Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Freckle Spot (2)
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Cheongun had a nasty personality.
How nasty? The kind that wouldn't feel satisfied unless he repaid at least tenfold anything he'd suffered even once.
Cheongun's personality hadn't always been this rotten.
By his innate nature, he leaned toward the kind side.
Obey the law.
Don't harm others.
The weak must be protected, and the strong must bear responsibility.
Basic common sense.
For an ordinary modern person raised normally, it was the ethical code preloaded in the brain.
But that common sense wasn't obvious to everyone.
At least not in the Central Plains here.
Possessed into a completely unknown world, into the body of a boy he'd never heard of, living a life as a penniless orphan he'd never experienced.
It was never easy.
No parents, so despised. No money, so ignored. No power, so bullied.
The first thing Cheongun stole was food.
Starved for days until his stomach clung to his back, just trying to survive somehow.
But he wasn't the only one dying of hunger; a beggar passing by spotted the food in his hand, lost his mind demanding it, and charged with a rock in hand.
That was his first desperate, brutal brawl.
Screaming in rage until his throat burst, skin tearing on the stone's edge, even harboring the thought of killing someone for the first time.
So he killed.
To survive. Because he didn't want to die. Because he was starving.
He had no martial arts back then.
Just strangled him to death with the fishing line he was holding, even as stones battered him.
After killing him, he crammed the stolen food into his mouth before others arrived, and it was so heartbreaking that he bawled like a child upon realizing he'd killed a man.
That was when he first learned how salty food tasted mixed with tears. Funny, thinking back.
If he hadn't killed, he would've died—would that guy have cried like him upon realizing he'd taken a life?
They were all bottom-scraping lives anyway.
Who dares offer cheap pity to whom?
The law of the jungle.
Survival of the fittest.
That was the turning point.
When Cheongun's personality suddenly turned rotten.
Pa-ba-bat—!
The masked men hidden all around burst out at once, aiming their sword tips at Cheongun.
"Heh heh, well now. These young punks have no fear. Walking right into a place like this with a bounty on your heads?"
The waiter cackled, looking at Cheongun.
In his head, a future was already unfolding where he beheaded Cheongun and cashed in the huge bounty.
The Freckle Spot was a black spot rife with frequent assassination contracts, a place the Filth Gate kept a sharp eye on and managed tightly.
They paid massive protection fees to the Heavenly Dragon Escort Agency, with no fewer than six peak-level escorts on standby at the site.
Considering how rare peak experts were in the martial world and the treatment they received, one could guess the scale of the investment.
And all they had to do was behead him, right?
They didn't care what happened to the body after that!
'Both of them look pretty tasty.'
Fine features, toned bodies—nice to look at.
He'd carve off the flesh alive and sell it, torture them in every way imaginable right up to death for fun.
How agonizing that would be!
Just thinking about it gave him chills.
A truly trashy yet plausible plan.
But the waiter was mistaken about one thing.
Though martial realms were conveniently divided into first-rate, peak, and so on, even within the same realm, strength varied immensely based on inner energy quantity and purity, the techniques learned, and experience.
Especially after peak level, the disparities grew particularly vast.
After peak, advancing to the next realm required not just accumulating inner energy, but a kind of enlightenment.
Cheongun tore off a greasy slab of fried chicken skin with his bare hands and shoved it in his mouth.
"Smack, smack. So that's how it is?"
"If that waiter's strutting around like that, this must be a black spot."
Cheongun nodded at Namgung Yeol's words.
Drawing swords out of nowhere in a black spot meant one of two things.
Either the customers were troublemakers, or they'd taken a high-bounty contract.
Cheongun tilted his head.
"Are we the troublemakers?"
"No way customers who spend big are trouble."
"Then we've got a bounty on our heads?"
"Well, I have a rough idea."
Namgung Yeol whispered a quick summary of her thoughts.
The demonic cultist killed near the Yangtze, plus five assassins.
And some minor cash and clothes taken from those unorthodox thugs who tried to chase them out of an inn while they were quietly eating.
Cheongun nodded as if finally remembering upon hearing the explanation.
The waiter, who'd been watching quietly, let out a chilling laugh.
"Got the situation figured out now?"
"Roughly."
"Then how about putting down the swords and begging for your lives first?"
Cheongun clicked his tongue at the waiter's words.
"This is why Filth Gate scum are no good. Bottom-feeding gutter rats banding together pretending to be an organization."
"What?"
