Escape

My breath scraped the back of my throat and my shoulders heaved with every stride.

I had thought ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I had built up a decent amount of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stamina by now, but maybe it was the pure terror of knowing someone was hunting me from behind. I kept glancing over my shoulder. Panic clawed at my chest and made every step feel more urgent than the last.

"Hah… hah… huff…!"

The humid, stifling air unique to Guizhou Province refused to fill my lungs no matter how hard I dragged it in. Tonight there was no moon. As I shoved through the dark trees, my vision began to blur and I started to wonder whether I was even still moving at all—until a single thread of light appeared ahead of me.

Already?!

It was the torch of the pursuer who had come looking for me.

I skidded to a halt and threw myself into cover. While I fought to quiet my ragged breathing and make as little sound as possible, the pursuer’s voice drifted through the trees.

"Goddamn it, how far did this bastard run? He had to go and make me get up in the middle of the night for nothing."

"Maybe he already slipped past us?"

"A guy who never learned martial arts is gonna outrun people who did? Go grab the dog already. We’ll track him by scent. Once we catch him he won’t even last one punch."

"Want me to kill him when we find him?"

"Kill him? The Master specifically said to bring him back alive. He’ll play with him a while and then kill him himself."

Their footsteps faded farther and farther away, yet the pounding of my own heart only grew louder.

The Master of Heuksabang was a vicious man who never killed anyone quickly. He preferred to keep people alive and toy with them until he got bored, and only then did he finish them off. I knew that better than most—I had been the one cleaning up the corpses. That was exactly why the thought of being caught terrified me.

If they catch me, I die. My only option is to get out…

I ignored the unpleasant crawl of sweat sliding down my back and started to rise—

"Found~ you."

The world in front of my face suddenly flared hot and bright.

"Ugh?!"

Crack!

A sharp, stinging pain exploded through my nose. Agony sent me tumbling across the ground, and a voice floated down from above my head.

"Ahh, this little shit. Had to go running off for no reason and drag me out of bed in the middle of the night."

Clutching my nose, I lifted my head. The face that appeared was the ugly, mean mug of the man who held a torch—the one everyone called Squad Leader.

He hung the torch on a nearby tree, then cracked his knuckles with a series of sharp pops.

"You really thought you could get away?"

"…I thought I was pretty well hidden."

"Look at that—talking back with a short tongue now, you little bastard."

The moment the Squad Leader swung his foot as casually as if he were kicking a rock, I threw my hands up to block. Even so, some impossible strength launched my body into the air. I slammed into a tree a heartbeat later.

"Guh—!"

Every scrap of air left my lungs at once. I hit the ground, and the Squad Leader’s mocking voice rang out above me.

"What does a kid who never learned martial arts know? You think holding your breath means I can’t hear you breathing? Huh?"

"…"

His foot filled my vision as he stepped closer.

"The Master said bring you back alive. He never said bring you back unharmed. So you’re gonna take a little of my irritation for me."

Still looking down, I asked him,

"Squad Leader, how about you just pretend you never saw me? Do me a favor. I’ve helped you out a few times. I’ll pay you back big later."

"You really think that makes any sense?"

"Yeah, I figured."

I had hoped for a scrap of goodwill. Of course it wasn’t coming. That left only one choice.

Fight my way through.

I snatched up a rock that lay within reach and smashed it down toward his foot.

"You little—!"

Naturally he dodged the thrown rock. But what I had been aiming for was the single instant his balance broke as he pulled his foot back. I grabbed the remaining leg and yanked with everything I had. The Squad Leader toppled onto the dirt. In the same motion I heaved the rock high and drove it straight into his groin with all my strength.

"Guhhhhh…!"

People say that when the pain is extreme enough, you can’t even scream properly. Apparently even a martial artist never toughens that particular spot. Still gripping the rock, I rose and crouched beside him.

"Squad Leader. I clearly gave you the chance to show some goodwill. You’re the one who ignored it. So…"

I lifted the rock and brought it down hard one more time.

