My Dad Is the Strongest Under Heaven
Chapter 6
Chapter 6
Chapter 6. A Face as if He Had Seen a Ghost
‘What in the world is this…?’
The eldest brother. No, the warrior who was now the sole survivor trembled violently from head to toe.
He had truly believed this was nothing more than a puny scholar charging forward blindly, driven out of his mind by rage.
If things had gone according to plan, the scholar would have been thoroughly beaten by his sworn brothers, coming to his senses only to beg for his life.
Then, they would have beaten him to death, dragged his corpse back to Sodam Village, and hung it at the entrance to ensure no one would ever dare defy them again.
And while the villagers of Sodam Village spent the days trembling in terror at the sight, they themselves would have spent the night drinking heavily at a courtesan house.
And yet,
‘What on earth is that?!’
The gaze in that scholar’s eyes.
That gaze had frozen the warrior stiff where he stood.
He, too, was a warrior of the Unorthodox faction who had committed countless murders.
He had survived fierce brawls and bloody turf wars alike.
Thus, ordinary bloodlust wouldn’t have made him so much as snort.
Yet this was different.
That gaze did not belong to a mere murderer.
It was the gaze of one who had severed the heads of countless lives beyond measure.
How could a mere scholar in a countryside village possess such eyes?
It defied all belief.
Then again, that was hardly the only unbelievable thing.
The warrior swallowed hard as he looked at the gruesome corpses of his two slaughtered brothers.
There was no telling when he might end up the same way.
Submerged in that suffocating bloodlust, the warrior barely managed to open his mouth.
“What… what should I…”
He looked up at Yeo Woonhwi with the utmost servility in his eyes.
“What must I do?”
He had to survive, no matter what.
That was the only thought in the warrior’s head.
The village head of Sodam Village wore a blank expression.
“No, why on earth…?”
Because the current situation was utterly incomprehensible.
A quarter of an hour ago, the village head had stepped out of his house to take a walk around the village, finding no way to ease his heavy heart.
And just as he was passing by the village entrance, he had run right into him.
A man he had hoped never to lay eyes on again.
Why had he returned to the village, and what more did he want? Fear was all the village head had felt.
And yet,
“It is just as I said.”
A thick money pouch was already resting on the village head’s palm.
What was more, one of the very warriors who had stormed into Sodam Village barely half a day ago, threatening everyone and extorting tribute, was now bowing his head before him.
It was a situation so surreal it felt impossible.
The village head wondered if he was dreaming.
“I offer my apologies once more. I am… truly, deeply sorry.”
The warrior bowed his head yet again.
His subservient behavior left the village head at an utter loss.
Wasn’t this the very man who, just half a day ago, acted as if he would butcher anyone who displeased him?
For such a man to be begging for forgiveness with all his might…
“I am returning every copper we took earlier, so please forgive us. And as a gesture of apology, I’ve added enough to cover the medical expenses for the fellow we beat to a pu—that is, the fellow we injured. It may still not be enough, but please accept it.”
“…Pardon? No, really, why are you doing this?”
The warrior’s demeanor had shifted entirely, as if he were a completely different person.
Yet the village head could hardly take his words at face value.
“Excuse me, but if you are testing us…”
At that, the warrior shook his head vigorously.
“No! It is nothing like that at all! I know it is hard to believe, but I am sincere. What must I do to make you believe me? Ah, if you tell me to drop to my knees, I will kneel right now!”
“Oh dear, no! Please don’t do this!”
The more apologies he received, the more anxious the village head grew.
“Then the money has been returned, and you have accepted my apology, correct?”
“Yes, of course.”
“In any case, nothing like this will ever happen again. Nor will you ever see us around here again. We intend to leave and go far, far away from this place. With that, I shall take my leave.”
With that, the warrior hurried off into the distance.
“Village Chief!”
Turning his head, he saw the villagers running toward him from a distance.
Their faces were filled with alarm, fearing what dreadful deed those warriors had returned to commit.
“Well, you see…”
Still dazed, the village head stared at the receding back of the warrior.
What on earth was going on?
Where had that warrior’s brothers gone, and why was the man dripping with cold sweat, his hands trembling so? The village head could only wonder in bewilderment.
As far as he could remember… the warrior had looked as though he had seen a ghost he was never meant to witness.
“…I did everything you told me to.”
Having returned from Sodam Village, the warrior spoke, his face pale with terror.
Yeo Woonhwi, who had been quietly gazing at the mountain scenery, gave a slight nod without sparing him a glance.
“T-Then… may I leave now?”
“Where do you intend to go?”
“I plan to go as far from here as possible and live quietly.”
“Live quietly, you say… You?”
“Of course.”
At his response, Yeo Woonhwi let out a low chuckle.
