Chapter 14: What Enmity and Gratitude Mean
“They killed every single one. Those bastards.”
Mister Baek Jin-seong, who looked like a good-natured man, also spat out curses first.
Hearing Mister Baek Jin-seong’s words, and looking around at this sight with my eyes, I repeated the breath of the Clear Brightness Mind Method once again.
The defeated are miserable.
What happens when one loses; the figures of those defeated ones were scattered all over the place.
Suddenly, a question escaped my mouth.
“There must have been many such things in your eras too, masters?”
[Countless times.]
[It was a cruel era.]
The two of them did not speak at length.
Even Master Zhang Sanfeng, who would normally start with ‘In my day~’, kept his words short.
Therefore, it was even more surprising.
There is a big difference between knowing in the head and experiencing in person. Looking directly at the backside of the Martial World, I could see it. What a terrifying place this was.
My two masters lived in such a world, practicing the Tao and implementing the Buddhist holiness. Thus, they reached heaven. They discussed beauty in a cruel world.
I felt anew how strong and sturdy those minds were.
“Clear Brightness Mind Method is a lifesaver.”
It is a mind method that refines the mind and body clearly and cleanly.
If not for this, I would have shown an unsightly scene.
To the point where I wondered if there was a way to display this breathing even during real combat.
Even in this midst, I thought of ways to become stronger.
Because I didn’t want to become like this.
To keep a righteous will and live in this Martial World, one must be strong.
Strong and proud like a burning flame.
Strength entered my body as I straightened my back and looked around.
Several people whispered while looking at me. They seemed to find it unexpected because I didn’t show the appearance they anticipated.
“Why are you putting so much strength in?”
In the midst of that, Baek Mu-ho poked my side and spoke. He must know well that this wasn’t a situation to joke around, but he dared to joke.
The reason was obvious.
That mind reached me.
“Phew! I really don’t like getting serious.”
Baek Mu-ho still treated me with a crease-free appearance.
I also didn’t show it on purpose.
“The skills of the guys who raided us didn’t seem that great, but how was the level of the Bright Fate Escort Agency?”
“They weren’t at a level to fall victim to that degree.”
It would be so. Honestly, looking only at the opponents I defeated, I felt like I could handle ten rather than four. If they were to collapse at that degree, they wouldn’t have been able to do escort work from the start.
“Then, does it mean riffraff attacked our side, and real experts attacked the Bright Fate Escort Agency?”
“Reflecting on the current situation, we must assume that weight was placed on raiding the Bright Fate Escort Agency. Looking at it that way, attacking our side was just about catching our ankles.”
Conversations unfolded just by passing back and forth the parts that immediately came to light.
“Then they will target our side soon too.”
It was said to be blending the real and the fake. While drawing attention by mobilizing the Bright Fate Escort Agency and the Baek Family Escort, the real one would move through another place.
Since the raiders did not find what they wanted, the real experts who massacred the Bright Fate Escort Agency would target this side.
“Bring the captured guys.”
Mister Baek Jin-seong, who was examining the ruined escort goods and corpses of the Bright Fate Escort Agency, came back and said.
The captured guys. It meant the surviving ones among the ones who raided us earlier, who were captured alive.
Although they were breathing, their injuries were severe, so he planned to query or interrogate them later, but Mister Baek Jin-seong dared to call them in now.
The reason was clear. If they were ones who moved thinking it was just catching ankles, they wouldn’t know much, but it would be better than having no information at all.
“The escort road ahead will get tight.”
It was a word predicting a rough thorny path.
***
Among the captured ones, there were those I had beaten down. Because although I broke their jaws or caused similar injuries, I did not cut off their breath.
“We don’t need a guy who can’t speak.”
Mister Baek Jin-seong’s sword moved.
The figure whose jaw was broken. The head of one of the ones I captured fell.
“Gasp!”
“H-gasp!”
The remaining ones gasped in horror and caught their breath.
On the other hand, I played with my hands without realizing.
I was not the one who killed him. But when the head of the figure I captured fell, I felt like that blood was getting on my hands.
The person who splashed that blood, Mister Baek Jin-seong, opened his mouth with a cold face I had never seen before.
“I won’t ask in a complicated way. Tell me everything you know. I will only save the guy who tells the most useful information.”
It carried more weight because he said it after flying one guy’s head beforehand.
Perhaps even if there was no guy who couldn’t speak because his jaw was broken, he would have cut one head as an example and started.
As death approached right before them, those who threw away loyalty eagerly began to spit out what they knew despite their uncomfortable bodies.
According to the information they spat out, they were rogue martial artists. Guys who moved only for money.
It was to some extent expected. And that the information they knew wouldn’t be very useful was also as expected.
But there was also something that went beyond expectations.
“They planted a spy in the Jungshin Merchant Group?”
“Yes! It-It was definitely not said to us, but when they talked among themselves, they said that once. I heard it.”
One of them told useful information.
“That’s strange……”
If what he said was true, there was a part contradicting the current situation.
Baek Jin-seong also pointed out that part.
“If the spy pulled out the information, they would have known this escort mission was a strategy of blending the real and the fake?”
If they knew beforehand that this was a strategy of blending the real and the fake, there was no reason to break all the escort goods of the Bright Fate Escort Agency and search even by splitting their bellies.
Unless there was something more.
Or this guy was just making up anything because his life was precious.
But if it wasn’t that?
[Is it a feint within a feint?]
“A feint within a feint?”
