Chapter 308

Jang Hamun, the Boss of the Sea Dragon Clan, paced around the rear garden.

It was an hour when he should have long been asleep. The reason he couldn’t sleep and was instead wandering the garden was because of his troubled mind.

“Hoo!”

A sigh escaped him unconsciously.

The thing Lee Seong-hak had brought back from his long journey was the cause of his anguish.

After agonizing for a long while, he finally headed toward the warehouse at the back.

The warehouse at the rear of the Sea Dragon Clan’s compound was extremely small. It had been built in the early days of the Sea Dragon Clan and was once used frequently, but now it was abandoned.

This was because there were now rows of warehouses several times its size. So, it was currently being used for Jang Hamun’s personal purposes.

Just a few days ago, the warehouse had been empty. With no important items inside, there was naturally no one guarding it. But now, it was different.

Two martial artists stood guard in front of the warehouse.

“Boss!”

“What brings you here at this hour?”

The martial artists recognized Jang Hamun and relaxed their guard.

“Is everything all right inside?”

“He was causing a ruckus during the day, but he’s fine now.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! He seems to have calmed down.”

“I’ll go inside and see for myself.”

“You’ll go in personally, sir?”

“Yes!”

“Understood.”

The martial artists opened the warehouse door for him.

Jang Hamun entered, illuminating the path ahead with the torch they handed him.

The inside of the warehouse was so dark that without the torch, he wouldn’t have been able to see an inch in front of him.

Inside the long-unused warehouse was a room made of large iron bars. It was a kind of Thunder Prison.

Inside the Thunder Prison were a cot and a small table. And in one corner, something was crouched.

The crouched figure was an extremely gaunt silhouette of a person.

His body, as shriveled as a Mummy, was covered in scars.

His eyes had lost their focus, and drool constantly trickled from his mouth. Anyone could see he had suffered severe hardships.

He was the source of anguish that Lee Seong-hak had brought.

Lee Seong-hak had said he pulled the man from the sea on his way here.

The man, who had been floating naked in the sea, was in a state of complete exhaustion. Lee Seong-hak had tried to help him recover his strength by feeding him porridge, but he had flown into a mad frenzy, making it impossible to care for him.

For such a skinny person, his strength was so immense that the martial artists on the ship had been injured while trying to subdue him.

At his wit’s end, Lee Seong-hak had forcibly administered a Monghondan pill to him and locked him in a box. Then he had brought him here.

Even after arriving here, the man’s condition did not improve.

He had seizures every few shichen, and each time he did, the martial artists of the Sea Dragon Clan had to endure a great ordeal. In the end, just like Lee Seong-hak, Jang Hamun had no choice but to lock the man inside the iron-barred cell.

“Huuuh!”

The man remained crouched, letting out only bizarre breaths.

Jang Hamun silently watched the man.

The man kept his head bowed low, as if afraid of something.

Jang Hamun asked.

“Who are you? Why were you adrift at sea?”

“……”

Naturally, the man did not answer.

Jang Hamun scowled deeply and glared at the man. But the man showed no reaction.

If he had his way, he would dispose of the man right now.

It was because he felt an ominous Qi from the man. In Jang Hamun’s experience, those with such an aura always brought disaster in their wake.

Perhaps the usual Jang Hamun would have dealt with him without hesitation. But the treasure blade lying to one side stopped him.

Jang Hamun looked at the small treasure blade placed on a table outside the iron bars.

The crescent-shaped scabbard and blade were of a foreign design, not seen in the Central Plains.

Jang Hamun had never seen a blade of this shape before.

What caught his attention most were the colorful jewels embedded in the treasure blade’s scabbard and hilt.

The crescent-shaped blade, studded with red and blue jewels, was a treasure in itself.

It was a priceless treasure, impossible to appraise.

The man was obsessively attached to the blade.

Whether adrift at sea or having a seizure on the ship, he had held this blade tightly in his hand.

And the treasure blade was incredibly sharp.

