Chapter 233
Chapter 233
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 233
Chapter Title: 52. Eulsa Japanese Invasion (5)
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Shweeek!
A greenish-brown trajectory grazed past Young-woo's jaw once more.
‘This guy's no joke. With fists, he really might've been Incheon's strongest.’
As Young-woo marveled like this, the Incheon leader from Namdong-gu spat out his words through gritted teeth.
“Quit the tricks and come at me for real!”
Namdong First Sword, Kim Yong-gwan04.
Right now, he was feeling both rage and fear at the same time.
He knew the outsider in front of him was deliberately maintaining a defensive stance.
Whenever he charged in aggressively, the opponent would precisely backstep that exact distance—and this impossible sense of distance was the source of Yong-gwan's fear.
‘W-What, was he originally a boxer or something? Local swordsmanship manuals don't guide footwork that precisely.’
Yong-gwan's specialty, in particular, was the check hook.
It was a type of counter that required the opponent to aggressively attempt an attack, but with this subtle distance constantly maintained, Yong-gwan had no choice but to feel frustrated.
“Hup!”
Next, Yong-gwan whipped out a bold middle kick to bait his opponent's attack.
Whoooosh!
Kim Yong-gwan's left leg lashed out like a whip.
In response, Young-woo firmly raised his guard, slightly crouching his upper body while extending his left palm toward the anticipated impact point on his right side.
Then.
Thud!
In the end, he caught the middle kick with both his right-arm guard and left hand.
He had dispersed the impact.
“……!”
Yong-gwan couldn't help but be shocked.
That was clearly a kickboxing defense technique.
And lightning-fast on its heels.
Shweeeek!
Young-woo's right low kick in retaliation.
Crack!
This counterstrike slammed precisely into Yong-gwan's right leg, which was planted on the ground, and only then did he realize.
‘This bastard... he's been going easy on me this whole time……?’
After taking the low kick and collapsing to the ground, Yong-gwan hurriedly rolled backward to get back up.
Whoosh!
There, not bothering to pursue him, was the outsider casually resuming his fighting stance from before... no, the Joseon First Sword.
『Joseon First Sword』
Finally, the opponent's title sank in.
‘No way, is that really the Joseon one?’
His head understood, but since it was his first time seeing it, his heart couldn't quite accept the infamous title: Joseon First Sword.
But after taking just one low kick, blood surged through his body, and his heart began to pound.
At last, Yong-gwan's heart started to acknowledge the opponent's presence.
The serious realization that he might be dueling the strongest on the peninsula right now.
“Fuck... looks like you really do have some skills.”
As Namdong First Sword Kim Yong-gwan said this and rallied his fighting spirit once more, Young-woo slightly turned his head to look behind his opponent.
New faces had appeared there.
『Gyeyang First Sword』
『Seo-gu First Sword』
“Gyeyang, Seo-gu... with the ones who came first, that's basically all of them, right? Incheon's First Swords, I mean.”
When Young-woo asked this, Kim Yong-gwan's face flashed with fear for a moment.
“What, what's this time?”
“Now that all the witnesses are here, it's about time to settle this. Can't keep fighting all the way to China.”
“…What?”
Yong-gwan, furrowing his brow as he asked back, actually understood the situation perfectly.
The reason the Joseon First Sword had been going easy on him was simply because not enough spectators had gathered yet.
“How do you decide win or loss in Incheon duels?”
“……?”
“You're fighting with fists because you don't want to kill each other, right? So how do you judge the winner? Knockout? Surrender?”
As Young-woo said this and finally lowered his guard halfway, Yong-gwan flinched involuntarily.
“It's... like a street fight. It ends when one side stops fighting.”
“Got it? Then shout ‘surrender’ when you want to stop. Better to do it quick. Honestly, I've already killed people bare-handed before.”
“……!”
A truly tyrannical line.
Tap!
Soon, Young-woo stepped forward with his right foot. The first forward step in this duel.
Yong-gwan's mouth fell open at the sight.
‘W-What the hell?’
He was feeling a foul aura from his opponent for the first time.
No matter how strong, a human always exudes that primal animalistic energy—but the man before him felt like thick fog.
A massive fog coiling around his ankles and nape before he even noticed.
“Huh……?”
And in reality, the Joseon First Sword was already right in front of him.
“Say it before it's too late. Got it?”
The Joseon First Sword, who had entered striking range without a sound, twitched his body.
Then.
Bam!
Suddenly, his vision flashed white, and Yong-gwan's upper body lifted into the air for an instant.
“Eek!”
A light straight.
Young-woo had struck Yong-gwan's face like a flash of light.
Then.
Thump!
He kicked his solar plexus with his left foot, shoving him backward.
Whoooosh!
This time, a middle kick with his right leg.
“Ribs, watch out……!”
As Young-woo kindly warned him of the target, Kim Yong-gwan somehow dropped his guard in time and blocked the Joseon First Sword's kick.
Bam!
Of course, it looked nothing like when Young-woo had blocked the kick earlier.
“Guhk!”
Right after blocking, vomit spewed from Yong-gwan's mouth, and his body was flung sideways like it had been launched.
“Huh?”
“Crazy……!”
“No way, that makes sense?”
Even though they'd exchanged identical middle kicks, the results were so different that Incheon's remaining five First Swords could only sense it instinctively.
‘H-He’s getting toyed with.’
‘What the hell is that old guy? Is he really Joseon's strongest?’
‘Shit, why’s a national-level guy here?’
In fact, Kim Yong-gwan was essentially getting beaten on behalf of Incheon's other First Swords.
And in that meantime, Young-woo's shadow moved swiftly once more.
Tap!
He closed in on his opponent flung back by the kick and unleashed a bullet-like one-two.
Thud!
