Chapter 143

Chapter 143: Those Who Have Forgotten the Past, Those Who Cannot Forget (3)

Hwang Gyeong-mun looked down at Jo Yun-san.

"It's been too long, Chieftain Jo."

"I should have visited more often. My apologies."

"Given the distance, it cannot be helped."

"Then let me serve you well during my stay here."

"I appreciate it."

"But why is a feast being held? Could it be for our benefit?"

"As it happens, it is. You've come a long way and must be tired. Rest well tonight and enjoy the feast."

"Thank you."

Jo Yun-san bowed deeply. The other chieftains bowed in turn.

Jo Yun-san smiled and turned away.

Though countless gazes rested upon him, he appeared perfectly at ease.

His gaze then fell upon a young woman. At the sight, the smile on his face deepened.

Without hesitation, he strode toward her.

"It's been too long, Hye-ryeong."

"Chieftain Jo."

Hwang Hye-ryeong bowed her head to Jo Yun-san.

"You've become a proper lady now. You could be married off."

"You still look as vigorous as ever, Chieftain."

"Is that how I seem?"

"Yes!"

"Thank you."

Jo Yun-san nodded.

His words were warm, but his eyes gleamed colder and sharper than ever.

"I heard you were in Akyang. Is that correct?"

"That's right."

"Then might you have seen Gwa Cheol?"

"You mean Vice Chieftain Gwak?"

"That's right."

"I didn't see him."

"Truly?"

"Truly. Why do you ask me?"

"Gwa Cheol went to Akyang and has since dropped out of contact."

"Why would Vice Chieftain Gwak go to Akyang?"

"He said he had an acquaintance there. Since you were in Akyang, I thought you might know. Don't worry about it."

"Yes!"

Jo Yun-san studied Hwang Hye-ryeong with a keen, probing gaze.

'Does she truly not know?'

Hwang Hye-ryeong wore an expression that suggested she genuinely knew nothing.

Gwa Cheol had carried out his orders to inform the Murim Alliance of Hwang Hye-ryeong's existence.

As a result, warriors from the Namgung Family and the Murim Alliance had moved to capture her. But Dam Ho alone had thwarted their plans.

That much was acceptable. In life, even the most carefully laid schemes sometimes came to nothing.

The problem was that his faithful subordinate, Vice Chieftain of the Black Dragon Stronghold Gwa Cheol, had vanished without a trace.

Gwa Cheol was no ordinary subordinate. He was a trusted confidant who could read his deepest thoughts, loyal to the point of leaping into a fire without hesitation if so commanded.

Above all, Gwa Cheol had followed him for over twenty years. The bond between them was deeper than blood.

And now Gwa Cheol's trail had gone cold—as if he had vanished from the face of the earth.

That was when Jo Yun-san had begun to feel an inexplicable unease.

Jo Yun-san's gaze shifted away from Hwang Hye-ryeong.

He saw Muk Il-gwang, and a stout young boy.

And then—a young man he had never seen before.

Leather robes black as pitch, hair as dark and wild as a wolf's, and through it all, eyes of the deepest black.

Jo Yun-san furrowed his brow. The moment his eyes met Dam Ho's, he felt an indescribable, creeping dread.

It was as though countless ants crawled over his skin. He had never felt such a sensation in all his life.

Jo Yun-san found himself asking before he could stop himself.

"Who are you?"

The man—Dam Ho—did not answer.

Instead, he stared directly at Jo Yun-san. His dark eyes were filled with Jo Yun-san's reflection.

Then a smile spread across Dam Ho's lips, slowly, like a wildfire consuming dry brush. At the sight of that creeping smile, Jo Yun-san felt a wave of inexplicable dread.

"You! Who are you?"

His voice rose involuntarily.

Dam Ho, who had been staring at Jo Yun-san, finally spoke.

"Seems you don't remember."

"What?"

"I remember it clearly, though."

"Have we met before?"

At Jo Yun-san's question, Dam Ho remained silent. At his silence, Jo Xin-chung—the confidant at his side—stepped forward in anger.

"The Chieftain is speaking to you! Answer at once!"

Jo Xin-chung stood seven feet tall and possessed extraordinary natural strength. Within the Black Dragon Stronghold, there was no one who could match him.

At Jo Xin-chung's shout, all eyes in the hall turned toward them. The one who grew most flustered was Hwang Hye-ryeong.

Knowing Dam Ho's temperament well, she stepped forward quickly.

"This is Great Hero Dam Ho, the Fist Demon."

"The Fist Demon?"

Jo Xin-chung, who had stepped forward with such bravado, let his eyes go wide.

He had heard the rumors of the Fist Demon well. In the current martial world, no figure carried a more fearsome reputation than Dam Ho.

"Are you truly the Fist Demon?"

Dam Ho's gaze shifted to Jo Xin-chung.

"Hmph!"

The moment those emotionless, pitch-black eyes fixed upon him, Jo Xin-chung gasped without meaning to.

He felt in his entire body what it was to be a frog before a snake.

He could not move. The moment he did, he felt certain he would be devoured.

"If you interfere one more time, I will ensure you never again chew food with your teeth."

"……"

Jo Xin-chung clamped his mouth shut without realizing it.

