Chapter 30
Chapter 30
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Neither Favors Nor Grudges Are Forgotten (2)
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The young man's legs trembled.
Anyone could see that the youth was in no condition to fight.
Bang Jin-bo looked at the young man with tears welling in his eyes. He was someone Bang Jin-bo knew well.
So Cha-myeong—that was the youth's name, and he was one of the few people who had always treated Bang Jin-bo kindly.
“Brother!”
Bang Jin-bo called out to So Cha-myeong. But So Cha-myeong seemed not to hear him, his gaze fixed on Jang Han.
Jang Han's name was Geum Ju-sang, and he and So Cha-myeong had been like brothers. Yet the eyes Geum Ju-sang now fixed on So Cha-myeong held none of their former warmth or brotherly affection.
Kill So Cha-myeong, or I die.
That thought alone filled Geum Ju-sang's mind.
“Sorry.”
Geum Ju-sang swung his sword at So Cha-myeong as he charged.
“Ugh!”
Though terrified, So Cha-myeong instinctively raised his sword to block Geum Ju-sang's attack.
Clang!
The clash of blades rang out into the air.
“Wahaha!”
“I’ll bet on the older guy.”
“Nah! That won’t make for much of a wager. The young one looks way too frail.”
“Fine! I’ll put a tael of silver on the young one.”
The Blood Wolf Bandits laughed and chattered as they placed their bets.
Geum Ju-sang and So Cha-myeong's lives had become mere entertainment for them.
“Those cruel bastards!”
“Brother!”
The people trapped in the pens, along with Bang Jin-bo, shed tears at the hellish sight.
Just half a day earlier, these men had been calling each other brother and looking out for one another. Now they were fighting for their lives. It was no different from hell.
“This can’t be real. Why is this happening...?”
Thick teardrops rolled down Bang Jin-bo's cheeks.
The world he knew was crumbling.
The world he belonged to, the one that had sheltered him.
His father was dead, and now his acquaintances were fighting each other to the death.
“This is a dream. It has to be a dream.”
Bang Jin-bo bowed his head and muttered.
Unable to bear the scene in his right mind, he was escaping into denial.
Slash!
“Aaack!”
Geum Ju-sang's sword grazed So Cha-myeong's wrist, drawing a scream. Blood poured from his arm. But there was no time to staunch it—Geum Ju-sang attacked again.
“Die! Please just die! Cha-myeong!”
Geum Ju-sang's bloodshot eyes glared as he spoke.
So Cha-myeong cried out.
“Brother Ju-sang, how can you do this to me?”
“I’m sorry. But I have a family.”
“I have a wife and kids waiting back home too.”
“That’s why I said I’m sorry.”
Geum Ju-sang bellowed as he swung his sword wildly. He looked every bit the raging demon.
The bandits burst into roaring laughter at the sight.
“See? Told you the older one would win.”
“Damn it!”
So Cha-myeong was already covered in blood.
Deep gashes marred his shoulder and abdomen; he staggered unsteadily, on the brink of collapse.
Geum Ju-sang unleashed his final strike at So Cha-myeong.
“Arrrgh!”
His scream echoed into the night sky, and So Cha-myeong moved no more.
Geum Ju-sang collapsed to the ground, sobbing.
“Damn it! Damn it all!”
His hands shook uncontrollably.
The realization hit him—he had killed the man he called brother with his own hands. Only then did Geum Ju-sang comprehend his deed. He threw himself to the dirt and wailed.
“I’m sorry, Cha-myeong. I’m sorry. Uwaaah!”
He rubbed his bloodied hands frantically against the ground, but the metallic stench lingered.
“Tch! Boring.”
Dong Ja-chu clicked his tongue.
Irritation twisted his face. He had hoped for a more entertaining fight, but Geum Ju-sang had won too one-sidedly.
He glanced at Jo Bok, who nodded and approached the pens again.
The captives frantically averted their eyes. No one here wanted to kill their own loved one.
Geum Ju-sang's anguished sobs tore at their hearts.
‘Fuck! I don’t want to end up like that.’
‘I won’t stoop that low just to survive.’
They dreaded Jo Bok's selection. But fate cruelly ignored their prayers.
“Drag out this one and that one.”
This time, Jo Bok pointed to two merchants in their early forties. Both belonged to the Silver Lotus Merchant Group and shared a close bond.
Jo Bok tossed swords at them.
“Heh heh! Fight.”
“You vile scum! I won’t be your plaything.”
Yeom Pyeong, the more upright of the merchants, glared at Jo Bok. Jo Bok clicked his tongue and looked to the other.
Merchant Ju Seol-cheon shook his head.
“I’d rather die than do something so inhuman.”
Their unexpected defiance left Jo Bok looking troubled as he glanced at Dong Ja-chu.
Dong Ja-chu chuckled.
“Heh heh heh! Pretty gutsy fellows. Sure, the world has its share of men like you now and then.”
He shot up from his seat. The bandits watched with eager interest.
A strange fervor lit their faces as they imagined what came next, their voices rising.
“Those punks dare refuse our fun?”
“Heh heh! How’s the chief gonna kill ’em?”
