Dungeon & Commander (179)
“Feels like you own the world now, huh? Since you caught a Ju Shin dealer and all. Go ahead and enjoy it. That feeling won’t last long. No matter how hard you struggle, you won’t see tomorrow’s sunrise. Why? Because tonight’s your last.”
In a typical internal energy clash, you couldn’t speak. Opening your mouth would weaken or scatter your energy.
Of course, there were exceptions. In a one-sided domination—when your internal energy overwhelmed the opponent—you could yap freely, just like this Kim Se-wi was doing.
Kim Jun quickly figured out why the guild master had been pushed back by Ju Shin’s thug.
Retirement from active duty and neglected training.
It sure as hell wasn’t because that raider was superior.
“If you kill yourself right now, I’ll let your friends live.”
Kim Se-wi’s eyes swept over the Pink Team.
Kim Jun nearly burst out laughing.
He’d heard lines that childish years ago. Not with a horrific word like “suicide,” of course. Digging through his memories, a vivid line resurfaced.
“Kneel before me and beg for forgiveness, and I won’t touch your class buddies.”
It had taken less than three minutes to smash his fist into that delinquent’s jaw and side, then shove his face into the mud.
“Thank you.”
The words slipped out automatically.
“…Thank you?”
Wrinkle lines creased Kim Se-wi’s forehead.
No wonder. Even Kim Jun only realized the implication after saying it.
“I used to blindly admire Ju Shin. Even dreamed of joining them someday and raiding dungeons. Thanks to you, team leader, I’ve seen the real Ju Shin. You’ve shattered my illusions—truly grateful.”
A brief silence fell.
“Hahaha, hahahaha.”
Maniacal laughter erupted.
Kim Jun wondered if the thug team leader had lost it to qi deviation. He checked on the master. His arms and legs twitched sporadically.
That symptom was tied to qi deviation too.
He raised his right hand. Multiple overlapping burns from the Po-noe Strike had ruined it. Mom would cry if she saw this hand.
Suppressing the pain, Kim Jun tore a rag from his tattered Armani Special Suit with his right hand. He rolled it into a small ball and hurled it at Kim Se-wi.
Pop!
Invisible but fiercely swirling qi caught it, spinning it wildly before shredding it to pieces.
“What the hell are you trying to do?”
Tension crept into Kim Se-wi’s voice for the first time.
Kim Jun liked that. It meant his actions were at least rattling the guy a bit.
Kim Jun glanced back, locking eyes with the Pink Team watching him. Their gazes held trust mixed with confusion. They believed in their team leader, but they were dying to know what he was up to.
Yoo Min-jeong especially looked torn—debating whether to break formation and rush to his side. Her face and body language screamed it.
Kim Jun shook his head at her.
Turning back to Kim Se-wi, he slowly extended his hand.
“Hah, you’re dead set on dying, huh.”
He brushed off the mocking scoff.
His fingertips touched the pure qi vortex. A grating sound like nails on a chalkboard rang out. If his hunch was wrong… he’d lose his right hand.
He had no choice but to risk it. Staying put meant losing the master.
Kim Jun recalled the first time he’d gripped the Cheonroegeom.
Yeon Chung-jae had poured memories and internal energy into him to possess his body. Back then, he hadn’t understood what happened. After escaping the dungeon unscathed, Kim Jun had pieced it together step by step.
The answer lay inside his body.
Bone Transformation.
His energy pathways were vastly wider than an average person’s—no, even a typical raider’s. His dantian, where internal energy pooled, was incomparably vast. That’s why he’d absorbed all of Yeon Chung-jae’s energy without his body breaking.
The same had happened to Jeong Taek-su, who’d tried absorbing the Cheonroe Heart Technique with his dual rings.
Hoping for a repeat, Kim Jun pushed his hand into the qi vortex.
Crack.
His finger joints popped, the sounds growing louder. He feared his bones might snap, joints dislocate. Already stinging from burns… now physical agony piled on.
