Chapter Title: Ambush
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"Long time no see, Brother Yeo."
The one who burst through the shattered front gate was a burly middle-aged man.
He wore a roughly torn robe with the sleeves ripped off, exposing his bulging arm muscles in stark relief.
And in those thick hands of his, he gripped what looked like a massive hammer forged from a solid block of iron.
The master, apparently knowing this muscular middle-aged man, called out his name with a grim expression.
"Je-gon…!"
Hold on a second. Didn't that guy just call the master "Yeo hyung"?
I think Neung Baek-seo called him "Yeo escort" earlier too?
But the master's surname is Bae, right? What's with the Yeo?
"Je-gon, how could you…!"
"It's the flow of the times. Tyrant Heaven Fortress has already fallen completely into the fortress lord's grasp. No matter how much you struggle, Brother Yeo, the young fortress lord can't come back."
The middle-aged musclehead spoke with a feigned look of regret.
At his words, the master's arms trembled violently, and his face twisted in anguish.
"Master…"
Chu Junior Sister gazed at Wang-sam Master with pity.
I sidled up next to her and quietly asked.
"…Chu Junior Sister. Does Wang-sam Master have a different real name too, by any chance?"
Chu Junior Sister whipped her head around at my question.
Her eyes screamed disbelief that I'd ask something like that right now, but I responded shamelessly.
Sure, the situation was urgent, but curiosity was curiosity.
"…Hah."
Chu Junior Sister let out a small sigh at my reaction and nodded.
"Master's real name is Yeo Dae-un. And mine is Yoo Seol."
"I knew it…! Honestly, Wang-sam sounded way too extra."
"Pardon? Ex, extra?"
"No, not extra—ex-tra…"
I was about to explain to the flustered Chu Junior Sister when a prickling sensation hit the side of my head.
I turned to look, and everyone was staring at me with baffled expressions.
Exactly the same look as Chu Junior Sister's just now.
The look that said, "You're wondering about that right now?"
Come on, a guy can be curious sometimes. What's with the stares?
Even the master was giving me that look.
I couldn't hold back and yelled at the master.
"Master, you shouldn't look at me like that! It's your fault for picking such a lame alias in the first place!"
"Wh-what?"
"Humanely speaking, what the hell is Bae Wang-sam? Bae Wang-sam. Zero effort!"
The master's face flushed red then pale by turns.
He drew in a breath to shout something back, but a burst of raucous laughter cut him off.
"Puhahaha—!"
It was the middle-aged man who'd been strutting around like a peacock—Neung Baek-seo.
Clutching his belly as if he'd never seen such a ridiculous scene in his life, Neung Baek-seo finally suppressed his laughter and spoke.
"Well, aren't you a jolly little fellow. Babbling away without a clue you're about to die. Hilarious."
Huh? What's that supposed to mean?
"Me? I'm dying? Why? I'm not sick or anything."
I'd already experienced a terminal illness in my previous life.
No way it'd happen again this time.
Twice would be pushing my luck too far.
Neung Baek-seo smirked again at my question.
He must've thought I was joking. I wasn't.
Once he'd settled his twitching lips, Neung Baek-seo's gaze shifted to Ju Hwa-ryeon.
"Young fortress lord, you've been putting up with this dimwit as your senior brother all this time? Must've been tough."
"I doubt it. If I was really your senior brother, you wouldn't have treated me so shabbily."
My casual reply must've gotten old, because Neung Baek-seo's face darkened a bit.
"You've got a mouth on you, but no idea what's going on."
"That's what I'm saying. I have zero clue what's happening, so someone explain it already?"
A smile crept back onto Neung Baek-seo's face at my demand for answers.
But this smile wasn't the amused one from before—it was pure mockery.
Along with the sneer came words too heavy to take lightly.
"Kehehe… There's only one thing you need to know. Because you whined about wanting to learn martial arts, your whole family's about to die."
My pounding heart went ice-cold at that.
I heard the master's shocked cry in my ears.
"What…? Surely not the Goon family head?"
Pleased by the reaction he'd hoped for, the bastard Neung Baek-seo shouted gleefully.
"It's an order from the fortress lord! Kill the vile rebel and everyone connected to him…"
Before he could finish, I moved first.
"…Guhk!?"
I shot toward Neung Baek-seo, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him against the wall.
-Bam!
"Ke, kehuk…!?"
"What did you just say?"
Neung Baek-seo's face turned beet red from the chokehold, filled with shock.
Realizing too late that I was a martial artist, he fumbled for the sword at his side.
-Crack!
