Everyone Is Crazy.

Seeing Shin Gi-yang’s face, Shin Yul furrowed her brow.

“Do not tell me you actually believe that nonsense?”

Shin Gi-yang did not reply. Watching from the side, Tang Ho spoke.

“Sounds like you have something in mind.”

Shin Gi-yang did not bother to deny it.

“Recently we have gone through some strange things. On top of that, odd reports have been coming in so often that even the clan elders have found it strange.”

“What are you talking about? I haven’t heard anything like that at all.”

Shin Yul frowned.

“…Try coming to meetings first, then talk.”

Shin Gi-yang said with a sigh. At that, Shin Yul glanced away.

Shin Gi-yang glared at her for a moment, then turned his head.

“There have definitely been more incidents that defy common sense.”

With even Shin Gi-yang saying that, Shin Yul could not deny it.

She only tilted her head as if to think, Is that so?

Then as if remembering something, she nodded.

“Well, Uncle did say that when he was young, he caught a spirit beast and ate its inner core. A spirit beast or a yokai, it is all the same.”

“That was a lie. Grandfather gave him a tonic. Uncle only said that to tease you.”

Shin Yul’s eyes went wide.

Her eyes, as she turned to Shin Gi-yang, were full of betrayal. He realized he had slipped, but it was already too late.

“…Damn it. Uncle is dead.”

Shin Gi-yang quickly shook his head.

It was something his uncle had done. His uncle would have to bear it.

While Shin Yul burned with anger toward their uncle in her mind, Shin Gi-yang turned to Gyo-ha.

“So, do you have a way?”

Gyo-ha thought for a moment, then drew in a great breath.

The suction was strong enough to startle those around him.

But soon he let out a long exhale.

“…It won’t work.”

“You were trying to suck up all the fog?”

At Bong Seok’s horrified question, Gyo-ha nodded.

In the end, it meant there was no way.

“Hold on.”

“Why? What is it this time?”

At Shin Yul’s words, Bong Seok answered curtly. Her brows twitched, but she ignored it and spoke.

At that, Tang Ho secretly admired her.

In that short time, Shin Yul had figured out how to handle Bong Seok.

“So that means besides the Alliance, no, the Evil Heaven Alliance… damn it. Besides those two damned Alliances, there are other bastards here too.”

“That would be so.”

Shin Gi-yang and Tang Ho nodded.

“Ah.”

Bong Seok suddenly let out a small exclamation. As the others turned to him, he spoke.

“I saw another guy earlier. He was killing an unorthodox martial artist like himself.”

“Was he using a sword?”

“Yeah. He had a bamboo hat pressed down, so I could not see his face, but he was terrifying.”

The group recalled the corpse they had seen before.

“And what were you doing then?”

“I hid and watched.”

At Bong Seok’s brazen answer, the others were at a loss for words.

They wondered if that was really something to say so proudly, but Bong Seok was unashamed.

“Neither of them had anything to do with me. So what. Watching fires and watching fights are the most fun things to do.”

“I do not think they are that unrelated, though.”

That was Gyo-ha. Bong Seok looked at him as if to say, “What are you talking about?“

“Even if you do not know his face, if you run into someone that skilled, you remember him.”

Bong Seok tapped his own head.

With his memory, he could be confident.

Gyo-ha nodded and spoke.

“Because you did not meet him in person.”

What was that supposed to mean? As Bong Seok stared at him, Gyo-ha calmly continued.

“The sword marks left on the dead man’s body are the same as the ones on the branch master grandpa’s legs.”

“Branch master grandpa?”

Shin Yul tilted her head, but Bong Seok knew at once who he meant.

Swift Wind Beggar.

His face stiffened, but he forced himself to speak calmly.

“Hmph, do not be ridiculous. The wound was wrapped in cloth, how could you possi—”

Seeing Gyo-ha’s eyes, Bong Seok closed his mouth.

There was certainty in Gyo-ha’s gaze.

It was not that it was similar. It was the same man.

Bong Seok knew Gyo-ha’s senses. They had never been wrong.

As Bong Seok hesitated, Tang Ho asked in his place.

“Was he the one who did that to Elder Swift Wind Beggar?”

