Chapter 5: The Contract (Part 1)
Dark clouds seemed to gather around Dan’s face in an instant. Surrounded by men, he raised his voice as loudly as he could.
“Don’t come closer! If you do, I’ll explode this!”
In a tense moment where it felt like his neck would be cut by the sharp sword, there was suddenly a loud noise.
The mermaid child was hitting the glass of the tank with her whole body.
As the men panicked, Dan quickly rolled away.
“He’s escaping! Chase him!”
Gasp, gasp.
His breath had already reached his throat.
But he couldn’t stop running. If he was caught, it would be like being dead.
‘I have to block the entrance at the top of the stairs quickly. Then they won’t be able to get out and will starve to death. They can go to hell as ghosts. Damn them.’
In the maze, Dan repeatedly bumped into walls.
He started to miss the rainy weather.
‘I wish it would rain here. That child, she was trying to help me earlier. She must have been listening to our conversation underwater. Just wait a little longer, I’ll come back to save you once these bastards starve to death.’
The sounds of the men’s footsteps grew fainter.
A feeling of relief slowly washed over him.
‘Just a little more, just a little more.’
When he thought he could take one more step, a cold blade touched his neck.
“You’re quick for a rat.”
“W-Wait, brother. How about we talk this out calmly?”
“Who are you calling ‘brother’?”
“D-Don’t come closer! If you do, I’ll explode this bomb!”
“Hmph. Let’s see you try.”
As Dan stepped back to avoid the sword, he was suddenly stopped by a hard wall.
Memories of his short life flashed before his eyes.
He had fought to survive, but now it seemed like the end.
‘I didn’t listen to Father… I’m so sorry.’
“You’ve been all talk. This is really the end.”
The man’s cruel words made Dan instinctively take a half-step back.
Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet gave way, and with a grinding noise, the wall that had blocked his path crumbled.
“Ah!”
Dan instinctively waved his hand in the dark void, and his fingers caught something soft.
In desperation to live, he gripped the cloth tightly, but the weight of the fall pulled him down.
“Ahh!”
Later, After the Fall
Thud.
Pain shot through his body, like all his bones had shattered.
He tried to open his eyes but couldn’t because the bright sunlight made it impossible to lift his eyelids.
Dan closed his eyes for a moment and listened carefully to the sounds around him.
The chirping of birds and the gentle flow of a stream.
The sweet scent of grass touched his nose, and he realized where he was.
‘Ah, I’ve entered the Gimun Dungap technique.’
The best technique of Taoism used to bend time and space, Gimun Dungap, was widely practiced in ancient times. Unfortunately, now only traces of it remained.
‘Heh. I didn’t expect to find this while searching for a place to read a springtime book. I found it in Master Huang’s library.’
Dan thought back to the old days with a smile.
One day, while studying medicine in Master Huang’s apothecary, he was bored and wandered into the library. He found a strange paper sticking out from a dusty shelf, which turned out to be a secret letter.
The paper contained detailed instructions on the Gimun Dungap technique and how to dismantle mechanisms.
At first, Dan had only studied it out of curiosity, but the more he studied, the more it fascinated him.
‘Heh. It felt like the treasures hidden deep underground were calling to me, urging me to bring them out.’
Even though the study was difficult, the prospect of money made it exciting.
Dan didn’t have a master and learned everything on his own, so he didn’t reach the level of a true Taoist, but even so, not many in this era could do what he could. He was one of the few.
‘Phew, I’m really lucky. They probably won’t catch up to me here.’
Lying on the dirt floor for so long, Dan felt a strange pain in his back.
Deciding it was time to get up, he twisted his body and froze in shock.
“Wait, what’s going on?”
His body wasn’t responding as it should, possibly from the fall.
Opening his eyes, he saw a shadow looming over him.
“No way. It can’t be…”
Trying to calm his anxiety, Dan closed his eyes again and then opened them once more.
A man, his upper clothing torn, was looking down at him with a twisted expression.
“Heh. I was about to pull out your nails since you weren’t waking up, but you’re quicker than I thought.”
Dan panicked, struggling to move.
Instinctively, he tried to escape, but his body wouldn’t cooperate.
Only then did he realize his wrists and ankles were tightly bound with cloth by the cruel man.
“What’s going on? Untie me!”
“Hmm, why should I untie you?”
The man smiled, a grin that was both playful and mocking.
Dan glared at him with all his might.
“You’re a woman.”
“How did you…?”
The man’s eyes lingered on Dan’s chest.
Dan then realized his chest, which he usually kept hidden, was now exposed.
It was clear now—his cloth was tied up like a rope.
“You… you perverted bastard! Untie me, now!”
Dan glared at the man, but he just shrugged with an annoying smirk.
The man held up the bomb Dan had been carrying.
“I can’t let a tomb robber girl keep something this dangerous. Now, let’s get to the point, shall we?”
The man tossed the bomb into the air and caught it with a curious look on his face.
“Thinking about it, this place feels like it’s in the Gimun Dungap technique. I thought you might know something about it, so I didn’t kill you. Now, tell me, can you break this technique? If you give me a bad answer, this spot will be your grave.”
The man started spinning his sword, clearly bored of waiting for an answer. It glinted in the sunlight.
Dan instinctively frowned as the sword’s reflection shined brightly.
The man seemed to enjoy it, continuing to shine the reflection in Dan’s eyes.
‘What I thought was a rope was actually his clothes.’
Dan wished he could cut off his own wrists, but he knew that if he didn’t do something soon, escaping would be impossible.
‘Even if the sky falls, there’s always a way out… maybe this is my last chance.’
