Chapter: 569
Heat spreads through my barely cooled head.
Thump thump.
The sound of my heart vibrates throughout my body, and the corners of my eyes twitch.
My breathing becomes ragged.
I can feel it, but I can’t control it.
What kind of expression am I making?
At this point, it must mean I’m not managing it.
“Fragrance?”
The words that Woo Bong-chui-gae spat out make my insides churn.
He said he could smell my scent at dawn?
This is something that’s been around for quite some time.
There’s no way my scent would linger.
So, is he just fishing for information? Maybe.
But.
“Damn.”
It feels too late to be thinking about this now.
If I was going to stick my foot in it, I should have gone all the way.
It’s already way too late to say no.
So what should I do?
What should I do?
“Can I kill that old man here?”
Not only kill him, but can I wipe out all traces without a single clue left behind?
What on earth should I do?
What’s the justification for killing? What justification should I find?
No, can I even kill him in the first place?
It’ll take several months to heal naturally.
If I want to use my strength carefully, it’ll take ten days.
Moreover, the other party must already suspect that my condition is not good.
Moreover.
“I don’t know the realm of Woo Bong-chui-gae.”
At this point, I have no idea how much power he has built up.
I have absolutely no information about my opponent, but conversely, the opponent knows quite a bit about me.
There could hardly be a more desperate situation than this.
So should I just leave things as they are?
That couldn’t be possible.
If I get caught now, it’s game over.
This is a situation where everything I had planned would go down the drain.
Is there really no way to kill him?
“No…”
If I look for it, there is one method.
Only.
“I can’t use this now.”
The fact is that it’s a type of “force” that I’m not ready to use yet.
Some day, a lord who has confirmed this power will sternly tell me.
He’s already said that if I don’t have confidence in my preparation, I should never use it.
If I use it incorrectly, my body could be reduced to rubble.
One.
“There’s no way out.”
That’s all I have right now.
I can’t leave it as it is, and if sticking my foot out means the end, it’s an unavoidable choice.
I don’t know if this will kill Woo Bong-chui-gae, but the time has come to act.
Of course, even if I succeed in killing him, I won’t know what to do afterward.
“For now, I need to kill him.”
Right now, I had to bring down Woo Bong-chui-gae.
I take a fleeting moment to organize my thoughts.
Just then, I’m trying to gather strength in my heart.
“Ho ho.”
Woo Bong-chui-gae chuckles, looking at me.
“Those eyes really remind me of your father.”
“…”
Hearing my father mentioned, I unconsciously relax slightly.
Because of that, I momentarily pause.
Woo Bong-chui-gae continues speaking to me.
“I don’t know what your intentions were in reaching out to Dawn. The reason I came here is none other than this.”
I squint at his words.
Woo Bong-chui-gae was just talking about the dawn.
That made me wonder.
“Hey, doesn’t he know anything about the raid?”
He might not know that I killed Woo Baek while pretending.
“That could be the case.”
Even if he claims to have found my traces at dawn, linking it to my attack on a shaman while posing as the Heavenly Horse might be a stretch.
There was also a matter of Ji-cheol dying in the middle, but that was due to a self-inflicted death using magic.
This is a part Woo Bong-chui-gae might find challenging to grasp.
If that’s the case, then it’s good for me.
If it’s just about ghosts, I believe I can manage it somehow.
While I was absorbed in such thoughts, trying to calm my breathing.
Woo Bong-chui-gae starts speaking again, causing me to frown at what he says.
It can’t be helped.
“If you tell me how you did it, I might just let this matter slide quietly.”
This was utterly incomprehensible to me.
“Yes…?”
Before I realized it, the question slipped out.
If I tell him why, he’ll just let it go?
“…What on earth are you talking about?”
“I don’t quite understand.”
Could he be trying to lure me into a confession?
At that moment, I wondered if he was trying to extract a confession from me by engaging like this.
“Your father owes me a debt.”
I frown at Woo Bong-chui-gae’s words.
I didn’t expect we’d start discussing my father here.
“Debt?”
A debt? What kind of favor did my father owe to Woo Bong-chui-gae?
Unexpected questions surfaced.
