Chapter 160 – Runaway! (2)
One guy with a knife, one guy barehanded, and one guy with iron claws on his hands.
Needle-like attacks kept coming at me.
“Stop right there!”
The barehanded guy who hit me with a rock on the back of my head screamed and ran towards me.
He must have a short temper.
“Ahh!”
As I screamed and stumbled, I felt him quickly catching up to me from behind.
I immediately turned my body, unleashed a powerful kick, and tried to dodge his attack, but he barely avoided it and retreated.
“You bastard!”
“You’re stupid for falling for the same trick twice!”
I thought about trying to kick him like I did with the guy I caught earlier, but I felt uneasy because he dodged my attack.
Seeing Hwang Bo-hyeon’s breathing becoming rough, I knew it would be difficult to maintain this pace for long.
While the barehanded guy retreated, the knife guy and the iron claw guy were catching up to me.
Just as they were almost catching up to me, I slowed down to dodge their attacks, then sped up again to try to escape.
Just before I could shake off the two guys who slowed down to deal with the attacks coming at them, I felt a strong force pushing me from behind.
Thunk.
The barehanded guy who had caught up to me from behind had hit me with his force, which was colder than I expected.
After losing my timing like that, I was surrounded from three directions.
The barehanded guy was raising his inner strength in his right palm, smiling wickedly at me.
“Wait, stop!”
“Why are you stopping us?”
“Our priority is to subdue them and take them away. It’s not our job to decide what to do with them later.”
“…I understand.”
The barehanded guy, who was overflowing with the desire for revenge, became submissive, perhaps because the knife guy was higher up than him.
“Now, just stay still. If you’re lucky, you might survive…”
“Wait.”
Looking straight at the puzzled knife guy, I spoke up.
“We were sent here by the Sect Leader.”
“The Sect Leader?”
“It seems like you haven’t heard from the Elder. Otherwise, why would we bother coming all the way here?”
“Don’t lie to me, brother! It’s definitely wrong to just pick up strangers!”
Correct.
“If that were true, you could have just surrendered peacefully! Running away like this itself is…”
“If I had seen you guys every day like you, maybe. But today, I came here to meet you for the first time. Is it normal for me to just stand there while you guys are breathing down my neck and trying to kill me?”
“…”
“I’m caught now, so I just told the truth in case it might help. If I had the strength, I would still be running away.”
As I spoke, I analyzed every word these guys said.
Even though they were skilled, they couldn’t decide my fate on their own. If they were lower than the Elder, they were probably higher-ups.
They called him “hyung” instead of “sa-hyeong.” Their weapons were different, and it didn’t seem like they were part of the executioners.
“Don’t believe him! Look at his martial arts! That’s definitely authentic Taoist martial arts!”
“You’re getting tired of chasing me. Let me ask you this. Is there anyone who can do whatever they want without getting caught by the Sect Leader?”
“…”
“At best, there might be someone directly under the Sect Leader who has mastered authentic martial arts.”
I’m just making this up. I said the same thing when I asked for their help with the show. But looking at the executioner’s expression, it seems to be somewhat accurate.
“Wait, are you saying that the Sect Leader wants to work with us? But the Elder…”
“Hyung-nim!”
“Can’t you shut up? I need to clear my head!”
The barehanded guy didn’t believe me and kept shouting, but when the executioner yelled at him, he shut his mouth with a confused expression.
“Do you have the token that the Sect Leader gave you?”
“…Unfortunately, I didn’t receive anything like that. But the Sect Leader gave me full authority.”
“Ha! That’s impossible! Hyung-nim, there’s no need to talk anymore. Let’s just take them away…”
[You must be upset after getting hit on the back of your head, but can’t you stop acting like a brat?]
“What did you say? You little bastard!”
“Now, (Second Brother)!”
The barehanded guy lunged at me, but the executioner stepped in between us.
“Back off! If we don’t break his leg or something, he won’t stop…!”
“Why, why are you doing this! Please, calm down!”
[Hwang Bo-hyeon, get ready to run again.]
I left Hwang Bo-hyeon, who was quietly catching her breath, and slowly approached the barehanded guy who was fighting with the executioner.
“Can’t you stop now? If they really are the ones sent by the Sect Leader…!”
[Are you acting like this because you feel embarrassed after getting hit while turning around alone? Even if you cling onto me like this, your head is still the dumbest thing…]
“Ah! Let go of me… cough!”
“What the hell is this…!”
Gotcha!
As the barehanded guy was getting excited, I blew a gust of wind into his acupoint and kicked the ground hard, sending a clump of dirt that I had compressed with my inner strength flying, and turned around to run.
“This, this guy!”
“They must have been caught off guard. The Taoist and the executioner chasing after me were a beat too slow, covered in dirt.”
“As expected, I should tell them that it’s hard to meet the Sect Leader today!”
“What are you mumbling about the Sect Leader!”