Kim Jun took a deep breath and grabbed Kim Se-wi’s wrist with his right hand.
In that instant, he felt internal energy flooding into his body.
Two kinds.
One was refreshingly crisp, like strolling through a forest after rain—a familiar energy clump. He’d vaguely sensed it during Go Cheolmin’s Mokhonbo demo: the master’s Mukhon Gong.
The other was dark, sticky. Like crimson blood alive and writhing.
The dark attribute internal energy, dubbed yin or death series. Kim Se-wi’s own.
The influx spread through his twelve meridians and eight extraordinary vessels, surging into his dantian.
Kim Jun checked the master.
His complexion visibly improved. The twitching eased in frequency. The pressure had lifted, stabilizing his condition.
Now Kim Se-wi.
The man’s glaring eyes wavered. Kim Jun could guess his thoughts.
Intervening in an internal energy clash was suicidal. Even high-level raiders risked qi deviation from clashing foreign energies.
Kim Jun flashed him a grin.
Parading this body’s uniqueness like this—how would the thug team leader feel?
As expected, Kim Se-wi spiraled into confusion.
A rookie raider fresh from awakening tests should’ve bled from eyes, nose, and ears the moment he interfered… so why was this guy fine?
That doubt would gnaw at him, buying the master more safety.
Then, ferocious energy shook his body.
Far more intense than before, it poured through his channels.
Kim Jun grimaced slightly and eyed the Medici team leader. He caught on quick. The guy was slamming full force to kill him first.
Kim Jun grinned wide. Just a bit more pain—nothing to burst his channels.
Kim Se-wi, waiting for blood from Kim Jun’s eyes or nose, was speechless. That relaxed expression… no bluff. Fear crept in, chilling him.
How?
His eyes should be popping out by now.
Kim Se-wi couldn’t sit idle. Beyond shoving energy, he focused his consciousness into it. Risky—splitting awareness was dangerous—but no time for caution.
‘W-what the hell?’
He jolted at the vast channels. Pathways gaped wide, terrifyingly open.
Now he understood why his assault hadn’t fazed Kim Jun.
Bone Transformation!
The supreme body, Boundless Physique!
Shock twisted to envy. How could this punk be born with it? Kim Se-wi refused to believe a carrier had achieved it through training.
‘If I had a body like this, I could aim for association president.’
In that moment, he realized why Choi Min-su had taken this nobody as a client.
Internal energy clash couldn’t topple a Boundless Physique.
He needed another way. Kim Se-wi rifled through his mental arsenal of martial theories.
Kim Jun didn’t miss the shift in his expression.
True to Ju Shin’s team leader rep. Panic was fleeting. Those cold eyes burned with resolve to find a solution.
The two foreign energies flowed in like rivers filling a reservoir.
Then, the smooth influx roiled.
‘Ugh!’
He nearly got flung from the qi vortex. If so, he’d have fallen to qi deviation as Kim Se-wi hoped.
The rampaging energy wasn’t Kim Se-wi’s. It was the master’s Mukhon Gong.
And the steady flow suddenly cut off.
He finally pinpointed why.
Something was wrong in the master’s body. To diagnose, he delved deeper.
Kim Jun’s scant Mukhon Gong began circulating through the master’s channels.
Feeling his own energy flow in another’s body was a novel sensation.
Closing his eyes to focus, Kim Jun was stunned by how narrow the master’s channels were. Nothing like his own wide-open highways.
Like speeding on a 16-lane freeway, then hitting a dusty rural dirt road.
He reached the master’s dantian.
It was cramped too. If Kim Jun’s was the Pacific, this was a decent-sized reservoir.
‘Huh?’
Something felt off.
Crimson root-like tendrils blanketed the dantian’s floor, walls, and ceiling—buried deep even in the master’s Mukhon Gong.
Why were they there? Kim Jun observed closely. When they thrashed, the Mukhon Gong surged wildly.
They were the culprits.
‘Gotta remove them somehow.’
Kim Jun pondered his options.