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Chapter 272
Chapter 272. Someone’s Malice (3)
Eun-ho rebuilt the formation.
At the very front of the arrowhead-shaped attack formation stood Nam Hwa-seong and Geum-pyo, and behind them followed Dong-ryong and Sa-ryeon, taking the place of the two who emphasized defense.
Centered around our platoon members, the people who had been incorporated into our platoon followed behind.
“Let us go!”
Е̂n û ḿa
At Nam Hwa-seong’s shout, Geum-pyo rushed forward with him.
They shattered the enemy formation in one stroke and dug deep into it like a meteor hammer piercing a castle gate, and then Dong-ryong, Sa-ryeon, and I subdued the enemies.
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CLANG CLANG CLANG!
THUD THUD THUD!
Even though they were part of the same Red Army, the reason they blocked our path was not to receive a high score.
It was anger that we, who should have remained beneath them, kept climbing higher.
W_е̂b̈ nоv̌ѐ l̃ Е n̂ ŭ m̊ ӓ
It was an inferiority complex that fired their frustration and resentment over their own failure to meet expectations at someone else.
And it was their foolishness in failing to recognize Cheol Sun-jik’s serpent’s heart as it slipped into their weakened minds.
All of those things worked together to make them move short-sightedly.
“S-stop them!”
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“Find the flag bearer! Find the flag bearer!”
“The White Army will come to help us!”
Е̄ n̂u m̄ а́ . і̄_d.
They would become someone else’s dolls and dance in the palm of their hand.
They would be no different from scarecrow pieces on a game board.
Did they want us to kneel so badly that they were willing to accept even that?
Had these people ever once thought about what effort we had made, or what resolve we had steeled ourselves with?
“Aaaagh!”
“These ignorant bastards!”
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“Do you think you are the only ones who are so great?”
Unfortunately, I had no intention of stupidly playing along with your malice.
I had no intention of letting our efforts be broken by such lowly jealousy.
That was why we advanced.
Forward, and forward again.
“Go!”
W̊ еb nо̄v̇е l̈ Е ṅ ů m̂ а̀
I swung the Black Dragon Sword and knocked out two academy students, then unleashed the Flowing Cloud Divine Art and twisted another bastard’s wrist until it broke.
“Aaaagh!”
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“Damn it!”
I did not leave even the slightest mercy for those who fell.
The price of envying others was originally meant to ache coldly down to the bone.
I was only making them pay the proper price for the malice they had sent our way.
W̆ е̃b n̆оv̀ ѐ l̆ Еn ũ mа̀
“Representative!”
Jang Woo-jae shouted, having somehow become surrounded by enemy academy students.
“If we keep going like this, we will be surrounded.”
“It does not matter! We break through like this!”
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There was no resolve in their lowly jealousy.
Those who merely sat in comfort and hoped for others to fall would recoil and retreat if even a thorn lodged beneath their fingernail.
W.ӗ b̈ n ov̈е̌l Е n úm̃а̃
It was the same now.
They all looked as though they wanted to kill us, but none of them truly stepped forward.
All of them were only words.
“Stop them! Stop them! Knock those bastards down!”
“You there! Do not retreat!”
“You do not retreat, you bastard!”
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If you want so badly to see us fall.
Then go ahead and make us fall.
Watch closely while your bones break and your flesh is torn.
“D-damn it, is this not too much?”
“It is just an evaluation!”
They were meaningless cries from flowers raised in a greenhouse, who had never once thought about the price of malice—no, who had never needed to think about it.
Е̃ nům̄ а̇
But the members of our platoon, who had endured countless forms of rough malice and survived stubbornly like weeds by the roadside, knocked out a few of their teeth and silenced those childish cries.
“Then get lost, you bastards!”
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“Can you still call yourself a man after saying that now?”
I encouraged the unit and advanced.
Step by step.
We kept advancing while breaking those who blocked our path.
W̃ e bn о̆ v̈ ѐl̄ Е ň ǔ ḿа
“It is the White Army!”
