Chapter 387
By the time I emerged from the underground bunker, it was already deep into the night.
Taking a deep breath, the cold air filled my lungs. As I stared at the starry sky, my mind drifted to the Four Great Martial Sects in Murim, somewhere out there. Suddenly, a small hand tapped my shoulder.
“Want to join me? Just a light drink.”
“Now?”
“Yes, just us.”
It was Pai Chen. Behind her stood two of our group members.
One of them spoke in a refined manner.
“Oh, Lady of the East, do you happen to have Romanée-Conti among your drinks?”
“I’m not a lady, but of course I have it. Do you like wine, Your Highness?”
Prince Felix replied with a displeased look.
“I told you to call me Prince Felix. And yes, I enjoy wine moderately, especially the 1945 Romanée-Conti.”
“I don’t have the 1945.”
“Then I’ll decline. I’m off.”
What a weirdo.
As Prince Felix left with his attendants, Pai Chen turned to the remaining person.
“How about you, Johnson? Are you coming?”
Magic Johnson flashed a bright smile, showing his white teeth.
“Sorry, but I think I’ll have to pass this time.”
“Why?”
“There’s a chance I might be deployed to the frontlines tomorrow. I’d feel more at ease if I memorized some spells.”
As expected of a Grand Wizard. It’s clear why he’s considered a hero of the Great Upheaval.
Impressed by Magic Johnson’s mindset, I spoke up.
“I don’t think I can join right now, either.”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“You’re neither a prince nor a Grand Wizard.”
“…What? That’s ridiculous.”
I was at a loss for words. Not only was she being unreasonably demanding, but suggesting we drink in such a situation was also pretty wild.
“You just cursed me in your mind, didn’t you? You were thinking, ‘What kind of woman wants to drink at a time like this?’”
“…How did you know?”
“Oh my, look at you being unnecessarily honest!”
Pai Chen poked my nose playfully with her long finger. She looked like a beauty in her early twenties, but knowing she was older than my mother made the situation feel strange.
“Why don’t you ask someone else? Maybe Lee Jung-ryong…”
“Lee?”
Pai Chen tilted her head slightly. Lee Jung-ryong had long disappeared with the members of the Ares Guild he had brought.
“Hmm. He’s become a difficult person. He wasn’t like this during the Great Upheaval, but now he’s become as cunning as a snake. I can’t figure out what he’s thinking.”
Her ability to read people was quite impressive.
Glancing sideways at another candidate disappearing into the distance, Pai Chen continued.
“Wu Haixing. He’s too rude. Drinking with him would just ruin the mood.”
I watched Wu Haixing’s figure heading towards a secluded forest and replied.
“It can’t be helped. Maybe next time.”
“No, drinking is something to do on a day like this.”
“Huh?”
“It might be our last, after all.”
“Oh…”
I began to understand why Pai Chen wanted to drink.
War wears people down. It also brings unexpected farewells in the form of death.
For her, having lost many comrades during the Great Upheaval, this was her own way of having a pre-war party.
By the time this crisis was over, some of us might have crossed a river from which there is no return.
“Well, given the circumstances, I guess I’ll have to change my target. Don’t you think so, handsome young man?”
“I already said I’m not going.”
Pai Chen gave me an incredulous look.
“Have you no conscience? I wasn’t talking to you; I meant that young man over there.”
The handsome young man she pointed to, Chief Choi, nodded readily, contrary to my expectations.
“If you invite me, it would be an honor.”
“Chief, are you really going?”
“Of course. When else would I get the chance to have a drink with Pai Chen? I have a lot I want to ask.”
Pai Chen laughed with delight.
“I thought you were just handsome, but you speak so nicely too. So, what are you curious about?”
“Could you tell me where you got the equipment you’re wearing now?”
“…That’s your question?”
“Yes.”
“This one’s a tough cookie too.”
Magic Johnson burst into a hearty laugh as he watched Pai Chen sigh deeply.
“Haha. Miss Chen, shall we all go for a drink then?”