"Grrrrr—!"
I twisted his right wrist—the one reaching for the sword.
Screaming in agony as his wrist bent in an unnatural direction, Neung Baek-seo writhed.
Who said keep screaming? Answer me.
Oh, right. Can't talk with his throat crushed.
I grabbed his collar instead and asked again.
"What did you just say? What about my family?"
"You little…!"
"Hey now, wrong answer."
-Crack!
"Kaaaagh!"
I stomped on his shin.
I felt something hard snap cleanly.
What's with these brittle bones? Osteoporosis?
I glanced at his broken shin and asked again.
"What did that mean just now…"
-Whoosh!
But I couldn't finish my question.
A massive hammer came flying at my head, slicing through the air.
I released Neung Baek-seo and leaped back. The hammer, losing its target, smashed into where I'd stood.
-Kaboom!
The ground cratered deeply with a sound like a bomb dropping.
The middle-aged musclehead lifted his hammer from the center of the crater.
"More skilled than he looks. Even I lost track of your movements for a second."
"Ku, kugh…! Si, Sir Great Hero!"
The musclehead clicked his tongue at Neung Baek-seo calling out to him.
"Tsk tsk. Even as leader of the Dark Heaven Squad assassins, aren't you neglecting your training a bit too much?"
"…Kugh."
The musclehead gave a pathetic look to Neung Baek-seo, who could only groan, then turned his gaze back to me.
From what I'd overheard, this musclehead outranked him.
"Why don't you explain it if you know? What did that bastard just mean?"
The musclehead eyed me oddly for a moment, then shrugged and answered.
"Simple. Another Dark Heaven Squad is heading to your house right now."
"…"
Dark Heaven Squad heading there.
He'd said earlier they were assassins.
Assassins going to our house.
Even a three-year-old could tell that wasn't for anything good.
In other words, no time to waste here.
I headed straight for the broken front gate.
-Thud!
The musclehead blocked my path again.
"…Move."
"Sorry, can't do that. Like Neung Squad Leader said, we're here to kill all the rebels and anyone connected to them."
"Je-gon! You dare try to blot out the sky with your palm!? How can you, who knows the full truth, point your weapon at the young fortress lord!"
The enraged master shouted at the musclehead's words, but the guy acted like a dog barking at nothing.
"Brother Yeo, the tide has already turned. The vassal clans that suspected and checked the fortress lord have mostly been crushed, and the imperial court has acknowledged his succession."
"Wh-what…? The imperial court?"
The master looked at Merchant Leader Bang in confusion.
His eyes asking if it was true.
The merchant leader, his face grave, nodded heavily.
"…Yes. The imperial court acknowledged that rebel's succession. I should've told you earlier…"
"Ah…!"
At those words, Senior Sister Jang's face went pale.
Chu Junior Sister caught her staggering, shocked body.
Seeing this, the musclehead grinned smugly.
"Now you get it? The young fortress lord has no hope left."
And as if doing the master a favor, he proposed.
"Brother Yeo, it's not too late. Let me put in a good word for you. How about joining our side now…"
"Hey."
I cut him off, unable to hold back.
Irritated that I'd interrupted, one of the musclehead's eyebrows twitched.
"I don't give a damn about imperial acknowledgment or whatever. Move."
"…Heh. I told you, didn't I? Everyone connected to the rebel dies tonight. That includes you. There's only one way out for you—dead as a corpse."
The musclehead sneered coldly and unleashed his aura.
The intense energy I'd sensed earlier radiated outward in waves.
"Ugh, this is…!"
The master gasped in alarm at the pressure.
Seeing it, the musclehead burst into mad laughter.
"Keahaha—! Feel that, Brother Yeo? The fortress lord rewarded me with a drop of Pure Azure Stone Oil for killing the young fortress lord. My internal energy's skyrocketed thanks to it."
The master looked utterly defeated.
Well, yeah.
In this weird martial world without lightness skills, sword auras, or sword beams, differences in internal energy usually decided victory.
From what my energy sense told me, the musclehead's internal energy was a notch above the master's.
No one here could beat him with raw power.
Turning to me with a triumphant grin, he asked.
"Well, what'll you do? If you offer your neck nicely, I'll make it quick and painless. Go wait in the afterlife—your family will follow soon enough."
"Hah, bullshit's in season this year."
A curse slipped out unbidden.
But to the guy drunk on victory, even that sounded like a funny joke.
Judging by how he kept chuckling.
"Kehehehe… Whatever you try, you die here. What can you even do?"
"One thing."
I drew my sword from its sheath.
"Kill you."