Monopolizing Fortunes (189)
Monopolizing Fortunes (189)
He felt no remorse over the Won family's annihilation. It was just one of countless things that had happened in the past, and he normally never even thought about it.
Today's business would be the same, of course. He would kill Won Jung-bang, then hunt down and kill Won Jin-u, and then forget it.
As long as he kept Do Tong-dal from becoming a problem for Mount Hua Sect, the Revenge Society affair would likewise fade from memory.
Byeon Jung-man drew his sword and spoke.
"The longer the night, the longer the dream, so let's begin quickly."
He did not want to give Won Jung-bang time to recover his stamina.
"Right. In the martial world, the victor is always the righteous one."
Won Jung-bang moved first. Both men unleashed their ultimate techniques at full force from the start. For Won Jung-bang, already considerably drained, it was the obvious choice, and Byeon Jung-man had confidence in his own martial arts.
The people around the clearing backed up five more steps than before and watched the fight. No one spoke about the martial arts of Won Jung-bang and Byeon Jung-man.
In silence, the people watched the final duel. A man who had carried eighteen years of resentment, and the man who had fed on that resentment to become the Sect Leader of Mount Hua.
Their fight was as fierce as the histories they carried. Byeon Jung-man, one of the Ten Greatest Masters Under Heaven, lived up to his reputation, and Won Jung-bang's martial arts, opposing him, were astonishing as well.
Seeing that he was more formidable than when he had fought Wang Jo-hyeong, it seemed he had conserved his strength in preparation for the fight with Byeon Jung-man.
When the fight had passed one ke, Do Tong-dal approached Won Dae-yeon. Won Dae-yeon spoke first.
"Don't worry."
Won Dae-yeon had already guessed Do Tong-dal's plan. Still, he was worried.
"Will you be all right? Watching those two fight, the winner won't come out unscathed either, so I think I can finish it."
"You dragged me into the Underworld, yet you still see me as a martial artist. I can't do filthy things like human trafficking, but I'm still Underworld. Something like this is nothing."
He said it as if it were nothing, but there was no way Won Dae-yeon, a chivalrous hero to the bone, could truly feel nothing.
An earth-shaking fight was the phrase for the battle between those two. Not a single breath was wasted.
Won Jung-bang pressed Byeon Jung-man as if his hatred for him had not paused for even a single moment.
The will to kill his opponent could only be greater in Won Jung-bang. The resentment built up over eighteen years made it so, and only if he won could Won Jin-u live.
Will alone cannot win a fight. But that will can make a person exert greater strength than they originally possessed. The saying that the mind rules the body did not come about for nothing.
Won Jung-bang had already nearly exhausted his stamina in the fight with Wang Jo-hyeong, but a father's mental strength for his child was surpassing common sense.
That flustered Byeon Jung-man. It was a fight fierce enough to turn the clearing into ruins, but Byeon Jung-man devoted seventy percent of his effort to defense.
Because he knew time was on his side. Won Jung-bang's stamina would be completely spent once another two ke passed.
So he did not stop fighting for even a moment. No matter how high one's Internal Energy, stamina was the framework that allowed that Internal Energy to be expressed.
If the framework broke, the building would inevitably collapse. Yet even long after those two ke had passed, Won Jung-bang's stamina was no different from the beginning.
Rather, it was Byeon Jung-man himself who was growing tired.
'This can't be happening!'
The greater the master, the more they plan during a fight. They assess their own condition and the enemy's, and find the optimal path with the highest probability of victory.
Byeon Jung-man had outstanding talent in that area, and his predictions had never once missed the mark.
The fight with Won Jung-bang was the same. Wang Jo-hyeong, in defeat, had laid the foundation for Byeon Jung-man's victory.
Byeon Jung-man only had to build the house of victory on top of it. Won Jung-bang's martial arts were more surprising than expected, but that much of a variable could be overcome easily enough.
But the more they fought, the softer Wang Jo-hyeong's foundation became, like mud. Won Jung-bang, who should have weakened by now but did not, flustered Byeon Jung-man.
For a man who moved according to meticulous plans and had never seen those plans go awry, the first plan to go wrong was like getting lost in a building that had not been built according to its design.
