Chapter 137
Chapter 137: The Greatest Swordsman In The World (3)
[Hwangbo Geom's Past]
The moment Hwangbo Geom laid eyes on the Murim Tower soaring into the sky, he felt his heart pound violently.
"That's it!"
It was as if the tower were calling out to him.
He sprinted toward it.
The entire area had been swallowed by shadow and erased.
Police and military blocked his path.
"Let me into the tower!"
He leaped and lunged, desperate to get through, but he couldn't break past the police barricade.
And then the investigations from each nation began.
Listening to the announcement, Hwangbo Geom burst into a great laugh.
[Those inside the tower are human, and they use martial arts.]
"Found it."
The reason he had trained his entire life.
The one blow that would overturn all of his past—it was right there inside that tower!
Hwangbo Geom was a first-generation tower climber.
The government's attempt to conquer the tower ended in failure.
Only special forces had been permitted entry at first, but eventually it was opened to civilians.
[Starting tomorrow, we will be recruiting volunteers to climb the so-called Murim Tower. Those who wish to apply, please come to the National Murim Tower Headquarters, a provisional bureau—]
Though volunteers were set to be accepted at ten in the morning—
He arrived and waited from two in the morning the day before.
「Volunteer number 0001—Hwangbo Geom」
The pride he felt didn't last long.
Of the roughly one hundred climbers who entered on the first day, only nineteen returned alive.
And even that was a failure.
The moment they entered the tower, people seized their spears and charged.
An extreme state of frenzy.
"Waaaaaah—!"
As people screamed and rushed forward, Hwangbo Geom shouted from behind.
"Don't charge blindly! Everyone form a line and push them back with numbers!"
But there was no way those words could reach people whose eyes had gone wild.
First floor—the Turbulent Flow Room.
In the first clash, half—fifty people—were killed.
Their momentum was already broken.
Hwangbo Geom shouted at the people who were faltering and trying to flee.
"Everyone gather around me!"
But only three people came close; the rest were too busy running.
"Damn it!"
Hwangbo Geom swung his spear, but all he managed was to wound one or two of the Turbulent Flow Room's guards.
In the end, Hwangbo Geom had no choice but to flee as well, and after three days, he was expelled from the tower.
"No. This is impossible as things are!"
He had to change his approach.
He waited for the next attempt.
The second attempt.
The moment Hwangbo Geom entered the tower, he stepped to the front.
"Everyone listen to me! We must unite as one and form a formation."
"Who do you think you are?"
"You somebody?"
"Funny guy. Trying to hoard the treasure that drops when you kill those things?"
"Get lost!"
Hwangbo Geom pleaded earnestly once more, but—
Some big brute of a man who looked like a gangster shoved Hwangbo Geom and stepped forward.
Thud!
Hwangbo Geom staggered.
The gangster spoke.
"Hey, old man. Lost your mind?"
"Listen here. Now is not the time for this."
The gangster tilted his head.
"I've seen your face somewhere before."
Someone shouted.
"He's been on TV! That martial arts lunatic!"
The gangster finally recognized Hwangbo Geom and began to mock him.
"Ah! Right, it's you. Heh heh heh. You're a complete psycho! You here trying to recruit members for that flailing traditional martial arts club of yours?"
"Watch your tongue!"
"You're the one who needs to watch it. Hey. Old man. Does it feel good, throwing away your family to live however you please? You crazy bastard."
The gangster cursed, cracked his knuckles, and strode forward with a large blade in hand.
On the gangster's left arm was a tattoo of a ‘crimson dragon’.
He turned back and gestured to his subordinates.
"Alright boys, let's go—. Kuhk!"
At that moment!
A spear burst through the gangster's chest and out the other side.
The one who had thrust it was Hwangbo Geom.
"Kuhhk—. This old… bas—."
Shhk!
Hwangbo Geom yanked the spear free.
A spray of blood soaked his training robe crimson.
Hwangbo Geom swept his spear out and stood before the people.
"Everyone must listen to me if they want to live!"
Only then did everyone's gaze turn to Hwangbo Geom.
"Either follow my orders, or—!"
Thud! He drove the spear into the ground.
"—die here by my spear."
Some time later.
Forty people emerged from the tower.
Every one of them was drenched in blood.
At their head stood—
Hwangbo Geom.
Forty climbers.
In their eyes lay both reverence and fear.
"……You've worked hard. Master."
Hwangbo Geom looked at the one man who had called him ‘Master’.
"Thanks to you, we survived. Master."
"Next time…… Let's meet again."
He had been about to raise his speech to the formal register—’let us meet again’—but changed his mind and lowered it.
"Yes. Call on me anytime."
All forty survivors bowed their heads in unison.
Swoosh.
