Chapter 86
Chapter 86
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 86
Chapter Title: Long Time No See (1)
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Her crumbling consciousness in the pitch darkness suddenly snapped back with a gasp.
"Ugh."
Her temples throbbed like they were about to split open, as her forcibly shattered awareness returned in an instant.
Even amid the pain, Eon Yong-un's words—"Keep your identity hidden for now"—lingered deeply in her mind, and the words that slipped out first were ones she never thought she'd utter.
"...Young Mas—"
But the moment Dang Ok-gi let "Young Master" escape her lips, she realized there was no need to continue this ridiculous role-play.
Because the place where her eyes had been closed was none other than the safe house Yin Xia Lian had prepared.
The room's layout, the arrangement of the furniture—everything matched exactly what she'd memorized before disguising herself and entering the medicine market.
'Eon Yong-un scolded Yin Ha-seong by the well outside the door for being hungry, right?'
Wait a minute.
Eon Yong-un...?
Though her head ached and her thoughts wouldn't settle, the moment Dang Ok-gi recalled Eon Yong-un's name, a sudden sense of dread washed over her.
And that dread revived the memories that had shattered along with her consciousness.
"Haegum Gang Leader!"
The underlings of that pig bastard closing in.
Eon Yong-un's resolute expression in the brief moment their eyes met before her consciousness fled.
Those recovered memories drove Dang Ok-gi to desperately crawl across the floor and fling open the door.
Click—
Just as she'd feared, it was exactly as she'd seen.
The wellside view she'd first committed to memory had the scolder and the scolded.
But this time, there was no scolder.
One person was missing.
As Dang Ok-gi let out an "Huh," Yin Ha-seong by the well opened his mouth.
"Oh, you're awake? Sis."
At Yin Ha-seong's demeanor, Dang Ok-gi's mouth stuttered open again.
"...What the hell is this? Why am I here? No, why are you here? No, no... What I'm trying to ask is, where's Eon Yong-un?!"
But unlike his usual blank-slate calm, Yin Ha-seong was eerily composed.
"Would you like some water first?"
His attitude only frightened Dang Ok-gi more.
Frightened beasts often lash out, and Dang Ok-gi was no different—anger crept into her voice.
"Is water the issue right now? Why the hell did that bastard Eon Yong-un do that to me?! Why are just you and me sitting here like this, and what the hell does he plan to do?!"
"I don't know."
"You don't know? How don't you know?! He did it to buy time for us to escape, right?!"
"......"
"And that's the end of it if you don't know? You followed your big bro so well, but you really came here just because he said go?! You heard that Haegum Gang name for the first time today, but you already knew it—no, even if you didn't, you heard those crazy bastards talking! You heard them say they'd chop you up, and you still left because he said go? Aren't brothers and friends supposed to live and die together?!"
But even under Dang Ok-gi's barrage, Yin Ha-seong didn't waver.
"That's the Tang family's way."
"...What?"
"Eon Yong-un's brothers do what their big bro says. That's our rule."
"......"
"Sometimes I can't figure out what big bro's thinking and it frustrates me, and I hate myself for deciding it's better to stay out of Yong-un bro's plans every time something like this happens. But if Yong-un bro says do it, we'll do it no matter what. That's us."
Dang Ok-gi felt a pang at Yin Ha-seong's words.
She'd thought he was just calmly relieved to have escaped, but that wasn't it.
Yin Ha-seong was seething inside too.
"......"
But "sorry" didn't come out right away.
Her nature wasn't one for easy apologies, and besides, the situation was too urgent.
There was no time for this.
She had to go to Eon Yong-un.
'At least lend a hand.'
Not that she could, but if by some one-in-a-thousand chance something terrible had happened, she had to avenge him in the name of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
Dang Ok-gi shook her head to fully gather her wits.
She reloaded all the hidden weapons she'd reluctantly unpacked for her disguise.
And stepped out of the room.
But Yin Ha-seong blocked her path.
"Move."
"Can't."
"I get your rules as Eon Yong-un's brothers, and I'll respect them. But I'm from the Sichuan Tang Clan. I'll do things my way, so respect that."
"Can't. Yong-un bro specifically said for you to stay here at the safe house. You and I have to wait here. If we wait, bro will come back."
"...Move. Last warning. I won't go easy even if you're a bit decent."
"Yong-un bro's thinking. I said I didn't know earlier, but one thing's clear now."
"......?"
"He probably expected you'd react like this?"
Come to think of it, yeah.
Why knock out her specifically, out of the two?
Eon Yong-un must have foreseen she'd act like this.
As her thoughts reached that point, Yin Ha-seong's words settled into her the same way.
'...Damn.'
The offer to give him the Thousand Poison Pill had come from Dang Ok-gi first. And she'd been the one throwing a tantrum that there was nothing to say to her family.
This mess happened because Eon Yong-un went along with her nonsense to get the Bloodline All-Poison Brew.
She felt sorry. And amid the guilt, she pitied herself for deciding it was better to stay out of Eon Yong-un's plans.
As Dang Ok-gi bit her lip until it bled,
"Yong-un bro can take care of himself in any situation. Waiting here is right."
Yin Ha-seong spoke again.
"......"
"And thinking about it, bro said earlier that you promised him a wish or a free pass or something. If that promise still holds, you're temporarily one of Eon Yong-un's brothers. Keep your word."
"...I really hate you guys."
"I'll take that as agreement. Calm down. Here's some water."
