Episode 31: Neither Grace nor Grudges are Forgotten (3)
Light Novel: Volume 2 Episode 31
Manhwa: Chapter 29
Chapter 2 Episode 31. Neither Grace nor Grudges are Forgotten (3)
Something struck the ground, then scraped against it.
The sound had a steady, rhythmic beat that unconsciously drew everyone’s attention.
As it grew closer, the tension reached its peak. The people’s eyes reddened, and their shoulders twitched with small spasms.
It wasn’t just the prisoners in the cage. Both the bandits and Dong Ja-chu reacted the same way. The sound gnawed at their nerves to the core.
Scratch! Scratch!
Like ants chewing through wood, the sound gnawed at their minds, intensifying their anxiety.
Thud! Srrrk! Thud! Srrrk!
Only when the sound grew clearer did Dong Ja-chu realize that it was the sound of footsteps.
From beyond the darkness, someone was finally revealing themselves.
He stepped forward, striking the ground with his right foot and dragging his left. Each time he dragged his left foot, his shoulder dipped slightly.
Dong Ja-chu realized the man was limping. Under normal circumstances, he would have laughed mockingly and cut his head off in an instant. He was that ruthless—he never forgave anyone who startled him, even briefly.
But this time, he couldn’t.
Thud!
The moment he saw him, Dong Ja-chu felt his heart sink like a stone.
A chill ran down his spine, and sweat poured from his body like rain. Thick veins bulged over his clenched fist like writhing worms.
He had bitten down so hard that blood was leaking between his teeth, yet Dong Ja-chu felt no pain at all. He could only stare at the man approaching through the shifting darkness.
Finally, the man’s pale face emerged from the shadows. Because he wore a black long robe that blended into the darkness, it felt as if only his face was floating in midair.
Behind him followed a horse as dark as the night itself but not a single soul in that place noticed it.
That was how overwhelming, how intense the man’s presence was. It was impossible to take one’s eyes off him, even for a second.
Shrrrrk!
Sweat streamed endlessly down the bandits’ faces.
None of them dared breathe deeply as they stared at the man emerging from the darkness.
‘Who the hell is that guy?’
It was as if their minds had gone completely blank. No thoughts came to them. That was how overwhelmingly the man’s presence surpassed their imagination.
The man briefly stopped walking and scanned his surroundings.
His eyes gleamed eerily in the darkness.
Shiver…!
Those caught in his gaze instinctively shuddered. Like fish laid out on a chopping board.
The man’s gaze settled on Dong Ja-chu or more precisely, on Bang Jin-bo, who was practically held in Dong Ja-chu’s arms.
The sword in Bang Jin-bo’s hand, Dong Ja-chu’s hand gripping his, and the blade pressed against Yeom Pyeong’s throat.
The man seemed to grasp the situation at a glance. He nodded faintly and furrowed his brow.
In that instant, Dong Ja-chu and the bandits felt an oppressive pressure squeezing their chests.
The man gestured toward Bang Jin-bo.
Bang Jin-bo stared blankly at the man, his expression no different from the others. But for some reason, he felt a strange sense of familiarity toward the man even though it was his first time seeing him.
“Come here.”
The man spoke for the first time.
The moment he heard the voice, Bang Jin-bo recognized the man’s identity.
“Brother!”
The man who had ridden in the carriage with him.
Though Bang Jin-bo couldn’t make out the man’s face through his disheveled hair, Bang Jin-bo clearly remembered his voice clearly.
The man who had appeared from the darkness was none other than Dam-ho.
Dam-ho spoke again.
“Come here.”
His voice was sharp yet coarse, and it jolted Dong Ja-chu out of his reverie. He pulled Bang Jin-bo tightly into his arms. His instincts told him to take Bang Jin-bo as a hostage.
He pointed his sword at Bang Jin-bo’s throat and shouted,
“Who the hell are y—”
BANG!
In an instant, a thunderous boom erupted from the darkness, swallowing Dong Ja-chu’s voice.
The demons and merchants staggered back, clutching their ears at the sudden, deafening noise.
Wuuuung…!
A high-pitched ringing echoed in their eardrums.
Their vision blurred, seeing double or triple, and their knees buckled beneath them.
After a short moment, the ringing subsided and their vision gradually cleared. And once their sight fully returned, the faces of the bandits were colored with horror.
“C-Captain…?”
“Uweeegh!”
Suddenly, the bandits dropped to the ground and began retching. The same went for those trapped in the cages.
