Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Section 7. The Sandstorm Calls Blood (2)
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The old man with deep wrinkles etched into his face like the marks of time was none other than Geum Gwancheon, the master of Golden Horse Ranch.
He stood blocking Shim Ok's path, arms spread wide.
“Who are you to steal our horses so casually?”
“There’s no time to explain right now. Step aside, please.”
“I can’t do that. The horse you’re riding is precious property of our Golden Horse Ranch.”
“I’ll make it up to you later. This is about the safety of a divine steed—step aside!”
“Hah!”
Geum Gwancheon stared at the shouting Shim Ok with a look of utter bewilderment.
Shim Ok thrust her hand into her bosom. In her haste, she meant to pay with whatever money she had. But then she remembered leaving all her belongings back at Seocheon Mountain Manor. Her money had been in there too.
Right now, she was utterly penniless.
“Damn it!”
In the end, she gave up on paying and spurred the horse forward.
She had no choice but to bear the stigma of thief. She could compensate later. That’s what she told herself.
Shim Ok kicked the horse’s flanks. The startled beast bolted forward.
“Whoa!”
The surprised Geum Gwancheon hastily flung himself aside. It had been a close call—he’d nearly been trampled.
“What in the world?”
Geum Gwancheon pushed himself up onto his torso and watched Shim Ok and the horse gallop away.
“Catch the thief!”
The laborers scrambled onto their horses.
They had seen her nimble movements and known she was a trained martial artist, but they couldn’t stand by after watching their master suffer such an outrage.
Above all, the horses were their very livelihood. They couldn’t just let one be stolen before their eyes.
Meanwhile, Shim Ok, riding hard, had no way to contain her bewilderment and frustration. She’d never dreamed she’d be branded a horse thief.
She resented the laborers for not understanding her intentions, but now wasn’t the time for explanations.
“Hurry to the Central Plains...”
Swoosh!
Her words cut off. A sharp whistle sliced through the air from somewhere.
Instinctively, Shim Ok ducked her head.
Thud!
An object grazed her hair by a hair’s breadth and embedded itself in the ground.
The shaft vibrated fiercely from the force—the projectile was an arrow. It had buried itself more than halfway into the earth.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
A chilling voice echoed across the ranch.
Despair flashed across Shim Ok’s face in an instant.
‘Already?’
Even after all her haste, they had caught up.
Emerging from the veil of darkness were warriors from Seocheon Mountain Manor. Leading them was Jo Hyeol-san.
The arrow just now had been his doing. Jo Hyeol-san handed his bow to a subordinate and approached Shim Ok.
Clop! Clop!
The hooves of his horse rang out especially loud.
A sinister smile curled across Jo Hyeol-san’s face.
“Seocheon Mountain Manor isn’t some insignificant place you can enter whenever you please and leave without permission, Little Manor Lord.”
“Urk!”
“Thanks to you, Little Manor Lord, our manor has suffered quite a bit. Why not come with us instead of causing trouble elsewhere?”
“In your dreams. You think I’ll come quietly?”
“Tsk! Turning down the sweet sake for the bitter punishment.”
“I never planned to drink the sweet sake anyway, did I?”
“At least the world will think otherwise. With no witnesses, who’s to know?”
“What happened to Black Old Man?”
“If you want to know, come along quietly.”
Shim Ok shook her head.
“Don’t make me laugh.”
“Tsk! Don’t you even care about your subordinate’s life or death? How heartless.”
Jo Hyeol-san clicked his tongue. His eyes gleamed cold as a serpent’s.
In his gaze, Shim Ok was a mere novice. She hadn’t deviated from his predictions by even an inch.
Jo Hyeol-san signaled to his men.
“Escort the Little Manor Lord with due respect. If we let her go like this, our manor’s honor will hit rock bottom.”
“Yes, sir!”
Seocheon Mountain Manor’s warriors stepped forward, surrounding Shim Ok.
“What’s this?”
Geum Gwancheon stared blankly at the sudden intruders.
Having run a horse ranch for over decades, he prided himself on his sharp eye for people. No one could match his judgment.
To his eyes, Jo Hyeol-san and his warriors were no different from murderous ghosts. A thick scent of blood emanated from their auras.
It was the unique atmosphere possessed only by those who stood atop piles of corpses.
The laborers gathered around him. They too had instinctively sensed something was gravely wrong.
“R-ranch Master.”
“Everyone, fall back. Quietly!”
Geum Gwancheon issued calm orders to the laborers. But inside, he was far from composed.
“Hyah!”
In that moment, Seocheon Mountain Manor’s warriors attacked Shim Ok.
Watching them swing their weapons with ferocious momentum, Geum Gwancheon felt his lips parching dry.