“All of us? Johnson, didn’t you say you weren’t going?”
“I did. I don’t have a habit of drinking alone with women. But if an attractive man like Mr. Choi here is joining, that changes things.”
“…”
“I like men, especially Asian men.”
“Uh, right. Let’s go.”
He truly lives up to being named the most influential LGBTQ+ figure by Time Magazine.
I sent a telepathic message to Chief Choi, who was being dragged along, his body stiff like a lamb to the slaughter.
– Contact me if anything happens.
Chief Choi, who looked at me with a sorrowful gaze like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse, disappeared with the two S-rank Hunters. I glanced around and began to move.
“This way, right?”
I walked along a dark, secluded path, avoiding the gaze of others. After walking for some time in the deep darkness, I stopped and spoke.
“Come out.”
After a brief silence, a voice emerged.
“…Impressive.”
Rustle.
Someone appeared from the shadows, Wu Haixing. He looked me up and down.
“How did you know?”
Was that a serious question? I replied nonchalantly.
“You might as well ask me what I do for work. That would have been a tougher question.”
“Hmm. It seems you’re more skilled than I thought.”
“Don’t pretend to compliment me now. I know you’re up to something.”
“…!”
Wu Haixing’s face flushed with embarrassment as if I had hit the nail on the head.
In a way, he’s quite an easy person to handle. I know he’s in his mid-thirties, but it’s rare to see someone so simple-minded at that age.
“I-I didn’t mean anything by it…”
“Oh, you were probably thinking something like, ‘Why is this Korean guy getting attention instead of me, when he’s not even a full-fledged S-rank Hunter yet?’ You tried picking a fight in your typical straightforward manner, but when that didn’t work and the Korean guy turned out to be tougher than you expected, you decided to try a few fake compliments and friendly gestures to pull something. Did I miss anything?”
“You’ve seen your type before. After getting hit on the back of the head so many times, my brain has started working.”
I looked at him with a contemptuous gaze. His face flushed red, and he stammered.
“I wasn’t trying to pull anything…”
“If not, were you trying to be friends with me? Forget it. If I stay too close to trash, the stink will rub off on me too.”
“…!”
“What are you doing right now?”
At my quiet question, the hand that was reaching for his sword stopped.
“Don’t draw it. You’ll get hurt.”
Wu Haixing, who had been looking at me with conflicted eyes, suddenly spoke.
“Even though you knew everything… why did you follow me so willingly?”
“I wanted to ask you something.”
“What?”
I stared directly into Wu Haixing’s eyes and spoke.
“Sound Transmission. Isn’t that right?”
“…!”
His face, which had frozen stiff, said it all. I scratched the back of my head, mumbling to myself.
“So it is true. I suppose, being in the homeland, various martial arts techniques could still exist. Like Internal Energy Cultivation techniques or something.”
“What nonsense are you spouting! That’s just a messaging spell…”
“Oh, come on.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at his frantic excuse.
To those who haven’t encountered martial arts, it might be difficult to distinguish the difference, but I can’t be fooled.
“‘Come see me for a moment.'”
The voice I heard near the end of the meeting was definitely a form of Sound Transmission.
I could have ignored the invitation, but I chose to respond because the one who sent that Sound Transmission was Wu Haixing.
“H-how did you know?”
“What? Was this supposed to be a secret that no one knew?”
I stared at the flustered Wu Haixing and continued.
“I thought it was possible, but it’s still quite surprising. Didn’t your Cultural Revolution and all that wipe out martial artists? It’s amazing that some martial arts have still survived.”
“Shut your mouth!”
“Oh, right, your family is influential, isn’t it? So, did the top brass of the Communist Party use their positions to secretly squirrel away some martial arts?”
“….”
The way his face suddenly darkened suggested I had hit the mark.
As a foreigner, I might not understand the full gravity of the situation, but I know the value of Internal Energy Cultivation techniques—known in modern times as Mana Refinement Techniques.