Once we passed through the Red Army’s pandemonium, the true enemy appeared before our eyes.
“Charge!”
Nam Hwa-seong and Geum-pyo did not stop walking, even with wounds covering their bodies.
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Our goal was White Mountain’s Cheol Sun-jik.
Those who blocked the path before us were nothing more than obstacles.
W̌ eb̈ nо.v еl̊ Ē ńûm_а̇
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Those who had never fought without internal energy had exhausted all their stamina early on, and so they tried to face the enemy with martial arts that had become markedly slow.
A fight between ordinary people with no experience in close-quarters combat was no different from children playing war in the village.
Fists swung clumsily. Kicks lashed out without strength.
They tried to endure through gritted teeth, but their stamina had clear limits.
Those filled only with malice, without resolve or training, could not unleash skill equal to their anger.
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“Guh!”
“Urk!”
“Gaaak!”
Their eyes rolled back, and they collapsed with blood streaming from their noses.
We passed them and moved forward, forward again.
“Eldest Senior Brother! The rear ranks have been cut off.”
E n̂ ů m̈ а . í d
It was not as though we had no disadvantages either.
Our movements were not fully coordinated, so the rear ranks were sometimes left behind.
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But that did not matter.
“Keep moving!”
“Will that be all right?”
I asked Eun-ho, “How many people in our platoon received a Grade E evaluation in the written assessment?”
Ě ṅ u̇ m̀а̃ . i ď
“Two.”
“Then we only need to save two!”
“...Understood.”
At my words, Eun-ho pressed his lips firmly shut and changed the sword formation into something even sharper.
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Our platoon now pierced the enemy formation like the head of a spear.
There were two things they had overlooked.
W e b̂ n ӧ vе_l Е n̂ü m̄ а̄
The first was that, in our platoon, the only people subject to elimination were Seong Mo-ran and Geum-pyo.
In other words, if only those two survived this evaluation, the rest of us did not have to worry about being eliminated.
The second was that I was thoroughly accustomed to this kind of battle.
The Sojeong Squad had never once fought with everyone’s survival as its goal.
We merely decided each person’s life or death through the drawing of lots that morning, then did our utmost to save only those chosen.
“Representative! Everyone’s stamina is at its limit!”
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We had only climbed halfway up White Mountain, yet people were already collapsing from exhaustion.
I shouted toward those following behind me.
“From now on, do not hold back in your hands!”
“What?”
Jang Woo-jae looked at me with eyes startled wide like a rabbit’s.
“If you feel your stamina is about to reach its limit, then just get eliminated! Take one bastard with you and fall out!”
Ё_ň u m а́.і d́
Jang Woo-jae hesitated for a moment, then nodded with lips pressed firmly together.
“...Yes!”
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Perhaps he had begun to grasp my intent little by little, for Jang Woo-jae no longer added much more.
As expected, he was clever.
Or perhaps he had become furiously enraged by what had happened during this practical assessment.
SLASH!
W е́b̈ no v̄е̂l̇ Е.n̆ ũm̄а
“Aaaagh!”
“F-foul! That is a foul!”
“Go Myeong-jin! Eliminated!”
The platoon members who had reached the limits of their stamina began rendering opponents unable to fight and withdrawing from the battle.
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As excessive attacks erupted here and there, the enemies could not hide their confusion.
From the very beginning, if their original intended purpose had already gone awry, they should have resolved themselves to accept whatever happened, but they panicked as though they had never predicted an unexpected move from their opponent.
Е̊ nüma . id̃
“Kill them!”
“Kill them!”
“Kill them!”
Rage against malice blazed up.
The pain devouring their entire bodies once again became fuel for that rage and exploded, powerful enough to drive them into madness.
Confusion slowly began to appear on the faces of the enemies surrounding us from every direction.
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That expression once again stirred the fury of our platoon members.
Was this all they had?
Had they attacked us with only this much resolve?
“Ha...!”
Were they so easily shaken by this, after pouring out such lowly jealousy?
As though answering their anger, I shouted until my voice nearly burst.
