Chapter 120. Where the Hell is the Main Base?
'Sa Gyo-du, get your face under control, will ya? How am I supposed to fall for it like that?'
Won Seung halted mid-stride as he charged, then whipped his left hand out.
Shick!
A flying dagger hurtled toward him.
'That little shit?'
Sa Gyo-du, realizing Won Seung had pretended to be fooled just to mock him, boiled with rage from head to toe.
Sa Gyo-du slapped the dagger away with his palm and closed the distance in a flash. Assuming Won Seung would flee backward again, he stomped forward—only for Won Seung to surge in close and thrust his sword.
Sa Gyo-du deflected the blade with his left palm and unleashed a lightning-fast right fist. Won Seung shifted his sword stance to stab at the protruding belly, but Sa Gyo-du's form vanished.
"Got you now, you bastard!"
Sa Gyo-du had circled behind and hammered down with his fist. Won Seung tilted his head back to dodge, taking the blow on his shoulder.
Thud!
"Guh!"
A groan burst from Won Seung's lips. His shoulder felt like it was shattering. But Sa Gyo-du was the one truly shocked. It should have pulverized the shoulder or torn it clean off. Instead, a bizarre rebounding force left his hand throbbing.
This was the result of Won Seung layering forty years of internal energy atop the yin-yang corresponding acupoints technique. In particular, the moment impact struck, the acupoints linked in unison, forming a protective aura akin to a body-hardening barrier.
Won Seung had learned of the yin-yang corresponding acupoints' defensive prowess from Yong Jo-un during transmission. That's why he'd gambled on it.
He couldn't keep wrestling with Sa Gyo-du forever. There were nine kids in the group. The squad with the injured Jang Chil was out of the fight, guarding No. 13 and No. 14. Yet there were eight instructors. If the remaining two showed up, the kids would be overwhelmed.
In truth, those two instructors had been taken out by No. 13 and the others when the kids went to kill Sa Gyo-du. It hadn't been a desperate melee back then, so the instructors fell to the surprise assault. But three kids had taken severe wounds in the process, leaving No. 13 and No. 14 to finish Sa Gyo-du.
Won Seung didn't know this. The instructors hadn't appeared yet, so he suspected something was up—but if they did show, the kids were done for.
That's why he'd bet on his forty years of internal energy and the yin-yang corresponding acupoints. As expected, Sa Gyo-du flinched in surprise. In that instant, Won Seung drew the small dagger from his waist with his left hand and slashed upward.
"Hmph!"
Sa Gyo-du snorted and snatched Won Seung's wrist with his descending right hand.
In a flash, it became a contest of internal energies—Sa Gyo-du pressing down, Won Seung pushing up.
Sa Gyo-du's eyes widened in shock.
This brat... matching me in internal energy?
Their gazes locked in midair.
What the hell is going on with you?
Like I'd tell you...
Their eyes conversed. Sa Gyo-du surged more energy. He had to crush the wrist or the kid would slip away with some trick.
Won Seung's raised dagger hovered near their chins. But his grip was odd—not the proper hold for thrusting, but reversed, as if to stab downward.
Won Seung grinned.
"Pig bastard, you've got some real strength, huh."
"You little shit, shut your—"
As Sa Gyo-du opened his mouth to retort, Won Seung's thumb flicked the dagger's hilt. The cap popped open, and he smacked the blade's tip downward with the flat of his sword.
Pop! Poison powder exploded out.
Sa Gyo-du, mid-sentence with his mouth agape, inhaled a trace.
Won Seung had puzzled over using Seven Treasures Soul Separation Powder in combat, eventually grinding it to ultrafine dust and loading it into the dagger's hilt.
The Seven Treasures Soul Separation Powder was Dokgoe's famed life-draining toxin. It hadn't appeared in the jianghu for ages, so Sa Gyo-du had never seen it. Powdered toxins like this lost potency in the air—users risked self-poisoning, so extreme poisons were avoided.
Search the body for the antidote after I kill him.
But he soon realized his mistake. Heat flared across his face, his heart pounding wildly.
"Uh..."
As Sa Gyo-du panicked, Won Seung swept his shin with perfect form.
"Here's your payback!"
"Kuh!"
Pain like a snapped fibula forced Sa Gyo-du back a step. Won Seung dropped the dagger, twisted his seized wrist free, and stabbed at Sa Gyo-du's instep with his sword.
Sa Gyo-du shook off the wrist and unleashed a barrage of fists.
This Twin Dragon Emerges from the Cave was his life-saving ultimate technique. He'd never dreamed of using it on a trainee, but with his body acting up, he had no choice.
Bam-bam-thud!
Won Seung took repeated blows to the chest and staggered back seven or eight paces. His vision whitened, stomach churning. He'd formed a protective aura with his internal energy and yin-yang corresponding acupoints, but Sa Gyo-du's power was no joke.
As Sa Gyo-du stepped forward again—
Shick!
A steel arrow flew in. Sa Gyo-du sensed it, spun, and swatted it away. Peak expert indeed.
He spotted patrol and watch squad warriors clutching crossbows.
"W-what the hell?"
"We can't let him die. Sa Gyo-du. We need the antidote."
