CH 23

Pyo-wol surrendered himself to the flow of the current.

Because there was always a shortage of water in the underground cave, he couldn’t learn how to swim. However, he knew the approximate principle of it. 

Pyo-wol used the power of his body as much as possible to operate in the waters. 

Just because he jumped into the water doesn’t mean he can’t escape their pursuit. Not knowing what kind of danger lurked, he continued to swim away while taking a break from time to time. 

Fortunately, Pyo-wol was very good at this kind of work. The greatest strength of Pyo-wol was not losing his composure no matter how urgent the situation was, and to calmly make a decision on what he had to do first.

Pyo-wol thinks that the biggest advantage he had while he was raised in the underground cave was his accelerated thinking. He learned how to think, judge, and make decisions one step ahead of others.

Thanks to that, Pyo-wol was always one step ahead of the other children. Right now, there is only one step difference among them, but as time goes by, the gap will widen.

If only he would be able to survive right now. 

He had to focus on his survival.

‘I have to group up with the other kids first.’

He didn’t know how many people ended up escaping, so he had to meet the survivors first.

It was necessary to meet the other children and share the information they gathered. Only then could he grasp the big picture drawn by the unknown enemy.

“Phew!”

Pyo-wol came out of the water after recovering some of his strength. 

He wanted to hide in a cave where no one could see him and make a bonfire. However, it was impossible to find such a topography in the open plain.

Pyo-wol first focused on finding traces of the survivors.

For seven years, the children confronted each other to the extreme and tried to kill each other. But oftentimes they collaborated, creating a bond of their own.

They created a code for communicating without the instructors knowing. It is a brief description of a language that only they can recognize in graffiti, which can be mistaken for just random scribbling or doodling by strangers.

The children rejected Pyo-wol and did not share the secret codes. The children were jealous or afraid of Pyo-wol. 

To them, Pyo-wol was a foreign entity like oil that could not be mixed with water. Some children, including So Yeowol, showed interest, but most of them were reluctant to do so.

Even if the children did not teach it to him, Pyo-wol noticed the existence of passwords based on his unique observation skills, and even understood through the language system. But he pretended not to know the secret code. Because he didn’t want to mix with the kids.

But things have changed.

Disregarding his personal feelings, he had to meet with the other children now.

Pyo-wol thought from the children’s point of view.

‘Shortest escape route, lots of hiding places, sparsely populated places.’

Under the assumption that there is no other information, the probability of moving to these three conditions was high. Because that’s how they were trained.

“Search thoroughly.”

“They must have been hiding around here.”

The voices of the soldiers were heard from afar. Pyo-wol had flowed quite far along the river, but the siege was still strong.

Pyo-wol passed in between the soldiers who were searching for him by simultaneously practicing the Thunder-Splitting and Turtle Breathing Technique. His appearance was so naturally hidden that the soldiers did not even notice that Pyo-wol was nearby.

Pyo-wol paid attention to the clothes of the soldiers.

There were four warriors, each with a different outfit.

People who belonged to a particular sect had a strong tendency to wear uniform clothes. This is because the clothing establishes the identity of the sect. 

The fact that all four of them wore different clothes meant that they all belonged to a different sect. The uniforms of the soldiers Pyo-wol encountered before he managed to escape to the river were also different.

‘At least seven sects participated. For them to kill young assassins–’

Conceptually, it made no sense.

Pyo-wol thought that someone was in charge of the situation now.

There was a high probability that it was the person who commissioned the assassination.

The question was who commissioned the assassination.

In order to find out the truth behind this situation, he had to find the client. Otherwise, he would not know if he would be chased for the rest of his life.

Pyo-wol moved in search of the best environment for the other children to hide. And it wasn’t long before he found a small graffiti carved on the bottom of the rock.

It was a secret code left by one of the children.

‘About two hundred sheets to the north.’

It wasn’t long before I found a small graffiti carved on the bottom of the rock.

It was a password left by one of the children.

‘About two hundred meters to the north.’

Pyo-wol moved to where the secret code was pointing towards. He moved secretly while killing his presence as much as possible. He didn’t know if anyone would be on his trail.

If he makes a mistake and his actions are exposed, he will end up being pursued by many warriors. Because of this, it took him more than half an hour to reach the distance of another corner. 

