Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 

Il-hyang acted as though he had not noticed Pyeong So-byeok’s oily gaze at all.

Looking around with the innocent eyes unique to a young child, he said.

“It was truly difficult to make my way through this harsh world at such a young age, with no one to care for me. Still, since I am trying to begin a new life here, Great Hero Pyeong, please help me greatly.”

“Of course! Naturally! Just trust me, hahahaha!”

Crunch—crunch—

Pyeong So-byeok took Il-hyang with him like that, leaving the deserted official road and continuing along a quiet trail toward a rough mountain path.

Il-hyang kept pretending he knew nothing, staying close to Pyeong So-byeok as he said.

“The mountain terrain is quite rugged. Since it is a place like this, I suppose wild beasts do tear up the medicinal herb field.”

“That’s right.”

Because they were at the foot of the mountain, the daylight faded quickly.

And in the same way, Pyeong So-byeok’s words gradually grew shorter.

As he climbed the mountain, he kept looking around here and there.

He looked as if he were searching for where to eat prey he had already caught.

Then.

“This place should be perfect.”

“Hm? What do you mean? I do not see a field.”

Pyeong So-byeok fingered the sheath at his waist and grinned.

“Seeing an innocent friend like you does not sit well with me, you see. From now on, I thought I would teach you a little about the harshness of the world. That should be fine, yes?”

Pyeong So-byeok asked in a tone that showed he had never considered the other party’s consent in the first place.

Only then did Il-hyang answer with a slightly frightened expression.

“What do you suddenly mean by that, Great Hero Pyeong?”

“Hahat, have you ever eaten human flesh? The flesh of children, especially, is so tender and delicious.”

“…….”

Looking at Il-hyang, who was like a terrified baby sparrow, Pyeong So-byeok thought using his sword would be a little excessive.

So he drew a small dagger from his sleeve.

SHING—

The fading sunset trickled in specks over the dagger Pyeong So-byeok had drawn, like blood.

“Let us begin with one arm first.”

Pyeong So-byeok smacked his lips and leisurely approached Il-hyang, who was edging backward.

And Il-hyang, who had been looking around until then with the expression of a frightened fawn.

At some point, became expressionless, then quietly curled up the corners of his mouth.

“Human flesh, is it? My, Young Master, what refined tastes you have.”

“Haha, my, my! You noticed far too late! Far, far too late! No matter how much you scream and thrash here, there’s no one to help you!”

“Looks that way.”

But the same goes for you.

No one can help you either.

Swallowing the rest of those words inwardly.

Il-hyang gazed steadily at Pyeong So-byeok.

For some reason, Pyeong So-byeok did not like those eyes, which were not frightened in the slightest.

So he stopped teasing him and decided to finish what he had started.

“So shut your mouth and quietly offer one arm first…….”

“As you wish, let’s start with one arm first. The right arm will do.”

“Oh? How obedient……”

WHOOSH—

CRUNCH—!

Pyeong So-byeok’s words did not continue to the end.

Because from within the darkness of the forest.

Something dropped like an eagle and sharply snatched away his right arm as if yanking up a radish.

“Ghak! What is this!”

GUSH—!

Blood surged high into the sky from his shoulder.

A man with a wax-pale face stood drenched in that blood.

“A J-Jiangshi? Why is a Jiangshi here? Why……”

Even then, Pyeong So-byeok could not properly understand what had happened to him.

Looking at that foolish sight.

Il-hyang wore the mask of a child and drew a dark smile across his lips.

***

Bright Moon Sword Song Gwang-sik erased his presence as much as possible and watched the scene revealed beneath the sunset with bated breath.

‘Idiot. To think he would touch a sleeping tiger.’

That bastard called Pyeong So-byeok.

Song Gwang-sik knew a little about him as well.

He had vaguely heard that the Pyeong Family cherished him as their successor, raising him into a spoiled, unruly scoundrel.

But he had never imagined the bastard would even touch human flesh.

