Chapter 18 - Small Misunderstandings
Han Sowol's mind spun in confusion.
Not her body? Then what the hell did he want?
She looked up at Jin Muhon with trembling eyes, but he simply gazed down at her without a flicker of emotion.
What a sturdy man like him would want from a woman.
'No way... no way...!'
Suddenly, Han Sowol threw up both arms to shield her chest.
"N-no, don't!"
She let out a piercing shriek.
As if he'd expected as much, Jin Muhon nodded faintly and spoke.
"As I said, I know the chief well. He's a real sleazy bastard. If you go off with those guys, you'll suffer endlessly and never see the outside world again. Is that really what you want?"
"...!"
Han Sowol's face drained of color. Her lips quivered.
The infamous Yangtze Waterway Chief.
He had to be old.
Someone who'd send his men to kidnap a woman in broad daylight—how depraved could his tastes be?
Her mind flooded with grotesque images.
"Ah!"
Better to die than be captured by a monster like that and ravaged until her last breath...
Han Sowol stared hard at Jin Muhon, eyes wide.
Straight brows, deep gaze, chiseled jaw.
He had a scary air about him, but up close, he looked decent enough.
"So... am I your principal wife? Or a concubine?"
Her muddled thoughts spilled out unbidden.
"...?"
Jin Muhon blinked down at her.
Realizing her blunder, Han Sowol flushed crimson and bowed her head.
"What was that?"
"N-no... I mean... um..."
As Han Sowol floundered, unsure what to do—
Thud!
The man called the band's deputy stomped heavily.
"Eek!"
Han Sowol flinched and whipped around.
"Jeez, I can't watch this anymore. Hey, doc. Let's get a move on. Someone wants to meet you."
The deputy scratched his belly and sidled toward her.
Han Sowol backed away, raising her voice.
"No! I can't leave the clinic! There are too many patients!"
"It'll just be a bit. You think anyone's gonna die in the meantime?"
"Of course they might! We have critical cases!"
"Life and death are fated anyway. Don't make this harder than it has to be—just come on."
The deputy, now close, seized her slender wrist in his rough, callused hand.
"Aack! L-let go!"
Her wrist throbbed.
Han Sowol grimaced and struggled, but she couldn't break free from the burly bandit's grip.
The deputy smirked and eyed Jin Muhon behind her with a hardened glare.
"Hey. You gonna interfere?"
Killing intent oozed from his grin.
The scar slashing across his face writhed like a worm, and his blackened teeth gleamed in the sunlight.
Jin Muhon shrugged lightly.
Seeing it, Han Sowol's eyes flew wide.
"Sir Hero! You're just going to let them take me?"
"You've given me no choice, Miss Han."
"You haven't given me an answer either!"
"Huh? What answer?"
Jin Muhon genuinely couldn't follow what she was on about.
Han Sowol felt just as frustrated.
"I mean— aack!"
"Up you go!"
The deputy hoisted her effortlessly over his shoulder.
Han Sowol flailed her limbs in panic.
"Aaaah! What are you doing? Put me down! Put me down right now!"
"Damn, you're noisy. Shut it already."
The bandit chuckled and smacked her rear with a sharp slap.
"Kyaaah!"
Humiliation burned her face beet red.
"Heh heh heh. Well then. See ya."
The deputy flashed Jin Muhon a toothy grin and turned toward his men.
"No! Put me down now! I said put me down!"
Han Sowol looked at Jin Muhon with teary eyes.
He just stood there, watching impassively.
"That bastard. The vibe was weird, but whatever. Nothin' special."
One of the waiting bandits glanced at Jin Muhon and muttered.
The deputy, still carrying her, quickened his pace without looking back.
For some reason, he felt an urgent need to get out of there.
"You idiot. Can't you tell? He chickened out against me. Fuckin' right."
Still, he puffed up his chest in front of his subordinate.
"Hahaha! As expected of the deputy!"
"Damn straight!"
The deputy's voice rose unwittingly, his grip tightening on her waist.
"Aaaack!"
Jin Muhon's figure receded in Han Sowol's vision.
'He's really... just watching?'
Her chest tightened. Her throat burned.
The clinic maids, drawn by the commotion, could only stamp their feet helplessly.
"Ah..."
The clear blue sky, the garden she'd tended amid her grueling clinic work, the little birds and butterflies that had become her friends.
She might never see them again.
'Master...'
Her teacher's face flashed in her mind.
How shocked would he be when he returned to find her gone?
If she'd known, she should've at least dated a handsome patient.
Everything ending like this filled her with regret for the past.
Han Sowol squeezed her eyes shut.
"Fine! I get it! Whatever Sir Hero wants, I'll do it—just save me first! Anything! I mean it!"
She didn't expect much.
How could one man handle these terrifying bandits?
Still, like grasping at straws, she screamed.
"You mean it?"
"...?"
But in that instant, Jin Muhon's voice came from right beside her, though he'd been far away.
Han Sowol whipped her head around in shock.
"Eek!"
"Gah! W-what the—?!"
"Urk!"
The bandits jumped back.
Jin Muhon stood right there with an impassive face, looking down at her.
"H-how...?"
He had definitely been way over there.
In the blink of an eye, he'd appeared at her side like he'd sprouted from the ground.
"Your answer?"
Jin Muhon asked.
But Han Sowol could barely think straight.
