Chapter 232: Behind (2)

'...?!'

The leader of the masked man seemed to be at a loss as to what was happening around him.

"This is...."

The others were also shocked. A masked person suddenly spoke like a woman and called his body a slave. Who wouldn't think that this was odd?

-Even as a woman, that doesn't seem normal.

That's right.

The True Evil Sword was manipulating that masked man now.

It would have been nice if she stopped at just rescuing the hostages, but I think she got carried away due to the excitement.

"Y-You did something insane!"

The masked leader was speaking to the person captured by the True Evil Sword.

"Do I look like your subordinate?"

"What?"

It must have been scary to hear this from someone he knew. To realize that they were being possessed.

'Enough.'

"Huhuhu."

The possessed masked man began to twist his body like a twig and made strange sounds.

'... Ah.'

Those bones were gonna hurt.

It wasn't my fault for not paying more attention since this situation was unusual.

No, who would have guessed that she could do things beyond talking to the point of manipulating a person's body at will?

"Sorry. I want to play more."

The masked man smiled as I put my hand to my forehead. She placed Eon Young-in down and took a sword to her puppet's neck.

"S-stop!"

Slash!

Suicide.

She then escaped from the masked man's hand and returned to me.

Perhaps the sight unnerved too many people. Even the masked man in front of me was speechless.

"Haa....."

I saw Yong-yong biting her tongue as she looked at me.

[Brother, what are you doing?]

She seemed to be under the impression that I was the one doing this. I think it would be better to tell her clearly to avoid any misunderstanding.

[... I didn't do it.]

[Brother didn't do it?]

[It is the True Evil Sword and the Blood Demon Sword. If a normal person held them, they would become captivated and move according to the will of something else.]

[Yokai swords!]

Yong-yong's eyes widened in surprise. There were some notorious rumors about yokai swords, so she would be able to understand it well enough from this.

The Blood Demon Sword was a typical example.

I then asked her playfully.

[You want to touch it?]

[F-forget it.]

I looked at her and smiled.

Yong-tong shook her head and looked at Gahui's condition as she greeted Song Jwa-baek.

"Jwa-baek... brother."

"Brother?"

Those words made him snort his nose and smile. Such a simple-minded man.

-Isn't that why they ended up liking your sister?

... that was a bit hard to...

The fact that this man would instantly get a crush on anyone of the opposite sex made me anxious.

"Before you say brother or call me like that. Don't stay still. Please speak."

"Ahem. R-right. Put her down."

Song Jwa-baek cleared his throat at Yong-yong's request and placed Gahui down to unseal her blood points. In the meantime, I approached the masked man.

He looked at me like I was some monster.

"Y-You, what did you do? How can you side with the Justice Faction and do such things..."

True Evil Sword's abilities must have seemed like sorcery to him. Well, there was no need for me to explain.

"You don't have to know. Will you talk about the hostages now?"

Hearing this, the man began to think.

He should have realized that there was no way to lie.

"You touched my sister, so do not hope for a graceful death."

Clench!

I gently stepped onto his ankle and crushed it.

"Kwaaaak!"

Seeing him groaning in pain gave me a warm feeling in my stomach as he screamed pitifully.

"P-please spare me!"

I just sneered down at him.

"The words from that mouth should be, please just kill me."

They shouldn't have tried to do such a thing from the start. Anyone who tries to touch my people should not expect to stay safe.

How dare they expect to be left alive?

At that moment, Yong-yong cried out.

"Brother! Wait one minute!"

Just as I was about to break his other ankle, I stopped, and Yong-yong ran over.

"Who is he?"

'He?'

I was able to guess what she meant. She wanted to know who was behind these masked men.

What mission was it that almost led to my sister being kidnapped?

"T-that...."

The man stuttered and hesitated to answer. Seeing that he seemed to be more afraid of his backers than us, this probably meant they were not normal people.

Pressing down further on his ankle, I said,

"Say it!"

