Un Cheol and Un Shik took Sa Ju-hwang and climbed into the forest of a nearby hill. After obtaining a thick rope and tying him tightly to a tree, Un Cheol fetched water from a nearby stream and splashed it on his face.
"Puh-puh! Ugh, my head..."
Sa Ju-hwang tried to stroke the back of his neck, which was painful from Un Cheol's blow, but his arms were tied tightly to the tree, so he couldn't move his hands. He suddenly discovered Un Cheol and Un Shik in front of him and shouted.
"W-what is this. You fellows!"
He maintained a very confident attitude even though his body was tied. It seed as if he were certain that the mysterious n in front of him would never be able to kill him.
"Who sent you fellows! By any chance... the Deok-gu Sect?"
"Deok-gu Sect?"
"If not that, then the Blood Heaven Gate?"
"Blood Heaven Gate?"
"If it's not those two places, then where on earth is it? I will surely repay the money. If you let go, I will surely prepare the money and repay it this ti...!"
Sa Ju-hwang had apparently borrowed money due to gambling or so other reason. Un Cheol narrowed his eyes and looked straight at him. He wasn't paying any attention at all to the fact that he had just entered a private house and tried to rape a woman. It was even absurd that he didn't even think he was being punished for that act. Of course, the reason Un Cheol and Un Shik captured him wasn't just for that.
"Look at this."
Un Cheol showed him several drawings of faces on paper. Every ti he showed them, Sa Ju-hwang flinched. It was no wonder, as the people drawn on the paper were all Four Evils Alliance warriors with whom he had connections. Among them were his superiors, those he treated like friends, and warriors of a lower generation than him.
"What do you want from ? And why are you showing this?"
"From now on, tell everything you know about these people's lifestyle habits, whether they have secret residences, and whether they commit other evil acts like the one you just tried to do."
"......!"
"If you tell everything about these people in detail... I might spare you."
"Crazy talk! Are you telling to betray my brothers, my comrades?"
He shouted as if screaming, and Un Cheol winked at Un Shik. Then Un Shik took out a small knife from his robe and indifferently thrust it into Sa Ju-hwang's shoulder.
"Aaaargh! M-madn!"
"Think carefully. The place where the small knife is stuck is the Geogol point. If I twist this knife as it is, your Geogol point will be damaged, and from now on, even if you hold a sword with your right hand, no strength will go into it."
"No. Not that!"
"So speak. If you hesitate once, this small knife will be twisted, and after that, a knife will be stuck in the opposite shoulder. If it goes on like that, the last place a knife will be stuck... will be your neck."
At Un Cheol's cold voice, Sa Ju-hwang turned pale. He could realize instinctively: the person in front of him now was soone accustod to fighting and blood. It seed he could really do what he just said he would do.
"W-wait! No, please wait a mont!"
Sa Ju-hwang was a person quick to judge. He knew exactly how to act to survive here.
"I will tell you everything! I will tell you everything within my knowledge!"
He spoke desperately, suddenly using honorifics. Though he was triumphant at first, now that he had finished grasping the situation, he realized that if he continued to be prideful, he would die just like that. Un Cheol shook his head while looking at Un Shik, who had taken out another small knife from his robe, and Un Shik put the small knife back into his robe. Sa Ju-hwang felt relieved inwardly seeing that. Although a small knife was still stuck in his right shoulder, now that he was focused on the thought that he had to live, he didn't even feel the pain.
"Good. Speak."
"Yes. First, the drawing you showed first is the Great Blade of Pure Blood, Cheon Gwang-sa. He is a person corresponding to the executive level of the Four Evils Alliance and is also the leader of a combat group called the Sky Void Squad. Cheon Gwang-sa looks fine on the outside, but in fact, he is a person who gets high on drugs whenever night falls; if you go to his residence near midnight, he will be sprawled out from the drugs."
"Right. And what else?"
"The next drawing is a person nad Ji Hong..."
Every ti Un Cheol turned a page of the drawings, he desperately explained what he knew. Thus, Un Cheol ca to know everything, including information that couldn't be known unless one was a close person, in addition to the contents he originally knew. In fact, Unhwi hadn't told Un Cheol to obtain information in this way. To be honest, obtaining information by torturing soone was an impossible task with ordinary ntal strength. However, at the mont of capturing him alive, Un Cheol thought about how Unhwi would have acted and made a judgnt that Unhwi likely would have made, extracting information from him. He didn't know it, but he was increasingly becoming like Unhwi.
"This is all. I've told you everything I know!"
It was about one shijin (two hours) later when Sa Ju-hwang's words ended. Because he had explained everything he knew in detail for one shijin, his mouth was dry and his throat was thirsty. However, since he couldn't ask for water in this situation, he endured. Now, intense pain began to be felt from the small knife stuck in his shoulder. He wanted to run to a physician as quickly as possible and ask them to remove the small knife once the man in front of him released him.
"Is this all?"
Un Cheol spoke in a dry voice. In fact, Sa Ju-hwang felt Un Cheol in front of him becoming increasingly scary. It was because while he was speaking for nearly one shijin, Un Cheol had crouched in front of him, showing him drawings and listening to his story. Just seeing that he stayed like that without any problem, even though his legs would surely be painful and numb if he crouched in the sa posture for that long, let him know what a disciplined warrior he was.