W е̌ bn̄ о́v̆ ѐ ĺ Е n.ŭmа̀
“Kill them all!!!”
Then, as though answering my voice, the platoon members replied.
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“““Kill them all!”””
Their spite-filled voices rang thunderously across all of White Mountain.
The Red Army members kept moving until the very moment they fell.
With a desperate feeling, as though I had returned to the battlefield of the Great Righteous-Demonic War in my previous life, I swung my sword and fists without pause.
W̌е̊b̆n ŏ v е l̆ Ӗ n um.а̄
The summit of White Mountain.
The White Army’s formation.
“Ugh...”
Cheol Hyeon-jik, the eldest son of the Bamboo String Gang, let out a low groan.
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“Would it not be the orthodox strategy to gather the people first, grow the unit larger, and then defend?”
Cheol Hyeon-jik said something ambiguous, somewhere between talking to himself and asking a question, and looked at Cheol Sun-jik standing beside him.
Ěn um̆а_..іd̄.
“...”
However, Cheol Sun-jik, for whatever reason, only kept his mouth firmly shut and watched the battlefield.
After a while, Cheol Sun-jik asked quietly, “If it were you, Elder Brother... what would you have done?”
Cheol Hyeon-jik asked in return, “If I were Jin So-un?”
“Yes. If the allied army opened the path, while the enemy army was aiming only at you.”
“Hm...”
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After thinking for a moment, Cheol Hyeon-jik gave a principled answer.
“I suppose I would have followed the traditional strategy after all. I would have gathered troops, increased my strength, and focused on defense.”
At that answer, Cheol Sun-jik shook his head.
“If he had done that, he would have been eliminated early.”
“Mm? Is that so?”
Cheol Hyeon-jik stared quietly at Cheol Sun-jik for a moment, then grinned.
Wеb̆ n о̌ v̊ е̃ ĺ Е num̆ӑ
“Still, I have you, so I suppose I will never suffer such a fate. Is that not right?”
“...”
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Cheol Sun-jik, his face stiff, turned his gaze back to the battlefield instead of answering.
At this, Cheol Hyeon-jik tilted his head.
“Why? Did I say something wrong?”
“...No. That is what is average.”
Wе b n о̃ v̀ ē l Е̌ n̄_u̇m̈ a_
Cheol Sun-jik’s voice was nothing if not cold.
His gaze fixed once more on Jin So-un’s unit.
Those who had descended Red Mountain soon entered White Mountain.
The unit they had managed to gather had been half destroyed, but they still continued climbing White Mountain stubbornly.
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At that sight, Cheol Hyeon-jik muttered in puzzlement, “Even if they do that, they will not earn many points.”
At that question, Cheol Sun-jik clenched his fist slightly.
Én u m a
“...Because his goal is not points.”
“Hm?”
Then he added with a stiff face, “Jin So-un’s goal is to capture me. That is why he is forcing himself to climb White Mountain like that.”
Cheol Hyeon-jik’s eyes gradually widened.
“Surely... Are you saying he knows that you arranged this?”
“...”
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“But you certainly did not step forward at all...”
Cheol Sun-jik recalled all the bizarre actions Jin So-un had shown so casually until now.
“He is a peculiar person.”
“Hm...”
Then he stared steadily into Cheol Hyeon-jik’s eyes.
“Elder Brother.”
E̊ n̂ů m̃a
“Yes?”
“Can you do what Jin So-un is doing?”
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For an instant, Cheol Hyeon-jik frowned.
His expression seemed to ask what absurd nonsense this was.
“What do you mean?”
Jin So-un always broke expectations like this and carved out his own path.
Е́ nú m̂ а̂
“I am asking whether you can charge forward so fiercely toward your goal like that.”
To a degree that ordinary people would not even dare attempt to imitate.
“Haha. What a strange thing to say. Did you not always tell me? That only those who are unprepared shout about ‘using all their heart and strength.’ Those who are perfectly prepared swing their swords with ease.”
“...That is true.”
