Chapter 79
Chapter 79
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 79
Chapter Title: Dumpling Filling
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“What are you doing?”
Se Yeong asked Paeng Se Gi, who was holding a pearl necklace.
“I'm fishing, bro.”
Se Yeong smirked at his response.
Judging by how the bandits' presences wavered, they seemed pretty shaken up too.
But they showed no signs of charging out from their hiding spots anytime soon.
“Cut it out and focus on circulating your qi instead.”
“Got it, bro.”
Paeng Se Gi reluctantly tucked the pearl necklace back into the chest.
After finishing their qi circulation, the squad members resumed their lightness skill.
After running seven or eight li, a large thatched hut with a white flag hanging deep in the roadside brush came into view.
Yeongak, who had been dashing along with his lightness skill, abruptly halted.
“Om mani padme hum. Buddha's mercy.”
The squad members were at the point where their backs and stomachs were practically stuck together from hunger.
They'd been hounded by bandits all night and hadn't even had breakfast, yet they'd kept sprinting with their lightness skills.
“What's up, Yeongak?”
Yi Cheon Yeong, Dang Ok Yi, and Hahu Yeon soon arrived and stopped in front of him.
Yeongak silently pointed deeper into the woods.
Haha.
“Didn't expect an inn way out here.”
They chuckled upon spotting the inn nestled in the woods.
“An inn...!”
Paeng Se Gi, who had stopped late, shouted with overwhelming joy.
Sa Sa Un and the siblings arrived, followed by Se Yeong and Kang Squad Leader.
“Let's head in.”
Se Yeong's stomach was growling too, so he made a beeline for the inn.
But the closer they got, the more an unpleasant feeling crept over him.
Even in broad daylight, the inn felt oppressively dark, with an ominous deathly aura hanging in the air.
“Welcome.”
A young waiter greeted them as they entered.
“Bring out all the meat you've got first!”
Paeng Se Gi bellowed boldly upon stepping inside.
“Just a moment, I'll bring it right out.”
As the waiter vanished into the kitchen, Paeng Se Gi, Yeongak, and Hahu Yeon tilted their heads.
Something felt off, but they couldn't pinpoint what.
'No assassins lurking around, at least...'
While they scanned the surroundings, Se Yeong subtly cracked open the chest on the floor.
“No liquor for us?”
The waiter, approaching their table, quickly eyed the open chest.
“We might have a long way to go, so skip the booze.”
“We've got steamed dumplings ready—want those too?”
“Yeah... bring 'em out quick.”
Starving, Paeng Se Gi ordered everything the waiter mentioned.
The moment Se Yeong and the squad sat, the waiter brought out a steamer basket piled high with fist-sized dumplings.
“Dig in.”
At Paeng Se Gi's urging, Se Yeong glanced at Kang Squad Leader.
The man gave a wry smile and nodded.
Se Yeong then turned to Paeng Se Gi.
“Split one open and sniff it.”
Wearing a puzzled look, Paeng Se Gi grabbed a dumpling and tore it in half.
Sniff... sniff...
“Just smells like meat to me.”
Dang Ok Yi split one open and sniffed too.
Sniff...
“Kinda smells spicy, though?”
As a Tang Family girl, she picked up on the faint scent.
“It's mandara flower. Eat it, and you'll get drowsy and limp.”
Mandara flower resembled morning glory but had white petals.
Its seeds and leaves were highly toxic, used medicinally—especially potent as an anesthetic.
“Those damn bastards...!”
The instant Se Yeong finished speaking, Paeng Se Gi shot to his feet and drew his sword.
The startled waiter bolted for the kitchen.
Squeal...
Thud!
But before he could make it, a flying iron club pierced his chest.
Argh...!
A agonized scream echoed through the inn as the kitchen door burst open violently.
Clunk...!
The moment the door flew open, Yi Cheon Yeong and Hahu Yeon dashed outside.
“Don't kill—capture them.”
Yi Cheon Yeong yelled back as he charged out.
“Got it, Hero Han!”
Yi Cheon Yeong and Hahu Yeon dragged back two men who looked over thirty.
“Who's the owner of this inn?”
At Se Yeong's question, they stammered out answers.
“We've just been working here a few days.”
“The owner was that... young guy you killed, hero. We swear on the heavens, we know nothing.”
A chilling voice escaped Se Yeong's lips at their words.
“Kill this one.”
Paeng Se Gi raised his sword without hesitation.
Yeongak hurriedly stepped in front.
“Hold on, Hero Han. They might be innocent.”
Haha...
Se Yeong sneered at him.
“You don't know how vile these types are or how they lie like breathing. They sell out heaven, parents, even kids without a second thought.”
Slash.
The moment Se Yeong finished, Paeng Se Gi swung without pause, severing the man's neck.
Thud... roll...
Blood sprayed as the head tumbled from the body.
Ughhh...
The surviving man trembled violently, flattening himself on the floor.
“S-spare me. I just... did what I was told from above.”
“Who's above?”
“The stronghold's... chief.”
Yeongak clasped his hands and closed his eyes as the man confessed.