"Yes. It's everything I know. I really... really did my best."
"Right. It seems so."
"Thank you for recognizing that."
Un Cheol finally stood up and stuffed the bundle of drawings back into his robe. Then he glanced at Sa Ju-hwang. Sa Ju-hwang felt an imnse sense of anxiety from that gaze.
"G-Great Hero...?"
Step—
Un Cheol took a step toward him. Sa Ju-hwang felt it instinctively: that warrior was not coming with the intention of releasing him.
Pluck!
Un Cheol first pulled out the small knife that was still stuck in Sa Ju-hwang's shoulder. Thanks to that, the clothes near the shoulder were increasingly stained with blood, but Sa Ju-hwang didn't even feel the pain.
"Didn't you promise to spare if I told you everything!!"
"A promise? I did."
"If you are a warrior, if you are a man, shouldn't you keep your promise!"
Then Un Cheol burst into a chuckle. At that laugh, Sa Ju-hwang turned even paler.
"A person close to , and soone I want to resemble, said this: a promise is sothing made between humans. A promise made with words to a beast is aningless."
"I-I am a human. I am definitely a human!"
"No. You are not a human."
"Pardon...?"
"Let's say the evil acts committed in the Four Evils Alliance all this ti were offset by what you told about your comrades. But have you forgotten where I captured you from?"
"Ah...!"
He let out a voice as if he had realized. The place where he was captured by Un Cheol was the house of the woman he was trying to rape.
"Seeing how skillfully you were doing such a thing, I can't even guess how many tis you've done that kind of thing."
"N-no. It was the first ti. It was really the first ti. Even that, didn't it end in an attempt because of the Great Hero?!"
"If it weren't for , you would have raped that woman. Therefore, you are not a human."
"No. I am a human. Great Hero, Grea— mmm-mmm!"
He scread desperately, but Un Cheol frowned as if it were noisy and struck his mute point. Instantly becoming mute, he desperately tried to make a sound, but no voice ca out of his mouth.
"In the next life, please be born as a human."
Thwack!
Un Cheol said so, indifferently clenched his fist, and struck Sa Ju-hwang's crown. Sa Ju-hwang died just like that, futilely. Confirming that he was dead, Un Cheol untied the thick rope that was tying him tightly and threw his body into a deep canyon.
"Let's go, Un Shik. To dispose of more trash."
"Yes, Senior Brother."
Un Cheol and Un Shik began to descend the mountain again. Their goal was to eliminate everyone on this list. Although they had consud one shijin to obtain information from Sa Ju-hwang, they wouldn't need that much ti from now on. All the necessary information had been gathered.
* * *
anwhile.
If one were to pick a representative group among the Four Evils Alliance groups around Chengdu, Sichuan Province, one could pick the Shadow Annihilation Bag. The Shadow Annihilation Bag has strong power, to the point where they pressured the Sichuan Tang Family and took away much of their territory. And the person who beca the mainstay of that Shadow Annihilation Bag was the Shadow Annihilation Bag Leader, Gu Gung-hwan. He was not only outstanding in martial arts but also soone who only fought battles he could win with fox-like quick wits and tactics. In fact, if he had fought head-on with the Sichuan Tang Family, which uses poison and hidden weapons, he wouldn't have been able to avoid becoming a handful of bloody water, but he led successive battles to victory by fighting thoroughly with private houses around him, preventing the Tang Family warriors from using poison. However, Gu Gung-hwan had been suffering from a headache due to the news flying in for several days.
"Following Sa Ju-hwang, Cheon Gwang-sa has also gone missing? No, not just them, but as many as five executive-level figures have already disappeared?"
"Yes, Great Leader. It is said that all of them said they would go and see to personal business and then did not return."
"Is it the Sichuan Tang Family?"
"No. They are holed up in Chengdu and are not coming out even a single step from there. We are monitoring the Sichuan Tang Family thoroughly, if nowhere else."
"Then... what on earth is it?"
Gu Gung-hwan fell into thought while stroking his chin. After thinking for a long ti, he slowly opened his eyes and spoke.
"It's assassination."
"Pardon?"
"I don't know the identity, but soone is going around assassinating our executives."
He gave a grin even though his subordinates and comrades might all have died.
"Their purpose is... heh. Simple. It seems their purpose is to make us shrink and stay trapped here by reducing the numbers one by one like this."
The subordinate reporting to him didn't understand at all what he was saying, but for now, he agreed with his words. Gu Gung-hwan was the person most outstanding in strategy and sches among the people he had seen so far. If they did as he suggested, most things would be resolved. So this ti too, he thought he likely had so kind of idea.
"Interesting! Listen."
"Yes, Great Leader!"
"Find out and report the date and ti of who disappeared when in detail. If I only know that, I'll be able to know who the next target is."
"Understood!"
The subordinate imdiately answered and disappeared sowhere to do what he was told. Gu Gung-hwan's mouth was full of smiles. It was a laugh as if sothing interesting had happened in his boring daily life.
(End of Chapter)
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