Chapter 154

Jin Ja-gang was awake, vividly feeling extreme pain.

Not losing consciousness under any circumstances was like a punishment.

The pain of his body being torn apart, the feeling of dying – even if he wanted to forget, he couldn’t.

But thanks to that, Jin Ja-gang was able to stab the silver ornamental knife into Mang Ryo’s side. Baek Li-gwon’s pressure point technique had been released long ago, though only halfway.

‘How…!’

Jin Ja-gang glared at Mang Ryo while swallowing the blood that surged up.

When Jin Ja-gang first heard Mang Ryo’s voice, the shock he received was unimaginable.

He had definitely thought he was dead.

No, thinking back to that memory, he didn’t have a clear recollection of definitively ending his life!

Jin Ja-gang had to acknowledge it.

That’s right. He had been too young then. Caught up in the thought that he had achieved revenge, he hadn’t handled the matter cleanly.

That demon called Mang Ryo had ultimately survived and emerged from there, even though he had been poisoned and the house had burned down!

Only then did Jin Ja-gang realize why Mang Ryo’s name had come up at Stone Forest Gang.

Especially that voice he had heard saying “You worked hard.”

Had that not been a hallucination after all…

If so, then all the events leading up to Poison Valley, all the times he had felt that someone kept interfering in his affairs – Mang Ryo might have been involved in all of it.

The culmination had been Poison Valley.

Jin Ja-gang’s mind became complicated.

Mang Ryo looked down at Jin Ja-gang and asked.

“Are you curious about how I survived? Is that what you’re curious about? Since you failed to kill me, naturally I’d be alive. Isn’t that right?”

Hearing those words, Jin Ja-gang felt as if cold water had been poured over his head.

His mood gradually settled and his thoughts became organized.

Jin Ja-gang, who had been dazed for a moment, suddenly laughed.

“Haha!”

Mang Ryo was incredulous. The bastard who had stabbed his side and been serious was suddenly laughing?

Jin Ja-gang said.

“I see. Truly, how fortunate.”

Jin Ja-gang’s voice no longer trembled.

Mang Ryo’s expression naturally soured. Why was this bastard suddenly acting like this?

“Did you just say fortunate?”

In fact, Mang Ryo had known this moment would come someday. And he had always been curious.

What would Jin Ja-gang say when he saw him at that moment? What would he talk about? What expression would he make? Would he look like he had seen a ghost?

The shocked expression from earlier had somewhat matched his expectations.

But this wasn’t it.

He had never imagined Jin Ja-gang would laugh and say it was fortunate.

Mang Ryo pressed again as if interrogating.

“Fortunate? I’m alive, and you said it was fortunate?”

“It is fortunate.”

Gush.

Jin Ja-gang spat a mouthful of blood onto Mang Ryo’s body.

Then he looked up at Mang Ryo with eyes dyed bright red with blood and smiled.

“Because I met you… when I still have the strength to kill you before I die.”

Jin Ja-gang put more force into the hand that had stabbed Mang Ryo’s side. He twisted the silver knife sideways.

Crack, the knife dug in, prying between his ribs. Mang Ryo grimaced in pain and grabbed Jin Ja-gang’s hand to stop him.

Jin Ja-gang gritted his teeth and said.

“I’ll kill you… over and over again. As long as I’m alive, continuously.”

Hearing Jin Ja-gang’s words, Mang Ryo was overcome by a strange feeling.

Even though Jin Ja-gang was in such a mess, he wasn’t particularly pleased, and Jin Ja-gang didn’t seem to be suffering that much either.

Rather, wasn’t he burning with fighting spirit and exerting strength?

‘Something…’

Something seemed wrong.

For no reason, he felt suffocated, which was extremely unpleasant.

The silver knife stabbing into his side caused severe pain and irritated his nerves, but it wasn’t because of that.

It was because he thought that what he had believed for nearly ten years might somehow be wrong.

Mang Ryo slowly examined Jin Ja-gang.