"Rise."
The inner energy I'd sent into the upper hall turned to spirit command, manifesting the Corpse Domination Technique.
The four cooling corpses immediately rose.
Kraaah!!!
Two had their heads severed.
The other two had their hearts pierced.
Master, watching in stunned awe as the obviously dead bodies rose without any treatment,
- Hah. Your corpse arts are astonishing no matter how many times I see them. Like a form of corpse manipulation, but what kind of technique works without talismans, incantations, or bells?!
At master's voice, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
'Come to think of it, there's Corpse Manipulation Theory by the Mount Mosan Sect professor. It's course adjustment period, so I should add that to my schedule.'
I couldn't show this to Ha-seong or Dang Ok-gi yet without taking some classes first.
Master had met me in the formation anyway, and the Pearl Eon Family of his era had intact corpse puppets, so he'd accepted it as par for the course.
But if Yin Ha-seong or Dang Ok-gi asked what it was, I had no good cover story right now.
'Schedule that when I get back to the academy.'
For now, priority was sending these bastards to King Yama.
'Long time no see.'
Fighting like this.
No, actually, this was pretty much my first real fight since coming to this world?
I'd made good use of curses or dark fairy tales, other black magic, but properly using Corpse Domination Technique? This was the first time.
'Truth is, among black magic, this has the best efficiency per inner energy used.'
But circumstances hadn't allowed it.
When I dug up master's tomb while he slept, my inner energy was absolutely insufficient.
I'd barely managed by catching souls one by one and negotiating.
'In the orthodox martial world dominated by Confucians, Taoists, and Buddhists, no point advertising something that won't be welcomed.'
But now was different.
Having fully absorbed the Manbak Heart-Protecting Pill and Thousand Poison Pill's energy, I could now handle up to twenty corpses at once while wielding my sword.
And since I had no intention of letting these Haegum Gang thugs, who'd abandoned their humanity, live, it didn't matter showing this ability.
'Dead men tell no tales.'
I immediately gave the next order to the four risen corpses.
"Go."
At my command, the four corpses turned.
Kraa!!
The Haegum Gang black-cloaks, charging heedlessly on their leader's orders, halted unconsciously.
No, they stumbled back several steps.
"Sh-shit. What the fuck is that?! No head and it's still moving?!"
"G-gangshi?!"
"What gangshi moves like that?!"
"Why are you bitching at me?! Do I look like I know?!"
Well, I could understand their confusion.
After all, the greatest fear is fear of the unknown, right?
To these Haegum Gang thugs' preconceptions and common sense, someone like me was utterly alien.
Ah, of course, understanding didn't mean mercy.
There was no mercy for scum who trampled the quiet lives of people just to sate their greed, and made a business of selling the broken.
"Come on in. Even for mongrels like you who've lived like dogs, a night like this is a first."
With those words, I ordered the four corpses to slaughter every Haegum thug in sight.
And with them charging, I dove into the fray as well.
"What a freak! Capture that one alive and bring him!"
At that moment, the Haegum Gang Leader's voice boomed from beyond his men.
"And don't pussy out, you bastards. We'll figure out his trick after we catch him, but it's at most five! We've got ten times that—scared?! You call yourselves Haegum Gang, the terror of the Southern Coast?! Any dawdlers, I'll gut you myself and ship you as next auction goods!"
Jeong Bong-jin, the Haegum Gang Leader's words spurred his hesitating men into motion.
But only into motion.
"Capture alive" meant no killing blows.
Our side already outclassed them individually, and they couldn't kill while I planned to slaughter all—no contest.
"Fuck! Die!!"
Ah, but it didn't seem to mean unharmed capture.
Underworld roots meant they wouldn't blindly obey anyway.
"Too bad, but you're not up to it."
I swung Heaven-Splitting sword without a shred of mercy.
Splash!!!
"Gahk. How the hell are we supposed to... capture..."
Every time I swung Regret, at least one corpse dropped.
And I raised those fresh corpses again.
Kraaaahhh!!
Thus, the numerical superiority Jeong Bong-jin boasted began flipping in an instant.
Panicking, Jeong Bong-jin quickly changed tune.
"Just kill him! Kill!! Whatever it takes!!"
He retracted the capture order.
"Hae-ah and Hae-hum, you go! Scatter poison powder! Killing him is your duty!"
He ordered his coachmen-guards to use poison, then pulled what looked like a poison flask from his robes and drank.
The two hunched coachmen muffled their noses with black cloths from their arms, hopped down, and with blackened nails dug poison powder from pouches at their waists, flinging it wildly.
But for me, it was a boon.
"Whew. Salty. Even with sweet-salty balance, one Tang pill and this much salt throws off my liver."
With Thousand Poison Immunity, it was just a tickle.
"Kek! Keh-heuk!"
Haegum thugs unable to react to the coachmen's swift poison coughed blood and collapsed,
"Guk?!"
Or died scrambling to cover nose and mouth, skewered by corpse soldiers' swords.
"Thanks. Killing them one by one was a hassle; you saved me the effort."
That was the end of banter.
I charged the panicking coachmen, beheading one per stroke.
Thud!
Thud!!
With the coachmen down, only Jeong Bong-jin and I remained alive on the hill.
The poison fogged the hilltop, killing the carriage horses too—truly a rat in a trap.
No, a pig in poison.
I extended Regret toward his carriage and spoke.
"Come out. Get out and kneel."