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Cheol Sun-jik smiled bitterly without realizing it.
The more he tried to turn away, the purer the light Jin So-un emitted seemed to shine.
Еn̂ú ḿa.ïd
“Still, he is impressive.”
Cheol Hyeon-jik, who had not realized Cheol Sun-jik’s thoughts at all, watched Jin So-un intently.
“A martial artist that skilled in close-quarters combat... If someone saw him, they would think he came from the army of the north.”
Just as Cheol Hyeon-jik said, Jin So-un’s movements were not those of a martial artist whose internal energy had been entirely sealed.
They were the movements of a soldier who had never learned internal energy in the first place.
No, to be precise, they were the movements of a grizzled brawler worn down through countless gambling dens and fights.
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He swung his hands without mercy and dug into his opponent’s weaknesses.
The academy students, who had never trained without using internal energy, displayed movements that were not even half of their usual skill before toppling over.
‘But Jin So-un, how are you...?’
Jin So-un, however, was moving even more smoothly than when he usually used internal energy.
As though he alone were using internal energy.
It was plain to see once again that he was on a different level.
Еn ũm a
Nor was it only Jin So-un.
Though they could not compare to him, all his platoon members displayed skill in close-quarters combat.
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It was a striking contrast to the elites of the Righteous Path Association and the Orthodox Path Association dropping one after another.
“Even so, without internal energy, there will be a limit in the end. He seems not to know that.”
Cheol Hyeon-jik clicked his tongue, still convinced of Jin So-un’s defeat.
Of course, there was some truth to his words.
Ẃӗb̃ ṅ оv еl̄ Е n̊umă
The speed of Jin So-un’s platoon, which had advanced while breaking through unit after unit, had slowly begun to decrease.
To begin with, the present situation was not a martial artist’s battle, in which overwhelming internal energy overcame a numerical disadvantage.
It was a strategy and tactics assessment that restricted internal energy in order to transparently test each person’s strategy and skill.
They could not display peerless might like the protagonist of a novel and paint a fantasy.
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At that moment.
“H-huh?”
Е̊ nu̇ḿ ā
Cheol Hyeon-jik, who had been watching the battlefield at ease, suddenly frowned.
“What is that...?”
Even the instructors evaluating from outside the examination grounds appeared flustered.
The White Army members who had been rushing forward fearlessly also faltered.
Some even turned back the way they had come while running.
Cheol Hyeon-jik spat out a curse like a scream.
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“M-madmen!”
He was flustered by the sight that entered his eyes.
Something that had not been on the battlefield until now had begun to appear.
It was an enormous amount of blood.
Even though there was a rule that anyone who inflicted serious injury or worse on an opponent would be eliminated, the Red Army members began leaving deep wounds on their opponents without hesitation.
“A-aaah...!”
W̃e bn̆о̇ v̇ еl̃ Е_ṅ ùm̆ а̇
The White Army was thrown into utter confusion by the attacks that had not existed before.
Cheol Hyeon-jik also barely managed to squeeze out his voice as he looked at Cheol Sun-jik.
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“Unless they are prepared to be eliminated...”
Deep bewilderment settled over Cheol Sun-jik’s face as well.
Their attitude had suddenly changed.
Just what was their intention...?
W е̄ b̈nо̃v̌ ё l̈ Е num̈а
“...!”
Cheol Sun-jik, who had been scanning the battlefield with his eyes wide open, only then realized it.
They had not resolved themselves to be eliminated.
Because they expected themselves to be eliminated after reaching their physical limits, they had begun intentionally wounding their opponents with the sword edge instead of the flat of the sword so that their elimination would not be in vain.
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“Madmen...”
Since anyone who would be eliminated anyway had nothing to lose even if they seriously injured an opponent.
E̊ n ú mӓ . і d̈
They were turning the restriction on its head and using it.
But from the opponent’s perspective, this would be massive, unexpected damage.
At the Red Army’s seemingly deranged conduct, the White Army began faltering and retreating.
“Wh-what are you all doing? Stop them at once!”
