ISS-Chapter 31

Chapter 31

If you were to stop someone on the street and ask them what the Murim Alliance’s military forces do, how would they answer?

Most would answer like this: The Murim Alliance’s military forces crush the offensives of the Sapa and the Demonic Cult.

It’s not wrong. Indeed, the military forces are mobilized in battles against the Demonic Cult and Sapa, and most people who don’t know the internal circumstances think that way.

However, wars with Sapa and local skirmishes with the Demonic Cult are merely one aspect. What the military forces truly must face, even among those from the Demonic Cult or Sapa, or not necessarily just those two places, are things even more—

Sinister and wicked.

Strange and monstrous.

Kaaaaaang—!!!

I deflected the spear tip that came slicing through the air aiming for my side with my sword and lightly pulled my body back. The Uicheongeom hummed, emitting a sword cry.

While briefly reorganizing my stance, another Muryeongwando stepped forward to protect the Muryeongwando who had been hit by my scabbard. Seeing this, I curled my lips slightly upward.

‘Better than I thought…….’

The force resonating through my grip wasn’t as weak as I’d expected. With the story that they’d fallen behind the Mujeong Hall for three full years, I’d anticipated this batch of Muryeongwando would be of low caliber, but it seemed it wasn’t that this side was weak but rather that the other side was strong.

But even so, it didn’t matter. Immediate weakness or strength wasn’t very important. What truly mattered was only one thing.

Could they endure? That was all.

“……An entrance examination.”

The Muryeongwando who checked on his comrade’s condition with a sidelong glance and realized it wasn’t a serious injury quietly opened his mouth to attempt conversation.

“Are you truly the Uicheonmunju?”

“Didn’t I say so? Baek Riyun, Uicheonmunju. What’s your name?”

“Seomun Cheok. Why are you attacking us?”

“Well.”

I smiled faintly at Seomun Cheok’s dryly questioning voice.

“If I had to say, this could be called my method. It’s important to understand those you’ll teach before teaching them.”

There’s something anyone who teaches people does. Namely, measuring how far that person can go and where they cannot.

Humans are animals that fundamentally differ in what education they can absorb. Even when teaching the same thing, what they take in isn’t the same.

So you must know the person to provide optimal education. That’s why ‘observing’ is an element more important than anything else in education.

Of course, a conventional teacher wouldn’t try to measure people this way. They slowly have them try things, go through trial and error, and figure out what the most suitable level is. However.

I know. The most accurate way to measure a person’s limits is to place them in the most precarious situation.

“I’ll ask one thing.”

“If you ask too many questions, it kills the mood, so I’ll listen to just one more. Go ahead and ask.”

“What happens if we fail the entrance examination?”

“Death.”

“Of course, it won’t be actual death.”

I let out a chuckle and shook my head, and Seomun Cheok’s eyes turned toward me. Wasn’t it obvious?

“That I’ll kill you if you don’t pass the entrance examination. The words sound fancy, but it’s something I can’t actually do. If I did, I’d become a public enemy of the martial world.”

Even if not a public enemy, I don’t particularly have a hobby of killing people. So I won’t kill them. However.

That’s not the only way to kill someone.

“But for a martial artist, there isn’t only one kind of death.”

I’d heard about the situation.

That the Muryeongwando submitted refusal letters for the training. That they hadn’t won against the Mujeongwando even once in three full years. That they were aiming for a reversal against the Mujeongwando with this opportunity as their last chance.

For them, the situation they least wanted to experience now would be another defeat to the Mujeongwando. Then I’d simply dig deeper into that sequence.

So here’s the question.

What does a martial artist consider most shameful?

The answer is simple.

“If you fail the entrance examination, I will bind the hands and feet of all you Muryeongwando and lock you in a warehouse until the schedule for the match with Mujeong Hall ends.”

Fighting without even being able to try. Falling helplessly without even getting a chance.

I was planning to bestow upon them death as martial artists.

“……Kkeulleok!“

The Muryeongwando who’d been hit by me clutched his stomach and coughed violently, then slowly raised his gaze to look at Seomun Cheok and moved his lips. Secret voice transmission accomplished in an instant.

“……Kkeulleok! Understood. Then I’ll ask one more thing.”

Seeing Seonwoo Gang, the Muryeongwando who’d recovered from the shock of being hit by the scabbard, opening his mouth while coughing, I loosely lowered my blade.

“Didn’t I say one question?”

“……It’s fine. I’m asking with the answer already decided.”

The answer is already decided.

“Is that so. Then ask.”

“Yes. Then…….”

As Seonwoo Gang trailed off his words, I let out a chuckle at the presence I began to feel here and there. And.

“If we take you down here, will that also count as passing the entrance examination?”

At the sight of the Muryeongwando who’d finished preparations in a short time and surrounded me, I—

“That’s a fairly good judgment.”

Quietly drew my sword.

“If your opponent weren’t me.”

“Haak, haaak!“

It didn’t make sense.

In the mind of Muryeongwando Oh Ryeong, who was constantly pushing through the forest path, only those words kept circling.

“I have to escape……!”

When they first charged in, he thought they could win.

Wasn’t that so? They were Muryeongwando. Among the Murim Alliance’s reserve military forces, they were among the very best, with only thirty-two per batch.