After quickly releasing my inner strength behind me, I caught up to Hwang Bo-hyeon, who was running away first.
“At this rate, we’ll be caught again soon. What the hell should we do…?”
“Don’t worry.”
I shared some of my inner strength with Hwang Bo-hyeon, who was gasping for breath, and continued to run hard, looking back from time to time.
But where we were going this time wasn’t Yeongbingak.
“Those guys…!”
Honestly, I wasn’t confident, but after talking to them, it wasn’t a situation where I had to insist on Yeongbingak.
Those guys were definitely up to something. Seeing them act like they were with the Sect Leader was suspicious.
We were more likely to get screwed over, but it was much closer.
After running hard, Hwang Bo-hyeon and I were barely able to hide in Gyeonghyeondong, Chae Soo-ran’s hideout.
As soon as she heard the sound of her bedroom window opening, Chae Soo-ran woke up from her sleep.
When she hastily got up after falling asleep waiting for a man who never came, she saw two people in front of her wearing masks that only showed their eyes.
“Who are you…!”
“It’s me, Soo-ran.”
Although the familiar voice tickled her ears, Chae Soo-ran couldn’t hide her surprise.
Although they always came in this attire, they had never had a companion before.
“I’m sorry for coming in this state. I said I couldn’t come yesterday, but I’m sorry for not coming today either.”
“That’s fine, but…”
Seeing how covered in dust they were, it seemed like a pretty urgent situation.
“For now, don’t call me by my name in front of this person. I’ll call myself your wife too.”
“Oh, okay…”
Seeing Chae Soo-ran’s tense expression, I also held my breath.
Meanwhile, I lightly touched the woman who was probably a female companion, breathing heavily.
‘Who is she…?’
Judging by her inner strength level, she was definitely a master who couldn’t be underestimated. Most likely higher than me.
Since there was no trace of magic mixed in, she seemed to be a woman who had trained in the inner strength of the orthodox sect.
And the curves of her body, fuller than Chae Soo-ran’s, made me suspect that this woman had an attractive appearance.
“It’s late, I apologize for the inconvenience…”
“Oh, no problem.”
Chae Soo-ran was surprised by the woman’s voice. It seemed like the woman was also recognizing her.
Judging by her voice, the woman seemed to be around the same age as Chae Soo-ran. As soon as she realized this, Chae Soo-ran had a foreboding feeling.
‘What’s the relationship between this woman and him? Could it be that he didn’t come yesterday or today because of her…?’
“It seems like we made it.”
At the sound of the man’s voice, Chae Soo-ran quickly turned her head.
“Wife, I’m sorry, but is it okay if we stay here for a little longer?”
“…No problem.”
After all, her husband wouldn’t care about her, and even if they were hiding here, it wouldn’t be a problem.
But Chae Soo-ran’s mind was complicated.
Was this woman the man’s new lover? Was his interest in her fake?
‘No, that can’t be.’
Even if their relationship started from carnal desires rather than true love, she was sure that his desire for her body was genuine.
Chae Soo-ran worried that the man’s interest in her might fade until the two of them left her hideout.
And she never revealed her thoughts to the man until the end.
“Thank you… thanks to you, I was able to come back safely.”
“It’s nothing.”
Hwang Bo-hyeon received the man’s support and successfully returned to Yeongbingak.
“I’m sorry for causing trouble. Even if you didn’t take me there, it’s my responsibility to follow you. If you hadn’t come up with a plan, I would have been in big trouble… Ugh!”
“Wife!”
Thanking him, Hwang Bo-hyeon winced in pain as if something was biting into her body.
“I think I pushed myself too hard while the magic was still inside me.”
“It’s okay. If we have a good breakfast, we’ll be fine…”
For a moment, it seemed like the man’s eyes were smiling. When she looked again, his eyes were full of worry.
‘I must have seen it wrong.’
“Those guys will definitely try to find us no matter what. They seem to have connections with the elders, so they will definitely pay attention to the existence of the wife.”
“…”
It was a headache. Even if it wasn’t the center of the magic world, she couldn’t imagine meeting those people all of a sudden.
“This is a big problem… We’ll have to have a full day of breakfast at least…”
As a result of not immediately expelling the magic, it would take quite some time to expel it from her body.
If they or their backers came looking for her as soon as it was daylight, the magic infiltrated throughout her body would be undeniable evidence.
‘If I’m not careful, I might be accused of being a spy…!’
“Wife, I think I might have a solution…”
At the man’s voice, Hwang Bo-hyeon’s ears perked up. Seeing her desperate gaze, the man began to speak as if he was very embarrassed.
“Wha-what…! Is that even possible?”
Hwang Bo-hyeon’s face turned red as she listened to the explanation.
The man also seemed quite embarrassed, unable to meet her gaze.
Of course, it was the colorless smoke of a deceitful spell that he wanted to use to deceive her and take advantage of the opportunity that had come his way to satisfy his lust.
