WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Asakusa
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◈ A Wandering Warrior's Survival Guide ◈
Chapter 52: A Suspicious Wanderer Who Doesn't Hide His Strength (3)
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An investigation party urgently dispatched by the Dawn Sun Gate arrived at the Iron Bear Sect's front gate.
The signboard, split in two, lay scattered atop the half-destroyed gate.
‘...!!’
The martial artists who entered the courtyard stopped as if on cue.
“W-what in the world...?”
Iron Bear Sect Leader Mo Gwang-pil was dead, eyes wide open. The corpses of other Black Path members lay nearby.
Beyond the walls, Baekseokjin's residents, who had come after hearing the news, watched the bizarre scene in hushed silence.
Yeom Do-jin, one of the low-ranking disciples, was filled with genuine emotion. Yeom had long been sickened by the Iron Bear Sect's tyranny.
Excitedly, Yeom examined the Black Path members' bodies. Born and raised in an abandoned mine near this town, and long accustomed to the Black Path's cruelty, Yeom had joined the Dawn Sun Gate.
Soon, Dawn Sun Gate martial artists rushed inside and began searching the chests.
“The money is all here!”
Not only the silver taels, but even the bronze bowls taken from the townspeople remained untouched in the chests.
“So they didn't do this for money!”
“They even left the ledgers open for us... This means we can return the money to the victims exactly! Isn't that the work of a true hero?”
“But why would anyone brave such danger for this?”
A little later, one Dawn Sun Gate martial artist dragged over a Black Path member by the hair and repeated what he had learned during the interrogation.
“It is true that a man called Cheon Hwi faced them all alone... and the reason was...”
Even the man conducting the interrogation tilted his head as if to ask whether this could possibly be right.
“Apparently, it was because of dumplings!”
“...?”
* * *
Cold sweat poured down the back of Jo Mun-tak, a working-level executive of the Dawn Sun Gate.
‘This is driving me mad!’
The ledger lay openly spread across the table.
‘Did he... leave it open on purpose?’
[Dawn Sun Gate patrol day. Avoid East Gate Street.]
[No disturbances near Bright Light Cult's porridge kitchen.]
[Raise protection fees at the West Gate inn. Match the increase in Dawn Sun Gate donations.]
Jo Mun-tak's trembling gaze raced across the inked lines before he hurriedly shut the ledger.
Anyone sharp enough would immediately understand from these records how the Iron Bear Sect and the Dawn Sun Gate had secretly coexisted while protecting their own interests.
More than anything, it looked as though the ledger had been deliberately left open.
‘Is he telling us to bring him more than the money piled up here...?’
Of course, that was not the case. Cheon Hwi had merely glanced through it, tossed it aside, and left. Jo Mun-tak was simply terrified that the Dawn Sun Gate's past dealings would come to light.
At that moment, Yu So-myeong, the man in white robes standing beside Jo Mun-tak, quietly spoke up. He was known as the White Lantern Envoy.
White Lantern Envoy Yu So-myeong was the Demon Cult's eye in the Pyeongjang County region, responsible for secretly selecting demonic practitioners who would pledge loyalty to the Demon Cult.
‘...There are no traces of pure martial arts, yet it is also difficult to believe this is the martial art of a mere wanderer. Hm. More than that, this murky aura faintly steeped within such vicious killing intent...’
Yu So-myeong's eyes sank into thought as he studied the sword marks with interest.
But Jo Mun-tak had more pressing concerns. What mattered was seizing the opportunity before him.
Jo Mun-tak hurriedly raised their voice toward the martial artists and the murmuring crowd gathered nearby.
“Listen! It seems Heaven has grown enraged by the Iron Bear Sect's evil deeds and delivered punishment! However, I have heard that the scattered remnants of the Iron Bear Sect remain in the back alleys, attempting to gather their strength. For Baekseokjin's safety, our Dawn Sun Gate shall personally step forward and drive those remnants from this land forever!”
The Dawn Sun Gate was cutting off its own tail.
They intended to offer up the remaining Black Path members as sacrifices and claim the credit for the situation Cheon Hwi had created.
Cheers erupted from every direction.
“Wipe them out!”
“Waaah!”
.
.
.
At the same time, in a shabby inn in Baekseokjin.
Cheon Hwi sat in a corner, stuffing newly ordered meat dumplings into his mouth. The inn buzzed with rumors of the Iron Bear Sect's destruction.
“Baekseok First Devil! They say that wanderer's epithet is Baekseok First Devil!”
Unaware that the man leisurely chewing dumplings in the inn was the very Baekseok First Devil of rumor, they continued passing the stories around.
‘...Not a sword, but a devil?’
“Leaving them alive after cutting off their limbs, letting them die in agony. How can such cruelty not belong to a demon sword?”
Hearing his new epithet, Cheon Hwi let out a short, hollow laugh.
A demon sword? It was unfair. Cheon Hwi had shown them mercy, in his own way. They might never learn martial arts or brawl again, but once their wounds healed, they could still move around and earn a living.
The townspeople's idle rumors were even better than Han So-gyeom at turning people into trash.
All Cheon Hwi had done was go around recently smashing nearby villages and one or two bandit hideouts.
Then, men who had entered the inn began loudly talking in excitement.
“The Dawn Sun Gate just declared a full-scale purge! The scattered Iron Bear Sect remnants have gathered at an empty shrine, and Dawn Sun Gate elites have gone to strike them!”
“As expected, only the Dawn Sun Gate can protect Baekseokjin!”
Cheon Hwi's chopsticks stopped in midair.
‘These bastards?’
He had laid out enticing bait for them to come looking for him, yet they were trying to steal his achievement to bolster their own prestige?
