Chapter 28

Hoo.

I sat cross-legged and steadied my breathing. The breath I exhaled still carried qi I hadn’t managed to draw back in.

What a waste.

Circulating qi meant drawing in qi from outside, cycling it together with the qi inside me, and accumulating it. But only a small amount remained in my body.

Most of it returned to nature.

In novels, you could shoot up just by doing a little of this.

The greatest martial art under heaven? An elixir of the ages?

Not here. The Jin Family’s Cultivation Technique was Peak-grade, but it was hopeless at accumulating internal energy. And elixirs? Bullshit. I hadn’t even laid eyes on one. All I’d done was suffer like hell.

Is that my only hope?

Another mass of internal energy crouched in a corner of my dantian. If I could make all of it mine, it would be a huge help in the fights ahead.

The problem was that no matter how many times I tried, it refused to budge.

Move. Move!

As if the thing that had held out like a boulder this whole time was going to start moving. I tried drawing up my internal energy, but it gave me no response. With a sigh, I got to my feet.

“Are we leaving?”

Hyuk Mujin had been keeping watch over our surroundings.

“Yeah.”

“Understood.”

Then he briskly got the reconnaissance squad ready and scooped Soyul into his arms. I could only stare.

What the hell did this bastard eat?

Why was he suddenly so on the ball?

This was the guy who used to move only when I shoved a fist in his face. Somehow he seemed like a different person.

Not that I’m complaining.

I shoved the stray thoughts aside and slung Gong Yacheong onto my back. As the poisoning worsened, his face had turned a dark bluish-black.

Hyuk Mujin asked worriedly, “Will he be all right?”

“He has to be.”

I’d already done everything I could. All I could do was hope Gong Yacheong held on. I muttered toward the unconscious man.

“Not much farther. Just hold on a little longer.”

Sunlight squeezed through the dim dawn. I took a long stride toward it.

No—I started to.

• Awoooooo!

At first I thought it was the wind. But those were the cries of living beasts. Hyuk Mujin muttered,

“The wolves must be hungry.”

“Wolves?”

“Of course. It’s hardly strange to find wild animals in the mountains.”

This was a game set in ancient China. It wouldn’t be strange for wolves or tigers to jump out from anywhere. I’d heard wild animals crying several times over the past few days.

But…

Something feels off.

This wasn’t like the ones before. Just hearing those howls made my chest tighten and my fingertips tingle.

The gut I’d honed over seven years seemed to whisper. Something was beyond that forest, where the sunlight hadn’t reached yet.

“Prepare for battle.”

“Then we’re leaving now… Huh?”

“Form a defensive formation.”

Hyuk Mujin snapped out of it and passed on the order. Three reconnaissance squad members with thin-iron-plated shields blocked the snow-covered path.

A narrow trail, high ground on a hill. Advantageous position.

• Awoooooo!

A second howl rang out. Closer—and all the more ominous for it. Hyuk Mujin spoke cautiously.

“It sounds like nothing more than a pack of wolves…”

“Then that’s even better.”

“Won’t this delay us too long?”

I shook my head. We’d been running for two full days. If this brief pause was what got us caught, that was fate.

“Hold. We’ll wait a little longer.”

The beasts seemed to understand me. For nearly fifteen minutes, the howls never stopped, and they kept getting closer. In the snow-covered mountains at dawn, snapping branches and paws racing over snow made a racket.

“Doesn’t sound like one or two.”

Hyuk Mujin glanced at my face.

“From the sound, there must be dozens… Wolves are pack animals, but this is strange.”

No sooner had he finished than the pack showed itself. Maybe they hadn’t found prey in winter; most of them were nothing but ribs. But they were still predators. We couldn’t let our guard down.

Starving predators, at that. The kids could get hurt.

Yet contrary to my thoughts, I felt oddly relieved. The place was crawling with martial artists, but it wasn’t as if the beasts had learned martial arts too.

Forget gut feelings—these were easy opponents.

I skip a few raids and my touch is completely gone.

I clicked my tongue and stepped forward. The dozens of wolves charging at us already looked like chunks of EXP.

“Let’s wrap this up. Yeah?”

I crooked a finger at the wolf leading the charge in the distance. Judging by its size, that one was the leader.

• Grrrraaaah!

Since when did a wolf roar like a lion? Don’t tell me it was some kind of spirit beast? Was I seriously going to lose to an animal?

Not happening.

I swallowed hard and held my spear upright. I couldn’t afford to lose the battle of wills, so I stared hard and lowered my voice.

“Come.”

The effect was incredible!