“Guh!”
His guard shattered by sheer power, Kim Yong-gwan's upper body reeled as a whole.
Even so.
“You fucking bastard!”
He spat unyielding defiance and thrust a punch at Young-woo.
Shwick!
Of course, Young-woo easily dodged it with just a slight head tilt.
‘He really is the real deal.’
Young-woo inwardly admired as he eyed Kim Yong-gwan's swelling eyelids.
If he could fight bare-handed like this, how strong would he be with a sword?
But given the circumstances, this duel needed to end quickly.
Kuuuuh……!
Even while fighting Incheon's leader, he'd been keeping an eye on the horizon beyond Yeongjongdo, and if he wasn't imagining it, the horizon had been growing thicker since some point.
“Let's call it here. Looks like we're almost in China.”
Young-woo announced this, then evaded the opponent's incoming straight punch.
Swoosh!
He grabbed the arm that came in beside his head and wrapped it around his own body.
Like fastening a seatbelt.
Then, he smoothly rotated his upper body and threw him.
Whoosh, thud!
A massive boom erupted from Kim Yong-gwan's back slamming into the concrete, and at the sound, Incheon's First Swords reflexively reached for their swords before stopping.
Losing an Incheon title to an outsider was a massive blow to their pride, but if the opponent was truly the Joseon First Sword who had conquered the nation, it was an inevitable truth.
Incheonites, who insisted on bare-handed fights to gauge true ‘strength,’ held far greater reverence for the strong than other regions.
In other words, no matter where he came from, if he won fairly and squarely, he was Incheon's leader.
“Ha, fuck.”
Impaled on the ground with his gaze turned to the sky, Kim Yong-gwan gave up any further struggle.
“Surrender now? If we keep going, you'll really get hurt bad. You guys didn't draw swords, so I don't wanna see blood either.”
As Young-woo looked down and asked quietly, honorifics finally spilled from Yong-gwan's mouth.
“Yes, si... surrender. I surrender, bro.”
“…….”
The sudden switch to ‘bro’ made Young-woo chuckle despite himself.
Then he extended a hand and pulled Yong-gwan up.
“Sorry for beating you. And for the other thing too.”
“Other thing?”
Young-woo scratched his chin at that.
A gesture he often made when pondering or in a bind.
Then, as if resolved, he pointed an index finger above his own head.
『Joseon First Sword』
“This? It actually means North Joseon.”
“……?”
* * *
Joseon First Sword.
The supreme title signifying the unified strongest north of the peninsula.
More precisely, North Korea's top title.
Anyway, Young-woo gathered Incheon's First Swords—who had an unusually high rate of tattoo bearers—and briefly explained what had happened.
How he'd ended up as Joseon First Sword, and why he'd come all the way to Incheon.
“Mister, then who's the strongest in our country?”
As Bupyeong First Sword raised his hand and asked after hearing the story, the still-swollen-faced Kim Yong-gwan scolded him.
“What the hell were you listening to? Bro here's the real strongest in our country.”
Of course, he had to add ‘real’ as a qualifier.
He was the tentative strongest, but title-wise, it was ‘Joseon’ First Sword.
“Then what's our country's top title? Daehan First Sword?”
This was Michuhol First Sword's opinion.
Yeonsu First Sword then raised a question two steps ahead.
“Then, is there a unified peninsula title? If there really is, there might be even higher ones……?”
“Ho.”
A plausible inference.
If there were titles per region within a country, there had to be national unified ones too.
Like Han-Chung First Sword or East Asia First Sword, perhaps.
‘Or East Yang First Sword...? Who knows.’
Young-woo scratched his chin again.
But that wasn't the important thing right now.
“You know we're about to hit the border with China soon, right? That's why I came to check on Incheon's situation while I was at it, but... it's way different from what I expected.”
“Why, we look too weak?”
Bupyeong First Sword bristled immediately.
“No, not that.”
Young-woo looked around at Incheon's First Swords, their average age clustering in the early twenties, with a troubled expression.
Sure, their combat prowess was no joke, but they were still kids who hadn't been adults long.
In the eyes of thirty-something Young-woo, they just looked like children.
‘Well, me being a candidate for our country's strongest is the bigger issue.’
Young-woo carefully observed the guys who would become our country's western border guardians from today.
Then, Michuhol First Sword pointed with a slightly annoyed look at Young-woo's belt, far from flattering.
“Um, mister.”
“Yeah?”
“Can't you put some clothes on now?”
“Oh.”
Come to think of it, he'd stripped completely for the duel and still hadn't dressed.
“But I can't wear a shirt anyway, so no big difference.”
“A shirt... why not……?”
Michuhol looked shocked.
But he wouldn't get an answer.
Ruuuuumble……!
Yeongjongdo, which had been slicing through the Yellow Sea all this time, suddenly vibrated massively.
“W-What is it?”
“What's wrong, something happen?”
As everyone startled and scanned for something to grab, Young-woo turned toward the sea, sensing something.
‘Looks like they're slowing down.’
And sure enough.
“……!”
The horizon was much thicker than when he'd last checked.
‘We’re really almost there. That must be Chinese land.’
Still just a thick line to the naked eye, but at 5x vision, it'd be different.
Young-woo immediately activated ‘Thousand Ri Eye’ to reexamine the horizon in question.
Flash!
Along what he guessed was the Shandong Province southern coastline, countless Chinese were gathered.
‘...My god, are they preparing for war?’
True to his peninsula roots scarred by countless invasions, Young-woo assumed the worst first.
But what happened next utterly upended his pessimistic imagination.
Moments later, amid the Chinese ranks, banners written in Hangul began to rise.
“Shandong... Province welcomes... your entry...? Shandong Twin Evils, Zhang... Zhaoham, compensation.”