Chapter 27

He wasn’t the only one.
The others, including the beastfolk, also had double-digit murder counts.
Jun-gyeong’s eyes flashed blood-red.

“Y-You bastard!”

The beastfolk, instinctively sensing the terror of death, was the first to charge with his sharp claws bared.
With strength several times greater than an ordinary human’s, his attack came too quickly for a normal person even to blink.
He moved so fast he left no afterimage, but that was only by ordinary human standards.
To Jun-gyeong, the trajectory of his attack appeared as a vivid red line.
And now that his internal energy had stabilized, every movement of the man’s muscles was as clear to him as though laid out in the palm of his hand.
Jun-gyeong lightly tilted his head aside to avoid the claws and simultaneously drove his palm hard up beneath the beastfolk’s chin.

THUNK-!
“Kgh!!”

With the sound of his jaw breaking, the beastfolk staggered backward.
Jun-gyeong’s instep then swept out his ankle, sending his body into the air.
At that moment, Jun-gyeong drove a blow into the beastfolk’s exposed abdomen.

BOOM!!!
“AAAAAGH!!”

The beastfolk’s massive body went flying and crashed into the thugs watching from behind.
Amid the chaos, the rat-faced man, Park Ji-yeon, screamed.

“K-Kill him!! Kill him right now!”
“GRAAARGH!!”

With a roar, the beastfolk’s clothes tore apart as gray fur spread across his entire body.
His muzzle pushed outward, and grotesque fangs sprang from his jaws.
His full beast transformation complete, he howled and lunged for Jun-gyeong’s throat.
Instead of dodging, Jun-gyeong brutally seized him by the muzzle.

“Hup!”

Jun-gyeong’s terrifying grip crushed down on his jaws.
The beastfolk thrashed wildly, but Jun-gyeong simply hauled him forward and smashed him into the ground.

CRUNCH!!

His head struck the concrete, sending broken teeth flying in every direction.

“Being a beast bastard does make you tougher.”

At that moment, Jun-gyeong felt a chill behind him.
He tilted his head aside to avoid the sashimi knife, then caught the attacker’s wrist and elbow and wrenched the arm backward.

CRACK.

The man’s arm bent at a grotesque angle, and a scream burst from his mouth.
The knife fell to the ground, and Jun-gyeong kicked the wolf beastfolk square in the face as he hurriedly reached for it, sending him flying.

CRASH!

Perhaps his transformation had made him as durable as it had made him large, because he struggled back to his feet after tumbling across the ground.
Blood mixed with saliva streamed from his mouth, and terror filled his eyes, but he continued growling at Jun-gyeong.

“Grrrr.”
“Nothing cures a mad dog like a beating.”

Jun-gyeong was not using his internal energy.
He had no desire to waste it on opponents this weak.

The fools still stood behind the beastfolk, glaring at Jun-gyeong as though having him in front of them made them safe.
Jun-gyeong strode toward the growling beastfolk.
As he approached, the entire group backed away together.
Terrified, the beastfolk howled and sprang forward.

“GRAAARGH!”

Jun-gyeong put a small amount of Lightning into his fist and drove it into the beastfolk’s jaw.

BANG!

With a sharp yelp, his jaw broke and the bones of his face shattered.
He collapsed where he stood and died.
Two of the remaining three attacked from either side at once, throwing punches at Jun-gyeong.
Jun-gyeong let the Lightning drain away and casually caught the fist coming from his left, then yanked the man toward him.

CRACK-
“Kgh!”

The sound of bone slipping out of place rang out as pain twisted the man’s face.
At the same time, Jun-gyeong stepped aside and delivered a short, sharp strike to his abdomen with his right hand.

THUD!
“Hrk!!”

As the man’s face contorted in pain as though his insides were being torn to pieces, Jun-gyeong’s fist slammed into it.

BANG! CRUNCH!

Stepping on the head of the man collapsing before he could even scream, Jun-gyeong slipped inside the reach of the attacker on his right, whose fist was still swinging.
CRUNCH!

Jun-gyeong took the punch on his shoulder and leaned his upper body slightly backward.
At the same time, he shifted his weight into his leg and kicked down into the man’s thigh as though stamping through it.

CRACK!
“GRAAAGH!!!”

The man’s thighbone shattered and punched through the skin as his scream erupted.
Jun-gyeong threw a hook into the screaming man’s jaw.

THUD!

As the man reeled sideways, another fist slammed into the opposite side of his face.

BANG!

Unable even to scream, the man lifted off the ground before crashing back down with his face horribly distorted.
With the fight over in an instant, Park Ji-yeon immediately dropped to his knees and clasped his hands together in supplication.

“Please spare me. Please. I’ll live an honest life from now on.”

No.
There was one essential condition these bastards needed before they could ever live decent lives.
So without answering, Jun-gyeong planted his shoe on the kneeling man’s thigh and stomped down hard.

