Pursuit Squad's Secret (3)
Cheon Ri Hyeong and the three broad dao wielders left the clearing and headed toward the spot where they had set the trap.
Cheon Ri Hyeong spoke to the broad dao wielders following behind him.
"We'll make that little brat dance to the Iron Thread Guard too. Only this time, it won't be his fingers."
"Not fingers? Then what...?"
"The Iron Thread Guard has eyes for one-two-three-four-five. There are five places on a person to slice with a sword: left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, and head."
"Ooh, as expected of the new gang leader!"
The broad dao wielders belatedly grasped Cheon Ri Hyeong's intent and showered him with flattery.
He had declared he would sever Seo Baek's head and limbs using the Iron Thread Guard's one-two-three-four-five eyes!
Cheon Ri Hyeong's gang snickered as they pushed through the underbrush.
Yet there was one man behind Cheon Ri Hyeong who frowned slightly.
It was Ja-chung, Cheon Ri Hyeong's right-hand man.
He didn't much care for Cheon Ri Hyeong's antics.
The new gang leader has talent, but his obsession with the thrill of killing is a major flaw.
Son Il Seo's group needed to be taken alive to Iron Palm Mountain.
Son Il Seo, son of Vice Gang Leader Son Sik, had a maternal clan that was fairly renowned in the martial world.
If Cheon Ri Hyeong took over as gang leader instead of Son Il Seo, who knew how the boy's maternal clan might react? Keeping Son Il Seo as a hostage was crucial.
Yang San and Chuk Yeong were also slated for execution after being dragged to Iron Palm Mountain. They'd serve as examples to the other broad dao wielders of what happened to those who betrayed the new gang leader.
Yu So Un and Wang Yi Sam, on the other hand, were better off killed on the spot—no loose ends.
But Cheon Ri Hyeong had insisted on taking them hostage.
That damned gambling habit!
It all stemmed from his compulsion to gamble with human lives. Cheon Ri Hyeong found outright killing too boring.
The traps were the same story.
Ja-chung figured Mo Sam Guk was somewhere between a dog and a cat, but he never imagined four of Mo Sam Guk's pursuit squad getting taken down by a single kid.
Yet Cheon Ri Hyeong, suspecting the kid might handle Mo Sam Guk, had gone and set traps?
They had marked the trees with black cloth scraps, but Mo Sam Guk's squad might miss them and trigger the traps anyway.
And if, by some fluke, Cheon Ri Hyeong's hunch was right and the kid was a real expert? Then wasn't sending just Mo Sam Guk's squad too risky?
It all boiled down to Cheon Ri Hyeong treating killing as a game.
The problem was, no one could rein him in.
Cheon Ri Hyeong, who had abandoned even his father to flee alone.
Who would dare speak ill to such an arrogant bastard? Cross him, and you'd end up as fodder for his bets?
Once Cheon Ri Hyeong became gang leader, Iron Palm Gang would turn into a blood-soaked den of brutality.
But Ja-chung shook his head, banishing the stray thoughts.
Not my concern. Life's short anyway. A real man aims big!
If he could sideline Mo Sam Guk and become Cheon Ri Hyeong's right-hand man, Iron Palm Gang would be half in his pocket.
Keep feeding hunting prey to Cheon Ri Hyeong, addicted as he was to the thrill of killing. Then he'd be a beast on Ja-chung's leash.
Manipulating the wastrel Cheon Ri Hyeong like a puppet gang leader would be child's play for a veteran like Ja-chung, steeped in the ways of the martial world.
Finally, a ray of sunshine in my life.
Ja-chung's lips curled into an ambitious grin.
One broad dao wielder, brimming with excitement, took the lead.
"I'll check on the trapped prey."
But as the man took a few steps, Cheon Ri Hyeong's eyes bulged wide and he bellowed,
"Stop right there!"
"Y-yes...?"
The broad dao wielder turned in confusion, and at that instant, a pile of leaves at his feet erupted. A rope noose shot up like a fishing net, clamping tight around his ankle.
Simultaneously, a hidden rope beneath the soil revealed itself, yanking the man upside down into the air.
Shhhrrrk. Thwip.
"Aaaagh!"
A trap where a bent tree sprang straight upon being stepped on, hauling the victim skyward. It was one Cheon Ri Hyeong had ordered set.
The issue was its location.
The noose was supposed to be several paces farther ahead. How had the broad dao wielder triggered it? Had the trap moved on its own?
Hanging upside down in midair, the man yelled,
"Get me down, please!"
Cheon Ri Hyeong commanded with a scowl,
"You idiot. Cut him loose."
Ja-chung stepped forward to lower the man.
Then, from the empty air, a massive log arced through the sky toward the immobilized broad dao wielder. It crushed him wholesale.
Crack. Aaaahhh...
The man didn't even finish his scream before going limp in death.
"...!"
Ja-chung froze in shock, holding his breath.
They had two types of traps: the ankle-snaring noose and a pendulum log that swung down to smash the victim flat.
Placed at intervals so dodging one led straight into the other.
Yet the noose and the log had both shifted positions...
And worse, calibrated so the log targeted whoever snagged the noose. Designed to finish anyone who triggered one.
A chain of traps operating like a mechanism formation!
That kid's name was Seo Baek, right?
