Chapter 14
As if accustomed to such things, someone dusted off their clothes, looked around, and spoke first.
"Those people often appear like that. We don't know where their base is, nor how many of them there are, but they're so fierce that no one can say anything. Still, they don't cause us any direct harm, so we're grateful for that."
"That's right. When they first appeared, we thought they were a band of mounted bandits, but they don't cause any damage."
Another person next to them also said.
They said they didn't cause any damage.
But in reality, there were injured people, and some shops had their displayed goods overturned.
If they weren't mounted bandits, what kind of people were they to be in such a hurry?
I looked back at Yeon Cheongha, and he quickly approached us.
Then he gave a signal with his eyes and left the place first. We followed him, thinking that he was trying to chase after the people on horseback.
Even though we set out right after they disappeared, we couldn't see them anywhere.
The market ended and there was a mountain in the distance, but it didn't seem to make sense that they had already entered the mountain in that short time.
It felt strange, as if we had been bewitched by a ghost.
"What do we do now?"
I asked, but Yeon Cheongha didn't seem to have an answer either.
"For now, we have our own work to do, so let's come back on our way back."
Pae Maseong and I nodded.
It seemed possible that those people were related to the people we were looking for, but for now, nothing was certain.
And if those people were related to that matter, we would meet them again later, so there was no need to be impatient.
"What if the opponent is a huge organization? Then it seems impossible with our strength. In that case, will Cheonrim provide support?"
When I asked, Yeon Cheongha nodded.
"Then we'll have to go back and report it. The Lord probably didn't send me to die."
I didn't know if that would work, but Yeon Cheongha seemed to be quite confident.
"Do you want to stay here a little longer?"
He asked, but both Pae Maseong and I shook our heads at the same time.
We didn't think we could rest comfortably in this mood anyway, so we set off on our way.
* * *
After moving continuously day and night, we arrived at a county-level village.
Because we had started early, the sun was slowly rising.
"Aren't you tired?"
At Yeon Cheongha's words, Pae Maseong said he was fine, and I avoided giving a direct answer, intending to speak after thinking about it for a while.
In fact, my whole body was screaming.
I had been training diligently, but it was difficult to endure the forced march.
"I didn't come by horse or carriage, so I didn't think it would be this far."
It wasn't a complaint, but I was a little disappointed, so I said that, and Yeon Cheongha laughed.
"Wasn't it good that you could practice your lightness technique? If you had come by horse, you wouldn't have been able to do the lightness technique. And you wouldn't have been able to follow the mountain path. We saved a lot of time because we could come by the mountain path."
The answer seemed a bit lame, but I nodded for now.
"Let's go a little further and rest at an inn to recover our internal energy. From now on, we have to be on our toes. It wouldn't be strange if something happened anytime, anywhere."
Hearing those words, I became tense.
Pae Maseong put his hand on the hilt of his sword and fiddled with it.
As he frequently looked around, Yeon Cheongha laughed.
"Maseong, if you look around so openly, won't people be suspicious? You always have to think about how you look in other people's eyes."
At those words, Pae Maseong flinched.
I became even more tense, thinking that this was the real thing from now on.
As we followed the road and entered an inn, people were murmuring, and it seemed that something had happened.
Without even needing to ask what was wrong, they were talking to each other.
"I don't know when the government office is going to step up. Are they going to do nothing even if we all disappear?"
"Shouldn't we come up with some measures now? Until now, people have just disappeared, but this time someone died."
"That's not something to be said so easily either. They didn't leave their homes on their own feet; they disappeared while sleeping in the middle of the night. What do you think happened to them? They probably all died. When that first happened, we should have come up with measures among ourselves."
It seemed that something had happened in this village as well.
It seemed that someone had also died here. Yeon Cheongha ordered food from the waiter, gave him a copper coin, and asked.
"What's going on in the village? It seems someone has died."
At that, the waiter who had received the copper coin began to chatter excitedly.
"Well, you see. In fact, it has often happened in this area that people who were sleeping at home in the middle of the night have gone missing. It seems that those people appeared at a house last night. An old father and a young son lived together, and when the neighbor went to their house in the morning, the father was gone, and the son was dead with his head smashed and his body crushed. Don't you think it's the work of the demonic cult bastards?"
I glanced at Pae Maseong, but Pae Maseong, perhaps because he had been severely scolded by Yeon Cheongha once, controlled his emotions quite well this time.
