Chapter 25

“Is this the afterlife?”

That was the first thing the middle-aged man said when he woke up.

Before I could answer, something small sprang forward and threw itself into his arms.

The child, tears dangling from the corners of his eyes, shouted.

“Uncle Gong!”

“Socheon! You’re safe. But what in the world…?”

The confused middle-aged man listened as the child explained through sobs. When he heard that we had met on the hill and that all the enemies had died by my hand, his eyes widened.

“Are you from the main family?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Ah, Heaven has helped us!”

“…”

I helped you, you old man.

“I was sure I’d fallen all the way down the mountain… I thought that was the end of me.”

“It nearly was. You were lucky.”

I pointed below the ridge. Two corpses presumed to belong to the enemy lay with their heads rammed into trees.

If the grass along the path where he had slipped had not been so thick, he would have ended up just like them.

I didn’t realize it at first, either.

I only became aware of the middle-aged man’s existence thanks to the Quest Window.

Even after I defeated all the enemies, the Survivors of the Sakju Branch Quest had not been completed. That meant there were more survivors.

The question was whether there were any survivors besides this man…

The last trace of unease vanished the moment I helped the exhausted middle-aged man to his feet.

Ding.

System

• You completed the Survivors of the Sakju Branch Quest!
• A Chain Quest has been created!
• You leveled up!
• You leveled up!
• Merit and Fame increase!

“Whew.”

The middle-aged man exhaled. He had only circulated his qi briefly, but he seemed to have recovered enough strength to look much better.

He rose and respectfully clasped his hands in salute.

“Benefactor, you saved us all.”

“Not at all. I only did what needed to be done.”

These days, lies came pouring out whenever I opened my mouth. Then again, it wasn’t entirely untrue. I had to clear the Quest somehow.

If anything, I should be the one bowing and thanking them.

Still, Santa Claus—or rather, the survivors—seemed deeply moved by my attitude.

“Outstanding martial arts and a sense of chivalry, too. I, Gong Yacheong, sincerely admire you.”

“Socheon and Soyul owe you a great debt, Great Hero.”

Thanks to that, I learned their names. The middle-aged man was Gong Yacheong, and the young siblings were Socheon and Soyul.

“If it isn’t too impertinent, may I ask our Benefactor’s name?”

“My name is…”

A sudden thought flashed through my mind.

Wait. If they hear my name, won’t they come running at me with swords?

Whatever conspiracy lay behind it, the person who had lit the fuse on this war was none other than yours truly, Jin Taekyung. I doubted two people who had lost their home and family would feel particularly kindly toward me.

Right. This calls for a well-intentioned lie.

“Hong Gil-dong. My name is Hong Gil-dong.”¹

“Hong Gil-dong… I’ve never heard that name before. But I can feel the bearing of a hero.”

Socheon chimed in from the side.

“Here one moment, there the next. It sounds like the name of someone who appears and disappears like a ghost.”

…How did that kid know?

Before he could bring up the part about calling one’s father Father and one’s elder brother Brother,² I hurriedly changed the subject.

“More importantly, what happened?”

Dark shadows fell across both their faces.

Gong Yacheong spoke first.

“It happened only a few days ago.”

By the time the carrier pigeon bearing word of the war arrived, the Sakju Branch had already been surrounded so tightly that not even a drop of water could slip through. Wandering martial artists hired by the Mount Heng Sword Sect slaughtered the people and burned the buildings.

“There were a full hundred of them. The Branch Leader and the martial artists under his command bought us enough time to escape through a secret passage. Most of those who got out were women and children who knew no martial arts.”

I didn’t need to ask what had happened to the others.

The System was absolute and factual. The three people here were the only survivors of the Sakju Branch identified by the Quest Window.

“I want to know about the enemy.”

“They’re wandering martial artists.”

“Wandering martial artists?”

“As you know, they’re bastards who’ll do anything for money. The especially vile ones among them took a commission from the Mount Heng Sword Sect and attacked us.”

“They seemed pretty weak for such vile bastards.”

“Do good and evil determine who is strong and who is weak? The men they hired this time were ordinary wandering martial artists, common as dirt. Their leader was the problem.”

Gong Yacheong gritted his teeth.

“Jopil, One Question, One Kill. That was the man. The Branch Leader sensed defeat the moment he saw him and entrusted his family members to me.”

Socheon’s small fists trembled.

