By Zephyria What Doesn’t Change (6)
“Sniff.”
Of all things, it wasn’t an enemy, but a girl. The terrified child was frozen, unable to even cry. Ma Jin-cheon hurriedly sheathed his sword.
“You must be A-yeong! Did you come to find your doll? Where is your mother? It’s dangerous to wander around alone at this hour!”
“Mister…”
The child finally burst into tears at Ma Jin-cheon’s harsh scolding. Flustered, he quickly tried to soothe her.
“I’m sorry for raising my voice. Did you come to find Mong-shil?”
The child nodded slightly.
“Still, you shouldn’t wander around alone.”
She had mustered the courage to come, missing the doll she always slept with, but the darkness must have frightened her, as she tightly gripped Ma Jin-cheon’s sleeve. He smiled helplessly and began searching for the doll with the child.
However, finding a stuffed doll in the ruins was not easy. Moreover, there was no guarantee it would be in good condition. After rummaging for a long time, he pulled the doll out from a pile of dirt.
“Mong-shil!”
“Let’s go, I’ll take you to your mother.”
Ma Jin-cheon sat the child on his shoulders. Just as he was about to leave the ruined house, Ma Jin-cheon felt a chilling presence behind him and twisted his body.
“Kugh!”
His waist felt a sharp pain, and when he looked down, he saw a long, deep wound.
“Tch!”
The one who attacked him was the Poison Freak he had seen at the restaurant. He had been hiding from the Shaolin’s eyes and launched the attack. It was meant to be a killing blow to end his life, but Ma Jin-cheon dodged it, and it failed. However, as he staggered from the pain, the man snatched the child from his shoulders.
“Mister!”
“A-yeong!”
The Poison Freak ran madly, holding the child under his arm.
Ma Jin-cheon quickly stopped the bleeding by pressing on the pressure points near his gushing, wide-open side wound and chased after him.
“Stop right there!”
They chased and were chased, entering deep into the mountains. As the terrain deepened, Ma Jin-cheon’s breathing gradually became rougher. It was the moment he was about to draw upon his inner force to catch up with the increasingly distant Poison Freak.
Stagger!
His head spun, and soon Ma Jin-cheon fell to his knees on the fallen leaves.
“Heh heh heh… It seems the poison is taking effect.”
The Poison Freak’s muttering echoed and scattered. Slow footsteps rustled as they approached Ma Jin-cheon. Ma Jin-cheon’s hand, gripping the sword hilt, twitched, but he couldn’t muster any strength.
“Poison… is it?”
He barely managed to move his tongue to ask. The Poison Freak lowered his body near Ma Jin-cheon’s head.
“That’s right. A poison I concocted myself. Consider it an honor. You’re the first to suffer from it, as I haven’t used it on anyone yet.”
Ma Jin-cheon didn’t have the strength to move a single finger.
“How do you feel? Are your hands and feet going numb? Not dizzy?”
“Damn it… Get lost.”
“Haha! Ma Instructor’s got a foul mouth. Too bad. There’s no antidote for that poison yet. I wonder how long it will take to die. You’re testing it for me.”
Ma Jin-cheon lay at his feet, losing consciousness. The Poison Freak had always enjoyed playing with his prey for a long time rather than ending their lives quickly.
That desire slyly reared its head even in this chaos.
“Heh heh heh… I’ve caught a big fish.”
The Poison Freak slowly lowered his body and scrutinized Ma Jin-cheon’s face.
He resented everything in the world.
He was forced to bow his head to the enemy after losing his lord, a living hell, but seeing the orthodox sect bastards living peacefully without a care twisted his insides.
“Where should I touch you…”
Even in this situation, his heart pounded with excitement at the thought of satisfying his desires.
“Waaaaah! Mister!”
“Shut up! Don’t cry!”
The child’s crying echoed in his fading consciousness.
Ma Jin-cheon, with a surprising strength he didn’t know he possessed, raised his body and swung his sword horizontally.
“Ugh!”
The Poison Freak, caught off guard, was startled and fell backward. Because of that, the child who was being held also rolled on the ground.
“Run, A-yeong! Run away!”
The child sniffled for a moment and then ran down the mountain.
“Oh, I’m dying!”
The Poison Freak screamed and rolled around wildly, thinking he would surely die from that blow. But soon, he realized he felt no pain.
“…Huh?”
Ma Jin-cheon’s last strike had only torn his clothes and left a slight scratch on his chest.
“You son of a bitch! How dare you startle this Poison Freak?”
The Poison Freak kicked Ma Jin-cheon. The kick reopened the side wound that had been stopped with pressure points, and blood splattered. He mercilessly trampled on his opponent, who had no strength to resist.
