Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Just How Strong Are You? (1)
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"Boss, I think we need a few more pigs."
Sima Geon replied without even turning his head as he sorted through the butchered meat.
"Can't you see how busy we are? Just handle it yourself."
"Got it."
Cheol Woo responded indifferently, headed behind the slaughterhouse, and dragged out a pig as massive as a cow. As if sensing its impending fate, the pig thrashed wildly, but it couldn't withstand Cheol Woo's strength.
"Bring it calmly, at least. It's being too noisy."
"Got it."
Cheol Woo simply replied and led the pig over using a feed trough.
The pig plunged its head into the trough as if it had never gone berserk, devouring its last meal.
"The atmosphere has changed."
Ha Hu Yeon said, swallowing hard.
"You fool! Don't you get it? It's not the atmosphere—his presence has vanished entirely."
Ha Hu Yeon's face stiffened in shock as he examined Cheol Woo at Ha Hu Gok's rebuke.
Just as Ha Hu Gok said, he couldn't sense any presence from Cheol Woo at all.
The shock peaked when Cheol Woo struck the pig's head.
Like the cow earlier, the pig's head slammed into the trough and collapsed.
There wasn't even the usual squeal of a pig being slaughtered—no sound at all. Only the crunch of the pig's skull shattering.
"It doesn't seem like something you can do just by being strong."
Ha Hu Yeon, unwittingly breaking into a cold sweat, watched as Cheol Woo effortlessly lifted the hefty pig like a sack and hung it on a pillar.
"Absolutely impossible."
Ha Hu Gok replied curtly, slowly raising his arm toward Cheol Woo.
Ha Hu Yeon saw it.
A single strand of energy shooting fiercely toward Cheol Woo from Ha Hu Gok's empty hand.
'The realm of Wounding with Intent! As expected of Great-grandfather!'
Witnessing the supreme realm of harming foes with mere will, Ha Hu Yeon trembled with overwhelming emotion. At the same time, he was intensely curious how Cheol Woo would react to Ha Hu Gok's aura.
'Will he simply dodge? Or counterattack?'
Several responses flashed through his mind, but Cheol Woo didn't move as Ha Hu Yeon imagined.
Even as Ha Hu Gok's unleashed aura charged menacingly, Cheol Woo showed no reaction. He just continued draining the blood from the pig hanging on the pillar with an utterly bored expression.
As Cheol Woo failed to react, Ha Hu Yeon's urgent gaze shifted to Ha Hu Gok.
If Cheol Woo hadn't trained in martial arts and was merely strong, he couldn't possibly withstand Ha Hu Gok's energy. No—it wouldn't just be withstanding; death wouldn't be surprising at all.
But Ha Hu Gok didn't withdraw his aura.
The moment Ha Hu Gok's energy was about to strike Cheol Woo's body, the engrossed Cheol Woo irritably swung his left hand. At the same instant, the charging energy vanished without a trace.
"N-No way!"
Ha Hu Yeon's eyes widened in astonishment.
This was no ordinary person, but the Sword Ghost.
Who could imagine the aura of the great-grandfather who dominated an era with his sword being erased by such a casual motion, as if swatting a fly?
Ha Hu Yeon rubbed his eyes repeatedly, wondering if he'd seen wrong, and stared at Cheol Woo.
He hadn't.
Cheol Woo was still focused on his task in the exact same posture.
Unlike Ha Hu Yeon, who couldn't hide his shock, Ha Hu Gok—who seemed to regard it as a natural outcome—curled one corner of his mouth and noticed Sima Geon signaling him with her eyes, responding with a subtle smile.
"Interesting."
Ha Hu Gok chuckled heartily and was about to unleash his energy again when Sima Geon, frowning deeply, whipped her head around.
"Enough with the games. I won't stop you a second time."
"So you're saying I went easy on him. Ha! Should this old man be grateful?"
Seeing Sima Geon acting all high and mighty just for blocking a casual burst of four-tenths power made laughter bubble up unbidden.
"I'm just worried it'll delay things here."
"Doesn't matter."
Ha Hu Gok snorted and took a step forward. Ha Hu Yeon hurriedly grabbed his arm.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"Can't you tell just from watching?"
In response to Ha Hu Gok's curt retort, Ha Hu Yeon pointed at the slaughterhouse.
