Chapter 80 :

Chapter 80. Those Who Chase the Dragon

Bang Duchil was persistent.

Every time our eyes met, he kept shouting something about “sworn brothers” and followed me around.

If Dongryong had not been recovering because he was injured during the battle, I would have wanted to flee in the middle of the night long ago.

“I’m sorry.....”

Dongryong, who had risen from the bed, was lowering his head like a prisoner between Geumpyo and Eunho.

“Please forgive me. Senior Brother.”

Unexpectedly, Dongryong clearly remembered what he had done.

He said that inside his consciousness, he was definitely himself, but the one moving his body was not him.

There was no way to see the situation outside through one’s consciousness when the Heavenly Slaughter Star awakened.

The reason Dongryong was able to maintain his consciousness must have been entirely thanks to the Taeul True Scripture.

Fortunately, the higher his achievement in the Taeul True Scripture rose, the stronger and deeper the thread of his consciousness would take root, and Dongryong would never become a demon again.

“I’ll never… never do it again.”

“What do you mean?”

“…Those… things.”

The sight of him unable to continue speaking properly and sniffling.

I barely held back the laughter that was about to burst out at those teary eyes that looked as though tears would spill any moment.

“You mean turning into a demon?”

“Hic, hic.”

Tears dripped from his rabbit-like, wide-open eyes.

He looked at a loss, afraid of when his murderous star might awaken again.

That sight was unnecessarily cute and made me want to tease him.

“But what will we do if your murderous star awakens again next time......”

“Waaaah. Sob, sob.”

In the end, Dongryong burst into tears.

Geumpyo and Eunho knelt down.

“Senior Brother! I’ll take responsibility.”

“Senior Brother! I’ll take responsibility too.”

These brats, why are they suddenly kneeling and making a fuss?

“Hmm, how exactly will you two take responsibility?”

“We talked last night. If..... Dongryong tries to become a demon again, then Eunho and I will......”

“That’s enough! What in the world are you talking about?”

My heart suddenly dropped.

Just what is inside these brats’ heads?

I sighed.

“Don’t worry. Dongryong will not become a demon again.”

“Yes? Really? Senior Brother?”

“Yes. Of course, to enter a more stable zone, he’ll have to learn the Taeul True Scripture like his life depends on it and raise his achievement much higher, but if his achievement in the Taeul True Scripture reaches even five-star mastery, he should be able to suppress the murderous star, and if he reaches seven-star mastery, he won’t fall into the murderous star.”

Geumpyo and Eunho hurriedly stood up and wrapped their arms around Dongryong’s shoulders.

“Dongryong! Did you hear that! You’re not a demon! There’s no way my little brother could be a demon!”

“See! I told you there was no need to worry!”

Dongryong was laughing while tears and snot streamed down his face.

However, I could not tell whether he was happy because he would not become a demon, or because he could come with us.

They did not know it, but thanks to the Taeul True Scripture, Dongryong had essentially obtained an incredible talent that would not fall behind any special constitution as a warrior.

Looking at the three brothers excitedly linking arms among themselves, I said,

“That is why there must be no gaps in your training going forward. There was a reason I made you learn energy circulation like your lives depended on it.”

“Of course. Of course. From now on, even if you say you can make soybean paste out of red beans, I’ll believe you unconditionally, Senior Brother.”

“Good grief.”

#

Twelve hundred refugees emerged from the three villages around Mount Tianmu.

Their homes had been terribly destroyed, the roofs of the neglected thatched houses had all collapsed, and the blood spilled by the bandits flowed through the village streams and wells, leaving them with no way to continue living there.

“Mom, I’m hungry.”

“Yes, just hold on a little longer. Let’s go up the mountain and gather some edible greens.”

“You’re going to leave me behind again? No, right?”

“...Yes, this time let’s go together.”

Even so, they were feeling infinite gratitude that they were alive and could see one another again.

“They say everyone is thinking of leaving their hometowns behind and going toward Hangzhou. It will be hard to even get through this winter here.”

Village Chief Heo, who had now practically become the representative of the three villages, let out a long sigh.

“Even so, it is fortunate that we were able to meet one another again like this. This is all thanks to you.”

“You’re too kind.”

Village Chief Heo took out from his bosom the promissory note worth five thousand nyang that I had given him.

