Chapter 129: Fateful Battle (4)

Blood, blood, and the occasional corpse.

The maids left in the castle must have tried to clean up, but it seemed impossible to clear everything in such a short time. Corpses were still visible here and there.

Judging by the drag marks, they had attempted to remove the bodies, but there were simply too many.

I carefully stepped around the nearly coagulated pools of blood and bodies as I searched for stairs leading upwards.

According to the old butler at the entrance, the man was waiting in the master’s room on the top floor. If I kept climbing, I’d eventually find him.

Following the trail of corpses and blood, I discovered a staircase leading up.

It felt absurd, like following breadcrumbs in Hansel and Gretel, but with bodies and blood instead.

As I climbed, tracking the corpses, I suddenly encountered multiple shadows in the opposite corridor.

These masterless shadows gathered around me like iron filings drawn to a magnet, slowly taking human form as they circled.

‘Ninjas…’

Their all-black outfits and ninjatos about 30cm shorter than my katana – they were unmistakably ninjas.

“Are you the ninjas who’ve occupied this castle?”

“‘Occupied’ is misleading. We’re simply here on our master’s orders. We took no part in Baek Jeong-nam’s takeover of the castle.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Because our master commanded it.”

When I asked about this command, they spoke as if it were nothing significant, but for me, it was far from trivial.

The ninjas’ orders were to stop anyone accompanying me if I hadn’t come alone, ensuring I’d face Baek Jeong-nam one-on-one.

In other words, it was a contingency plan in case I was too scared to face a Josenjing alone and brought others.

“…That’s ridiculous.”

The fact that they were waiting here to stop others implied their master expected me to be too scared to come alone.

Even as a hypothetical, this was utterly unacceptable. I placed my hand on my sword hilt, and the ninja who recognized the Baldo stance took a step back.

“Wait!! That’s just what he thought, not what we…”

“If you were planning to dodge, one step back isn’t enough.”

“What?”

Those were the ninjas’ last words.

In an instant, Wolffang sliced through the ninjas’ abdomens before they could dodge or counterattack.

I felt the sharp blade cut through soft intestines and sever hard spines.

First, their upper bodies fell, followed by their lower halves stacked on top.

Since they had surrounded me in a circle before being cut down, their fallen bodies looked like flower petals surrounding me as the pistil.

“What an ugly flower. Wolffang, they’re like sewer rats, but you can eat them if you want.”

[Huh? I don’t know what you mean, but okay!]

After Wolffang absorbed all their corpses, I continued on my way and soon faced a large door that was likely the master’s room.

As I reached for the handle of the imposing door, which felt especially large and heavy due to the powerful presence I sensed beyond it, a sudden gust of wind from inside violently flung it open.

With a thunderous bang like a giant hammer striking the floor, the door opened to reveal the face of the man inside.

His barbaric attire left his upper body completely exposed, though he had enough shame to cover his lower half with what looked like a burlap sack.

The numerous scars on his body seemed to tell the story of the years he’d lived.

“So you’ve come, Toechak waegu(derogatory term)…!!”

The man with a long, white beard like a Taoist immortal – perhaps compensating for his lack of hair – was Baek Jeong-nam.

He slowly rose from his throne-like chair and approached me.

“Heh, to think you’d follow the short hair decree so faithfully. I thought you were a traitor, but it seems you secretly wanted to be a subject of the empire.”

“You Japanese-loving bastard…!!”

At those words, his muscles swelled like balloons, and the energy manipulation surrounding his body increased explosively in proportion.

Though such muscle hypertrophy should reduce agility, it was too early to judge without seeing it firsthand.

While he was bulking up, I injected myself with the drug Hori had given me.

Its duration was undoubtedly much longer than before, but the effects weren’t as dramatic. Still, it should be enough to handle him in his current state.

“A syringe… Looks like you’ve finished doping. Then, let’s begin!!”

Baek Jeong-nam, now muscle-doped, extended both hands forward.

This stance was familiar to anyone born in that accursed land.

With my knowledge of karate, the progenitor of Taekwondo, I didn’t need him to shout the technique name to know what was coming.

“Bongchang!!”

As expected, the impact from his hands ripped along the floor towards me. I immediately countered with Baldo.

The clash of these supersonic impacts shattered all the windows in the room and shook the air.

With an ominous crack, the walls began to split, but the castle wasn’t about to collapse just yet.

However, if this continued, the castle’s fall seemed inevitable. As I stepped onto the windowsill…

“For a Toechak waegu, you handle Baldo, the sword technique of Goguryeo, quite well.”