Everything it touched was sliced cleanly like rotten radish. That made subduing the man even more difficult. But once they subdued him and took the treasure blade away, the man became noticeably calmer.

Jang Hamun picked up the treasure blade from the table. At that, the man inside the iron cell’s eyes flashed wide.

“Kaaah!”

As the man looked like he was about to have another seizure, Jang Hamun stealthily put the treasure blade down.

“Just where did he get such a Devilish Creature?”

Lee Seong-hak, who had rescued the man, had suggested to Jang Hamun that they search the nearby sea.

He said that no matter how he looked at it, the treasure blade didn’t seem to belong to the man. He was sure the man had stolen the blade from somewhere, and his theory was that the place he stole it from would have more such treasures.

There was no evidence whatsoever; it was purely Lee Seong-hak’s speculation. But Jang Hamun also agreed with his opinion to some extent.

Having led the Sea Dragon Clan for a long time, he too had become an expert at smelling gold. He had the ability to tell with just a glance whether someone would be profitable or harmful.

From the man, he smelled the strong scent of gold along with disaster.

That was the reason Jang Hamun couldn’t easily get rid of the man.

“Damn it!”

The greed in his eyes deepened.

＊＊＊

Tae Musang sat in a corner of the harbor, gazing at the night sea.

The place where he sat was not where typical merchant ships or large vessels came in, but where fishing boats usually docked.

The fishing boats were so small that they would be full with just two or three adults. If high waves were to hit, they would easily capsize. In fact, several boats would capsize at sea each month and never return.

Naturally, the fishermen on board became souls who never returned.

Being here, one would sometimes see bloated corpses wash ashore. They were the bodies of fishermen who had gone out on their boats and disappeared.

Seeing such corpses was a daily occurrence here.

Everyone risked their lives to go out on the boats.

Tae Musang’s father was one of those who had lost his life that way. The only difference was that Tae Musang’s father had never washed back ashore here.

His mother died of a broken heart, and their meager fortune was divided among relatives.

After that, Tae Musang was left alone.

Having lost everything, Tae Musang drifted into the slums and naturally became the leader of the children there.

To take care of the children, there was nothing Tae Musang hadn’t done.

He had stolen, and he had pickpocketed.

Once, he was caught by a martial artist and beaten to within an inch of his life.

Having survived such near-death experiences several times, he became very bold. He no longer batted an eye at most things. But even for him, the memory of yesterday was too shocking.

The nine flying daggers that had floated around Pyo Wol vividly came to mind.

He had never even imagined a martial art that could wield nine flying daggers at once without touching them.

“I want to be strong too.”

For the first time, such a desire arose strongly within him.

He had seen countless martial artists until now, but he had never once had such a thought.

That was how great of an impact Pyo Wol’s martial arts had on him.

It was as if a large crack had appeared in the small, egg-like world he had been confined to.

He didn’t know Pyo Wol’s identity.

He didn’t know why he was staying here. But he wanted to learn his martial arts.

If he could learn even a fraction of his martial arts, he would be able to care for far more children than now. And he could give them a much more prosperous life.

“Hoo! To do that, I must first carry out his orders well.”

Even now, his younger brothers were scattered, monitoring Tarha and Yul Ayeon’s every move.

Although they were young, they were as sharp as ghosts, so he wasn’t particularly worried.

Adults look down on young children, not considering them a threat. Tae Musang’s younger brothers knew how to exploit that loophole.

It was just as Tae Musang was dusting off his bottom and getting up.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, a puzzled expression appeared on his face.

He had spotted several fishing boats entering the harbor.

“At this time of night?”

No matter how knowledgeable a fisherman was about the local currents, they would never take a boat out after the sun had set. This was because reefs lurked everywhere.

If they took a boat out onto the pitch-black sea and hit a reef, it meant death for everyone. It was especially close to impossible to navigate the night sea in a small boat like a fishing boat.

Even the fishermen familiar with the seas of Haimen tied up their boats at night and didn’t even come near the harbor. Yet someone was entering the harbor in the dead of night without any lights. And there were several of them.

