Living-Dead Eccentric (2)

Black-Slaying Dart Dong Paegyeong was Go Ju-yong the Black Market Overlord’s fourth sworn brother and the sect’s Third Protector.

Though only at the doorway of Pinnacle—with about seventy years of inner power—he was still strong enough to be an absolute ruler in any outlying region.

Yet he chose to remain with the Black Market.

Because his eldest brother, Sect Lord Go Ju-yong, promised him wealth and glory.

Go Ju-yong was greedy, but he knew that to grasp bigger prizes, you reinvest instead of hoarding.

So he treated his pinnacle-level sworn brothers with extravagant favor.

As a result, with four pinnacle masters gathered, the Black Market rose as one of the “Eight Greats of Guizhou,” lording over the province’s southwest.

Just the fact of four pinnacles, in the sticks, was an overwhelming force.

Having walked that road at Go Ju-yong’s side, Dong Paegyeong understood how vital capturing the Living-Dead Eccentric was to their future.

An apothecary who can make pills rivaling the Reviving Pellet? That’s a goose that lays golden eggs.

Secure that man, and the profits were unimaginable.

And those profits would make the Black Market stronger—without doubt.

There are more pinnacle masters than you’d think who can be hired—if the price is right.

Like Blood-Whip Xi Shi, Ya Yun-hyang.

Thinking of that peerless beauty and power back at the main compound, Blood-Whip Xi Shi Ya Yun-hyang, he almost drooled.

It was his elder brother Go Ju-yong’s dream:

Keep paying to recruit hireable pinnacles like her, and one day rule not just Guizhou’s southwest, but the whole province.

Sharing that dream, Dong Paegyeong stared at the Eccentric boxed in before him—it felt like the dream was turning real.

He shouted, drunk on triumph.

“Yield quietly, Ma Jong-hwan! Then I’ll forget all the trouble you’ve caused! I’m a great man, you see. Kahahaha!”

The gaunt, hard-eyed Ma Jong-hwan snorted.

“Kidnapping a man’s children for his pills, and you prattle about being a ‘great man’? Funniest line I’ve heard in my life, bwahaha!”

Dong Paegyeong stopped laughing.

A mere wandering doctor mocking him—and pretending calm while cornered—irked him.

But he forced a thin smile.

He’d be magnanimous.

A cornered rat was allowed some bluffing, wasn’t it?

He boomed heartily and strode closer.

“Fine, fine. If you’re amused, I’m pleased. Now—will you come quietly?”

Fire flashed in Ma Jong-hwan’s eyes.

“The only thing that’ll go with you is my corpse!”

He drew a dagger and set its tip to his own throat, as if to plunge it.

Dong Paegyeong jolted.

Suicide? To avoid capture?

To that extent?

He backpedaled and tried to calm him.

“Wait! Wait, calm yourself, Ma Jong-hwan! Let’s talk this through!”

“Talk? With the scum who kidnapped my children for my pills? Hahaha! Spare me! Get out of my sight now—or you’ll be looking at my corpse!”

Holding his own life hostage—absurd.

But Dong Paegyeong couldn’t simply ignore it.

He understood the man’s value as well as Go Ju-yong did.

But he couldn’t show that.

So he tried threats first.

He bared his teeth and roared,

“Go on then—die! If you’re not afraid of what will happen to your brats after! You think your life so precious?!”

Ma Jong-hwan gave a thin smile.

“Precious indeed! Precisely because I can make the Life-and-Death Pill, you do this filth! I’ll say it again—vanish from my sight! Or your scheme to use my pill ends here!”

Dong Paegyeong’s jaw dropped.

How did he—?

The man knew his own value far too well.

Ma Jong-hwan drove on.

“I’m going to count to ten! If you haven’t backed off by ten, you’ll be looking at my corpse! One!”

“W-wait! Ma Jong-hwan! Let’s talk—!”

“Two!”

Panic pricked Dong Paegyeong.

He’d thought the fish landed; now what?

He couldn’t let him die—but couldn’t truly back off, either.

“Three!”

His anxiety surged.

No time to think.

“Four!”

Then—

Behind him, someone ran up, calling out,

“Third Protector!”

Rattled, Dong Paegyeong snapped toward the voice.

“What is it—now of all times?!”

But then his eyes changed.

The approaching junior was drenched in blood.

“A-ambush! We’re under attack!”

