Chapter 22 : Dan Youngyoung
Chapter 22: Dan Youngyoung
Inside the cave of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
In the darkness, Dan Youngyoung faltered while looking at Dan Woojin's cold pupils.
“Sister, I am sorry, but you will have to die for me here.”
‘Did I… just hear that correctly?’
Dan Youngyoung stared intently at Dan Woojin.
The youngest before her eyes was no longer that timid younger brother who used to hide in the corner of his room in childhood.
His gaze was resolute, and he was holding the wooden box in his hand.
That box containing the Black Shadow Pill was proof that he had occupied what Dan Youngyoung wanted first.
‘He intends to… kill me?’
Dan Youngyoung gritted her teeth.
Pride and anger rising from one side of her heart enveloped her.
She was a candidate for the Young Cult Leader.
The Young Patriarch of the Sound Demon Sect believed in and followed her, and she herself had vowed to survive this competition.
“You are showing your true colors as well I see.”
Her voice burst out sharply.
“Do you think that someone like you can kill me?”
Dan Woojin nodded calmly as if he had expected Dan Youngyoung's reaction.
“We will have to see who is longer and shorter.”
He was serious.
Dan Youngyoung had instinctively known that a day like this might come someday.
Only one person becomes the Young Cult Leader following the Cult Leader.
Others were merely encumbrances.
If, by some chance, a cruel person became the Young Cult Leader,
‘There is no way they will leave people who share the same bloodline alone.’
In other words, being eliminated from the Young Cult Leader candidates ultimately meant death.
“I know… I know that too!”
Dan Youngyoung raised her voice while taking a step toward Dan Woojin.
But Dan Woojin did not back down.
Dan Woojin looked straight into Dan Youngyoung's eyes and spoke lowly.
“Truthfully, you are also interested in the Young Cult Leader position, are you not? In order to survive, I mean.”
Dan Youngyoung held her breath.
Dan Woojin was looking at Dan Youngyoung properly.
In fact, she too was merely one person who wanted to survive in this competition.
It seemed that Dan Woojin at least noticed that she was prepared to do anything for that purpose.
This test was not a simple competition.
Seeing how the Black Shadow Army kidnapped the Young Cult Leader candidates, and Dan Woojin came pretending to save her but actually to kill her.
This test was a fight for survival.
‘If I don't snap to my senses… I’ll die.’
She was suddenly reminded of the incident where the Third Young Lady Dan Soso was poisoned in the first test.
At that time too, if Dan Woojin had not saved her, Dan Soso might have already died.
“You……”
Dan Youngyoung's voice trembled.
“Did you truly kill Brother Cheolwoo?”
“Yeah.”
Dan Woojin's answer was resolute.
“Are you planning to kill us all and become the Young Cult Leader yourself, just like you killed Brother Cheolwoo?”
Dan Woojin remained silent for a moment.
The First Young Master Dan Cheolwoo, as seen by Dan Woojin or rather, Am Yeong, was a person who emphasized sibling affection on the outside, even if his inner thoughts were unknown.
Even when the Second Young Master Dan Hyunwoo engaged in a madness-filled competition, he always took a step back.
He killed such a man.
And now he intended to kill even Dan Youngyoung.
This action of Dan Woojin was ultimately no different from the Second Young Master.
At the moment his heart was about to weaken,
What flashed through his head was…
“…I must become the Young Cult Leader.”
The Murim Alliance Leader and the Strategist.
In order to get revenge on those bastards, he had to build up his strength.
“…I understood your resolve well. But how do you plan to do it?”
The laws of our Cult were made to be followed at times like this.
“Supremacy of the Strong.”
“…You seem confident huh?”
“If you survive, sister, I will even hand over the Black Shadow Pill.”
He thought that Dan Woojin would not lose anyway.
Dan Youngyoung, who contemplated for a moment, began to loosen up her body.
“I don't know how you killed Brother Cheolwoo, but you have not forgotten, have you? You have never beaten me once.”
The life-or-death struggle began.
* * *
The one who moved first was Dan Youngyoung.
Her iron fan wriggled like a snake and aimed for Dan Woojin's neck.
