CLS-Chapter 511

Chapter 511:

Isn’t there a saying?

That hardships follow heroes.

There’s no hero who hasn’t experienced hardships. If you think about it in reverse, you could say that hardship is an essential element in completing a hero.

But tell me, have you ever thought about this?

What if you knew about those hardships beforehand? Would you still have walked the hero’s path?

Yes, you might have. If the hardships weren’t too severe, that is.

But I guarantee you, if Wei Yan-ho had known in advance what would befall him, he absolutely would never have gone to the Demon Cult.

He wouldn’t have even glanced toward Xinjiang.

I would have been the same. Because it was far too cruel a fate.

Hmm…

Yes, the result would have been the same anyway.

Because it wasn’t something you could avoid by hiding in your room with your eyes and ears covered.

Yes, it was fate.

A fate that Wei Yan-ho had to experience precisely because he was Wei Yan-ho.

I too learned for the first time then that a person’s destiny could be twisted so cruelly.

What happened, you ask?

Listen.

When you finish hearing this story, I’m curious myself what expression you’ll be wearing.

***

Jo Wi-gang was an ordinary person.

I don’t know where to set the standard for ordinary, but anyone who knew him would not object to calling him ordinary.

He was someone who had no particular complaints about life.

He had a wife who, while not particularly beautiful, was virtuous, and two adorable children as well.

He also ran an inn that, though it didn’t have many guests due to its remote location, brought in enough money for his family to live without any real problems.

If there was one thing that made him uneasy, it was that this place was so remote that bandits occasionally appeared.

In this place where the government’s influence barely reached, encountering bandits meant death.

But Jo Wi-gang didn’t worry too much about it.

No matter how remote this place was, it was still officially part of Gansu, and the bandits surely wouldn’t dare venture this deep. If bandits came all the way to Gansu to plunder, there would obviously be a massive government expedition to suppress them.

So he just had to live as he always had.

That’s what he thought. Until just one hour ago, that is.

But today, Jo Wi-gang was forced to confirm that life doesn’t always go as planned.

“So?”

Jo Wi-gang looked at the man before him with trembling eyes.

The man’s bald head was gleaming as it caught the light streaming through the window. Normally this would be a laughable sight, but Jo Wi-gang couldn’t laugh at all.

First, there was a chilling snake tattoo carved right in the middle of that bald head, and the man’s face visible below the bald head was covered in various scars, both facts making him tremble with fear.

“No money?”

“M-my lord.”

Jo Wi-gang prostrated himself flat on the floor.

“What money could there be in an inn in such a remote place? Moreover, what little I had earned was all spent recently on buying ingredients. All that’s here are ingredients for making food.”

“Is that so?”

Sseureu-reung.

A large ghost-head saber was drawn from the scabbard hanging at the man’s waist.

Seeing this, Jo Wi-gang’s pupils began shaking violently.

“I’ve heard the excuse of having no money so often that it’s become boring now. And since everyone who said those words met the same fate, that’s become boring too.”

“Kkil-kkil-kkil-kkil.“

“If you’d met other guys, that excuse might have worked. But we of the Blue Snake Sect don’t listen to excuses.”

Upon hearing the words “Blue Snake Sect,” Jo Wi-gang’s body trembled violently.

‘Wh-why are these bastards here?’

Even in Gansu, the name Blue Snake Sect was quite famous. A bandit group that appeared on the road from Gansu to Xinjiang. They were bandits whose cruelty was so extreme that everyone feared them.

But their area of activity was several hundred li away from here. So why had such bastards suddenly invaded Jo Wi-gang’s inn?

“No money… Not bad, not bad at all. There are so many things in the world that can substitute for money. For example…”

As the bald man’s eyes turned toward Jo Wi-gang’s wife trembling in the corner, Jo Wi-gang screamed in horror.

“M-my lord, please spare us! I’ll find a way to get money somehow. Just give me a few days’ reprieve!”

“A few days… Do you think you’ll have a tomorrow?”

Mockery fell upon Jo Wi-gang’s back as he lay flat on the floor.

“Don’t worry. We’re people with consciences too. How could a man just watch his wife get taken away? You can rest peacefully in the afterlife.”

Jjal-lang.

The bell attached to the tip of the ghost-head saber rang softly. Jo Wi-gang squeezed his eyes shut.

‘These demon-like bastards.’

If he died like this, he wouldn’t be able to close his eyes even in death. How could he close his eyes knowing what would happen to his remaining family? How heartless was heaven to give such a tragic death to him who had lived without sin?

Just as Jo Wi-gang was about to let out an angry cry, the door burst open.

“Aeu-eu-eu-eu! Why is the dusty wind so strong here!”

“Move! Sand’s getting in my mouth!”

“Food! Food! Food!”

“Be quiet, you bastards!”

It was tremendously noisy.

Jo Wi-gang raised his head with dazed eyes. The inn’s door opened, and men wrapped entirely in large cloaks came rushing inside.

Then, seeing the situation inside the inn, they all tilted their heads to one side in unison.

“What’s this situation?”

“Looks like bandits?”

“Bandits?”

The man at the front scanned the interior and frowned.

“Calling them bandits right off the bat. They could just be good people.”

“Look at how they look. Anyone can see ‘bandit’ written on their faces.”

“How can you judge someone’s profession by their looks? You look like a beggar, so you’re a beggar… Oh, right. I guess those guys really are bandits.”

