That’s How I Feel Now. (3)

Grandfather and granddaughter were being dragged side by side in a pitiable state.

Large, heavy-set boys gripped them by the shoulders on either side.

“…My noodles.”

Yu Seol sounded genuinely regretful about the noodles she’d left behind.

At that, the two boys holding them doubled over with laughter.

“Heh heh. Did you even have money to buy noodles? You were just going to eat and run, weren’t you?”

“Leave her be. We’ll search her and we’ll find out.”

There was no humiliation like this. When had they ever suffered such disgrace?

Tears sprang to Yu Seol’s eyes.

• Grandpa, how long do we have to put up with this?

At his granddaughter’s telepathic words, Yu Jinsan replied calmly, as if admonishing her.

• Consider this part of your training and endure it. Can’t you even bear this much, child?

• They keep calling us beggars.

• Only those who can control their anger and wait for the right moment become admirable.

• I don’t want to be admirable. I’ll pull out all their front teeth and make them look like beggars.

• Oh ho!?

Yu Seol burned with fury but held back—there had to be a reason her grandfather spoke like that.

Indeed, Yu Jinsan hadn’t been dragged along thoughtlessly.

He thought: thanks to these crazy kids, this will probably be resolved easily.

By the look of it, the one striding ahead was likely a direct blood relative of the Tang family. If he bore the title “Young Master,” he might be the lord’s son. They planned to use him to lure out the Tang family’s warriors and pick them off separately.

A moment later, the young master who had been leading them stopped in front of a secluded pavilion.

There was no sign of life inside; it seemed to be used as a storage room.

When the door opened, a dark space with straw mats spread across the floor appeared.

In the corner, several boxes were neatly stacked and chairs lay scattered.

This was probably their hideout.

If ordinary kids had been brought here, they’d be trembling with fear.

But Yu Jinsan and his granddaughter weren’t afraid; they merely frowned, as if daring the others to see how far they’d go.

“Tie them up.”

At the young master’s command, the boys began binding the Yin Yang Twin Monster to a chair. For some reason, the two didn’t resist at all.

Yu Jinsan, who had been watching silently, glanced down and noticed bloodstains on the floor.

It seemed this wasn’t the first time someone had been dragged here.

This had crossed ordinary children’s mischief; it was something worse.

“Who said it’s okay to kidnap people and bully them like this?”

Yu Jinsan scolded them, but it did no good.

He looked no older than ten, even shorter than his granddaughter. The contrast with the large boys before them was laughable.

“But this brat’s way of speaking is kinda annoying.”

When the young master held out his hand, someone brought a thin rope.

Judging by the bloodstains along its length, it had been used as a whip.

“You’re not seriously going to hit us with that, are you?”

“Right. You know your stuff.”

“Huh… Isn’t it customary to ask who we are before that?”

The young master, gripping the whip, looked like a predator savoring prey.

He wrapped the rope twice around his right hand and muttered, “Not really curious.”

From that remark, Yu Jinsan knew: they hadn’t intended to punish trespassers. They’d been looking for someone to vent on.

He hadn’t imagined children could be this cruel.

“They’re crazy. To think they’d try to harm us without even checking who we are…”

Before he finished, the whip moved.

“That little runt is talking like an old man. It’s disgusting.”

Yu Jinsan was momentarily speechless.

No matter how much an outer whip struck him, it wouldn’t pierce his skin. Wasn’t he an absolute warrior who’d mastered the Vajra Indestructible Divine Arts?

Perhaps because he didn’t cry out, the boys tested him further. The whip snapped repeatedly.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

The young master’s grin split his face; he was smiling, but the smile was unhinged.

“Endure? Endure? Keep enduring then.”

Yu Jinsan showed no groan, no change in expression.

“Does your father know about this sick hobby of yours? Or has he given up on you?”

“Y-you little… what did you just say?”

The whip’s blows intensified.

“Y-Young master, he’ll die if you keep this up.”

“…The lord said he’d have no mercy if this happens again.”

The others tried to intervene, but the whipping didn’t stop. From their murmurs, someone had been killed this way before.

“Shut up!”

The blows continued with force enough to fell an ordinary person.

Yet Yu Jinsan remained calm.

“Fine, hit me all you want. I’ll return it to your father the same number of hits I take.”

No sooner had he said it than the whip stopped.

Had they realized something was wrong? Panic flickered across the young master’s face.

“W-who the hell are you…”

At that moment, Yu Seol, who had been watching nearby, murmured softly.

“Sixteen hits. I counted them for sure.”