But contrary to my doubts, Woo Bong-chui-gae keeps talking.
“While I can’t repay everything, saving my child will surely keep you in good graces.”
The way he refers to my father as “child” feels incredibly awkward.
It’s also surprising that my father would indeed have a connection with Woo Bong-chui-gae.
With his characteristic smile, Woo Bong-chui-gae speaks. Just looking at him, it seemed like a positive situation for me.
However, I couldn’t bring myself to smile.
In the narrowed eyes and tense atmosphere, I finally blurted out the words I had been hesitating to voice.
“How can I believe that?”
The moment I said this, it was as good as admitting that I was involved in the matter regarding the dawn.
But it felt like an inevitable choice for me, especially considering the situation where the only option is to eliminate Woo Bong-chui-gae.
“Ho ho…”
Woo Bong-chui-gae chuckled lightly at my question.
“If you don’t believe it, is there any other way?”
“… ”
Killing you.
That wasn’t the option I mentioned.
In fact, I doubt Woo Bong-chui-gae would foresee it.
“You seem to be having trouble figuring this out, kid. Isn’t there some other way?”
That’s true.
Right now, trusting Woo Bong-chui-gae was the best option.
The challenge is whether it will be easy or not.
While I’m tangled up in these thoughts, Woo Bong-chui-gae suddenly extends his hand to me.
What’s he doing? I look at him, confused.
“Take my hand.”
Woo Bong-chui-gae urges me to hold his hand.
I hesitate for a moment, eyeing the offer.
It’s quite dangerous for two martial artists to hold hands.
Especially in my current state, having suffered internal injuries.
Yet, after a brief pause, I took his hand.
If necessary, I could infuse magic while we’re connected.
Although using magic is also risky, comparatively, this felt like the safer choice.
Thinking like that, I muster my tension and grip Woo Bong-chui-gae’s hand.
Whoosh!
“…!”
I immediately felt the energy of Woo Bong-chui-gae.
I wondered what he was trying to pull, so I nearly burst with magic right away.
No!
I had to halt the flow of magic upon realizing that Woo Bong-chui-gae was trying to do something with his own energy.
“What is…?”
The current of energy felt weird. Woo Bong-chui-gae’s energy wasn’t trying to do anything to me.
On the contrary, he was doing something to himself.
Was holding hands meant to showcase this energy movement to me?
Once I grasped that and studied the energy closely, I was quick to realize.
“It’s a ban.”
Woo Bong-chui-gae was currently placing a restriction on himself.
That was a notably powerful restriction. The amount of energy incorporated and its complex principle made that clear.
When I wondered what he was attempting to do, Woo Bong-chui-gae looked at me and said,
“Child, if what I’m saying about letting this slide is a lie, I will end my own life.”
“…!”
My eyes widened at Woo Bong-chui-gae’s words, as if I’d been struck by lightning.
Simultaneously—
Clank!
I sensed the energy weaving inside Woo Bong-chui-gae’s body.
The ban was linked to the weight of Woo Bong-chui-gae’s words.
From the flow of energy and the state of the ban, there was now no way I could doubt that Woo Bong-chui-gae was sincere.
I gazed at him with trembling eyes.
Having arrived this far, I couldn’t help but ask.
“Why are you going to such lengths?”
“Ho ho.”
Woo Bong-chui-gae laughed.
“Didn’t I mention? This is all for your father’s sake.”
Even so, there was no way that explanation would make sense to me.
However.
“You’re risking it all in front of me.”
He’s using his life to bind those words and energy with a ban.
At this level, it was absurd.
He even held my hand to perform it as proof.
He clearly had the intent to make me believe him regardless of the situation.
In addition to that.
“…And I mixed in some magic.”
While weaving the ban, I quietly infused a bit of magic.
This was in case things went south.
Magic is a kind of energy that’s difficult to detect unless activated.
Since I poured in a very small amount, Woo Bong-chui-gae wouldn’t have felt it.
Whether he realized it or not, Woo Bong-chui-gae kept chuckling as he looked at me.
“If I’ve shown you this much, wouldn’t it make conversation easier?”