“What?! An ambush?!”

And Ma Jong-hwan kept counting.

“Five!”

The staggering man collapsed at his feet. Then Ma Jong-hwan’s voice again:

“Six!”

Dong Paegyeong flicked a glance back at Ma Jong-hwan—

And the nape of his neck prickled.

He dove sideways on instinct.

Three throwing blades streaked past, grazing his collar.

Shuak!

A chill ran through him.

The “collapsing junior” sprang up, grinning, and, steady as you please, unfurled a dazzling sword-fan through the nearby warriors while lunging for the Eccentric.

Shuaaaak!

“Kraak!”

“Geurk!”

The fan of light bloomed; four men spat blood and fell.

Through that spray, the man was already charging Ma Jong-hwan.

Dong Paegyeong reeled—but so did Ma Jong-hwan.

A man who seemed Black Market suddenly attacked Dong, then flew for him—what side was he on?

Could this be a trap?

He raised the dagger to his throat to shout a stop—

A whisper brushed his ear.

— Master! We rescued Ma Maeng-un and Ma Yong-ji!

At those names, Ma Jong-hwan’s strength unwound without thought.

Ma Maeng-un and Ma Yong-ji were his son and daughter.

Seonu Jin slammed into him, hoisted him, and sprinted like a bolt for the cliff.

“Pardon me, elder!”

Every Black Market man watching gaped.

“N-no way!”

“Impossible!”

With the Eccentric over his shoulder, Seonu Jin ran straight up the cliff.

Pababababak!

A breathtaking light-body art.

Halfway up the sheer rock, Dong Paegyeong, dumbstruck for a heartbeat, finally clenched his teeth and flung darts for Seonu Jin’s legs.

“You think I’ll let you go?!”

It was the consummate throwing art that gave him the epithet Black-Slaying Dart—Black-Slaying Dart.

A spray of little sujeon coins flashed like light, streaking for Seonu Jin’s calves.

Swiish!

But Seonu Jin leapt aside—as if waiting for it.

Tak!

Training with Seol Pung—eyes closed, sensing objects—meant prepared darts like these didn’t threaten him much.

Kakang! Kang!

The coins sparked off bare rock. Seonu Jin began bounding side to side between stone faces, zig-zagging up.

Tak! Tak! Tak!

Light as a mountain goat.

Dong Paegyeong exploded.

“Signal Big Brother! Don’t let them slip—no matter what!”

He himself sprang to chase, sprinting up the cliff.

Black-Slaying Dart specialized in darts and footwork.

He would not let them flee before his face.

At the top, I stole a breath, glanced back—then ran again.

Just as expected, he’d ditched his men to chase alone—slow-witted oaf.

What if this were a lure into an ambush?

…It wasn’t. But still.

Judging by his speed, shaking him would be hard.

As I ran, the Eccentric on my shoulder finally spoke, urgent.

He must’ve held his tongue until we cleared the cliff.

“Is it true?! You truly rescued Maeng-un and Yong-ji?”

Talking while running hard is rough—but this had to be said.

Earning his trust came first.

“Of course. You drew their eyes to yourself because you hoped someone would do just that, didn’t you?”

“Ah… You… you truly understood!”

His voice brimmed with relief—

All the worry for his children, the doubt in his own gamble, washing out at once.

I understood.

How anxious must he have been?

He’d had no choice—but must have tormented himself afterward.

What if his misjudgment doomed them?

In my last life, his intent had failed, too.

I added quickly,

“Neither of them suffered harm. They’re safe, sound, and resting. Please don’t worry.”

“…Thank you. Truly, thank you.”

They almost suffered—but I didn’t say so.

His voice wavered; I pretended not to hear.

For a heartbeat, his face overlapped my father’s when he once called me commendable—and my chest warmed.

Then a bark from behind iced it over.

“You cur! Halt, now!”

Dong Paegyeong’s voice, closer.

As expected of a pinnacle—fearsome speed.

I doubted I could outpace him with Ma Jong-hwan on my back.

I drew a long breath and spoke fast.

“So now only you need to escape, elder. Do you have a plan?”

A heavy answer, with a short groan.

“I’m ashamed to say—nothing grand. Only this: their greed won’t let them kill me. And that same greed will draw others who want Go Ju-yong dead.”

He was right.

In my last life they had managed to kill Go Ju-yong.

