Book 11 Chapter 14

Fathers and sons

- Father and son were enemies.

At this point, the barrier of phosphorus split to the left and right, opening a path in the center.

Then a figure slowly walked out onto the open road.

Then all the foresters on the left and right of the road bowed down and paid him homage.

"The mountain belongs to us!"

A thunderous chant erupted in unison.

'Is this some kind of stunt? It's a rabid chant.'

He was stocky, with eyebrows as dark as a worm's, a beard as coarse as an iron needle, and scars, large and small, all over his face, showing the years of battle he had accumulated. Needless to say, it was clear that this man was none other than the owner of Marangchae and the leader of Green Forest Seventy-seven (the name given to the entire clan!).

Everything on the mountain was theirs…, a shamelessly fanatical slogan.

'My father….'

Lim's face visibly hardened. A father trying to kill his son… What a contradiction. It was clear that there was a misunderstanding.

"Do I have to be the one to do it?

Finally, Lim made up his mind. It was the last thing he wanted to face, but he had to stop a lot of blood from flowing.

Around the delegation now stood the front line of the siege, all but eighteen of the thirty-six who had been sent out on missions. The men of the Raging Thirty-Six are rough. Rough as they are, they don't care if you're a woman. To them, there was nothing wrong with showing a woman's face; it was the natural thing to do.

With saliva dripping from the corners of her mouth, she could tell what they were thinking even with her eyes closed.

"Oh, my God, that's awesome," "That's awesome," "That's crazy," "That's crazy," and so on. It was odd that she was so blatantly in your face and you didn't notice. Bi Ryuyeon was deeply troubled by the lustful gazes of the eighteen wolf-skin clad men who were forming the front line of the encirclement.

As Bi Ryuyeon sat still, one of them shot a focused, lustful glance at Na Yerin, and it was clear from the drool running down the corner of his mouth and the glazed look in his eyes what he was thinking. He should have been doing his job, the siege mission, instead of getting distracted.

"Hey!"

Bi Ryuyeon called out to them, three sheets away. But they didn't know who she was referring to, so they didn't answer. She called out to them all.

Pair!

A loud slap echoed through the forest, but Bi Ryuyeon was still sitting there.

"Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"What…, what?"

It happened so quickly that none of the 18 gangsters realized what had happened. But what's even more amazing is that it must have been a single sound, and all 18 of them are holding their left cheeks.

"What's wrong?"

Bi Ryuyeon, who was sitting in a relaxed position on top of the carriage, laughed softly once more. At that moment, his body blurred.

Non-Lightning Sword Poisonous Tattoo Technique

Phoenix Dance Righteousness (奧義)

Mirror of Illusion [幻影之鏡]

Pair!

This time, their arms turned to the left at the same time. Their right cheeks were stamped with five vividly red fingers, but still none of them realized what had happened.

'What the…, what the hell did you do, what's going on now, are you, are you a ghost?'

It was a thought that popped into the heads of 18 people at the same time. It was truly a ghostly scene. They were clearly focusing their attention in preparation for the second time, but there was no sign of Bi Ryuyeon moving. What the hell did she do? What did she do?

She only smiled, still seated in the carriage, and they all instinctively realized that she had done 'something', and none of them could figure out what it was. Na Yerin, next to her, was equally bewildered; in her eyes, it seemed as if the number of newborns had suddenly increased to eighteen.

'No way…….'

It must have been an optical illusion. As a human being, such a move would be impossible.

"That's a warning, next time I'll pull two white beads out of your face, so…, don't ever look at anyone else's with those ugly eyes again!"

Chill warning!

The words made him believe it would happen. He was still dumbfounded, unable to grasp the situation. But his chest felt cold, as if it had been cut by a sharp ice knife.

At this point, a young man from among the delegation walked up and approached Yin Dao. The young man said, "I'm sorry.

"Boss, leave this job to me!"

"To you?"

The eyes that Yeomdo looked into were no longer the playful ones that had been joking around at the Asociation, but now they were blazing with determination.

"It's strange, but the eyes don't lie, are you sure?"

"Sure. I'm going to have to take this into my own hands, trust me."

After a moment of thought, Yeomdo nodded his approval.

"Then you might as well give it a chance. I'll ask you again. Are you confident? He's no pushover."