CRUNCH!!
“GRAAGH!!! It hurts! Kgh!!”

Of course it hurt. Jun-gyeong was stepping on him precisely to make it hurt.
He followed by driving his fist into the man’s jaw.

CRUNCH!

His jawbone shattered, his neck snapped backward, and his eyes went dull as the vertebrae broke.

Thud-

Jun-gyeong looked down at the fallen man for a moment, then headed toward the building they had come out of.
The secret laboratory was no longer the only place that mattered.
He needed to find out what was hidden in the other buildings as well.

“I’ll clear the nearest building first. If you detect movement in any of the others, tell me immediately.”
-Understood.

There was no hesitation in Jun-gyeong’s steps.
His feet stopped the moment he entered the building.
A foul, nauseating odor drifted toward him.

“…There are definitely Jiangshi here.”

As he descended underground, the stench grew stronger, mixed with the unmistakable odor of corpses.
It was a revolting smell, part stagnant well water and part reeking blood.
A reinforced-glass door blocked Jun-gyeong’s path.
Beyond it was a short corridor ending at another steel fire door.
A double-layered entrance.
The intent to conceal whatever lay beyond was obvious.

Rattle- Rattle-

After confirming that the door was locked, Jun-gyeong drew Mukhwa from his pouch.

Shhk-

With a single downward slash, the thick steel door split vertically like a sheet of paper.
As the gap opened, the stench of blood trapped inside poured out like a waterfall.

BANG-!

Jun-gyeong kicked the split door apart and stepped inside.
Five coffins sat in the small hall beyond.
They were nothing like the elaborate iron coffins that had crashed into the Pavilion.
They were crude wooden boxes hastily nailed together from planks, and inside them lay corpses with yellow talismans attached to their foreheads.

A cold smile appeared on Jun-gyeong’s lips.
Whether these things had been manufactured or arisen naturally, this was now an affair entangled with the uncanny and the divine, the kind of incident that demanded his intervention.
At that moment, doors farther down the corridor burst open and people rushed out.

“What the hell?”
“Hey, who the hell is that? How’d he get in here?”

Several men shouted and pointed at Jun-gyeong.
A group of more than a dozen men armed with weapons filled the corridor.
The only man among them dressed in a sharp suit exhaled a stream of cigarette smoke and spoke with obvious annoyance.

“Haah, fuck. What kind of bullshit is this? Kill him. Keep it quiet.”
“Yes, hyung-nim!”

The man who answered approached, dragging a steel pipe along the floor.

“Who the hell are you?”

There was no reason to answer.
Instead, Jun-gyeong kicked him square in the chest.

CRASH!

The man went flying backward before he could even scream.
Only then did the others clutch their knives and charge.

Jun-gyeong kicked the ankle of the man at the front with full force.

THUD!
“Kgh!”

The man screamed as he flipped once through the air and slammed into the floor.
The corridor was too narrow to swing Mukhwa properly.
Jun-gyeong returned Mukhwa to his pocket and picked up the sashimi knife the man had dropped.

Shhk- Shk- Shk-

He severed the shoulder muscles of the first man rushing him, then sliced across the wrist of the arm dropping limp.
Blood sprayed like a fountain as the artery was severed.
Jun-gyeong lowered his stance to avoid the spray and drove the sashimi knife into the throat of the man collapsing to the floor.

THK! SQUELCH-

Still crouched, he shot forward and plunged the knife into another man’s thigh before ripping it free.

THK- SPURT~!

The blade severed an artery there as well, though the man’s trousers kept the blood from spraying freely.
Thud.

As the man’s legs gave out beneath him, Jun-gyeong kicked his head like a soccer ball and took a long step deeper into the corridor.
The men fumbling uselessly with long steel pipes in the narrow corridor were driven backward, bunching together like sheep chased across a field by a sheepdog.

“You bastard!”

One of them cursed and thrust a sashimi knife at him.
Watching the red line visible only to his eyes, Jun-gyeong slightly turned his head and let the blade pass.
Then he drove his own knife into the startled man’s side.

THK-
“Ughhh…”

The man dropped his knife, clutched his side with both hands, and sank to the floor.
Jun-gyeong slit his throat, then moved on to cut the throats of the men standing behind him one after another.

SLASH- SPURT-!!

Blood burst from the collapsing men, pooling until it began to slosh across the corridor floor.

“Grrrr…”

A low animal growl rolled through the corridor.
Behind it stood a hulking figure nearly two meters tall.
Apparently already fully transformed, his bulging muscles were covered in fur above his torn trousers, and sharp fangs clacked together with a metallic sound inside his protruding muzzle.

“A bear after the wolf.”
“GRAAAH-!”