“I’ll tear him limb from limb and kill him with my own hands.”

It was an unusual choice of words for a kid, but understandable given the grudge carved into his bones.

I gently patted Socheon on the head.

“That is exactly what will happen. I’ll help you.”

“Really?”

“A man’s word is worth a thousand pieces of gold. Do you think I’d say one thing and do another? I’ll definitely catch that bastard and level u—”

“Huh?”

“No, I mean I’ll kill him and avenge your grudge.”

“Ah… Thank you. Thank you so much, Great Hero Hong!”

“Thank you. Truly, thank you!”

They thanked me over and over. I felt like a complete scumbag, and a sharp stab tore through one corner of my chest.

No. They’ll be happy when their enemy dies, and I’ll be happy when I level up. It’s mutually beneficial. Mutually beneficial.

After forcing myself to accept that justification, I asked, “How many of them are there?”

“While we were trying to determine the enemies’ position, I overheard them talking. They said there were about thirty, including Jopil.”

“Thirty? Thirty men?”

“That’s right. So we need to flee at once…”

Gong Yacheong’s voice faded into the distance. In its place, a faint sound from far away drew closer.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

I could hear it. The sound of leveling up. The sound of logging out!

Suppressing the corners of my mouth as they kept creeping upward, I said,

“Let’s wait here for the rest of them.”

“Wait? What do you mean?”

“Wipe them all out! We can’t let such vile bastards live!”

“No, Great Hero Hong, listen to me…”

“A master like you can do it! Thank you, Benefactor!”

Socheon rushed into my arms with tears in his eyes. I spread my arms and pulled him into a hug.

“That’s right. Let’s kill them all!”

“Let’s kill them!”

“Jopil, you son of a bitch!”

“Son of a bitch!”

That was when Gong Yacheong spoke.

“Jopil is a Peak master.”

“Jopil, you fucking son of a—huh?”

“Jopil, One Question, One Kill. He’s one of the few Peak masters in all of Shanxi. Why do you think he has survived this long despite being tangled up in all kinds of grudges and vendettas?”

“Don’t tell me…”

“Everyone who challenged him died. That’s the kind of man Jopil is. Cruel—and every bit as strong.”

“Ah.”

Sensing something was wrong, Socheon looked up at me.

“Socheon.”

“Yes, Great Hero.”

“Now that I think about it, this probably isn’t the right time.”

“Huh?”

“I was being foolish. Our first priority should be getting you and your sister safely back to our family. Right?”

“…”

“I was also injured in the fight earlier, and my men are exhausted. It would probably be a difficult battle.”

Socheon looked me up and down. My clothes were drenched in the enemies’ blood, but they were perfectly intact, without a single tear. There was no way I could have been injured.

“I have an internal injury.”

“…”

He turned toward the reconnaissance squad. They hadn’t swung their swords even once before the fight ended and were so fresh they looked ready to fly.

“What you see isn’t everything.”

“…Great Hero.”

I slipped Socheon off me and shouted,

“We’re returning to the main family. Everyone, prepare to leave!”

I hurried back toward the squad, but Socheon’s hand clutched my collar tightly and refused to let go. Tears glimmered in his round eyes.

“Great Hero.”

“Hey, why aren’t you moving? Move, move! Socheon, I’m a little busy right now, so let’s talk later. Okay?”

“Great Heeero.”

“Mister Gong Yacheong. No, Great Hero Gong, what are you doing? Every second counts.”

“…Socheon, come here.”

Gong Yacheong looked at me as if I were an idiot and pulled Socheon away. His hand came between me and Socheon like a guardian blocking a criminal.

Socheon almost wailed.

“Great Hero Hong Gil-dooong!”

And that was the starting gun.

Boom!

With a thunderous crash, the cabin door was smashed apart, and someone burst in.

System

• Level 22 Hyuk Mujin

“Jin Taekyung, you fucking bastard!”

Hyuk Mujin huffed and puffed, his furious eyes fixed squarely on me. Gong Yacheong and Socheon stared at me blankly.

“Great Hero Hong?”

“Great Hero Hong Gil-dong?”

“Ah. Well. You see…”

…Fuck.

“Hmm.”

Jopil stared down at the corpse. The face was twisted, its eyes wide open. Frozen beneath blood and snow, the man had been known by the nickname Black Mountain Blade.

