Hongryun Sect (15)
Hongryun Sect (15)
"Is it over...?"
Seon-go asked, her body still curled up. I glanced over my shoulder to check the blood-soaked form of the Sect Leader. Blood was pouring from every hole on his face—ears, nostrils, eye sockets. His limbs were spasming like an inflatable tube man, and his eyes had rolled back and swollen like a baked fish's. The son of a bitch had even shit himself, his pants damp with it.
Even if he were a peak-level master, there was no coming back from that state.
I lifted Seon-go and moved her aside for a moment. As I held her in my arms, she asked with a bewildered look.
"Wh-where are we going? Docheol?"
"Just a second. I'm going to cut his head off, just to be sure."
The odds of resurrection were nil, but there's always that one-in-a-million chance, right? I picked up the fist weapon the bastard had used and headed back to the corpse. Not a single trace of inner energy was detectable anymore, and the hunk of meat—by then it was questionable if it had ever been alive—intermittently spat bloody froth, emitting a grotesque stench.
I grabbed the bastard's hair, lifted the head, and spoke to Seon-go.
"If it's hard to watch, turn around."
"Oh my, it's already over."
As I spoke, Sannyeo's voice rang out from behind me. I looked back without thinking and saw her leaning against the doorway, her fingers dyed red like she'd been making kimchi. Her relaxed demeanor made it clear she'd already dealt with all the dangerous elements outside.
I looked at her and said.
"Ah, you're a bit late. If you'd come sooner, you'd have seen a good show."
But Sannyeo's expression was strange. Despite having seen me kill the Sect Leader, instead of looking proud or surprised, she was staring at me and the Sect Leader's corpse with an expression of extreme disgust. Why was this cruel woman, who had surely seen corpses more than once or twice, reacting like that? I shook the fist weapon and said.
"What? What are you staring at?"
Then Sannyeo fixed her gaze penetratingly on my lower half and said.
"......That's not what I think it is, right? You said you killed him in a peculiar way, so that... like... it's not, right?"
I followed her gaze down to my lower body. My pants were off, and my raging hard-on still hadn't subsided.
The Sect Leader bastard's face was smeared with semen, and the Sect Leader bastard's ass was a bloody mess.
What exactly was Sannyeo thinking right now?
I shook my head firmly and said.
".....No."
Seon-go heard my explanation and nodded, adding.
"I... I don't know what kind of misunderstanding you might have, but Docheol-ssi didn't do anything strange. He just came on that person's face...."
Sannyeo's expression rotted even further.
I waved a hand at Seon-go and said.
"Seon-go. Just be quiet for a moment. The misunderstanding's getting deeper."
Clearing up the misunderstanding took longer than expected.
******
"Aigo, what in the world happened?"
"No, how on earth did this come about?"
"Th-that's the Sect Leader bastard's head, ain't it? Aigo! That damn plague of a Sect Leader finally got struck dead!"
"Did the heavens finally do their work?"
The next morning. The heads of those who'd been sucking the village dry until now were hung up in front of the Crimson Ring Sect's gates. The Sect Leader, his trusted confidants, and the able-bodied men who'd banded with them to torment the village.
The heads, hung up in order, were more than enough to draw screams from the mouths of people heading out to work at dawn, and they threw the Crimson Ring Sect lackeys working at the inn and Jayoung into sheer terror.
Still gripping the axe, its edge sharp and clean, I kicked in the Crimson Ring Sect's door and shouted.
"Everyone, attention!"
Behind me, the Crimson Ring Sect's servants were carrying a chair for Seon-go like a palanquin. She sat awkwardly atop it, fidgeting with her fingers and gauging reactions. The crowd showed a range of responses at the sight of me, and those who lived near the inn seemed to recognize me.
"Isn't that the fellow who'd been staying at the inn up ahead?"
"Why's that fellow kicking in the Crimson Ring Sect's door and coming out?"
"Isn't that the Crimson Ring Sect leader's daughter behind him?"
I swept my gaze over the crowd once, then raised the axe to show them. An outside enforcer of the Crimson Ring Sect who hadn't yet grasped the situation rolled up his sleeves and shouted.
"Hey! You! What the hell do you think you're doing! Huh? What on earth are you...!"
No time for conversation. Since the bastard just up and tried to swing a fist at me, I twisted the axe blade and brought it down precisely onto his head.
Kwajik!
"Uwaaaaak!"
"Aigo! Someone's dead!"
When a Crimson Ring Sect disciple's head split neatly in two right before their eyes, the other disciples and the villagers all collapsed to the ground, screaming or trembling uncontrollably. I flicked the blood off the axe and said.
"Silence! Everyone, attention!"