In the end, today, he had met someone he should not have.

***

“P-please spare me, Young Hero.”

“Mm. Since our relationship has already become like this, is there any need for me to spare you? If I just let you go, I’d be looking over my shoulder the whole time .”

“Never! That will never happen! I will never tell anyone about what happened today for the rest of my life! Please show mercy!”

THUD, THUD, THUD—

Even as blood poured from his right arm.

Pyeong So-byeok rapidly slammed his head against the ground and begged.

“Hmm. Number Seven. Go wipe off the blood first. The smell of blood is too strong.”

“…….”

The expressionless Jiangshi lowered his head, then vanished like smoke.

Though he was left alone with only the little kid.

Pyeong So-byeok never moved rashly.

‘That was a Blood Jiangshi just now. Then this little kid is an Occult Practitioner of the Mansi Sect. There must be other Jiangshi nearby. There have to be.’

It had felt somewhat suspicious from the start.

He had not been able to sense any inner arts from that little kid.

Even so, he had subdued a Third-Rate wanderer with his bare hands.

He should have noticed something was strange then and backed away.

But it had been top-grade flesh, the likes of which he had not seen in a long time.

His appetite had blinded him.

Of course, it was already far too late for regret.

“Please spare me, Great Hero!”

Pyeong So-byeok respectfully kept his head buried against the ground.

And appealed to the other party’s pity with tears.

As long as he somehow escaped this place.

As long as he got through this crisis!

He was confident he could take revenge without fail.

He could endure a moment of humiliation as much as needed.

Il-hyang saw through those thoughts clearly, so he smiled faintly.

“You were simply unlucky. Just think of it that way.”

“……!”

For an instant, Pyeong So-byeok felt his heart drop.

Were those not the words he himself always uttered before devouring young children?

“How unfortunate that the place you naturally guided me to happened to be here.”

This was an automatic hunting area where he had released the incomplete Ghouls.

And unfortunately for Pyeong So-byeok.

By nature, Il-hyang did not leave behind future troubles.

“G-Great Hero! Please, just once! Give me one more chance! If it is money, I can give you as much as you want!”

Pyeong So-byeok crawled along the ground and tried to grab Il-hyang’s trouser leg.

But Il-hyang took one step back and shook his head.

“That won’t do. Did you give the people you ate all this time a chance?”

“T-that is…….”

The little kid’s cold, merciless eyes.

In the very brief moment Pyeong So-byeok met them.

His fear reached its peak.

And.

SNAP—

When Il-hyang flicked his finger.

The other Blood Jiangshi that had melted into the darkness sprang out and roughly crushed Pyeong So-byeok’s head down.

“Ghk! Ghhuuuugh!”

As Pyeong So-byeok struggled with his remaining arm and screamed pitifully.

Il-hyang moved one Blood Jiangshi to violently cover Pyeong So-byeok’s mouth and completely suppress his entire body.

Then he approached and whispered.

“I have many things to ask. Don’t exhaust yourself from the start. Understood?”

“……Mmmph! Mmmp!”

Pyeong So-byeok breathed roughly against the brutal hand covering his mouth and nodded desperately.

In truth, the hand clutching the nape of his neck was as hard and cold as ice, so he felt as if he might lose his mind at any moment.

It was the first time in his life he had ever been this frightened.

Because of that, he even accidentally leaked a little into his pants without realizing it.

‘Ten Blood Jiangshi, no less! He must be a master of at least Elder level in the Mansi Sect.’

He was truly an extraordinary Jiangshi Master.

Moreover, his vicious scheming was even more frightening.

‘To lure someone all the way here with such an innocent expression!’

That was right.

From the very beginning, he had fallen into a meticulously designed trap.

Pyeong So-byeok had long since completely erased the fact that he himself had walked all the way here.

‘To think I…… To think I was this naive. How bitter and unjust this is!’

Pyeong So-byeok did not think at all about the evil deeds he had committed until now.

