Chapter 32

“There was a major battle two days ago. One hundred elite fighters from our family clashed with two hundred vanguard troops from the Mount Heng Sword Sect in Honju.”

“There was a battle?”

And a major one, no less—hundreds of people had been thrown into it. My heart lurched for a moment, but then I remembered what Wipeng had said earlier.

Good news and even better news. I’d already heard the outcome.

“We won.”

“It was a great victory. Fewer than thirty of them escaped alive. That’s about the same as our family’s casualties.”

Judging by the scar running from Wipeng’s forehead to his chin, it must have been a fierce battle.

Well, of course. They outnumbered us two to one.

Still, it was a relief we’d won. From the Jin Family of Taiyuan’s perspective, we’d poured in nearly half our strength. If we’d lost, the damage would have been enormous.

“It’s unfortunate we let the Mount Heng Sword Sect’s Lesser Family Head escape, but taking down the Mount Heng Twin Devils was a major gain.”

“The Mount Heng Fucking Devils?”

“The Mount Heng Twin Devils. They were Peak masters under the Mount Heng Sword Sect, and their loyalty was something else… They kept throwing themselves at us with no regard for their lives, so we had no choice but to kill them.”

Wipeng tapped the fresh scar.

“If we’d captured them, we could have extracted important information.”

“Did you—I mean, did Great Hero Wipeng kill them?”

“My lord and I took one each. They were pretty good.”

“…”

I was left speechless as Wipeng slurped his tea.

For fuck’s sake… Are Peak masters a joke to him?

It had been the fiercest fight of my twenty-seven years. I’d suffered all kinds of internal injuries and been sliced up like a steak. I’d been out cold for five days after that, so I’d practically taken a half-bath in the River Jordan.¹

And after taking down a Peak master of that caliber, all he had to say was pretty good?

He’s a complete monster.

I learned something for certain this time: even Peak masters came in different levels. Thank God people of that caliber were on my side.

“That aside…”

Clink.

Wipeng set down his teacup and regarded me with a peculiar look.

“You were remarkable.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m talking about Jopil, One Question, One Kill. Defeating him isn’t something the word remarkable can even cover.”

“…”

You people seem more remarkable to me.

It felt like being praised by an A-rank Hunter for being good at killing goblins.

“Ah. Yes. Thanks, I guess.”

I wanted to wrap up the Jopil talk there. My body was in bad shape, my mood wasn’t much better, and I wanted to check the System Rewards still waiting for me.

Let me rest already. I’m still a patient, damn it.

I threw him a wink with that meaning. Wipeng frowned.

“Does your eye hurt? Shall I call a physician?”

“…No. I’m fine.”

“Your eye just spasmed.”

“That wasn’t a spasm.”

“It was a spasm. I saw it clearly.”

“No, what I just did was…”

Then Wipeng rolled his eyes back until only the whites showed and started to tremble.

The table shook, and tea sloshed over the rim of his cup. I cried out in alarm.

“My God, Great Hero Wipeng!”

This guy has epilepsy. No—how does a Peak master even get epilepsy?

Just as I hurriedly tried to stand, the trembling stopped. Perfectly composed again, Wipeng said,

“You did this.”

“Are you all ri—wait, what?”

“That’s what you did just now, Third Young Master. Your eye spasmed.”

“So you were imitating me?”

“Yes.”

What kind of lunatic is this…?

I tried to explain the difference between a wink and an epileptic fit, but the words died in my throat. Wipeng was glaring at me like a pissed-off dictator.

“…Shall we just finish talking about Jopil?”

“By all means.”

Wipeng nodded, satisfied.

Crazy bastard.

In the end, I had to tell him everything about my fight with Jopil from beginning to end.

How Jopil had moved, what martial arts he’d used. Wipeng’s sharp questions had me tensing up more than once.

“You severed the tendons in Jopil’s legs with a dagger?”

“Yes. I’d kept it hidden beforehand.”

