#83 <The Epic for the Villain (4)>
Choi Jang-hwan’s hand, which had been slicing ribs, paused at Jo Il-hun’s sharp remark. That’s right, how did Mi-kyung know? Choi Jang-hwan’s eyes seemed to say that.
In the countryside, where there are many remote places, it’s hard to know what the kids are up to.
Just look at Choi Jang-hwan, who had already coaxed Kim Soon-bok early on…
‘Come to think of it, I also fell for my wife when I was ten.’
He had shared a bond with Kim Soon-bok, who had come out to pick herbs while carrying a load on her back. But that was a long time ago. In a world where ox carts have disappeared and buses and trucks roam, kids who have received formal education wouldn’t do such things!
Choi Jang-hwan blinked, unable to find anything else to say.
And so, the misunderstanding deepened with the words of a hurt teenage girl.
Ahem! To rescue Choi Jang-hwan from his predicament, Jo Il-hun deliberately coughed loudly.
“Well, what’s that-. That guy’s got light balls, so he must be good at jumping around-.”
“Stop talking nonsense. I didn’t even go that far. It’s useless!”
Choi Jang-hwan shouted as if he were angry.
Regaining his composure, Choi Jang-hwan started slicing the ribs again.
He considered the boy as precious as his own son, but if there was a serious disqualification in his manly duties, he wouldn’t be swayed by sentiment. He could give anything else, but not his daughter! With that thought, Choi Jang-hwan’s knife work became even more fierce.
Whether he knew Choi Jang-hwan’s feelings or not, Jo Il-hun clicked his tongue.
“Hey-, our brother’s knife skills are something else. He could have been a great back-alley knife fighter.”
*
The sword of Moon Seok-il, a master of dagger techniques, sliced through the air.
‘Damn! What kind of mess is this!’
Pit-!
The sound of cutting through the air was sharp, but martial arts that couldn’t cut flesh were just flailing. He was once told that with just one sword, he would have no match in the world. The same body that had beheaded a Labor Party official with a single dagger and returned unscathed. Moon Seok-il’s flawless dagger technique didn’t even touch Jin-hyuk’s hair.
How long had he been swinging the sword…
For a moment, it felt like he had lost his memory, unable to recall what had happened.
When Moon Seok-il regained his senses, the dagger was rolling on the ground, and the hand that had held the weapon was in Jin-hyuk’s grip, with the finger bones broken.
Crack-!
As he struggled to roll his eyes to find his opponent’s face, stars flashed.
He heard the word “aggravated punishment.” It seemed like something about old age and whatnot.
His mouth must have split open, as he tasted blood strongly.
“Bad hand.”
Wham-! Another punch from the kid landed on Moon Seok-il’s face.
The word “aggravated punishment” echoed again. He also heard something about a dangerous object.
He had prided himself on being accustomed to pain, trained to not succumb to any kind of pain. It only took two punches to realize that was arrogance.
“Ugh-.”
An unintended groan escaped his lips, and he had to admit it.
The pain was too much.
His cheek and eye socket swelled rapidly, obstructing one side of his vision. His skull shook, and nausea rose from his empty stomach.
‘They say the world is wide.’
Who would have thought I’d meet such a monster.
It was then. Jin-hyuk growled a warning.
“If you don’t answer my questions truthfully, I’ll have no choice but to silence everyone.”
Spitting out bitter words, Jin-hyuk clenched his teeth. It was an unwelcome and out-of-place threat, but a necessary step.
Moon Seok-il recalled the sense of alienation before the situation escalated.
Indeed, it wasn’t the kid’s usual tone.
‘We might all really die at this rate.’
Jin-hyuk paused for a moment.
As the first effort to subdue them, he had shown an overwhelming difference by rendering them combat ineffective in one strike. Not knowing how to handle the opponent in this situation, he only instilled fear as Hong Ki-jun had advised.
That leisure seemed like a death reprieve to Moon Seok-il.