"I'm confident."

Lim's answer was firm. He had no choice but to allow it. Even if it was risky, she didn't feel too much pressure because she knew she could do it.

"And his eyes!

Lim's eyes were filled with more determination than ever. They were quite a sight for sore eyes.

"Okay, this is going to be an experience. I'm leaving this to you. Go for it!"

"Thank you. Leave it to me, and I'll never dishonor the academy."

Lim stepped forward with a white cloth wrapped around half his face. The tangled threads must be untangled by someone. The only one who can untangle this tangle, he thought, is himself. He walked forward, step by step, to untangle the tangle of the past and the tangle of the present superimposed on it. Finally, he stepped out of the delegation and faced the King of Greenery.

"Who are you?"

King Lim Duk-sung asked in a jibe. He didn't like the fact that Chuck covered his face with a white cloth as soon as he saw him. An unpleasant feeling washed over him.

"He's here to tell a story."

In front of the group, Lim Sung-jin covered his face with a cloth, so Lim didn't recognize his son. But a vague sense of familiarity overcame him.

"What? When did he die?"

Yindo asked, puzzled.

"I don't know, maybe he's got a nasty cold, or maybe he's just suddenly realized he has an ugly face."

He was a gnome who knew how to spout nonsense.

Voila!

The punishment was swift.

"We are innocent of any wrongdoing, and the destruction of the Black Rangetrees had nothing to do with us."

After a one-on-one confrontation with Lim Duk-sung, Lim exclaimed.

"How can I trust you? I don't trust your political party."

Lim Duk-sung replied with a sneer.

"So where else is the evidence that we are the culprits?"

Lim's rebuttal was sharp.

"We have a witness. A witness who barely escaped from the black house you destroyed."

'Witnesses?

It was beyond comprehension. How could there be witnesses to something that wasn't done?

"Where is that witness now? I would like to see him first. If there's a misunderstanding, let's clear it up."

There was nothing wrong with Lim's question. However, the answer came back with a heavy dose of humor.

"You can't do that! "

Lim quickly rejected his offer.

"Why is that, I don't understand."

Lim snapped.

"Because he's dead."

Shocked by Lim's words, he cursed at the dead man in his mind.

'Urrrrgh!

With that, the last remaining clue was gone. Perhaps the dead man would be the last clue to unraveling the mystery of the Black Orchid massacre. It seemed I had no choice but to use my last resort.

"We have absolutely no reason to do such a terrible thing. We are innocent. I can vouch for that, so let us go."

Lim snorted and sneered at Sungjin's comment.

"How dare you make such a claim, and what makes you think you're worthy of it?"

"Of course!"

Lim didn't hesitate to answer. Lim spoke so confidently that Duk-sung was momentarily flustered and forgot what to say. However, he quickly recovered and asked with a sharp glare.

"Qualifications?"

"Because I am the age."

King Lim Duk-sung was furious. How dare a lowly sectarian mock him.

"Madman, how dare you try to kill me……."

However, his voice of anger didn't last long. Lim removed the cloth covering his face.

"Yes…, you are!"

When Lim Sung-jin untied the cloth that covered his face, Lim Duk-sung's eyes, which were like iron stones, widened in horror. Why was his son amongst that group of party members?

"So, soju! "

Both Fang Rangui and Mo Kyung gaped in astonishment. Why was Lim Sung-jin, who had been missing for so long, mixed in there? After barely recovering from his surprise, Lim Duk-sung's face stiffened.

"Hey, who is this, aren't you my illegitimate son who ran away from home about four years ago?"

There was a hint of mockery in his tone, but his eyes were a maelstrom of emotion, a complex mix of feelings. Lim Duk-sung's words caused a murmur to erupt from both the delegation and Nokrim. Lim Sung-jin's appearance had been an unexpected development that neither side had expected.

"Have you been in peace, father?"

Im Sung-jin greeted him stiffly, taking a bow.

"Peace? I don't know what that is, but I don't think I've ever had it, and yes, I still have a bruise from your beating four years ago that throbs and aches every time it rains, son!"

The rumbling continued around me.

"That was a slip of the tongue on your part, not mine. Don't be so hard on yourself over something that barely scratched the surface. Why do you do that to your only son? It's embarrassing for your men to see."