Cheon Hwi had already suspected that the Dawn Sun Gate enjoyed indirect benefits from Black Path members in a mutually beneficial arrangement.
‘So they put their heads together, did they?’
But crawling onto a table after someone else had prepared the entire meal was another matter.
.
.
.
An abandoned shrine on Baekseokjin's outskirts.
Elite martial artists led by Dawn Sun Gate executive Jo Mun-tak and White Lantern Envoy Yu So-myeong had surrounded the abandoned shrine in layers. Intelligence had reported that Iron Bear Sect remnants were gathered inside, receiving treatment and dreaming of making a comeback.
“Attack!”
The Dawn Sun Gate martial artists kicked open the doors and rushed in all at once.
They drew their weapons and surged into the dust-filled shrine, but...
“...?!”
Everything was already over.
“W-what is this...?”
Jo Mun-tak froze before even crossing the threshold. Yu So-myeong, the White Lantern Envoy who entered behind Jo Mun-tak, also quickly swept his gaze through the shrine with interested eyes.
The battle had ended long ago.
More than ten Iron Bear Sect remnants who were said to have fled lay injured beside every thick pillar supporting the shrine.
“Could these traces possibly be...?”
“Did Baekseok First Devil Cheon Hwi come through here?”
The marks of battle made it obvious.
“Baekseok First Devil Cheon Hwi... So the rumors were true. They say he enjoys watching people writhe in pain as they die.”
That was not all.
Someone could be seen through the shrine's open doors, seated in the middle of the altar. In the place where a divine statue should have stood, someone sat with a sinister glint in their eyes.
It was Cheon Hwi, a wanderer dressed in worn martial robes with a bamboo hat pulled low.
“You're one step late.”
Jo Mun-tak's face reddened.
Jo Mun-tak had boldly come here after declaring before everyone that they would wipe out the remnants, only to find that it was already over.
“Y-you're Baekseok First Devil?”
Jo Mun-tak shouted, gripping their sword hilt tightly. Rather than answer, Cheon Hwi looked at Jo Mun-tak. Pressured by Cheon Hwi's presence, Jo Mun-tak unknowingly tightened their grip on the sword.
“Didn't you come to purge them?”
“That is true, but...”
“Then isn't that a good thing? You no longer need to stain your swords with blood to carry out your purge. Isn't that right?”
It was an easygoing taunt. Jo Mun-tak ground his teeth.
Cheon Hwi tilted his chin toward a bound Black Path member.
“Beating up Black Path members hiding quietly got me some rather interesting information.”
“What information?”
“You should know better than I do.”
Jo Mun-tak's eyes hardened. Jo Mun-tak felt their heart sink.
“I do not know what nonsense the wanderer thinks he is spouting!”
“If you don't know, then fine.”
Cheon Hwi gave a short laugh and lightly jumped down from the altar.
Tap.
Dust rose around Cheon Hwi's feet as he landed.
“I don't intend to concern myself with it, so I'll keep pretending not to know too.”
Cheon Hwi's words were cryptic.
Then Yu So-myeong, the White Lantern Envoy who had remained silent, slowly stepped forward.
His white robe fluttered lightly. After his gaze passed over the sword marks on the other Black Path members, it settled on Cheon Hwi. He openly examined Cheon Hwi's aura from head to toe.
Cheon Hwi could not fail to recognize that this man in white was the strongest among them.
“I must ask. You do not seem motivated by profit, nor do you seek chivalric fame. Why take such trouble upon yourself?”
Cheon Hwi's gaze met Yu So-myeong's.
“Because it's fun.”
Yu So-myeong shook his head, as if to say that was not the answer he wanted and Cheon Hwi should give the real one.
Pale white skin. Deeply sunken eyes. A sinister aura clearly different from the stuffy martial artists of the orthodox sects.
Cheon Hwi knew instinctively that this man was connected to the true power behind the Dawn Sun Gate that Han So-gyeom had mentioned.
As Cheon Hwi lifted the brim of his bamboo hat, the index finger that had pushed it up continued past it and pointed to the shrine's ceiling.
“I'm waiting for a summons.”
“A summons...”
“A lifeline cast down from the Martial World of true masters.”
At that answer, one corner of Yu So-myeong's mouth rose faintly.
Yu So-myeong had carefully read the sword marks even before entering the shrine.
Judging from the sword marks and traces of martial arts, they did not belong to the orthodox sects.
Perhaps the wanderer before him had hidden his original martial arts and fought while disguising them as other unorthodox arts. Still, unless one had reached the first-rate realm, traces were bound to remain.
Yet there were no such signs in the present traces.
More than anything, there was the bizarre aura surrounding Cheon Hwi's entire body.
If he were an orthodox sect spy, he could never imitate that scent of blood. It was unmistakably the wicked qi possessed only by one who had lived a life on the Wicked Path.
Stopping Jo Mun-tak, Yu So-myeong sent a cold voice transmission meant only for Cheon Hwi's ears.
─ Are you searching for a demonic art, wanderer?
Cheon Hwi stopped in his tracks.
The faint smile on his lips curved into a broad grin, revealing his fangs.
It was like casting bait to catch a fish, only to reel up a fish trap full of them.
Cheon Hwi stared directly at Yu So-myeong.
He had no need to answer. As Cheon Hwi approached, Yu So-myeong, who had also learned demonic arts, immediately sensed the demonic qi within him, just as Han So-gyeom had.
‘...!’
Yu So-myeong's smiling eyes widened.
For an instant, the wanderer before him gave off an aura laced with demonic qi as dense as one might sense from the Twelve Demon Lords, then it vanished.
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