"I see."
Yeon Cheongha didn't ask any more, but the waiter, who was excited because he had already received the money, continued to talk.
He said that he didn't know how many times this had happened in this village alone in a year, and that it wasn't just happening here.
Still, no one had died until now, but this time, it seemed that the son had tried to stop someone from taking his old father and had met with a mishap.
"That son was known for his great filial piety. If it weren't for that son, he would have died a few years ago; it was as if the son had kept him alive. But since people kept disappearing, he must have been worried. I heard from the person who lived next door that he would go home several times while working to check on his father."
If that was the case, it seemed possible that he had indeed met with a mishap while trying to stop someone from dragging his father away.
It was certainly a strange thing.
When I first heard the story, I thought they were deliberately taking only the weak.
The reason for that, of course, was that I thought it was because they didn't have the strength to subdue and take stronger people.
But when I heard that the son had been brutally killed, I thought that things were not going as I had imagined.
They could kidnap young and strong men, but they only took the elderly?
Since we were only listening passively and not asking any questions, the waiter eventually went elsewhere.
Yeon Cheongha then focused on his meal, and Pae Maseong and I also hurried.
Yeon Cheongha, who had gone outside, headed to where people were gathered.
At first, I thought it was strange that he didn't ask where the dead person had lived, but there was no need to ask separately.
Just by going a little further, we could see where the incident had occurred.
Since such a thing had happened in the village, people were gathered there.
Since so many people were gathered, it seemed that no one looked at us strangely.
There were people wailing loudly, but they were not family members who lived together, but neighbors.
Just being able to see the state of the dead son would be of great help to us.
If I saw it, I would only know how strong and cruel the perpetrator was, but if Yeon Cheongha saw it, he might be able to tell what kind of martial arts the person used and which of the righteous, evil, or demonic factions they belonged to.
At that moment, Yeon Cheongha whispered to us.
"You two, don't go anywhere else and stay well mixed in with the crowd. I'll be back soon, so take good care of each other."
"Yes..."
That wasn't difficult, but I was wondering where he was going when he disappeared from in front of us in an instant.
I looked around, wondering where Yeon Cheongha, who had been right in front of my eyes, had gone.
Pae Maseong was the same.
"Where did the instructor go?"
Pae Maseong was so surprised that he seemed to have forgotten that he had been told not to call him instructor and asked that.
"Stealth technique?"
When I said that, Pae Maseong let out a cry of 'ah'.
I knew that assassins trained deeply in stealth techniques, but Yeon Cheongha had never used it in front of us before.
He had said that it required a considerable amount of internal energy, so he couldn't teach it to us until our internal art reached a certain level.
Then, seeing his stealth technique in front of our eyes, we were amazed for a long time.
From then on, we stood there without moving until Yeon Cheongha returned, and we heard a lot of stories there.
"I heard that those mounted bandit-like people appeared in front of the open-air noodle shop yesterday. Could it be them?"
"Why them? They're all young and healthy from eating well, so why would they take Old Man Peng?"
"Is it really for human flesh? Do people taste better when they're old or something?"
"They take children too."
"Then do the tastes of people who eat human flesh differ? Isn't it the same with chickens? Some people like the tender flesh of a young one, and some people like the tough flesh of an old one."
Of all the analogies to make, he had to use that one. I was so disgusted that I frowned.
In any case, it seemed that the people on horseback had been around here, so I thought it was a good harvest and was waiting for Yeon Cheongha when he came after a long time.
"Let's go."
He said one word in a small voice and left the place first, and we followed him diligently so as not to lose him.
I didn't know what was wrong, but the fact that he was in a hurry was obvious, and I was worried for some reason.
"Is it something bad?"
When we were far enough away from people, I asked, and he nodded.
"It would be better for you to go back like this. It seems that if you are with me, you will get caught up in something bad."
He said, unable to hide his tense expression.
Seeing that he was saying that after confirming the corpse, the state of the corpse must have been bad.
"Is it the work of a master?"
When Pae Maseong asked, he slowly nodded.
"A much greater master than I thought."
Hearing those words, I realized that he was not confident.
It would be difficult even if the perpetrator was alone, but didn't it seem like they had companions?
If so, it was impossible for Yeon Cheongha to face them alone.
(End of Chapter)