I Am the Youngest Disciple of the Martial Arts World’s Mastermind
Chapter 22
Chapter 22
The Youngest Disciple of the Murim’s Hidden Mastermind
Episode 22
Having finally released his hand from my mouth, he whispered with a look of utter dismay.
“Don’t look back. Just run.”
“Uh…”
I hesitated for a moment at the unexpected response.
Is this really the same protagonist who, in the future, goes around slaughtering every NPC in sight?
I didn’t know the reason, but it seemed he intended to let me go alive.
“Hurry!”
At that moment, the tip of the whip that had pierced through the wall was pulled back with a dry, rustling sound.
“…….”
What should I do?
If I used the movement art I learned from Danhwi and ran with everything I had right now, I might be able to lose them if I was lucky.
Even if my luck ran out, Danhwi would find me and save me. I had that much faith in him.
But…
‘Then what about him?’
“…….”
Instead of turning to run, I spun back around and looked at the boy’s back.
He was smaller than Gwangeum, but larger than me. And…
The tips of his fingers, stained black, were trembling violently.
The area near my mouth, where his palm had touched, tasted of blood, and through the tears in his clothes, I could catch glimpses of a body covered in scars.
I didn’t need to see it to know how the Demonic Cult treated their slaves.
If someone in his position were caught letting me escape by a superior, the consequences were obvious without even having to imagine them.
“…Sigh.”
My conscience wouldn’t let me leave.
Without hesitation, I grabbed his wrist and pulled.
“If you get caught, you die, right?”
“That goes without saying…”
“Then let’s run away together!”
Reversing the grip on the hand that had tried to push me away, I grabbed his wrist and began to exert my lightness technique.
“You, what are you…”
With a look of bewilderment, he was helplessly dragged along by my lead.
Tap, tap, tap.
As I, who looked like nothing more than an ordinary noble lady, displayed movements that clearly showed I had mastered martial arts, his pace gradually quickened to match mine.
And I was secretly surprised.
‘Why is he so fast?’
I had learned from Danhwi, yet he was keeping up with a speed that didn’t lag behind mine at all. No, it almost felt like he was intentionally matching his pace to mine.
After running for a long time, he caught his breath and asked as if he couldn’t believe it.
“…You, you’re saying you’ll take me with you and escape?”
“Yes!”
Cutting through the wind, I ran toward a place I had noted when I first entered Hwangun County with Danhwi.
“In here!”
It was an abandoned livestock shed in the mountains.
Thud!
I pulled him down with me, burying our bodies in a pile of straw that reached up to our waists.
“Hide in here!”
“Don’t tell me the place you ’noted’ was…”
As expected, he wore an expression of pure absurdity.
“You’re planning to hide in a place like this?”
“Yes.”
I nodded confidently.
I suppose it was understandable to be suspicious, considering the place I chose to hide from the Demonic Cult was a crumbling stable.
He let out a sigh, his eyes sinking.
“Ha… I’ll stay behind even now, so you keep running. At that speed, you can lose him while I hold him back.”
But I stubbornly pulled him further into the straw.
“No. Stay still! You can’t get caught either!”
“Let go! Actually, I—”
Just as I succeeded in toppling him down beside me amidst our scuffle.
Kboom!
The sound of a wall collapsing rang out.
The Centurion had followed us.
Even after running that much, we had only bought enough time for maybe three breaths. It was terrifying.
“…….”
Simultaneously, the protagonist went silent.
Now we truly had to hold our breath.
I suppressed my presence and hugged him tightly, ensuring not even a rustle from the straw would leak out.
The body in my arms was as thin as it had looked, and it was damp with blood and sweat.
Step, step, step.
Beyond the straw, I heard the sound of footsteps treading on the damp earth. And then, a low, spine-chilling voice.
“They used a lightness technique. It was a footwork I’ve never seen before.”
The ferocious demonic qi, which he made no effort to hide, pricked at my skin like needles.
“She’ll make for a fine bit of entertainment to offer the Left Envoy.”
So this is the martial prowess of a Demonic Cult Centurion.
I felt an overwhelming power and arrogance. It was so intense that a faint tremor even ran through my body.
But it wasn’t me who was shaking.
“…!”
The boy in my arms was trembling uncontrollably.
‘…The boy who will become the Heavenly Demon in the future.’
