Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Ronin Band
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The next morning.
As soon as dawn broke, the escort caravan set off once more along the road toward Hefei.
From the rear of the escort caravan, I slowly drove the carriage following behind and spoke to Miss Seol inside the carriage.
“As I mentioned, those attempted kidnappers will definitely make their move before we enter Hefei. Of course, they have no idea that Miss Seol is in this carriage.”
To avoid detection until the very end, Miss Seol’s movements had no choice but to be restricted until we reached Hefei.
“I’m sorry, but please refrain from leaving the carriage until we enter Hefei.”
“Yes, no need to worry. I’m actually grateful that you’re helping me this much.”
Miss Seol conveyed her thanks from beyond the carriage curtain.
I glanced sideways at Miss Seol’s silhouette visible only in outline through the curtain.
We still hadn’t heard Miss Seol’s full story.
Even last night, when I subtly asked, she hesitated unusually and seemed reluctant to share her circumstances.
So rather than keep prying and making her uncomfortable, we decided to wait until she was ready to tell us.
We’d probably learn the details once we arrived at the Nangong family.
Pushing down my curiosity, I pressed onward.
After advancing without incident for a while, around the time the sun was nearing midday.
My prediction came true.
“Stop!”
Just as the city presumed to be Hefei came faintly into view in the distance, a group of mounted men blocked the escort caravan’s path.
Even at a glance, it was a large force numbering over fifty, and the escorts couldn’t hide their panic and unease.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
My senses picked up another group stealthily approaching from the forests on both sides of the road.
I immediately grasped their scheme.
Hold us in front while they swoop in from both sides to snatch Miss Seol?
Miss Seol wasn’t in that carriage, but if I let this play out, the still-injured escorts would clash with them.
I couldn’t just stand by.
Besides, I had no intention of missing the chance to defeat them piecemeal while they were split up.
They had made the wrong move.
It would have been better if they’d all charged together.
“Young Master Goon? What’s wrong?”
Hwa-ryeon looked puzzled at my sly smile.
I briefly explained the situation to her.
Having heard it, Hwa-ryeon furrowed her brow slightly and asked.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“I’ll hop off quietly, take out the ones hiding first, and be right back. Watch Miss Seol for a bit.”
Hwa-ryeon nodded with a tense expression at my response.
She looked quite nervous, her whole body rigid, so I tossed in a joke.
“And don’t touch the reins again for no reason. You’ll cause a big accident this time.”
“Th-that was a mistake...!”
After giving a sly smile to the flustered Hwa-ryeon, I silently leaped down from the carriage.
And dashed straight into the forest on the right.
*
The members of the Ronin Band’s Third Unit—the largest ronin organization in the Central Plains—had split into two groups according to their leader’s plan, circling through the forest to approach the escort caravan from both flanks.
-Got it? First and Second Units will hold that young monster. You lot grab the girl and slip away quick.
Engraving the leader’s orders in their hearts, the Third Unit members slowly closed in on the escort caravan.
How long had they been moving?
The escorts’ figures began to appear faintly in the distance.
“Quiet. We wait here now.”
At the deputy leader’s command, they all halted and stood by.
They would wait here, and when the leader, First Unit, and Second Unit engaged that monster, they’d swiftly snatch the girl from the carriage.
It was a simple task with no difficulty, yet unease clouded the faces of the Third Unit members led by their deputy.
‘C-can the leader really hold out against that monster?’
Having witnessed Ja-seong’s prowess firsthand, they were convinced that not even their leader could defeat him.
First and Second Units were with him, of course, but they doubted it would make much difference.
The deputy leader recalled Ja-seong’s movements.
Like a ghost or phantom, flashing here and there.
No matter how he thought about it, it wasn’t human movement.
Small wonder rumors circulated among them that he might really be a ghost.
All they could see whenever Ja-seong moved was a blurry shadow.
-Whoosh!
‘Yeah, just like that... Huh?’
The deputy leader was murmuring to himself when he spotted a black shadow flash right in front of him, snapping him alert.
It’s him.
He didn’t know how they’d been spotted, but that monster was coming to deal with them.
“E-enem—!”
-Thud! Thud!
The moment he tried to warn his men, something jabbed his throat and the back of his neck.
Immediately after, the deputy leader’s body went rigid, and he collapsed.
‘Wh-what is this...!?’
No matter how much he worked his mouth, no sound came out.
His mind went blank from the bizarre, terrifying experience he’d never encountered before.
