Chapter 35

Chapter 35:

“It’s not that the poison doesn’t work… hmm…”

Wei Yan-ho lifted his broom as if annoyed.

At that moment, Wei Yan-ho’s form stretched like taffy and suddenly appeared right in front of Heuk-il’s face.

“Gasp!”

Heuk-il was startled and blocked Wei Yan-ho’s broom strike aimed at his head with his dagger.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Wei Yan-ho’s broom began flying continuously, targeting Heuk-il’s entire body. It was a series of fierce attacks where even a moment’s relaxation would result in his whole body being pummeled.

‘Grr!’

Wei Yan-ho spoke while swinging his broom.

“So Master said, when the opponent seems to be preparing something grand, don’t wait for them—just beat them down.”

Thwack!

Thwack!

Wei Yan-ho’s broom became even faster.

With his hands becoming dizzy, Heuk-il couldn’t block all of Wei Yan-ho’s attacks and began getting hit all over.

“Argh!”

Though Heuk-il screamed mercilessly, Wei Yan-ho’s broom showed no mercy.

Heuk-il frantically blocked the broom.

But as time went on, Wei Yan-ho’s broom became faster, and he got hit more and more places.

‘At this rate…’

If this continued, he would end up like a dog on a hot summer day without even putting up proper resistance.

His whole body might be thoroughly tenderized.

“Aaaahhh!”

Heuk-il steeled his resolve.

After all, it was just a broom!

The fact that he was getting hit all over meant that even taking a few hits wouldn’t cause serious injury.

Rather, if he thought of it as taking a few hits and managed to graze the opponent just once, Heuk-il could win.

Having made up his mind, Heuk-il suddenly rushed forward and thrust his dagger.

Or rather, tried to thrust it.

At that moment, Wei Yan-ho’s broom came into Heuk-il’s view.

Thwack!

Taking a direct hit from the broom to his face, Heuk-il slowly collapsed on the spot.

Thud.

As Heuk-il fell to the ground, Wei Yan-ho withdrew his broom and clicked his tongue.

“This guy was being gentle, so you tried to play rough.”

Wei Yan-ho grumbled and kicked the dagger that had fallen to the ground far away.

And Nok Mok-pung, who had watched the entire situation, couldn’t help but be shocked.

Who was Heuk-il?

Wasn’t he the leader of Heuk-am that his father Nok-gi had spent decades pouring his heart and soul into creating?

Heuk-am was an organization that Nok-gi had created over decades by mobilizing enormous funds and manpower.

Though few in number, they were strong enough to instantly deal with the military officers of the Royal Inspector’s Office and Imperial Guard.

But such was Heuk-am’s leader, Heuk-il, who had been unilaterally toyed with by a young man who hadn’t yet shed his youthful spirit, only to collapse.

Nok Mok-pung rubbed his eyes.

He simply couldn’t believe that what was happening before his eyes was reality.

But no matter how much he rubbed his eyes and pinched his cheeks, the situation didn’t change.

What was even more shocking was that this young man was the very same person who had been displaying all sorts of disgraceful behavior on the wall just moments ago.

“Ugh…”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Nok Mok-pung with a sly smile.

“It would be convenient for both of us if you withdrew at this point.”

That was absolutely out of the question.

If they withdrew here, they would be handing Lee Wang-ya a weakness instead. Lee Wang-ya would try to use this incident as an excuse to eliminate them, and if things went wrong, Nok-gi could even fall from grace.

No matter how much Nok Mok-pung was Nok-gi’s adopted son, if such a thing happened, he would never survive.

“What are you doing! Kill that bastard!”

As soon as Nok Mok-pung’s words fell, the black-clad men rushed at Wei Yan-ho in a swarm.

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho fell into thought as he watched the black-clad men rushing at him.

Then he turned his head to look at Moon Eun-ji.

“There’s a problem.”

“Ah! Where are you looking!”

The black-clad men’s blue blades struck Wei Yan-ho’s body as he turned his head.

But Wei Yan-ho’s form faded like a ghost, then appeared right in front of Moon Eun-ji.

“Kyaah!”

“I said there’s a problem?”

“Wh-what are you! How did you do that!”

Wei Yan-ho shook his head.

“That’s not what’s important—I said there’s a problem.”

“What problem?”

Wei Yan-ho opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“I’ve never fought multiple people at once.”

“…”

“This is quite a crisis.”

Moon Eun-ji’s face trembled with anger.

Since she was tied up and couldn’t use her hands… should she just bite him to death?

“So what?”

“So what? I said it’s a crisis!”

“So what should I do about it?”

Wei Yan-ho spoke bluntly.

“So, it’s like my work has increased, so therefore…”

“There’s nothing more I can do for you, and there’s nothing else I can do! So just fight!”

“Tch.”

Wei Yan-ho smacked his lips regretfully and stood up.

“But I really haven’t fought multiple people before.”

The black-clad men rushed at him again.

Wei Yan-ho smiled slightly and stepped forward. Though he had never fought multiple people, he had something he believed in.

His master was Baek Mu-han!

A person who was the greatest in history at tormenting humans. There was no way such a person wouldn’t have trained him in how to handle such situations.

“Master said it. The places humans can occupy are only front, back, left, and right—four directions. If you can just block attacks coming from four places simultaneously, fighting multiple people isn’t difficult!”

Wei Yan-ho looked at the blades flying toward him.

Two in front.

Five on the left and right.

Three from behind.

Two from above.

“Huh?”

A total of twelve blades were flying to turn Wei Yan-ho’s body into a kebab.

“He said I only need to block four! This…!”