"This place might get blown away. Sure, missing meat at a banquet isn't a huge deal to me, but treating guests so poorly would tarnish the clan's reputation a bit."
Ha Hu Gok paused at the mention of the clan's reputation, pondered briefly, then smacked the back of Ha Hu Yeon's head.
"All you've got are petty tricks."
Had he said the patriarch's reputation instead, he wouldn't have stopped.
As Ha Hu Gok and Ha Hu Yeon stepped back, Sima Geon and Cheol Woo's hands moved even busier. Before noon, they finished preparing all the meat needed for the day.
After giving the workers a break, Sima Geon—unlike Ha Hu Yeon, who had stepped away—approached Ha Hu Gok, who hadn't budged an inch while observing her.
Ha Hu Gok, arms crossed, asked bluntly.
"Who the hell are you people?"
Before Sima Geon could respond, Cheol Woo's gruff voice boomed from behind.
"Old man, you've got a foul mouth. And what are you?"
"Old man? Ha ha ha!"
An incredulous laugh burst from Ha Hu Gok.
At eighteen, he set out into the martial world with a single sword at his chest. By fifty-two, he had claimed the lives of one hundred top martial artists, earning a spot on the Undefeated Record.
He hadn't sought it, but he'd gained the moniker Sword Ghost.
Never in his life had he received such treatment.
"I saw your little trick earlier, so I know your skill level roughly. Let's just let it slide quietly. Or take it all the way. I don't care..."
Sima Geon's palm covered the face of Cheol Woo, who was provocatively confident.
"You're from the Ha Hu Clan, aren't you?"
Ha Hu Gok didn't answer, but Sima Geon was already certain.
A guest unaffiliated with the clan had no reason to come all the way to this remote slaughterhouse and stir trouble.
"We have no intention of causing a scene. Nor do we want to brawl with you, old timer. Just let us do our work."
"You think that makes sense? It started as a joke, but that was still my internal energy to some degree. And some random butcher swats it away. With a lazy swing of his arm. Who'd believe this? No one."
"......"
"What's your deal? What's your purpose here at our home?"
Ha Hu Gok's glare at Sima Geon and Cheol Woo turned deadly serious.
"We're just butchers from Soheung. Our purpose? Butchering, as you've seen. What's important is that the Ha Hu Clan invited us here."
A chilling killing intent flickered in Ha Hu Gok's eyes.
"You trying to play word games with me?"
No sooner had he spoken than a ferocious aura erupted from his entire body, swirling through the slaughterhouse.
The pillars shook, the roof rattled—as if it would collapse any moment.
Sima Geon's eyes darkened heavily.
Part of her considered just packing up and leaving. But there was Old Man So's request—they'd been invited by the Ha Hu Clan every year—and the sum they'd offered was too generous to walk away now.
Sima Geon sighed and, just as Ha Hu Gok had done to Cheol Woo, raised her arm and thrust it straight out.
Instantly sensing the eerie energy, Ha Hu Gok instinctively retreated outside the slaughterhouse. The swirling aura vanished as if it had been a lie.
Having retreated nearly three zhang in one breath, Ha Hu Gok stared at Sima Geon in bewilderment.
Unlike the threat he'd posed to Cheol Woo, Sima Geon hadn't threatened him at all. The problem was realizing this after his unsightly retreat.
'Ha! Did I flinch just from her gaze? Me, of all people?'
Ha Hu Gok thanked his luck that Ha Hu Yeon was absent, sparing him the embarrassment. At the same time, he blankly stared at Sima Geon, who had made him look so pathetic.
'Not an illusion. The sensation where her gaze landed was real. If I hadn't dodged, I'd have been hit.'
As Ha Hu Gok lost himself in thought, Sima Geon stepped out and said indifferently,
"Second warning. I won't hold back on the third."
"And what will you do if I don't?"
Ha Hu Gok scoffed derisively.
A vague, indefinable fear had taken root deep in his heart, but he showed no sign of it. Even so, he had no intention of backing down easily.
"......"
As Sima Geon fell into uncomfortable silence, Cheol Woo—who had briefly stepped away—chuckled and spoke up.
"Hey, old man. You want the Ha Hu Clan wiped out? Is that really what you want?"
