Three Families
Seol-ah put a little more care into her voice than she had with Mak Uni. She meant to lure Mak Chilseong into lowering his guard completely.
"It was really hard getting here, Chilseong-nim!"
Mak Chilseong looked at Seol-ah with indifferent eyes.
Even as he watched her approach, he did not show much wariness. Perhaps it was only because the girl before him was so beautiful, but his gaze lingered for a long moment.
Her voice was as smooth as a cascade of multicolored glass beads rolling together, but Mak Chilseong was not the sort of man to lose his head over women. Unlike Mak Uni, he kept his composure.
Seol-ah took one more step closer and said, "Someone was chasing me on the way here. I was so scared."
At that, Mak Chilseong's brow twitched.
"They were chasing you?"
Seol-ah quietly nodded. Mak Chilseong asked, "Someone from the Black Moon Sect?"
Seol-ah shook her head.
"No."
She paused for a moment as though catching her breath.
"It was someone from the Lee family."
In that instant, thunder seemed to strike Mak Chilseong's heart once.
The Lee family. That name was never light to someone of the Mak family.
The area around Hapjeong Station was a place where the Mak, Lee, and Park families maintained a strange balance. The Mak family might have been the most violent and the strongest, but that did not mean they could do whatever they pleased.
The Lee family was no weak force either, and the Park family was always waiting to profit from the scramble.
The three families hated one another.
Mak Daehan, especially, was a man who would have gladly killed anyone from the Lee or Park families in secret if he had the chance. Since he was like that every time, there was no reason his relations with the other houses would be good.
Mak Chilseong's expression hardened. He had come because of the tip about the Black Moon Sect, but he quickly forgot that small sect entirely.
The Black Moon Sect? That was nothing, really.
Mak Daehan was hunting the Black Moon Sect over Seok Yuha's death, but there was no need to care about them. They were only a ragtag sect with a sect leader who spent his time hiding.
But the Lee family was different. They were a real threat.
Mak Chilseong asked in a low voice, "You're saying you were chased by someone from the Lee family?"
Seol-ah nodded without hesitation.
"I'm sure of it."
"How can you be certain?"
"They were wearing those strange light-green clothes the Lee family always wears."
Mak Chilseong's eyes sharpened.
Light-green clothes. That was indeed what people from the Lee family often wore.
Seol-ah pretended to think for a moment, then added softly, "Ah... but now that I think about it, it might have been a disguise."
"..."
Mak Chilseong clenched his teeth. Of course, it was possible they had been disguised. The problem was that clothes that shade of green were hard to find anywhere else in this world. In truth, it was highly likely they were really from the Lee family.
In Mak Chilseong's mind, the tip about the Black Moon Sect was pushed back at once.
"Where did you see them? Forget the Black Moon Sect bastards. Tell me where you saw those Lee family bastards."
Seol-ah looked at him for a moment, then nodded.
"All right."
She turned and began to move slowly. Mak Chilseong started to follow her.
That was when it happened. Lee Kang's Black Moon Arrow, which had been waiting for the moment, shot straight for Mak Chilseong's throat.
Silent as a shadow. The short needle-like blade cut through the air and drove toward the back of Mak Chilseong's neck.
Mak Chilseong was a martial artist close to the third-class peak.
He was different from Mak Uni. Faster reactions, greater strength, more experience. But right now, his mind was full of too many thoughts.
The Lee family, the girl in front of him, the future of the Mak family. All of it churned together and left a tiny gap.
Thuk.
"Ghk!"
Blood sprayed from Mak Chilseong's neck. But it had not gone all the way through.
Instinctively, Mak Chilseong twisted his body. The needle blade sliced deep across his throat, but it stopped just short of a fatal wound.
He stumbled back hard, his hand immediately gripping a dark red wooden staff.
"A Black Moon Sect bastard!"
Mak Chilseong's eyes locked onto Lee Kang. He had researched the Black Moon Sect enough to know that they favored ambushes like this.
Lee Kang slowly emerged from the shadows. Mak Chilseong immediately glared at Seol-ah.
"You lied to me."
Seol-ah shook her head with a shocked expression.
"I didn't."
Her voice did not waver. Even her startled look was natural.
Lee Kang looked at the two of them and gave a low laugh.
"Kheh."
Mak Chilseong's gaze returned to Lee Kang. He was confused. Not true? It really didn't seem like it.
"The Mak family bastards really are stupid."
"What?"
"The Black Moon Sect has joined hands with the Lee family."
Mak Chilseong's face stiffened. Lee Kang immediately looked at Seol-ah.
"Young lady."
Seol-ah looked at Lee Kang. Pointing the tip of his blade toward Mak Chilseong, Lee Kang said, "If you join our Black Moon Sect, I'll reward you far more than the Mak family promised."
Then he curled one corner of his mouth.
"So come with me and help me deal with this bastard."
Mak Chilseong bared his teeth and shouted at Seol-ah, "Don't trust him!"
Seol-ah looked at him with a startled face.
Mak Chilseong roughly wiped the blood flowing from his neck with the back of his hand. The wound was deep, but he could still move. It was not fatal.