• Grrrrr…

The charging wolf suddenly veered off and plunged into the forest. Its dozens of subordinate wolves poured after it and vanished.

No—they had fled. A cold wind swept across the countless pawprints stamped into the snow.

What the hell.

They came running like they were going to eat me alive. Why run?

Then a famous comic popped into my head. The one about a rubber man with hyperactivity disorder smashing the maritime authorities.

“D-don’t tell me it’s that?”

That ability that could scare enemies senseless—knock them out, even—with qi alone.

This game was insane enough for that to be entirely possible. In which case, the System ought to ping me right about now…

Ding.

There it was! Buzzing with anticipation, I waited for the System voice.

I ignored the reconnaissance squad’s bizarre faces and muttered without stopping.

“Come on, come on, come on!”

It appeared.

The Quest Window.

System

A Quest has been created.

Quest

Jopil, One Question, One Kill

The relentless chase has come to an end. You have come face-to-face with these cruel and tenacious pursuers, and you must confront Jopil, One Question, One Kill.

May you rest in peace… No, may fortune favor you in battle.

Grade: Peak

Limit: Jin Taekyung

Task: Survive — Incomplete

Reward: ???

Failure: Death

• You do not have the authority to choose this Quest.

• The Quest has been forcibly accepted!

“…Huh?”

What was happening? Where was I, and who was I?

Countless questions flashed through my mind and vanished. Then I heard someone’s voice.

“We finally meet.”

A man stood beside a gaunt tree, about twenty zhang away.¹ Far if you called it far, close if you called it close. The problem was that nobody had known he was there.

Not even me.

When the hell did he…?

The higher my Level and martial realm, the sharper my five senses got. And I still hadn’t sensed that man. I hadn’t even heard footsteps.

If he hadn’t spoken first—if the Quest Window hadn’t appeared—I would have turned around without knowing a thing.

The wolves.

Those beasts had fled. Not from me. From that man.

The unease that hadn’t left me since earlier took on a shape. I didn’t even need Qi Sense.

I already knew his name.

“Jopil?”

The man—Jopil, One Question, One Kill—smiled wide and nodded.

I had met three Peak masters so far.

Jin Wikyung, Wipeng, and the Head Elder. All three looked the part. Jopil, One Question, One Kill, did not.

He looks ordinary.

He wasn’t a giant like Jin Wikyung, didn’t have sharp eyes like Wipeng, and didn’t wear a silver beard like the Head Elder.

Jopil was of average height and had an unremarkable face.

That only made him seem more dangerous.

“Nice to meet you.”

The instant Jopil smiled brightly and stepped forward, I sprang back without a second thought.

“Nimble. Good reactions, too. I like you.”

My heart hammered. Maybe from the tension, a hoarse voice slipped out.

“Don’t come any closer.”

“Sorry about that. I was so happy to see you I got carried away.”

I wasn’t happy at all.

“Don’t be so tense. I only want to talk.”

“Talk?”

“Yes. I’ve been wanting to meet you.”

From Jopil’s side, he probably had. He’d lost twenty men just a few days ago.

Fuck. I’m fucked.

The thought of a master like that chasing me day and night for two days, wanting to tear me apart, made my stomach turn.

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Jopil!”

When I shouted, I felt the air behind me freeze. Jopil smiled as if he already knew everything.

“What difference does it make if you tell them who I am? Second Rate, Third Rate. All idiots and trash.”

He’d read the reconnaissance squad’s level exactly. I almost wondered if he was using the System too.

“Why don’t we have a brief conversation instead? There’s a great deal I’d like to ask you.”

“A conversation? You’re not just buying time?”

“Buying time? What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. You’re waiting for your men.”

As if I’d hit the mark, the bridge of Jopil’s nose twitched. Right. I didn’t know why, but he was alone. If I was willing to take a few losses, it might be enough to…

“Waiting? Me? For those pathetic weaklings?”

“…What?”

“Didn’t I already say? They’re all idiots and trash. Hopeless lives. No effort, no talent.”

“…”

“Black Mountain Blade was decent enough, but he had no eye for people, so he deserved to die. I tore his eyes before I left. Punishment for failing to recognize a master.”

Correction. Jopil, One Question, One Kill, didn’t merely look dangerous.

He was a fucking dangerous bastard.

This guy’s completely insane.

I’d never seen anyone like Jopil, in real life or in a game. That unbothered tone and manner. He treated people like tools. A psychopath.

“Anyway, what you’re worried about won’t happen. Those bastards are painfully slow. It’ll take them half a shichen to catch up.² By then, everything will be over.”

One thing was certain. In the ending Jopil envisioned, his own death had no place.