I banged the axe against a pillar—tung, tung—and shouted "attention" once more. This time, without anyone needing to be told first, mouths shut tight. As expected, people only quieted down when they saw blood.
"I am Docheol. I arrived in this village not long ago, and I heard that the demon-like bastard living here, the Crimson Ring Sect Leader, was up to no small amount of vile business."
I pointed my axe at the Sect Leader's head.
"So, on your behalf, I brought judgment upon the Sect Leader bastard."
The Sect Leader's face was so swollen and bloody, looking like he'd suffered horrific torture, that from a distance you'd think someone had hung up a chunk of red meat.
"Aigo, you're right! That bastard absolutely deserved to die!"
"Aigo! The Sect Leader bastard's been struck by heaven's punishment! My heart's completely refreshed!"
The villagers cheered at those words while jeering at the Sect Leader's face. Swaying in the wind, the Sect Leader's bloated face bore no readable expression.
"Y-you shameless wretches! Up until now, Sect Leader protected this village, and you betray him like this!"
"The esteemed Venerable Geumbok will not forgive you!"
A few young men who'd been members of the Crimson Ring Sect hurled curses.
I let the bastards' curses go in one ear and out the other. The reason we'd feared them was the martial skill of the Crimson Ring Sect's Sect Leader and its core members, not the Crimson Ring Sect's uniforms.
Now, those young men standing around in nothing but black uniforms.
Puuuuk!
"Guheok...!"
Kkang!
"Aaaaak!"
"What do you mean the Sect Leader bastard protected us!"
"You trash bastards bled us dry with protection fees just to fatten your own bellies! What makes you so high and mighty that you talk about betrayal!"
"You think we groveled because we were scared of you! Die, you bastards!"
"Uwaaak!"
"Aaaak!"
They were nothing more or less than targets for the enraged villagers' catharsis. I watched as the bastards were gruesomely torn apart, while Seon-go fidgeted anxiously with a bewildered expression. She stared at me for a long moment, then tried hard to act like nothing was wrong, clearly worried that the anger might turn on her.
I shouted again at the frenzied villagers.
"Now, stop! There are still more announcements!"
The villagers, breathing heavily, barely regained their composure and dispersed. The disciples who'd been swarmed and beaten were left like rags, vomiting blood.
"Keuheok...!"
"Keuhuk...!"
They might survive if they found a physician, but with bones broken and muscles torn, they wouldn't live long.
I withdrew my gaze from the bastards and spoke.
"Furthermore, I declare that I have married the Sect Leader's daughter Seon-go here, and that I shall formally become the new Sect Leader of the Crimson Ring Sect."
The villagers looked a little flustered at that. They glanced sideways at one another, quietly shrinking back.
The Crimson Ring Sect members, even as they writhed on the ground, screeched at the top of their lungs.
"D-don't talk nonsense! Wh-who do you think would permit such a thing...! Keuheok...!"
"Y-you nameless, rolling stone of a...! You bag of bones...! Bastard...! Keuk!"
Of course, the bastards shouted, coughed up blood, and died on the spot, or their wounds reopened and they sprayed out gore.
I hefted the axe and spoke.
"So, as the new Sect Leader of the Crimson Ring Sect, I had a bit of a talk with my wife Seon-go here."
All eyes in the crowd fixed on us. Their expressions were desperate, laced with a faint glimmer of anticipation.
"First, since we do have to run a sect, we will collect taxes. There are parts the Crimson Ring Sect was actually delegated by the government office, after all."
"Aigo...."
"Figures...."
The villagers let out audible sighs. Some were already grumbling and turning to leave, giving up on hope. I met Seon-go's eyes, gave her a grin, and then opened my mouth.
"However, with no disciples and no bandits left, the current taxes are far too high."
Even accounting for the existence of disciples and bandits, the taxes were excessive. According to Seon-go's calculations, even with less than half the current amount, we could sufficiently maintain the sect, pay taxes to the government office, and live.
"So we've decided to cut the taxes in half."
"Waaaaaah!"
"Uwaaaaaah!"
"Uwaaaaaaah!"
The moment my words ended, they were all shouting over each other. Like a cult leader, I spread my arms and responded to the cheering people, and they looked at me and cried out.
"The new Sect Leader of the Crimson Ring Sect! Manse!"
"The new Sect Leader of the Crimson Ring Sect! Manse!"
"The new Sect Leader of the Crimson Ring Sect! Manse!"
I answered the excited people with a smile, waving my hand.
Beyond the crowd, Sannyeo's figure came into view.
She was smiling, but her eyes were throwing a question at me.
Satisfied with this?
Of course.
"No."
Too few people were cheering.
The voices were too small.
"I need to be cheered by more people."
I still wasn't enough.