In the martial world, Dam Ho was known as a man who never spoke a word he did not keep. That almost no one had survived crossing him—that fact proved the truth of the rumors.

Jo Yun-san's eyes narrowed.

"So it really is the Fist Demon. What business does the Fist Demon have in a remote mountain village like this?"

"Is the Tyrant's Stronghold a remote mountain village?"

"……"

Jo Yun-san could not answer. To agree would be to humiliate the Tyrant's Stronghold and Hwang Gyeong-mun before everyone.

Instead, he changed the subject.

"You speak well."

"My fists speak even better."

"Are you picking a fight with me now?"

"You started it."

"You—!"

"I didn't know before, but you seem to be truly stupid."

In an instant, a terrifying killing intent exploded from Jo Yun-san's entire body.

"Urgh!"

"Hah!"

The nearby martial artists recoiled, driven back by the sheer pressure of that killing intent. But Dam Ho, who was at its center, did not so much as flinch.

"Do you have a death wish? This is the headquarters of the forest alliances. Your petty reputation means nothing here."

"Shall we put that to the test?"

"You?"

Dam Ho rose to his feet. Jo Yun-san flinched, taking a step backward.

Humiliation colored Jo Yun-san's face.

As a man who aspired to become Grand Chieftain of the forest, being forced back by his opponent's sheer presence was a blow to his pride.

Dam Ho's eyes revealed not the slightest flicker of emotion.

This was the enemy he met after more than twenty years. He had thought that meeting him would send his blood boiling with rage, yet he found himself perfectly composed, as if doused in ice water.

Jo Yun-san was on the verge of erupting when—

"He is my guest. He saved my daughter from peril. Treat him with respect."

Hwang Gyeong-mun's authoritative voice rang out.

Before the supreme ruler of the forest, Jo Yun-san had no choice but to swallow his anger. But he did not forget to issue a warning.

"You would do well to be careful. If you cross my path again, I will not let it go."

"You'd do well to take in the scenery while you can."

"What?"

"Look your fill while you're still alive. That way, you won't have regrets in death."

"So you really are—"

"Chieftain Jo."

Had Hwang Gyeong-mun's voice not come a second time, Jo Yun-san would have lunged at Dam Ho without a moment's hesitation.

Jo Yun-san was known for his composure above all else, yet somehow Dam Ho's provocations shook him to his core. This was a first for him, and he could not suppress his bewilderment.

'Damn you!'

He stared at Dam Ho for a long while, then turned on his heel.

'I will never let this go. To think he would dare provoke me with nothing but a hollow reputation.'

His shoulders trembled with intermittent spasms.

Dam Ho watched Jo Yun-san's retreating figure.

"Brother."

"Brother!"

Hwang Hye-ryeong and Bang Jin-bo called out to Dam Ho at the same time. Only then did Dam Ho withdraw his gaze from Jo Yun-san.

"Brother, I'm sorry… this is because of me—"

Hwang Hye-ryeong's face was full of guilt.

She had mistaken Dam Ho's intervention as having been done for her sake.

"It's nothing."

Dam Ho reached out with his large hand and lightly touched her head. It was an improper gesture toward a grown woman. Yet Hwang Hye-ryeong felt no resistance to it.

It was the very opposite of the revulsion she always felt when looking at Jo Yun-san.

She had only met Jo Yun-san, Chieftain of the Black Dragon Stronghold, a handful of times. But each time she met him, she instinctively felt repulsed.

She despised everything about Jo Yun-san.

Jo Yun-san would sometimes say incomprehensible things—about events from her early childhood that she herself could not remember.

And so she did not realize that what made her feel even greater revulsion toward Jo Yun-san was—

'Brother.'

Conversely, whenever she looked at Dam Ho, an inexplicable sense of relief filled her heart.

At that moment—

"Ho ho! So the great hero of the world was here all along."

A voice thick with seduction echoed in Dam Ho's ear.

He turned to find a voluptuous woman approaching with a swaying gait.

Lee Ga-heun, Chieftain of the Blue River Stronghold.

She was a formidable woman who, despite her gender, had risen to the seat of Chieftain of one of the Eighteen Forest Strongholds.

Countless forest warriors had fallen for her seductive beauty and met their end.

Her epithet was the Serpent Scorpion Demoness.

The Serpent Scorpion Demoness, Lee Ga-heun, sat down naturally beside Dam Ho.

"My name is Lee Ga-heun. It's a pleasure, Great Hero Dam."

"……"

"You seem even more stoic than I imagined. There's no need to be so guarded. I have favorable intentions toward you."

Lee Ga-heun shifted closer, pressing her hip against his.

The air around them grew instantly heated.

A seductive smile graced Lee Ga-heun's face.

She felt an overwhelming attraction to Dam Ho.

In the martial world, power was law. In her eyes, Dam Ho was the strong.

'Ho ho! If I could wrap this man around my finger, ruling the entire forest would be no dream.'

She was an exceedingly ambitious woman.

For now, she was allied with Jo Yun-san, but should Dam Ho prove more appealing, she was ready to switch sides at a moment's notice.

"Great Hero Dam."

"In heat?"

"What?"

"I can smell it on you."

In an instant, not only Lee Ga-heun but every person nearby turned pale as death.