Chapter 43
“Uncle, uncle… She keeps mumbling even though she’s barely conscious. What if there’s a problem when we try to sell her—AAARGH!”
The bandit carrying the small girl toward the Red Wolf Gang screamed as a mysterious figure appeared right in front of him.
He instinctively swung the axe in his left hand—
“Guh… Kuheok…!”
But it never reached. Instead, an overwhelming grip closed around his throat.
“Hey, you.”
“Wh-Who are you?!”
“What do you intend to do with that kid?”
The bandit froze, staring at the beast-like green eyes shining in the dark.
“You’d better answer me nicely. Before I lose my patience.”
“So… you really rescued her?”
“Y-Yes! If I hadn’t, why would I climb this damned mountain carrying a kid?!”
Dang Jinak looked down suspiciously at the bandit kneeling before him, face swollen from the beating he’d received.
Wonho held Eun Sowol in his arms, sweat beading on his brow.
Whether it was Dok Go-ryong storming into Pachokchae or Dang Jinak beating first and asking questions later—they were two sides of the same coin.
“Then Jinmyeong must be over there.”
Staring toward the part of the forest still echoing with noise, Dang Jinak muttered.
The suffocating killing intent vanished. The bandit hesitantly asked:
“S-So… are you letting me go now?”
Dang Jinak glanced at him and smiled. The bandit, confused, returned the awkward smile—
“No.”
“…Huh?”
Thwip—
A sharp prick touched his forehead. He glanced up and saw something thin flash at the edge of his vision.
“Grrk… ghhkk…!”
Convulsing violently, the bandit foamed at the mouth and collapsed.
“You really thought I wouldn’t know you planned to sell the kid at a high price? Be thankful you ran into me. If it had been him, you’d have been ripped limb from limb.”
The bandit, eyes wide with terror, died on the spot. Wonho swallowed hard.
“Umo Needle…”
A needle so fine it resembled a cow’s hair, one of the infamous concealed weapons used by the Sichuan Dang Clan—always laced with poison.
He hadn’t even seen Jinak draw it. When had he thrown it?
“How’s the kid?”
“Ah… not good. She has a high fever.”
Dang Jinak frowned and placed his hand on Eun Sowol’s forehead.
It was burning hot. He checked her pulse—and was shocked.
“She shouldn’t even be able to move in this condition… How…?”
Just that morning, she’d seemed perfectly healthy.
He couldn’t understand how her condition could deteriorate so fast. Lost in thought, he heard Wonho say:
“Come to think of it, Sir Dok Go said he was going to find a divine physician in Sichuan to heal the girl.”
“A divine physician…?”
Now it made sense. Why Dok Go-ryong had been so fiercely protective of his niece—and why he’d kept his rage in check.
He came all the way to Chengdu to save her… but ended up caught in this mess instead.
Turns out, he cared far more for his niece than he let on.
“Lay her down. We need to perform first aid.”
Wonho found a flat spot and gently laid Eun Sowol down. Dang Jinak infused a bit of internal energy into his finger and tapped key acupuncture points on her body.
At first, she groaned in pain. But soon, her eyes fluttered open.
“Ugh… Uncle?”
“I’m not your uncle. I’m the calm older brother you met at Chwiseonru. Remember?”
Eun Sowol blinked slowly, then spoke:
“…Yes, mister.”
He clearly said “older brother,” and she still called him “mister.” Embarrassed, Dang Jinak cleared his throat.
“Ahem. How do you feel? That was only emergency treatment, though.”
She checked her condition and nodded weakly.
“…Much better now. Did you do that, mister?”
“Yeah. But it’s only temporary—it won’t last more than half a day.”
“Wow… thank you! Oh! This isn’t the time! Something terrible happened! Jinmyeong was taken by the bad men!”
Only now did she remember Jinmyeong. Dang Jinak frowned and pulled her gently into his arms.
“We’re already planning to find him. My brother’s on it.”
“Your brother?”
“Your uncle.”
“Uncle… is here?”
Startled, she whispered, and Dang Jinak chuckled. He gently tapped her pink cheek.
“Of course. He was frantic when you disappeared. Thanks to how fast he moved, we caught up just in time.”
Her lips trembled, curling upward despite the dire situation.
BOOM—BOOOM!
Suddenly, a deafening explosion shook the mountain.
Startled, Sowol clutched Jinak. He held her close.
“Looks like your uncle’s over there. Let’s go.”
“Yes!”
Uncle… I’m coming!
She clutched Dang Jinak’s robes tightly.
“This is…”
While heading toward the noise, the group paused at a forest path.
There, surrounded by roaring fire, were five corpses.
Eun Sowol squinted, trying to make out their faces.
“These were the men who kidnapped me and Jinmyeong.”
“Those guys?”
“Yes! But… they weren’t this dried out before?”
Confused, she tilted her head. Wonho examined the corpses closely.
“…They look like they were dried from the inside.”
“Yeah. That’s what I thought too.”
Their corpses, devoid of life, looked completely shriveled. Though battle scars were visible, they looked unnaturally dried—down to the bone.
Under normal circumstances, people die from wounds, not from being dried like mummies.
“We might’ve ended up like them.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Eun Sowol looked at Wonho, puzzled.
“Remember when we were told not to work with the Hongwol Trading House? These guys are them.”
“They’re Hongwol?!”
“…You didn’t know?”
Wonho tilted his head, surprised. Sowol gasped.
“I—I was locked in a cage the whole time! I didn’t know who they were!”
No wonder. Kidnapping a direct descendant of the Sichuan Dang Clan… only Hongwol could be so bold.
That bizarre death… maybe it was their doing too.
They are cultists, after all.
“But that doesn’t matter now. Let’s go. We’re almost there.”
As the fire spread to the dried corpses, the group pressed forward.
In the distance, flickering flames illuminated shadowy figures—becoming clearer with every step.
“Unc—le…?”
Eun Sowol’s joyful shout faltered.
Her wide eyes trembled.
A shattered cart ablaze. Corpses of Hongwol remnants and bandits bathed in blood.
And one man holding a severed head, stabbing his sword into the victim’s abdomen—
It was Dok Go-ryong.
“So that’s how you killed my men so fast… Now I see. You’ve been hiding your strength all along. Fooled the entire cult.”
The commander coughed blood, speaking with difficulty.
Dok Go-ryong, still expressionless, twisted his lips and drove the sword into the man’s shoulder.
“Graaah!”
The man who seemed immune to pain howled in agony.
“You keep talking shit. Did I ask something difficult? Where’s the kid?”
“Ke… Kehh… I told you. She’s dead. Family, right? How unfortunate. You arrived too late and she was already—GRAAAAAHH!”
Without warning, Dok Go-ryong tore off the man’s remaining arm.
The commander shrieked in pure agony.
“I’ll ask again. Where. Is. The. Kid?”
The scene was so brutal it was unbearable to watch.
At some point, Dang Jinak quietly reached over and covered Eun Sowol’s eyes.