“Swift Wind Beggar? That old geezer is dead?”

“He is not dead!”

At Shin Yul’s question, Bong Seok flared up.

“…If he is not dead, then he is not dead. No need to bite my head off.”

Shin Yul muttered under her breath. Beside her, Shin Gi-yang was giving her a stern look.

Knowing she was in the wrong, Shin Yul quietly fiddled with her spear.

Swift Wind Beggar. That name was known even among the unorthodox.

And Bong Seok bit down on his lip, his face full of resentment.

He had seen the culprit who did that to Swift Wind Beggar and failed to realize it.

Worse, he had watched and let him go.

Shin Gi-yang glanced at him and spoke.

“…So did the culprit come from Xining?”

Tang Ho shook his head.

“Elder Swift Wind Beggar is in Henan.”

Tang Ho glanced at Bong Seok. Understanding the look, Bong Seok squeezed his eyes shut.

“He was brought down from the branch master’s seat.”

Tang Ho continued. The change of branch master was not a secret.

But given the circumstances, he had checked with Bong Seok first.

If he had not wanted it said, Bong Seok would have stopped him.

“…When did this happen?”

Shin Gi-yang looked as if he were hearing it for the first time.

At that reaction, Tang Ho’s gaze grew heavy.

The Shin Clan of Henan was all but the landlord of Henan.

If even its heir did not know, it showed just how secretly the enemy had moved.

Shin Yul looked as if a mere change of branch master was no big deal, but Shin Gi-yang did not.

The Beggars’ Union was not a group one could ignore.

And a branch master being replaced was not even classified information.

Yet even that information had not reached them.

Tang Ho briefly explained what had happened to Swift Wind Beggar.

The Shin siblings’ faces turned grave as they listened. It was no longer someone else’s problem for them.

“If Swift Wind Beggar… the senior could be taken down, then this guy must be incredibly strong, right?”

Shin Yul caught herself and corrected the title.

At her words, Shin Gi-yang and Tang Ho nodded.

Of course, Swift Wind Beggar was a master, but his raw combat power was not widely known.

Even in Henan alone, the patriarch of the Shin Clan was stronger than he was.

But whether one could kill Swift Wind Beggar was a different question.

His speed was such that even peak masters would struggle to keep up.

He was famed throughout the land as a master of light footwork.

At the very least, he had broken through the wall.

“So that means inside this fog we have not just the Evil Heaven Alliance and the Murim Alliance, but also a peak master and some unknown group?”

“Who knows. The peak master could belong to that group.”

At Shin Yul’s words, Bong Seok replied. The group cast their eyes past the fog.

Now that they had heard it, it looked even more eerie than before.

But they had no time to think.

Shadows were starting to appear beyond the fog.

The group immediately made ready for battle.

They fought on without a moment to breathe.

Exhaustion showed plain on their faces. No matter how skilled a master was, fighting day and night without rest would wear them down.

‘We can probably last two more attacks.’

Gyo-ha thought as he looked around.

He was the only one still fine. The others had already hit their limits.

Just as he was about to swing his fist at the last of the shadows, something strange happened.

The fog heaved like waves.

It could only be described that way.

Swept away by the wave, the shadows vanished.

“What is… this?”

The others lowered their weapons and looked around.

Gyo-ha also stared intently into the fog.

Then.

A faint stench pricked at Gyo-ha’s nose.

“Found it.”

Gyo-ha’s eyes shone. Without a hint of hesitation, he sprang forward.

“G-Gyo-ha?”

“W-wait!”

Seeing him run, the others chased after him.

Their faces were pale from overexertion, but they pushed themselves desperately.

“Damn it!”

“We cannot lose him.”

The others knew too.

If they lost Gyo-ha, the ones who would die would not be him, but them.

But keeping up with Gyo-ha was not hard.

The fog came rolling in, then heaved again.

―Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo.

An unpleasant ringing echoed in their ears.

They instinctively realized what the sound was.

‘The fog is screaming.’

Each time it heaved, they caught glimpses of what lay beyond the fog.

The group’s faces brightened.

They did not know why, but hope was rising.