The distance Byeon Jung-man retreated grew. Proper balance between offense and defense was necessary, but this was the result of focusing too heavily on defense.
For supreme masters like them, once forced onto the defensive, it was not easy to overcome.
A straight blue sword aura embroidered the surroundings more brilliantly than the light of a swarm of male fireflies courting a female in an autumn forest.
Slash!
For the first time, a wound appeared on Byeon Jung-man's left thigh. The place where the sword aura had grazed past burned as if scorched.
The first wound he had received in nearly twenty years was unfamiliar, and he could not adapt to it.
Every time he put strength into his left leg, a throbbing pain came from the wound. In truth, the depth of the wound was nothing to worry about.
But that unfamiliarity created a subtle discord in Byeon Jung-man's movements.
In a fight between supreme masters, not low-level fighters, a small difference decides victory and defeat. A step taken one inch short shifts the center of balance, and the sword technique's power drops slightly from its original form.
And the enemy does not miss that small difference. That is what a master is.
Clang—!
After the two swords clashed violently, Byeon Jung-man's center lurched to the left. The step that had fallen one inch short came back as an impact strong enough to bend his body.
From then on, Byeon Jung-man was driven into a one-sided defensive. His body was already exhausted. He began to feel the depletion of the stamina he had believed superior to Won Jung-bang's.
'If I keep fighting like this, I'll lose!'
This was no time to fear wounds. The time had come to give flesh and take bone, or in the worst case, to consider mutual destruction.
He could not believe he had to suffer such humiliation at the hands of Won Jung-bang, the mere head of the Won Merchant Company, but that was reality.
Just because it had been a long time since a life-or-death fight did not mean his fighting spirit as a martial artist had disappeared.
Byeon Jung-man dodged Won Jung-bang's attack and leaped back. Fighting on like this meant certain defeat, so there was no choice. With this one move, he could kill Won Jung-bang for certain.
Byeon Jung-man's sword, laden with his full power, left his hand. For Won Jung-bang, it was a truly sudden attack.
The Flying Sword was a supreme realm, but it was not a secret technique meant to be used at such close range.
A swordsman lets go of his sword only when he judges that he no longer needs it. But the moment Byeon Jung-man released his sword, it meant the weapon that could block Won Jung-bang's attack had vanished.
For Won Jung-bang, in that split second, he had to choose: block the Flying Sword, or attack as he was and kill Byeon Jung-man.
Won Jung-bang chose defense. If it was the Flying Sword, Won Jung-bang could use it too. It was a secret art of the Heaven Beyond Heaven, but using the Flying Sword did not guarantee killing the enemy.
Clang—!
The sword flying toward his chest lifted slightly upward and grazed past his shoulder. He had taken a wound, but it was not fatal.
In the brief moment he hesitated, the distance between him and Byeon Jung-man widened. Won Jung-bang desperately kicked off the ground.
He felt the energy of the Flying Sword, which had circled through the air behind him, returning. There was no time to block it again.
Won Jung-bang slashed diagonally at Byeon Jung-man's shoulder. But suddenly, a dagger shot out from inside Byeon Jung-man's sleeve and blocked Won Jung-bang's attack.
The dagger flew away under Won Jung-bang's sword, but Byeon Jung-man had saved his life once. And the Flying Sword returned.
'Damn it!'
He should have ended it this time. As Won Jung-bang twisted his body—Slash!—a burning pain shot through his side.
It had been an improvisation. Byeon Jung-man had not thought of it, and Won Jung-bang had not planned it.
It was not even a Flying Sword. Since he had thrown his sword, it was technically a Flying Sword, but it was far from a supreme ultimate technique.
Won Jung-bang had simply thrown his sword with all his strength. For Byeon Jung-man, who had stretched out his arm to catch the returning sword, it was as if two swords had suddenly flown at him.
"Huh?"
He caught his own sword. But at the same time, unable to do anything about Won Jung-bang's sword flying at him, he took it in the chest.
Thunk!
The sword sank into his left chest up to the hilt.
"Th-this...... damn...... bastard......."
Byeon Jung-man, staggering backward, raised his arm to unleash the Flying Sword. Won Jung-bang, who had tumbled to the ground after throwing his sword, no longer had the strength to move.
