Chapter 63: Chapter 63
Sa Ho-jeong had heard the Slaughterhouse’s news and turned south.
Ji Dae-ho gripped his chin, brow furrowed. It certainly made sense.
“But even so, after learning about the warrant, he could have chosen to flee again.”
“If Sa Ho-jeong had decided to run, he wouldn’t have killed the warriors.”
“Why?”
“He’s strong enough to handle five warriors easily. He could have stopped them without harm. Would a man planning to flee go out of his way to escalate?”
“He is a Mad Dog.”
“Exactly. If he hadn’t killed them, getting caught would mean rotting in Duora Prison for a while. But now he’s become a traitor warranting a Heaven-and-Earth Net. That’s how mad he is. That degree of lunatic wouldn’t tremble at a warrant and reverse course.”
“Then where did he go?”
Jang I-seo stroked his jaw and studied the map. Almost there. For a madman of this caliber, the destination was obvious.
‘Wolha Village. More precisely, he’s looking for the missing Sa Do-cheol. So he’d want to reach me first, the one who eliminated him.’
But reaching Wolha Village alone was impossible. Eight checkpoints stood in the way.
So he’d have to find someone to help him.
Someone who could carry him to Wolha Village without interference.
And only one person could do that.
“Ma I-sin.”
The name fell from Jang I-seo’s lips briefly. Ji Dae-ho’s expression turned glacial.
“Harboring a wanted man would bring consequences even for the Ma family’s legitimate heir. But surely he wouldn’t do such a thing.”
True. Jang I-seo agreed.
But the possibility of the two meeting was real.
Moreover…
“Because he’s just as insane as Sa Ho-jeong.”
A man who envied his own brother and spent years tormenting him couldn’t be sane.
“Driving me mad.”
Ji Dae-ho cursed at the escalating situation. But from his expression, he seemed to have already guessed.
“Is there a place near Songshan where Ma I-sin might stay?”
“There’s Sanu Valley in the east. Where Ma I-sin primarily resides. It’s Ma family territory, so we can’t verify.”
“Send warriors to Sanu Valley immediately, and check if Ma I-sin has passed through any checkpoint toward Wolha Village.”
At Jang I-seo’s request, Ji Dae-ho nodded and rushed out. An inexplicable anxiety crept up. While waiting, Jang I-seo moistened his dry lips with cold tea.
About a quarter-shi passed.
SLAM!
The door opened. Ji Dae-ho returned.
Holding a letter, face white as a sheet.
Surely…
“A dispatch from the Eastern Gate. A carriage departed Sanu Valley half a shi ago.”
FWIP! Jang I-seo bolted from his seat.
* * *
Rattle, rattle.
A lavish carriage sped through the checkpoint gate without stopping.
No one called for it to halt.
A black roof emblazoned with a golden flame crest was identification enough.
This was one of the Demonic Cult’s foremost powers.
The symbol of the Ma family’s direct lineage.
“Brother. Fuck, did we have to go like this?”
Cursing erupted from inside the carriage driven by the Slave Lord. The tone alone identified the speaker.
Sa Ho-jeong, second of the Sa brothers, the very man Ji Dae-ho and Jang I-seo were hunting.
“Can’t be helped. There’s a warrant on you. If you dislike it, get out and walk.”
The one answering was, naturally, the carriage’s owner. Ma I-sin.
“Is this the best you can do? Can’t we travel more comfortably!”
Complaining despite hitching a ride. Sa Ho-jeong’s grievances poured endlessly.
But understanding his plight was possible.
He was crammed inside a strongbox forged of cold iron.
“Fuck, I’m going to puke! Hey, slave bastard! Can’t you drive more carefully? Want me to lock you in this box and push you off a cliff? Because that’s exactly how I feel right now. Got it?”
Banging echoed from the box.
A grain storage box made of expensive cold iron was absurd enough. But the Mad Dog hiding inside that tiny space was equally unbelievable.
Still, this level of preparation was necessary to avoid detection by the Guardian Dragon Hall or anyone else.
Sniff! Ma I-sin scooped a handful of white powder sprinkled atop the box into his mouth and muttered in a drugged haze.
“Endure it. If it’s too hard, try some of this too. Heh heh.”
“Fuck! I said drive carefully, you crazy slave bastard!”
Ma I-sin withdrew his attention from Sa Ho-jeong’s incessant complaints and leaned back against the seat.
He threw the window open. Cool wind rushed in. Swaying branches resembled mocking snakes.
“It’s been a while.”
Mao.
A smile formed at the thought of seeing him.
Moments later, they reached their destination.
A quaint village with a blue lake shimmering at its center, reflecting golden sunlight.
Wolha Village. Home of the Seventh Small Palace.
Clatter, clatter.
The carriage crossed the Rainbow Arch Bridge without slowing and reached the bamboo forest in an instant.
And finally.
NEIIIIGH!
Two black horses halted before the Seventh Small Palace. Click. He stepped out.
A demonic man walking out with the bamboo forest at his back.
The Ma family’s legitimate heir. Mao’s older brother.
The Bloodless Duke, Ma I-sin.
“B-Brother…?”
And Mao, who had just finished training, spotted him approaching. The Slave Lord beside him didn’t register. Only the man walking with hands clasped behind his back filled his vision.
Trembling arms and legs. Pouring sweat. A heart hammering madly.
From the training just now? Or from the lifelong presence of this man?
He didn’t know.
But one thing was certain: this was not a friendly visit.
“What brings you… Gah!”
FWEEE!
Before Mao could finish, a blade-like gust of wind slammed into his chest.
THUD!
