Nod If You Understand
As the guy Seonwoo Seol beat up rolled unsightly on the ground and collapsed, the next highest-ranking thug shouted, "A-A legendary figure is backing us!"
"What? You want to become a historical figure?"
"What kind of bullshit is—urgh!"
SMACK!
The blustering thug got hit by the First Stage of the Hundred Medicine Fist Secrets and was sent flying cleanly.
"Nice shot, Chef."
When a chaotic brawl is expected, who should you target first? The strongest-looking guy? Or the guy holding the most menacing weapon? Unfortunately, it's neither.
"What are you doing! Stop him right n—urk!"
Smack!
Seonwoo Seol got the correct answer. Charging forward at lightning speed, Seonwoo Seol drove her elbow into the man's chest, immediately following up with a fist to his face. It was a magnificent two-hit combo.
The correct answer was to take down the loudmouths first, just like she did. In a group of this size, there was bound to be a leader giving orders.
Anyway, a "legendary figure," huh? No doubt that "legendary figure" was the one who used the Shadow Soul Undying Palm and put the vice-commander in a tight spot... What was his name again? The Corpse Demon's disciple? No, the disciple of Sima. Well, whatever. He was definitely the disciple of that corpse-fucker. Judging by how they were trying to threaten us with his name, he must be nearby.
Whoosh!
"Focus!" Seonwoo Seol barked.
A blunt wooden club grazed past my eyes. I had drifted off into thought for a moment, but Seonwoo Seol's shout snapped me back to reality, and I dodged just in time.
"How can a mere chef...!" the club-wielding thug gasped, staring at me with bewildered eyes.
"Do you know me?" I asked, feeling suspicious. I didn't go out to Poeun often. In fact, I had only gone out once recently to find out who was meeting with Geum Ho. So how did this guy know I was a chef?
Recognizing my face is one thing, but knowing my profession is downright weird.
"..."
See? His eyes are shaking. He totally slipped up.
"You don't have to answer. I'll just beat the information out of whoever has the fewest broken bones."
"W-Wait! I'll tell you! I'll tell you!"
"Too late."
Since they hadn't mentioned Seonwoo Seol at all, it seemed they were only targeting me. Or rather, they had been keeping a very close eye on me for a while.
Pulling my right arm back, I threw a hard punch right into the cheek of the guy who was frantically waving his hands to stop me.
CRACK!
"Gah!"
The guy collapsed onto the ground, his body twitching.
From then on, it was smooth sailing. Since we had thoroughly crushed their leadership, the leaderless martial artists fought chaotically and were picked off one by one.
"Get lost!"
"Aaargh!"
Dear Jade Emperor, another one is coming up to meet you.
Though her hand movements looked as casual as shooing away a fly, it was still the genuine Demonic Thunder Divine Fist. Naturally, the thug clutched his stomach and fainted on the spot.
Seonwoo Seol was truly the ruler of the battlefield. I had lost count of how many she had taken down by herself. The moment her fists slammed into their stomachs and faces, no one could stand against her.
As we thrashed and bashed our way through them, only the last guy remained. He was clutching a dagger the size of a fruit knife, trembling violently as his eyes darted between Seonwoo Seol and me.
"D-Don't come any closer!"
"Hey, just let me hit you once. After that, you can stab me with that knife all you want. Please?"
As I approached him with a smirk, he began to shake even harder, looking like an angry Chihuahua.
"H-How does a chef possess this kind of martial power?!"
"What, a chef can't be strong? I hold knives just like you guys do."
"But you're fighting bare-handed!"
"I heard the monks in the Shaolin Temple's kitchen don't hold knives either."
"Y-You...!"
At a loss for words, his face turned beet red, and he began to swing his dagger wildly.
"Die! Just die!"
But there was no way either Seonwoo Seol or I would get hit by such blind swings. Watching his desperate struggles was actually starting to feel pitiful.
I glanced at Seonwoo Seol, and she seemed to share the sentiment, shaking her head and clicking her tongue.
As he swung the dagger frantically, he paused for a brief second to catch his breath. In that split second, I closed the distance and swept his leg with my right foot.
Thud!
"Aaargh!"
It was a classic trip, commonly known as a wasabari. It was more of a grappling technique than a martial art, but it was perfect for dealing with non-experts.
While he was down, I kicked the dagger out of his hand, completely disarming him. You have to be thorough with these things to avoid getting stabbed in the back later.
Having been disarmed and suppressed so easily, he looked at me as if I were about to eat him alive. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, I lifted him up—he looked like he was about to faint—and asked, "Are there any more of you?"
"U-Ugh...!"
"Answer me."
When I showed him my other fist, he gasped for breath and blurted out answers like a rapid-fire machine gun.
"Hieeeek! N-No! There's no one else!"
"How many are left at the branch office?"
"E-Except for a few guarding that person, e-everyone came out!"
Is that so? If the ones left at the branch office are of a similar caliber, they won't be a big problem. However, there was one thing that weighed on my mind: the great demon who used the Shadow Soul Undying Palm was there. Even if the vice-commander had managed to wound him, an expert who had reached the Peak Realm wouldn't go down easily.
