Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: The Ransom Demand
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Humming a little tune.
Nangong Hyuk shuffled over to the scene, chewing on some jerky.
Behind him, Kim Cheom-sang scanned the surroundings restlessly, standing guard.
As soon as Nangong Hyuk appeared, Geon Cheon-hwi bent at the waist a full ninety degrees.
"Young master, you've arrived!"
"Yeah."
Nangong Hyuk replied with jerky still in his mouth.
"Did you handle it quietly?"
"I persuaded them well."
Geon Cheon-hwi answered in a deferential tone and pointed at the ground.
Ju Ja-cheol lay there with his swollen, blotchy face, lips pressed tightly shut.
"......"
Nangong Hyuk stared at Ju Ja-cheol for a moment before crouching down in front of him.
He eyed Ju Ja-cheol with a subtle look, then scratched his head.
"Whoa, look at the state of these kids. We're gonna be seeing a lot of each other from now on, but if they're like this, how's it gonna work? Bunch of violent punks."
Ju Ja-cheol stared blankly at Nangong Hyuk.
*That doesn't seem like something to say with a grin like that.*
Nangong Hyuk clicked his tongue.
"Buddy, you get it. The kids are a bit rough around the edges. They're good at heart usually, but they have their moments, you know?"
*...You're the one who ordered it, you bastard.*
Ju Ja-cheol swallowed a rising surge of something and stammered haltingly.
"......W-what are you planning to do with me?"
Nangong Hyuk rubbed his chin, pretending to ponder deeply as he drew out the moment.
That only heightened the terror.
*'No, no way. Surely they're not gonna kill me? It's just a threat.'*
His opponent was the second young master of the Nangong family.
Sure, he was extreme, but he wouldn't actually harm him.
"I-I, what have I done wrong to deserve this, Second Young Master! It was just... just a little scuffle on the boat......"
"A little scuffle?"
"Ourselves picking a fight and trying to scare you, well, that wasn't exactly the plan......"
The more he spoke, the more his thoughts tangled idiotically, and Ju Ja-cheol's voice grew smaller.
"It was, it was a joke. Even if it was, this kind of live burial is......"
Nangong Hyuk cut off Ju Ja-cheol's babbling.
"Oh. What's our friend's name?"
"......J-Ju Ja-cheol."
Nangong Hyuk smiled softly and called out to Ju Ja-cheol in a friendly voice.
"Yeah, Ja-cheol."
"Yes."
"Do you wanna die? One scoop of dirt and I could connect you straight to the gates of the underworld."
"......"
In any other situation, he'd have taken it as a joke, but right now, those words didn't sound like one at all.
Spotting the Thunder Dragon Squad approaching from behind Nangong Hyuk with shovels of dirt, Ju Ja-cheol's face drained white.
"H-Hiiiik!"
Drool spilling from his mouth, Ju Ja-cheol screamed.
"P-Please spare me! Spare me, young master! I'll do anything. Please, just spare me! Please, please!"
*This guy's for real.*
*He's really gonna kill me.*
*Definitely a fiend.*
*A ruthless black path thug who rules the back alleys!*
*......How the hell did a rotten bastard like this come from a proper orthodox family like the Nangong clan?!*
Nangong Hyuk grinned playfully.
"Why so scared? You think I'd really kill you?"
"Huh? You're not?"
"......"
"......"
Tak Hyuk-dong, meeting Nangong Hyuk's eyes, silently lowered his gaze.
"......P-Please spare me. I'll do anything."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, yes!"
The corners of Nangong Hyuk's mouth curved gently.
"That's right. This is what the orthodox way is. A beautiful world of mutual aid!"
Nangong Hyuk crooked a finger at Geon Cheon-hwi.
"Bring brush, ink, and paper."
"Yes! Bring the brush, ink, and paper—!"
Geon Cheon-hwi bellowed at Jang Ung.
Jang Ung dashed off somewhere and returned, presenting the items.
Nangong Hyuk chuckled.
"Heh, can't have friends like this. Alright, take dictation."
Ju Ja-cheol eyed Nangong Hyuk with crumpled eyes.
"Um......"
"Why the long face?"
"N-No, it's just my eyes won't open......"
"Hurry up and write."
"M-My hands......"