Wei Yan-ho’s broom trembled in the air, and then immediately created countless shadows in all directions.

“Liar!”

Papapapapat!

Wei Yan-ho’s broom completely covered all directions. Seeing hundreds of brooms filling the world, it seemed like the yard would naturally become clean.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Aaaahhh!”

The black-clad men hit by Wei Yan-ho’s broom were sent flying in all directions. Having sent twelve flying in one move, Wei Yan-ho withdrew his broom with a dissatisfied expression.

“That old man really can’t be trusted anyway.”

The black-clad men who had been outside the broom’s range looked at Wei Yan-ho with trembling eyes.

One move.

It was just one move.

In just one move, twelve had lost consciousness and collapsed.

“Ohhh…”

Lee Wang-ya also stared at Wei Yan-ho with his mouth wide open.

Given his position, he had met many people said to have outstanding martial arts. Even in Lee Wang-ya’s eyes, Wei Yan-ho’s martial arts were extraordinary.

He was single-handedly smashing the black-clad men that even the Royal Inspector’s Office military officers couldn’t handle.

At such a young age, where on earth did he build up such martial arts?

“Magnificent.”

Lee Wang-ya glanced at Moon Yu-hwan.

Moon Yu-hwan was smiling.

“Didn’t I say there was something about him?”

“Ahem! Hmm!”

Lee Wang-ya turned his head away.

Having something was all well and good, but he really wished someone would do something about that damn personality too.

‘And preferably that sickly chicken-like expression too…’

Regardless of what Lee Wang-ya thought, Wei Yan-ho looked at the black-clad men with a face dripping with annoyance. Just swinging the broom once had left his whole body drooping. Wei Yan-ho’s daily allocation of activity had been completely exhausted.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“…”

“I want to finish quickly and go to sleep.”

The black-clad men bit their lips.

It was a statement that openly ignored them.

They wanted to cry out in protest immediately.

But thinking of the martial arts Wei Yan-ho had just displayed, they simply couldn’t rush at him.

“If you’re not coming, I’ll go to you.”

“Gasp!”

At that moment, Wei Yan-ho’s form stretched like taffy.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Then striking sounds erupted from all directions.

“Ahhhhh!”

“Ahhh!”

Screams could be heard from everywhere simultaneously.

Wei Yan-ho moved freely through the black-clad men, striking them with his broom.

He seemed to be over there, but was suddenly over here; just when you thought it wasn’t you, Wei Yan-ho appeared right in front swinging his broom. The black-clad men couldn’t even put up proper resistance against Wei Yan-ho’s movements and rolled on the ground.

“Grrr!”

“Ugh…”

Before long, all the black-clad men had fallen to the ground, clutching some part of their body. Not knowing where or how they had been attacked, the injured black-clad men lay there with faces mixing pain and bewilderment.

“Hmm…”

Wei Yan-ho stood before the last remaining black-clad man.

The black-clad man seemed to know what would happen to him, sweating profusely. Soon he too would end up like his colleagues, rolling on the ground.

He couldn’t even dream of resistance.

“Hmm…”

Wei Yan-ho looked around and then spoke to the black-clad man.

“Mister.”

“Gasp!”

“Why are you so scared?”

“Ugh…”

Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders and continued.

“Could you gather these people in one place?”

The black-clad man’s face hardened.

Was he now being told to move his fallen colleagues to one place?

It was a humiliating request.

“Please stack them neatly in that corner.”

“Me?”

“Or would you prefer to lie down too?”

Wei Yan-ho looked the black-clad man up and down.

“Head, chest, arms, legs… which would you prefer?”

The black-clad man’s head drooped.

The black-clad man walked feebly and began supporting the black-clad men rolling on the ground, moving them to the corner.

Wei Yan-ho watched the scene and then turned his head.

Nok Mok-pung and Wei Yan-ho’s gazes met.

Wei Yan-ho tried to enjoy what he expected to be Nok Mok-pung’s distorted expression, but surprisingly, Nok Mok-pung was looking at him with a face full of smiles. Of course, the smile wasn’t very visible due to his flesh.

Nok Mok-pung opened his mouth.

“Excellent.”

“Huh?”

Nok Mok-pung nodded repeatedly as if impressed.

“Such martial arts at that age, truly excellent.”

Wei Yan-ho looked at Nok Mok-pung with wide eyes.

What was he suddenly talking about?

“I never thought there would be a young warrior who could fight all of Heuk-am. And not just fighting, but toying with them alone—you are truly an excellent talent.”

Wei Yan-ho scratched the back of his head with a brightened expression.

“That’s true.”

Moon Eun-ji shouted.

“What are you being happy about!”

Wei Yan-ho replied nonchalantly.

“He’s praising me.”

“Ugh…”

Nok Mok-pung smiled.

“It’s regrettable that I’ll lose Heuk-am here. It’s also very regrettable that Heuk-am couldn’t defeat you alone. But thinking about it conversely, just being able to meet a warrior like you makes all of this worth enduring. How about it? Won’t you work for me?”

“Huh?”

At that moment, Moon Eun-ji shouted.

“What kind of trick are you trying to pull!”

Nok Mok-pung ignored Moon Eun-ji’s words and continued.

“How about it? Come to me. I’ll give you things you can’t even imagine. I’m talking about giving you power to hold the world in your hands and vast wealth to build mountains of gold.”

At that moment, Moon Eun-ji saw it.

Wei Yan-ho’s ears perking up.

‘Dangerous!’

Wei Yan-ho’s mouth slowly opened.

With a huge smile filling his face, Wei Yan-ho lowered his broom.

“No one would refuse money.”

Moon Eun-ji grabbed her head.

“Damn human…”