Operation Breakthrough Paju (2)
The Poyang Mounted Bandits, Heubmun Pavilion, and the Mabang cartel. All three factions clashed, descending into a chaotic, tangled brawl.
"Kill them, fuckers!!" "fucking crush them!!!" "Hey, you sons of bitches!!"
Ugh.
They must have harbored some serious grudges, because they weren't just roughing each other up—they were literally fighting to the death. Flesh tore, bones shattered, and internal organs burst forth in a gruesome display.
Gross.
I averted my eyes.
Having seen my fair share of death by now, I'd learned one thing: watching that kind of stuff for too long was a one-way ticket to a mental breakdown.
Besides, on a more practical note, you're supposed to keep your eyes on the road when driving.
Vrooooooooom!!!
Leaving the three-way warzone behind, I sped forward. Toward Gaeseong in the northwest!!
I double-checked the route Ho Aema had sent me.
I just had to cross one river in downtown Paju, and then cross the river leading up to Gaeseong. That would be it.
Nice! Just gotta keep going like this!!
Once I reached Gaeseong, the rest would be smooth sailing!
I'd get the Divine Physician to save Hyeonsongcheonnyeo, get my eyes treated, and live like royalty as a savior of the Bongrae Sect!
Hyeonsongcheonnyeo groaned in my arms.
"Mmm..."
"Lady Hyeonsong! Are you waking up?"
"Ugh..."
Only groans came in response.
"Cough...!"
Scratch that. She coughed and spat up blood.
"Lady Hyeonsong! Oh, crap...!"
Surely she wasn't going to kick the bucket before we even reached Gaeseong, right?
Just what kind of Gate did she enter, and what kind of enemy did she face?
I'd been too frantic to think about it until now.
Even an elder of the prestigious Bongrae Sect can end up hovering between life and death if they make one wrong move.
The world had become a dangerous place since the Gate outbreak. It was a fact I thought I'd grown used to over the past ten years, but now it hit me with renewed, chilling clarity.
Ordinary people had lives as fragile as flies, liable to be snuffed out at any moment.
Even if you possessed wealth, power, or martial arts, one slip-up could still prove fatal.
...Sigh.
I just wanted to live a peaceful life. Without having to worry about whether I'd survive to see tomorrow.
Surely everyone harbored that same wish. Yet it had become such an impossibly difficult thing to achieve.
Damn it, don't get soft now! Let's go!
I could see the bridge. Just cross this one and one more, and we'd be in Gaeseong!!
Once we both recover, I'm going to make Hyeonsongcheonnyeo buy me something delicious!! I'll make her take me to a high-end barbecue joint that costs a hundred bucks a person!!
But then.
As if he had been waiting for me, a massive giant of a man roared out on a motorcycle and blocked the entrance to the bridge.
"Huh!?"
Wait, what is up with his body proportions?!
He was easily over six and a half feet tall, but his shoulders looked nearly three feet wide.
It was bizarre. How could a human body have those proportions?
It went way beyond an inverted triangle build; he looked like he'd popped straight out of a cartoon.
No, wait, that's not the issue right now—
The man raised a massive hammer and slammed it down onto the bridge.
"Yaaaaaaaagh!!!!"
Screeeeeeech!!!
I slammed on the brakes and screamed.
"You crazy bastard, what are you doing?! I need to cross that!!"
"I once had a dream."
The giant completely ignored me and began to ramble on his own.
"A simple dream to retire and grow carrots."
"Then just go grow them!"
"You understand nothing. If the Master of Heubmun Pavilion started growing carrots, how would people look at me? They would deem me weak and pathetic."
The Master of Heubmun Pavilion!
So this guy was one of the lunatics who had turned this entire region into a chaotic mess?
A post I'd seen on the Jin Moorim Gallery forum came to mind.
*Drip.* Tears of blood began to stream down the Heubmun Pavilion Master's face.
Ah, crap, is he on drugs or something? What is wrong with him?!
Strong guys are dangerous. Strong, crazy guys are even more dangerous. Probably.
First, I sent a message to Ho Aema.
Before a reply could arrive, I assessed the situation with my own eyes.
If I want to find another way... I'll have to take a massive detour.
Would Hyeonsongcheonnyeo survive that long?
And if we accidentally got caught in that three-way warzone, it would be far more dangerous than dealing with this guy.
The bridge... should hold for at least one crossing.
It hadn't completely collapsed yet.
I had to break through the Heubmun Pavilion Master somehow and cross the bridge. The question was, how?
The Heubmun Pavilion Master picked up his massive hammer and began to spin it.
