009
009
'He hid it in a truly vicious place.'
Following Chu So-gwang's lead, Paeng Yuwol was aghast at how thoroughly he had prepared. The escort bureau was already a good distance away, and now she had to navigate a meticulously layered formation.
Without Chu So-gwang's guidance, she would surely have wandered into the formation and died.
"What formation is this?"
"I'll tell you after we're married. Ahem."
Chu So-gwang gave the edge of Paeng Yuwol's sleeve a little tug. He'd been aiming for her wrist, but Paeng Yuwol slipped from his grasp like water.
"Let's just go to the warehouse."
"Ahem. Very well."
On the way to the warehouse, Chu So-gwang sent a few more flirtatious glances her way, but Paeng Yuwol dodged every one of them. If not for the formation, she wouldn't have let him touch even her sleeve.
Step, step.
They finally arrived at the warehouse. Standing in the middle of the forest, it was more of an iron 'house'—so sturdy and solid it needed no upkeep.
"This is...?"
"I'll tell you all about it once you become the mistress of the escort bureau. This is where we keep important items."
Chu So-gwang opened the door. A musty smell lingered, but there was almost no sign that anyone had ever entered.
Not a single trace of an intruder. Paeng Yuwol went inside anxiously, wondering if her gamble had been wrong.
"Where is the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill?"
"...Over there, inside the wooden chest reinforced with iron plates."
Chu So-gwang gestured toward the cluttered interior. He pointed at a wooden chest fitted with several locks.
"A real Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill."
Chu So-gwang's voice carried no deception. Paeng Yuwol found herself irrationally doubting the gold-leafed Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill she'd stashed away in her bosom.
'Well, if that is the real pill, this level of security is only natural.'
Could it be that the man who claimed to be the Divine Doctor's disciple had scammed her? Maybe he passed off an ordinary medicinal pill as the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill, exploiting his master's name for some foul scheme.
If this was the genuine pill, if her servant's words were false... would she actually have to marry Chu So-gwang?
Amid the chaos of tangled thoughts, Paeng Yuwol steadied her mind and unfastened the locks one by one.
Click, click.
The iron locks gave way, and Paeng Yuwol lifted the chest's lid. She swallowed hard, the swell of complicated emotions rising in her chest.
Gone.
Nothing was there.
"......."
First came fury at Chu So-gwang.
The insult of a mere escort bureau deceiving the Hebei Paeng Clan roiled in her stomach.
Then relief washed over her.
The whole world knew her marriage to Chu So-gwang hinged on the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill and a vast sum of money. Now that the coercion—her clan head's life as hostage—proved to be based on a lie, all the blame would fall squarely on Chu So-gwang.
And then, faith in the world bloomed.
Justice was alive.
In this absurd situation, the Divine Doctor's disciple had happened to be in town, a Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill had happened to surface, and she had happened to find it and obtain it.
'Pull yourself together, Yuwol!'
Paeng Yuwol consoled herself and clenched her fists. Now, all that remained was to carry out justice.
"Chu So-gwang, you bast—"
WHAM---!
Something struck the back of her head. The blow, completely unexpected and brutal, made Paeng Yuwol stagger and collapse.
"Huh...?"
"Hah, hah, hah."
Cold sweat streaming down his whole body, Chu So-gwang pulled an unidentified object from inside the smashed wooden chest. It looked very much like a prisoner's manacle. Paeng Yuwol tried to rouse her internal energy and sharpen her senses.
"Th-this...!"
But Paeng Yuwol's realm was not high. She was the kind of escort bureau young lady who was 'offered up for sale'—her value as a family daughter outweighed her worth as a martial artist.
Because of that, even trying to muster her internal energy to stay conscious was no easy task. The fact she hadn't fainted after being struck on the back of the head was remarkable in itself.
"You... how...?"
Even so, the difference between her realm and Chu So-gwang's was that of heaven and earth. How could an ordinary man attack her without her noticing?
"Kheuheu, hehehe, eheheheh!"
Through her swimming vision, Paeng Yuwol saw it. A crimson energy swirled in Chu So-gwang's eyes, and an ominous aura—even glimmers of Madness Qi—poured from him.
"Demonic arts!"
"Kahahaha! You didn't know? You didn't know? Kihihit!!"
Chu So-gwang burst into mad laughter and struck Paeng Yuwol's pressure points. In an instant, all her acupoints were sealed, leaving her unable to do anything but speak.
"If you'd just stayed still... this wouldn't have happened."
Chu So-gwang lifted Paeng Yuwol's body. Being held in the hands of a villain was humiliating, but it was clear that Chu So-gwang's actions would not end there.