“Tsk, tsk. How did you end up like this, friend?”

He had been loyal and clever. Jopil had never imagined he would die so pointlessly.

“See? Haven’t I told you time and again to walk around with both eyes wide open?”

Jopil grabbed Black Mountain Blade’s wide-open eyes and pried them even farther open.

A horrible sound escaped as the frozen flesh tore.

Rip. Riiip.

The others watched without even daring to breathe.

His expression and tone were no different from usual, but they could feel to their bones that Jopil was furious.

The killing intent pouring from the Peak master choked the breath from their throats and sent cold sweat trickling down their backs.

No wonder.

More than twenty men had been wiped out. And all on a mission to deal with the remnants of the Sakju Branch.

One Question, One Kill. Jopil was a bizarre man who always asked an enemy he liked exactly one question before killing them.

The wandering martial artists considered Black Mountain Blade lucky to be dead. Had he survived, he would have suffered something far more horrifying.

“That’s better.”

Jopil wiped the blood on the waist of his trousers and rose.

“Well, what does everyone think? Tell me without holding back.”

“We should obviously follow the order.”

One man stepped forward. The neatly dressed, dignified middle-aged man and the ten-odd martial artists standing at attention behind him were the overseers and guides the Mount Heng Sword Sect had sent to keep the wandering martial artists under control.

Jopil smiled faintly.

“Ah, yes. I’d forgotten our great Mount Heng Sword Sect Hall Master was here. But what’s this about an order?”

“Wipe out the Sakju Branch and join the main force. Have you already forgotten the Young Sect Leader’s order?”

“An order? I remember accepting a commission.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

The middle-aged man glared at Jopil, displeased.

“Coming this far was your own unilateral decision in the first place. And what came of it? You lost more than twenty subordinates to the remnants of a single branch!”

“Which is why we should pursue them. We can finish them off in half a day.”

“Jeongyang might be another matter, but if you pursue them as far as Honju, we risk a counterattack. I won’t permit any more unilateral decisions.”

“Permission. Permission…”

Jopil mulled the word over, then spoke.

“No. That won’t do. I don’t like it.”

“What do you mea—”

Crunch.

The middle-aged man’s neck shattered, and he died before he could finish speaking. Jopil had twisted it at blinding speed. He licked his lips.

“I like war. No matter who dies, they’re forgotten.”

“You bastard!”

The Mount Heng Sword Sect’s martial artists realized what had happened and drew their weapons, but Jopil had already plunged into their midst.

Crunch! Slash!

Warm blood poured onto the snowfield. Every time Jopil rampaged like a wild beast, someone’s neck, arm, or leg was torn free and sent flying.

“Gaaah…”

An unnamed martial artist’s groan was the last sound.

Standing atop the heap of corpses, Jopil spoke into the crushing silence.

“We’re pursuing them.”

This time, no one said a word. As his subordinates hurried to prepare as though fleeing for their lives, Jopil continued to stare at the bodies.

What kind of man was he?

Jopil was a Peak master. From the scars on the corpses and the footprints, he could picture what his opponent looked like.

A single man. A highly skilled spearman had been here, and he was the one who had slaughtered the other twenty-odd men.

He killed Black Mountain Blade in one strike. How could he be anything less?

The final strike that pierced through Black Mountain Blade’s chest had been particularly interesting.

This should be a fun fight.

Who was he? A master of the Jin Family of Taiyuan? Or someone unknown?

It didn’t matter. Jopil let out a pleased laugh.

“Let’s meet soon, friend.”

“What news has come in?”

“None, sir. All we can do is move as quickly as possible…”

“Damn it! Damn it!”

Wipeng seethed with frustration, but there was nothing else he could do. As his subordinate had said, their only option was to find the Third Young Master as quickly as possible and protect him.

Jopil, One Question, One Kill…

Wipeng knew the man’s reputation well. If the Third Young Master fell into his hands, death would be the only possible outcome.

If that happens, I won’t be able to face my lord.

Jin Wikyung endured with superhuman patience.

He was currently the head and center of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. He had placed the younger brother he loved more than anyone and hundreds of family members on the scales, and after much deliberation, he had sent his most trusted subordinate, Wipeng, to his brother.

But if I fail…

I won’t be able to face my lord.

Wipeng’s grip tightened on the reins. He spurred his horse onward. More than twenty mounted riders followed in a long line behind him.