"The Stone-Head Mace."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoooooosh!!!
"The signature weapon of our Heubmun Pavilion. Our hammer arts, swung with all our weight behind them, can shatter anything in an instant. Just like a child's slingshot splitting open the skull of a giant!"
"You're the giant here! Don't self-insert as the kid!!"
The Heubmun Pavilion Master didn't even pretend to listen. Tears of blood gushed from his eyes.
"And the level of my martial arts is... none other than!"
Whooooosh!!! Whir-whir-whir-whir-whir!!!!
"First-Class!"
First-Class!!
Goosebumps broke out all over my skin.
First-Class. The stage right before crossing the conceptual 'wall' spoken of among martial artists.
Although they couldn't hold a candle to those in the Peak Realm or higher, a First-Class martial artist could easily dominate an entire region and lead raids on A-rank Gates.
An existence that terrifyingly high up was First-Class...
Wait. Hold on a minute.
"First-Class...?"
Sure, it was high. Even Nam Yeon, one of the top first-generation disciples of the Dobong Sect, had been First-Class.
...And that was exactly the point.
Because I had definitely taken down that Nam Yeon in a single blow.
"And this is our sect's representative martial art, the River-Splitting Hammer! There is no one in this world who can withstand even a single strike of it!!"
...Is this guy seriously posing like that when he's only First-Class?
This motherfucker?
Jin Moorim Gallery
Vrooooooooom...
Ah.
I quickly typed out a reply.
The entity formerly known as the Master of Heubmun Pavilion was currently split into four neat pieces, scattered around the bridge.
Ho Aema would probably nag me again soon, complaining about why I was only telling her now.
The second bridge came into view.
Phew...
A wave of relief washed over me. Once I crossed that, I would finally be out of this living hell called Paju.
But now that I think about it, how am I supposed to find the Divine Physician?
Would someone on the street know if I asked? Or should I just grab the first person I see and—
"!!"
Screeeeeeech!!
I slammed on the brakes once more. I could practically hear the motorcycle's lifespan ticking away.
A strange old man was standing in front of the bridge.
...What on earth is that?
His face was so bizarrely wrinkled that, to put it bluntly, it was grotesque to look at.
"Hehehe."
The old man stared in my direction.
"What a delicious-looking girl."
Immediately after.
The old man's skeletal hand clashed against the sword I had hastily raised.
"Ugh...!?"
A freezing chill radiated from his hand, traveling up the blade and seeping into my body.
"Hehehe. How do you like our sect's Ice Demon Art?"
"It fucking sucks!!"
I swung my sword. The horizontal slash of the Three Talents Sword Art.
"Whoopsie~"
The old man lightly hopped onto my blade and reached out toward me once more.
A sinister, freezing energy crept closer.
What the hell is this...?!
This was on a completely different level from that First-Class scrub I'd just fought.
He was definitely in the Peak Realm or higher.
This was dangerous.
Even if I wanted to open the Jin Moorim Gallery and call for help, there was no time.
Aaaargh!!
If I knew it would turn out like this, I should've just ditched Hyeonsongcheonnyeo and run away on my own! Damn it—
"Hup!!"
The old man suddenly leaped high into the air.
A single dagger flashed through the exact spot where he had been standing a split second ago.
"Who dares interfere with this elder of the Myeol Sect?!"
"Me."
A man walked out from the other side of the bridge. It was too dark to make out his face, but his voice and posture suggested he was a young man.
The old man scowled. His face, already covered in deep wrinkles, crumpled so much that it looked less like a face and more like a balled-up sheet of paper.
"Why are you petty peddlers of Gaeseong interfering?"
"Anyone trying to cross this bridge is heading to Gaeseong, and anyone heading to Gaeseong is a guest of us Song merchants, is she not?"
The dagger flew back into the young man's hand. A silver steel thread glinted momentarily in the darkness.
"Get lost. Unless you want to die."
"...The Ohsung Merchant Group has grown quite bold. I suppose tasting wealth has made you think you rule the world?"
The old man spat on the ground.
"Just you wait. The price of earning this elder's wrath will not be cheap."
"Regrettably, we merchants are a breed that buys low and sells high. If your wrath is so expensive, I'd like to decline the purchase."
"Hmph! Flap your gums while you still can. Soon, I will slice off your tongue, mince it up, and feed it to you!!"
Spewing a torrent of curses, the old man vanished into the darkness.
"...Th-thank you."
The man spoke in my direction.
"You're Dohwa, aren't ya?"
It seemed he couldn't see my face clearly either.
...But why was he speaking in a southeastern dialect?