A Venomous Tongue
"Yeop Pung! Do you remember me?"
A thin, piercing voice cut through the square. Every gaze swung toward a young man of porcelain-pale skin and striking features — beautiful, even — yet the air around him hung heavy with gloom. His bloodshot eyes found Yeop Pung as he approached, wearing the look of a man who had suffered some unspeakable injustice.
The instant Yeop Pung laid eyes on him, a name surfaced in his mind.
"Wait... Mo? Lady Mo?"
"Wh-who are you calling Lady Mo?!"
The gloomy youth planted one hand on his hip and jabbed the other at Yeop Pung, his voice climbing into a shrill register.
"My name is Mo Soo-mi! Yeop Pung, years have gone by and you still can't tell people apart. Fine if you want to rot away in the Herb Garden — but to show that shameless face in front of all these people? Is your body itching for a beating?"
Pfft!
Yeop Pung burst out laughing.
Right. Mo Soo-mi....
He couldn't help thinking it. How had this fellow's family seen the future so clearly when they named him? You grow into your name, they say — and Mo Soo-mi was a gloomy man without so much as a single eyebrow's worth of backbone.
Of course, it was true that Yeop Pung had teased him in the past. So it was understandable that the man would dump years of accumulated resentment the moment they reunited.
"Lady Mo... I mean, Soo-mi. I'm sorry about what happened back then...."
"Hmph! Yeop Pung, drop that fake tone in front of me! If an apology could solve everything, why would there be wars in this world? Hmph — I'm taking this all the way with you!"
Mo Soo-mi pressed him with that thin, high voice, waving his hands in a wild flutter. He even pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at his tears. Yeop Pung found the display both ridiculous and, in a way, faintly pitiful.
Just how badly did that Yeop Pung torment this guy?
The people around them began to murmur, their stares settling on Yeop Pung.
"That's right! Yeop Pung, you have no right to join the hunting tournament with us!"
This time a booming voice filled the square. A youth with cropped hair and a sturdy build strode forward, rage standing the veins out on his forehead, his eyes fixed on Yeop Pung as if they might spit fire.
Don't tell me... Dummy? Is this guy here to stir things up today too? Looks like we're in for a real scene.
The burly youth's name was Yo Yeong-chun. He had a rather elegant name, unfortunately paired with a stutter. Years of effort had improved it considerably — but the moment he saw Yeop Pung today, excitement brought the stammer roaring back.
"Ye-Ye-Yeop Pung!! Y-y-you dare join the hunting tournament with us."
"B-because of a guy like you, I-I trained so hard, and in the end — in the end I lost to you, and you took all my Spirit Cloud Herbs! And you even, even... c-c-called me a dummy! You, you don't know how to respect other people's efforts — y-you're a bad person!"
Listening to Yo Yeong-chun stutter was genuinely painful. Not just Yeop Pung — everyone around them looked like they were suffering through it.
But the crowd's accusatory stares never left Yeop Pung. To bully even a simple-hearted guy like that — just how vicious had Yeop Pung been?
When Mo Soo-mi had first appeared, Yeop Pung had tried to look apologetic and slip out of the situation. But now that this idiot had stepped up to condemn him as well, he sensed that things were taking a turn for the worse.
"I've got something to say too, Yeop Pung!"
Another man stepped forward. This one, at least, seemed relatively normal. A man with a pale face and thin lips regarded Yeop Pung with cold eyes.
"Yeop Pung, I, Baek Reung, have plenty to say to you as well. Back at the inner tournament, even after you'd clearly beaten me, you went out of your way to crush the bones in my arm. Do you have any idea how much I lost because of that? Do you even know?!"
"That was too much!"
At last, one of the onlookers called out in a low voice.
No one had expected a gathering of ordinary participants to morph into a tribunal against Yeop Pung. The three before him performed with such perfect coordination it was as if they'd rehearsed every beat, driving him into a corner.
Whether they knew Yeop Pung personally or not, every Cheonun Sect disciple now saw him as a man of utterly broken character. And the tearful testimonies of the three seemed designed to make Yeop Pung walk out of the sect of his own accord.
"Why so quiet, Yeop Pung? Are you just going to sit there while I curse you out?"
Mo Soo-mi wailed, snot and tears streaming down his face.
"How can a man with no conscience like you join the hunting tournament with us?! Every time I see you I get so angry I could go insane! Get out right now! You don't belong here!"
"Hmph! S-someone who doesn't respect other people's efforts will n-never earn anyone's respect! Ye-Yeop Pung, get lost!"
"Yeop Pung, you've left us with far too many wounds! You no longer have the right to stand with us, so get out of here this instant!"
The crowd's fury reached its peak.
"That's right! How can they let a guy like that into the hunting tournament?"
"A shameless bastard like that should go stare at a wall on Nagun Peak and reflect on himself!"
"Just thinking about competing in the same tournament as that guy gives me the creeps!"
"We should all go to the elders together and have Yeop Pung thrown out of the hunting tournament!"
"Great idea! Kick Yeop Pung out!"
The words pouring from the crowd were frightening.
One of the scariest things in the world is mob mentality. Once an atmosphere of isolation and harassment takes hold, people fall into the psychology of the crowd. They either join in tormenting the target, or they stay silent for fear of becoming the next victim.
Right now, in Cheonun Square, not a single person stood up for Yeop Pung. Hidden among the crowd, Beom Undae wore a sly smile.
