Chapter 309

“Hooah!”

Geom-yeon stretched and went outside.

The greatest benefit of being a Waiter was, of course, being able to eat and sleep at the Inn.

Although it was a shabby little room, it meant having his own space that could block the wind, rain, and cold. And he could eat his fill, relatively speaking. Even if it was mostly leftovers from the customers.

That was also the reason Geom-yeon had become a Waiter.

Just the fact that he could sleep with a warm back and without starving was enough to satisfy Geom-yeon. But that didn’t mean he had forgotten his younger brothers who still slept on the streets.

In Geom-yeon’s arms was a bundle.

It was a bundle full of leftovers from the customers. He had carefully gathered them while avoiding the Inn owner’s notice in order to feed his younger brothers.

“Hehe! They’ll like this.”

It was then, as Geom-yeon smiled, imagining how happy his younger brothers would be.

Clatter!

Suddenly, someone burst out from the other end of the alley.

“Hyung!”

Recognizing him, Geom-yeon dropped the bundle and ran over.

The one tumbling to the ground, covered in blood, was none other than Tae Musang.

“What happened? Hyung!”

“Q-Quickly, you have to get out of here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s in Pursuit.”

“Hyung!”

“The kids were killed by him. Ah-mong, Cheong-yu, even Jin-ha…”

“What does that mean?”

Geom-yeon’s eyes wavered.

Geom-yeon knew all three of them.

They were mischievous and often caused trouble, but they were fundamentally good kids. And they were younger brothers who had liked and followed Geom-yeon very much.

Tae Musang grabbed Geom-yeon’s hand.

“There’s no time to explain. He’s chasing us.”

He dragged Geom-yeon along and began his Escape.

Even as he ran along with him, Geom-yeon looked back.

At that moment, someone appeared from the alley where Tae Musang had burst out.

He was holding a sword dripping with blood.

Even in the darkness, his cold gaze was clearly visible.

His eyes were fixed precisely on Tae Musang and Geom-yeon.

“One more small fry, I see.”

His voice was incredibly low. But strangely, it pierced Geom-yeon’s ears with clarity.

The man had deliberately imbued his mumble with Internal Energy.

So that Geom-yeon could hear it.

“Keuk!”

Geom-yeon felt a shiver run down his spine.

He ran with all his might alongside Tae Musang.

The man ran after them.

The man swung his sword wide in the air. The blood on the blade splattered off.

The sight felt even more terrifying.

There was no time to ask Tae Musang what had happened.

Right now, they had to Escape.

But Geom-yeon instinctively realized that they would never succeed in their Escape at this rate.

Ah-mong, Cheong-yu, and Jin-ha, who had been killed by that man, were all light-bodied and nimble kids. They were as fast as flying squirrels, so much so that even Geom-yeon couldn’t catch them.

If those three kids had been killed, it was impossible for him and Tae Musang to escape the man’s Pursuit, no matter how much they ran.

“Hyung!”

Geom-yeon called out to Tae Musang.

Tae Musang turned only his head to look at Geom-yeon.

He was already out of breath from his Escape from the harbor. So he had no energy to answer.

Geom-yeon said curtly.

“Let’s go to the Inn.”

It was a random statement, but Tae Musang somehow understood what Geom-yeon meant.

Tae Musang nodded and pushed strength into his legs.

Tatatak!

The sound of the pursuing man’s footsteps from behind grew louder. It meant he was getting closer.

Cold sweat streamed madly down their backs.

Their hearts pounded so hard it felt like they would leap out of their mouths.

Swoosh!

A sharp sound of something cutting through the air came from behind.

Geom-yeon and Tae Musang twisted their bodies almost instinctively to dodge the man’s sword. But they couldn’t avoid it completely.

Long gashes appeared on their backs. Fortunately, they were only flesh wounds, so moving wasn’t a problem, but the excruciating pain almost made them stumble and fall.

“Keuk!”

“Damn it!”

Geom-yeon and Tae Musang struggled to regain their balance and started running again.

The man’s voice came from behind them.

“Persistent little rats.”

His voice was filled with irritation.

It was only natural.

A nighttime Pursuit was not part of his plan.

Originally, their objective was to sneak in at night, achieve their goal, and slip out quietly.

A midnight Pursuit was not in the plan.

And it was all because of Tae Musang.

‘To think I have to go through this trouble because of one little rat, no, two.’

A chilling Killing intent radiated from the man’s eyes as he watched the two from behind.

Vowing to tear them to shreds once he caught them, the man pushed strength into his legs.

Swoosh!

His sword cut through the darkness once again.

This time too, Geom-yeon and Tae Musang dodged the sword by a hair’s breadth.

‘Their senses are very good.’

It was a movement that couldn’t be dismissed as mere luck.

Occasionally, there were kids with such extremely developed senses.

If they had been connected to a good Sect or born into a martial family, they would have been praised as outstanding talents.

Seeing two such kids in one place was by no means an easy thing.

‘What a waste!’

If it had been any other situation, he would have definitely taken those kids. If they had refused, he would have kidnapped them and raised them into capable Martial Artists.

He himself was a Martial Artist created through such a process.

‘Let’s end this now.’

The Killing intent in the man’s eyes deepened.

The long Pursuit was reaching its end.

Tae Musang’s movements had become noticeably slower, and because he was trying to Escape with him, Geom-yeon’s movements had also dulled.