"The Beggars' Gang gets treated as righteous because beggars act like beggars. What about you Filth Gate lot? Gutter trash acting like you're something special, so even as an info network, you get pushed down to unorthodox treatment by the Beggars' Gang."
The waiter's eyebrow twitched.
Every word from that damn punk struck right at his nerves.
What made it even more infuriating was that it wasn't wrong.
"And how uneducated do you have to be to mess with people eating? Even dogs don't bother you at mealtime. Oh, worse than dogs, so that's why? You do look like overgrown rats."
"...One more word from that mouth, and you'd better prepare yourself."
"Typical waiters, always ending sentences with that 'daeyo~' crap. Hey, waiter! Whip up a bowl of carbonara with qigong meditation!"
"???"
The waiter blinked.
No idea what that meant.
But that tone, those mannerisms, every expression—utterly loathsome.
At the same time, Cheongun snapped his fingers, flicking a silver coin at the waiter.
"Here. A silver coin tip."
Crunched!
"You bastard!!"
The utterly pissed-off waiter bellowed.
"Kill them all!!"
At his words, one man thrust his angled sword straight at Cheongun.
At the same time, Cheongun swiftly drew his sword and swung it horizontally and vertically.
Ga-ga-gak—!
The grating clash of metal rang out deafeningly.
True to peak level, just the sword tips colliding sparked fiercely.
Swae-ak!
Successive sword strikes laden with sword energy flew from behind in whooshes.
But Cheongun had already reached mastery in evasion from Jin Mu-seong's one-sided beatings.
While clashing swords, he twisted his entire body like an invertebrate, dodging all the sword assaults by a hair's breadth.
But it didn't end there.
—Chwaaak!
As one was blocked, the sword split like a trident, lightning-fast toward his nape.
Afterimages of sword energy split into three prongs.
And sharp energy emanated from each one.
Cheongun tilted his blade slightly to slide the incoming sword away.
Simultaneously, he stepped forward, stamping into a stance that launched his body momentarily into the air.
At that moment, a shadowy figure crouched on the floor yanked invisible silver threads wound between his fingers.
Flowing Shadow Blade Thread Hand
Qi-reinforced silver threads launched in dozens of strands, slicing through the air
Swae-ae-ak!
The qi-hardened silver threads shot out in dozens of strands, tearing through the air.
The very moment the net-like threads enveloped Cheongun in a whirl, aiming to shred him—
Whirlik!
Cheongun flared his robe like a cloak, spinning his whole body to wrap himself in it.
In that spinning motion, the qi-clad robe deflected all incoming silver threads.
There were so many of them.
"!!!"
Namgung Yeol and the masked men simultaneously raised their sword backs to bat away the threads.
Taat!
Cheongun landed and instantly surged his inner power.
His dantian was currently overflowing with natural qi from the battery-like demonic cultists trapped in golden prisons.
Though his realm was peak, the aura he emitted was no less than super-peak.
Viscous killing intent crushed everyone in the spot.
Only his will refined the natural qi to the extreme, steaming out from his body.
The highly perceptive experts gulped and panicked at the bizarre sight.
'What the hell?'
The waiter inwardly denied it.
Clearly a boy not even in his twenties.
Sense-wise, definitely peak realm.
Yet suddenly unleashing such profound energy?
'...A master.'
Capturing him unscathed was impossible.
Even if possible, the restaurant would be trashed, and at least half the hired experts dead.
Worse, if unlucky, all of them.
He might even be holding back.
The waiter's judgment was swift.
"Young hero!"
"Hm?"
"This waiter sincerely apologizes!"
Cheongun gestured for him to continue.
"I am the Filth Gate's Blood Debt Lackey. These experts here are escorts dispatched by the Heavenly Dragon Escort Agency! This is a black spot specially managed by the Filth Gate!"
"Hm."
"I have no words, but if you show mercy here, we'll offer the maximum compensation!"
The gist was simple.
Sorry for picking a fight, we'll compensate, so let's end it here!
"Filth Gate and Heavenly Dragon Escort Agency... Damn, what a hassle."
Cheongun clicked his tongue.
The waiter inwardly cheered.
That's right! Super hasslesome, so unless you wanna screw yourself, drop it!
"Hmmm."
Cheongun stroked his chin, pondering.
"Ha, no helping it, huh?"
He seemed to have made up his mind.
The waiter swallowed a sigh of relief inwardly.
Unless he wanted to make enemies of both factions, the answer was obvious.
But Cheongun's choice was different.
"Nothing for it but to exterminate you all."
"???"
Ah.
There was that way.