Who Am I (1)

Her assault was merciless.

Thwack! Crack!

“Keuk! Gah! Aagh! Kek!”

“Shut up!”

“Uwaaaah! Keheek!”

“I said shut up!”

Crack! Thud! Thud!

Each time the club carved its arc, brilliant sprays of blood scattered through the air.

It was a truly merciless thrashing. She swung without distinction—face, shoulders, torso, legs—beating him in a way even minced meat would not be made.

Seol So-ha’s eyes grew increasingly frenzied.

“You bastard lower than a dog! You fucking bastard, I’ve hated you from the very beginning!”

“Keuk! W-wait… kehhek!”

“Die! Die!”

“Ugh! Ugh!”

“Aaaargh!!”

The more Lee Yong-do screamed, the harder Seol So-ha swung. She had instinctively not infused internal energy into her blows, but each blow carried her full intent.

Lee Yong-do tried to block somehow, but nothing he tried could stop it.

He had only learned an internal cultivation method for health, never truly training. Even if one has abundant internal cultivation, without martial training he was no different from a strong child.

Seol So-ha was counted among Sichuan’s top five prodigies of the future generation. Even without internal energy, her simple clubbing was impossible for a mere drunkard to evade or block.

Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!

It was like a sudden downpour on a cloudless day. In moments, Lee Yong-do’s body was drenched in blood, his finest silk robes shredded to rags.

Jin-hyeon clicked his tongue.

‘Once her eyes roll, she’s no different from a rabid demon.’

Even during the Eight Waste Alliance Leader’s days, there had been such madmen. Some were openly insane, but others were calm until something snapped—and once it did, no one could stop them.

Seol So-ha was clearly the latter.

‘Now I see why this one fears Lady Seol so much.’

Jin-hyeon glanced at Do-min.

Her face was so pale it had gone bluish. Clutching her head, she kept muttering, “What do we do, what do we do?”

Then as if realizing something, she gasped “Ah!”—even her exclamation trembled.

“We need to contact the Patriarch, the Patriarch!”

As if possessed, Do-min turned.

“Quickly, quickly… keh!”

Do-min coughed roughly. Jin-hyeon had seized her collar from behind.

“Don’t make this bigger and stay put.”

“M-Master?”

“Right.”

“What do we do? Ah, the young lady’s causing trouble again! What do we do!”

“I said stay put.”

“She’ll really kill someone like this! The young master of the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild!”

“By the time you run to report to the Patriarch, he’ll have died three times. Why not stop her yourself?”

Do-min shut her mouth. She clearly had no courage to intervene.

Jin-hyeon smirked and glanced at the wealthy heirs huddled together on the stairs leading to the fifth floor.

They, too, seemed to be seized by instinctive fear. The men, all of them, had clustered together and were trembling.

‘Not surprising.’

All of them had dark circles and sallow faces.

At their young age, such unhealthy complexions came only from indulgence in drink. Clearly they were heirs who had never once thrown a fist.

And Seol So-ha was a recognized future generation prodigy of Sichuan. To rush her recklessly would only end with them beaten like the bloodied Lee Yong-do before them.

In any case, no one would stop her, nor act rashly.

Jin-hyeon folded his arms and watched her clubbing.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

By now, Lee Yong-do could no longer even scream. He tried, but only swallowed air.

Seol So-ha seemed at her peak frenzy. Her eyes gleamed with crimson madness, lips curled upward, and her panting breaths carried a strange exhilaration.

It was then.

‘?’

Jin-hyeon’s eyes sharpened. He saw her eyes waver for an instant.

Crash!

The club, about to smash down on his head, instead shattered the window frame.

“Hoo, hoo.”

Breathing hard, Seol So-ha tossed the club aside.

Thud. Thunk-thunk.

The sound of the bloodied club rolling across the floor was chilling.

Seol So-ha took a deep breath.

Wooong.

A faint haze rose from her body.

The savage madness pouring from her began to subside. She was calming her mind and body with her internal cultivation.

“Ggghhh……”

Lee Yong-do, collapsed on his side, let out a strange groan.

Though she hadn’t infused internal energy into her attacks, the fact that he endured without fainting spoke to his endurance. Though fainting might have been kinder.

“……”

A heavy silence settled.

Seol So-ha, her breathing steady, turned her usual indifferent face toward the young men.