"Wh-what are you planning?!"
"You're asking because you don't know? This is why I can't stand Orthodox Faction young ladies. Don't you know the Affair of Mutual Joy between Man and Woman?"
Chu So-gwang's eyes were brimming with lust.
"Once you're carrying a child inside, you won't be able to do a thing. Hehehe."
* * *
'Should I go in?'
I stood outside the warehouse and observed Chu So-gwang's criminal acts. That he used demonic arts was unsurprising, but his overall method astonished me.
'I never imagined he'd attack with such a crude, old-fashioned trick.'
When subduing a woman you intend to violate, isn't it standard to seal her acupoints, suppress her internal energy, or drug her with an aphrodisiac—a more refined approach?
'He has zero consideration for the lady. He's utterly disqualified as a lust demon.'
Smashing someone in the back of the head with a wooden crate, of all things. What a ridiculously dangerous move.
'What if Paeng Yuwol had been thick-headed and it didn't even phase her? No, he calculated all of that. What a terrifying bastard.'
Chu So-gwang, having roused his demonic arts, was roughly on par with Paeng Yuwol's realm.
Which meant the man who risked his own neck on such a gamble must have been even more meticulous in his calculations.
"Anyway..."
Was this his personal taste? I watched Chu So-gwang's preparations from outside the warehouse with great interest.
A wooden rack designed for a person to lie flat on their back. Chu So-gwang forced Paeng Yuwol onto it and clamped shackles around her neck and wrists.
"Kheheh, blocking the eyes heightens sensitivity. Khup."
Chu So-gwang placed a blindfold over Paeng Yuwol's eyes.
With her vision cut off, Paeng Yuwol tried to kick at him in panic, but Chu So-gwang bound her legs with a cord-like rope.
"Hehehe, so very sleek. Truly the daughter of a prestigious family."
Paeng Yuwol's legs were bound so that her thighs and calves were pressed together. Her soles were then fastened to the rack as well, her knees pulled together to form an inverted V-shape when viewed from the front.
Otherwise, her fallen trousers would have left her undergarments utterly exposed. Paeng Yuwol bit her lip, her face burning crimson with shame.
"Hehehe, I'm not finished yet."
Chu So-gwang unraveled another piece of rope and bound Paeng Yuwol's abdomen to the rack. She was now completely and perfectly restrained by the rack and shackles, unable to free herself on her own.
Tat-tat-tat!
Chu So-gwang struck her pressure points in quick succession to release the seal. As soon as she regained control of her body, Paeng Yuwol thrashed and resisted, but it was useless.
"Hahaha! Those restraints are forged from Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron. Did you think you could easily slip out?"
"S-stop! Please... stop...!"
"Uhahahaha! You're using polite speech in this situation? You know exactly what's coming, don't you! Then shut up and take it!"
Chu So-gwang grabbed Paeng Yuwol's chin by force. His sweat-slicked, brutish hand forced her mouth open, and he picked up a glass bottle from the wall and uncorked it.
"Mmmph?!"
Paeng Yuwol tried to resist the red liquid pouring into her mouth, refusing to swallow. But under Chu So-gwang's coercion, she ended up gulping it all down.
"What did you do— hic?!"
"What else? An aphrodisiac."
Chu So-gwang moved in front of her legs and grabbed her knees.
"Hehe, open... wide... for... daddy! ...Huh?"
Chu So-gwang's expression twisted when the knees refused to budge. Even with her whole body restrained, Paeng Yuwol concentrated all her strength into her legs to keep her private parts from being exposed.
"Nnnghhh!!"
Chu So-gwang strained to pull her knees apart. In the instant the gap between her legs widened just a fraction, a forbidden view appeared, and Chu So-gwang gasped in admiration. Then Paeng Yuwol snapped her legs shut again.
"Did you really think I'd let you have your way?! You villain!"
"Oh, really? Then let's see how long you can hold out."
Chu So-gwang grabbed another bottle of aphrodisiac from beside the glass bottle. Then he poured it between Paeng Yuwol's smooth thighs.
"Ugh!!"
"If you don't spread your legs, where do you think this aphrodisiac will trickle down and soak in?"
"N-no...!"
If she stayed still, the liquid would run down between her thighs, pool in the valley, and soak through her undergarments. That meant the aphrodisiac would reach the most dangerous place.
And if she spread her legs? That would be the same as giving Chu So-gwang exactly what he wanted. At this impossible crossroads, Paeng Yuwol chose to endure.
"I-I'll die before I open my legs—hngh!"
"Huhaha! Let's see how long you can hold out! Whew, I'm hot."