“Who sent you?”
“I don’t know who. Really.”
Crunch-. Jin-hyuk’s grip tightened, and the man’s hand screamed in pain.
“Ugh-.”
Jin-hyuk inwardly admired.
He must have been a pro; even with his fingers broken and bent backward, he only let out a groan, not a scream. Jin-hyuk’s instincts and experience told him these were dangerous beings. During his military service, he had received training to prepare for torture. However, there was no separate technique or education to endure pain like they did. The only means to overcome pain was mental strength.
The instructor had said back then. The old seniors had superior mental and combat strength. That these were former special forces who had undergone high-intensity training was something he had already experienced in previous fights, and he felt fortunate to have subdued them.
“Really, I don’t know. We’re just people who work for money. They hinted that if things didn’t go well, we should kill, but we really had no intention of harming anyone.”
They should have resisted out of pride, but they spoke in detail, which was also strange. Jin-hyuk observed the fallen men and the one in his grip.
‘Even if they’re still active, they’re reliable talents.’
Two of them wore accessories that looked like wedding rings. That was clear. People who do dangerous work don’t carry wedding gifts around, so it was somewhat credible that they were just trying to take them away.
But that doesn’t mean they can be unconditionally forgiven.
“If you’re doing dirty work without even knowing who sent you, then you have no excuse even if you die.”
As Jin-hyuk moved, Moon Seok-il’s eyes followed his steps. And he looked at his fallen comrades. Jeong Sang-tae was still lying down with his pupils dilated, Kim In-rang had collapsed, and Kang Heon-chang was kneeling, clutching his side and bowing deeply.
Jin-hyuk approached Kang Heon-chang. Staring at Moon Seok-il.
Moon Seok-il’s eyes widened. He thought they were really going to kill him.
There was no direct impact on his eyes, but perhaps his head was severely shaken from being punched in the cheekbone. Moon Seok-il thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
‘What the hell is that…’
Coming to this strange neighborhood, bizarre things kept happening.
A black shadow the size of a house swayed above the monster man’s head. The shape of a straw mat floated in the air. Not only that. The whole world was dark. In the dark world, a silhouette darker than that was staring at him. Where eyes should be was filled with emptiness.
The empty pupils encompassed the entire world with a mythical sense of oppression.
He had heard about it.
From a comrade who stepped on a landmine in the demilitarized zone.
– “I thought I was going to die then. The whole world went black, and something like a grim reaper appeared before my eyes. But it was talking to me in my head.”
His head felt like it was shaking… I must be about to die from being hit too hard. Thinking that, Moon Seok-il stared at the silhouette in the air.
It was a being that evoked no emotion.
Then the dark silhouette opened its mouth. Along with the young monster that didn’t seem human.
“If you don’t talk, I can’t let you go nicely.”
【If you don’t talk, I can’t let you go nicely.】
The kid’s words hit his eardrums, and the silhouette’s voice echoed in his head with a barely perceptible delay. It was strange, but the voice was unexpectedly clear and resonant.
Following the dark voice, something rustled like a distant stream, like leaves rubbing against each other.
“If you want to live, it’s better to talk.”
【If you want to live, it’s better to talk.】
Jin-hyuk placed his hand on Kang Heon-chang’s neck.
It seemed urgent, so he was trying to check his pulse, but it didn’t seem that way to Moon Seok-il. Moon Seok-il’s one good eye widened like a lantern.
He shouted not at Jin-hyuk but at the grim reaper.
“Please spare us! That friend’s wife is about to give birth!”
It was Moon Seok-il’s first act of submission in his life.
No matter how tough one is, in the face of supernatural phenomena, humans become infinitely small.
Moon Seok-il found himself obediently responding to the grim reaper without realizing it.
Jin-hyuk deliberately clenched his teeth, making a creaking sound. His acting was surprisingly good, enough to surprise himself.
“I, I am. I’m the boss. Punish only me and spare the others…”
Moon Seok-il recalled the words of the village elder.