“Well?”

“And if I refuse?”

Jopil smiled softly.

“I’ll be disappointed in you. Very disappointed.”

I could more or less picture what would happen if he became disappointed.

“Young friend, I have no grudge against you. No—if anything, I’m rather fond of you. Answer a few things truthfully, and I might even let you go.”

“Wait. Let me go?”

“Yes. I won’t harm you in any way. I’ll send you back in one piece.”

“…Really?”

“I’ll stake my neck on it. Is that enough?”

The sincerity showed on Jopil’s face. Unpredictable psychopath or not, maybe everyone could walk out of this alive.

“All right.”

Even if the worst happened, what else could I do but fight? For now, I planned to buy some time and search for a weakness.

“Good. A friend who listens to reason, haha.”

Jopil clapped and laughed. The scabbard at his left hip swayed.

Right-handed. Swordsman.

I kept inputting the data in my head.

“First, I’d like to ask your age.”

“Twenty.”

Jopil’s eyes went round.

“My. To have reached that realm at twenty. Impressive.”

I’d spent seven years as a Hunter without ever escaping F-rank, yet in this game, people treated me like a martial arts genius.

It was a strange feeling.

“Judging by your clothes, you seem to be from the Jin Family of Taiyuan.”

I nodded readily.

“Super First Rate at twenty. You wouldn’t be that famous Heaven Shaking Sword, so… your name?”

“Jin Taekyung.”

“Jin Taekyung. Jin Taekyung. I’ve heard that name somewhere. Ah!”

Jopil had been turning it over. Then he exclaimed.

“The wastrel Third Young Master! That’s you?”

“I’m not a wastrel. These days, they call me the Sleeping Dragon.”

“Puhahaha! I knew it. The Jin Family of Taiyuan, those rigid fools, poisoning someone? Please. I don’t know who set this board, but things are getting interesting.”

Jopil looked at me, satisfied.

“I’ve heard plenty of rumors about you. Was all of that a disguise?”

“…Something like that.”

“Good. A hidden blade, then. I like it. When did you start learning martial arts?”

“Seven years.”

Not entirely a lie. By Murim standards, Hunter combat methods were a kind of martial art too.

“Seven years. And your master?”

“Don’t have one.”

“No master?”

He studied me for a while, then said,

“Doesn’t seem like a lie.”

“You promised to spare me if I answered honestly. That was your promise, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was. What an absurd yet entertaining story. A direct descendant of the Jin Family of Taiyuan, without a master, reaching that realm at twenty… My, my.”

My mouth was bone-dry. I gripped the spear and scanned Jopil’s body. He was unbelievably riddled with openings.

But was what I was seeing really all there was?

He could be baiting me into attacking first.

The thought went no further. Jopil suddenly burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! Good. I like it. I’ll keep my promise.”

He’d keep his promise?

The thing I’d thought impossible was actually happening. I stared at Jopil in a daze.

“No need to look at me like that. Truth is, at first I really wanted to kill you… But now that we’ve met, I find I want to watch you a little longer.”

Jopil continued, his voice brimming with goodwill.

“It’d be a waste to kill outstanding talent like this. Especially in a situation like this.”

“A situation like this?”

“Ah. You might not know. You’ll find out when you return. Go on, then. I hope you’ll have grown a little more by the next time we meet.”

I could leave? He meant it?

I backed away without dropping my guard. Jopil merely watched me with a smile.

He looked like a fisherman letting a minnow go.

They say even if you walk into a tiger’s den, you live if you keep your head.

Who’d have thought Jopil’s wild-card personality would turn into an exit.

Once I had a safe distance, the breath I’d been holding burst out. But there was no time to catch it. I had to leave this place a second sooner, if I could.

“We’re moving. Hurry!”

Then—

“Hold on, young friend.”

Jopil looked at me, puzzled.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean? Going back, like you promised…”

“I only gave permission for you to leave. Alone.”

“…What?”

“I may not look it, but I’m in someone’s employ. I have to finish the mission I took on.”

The mission. Don’t tell me.

“The three survivors of the Sakju Branch. And those pieces of trash you call your subordinates. Leave them behind. I ought to be paid for two days’ work, don’t you think?”

Eyes that had been clear as a child’s flashed. The next instant, they were a predator’s.

“I’ll say this now. If you refuse, I’ll be very disappointed.”

I stared blankly at Jopil, the reconnaissance squad, the young siblings, and the dying Gong Yacheong. Time was short, but after dozens of rounds of doubt and conflict, one line burst out.

“Then be disappointed, you fucking bastard.”

Jopil laughed savagely.