Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: 25. Nightmare (4)
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Time itself froze.
Seo Mun-ho stammered, "Th-that... what on earth are you talking about? The Peng Clan got lucky?!"
He knew the truth.
Mo Yong-cheon's words, his expression—everything visible and tangible screamed the grim reality. But Seo Mun-ho couldn't bring himself to accept it. He desperately wished it was all a mistake on his part. Or even if it was some cruel joke crossing the line, he hoped Mo Yong-cheon would suddenly change his tune and, as the Alliance Leader of Murim, promise to handle this properly.
A futile hope.
Mo Yong-cheon chuckled.
"You understand perfectly well, yet you're pretending otherwise. Seo Mun-ho, was it? Do you really think the Northern Hebei Peng Clan spared your life out of the goodness of their hearts?"
Seo Mun-ho had no reply.
He just stood there blankly, listening to Mo Yong-cheon.
"It's because they knew no real trouble would come from it. If you'd spilled the truth to anyone, the Peng Clan would've dismissed it as the ravings of a criminal and executed you publicly. And even if you came crawling to the Orthodox Murim like you are now, pleading your case, you must've believed we wouldn't ignore the Peng Clan. Think about it. The Northern Hebei Peng Clan is one of the Five Great Families. Over the long years, they've shared countless secrets under the banner of 'Orthodox Murim.' If we turned our backs on them, do you honestly think the Peng Clan would just roll over and die? No. They're trying to make us accomplices right now. As fellow members of the Five Great Families, they're asking us to keep their secrets—if we overlook their actions, the entire Orthodox Murim won't escape unscathed. Sly bastards. Peng Mu-jeong... that man's too vicious for even Orthodox Murim to contain."
The masks came off.
Both Peng Mu-jeong and Mo Yong-cheon.
When facing someone like Seo Mun-ho, who posed no threat, they didn't bother with even the bare minimum effort to hide their true selves.
"Conveniently enough, Orthodox Murim needed something like this too. Things have been so boringly peaceful lately. For the Murim Alliance to maintain its overwhelming support, there has to be a 'necessary evil.' Seo Mun-ho, get out of here right now."
Kkiiik.
The door swung open.
The warriors guarding the Mo Yong Clan household stepped aside, clearing a path as if to say they wouldn't stop him.
"The world won't listen to you anyway, so become a Demonic Cult spy and thrash about with all your might."
Seo Mun-ho fled.
He burned with rage and despair at Mo Yong-cheon's words, but he had no time to indulge those emotions now.
He had no plan.
He headed for the familiar mountains.
By day, he hid in caves or thickets. By night, he ran desperately, tearing up grass to eat and gulping down stream water. Days passed like that. While hiding in a cave one day, he overheard passersby talking.
The Orthodox Murim had investigated.
They declared Seo Mun-ho a confirmed Demonic Cult spy and a public enemy of Murim.
A tense atmosphere formed, as if a great war between the righteous and demonic factions could erupt at any moment. The Northern Hebei Peng Clan vowed, eyes blazing, to capture the beastly criminal Seo Mun-ho. But Seo Mun-ho knew it was all theater—empty words. With the abilities of Murim's warriors, who could fly through the skies and overturn the earth, it made no sense that he could keep escaping. To heighten the drama, they were deliberately leaving paths open for him.
And that's exactly what was happening.
Peng Mu-jeong didn't want Seo Mun-ho to die quietly in Northern Hebei. He wanted him hunted down and brutally slaughtered by pursuers.
A bounty was placed on his head.
They didn't need him alive—just his head, and they'd pay a fortune.
Bounty hunters joined the chase.
Seo Mun-ho spotted their movements tracking him.
While holding his breath in a cave, he sensed the thick killing intent from the noisy group above.
'...I have to survive.'
He gritted his teeth.
He couldn't die like this.
Peng Mu-jeong, who slaughtered his village and family, and Mo Yong-cheon too.
He had to get revenge on all of them.
Fortunately, Seo Mun-ho knew the mountain paths well and was clever enough to shake off professional bounty hunters. Sometimes, unavoidable situations arose. When a hunter discovered and entered his well-hidden cave, Seo Mun-ho held his breath, then ambushed him.
"You bastard... argh!"
"Die."
Thwack!
He smashed the man's skull with a rock.
As the hard cranium cracked, Seo Mun-ho tumbled across the ground with the bounty hunter.
"Over there!"
"Attack!"
The thug had companions.
Seo Mun-ho finished him off with repeated blows to the head for certainty, then faced the charging hunters. His body was drenched in blood. He was torn and slashed by their weapons, but he clenched his teeth and took their lives one by one. No hesitation. He'd gouge out eyeballs with his fingers, bite vital points if needed. He survived by any means necessary.
Stab!
"Hah, hah."
He plunged a dagger into a heart.
It had been the hunter's weapon moments ago, but he wielded it deftly, then wiped the blood on his sleeve.
"...I'm not dying."
He staggered.
No time to rest.
Seo Mun-ho moved on, and soon after, a group arrived at the spot.
Bounty hunters.
With sharp glares, they followed the trail he'd left.
An entire month passed.
Seo Mun-ho hadn't died.
He'd killed countless pursuers, earning the infamous title of the Northern Hebei Murder Ghost.
Stumble.
Thud.
He finally collapsed.
His body went limp; he couldn't move another inch.
'Is this the end?'
He hadn't eaten properly.