Nangong Hyuk stared silently at Ju Ja-cheol.
Ju Ja-cheol flinched, gauging Nangong Hyuk's mood before stealthily picking up the brush in front of him with his mouth.
*'F-Fuck.'*
Ju Ja-cheol swallowed his resentment.
Nangong Hyuk's voice rang out quietly.
"Your handwriting decides your fate, so take it down properly. Got it?"
"......Ye."
"Your son."
"Yoour shon."
"Wants to live,"
"Wansh to libe,"
"Come alone to the eastern wild mountain."
"Com aloan to eashern wild mournain...... Huh?"
Ju Ja-cheol looked up at Nangong Hyuk with blank eyes.
*......W-What the? Hostage situation?*
"Why?"
"......"
"Not writing?"
As Nangong Hyuk shot him a sideways glare, Ju Ja-cheol trembled and dotted the period.
It looked like wriggling earthworms scrawled across the paper.
Nangong Hyuk let out a hollow laugh.
"Don't wanna live?"
"......N-No, I do."
"Kids these days got no grit. Tsk."
Nangong Hyuk clicked his tongue.
Ju Ja-cheol cried out with a dazed face.
"Y-Young master."
"Take the brush out to talk."
"Y-Young master! I just had a great idea."
"What."
"I-If we include my hero token, Father will definitely come! Th-this is a gift from him to me......"
"As expected of my buddy. I'm touched by your desperation. Give that one a scoop less!"
"Yes!"
Jang Ung shot out like an arrow and shoveled some dirt away from around Ju Ja-cheol.
His body emerged up to his shoulders—a sort of reward—and his breathing cleared, lifting his mood a bit.
Nangong Hyuk grinned and beckoned the Thunder Dragon Squad.
"Take off those kids' hero tokens. Deliver exactly as the letter says."
"Yes! Young master!"
The Thunder Dragon Squad moved in perfect unison, waking the passed-out junior disciples.
They shoved brushes into the mouths of the bewildered group and held out paper.
"H-Huhk! Di-Did i-it."
"Doin it."
"......Ughh."
As the Hapbi Ten Swords cried out in panicked desperation, muffled thuds soon followed softly.
Scribble-scribble-scribble!
Nine heads bobbed nimbly, scrawling words onto the paper.
"Eugh! Eugh!"
"Grraaah!"
"Hic! Hic!"
They collected the hero tokens and letters from the junior disciples.
Nangong Hyuk grinned.
"Go deliver them."
"All of them?"
"Yeah. We let 'em loose, so now we collect what's owed."
"......Pardon?"
"What."
"Nothing. I'll be back."
Geon Cheon-hwi signaled the Thunder Dragon Squad with his eyes.
The squad vanished into the darkness, letters and hero tokens in hand.
Nangong Hyuk eyed the shivering junior disciples with a grin.
"When kids screw up, it's the parents who pay the price."
"......"
It was a gloomy night.
* * *
White Shadow Sect Leader Ju Hyeong-un furrowed his brow.
"Ja-cheol still hasn't come back?"
"Yes."
"How much booze did that punk drink to still be out? I've told him to ease up on my liquor."
Ju Hyeong-un clicked his tongue and downed another mouthful of alcohol.
He glared at his subordinate with a flushed face.
"When'd he leave?"
"A good while ago. Half a day at least."
"Half a day?"
"Yes. He loves his drink, but he's never been out this late......"
"Tch, leave him be. What's the worst that could happen?"
"But......"
"Hey now, in Hapbi territory, who's gonna mess with the White Shadow Sect? Ja-cheol's the young sect leader, after all."
Ju Hyeong-un chuckled pleasantly.
"The kid loves his booze, sure, but he's already mastered our core swordsmanship up to the seventh form. Not the type to get beaten easily. You know that."
"True. The young sect leader's skills are exceptional. Unless it's Nangong clan level......"
"Sword Dragon? Hah!"
Ju Hyeong-un snorted.
"All hype."
"Pardon?"
"That Sword Tiger guy they say rivals the Sword Dragon got his ass handed to him by their sickly second young master. If I hadn't seen the second young master myself, maybe, but I did. Total walking corpse. If a corpse like that crushed him, it's obvious the hype's exaggerated."