When he stopped moving, I set the rock on the ground and stamped out the torch with my foot.

He was talking to someone earlier, so there are definitely more of them nearby.

Something cold began to patter against my face. Rain was coming.

After one last check that no one else was close, I moved out fast.

The scattered drops quickly became a downpour. My entire body was soaked through and the chill sank deeper with every step. My feet kept sinking into the mud, sapping what little strength I had left.

The rain extinguishing the pursuers’ torches lowered the chance they would spot me—but it also meant I couldn’t see them either, and the tension only climbed higher. Every time a pursuer suddenly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠loomed out of the darkness I startled like I had seen a ghost.

The one small comfort was that after dealing with the Squad Leader I ran into pursuers twice more, and none of them had been skilled enough that I couldn’t handle them.

Considering that the Master of Heuksabang’s main business was hiring out thugs for money, the fact that I had yet to meet even one of his core subordinates—the Poison Fang Squad—felt close to a miracle of heaven.

Well, you don’t use an ox-butchering knife to kill a chicken.

That little streak of luck, however, ran out almost immediately.

A cliff.

Dark night, pursuers sticking to me, rain pouring down—maybe that was why I had lost all sense of direction. Before I knew it I had reached a dead end. The moment I turned to look for another path, I understood.

"I didn’t hit a dead end. I got herded into one."

Pursuers already surrounded me.

"Ye Hajun. You’ve suffered enough for one rainy night. Just come quietly now."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then jump."

The man smirked and jerked his chin toward the drop behind me.

"There’s a thousand-foot cliff down there. We didn’t drive you this way for fun."

I glanced over my shoulder. Just as he said, nothing but bottomless darkness waited below. I couldn’t even guess how high it was. In every murim novel people just leap off cliffs for some miraculous encounter or other—are those guys actually insane? Even if death is certain, how do you just hold your breath and jump?

That worry was steadily becoming reality. The pursuers advanced step by step, forcing me backward until the tips of my toes already hung half over the edge.

My head’s spinning. Is it from the hit earlier? Breathing’s getting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hard too.

I was starting to wonder whether the dizziness alone would send me over the edge when a strange sound reached me.

"What?"

I frowned as I answered. The voice grew clearer.

"Yeonja?"

The voice that had been echoing from nowhere, like sound bouncing inside a cave, continued without pause.

"Whoever you are, yeah, I need it."

Jump?

I tipped my head back again and stared at the darkness beneath the cliff. Still nothing but black. In front of me the pursuers had already drawn their blades and were closing in step by step.

Could I trust this kindness?

The hesitation lasted only a heartbeat.

"Fuck it. I must be about to die if I’m hearing voices."

"Hey—you crazy bastard!"

The instant I threw myself off, the pursuers’ faces twisted in panic as they lunged for me. I shot them a clean, open sneer—then gravity took over and I fell.

A sudden violent gust of wind caught my body and flung it upward through the air. The same voice barked a warning.

And exactly as warned, a heavy splash swallowed me whole.

I thrashed desperately, trying to claw my way back to the surface for air—only for gravity to seize me again and drag me down once more.

What the hell—you said a river.

A waterfall?

You said I’d live…

The next impact hit, and consciousness slipped away.

The first thing I heard was the murmur of human voices.

"You crazy old sorcerer bastard. We finally found him and now he’s dead?"

"Just wait a little. He’s still breathing, is he not?"

"This is the first one in hundreds of years who can actually understand us. Do something."

"When that child leapt from the cliff, simply raising the wind was already interference enough with the lower realm. Any further meddling and even I cannot predict what might happen. Wait a little longer."

"We’ve waited so long already… having to wait again is painful…"

As my mind slowly cleared, the voices faded.

Then I opened my eyes.

The first thing that filled my vision was a pale, hazy smoke that had taken on the rough shape of a human being.

In other words—

"…A ghost?"

The words left my mouth on their own. The smoke’s lips curved into a gentle smile.