"Hmph, son, how can you be so cute and talk about getting beaten up? Do you want to die today? How dare you talk back to your heavenly father?"

His son's petulant rebellion caused a furrow in his brow.

"Is that the guy who went to solve the case?"

At the absurdity of this, Namgungsang shook his head in disbelief. Certainly, even in his eyes, he could only see that she was there to add fuel to the fire. Yeomdo growled as he glared at the Green Forest King.

"They couldn't have been slaughtered in the middle of the night when they were still alive and well a few days ago, could they? If that's the case, I'll have a market on my hands. This must be a trick by King Lim Duk-sung to set us up."

"Dead."

"What?"

Yeomdo's head snapped up at the unexpected answer. It was a silver snowflake.

"I didn't know who they were when we came over the Gugung Mountain, but they were the Black Rangchae people. It's as they say, they're all dead."

"What!"

Yeomdo and Ice Sword were stunned at the same time. In a calm voice, Eunseulan told them what she had seen.

"I saw the scene, and it was gruesome, but it was the work of professionals who didn't waste a thing, who made a meal of killing. You can't do that kind of neat work unless you've cut yourself to the point where the knife is stained with blood, and most of their wounds were scratches, not black marks."

As they listened, Yeomdo and Ice Sword's faces grew stiffer and stiffer. If that was the case, then it was not unreasonable for King Lim Ducheng to be so rampaging.

"This is going to be a pain in the ass! "

Apparently, the sun was out today.

King Lim Duk-sung of the Green Forest was a man of passion.

On the plus side, he was a boisterous man with boiling blood, but underneath it all, he was a very impatient man. Frankly, he had little patience, and he didn't have the discernment to deliberately keep his emotions in check. He called it pretense and rejected it. When he wanted to laugh, he laughed until the sky was falling, and when he was angry, he raged with a fire that could overturn mountains.

And he was furious now.

Even after four years of reunion, this disobedient bastard could not honor his heavenly father. He was not good enough to forgive such a human being. His behavior quickly proved to be forceful.

"Onya, show yourself how much you've learned in the past four years among those weak sectarians. If you can compete with her in a hundred fights, I'll forgive you with the same heart as Haha."

Lim Duk-sung's two horsemen were burning with rage.

"What about my colleagues?"

"They're not like you, and they must pay for the annihilation of the Black Ranches!"

Lim shouted, undeterred.

"We had nothing to do with the destruction of Black Rang Chae. Why would I lie when I was with them the whole time? Do you really want to make me an incestuous murderer now? Black Rang Chae's lord, Black Rang Bu, is my uncle. There's no way I would have abetted his death!"

Lim cringed at his logical rebuttal. There wasn't a word of truth in his son's words.

"Pfft, maybe they were brainwashed by the political parties to do that shit!"

Lim's words were met with a stern look.

"Don't force it. You already know in your heart that you're not, you just don't want to admit it, that's what my dad always said, why can't you admit it when you know you're right but your little pride won't let you!"

"Shut up! What do you think you know? I haven't recognized you yet, so if you want to convince me, go for it. If you think you can beat me, then I'll believe you."

"Okay, okay, if the father says it, the child must do it!"

Overcome with emotion, Lim gripped his gong so tightly that it crushed him.

"Let's see what the old man taught you about sticks."

"Don't you dare call your child's teacher an old man. And it's not a stick, it's a rule. A konmyo!"

Neither father nor son backed down. It would be easier to convince others that their relationship was more like that of enemies than father and son.

"Wow!"

"Here we go! "

Lim leaped to her feet, her eyes shining.

"Yay! It's the beginning of the starlight! "

With a thunderous cheer, Lim Sung-jin's sword stretched out toward Lim Deok-sung. This was the beginning of a bloody battle between a father and son like Cheolcheon Ji-su.

"That's some quality work."

Watching the father and son duke it out, Yeomdo exclaimed in admiration.

Was it Pado versus Vungon? I could feel the power of each bite.

"They're both the same in the sense that it's a battle of strength and power."

Binggum commented briefly.

"So far, so good."

Even in the face of Lim Duk-sung's pottery, which was charging at him like a mad wolf, he maintained a firm defense and did not give him any loopholes to poke through. And when he did poke through a loophole for a brief moment, his every move was loaded with the enormous power of a borgon, making Lim Duk-sung panic.

