Chapter 208

Chapter 208

Thwang!

I confirmed the rope that had been tossed about in the waves tore apart and snapped free, standing on one leg atop a log. At the same time, other logs bounced away in both directions.

“……I didn’t think I’d be discovered this quickly. I thought I’d be relatively safe in this typhoon.”

As I drew my sword and spoke, a face slowly rose above the waves, looking at me while revealing yellowed teeth in a grinning smile. The bastard wore skin-tight clothes optimized for diving and stared directly at me.

“You seem unaware, but no matter how fierce the typhoon rages above, the sea below remains calm. Teacher. Whether there’s a typhoon or not, it has no effect whatsoever.”

“Who are you?”

“Janggang Suro Sippalchae. Seon Do Chaeju Yeon Gongha.”

“Gyoeo Yeon Gongha. I see.”

He’s quite a notable figure. Famous for drowning several disciples of prestigious Orthodox Path and Demonic Path sects.

No matter how he approached from below the sea, the fact that I couldn’t detect his presence until he got this close must be because my opponent was Yeon Gongha.

Acknowledging the situation, I turned my gaze to the side. A harpoon floating quietly revealed that Yeon Gongha wasn’t the only one here.

“If you have something to say, say it quickly. We don’t have much time.”

“……You seem certain we’ll converse with you?”

“If you didn’t intend to talk, there’d be no need to give me time to prepare, would there? Right now, at the very least, I could manage mutual destruction.”

Crackle!

“Whoa, whoa.”

Startled by the lightning that leaped out with my words and vanished across the sea, Yeon Gongha waved his hands frantically, making gestures to calm me down. Then came his response.

“If we met on the Janggang, we’d certainly be in a kill-or-be-killed relationship, but there’s no need for us to try killing each other in a place like this where we can’t even kill each other, is there? Teacher. Let’s cool our heads.”

“I know. That’s why I’m telling you to speak quickly.”

“Hard to deal with. Quick-tempered too. The Teacher I’d heard about wasn’t such an impatient person.”

“That must have been when I wasn’t facing bandits like you.”

Punish evil and promote good.

I don’t advocate for such logic. In reality, the Orthodox Path defines the Demonic Path almost entirely as ‘evil,’ but not all of the Demonic Path is like that, is it?

There are proper people even in the Demonic Path, Nokrim, and even Magyo. Lumping an entire group together as evil and despising them doesn’t suit me. So there’s only one reason I despise Surochai.

Because I’ve lost comrades to them before.

“Well, fine. It’s familiar treatment anyway. Living as lowly bandits is all like this. Hmph.”

Yeon Gongha shrugged his shoulders, climbed onto a log that had drifted away leisurely, shook off the water tap tap, and sat down comfortably. The sight of Yeon Gongha sitting perched on the log, maintaining perfect balance even in the churning waves as if it were nothing.

“What I want to tell Teacher is simple. Let’s join hands with us at this Gaemunsik.”

“Join hands?”

“It may sound obvious, but Yeomryeong Daeju hates us. I should say he abhors us to an extreme degree.”

Yeon Gongha let out a pfft laugh and continued, turning his gaze toward the island where the shop was located.

“There’s no way Yeomryeong Daeju, who abhors us so much, wouldn’t have revealed our location, right? Yet if he still wants to come to the island where we are, the reason must be one of two things. Either we’re the target, or…… Suryong is the target.”

“It seems you have the ship.”

“We don’t have the ship yet. However, we have the materials to build it.”

“Materials?”

“Decoding the Jangbodo reveals the location of timber that won’t break or sink in water. You have to build the ship yourself, you see. Anyway, well, that aside.”

Yeon Gongha paused for a moment and shrugged his shoulders.

“You must have heard that to advance to the central area, you need to catch that Suryong?”

“I heard. Yeomryeong Daeju told me.”

“To catch the Suryong, an unsinkable ship is essential. Even we can’t catch a Suryong that freely controls the calling of winds and summoning of rain underwater. We need ground to stand on. But…….”

“But?”

“Just because we’re standing on ground doesn’t mean we can catch the Suryong. Water bandits are as weak as fish that can’t breathe once they leave the water.”

“……So you want to recruit me to catch the Suryong. That’s what you’re saying.”

“Correct.”

I quietly nodded at Yeon Gongha’s appearance, grinning with his teeth showing. I understood what he meant.

Surochai is strong in water.

That means conversely, they’re not strong in places without water.

In the case of the manifested Zone Master, Suryong, far in the distance, it’s clearly not a level one could face alone. Moreover, for Surochai, which lacks any decent experts, it would be even harder to face. Surochai excels in person-to-person combat, not in fighting yokai.

“Teacher is an expert in fighting yokai. If your martial power and experience combine with our numbers, couldn’t we manage something against a Suryong? That’s what I’m thinking, but what do you say?”

“Don’t you think I might kill the Suryong and then just drown you all?”

“I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because if you’ve killed the Suryong, you’d be on the sea.”

Yeon Gongha grinned and continued.

“On the sea, Teacher cannot catch us. But if we’re on an unbreakable ship, we can’t do anything to Teacher either.”

“What will you do? Isn’t this a rather reasonable proposal? We’ve even set up safety measures for each other.”

“I see.”

I nodded slightly at Yeon Gongha’s words. It wasn’t wrong.