The Nangong Hyuk he remembered was exactly that.
Shoulders dislocating in a strong wind, legs twisting on stairs—body so frail he couldn't properly train in martial arts.
And suffering from the incurable Nine Yin Severed Meridians to boot.
Yet that Nangong Hyuk beat Sword Tiger in a duel after just a month of training?
Sword Tiger, trained systematically his whole life, got taken down by a half-dead corpse who'd dabbled in martial arts?
One of two things was clear.
Either the rumors were false, or Sword Tiger sucked.
"Sword Tiger, Sword Dragon—they're all just hot air in the end."
Ju Hyeong-un tilted his cup and laughed.
"Just wait and see. Once Ja-cheol masters Great Harmony Heart Technique to the eighth stage and trains at the Orthodox Heaven Alliance, he'll surpass the Sword Dragon! Then the White Shadow Sect will eclipse even the Nangong clan next generation."
"Yes."
"Anyway, leave it. Nothing to worry about. The way you're fretting, it's like you're his dad or something. Hahaha!"
Ju Hyeong-un was roaring with laughter when—
Fwhoosh!
Boom!
With a sharp whistle, an object smashed through his door and embedded in the wall.
Ju Hyeong-un jumped up in alarm.
"Who's there!"
"Sect leader! Stay behind me!"
His subordinate hastily drew his sword and glared at the door.
A brief silence fell, then something dark wriggled through the hole.
The subordinate bulged his eyes.
"How dare you! I'll catch them!"
"W-Wait!"
Ju Hyeong-un grabbed his subordinate who was about to charge out.
The subordinate looked at him puzzled.
Ju Hyeong-un stared at the brick lodged in the wall, hands trembling.
A familiar hero token was tied around the brick.
"Th-this? The y-young sect leader's...?!"
The subordinate's face filled with shock.
Ju Hyeong-un untied the hero token from the brick.
Thud.
A twisted letter fell with it.
Ju Hyeong-un carefully unfolded and read the letter, his eyes starting to twitch.
The crooked scrawl, barely legible in handwriting and content alike, seemed to scream his son's peril.
*If you want your son to live, come alone to the eastern wild mountain.*
"Th-there's no way......"
"Sect leader, what's wrong?"
"......J-Ja-cheol's been kidnapped."
"Pardon?"
"Kidnapped, my son!"
Ju Hyeong-un's eyes bulged as he crumpled the letter.
"Which crazy bastard dares kidnap my son! Who the hell!"
*Dares kidnap the White Shadow Sect's heir?!*
Impossible without looking down on the White Shadow Sect.
And they delivered the letter not with an arrow, but a damn brick.
The crude, humiliating method said it all.
*'Whoever it is, if they've touched a hair on Ja-cheol's head, I'll wipe them out without leaving a single foundation stone!'*
Flames ignited in Ju Hyeong-un's eyes.
He roughly crumpled the letter, snatched a sword from the room, and tucked it into his belt.
"S-Sect leader! Where are you going!"
"They said the wild mountain, didn't they!"
"It's dangerous alone! Just calm down a bit......"
"Is this a time to calm down!"
Boom!
Ju Hyeong-un kicked the liquor table, splintering it and sending debris and snacks flying.
He bellowed with murderous eyes.
"I'll drag those bastards here and skin them alive!"
"S-Sect leader!"
"You, no backtalk—send the warriors to catch whoever threw this letter!"
"Y-Yes!"
"Round up all of Ja-cheol's drinking buddies too! Contact their families!"
"Yes!"
The subordinate dashed out.
Clutching the hero token till it crumbled, Ju Hyeong-un tucked a sword from the corner into his belt.
As he stepped outside, his bodyguard unit, the White Sword Squad, hurried after him.
"Sect leader!"
"You lot, trail thirty paces back, hide your presence!"
Ju Hyeong-un issued rapid orders.
"White Sword Squad Leader!"
"Yes!"
"You command the follow-up elites and seal off the wild mountain!"
"Understood!"
Snorting heavily, Ju Hyeong-un hurried toward the wild mountain.
The White Sword Squad ghosted silently behind, maintaining exactly thirty paces.
Swish-swish-swish!
In an instant, Ju Hyeong-un reached the edge of the wild mountain.