Chapter 10: Seizing a Transcendent Talent Slave
The girl and Seok Yuha tangled again.
The girl ducked her head to bite the back of his hand, and Seok Yuha jerked away in a panic, shoving her shoulder hard.
“You damn little brat!”
The girl’s body was sent flying. Her small, thin frame wobbled as it rolled across the floor, but she still didn’t go down. She planted a hand and held herself up, eyes still bright with life.
At that moment, Lee Kang arrived.
“You should watch where you’re going.”
With his low voice, Black Moon shot forward again. Seok Yuha twisted on reflex, and the needle sword skimmed past his side.
“Tch…”
Seok Yuha ground his teeth. But in that brief opening, the hand holding the girl let go, and she slipped free again.
“Damn it.”
Seok Yuha glared at Lee Kang.
“Are you seriously just going to keep getting in the way?”
“You should yield.”
“What a joke. I saw her first.”
“Does seeing something first make it yours? Then by that logic, the whole world must belong to you.”
Lee Kang was mocking him calmly, but inside, he was measuring distance.
If he fought Seok Yuha head-on, they would only end up injured. Seok Yuha seemed to know that too. Neither of them looked like they intended to drag this into a fight to the death.
Their goal was the same.
The girl.
Seok Yuha pointed at Lee Kang.
“Fine. Sect Leader of the Black Moon Sect. Hand her over, and I’ll give you 100 nyang.”
Lee Kang snorted.
“2,000 nyang.”
Seok Yuha’s face twisted in disbelief.
“Are you insane?”
“Then get lost.”
Seok Yuha spat out a curse and immediately rushed toward the girl. Lee Kang followed right behind him.
That was when it happened.
“Ah!”
A short scream burst from the girl, who had been running away in the distance. Lee Kang and Seok Yuha both turned toward the sound at the same time.
The girl had collided with someone and fallen backward onto the ground. In front of her stood a huge man.
He was big. Not round and thick like Jang Ori, but hard-edged, like a boulder crudely carved into human shape. His shoulders were broad, his arms long, and in his hands he carried a massive wooden club as long as a man was tall.
Three paths.
Lee Kang was on one side, Seok Yuha on the other, and at the last escape route stood the hulking man.
The girl panted hard, looking around in a daze. Realizing there was nowhere left to run, panic flickered across her mud-streaked face.
The giant slowly turned his head.
His eyes were so narrow they looked shut. A smile sat at the corner of his mouth. At first glance, he looked almost friendly.
But the instant Lee Kang saw that smile, his whole body tightened.
Mak Daehan.
Mak Daehan of the Mak Family near Hapjeong Station.
A second-class martial artist.
He was infamous for his cruelty and utter lack of restraint. Rumor had it he beat people to death with that huge wooden club in his hands, whether they were modern civilians or martial artists. In fact, posts about people being brutalized by Mak Daehan had shown up on the gallery more than once.
Seok Yuha’s face also stiffened. He seemed to have seen Mak Daehan’s methods firsthand many times.
Mak Daehan smiled with his eyes half-closed.
“Long time no see, Sect Leader of the Black Moon Sect. Sect Leader of the Hiphop Sect.”
Lee Kang didn’t answer. Seok Yuha didn’t speak right away either. Mak Daehan looked down at the girl, who was sitting on the ground.
“Were you two competing over this slave?”
Lee Kang spoke immediately to the girl.
“Come this way. Your body’s in bad shape right now, and if he grabs you, you’re in serious trouble!”
The girl looked at Lee Kang for a moment, uncertain whether to trust him.
Before she could decide, Seok Yuha spoke first.
“Competing? No. We jointly purchased her, and she ran off. Thanks for blocking the road, Mak Daehan.”
Mak Daehan tilted his head.
“Jointly purchased?”
Still smiling, he looked back and forth between Lee Kang and Seok Yuha.
“Aren’t the two of you supposed to hate each other?”
Seok Yuha’s mouth tightened.
“The situation’s different right now. For some reason, the righteous faction bastards have been showing up a lot lately. We stopped fighting and joined forces for a bit. That doesn’t mean we’re best buddies or sworn brothers or anything.”
“Hmm.”
Mak Daehan nodded as if he understood, then looked down at the girl again.
“But this girl just ran into my body.”
He slung the wooden club over his shoulder.
“Doesn’t that make her mine now?”
Seok Yuha’s expression darkened. Lee Kang’s own face hardened.
“Are you joking?”
Seok Yuha pressed the issue, but Mak Daehan was still smiling. It was as if he felt nothing at all.
“I can’t just hand her over.”
The moment he finished speaking, Mak Daehan’s hand moved.
It was fast, far too fast for a body that big. The girl twisted to slip away, but it was already too late. Mak Daehan’s hand clamped around the back of her neck.
“Ghk…”
The girl’s body froze in midair.
As casually as if he were lifting up a kitten, Mak Daehan held her aloft. The girl struggled desperately, but his grip didn’t budge an inch.
Watching that, Lee Kang bit down on the inside of his cheek.
Should I give up?
The opponent was a second-class martial artist.
And he was different from Seok Yuha. Seok Yuha was third-class, and his arm was injured besides. But Mak Daehan was an intact second-class martial artist, and one notorious for being vicious and merciless.
If he lunged wrong here, he would die. Lee Kang knew that. And yet his feet still wouldn’t move.
A transcendent talent.
He didn’t know how far that talent would ultimately carry her. But one thing was certain: this girl was a chance that would never come again.