“…What?”

I turned my head, unable to let that comment slide. He spoke in a serious tone, without a hint of humor:

“A traitor who’s turned his back on his homeland wouldn’t know, but Baldo was originally a unique sword technique of the Korean people. Proof of this can be found in the Subakdo mural of Goguryeo tombs, which depicted Goguryeo people practicing Baldo. Though it’s now damaged due to Japanese atrocities.”

“Ha, hahaha…!!”

I’d heard this nonsense from him countless times on the internet back on Earth, but hearing it again, I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking.

[Master, calm down!! I don’t understand what he’s saying, but don’t fall for such words!!]

‘I know…’

I wasn’t about to fall for such bullshit. Thanks to Wolffang’s words, I calmed my anger. Just before leaping out the window, I turned back to the man who stood with his arms crossed and a solemn expression:

“You know your history well. Fitting for someone who learned Taekwondo, a knockoff of the ancient karate.”

“What?!”

Before the indignant Baek Jeong-nam could retort, I jumped out the window. He quickly followed suit.

Our eyes met again in the blue sky, away from the blood-soaked castle.

Baek Jeong-nam, his eyes bloodshot with rage, unleashed a barrage of Bongchang attacks at me, but such wild, unfocused attacks had no hope of hitting their mark.

Most of his Bongchang missed completely, destroying random buildings instead. The few that came close were easily intercepted by my Baldo.

After this brief exchange, we landed gracefully in the garden, glaring at each other across the corpses and flowers.

Baek Jeong-nam, his blood seemingly boiling, shouted at me with trembling hands:

“How could someone who knows the atrocities of Japanese imperialism become a Japan-lover!! Do you have no patriotism?!!”

“Patriotism? I left all that shit behind in the military!!!”

Military.

The mere mention of that word made me feel like my insides were twisting and my head was splitting.

Even now, if I closed my eyes, I could vividly recall it as if it happened yesterday. That nightmare from those days that I’d never forget, even after hundreds of years…!!

‘Why…!! Why the hell isn’t it allowed?!’

‘You think it makes sense to bring a real sword into boot camp?! Send it back immediately, understood?!’

Without a shred of logic, the drill instructor’s words forced me to send my beloved sword, Jinta, back home.

The day I was separated from my beloved sword and forced to use an ugly weapon like a rifle, any patriotism remaining in my heart vanished completely.

There were other minor incidents, like a fellow recruit hanging himself or a senior stepping on a landmine and losing his leg, but those aren’t important right now.

From that day on, patriotism disappeared from my heart, replaced only by the thought that if we hadn’t gained independence, I wouldn’t have been separated from my beloved Jinta.

After hearing this tear-jerking tale, Baek Jeong-nam’s expression turned to disgust, and he let out a deep sigh.

“You’re completely insane… Did you really think you could bring a real sword, a Japanese one at that, into the sacred military?”

“Fuck that, it’s a more powerful weapon than a rifle, of course they should have allowed it!! Let me ask you this in return!! You must have been a strapping young man too, so you must have served in the military. Why are you such a Korea-lover?!”

“I’m a Korean-American, so I didn’t serve in the military.”

“What… did you say…!?”

Wait, so this bastard who never even served in the military was lecturing me, who had completed my service, about lacking patriotism?

As I stood shocked by this revelation, Baek Jeong-nam continued:

“And what’s so unfair about dedicating two years to your country? It’s what any patriot should do.”

“…What the hell are you saying?”

“Exactly what I said. Dedicating your youth to the country is a great honor. Though the country couldn’t afford to pay much due to circumstances, isn’t the honor of serving your country enough? What’s there to complain about?”

Is this guy a genius at pissing people off?

This was the first time I’d felt so angry that my body went numb. Whether he understood my feelings or not, he kept talking:

“Everyone else understands this honor and doesn’t complain. So why are you whining just because your Japanese sword was taken away? The reason is simple: you’re insane.”

“…You’re calling me insane?”

At my involuntary response, Baek Jeong-nam calmly nodded.

“Yes, you’re insane. And I’m tired of dealing with madmen like you. Just die already.”

“…Baek Jeong-nam. You’re a creature that shouldn’t exist.”

My boiling rage transferred to the blade, making Wolffang’s blade tremble.

I’ll kill him…

I’ll kill this bastard with my own hands…!!!

—

Author’s Note:

This tearjerking backstory is why the protagonist had no choice but to become a Japan-lover.

Now you understand, right?