There’s nothing more foolish than entrusting your back to those you can’t trust.

Everyone says that, but the current situation is a bit different. Isn’t it that we’ve made it clear we don’t trust each other and firmly established safety measures so that neither side has an advantage or disadvantage?

An ordinary martial artist would have accepted at this point, saying it was good. Because it wasn’t suspicious and the conditions were quite decent.

‘It’s too convenient.’

Yes. That’s the problem. Even though they hold the knife handle, it’s too appropriate a proposal. A proposal as if a trap has been dug to prevent me from suspecting them.

‘Trust water bandits?’

Can they be trusted?

I quietly lowered my eyes, looking at the waves rolling in as large as houses in the distance. The blue-green waters filling my vision.

“I’ll accept that proposal.”

“I knew Teacher would act wisely.”

“What did you just say?”

“Oh my, a slip of the tongue.”

At my words, Yeon Gongha chuckled and threw something he’d kept in his chest upward. A bundle of cloth that stayed in the air for a long time, then quickly unfolded and scattered in all directions.

“I’ve called for a ship. Let’s take that ship to Bondo.”

“Before going to the island, I want to ask something.”

“Something to ask, what is it? If it’s about how to enter Bonchae, I won’t tell you.”

“I understand Daesageom went ahead of me, where did Daesageom go?”

“Ah, you mean Daesageom?”

At my question, Yeon Gongha awkwardly scratched under his chin, fell silent for a moment, then continued. Yeon Gongha’s eyes sank indifferently.

“He’s fighting with other Chaeju in front of Bondo.”

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. We made the same proposal to Daesageom, and it means he didn’t accept.”

Even though Daesageom is one of Sipcheon, Janggang Surochai is known as a force that can take the upper hand even when facing one of Gupa Ilbang or Chilmun Iga when united as a whole. If he’d brought the elites of Hyeolgeommun, it might be different, but it would be difficult for Daesageom alone to subjugate Janggang Surochai.

“That said, to finish off Daesageom, we’d also have to accept the loss of our forces.”

Having said that much, Yeon Gongha awkwardly scratched his chin again with his index finger and continued.

“The Chaeju are diverting water currents to twist Daesageom’s path. Without engaging in direct combat, minimizing any loss of forces. Harassing him thoroughly only from underwater.”

“Is that possible?”

“Have you forgotten there’s one Sipcheon in Hwanggung too? If such a thing were impossible, how could we have survived until now from the hands of the great and wise His Majesty the Emperor? Hehe.”

“I see.”

Looking at Yeon Gongha laughing carelessly, I nodded. I had a rough idea of what needed to be done.

“The ship is coming.”

Beyond the waves.

Confirming the dark-colored ship that came swaying swaying, I lowered my eyes. Then, seeing that appearance, Yeon Gongha grinned.

“I hope we can settle the grudge between Teacher and us with this opportunity. Huhu. Isn’t this a good opportunity?”

“A good opportunity to settle the grudge…… That’s not wrong.”

“We’ll reciprocate as much as Teacher trusts us. Then let’s go.”

Watching Yeon Gongha board the ship, I chuckled. Trust water bandits? Me?

‘As if.’

Conditions that seem fair to both sides at first glance. However, there’s a fatal flaw within. That Surochai is in charge of the ship’s design.

‘They dismantled even the raft I was riding. Would a ship be impossible?’

Of course, it’s true that a ship is much harder to dismantle. But isn’t a ship something that sinks with surprisingly small cracks?

I can be certain. Once the Suryong hunt is over, they’ll immediately use some means to dismantle the ship I’m on, and then discard me after using me. Then there’s only one thing to do.

‘I’ll strike first before they betray me.’

Following Yeon Gongha onto the ship, I smiled slightly.

You don’t need to reciprocate. By all means.

I’ll take care of the reciprocation myself.

On the sea.

‘This is troublesome.’

Daesageom, who had been looking down at the sea with his arms crossed, frowned. The strangely flowing current that had been continuously moving since earlier.

‘It flows in the opposite direction of where I want to go.’

When he first encountered Yeomryeong Daeju at the shop and heard about Surochai.

Daesageom immediately set his destination to Surochai’s headquarters. Because the method to find the ‘unsinkable ship’ was in the form of Jangbodo.

Jangbodo is originally something mostly made by thieves to hide and brag about what they’ve stolen.

So thieves can be called experts in decoding Jangbodo. If Surochai specifically established a base in one place and has been doing something for a long time rather than wandering around, wouldn’t there be a high probability that the answer is there without even needing to decode the Jangbodo?

So setting the course to that island was good. It was good, but.

‘The closer I get to the island, the more drastically the currents change.’

It’s as if someone is artificially manipulating the currents. Of course, it would be impossible for a human to manipulate an entire massive current…….

Who knows. Creating a current just large enough for one raft to ride on.

“Should I run?”

He needs to catch the Zone Master. If the currents are being manipulated, he wouldn’t reach the island even after several years on this raft.

After assessing the situation for a moment, Daesageom drew up his internal energy and stepped forward. And.

The next moment, as Daesageom, who had raised Qinggong to its peak, was about to step on the water surface.

A ship with a peculiar shape revealed itself from beyond the waves.

“I found you.”

“……You are.”

“I’ve come to get you. Daesageom.”

Carrying on it only that wicked bastard who had taken his disciple.