Chapter 1769
Who did you just say it was? (4)
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As he forcibly lifted his heavy eyelids, the first thing he saw was a sharply pointed ceiling.
“Ugh.”
Baek Cheon, who tried to get up, let out a stifled breath. Intense pain surged from various parts of his body.
His gaze naturally fell on his own arm. A thin, emaciated arm came into view. Realizing once again that this entire ordeal was not a dream but reality, Baek Cheon slowly looked around.
‘A tent…?’
It was a strange place.
A tent is certainly something put up for people to stay in, even temporarily, but this place didn’t seem inhabited.
That doesn’t mean there were no traces of people.
It means that even the basic necessities required for people to live were not visible.
Although it was inside a tent, the floor was left bare, exposing the ground and dirt, and the tent walls, which likely weren’t originally that color, were darkened by clinging dust.
The tent was empty without even basic furniture. The only things were blankets spread here and there on the floor, barely large enough for one person to lie down.
Where Baek Cheon was lying now was also one of those blankets.
‘Where is this place?’
Baek Cheon shook his throbbing head and tried to recall his memories.
The attack of Sapaeryeon. And the battle…
‘A masked man.’
Baek Cheon’s eyes wavered briefly. It seemed a masked man had brought him here after he lost consciousness.
His gaze moved towards his chest. Bandages were wrapped all over his body. They were filthy bandages that would have made Tang Soso breathe fire if she saw them, but in any case, it seemed they had treated his wounds.
“…”
Baek Cheon’s eyes became a bit more cautious than before.
‘Just who the hell are they?’
And why did they bring him here? By now, he likely had little value as a hostage or even as a person.
Baek Cheon forcibly twisted his unresponsive body and stood up from his spot. Every time his stiff body moved, screams involuntarily burst out, but by now, such pain was nothing new to him.
Having risen, Baek Cheon walked over and stood at the entrance of the tent.
After taking a short deep breath, he pushed aside the cloth hanging at the tent’s entrance and stepped outside.
“…”
The first things that caught his eye were the blue sky and the dense forest. And the shabby tents scattered in the forest here and there.
But what caught Baek Cheon’s eye was not those things.
Rather than being tents built for people to stay in, they felt like they were put up simply because they had to be. Around those tents, quite a few people were sitting idly.
“..”
It was strange.
This place was probably their base camp. But everyone Baek Cheon saw was wearing a mask.
Because they didn’t know when he would come out?
No, that didn’t seem to be the case. To them, those masks felt completely natural. It seemed they would even wear them while eating or sleeping.
“…”
Some had swords slung over their shoulders, faces buried in their knees. Others leaned against tents that looked like they could collapse at any moment. Some were half-lying on the ground, staring at the sky.
Their postures varied, but they all exuded a profound lethargy and weariness.
An odd sense of incongruity washed over Baek Cheon.
Defeated soldiers.
If he had to name it, that term would fit best.
The way they appeared to have lost all will to live was most similar to defeated soldiers who could no longer find hope.
And why did they bring him here? By now, he likely had little value as a hostage or even as a person.
Baek Cheon suspected instantly that this might be the place where they gathered the wounded. Since his arms were not intact and he was a mess from the fight with Sapaeryeon, it wouldn’t be strange if he were moved to where the injured were.
However, that thought was soon dismissed. The reason was all too simple: he couldn’t find any traces of injuries on their bodies.
‘Then what on earth is this?’
Why did he not feel the vitality that should naturally be sensed from living people?
Why were they acting as if they were dead while still alive?
As this sense of incongruity intensified, one of the masked men who had been burying his head in his knees lifted his head and looked at Baek Cheon.
At that moment, Baek Cheon couldn’t help but fall into contemplation.
Should he bow his head? Or should he offer a hand-fist salute?
Or would it be right to open his mouth and express his gratitude?
After all, it’s clear that one of the people here brought him to this place. They saved him from danger and even treated his wounds. Then, regardless of their identity, wouldn’t it be right to first convey his thanks?
But all of Baek Cheon’s worries scattered like smoke at the reaction shown by the masked man.
Crunch.
A sound of grinding teeth came from the mouth covered by the mask.
At the same time, the hollow eyes revealed through the holes in the mask were filled with deep hatred.
“…”
Baek Cheon froze on the spot. It was a type of reaction he had not anticipated at all.
Others also seemed to have noticed Baek Cheon’s presence and turned their heads to look at him.
Some quickly turned away as if losing interest, and some looked at Baek Cheon with curious eyes.
But most of the reactions were not much different from that of the first person who saw Baek Cheon.
Blatant hatred, and enmity [적의(敵意)].
Gazes filled with murderous intent were directed at Baek Cheon.
A formidable enemy that was hard to handle.
Countless foes whose end could not be measured. Even before all of those, Baek Cheon had never once shrunk back. But these hate-filled gazes made even Baek Cheon feel bewildered.
‘Evil Sects? Or Demonic… Path [마도(魔道)]?’
If he had to guess, that would be correct. If they were from the Evil Sects, it made sense that they would show murderous intent towards Baek Cheon. And even if they were of the Demonic Path, though it was a stretch, he could somehow accept it.
However, what made Baek Cheon even more bewildered was that he couldn’t feel the unique evil energy [사기(邪氣)] of the Evil Sects, nor the demonic energy [마기(魔氣)] unique to the Demonic Path from them at all.
Colorless and odorless, no… if he had to define it…
“Hwasan’s dog…”
At that moment, Baek Cheon’s thoughts came to a halt.