I let out Master Zhang Sanfeng’s words that were suddenly heard without realizing.
Mister Baek Jin-seong opened his eyes wide at my words and turned his gaze to where the escort goods were.
“Search the escort goods. Assume they hid something small enough to enter a person’s belly.”
At Mister Baek Jin-seong’s words, the escort warriors and porters began to search the goods. Thanks to knowing roughly what size of object to find through the traces of splitting even the corpses’ bellies, the search was wrapped up quickly.
“It was attached to the inside of the celadon.”
Escort Leader Jeong Il-sang handed a silk pouch to Mister Baek Jin-seong.
Opening that pouch, a round jade came out.
White jade. And it was of the highest grade.
Jade has thousands of values depending on the type and color. And jade that meets all the conditions that place its value high is so rare that it cannot be bought even with money.
An object of this degree was a rare treasure.
“So it was a feint within a feint. Damn it!”
Jong In-geol was an official who liked meeting people. It meant he had quick wits. With those quick wits, he seemed to have felt some unholy flow inside.
So he hid the real object to be handed as a bribe in one of the two, the Baek Family Escort and the Bright Fate Escort Agency, which he put forward to use as bait.
Literally a feint within a feint. He placed a deception within a deception.
Mister Baek Jin-seong, who held the highest grade white jade tightly as if to crush it, opened his mouth quietly.
“What should we do?”
“Since there was a deception in the contract, even if we cancel this contract right now, the Jungshin Merchant Group won’t be able to say anything.”
In Escort Leader Jeong Il-sang’s words, hostility toward the Jungshin Merchant Group was buried.
Although it would be strange to feel liking for a target that tried to deceive and use them.
The Baek Family Escort came to have choices.
A path arose where they didn’t have to risk danger.
Mister Baek Jin-seong, who was contemplating, suddenly turned his head to me.
“What is your opinion?”
As Mister Baek Jin-seong asked for my opinion, everyone’s gaze turned to me.
At the appearance of Mister Baek Jin-seong easily passing the worry over, the saying that there is no one to trust in this world came to mind, but I seriously contemplated the question passed over to me.
Surprisingly, the answer came easily.
“You said you owed a debt to the Bright Fate Escort Agency?”
“We did.”
“Then let’s continue.”
The corners of Mister Baek Jin-seong’s mouth went up.
“Since the bastards whose heads we want to take will search for us on their own.”
For Mister Baek Jin-seong, the debt he said he owed to the Bright Fate Escort Agency wouldn’t be a monetary debt. Grudges and gratitude would be tangled.
If so, the culprit of this matter on this side too…… no, ‘the culprits’ are no longer third parties.
“Hahahahaha!”
A hearty laugh escaped Mister Baek Jin-seong’s mouth.
“You are strong.”
A deepening laugh hung on Mister Baek Jin-seong’s face.
“You will make a good martial artist.”
Perhaps because he spoke while making a quite meaningful laugh, I wanted to ask in detail with what thoughts he said it, but that laugh did not last long.
“Everyone heard!”
“Yes!!”
The voices of the Baek Family Escort warriors replying to Mister Baek Jin-seong’s shout were loud and resonant, as if they had swallowed hot soup.
“We continue the escort mission!”
“Understood!”
The decision to not avoid the fight was made, but no one showed signs of opposing.
As if it was natural.
Rather, it was a feeling of showing them whom they touched.
They were not shrunken even after seeing the appearance the Bright Fate Escort Agency suffered.
Rather, they looked like their blood was boiling.
The atmosphere completely changed.
It was an appearance of heat flaring up as if someone had set it on fire.
“I feel some responsibility.”
Because it felt like the one who set the fire was definitely himself.
“It is you, rascal.”
“If you point it out like that, I have nothing to say.”
Responsibility. And burden.
They are all heavy things.
While feeling the weight on my shoulders, I rubbed my palm unconsciously. Because it felt like the texture of the blood that the guy whose head flew earlier splashed was felt.
The weight pressed down on my shoulders even further.
I thought of something unnecessary.
But one thing was clear.
“Surprisingly, it might suit my constitution.”
“What?”
“Being this Martial World person.”
I did not want to become a coward.
***
Since they will search on their own, there was no need to move looking for the villains.
I said so.
And before the Baek Family Escort continuing the escort mission, people who exactly matched those words revealed their appearance.
Dozens of people. The skill felt from each one was not to be compared with the ones who raided us before.
Among them, one stepped forward.
Whether he was an acquaintance, Mister Baek Jin-seong uttered a name.
“Sang-gwan Chaek. As expected, it was the Hongmu Sect.”
“Then where else would it be?”
Whether he trusted the power behind him, replying leisurely was an appearance overflowing with ease.
“We also do not want to collide with Chief Baek. The Baek Family Escort is different from the Bright Fate Escort Agency. So, without either side seeing blood, hand over the object……”
The guy named Sang-gwan Chaek, who was talking leisurely while showing ease, smiled quietly.
Thud!
That smiling head fell to the ground.
Along with the words he couldn’t finish.
“Regrettably, I am a person whose kindness and enmity are clear.”
Mister Baek Jin-seong wrapped up the end of the words Sang-gwan Chaek couldn’t finish.
He is a real alpha male.
Some people might fall for him.
It was not a joke, and actually looking around, the atmosphere was such that they would gladly throw their bodies if a single word fell.
Unlike those who were flustered at the unexpected event, this side definitely rode the momentum.
“Wipe them out!”
The flared-up heat burst out explosively.