Bungye (崩訣) was a way of pressing down on everything with force, crushing it and breaking it. It was the highest form of power. While they are similar in their pursuit of power, they are distinctly different in their use.

Quack! Bam!

It was a battle of strength and power.

Bungon was slow and Pado was fast, but the game was not close. This was because the seemingly slow and fast Im Seong-jin's Gon was able to defend well under the constant onslaught of doki.

"Is that okay? "

Na Yerin asked worriedly.

"Of course not, I'm not one to be trifled with, and it's a father-daughter battle, and even the craziest father-daughter battle isn't going to result in anything more serious than that."

Bi Ryuyeon calmly reassured Na Yerin.

"It's probably going to come down to how deep they are, and they have different ways of playing the game, and it's going to come down to the moment one of them is off balance."

Im had formed an invisible barrier around Gon, and was using it to block his father's path.

"But I guess it's just rich people being rich people, because they're fighting like they're going to eat each other, but they're laughing like that… and they probably don't even realize they're laughing!"

Her eyes were precise.

Now Lim was in awe of his son's remarkable improvement over four years. He could hardly believe it. Four years ago, although he had been caught off guard, it had literally been a surprise, a kind of luck that could not be called skill. But now, he was showing incredible skill that was completely unrivaled by his own. There wasn't a father in the world who wouldn't be pleased with how strong his son had become, with a few exceptions.

Lim Duk-sung didn't know whether to be happy or sad about this, but he couldn't afford to lose because of his father's authority.

He began to intensify his attacks.

"The monster is a monster if he's doing more damage over there."

It's a wonder he didn't get torn to shreds, and of course, it's in his favor that he's familiar with the frenetic pace of King Lim Duk-sung of the Green Forest.

The Kwangpung Marang Dao was something that Lim could have forgotten even if he wanted to, as he had been forced to learn it for about eight years from a young age. He had once learned it with a saber in hand. But then he had an encounter that would change his fate.

He had found a true teacher who would lead him down a different path. For a long time, he hated being a bandit. His dissatisfaction with the job grew until it finally exploded when he met the Master.

"You shouldn't be teasing him like that. This isn't a game, this is real life. As soon as you eat your thoughts, you die! Do you understand?"

It was a virtuous man who was so busy doing nothing that he unknowingly gave advice to his children.

"Why did I say that? Am I really, really, really going crazy?

Lim dismissed the idea as ridiculous and dismissed it outright. The rich man was completely unaware that a smile was forming at the corners of his mouth through the sweat that was running down his face with each airborne transition. Apparently, the rich man was getting a kick out of the fight.

"You're both idiots! "

It was a simple conclusion that Bi Ryuyeon had come to as she watched. The frozen relationship between the father and son was slowly melting with the sweat, speculation, and heat flowing through their bodies, but the foolish rich man didn't even realize it.

"That idiot rich guy is probably going to die in one fell swoop."

Binggum said.

"That's why you're listening to a powerless fool."

In a pathetic tone, Yeomdo shook his head.

"That's a lot like you."

"What is it?"

Bing'er's words stung.

"You've grown a big head, are you rebelling? I thought you were a tadpole, but now you've grown some hind legs!"

"@Dad, too. I thought you'd gotten old after not seeing you for so many years, but you're still correcting me."

King of the Green Forest Lim Duksung couldn't help but burst out laughing and said happily.

"Dude, I'm still a young man! How many do you have left, huh huh huh?"

Im Sung-jin, who replied, was also exhausted. However, the voice that replied was refreshing, as if something had been released.

"@dad, that's one more to go, what about you?"

"I have one left."

Dozens of airlift diversions had already used up all the available food. All they had left was the last of their herbs, the last of their secrets.

"What do you say, do you want to see it through?"

"Sure. We've come this far, we can't stop here."

"Good! You are indeed my son. Let's finish him off today."

"Great. That's what I was hoping for."

"Stupid rich!"

Bi Ryuyeon, watching from afar, said something, but it fell on deaf ears. The two men facing each other began their final preparations. A terrifying momentum formed between them. The surrounding energy began to be frantically sucked into the two of them.

The battle of the titans was gradually coming to a head.

Quack!