“This is what you entrusted to me.”

“Didn’t I tell you to buy the supplies you needed?”

“We are not that shameless.”

Village Chief Heo paused for a moment before continuing.

“We will repay this grace somehow. Of course, it will not be possible in my lifetime, but in my children’s lifetime...·. if that does not work, then in my grandchildren’s lifetime.....· and if that still does not work, then even through the descendants after them, we will certainly repay it.”

The old man with white hair had a guilty expression, as if he had no way to express his gratitude.

We had searched Twin Curtain Stronghold, but no treasure had come out.

According to Yang Gunbaek, Twin Curtain Stronghold had recently spent a lot of money expanding the stronghold.

Useless bastards, as always.

In the end, although we had subjugated the mountain stronghold, there was nothing gained, so there was nothing to distribute to the village.

“If it takes that long, then in the end, I won’t be able to receive the benefits, will I?”

“......”

I held the promissory note out again.

“It may not be enough, but please use it to rebuild the village.”

If the villages disappeared, it would also take a long time for the mountain stronghold on Mount Tianmu to be rebuilt.

If the mountain stronghold could not grow, it would also take time for Bang Duchil to take control of the Green Forest Alliance.

Moreover, I knew all too well what it felt like for unrelated people to be swept up in a huge battle or war and fall into suffering.

‘If I really need money, there are a few more places I can loot.’

“…But...”

The old man, who had spent his entire life never receiving anything, seemed afraid of the enormous amount of money that was five thousand gold nyang itself.

Hmm, what should I do about this.

Actually, there was a method I had thought of.

“Then how about doing this? Use this money to rebuild the villages, and in the future, send a portion of the profits from the villages to the Taeul Sect.”

“.....?!”

The old man’s eyes opened wide.

“Would it make you feel a little more at ease if you thought of this as an investment?”

People like Village Chief Heo actually felt more comfortable accepting something if even a small burden was placed on them.

It was a characteristic of people who had never received anything for free in their entire lives.

“T-then......”

“Would that be all right?”

Village Chief Heo nodded fiercely.

“For the next thirty years, we will send one-tenth of the profits from the three villages to your sect.”

“Ah, no·.··. that’s too much.”

What I had said was simply meant to ease his burden, not to tell him to put a shackle around his own neck.

However, Village Chief Heo shook his head so hard it seemed as if it might fall off.

“No. I must do at least that much for me to accept this money and for the villagers to comfortably settle back in the village.”

The villages around Mount Tianmu were located on a road that merchants had to pass through no matter what.

Moreover, it was a road where people exhausted from crossing the high mountain range would definitely stop to rest either before or after crossing the mountain.

Village Chief Heo and the villagers had no idea how much their villages could develop.

When I could not answer hastily, Village Chief Heo held my hand with determined eyes.

“Instead, I have a request.”

“What is it?”

“Please allow us to use the name of the Taeul Sect in the villages.”

“What do you mean by that.......”

“I mean, please allow us to say that these villages are under the protection of the Taeul Sect.”

Such contracts were common protection contracts in commercial districts where sects were located, but there were no examples of someone like me making a contract for three entire villages, and villages far away from the sect at that.

Moreover, the Taeul Sect was currently in seclusion, and the distance was too far for the Taeul Sect to extend its influence all the way here.

“I just want others to be at least afraid of our villages.”

Village Chief Heo kept glancing at Bang Duchil and his group.

He was probably wary because of the talk that a mountain stronghold would be built again on Mount Tianmu.

However, during the process of cleaning up the corpses after the battle, he had seen Bang Duchil dig a huge pit with one palm force, bury all the corpses inside, and cover the soil back up with one punch, so he simply could not speak.

I scratched my head and answered,

“That seems a little difficult. To begin with, the Taeul Sect isn’t exactly a sect people fear......”

At that moment, Baek Soryeong, who had been listening to the conversation, began whispering into Bang Duchil’s ear.

Bang Duchil crumpled up his huge body to listen, nodded, and stepped forward.

“I’ll do it!”

“Yes?”

“.....”

“I’ll do it. Protect the three villages, I mean.”

Bang Duchil pounded his chest and laughed heartily.

“In return, become sworn brothers with me. That way, won’t I have a justification to protect them?”