“If this were the Murim, a bloodbath would have ensued.”
He had been caught with the stolen ‘golden calf,’ so his reaction was understandable.
“You’d better not mention what you just said again.”
“I wasn’t planning to, but your tone is quite rude.”
Wu Haixing glared at me with venomous eyes.
“Could you still act like this if you knew who my father is?”
“I don’t know who your father is, but I’m guessing he was a Red Guard.” [1]
“…!”
“Isn’t he the one who smashed Confucius’ statue with a hammer back in the day?”
“You Korean bastard—!”
Pop!
With an enraged shout, he lunged at me.
A swift sword strike unsheathed, his straight sword unleashed an aura blade—or rather, a sword energy—aimed directly at my neck.
Whoosh!
A cool breeze fluttered my hair. Bending my waist just enough to dodge the sword energy, I sprang up and struck his chin with my knee.
Crack!
Teeth and blood flew into the air. As the reeling Wu Haixing staggered, I grabbed both his arms and whispered in his ear.
“I told you not to draw your sword.”
Ssssss, crack!
“Aaargh!”
The powerful heat energy in my hands shattered his armor and burned his flesh.
The scream that escaped Wu Haixing’s lips was stifled by the qi barrier I had erected.
“Arrgh!”
Heh—
This guy even knows Fist and Kick Techniques. Unlike his sloppy swordsmanship, this was quite sharp.
Of course…
‘Compared to the Murim, the quality of martial arts here is much lower.’
Feeling a bit disappointed, I reached out.
Boom!
A clash of force and force.
The leg he whipped towards my waist like a whip couldn’t advance any further.
Wu Haixing’s eyes trembled with shock and disbelief.
“H-how…?”
“Here.”
Grabbing his ankle, I swung him down to the ground with all my might.
Whoosh, bang!
Again.
Thud!
Again, again, again.
Bam! Bam! Boom!
The ground shook, rocks and trees were uprooted.
When the savage pounding finally stopped, Wu Haixing lay sprawled out in a massive crater, looking as if his soul had left his body.
“Still, you’re pretty sturdy. Didn’t get hurt much.”
“He…ugh…”
“Hey, are you crying?”
“Heh, heh…”
Looks like he’s completely lost it.
Clicking my tongue, I bent down and rummaged through his pockets.
I searched through the space-expansion magic pocket for a while, and finally, I found what I was looking for.
“Ah, here it is, a high-grade potion.”
Ding.
– You have acquired a [Supreme-Grade Potion]!
“…Wait, not just a high-grade potion? A supreme-grade potion? Damn, this guy…”
I stared in shock at the sprawled-out Wu Haixing. Even for an S-rank Hunter, carrying such an item around was unexpected.
High-grade potions are rare enough, but supreme-grade potions are almost impossible to find—maybe one or two appear in a year.
The price alone is astronomical, but the rarity makes it almost impossible to buy, even if you have the money.
‘I’ve only ever seen these online, and now here it is.’
After a moment’s thought, I slipped the supreme-grade potion into my inventory. Then, I rummaged through his pockets again and found a high-grade potion, which I poured over him.
“Alright, I’ve taken the settlement fee, so we’ll leave it at that. You have a lot to hide too, so if you go blabbing about this… you know what will happen, right?”
“Heh… Yes…”
“Good. We’re settled, then.”
Just as I was neatly wrapping things up, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
It was a short message from Chief Choi.
[Ji…Tae-kyung…please come quickly.]
Oh no, Johnson!
(TL Note : RIP Chief Choi. LOL)
***
Footnotes:
[1] The term “Red Guard” (홍위병, Hongweibing) refers to a radical youth movement in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), initiated by Mao Zedong. Members of the Red Guards were primarily students who were mobilized to challenge the existing social order, denounce perceived enemies of the Communist Party, and destroy symbols of China’s traditional culture, intellectuals, and bourgeois elements. They often engaged in violent actions, public shaming, and even destruction of cultural heritage in the name of revolutionary purity.