There was a violent explosion that shook the earth. The deafening roar pounded my eardrums. It was a loud and colorful end to the life of a foolish rich man. It wasn't until the dust settled that I was able to get a good look at what was going on. Neither of them had collapsed. Even after the last of the food had been shaken off, there was still no clear-cut favorite. Of course, neither of them were desperate, and maybe that's why Lim Duk-sung let them off the hook.

"Kolokolok, you bastard! You hit me again where you hit me four years ago, and it hurts even more than it did then. Ew, you bastard!"

"Kolokolok, father, do you have any business wielding the Dao so ignorantly, you should have seen it and wielded it. This son hasn't even been to his wedding yet. Do you have any business making a bachelor ghost out of your only son?"

Lim didn't lose and shouted, "You're right!

"You son of a bitch, you're still rebelling against Abby, and who the hell would marry an empty-headed bitch like you? Get some cold water early and get a grip!"

"Don't curse me. I'm going to get married."

"Oh, boy. Still…, if you rebel, I'm going to tell everyone you've ever peed on a futon until you're seven?"

"He…, such a coward!"

The dust that had barely settled rose again in a thick cloud. In the midst of it, the two men spat and argued for a long time.

"Idiot!"

Bi Ryuyeon's observations were short and to the point.

"This matter is important to us as well as to the Green Forest Seventy-seven, and I suspect that it is a terrible plot orchestrated by someone to frame us. We have a lot on our plate right now, and we haven't been able to prove our innocence completely, but from now on, we will be investigating this case to the best of our abilities. Please be patient and believe us."

"Okay, I'll count on it, and……."

Lim Duk-sung said a few more words on the phone. Binggum nodded.

"Don't worry!"

"Thank you."

Lim Duk-sung bowed, and Bing-gum followed suit.

"Chet, go wherever you want, live however you want!"

After finishing his conversation with Binggum, Im Deoksung turned his back to Im Sungjin and said.

"Father……."

"Don't go and disgrace your father! If you fight, you must win!"

As he spoke, a strange light flickered in the corners of Green Forest King Lim's eyes. He had to grit his teeth as an unknown feeling rose from his chest and made its way up his throat.

"Water…, Ron…, Lee…, Joe."

"Go away!"

Without turning around, Lim waved his hand in the air and shouted.

"Open the way, and… sword in hand! "

Mokyung shouted in a deep voice.

Like the sea splitting in half, the besieging warriors began to split to either side and line up on either side of the Juruluk Road. The procession continued until it reached the end of the Dahongshan Mountain Road. This kind of unity in response to a single command was the driving force behind Marangchai's current victory. Their coordinated movement and rearrangement resembled an army.

Three thousand warlords lined up to the right and left, arms raised to their chests in salute. A shiver ran through my body.

A head-to-head encounter with them would probably have left neither of them alive. The procession to the base of the mountain seemed to be wishing them good luck.

"What a good father!"

As he stared at the spectacular scene in front of him, Lim Sung-jin was startled by Bing's words.

"Yes?"

"You said at the end that it doesn't matter where you're from if you're pursuing the ultimate in nothingness."

'So take good care of my son!'

That's what Binggum's last words to her were about. Perhaps he was worried that his child's origins would have an adverse effect. It was almost miraculous that Lim Duk-sung had been so attentive. Binggum didn't have the slightest intention of questioning Lim's origins. Lim felt as if all the resentment that had been building up in his heart had been released in an instant.

"Okay, I'm going to take a break! "

Binggum nodded his head in approval. He ran over to Lim Duksung, who was still standing there with his back turned to him, and then he cried out.

"Father! "

Lim flinched at the sound, but never looked back.

"What? I'm not deaf."

Turning around, Lim Duk-sung said, still in a blunt tone.

"I'll leave you then, take care."

Im Sung-jin greeted me by bowing at the waist. This time, his greeting was sincere, so it was rough but warm.

"It's loud, go away! "

Whether he was ashamed or embarrassed, Lim Duk-sung did not look back. His ears picked up the sound of his son's footsteps moving away. The footsteps merged into several footsteps. The combined footsteps began to move. He was heading down the mountain with his companions.

The sound of dozens of footsteps echoing off the ground faded further and further from his ears, until it finally ceased to be heard within the bell.

"Stupid son of a bitch!"

There was a bitterness in his tone.