Dropped into Murim with an Instant-Kill Skill - Chapter 46

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 46: In April, All the Flowers of the World Have Faded (17)

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Yi Yubaek asked carefully,

"Did I hurt your feelings?"

Hang Inwoo only smiled.

Yi Yubaek grew awkward.

"Um. I'm sorry. When I told you to bring it out earlier, I was joking. Just joking. Your spiritual elixir is yours, obviously. How could I think it belonged to me? And those people really weren't brought by me. I told them not to follow us, but they kept doing it, so there was nothing I could do."

"......"

Hang Inwoo did not answer.

Trickle, trickle.

Instead, he filled Yi Yubaek's cup with alcohol. Filling someone's cup showed affection.

Yet he filled it so high that even one more drop would make it spill.

He poured himself a reasonable amount, tossed it back in one swallow, then fiddled with the empty cup for a while before speaking.

"Big Brother. This sort of thing really gets to me. I honestly think about you a great deal, but sometimes it feels like you take me far too lightly."

Hang Inwoo was still smiling, but his voice had thorns in it.

Yi Yubaek was taken aback, but he also thought Inwoo had every right to be hurt.

"No. I never take you lightly. I'm sorry I made you feel that way. But really, I've never looked down on you."

"No. Honestly, you have. You killed Seo Muryang without even giving me a word of warning. Wasn't that completely disregarding my standing?"

"That... I'm sorry. But I had no choice."

"You had no choice..."

Hang Inwoo emptied his own cup in one swallow, then moved to refill Yi Yubaek's.

Yi Yubaek deftly lifted the brimming cup and drank it dry in a single gulp.

Hang Inwoo filled it again. Once more, so full that a single extra drop would have spilled it.

"Fine. Perhaps you really had no choice but to kill Seo Muryang. He wasn't exactly a good man. But still, when you saw me afterward, couldn't you have at least said you were sorry out of courtesy?"

Yi Yubaek closed his eyes once, opened them, and drained the full cup without spilling a drop.

"...That was my mistake. I'm sorry. I should have apologized sooner."

"But I heard something else too. At the feast at your place last time."

Hang Inwoo snorted sharply.

"Someone supposedly said, what? That Hang Inwoo would have just died there if not for Yi Yubaek. That he'd have spent his whole life crawling along as a second-rate martial artist."

"That...!"

"And I heard you didn't say a word even after hearing that? Those so-called martial nephews of mine heard it too and just sat there? Their master's sworn younger brother, their martial uncle, being insulted like that, and all of you were fine with it? Why? Did all of you secretly think that way? Hm?"

Hang Inwoo's eyes were gleaming now.

Yi Yubaek felt suffocated.

"Big Brother. I was hurt by all this, but I tried not to show it. Today, I wanted to invite you here, have a pleasant drink, give you the spiritual elixir, and leave it at that. But what was that? Bringing spectators here to pressure me into handing over the elixir isn't right, is it?"

"Inwoo, it wasn't like that..."

"Big Brother has always been like this. Calling me Bones and treating me like dirt."

"That...!"

"Of course. To you, I'm Hang Inwoo, the useless man you saved and raised. Hang Inwoo, who could never have done anything with his own strength. So I must have looked pretty ridiculous to you."

"Inwoo."

Bang!

Yi Yubaek set his cup down with a sharp sound.

"You're going too far."

Hang Inwoo raised his shoulders theatrically.

"Oh, how frightening. Shinheung's foremost martial artist is threatening me."

"Inwoo!"

"Big Brother, then I have a request."

Whoosh.

The wind blew.

Red oleander petals showered down outside the tent.

The valley wind was unnaturally cold for the season, enough to raise goosebumps.

"If you truly do not despise me, grant me just this one request. Then I'll forget everything, and I'll even kneel and beg forgiveness for daring to be disrespectful to you."

"...What is it?"

"Let's not attack Heavenly Road Mountain."

"What?"

Yi Yubaek's eyes widened as though he'd been struck with a hammer.

"You heard me, yet you're asking again. Let's not attack Heavenly Road Mountain. I heard that new experts recently joined them. A group expelled from the Green Forest Eighteen Strongholds joined their ranks. They say there is even a peak expert among them. I don't have the confidence to fight Heavenly Road Mountain like that."

"...You know too, Inwoo. It may become more difficult, but we can still win. Across all of Guangdong..."

"Of course we can win!"

Bang!

This time, Hang Inwoo slammed the table.

Crack.

A small crack ran through the middle of the wooden table, though it did not collapse. Hang Inwoo had held back to the very end.

"But even if we win, there will be losses! I have no idea how many of my men I might lose. And you want us to fight them? Why? Why should we?"

"...People are dying unfairly and suffering."

"Exactly! Why should we care about that?"

Hang Inwoo let out a long breath.

"Why are you like this, Big Brother? Did the bandits of Heavenly Road Mountain ever harm you? Have they ever done a single bad thing to us? No. They haven't! Not once! If anything, they're good for us. Because they're there, people rely on us and give us money. Isn't that right?"

Yi Yubaek looked at Hang Inwoo.

There was no longer any confusion in his eyes.

He spoke coldly and clearly.

"I wondered why you had been acting so petty since earlier. This was what you were after?"

"You always toss around that word, petty, in front of other people too. You think I'm a joke, don't you?"

