Chapter 478: The Rotten Thing.

Hwarureureuk.

The azure flame stuck to the pillar fragment looks truly powerful.

It looked so powerful that it was even gaudily flashy, lacking any subtlety.

“…”

Keureung.

In that gap, the gaze of the former Enemy Water (was stinging).

Although the eyes filled with betrayal were somewhat painful.

‘…Isn’t life all about helping each other out….’

I had to deliberately ignore that gaze.

Ah, speaking of which, is it now unreasonable to use the word ‘life’?

Since neither of us were human anymore.

Keolkeol.

‘…Shit.’

I tried cracking a lame joke inwardly, but there was no way that would improve my mood.

-Huin.

Dangjemun calls me.

The subtle chill embedded in her voice pierced straight into my heart.

“Well…it kinda just happened… Haha.”

Trying to brush it off with an embarrassed expression, I firmly closed my mouth and spoke again.

“…I apologize.”

As I offered my apology, Dangjemun gave a slight nod.

Then, glancing at the fallen pillar.

-Indeed, no matter how I look at it, you and Shin Cheol resemble each other quite a lot… I wish it wasn’t in aspects like this, though.

“No, that’s a bit….”

[How dare you say I resemble such a lacking fool!]

Seeing the old man suddenly cut me off and snap angrily, I frowned.

This old geezer?

“Why are you, the elder, saying what I should be saying?”

[Then who else should? Is it even fitting for you to say it?]

“Of course, I should say it. What makes you, the elder, so great…”

Honestly, Elder Shin was quite great.

The figure known as the Sword Saint of Mount Hua was called the most respected great figure of the Mount Hua Sect.

Furthermore, he was treated as a hero who saved the Central Plains.

His status was certainly different from someone like me, a former traitor.

‘I don’t want to be compared to this clueless idiot.’

Separate from the martial artist known as the Sword Saint of Mount Hua, I absolutely refused to be compared to the man named Shin Cheol.

Hearing my words, Elder Shin chuckled dismissively.

[Ho ho. You short, stubby thing.]

“…What?”

He resorts to personal attacks, infuriating me.

What was more infuriating was that I didn’t have much to retort with.

“…I’ve grown, in my own way?”

I spat that out, grinding my teeth.

My body had actually changed, and my height had increased by about half a span.

Ah, of course.

[So? Are you taller than me?]

“…”

The problem was that I was still shorter than this old geezer.

‘Damn it… If you were going to make me bigger, you should have made me taller.’

My height had increased since my previous life, but it was still far from enough when compared to the large figures around me.

Even with this change, I was still shorter than that guy Woohyeok or Yeongpung.

If anything, this cantankerous old man should have been shorter.

Why is this guy so tall too? Nothing ever works out.

“Are you unfairly resorting to personal attacks?”

[I tried being petty. What are you going to do about it?]

Feeling that shamelessness, I let out a deep sigh.

“…Well, I suppose I don’t really have a way to counter that.”

[Hmph… Now you’re talking.]

“I guess I have to understand an old man who hasn’t even held a woman’s hand and has a foul temper.”

[…!]

Ku-ung-!

Hearing the words I spat out with a chuckle, I felt a great upheaval within my body.

[Ho ho… This brat…]

“You were the one who started it, Elder.”

Just as we were growling at each other and grinding our teeth.

-Stop right there.

At the cold voice that pierced my ears, the elder and I simultaneously shut our mouths.

-…Haaah.

The sigh sounded unusual.

-You two are really identical…

[No, we’re not the same…]

-Be quiet. Shin Cheol.

[…]

When Dangjemun added one more word, the elder shrunk back.

Serves him right.

‘Judging by your state, you figured it all out, didn’t you?’

[…What.]

‘That Dangjemun-nim isn’t a man.’

[Why such a title? What’s with ‘Madam’?]

Seeing that she didn’t deny anything else, it seemed she had definitely realized Dangjemun was a woman.

What could they have talked about?

I was curious about what kind of conversation could have made the elder so pathetic, but…

More importantly, I had to look at something else first.

-Huin.

“Yes. Senior.”

When I answered Dangjemun’s call, she had already approached my side.

Dangjemun, having come closer, looked at the Dokcheondan filling the tombstone and said to me.

-As I mentioned beforehand, it’s okay to take the Dokcheondan.

“…Thank you.”

I was planning to take it even if she hadn’t said so.

I went through hell to get this, so of course, I have to take it.

If she had told me not to take it, I would have burned down the Bigo and everything else.

As soon as Dangjemun gave permission, I reached out to grab the Dokcheondan.