Dan Woojin stepped into the Steps of the Killing Soul to quickly dodge to the side and swung the Demonic Sword.
Black energy brushed the iron fan and sent off sparks.
Dan Youngyoung gritted her teeth, retrieved the iron fan, and poured out an attack again.
This time, her inner Qi was loaded, and a faint sound wave spread from the tip of the iron fan. It was the sound arts of the Sound Demon Sect.
“Hyap!”
Along with Dan Youngyoung's shout, the sound wave struck Dan Woojin.
A sharp sound that pierced the ears dug into his ears.
To block this, Dan Woojin raised the Asura Demonic Art to protect his body and launched a counterattack.
The Red Eyes, one of the eye techniques of the Soul Killing Art, activated and his eyes were stained red.
Dan Youngyoung's movements looked slow.
He read the trajectory of her iron fan stretching out and swung the Demonic Sword.
Swish—!
The iron fan was almost cut off as it caught on the Demonic Sword.
— Kuhaha! She’s slow!
The Demonic Sword shouted as if excited by the battle after a long time.
Dan Youngyoung retreated with startled eyes.
“What is this hardness…?”
The hardness of the sword itself, without any Sword Qi or Enhanced Qi, was pushing back the iron fan.
“It is too early to be surprised.”
Tstststs—
When Dan Woojin stepped into the Steps of the Killing Soul, Dan Woojin disappeared from Dan Youngyoung's field of vision.
Dan Youngyoung gasped and reacted to Dan Woojin's sword stabbing in from a blind spot.
C-C-Cgckk—
“Dan Woojin, you… have truly become strong.”
Dan Youngyoung bit her lip.
The thought that she might truly die in this manner began to dominate her mind.
Dan Woojin was smiling.
“It is not that I have become strong, but that you are weak, sister.”
The First Sword of the Asura Demonic Sword, Asura Wind and Clouds.
Slash—!
The Demonic Sword cut through the air.
Following that,
Stab—
The sword was driven into Dan Youngyoung's chest.
“Keugh…!”
Tststs…
The Soul Killing Spirit rose up.
— Ho! This is a fascinating technique!
The voice of the Demonic Sword was heard.
The Soul Killing Spirit permeated toward Dan Youngyoung’s Dantian, whose eyes were closing.
At that moment.
Flash!
Memories of the past surged in like a tide.
* * *
“Come out.”
“I don't want to.”
“I said come out!”
“I hate going outside this room more than death.”
It was Dan Youngyoung and Dan Woojin in their childhood.
Am Yeong quietly looked at Dan Youngyoung through the eyes of the young Dan Woojin.
‘I understand how you feel.’
What Dan Woojin was thinking in his heart was also heard.
‘If I go out, there are as many as six people who will suffer harm.’
Because of his birth as an illegitimate child.
Despite that, because of the fact that he was a child brought by the Cult Leader.
The siblings, who had to become Young Cult Leader candidates and compete in the future anyway, could not look at the youngest with good eyes.
At a young age, Dan Woojin had already tasted the bitterness of society.
“Are you going to keep making excuses while your sister is talking?!”
Dan Woojin smiled while staring at the young Dan Youngyoung.
It was a smile where lonely emotions were felt.
Am Yeong stared at the young Dan Youngyoung through Dan Woojin's eyes.
Did the flawlessly clear girl Dan Youngyoung truly try to drag Dan Woojin out with a pure heart?
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re so annoying!”
Dan Youngyoung left.
From here on, Dan Woojin seemed to have heard nothing.
However,
Am Yeong, who was watching this from a third-party perspective, peeked at Dan Youngyoung.
His spirit remained inside Dan Woojin's body, but the operation of inner Qi could be easily controlled by Am Yeong.
Whoosh—
“How did it go?”
“I failed.”
As he began to hear the sounds outside,
The voices of the Sixth Young Lady Dan Youngyoung and the Third Young Lady Dan Soso were heard.
“Tsk, that youngest brat stays stuck in the corner of his room and doesn’t even think of serving us. I hope he drops dead on the day he reaches adulthood.”
Did the curse start from this time?
They were all bastards who were anxious to torment Dan Woojin from a young age without exception.