Perhaps even without me, he might have slipped the net.

If it came to it, do I drop the Eccentric and flee alone?

Even one-on-one, I had no chance against Dong Paegyeong.

If first-rate vs second-rate was cat vs lynx, then first-rate vs pinnacle was lynx vs tiger.

Even if he was a dart-specialist, I couldn’t beat him head-on.

Dong Paegyeong—pinnacle master of darts and footwork; and they said his darts were smeared with Cinnabar Venom.

I recalled intel on Black-Slaying Dart I’d wrung from a Black Market grunt—and asked the Eccentric:

“Elder, do you by chance have that?”

“Mm? That?”

Black-Slaying Dart glared at the fleeing man as if to burn holes in him.

He’d thought a man piggy-backing Ma Jong-hwan would be easy prey, yet two quarters of an hour had passed and he hadn’t closed the gap.

For a specialist in darts and footwork, it was humiliating.

What training lets you run like that with a full-grown man on your shoulder?

He wanted to nail him with a dart, but the man kept the Eccentric across his back as a shield.

And Ma Jong-hwan had gone rigid—clearly pressure-pointed.

The man knew Dong couldn’t risk a killing shot.

Grinding his teeth, Dong Paegyeong fumed.

Couldn’t catch him, couldn’t throw—infuriating.

Then the man shouted mid-run:

“Dong Paegyeong! Let’s bargain!”

He sounded winded—good.

Dong smiled.

“What bargain?!”

The man answered,

“You want the Living-Dead Eccentric, do you not? I’ll be content with three elixir pills—no, two! Let me take only two, and I’ll leave the man to you. Well?”

Dong thought.

Not a bad offer.

If he got back Ma Jong-hwan to brew more forever, two pills were nothing.

Sure, killing the rogue would be best—but if he pushed him and the man killed Ma, disaster.

And with the Eccentric pressure-pointed, he couldn’t pull another suicide trick like before. Safer to secure him calmly.

Decision made, Dong said,

“Fine! Done!”

The man whooped.

“Then stop right there! I’ll stop too!”

Dong slowed to a halt. Seonu Jin also stopped, and gently laid Ma Jong-hwan on the ground.

Watching Dong, he gingerly searched the Eccentric’s robe and drew out elixirs.

He eyed five with regret, then, with a sigh, pocketed only two.

Dong’s hawk eyes never left his hands.

Backing away, Seonu Jin called,

“Now I withdraw!”

“Good! Begone!”

Dong edged toward the prone Ma Jong-hwan.

But he noticed: Seonu Jin wasn’t darting off. He kept darting glances at the Eccentric.

Up to something.

Then—

Instead of leaving, Seonu Jin suddenly flicked several throwing blades at Ma Jong-hwan.

“Haaap!”

Whirrrrr!

Expecting a trick, Dong hurled himself to shield the Eccentric.

Cha-cha-cha-chang!

He made it—barely—swatting all four with the sujeon coins gripped in both hands.

The man’s dart-work was nowhere near his footwork.

“Kahahaha! Boasting darts before Old Dong?”

He laughed, then snapped a black dart at Seonu Jin—

His signature consummate art, Black-Slaying Dart.

Shuak!

The black bolt streaked like light. Seonu Jin threw up his sword in alarm.

Puuuk!

But a qi-laden dart isn’t stopped by steel. It punched through the blade and buried into Seonu Jin’s forearm.

Dong’s smile turned cruel.

Smeared with Cinnabar Venom—he was as good as dead.

He raised another dart to finish it—

Thunk!

A sting at his nape.

Foreboding knotted his gut as he turned.

The “pressure-pointed” Ma Jong-hwan was grinning savagely, holding open a leather pouch.

Two snakes clamped on Dong’s neck—clearly from that bag.

“Y-you—!”

His shock turned to rage.

Already his vision blurred and nausea surged.

A monstrous toxin.

“Y-you dare—!”

He tried to fight the dizziness, his stiffening fingers twitching to fling a dart at Ma Jong-hwan—

And a sword burst through his back, point jutting from his chest.

Puuuk!

“Keh—?!”

How?

He couldn’t grasp it.

The man should be dead already—from the venom-tipped dart—

That thought flickered—and Dong Paegyeong died.

The pinnacle master Black-Slaying Dart Dong Paegyeong, slain by first-rate Seonu Jin.