Suddenly, I realized there was one thing I hadn’t asked about.

“Um, Senior.”

-Yes.

“Is it okay if I take this too?”

Dangjemun’s head tilted at my words.

What I was pointing at was the Baekmaseok next to the Dokcheondan.

-This?

Dangjemun tilted her head, puzzled.

I think she said this was something she kept after killing a Baekgeup monster to show off to Elder Shin.

Since my original purpose was to get this, I casually asked about it.

‘Does the Elder know too?’

[Know what?]

‘That I prepared this to show the Elder.’

[…I already heard.]

The voice speaking with pity sounded unusual.

Did he really get beaten up?

Unlike before, I couldn’t see the elder’s face, so I couldn’t tell.

I could only fervently pray inwardly that his eye socket was turning purple.

-Huin, do you need this?

“Yes… I’d like it if I could have it.”

It would be great.

Separate from the Dokcheondan piled up like that, the Baekmaseok also held considerable energy when compared individually.

It probably held more energy than a single Dokcheondan pill.

‘If I’m taking things, I’m taking it all.’

If I’m going to be greedy, I might as well do it shamelessly.

Was it perhaps my shameless words that caused the issue?

Kkuhk-kkuhk.

Suddenly, Dangjemun started laughing, covering her mouth.

“…Senior?”

I looked at her with slightly nervous eyes. I knew I had crossed the line a little.

Fortunately, she didn’t seem upset, as she spoke to me without stopping her laughter.

-Shin Cheol said so.

“The Elder?”

-That you would definitely try to take everything. His words were correct.

“…”

Dangjemun’s words made my brow furrow automatically.

What on earth did this person say?

Instead of helping, he seemed to have preemptively thrown a wrench in the works.

Confirming that, I clicked my tongue inwardly.

‘I should give up.’

Let’s forget about the Baekmaseok for now.

Ah, of course, I’ll forget about it for now and plan to come back later to take it.

I can’t just leave this here.

As I thought that, licking my lips regretfully.

-If you intend to take it, it’s fine.

“Huh? Really?”

My eyes widened at Dangjemun’s words. She’s allowing this?

-Yes. If you wish for more.

As she spoke, Dangjemun’s gaze swept across the walls and around the pillars.

-It’s also okay to take this Yamyeongju.

“…”

Oh dear.

It seemed she had noticed I was subtly coveting the Yamyeongju.

This is quite awkward.

“…Ahem.”

Just as I was clearing my throat to dispel the awkwardness.

-However.

Dangjemun’s fingertip lightly tapped the Baekmaseok.

However, the Baekmaseok didn’t move.

Her fingertip simply passed lightly through the stone.

Seeing this, I realized once again that she was not a living being.

-I have a request for you, Huin.

“…”

A request.

At that meaningful word, I took a step back.

-Huin?

“I won’t accept it. I don’t need this.”

From the perspective of someone who had experienced nothing but shitty things whenever involved with those so-called heroes of the past, the word ‘request’ was irritating enough to hear, wondering what kind of crap they were going to dump on me again.

“…I’ll just leave quietly. It was an honor meeting you, Senior.”

Roughly tucking the Dokcheondan into my chest, I walked away hastily.

I needed to get outside, fast.

“Ah, shit, but where’s the exit door here?”

Keureung.

As I looked around searching for the exit, the former Enemy Water approached and poked its head in.

Seeing that, I nodded.

“Good timing. Try to find the door. You’re good at finding things.”

Keureureung?

I said that, recalling how this thing had shown me the entrance to the Bigo when I was looking for it in the lake.

However, it merely responded with a look of incomprehension.

“…Tsk.”

Does this thing not know either?

Just as I was thinking I’d have to find my own way out.

-Tang Soyeol.

U-ttuk-

My head snapped up at the name that drilled into my ears.

“…What did you just say…”

My heart sank coldly.

It was an unexpected name to hear from Dangjemun’s mouth.

Looking at Dangjemun with that sense of dissonance.

-It’s about that child. Aren’t you curious, Huin?

For some reason, she wore an expression full of sadness.

Looking into Dangjemun’s eyes, I thought.

It was strange enough that she mentioned Tang Soyeol, but why was she making that kind of face?

It was obviously a serious matter.

I wanted to abandon everything and run away immediately, but…

I couldn’t take a step forward.

The scales were always placed in my heart,

and this time too, the counterweight was tilted to one side.

Feeling that, I suppressed my emotions and answered Dangjemun.

Given this situation, I only had one answer.

“…What is it? The request?”

Hearing my question, Dangjemun approached me.