‘Hwasan?’
Did he just say Hwasan?
One of the masked men stood up from his seat. The previous lifelessness appearance was nowhere to be seen, and a blade-like sharpness began to emanate from his body.
“How dare you…”
The killing intent was clear.
However, none of the people around showed any sign of trying to stop the one who had stood up. They merely watched indifferently, as if it didn’t particularly matter if Baek Cheon were hacked to pieces by his hands.
Baek Cheon instinctively swept his hand over his waist. But of course, there was no way he would have a sword.
Screech.
A poorly maintained, rusted sword was drawn from the masked man’s scabbard.
The masked man, his eyes filled with hatred, kicked off the ground and flew towards Baek Cheon in an instant. At a speed that, in his battered state, Baek Cheon couldn’t even think of resisting.
The rusted sword, blackened here and there, soared fiercely through the air.
“…”
But the sword did not come down. The sword raised into the air stopped in place, trembling violently. In the masked man’s eyes, who had thrust his face right up to Baek Cheon’s, a mix of intense anguish and hatred poured out.
At that moment, even Baek Cheon, overwhelmed by that maelstrom of emotions, froze.
Thud!
The masked man who had been threatening Baek Cheon was flung away from that spot.
“…I thought I told you not to touch him.”
“…”
Another masked man walked over from afar. Although his face was covered and his identity unknown, the aura emanating from him was clearly overwhelming compared to the other masked men around.
“Seems you don’t understand words.”
The masked man who had rolled on the ground didn’t particularly respond to those words.
He just slightly pulled down the bottom of his mask, spat out saliva mixed with blood, and went back to where he had been. Then he sat down as if nothing had happened from the beginning, lowering his head.
“…”
Bizarre. That was the only way to describe it.
The one who had been staring at the masked man with his head down for a long time turned his gaze to Baek Cheon. Baek Cheon could instinctively tell – that this was the masked man who had saved him before.
“Um…”
“Follow me.”
Without saying anything further, the masked man walked ahead.
As if he didn’t doubt that Baek Cheon would follow him.
Baek Cheon, staring blankly at his back as he walked father away, turned his head slightly. Those who had shown him hatred had already all averted their gazes from him.
Not as if they were holding back, but as if they had simply lost interest. As if even their anger and hatred didn’t particularly matter.
‘What the hell is this place?’
It was an incomprehensible place. Everything about it.
And the only way to understand this place was to follow that man.
With a hardened expression, Baek Cheon took a step forward.
That tent was not much different from the others.
One could say it was slightly larger and had chairs prepared for people to sit on, but fundamentally, it wasn’t much different from the tent where Baek Cheon had woken up.
In a sense that it didn’t feel like a space prepared for people to live in.
However, perhaps because Baek Cheon’s perspective had clearly changed as he looked at the tent, the feeling was a bit different from before.
‘This place is…’
At first, Baek Cheon had thought of the tents as the barracks of defeated soldiers.
But now…
“Sit there.”
“Yes.”
Baek Cheon sat down without a word in the seat the masked man indicated.
Then the masked man sat across from Baek Cheon.
With a small table between them that was too modest to even be called a desk.
Thunk.
The masked man placed a bottle he had taken out from his waist onto the table and opened the cork.
The strong smell of crude liquor wafted over. It was cheap alcohol that didn’t seem to be of good quality.
Without offering any to Baek Cheon, the masked man pulled up his mask and gulped down the liquor. Through the gap he held open with his fingertips graying beard was visible.
Thunk.
Placing the bottle back down, the masked man stared straight at Baek Cheon.
“Baek Cheon, Vice Sect Leader of Hwasan.”
“…”
“Is that correct?”
“…..Not anymore. That’s what I used to be called.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was excommunicated from Hwasan. So I am no longer affiliated with Hwasan Sect.”
At those words, the masked man stared intently at Baek Cheon and then let out a chuckle.
“Excommunicated from the sect. So you’re no longer a disciple of Hwasan.”
“…Yes.”
The masked man leaned back in his chair. A harsh creaking sound pierced Baek Cheon’s ears.
“It would have been nice if it could be resolved that easily. For you, and for us too.”
“…”
After staring silently at the ceiling for a long time, the masked man lowered his head and met Baek Cheon’s gaze.
“Do you know who we are?”
“…I do not.”
“I thought as much.”
Thud.
The masked man placed the sword he had been holding in one hand onto the table. A cheap iron sword. A Nameless Sword [무명검(無名劍)], much like the one Baek Cheon had received from Heo Do Jinin.
Swish.
Without hesitation, the masked man who had placed the sword began to remove his mask. Soon, the mask was taken off, revealing the man’s face.
“…”
A face he had never seen before. He couldn’t discern anything except that the man was at least over fifty. Only the long scar running across his face hinted that this person had not lived an easy life.
“I’ll ask you again. Do you know who I am?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes. Of course. Naturally, you wouldn’t.”
The masked man, or rather, the one who should now be called a middle-aged man, suddenly burst into loud laughter.
“Naturally. Yes, of course. But..”
Swish.
At that moment, the masked man snatched up the sword on the table at lightning speed and swung it at Baek Cheon’s neck.
Slash!
The sword touched his neck, cutting into the skin. Baek Cheon’s face hardened at the chilling pain.
“But you should have known.”
“…”
“At least if you were Hwasan’s Vice Sect Leader. No, if you had once been the Vice Sect Leader of Hwasan!”
An incomprehensible hatred.
Baek Cheon’s eyes wavered briefly as he faced that hatred.
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