"Uh... yes?"
"Do you mean it?"
"What...?"
"Will you really do anything I want?"
"...!"
Too late, she remembered her words.
Anything Jin Muhon wanted.
A torrent of images flashed through her mind.
Even the erotic paintings a lecherous patient had once shown her.
The steamy illustrations she'd secretly flipped through behind her master's back.
Her face burned.
'It'll... hurt, won't it? Probably... yeah.'
She couldn't voice the thought.
Instead, eyes squeezed shut, she nodded faintly.
"Fuck. No wonder it felt like I hadn't wiped my ass in days. You're a master, huh?"
The bandit holding her glared at Jin Muhon, eyes bulging.
Shing. Shing.
His two subordinates slowly drew their blades, aiming at Jin Muhon.
The sharp, chilling ring echoed through the garden.
But their sword tips trembled faintly, throats bobbing with swallowed spit.
No one had caught Jin Muhon's movement.
"Put her down."
Jin Muhon fixed the deputy with a parched stare.
The man's heart plummeted.
"Kah! Ptui!"
Still, as the Yangtze Waterway band's deputy, he spat roughly and tried to shove down the inexplicable fear.
"Fuck. All you got goin' for you is the girl. Plenty prettier ones out there if you look. How 'bout I hook you up with a soft, plump one?"
"I said put her down."
"Goddamn it."
Muttering curses, the deputy finally lowered Han Sowol.
The moment her feet touched ground, she darted behind Jin Muhon and clutched his arm without thinking.
It was warm and solid.
"Sir Hero! Thank you!"
"No need for thanks. Just don't forget your promise."
"Ah... yes."
The relief of survival was fleeting.
Shadows fell over her face.
But right now, none of the bandits spared her a glance.
They couldn't.
Jin Muhon's presence loomed too massively.
"Hey. You'll regret this. You know who we are?"
The deputy bared his teeth like a dog snarling before a tiger.
Jin Muhon smirked.
"Just Yangtze tadpoles, aren't you?"
"...What? Ha! This fucker's nuts!"
Whoosh!
Mid-sentence, the deputy lunged at Jin Muhon.
His drawn blade flashed in the sun.
"Haaah!"
"Die!"
His two subordinates, who'd sparred with him before, targeted Jin Muhon's throat and flank simultaneously.
Jin Muhon unleashed his upper dantian's qi.
Woooong!
Ears rang. Sounds faded.
- Kyaaaaah... ah... ah...
Han Sowol's scream stretched thin, then vanished.
The world stopped.
Jin Muhon looked up.
White clouds drifted lazily across the clear sky.
Rise Mist. Void Change.
Tssst.
Since mastering the Four Demon Arts, deploying Cloud Peak Demon Sea felt far more natural.
Just one breath was enough.
His body dissolved into red mist.
Whoosh! Thwoom!
"Guh?!"
"Hrk!"
"No way!"
The three blades cleaved empty air. Fierce winds whipped up.
The bandits whipped their heads around frantically.
"Fuck! Where'd he go?!"
"Deputy! The girl's gone too!"
"Urk! T-there!"
One bandit pointed.
All three heads snapped that way.
The garden brimmed with colorful flowers.
In its center, Jin Muhon stood with hands behind his back, gazing at the blooms as if nothing had happened.
"Huh? Wha? When did I get here?"
Beside him, wide-eyed Han Sowol craned her neck this way and that.
"......"
The bandits gaped, speechless.
Their instincts screamed to run, but their legs wouldn't budge.
Then Jin Muhon plucked a single white petal.
Small and thin.
He slipped it between his fingers and flicked it playfully with his middle finger.
Shiiik!
The petal shot forward.
A white trail sliced the air.
Claaang!
A crisp clash rang through the garden.
The deputy's broken sword spun high into the sky.
"...!"
Mouths fell open—couldn't fall any wider.
One bandit even collapsed to his knees.
"F-fu...ck..."
Jin Muhon hadn't even glanced their way.
The deputy recovered first, forcing words through gritted teeth.
"Baekgu."
"......"
No reply from his usually chatty subordinate.
"Baekgu!"
"Y-yes? Oh! Yes!"
The deputy bellowed.
The subordinate snapped to, staring blankly.
"Looks like the fish are biting fierce today. Go ahead and report to the chief."
"Huh? Fuck that! What kinda bullshit is that? You want me to go alone?!"
"Shut up and go, you punk! Who the hell're you to talk back? Your blood ain't even dry yet!"
The subordinate, barely out of his teens.
Foolish bravery made him shout bravado, but the veteran deputy couldn't tear his eyes from Jin Muhon.
We're dead. Dead.
All of us.
"I ain't goin'! No, I won't! We live together, die together! That's what Yangtze brothers do!"
But the oblivious punk kept yelling.
The deputy sighed deeply, trying to soothe him.
"That was just drunk talk, kid."
"Forget it! I'm stayin' too— gah!"
The shouting subordinate yelped and flopped back.
The deputy froze.
They'd been staring right at him.
Yet the man from the garden's center now loomed before them, gazing down.
'Nine Great Sects! One of those Nine Great Sects bastards!'
The orthodox sects that treated unorthodox scum like insects.
The ones who flew through the sky, split boulders, made blades blaze with light—inhuman freaks.
'Why the hell are Nine Great Sects here?!'
Dry spit slid down the deputy's throat.