-My request is only one thing.

Her expression was still somber, and her eyes held an unreadable look, but…

-…If you, Huin, were to go outside….

The words that flowed from her mouth, contrary to her composed expression, were quite shocking.

---

Sa-aaa….

The sound of waves rippling in the wind could be heard.

The weather was still midday, and the lake maintained its beautiful color.

It was the same scene as always, but.

“…”

The eyes of the woman watching this were merely trembling ceaselessly.

‘What the?’

The woman seemed indifferent to her swollen cheek or the flowing blood, gazing solely at the lake.

The woman was Nahee, an assassin of the Tang family.

‘What on earth… is the situation?’

It had been half an hour since Gu Yangcheon, whom she had guided, suddenly threw himself into the lake.

It was strange enough that the person named Gu Yangcheon had found out about her identity, but…

After saying he needed to go into the lake for a moment, he had truly jumped in and wasn’t coming out.

‘Did he really just die like that?’

From Nahee’s perspective, she couldn’t help but think this.

‘Really… suicide…?’

Suddenly jumping into a poisonous body of water could only mean this scenario.

Even for a Poison King with deep resistance to poison, holding out submerged in the center of that lake would be difficult.

In such a situation, Gu Yangcheon, who appeared to be an ordinary martial artist, jumping into the lake could only be seen as suicide.

‘What should I do?’

Nahee repeatedly bit her lips.

She was the one who guided Gu Yangcheon.

But if Gu Yangcheon suddenly threw himself into the lake and died…

‘…What should I say?’

She was in a situation where she couldn’t figure out how to report this to the Poison King.

Even if Gu Yangcheon had asked to enter the lake, it was obvious she’d be told she should have stopped him.

It was impossible to explain the reason she allowed it in the first place.

‘…Huuugh…’

A dilemma.

It seemed to perfectly describe Nahee’s predicament.

‘Older brother….’

Biting her fingernails back and forth, Nahee thought of her older brother.

Since the day they joined hands, vowing to get revenge on this filthy clan together, they must have spent their time enduring all sorts of hardships.

‘Why on earth…!’

Why did that older brother betray them for a young late-stage disciple?

Nahee couldn’t understand it.

She couldn’t believe it.

There must have been a reason. There absolutely had to be.

‘I need to think… What should I do?’

If things continued like this, it was truly the end.

Nahee urgently had to use her head.

Because she couldn’t die like this.

‘At the very least… I have to eliminate that ‘underground’ before I die.’

The truth of this rotten, corrupted Tang sect.

The underground operations of the Tang sect, which commits foul deeds under the guise of a prestigious family, must be eliminated before I die.

That was.

The path for the brothers and sisters who died before her.

Ju-reureuk.

I had bitten my fingernails so much that blood trickled down from my thumb.

Ttuk.

The moment the drop of blood flowed and fell onto the ground with a ‘ttuk’.

Sa-aaaaaaaa…!

A sudden anomaly began to occur in the lake.

“…?”

Nahee’s eyes widened in unison upon confirming it.

“What the…?”

Hurriedly getting up, she headed towards the lake.

“…Ah?”

As she approached the lake, the signs of anomaly intensified.

Normally, the poisonous aura should have grown stronger the closer she got, but for some reason, she felt nothing.

“What in the….”

What on earth was happening? As Nahee approached the very edge of the lake with trembling eyes.

Kwa-aaaaaa–!

Suddenly, the lake began to churn violently. It was a whirlpool.

A fierce whirlpool appeared in the lake, as if sucking everything towards its center.

Not stopping there, the lake’s water gradually began to decrease.

“…Wh-what?”

The Dokcheon Lake, a treasure of the Tang sect, was disappearing.

Nahee exclaimed in panic at this bizarre situation, but the lake didn’t stop.

Thus, about ten seconds passed.

Despite only that much time having passed, all the lake’s water had vanished somewhere.

As the Dokcheon Lake was called a lake, the amount of water shouldn’t have been small by any means.

Where could all that water have gone?

Nahee scanned the center of the lake, unable to hide her trembling hands.

Since the center of the whirlpool was there, she judged that something must be present.

And in the place she confirmed herself.

“…Huh?”

The center of the lake, with not a drop of water remaining. Someone was standing still, shaking themselves off.

“Tuh.”

Perhaps something got in his mouth, he spat out saliva roughly.

Then, he began looking around here and there.

The person who looked around the empty space of the lake for a moment.

“Ah.”

Soon, as if confirming the situation.

“…Shit… I fucked up.”

He spat out a viscous curse.