Hwangbo Geom lifted his eyes, still dripping with blood, and gazed at the tower.
Hmmmm—.
The 1st floor of the tower had turned yellow.
* * *
[You have entered the Murim■ Tower……]
A message that flashed and vanished in an instant.
I felt my heart drop.
"This can't be……"
Hwangbo Geom's hidden Secret Vault.
‘This place was the Murim Tower?!’
But the feeling was entirely different from entering the tower.
When you step inside the Murim Tower, it feels as though the entire world flips upside down.
There's a thick, dense energy and a stifling sense of being enclosed—
But this place held only an eerie, bloody stench and a damp, oppressive weight.
No energy was felt.
And there was something artificial about it.
In a word—
It was an extremely unsettling place.
‘Is this why the Poison Herb Field's door wouldn't open.’
I drew up my internal energy and took one step forward.
It felt like walking through water.
Creak—. Thud.
The hidden room's door groaned shut behind me.
Inside was dark.
Dozens of candles lay scattered across the left and right floor, planted without order—
And their light flickered across all four walls.
The flames did not waver, yet somehow seemed to carry a wind within them.
They cast grotesque shadows in different directions, and the shadows crawled about as if alive.
In the center of the room sat what appeared to be a ritual altar made of black marble.
On either side of it, candles were lined up in rows.
Before the altar lay a few pieces of clothing strewn about.
Each garment was stained with dark, shadow-like blotches.
"Haa……"
I examined the badges on the clothes and let out a low sigh.
‘The Goryeo Sword Sect's badge.’
The subordinates of the Choi brothers.
They had clearly died here.
‘There is blood on them, but it's not from a fatal wound.’
Not cut or stabbed.
So they had their necks broken?
Then why strip their clothes and leave them thrown here.
Questions chased after one another.
‘I thought they might be burn marks’, so I reached out a hand—but there was no ash.
The marks looked as if someone had smeared ink from a brush.
Looking closely……
‘All the stains extend outward in a shape directed toward the altar.’
The moment I unconsciously stepped closer to the altar—
A chill swept down my spine.
I saw the two objects placed atop the altar.
One was an old robot toy, its rusted iron rod jutting out.
The other—was a graduation album, dusty but bearing a cover I unmistakably recognized.
And printed clearly across its title:
'Myeongmun High School Graduation Album.'
* * *
I came back out of the Secret Vault.
I couldn't just walk out without precautions—someone might notice—so I took the appropriate measures.
Concealing myself in a secluded stretch of mountain, I opened the Poison Herb Field.
Hmmmm—.
The door leading to the Poison Herb Field opened without issue.
‘So it was only that place where it didn't work.’
The message from back then.
[Transferring to the Poison■ Herb Field……]
[■■Conflict]
The first must have been ‘Transferring to the Poison Herb Field’—that message had been cut off.
The second, what was that.
Something about a conflict.
Damn it.
"Kim Tae-yang, stop covering things up with those squares."
[Kim Tae-yang says it wasn't him. +1 Happiness]
What I had seen at the altar was also strange.
The old robot toy was nothing unusual—but
‘Why on earth would a Myeongmun High School graduation album be there.’
I was curious, but I hadn't been able to touch anything.
A separate tunnel.
A door operated by mechanical trigger mechanisms.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Sect's forbidden seal at the entrance.
It was a place protected by three layers.
There were clearly additional devices at work—and I feared that if I tampered carelessly, Hwangbo Geom might relocate this Secret Vault elsewhere.
There hadn't been enough time to investigate thoroughly.
For now, at least I knew it was here.
‘I'll come back and look again.’
I organized the information I had gathered in my head and approached the Choi brothers.
"Senior!"
The brothers who had been waiting for me came rushing over.
I met them with a hardened expression and told them.
"Both of your subordinates were taken out by Hwangbo Geom."
"Kuh……!"
"Is that so."
It was not the news they had hoped for, and both brothers' faces stiffened.
"I'm sorry. It was because of my matter."
"No. We're grateful you told us at all."
Choi Jae-hwa asked.
"Did you find the bodies?"
I shook my head.
"I found their clothing. The Goryeo Sword Sect's badge was attached, but I couldn't bring it out."
I didn't mention the existence of Hwangbo Geom's Secret Vault.
There was nothing to be gained by telling them.
"For now, the two of you should stay out of sight for a while. Hwangbo Geom will grow suspicious."
The brothers nodded and said,
"We've already arranged alibis. Even if Hwangbo Geom suspects us, he won't be able to confirm it was us."
"That's a relief."
I gestured for them to head down the mountain.
As we walked, Choi Jae-jun spoke to me.
"The expenses you incurred this time—we'll transfer them to your account."