His hair was half burned and stuck together, his face, neck, and exposed arms were covered with blisters from burns. His chest had suffered fatal wounds with severe bleeding.

Having used Mad Acupoint Piercing to the extreme, his eyes were also submerged in blood, and blood vessels had burst throughout his right side, with blood flowing like spider webs.

But… with such a body, he had ultimately managed to stab a finger-length knife into his side.

He didn’t even try to ask about the circumstances of how this had happened. He just stabbed the knife first and only thought of killing.

Not caring whether he himself would die.

So…

‘What meaning does pain have for such a fellow?’

Suddenly, such a question arose.

Mang Ryo became angry and pushed Jin Ja-gang away.

“You’re in the way, so move aside!”

Jin Ja-gang rolled over just like that.

Mang Ryo pulled out the silver knife stuck in his side. After blocking the poison from spreading with internal energy, he wiped the extracted silver knife with his clothes, then without a moment’s hesitation, carved out the flesh from his side. A handful of flesh was gouged out deep enough to see the ribs, and blood flowed steadily.

Jin Ja-gang regrettably realized that his attack using all his remaining poison had been in vain. He had hoped to penetrate the poison deep into the bones, but had failed.

Jin Ja-gang put strength into his legs and tried to stand up. However, his body, already ruined beyond repair, no longer obeyed him.

Unable to stand properly, he collapsed face down. The sensation of his cheek touching the ground felt dull and unclear.

‘Is this the end now?’

He could feel his journey slowly coming to an end.

It would remain a regret that he couldn’t kill Mang Ryo, but it couldn’t be helped.

He had done his best.

It was just bad luck…

Jin Ja-gang was dying.

Mang Ryo applied pressure points to stop the bleeding from his side and glared at Jin Ja-gang while grinding his teeth.

Moving would be painful and difficult for Jin Ja-gang. It wouldn’t be strange if he rolled around on the ground screaming in pain.

Yet Jin Ja-gang seemed not to care about his physical condition at all. He appeared to be obsessed only with revenge.

That was something only those with no tomorrow would do. Just running forward looking only ahead, and wherever they collapsed and died would become their grave – like those mayfly-like fellows.

‘Why?’

Wasn’t he afraid of dying without achieving revenge?

Didn’t the pain of his body being destroyed each time he used internal energy matter to him?

But from what he had observed so far, Jin Ja-gang wasn’t someone who threw away his life when there was no escape route. He was always someone who moved after preparing second and third backup plans.

Suddenly Mang Ryo realized.

The reason Jin Ja-gang was acting this way.

The reason he was aiming only for revenge until the moment of death.

It was because that was the only opportunity he had.

“Hehehe.”

Mang Ryo’s eye suddenly throbbed. Not just his eye. The area below his missing knees still ached from time to time, causing Mang Ryo pain.

Why was that painful?

It was because Mang Ryo had lost his future by losing his eye and legs, and had lost his reason to live and hope.

But Jin Ja-gang was different.

Jin Ja-gang had nothing to protect except revenge. He had no reason to live except revenge.

So Jin Ja-gang always did his best to survive, but when he judged he couldn’t live, he had to create an opportunity for final revenge even by using his own life as bait. When the final moment came, he would choose revenge rather than his own survival.

Even now as he was dying, instead of thinking about living, he had stabbed him with a knife – that was exactly what it meant.

Mang Ryo ground his teeth and exhaled.

‘I was thinking wrong. Even if I cause pain to someone who thinks of nothing but revenge, would that really be painful?’

Pain only has meaning when the person feels it is painful.

Jin Ja-gang doesn’t feel pain as pain. At some moments, he would even try to use his own pain for revenge. That was as meaningless as threatening to kill someone who could die at any time.

Mang Ryo frowned.

Now he knew for certain. He couldn’t cause Jin Ja-gang pain with the methods he had thought of.

Originally, Mang Ryo had intended to continuously torment Jin Ja-gang.