The owner of the secret code was not on the location he previously instructed on the rock. Instead, he left behind another secret code and moved to somewhere else.

Pyo-wol looked at the code.

‘About four hundred meters to the northeast.’

Pyo-wol frowned.

Again, rather than the fact that he had to travel a long distance, the traces left on the floor went on his nerves.

There were traces of black droplets left behind.

Pyo-wol knew what that meant.

‘Is the person injured?’

He did not know who the owner of the secret password was, but it was clear that the person was hurt.

A minor wound would be nice, but unfortunately, given the amount of blood remaining on the floor, it was highly unlikely.

Pyo-wol moved in secret again.

Several times along the way, he encountered soldiers who were combing the area. Fortunately, Pyo-wol was able to hide before they could find him. The soldiers were not yet tired and were in hot pursuit of the children.

Their appearance was no different from that of a very excited hound.

“I’m sure he’s around here.”

“Search for every single one of them.”

Pyo-wol’s face darkened when he saw them. Because they were wearing clothes he hadn’t seen before.

One more was added to the existing seven factions. The problem is that he cannot even guess how many more sects were added in to the mix.

‘This is the worst.’

The soldiers were spread like a huge net as they looked from every corner. 

In other words, escaping would be a far off dream. Since at this rate, they will one day get caught in the net.

Before that happens, Pyo-wol has to find the owner of the password. Pyo-wol overcame the risk of being caught several times, and finally arrived at the final destination.

Puash!

Waiting for him to arrive at his destination was someone’s sneak attack. However, Pyo-wol avoided his sneak attack by a hair’s breadth. 

It was a beautiful girl who silently attacked like a cat. Pyo-wol immediately recognized her identity.

“Lee Min!”

The girl was just Lee Min. 

“It was you, Pyo-wol!”

Lee Min was relieved. However, Pyo-wol’s expression when looking at her was not so bright. It was because he saw that Lee Min’s side was stained red.

At a glance, it was clear that she had suffered serious injuries.

The bloodstains on the floor were also hers.

“Like an idiot——. What about the other guys?”

“Most of them are dead.”

“So Yeowol and Song Cheonwoo too?”

“I don’t know what happened to them.”

So Yeowol and Song Cheonwoo remained fighting until the end to save even one more child. Like a fighting dog, they bit and drooped at those who attacked them.

That was the last appearance that Lee Min remembered. Lee Min suffered serious injuries in the process of escaping.

The reason she’s still alive is because she’s made full use of all her strengths. Through deceitful acts such as hiding and leaving false traces, she managed to drive here. But in return, she suffered such great wounds and was dying.

Pyo-wol sighed softly.

“Huu–”

“It’s nice to meet you, though.”

Lee Min smiled wryly.

Her complexion was pale. She had lost too much blood. 

Although Pyo-wol had no medical knowledge, he could tell that it was too late to save her. Anyone can see that Lee Min is on the line between life and death.

Pyo-wol said as he sat down next to Lee Min. 

“Unless a miracle happens, you will die soon.”

“I know.”

Lee Min  replied calmly.

“Aren’t you scare? Don’t you want to live?”

“I want to live. Can you save me?”

“No…”

“That’s why I’ve given up. I already know the state my body is in.”

“Huu…”

“You don’t have to be sorry. After all, it’s not your fault.”

“…right.”

“But I’m relieved. I won’t have to die all alone. Will you stay with me to the end?”

“Yes.”

Pyo-wol nodded his head.

Lee Min looked at Pyo-wol. Her pale face was full of emotions.

“Pyo-wol…”

“What is it?”

“I want you to survive.”

“I’ll try.”

“I hope you survive and get revenge on them in the same way. It’s unfortunate. After everything that we went through to survive… we have to die like this. It’s tragic that someone I don’t know determines my fate. I hope they feel the same way as me one day.”.

Lee Min spoke calmly, but Pyo-wol felt the cry in her voice.

In the underground cavity, she fought harder than anyone else to survive.

In the underground cavity, she fought more closely than anyone else to stay alive.

Even in a world where there was no hope, she was able to not get frustrated because she believed that something would change if she went out to the outside world.

Such belief was the driving force that allowed her to endure until now.

But that belief was shattered, and only despair was gnawing at her heart.

There was no hope or light to be found in her eyes, which used to shone brightly in the dark.

