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“Phew!”
Geomyeon stretched and went outside.
One of the biggest benefits of being a servant was being able to sleep in the inn.
Although it was a shabby room, it still meant having a space of his own to shield himself from the wind and cold. Plus, he relatively gets to have a satisfying meal, even if his food was mostly leftovers from the guests.
This was one of the reasons why Geomyeon became a servant.
The fact that he could sleep on his back comfortably without a rumbling stomach was enough for him. But that did not mean he forgot about his siblings, who were still sleeping on the streets.
Geomyeon carried a bag on his arms.
The bag was filled with leftovers left by the customers. He had been carefully collecting them, while being mindful of the innkeeper’s gaze, to feed his younger siblings.
“Hehe! They’ll love it.”
Geomyeon smiled as he imagined his siblings’ delighted expressions.
Thunk!
Suddenly, someone jumped out from the other side of the alleyway.
“Brother!”
When Geomyeon realized who it was, he immediately dropped the bag aside and ran to him.
The person lying on the ground, covered in blood, was none other than Tae Musang.
“What happened, brother?!”
“W, We need to get out of here fast.”
“What are you talking about?”
“He’s coming after us.”
“Brother!”
“He had already killed the kids. A-Among them.. Among them were Amon, Cheongyu… Jinha…”
“What?”
Geomyeon’s eyes shook.
He knew all those three children.
While those kids were mischievous and often got into trouble, they were still fundamentally good kids. And they were the younger siblings who loved Geomyeon very much and followed him around.
Tae Musang grabbed Geomyeon’s hand.
“There’s no time to explain. He’s chasing us.”
Tae Musang dragged Geomyeon along and ran.
As Geomyeon ran after Tae Musang, he kept looking behind him.
At that moment, a figure emerged from the alleyway where Tae Musang had come out.
He held a sword dripping with blood.
Even in the darkness, his cold eyes were clearly visible.
His eyes were locked on Tae Musang and Geomyeon.
“It seems another stray dog has joined.”
His voice was strangely low. But it nonetheless penetrated Geomyeon’s ears with surprising clarity.
Their pursuer deliberately infused his inner energy to mutter.
Just so Geomyeon could hear.
“Gulp!”
Geomyeon felt a chill running down his spine.
He and Tae Musang ran at full speed.
The man followed closely behind them.
The man swung his sword wildly in the air, causing the blood on the sword to splatter.
His appearance became even more terrifying.
Geomyeon had no time to ask Tae Musang what had happened.
They both need to flee now.
But Geomyeon instinctively realized that they couldn’t escape successfully like this
Amon, Cheongyu, Jinha.
Those three children whom the man had killed were all light and agile children. They were so fast that even Geomyeon couldn’t catch up with them.
If those three children had been killed, it would be impossible for him and Tae Musang to escape that man’s pursuit, no matter how much they run.
“Brother!”
Geomyeon called out to Tae Musang.
Tae Musang turned his head to look at Geomyeon.
He was already out of breath from running away from the harbor, so he didn’t have time to answer.
Geomyeon spoke briefly,
“Let’s go to the inn–!”
It was a suggestion with no explanation, but Tae Musang nonetheless immediately understood what Geomyeon’s intention.
He nodded and pushed his legs together.
Tap! Tap!
The footsteps of the man behind them grew louder and louder, which meant he was getting closer.
Cold sweat trickled down their back like crazy.
Their hearts pounded violently, as if they threatened to leap out of their mouths.
Shiak!
A sharp tearing sound came from behind.
Geomyeon and Tae Musang instinctively twisted their bodies to avoid the man’s sword. However, they couldn’t completely avoid the sword.
A long gash appeared on their backs. Luckily, the wounds were only superficial. They could still afford to move around.
But still, the excruciating pain made them stagger and nearly collapse.
“Ugh!”
“Damn it!”
Geomyeon and Tae Musang struggled to regain their balance and ran again.
Then a man’s voice came from behind them.
“Persistent little rats, aren’t you?”
His voice was filled with irritation.
It was inevitable.
This nighttime pursuit was an unexpected event that wasn’t part of their plan.
Their original purpose was to sneak in at night, accomplish their mission, and leave quietly.
They hadn’t planned for a nighttime chase.
It was all because of Tae Musang.
‘Because of one damn rat, no, two damn rats, I have to go through all this suffering.’
A chilling aura emanated from the man’s eyes as he watched the backs of the two.
He was determined to tear them apart if he could get hold of them.
Shiak!
His sword once again sliced through the darkness.
This time too, Geomyeon and Tae Musang narrowly avoided the sword.
‘They have remarkable instincts.’
The movement of the two couldn’t be simply attributed to luck.
Occasionally, there are children who possess such heightened instincts.
If they were born into a prestigious martial arts sect or a noble family, they would have been praised as exceptional talents.
Witnessing two such children together in one place was by no means a common occurrence.
‘What a waste!’
Under other circumstances, he would have definitely taken the two children. Even if they refuse to join him voluntary, he would have still kidnapped them and raised them as valuable subordinates.
He, too, had been created in such a process.
‘Now, let’s finish this.’
The murderous energy in the man’s eyes grew even more intense.
The long chase was about to reach its end.
Tae Musang’s movements were noticeably slower, while Geomyeons movements also became sluggish.