The patrol and watch squads lacked confidence against the instructors head-on. So they'd raided the kids' training armory for crossbows. Their employers were Jeokhyeolsan, intent on murder and annihilation, and they'd been poisoned by Won Seung. The conclusion was clear.
Help Won Seung kill the Jeokhyeolsan instructors!
"You bastards, I'll kill you too."
Sa Gyo-du spat as he advanced a step.
The brief respite let Won Seung recover.
Ptoo!
He spat a clot of blood and glared at Sa Gyo-du.
'Two steps!'
As Sa Gyo-du roared and lunged, the patrol warriors scattered back. Sa Gyo-du whirled toward Won Seung.
Kill this one first, then take the antidote.
Won Seung counted his steps.
...Four, five, six... seven! I trust you, Master!
Won Seung charged, sword leading.
Sa Gyo-du hesitated, fist half-drawn—had the kid gone for mutual destruction? Who'd ever felt their heart melting from the inside?
As Sa Gyo-du's eyes bulged in horror, Won Seung closed in and plunged his sword into the man's heart.
Squelch!
Sa Gyo-du couldn't even scream.
"......"
Just gurgling from his throat as blood boiled up. Then he toppled backward.
Won Seung, his innards shaken from forcing internal energy, felt darkness closing in, mind fogging.
No—snap out of it!
He bit his tongue hard and forced his eyes wide.
Cheers erupted.
"Whoa! The trainee killed Sa Gyo-du!"
The watching patrol and watch squads cried out in shock. Even the kids battling nearby roared in triumph.
"Yeah! No. 50 took down Sa Gyo-du!"
Fresh vigor surged into their sword arms. With escape in sight, their bodies felt light.
The instructors, seeing Sa Gyo-du fall, panicked and lost morale.
What the hell was happening? They could only stare in bewilderment. One tried to slip away.
Can't let that one escape! Jeokhyeolsan will know and kill us all!
Won Seung tried to shout, but his churning guts silenced him.
No need. The encircling patrol and watch squads blocked the instructor. With Sa Gyo-du dead, victory was sealed.
They needed to impress Won Seung for the antidote.
The instructors had treated them like servants, dumping laundry and chores. The squads harbored no love for them—their blades struck without mercy.
The instructor flailed his sword in panic, felling one patrol warrior. The rest swarmed, hacking him down. Poisoned by scattered antidotes, drained from fighting kids, and succumbing to the body-wasting powder's effects, he died pointlessly.
Buoyed by high spirits, the kids felled the instructors one by one.
At last... all the instructors lay fallen.
Won Seung closed the eyes of Gak Gyo-du, the one who had monitored him and died with unresolved resentment in his stare. Then he turned to the children. They were battered and bloody, but thankfully, none were dead.
Won Seung finally exhaled in relief.
'Jeokhyeolsan, see that? You're finished.'
The patrol and watch squads buried the instructors' bodies, including Sa Gyo-du's. Watching, Won Seung suddenly dragged Sa Gyo-du's corpse to the burning log dining hall and tossed it in.
Everyone flinched. Monks were cremated from pyres, but laymen shunned it—believing it trapped the soul from reincarnation. Even villains got buried to accrue good karma in the next life.
Won Seung said with a wicked grin.
"This bastard doesn't deserve reincarnation."
Of course, it was to hide the Seven Treasures Soul Separation Powder traces, but the squads shuddered speechless.
I-ho searched the upper camp with the kids. They ransacked Sa Gyo-du's office and quarters, instructors' barracks—burning kid records, pocketing silver and bills of exchange.
Won Seung tended the kids' wounds. No. 14, 15, 29, and 31—who'd gone with No. 13 and taken grave injuries—plus Jang Chil with a gash in his side. Everyone bore wounds great and small.
No. 13, struck in the head by Sa Gyo-du, had ruptured eardrums. No. 14, kicked in the throat, lost his voice. Lifelong bunkmates, they now communicated: No. 14 gestured, No. 13 spoke.
No. 13 said,
"Bingseol, where are you? I stabbed Sa Gyo-du in the gut... He's dead, right?"
I did it, you idiot.
The next morning, the patrol and watch squads, plus kitchen staff, sought Won Seung.
'These guys aren't saints either...'
Under Won Seung's gaze, the warriors bowed. A promise was a promise. He distributed antidotes.
"Jeokhyeolsan has branches everywhere. Stay hidden."
Then the kitchen folk approached.
"Uncles, no matter how much they pay, you shouldn't come to places like this."
"We didn't know. Regret's useless after arriving. They threatened death if we broke contract."
"They'd have killed you after anyway. I saved your asses."
"We know. Thanks, kid."
The head cook pulled Won Seung aside.
"You kids need to run too. These guys report to 'main base' every few days. No report, and they send people."
Won Seung's eyes darted.
"Where's the main base?"
"No idea. But from talk, sounds near Huangdo..."
"Huangdo?"
An assassin group like Jeokhyeolsan near the capital? Surprising, but logical—millions lived there, prime clients.
Won Seung pondered, then asked,
"How long for someone to go to main base and return?"
"Roughly five or seven days?"
'Three days from here, near Huangdo... That's Jeokhyeolsan's home base.'