Especially since he was a great demon who used a demonic art like the Shadow Soul Undying Palm, which utilized corpse energy. He must have committed all kinds of atrocities. Given the nature of corpse energy, it was a power that was hard to gather unless one associated with dead bodies.
Anyway, I had gathered all the crucial information. Now, the only question was what to do with this guy I was holding by the collar. It would probably be best to just send him on his way quietly.
"But why are you speaking to me so informally?"
As I started talking nonsense, the guy's eyes widened in sheer bewilderment.
"W-What?"
"I appreciate the information, but speaking to me without honorifics is a bit rude, don't you think?"
"What kind of bullshit is that?!"
"Oh, now you're swearing at me?"
As I raised my fist again, the guy squeezed his eyes shut and screamed, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"To be honest, I was going to hit you even if you used honorifics."
"Y-You crazy bastard!"
FLICK!
"Ack!"
Since I felt like I was teasing him too much, I ended it with a light flick to his forehead. Although it was the MK2 version, which was much stronger than the MK1 flick I had used on Namgung Geum.
"Well then, shall we go?"
Tossing the limp guy aside, I turned around to look at Seonwoo Seol.
"...Chef Yoon, aren't you older than me?"
Seonwoo Seol was staring at me with an utterly dumbfounded expression.
"Uh... we're almost ten years apart, right?"
"Seeing you like this, you seem more like a younger student."
"Thank you for praising my youthful spirit."
"Excuse me, that wasn't a compliment."
"It is to me."
At my shameless reply, Seonwoo Seol scowled. Well, what can I say? A man has to act immaturely to live a long life.
Throb.
A sharp pain flared from his bandaged abdomen, causing the middle-aged man to grimace.
"Damn it... that black-clad bastard..."
Muttering to himself, the middle-aged man recalled the thief in black who had broken into the merchant guild's branch office. He didn't seem to be an instructor from the Mutual Righteousness Academy, yet he had left a deep wound. It was a laceration severe enough to require several days of recuperation.
He remembered the flexible soft sword technique the thief had displayed. How hard he had struggled to block that unpredictable soft sword striking from impossible angles!
Though he had been caught off guard, the middle-aged man clenched his teeth in humiliation at being bested by someone he had never even heard of.
The middle-aged man recalled the words of the one who had taught him the Corpse Demon's martial arts.
'Once you master the Shadow Soul Undying Palm, no one will be able to stand against you.'
The man grumbled. No one to stand against me, my foot.
There was literally a bastard out there who had sliced his stomach open with a soft sword.
Why did he learn the demonic art of the Corpse Demon in the first place? If you learned it, you would immediately be branded a public enemy of the Murim and spend the rest of your life as a fugitive, with a high probability of turning into a demon.
The reason was simple: to obtain immense, unstoppable power and internal energy.
The original creator of the technique, the Corpse Demon, was a legendary great demon who had shaken the Central Plains. Whenever he appeared, commoners who didn't know martial arts would tremble in absolute terror.
He had learned the demonic art solely for that reason. If the Shadow Soul Undying Palm couldn't even deliver on that promise, what did that make him?
Therefore, the middle-aged man decided to keep a low profile for a while and focus on mastering the demonic art further.
Although that black-clad bastard probably wouldn't return, there was a chance his allies might come, so he had stationed sentries all around the perimeter. Even if it were that bastard or his companions, they wouldn't be able to easily defeat over a dozen second-class martial artists all at once.
With that thought, the middle-aged man closed his eyes and began to circulate his qi to heal his wounded abdomen as quickly as possible.
But just as he was focusing on his meridians...
Thud... BOOM!
A heavy impact echoed in his ears, causing the middle-aged man to furrow his brow.
What on earth is that noise?
Sensing something ominous, he quickly wrapped up his meditation and prepared to stand.
"Great Hero Sang! We have a problem!"
"..."
"What is it?"
"Our men outside are currently under attack!"
So that bastard's reinforcements have finally arrived.
Thinking this, the middle-aged man asked, "How many attackers are there?"
"Well, that is..."
"Don't hesitate! Speak!"
As the middle-aged man pressed him, the messenger bowed his head even lower.
"There are... only two of them."
"What? Two?"
Even if most of the Double Axe Sect members were only second-class martial artists, there was no way they could be defeated so helplessly.
"Check again! How could only two...!"
"Is anyone inside? Why don't you come out and play?"
An unfamiliar male voice echoed throughout the estate.
Throb.
"Ugh..."
The moment he heard that voice, a sharp pain flared in his abdomen again. The middle-aged man grit his teeth and leaped to his feet.
I cupped my hands around my mouth like a megaphone and shouted, "Come on out!"
"What on earth are you doing?"
"It's a calling song for when people won't come out when they're supposed to."
"Ah... how embarrassing, seriously."
As Seonwoo Seol covered her face with both hands, I placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly.
"We should get used to this."