“Om mani padme hum.”
Se Yeong ignored him and pressed on.
“When did you set up this inn?”
“Just two months ago. Before the chief changed, we only collected tolls... After, he said to make big money, so we opened the inn.”
“What happened to those poisoned by mandara?”
The man hesitated.
Se Yeong already knew without asking.
“Doesn't look like you raise pigs, so you didn't feed them to swine. Did you grind the corpses into dumpling filling?”
The squad stared at Se Yeong in shock, silent.
The martial world was rife with gruesome rumors.
Tales of inns killing travelers, stuffing meat into dumplings, boiling bones and flesh into soup—old stories.
But none had imagined encountering one.
This time, the man clamped his mouth shut and bowed his head.
“O... om mani...”
Yeongak squeezed his eyes shut mid-mantra, reeling from the horror.
“Fuck! We almost ate human flesh. Bro, why spare scum like this? I'll kill him now.”
Furious, Paeng Se Gi raised his massive blade as if to strike.
“S-spare me! Please! If you let me live, I'll go home and live right!”
The man wept and begged desperately.
Se Yeong raised a hand to stop Paeng Se Gi and asked the man,
“Where's the stronghold?”
“Ten-some li into the deep mountains from here.”
“Lead the way.”
With the man in front, Se Yeong and the squad left the inn and climbed the mountain.
A narrow path snaked deep into the mountains—clearly well-trodden between inn and stronghold.
Paeng Se Gi, leading the climb, turned and asked,
“How'd you know that inn was shady, bro?”
The squad perked up, awaiting his answer.
“Once, out in the world, I drank at a rundown inn and got mandara'd. Slaughtered them all and bailed. Came back later—place burned clean. Pigs gone too. Learned then: man-eating inns smell different. Never forget that stench.”
They nodded, having sensed something themselves from his tale.
After trekking ten-some li into the mountains, a tall wooden palisade appeared in the distance.
“Pretty big setup.”
Se Yeong just voiced his observation, but the terrified man couldn't take it casually.
“Used to be... over two hundred brothers here. Old chief took most to another stronghold, so only thirty-some left now.”
“Brothers my ass. Move it, punk.”
Thud!
Paeng Se Gi smacked the man's head, urging him on.
As the palisade neared, a bandit atop the watchtower shouted,
“Who goes there?”
Se Yeong replied with icy killing intent.
“Leave five alive. Kill the rest.”
Slash...
Paeng Se Gi instantly beheaded the leading man.
He charged the gate next and cleaved it.
Slice...
Crack...! Boom...!
As the gate split and collapsed, Paeng Se Gi and the squad stormed in.
Slash... slash...
Swords, blades, spears flashed—heads flew, chests split.
Argh...!
Aaah...!
Se Yeong pushed through the screams into the stronghold.
“Block them...! Hold the enemy...!”
A burly middle-aged man in dark furs burst from a hut, bellowing.
Thud...!
Gurk...!
But he hit the dirt, his final shout silenced.
“You won't die easy.”
Paeng Se Gi sneered down at the fallen brute.
Ughhh...
The brute came to, propping himself up and scanning around.
First thing he saw: a young martial artist seated in a chair.
Beside him loomed a young giant cradling an iron club; others surrounded them.
In front, four subordinates knelt.
'Iron club...?'
Words from former chief U Bal Cho surfaced.
'Spot a young guy with an iron club approaching from afar? Run—don't look back.'
And this too:
'Kneel and beg. Swear off banditry, and he might spare you. Bones'll break, sure.'
What he'd dismissed as impossible had come true.
To him, ex-chief U Bal Cho was an untouchable master.
That master had warned of this iron-club youth in fear.
'Damn. How long ago did I snag the chief spot of my dreams...'
As darkness closed in, Se Yeong spoke.
“Awake?”
The brute scrambled forward on knees to Paeng Se Gi and prostrated.
“I see the esteemed... Hero Han Se Yeong.”
Paeng Se Gi grimaced and kicked his face.
Thud...!
Gah...!
“Not me, idiot—this guy.”
The brute crawled to Se Yeong and groveled again.
His jaw throbbed like it might shatter, but that wasn't the priority.
“Es-Esteemed... Hero Han Se Yeong, I see you.”
Se Yeong's face betrayed no emotion.
He'd spared them only to offload the chore.
No questions for the chief; no interest.
“Dig pits far from the stronghold. Two: one wide and deep, the other narrower but deeper.”
“Y-yes, Hero Han.”
Se Yeong directed the squad too.
“Se Gi, Cheon Yeong—watch them. Sa Sa Un, siblings—check the kitchen for food.”
“Got it, Hero Han.”
Paeng Se Gi and Yi Cheon Yeong herded the bandits off.
“What do you plan for them, Hero Han?”
Se Yeong's expression turned icy at Yeongak's question.
“Graves. For the corpses... and theirs.”
Hah...
“Om mani padme hum.”
Grasping the meaning, Yeongak sighed deeply and clasped his hands.
But he didn't try to stop Se Yeong.