In his fading consciousness, Ma Jin-cheon’s last thought was of Baek Ryeo-il’s face.
‘Ryeo-il.’
Despite everything, he was his most precious disciple.
Like a son…
‘There’s still so much I haven’t taught him…’
The child had only grown in body, not in mind. It was his job to guide him to experience good things, but he hadn’t been able to do so.
That was Ma Jin-cheon’s only regret.
“I’d like to slowly observe you dying, but I don’t have time…”
The Poison Freak, who had been muttering ominously, suddenly stopped and raised his head.
Whoosh-!
A small light flashed in the darkness, and a sword, flying fiercely, was embedded in the Poison Freak’s left shoulder. The strong force carried by the sword not only pierced his shoulder but also slammed him into the ground.
“Ugh… Uaaaaaagh!”
Just as the Poison Freak opened his mouth to scream, a man landed with a thud, kicking up dust.
Baek Ryeo-il pulled out the sword that had pierced the Poison Freak.
“Ugh… Kugh.”
The Poison Freak swallowed a painful groan and quickly retreated. He recognized Baek Ryeo-il at once.
He had already seen him once at the ruins where he was hiding from the Shaolin’s eyes. He had tried to kill Ma Jin-cheon then, but he had to hold his breath because of this guy who suddenly appeared.
The man standing tall like a mountain was different from the others. The hairs on his body stood on end.
‘This guy is dangerous.’
Despite the chills, he quickly pulled out his poison-coated sword. But the tip of the sword trembled like an aspen leaf.
If he could just get the poison on him… That would be enough.
Baek Ryeo-il nonchalantly shook the blood off his sword and looked down at the Poison Freak.
“Don’t even think about dying peacefully.”
A voice devoid of any emotion, so terrifying, flowed out.
A dark shadow was cast over the face of the man silhouetted against the moon, obscuring his expression, but the chilling murderous intent stung his skin.
The Poison Freak wondered if he could survive long enough for the poison to take effect.
Just as Baek Ryeo-il was about to take a step toward him, a weak hand grabbed the back of his clothes.
“Poison… There’s poison…”
With those words, Ma Jin-cheon dropped his head.
Baek Ryeo-il’s emotionless face instantly contorted. Pain, fear, and worry surfaced simultaneously. He hurriedly threw down his sword and turned Ma Jin-cheon’s body over. Fresh blood gushed from the side wound of the already unconscious man, and a crimson organ was trying to push its way out through the gap.
“Master!”
He quickly stopped the bleeding by pressing on the pressure points and unwrapped the wrist guards he wore to tightly bandage the wound. His blood-soaked hands kept slipping. He could sense the Poison Freak frantically running away, but he had no time to pay attention to that.
“Master! Master!”
Baek Ryeo-il kept calling out to him. As if doing so could hold onto his soul…
The camp was turned upside down.
Baek Ryeo-il, who had gone out to find his missing Master, returned carrying a battered Ma Jin-cheon on his back.
People quickly cleared out a tent and laid Ma Jin-cheon down. Seong Mu-yeon couldn’t bear to watch and stood far away, chewing on his fingernails.
‘I should have known this would happen.’
From the moment he realized Ma Jin-cheon was missing, he had a premonition that things had gone wrong. What would happen next was obvious. Ma Jin-cheon, with poison spreading throughout his body, wouldn’t last long. His life would be cut short in three days…
The Peng brothers also quietly watched the tragedy that had befallen Baek Ryeo-il. Even Peng Do-hwan was speechless.
The physicians, who had rushed in like a storm, soon rushed back out. All of them had grim expressions. It was an expression Seong Mu-yeon had often seen. The physicians who had examined him had all worn that expression.
Shaking their heads, saying ‘there’s no hope.’
It became clear that the patient’s condition was not good.
Ma Jin-cheon would not survive.
Seong Mu-yeon approached the tent with heavy steps. Lifting the cloth hanging at the entrance, he saw Baek Ryeo-il’s back as he sat facing away. On the cot in front of him, Ma Jin-cheon lay with almost no color in his face.
How did this happen?
He thought he had stopped it. He thought there was nothing to worry about since Baek Ryeo-il had come.
“Master Baek…”
Baek Ryeo-il’s broad back twitched greatly. He didn’t turn around. Instead, Baek Ryeo-il let out a word like a groan in a muffled voice.
“Leave.”
“Ma Instructor is…”
“I said leave!”
A harsh shout returned when Seong Mu-yeon didn’t move. Baek Ryeo-il only turned his eyes to stare at Seong Mu-yeon.