All he could do was lie on the ground, rolling his eyes toward the trees and sky.
How long was he like that?
‘Why... why is it so quiet?’
The surroundings were eerily silent.
He couldn’t have been the only one to spot the monster— what were the other unit members doing?
‘Don’t tell me they all got taken out? In that short time? Without a single groan?’
He wanted to turn his head to check, but with his body paralyzed, even that was impossible.
As the deputy leader lay immobilized in the suffocating silence, the monster reappeared in his vision.
‘Hiiik...!’
He gasped in horror at Ja-seong crouched right next to his head.
Ja-seong’s voice whispered in his ear.
“Hmm, roughly... an hour? That should be enough for the paralysis to wear off. So don’t worry too much.”
Ja-seong grinned as if to reassure him.
But hearing it only made the deputy leader fear him more.
Paralyzing a person’s body at will without even using poison.
Was this guy really a ghost?
“Well, I’ve got to finish off the other side now.”
Ja-seong stood and vanished from his sight in an instant.
The deputy leader realized the unit leader and the others hiding in the opposite forest would meet the same fate.
And that Ja-seong hadn’t even gone all out in their previous battle.
‘Looks like we’re done for, Leader...’
Thinking of their oblivious leader, the deputy leader squeezed his eyes shut.
*
While Ja-seong was busy handling the Ronin Band’s Third Unit.
Ronin Band Leader Wi Cheon-gyeong, at the head of First and Second Units, was blocking Daean Escort Agency’s caravan and demanding Seol Yakbing.
“Hand over the girl quietly, and there’ll be no bloodshed!”
Unlike the Third Unit, who had disguised themselves as bandits to hide their identity, Cheon-gyeong brazenly revealed his true face.
Thanks to that, Escort Leader Mak, realizing who was targeting them, bellowed in rage.
“How can ronin of your caliber stoop to such villainy!”
“Villainy?”
“Then what do you call trying to kidnap a woman!”
At Escort Leader Mak’s shout, Cheon-gyeong looked baffled before breaking into a knowing grin.
“Puh, puhahaha...!”
His laughter spread contagiously, soon engulfing the entire Ronin Band.
-Hahaha!
“...What’s so funny!”
Escort Leader Mak scowled at the blatant mockery and demanded an explanation.
Cheon-gyeong, having stopped laughing, replied with cold eyes.
“Do you really think the Ronin Band would stoop to kidnapping?”
“...What?”
Escort Leader Mak was dumbfounded by the inconsistent words.
Was this what the ones who ambushed the caravan yesterday would say?
“You’re not plotting to kidnap Miss Seol and ransom her to the Seol family?”
“Hardly. It’s the Seol family patriarch himself who ordered us to bring her.”
“What!? What do you...!”
What kind of nonsense was this?
The Seol family patriarch was none other than Seol Se-woong the Heavenly Single Sword, Yakbing’s own father.
In other words, Cheon-gyeong was claiming the father had ordered them to forcibly bring his daughter.
“Do you expect me to believe that! And why would a father...!”
Escort Leader Mak’s words caught in his throat.
He suddenly recalled what Yakbing had said before the caravan departed.
-No one must know I’m heading to Hefei. Keep it under wraps.
‘Come to think of it, why did she make that request...?’
He hadn’t thought much of it at the time.
But hearing it from Cheon-gyeong now, something felt off.
“Looks like you’ve got an idea.”
Cheon-gyeong smirked at the speechless Escort Leader Mak.
At that smile, Escort Leader Mak asked gravely.
“Then tell me this. Why did the father order you to bring his daughter?”
“Yes, I’m curious about that myself. What’s the reason?”
“...!”
A third voice cut in midway.
Escort Leader Mak and Cheon-gyeong’s gazes turned toward the source, and soon Ja-seong emerged parting the forest.
“Young master...!”
The two men’s expressions upon seeing Ja-seong step out from the woods were polar opposites.
Escort Leader Mak’s face lit up with relief, while Cheon-gyeong’s hardened upon seeing him emerge from the forest of all places.
‘Why from the forest? Don’t tell me...’
Seized by a foreboding premonition, Cheon-gyeong instantly realized Ja-seong’s identity.
“...So it’s you. The young expert.”
“Hmm, it feels good to be called an expert, but it’s a bit awkward. I don’t think I’m quite there yet.”
Ja-seong grinned and replied to Cheon-gyeong’s words.