She lost the will to live.

She no longer had the strength to move forward.

It was impossible to save her. However, he didn’t want to let her go in despair like this.

Pyo-wol opened his mouth.

“Lee Min.”

“You don’t have to comfort me. It’s not bad to die by your side.”

“It’s because of Woo Gunsang.”

“What?”

At the answer that was different from what she expected, Lee Min made a puzzled expression. But Pyo-wol continued to speak, regardless of her reaction.

“Our assassination target was a person named Woo Gunsang. There is a high probability that he is a disciple of the Qingcheng sect. Because the large mountain where we were hiding before was Mount Qingcheng. I’m sure of it. If we go to the mountain, there will probably be a full-scale group just like him.”

He was speaking to Lee Min, but he was also speaking to himself.

“I don’t know the reason, but someone had requested the Blood Phantom Corps to kill Woo Gunsang of the Qingcheng sect, and we were kidnapped and raised as assassins for 7 years as a result. The client has a cautious personality. Such a person cannot stick to only one method, maybe they have two, three or more back up plans in mind to achieve the result they wanted. Maybe at the beginning, things didn’t go the way they had hoped, so they told the Blood Phantom Corps to go ahead with the request. But something must have happened before the assassination so they ended up changing their mind. Now that things are like this, there’s no need for us to continue with the assassination.”

Lee Min listened to Pyo-wol.

Her mind was starting to get blurry, but she could hear Pyo-wol’s words strangely and clearly.

“They already got the desired result, so if the assassination ended up being successful, we would actually lose money. That’s why they canceled the request. They leaked the assassination attempt on the Qingcheng sect to the other sects. They tried to erase us by borrowing the hands of the other sect.”

“So that’s—that was it.”

Lee Min nodded helplessly.

Her mind was getting more and more cloudy. Still, she tried to listen to Pyo-wol until the end.

“The client is probably a person who the Qingcheng faction knows. If it takes seven years to process the request, it can be seen that he or she has a very tenacious and tenacious personality.”

She didn’t even have the strength to open her mouth anymore.

Lee Min helplessly looked at Pyo-wol who was speaking.

“They must have tremendous power and wealth. How many people in Sichuan Province can afford the huge amount of money that goes into abducting and raising helpless orphans from all over Jianghu. I’ll find out soon enough once I survive here.” 

Even in the midst of losing her mind, Lee Min thought that Pyo-wol was scary.

To her and the other children, Pyo-wol was a demon from hell itself.

They never dared to cross Pyo-wol.

Outwardly they seemed to be equal, but in reality, she and the other children continued to be subordinated to the existence of Pyo-wol.

Suddenly, she felt pity for those who turned Pyo-wol as an enemy.

“It must have been the gamble of a lifetime for them, and their gamble has been brilliantly successful. Now everything would have been perfect if they got rid of us. How can I watch the person who made us suffer for seven years live and smile well? I can’t stand that.”

“I see… I knew you would…. If it’s you—.”

At Lee Min’s answer, Pyo Wol turned his head and looked at her.

Lee Min looked at him and smiled.

His eyes were strangely clear.

“Can you… call my name?”

“Lee Min…”

“My real name….

“Lee Seolmin.”

“Thank you! I wanted to hear it from you.”

“Seol…Min.”

Lee Min did not answer.

She did not even move.

didn’t even move.

Pyo-wol noticed that she was dead.

Just as a candle that has reached its end of life shines brightest at the end, Lee Min, too, did her best to hear her real name one last time.

Lee Min remained beautiful even though she was injured while hiding.

She no longer had a painful expression on her face.

Pyo-wol looked at Lee Min’s face without saying a word. The faint ties that had been connected with him were broken.

That was then.

“It’s this way. There’s a bloodstain running this way.”

“Everyone, come this way.”

The voices of the soldiers who followed the traces of Lee Min were heard.

Now it was time to leave.

Pyo-wol gently laid Lee Min down and whispered.

“I don’t know who planned this, but I’m going to erase them all from the face of this land. So watch over what I do—”

…I never realized setting up a website would be so difficult. Had to learn a lot of stuff to make this site presentable. ( ; ´Д｀) My brain was definitely fried– nonetheless, I’m quite happy how it turned out~ the site was dark and gloomy before.