This was by no means a normal situation.

Feeling that something was amiss, Tae Musang ducked his body low.

The fishing boats pulled their bows into a secluded part of the harbor.

People jumped off the docked fishing boats.

There were as many as twenty of them. They had packed the small fishing boats full of people.

Gulp!

Tae Musang swallowed dryly.

Even from a distance, the atmosphere of the people who got off the boats was unusual.

Even in the darkness, their eyes seemed to glint.

Tae Musang knew well what that kind of gaze meant.

‘Martial artists!’

And they were not of the level commonly seen in Haimen.

He had never seen such chillingly cold eyes from the martial artists of the Sea Dragon Clan or the Crimson Sword Society.

‘What is this? What in the world is happening in Haimen?’

Tae Musang instinctively realized that something unusual was happening.

It was the instinct of someone who had survived at the bottom.

The very fact that twenty martial artists of that level had secretly entered Haimen was no ordinary matter.

Tae Musang held his breath and watched the men who had disembarked.

The one he watched with particular attention was the white-haired man who got off last. The man’s hair was so white it was clearly visible in the darkness.

The white-haired man’s gaze was incomparably more terrifying than the others. Even watching from a distance, he felt his heart drop.

Gulp!

The moment he saw the man’s gaze, Tae Musang once again swallowed dryly.

It was then.

Suddenly, the white-haired man’s gaze turned toward where Tae Musang was hiding.

Tae Musang realized.

The man had noticed his presence.

‘Fuck!’

He instinctively got up and began his escape.

At that moment, one of the martial artists beside the white-haired man initiated the pursuit.

Papapat!

He instantly closed the distance to Tae Musang.

Tae Musang clenched his teeth and ran.

He could tell just by the speed at which his opponent was approaching.

There was no way he could shake this person off by normal means. At this rate, he would be caught in less than half a quarter-hour.

‘Who said I’d let myself be caught so easily?’

The back alleys of Haimen were like his own backyard.

He knew the maze-like, complex alleys like the back of his hand.

Tae Musang twisted and turned, dashing through the alleys. But he couldn’t shake off the pursuer who had latched onto him.

‘Kkht!’

He didn’t know what trick he was using, but the pursuer was tracking his movements like a ghost.

It was impossible to shake him off by ordinary means.

In the end, Tae Musang had to make a decision.

His choice was the underground passage where the filth of the slums flowed.

The underground passage, into which all sorts of filth flowed, had such a foul stench that an ordinary person couldn’t stand it for even a moment. But not all of the underground passage was flowing with filth.

In the middle, there was a clean, island-like area that barely smelled, which he and the children sometimes used as a hideout.

The path to the hideout was straight, but after that, it was a complex, tangled maze. It was so complicated that the back alleys on the surface couldn’t compare, and nine out of ten people who entered for the first time would get lost.

In fact, a considerable number of people had unknowingly entered this place, gotten lost, and died.

If he could just make it to the hideout, he would be able to shake off the pursuer.

Thinking that, Tae Musang ran through the underground passage.

“Hah, hah!”

By the time he was out of breath, Tae Musang was finally able to reach the hideout.

“Huh, Hyung-ah?”

“Hyung, what are you doing here at this hour?”

But there were several young children in the hideout.

“Why are you guys here?”

Tae Musang’s eyes wavered.

Playing here was only allowed until sunset.

Leaving this place when the sun went down was the rule among them. That’s why he had come here.

“It’s just that the older hyungs wouldn’t play with us…”

“Sorry! Big Hyung-ah.”

The children, knowing they had done wrong, answered with subdued expressions.

“Damn it! Hurry and follow me.”

“Hyung-ah, why?”

“No back talk, just follow me. Hurry!”

At Tae Musang’s roar, the children also realized something was wrong.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

Tae Musang ran ahead, cursing repeatedly. Behind him, the children followed with their short legs, trying their best to keep up.

Splish! Splosh!

Behind the children, the sound of the pursuer’s footsteps was getting closer and closer.