“Gasp!”

“Uhh.”

The gathered youths stumbled back involuntarily. One even collapsed with a hiccup.

After watching them for a moment, Seol So-ha turned.

She approached Jin-hyeon and bowed her head.

“My apologies, Teacher Jin.”

Jin-hyeon tilted his head.

“Why apologize?”

“Eh?”

“Don’t tell me you regret it?”

“…No, not exactly.”

“I was the one who told you not to hold back. You’ve nothing to apologize to me for.”

“Still… I must have shown you something disgraceful.”

“It was a bit clumsy.”

Seol So-ha closed her eyes.

“If you lay a hand on someone, you should finish them—what use is leaving them alive so half-heartedly?”

“Eh?”

Seol So-ha and Do-min both turned wide-eyed to Jin-hyeon.

Jin-hyeon was watching Lee Yong-do. Already he was writhing, propping himself on one hand, face twisted in malice.

A chill gathered at the corners of Jin-hyeon’s eyes.

Seol So-ha suddenly felt her heart plummet with a heavy thud.

“Teacher Jin…….”

“But still—it was satisfying.”

“?”

“You’ve quite the knack for thrashing. You could probably turn clubbing into a technique?”

“Ah…”

Seol So-ha felt her cheeks grow hot.

“Anyway, is it over now?”

“Eh? Ah—yes.”

“Hmm.”

Jin-hyeon, who had been watching the writhing Lee Yong-do intently, turned his body

“If it’s finished, let’s go. My belly’s sticking to my spine.”

“Yes.”

The three headed toward the stairway down to the third floor.

It was at that moment.

“Wa… wait… you bastards…….”

The three froze.

“Hurghk! Kahhk!”

After several rough coughs, Lee Yong-do slumped his upper body against the wall by the window.

“Huff! Huff!”

With his nose broken, he could only breathe through his mouth. His blood-soaked, sagging figure was wretched.

But the light in his eyes hadn’t died. One eye was swollen shut, but the other blazed with vicious malice.

“You guys are now…… dead.”

Seol So-ha turned to him.

Her eyes no longer held frenzy—only her usual indifference.

Panting, Lee Yong-do continued.

“You dare lay hands on the son of the great Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild? Pah! You’re finished. With our connections, we could grind the Seol Clan to dust without leaving a cornerstone.”

Wooong.

A faint shimmer rose again around Seol So-ha’s body.

Do-min and the other youths went pale. Was she about to unleash that savage madness again?

Amazingly, Lee Yong-do didn’t flinch. At least, not outwardly.

“Fuck—what? Gonna hit me again? Go on then, you bitch.”

“……”

“Heh, you can’t, can you? Damn slut! Get on your knees now, beg like a dog. If your apology pleases me, I’ll at least toss your father and brother enough coin to survive when I cast you lot out.”

“……”

“But not you. You’ll serve as my maid until you die. Spend your life licking my toes, you wretch.”

Lee Yong-do chuckled hideously, as if it were the funniest thing.

It was then.

Step.

Seol So-ha’s eyes wavered. Jin-hyeon was already striding past her toward Lee Yong-do.

“Teacher Jin?!”

Without a word, Jin-hyeon crouched before him.

Lee Yong-do glared.

“You bastard, what are you doing?”

Jin-hyeon set his hand on Lee Yong-do’s ankle.

At that faint touch, an inexplicable chill made Lee Yong-do flinch.

“W-what?”

“Is that true?”

“What?”

“That you’d use the Mighty Tiger Merchant Guild to crush the Seol Clan. I’m asking if you truly meant that?”

“Crazy bastard! You think I’d lie about that?”

“Then it seems we’re already enemies?”

For an instant, Lee Yong-do’s face drained pale.

At the same time, Jin-hyeon’s pitch-black pupils slowly shifted to a pale green.

“Ghk!!”

Lee Yong-do sucked in a gasp of empty air.

Brrr.

His limbs began to tremble.

It was primal fear—the terror that he truly might die. A fear no living being could help but succumb to.

Seol So-ha’s frenzy was frightening, but never deadly. He had been sure she wouldn’t kill him.

But this man was different.

That undefinable gaze, it was clear that he valued Lee Yong-do’s life no more than a broken table.

Lee Yong-do screamed in panic.

