Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: Knight-Errant Heo Pung-gae - [1]
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"What did Park Ae-jin say?"
"Couldn't give a firm answer, but she said to hang in there."
"Nice person."
"Yeah. Oh, who's this calling now? I'm busy enough just driving."
Yi Pung picked up the phone. It was O Eun-rim.
Hello. This is the Young Mistress of O Family Manor.
"What? Miss? This doesn't look like your number. Did you borrow someone else's phone because you thought I might not pick up?"
O Eun-rim replied.
It's a burner phone. Didn't want to risk trouble for you if the police investigate my regular number.
"Appreciate the thought. So, what's up?"
You wouldn't happen to be thinking of helping O Family Manor, would you?
"Well..."
Don't come help us. You don't have to.
This was unexpected. Yi Pung let out a hollow laugh.
"The Family Head called asking for help."
That wasn't really asking for help.
"Then what?"
She doesn't care if all the guys out there get shot dead or arrested.
"Guess she didn't send the high-value ones."
Exactly. What happens to the ones on site doesn't matter. Covering up the incident is the issue. She's scared O Family Manor will take all the blame.
"Wait, so she called in our tax-saving expert to share the blame too?"
More precisely, she hopes the Martial Alliance will share responsibility. She thinks if a Peerless Expert gets involved, the Alliance will step in to help.
With two Peerless Experts in the Martial Alliance already fighting the Polish Heavenly Demon and the bandit leader, it'd be a big problem if their one and only got nabbed by the cops. So if you get tangled up, she'll figure the Alliance will pull out all the stops to bury the incident...
"What the fuck, how the hell do they bury something like this?"
Exactly. It's just a desperate flail. So don't get involved. Just let us sink on our own.
O Eun-rim's voice over the phone sounded not just weak, but utterly forlorn.
"I'd like to do that, but..."
Yi Pung glanced at Heo Pung-gae from the driver's seat.
Heo Pung-gae deliberately avoided his gaze. Even he knew what he was about to do wasn't exactly honorable. Not morally, either.
Heo Pung-gae thought to himself.
This wasn't about escorting anyone or writing something in the merit-demerit ledger.
It was just discomfort. Obsession with death.
Always fixated on his own death, to the point where he got overly immersed in others' deaths too.
If it were that cult ripping out a passerby's eyes in some karaoke bar, he'd have left it to the police. He wouldn't have cared one bit what happened to innocent folks.
But it was deaths happening right there within reach. Ignoring it felt like he was causing those deaths himself, and that was unbearable.
Damn that obsession. That mental illness that had gripped this brain since he was seventeen...
The car pulled to a stop.
After scouting the karaoke bar, Yi Pung let out a deep sigh.
"Are they insane? Why only two beat cops?"
Had they rushed over from the nearest station? But sending just two made no sense. Were the Dongincheon cops so tied up with their side hustles even now?
He rolled down the window.
No one paid attention to the black car arriving at the scene. The area around the karaoke bar was already swarming.
The phone message had said access was restricted. Even with civilians shot, crowds had gathered anyway.
Some were filming the building with cameras. YouTubers or streamers, probably.
To Yi Pung, it was maddening.
"This is fucked, really fucking..."
Heo Pung-gae got out of the car. Yi Pung asked.
"Two beat cops blocking the entrance. What's the plan?"
"Through the window."
"The window?"
Heo Pung-gae had brought swords on the way.
Ones he'd commissioned at the forge a few months back, modeled after the one his wife gave him. Whether it matched the image in his mind was key—they moved by his will alone, just like hers.
Couldn't bring them loaded in the car to the scene; they'd get searched.
Heo Pung-gae entered the building across from the karaoke bar.
Two swords taped under the car detached and flew after him on their own.
Yi Pung's car circled the building, shielding Heo Pung-gae and the trailing swords.
He parked elsewhere and followed.
"Karaoke's on the third floor."
"Got it."
Heo Pung-gae climbed to the third floor.
The karaoke bar was in the opposite building. That was the target.
"Quite a gap. Can't jump it. Windows are closed—hard to smash with BB pellets..."
"I know."
Heo Pung-gae looked at his sword, infusing it with intent.
The sword flew out the window.
Not straight at the opposite one. It soared far to where few people were, then shot like an arrow into a random building's window.
The blade pierced glass, shattering it explosively.
"What?" "What's that noise..."
Cops and camera folks rushed that way in a panic. A few lingered, but it was better.
Heo Pung-gae floated the other sword too.
Yi Pung spoke up.
"Flying swords now? Thought you said you couldn't last time..."
No time to reply. Everything had to be swift.
He launched the sword again. This one flew straight, missile-like, smashing the window effortlessly and diving inside.
Fishing line was tied to the hilt's end-piece. A line now connected to the other building.
"Whoa."
Glass shattered again. People would swarm. Had to move fast.
Heo Pung-gae stepped onto the line and dashed. So fast, even watchers outside would struggle to comprehend.
His speed along the line matched a track star on solid ground.