“I bet a tael he beheads them in one stroke.”
“Then I’ll bet a tael he beats them to death.”
A gambling frenzy erupted in an instant.
The bandits' raucous voices filled the clearing, filling the penned captives with even greater terror.
Bang Jin-bo snapped out of his daze at the noise and lifted his head.
He saw Dong Ja-chu approaching the merchants. The man's face was contorted like a demon's.
“Heh heh! You lowly worms dare defy me?”
“Is this what humans do? Forcing kin to grip swords and fight each other?”
“So you won’t do it?”
“I’d die first.”
Yeom Pyeong stood his ground boldly.
He was known among the Silver Lotus merchants for his unyielding spirit. Even before Dong Ja-chu, he showed no fear.
Any ordinary man would have flinched at Yeom Pyeong's fierce gaze. But his opponent was none other than Dong Ja-chu.
The Blood Wolf Bandits' chief, who had terrorized this region for years, had no reason to cower before mere eyes.
“Got some spine, huh? So you refuse to fight?”
“That’s right!”
“Then die.”
Dong Ja-chu grinned wickedly.
Boom!
“Guhk!”
In an instant, Yeom Pyeong crumpled from a massive fist to his temple.
He frothed at the mouth, convulsing.
Dong Ja-chu seized Yeom Pyeong by the collar and hoisted him up.
“Guts are fine, but you pick your targets. Heh heh!”
Dong Ja-chu locked eyes with Yeom Pyeong.
Yeom Pyeong was already unconscious and couldn’t meet his gaze. But Dong Ja-chu forced his chin up.
“Strutting around without knowing your place—that’s why you die.”
“I...”
Thwack!
Dong Ja-chu's punch snapped Yeom Pyeong's head back. Yet he didn’t fall; Dong Ja-chu still gripped his collar.
Dong Ja-chu struck again.
This wasn’t the fist of an ordinary man, but a martial artist’s—deadly as any weapon.
Thwack! Thwack!
His fists hammered Yeom Pyeong’s face relentlessly.
Flesh tore, blood sprayed. His face swelled beyond recognition.
Yeom Pyeong had long lost consciousness, yet Dong Ja-chu didn’t stop.
“How dare you! A worm like you...”
Even in the darkness, madness gleamed in Dong Ja-chu’s eyes.
At the sight of him like a rabid dog, the crowd fell silent—even the betting bandits.
They sensed Dong Ja-chu had lost it. They knew better than to provoke him now, lest disaster strike.
“Please stop! I beg you!”
Unable to watch, Ju Seol-cheon pleaded. But Dong Ja-chu ignored him, unleashing his brutality without mercy.
The violence ended only when Yeom Pyeong stopped responding entirely.
Thud!
Yeom Pyeong slumped like pulverized meat, unrecognizable. Only the faint rise of his chest showed he yet lived—no other sign of life remained.
Dong Ja-chu whipped his murderous glare across the penned captives.
“Anyone else wanna defy me?”
“......”
All held their breath.
None dared challenge him.
“Heh heh heh!”
Dong Ja-chu’s laughter clawed at their hearts, heads shrinking further.
His gaze swept over the captives one by one, then halted at Bang Jin-bo’s pen.
“Drag out that fatso.”
“Yes!”
Subordinates hauled Bang Jin-bo from the pen and brought him before Dong Ja-chu.
Dong Ja-chu grinned at Bang Jin-bo.
“Fatty, wanna live?”
“Yes! I want to live.”
Bang Jin-bo nodded vigorously. Dong Ja-chu placed a sword in his hand.
“Then kill that one.”
He pointed to Yeom Pyeong, barely clinging to life.
“I-I can’t.”
“Then you die.”
“How can I kill a man...”
“Heh heh! That lump of meat’s not worth more than your life, right? Kill him. Then you live.”
Dong Ja-chu leered.
Bang Jin-bo thought he saw a devil in that face.
Dong Ja-chu gripped Bang Jin-bo’s sword hand with both of his and thrust it toward Yeom Pyeong.
“N-No!”
Bang Jin-bo desperately shook his head, resisting. But a mere boy like him couldn’t withstand the strength of a trained martial artist like Dong Ja-chu.
Tremble!
His sword hand shook. Yet it inched toward Yeom Pyeong.
“Please...”
Bang Jin-bo gritted his teeth and twisted away. Dong Ja-chu ignored it, forcing with all his might.
“Wahaha!”
“Kill him, fatty!”
“The kid’s getting a real lesson tonight.”
The bandits laughed at the spectacle.
The penned merchants wept amid the suffocating madness gripping the area.
“This place is hell.”
All prayed for this hellish time to end.
Slish!
Bang Jin-bo’s sword touched Yeom Pyeong’s throat.
One push, and Yeom Pyeong’s breath would cease.
As Bang Jin-bo shuddered at the human warmth on the blade’s tip and squeezed his eyes shut—
Boom!
A foreign sound rippled through the air.
It was faint, yet it strangely grated on everyone’s nerves.
Dong Ja-chu’s face hardened slightly.
The moment he peered into the darkness—
Boom! Srrrrk! Boom! Srrrrk!
The sounds grew clearer.