I Need to Make Sure (4)
"Hurry up and get over here already!"
"...Ugh."
The man being yelled at broke into a sweat and ran toward the wall.
He looked absurd. His clothes were nothing but filthy rags, the sort any beggar wore, yet his body was bloated and massive. He looked like the kind of beggar who would roll away if someone nudged him sideways. He kept wiping the sweat pouring from him with a dirty towel, all while pressing himself hard against the wall.
"Haaah! Haaah! I... I just really don't like running..."
"Geez!"
The beggars glared at him in irritation, but that was all. No one could bring themselves to scold the fat beggar any further.
"W-what... what happened? Huff, what happened?"
"See for yourself!"
At their curt shout, the fat beggar let out a long sigh.
"If that Hong Dae-gwang bastard hadn't been so pushy, I wouldn't be suffering like this..."
"Why are you groveling like that when he's just a branch leader too!"
"Don't even start, you idiots... Even if we're both branch leaders and part of the same Beggars' Sect, that man holds a post in the central leadership. If I refused his favor and he became the sect leader later, how would I ever deal with the aftermath?"
The corners of the man's eyes drooped.
"I'd be so thin I'd turn into half a man."
"Quit talking nonsense and get up here already. You need to see this."
"Fine, fine!"
The obese beggar, Wang Deok, let out another sigh, then sprang upward with a lightness utterly unsuited to his huge frame.
Perched on the wall, he peeked inside and flinched.
"...What kind of mess is this? Those sword-wielding brats are all demons."
"It's not just that. Look closely. Hardly anyone's dead. They're subduing them without killing them."
The lazy look on Wang Deok's face vanished at once. The expression that had just moments ago been dripping with sweat and dramatic sighs was wiped clean away, and the fleshy folds under his chin began to tremble ever so slightly.
"T-that..."
He seemed about to say something, then shut his mouth tightly and swallowed dryly.
His tiny eyes, like buttonholes, fixed on Chung Myung, who was swinging his sword beyond the melee, more precisely on the people fighting him directly.
"...Damn it. So Maninbang really came. I thought maybe it was just a rumor when I heard Cheol-mo-bang had invited a guest from Maninbang."
He had sent out many beggars over the past few days to confirm the facts, but even if they were Beggars' Sect members, they couldn't simply verify what was happening inside Cheol-mo-bang. If someone slipped in without a sound and hid themselves, there was nothing the Beggars' Sect could do to detect it. Their eyes weren't attached to the sky.
"It's really Maninbang?"
"The one using palm techniques over there is Heo Hyeong of Maninbang. They say his palm force can shatter mountains and split rivers."
"You mean One Palm Crimson, Heo Hyeong?"
"Yeah."
At Wang Deok's words, the beggar looked toward the Maninbang expert using palm force.
One Palm Crimson...
He was called One Palm Crimson because when he unleashed his palm, the world seemed to be dyed red. He was renowned as one of Maninbang's acknowledged masters.
In an ordinary sect, the people holding branch-leader positions were usually stronger than those without rank. But Maninbang was a demonic faction. Countless people gathered there simply beneath the name of the tyrant army.
That was why the branch leaders were better known publicly, but not having a rank or precise affiliation didn't mean they were weaker than the branch leaders. That One Palm Crimson was exactly one of those people.
And someone like that...
Just then, a man stumbled out from the ruins of a collapsed hall. The moment Wang Deok saw his dust-covered state, an involuntary groan escaped his mouth.
"...Giant Spirit Blade, Mok Wi."
"M-Mok Wi? That guy?"
"...If my eyes aren't failing me, yes. Mok Wi and Heo Hyeong. What the hell is that lunatic Paegun thinking?"
In the Maninbang of old, this would have been nothing unusual.
Maninbang did whatever it had to in order to expand its power. They did not hesitate to build their own forces and ignite wars, nor to send out their experts for money and use them as wandering blades.
But after Maninbang came to be called one of the Five Hegemons of the Jianghu and gained a measure of dignity, it almost never sent its experts outside like this...
"W-wait a second."
Black Raccoon Beggar, the deputy branch leader of Nam-chang's branch, asked in shock, "Are you saying those two are Mok Wi and Heo Hyeong?"
"What are you asking after hearing me say it?"
"Then the man who got kicked and slammed by that brat just now is the Giant Spirit Blade Mok Wi?"
"...What? S-slammed?"
Wang Deok's gaze shot toward the man's back. His pupils trembled.
Even from the twisted expression on Heo Hyeong's face and Mok Wi's face, unable to suppress his surging rage, it was easy to tell who held the advantage now.
Wang Deok, suddenly reappraising the situation, murmured, almost in a groan, "Does that mean the absurd rumors about the Mount Hua Divine Dragon were actually understated?"
He kept letting out disbelieving laughs, but then suddenly snapped his head around.
"Check the beggars again! If something goes wrong and that bastard manages to get out of here, something awful will happen."
"...Something awful, sir?"
"Damn it! If his skill is even greater than the rumors, what guarantee do we have that his personality is any gentler than the rumors?"
"...."
Thinking of the rumors about the Mount Hua Divine Dragon circulating through the Beggars' Sect, Black Raccoon Beggar quickly nodded, his face gone pale.
"I'll go check."
Wang Deok didn't even answer. He just kept staring at Chung Myung.
"...At this rate, I'll really end up half a man..."
A lonely voice slipped from his mouth.
"Y-you... you... you interloper..."
Giant Spirit Blade Mok Wi groped at his jaw with a trembling hand.
It seemed the kick had shattered his jaw. Every time he tried to force words out, broken teeth spilled from his mouth in clattering little drops.