Utterly insulting words.
So rude and absurd that any Ha Hu warrior overhearing would be justified in drawing their sword and charging.
Blasphemy he himself couldn't tolerate.
Yet strangely, rather than outrage, an absurd thought crossed his mind: maybe it could happen.
"Ha ha ha!"
A hollow laugh escaped Ha Hu Gok.
He was appalled at his own unwitting cowering. And he knew exactly why.
'It's those eyes.'
Cheol Woo's gaze, brimming with unshakable certainty that it would happen, was one thing. But Sima Geon's indifferent demeanor—as if it were nothing—and her abyss-deep eyes shook his composure.
Cold reason screamed it was unacceptable, that he must draw his sword and punish them. Yet his warrior's instinct, honed over a lifetime, blared warnings like mad.
Don't touch them recklessly.
'It's been ages since I felt this.'
He recalled the Namgung Clan brat who challenged him twenty years ago, not yet thirty.
After an hour-long duel, he'd barely won—not due to superior martial arts, but the opponent's inexperience.
Twenty years later, that brat was called Sword Saint, leading the Namgung Clan to its golden age.
'But this feeling is far more terrifying than back then.'
Still, pride alone kept him from retreating. As if reading his psyche, Sima Geon spoke politely.
"I assure you, we have no ulterior motives for coming here. We want nothing special. We just sought an ordinary life, and by chance, ended up here pursuing that. There's also our connection with Old Man So, who taught us the butcher's trade. So please, just pretend you didn't see us."
Ha Hu Gok instinctively knew Sima Geon's words were true.
Her desire for an ordinary life revealed how harsh her past must have been.
Her calm eyes conveyed earnest desperation.
"What if I can't?"
He regretted the words instantly.
They'd slipped out despite his intentions.
Sima Geon spun a small knife from meat processing between her fingers and said lowly,
"We've endured pain worse than death to claim this hard-won life. We'll do anything to protect it."
"Do you even know what you're saying? You think so lightly of our home."
Ha Hu Gok gave a bitter smile at invoking the clan, not himself.
An admission of his own inadequacy. Nausea rose at his pettiness.
"We don't mean to belittle the Ha Hu Clan. We're just saying there's no special reason or intent behind our arrival. If you still harass us, we'll have no choice."
"Sounds like you're declaring war on our home."
"The Ha Hu Clan can't handle us."
Sima Geon shook her head firmly, staring coldly at Ha Hu Gok.
"Instead, let me ask: can you afford to?"
Ha Hu Gok had no retort to Sima Geon's question.
Not just from sheer absurdity, but her calm confidence—asking if the mighty Ha Hu Clan could handle them—overwhelmed him.
"Ha ha ha!"
Ha Hu Gok laughed hollowly.
Shame and self-loathing engulfed him.
It ignited into rage, unleashing a terrifying aura from his entire body.
"Don't underestimate our home. We're not something you can judge with a few words."
"You want to go all the way?"
Sima Geon asked.
"I don't doubt your sincerity about wanting a normal life. Our home needn't intervene. But my pride won't let me back down."
Sima Geon sensed a shift in Ha Hu Gok's tone from before.
"What do you want?"
"Isn't it obvious what an old sword-for-hire wants?"
"The time and place don't seem ideal."
"Plenty of suitable spots around. Follow me."
When Sima Geon didn't move, Ha Hu Gok, turning to walk, glanced around the slaughterhouse.
"This works too. Location doesn't matter to this old man anyway."
"I heard it's the patriarch's seventieth birthday. You don't mind ruining the feast?"
"Hmph! So what if an old man's aging?"
The patriarch's face be damned.
It might tarnish the clan's reputation a bit, but he couldn't quell the burning heat surging from his chest.
From Ha Hu Gok's nonchalant reply, Sima Geon intuited that unless his fighting spirit was sated, everything would go awry.
Sima Geon shed her work clothes and said,
"As you wish."
"Ha ha ha! That's more like it. Follow me."
Ha Hu Gok burst into loud laughter, his eyes sparkling like a child's before a new toy.
As Sima Geon followed with a wry smile behind the briskly striding Ha Hu Gok, Cheol Woo—who had listened to their exchange with keen interest—quietly shed his work clothes too.