“This bastard?”

The man at the front looked around at the bandits and clicked his tongue.

“Wow, that guy got a tattoo on his head. Father, look at that. That guy has a snake on his head!”

“…You shouldn’t make fun of people’s appearances.”

The atmosphere became strange in an instant.

Veins popped on the bald man’s forehead.

“How dare these bastards!”

The bald man, Mak Cheol, turned his body while brandishing his ghost-head saber. When had he ever experienced such an absurd situation?

“I’ve heard there are many crazy bastards in the world, and today I’m really feeling it. Since you’ve courted death, don’t resent me even after you die!”

His roar echoed throughout the inn, but apparently these people had very poor hearing.

“What do you want to eat?”

“I want noodles. Do you have beef noodles here?”

“What beef noodles for a beggar? You should just eat plain noodles!”

“Does a beggar not have a mouth? No mouth?”

“I want wonton noodles.”

“I’d like to eat some dumplings first. Anything’s fine, but I want a cool glass of water first.”

Mak Cheol’s eyes flipped over.

“How dare these bastards see Mak Cheol of the Blue Snake Sect as what!”

The man at the front turned his head back.

“Says he’s Mak Cheol of the Blue Snake Sect?”

“Don’t know him.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You should know.”

“How am I supposed to care about every little punk like that? I’ve heard of Blue Snake Sect, but I don’t know any Mak Cheol. Anyway… Innkeeper, do you have beef noodles here?”

The innkeeper—that is, Jo Wi-gang—was completely out of it.

‘What are these people?’

If you have eyes, you should be able to tell how the situation is going, but they’re being far too nonchalant.

As he hesitated, unable to even tell them to run away, the man at the front removed the cloak covering his head.

“Is bathing possible here by any chance?”

“…”

A lifetime spent with the inn. Even though he knew this wasn’t the situation for it, his body reacted first.

“It-it’s possible. It’s possible, but…”

Jo Wi-gang glanced at Mak Cheol. The blue snake carved on Mak Cheol’s head was writhing violently. If he said one more word here, it seemed like they wouldn’t even be able to gather his bones.

“Mm, we should eat first.”

The man at the front turned his head to look at Mak Cheol.

“What do you want to do?”

“…Are you asking me right now?”

Mak Cheol couldn’t handle his bewilderment.

‘What the hell is this tiny bastard?’

He couldn’t remember seeing such a confident gaze in nearly ten years. Even people with considerable courage would see his appearance and have their hearts tremble so much they couldn’t speak properly.

But this bastard, as if his liver had swollen up or something, was calmly talking to him while looking at him.

“What do you mean, what do I want to do?”

“Will you go out and bang your head on the ground by yourself, or should I drag you out and smash it for you?”

Mak Cheol let out a hollow laugh.

“You crazy bastard…”

“Looks like you have no intention of leaving on your own.”

The man who cut off Mak Cheol’s words right there walked toward Mak Cheol indifferently, step by step. Then, before Mak Cheol could say anything, he drew the sword from his waist and struck Mak Cheol’s head with the scabbard.

“Kkeeu-eu-eu-aaa-aaa-aaa-aak!“

A bizarre scream that didn’t seem of this world burst out.

Mak Cheol rolled on the floor clutching his head.

“Aaa-ak! Aaa-aaa-aaa-ak! Aaa-aaa-ak!“

When you’re in the bandit business, you get injured from time to time. He’d been pierced by arrows and had his belly slashed by the blades of those who resisted. The countless scars covering his face proved how many lines between life and death he had crossed.

But he swore this was the first time he’d felt such pain.

He’d just been hit on the head once, but he felt extreme pain that made his entire body tremble.

What the hell had been done to him?

The man clicked his tongue.

“Such a big body, but such a crybaby.”

The man—Wei Yan-ho—turned his head to look at Wei Jeong-han.

“What should we do?”

“If it’s the Blue Snake Sect, I’ve heard of them too. They’re very vicious bastards who take advantage of the lack of public safety in the border areas near the Demon Cult to rob innocent people.”

Wei Jeong-han’s judgment was very simple.

“There are pieces of trash in this world who are useless even when alive. Cleaning up such people is also the work of a martial artist.”

“Did you hear that?”

Wei Yan-ho grabbed the fallen Mak Cheol by the collar and pulled him up. Then he looked at his face and smiled brightly.

“The price for sins committed sometimes comes to find you so unexpectedly like this.”

Unlike Wei Yan-ho’s playful voice, his eyes weren’t smiling at all. Meeting Wei Yan-ho’s gaze, Mak Cheol’s crotch became soaking wet.

“Hang all these guys outside.”

No sooner had Wei Yan-ho’s words fallen than Jang-il and the others began moving. The bandits, sensing that things had gone wrong, tried to flee, but with their level, escaping from Jang-il and the others was impossible.

“Aaa-aaa-ak!“

“P-please spare us…”

The inside of the inn was turned upside down in an instant.

The notoriously vicious bandits of Gansu began getting destroyed like a pack of rabbits meeting a tiger.

“Uh… huh?”

Jo Wi-gang blinked as he watched the scene.

Then the man holding Mak Cheol by the collar trotted over to Jo Wi-gang and said,

“Excuse me.”

“Yes? Ah, yes!”

“But do you have beef noodles here?”

“…”

We do.

Absolutely, honored guest.