“......”

Village Chief Heo brightened at Bang Duchil’s words and looked at me, while Baek Soryeong, standing beside Bang Duchil, stifled a giggle.

In my previous life, I had already been suspected of being a dark faction spy just because I had carried out a few operations together with the Green Forest. And now, I was about to become the sworn brother of the future Green Forest Alliance Leader.

This...... even if I were treated as someone of the dark faction, I would have nothing to say, would I?

Before I knew it, Village Chief Heo was looking at me with desperate eyes, as if he were suddenly a person leaving behind his final words.

“....If, if that could happen, I would have no regret even if I died right now.......”

I pressed my throbbing head firmly with my fingers and asked Bang Duchil,

“Haa...... Just why are you trying to become sworn brothers with me? My sect is nothing special, my background is nothing special, and I’m only a third-rate warrior.”

“I have never met anyone greater than myself until now.”

“You’re saying I’m great? I encountered a miraculous opportunity, so in other words, I became like this because I was lucky. But Brother Bang, you achieved tremendous martial arts without anything, didn’t you? Even looking at future potential, I am no comparison.”

At my firm declaration, Bang Duchil shook his huge face.

“The ‘greatness’ I speak of is not something like martial arts.”

“.....What?”

Then he revealed surprisingly white teeth and grinned.

“A man who steps forward without fear for the weak and does not hesitate to give away his precious family fortune has a great spirit that cannot easily be found even if one searches all under heaven.”

“You were the first to make me feel astonishment. Since I cannot make someone like you my subordinate, is it not only natural for a man to want to become sworn brothers with you?”

It was an absurd logic, but..... there was no way to escape.

From the start, when someone came at me so sincerely like that, it was hard to reject them to the very end.

Village Chief Heo, who had been leaving behind words as if he would die just a moment ago, nodded so hard it seemed his neck might break.

“Haa......”

In the end, I let out a long sigh.

Fine, when had I ever walked the path of a prestigious righteous faction member anyway?

“All right. Let’s do that…”

“Go bring a knife!”

No, I hadn’t even finished answering yet...... and more importantly, a knife? Did he say a knife?

“Why a knife?”

“To become sworn brothers, we need a blood oath.....”

This person says terrifying things so casually.

I stopped him and sent a pleading look for help to Baek Soryeong, who stood beside him.

“We’ve seen so much blood already, and you still crave more blood? Let’s just share the cups of brotherhood!”

“Yes, darling. I don’t want to smell blood anymore either.”

Fortunately, Bang Duchil obediently listened to Baek Soryeong’s words.

“Shall we? Hey, Village Chief Heo, is there any wine in this village?”

“You bastards ate and drank it all, so what are you talking about!”

Amusingly, even after seeing Bang Duchil’s divine might, Village Chief Heo did not stop cursing.

Of course, Bang Duchil did not particularly care about it either.

“Hmm....· then for now, I’ll have to buy wine from a nearby village. Wait a moment, little brother.”

We had not even shared the cups of brotherhood yet, but he was already calling me little brother.

I was already worried about just how rough the days ahead would be.

As Bang Duchil moved his huge body away with long strides and disappeared, Baek Soryeong came beside me and whispered softly.

“You really are amazing, Young Master Jin.”

“What is?”

“Right now, it looks like Young Master is taking all the losses, but in just a few years, you’ll gain tremendous profits. The profits from the three villages around Mount Tianmu, and sworn brotherhood with the Green Forest Alliance Leader..... isn’t that right?”

As if she had seen a future where Bang Duchil became the Green Forest Alliance Leader, Baek Soryeong naturally called him the Green Forest Alliance Leader.

As expected, she was no ordinary person.

“That was definitely your idea, Young Lady Baek, wasn’t it?”

When I voiced my suspicion, Baek Soryeong smiled meaningfully.

As expected, there was no way such a thought came from the head of that huge but simple-looking Bang Duchil.

“Why did you specifically tell the Green Forest Alliance Leader to become sworn brothers with someone from a righteous faction sect?”

“That was entirely my darling’s idea. He wanted you so badly but didn’t know how, so I only gave him a little advice.”

Baek Soryeong slowly studied my face and continued speaking.