“Ughhh…”
Groans escaped the mouths of everyone present.
“How…?”
Dong Ja-chu, who had been clutching Bang Jin-bo and threatening him, no longer had an upper body. All that remained was the lower half of his body, now without its owner.
In the place where Dong Ja-chu’s upper body had been, Dam-ho’s fist hovered. Following Charging Steps, Dong Ja-chu’s upper body had been blown away by a single Fortress Piercing Fist.
It was Dam-ho’s first time using martial arts against a human.
Even Dam-ho hadn’t expected that a single punch could blow away a man’s upper torso.
In front of him stood Dong Ja-chu’s lower body, the upper half missing, and Bang Jin-bo, confused and unaware of what had happened.
Dam-ho pulled Bang Jin-bo’s head close into his chest and muttered softly.
“Humans… are weak.”
In the darkness, what he had faced endlessly were massive boulders and solid bedrock.
He had trained his martial arts by imagining those unyielding objects as human opponents.
His fists, which had never known a day without bleeding, had absorbed a killing intent and overwhelming might that no human flesh could possibly endure.
The result was the horrific scene now before them.
Still holding the bewildered Bang Jin-bo in his arms, Dam-ho shielded Bang Jin-bo’s eyes from the gruesome sight.
Even though it was by his own hand that Dong Ja-chu had died, Dam-ho felt no emotion. In the past, he might not have even been able to lift his head from guilt but now, the entire scene felt like someone else’s business, something that had nothing to do with him.
And Dam-ho didn’t mind. Surviving twelve years in the darkness without going mad was reward enough.
“Ugh… Who the hell are you?!”
Cho Bok finally came to his senses and shouted.
He had just seen his Captain, Dong Ja-chu, get torn in half before his very eyes. It was too unreal like something out of a nightmare.
The Dong Ja-chu he knew was never weak. If he had been, he would never have become the Captain of the Blood Wolf Battalion.
Dong Ja-chu wasn’t someone who should have died such a meaningless death.
Dam-ho’s gaze turned toward Cho Bok. At that, Cho Bok shuddered violently, as if struck by lightning.
Dam-ho’s mouth opened, and a harsh, raspy voice came out, as if it were choked with phlegm.
“And you. Who are you?”
“I, I am Cho Bok, the vice-captain of the Blood Wolf Battalion.”
“Blood Wolf Battalion?”
Dam-ho looked around at the bandits surrounding him. All of them bore vicious expressions, the kind belonging to men who prided themselves on surviving a brutal world.
But in their eyes as they stared at Dam-ho, there was unmistakable fear they couldn’t hide.
“That’s right! We’re the Blood Wolf Battalion. If you back down now, we’ll let you go. But if you don’t—”
“If I don’t?”
“We’ll kill you without mercy.”
“And then?”
“We’ll tear you apart… piece by piece!”
“Then why aren’t you doing it?”
Dam-ho’s voice was calm, devoid of any emotion but strangely, it sent chills down their spines.
Overcome by a creeping sense of dread, Cho Bok shouted.
“K-Kill him!”
Instinctively, he had realized that Dam-ho was not like any human he had ever known.
His words ignited the spark. The bandits, already trembling from an inexplicable fear, charged at Dam-ho all at once.
“Uwooooah!”
“Kill him!”
They raised their excitement to drown out their fear.
Unleashing their madness, they charged at Dam-ho. They could feel it too. If they didn’t kill him, they were the ones who would die.
Over a hundred bandits rushed toward him. It was the kind of sight that would terrify most men but Dam-ho’s expression remained unchanged.
He looked up briefly at the night sky.
It was a night with not a single star in sight.
BOOM!
“Aaaargh!”
The next moment, a deafening explosion rang out, followed by a scream. A blood-red hue stained the pitch-black sky.
More explosions followed in succession. And each time, bandits were torn apart and collapsed, spraying blood.
With a single punch, a life was being crushed.
“Ah!”
The people locked up in the cage like beasts widened their eyes in shock.
Humans weren’t supposed to die that easily. And yet, Dam-ho was killing them far too easily, as if defying everything they believed to be true.
Those powerful bandits were shattering like glass.
“AHH!”
“Spare me!”
The terrified bandits let out desperate screams.
The merchants’ sense of reality was crumbling before their very eyes.
In an instant, more than two-thirds of the bandits had lost their lives. The blood they spilled flowed across the ground like a river.
“A-A demon…!”
Cho Bok stared at Dam-ho with eyes full of terror. His legs trembled uncontrollably, proving his fear.