If he let her go now, he might never get another opportunity like this.
No.
Lee Kang slowly drew in a breath. Then he twitched a finger behind his back.
A signal to Seok Yuha.
Let’s take him together.
Seok Yuha seemed to catch it. Grinding his teeth, he gave the same gesture behind his own back.
Cooperation.
Temporary cooperation.
Lee Kang didn’t hesitate.
Black Moon.
From his fingertips, the needle sword shot out again. The instant Lee Kang lunged forward, he could feel Seok Yuha moving behind him as well.
Or so he thought.
But the next moment, Seok Yuha was running in the opposite direction.
“You cowardly bastard!”
Lee Kang shouted before he could stop himself.
Seok Yuha didn’t even look back. As if there had never been any talk of a joint front, he was already slipping away down the other end of the alley.
Mak Daehan laughed.
“I knew it.”
Keeping the girl by the neck, he lifted the huge wooden club with his other hand.
“You two aren’t the sort to work together.”
The massive club came crashing down toward Lee Kang’s Black Moon.
Bang!
The ground shook.
Lee Kang barely managed to roll aside. Dirt exploded from the spot where the club struck the earth, and shattered stone fragments flew everywhere.
If he had been a split second slower, his head would have been crushed. Still in the motion of rolling, Lee Kang lowered his body and thrust the needle sword again.
This time he aimed for Mak Daehan’s thigh.
The instant he tried to stab in with a soft puk...
Mak Daehan’s club swept sideways.
“Tch!”
Lee Kang quickly folded his arm and retreated. The end of the club ripped past the hem of his clothes. Even though it only brushed by, the shock of the wind made his ribs sting.
Mak Daehan smiled as if he were enjoying himself.
“This is fun after so long.”
He tightened his grip on the girl and rested the club on his shoulder.
“Sect Leader of the Black Moon Sect, your martial arts are awfully shallow. But that’s what makes them fun. I can’t tell where you’re going to stab.”
Lee Kang didn’t answer. He steadied his breathing and watched Mak Daehan’s hands, feet, and the position of the club.
Mak Daehan said, “Keep at it. It’s good training for my own martial arts, after all. If I’m in a good mood, I might just give this woman back to you.”
The girl, still trapped in Mak Daehan’s hand, looked at Lee Kang.
Her eyes were full of confusion.
She looked like she didn’t understand why that man was fighting for her instead of running away. And then there was the question in her gaze, asking why he had handed her that little weapon just now.
When Lee Kang met her eyes, he gave the tiniest nod.
The girl’s gaze trembled.
Lee Kang lowered himself again.
“Then let’s go once more.”
“Good. Very good.”
Mak Daehan laughed.
From Lee Kang’s fingertips, Black Moon shot out again.
As expected, Mak Daehan lifted the club once more. His attention was completely fixed on Lee Kang’s needle sword.
The trajectory of Black Moon.
Lee Kang’s footwork.
Lee Kang’s shoulder.
Mak Daehan was trying to read all of it.
And then, at that moment...
The girl moved.
Still caught in Mak Daehan’s grip, she twisted her body and stabbed the small needle sword upward. It was the one Lee Kang had quietly slipped into her hand while pretending to attack Mak Daehan.
The target wasn’t his throat or wrist.
It was his eyes.
The needle sword shot straight toward Mak Daehan’s narrow, half-closed eye.
“...!”
For the first time, Mak Daehan’s smile vanished.
The attack was completely unexpected.
He hurriedly twisted his face away.
But he was already too late.
Thwip.
The needle sword pierced the skin at the corner of Mak Daehan’s eye and tore through flesh.
“Kuaaaagh!”
A scream burst from Mak Daehan’s mouth for the first time. His friendly grin and relaxed expression disappeared in that instant.
“You, you damn—!”
Cursing, Mak Daehan let go of the girl. He clutched at the corner of his eye with one hand and swung the wooden club wildly with the other.
Whoosh!
The enormous club sliced through the air. Lee Kang dropped low at once. Even the wind that passed by made his hair stand on end.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill both of you!”
Mak Daehan’s roar shook the alley.
The girl didn’t miss the opening. The instant she hit the ground, she rolled and got back up. Then she ran.
Once again, her direction wasn’t random. Between the people, behind the stalls, beside the collapsed awnings. She picked only the places least likely to draw attention and slipped through them.
Fast.
Lee Kang chased after her immediately.
But this time, he didn’t just charge mindlessly. He watched the girl’s movement and calculated the direction she had no choice but to take.
A fleeing person chose narrow paths over wide ones. If they didn’t want to be caught, they had to disappear from view, and to disappear from view, they had to go into the alleys.
The problem was that this market didn’t have many alleys.
Lee Kang didn’t chase straight after her on purpose. Instead, he looped left and pressed down on her route at an angle.
The girl glanced at him.
Wariness filled that look.
Right. Of course.
She had no reason to trust him just because he had helped her a moment ago. Even from Lee Kang’s perspective, he looked suspicious. No, more than suspicious. Extremely suspicious.
Still, he had to make her trust him now.
“Not that way!”
Lee Kang called out in a low voice.
The girl naturally didn’t listen. She twisted the other way instead.
That was when...
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Seok Yuha burst out from the shadows.
He had blocked the path the girl was heading for.
You sneaky bastard.
Lee Kang cursed inwardly.
He hadn’t run away.
He had gone ahead and circled around to the route the girl would be forced to take.
Seok Yuha let his injured right arm hang limp as he smiled.
“Brat, this is really the end now.”
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