“He’s a mere illegitimate child, and yet he does not listen. But then again, if we drag him out by his hair… a thunderous scolding will fall. What should we do, sister?”
“Since the youngest started not coming out after he met the First Young Master… let’s watch for now. Still, Youngyoung, since you have the smallest age gap, keep pretending to be kind.”
“Got it!”
If the young Dan Woojin's martial arts had been just a bit better,
He would have been able to hear those voices.
— But just from watching this, it doesn’t particularly look like Dan Youngyoung tormented him too much?
As soon as he thought, ‘Was it not all the instruction of the Third Young Lady Dan Soso?’,
Swoosh!
The space began to change.
When he opened his eyes again with the feeling that another memory was manifesting,
Chhhh—
The smell of something burning began to occur.
When he lowered his gaze,
“…Sister, you will be punished by heaven.”
“Oh my, who do you think will believe the words of an illegitimate child like you, when several years have passed since you have not come out of your room?”
He saw that the skin was burning.
At the same time, the memory that pained him permeated his head.
It seemed that Dan Woojin's memories flowing into Am Yeong were recalled every time he killed someone in this manner.
— Dammit…….
He took back the words that she did not torment him.
What kind of life had Dan Woojin lived until adulthood?
A dark secret room.
It seemed to be Dan Woojin's room where no one visited.
In that place, Dan Youngyoung tied Dan Woojin up and was dropping candle wax onto Dan Woojin's body.
Chhhh—
“Kgh.”
“Does it hurt? I told you to go out, didn’t I? Let's show the world that the seventh son of the Cult Leader exists!”
“I cannot… do that.”
“Seriously, if you stay stuck in your room every day like this, you might truly die on the day you reach adulthood, you know?”
Dan Woojin did not give any answer.
Suddenly, he became curious.
— You, exactly why did you live while enduring all of this.
Even before Am Yeong infiltrated the Demonic Cult, Dan Woojin suffered.
When Am Yeong, who felt those memories vividly, opened his eyes again,
Thud.
He could witness the corpse of Dan Youngyoung.
“I should have killed you more painfully.”
Tststststs—
His Dantian became heavy.
Following Dan Cheolwoo, now even Dan Youngyoung.
He had already killed two of the six siblings excluding Dan Woojin.
The Soul Killing Spirit allowed him to feel fulfillment.
That aside,
“What do I do about this now.”
It did not seem like he could sprinkle Bone Melting Powder again.
Even without that, it was a troublesome situation because he had to fabricate Dan Cheolwoo's death, and if even Dan Youngyoung was not found, it was very problematic.
“Hmm, it will be difficult to disguise it as an accidental death.”
Since he drove the sword into her chest without even thinking about the aftermath, if the stab wound was confirmed, it would soon be revealed that the culprit was Dan Woojin.
To say he killed Dan Youngyoung openly made it difficult to make up a plausible reason.
While Dan Woojin was agonizing before Dan Youngyoung's corpse,
“Y-Youngyoung?”
Someone entered the space where the two people were.
“Gongson Baekryeon.”
Gongson Baekryeon, the Young Patriarch of the Sound Demon Sect, wore an expression of disbelief seeing Dan Youngyoung collapsed with her eyes closed.
“Wh-What… how did this happen? Why, exactly why is Youngyoung lying down like that!!”
Zap, zap—
If he had not wrapped his inner Qi around his ears, his eardrums would have almost been torn.
“Explain!”
At that moment, Gongson Baekryeon confirmed that the front of Dan Youngyoung's clothes was stained with blood.
“Is it you?”
Gongson Baekryeon's gaze turned toward Dan Woojin.
“I am asking if it is you! Why is there no answer?!”
Judging by his expression, it seemed like he lost his temper.
Even if he admitted right here that he killed Dan Youngyoung,
Nothing would change.
— Now what will you do?
The Demonic Sword asked.
“What else can I do.”
Looking at the enraged Gongson Baekryeon, Dan Woojin muttered while pointing the Demonic Sword at Gongson Baekryeon.
“Birds of the same feather flock together, they say.”
There was no way that Gongson Baekryeon was a good person.