Dam-ho was clearly a cripple. That much was certain. But when he unleashed his martial arts, he was anything but crippled.
Cho Bok now believed that Dam-ho’s limp had been a deliberate disguise. A trick to lower the enemy’s guard.
Never, not once, had he imagined someone like Dam-ho could exist.
Bang!
“Aaagh!”
Even at that moment, the subordinates of the Blood Wolf Battalion were still dying.
It was outright one-sided slaughter. If this continued any longer, not a single one of them would be left alive.
“S-S-Stop!”
Cho Bok shouted until his voice cracked.
Whether he heard or not, Dam-ho finally ceased the massacre and turned his gaze toward Cho Bok. Cho Bok, with tears streaming down his face, cried out,
“Please forgive us! Isn’t this enough? We’ve already paid a heavy enough price. It’s too cruel to keep punishing us for the wrong we’ve done.”
“Cruel?”
“Yes! This is too cruel. I don’t know what your connection is with that kid, but this one-sided massacre—it’s too much.”
“Is it?”
As Dam-ho tilted his head, Cho Bok saw a flicker of hope. He hurriedly dropped to his knees before Dam-ho.
“Please, forgive us. I’m begging you like this.”
But the look in Dam-ho’s eyes as he watched Cho Bok only grew colder.
“Forgiveness isn’t something you ask of me.”
“Then…?”
“You ask that child.”
Dam-ho pointed to Bang Jin-bo.
Cho Bok hurried over to Bang Jin-bo and fell to his knees.
“Kid, please spare us. We were wrong.”
“Th-that’s…”
“We’ll do anything you ask. We’ll repay it however you want, just please…”
Cho Bok sobbed in front of Bang Jin-bo.
He didn’t even dare to think of taking Bang Jin-bo hostage. He had just seen with his own eyes what happened to Dong Ja-chu a moment ago.
Bang Jin-bo was at a loss for what to do.
He was inherently kind by nature. Never in his life did he imagine he would face a situation like this.
‘H-How…?’
His mind went completely blank. But then, in that moment, his father’s face came to him. The face of his father struggling to protect him.
Bang Jin-bo firmly shut his mouth.
Rather than asking for revenge with his own lips, he simply chose not to forgive either.
Cho Bok grew increasingly desperate at the sight.
“I’m begging you this much—please, just forgive us! You damn fat brat!”
“……”
But Bang Jin-bo kept his lips sealed, refusing to speak.
Cho Bok yelled again.
“You damn pig! A man is begging you like this, and you still stay silent? You think you can even call yourself—urk!”
Thunk!
Suddenly, Cho Bok’s body was lifted off the ground. Dam-ho had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hoisted him into the air.
He whispered in a voice only Cho Bok could hear.
“Forgiveness, you see… isn’t something scum like you demand through intimidation.”
“Keugh…!”
“It’s something that has to come willingly from the hearts of those who’ve been hurt… like that child.”
Dam-ho looked at Bang Jin-bo, then at the others still imprisoned in the cage. All their eyes were fixed on Dam-ho.
“I don’t think any of them will forgive you.”
“S-Spare me! Please!”
“But did any of you spare them? I’m sure they begged just as desperately.”
Cho Bok realized then that Dam-ho would never let him live. Driven by rage, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
“You damned demon bastard! Do whatever you want! But your end won’t be any better. Do you even know who’s behind us? They’ll never let you go. You messed with the wrong people. They’ll be coming for you soon!”
At that moment, a faint line curled at the corner of Dam-ho’s lips. His mouth curved into a subtle arc—he was clearly smiling.
“I’m looking forward to that.”
“You—”
Crunch!
In the next instant, Dam-ho’s fist plunged into Cho Bok’s abdomen. His fist pierced clean through Cho Bok’s stomach and emerged out his back.
Cho Bok stared down at his belly with a look of disbelief.
“Kuuhhh…!”
“You talk too much.”
Dam-ho pulled his arm out from Cho Bok’s stomach. Cho Bok’s body crumpled helplessly to the ground.
Face down, he gasped for breath. Like a fish thrown onto land, he struggled to breathe but that breathing grew fainter and fainter.
Dam-ho’s gaze turned toward the remaining bandits.
And upon their faces, the shadow of death descended.
SoundlessWind21’s Notes:
If there are any errors, whether it be grammatical, spelling, translation, or website-related issues, feel free to let me know. (´◡`) Anyway, thank you for reading!