It seemed an ingrained fear was making his body shake.
With a complicated feeling, I wrapped my arms tighter around the boy.
Because he was the protagonist, I had assumed he would naturally endure this level of hardship—that it was just a natural progression of the story…
Step. Clack.
“…….”
Then, the Centurion’s footsteps stopped right in front of the straw pile covering us.
“The trail ends here.”
Rustle. I heard the sound of a sharp piece of metal cutting through the air and brushing against the straw, as if he were raking through the pile with the sword at his waist.
If we were stabbed, it was over.
I hugged the boy, who had turned as stiff and cold as ice, and silently soothed him.
‘It’s okay. Because…’
Thwack!
A sharp blade pierced through the straw right beside us.
‘We won’t be hit by that sword.’
“A lucky little rat, it seems.”
Confirming that the blade had caught nothing, the Centurion began to walk away again.
Only after his presence had completely vanished in a different direction did I quickly push through the straw and climb out with the boy.
“Puh-hu-hu.”
As soon as I spat out the straw that had filled my mouth, I turned to him and asked.
“Are you okay?”
He immediately asked back, his mysterious golden eyes wide and trembling.
“How did you do it?”
“Hah.”
How is it that this comes out before a ‘thank you’?
Well, fine. He’s been through a lot, so I’ll let it slide.
“What do you mean, how?”
The reason I was able to evade the Centurion’s search was simple.
It was because I had a rule ingrained in my head: in these kinds of pursuit scenes, the Demonic Cult always stabs the right side and then leaves!
Ever since the Left Envoy betrayed the Cult during the last Orthodox-Demonic Great War, it had become a principle for devout followers to consider the ‘Left’—the left side—unclean and avoid touching it.
‘Fanatics are so weird.’
But since I couldn’t explain that…
“I just have good intuition,” I said, crossing my arms with a flourish.
“…Intuition?”
He looked at me with an expression of utter disbelief.
Ignoring that look, I offered a belated greeting first.
“Thanks for saving me.”
In any case, if he hadn’t pulled me back at the very beginning, I would have been caught by the whip emerging from the wall and met a sudden, miserable death.
A death like that was something even a Murim mastermind couldn’t have done anything about.
…But really, why did he save me?
Did even the protagonist, who holds the title of NPC Slayer, have a shred of humanity left before his awakening…?
Or perhaps he isn’t the ‘protagonist’ I know.
Yes, that was a possibility.
I stared at him intently with a subtle feeling. Then, he spoke slowly.
“…That’s my line. More importantly, you seem to be a young lady of a noble house—no, a martial clan.”
“Uh…”
“Don’t ever get involved with this side again. Don’t even make eye contact. What on earth gave you the nerve to be there all by yourself?”
“…….”
Hey! I’d love to just stay still in a safe place too if I could!!
But since I couldn’t say that either, I just gave a bright smile and stood up from the straw first.
“I’m not a lady from a martial clan, though?”
“What?”
Perhaps because everything from the human skin mask to my attire made me look like a wealthy young miss, he looked at me with eyes full of doubt.
“Then how…”
Since I had mastered a lightness technique, he had naturally assumed I was from a Murim clan.
“Hmph. Think whatever you want.”
I pouted my lips and acted like a coy young lady to dodge the question about my origins.
Then, I checked the most important thing.
“By the way, what’s your name?”
“I’m…”
When I asked while reaching out a hand, he hesitated for a moment before slowly standing up without taking my hand.
“Call me Ryang.”
“I see.”
Hiding my hand behind my back to cover the slight embarrassment of him not taking it, I let out a deep sigh inwardly.
‘Haaa… I knew it…’
He was indeed the protagonist of the game.
Ryang (亮). It used the Hanja meaning ‘bright,’ and it was the default name given if the player didn’t set a nickname in the game.
I remembered it clearly because of the proposal’s content, which suggested using the character for ‘bright’ as the true name for the Heavenly Demon who would reach the pinnacle of pitch-black demonic arts.
Just as I was sighing quietly to myself.
“Ugh.”
Ryang suddenly clutched his abdomen and hunched over.
“What—what’s wrong?”
What is it? It’s not some sudden awakening event in a place like this, is it?
Startled, I looked closer and saw a damp liquid seeping through the dark, coarse fabric of his clothes.
“…!”