"You bastard. Get a hold of yourself. You're a grown man, not some brat whining and whining."

"..."

Hang Inwoo's face turned red.

"Inwoo. If I thought you were a joke, would I have risked my life to save you? Would I have given you that expensive spiritual elixir to heal your internal injury and increase your internal energy? Would I have risked my life and spent my time advising you on each of your martial arts and overseeing your training?"

"Who asked you to go that far? You did it because you wanted to, because it pleased you."

"What?"

"Stop boasting about the past and answer me. Heavenly Road Mountain. Let's not attack it. Please? Your sworn younger brother is begging you like this. If you want, I'll even kneel."

Yi Yubaek clenched his teeth.

"I can't do that. Those who deserve to die must die. The people of Heavenly Road Mountain deserve to die."

"Why?"

"Just thinking about those bastards ruins the taste of my drink. It makes me feel filthy."

"Ha!"

Hang Inwoo lifted the bottle itself and drank deeply from it.

"Look, I'm grateful to you, Big Brother. I've grown deeply attached to you too. For your sake, I could give my life. We've saved each other's lives, haven't we? But I can't do that for strangers I've never even met."

"Then stay out of it."

"Look at that. Look at those eyes, as though you're looking at some vulgar man. You're always right, aren't you? I'm always wrong? I'm always the trash?"

"What are you trying to do, then?"

Hoo...

Hang Inwoo breathed out heavily and emptied the bottle in one go.

Then he said,

"Big Brother, do you know how much I've held back my temper for you all this time? But if I've worked this hard, shouldn't there be times when you give ground at least one step too?"

Yi Yubaek looked up at the sky.

A complicated expression passed through his eyes.

He rummaged through his robes, took something out, and poured it into his mouth.

He hesitated once, then twice, before asking.

Casually, as if asking what Inwoo had eaten that day.

"Inwoo. Are you in league with Heavenly Road Mountain? Is that why you're doing this?"

Yi Yubaek and Hang Inwoo met each other's eyes.

It was as though sparks flew between them.

At last, Hang Inwoo twisted his lips into a smile.

"Why? Would that be so wrong?"

"You..."

"Think about it, Big Brother. If I join hands with Heavenly Road Mountain, I can pile up chests of gold every year. So why shouldn't I? Because the great hero Yi Yubaek, Shinheung's foremost martial artist, does not wish it?"

"You lunatic. Because of Heavenly Road Mountain, how many people are suffering..."

"Exactly! Why should I care about that?"

Bang!

At last, Hang Inwoo's fist shattered the table.

Bottles and cups of alcohol crashed to the ground.

Sparks seemed to fly from Yi Yubaek's eyes as well.

"Because I am someone who cares about such things!"

He growled the words in a low voice.

"Isn't that why you lived too? Everyone called me an idiot, but I saved you. I taught you. That is why you can strut around as a first-rate martial artist now, isn't it? After receiving so much, you should know how to give as well."

"Ha? Anyone hearing that would think I became first-rate without risking my life and for free. Are you saying everything I've achieved is thanks to you?"

"Don't twist my words."

"I'm stating the truth!"

Hang Inwoo glared at Yi Yubaek.

Yi Yubaek glared back.

After a long silence, Yi Yubaek barely forced out the words, as though they caught painfully in his throat.

"...So what was your role? Dream-Soul Powder, I suppose? I had wondered where those bastards kept getting so much Dream-Soul Powder."

"Trying to act perceptive now is only laughable. Well, I handled Dream-Soul Powder too. I did plenty of other things as well."

"How could you...?"

Hang Inwoo bared his teeth.

"Do you regret it? If you'd known I was this kind of man, would you not have saved me? Hah. What a relief. It was good that I desperately kept up the act and hid the evidence. Thanks to that, I lived like this. I became a first-rate martial artist too."

"Inwoo..."

"Big Brother. Still, I've repaid the debt I owed you. I risked my life and saved you too. So I don't know what you think, but if we carefully consider what is fair, there are no debts between us anymore."

At some point, White Dragon Gang martial artists had surrounded them.

The people who had appeared to be preparing the food and alcohol had each drawn weapons, their expressions grim.

There were more than sixty of them.

On the other hand, Yi Yubaek had only his three disciples with him.

"Big Brother. I really, truly did not want to do this. Even though you screwed me over several times, it is still true that you saved me. I was grateful. I really did not want to do this. But if you insist on destroying Heavenly Road Mountain, what am I supposed to do? My sworn elder brother says he will cut off his sworn younger brother's livelihood. What am I supposed to do?"

"So. You are... going to kill me?"

The end of Yi Yubaek's voice trembled.

"You... me?"

"Don't look at me like that. You were the one who tried to kill me first, Big Brother. For the sake of strangers you had never met, you were the one who stabbed me in the back!"

More than sixty members of the White Dragon Gang.

Yi Yubaek and his three disciples, only four in total.

The situation was clearly against them.

Then,

Wheeeet!

Kang Muhyeok whistled.

Flap, flap, flap!

The sound of clothing snapping in the wind rang out loudly.

Cries of alarm burst from the White Dragon Gang martial artists.

"What?"

"Those bastards...!"

The inner disciples of Windflow Martial Academy came racing down from the lower end of the valley, stepping from tree to tree.