Chapter 138
Chapter 138
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: 25. Nightmare (3)
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Whoosh.
Bam!
Seo Mun-ho was slammed onto the ground.
More than the bone-crushing impact, it was the sight of the corpses soaking the floor in blood that seized his gaze.
He gasped.
His eyes shook wildly.
Among the bodies strewn about like trash, there were far too many familiar faces to Seo Mun-ho.
It was a tiny village of only about thirty households.
He knew not just who lived nearby, but even how many bowls were set on each table—practically family. The village elders who treated him like a grandson, the uncles and aunts who praised him as the village's pillar, and the few young sprouts of the village. Seeing them all sprawled lifeless was visually unbearable.
Ugh... blech!
He buried his face in the dirt.
As the acrid bile rose up his throat and he heaved for a long while, suddenly his mind cleared in a flash.
He had to survive.
He had to save his family.
He lifted his head and stared at Paeng Mu-jeong, the man who had dragged him here.
"...I'm sorry. If I've done anything wrong, if I've offended you in any way, I apologize for it all. And I'll return the silver I received as payment. I can't repay it all right now since I've spent some, but I'll work myself to the bone to make it right. Please, I beg you, just let me live."
"No need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong to us."
"What? Then why...?"
The man's reply.
It felt like his heart plummeted.
If he had offended them, if he'd made a grave mistake as their guide, he could atone and fix it.
But a motiveless slaughter meant a reality too harsh to bear. He couldn't even press for details. Knowing that his life hung in the hands of this terrifying warrior, all he could do was gaze up desperately with shaking eyes.
Paeng Mu-jeong smirked.
There wasn't a trace of guilt on his face.
"You just happened to be chosen by us. That's the only problem. Sorry about that."
"...!"
Why?
Goosebumps erupted all over his body.
He instinctively whipped his head around, and the dreaded reality unfolded before him.
"No, aaah!"
His wife was being dragged away.
At the sight of her screaming as she was hauled off, Seo Mun-ho scrambled up desperately to save her.
But.
Whoosh.
Crack!
A brutish hand smashed his face into the dirt.
His mind was on the verge of shattering.
He wasn't in his right state.
As Seo Mun-ho thrashed desperately, the warrior pressing down on his head gripped harder.
Hnngh, hnngh.
He couldn't even speak properly.
Dust filled his mouth from the ground. Paeng Mu-jeong just stood there, arms crossed, watching. Amid it all, his wife's voice kept echoing from afar. The fact that this was a quiet mountainside felt maddeningly hateful right now.
"Please, please don't do this!"
"Aaah!"
"No, stop, please!"
His eyes bulged.
The scene played out in his mind.
His wife's resistance gradually faded, and soon the men's rough grunts spread out. In this utterly unreal nightmare, his eyes turned bloodshot. He couldn't believe it was reality. They'd had such a happy day, and he couldn't fathom why they'd plummeted into hell.
Grk, kgh.
He lifted his face.
Blood scraped from the ground, but he glared up at Paeng Mu-jeong with grim determination.
"Curious why this happened, eh?"
Paeng Mu-jeong was calm.
His voice flowed serene and composed, a stark contrast to the horrific scene.
"I'll tell you the truth, just for you. A few days ago, some bastard I suspect was a Demonic Cult warrior dared to rape and murder my one and only sister. It's circumstantial, but everything points to a Demonic Cult thug. The problem? This stodgy orthodox martial world won't move without hard evidence. So what should I do? Oh, should I sit here and wait for proof because the righteous martial world is so noble, tamping down this boiling rage?"
Moonlight bathed them.
Paeng Mu-jeong's face was wrapped in an indescribable fury.
"I can't do that. No way in hell. So I came up with a plan to give the orthodox martial world a pretext to attack the Demonic Cult. Simple, really. Seo Mun-ho, from now on, you'll be branded a Demonic Cult spy. The Hebei Paeng Family hunted the culprit, found the village where the spy was hiding, and when exposed, you slaughtered everyone and fled. And oh, so heinously, while living as 'Seo Mun-ho,' you disguised Jin Hwa-yeon as your wife and sexually exploited her. In the orthodox martial world, harming women—especially a pregnant woman—is the gravest sin. What would they do if they heard about this? For justice's sake, they couldn't leave the Demonic Cult alone."
His breath caught.
Each truth hit like a suffocating blow, threatening to make him pass out.
"Get it? You were just the perfect fit for my plan. That was your misfortune."
"You bastard. Fine, kill me. If I die, I'll become a vengeful spirit and... "
"Sorry to cut you off, but I have no intention of killing you."
Paeng Mu-jeong looked up at the sky.
The moon shone bright.
As if illuminating his sins fully, his face buzzed with strange excitement.
"You'll survive this massacre. That's how my plan becomes perfect."
Paeng Mu-jeong's words proved true.
Once the village massacre was finished with confirmation kills, he glanced at Seo Mun-ho and walked away without hesitation.
It made no sense.
Why spare him?
What was he thinking?
But beyond such calculations, Seo Mun-ho bolted up to check on his wife first.