"I don't mind getting used to other things, but I absolutely refuse to get used to *that*!"
Well, aren't we cold? But wait, did she just say she doesn't mind getting used to *other* things?
Anyway, whether he heard my shout or not, someone did indeed come out.
It was a man dressed in luxurious, glossy silk robes, pointing a finger at us with a dead serious expression. His attire practically screamed, "I am a merchant!"
"Who goes there!" he bellowed.
His face was incredibly familiar to both of us.
"Isn't that the guy from the portrait?"
"I believe so."
An ordinary, unremarkable face. It was hard to call him ugly, but you couldn't call him handsome either.
He was the very man Gye-yeong, the waiter from the Seongrok Tea House, had seen meeting with Geum Ho. He was also the man the vice-commander had testified to seeing.
The man narrowed his eyes, studying me closely, before gasping in shock.
"Y-Yoon Gomyung! How did you get here?!"
"Oh, look at that. You just confessed all on your own."
"..."
"You must have been quite close with Geum Ho. Did he give you my name and description? Knowing his personality, I doubt he did it out of the goodness of his heart."
As I offered a sly grin, the man's face hardened.
"Seeing how weak your internal energy is, you don't seem to be the leader of the Double Axe Sect... Are you the branch manager who collaborated with them while running this place?"
"...How much did that arrogant brat Geum Ho blab to you?"
"Well, his tail was quite long, after all."
His response was practically a confirmation of my theory. The branch manager who had met with Geum Ho was collaborating with the Double Axe Sect, and the Double Axe Sect thugs knew my face and profession. Knowing this much, it wasn't hard to piece together the rest of the puzzle.
"That day at the Seongrok Tea House, Geum Ho probably made a request. He wanted you to either beat me half to death or make me disappear permanently."
"..."
"I don't know what he offered in return, but you certainly tried your best to fulfill it. That's why you sent those low-quality ingredients to lure me out."
Why else would the Hyeondong Merchant Guild, which supplied ingredients to the Inner Dining Hall, suddenly send subpar goods? Normally, a chef would head straight to the guild to complain. The moment I left the academy, the Double Axe Sect thugs would have jumped me and made me disappear.
Whether my guess was right or wrong, the answer came in the form of a sound.
Grind.
Do people in the Murim not worry about their teeth? Dental health is one of the five great blessings of life, yet this branch manager was grinding his teeth so hard they might shatter.
Just then, Seonwoo Seol shivered slightly. She warned me in a barely audible whisper, "Chef Yoon, be careful."
"Yes?"
"An ominous energy is overflowing from where the branch manager is standing."
"An ominous energy?"
"...It's highly likely to be corpse energy."
Seonwoo Seol spoke with absolute certainty. If the Socheonma said so, then it was so.
CRASH!
The door behind the branch manager shattered into splinters, and someone stepped out.
It was exactly as Seonwoo Seol had predicted.
A man exuding a wild, primal aura stepped forward, looking like a feral wolf boy who had been forced into clothes. He looked older than me, but younger than the branch manager—somewhere in his mid-to-late thirties.
The man glared at Seonwoo Seol and me, bellowing in a booming voice, "Who dares to interfere with the work of the Divine Hand of Life and Death?!"
"The Divine Hand of Life and Death?"
What was that? An epithet?
Seonwoo Seol and I exchanged glances. One of us might have heard of it.
"Do you know who the Divine Hand of Life and Death is?"
"Never heard of him. What about you, Chef Yoon?"
"I'm asking because I've never heard of him either."
What? Even Seonwoo Seol, who was well-versed in Murim history and rumors, didn't know?
When we stared at him with questioning eyes, the man's face contorted in anger, and he shouted in a solemn voice, "You claim to have never heard of the Divine Hand of Life and Death, whose very name makes Northern Yuan and Liaodong tremble?!"
"We really haven't. What's your name, anyway?"
"...My name is Hapdan!"
"Ah!"
As if finally recognizing the name, Seonwoo Seol spoke up. "The Stench King of Northern Yuan!"
Wait... his epithet is the Stench King?
The moment that title left Seonwoo Seol's mouth, Hapdan's eyebrows twitched in an incredibly bizarre manner.
"I was going to go easy on you because of your pretty face, but how dare you utter that filthy title!"
But Seonwoo Seol, with her fiery temper, wasn't about to back down.
"What do you want me to do about it? That's your title! If you don't like it, you should wash up more often!"
Well, she had a point. If he washed regularly, he wouldn't have gotten such a title. He wasn't even a master of the Beggars' Sect, so how did he end up with the title of Stench King? Even a Beggars' Sect master would be too embarrassed to use a title like that.
Trembling with rage at Seonwoo Seol's sharp retort, Hapdan suddenly leaped high into the air. With a thunderous roar, he prepared to unleash a palm strike, lunging straight at Seonwoo Seol.
"I will silence that mouth of yours forever!"
His wild hands began to dye pitch-black.
It was the exact same Shadow Soul Undying Palm that had struck the vice-commander.