“And I thought Young Master Jin would become the greatest threat to our darling in the future. So I thought it would be best to form a bond intentionally.”

“……Me?”

As for me, I was considered one of the most harmless people in the Martial Alliance in my previous life.

How harmless was I?

I was so harmless, too harmless in fact, that the Martial Alliance used to put me at the very front in the war against the Demonic Cult and use me as a meat shield.

When I tilted my head, unable to understand, Baek Soryeong gave her unique meaningful smile.

“Hehe, you still haven’t developed self-objectivity. This is why men are cute.”

#

“Senior Brother!”

While I was sharing the cups of brotherhood with Bang Duchil and, using that as an excuse, emptying all five jars of wine he had bought,

Geumpyo rushed in hurriedly.

“I think you need to come outside for a moment.”

When I headed outside the inn, a merchant procession full of injured people was passing by.

And their faces soon came to mind inside my head.

‘Gyeryong Merchant Guild.’

The procession of a hundred wandering warriors that had gone off with such dignity to subjugate a mountain stronghold now had less than a quarter remaining.

Even among them, most were injured, wrapped in bandages, and fitted with splints.

“Senior Brother.”

When I looked toward where Eunho subtly shifted his gaze, Gye Yeonseung, whose right sleeve was fluttering empty, was leading a cart loaded with two black coffins.

Seeing that Gye Yeonseok and Gye Cheolyeong were nowhere to be seen, it seemed the two of them were inside those two coffins.

“.......”

“....”

Gye Yeonseung, whose eyes met mine, quickly turned his head away as though he had committed some sin.

We said nothing until the Gyeryong Merchant Guild disappeared like that.

“Should we pity them?”

“No.”

“Yes?”

I looked straight into the eyes of the puzzled three brothers.

“We should fear it. Because we, too, never know when we might end up like that.”

And as soon as I finished speaking, I abruptly released killing intent.

“......”

“…..”

“……”

All of the Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers twitched their eyebrows, but aside from that, there was no particular reaction.

“Keoheok.”

The scream came from an unexpected place.

Yang Gunbaek, whose face was pale, appeared from behind an alley with a horrified expression.

“D-did something bad perhaps happen......?”

Yang Gunbaek spoke while trembling.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was training my junior brothers.”

Yang Gunbaek was looking at me and my junior brothers as if we were ghosts.

#

The Geum, Eun, and Dong brothers naturally gave us the space, and as soon as Yang Gunbaek sat down, he asked,

“You really don’t have an ability to control the wind, correct?”

Bang Duchil was making a fuss about becoming sworn brothers, and Yang Gunbaek was making a fuss over whether I could control the wind.

“Did I not tell you? Around this time in previous years, the northwesterly wind blows strongly. Moreover, because of the long drought, there was no moisture left even in the fallen leaves on the mountain.”

“You truly are a mysterious person. I thought stories like that were something only someone like Zhuge Kongming from ancient times could say.”

Yang Gunbaek looked at me with complicated eyes for a moment, then spread a map out on the table.

“The first gate of the Hell Official Exam has all ended. A total of three thousand eight hundred forty-two people received gate tokens.”

“Haomun will be busy from now on.”

“…That is true.”

“How many people will be aiming for us?”

“......”

The number of people who passed the first gate was tremendous, but the number of people who failed was even more so.

The Martial Academy entrance exam considered not only passing through the gates, but also crossing the final point with the gate tokens as part of the exam.

And those who failed at the gates began targeting the gate tokens of those who had passed.

“It isn’t the righteous faction fighting the dark faction.

It is the righteous faction and the righteous faction waging a war under the name of an exam, one even greater than most wars between the righteous and dark factions.

That was how much meaning the Martial Academy held for the current rising talents.

After organizing my thoughts for a moment, I asked Yang Gunbaek,

“So, right now, Mount Tianmu...... no, how many people are aiming for us?”

This was the true nature of the Martial Academy entrance exam, and the reason it was called the Hell Official Exam.

Yang Gunbaek’s mouth opened heavily.

“We are estimating at least two hundred groups. More than four thousand people.”

“......”

And right now, we had become the most appetizing prey.

“……Isn’t there something wrong with that number?”

“I’m sorry......”

Having this many people looking for me is a bit burdensome, even for popularity.