“There’s no way Jopil failed to notice it… Continue.”

When the long story finally ended, Wipeng let out the breath he’d been holding. The mixed feelings in the way he looked at me came through loud and clear.

“Third Young Master. You have accomplished a truly great deed.”

“Ah, thank you…”

“I hate to admit it, but I mean it.”

“…Ah. Yes.”

“When I think of all the trouble you’ve caused until now, my blood boils, but I was genuinely impressed. I mean it.”

“…”

“Who could have imagined that the Third Young Master who stole family funds day after day and squandered them at taverns, then paraded through the streets dead drunk and smeared shit all over the family’s reputation, would become such a great man? I, Wipeng, am genuinely in awe.”

Just curse me out, you bastard…

I barely held back the stream of profanity trying to burst out of me.

“I got lucky. Jopil let his guard down too.”

Wipeng shook his head.

“No. It was all skill. Who let their guard down and who hid a dagger beforehand are not excuses. If that alone had been enough to kill Jopil, he would not have been Jopil, One Question, One Kill. Murim is a place where only the strong survive.”

“Only the strong survive.”

I quietly rolled the words over my tongue. Somehow, they tasted both bitter and sweet.

Murim—this game—had been that kind of place from the beginning. I had survived there, and I had grown stronger.

“Jopil used every martial art he possessed to its fullest. In the end, he even pulled up his innate qi. A Peak master threw away his own life trying to kill you. But what was the result?”

“I won.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“Then I was stronger than Jopil.”

Wipeng, who’d been looking sour this whole time, turned serious.

“What are you talking about? Jopil was stronger. Do Peak masters look like a joke to you?”

“…”

“You were only strong enough to kill Jopil with a surprise attack.”

Enough already. Seriously.

While I was debating whether to pull a weapon from my Inventory, Wipeng let out a short chuckle. It was the first time I had ever seen him laugh.

“Well done.”

I looked at Wipeng suspiciously.

“What are you going to tack on this time?”

His smile deepened.

“I mean it. It’s true I disliked you quite a lot, but… this time, I have no choice but to acknowledge you.”

When he put it like that, I had nothing to say. For some reason, I felt embarrassed and cleared my throat.

“Ahem. Well, I almost died, but all I did was take down Jopil and a few wandering martial artists. Ahem.”

“How many Peak masters do you think there are in a single city? Even across all of Shanxi, where our family is based, there are fewer than twenty.”

Twenty. Far fewer than I’d expected.

“The Mount Heng Sword Sect must have taken serious losses. They lost three Peak masters like that.”

“But the greatest blow lies elsewhere.”

“What is it?”

“That is…”

The instant Wipeng opened his mouth, a trembling voice came from the doorway.

“The pretext. The pretext for starting this war is gone. The Third Young Master of the Jin Family of Taiyuan is strong enough without using poison. Indeed, that’s exactly right.”

The enormous Jin Wikyung stood there, teary-eyed, both arms spread wide.

“My baby brother!”

“…”

Please, just leave me alone.

In the end, I had to replay the chase of the past several days and my fight with Jopil all over again.

“The wandering martial artists who chased the survivors…”

“Those bastards! I’ll tear them apart!”

Boom!

“Jopil’s Flame Divine Palm caused internal injuries…”

“That damned bastard! How dare that vicious wandering martial artist bastard! Even if I ripped out his guts and chewed them to a pulp, it wouldn’t be enough!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

“…”

I stared blankly at the wreckage of my bedroom. Jin Wikyung had gotten way too into the story.

Wipeng had already backed far away and was mouthing something.

—It would be best not to tell that story again.

For the first time, the two of us were in complete agreement.

Jin Wikyung huffed and puffed for a long while before he finally calmed dow—

“If that bastard had still been alive, he wouldn’t have died peacefully.”

Crunch.

I watched with sad eyes as the corner of the bed crumbled into powder. Wipeng shook his head.

“My lord. Please calm down. The Young Master seems anxious.”

