Chapter 73
Chapter 73: The Left Foot is Just for Support (2)
My mouth opened slowly.
"When farming, there are sometimes weeds that disguise themselves as medicinal herbs. Those weeds end up sucking the nutrients from the real herbs. So you have to weed them all out in advance. The most tedious part of the work is sorting through the weeds. But—"
I looked at Hwang Mu-yeol.
"You've gathered all the weeds here for me."
"Don't talk nonsense!"
"Did you want the Chivalrous Hero's Secret Medicine?"
"What?!"
"I've prepared a better gift."
I pulled a fist-sized glass bottle from inside my clothes.
A green liquid sloshed inside the glass bottle—it looked eerie and grotesque even at a glance.
"Take it."
Whoosh—.
I threw the glass bottle straight at Hwang Mu-yeol.
It seemed Hwang Mu-yeol instinctively understood that the glass bottle must not shatter.
"Grab it!"
His subordinates scrambled and stretched their hands to catch the bottle flying through the air.
Tick— it struck someone's fingertips and the glass bottle ricocheted away.
"No!"
Hwang Mu-yeol launched himself through the air, and the bodies of over a dozen subordinates piled over each other as Hwang Mu-yeol clasped something and pressed both hands together neatly.
"Haah……. Got it."
In his hands was the unbroken glass bottle.
Hwang Mu-yeol's expression of relief as he lay on the floor.
That sight was so unsightly that the corner of my mouth curved upward.
Hwang Mu-yeol gripped the glass bottle and shouted.
"Nameless Hero! Your scheme ends here—"
"It's only just begun."
"……Wha, what?"
I quietly extended my index finger and pointed toward the factory roof.
Hwang Mu-yeol raised his head to look there, and in an instant, he reacted as if he might faint from shock.
"A, a glass bottle?"
On the roof were dozens of poison-filled glass bottles I had Jo Je-bin hang in advance.
I spoke to Hwang Mu-yeol.
"You won't be catching those."
"I, I've been had……!"
In that moment my hand swept in all directions, and something flashed in the air—
Crack! Cracrackrack!
Dozens of glass bottles on the roof shattered all at once, bursting apart like sharp screams.
"……!"
Immediately, a green poison mist surged from the roof and descended straight down.
Writhing like a living serpent, it swallowed up the air.
Of the 3 who inhaled the poison, An Kang-han was the first to clutch his throat and drop to his knees on the floor.
"Ugh, what is this……?! Cough, cough……!"
His eyes turned bloodshot, and bloody tears ran down the corners of his eyes.
"I can't…… breathe. Gasp……!"
Sin Jung-dan beside him tried to crawl along the floor to escape.
But the green smoke that had spread through the cracks in the crumbling factory floor bored into his lungs.
He flailed and contorted his body, and soon blood poured from his mouth and nose.
"Kraaaaah!"
The thugs clutched their heads and screamed. It was their death rattle.
Startled by those sounds, those who had been fleeing and those who had collapsed coughing—
One by one, their eyes rolled back and they lost consciousness.
"Help…… ugh……. Save me…… gakh……!"
Blood-flecked coughing erupted here and there, and a man who had been propped against the wall made a ragged sound from his throat and slowly crumpled forward.
The fingernails of writhing men scraped across the floor, leaving bloody trails.
Without exception, they all crawled toward the door where I stood.
Some went into convulsions, clenched their teeth, and keeled over.
The poison spread as if burning their innards, and blood and white foam, agony and screaming spread through the abandoned factory like hell.
Chaos.
And from within its very heart, I quietly walked through the smoke and stood before Hwang Mu-yeol.
Hwang Mu-yeol glared at me with blood weeping from his eyes as well.
I smiled at him and said.
"Are you pleased with the gift?"
"Krrrgh!"
Hwang Mu-yeol reached out a hand to seize me, but I stepped lightly aside.
Thud!
He collapsed just like that.
I extended my hand to him.
"Beg. Say you want to live."
Hwang Mu-yeol slowly reached a hand toward me.
And then, swish.
He raised his middle finger.
"……As expected. You were a fine bastard."
Thump. His hand dropped lifelessly.
Hwang Mu-yeol's gaze, dead with both eyes wide open, was utterly hollow.
‘What a waste.’
Turning my head, An Kang-han had already breathed his last.
Sin Jung-dan crawled up to me, gripped my feet, and spoke with great effort.
"I…… I was wrong……. Grant me…… one last request."