He glared at Lee Kang and said, "Don't trust the Black Moon Sect bastards either, or the Lee family bastards. They're all cowards."
His voice turned rougher.
"Think about what they just did to us. They ambushed from behind and lied to deceive people."
Seol-ah fell silent for a moment. Then she said quietly, "I trust the Mak family."
Lee Kang's expression hardened slightly. Seol-ah's tone was too natural. It looked as though she had really been shaken by Mak Chilseong's words.
Mak Chilseong's eyes changed.
"Good. That's the right choice."
He tightened his grip on the dark red wooden staff.
"There's no need to trust bastards like that. The Black Moon Sect leader? Ridiculous. I can finish off a guy like that in no time."
Mak Chilseong began spinning the staff through the air.
Whoosh.
The air split heavily.
The staff turned in a circle. At first it was slow, but then it gradually quickened. The dark red shaft left afterimages in the air as it spun.
Nanahanseonpunggong. A proper-rank martial art.
It was a technique practiced only by Mak Daehan and Mak Chilseong in the Mak family. Lee Kang narrowed his eyes as he watched the movement.
If I go straight in, I'm dead.
This was not just a matter of swinging a staff.
The spinning weapon wrapped around his body, sealing off any approach. To strike with a short weapon like his needle blade, he would have to enter the inner ring of that rotation.
That was dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Then Seol-ah said in a hurried voice, "Wait."
Mak Chilseong's gaze shifted to Seol-ah. She glanced at Lee Kang, then spoke quickly.
"The Black Moon Sect leader is trying to buy time."
Lee Kang's brow twitched. Seol-ah went on at once.
"People from the Lee family are probably coming."
Mak Chilseong's face went hard. Seol-ah stepped back and added, "And they're close."
Lee Kang put on an agitated expression.
"What nonsense is that?"
He hurried the words out.
"There's no way. Why would I be waiting for those Lee bastards?"
It sounded rushed. Too rushed. Seeing that, Mak Chilseong also remembered the testimony Seol-ah had just given.
Could it be true?
Then there were only two options. Finish off the Black Moon Sect leader quickly and run. Or simply run. Mak Chilseong judged the situation coldly.
The Black Moon Sect leader looked weak. But looking weak and actually being weak were not the same thing.
That bastard had been active in the gallery for a long time. He had survived to this point in Mangwon Market, where people died every other day. He had killed Seok Yuha, and just now he had succeeded in an ambush that nearly became fatal for Mak Chilseong too.
Even if he looked like nothing more than a third-class martial artist, he was undoubtedly hiding some sort of trump card.
And while dealing with him, the Lee family was going to arrive?
It was the worst possible outcome.
Without stopping the hand spinning the staff, Mak Chilseong said to Seol-ah, "Let's run together. There's no need to fight that bastard. We have to get out before the Lee family bastards arrive."
Seol-ah looked at Lee Kang for a moment. Lee Kang was staring at her with a stiff expression. Then Seol-ah quietly nodded.
"Okay."
Mak Chilseong and Seol-ah turned at the same time and ran.
Mak Chilseong moved first, and Seol-ah followed behind him. The huge body holding the dark red staff cut across the road.
The moment Lee Kang saw it, he ground his teeth.
"You think I'll let you get away?"
He hastily gave chase. Seeing that, Mak Chilseong's eyes wavered.
Just as I thought.
The Black Moon Sect leader was chasing him. That meant the Lee family really had come close by.
With the Black Moon Sect leader's current ability, there was no reason to pursue him so doggedly. If they fought head-on, Mak Chilseong would have the advantage. No, he would definitely win. And yet he was still following, which meant there was surely something he was relying on.
If they dragged this out any longer, it was obvious the Lee family members allied with the Black Moon Sect would join in. Mak Chilseong was certain of it.
We need to get out fast.
He gritted his teeth and put more strength into his feet. Then it happened. Seol-ah, running in front of him, caught her foot on a protruding stone in the road.
"Ah...!"
Her body pitched forward. She fell to the ground.
Mak Chilseong turned his head in shock.
"Damn it!"
Instinctively, he twisted toward Seol-ah. Leaving the pretty girl behind and escaping alone was not an easy choice. More than that, Seol-ah had said she trusted the Mak family.
And she might know where the Lee family members were. The instant Mak Chilseong moved to protect her, Lee Kang was already right on top of them.
Seol-ah, one knee on the ground, lifted her head. Then she quickly drew her sword.
She shouted at Mak Chilseong, "Run!"
Mak Chilseong's step faltered. Seol-ah hurried on, "Please bring the Mak family people here! If we keep stalling right here, we're letting those bastards have their way!"
It sounded too natural. Like she was telling him to go fetch the Mak family while she held the line herself.
For a moment, Mak Chilseong hesitated. He needed to escape. But could he leave this girl here?
Then Lee Kang shouted loudly, "If you run, this pretty woman is mine!"
Mak Chilseong's eyes snapped to Lee Kang. Lee Kang deliberately gave a vile smile.
"I'll spoil her rotten!"
Mak Chilseong's face twisted. But he realized it at once.
He's provoking me.
That Black Moon Sect leader was saying that on purpose, trying to make him turn back.