He meant the cost of calling dozens of quick delivery riders.
With advance payments of two million won each, the total had run into the tens of millions.
"It's fine. That much I can cover myself. Give that money to the families of your fallen subordinates."
"……Thank you."
On an impulse, I took out a few gold ingots I had on me and handed them to the brothers.
"Give these to the bereaved families as well. They lost their lives because of me."
The brothers looked at the gold ingots I held out, then quietly bowed their heads and accepted them.
Now, counting only personal assets—
I might have more than either Choi Jae-jun or Choi Jae-hwa individually.
Of course, compared to Choi Jun-pyo, the eldest who would inherit the Baekgyeong Group, I'd still fall short—
But even if I was the Nameless Hero—
To so readily hand over hundreds of millions of won—
The brothers' eyes shifted in a subtle way.
All the way down the mountain, Choi Jae-hwa let out deep sigh after sigh.
The death of subordinates they had cherished must have been a grief for them as well.
Choi Jae-hwa spoke to me.
"Excuse me, Senior."
"Go ahead."
"How…… Did they die? I only hope it was without pain."
I thought back to the clothing they had left behind.
"Something black was smeared on them. Not soot, not ash. Something unique I had never seen before."
At that, Choi Jae-hwa's eyes snapped wide open.
"Soot?"
"Yes. Is there something you know?"
Choi Jae-hwa quickly pulled a phone from his pocket.
"T-Take a look at this. Is it the same as this?"
He showed me a photograph.
Several months ago.
The African Murim Tower's time had hit '0' and disappeared.
It was a photograph taken of the remnants left behind at that time.
As befitting an elder of the Goryeo Sword Sect, he had obtained that information.
The photograph was not merely horrific—it was chilling.
The land across the entire area was dyed a pitch black, as though painted over with a massive brush.
Other living things had left behind only shadow-like traces—
The people who had vanished left only their clothing behind, and had evaporated without even a trace.
Those garments were soaked with dark shadow—
And smeared toward the direction of the vanished tower, like bloodstains.
As if—
Crying out toward the tower.
* * *
Crunch, crunch……
Hwangbo Geom walked with his hands clasped behind his back, making his way into the underground tunnel.
Despite being past sixty, his entire frame was as sturdy as any young man's.
His exposed shoulders and arms were hard as iron plate—
And the energy flowing beneath his light training robe was as solemn as a mountain range.
His face bore the kind of stubbornness and regret that only a man who had devoted his whole life to martial arts could carry, etched in layer upon layer.
His sharp gaze was as fierce as ever, but deep furrows were carved at the corners of his eyes and between his brows, speaking of the countless duels and wounds he had endured across a long life.
His hair, gone completely white, fell loosely to just above his shoulders, and the beard lining his jaw had turned just as snow-white.
His stride radiated a dignity that seemed to press down on decades of time.
At a glance, he had the bearing of an absolute master straight out of a martial arts film.
Except for one thing.
The gleaming gold Nollex watch strapped to his wrist.
"Hm?"
He noticed that the underground tunnel was dark, and paused.
Midway through the tunnel—
The disciples of the Changbai Sect who handled his affairs were doing electrical work.
"Ah, Master."
One disciple ran over and offered him a formal salute.
A courteous gesture straight from a martial arts film.
It was the distinctive etiquette unique to the Changbai Sect.
"What's going on?"
"The power went out and we're fixing it now. It's nothing serious—it'll be done shortly."
"The power went out?"
Hwangbo Geom's brow furrowed slightly.
Something strange was going on.
First the sudden arrival of dozens of motorbikes today—
And now the underground tunnel had lost power too.
"Yes. It seems a rat chewed through the wiring."
"Is that right?"
He walked forward.
There was a severed wire and the blackened corpse of a rat.
While Hwangbo Geom stood frowning, scrutinizing the carcass—
Ding-dong—.
A message arrived on his phone.
—Master. I've looked into the person who ordered the flower delivery—it appears to be Elder Park Je-hwang.
"……!"
Hwangbo Geom's expression turned gravely rigid as he read the message.
"We're all done now."
A disciple bowed his head and ran over to flip the breaker.
The lights came on, and the disciples wrapped the wiring with cable ties and tidied everything neatly.
The disciples who had finished the work stood with both hands folded, waiting respectfully.
"Go and rest."
"Yes, Master."
The disciples offered their salutes and dispersed.
‘Of all places—it just so happened that a rat chewed through the wiring right where the Secret Vault was.’
Hwangbo Geom crouched down and picked up the severed wire.
"That bastard Je-hwang……"
He gazed intently at the wire, then slipped it into his pocket as he murmured.
"I'll have to call Park Jae-yeol."
To say that this Hwangbo Geom would be climbing again.