.
Seonwoo Jin grit his teeth.
When he first sensed the presence of seemingly injured people, he had considered the possibility that it might be a trap.
That it might be a ploy, deliberately feigning injury to lower their guard before a surprise attack.
But seeing them in person, no such words could ever come to mind.
Among the seven of them, there was not a single one in good shape—one whose arm was severed with just two legs left attached, another with a deep sword wound on his back from which blood streamed freely.
Far from being a trap, they looked as if they had lost so much blood they might die at any moment.
No, the fact that they were moving at all with such wounds was more miraculous.
The party hurriedly ran toward them.
"You there! What in the world happened?!"
"Are you alright?! You've lost far too much blood!"
"Hey! Stay conscious! If you lose consciousness now, you'll die!"
At that, the men, who at first had shown signs of startled alarm, soon began shedding tears as they pleaded with the party.
"H-help us. Behind, the children behind..."
"We beg you. Please, the children..."
The party felt they could understand why they had been moving despite such severe injuries.
It seemed they had crawled with all their dying strength toward the docks by the riverside, searching for someone to help save their families.
Seonwoo Jin grit his teeth and began emergency treatment, starting with those in the most critical condition.
If properly treated, they seemed like they might survive.
While treating the one among them in relatively better condition, he asked.
"What in the world happened? Who did this?"
At that, a man with one arm severed answered, his face frozen in terror.
"M-Majeokdan. Majeokdan... they..."
At those words, the party members frowned and asked again.
"Majeokdan, you say?"
It was a very unfamiliar term to the group.
Seol Pung and Seonwoo Jin, who hailed from Yunnan and Guizhou, regions mostly composed of mountains and jungles, and even Jin So-eun and Yeon Taejin, who came from Guangxi brimming with waterways, had encountered bandits or pirates maybe, but never horse bandits.
To begin with, in the southern regions, horses were rare and expensive.
Moreover, it was strange that people who appeared to be murim warriors would end up in such a state over a mere gang of horse bandits.
Five of the seven appeared to be at the peak of first-rate, and two even seemed to be at the entry level of the peak realm.
To be reduced to this state by horse bandits—they couldn't even imagine what kind of bastards they must be.
But the party decided to hear only up to there and focus first on saving the people.
Because left like this, most of them looked as if they would die.
It was a moment where Seonwoo Jin's role as a healer who could wield medical arts became crucial.
Seonwoo Jin looked at Seol Pung and Jeung Chil and spoke urgently.
"Please go in the direction they came from and check it out! There might be children there!"
"Got it!"
"Leave it to this hyung-nim!"
As Seol Pung and Jeung Chil shot out like rays of light, Seonwoo Jin now turned to Jin So-eun and Yeon Taejin.
"You two, please prepare some strong liquor and clean cloth! The liquor will be in Jeung Chil hyung-nim's pack!"
"Alright!"
"Yes! Understood!"
While helping Seonwoo Jin staunch the bleeding and treat the wounded, Jin So-eun suddenly watched Seonwoo Jin's profile as he focused solely on the task of saving them.
She herself was already in love with him, but even if she hadn't been, she felt she would have fallen for him all over again just seeing that sight.
Even though they were people he had never met, his sincere gaze as he gave his all to save them, his medical skills as a warrior possessing tremendous martial prowess yet simultaneously performing acupuncture so proficiently—all of it was so admirable.
His handsome appearance went without saying.
"Hooooo."
Jin So-eun let out a small sigh without realizing it.
Her heart was throbbing with emotion.
Jin So-eun had heard Yeon Taejin's words a while ago, that she didn't care if Seol Pung already had a lover, and had come to respect her even more than before.
Because she herself lacked the confidence to be like her.
'Seonu Gongja already has a fiancée.'
It was about time she simply accept that fact calmly, but still, whenever she suddenly recalled it, her heart would ache as if being torn apart, and tears would often well up in her eyes.
She didn't blank out foolishly like before, but even so, she couldn't easily regain her composure.
Becoming like Yeon Taejin, it seemed, was just too difficult a thing for Jin So-eun.
But still, perhaps time had somewhat worked as medicine, for lately Jin So-eun had been having these thoughts.
Though receiving his love might not be a share allotted to her, even so, if thanks to him she could share such an enjoyable journey, was that alone not something to be sufficiently grateful for?
Thoughts like that.
Thus, Jin So-eun always strove to maintain a grateful heart.
For the many things she gained by meeting him.
For this very moment of being able to be together with him.
And simply for the existence that he was...
Right now, in this moment as she continued to gaze at Seonwoo Jin's profile, Jin So-eun suddenly wished earnestly upon herself.
'That I may not shrink back from shameful feelings of inferiority. That I may not make wrong choices from ugly jealousy. And that I may keep this grateful heart for ever...'
That was the sole wish Jin So-eun could hope for herself right now.