He clung to me.
"My son…… Please spare only my son……. Please."
Sin Hyeon-u was slumped against the factory wall, struggling to draw labored breaths.
For some reason.
I was reminded of my late father.
I bent my knees and brought my face close to Sin Jung-dan's, and I spoke to him.
"A very long time ago…… My father made that same request. Perhaps because of it, I survived."
A flicker of hope crossed Sin Jung-dan's face.
I rose and left behind a quiet single word.
"And that's exactly why no."
‘……I must not let him live a life like mine.’
"I'll let him go without pain."
Swoosh—!
I flung my hand, and from my hand the Iron Instrument God's blade flew and lodged itself in Sin Hyeon-u's heart. His head dropped limp.
It was the only mercy I was able to offer.
Seeing that, the light in Sin Jung-dan's eyes settled into relief, then scattered along with his final breath.
"……."
I stood in place for a long while with a bitter expression.
I slowly approached the dead Sin Hyeon-u and pulled out the blade.
True to its reputation as the Iron Instrument God's masterwork, not a single drop of blood clung to it.
After confirming that not one among the 60-odd people remained alive, I absorbed all the poison energy in the factory through the Reversal Secret Arts.
【The Great Law of Reversal is applied. Poison becomes Medicine.】
【Internal energy increases.】
I stepped outside.
Jo Je-bin stood with both hands clasped together, waiting for me.
He had at some point changed into work clothes.
"You've worked hard."
"Clean it up."
"Yes."
Jo Je-bin put on a gas mask, took 2 drums of kerosene in both hands, and entered the factory.
When he came back out, he opened the car trunk, then dragged 2 body bags inside and re-entered the factory.
Shortly after.
Whoooosh!
The abandoned factory caught fire.
The surroundings of the factory were all dirt fields, so it seemed unlikely the fire would spread.
"Disposal complete. Even if an investigation comes around, it'll be processed as them killing each other in a fight. The bodies you mentioned have been handled together as well."
Jo Je-bin removed the gas mask and smiled broadly.
Grab—.
I suddenly snatched his wrist and rolled up his sleeve.
"That's a watch I've never seen before."
"Ah, that……."
"It was on An Kang-han's wrist."
"Hehe……. This is a limited edition. You can't get it even for 1 billion now, huh huh……."
I held out my hand to him.
"Hand it over."
"W, well."
"I'll cut off your wrist."
At that, Jo Je-bin promptly unfastened the watch and held it out with both hands.
But I still kept my palm open and said to him,
"Hand over more."
"……Yes?"
Shliiing. I drew the blade, and Jo Je-bin recoiled in horror as he held something out.
It was an Artificial Dantian and several spirit medicines.
"S, sorry. I forgot."
Jo Je-bin scratched the back of his head and watched my expression.
I smelled the spirit medicines—they were a spirit medicine I had once seen at the Black Market.
Frost Jade Ointment.
One of the Bell Tower Sect's 3 great spirit medicines.
‘Looks like the Bell Tower Sect was backing Hwang Mu-yeol.’
My gaze shifted to the Artificial Dantian.
In truth, the Artificial Dantian marked 'Hwangbo' was more unusual than the spirit medicine.
‘Far higher energy accumulation than Chief Han's Artificial Dantian.’
‘Not even close.’
Swish.
I raised my head and looked at Jo Je-bin.
The man was shaking like a leaf as he eyed the blade in my hand.
‘This bastard is genuinely hilarious.’
‘I asked on a hunch, and sure enough he'd pocketed a treasure.’
"Jo Je-bin."
"Yes……."
Crack!
I immediately kicked his left foot.
Jo Je-bin's ankle twisted and the sound of snapping bone rang out.
"Krgh—!"
"If this happens one more time, what burns next will be your corpse."
"I, I—! Acknowledged!"
I grabbed the collapsed Jo Je-bin by the scruff of his neck and tossed him into the passenger side of the car.
I got into the back seat.
Jo Je-bin crawled over and clutched the window frame and asked.
"S, shall I drive? My, my leg is…… Broken. Ugh."
I crossed my arms and sank into the seat.
And said a single thing.
"The left foot is just support for the ride."
Vroooom—.
The car set off.
Jo Je-bin drove while groaning softly.
I leaned forward from the back seat and placed the limited-edition watch and spirit medicines I had taken from him onto the passenger seat.
"You eat the spirit medicine."
"Pardon?"
"This too."
Snatch—.
I stuck a Bungeoppang into his mouth.