Yeop Pung, do you like the friends I specially prepared for you? What are you going to do now? Hahaha — there's nothing you can do! You'll become the public enemy of every inner disciple, living under a rain of curses.... This is the result you brought upon yourself!
Then it happened. Beom Undae felt the Yeop Pung standing quietly in the distance lock eyes with him. A bone-chilling cold rode that gaze and drove itself straight into Beom Undae's heart.
Hmph!
Beom Undae didn't look away. He stared right back.
Yeop Pung, what scheme are you going to pull at this point?
For a moment, only the three men's accusations filled the square, and every person present looked at Yeop Pung with condemning eyes.
That was when Yeop Pung moved.
His footsteps sounded as if they were closing around the throats of the three standing before him. All three fell silent at once.
Yeop Pung stopped in front of Mo Soo-mi and looked down at him with ice-cold eyes. Under that blade-sharp gaze, Mo Soo-mi flinched and stepped back.
"Ye-Yeop Pung, wh-what are you trying to do?"
Mo Soo-mi swallowed dryly, his nerves stretched taut.
"Don't tell me — don't tell me you're going to hit me? Fine! Then go ahead and try! Hit me in front of everyone! Show us all how great Yeop Pung really is! Come on, hit me! Hit me!"
The crowd grew even more agitated. If Yeop Pung used violence in a situation like this, he would truly be crossing a river from which there was no return.
But instead of raising a hand, Yeop Pung spoke coldly to the frantic Mo Soo-mi.
"Lady Mo, don't you ever look in a mirror?"
"Wh-what?"
Mo Soo-mi blinked, bewildered.
"You're the only one who doesn't know why people laugh at you."
Yeop Pung snatched the handkerchief from Mo Soo-mi's hand, wadded it into a ball, and stuffed it into Mo Soo-mi's mouth.
"I always thought you were a little off, but I didn't realize you were stupid on top of it. Getting used by other people, no less. It's painful to listen to, so shut up."
What? He can talk like that...?
Everyone around them was stunned. They couldn't fathom what Yeop Pung was playing at.
Mo Soo-mi's eyes welled with tears at Yeop Pung's words, and he stamped his feet. He tried to pound on Yeop Pung's chest, but under that icy gaze he flinched and tucked his tail.
"How could you do this to me...."
In the end, Mo Soo-mi stomped the ground once with a bang, then fled in a stream of tears.
Th-that guy.... He took someone down with words alone, without even fighting?
Yeop Pung's venomous tongue defied imagination.
This time, Yeop Pung approached Yo Yeong-chun.
"Ye-Ye-Yeop..."
"Dummy. Untangle your tongue first, then talk."
"Y-y-you dare call me a dummy, du-du..."
"I'm calling you a dummy because you really are one. A few words from other people and you're out here doing the one thing you're worst at. Dummy, I could wipe the floor with you using half a tongue. Go home and get some sleep."
BOOM!
Yo Yeong-chun erupted with rage, Profound Qi exploding from his entire body. He was a martial artist of the 4th Meridian Mysterious Realm. The instant he clenched both fists, the aura of an enraged giant holding up the heavens itself seemed to fill the air. That tremendous fury became a terrifying fist that came crashing down toward Yeop Pung's head.
Lightning flashed from his feet like a bolt from a clear sky — and he was gone.
Yo Yeong-chun's fist cleaved empty air, leaving only a massive crater where Yeop Pung had been standing.
"Th-this can't be.... He's that fast?"
Yo Yeong-chun was truly dumbfounded. He had forgotten that Yeop Pung had only entered the Profound Realm a mere six months ago. He had never dreamed he wouldn't be able to keep up with Yeop Pung's speed.
C-could it be.... Has the old Yeop Pung come back?
Without so much as turning his head, Yeop Pung left a final remark for Yo Yeong-chun, who stood there staring blankly at nothing.
The words were like a dagger driven into the chest. The crowd felt as if they were watching Yeop Pung's remark plunge like a blade into Yo Yeong-chun's heart. Yo Yeong-chun writhed as if he might cough up blood from the pain.
Finally, Yeop Pung stood before Baek Reung.
"Baek Reung...."
The moment his own name left Yeop Pung's lips, Baek Reung's body shuddered.
"You! What are you trying to do?"
Baek Reung stood his ground with veins standing out on his neck, a last surge of defiance. He looked like a pig thrashing as it was dragged to the slaughterhouse.
"Yeop Pung, you committed countless wrongs in the past. And yet instead of reflecting, you actually...."
"You.... lost a lot because of my past?"
Yeop Pung cut him off before he could finish.
"But if you keep spouting nonsense in front of me today, I guarantee you'll lose a whole lot more from here on out!"
The instant Yeop Pung finished speaking, the crowd saw golden current erupt from his body.
It was not an overwhelming aura — yet the killing frost coiled inside it crashed down like a colossal iceberg onto Baek Reung's head.
Baek Reung's eyes flew wide. He couldn't collect himself, couldn't get a single word out.
Golden killing intent flashing, Yeop Pung spoke each word with deliberate, measured precision.
A golden flash crackled like lightning.
Baek Reung had come well prepared. But he had never imagined he would crumble so helplessly the moment he faced Yeop Pung again. His psychological defenses collapsed in an instant under Yeop Pung's presence. All he could do was let out a moan of terror.
"Brother Yeop Pung.... No! It really wasn't me...!"