Chu So-gwang wiped off his sweat and straightened up. When he peeled off his sweat-soaked shirt, a physique that could never pass for a martial artist's was laid bare.
"I'll go smoke a pipe and come back."
While Chu So-gwang retrieved something from the warehouse and stepped out, Paeng Yuwol writhed and struggled to escape from the rack.
"Ah, huff, ah..."
But her body was growing hotter by the second, and she couldn't endure it.
* * *
Stab.
"Who the hell smokes in the woods? You'll start a wildfire."
I struck his pressure points. Chu So-gwang froze solid, pipe still in hand. From behind, I jabbed the tip of my dagger into the flesh of his lower back again and again.
"Remember me?"
Nod, nod.
Chu So-gwang nodded—the only part of him that could still move. I pressed the exact same acupoints he'd used on Paeng Yuwol, and he was forced to stand there, utterly helpless.
I could feel the cold sweat running down his back, the frantic churning of his mind. Avoiding the sweat, I waved the dagger's tip around from behind, lazy and careless.
"The junior head of an escort bureau practices demonic arts... The world would find that very amusing, don't you think? On top of that, he drugs a woman who is to become his wife and tries to rape her."
"Th-that's..."
"Oh, I understand, of course. That bitch Paeng Yuwol must be quite a handful. A spirited woman like her needs to be broken once so she won't keep defying her husband later. Am I right?"
Chu So-gwang nodded vigorously. I used Void Object Retrieval to pull the pipe from his hand and crushed it underfoot.
"Hik!"
Chu So-gwang practically wet himself the moment he saw Void Object Retrieval.
The best way to showcase an overwhelming gap in martial might is to flaunt a well-known trick of a supreme master, and moves like Form Altering Shift or Void Object Retrieval are the most effective.
"Wh-what you wanted—I already gave it to you, Great Hero!"
Indeed, as soon as Chu So-gwang saw Void Object Retrieval, he started groveling. The demonic energy seething below his dantian went limp like a case of premature ejaculation. He'd realized he was no match for me, even if he roused his demonic arts.
"What I wanted? No, there's still one thing you haven't handed over."
"Wh-what is it?!"
"Paeng Yuwol."
Stab.
I drove the dagger into the very base of his spine. With his acupoints sealed, the blade sank in, and Chu So-gwang vomited a spray of blood.
"Wh-why...?"
"I'll be taking the maiden Paeng Yuwol. And as a bonus, the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill."
"You son of a..."
Stab.
Chu So-gwang's head dropped. As I poured internal qi into the dagger embedded in his back, I stabbed the back of his neck with a second dagger.
"A top-tier assassin always strikes twice. Once to kill, once to confirm."
Not that he could hear me now.
I pulled both daggers from Chu So-gwang's body and stepped aside. The internal qi I'd infused into the daggers suppressed the blood flow inside him, and once I'd put enough distance between us, I extinguished that qi.
SPLUUUUURT---!!
Blood erupted from Chu So-gwang's body. Twin fountains of blood shot up from the dagger wounds in his neck and lower back. I fished a pipe from the case Chu So-gwang had dropped and lit one for myself.
"Sssssss— Haaah."
Chu So-gwang was dead. At the same time, my instincts, surging like fresh blood, began to churn with all kinds of speculation.
Why did Chu So-gwang use demonic arts?
Was Chuso Escort Agency connected to the Demonic Cult?
Was Paeng Yuwol's husband originally Chu So-gwang?
It was only natural for the Heavenly Rejuvenation Pill to fall into the Paeng Clan's hands—did the escort agency truly play no significant role in that process?
Did people really not know Chu So-gwang was a demonic practitioner?
"Tch, none of that matters. One smoke and all this jumbled nonsense starts creeping in."
The pipe I'd lit to erase my idle thoughts was only stirring up more of them. I flicked the pipe to the ground, crushed out its end, and kicked Chu So-gwang's body onto its back.
"...Just as I thought—Chu So-gwang, indeed!"
The thing between his legs was barely a fingertip long!
If a woman spent her life with a man like that, she'd surely be miserable. I studied his face carefully and circulated my internal energy.
"I'll let you be called her lord for a little while. That was your wish, wasn't it—to be recognized as Paeng Yuwol's husband? I'll grant that wish. I've only recently learned to use this technique, after all. Heh heh."
Crackle, crick-crack.
My muscles and bones rearranged themselves as internal energy filled the spaces inside my body. With increasingly thick hands, I sculpted my face, tracing every feature.
Body Transformation Art.
"From now on, you are Chu Dae-gwang."
I copied everything from Chu So-gwang's body—except one thing.