“… ”
Upon hearing that, it struck me.
What had I previously asked?
“Why did you commit the crime regarding the ghost?”
Answering this would be simple.
It wasn’t a raid, just as to how I touched the ghost.
The issue was whether I could move past Woo Bong-chui-gae’s promise to let it slide.
“If he placed such a ban…”
Not trusting him would be more problematic.
After hesitating for a few seconds, I looked at Woo Bong-chui-gae and cautiously spoke.
“…I had predicted that the shaman would engage with the volcano’s ghost.”
Hearing this, Woo Bong-chui-gae’s expression shifts.
“Ho…”
He radiates curiosity.
“How did you come to that conclusion?”
This too was easy to answer.
“Because the circumstances dictated so.”
The wandering spirit that vanished a dozen years ago.
His sudden reappearance was strange. It seemed odd that he immediately sought the shaman.
Wasn’t it a stroke of luck that this was just when the volcano and the shaman were to exchange artifacts?
Moreover, there was no better time for the shaman to establish their position, making it likely they’d try to exploit this situation for an advantage.
As I laid it all out before Woo Bong-chui-gae.
“Hmm.”
Woo Bong-chui-gae stroked his beard, and his not-so-bright eyes sparkled.
“So you stole the dawn?”
“Yes.”
I nodded in response.
This was the answer I had prepared.
The fact that Ji-cheol died at dawn might raise eyebrows.
This was not information the shaman would have disclosed to Woo Bong-chui-gae.
In fact, it would likely be a part they needed to keep hidden.
After hearing this, Woo Bong-chui-gae sipped tea and swallowed it down.
I thought he might be convinced, but unfortunately…
“That’s not the case.”
Although it seemed like a reasonable answer.
There were definitely issues woven within.
There was no way Woo Bong-chui-gae wouldn’t recognize these problems.
Having pondered this, Woo Bong-chui-gae looked at me and inquired.
“That’s curious.”
Woo Bong-chui-gae asked me.
“They said there was no issue with the binding you wore at the time.”
“…”
“Furthermore, breaking through that boundary… how on earth did you manage to take the dawn?”
Woo Bong-chui-gae sharply pressed on, taking advantage of my oversights.
Back then, the shaman had prepared the binding to monitor us.
Ignoring that, not only did I move freely, but I also broke through the lethal boundary to steal the valuable object.
How did I plan to slip past such details?
With that intent, Woo Bong-chui-gae questioned me.
It was a perfectly reasonable inquiry, and I thought it was a natural thing to ask.
Thus, I brought forth the thoughts I had prepared.
“I can’t answer that.”
Instead of delving into problematic topics,
I opted for complete silence.
As if an absence of an answer implied deeper reasoning behind it.
“Ho ho…”
Woo Bong-chui-gae let out a low laugh.
I wiped the cold sweat that formed inside while watching him.
“There’s no way he’ll let this slide.”
An old man like him wouldn’t fall for such vague responses.
It was something I spat out, fully aware of the implications.
The reason being.
“To get him to ask again.”
Naturally, I had my counters prepared.
I had explanations ready for both the crucial flaw of the binding and how I could sneak away with the dawn later.
Yet, I brought up a nonchalant answer to orchestrate the scene.
That way, things would be a tad more dramatic.
“Besides, he won’t let it slide easily.”
As if to bait him, I was about to pivot the discussion towards the binding next.
“…Specifically, about the flaw in the binding.”
The reason I could still maneuver even with the binding on.
The binding crafted by the shaman hid a flaw that no one knew.
This piece of information was shared by Woohyuk in my past life.
Though the shaman had hastily installed the binding on the fleeing Woohyuk.
This issue was one that he discovered personally during his desperate attempts to escape.
Delivering this information to Woo Bong-chui-gae now would likely shift the situation.
I meant for this to be clear.
“Then, we’re settled.”
Huh?
“My lord, what did you just say?”
“If you can’t provide an answer, then there’s nothing that can be done.”
“Yes…?”
“More importantly, I brought some snacks. Would you care for some?”
I had to wear a look of astonishment at the nonchalant way Woo Bong-chui-gae spoke.
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