Bang.
"Ah, aaaah!"
It felt like the sky was collapsing.
On the scattered hay.
His wife lay dying, soaked in blood.
Jin Hwa-yeon struggled to move her eyes, gazing at the despair-filled Seo Mun-ho.
"Take care of Ha-rin, Ha-rin, please..."
"Darling!"
She couldn't even finish.
As her head drooped, Seo Mun-ho rushed to check her.
She wasn't breathing.
Her skin was ice-cold, and at the sight of her blood-drenched body, his heart pounded madly.
Ugh, uwaaah!
He wanted to deny reality.
Clutching the corpse and sobbing, Seo Mun-ho staggered to his feet, face a mess.
He had to pull himself together.
His one daughter.
Seo Ha-rin was still alive.
He ran frantically searching for her, only to freeze like he'd been struck by lightning.
"...No. This can't be."
Under the village's symbolic ancient tree.
His daughter dangled like a toy.
As if proclaiming it was the Demonic Cult's doing, they'd carved their symbol into her tiny clothes with blood. He staggered and collapsed. His legs gave out; he couldn't stand. His mind screamed to at least lay his daughter's body to rest properly, but like a newborn fawn, he kept falling and rising.
Uwaaaaaah!
He let out a beastly howl.
The bright moon.
Making this wretched reality all too clear.
Seo Mun-ho resented it deeply.
Hebei Paeng Family.
They were thorough.
The mountain village massacre.
They declared it the work of a spy, citing the silver from the Blue Dragon Merchant House as clear evidence. Money a lowly guide like Seo Mun-ho couldn't possibly have. It was spun as Demonic Cult support, and while roaming the mountains with the Hebei Paeng Family, they'd planted evidence everywhere to frame him: spy signals, his footprints, circumstances all converging to turn the once-kind local Seo Mun-ho into a monstrous villain overnight.
Public opinion formed.
The orthodox martial world raged, demanding the Demonic Cult's punishment.
In all this.
Seo Mun-ho knew he couldn't be caught.
If caught now, he'd never reveal the truth; he'd die as a spy, letting Paeng Mu-jeong's plan unfold.
'...I'll tear you apart and kill you miserably, I swear.'
He swallowed his rage.
Face gaunt from days without food, Seo Mun-ho scaled the mountains, heading somewhere fast.
Luckily, the paths were familiar; no pursuers spotted him.
He reached Liaoning Province.
He first considered assassinating Paeng Mu-jeong.
Hiding in a latrine to kill him, but he knew too well a commoner couldn't assassinate a martial artist. That overwhelming power pressing him down—it was an insurmountable gap, no matter the years. So he sought someone to uncover the truth.
Moyong Cheon of the Moyong Family.
Not just the family head, but the Martial Alliance Leader.
He'd hear the truth.
Even against the Hebei Paeng Family, the famously just Moyong Cheon would draw his sword for justice, he believed. And word was he was in Liaoning. Seo Mun-ho hid nearby, waiting, until Moyong Cheon finally stepped out.
He rushed forward.
No need for explanations; he slammed his head down and cried out.
"Martial Alliance Leader! I've suffered the most unjust, wrongful ordeal. Please, hear my story and punish this heinous villain. I beg you!"
He kowtowed repeatedly.
Blood flowed from his cracked forehead, and Moyong Cheon spoke mildly.
"I don't know the details, but come with me first. Let's talk inside."
At those words.
Seo Mun-ho's head snapped up.
Moyong Cheon's gaze held true justice, unlike Paeng Mu-jeong's villainy.
What fortune.
Where there are shadows, there's light.
Justice still existed in this world.
It was a long, grueling tale.
One day, Paeng Mu-jeong suddenly arrived requesting a guide, offering a whopping hundred nyang of silver. The horrific truth of the midnight slaughter upon successful return.
He dredged up the memories painfully.
His wife's screams, his daughter's corpse.
Each recollection made him want to vomit everything up, but he couldn't show such weakness before this man. His sole lifeline. Only someone like Moyong Cheon could avenge him against Hebei's giants.
He was desperate.
After spilling every truth, Seo Mun-ho bowed again.
"...That's the situation. The Hebei Paeng Family is twisting the facts, branding me a Demonic Cult spy to get what they want. Please, I'll do anything to reveal the truth. Punish the Hebei Paeng Family for tainting the orthodox martial world's name. I'd stake my life on it."
Throughout the story.
Moyong Cheon never interrupted once.
Living up to his just reputation, he didn't dismiss even a nobody's words.
What fortune.
That such a man led the martial world.
That he was in Liaoning at this moment.
But then.
"Tch. Those Paeng Family fools finally caused trouble."
His eyes shook.
Moyong Cheon's expression shouldn't have been that.
He shouldn't have said that.
At the subtle difference from his outward image, Seo Mun-ho stared blankly, frozen.
In that instant.
Moyong Cheon wore a cold look, like eyeing a bug.
"Coming to me of all people. The Paeng Family's lucky."
Then he understood.
This world.
The 'truth' commoners knew was brutally far from actual truth.
It was a harsh reality.