No matter how outstanding their senses and physical abilities were, it was impossible from the start for them to completely shake off a Martial Artist who had learned Martial Arts.

If anything, they deserved praise just for dragging it out this long.

Phat!

The man kicked off the ground.

It was a swift movement, incomparable to before.

Like a swallow flying over the water’s surface, he bent low at the waist and rushed forward at a terrifying speed.

“Dodge!”

Geom-yeon shouted loudly and pushed Tae Musang to the left.

As a price, Geom-yeon allowed the man’s sword to strike his waist.

Slice!

With a gruesome cutting sound, a long gash was carved into Geom-yeon’s waist.

“Keoheok!”

Geom-yeon screamed and tumbled to the ground.

Blood was pouring from his waist.

If a little more time passed like this, his life would be over.

‘Is… is this the end?’

Geom-yeon’s vision blurred.

He had lost so much blood that his eyes had lost their focus.

Even in that state, Geom-yeon looked for Tae Musang.

Thanks to Geom-yeon, he had barely avoided injury, but Tae Musang’s condition didn’t look good either.

He was already injured, and he had used up all his strength in the desperate Escape to this point.

He no longer had the strength to even lift a finger.

“Damn it!”

Tae Musang screamed in fury.

The guilt of not being able to protect the three kids during the Escape, and the remorse of dragging Geom-yeon into this, made him furious.

It was the same for Geom-yeon.

He didn’t know the man’s identity, but the self-reproach of not being able to protect Tae Musang from his hands tormented him.

Geom-yeon gathered all his remaining strength and shouted.

“Who are you? Who are you to do this to us?”

“You son of a bitch! You better make sure you kill me. If I survive, I’ll crush you all. I’ll find you all and kill you.”

Tae Musang also spat out a voice filled with Killing intent from the depths of his lungs.

It wasn’t just the desperate struggle of a cornered person.

‘If I let these brats live, they will become a huge problem later.’

He too had the instincts of a Martial Artist.

He could distinguish whether the boys’ struggles were mere bluffs or if they truly had the will to follow through.

The man, who had approached close to the boys, raised his sword high to finish it for good.

A normal person would have squeezed their eyes shut at the sight of such a man, but the two boys’ reactions were different.

They glared at the man with wide eyes. As if they were trying to burn all of his features into their memory.

The man, while marveling anew at the boys’ Poison Qi, brought his sword down.

Jjeo-eong!

“Keub!”

At that moment, with a metallic clang, the man let out a stifled groan.

‘What?’

The man grabbed the hand holding the sword with his left hand.

Jii-ing!

The sword was vibrating violently.

To the man, it felt as if it were screaming.

“Who’s there?”

The man shouted as he barely managed to quell the sword’s vibrations.

The sword hadn’t started vibrating on its own. It was because something had delivered a powerful impact.

Just before the man’s sword reached the boys, something flew in and struck his sword away. The object that struck his sword disappeared back into the darkness in an instant, so he couldn’t make out its true form.

‘An Expert!’

He couldn’t identify the object that struck his sword, nor was he aware of the unidentified presence before it intervened.

The opponent was an Expert.

The man said, wary of his surroundings.

“This is a personal matter between me and those children. I don’t know who you are, but don’t meddle in other people’s affairs and be on your way.”

It was a polite threat.

Since he seemed to be at a disadvantage, he was trying to intimidate the opponent with a threat.

The man raised his Internal Energy and expanded his senses to their limit. But there was no presence caught in his senses.

‘Where are you? Where are you?’

It was then.

“I don’t think I can do that…”

Suddenly, a cool voice came from right behind him.

Shudder!

In that instant, the man felt goosebumps all over his body.

The opponent’s breath was vividly felt on his back.

He was currently in a state where he had raised all his bodily senses to their absolute limit. His senses were so sharp that he could detect the movement of an ant passing by ten Zhang away. And yet, he couldn’t feel the opponent’s presence at all.

‘What?’

A drop of cold sweat trickled down his spine.

In that moment, the man made a decision.

Shwiaak!

He spun his body like a top and swung his sword.

The sword cut through the darkness like a flash of lightning. But there was no sensation of anything hitting the blade.

The opponent had dodged.

It was truly a ghost-like movement.

Then, the same voice came from behind him.

“You have a bad habit with your hands.”

“What?”

Slice!

In that instant, the hand holding the sword was severed.

“Kuaaack!”

The man grabbed his instantly severed wrist and let out a monstrous scream.

As he writhed in pain, he turned around. But the one who had cut off his wrist was nowhere to be seen.

It was as if he were possessed by a ghost.

His gaze suddenly turned to Geom-yeon and Tae Musang.

The two of them were just gaping at him like fish out of water.

Reflected in their pupils was his own image. And the image of another man standing behind him like a ghost.

‘What?’

Goosebumps rose all over his body.

No matter how fast or good one’s Footwork was, one couldn’t move faster than a person turning around on the spot. That was common sense. But the opponent was completely ignoring such common sense and moving at the same speed as he was turning around.

No, considering the radius of rotation, it was clear that he was moving several times faster.

It was enough to make one doubt if a human was even capable of such movement. But he could not continue his thoughts any longer.

Sssiit!

Because something sharp had swept past the back of his knees.

“Keuak!”

As his tendons were severed, he fell to his knees.