At that moment, Gyo-ha sped up even more.

The others clenched their teeth and increased their pace.

Before long, they saw why Gyo-ha had sped up.

Two groups were facing each other.

Gyo-ha stood in the middle and glanced back.

The late-arriving group panted heavily.

“…Jeon, Pyeong. It is you.”

One of the groups consisted of people Gyo-ha knew well.

Jeon Pyeong and Seo Jong-dae.

Gyo-ha looked back.

“Those guys your friends?”

He jerked his chin at the men on the opposite side. Four men.

Breathing hard, Shin Yul frowned.

“Can you not tell by looking? They are wearing masks.”

Gyo-ha blinked, his eyes saying, What does that have to do with anything?“

Displeasure flickered across Shin Yul’s face.

“Are you suspecting them of being unorthodox just because they are masked?”

Gyo-ha blinked again.

“What do masks have to do with orthodox or unorthodox? We also used masks befo—”

“The attackers! They are the attackers. Those bastards are the ones behind this!”

Bong Seok hastily clamped a hand over Gyo-ha’s mouth.

He knew exactly what Gyo-ha was about to say. He was about to mention them wearing masks last time.

Even the unorthodox found that unpleasant, so there was nothing to gain from revealing that these orthodox folks had once worn masks.

“Got it. So they are the enemy?”

Gyo-ha grinned and sprang forward.

The masked men glanced at one another, then leaped back.

They were trying to flee because they were outnumbered.

Gyo-ha started after them, then hesitated.

The others had no choice but to let them go.

They did not have the stamina to give chase.

But they still looked at Gyo-ha in surprise, never expecting him to let them go.

Meanwhile, Jeon Pyeong and Seo Jong-dae came over.

“One of those men was using the Huangbo Clan’s martial arts.”

Which meant he was an orthodox martial artist. The Huangbo Clan was one of the Five Great Clans. They were not some ordinary sect.

Naturally, their faces were also marked with fatigue.

On top of that, they had wounds all over their bodies.

It was proof that the fighting had been fierce.

Their eyes turned to the Shin siblings.

Tang Ho gave a brief introduction in their stead.

Unlike with Bong Seok, they were surprised, but showed no hostility.

Meanwhile, Bong Seok went up to Gyo-ha.

“Anyway, what is with you? I thought you would chase them down and fight.”

“I am more concerned about that.”

Gyo-ha pointed beyond the fog.

Bong Seok turned his gaze that way, but could see nothing but fog.

What on earth was he concerned about?

―Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo.

At the loud ringing, the group covered their ears.

Then a tidal wave beyond comparison to anything before came crashing down.

The fog shook violently.

“Just now, was that…?”

While the others were still stunned, Gyo-ha was already running.

The group hurriedly ran after him.

The fog had thinned noticeably, so it was not hard to keep him in sight.

“What are you even chasing? Did you find a way out or something?”

Using his movement art, Bong Seok drew up beside Gyo-ha and asked.

His breathing was rough, but not so bad they could not understand him.

There was hope in his voice.

The others also ran while watching Gyo-ha’s mouth.

But Gyo-ha shook his head.

“Something is fighting this thing.”

“…By this thing, you mean the fog?”

At Bong Seok’s question, Gyo-ha nodded.

Bong Seok’s expression turned sour.

His pace naturally began to slow.

“Was that shock earlier the aftereffect of their fight?”

Jeon Pyeong muttered as he ran.

“How do you even fight fog?”

Shin Yul spoke as if she could not understand.

But Seo Jong-dae knew the answer.

“Oddity.”

Seo Jong-dae spat out the single word.

Only another oddity could face an oddity like this.

On top of that, Gyo-ha had not said ‘someone’.

He had said ‘something’.

Seo Jong-dae could guess what that meant.

“…Is it really okay for us to just follow like this? When that thing is fighting the fog?”

Bong Seok looked around at the others as he asked.

He was secretly hoping they would agree with him.

But the others silently followed after Gyo-ha.

Shin Yul’s eyes were even sparkling with curiosity.

“…You are all crazy.”

Was he the only sane one here?

With a sigh, Bong Seok chased after Gyo-ha along with the rest.