He prayed desperately that Jo Hyeol-san wouldn’t turn his attention to him or the laborers.
But against Geum Gwancheon’s desperate wish, Jo Hyeol-san’s gaze shifted to the laborers.
“There are far too many eyes here.”
“W-we didn’t see anything.”
Geum Gwancheon answered hastily. The laborers bowed their heads and averted their eyes.
Jo Hyeol-san’s lips twisted upward.
“Good survival instincts. Living long in this world has sharpened your wits, I see.”
“......”
“But what to do? I don’t trust people’s words. Especially not promises from uneducated rabble like you.”
“Th-that’s...?”
Jo Hyeol-san’s gaze turned back to Shim Ok.
Surrounded by warriors, she was locked in desperate struggle. Her body was drenched in blood, a pitiful sight.
She was holding on for now, but teetering on the brink—collapse at any moment. There was no reason for him to concern himself with her.
Instead, his killing intent turned toward Geum Gwancheon and the ranch hands.
“Think of it as bad luck. You just happened to have a walking disaster show up here. That’s how the world works. You think you can just live well on your own, but it’s never that simple. Your fate depends on who you cross paths with. You’ve drawn the short straw. If you want to blame someone, blame that wench who brought the calamity.”
“We’re innocent.”
“I told you—it doesn’t matter if you are or not. You’re not important enough for me to weigh reasons before killing you. Tsk! Annoying. Having to explain myself to trash like you.”
In that instant, some of the warriors behind Jo Hyeol-san drew their swords and advanced.
Geum Gwancheon bellowed at the top of his lungs.
“Everyone, run!”
“Waaah!”
The laborers fled in panic. Seocheon Mountain Manor’s warriors pursued.
Slash!
“Argh!”
With every swing of their blades, laborers fell dead.
Hell unfolded on the ranch in an instant.
Just a few hours earlier, these men had been laughing and chatting. Now death’s hand struck without warning.
“Wh-why us?”
An aggrieved light filled the eyes of a laborer whose belly had been split open.
He’d lived diligently, without scheming. After working so hard, life had finally become tolerable—only to end like this. It was unbearably unfair.
He wanted to live, but his guts kept spilling from between his clutching hands.
“Sniff, sniff! Get back in. Please...”
The laborer tried shoving his innards back. But mercilessly, they continued pouring out.
Plop!
His entrails fell to the ground amid pooling blood.
“It’s unfair!”
Those were the last words he uttered in life.
“Dong-wol!”
An elderly laborer rushed to his side upon seeing his death. The two had shared an unusually deep bond. He couldn’t turn away from the corpse.
Swoosh!
“Aaack!”
But he couldn’t reach the fallen man. Death claimed him first.
“This can’t be happening...”
Geum Gwancheon’s cheeks quivered. His eyes were bloodshot red, as if blood would drip from them any second.
People he’d spent his life with were dying. The family legacy he’d built generation after generation was crumbling.
Geum Gwancheon couldn’t comprehend or accept what was unfolding before him.
“How...?”
It was then.
“Grandfather!”
A girl’s scream-like cry pierced Geum Gwancheon’s ears.
“S-So-hye?”
Geum Gwancheon instantly recognized the voice as his granddaughter Geum So-hye’s.
He whipped his head around to see her staring this way with Geum Jung-gwang.
Geum Gwancheon roared at the top of his lungs.
“Run! So-hye!”
“Grandfather!”
“Now!”
Geum Gwancheon’s desperate cry rang out again. Only then did Geum Jung-gwang grab Geum So-hye’s hand and turn to flee. But their sprint was too slow.
To Geum Gwancheon’s eyes, it looked agonizingly sluggish.
Two Seocheon Mountain Manor warriors were charging toward them. They closed the gap in moments.
One swing of the sword, and their lives would end.
“How could this...”
“That’s how the world is. It’s not about how you live—it’s about what current you ride. Unfortunately, yours ends here.”
Jo Hyeol-san clicked his tongue and turned away.
Meanwhile, Shim Ok also heard Geum Gwancheon’s agonized shout. But she had neither the spare capacity nor the power to save the ranch folk.
She could barely protect herself.
All this had happened because she’d come to the ranch.
‘I can’t help it. I have no choice.’
Thick teardrops rolled down Shim Ok’s cheeks.
She desperately unleashed her martial arts while stealing glances at Geum So-hye and her father.
Swoosh!
The reaper’s sword was descending upon their backs.
Knowing a scream would follow any second, Shim Ok squeezed her eyes shut without thinking.
Boom!
In that instant, a thunderous roar crashed down toward the earth.
Footsteps followed.
Scrape! Thud! Scrape! Thud!