“I-if you kill me, my father won’t stand for it!”

“Is that so?”

“Y-yes!”

“And if I don’t? You’ll gather connections and topple the Seol Clan anyway?”

“!!”

“If you’ll strike either way, why should I let you live?”

Jin-hyeon’s fingers curled around his left ankle.

Lee Yong-do panicked.

“W-wait! Wait a moment!”

“Why?”

“B-because…”

“You’re going to apologize?”

“?!”

“That works too. If you truly apologize, I’ll spare your life.”

Lee Yong-do’s face twisted hideously.

Staring at him, Jin-hyeon filled his hand with Body-Refining Qi.

‘Beggar bones.’

Crunch!

“Gyaaaaaaah!”

His right ankle snapped clean.

Seol So-ha’s beating had been savage, but she hadn’t broken bones.

The pain of a sound bone shattering was beyond imagination; Lee Yong-do’s face flushed red with agony.

Jin-hyeon shook out his hand. Pouring out too much internal energy at once had left his fingers tingling.

“Teacher Jin!”

Seol So-ha hurried up and stopped him.

“Please, stop.”

“Why?”

“Eh?”

Jin-hyeon stood and looked at her.

At that moment, Seol So-ha felt her words catch in her throat. His expression and gaze were terribly severe.

It was as if she were standing before a towering elder of the martial world. Unknowingly, she swallowed dryly.

Jin-hyeon spoke in a grave voice.

“To have strength and still know restraint is admirable. But there’s no need to endure when faced with insult like this.”

“Teacher Jin, he isn’t worth dealing with further.”

“This one insulted and threatened the clan that granted me grace.”

“…Teacher Jin.”

“Even a beast knows to repay kindness. I am human. That’s why I’m angry.”

“Still, please stop.”

“This wretch dared put your father and brother in his mouth.”

“!!”

“In the martial world, a mere word can cost a man his head, and a single heartfelt apology can clear a life’s debt. An insult to me alone I could ignore, but once family is mentioned, it cannot be overlooked.”

Seol So-ha’s eyes wavered.

Jin-hyeon’s gaze was clear, showing deeper, firmer conviction than ever before.

“In this world, nothing is more precious than parents and siblings.”

“……”

“I respect your choice. Were it me, I’d have killed him there. If a beating was your choice, so be it. But this man has crossed the line.”

“…Teacher Jin.”

“Do you fear repercussions?”

“……”

“If so, then you shouldn’t have struck him at all. You should’ve let his insults pass. But once you struck, you should have finished it.”

Jin-hyeon pressed his foot against Lee Yong-do’s neck.

Hwaaaah!

Both their faces went pale. The killing aura pouring from Jin-hyeon’s body was terrifying.

“From the look of it, you’re fated to die by your tongue. Forget apologies, just go set up your drinking table in the underworld.”

Lee Yong-do squeezed his eyes shut.

“I’m sorry!”

“……”

“I-I’m sorry! I was wrong!”

Jin-hyeon stared silently at him.

Trembling violently, Lee Yong-do fell silent. Jin-hyeon pressed down harder.

“Ghhk! I’m sorr—!”

“To whom.”

“?!”

“To whom, in what way, and for what reason. Recite it before I reach ten.”

“!!”

“For the record, I don’t count past two. One.”

“To Lady Seol! To Lady Seol and this great hero, I’ve committed a grave discourtesy! I thought I was being belittled! I lost my temper and cursed!”

“Two.”

“Please! I’ll never do it again! I won’t even set foot in this district again, great hero!”

“Ten.”

“Kheuhhh! Please, spare me!”

Dribble.

His trousers grew damp. He had pissed himself from fear.

Jin-hyeon looked down at him and kicked him in the face.

With a thud, Lee Yong-do lost consciousness. His jaw was cracked, but he wasn’t dead.

Jin-hyeon shrugged toward Seol So-ha.

“I meant to kill him, but he apologized. In the end, it turned out just as you wished.”

Seol So-ha, eyes still troubled, gave the faintest smile. Although this was no time to smile, it came out.

“So you do know how to smile?”

“Did I smile?”

“This pavilion suits wealthy brats, not me. Buy me dumplings instead.”

“As you wish.”

Thus, the three left Purple Blue Pavilion.

Off to the side, the shivering youths sank down in relief, sighing heavily.