That one actually worked. Seeing me sitting there with sad eyes, wrapped in bandages from head to toe, Jin Wikyung’s eyes reddened.

“Just look at my baby brother. How much has this child suffered, to be sitting there so out of it?”

Grab!

A hand the size of a cauldron lid clamped onto my shoulder and yanked me in. I was a fairly big guy myself, but this man was practically a small ogre. Crushed against his broad chest, I trembled in fear.

“There, little brother. It’s all right now. It’s all right.”

After a heartfelt hug that only he found moving, Jin Wikyung sniffed.

“I thought you’d be a child forever… but now you’re all grown up. Wipeng, did you know?”

Wipeng answered without even pausing to breathe.

“Yes. You don’t need to tell me.”

Of course, Jin Wikyung pretended not to hear him.

“Rumors have spread throughout our family and even into the marketplace. The tale of the hero who led a do-or-die unit in a raid on the enemy camp, defeated Jopil, One Question, One Kill, and one hundred wandering martial artists, and rescued the Sakju Branch’s household.”

“Wow. That’s amaz—wait, what?”

I blinked.

Hold on. That was my story?

“Um, I think there’s been some misunderstanding.”

“That’s right, my lord. There seems to have been some misunder—”

Jin Wikyung smiled, pleased.

“My baby brother is modest, too. Wipeng, you shut your mouth.”

“No, it isn’t modesty. I think the rumor has gotten a little distorted.”

“That’s right. I know you care for the Young Master, my lord, but this is going too far. If the rumor gets too far-fetched, people won’t beli—”

“Rumor? Far-fetched?”

BOOM!

Wipeng’s voice vanished beneath a thunderous crash. My mouth fell open as I stared at the hole blown through my bedroom wall.

What the hell are you doing, you lunatic?

Jin Wikyung threw another punch. With a sound like compressed air bursting, what was left of the wall came down.

Wood and bricks rained from the two-story pavilion, and the people outside started shouting.

“It’s the Third Young Master! The Third Young Mas—his residence is collapsing!”

“Get people over here! Hurry!”

While everyone was still reeling from the shock, Jin Wikyung hoisted me into the air.

Put me down. Put me down, you crazy bastard!

I struggled with all my strength, but there was no fighting him off. One step. One step. Every step toward the gaping wall sent terror through me.

He’s going to drop me!

More than fifty people had gathered below. It was only two stories in name—the pavilion was so huge that the drop was a good ten meters. The wind rushing past me made my head spin.

If I fall, that’s a fracture at the very least.

Even as a chill ran down my spine, more people kept crowding in. Over fifty heads craned back to look up at us.

“Who is that? Wasn’t there an accident?”

“That’s the Lesser Family Head, isn’t it? Who’s he holding?”

“The Third Young Master. It’s the Third Young Master!”

Someone’s shout sent a stir through the crowd.

“The Third Young Master—no, the Third Young Master, sir?”

“The Third Young Master who defeated Jopil, One Question, One Kill, has awakened!”

What kind of situation is this?

While my eyes and ears were still whipping around, a solemn voice rang out clearly.

“Can you see?”

“Ah, yes, I can see. Could you put me down—”

“Can you hear?”

“I can hear too, but first, could you—”

“What do you feel?”

“Embarrassment. And shame.”

“They believe in you. They’re calling your name!”

“No, you fucking bastard.”

That last curse vanished, swallowed by the crowd’s shouts.

“Third Young Master! Third Young Master!”

Dozens more had appeared in that brief interval. Countless gazes flew up and pinned me in place.

No, what is this?

Then, with a solemn face, Jin Wikyung shoved his hands into my armpits and lifted me high.

Right on cue, a thunderous cheer erupted.

“Woooooo!”

“Third Young Master! Jin Taekyung!”

“Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi! Sleeping Dragon of Shanxi!”

And then…

Fuck. What am I, a baby lion?

An old cartoon’s BGM rang in my ears.