Swept away like debris in a tsunami, he tumbled across the ground.
It happened in a single breath.
“What… was that for!”
Mao’s head snapped up from where he’d fallen.
Showing up unannounced and doing this!
Ma I-sin, hands still clasped behind his back, smiled radiantly and spoke.
“Right. When greeting someone, you should bow like that from the start. That’s a servant’s proper posture.”
That insane bastard.
Was that what you said to a brother you hadn’t seen in ages?
Well, what could he expect from someone who’d never considered him a brother in the first place?
Mao trembled with disgust he hadn’t felt in ages. He groaned, forced himself up, scowled fiercely, and spoke.
“State your business and leave.”
“Heh heh… Hahahaha! You haven’t changed at all.”
“Have you? Oh, wait, one thing. Your eyes are more like rotten fish… Ghak!”
FWEEE! THUD!
Another blade-gust. Rolling across the ground again. He’d blocked with both arms, but it was useless. Only the pain of shattering bones.
“Those insolent eyes. That vulgar mouth. Same as when you were a child. I taught you for so long, yet nothing changed. Still arrogant, still cheeky. It’s about time you learned. In moments like this, you’re no different from a dumb beast.”
Dumb beast? Hah. Mao trembled as memories surged.
Right. Well said. Looking back, his life had been no different from a dumb beast.
Because of this wretched Ma I-sin.
This demon he could barely call a brother.
And it had started over nothing. Just calling their father “Father.”
‘Did you just say Father?’
‘Yeah, Brother.’
‘You… have much to learn.’
From that day forward. Daily beatings. Days locked in storehouses, barely breathing.
He’d begged to be spared. He’d gone to the family head and father, Ma Il-seong, to plead.
Nothing worked.
No one in the family stopped Ma I-sin’s tyranny.
Mao raised his head, burning with long-held grievance, eyes blazing.
Then.
“Even now.”
Ma I-sin materialized before him and STOMPED! drove his foot into Mao’s spine.
“Gah!”
His body went rigid. Agony of twisting organs. Saliva dripped.
Ma I-sin wore the dissatisfied expression of someone crushing an insect and spoke.
“Even now, you prance about so innocently… When you were little, you had a mother. Later, you had friends. So this time… it’s the adjutant?”
“You… bastard-!”
Sparks flew in Mao’s eyes. Monstrous strength erupted from his dantian.
Ignoring the pressing foot, he surged up and swung his fist.
Ma I-sin stepped back and delivered an upward palm strike to his chin.
THUD!
“Urgh…”
Both eyes went glassy. Mao crumpled to his knees.
“Tsk.”
Ma I-sin frowned as if something filthy clung to his palm. The Slave Lord rushed over, knelt, and produced a cloth to wipe his hand.
“Done.”
The Slave Lord handed over the cloth and withdrew. Ma I-sin dropped the used cloth onto Mao’s head.
“Do you know why I keep you alive?”
No idea. How would I know, you wretched bastard.
Mao could only pant, too weak to open his mouth.
Ma I-sin seemed pleased by that. He smirked and answered himself.
“To teach you.”
What.
“How a worthless creature like you survives in this cult.”
“You insane… bastard… What have you ever taught me?!”
“Didn’t I tell you? I’m teaching you how to live as the weak.”
“What…? Kgh!”
Three inches above Mao’s crown. Ma I-sin pressed his palm downward into empty air. Without touching, Mao was flattened like a frog.
Tremendous pressure. His spine felt ready to shatter.
“The weak crawl through life. Like you’re doing now. That is your station. Not standing tall and defying. This is the true doctrine of the strong ruling the weak.”
Mao felt it with certainty.
This man was thoroughly deranged. Even now, his rotten, glazed eyes stared at nothing, and his lips curved in ecstatic delight.
Simply put, insane.
“So you should be grateful to me. You’ve been given the chance to learn, simply because you share my blood.”
“Shut up, you poison-addled bastard!”
“Heh heh… You’ve grown, Mao. Yes. You must have someone to lean on now. Mother’s dead. Friends are dead. So this time, it’s that man’s turn. What was his name… Jang I-seo?”
“I said shut up-!”
As Mao charged like a bull, Ma I-sin casually swept his jaw with the instep of his foot.
The movement looked almost drunk and clumsy, but the force behind it was anything but.
Thud.
Mao’s eyes rolled back. He crumpled helplessly.
But even then, he worried only about one person.
“Jang I-seo… please… leave him alone…”
A tragic, heartbreaking sight.
Naturally.
“KRAAAAGH!”
It had no effect on Ma I-sin.
With a smiling face, he stepped lightly on the hand Mao had reached out in desperation. Without a trace of guilt or hesitation.
The weakness of others was merely an amusing prey.
“So that’s what he means to you. How sad it would be to lose someone like that.”
“You… bastaaaaard!”
At Mao’s raging display, Ma I-sin tilted his head as if shivering with thrill, inhaled deeply, and exhaled. Then murmured low.
“But don’t worry too much. At first I considered killing him, but I changed my mind.”
“What…”
“He’s caught my interest. If he’s strong enough to crush the Sa brothers, not a rotting weakling like you. Then naturally, I should elevate him to a fitting place.”
“What bullshit… Gah!”
Grabbing Mao by the hair, Ma I-sin hurled him toward the wall.
KWAANG!
A violent crash. Mao collapsed beneath a cascade of crumbling wall.
“Sleep on it, and you’ll understand. Heh heh.”
Ma I-sin walked toward the annex. Now all he needed was to wait inside for Jang I-seo to arrive.
But right at that moment.
“Fuck… off.”