Jo Je-bin startled,
"……Thank you. Sniff."
He held the Bungeoppang in his mouth and said nothing for a moment. Soon his eyes reddened.
"I'll really work hard going forward. I mean it……. Sob……."
‘They're people I'll never fully understand, but there's one thing I know for certain.’
‘I really do love the Unorthodox Path.’
Jo Je-bin sniffled.
I looked serenely out the window and, as if letting the words drift out, said just one thing.
"Don't die. Jo Je-bin."
"……Yes. My liege."
* * *
[Red Dragon Gate Headquarters Building]
In the conference hall, Lee Won-ryong sat in a chair polishing a sword.
Hm hm hm—.
He even hummed to himself, looking to be in a tremendously good mood, so his secretary Hong Na-yeong asked,
"Gate Master. You've been smiling all the time lately."
Lee Won-ryong heard that and spun his chair around to look at her.
Seeing his playful manner, Secretary Hong bit her lip.
"Why, is that strange?"
"No, well……."
"You know I've said it as a habit. That if someone truly overwhelmingly strong came along, I'd never even look them in the eye."
"……Yes."
"But I still hadn't met anyone like that. Having lived that way, I came to understand. That I'm actually incredibly strong."
"……."
"Strong ones disappeared one by one, and now that I've grown stronger, I realized that in this world with no overwhelmingly strong opponent, I too could make quite a name for myself."
Lee Won-ryong had always had an uncanny instinct for distinguishing the strong from the weak.
He had bowed before those stronger than himself, and lived by crushing those weaker.
Those stronger than him could not remain strong forever.
They lost their power fighting yet other strong ones, and in between, Lee Won-ryong, who had quietly built up his strength, claimed the position of those strong ones.
That was how Lee Won-ryong had risen.
That was how the Red Dragon Gate had been built.
Tack—.
Lee Won-ryong set down the sword he had been polishing on the table.
"And then I met that person."
"The Hero."
Lee Won-ryong nodded.
"Do you know what I thought at that moment?"
"I'm not sure."
"Ah! My sight was far too narrow. How trivial a thing it is to reign supreme in this Seoul underworld, no, in all of South Korea!"
"Aaah……."
Lee Won-ryong spoke with eyes filled with elation.
"Think about it! In this cramped little country, what meaning does being number 1 hold? The world is vast, and now is a time of chaos!"
"In that case?"
"Being number 2 in the world is far better than being number 1 in Korea."
"……!"
Secretary Hong felt her own heart pounding without realizing it.
She slowly drew closer to Lee Won-ryong.
Her fitted two-piece suit was alluring.
"Then, Gate Master. What number am I?"
"Heh heh heh. 10th."
"My, that's awfully low."
"That would still be higher than Korea's number 1."
Lee Won-ryong's eyebrow twitched, and Secretary Hong settled herself onto his knee.
* * *
[Somewhere in the mountains of Gyeonggi Province]
She was trembling violently in front of the abandoned factory that had burned down to a ruin.
Over 10 police cars were present, their emergency lights flashing dizzily.
A Gukmubon employee reported to her.
"As expected, this was no simple fire incident. Dozens of bodies have been recovered from inside."
"Send all the police away."
"Pardon?"
"……All the dead are from the Red Dragon Gate. Can't you tell just by looking?"
"Yes. That's right."
The employee nodded and let out a short sigh.
"Contact the fire station too. Tell them there's no need to force their way up here. They can't make it up the narrow mountain road anyway."
"Still, if it's a fire incident, the fire station should—"
"It's already burned to nothing, what's the point! Handle it quickly. Make sure journalists don't swarm the place."
"Yes!"
The employees moved swiftly.
The police officers grumbled and protested, but since it was an order from Gukmubon, which had been said to knock birds out of the sky lately, the police all left muttering among themselves.
Chief Han immediately made a phone call.
"Hello? Hero!"
"Chief Han."
"Just what is going on here?"
"What do you mean?"
"You called me a few days ago and right after this happened."
"Well, I don't know what you're referring—"
"The abandoned factory murder case!"
She shouted.
"Dozens of bodies turned up! Weapons scattered everywhere, and it looks like kerosene was doused over everything, everything's been burned to ashes!"
"62."
"Pardon?"
"The bodies. 62 of them."
"Ha! So this was indeed your doing, Hero."
She let out a long sigh.
"Where are you right now? I'll come immediately."
Chief Han's voice was ice cold.