He didn't open his mouth so easily. I pressed even more, and he spoke as the pain overcame him.

"I-I just took their money and followed their orders."

"Just took their money and followed orders?"

"Yes. Trust me."

Puak!

"Eukk!"

Yong-yong stabbed her sword into his shoulder.

"Then speak! Who is behind you?!"

"Uhh...."

"There should be a man who gave you the money and orders!"

I was angry, but since she had been almost kidnapped, this was the first time I'd ever seen her get this angry.

Yong-yong twisted her sword to inflict more pain and asked again.

"Is he not the Evil Faced Man?"

The Evil Faced Man?

At those words, I couldn't hide my surprise.

-You know that name?

I've forgotten a few things, but I noticed a few things when I was in the Murim Alliance before my death.

One of them was this incident.

Numerous young women had been abducted. At first, it was just civilian women, but then numerous female warriors of Murim were also targeted.

-So you're saying that your sister's kidnapping was the same?

No.

Now that I recall it, neither Yong-yong nor Gahui had been taken then. They had been put on a mission involving the case at that time, but I remember them returning without any results.

It seemed that they were originally meant to return to the Murim Alliance without doing anything special. The change seemed to have happened because they were waiting for me.

'... I am sorry.'

In other words, history has changed.

-Then, did they catch him?

In the end, they didn't.

-Eh? They didn't catch him? So this was an unsolved case?

The details were a bit complicated.

Even Baek Hyang-muk, leader of the Alliance, had to step forward due to this incident. This was something that Yong-yong shouldn't even be involved in.

-Just what is happening...

Short Sword was about to ask further.

'What is that?'

I looked outside.

Yong-yong was puzzled by this.

"What is it, brother?"

"We have guests."

"Guests?"

Yong-yong's eyes looked concerned because she thought there were enemies.

"Over here!"

I soon saw warriors wearing the same uniform running inside. I didn't know who they were since I informed no one, but the mark on the left side of their shirts indicated that they were from the Murim Alliance.

At the front was a tall, middle-aged man who looked to be in his early forties.

As soon as she saw him, Yong-yong was surprised.

"Sect leader Yang!"

"Sub leader So!"

It seemed like they knew each other.

This man, called sect leader Yang, looked at Yong-yong with wide eyes.

It seemed like he was shocked by the corpses around us and the mess this place was in.

[Who is this?]

Yong-yong answered me.

[Elder Yang Jong, he is the leader of a sect and is in charge of the Sichuan Murim Alliance branch.]

'Yang Jong?'

I frowned, and the man came up to us and said.

"Sub leader So. I am glad you are safe."

"How did sect leader Yang Jong get here?"

"Well, there were some women who were abducted. We were trying to find them, so we followed to trade information with you and help."

It seemed like it wasn't just the Phoenix troops investigating this case.

"Ahh! Thank you!"

Yong-yong thanked him.

However, if I hadn't been here, then she would have been kidnapped already. He was clearly just trying to save his own face. Yang Jong then turned and looked at me curiously.

"But who is this young man?"

"Ah, sect leader. This is my brother."

"Brother?"

Hearing this, Yang Jong's eyes shone.

"If he is your brother, then he is the Little Immortal Swordsman?"

I nodded and greeted him politely.

"So Wonhwi. It is an honor to meet you."

He exclaimed in excitement.

"I knew that your presence was unusual. I have heard rumors about you since I got to this place."

How far were the rumors spreading?

Anyways, it was really embarrassing to have my face figuratively painted in gold like this.

"It is an exaggeration."

"Let us not be too humble. I am glad you are here. The troop was able to avoid a huge misfortune due to your presence here."

"Ahh."

Yong-yong scratched her head in embarrassment. I guess I wasn't the only one who was flustered by these praises.

Yang Jong then pointed to the masked man that Yong-yong was stabbing.

"Is he the only one alive?"

"Yes. It looks like he is the leader of those who attacked us. Sect leader, the Evil Faced Man, is the one behind this."