“Do you believe a person can change?”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
“Could you truly live without extorting innocent commoners who know no martial arts? A mere fugitive of the Unorthodox faction who abandoned his sect just to save his own skin?”
“H-How could you possibly know…?”
How, indeed?
In his past life, these men had descended upon Sodam Village just the same.
After tormenting the villagers and wringing tribute from them for months, they were eventually subdued by a master of the Murim Alliance who happened to pass through, then handed over to the local authorities.
He had heard the tales back then.
That they were runaways who had fled after their Unorthodox sect was crushed in an internal faction war.
Moreover, both before and after arriving in Sodam Village, they had committed unspeakable atrocities.
Whenever things did not go their way, they butchered the elderly and children without hesitation, and repeatedly violated and murdered any woman who caught their fancy.
Therefore, Yeo Woonhwi had not the slightest mercy in his actions.
For he already knew these scoundrels were trash unworthy of life.
Of course, even without him intervening like this, they were fated to be subdued by a master from the Murim Alliance in a few months and imprisoned by the magistrate. But so what?
Yeo Woonhwi had no intention of enduring those months just to wait for that.
They had shattered the peace of Sodam Village where he lived, oppressed and sought to kill innocent commoners devoid of martial arts, and even dared to covet his wife.
Considering the atrocities they had committed beforehand as well, rotting in a cell for life was far too lenient in Yeo Woonhwi’s eyes.
These men…
‘Must pay a far more gruesome price.’
Yeo Woonhwi slowly turned his head to look at the warrior.
At that moment, the warrior felt his heart plummet into an abyss.
“Ah… Ah. I see. You… from the beginning…”
Only now did he realize.
That from the very start, this man had never harbored the slightest intention of sparing his life.
He should have known from the beginning.
That a man with such eyes would never let him live.
“Aaargh!”
The warrior spun around, scrambling to flee.
However,
“Futile.”
The warrior’s body tilted and crashed forward into the dirt.
For some reason, he suddenly could not control his body.
A horrifying sensation struck him, as if something vital had vanished from his form.
The moment a searing heat flared below, his gaze shot downward.
One of his legs, which should have been there, was gone.
Blood erupted like a fountain.
“Gaaah! Aaaaargh!”
Soon, Yeo Woonhwi walked up to the warrior writhing in agony.
Steel rasped from the sheath.
“S-Stay back!”
The man frantically drew his sword and swung it.
However,
A dull thud echoed.
His arm was severed as well.
Still gripping the sword.
Blood sprayed violently from his arm and shoulder. Watching the torrent gush out, he desperately clung to consciousness and scrambled to stem the flow.
Yet there was no staving off the excruciating agony.
“Urrgh…”
Unable to bear the sheer torment any longer, the warrior lost consciousness.
That, however, would not stop Yeo Woonhwi.
Footsteps crunched over the ground.
Yeo Woonhwi seized the unconscious warrior by the hair.
And began dragging him away across the earth.
“Ugh… Ah… Urgh…”
The unconscious warrior let out a ragged groan.
“Where… where are you taking me…?”
He squeezed out the question with the last of his strength, but no answer came.
Yeo Woonhwi simply kept walking, dragging him by the hair.
How much time had passed?
His steps came to a halt.
And then,
A swift drop, followed by a heavy impact!
“Ugh… Where… where is this?”
It was a pit of considerable depth.
Looking down at the warrior who had fallen into the cavernous hole, Yeo Woonhwi spoke.
“It is a pit snake catchers used long ago. Though as far as I know, they have all abandoned it now.”
“…What? Snake catchers?”
At that very moment, nearby,
A sinister rustling and relentless hissing began to rise one after another.
This was…
“N-No, don’t tell me…”
Goosebumps erupted across the warrior’s entire body.
Even with such catastrophic injuries, he still had not given up on survival.
He had to get out, no matter what.
Flailing frantically, the warrior darted his head from side to side.
And then he saw them.
In the darkness encircling him, hundreds of yellow eyes were staring back at him.
“Ah… Ahhh…”
“You said you wanted to live.”
The warrior raised his head to look at Yeo Woonhwi.
“Then try surviving in there. If you do, I will acknowledge you. Though it will likely prove impossible.”
“Y-You… you devilish fiend!”
The warrior screamed at the top of his lungs in sheer venomous fury, but Yeo Woonhwi was already nowhere to be seen.
Hissing and slithering drew nearer.
“Ugh… N-No…”
A vicious hiss ripped through the air!
A piercing screech echoed!
“Aaaaargh!”
Instantly, hundreds of vipers lunged toward him.
A soft, relentless slithering.
A chilling hiss.
The hand jutting out from beneath the sea of hundreds of vipers gradually stained black with venom.
Before long, his figure vanished without a trace into the darkness.
It was one of the most gruesome ends the world could offer.