"Cough!"
Blood was flowing from his severed tongue as well. Spitting out a clot of blood mixed with teeth and flesh, Mok Wi's eyes shot red with veins.
"You... you little bastard..."
His body, of course, was not in normal condition. The impact of blocking One Palm Crimson Heo Hyeong's palm force had been tremendous enough, but he had also been kicked hard enough to shatter his jaw and slammed into the hall. Naturally, his legs were shaking and his entire circulation was in upheaval, his body feeling as if it were on fire.
But the pain from his body was nothing. The rage of being kicked and mocked by a righteous brat who had barely lived half his life was enormous enough to crush every other pain beneath it.
And yet.
"What was that?"
Even with killing intent and fury pouring out of him hard enough to make most experts piss themselves, Chung Myung remained completely unfazed.
"Speak properly. I can't understand a word you're saying."
"Aaaargh!"
Driven into a frenzy, Mok Wi charged with bloodshot eyes, his gaze filled with wild fury. No, he tried to charge. At that very moment, Heo Hyeong shouted.
"Calm down, Mok Wi! If you rush in..."
But the man who had raised his voice froze and shut his mouth without even realizing it.
If you rush in?
What was he going to say next?
Damn it.
You die. Yes, you'd die.
The one standing before them now was absolutely not weaker than they were. No, he was a peerless master against whom he couldn't even guarantee victory with a perfect joint assault.
The reason Heo Hyeong hadn't said aloud that rushing in recklessly would get them killed was his final shred of pride. And fortunately, Mok Wi seemed to understand that meaning as though he'd heard it with his own ears.
"You..."
Gritch, gritcchh.
The blade he held reversed in his grip scraped harshly against the ground.
"Calm down. The opponent is strong. He's not someone you can beat by getting emotional."
Heo Hyeong licked his dried, cracked lips.
So this is what the Paegun was paying attention to.
Given his age, he had naturally assumed it meant they were taking note of his future potential. But Chung Myung, whom he had met in person, was a man for whom there was no need to speak of the future at all.
He had the skill to drive a sword through a man's throat right now. What meaning was there in discussing the future of someone like that? It already seemed difficult enough just to get out of here alive.
And the pile of trash behind them could never help. Those people looked too busy dealing with the ones Chung Myung had brought with him.
No... even if they had spare strength, what use would those fools be?
In the end, it would be the two of them, he and Mok Wi, who had to face that monster.
Heo Hyeong licked his lips once more and whispered quietly, "He's skilled, yes, but he's still young. He must lack experience, so... first, stay calm..."
That was the moment.
Chung Myung, who had been watching them leisurely with his weight shifted back, suddenly stretched out like a strip of licorice. Even to Heo Hyeong's trained eyes, his movement was so absurdly fast that it barely seemed possible.
"Huh!"
Startled, Heo Hyeong tried to retreat. But Chung Myung was faster than his eyes, faster than he had expected. Sensing Chung Myung appear right before him in an instant, Heo Hyeong hurled palm force straight ahead without thinking.
Whooosh!
But palm force flung out in such desperation could never possess real precision. The release itself was fast, but the edge was blunt.
Heo Hyeong could not possibly have been unaware of that.
"Taaaaaap!"
Where precision was lacking, quantity could make up for it. Each time his arms whipped madly through the air, palm force burst out in rapid succession.
It was less an attack meant to bring his opponent down than a flailing struggle to survive and block what was coming.
Heo Hyeong filled every place his eyes could reach with palm force and then hurriedly threw himself backward to break away from his opponent. That was the very moment.
Thuk.
A chilling sound rang in his ears.
In truth, no sound should have been audible at all, not while palm force was exploding and reverberating in every direction.
And yet Heo Hyeong heard it clearly. Whether it was real or not hardly mattered.
The upper portion of the wall he had built with his palm force had been pierced. The moment he saw the tip of the sword protruding from it, Heo Hyeong's eyes widened as if they might tear.
Shwaaaaaak!
Then came the sound of a sharp blade cutting silk. At the same time, the sword blade that burst through slashed downward, splitting the wall of palm force clean in two.
It happened in the blink of an eye, quite literally.
Through the space forcibly torn open by the sword, Chung Myung darted in like an arrow, his face utterly expressionless.
No, wai...
Even as his mind went white, Heo Hyeong's hand moved reflexively to unleash more palm force. But at that instant, he saw it.
Thook!
Something sharp had burst out through the back of the hand he had thrust out to release his palm force.
...A sword?
At the same time, part of the qi gathered in his palm scattered, while another part recoiled backward. The sword that had pierced his hand scraped along bone and drove deeper and deeper in.
With a hideous grinding sound, gaga-gagak.
Thook!
"...."
Heo Hyeong, his mouth slightly open in a daze, slowly lowered his gaze.
The place his eyes landed on was his left chest. More precisely, the sword blade glowing white that was embedded in that left chest. The sword that had pierced his palm had gone straight through his heart.
Tok.
The blood flowing from his chest slid down the blade and fell to the floor.
"You..."
Heo Hyeong looked at Chung Myung with eyes full of disbelief.
Even after piercing his enemy's heart, Chung Myung spoke slowly, his face cold and utterly steady, without a single tremor.
"Next time, you know."
The corner of his mouth tilted crookedly.
"Worry about your own life first instead of wasting time on other people."
"...."
"That's how you survive on a battlefield, kid."
The world, once vivid in color, gradually faded and turned black.
Heo Hyeong's body toppled weakly to the ground.
The one who lacked experience... was me...
That was the final thought Heo Hyeong had before his breath ceased.