He only felt wronged over the pain that was about to befall him.

He was so genuinely aggrieved and resentful that tears poured from his eyes.

‘I’ll soon become a Jiangshi like that too, neither dead nor alive, dragged around like a slave, won’t I? Oh, heavens.’

All sorts of thoughts flashed through Pyeong So-byeok’s mind like a revolving lantern.

‘Ah…… Father. I should have listened to Father sooner! Your unfilial son dies like this!’

His father had said that he could buy and eat as many children as he wanted through proper channels.

So why had he pointlessly gone out on his own to enjoy a little amusement, only to end up in this situation?

It was bitter and bitter again.

Right now, Pyeong So-byeok’s mind churned chaotically up and down like a furnace.

At that moment.

“Wait a moment for now. I’m still organizing the questions in my head.”

“……!”

In truth, right now, Il-hyang did not care in the least what Pyeong So-byeok was thinking.

There were so many things he wanted to know about this world that the order in which he should ask them was more important.

‘First, starting with the Mansi Sect, a group of necromancers…….’

He had to ask about the Thousand Blood Sect that had attacked the Mansi Sect as well.

And on a basic level, there were far too many things he had to learn about this world’s information.

‘Trying to find all of this out one by one would take too much money and time.’

He had needed a suitable person he could question without drawing any suspicion.

And just in time, Pyeong So-byeok had approached him on his own with evil intentions, so he had pretended not to know and followed him out.

“From now on, I’ll ask you questions one by one. If you scream noisily, you die. Understood?”

Pyeong So-byeok nodded like a madman.

Il-hyang smiled with satisfaction and ordered the Blood Jiangshi to remove the hand covering his mouth.

“Do you know the Mansi Sect?”

The night was long.

And from the beginning, this request was one that renewed in ten-day units.

There was plenty of time.

In that way, Il-hyang slowly began acquiring knowledge about this world, one thing at a time.

***

Ten days later, when Il-hyang came to the branch as if nothing had happened, a small hint of admiration crossed the face of Mak Chung at the reception desk.

“I have completed the request.”

Looking at the boy, whose expression was little different from ten days ago.

Mak Chung could not hide his surprise inwardly.

‘Could it be that he received the request stamp from the Young Family Head of the Pyeong Family?’

Once one accepted a request.

Even if some unsavory incident occurred during the process, one could not protest.

And the one who had abused that to secretly dispose of people while satisfying his urges for murder and cannibalism was Pyeong So-byeok.

In truth, he was a fairly famous murderer around this area.

‘Pyeong So-byeok was at least a First-Rate Expert. Yet this little kid was strong enough to deal with a master like that?’

Whether that was his own personal strength.

Or whether his background was solid.

None of that mattered.

In any case, this little kid had some fairly usable hidden trump card.

After all, he had brought back a completion stamp so splendidly.

Of course, for some reason, Pyeong So-byeok, who had left with him, did not appear.

But that was none of Mak Chung’s concern.

‘It isn’t as if we’re a government office.’

From the Vagabond Association’s position, it was enough to confirm that a request left unattended for the past month had been handled.

“Then I will give you the request pay, excluding the fee.”

Mak Chung handed Il-hyang half of the request money Pyeong So-byeok had deposited.

And Il-hyang, having received twenty-five silver pieces, pushed them straight back forward and said.

“I would like to commission a request.”

A wanderer could accept requests, but he could also commission them.

Looking at the money that had returned to him, Mak Chung answered with a kind expression.

“What kind of request do you want?”

“I would like to find a letters teacher.”

“A letters teacher, you say…….”

“I heard this amount of money would allow me to find a reasonably decent letters teacher. It only needs to be someone capable of teaching basic sentences and words.”

Truthfully, he had considered trying to learn from Pyeong So-byeok.

But the man had been too frightened. Apart from that, his teaching ability had also been terrible.

So he had decided to find a proper professional teacher.

He needed to learn the characters of this world as quickly as possible.