Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“Stop right there and wait a moment.”

At Dan Woo-hyun's single word, the bandits came to a sudden halt. The gazes they turned to look back were filled with coldness. It seemed to be a warning that they would not leave him alone if he did anything foolish.

“What is it?”

It was not anyone else who asked.

Jang Baek-san replied.

He quietly looked at Dan Woo-hyun and asked. Exuding a sharp aura, he fixed his gaze as if not intending to miss even the slightest movement from Dan Woo-hyun.

“What do you plan to do after taking him?”

“I will kill him. Just as this guy killed my family.”

“It seems to me that you are a bandit?”

“So what?”

Jang Baek-san threw back a question with a somewhat crooked expression. What correlation was there between being a bandit and seeking revenge?

Yet Dan Woo-hyun chuckled.

“If you are bandits, you have likely killed more people than that county magistrate, not fewer. Looking at it that way, didn't the county magistrate avenge the people who died by your hands?”

“Wh-what?!”

“Has this bastard lost his mind!”

“What a damned bastard!”

The bandits gnashed their teeth and drew their swords.

Dan Woo-hyun's remark was something that should never have been uttered. A murderous intent surged as if they would rush in right away and tear his limbs apart.

However, Dan Woo-hyun's expression remained calm.

He stared intently at Jang Baek-san, then turned his gaze to look at the county magistrate.

“Do you think you are guilty of any crime?”

“N-no… I do not.”

Hong Won-chang swallowed hard.

He was showing expressions and actions that did not shrink back in the slightest against the bandit group and their leader, who were notoriously famous in the Hunan area.

Seeing that appearance, he even fell into the illusion of feeling strangely reassured.

But that, too, was only for a moment.

Thud-!

“Cough!”

Perhaps because Hong Won-chang's words grated on his nerves, Jang Baek-san's fist swung roughly.

He dug his foot deeply into the belly of the fallen man, kicking his face and huffing.

The faces of his deceased family members were still filling his head. Though his rage had not subsided, hearing the man say he was not guilty was like fanning the flames on a burning house.

Hong Won-chang rolled miserably on the ground.

It was clear that he was someone in a high position as a county magistrate, but Hong Won-chang's current situation before his eyes seemed quite far from that.

All the guards were dead, and no one who could save him was anywhere to be seen. Such a situation made Hong Won-chang feel even more miserable.

“Hey, why don't you stop acting up and just go on your way? My indulgence ends here.”

“Hmm…”

Looking at Hong Won-chang, Dan Woo-hyun let out a small groan as if contemplating something for a moment.

Leaving him behind was no trouble at all, but the issue of the manor would not end just because he died.

Another county magistrate would be sent down, and perhaps, if they learned how their predecessor died, they might take the matter of the manor even more seriously.

Thinking of it differently, this might be an opportunity to resolve the manor's issue on good terms.

Dan Woo-hyun grinned.

His eyes looking at Hong Won-chang turned extremely nasty.

“County magistrate, do you want to live?”

Hong Won-chang opened his eyes wide.

Dan Woo-hyun's single word was like finding a ray of light in the darkness. Of course, he did not believe the man could actually do anything about it, though.

“Instead of saving your life, I have a condition. Never target my manor again.”

“What kind of bullshit are you talking about, you bastard!”

Ultimately, a man who could not contain his anger rushed forward.

Dan Woo-hyun's relaxed attitude grated on his nerves. Frowning deeply, he thrust his sword straight out. He intended to pierce the heart at once and cut off Dan Woo-hyun's breath.

Yet, before the blade could even touch the body of the blankly standing Dan Woo-hyun, a gust of wind rushed in and pushed the blade away.

At the incomprehensible situation, the man's eyes widened.

Thud-!

“Ugh-!”

Soon, with a sound like a cracking watermelon, the man's body bent like a shrimp. Feeling his consciousness grow faint from the excruciating pain, he fell to his knees.

Then, he collapsed with a thud.

“Gasp…!”

“J-Jang Woo!”

“This makes no sense…”

The gazes of the bandits looking at the fallen man were filled with astonishment. The one named Jang Woo was a strong expert ranked within the top three among the bandits.

Since he knocked down such a person in a single move, it was only natural for them to be surprised.

“You possess some decent skills.”

Jang Baek-san gnashed his teeth.

How could a guy like that get captured by mere guards?

He was clearly a considerable expert. Even the movement of his hands could not be seen.

Furthermore, his swiftness was beyond description.

Jang Baek-san narrowed his eyes.

Feeling the touch of the sword gripped in his hand, he tensed his body.

‘Perhaps he is stronger than me.’

However, he had no intention of backing down. Jang Baek-san had survived until now without dying even when facing experts stronger than himself.

He trusted in that luck and his subordinates.

Dan Woo-hyun picked up the sword fallen on the ground. Then, he asked Hong Won-chang, who was trembling in fright, once again.

“How about it? It seems like a good deal.”

“As long as you save me… I-I will do anything…!”

At those words, Dan Woo-hyun nodded slightly and looked at the bandits.

There was no need to count them one by one. There were at least fifty of them, and if there were more, only slightly so.

A number of this level was mere child's play before the Limitless Demonic God.