The technique of repositioning two traps into one seamless kill was no amateur work. Seo Baek had clearly seen through Cheon Ri Hyeong's trap scheme like it was child's play.
A broad dao wielder beside Ja-chung asked Cheon Ri Hyeong,
"Should we get the brother down first?"
"Leave him! What good's a dead failure anyway."
"Y-yes, sir..."
Cheon Ri Hyeong's eyes had turned serpentine, fierce and upturned. His refined, polite speech had devolved to crude commands.
Ja-chung swallowed hard.
You never poked the bear when Cheon Ri Hyeong bared his true colors.
"Search every inch! Find that kid!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Don't kill the kid. I'll take his fingers, then limbs, one by one."
The gang drew swords and scoured the surroundings.
Ja-chung shivered despite himself.
A martial world veteran, he'd crossed paths with upright sect folk before joining Iron Palm Gang.
Prestigious sects like Shaolin, Wudang, Huashan teemed with experts. And age meant little to their masters.
Direct disciples often reached expert level young. Those trained from childhood in profound inner arts could surpass first-rate cultivation before thirty.
So what if this Seo Baek was one such prodigy?
Of course, Ja-chung didn't fear a mere kid.
Cheon Ri Hyeong was an expert, after all.
He'd ambushed and subdued the skilled-looking Yu So Un.
With the gang leader and vice gone, no one in Iron Palm Gang could match him. Otherwise, a merit-based gang like theirs wouldn't follow.
Ja-chung himself and the remaining broad dao wielder were battle-hardened sword experts, even without the gang's secret arts.
And Seo Baek's glaring weakness: hostages back at the clearing.
In the dog-eat-dog martial world, rushing to save comrades screamed vulnerability. With their lives in hand, no matter his skill, the kid would surrender.
That excessive brotherly loyalty.
The Achilles' heel of upright sect breeds!
Ja-chung, who had clawed his way up like a weed, prioritized crushing foes over fallen allies.
Not bad, kid. But with hostages, you can't beat us.
A strange thought flickered through Ja-chung's mind.
Wait. Then what was that trap sound earlier?
They'd heard it from the hostage clearing, assumed the kid triggered one, and moved out.
But the actual traps hadn't gone off—relocated by the kid, claiming an innocent broad dao wielder instead.
Realization dawned, and Ja-chung's jaw dropped.
"G-gang leader..."
"What?"
Cheon Ri Hyeong snapped back in a shrill voice.
Bad timing to irk him, but this had to be said.
"I think the kid triggered the trap sound on purpose."
"On purpose? Why?"
"To lure us away and rescue the hostages?"
"...!"
Cheon Ri Hyeong finally caught on, eyes widening.
Seo Baek's goal wasn't relocating traps to pick them off.
Feint east, strike west. Make noise eastward, attack westward—a classic deception.
Seo Baek had deliberately sprung the trap noise to scatter them, then free the hostages.
Ja-chung revised his view of Seo Baek.
A boy not yet twenty, puppeteering Cheon Ri Hyeong and his thugs.
Peerless martial prowess and a tactical genius!
"Back now!"
Cheon Ri Hyeong bolted with sword drawn; Ja-chung and the broad dao wielder exchanged glances and followed.
Moments later, at the clearing, the trio doubted their eyes.
A fierce wind whipped dust into a blinding haze.
Then something tumbled through the murk.
Like a polo ball rolling in.
"Why's a polo ball here...?"
Ja-chung trailed off in horror.
Stopping at his feet: the severed head of the broad dao wielder meant to guard the hostages!
Another followed. Both left-behind broad dao wielders beheaded.
"H-how..."
They looked up through the dust to a lone shadow.
As it settled, Seo Baek emerged.
"Payment for tormenting my comrades with torture and threats disguised as gambling."
Seo Baek's voice held no emotion for the man who'd just decapitated two foes. Its indifference chilled deeper than rage.
Ja-chung gulped.
The two guards slain silently by Seo Baek before them.
And his presence meant Mo Sam Guk's four-man squad was already done for.
Ja-chung's worst fears realized.
They'd poked the reverse scale of an unnamed boy expert—his prowess immeasurable.
"Too generous a reward; I hardly know where to stand, heh heh."
Unlike Seo Baek's calm, Cheon Ri Hyeong's voice quivered, teeth grinding with barely contained fury.
One impassively assessing the foe, the other raging uncontrollably.
If betting, the stoic one wins every time.
The thought made Ja-chung's legs buckle further.
Cheon Ri Hyeong was Iron Palm Gang's top dog, but even he might not beat the boy.
Ja-chung steeled himself.
If worst comes, ditch Cheon Ri Hyeong and run.
Iron Palm Gang, forged on strength, could regroup and crown a new leader sans bloodline.
Above all, avoid a dog's death charging a boy master!
Ja-chung signaled the other broad dao wielder to bolt when chance arose. A decade-plus partner, he nodded subtly.
Oblivious, Cheon Ri Hyeong swaggered about the clearing.
"No hostages. Where'd they go?"
"Told 'em to hide."
"You gonna face us alone?"
"Yes."
Seo Baek's flat tone seemed to turn icy—perhaps imagination.
"You beat my comrades badly. Bones intact, thankfully, but they need days to recover. No fighting now."
"Then why not flee with 'em?"
"Unfinished business."
Swish. Seo Baek gripped the sword on his back.
"Vengeance for my comrades remains."