He wanted to torment him for a long time without killing him while enjoying the sight. Then when Jin Ja-gang climbed to high places, he wanted to drop him into the abyss in an instant. He wanted to give him endless despair. He wanted to make Jin Ja-gang struggle in frustration.

But as things stood now, Jin Ja-gang wouldn’t despair at all.

Despair arises in those who had hope.

Jin Ja-gang, who had no hope from the beginning, couldn’t despair even if he wanted to.

‘The order of things should have been reversed.’

Paradoxically, what Jin Ja-gang needed for Mang Ryo’s revenge was not hardship but hope. He should have first awakened hope in Jin Ja-gang, who had forgotten hope through long mine shaft life.

“Kekeke.”

Mang Ryo laughed incredulously.

“Well now.”

Even if all sorts of things happen in life, this situation where he had to give meaning to life to his enemy was something that made even Mang Ryo laugh bitterly.

It seemed Mang Ryo would have to act in a different direction from now on.

But first, he had to resolve the tangled situation.

Until just now, he had been thinking of killing Baek Li-gwon and dealing with Zhuge Ming together with Wishful Fairy Maiden. Naturally while keeping Jin Ja-gang alive.

But his thinking had changed due to what just happened.

‘I have to save both of them.’

Of course, it wasn’t easy.

Dan Ryeong-gyeong was constantly eyeing Baek Li-gwon in front of her.

If he tried to save Baek Li-gwon, Dan Ryeong-gyeong would surely attack him. On the other hand, if he tried to save Jin Ja-gang, she would target that gap to kill Baek Li-gwon.

Not only Dan Ryeong-gyeong but Zhuge Ming was also a problem. Zhuge Ming had directly witnessed his act of betrayal. He couldn’t just leave him alone.

Moreover, Jin Ja-gang needed immediate treatment. If he wasted time with things like fighting Zhuge Ming, Jin Ja-gang would die.

‘What should I do about this?’

Mang Ryo needed a clever plan to break through this complex situation.

Zhuge Ming was confused.

Mang Ryo had tried to harm Baek Li-gwon, but Jin Ja-gang had attacked Mang Ryo in the middle of it.

He couldn’t judge how to interpret this.

He tried to keep thinking and analyzing in his head as he always did. Because of that, he couldn’t move immediately.

At that moment, Dan Ryeong-gyeong moved. When Zhuge Ming thought “Oh no” and followed, he was a step late.

But surprisingly, it was Mang Ryo who blocked Dan Ryeong-gyeong.

“Ah, wait there for a moment.”

“Are you blocking me now?”

“Please wait. I’m trying to derive the most satisfactory result for all three of us at this moment.”

Mang Ryo went to Baek Li-gwon.

Mang Ryo saw Dan Ryeong-gyeong’s silk covering twitch the moment he moved. If he had gone to Jin Ja-gang, Dan Ryeong-gyeong would have surely sent her silk covering to snatch Baek Li-gwon.

Baek Li-gwon was foaming at the mouth and convulsing in his limbs.

“Grk, grrrrk.”

He couldn’t breathe. Five Fall Death Pill was a poison that caused lung blood stasis and death.

Mang Ryo lifted the collapsed Baek Li-gwon’s upper body, then grabbed his head and kicked below his solar plexus with his toes.

His toes infused with internal energy sank in deeply. After kicking rapidly about ten times, Baek Li-gwon’s stomach became hollow.

Finally, when he kicked his back, Baek Li-gwon vomited a large amount of blood with a “Wak!” The blood mixed with foam didn’t stop at once but continued bubbling and spurting out.

Mang Ryo waited until no more blood came out, then lifted Baek Li-gwon and slung him over his shoulder.

Seeing this, Dan Ryeong-gyeong frowned and glared.

“Let me make this clear in advance – if you take that b*st*rd away alive in front of me, I will be in a very bad mood. If you’re worried about the fate of that young boy you cherish, you’d better think carefully.”

Mang Ryo agreed.

“Of course you would.”