Couldn't sleep.
It was a miracle he'd lasted a month on the run. Even sitting still, his vision doubled from dizziness. His memories remained vivid. His joyful wife, then screaming. His daughter frolicking, then hanging cold and lifeless. Though his emotions boiled with rage, his body had reached its limit.
What if...
What if he hadn't accepted the Peng Clan's proposal? Would this have happened?
No.
This was deliberate malice.
From the moment Peng Mu-jeong hatched his plan, it was an unavoidable catastrophe for Seo Mun-ho and his village.
'What did I ever do wrong?'
Emotions surged.
He'd lived without shame under heaven, yet this cruelty was unbearable. He loathed these Murim folk. If even the Orthodox Murim committed such atrocities... Righteous, unorthodox, demonic—it didn't matter. They were all inhuman. A law of the jungle where the weak were trampled without remorse, no different from beasts acting on instinct.
If he had power.
If he gained the strength to punish Murim...
He'd burn it all down.
Every last one who called themselves Murim warriors—he'd slaughter them without exception.
Killing intent consumed him.
He struggled to his feet, clinging to life once more.
He fled mindlessly.
Days blurred—one, two...
His eyes lost their spark.
He moved, but knew there was no hope left.
Then one day.
Seo Mun-ho met an old man.
"That's some killing intent for eyes that have given up on life. If a guy like you gained 'power,' what chaos would unfold? The Murim world would erupt at the rise of a merciless killer. Kahahaha, just imagining it is fun. Child, you've stumbled upon a tremendous opportunity. To convince me to grant it, prove your thirst for murder over the next hundred days. Show me your worth, and I'll bestow power unmatched by any foe."
An odd old man.
Spewing nonsense.
Yet somehow...
Those words...
The old man's words...
Felt like a lifeline.
The fated encounter people spoke of—it seemed to have found him.
Seo Mun-ho had no strength left.
He desperately needed rest to meet the old man's expectations, and a week without water had parched his throat.
Still, instinctively, he said,
"You will see me again."
Hundred days later.
Seo Mun-ho...
I became the disciple of the Blood Demon.
Whoosh—
"Urk."
Kang San clutched his head.
Horrific memories flooded in, bringing excruciating pain.
He retched.
Before he could judge the Blood Demon's nightmare, the world twisted, revealing a familiar face.
"Seo Mun-ho. You're still alive, huh."
Right before his eyes.
A man sneered.
It was Peng Mu-jeong.
The one who killed Seo Mun-ho's family, massacred the village, branded him a public enemy, and utterly destroyed one man's life. He stood there exactly as remembered. Reason shut down completely. Kang San wanted to kill Peng Mu-jeong right then, to vent the suffocating rage in his chest.
"What, you gonna kill me?"
Peng Mu-jeong's eyes gleamed with greed.
More precisely, the evil spirit's eyes.
Kang San had fallen into an illusion.
This was the evil spirit's nightmare, and in this fabricated world, Kang San perceived the 'evil spirit' as Peng Mu-jeong. He'd resisted ordinary nightmares. To shatter his iron will, the final-stage nightmare was needed—the evil spirit activated its one-time authority.
Satisfactory.
If it broke Kang San's mind, the evil spirit could claim a new body.
And Kang San was, without doubt, the most perfect vessel it had awaited.
"Come on, kill me. The man who murdered your wife is right here."
In Kang San's mind.
The puzzle pieces clicked.
Seo Mun-ho's origins and his training under the Blood Demon.
The reason Seo Mun-ho hadn't sought immediate revenge after mastering the Blood Demon Art was that, over time, foes like Peng Mu-jeong and Mo Yong-cheon had grown into even greater warriors. But now, the knife was in his hand. If he just swung it...
Revenge at last.
He took a step.
This was right.
Justified vengeance.
Kang San's eyes turned red.
"Yeah, scum like you deserves to die."
No reason to hesitate.
Recalling the moment his family died, Kang San would've traded everything for one kill.
He raised his hand.
The evil spirit's face lit up.
The instant he swung the sword—
Stab.
Kang San's eyes widened.
Agonizing pain spread.
He'd thrust the blade not into his foe—but into himself.
His breath stopped.
More precisely, pain so intense it felt like suffocation spread, and a voice awakened his mind.
"Gasp."
He sucked in a deep breath.
His hazy pupils snapped back to clarity.
[How...?!]
The evil spirit cried out in shock.
The nightmare it inflicted on Kang San.
A burden even divine beings would struggle with.
Yet this mere human—not even S-Rank—endured it. Unthinkable.
"...It felt off."
[Off?]
"The Peng Mu-jeong I remember—the one Seo Mun-ho had suppressed his killing intent against all those years—wouldn't resolve things this easily. If he'd just offered his neck begging for death, the Blood Demon never would've been born."
Through those past times.
Kang San had immersed in his previous life.
Countless tales, tangled emotions.
Accepting them, he saw through the evil spirit's guise as Peng Mu-jeong as unreal.
Irony of life.
The memories that tormented him now saved his mind in crisis.
Kang San staggered.
He trudged forward arduously, looking down at the evil spirit.
"So..."
[My miscalculation. You are the chosen one...]
"Just die as the evil spirit you are."
Flash.
Thwack.
He decapitated it.
The S-Rank evil spirit's head flew off pathetically in one strike.
Thud.
Roll...
At that moment.
The voices he'd awaited crashed in like a tidal wave.