Sect leader Yang Jong nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps he is. Seeing as they attacked simultaneously, he must have made his move."

"Yes. To prevent any further damage, we need to find out who that man is from this man."

Yong-yong was riled up now. Seeing her like that, Yang Jong looked a bit flustered.

"But you see, sub-leader. Can you transfer this man to us?"

"Uh?"

Yong-yong was a bit puzzled.

She probably thought they wouldn't be interested in the first place.

"But we still have nothing from this..."

"Sub leader So, I understand your emotions too. However, not just you but the women who were sent to catch him were also attacked. More damage will come to us if we don't hurry."

"Ahh..."

At those words, Yong-yong bit her lip.

She must have wanted to uncover the real culprit behind this with her own hands. However, sect leader Yang Jong spoke earnestly.

"Please."

"You are right, but..."

Yong-yong tried to reply, but she held her tongue. I then bowed and said,

"Please do so. Since this is urgent, I will hand him to you."

"Brother!"

"Yong-yong. We need to save people now. If you are going to go and help, it is right to give him up to the troops of Sichuan, who would have better resources than a single person to catch the culprit."

Yang Jong responded to this with a bow.

"As expected of a man like you. Thank you for understanding. We will catch the culprit."

"I hope you do that."

"You don't have to mention it."

Yang Jong withdrew his men along with the masked people. Not long after, Yong-yong came and talked to me.

"No! Why did you have to give him up!? Why is Brother acting so strangely? We could have interrogated him here, no matter how urgent the matter was. To go and..."

"Yong-yong."

"What is it?"

"Who is giving up?"

"What?"

Inside a wagon two miles away, the head of the masked people had stopped the bleeding using some kind of paste.

Chak! Chak!

"Kuaaak!"

"Ackkk... uh...why..."

Screams could be heard from the outside. Even though something strange was happening on the outside, the masked man looked calm.

Kiiik!

Soon, the wagon door opened, and a blood-soaked man came inside.

It was none other than Yang Jong who clicked his tongue and said,

"Are you this calm after doing what you did? I have to go through all this because of you."

"Are all of them dead?"

"Yes, you bastard."

His mannerisms were different from how he looked and spoke inside the guesthouse. His behavior was closer to someone from the Evil Faction.

"Damm it, what could I do if one of the Eight Great Warriors was there? Who knew that girl's brother was someone like that!"

"It was unexpected."

Yang Jong clicked his tongue and said.

"Even I was hit. I expected it to be an exaggeration when they said he used flying swords and the like."

"There is no exaggeration. He is a complete monster."

He still couldn't clear his head.

That tremendous force that devastated the guesthouse, the swords flying around. It was as if the Asura had stepped on the land.

"I managed to survive."

He was indeed lucky.

If sect leader Yang Jong didn't come, he would have died. That man was different from other people of the Justice Faction.

He made people feel the fear of death.

"... still, I managed to survive, all thanks to you. I was thinking of committing suicide."

"Nonsense. Killing yourself?"

"I am afraid that was going to be it."

"Still, we will continue."

The masked man shook his head and spoke in a serious voice.

"I think leaving the Phoenix troops' women alone will be better."

"But we got out already?"

"True, but that man with the flying swords are..."

Puak!

"Kuak!

At that moment, blood splashed in front of Yang Jong.

'...!?'

He looked on in disbelief. A sharp blade had pierced through the masked man's stomach.

"What is this...."

He couldn't understand what was happening.

A sword had pierced through the wagon.

"Ugh... h-how..."

"Damn it! Just stay still."

Yang Jong tried to pull the sword out of the masked man, but the latter's eyes then shook.

"Kukkkkk!"

"You! What are you doing? Get yourself to..."

Tatata!

At that moment, the masked man's face was drained of blood.

Yang Jong was shocked at this.

"Y-you... why?"

To this, the masked man smiled and spoke cheerfully.

"Huhuh. What if I am the Evil Faced Man?"