No matter how talented and physically capable they were, it was impossible for them to completely fend off a skilled martial artist.
In fact, simply dragging the chase out this long was worthy of praise.
Thud!
The man stomped on the ground.
It was a movement that couldn’t be compared to anything before.
Like a swallow flying on the surface of the water, the man bended his waist sharply and charged forward with frightening speed.
“Watch out!”
Geomyeon shouted loudly, pushing Tae Musang to the left.
In return, Geomyeon allowed the man’s sword to slice into his waist.
Seek!
With a gruesome slicing sound, Geomnyeon’s waist was deeply cut.
“Keuk!”
Geomnyeon screamed in pain, writhing on the ground.
Blood gushed out from his waist.
If a little more time passed like this, his life would be cut short.
‘I-Is this… the end?’
Geomyeon’s vision blurred.
Losing too much blood, his eyes lost focus.
Even in that state, Geomyeon still managed to find Tae Musang.
Thanks to Geomyeon, Tae Musang had managed to narrowly avoid getting wounded, but he still didn’t look well either.
Tae Musang was already wounded, and his exhausting escape had drained him of all his strength.
He didn’t even have the strength to move his fingers anymore.
“Damn it!”
Tae Musang screamed in frustration.
The guilt of failing to protect the three children during their escape, and dragging Geomyeon along with them, fueled his remorse and anger.
Geomyeon felt the same way
Although he didn’t know the man’s identity,  the self-blame for not being able to protect Tae Musang tortured him.
Geomyeon gathered all his remaining strength and shouted,
“Who are you?! And why are you doing this to us?!”
“You bastard! It would be best for you to kill me! Because once I recover, I’ll annihilate all of you! I’ll definitely find you and kill you all–!”
Tae Musang also let out a murderous voice from the depths of his lungs.
It wasn’t merely the act of defiance of someone backed into a corner.
‘Keeping these brats alive will lead to significant consequences.’
He, too, possessed the instincts of a martial artist.
He could distinguish whether the boys’ defiance was mere bluff or if they truly had the determination.
The man approached the boys. He raised his sword high, clearly intending to finish them off.
An ordinary person would have closed their eyes at such a sight, but the boys’ reactions were different.
They stared at the man with their eyes wide open, as if they wanted to capture every detail of his appearance.
The man, in awe of the boys’ resilience and ferocity, swung down his sword.
Thud!
“Keuh!”
At that moment, the man let out a frustrated groan along with the sound of metal.
‘Huh?’
The man grabbed the hand holding the sword with his left hand.
Zing!
His sword was vibrating violently.
To the man, it felt as though it was screaming.
“Who are you?!”
The man shouted, barely suppressing the sword’s vibrations.
The sword didn’t vibrate on its own. The powerful impact had caused it to vibrate.
Right before the man’s sword could reach the boys, something flew in and deflected his sword. The object that deflected his sword disappeared into the darkness in an instant, without giving him a chance to identify its form.
‘A master!’
He couldn’t identify the identity of the object that deflected his sword, nor did he notice its presence until the unknown entity intervened.
His opponent is definitely a master.
The man spoke cautiously, scanning his surroundings,
“This is a private matter between those kids and me. I don’t know who you are, but don’t meddle in other people’s affairs and be on your way.”
It was a polite threat.
Since he felt disadvantaged, he tried to intimidate his opponent with the threat to weaken them.
The man raised his inner qi, expanding his senses to the limit.
But, he still didn’t sense anything.
‘Where? Where is he?!’
It was then.
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that…”
Suddenly, a chilling voice came from right behind him.
In an instant, he felt goosebumps crawl all over his body.
He could feel his opponent’s breath right behind him.
All of his senses were now on high alert.
His senses were heightened to the extreme that he could detect the movement of an ant ten feet away. But even then, he could not detect his opponent’s presence at all.
‘What?’
A drop of cold sweat dripped down his spine.
At that moment, the man made a decision.
Swish!
He swiftly rotated his body, swinging his sword.
His sword sliced through the darkness.
But he didn’t feel any sensations of his sword connecting with its target.
His opponent had dodged in time.
It was a ghostly movement.
Then a polite voice came from behind him,
“You’re not using your hands well.”
“What?”
Swish!
In an instant, the man’s hand holding the sword was severed.
“AHHH!”
The man screamed in agony, clutching his severed wrist.
He turned around, groaning in pain. But he still couldn’t sense the presence of the person who had cut off his wrist.
It was as if he was being hunted by a ghost.
Suddenly, his gaze fell on Geomyeon and Tae Musang.
They were staring at him like fish out of water, their mouths agape.
He looked into their eyes.
He could see his own reflection in their eyes.
There was another man standing like a ghost behind them.
‘H-How?’
A chill ran down his spine.
No matter how fast or skilled one’s martial arts may be, a person couldn’t turn around faster than someone standing in place.
That was common sense.
Yet, his opponent moved at the same speed as his turning motion, completely disregarding such common sense.
No, considering his radius of rotation, his opponent was clearly a speed several times faster.
He wondered if it was even possible for a human to do such movement.
But he couldn’t continue the thought any further.
Swoosh!
A sharp object swiftly sliced through the air.
“Keurgh!”
As his tendons snapped, he fell to his knees, completely defeated.