His stamina had already hit bottom two ke earlier. Only the inexplicable force called mental strength had been sustaining him.
But Byeon Jung-man's arm, raised to unleash the Flying Sword, never straightened.
As Byeon Jung-man collapsed like a log, the blade that had been protruding from his back was half-pulled out toward the upper part of his chest.
"Bleurgh!"
Only after confirming Byeon Jung-man's death did Won Jung-bang vomit out a bowlful of blood.
Not only his stamina, but his internal power had also been damaged down to its very source. Probably about half of his martial power had vanished.
Nevertheless, Won Jung-bang let out a relieved breath. He had won. After enduring eighteen years, he had avenged his grudge.
Though he had danced on Do Tong-dal's palm rather than in the picture he himself had drawn, he was still relieved.
Won Jung-bang forced his body upright and turned around. But suddenly, a person loomed large before his eyes.
'Do Tong......!'
The sensation of his chest being pierced could only be unfamiliar. It was only natural, since it was a pain that could only be felt at the moment of death.
Do Tong-dal's face, as he drove the blade into Won Jung-bang's chest, seemed merely composed.
"Why......?"
"Because only when the Society Leader dies will this fight truly end."
This was the grand picture Do Tong-dal had drawn. Mount Hua and Jongnam would receive punishment for their sins, and the Revenge Society would disappear.
"You really are...... cold-blooded......."
"I won't say I'm sorry."
Won Jung-bang reached out and grabbed the shoulder of Do Tong-dal, who was pressed close.
"Just because I die...... just because I die...... it won't end...... keureureuk......."
As life drained rapidly from his body, the words would not come out. He should have at least begged for Won Jin-u's life. It seemed that only by receiving that promise would his path to the underworld be peaceful, but in the end, Won Jung-bang could not extract that promise from Do Tong-dal.
"Hoo—!"
Do Tong-dal let out a deep sigh, as if he himself had fought this long fight.
"Blood Spirit Three Swords."
At his quiet call, the Blood Spirit Three Swords came running.
"Deal with all the Mount Hua, Jongnam, and Revenge Society people who fought here."
There were survivors who had been wounded. The Ice Sword asked.
"What shall we do with the Young Society Leader?"
Do Tong-dal's gaze lingered on Won Jin-u, who had lost consciousness.
"I'll handle it myself."
The Blood Spirit Three Swords killed without mercy those who did not even dare to resist.
When Do Tong-dal stood before Won Jin-u, Won Dae-yeon came to his side.
"I'm not your bodyguard. I should have been the one to kill the Society Leader."
"If the Society Leader's strength had been intact, I would naturally have left him to you, Protector Won. But it turned out I could kill him."
"All the more reason I should have killed him. Why do you insist on dirtying only your own hands? I'm also an Underworld thug under you."
Killing Won Jung-bang, already weakened beyond measure, would be an indelible shame for Won Dae-yeon, who had lived his whole life as a chivalrous hero.
Even so, Won Dae-yeon would have done it. Because he was no longer a chivalrous hero.
"Protector Won, don't insist on branding yourself. And another name for a leader is protector. I have a duty to protect anyone who stands with me."
"The same goes for me, a Protector."
"You'll have your chance. It's just that this time wasn't it."
Won Dae-yeon let out a thin sigh, but did not bring the matter up again.
"What will you do with the Young Society Leader?"
"I'll have to kill him, won't I?"
That was the surest way to eliminate future trouble. If he learned that Do Tong-dal had killed Won Jung-bang, he would try to take revenge.
Do Tong-dal was not a man who left behind needless trouble. As he had done with Won Jung-bang, he could simply drive a blade into his chest. Won Jin-u would walk the road to the underworld with Won Jung-bang without ever knowing he was dying.
But the blade did not move. The Blood Spirit Three Swords, having cleanly dispatched the survivors, returned. Should he leave Won Jin-u to them? The thought crossed his mind.
The Blood Spirit Three Swords would follow Do Tong-dal's orders without asking questions.
Do Tong-dal looked around once. At last, the Revenge Society, a blight on the martial world, was finished, and a kind of justice had been achieved. Yet no one was smiling.
Namgung Seol-rin placed a hand on Do Tong-dal's shoulder. She, too, shared his dilemma.
"Do what your heart tells you."
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