The beastfolk roared and charged.
His massive frame alone seemed to fill the narrow corridor.
Jun-gyeong quickly retreated into the small hall.
He tossed the sashimi knife aside and drew Mukhwa from his pocket once more.
Breaking through a beastfolk’s tough hide required a heavier strike than a sashimi knife could provide.
The bear beastfolk swung claws like chunks of steel.
The blow was aimed at Jun-gyeong’s head.

Shhk-

Jun-gyeong stepped back by barely a handspan, and the claws tore through the air in front of him.
When the attack missed, the beastfolk irritably kicked one of the wooden coffins.

BANG!

Splintered wood flew along with a corpse stiffened hard by rigor mortis.

THUD-!

The Jiangshi struck the wall, fell, and rolled across the floor.
Perhaps because of the impact, the talisman on its forehead came loose and fluttered through the air.

“KRAAGH!!”

With a harsh cry, the Jiangshi sprang upright.

“How troublesome.”

As Jun-gyeong infused Mukhwa with internal energy, a black aura of concentrated Qi began gathering along the blade.
Internal energy was essential if he wanted to cut through a Steel Jiangshi.

“KUAAANG!”

The Steel Jiangshi wasn’t his only enemy.
The bear beastfolk roared as though demanding not to be forgotten and charged at Jun-gyeong.

SHHAAK-!

Mukhwa swept horizontally through the air.
The bear beastfolk’s forepaw dropped uselessly to the floor.

“GRKH!!”

A roar of agony rang out, but Jun-gyeong did not stop.
Holding Mukhwa in a reverse grip, he slipped inside the beastfolk’s reach.
Dropping his stance, he passed beneath the bear’s arm and slammed Mukhwa’s hilt hard into the man’s solar plexus.

THUD!
“Kgh-!”

The beastfolk’s breath stopped as he staggered backward.
The internal-energy-infused strike penetrated his dense muscle and shook his organs.
Jun-gyeong mercilessly stomped down on the staggering beastfolk’s knee.

CRACK-!

With the grotesque sound of bone breaking, the bear beastfolk’s enormous body crashed to the floor.
He writhed in pain and swung his remaining forepaw, but Mukhwa’s keen edge had already passed through his neck.

Shhk-

Blood erupted like a fountain, and through it came the Jiangshi’s twisted face.
Jun-gyeong stepped back to avoid the spray and swung his sword along the arc of blood rising through the air.

SLASH-!

The Jiangshi’s head rolled limply across the floor.
The suited man watching from the end of the corridor recoiled in terror and turned toward the rear exit.

Jun-gyeong surged forward like lightning with internal energy driving his body.
He brutally seized the fleeing man by the back of the head.

CRUNCH! BANG-!

The man’s scalp stretched as though it might tear free before he went tumbling across the blood-soaked corridor.
Jun-gyeong pointed the knife at him and beckoned with it.

“Get up.”
“Y-Yes!”

Everyone except him lay dead.
The man rose trembling like a leaf and dropped to his knees.
There was no way not to be terrified.

Jun-gyeong crouched down and met his eyes.
The man shrank back at the sight of Jun-gyeong’s crimson eyes.

“Did you make those?”
“N-No. The men from China made them.”
“Where are they?”
“In the main laboratory under another building.”

Jun-gyeong frowned.

“I-I’ll show you. Every building covered in ugly spray paint like this one has a laboratory or corpse storage facility underground. And there…”
“Quiet.”
“Y-Yes.”

There was no reason to listen to information he already knew.

THK-

Jun-gyeong drove the knife into the throat of the man staring at him blankly.
“Kgh… Why…?”
“You thought I’d let you live? After leaving things like that?”

Jun-gyeong was looking toward the room they had emerged from.
Bodies lay collapsed inside, with blood pooled across the floor.
The mutilated corpses of people murdered to be used as material for Jiangshi were piled inside.
There was neither reason nor value in allowing these men to live.

Step. Step.

Blood clung wetly to Jun-gyeong’s shoes, but he paid it no mind as he walked back into the hall.

Slash- Slash-

He cut through the necks of the Jiangshi lying in the coffins one by one.
Then he left the building.
There was still no trace of people on the street.
It was as though the entire neighborhood had been completely sealed off from the outside world.
Jun-gyeong’s face twisted like that of an evil spirit.

He immediately turned toward the central park.
More of the unpleasant spray-painted buildings appeared along the way, but the laboratory containing the Chinese perpetrators behind everything happening here came first.

He had just reached a building near the central park when something caught his eye.
Something he hadn’t seen before stood there.

An old man with long gray hair, dressed in a white durumagi¹.
The old man leaned on a staff made of Siberian spindletree wood and gazed at Jun-gyeong.
One corner of Jun-gyeong’s mouth lifted.

“So there really was a great tree here. Are you the Seonghwangsin?²”
“Yes. I greet the King of the Dokkaebi.”

Leaning his unsteady body against the staff, the Seonghwangsin bowed to Jun-gyeong.