“So that is how it is. If you back away quietly, you will not suffer a harsh fate.”

“Crazy bastard!”

The bandits were confident.

Not only did they have an overwhelming numerical advantage, but they also had Jang Baek-san by their side… a true expert who had navigated rough paths until now without shrinking back before any master.

They firmly believed in their victory.

“Kill him!”

With Jang Baek-san's shout, the bandits charged. The sight of fifty-odd people charging all at once presented a dizzying spectacle just by looking at it.

However, without his expression changing in the slightest, Dan Woo-hyun silently watched those drawing near.

‘Should I kill them or not?’

Killing them was no trouble at all. He just had to thrust his sword toward the approaching bastards. However, thinking of walking the path of blood once again, he felt a strange aversion to it.

Above all, it might be due to the image of Hwa So-mi that floated in his mind.

Dan Woo-hyun threw away the sword with an unconscious smile.

The sword flew through the air.

The sword, thrown carelessly toward the bandits, drew a parabola and slowly fell to the ground. The charging bandits sneered.

It was because they did not understand what Dan Woo-hyun had done.

Right then, Dan Woo-hyun's foot moved.

Kicking a stone with a snap, it flew faster than an arrow and struck the falling sword.

Clang-!

At the loud metallic sound that rang out, the bandits' eyes flew wide.

However, their thoughts soon ground to a halt.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud-!

“Aaaargh!”

“Aaagh!”

“Keugh!”

Bizarre screams and groans filled the air.

Those who had been running fell forward all at once. The shattered blade turned into tiny hidden weapons, scattering in all directions and digging into the bandits' bodies.

In an instant, over twenty bandits collapsed.

They screamed and shrieked as they rolled on the ground.

“Fewer than I thought. Was there a shortage of fragments?”

Like a statement from the Grim Reaper, it instilled terror in everyone present.

Shiver, shiver.

Hong Won-chang trembled all over.

Was what was happening before his eyes reality, or a dream?

He could not make a judgment at all. He had known that martial artists were people of a completely different category from themselves, but this went too far.

It was pure terror.

The tiny iron fragments subdued over twenty men without killing them, and the fists of Dan Woo-hyun, who moved next, crushed two or three bandits at a time.

Thud, thud, thud-!

Neither resistance, groans, nor even screams could be heard.

Because those who were struck by the fists did not even have the leisure to make a sound. Hong Won-chang unconsciously shrank back.

“Ugh…!”

The time it took for Dan Woo-hyun to capture the bandits was not even a quarter of an hour.

‘To think I tried to sentence such a monster… to a water flogging?’

How could he have displayed such absurd recklessness?

Just thinking about it made his entire body go numb with dizziness. If that guy had made up his mind, he would no longer be a living person.

“Th-this is ridiculous! Why the hell is a guy like you getting caught by mere guards!”

Jang Baek-san, who had been standing blankly, shouted wildly and started to turn around and run.

He could not win. Far from revenge, the moment he took even a single step forward, he was bound to be defeated.

He was on a different level from the experts he had met until now.

The moment he realized that, his body fled quite naturally.

He moved his two legs with all his might, putting in full effort for the first time in his life.

Hong Won-chang grew frantic at the sight of Jang Baek-san's back receding in an instant.

Jang Baek-san was more urgent than the fallen bandits. Since the guy was the leader of the bandits and was as vicious as the bounty placed on his head, he had to be caught at all costs.

Moreover, since they did not know when he might launch another raid like this one, he could not be allowed to escape.

“Y-You must catch that guy! P-Please! Please catch him!”

“Hmm…”

Dan Woo-hyun scratched his head.

Going out of his way to chase down and kill a guy fleeing for his life did not suit his temperament, but the county magistrate wanted it.

Since he needed this human to cleanly wrap up the business with the manor, he had no choice but to listen to his words to some extent.

The moment he took a step forward, his body vanished.

And before anyone knew it, he showed himself behind Jang Baek-san's back.

“Gasp?!”

The instant the startled Jang Baek-san, sensing a presence, was frightened out of his wits.

Dan Woo-hyun's hand grabbed Jang Baek-san's head and slammed it straight into the ground.

Boom-!

A cloud of thick dust soared up.

Jang Baek-san's body, head buried in the hollowed ground, twitched. It was a situation where it would not be strange for him to die, but he was certainly alive.

Dan Woo-hyun grabbed his hair and dragged him along.

Then, he placed him in front of the county magistrate and grinned.

“With this, our deal is established, county magistrate.”

“O-Of course. Thank you! Thank you so much.”

“If you pick a fight over the manor again…”

“There is no way that will happen! I really will not do that. You do not need to worry!”

Hong Won-chang was terrified.

Before whom would he dare to babble nonsense?

Now, he could not say anything about the manor. No, there was no way he could.

Having realized that the ability of this monster before him was like the heavens, the thought that he must not resist if he wanted to live was engraved in his head.

Erasing the terror that was once embedded in one's head like that was a difficult task.

When Dan Woo-hyun smiled, Hong Won-chang quickly bowed his head.

Tremble, tremble.

His shaking body did not settle down.

‘I will not even go near the manor!’

Hong Won-chang swallowed hard as he made such a determination.