He crossed the broken window into the building. This sword was no longer needed—sent it flying away to destroy evidence.
Confirming it gone, he hurried down the hall.
His footsteps drew a reaction from a group.
Eleven muzzles trained on him at once as they shouted.
"Who the hell are you!"
Heo Pung-gae flinched inwardly but replied calmly.
"O Family Manor folks?"
"Who are you..."
The shouting O Family martial artist gaped.
He was low-tier riffraff not worth ransom, but still a martial artist. He knew the most infamous Peerless Expert in the world right now.
"Invincible Unaffiliated, great hero?"
"Yeah."
"Why are you here?"
"To help. Civilians are being held, right?"
"Uh? Y-Yeah..."
Unexpected backup sparked hope. As the man smiled faintly, Heo Pung-gae said.
"I'll handle this. Get out."
"Huh?"
"Cops outside. Go turn yourselves in."
"Turn ourselves in?"
"Or you planning to bolt?"
"Don't know how you got in, but you're here, right? Looks like you snuck in—tell us how and..."
"Jump to that building over there."
Everyone's eyes widened at the one he pointed to.
Heo Pung-gae pressed quickly.
"Can't? Then go surrender. Unless you want things worse—hurry."
Despite the urging, they just eyed each other, unmoving.
Heo Pung-gae barked.
"Now."
It wasn't threatening, but his voice carried infrasonic menace. The killer instinct of a master.
"Now."
Heo Pung-gae watched the O Family martial artists flee down the stairs.
One group down. One more to go.
This was the karaoke hallway. Rooms branched off.
He eyed a firmly shut door.
Bandits from Full Moon Mountain were holed up inside. He shouted toward it.
"O Family goons are gone. Bandits, come out quick."
No reply.
But he knew they were peeking. Half-closing his eyes, sensing their qi beyond the wall—he caught their movements.
"Stay longer, it'll get worse. Come out. Release the civilians you're holding."
He spotted the civilians' qi too. Bound, from their posture. Heo Pung-gae's brow twitched. How'd they get ropes in a karaoke building?
"Surrender and your sentences lighten. Your boss lives. You wanna go down with him? If not, come out now."
Still no exit or reply. They just pulled something from their bags.
Inanimate—no qi. Couldn't see what, but their grip screamed guns.
Fight to the end? Why?
Heo Pung-gae couldn't fathom it. They'd seen O Family leave through the cracked window. What did they gain? Using civilians as shields to escape safely?
Didn't matter what they planned—time was short.
No time to puzzle motives or persuade longer.
Just suppress.
Heo Pung-gae beckoned. The sword that drew eyes earlier returned.
He flung it at the room's frosted window panel.
Bang! A shot rang inside, but he ignored it.
They figured he was smashing the door window? The sword kept demolishing.
Frosted glass shattered. Beyond: panicked burly bandits. Spotting Invincible Unaffiliated, they scrambled for cover in terror.
Heo Pung-gae reached into his pocket. Gloved hand filled with BB pellets.
The clash between O Family Manor and Full Moon Mountain Bandits had devolved into petty tactics.
Each side sent scouts to monitor the other in real-time, dispatching hitmen if a key figure moved.
With everyone packing heat these days, no one could afford chivalrous wooden swords. Hitmen shot on sight.
The shots might miss, hit, or provoke counterfire from masters' freak reflexes—drawing first, faster.
So hitmen had to be elites too. They'd each lost a master or two trading bullets.
Bad blood ran deep between O Family Manor and Full Moon Mountain Bandits.
Then Full Moon bandits—including a master—threw a drunken bash in some karaoke bar.
O Family Manor saw it as provocation and a prime chance to eliminate a bandit master.
Normally, avoid public eyes for ambushes—that's martial world rules. But O Family ignored it. One of their masters had just eaten a bullet, pride stung.
Now only the Family Head and O Eun-rim qualified as masters; her shoulder still hurt, so they sent eleven low-tiers to overwhelm numbers.
Guns on both sides meant shootout.
Four bandits outnumbered, they barricaded in a room.
In the chaos, a karaoke girl got shot; bandits grabbed two more as shields. "Shoot if you dare. But killing them screws you too."
Stalemate—no one leaving. Naturally, it blew up online. Hence the mess.
Then the voice from outside.
"Last chance. Come out. At least release the civilians. The shot girl too—now."
Invincible Unaffiliated's voice. The bandits knew him.
They'd seen the video. Bullets deflected in barrage, two Peerless Experts in near-CG fight.
No number of guns guaranteed victory.
They knew BB pellets from the infamous shooter would ricochet wildly through that broken window.
Yet the bandits didn't emerge. Didn't release the shot girl or shields.
No Peerless Expert could guess why they dug in so stubbornly.
The bandits stayed silent, mouths shut. Just raised their guns.
Persuasion over.
A thunk. Every bandit in the room bulged their eyes.
A BB pellet sailed through the shattered pane. That white plastic alone chilled them.
The Peerless Expert was coming.
The god of the martial world had arrived.