Cheol Hyeon-jik roared, but no one easily rushed at the Red Army, who were now covered in blood.
Moreover, Jin So-un’s Red Army was charging in a straight line as though aiming only for the White Army formation where Cheol Sun-jik stood.
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Realizing that they themselves were not the target, the White Army members retreated without hesitation.
Just like how the Red Army had opened the path wide in the beginning.
“S-Sun-jik, what should we do now...?”
“Can you do nothing unless I tell you to?”
“What do you mean...?”
Cheol Sun-jik’s gaze was full of contempt.
Ѐń ũm̈ а̇. ì d́
Cheol Hyeon-jik flinched and poured out words of resentment.
“Y-you said this would work, did you not?”
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Instead of answering, Cheol Sun-jik ground his teeth.
GRIND.
‘Again... he moves in a direction I cannot predict.’
He had no idea how many times this made.
Еn̄um̈ а́
Jin So-un had scattered ashes over the Great Plan for everyone again and again.
He had ruined, again and again, the chance to overturn the murim that had stagnated for hundreds of years.
That did not mean there was any room to retreat now.
Cheol Sun-jik gave an order through gritted hatred.
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“All White Army members, attack!”
The company positioned around the formation completed its battle line in an instant.
Ӗ n um̀ а. ĭ d̀
Defense was originally advantageous when conducted from high ground.
Unlike the others, Cheol Sun-jik’s company blocked Jin So-un’s platoon without fear.
Cheol Sun-jik clenched both his fists tightly.
“This time, it will not go according to your intent.”
He had a goal.
He could not fall here.
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He did not have the slightest intention of giving up his goal because of Jin So-un, who was nothing more than a mere pebble in his path.
Before long, the two groups were confronting each other head-on.
Cheol Sun-jik’s gaze fixed on the one standing at the very front of Jin So-un’s platoon.
A person who originally should have stood at the very front of his own platoon, or perhaps his own company.
“Nam Hwa-seong...”
He had become an enemy and was aiming for Cheol Sun-jik’s throat.
W e.b̈ n̊ о v е̊ l̄. E n̊ú m ā
“Aaaaagh!”
Though he could not use internal energy, he drew near while crushing the enemy with his innate monstrous strength.
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Even when swords passed by and sabers cut his flesh, he did not stop moving.
Nam Hwa-seong fought madly, expending even the last of his life as though he had staked it on this battle.
“Why in the world...!”
If he had remained affiliated with the Twelve Peak Citadels, would he have fought like that?
Е n̊û m̆ а
A stray thought suddenly made his mind dizzy.
The answer seemed to come even without needing to think deeply.
That was why he struggled not to face the answer that arose on its own.
If he faced that answer, he would understand even less why Nam Hwa-seong was acting like this.
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GRIND.
Instead, he poured his resentment and rage toward the source of it all.
Еňu ḿ а
They fight at the very front while using Nam Hwa-seong and Lee Geum-pyo as shields.
“Sun-jik, withdraw already. You should be commanding!”
Cheol Hyeon-jik’s voice from behind circled around his ears and vanished.
At that moment, only one person was visible in Cheol Sun-jik’s field of vision.
“Jin So-un...”
Had Jin So-un heard that low growl?
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Jin So-un, his hair disheveled, looked toward him.
“Cheol Sun-jik!!!”
At his thunderous shout, Cheol Sun-jik also felt the hairs on his body stand on end.
And at the same time, he felt relief.
‘Thank goodness.’
Because he, too, was enraged like me.
En ŭ m а . і̇ d̆
Because this anger was not one-sided.
But no matter how enraged he was, it could not compare to Cheol Sun-jik’s own.
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If he could, he wanted to kill Jin So-un right this instant.
That was right. In this moment, he felt that wronged.
“Jin So-un!!!!”
Cheol Sun-jik began doing something he had never done even once in his life.
Е̄n̆ ǔm̃ а
He began moving according to his emotions.
“Aaaaaagh!!!!”
His steps broke into a frenzied sprint toward Jin So-un.
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