He had said to beg unconditionally for life. If you beg, you might live.
So he begged. All he could think was that even those innocent guys should be spared.
“Huh-.”
【Huh-.】
Jin-hyuk was so astonished that he even let out a sigh. These weren’t even gangsters, yet they were appealing to sentiment, calling him boss. Suddenly using honorifics and trailing off strangely was also quite displeasing.
Had he hit his head? But that was what he had hoped for.
Now it was time to start negotiations.
‘But where are you looking?’
Moon Seok-il’s gaze wandered hazily through the air. As if half out of his mind, it was above Jin-hyuk’s head.
Jin-hyuk looked around with a strange sense of déjà vu. Didn’t Choi Mi-kyung’s grandmother and Cheon Gil-ryong look at Jin-hyuk like that?
Moon Seok-il’s dazed eyes blinked a few times.
‘Isn’t that the grim reaper?’
As Son Jin-hyuk looked around, the silhouette moved with him. The movements were perfectly synchronized.
Even the action of scratching the back of his head was the same.
‘Is my head messed up?’
Could it be a hallucination from fear? Tears welled up embarrassingly.
It was the silent lament of a man who had once been considered the best by all, now confirmed to be a weak human and reduced to pitifulness.
“Hey, mister. If we let you go, you’ll just come back, right?”
【Hey, mister. If we let you go, you’ll just come back, right?】
“Absolutely! We won’t even think about it! We’ll make sure the others don’t come either…”
Seeing a glimmer of hope for survival, Moon Seok-il urgently shouted.
Jin-hyuk narrowed his eyes.
The man before him had said something hard to believe.
Jin-hyuk approached Moon Seok-il, who was lying down, and knelt on the ground to ask.
“To make sure they don’t come?”
【To make sure they don’t come?】
“Some measures that could help…”
Jin-hyuk placed his hand on Moon Seok-il’s shoulder and brushed off the dust. It was a sign of satisfaction that he had finally brought the negotiation to his side.
It was a gesture to show no intention of attack, but Moon Seok-il flinched. It was a foregone conclusion, but it was another admission of complete defeat.
If they helped, it would be useful, but now the important thing was to reveal who the client was.
“I’d like you to answer my first question first. If it’s hard to explain, think of it as a mission report and go step by step in chronological order.”
【I’d like you to answer my first question first-.】
Shaking his head vigorously to shake off the voice in his head, Moon Seok-il opened his mouth as if he had been waiting. His gaze was still fixed on the silhouette.
“It was spring. A woman who didn’t reveal her identity called me to the Baekje Hotel and made a request. She gave a large advance and information about Son Kwang-yeon, telling me to bring him.”
It was a suspicious request, but it wasn’t unusual for Moon Seok-il. Usually, those who seek fixers have something to hide. If it were legitimate, they would have used official authority.
There was also the fact that he was tempted by the advance for his siblings who needed quick money, but investigating the target was essential.
He needed information about the surroundings, so he sent out his comrades to gather information and even reached out to an acquaintance working in an agency, but there was nothing suspicious. Often, information is uncertain when seeking fixers, but the information the client provided was usable with minor discrepancies.
Kim In-rang, who had been tailing Hong Ki-jun, confirmed through vacation surveillance that there was no significant error in the address and residence.
Thus, they easily found out where Son Kwang-yeon lived this summer.
“-We coincidentally found suspicious people lying in wait.”
During the preliminary survey, radio signals were detected. He thought they might be spies, but judging by their speech and the phonetic codes they used, they seemed to be former military. Although their identities couldn’t be specified, it was clear they were surveilling the area for some reason. Moon Seok-il intercepted their communication and found out that they would be away during the Chuseok holiday.
They were thorough in security, so they couldn’t get information on the target, resulting in a mess.
‘So that’s how it happened.’
Jin-hyuk nodded calmly.
Finally, the clues to the inexplicable events that had occurred were coming together.