Even active military force members couldn’t claim unconditional superiority over Muryeongwando. If sixteen such Muryeongwando gathered, any ordinary expert would be subdued without being able to exert any strength.

That thinking was the fatal error.

‘He’s a monster……!’

He didn’t know what had happened. Just.

A moment as brief as a blink of an eye.

In that brief moment, Baek Riyun laid three Muryeongwando on the ground without even drawing his sword.

—Will you continue?

One strike.

He laid three on the ground in one strike. If it had been only that, it might have been better. If he’d properly caught them off guard, taking down three in one strike wasn’t impossible.

However, if every Muryeongwando present couldn’t even properly confirm that one strike, if it was a strike so far beyond understanding, then the story changed.

Most Muryeongwando there froze at the incomprehensible scene. And the moment they saw Baek Riyun faintly smiling as if this was enough ‘this time’ and slowly disappearing into the darkness—

The Muryeongwando couldn’t help but realize.

That to the Uicheonmunju, they were merely prey that could be hunted whenever he wanted to hunt them.

“Haak, haaak……!“

Oh Ryeong, who’d been moving away from the location while deploying Qinggong at full power, looked around and leaned his back against a tree to catch his breath. The forest that had somehow fallen into stillness.

‘Where is this……?’

By feel, he’d come quite far. But because he hadn’t properly established direction, he couldn’t properly know his location.

It couldn’t be helped. They’d scattered in all directions to let even one person escape alive. In that situation, there was no time to establish an accurate direction. Moreover, if it were daytime, he could at least examine the surrounding terrain, but wasn’t it the middle of the night right now?

However.

‘It’s okay……. It’ll be okay.’

Even so, it was fine. The difficulty of nighttime wasn’t only his own but the pursuer’s as well.

‘Right. It’s okay.’

Oh Ryeong, who bit his fingernails anxiously and calmed himself, nodded his head. Thinking about it, wasn’t that so?

No matter how profound the Uicheonmunju’s martial arts were, catching all thirteen scattered Muryeongwando was a different problem. Moreover, the time was night. Wasn’t this place a forest?

No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t an environment very conducive to pursuit. Body scent would be masked by the thick smell of grass, and his footprints would be covered by night’s curtain.

‘I just need to get to Hwayonghyeon.’

It didn’t matter if they guarded in front of Uicheonmun’s gate. Once he entered Hwayonghyeon, they couldn’t capture them anyway because of the surrounding attention. If all the Muryeongwando arrived at Uicheonmun, it might be different, but the passing condition was only one person, wasn’t it?

In the end, this entrance examination could only be passed. Thinking thus, Oh Ryeong steadied his breathing and stepped forward to run again.

Dalgeuraek!

Immediately, at the sensation of something catching his ankle, his face turned deathly pale.

“This is…….”

Among traps, there was such a thing. A trap where wooden blocks were connected by string so that when prey touched or stepped on them, they’d strike each other.

What Oh Ryeong had just stepped on was such a thing.

Chwareureureureuk, the sound of wooden tokens striking echoed from all directions. The wooden blocks hidden in darkness shook their bodies, announcing that prey had been caught in the trap. Confirming this sight, Oh Ryeong unconsciously drew up his internal energy to its peak.

‘I didn’t think of this……!’

Where was this place?

The mountain near Hwayonghyeon. The one who chose this place as the battlefield was none other than Baek Riyun.

Naturally, he should have thought that he’d have set up some tricks. For one person to face many, strategy was essential. However, that overwhelming martial force narrowed Oh Ryeong’s vision, and the result was this.

He’d been caught in a trap he normally wouldn’t have fallen for.

‘I have to escape…….’

Oh Ryeong, who assessed the situation, directed his internal energy to his legs. His position had already been discovered.

Then he had to flee even farther so that at least the others could escape more. Judging thus, Oh Ryeong lifted his foot. However.

Oh Ryeong couldn’t take the next step.

—Four.

“Damn it, shit……!”

Swaeeeeek!

At the voice heard from somewhere, Oh Ryeong, who realized the situation, instinctively gripped the handle of his signature weapon, the Gujeolpyeon, and drew up his internal energy to sweep the surroundings. Then the Gujeolpyeon instantly crushed and cut the surrounding grass.

The obstructed view opened up. The moon was nearly full, a waning crescent. Though not as much as daylight, this much light should be enough. However.

“Where are you…… Where—!!!”

He couldn’t see.

Despite hearing the voice, he couldn’t pinpoint the location. Baek Riyun’s figure, visible nowhere—front, back, left, or right—made Oh Ryeong raise his Gujeolpyeon to aim at the empty air.

“Do you think I’ll go down easily……?”

He knew there was a difference in martial force. He also knew he couldn’t win. But the opponent couldn’t kill him, could he?

‘If it’s already decided, then to buy even a little more time……!’

The means to subdue would necessarily be limited to a few methods. And that meant he could predict the attacks to some degree.

Having finished his judgment, Oh Ryeong infused internal energy into his Gujeolpyeon. And just as he was about to swing the Gujeolpyeon with expanded range—

“Too late.”

“……When did you──!”

At the low voice touching his ear right beside him, Oh Ryeong was silently shocked, and—

Soon.

Peoeok!

Darkness covered Oh Ryeong.