That was how many times her grandfather had been struck.

Yu Jinsan closed his eyes briefly, cooling the rising anger; otherwise he’d kill the kids on the spot.

The young master and his followers misread his composure.

“Is he… dead?”

“Seems like it, doesn’t it?”

“Of course. There’s no way someone could be fine after that much beating.”

“But what about her?”

All eyes turned to Yu Seol, still tied to a chair.

The young master’s mouth curved up again; his eyes, glinting with madness, scanned her.

“Looks like you’re hiding something under your clothes?”

He reached for her collar, but froze and let go when Yu Jinsan opened his eyes.

“That’s far enough. Seeing young brats like you grow bold with utter recklessness pisses me off.”

At the same time, the ropes binding him began to snap one by one.

Snap! Snap!

“Y-you…”

The young master stared as if he’d seen a ghost.

To break ropes by sheer strength—impossible without tremendous inner power.

The girl then snapped hers with a single motion.

Tuttuttut!

Nightmarish things unfolded before their eyes.

While everyone gaped in shock, Yu Seol quietly asked her grandfather.

“Grandpa. I don’t have to hold back anymore, do I?”

Yu Jinsan wasn’t one to coddle youth.

If you deserved a beating, take it; if you deserved death, meet it. He had no useless pity—that was the martial world’s rule.

He nodded slowly.

“All right. These rascals don’t deserve to be treated as people. Do as you wish.”

After speaking, he strolled toward the storage entrance as if nothing could stop him.

No one tried to.

Because the enraged Yin Monster was grinding his teeth.

“What did you say to me earlier?”

The young master and his four followers froze like statues.

Especially the young master; he looked utterly shaken. He’d likely never met an equal among his peers.

But no matter their skill, how could they withstand the force of the Profound Realm?

They could barely draw breath.

“I’ll make beggars out of you too.”

“D-do you know who I am? If you touch me…”

Before he finished, Yu Seol’s fist struck the young master’s philtrum.

She moved so fast the punch was invisible.

Two front teeth flew out as a horrific scream split the air.

“Kyaaaah!”

The Tang family’s young master wailed as if in newfound agony, clutching his face even as blood seeped through his fingers.

Yu Jinsan, blocking the warehouse entrance, snorted and muttered, “Serves you right, brat. You liked tormenting others—how does it feel to be on the receiving end?”

The toothless-faced young master screamed in fury.

“Attack quickly, you idiots!”

No one obeyed. Fear had paralyzed them.

The four flinched and backed away, but Yu Seol showed no mercy.

As if creating a mirage, she vanished.

In an instant, four striking sounds rang out simultaneously.

Chak! Kwang!!

Eight teeth flew like popping corn—front teeth, all of them.

Split lips and bloodied faces; more than pain, overwhelming fear tormented them.

With each step Yu Seol advanced, the boys retreated.

“Ugh!”

“Guh!”

“Aah! P-please spare me…”

Cornered against the wall, the five cowered. Yu Seol tightened her gaze and asked, “There are still eleven hits left. Who wants to take them?”

Her grandfather had received sixteen blows. Since the five had each taken one, eleven remained.

Each blow could break teeth—who would dare accept them?

No one did.

In a blind panic, the young master grabbed two boys and shoved them forward.

It was pointless.

The two stumbled two steps and collapsed with a muffled plop.

You couldn’t see how they’d been struck; from their crooked jaws, it was clear they’d been felled.

Whether unconscious or dead was anyone’s guess.

Yu Seol murmured, regret flickering across her face, “Only ten hits left now. Want to split them up and take a few each?”

The count had only dropped by one—she’d felled two with a single punch.

The young master’s face drained of color.

The situation felt unreal. If it were a dream, he wanted to wake, but the pain on his face was undeniably real.

He fumbled for a plan but found none.

“I-I’ll bring my father! Didn’t you say you’d return the hits to my father on my behalf?”

This was the answer Yu Jinsan had been waiting for. Even if they hadn’t offered, he intended to force it from them.

“This kid will go far—selling out his parents to save his own skin.”

The young master pleaded as if his dignity meant nothing.

“If you let me go, I’ll fetch him right now.”

“Hmm. Is your father’s name Tang So-cheon?”

They’d heard from Southern Edge Sect’s elder Hyun Ho that he was the region’s finest warrior. The young master shook his head.

“T-that man is my private teacher.”

There was a separate head of the family; Tang So-cheon seemed to be his younger brother. There was no true family tie.

Yu Jinsan pointed to someone else and shoved him forward.

“You—go and fetch both of them.”

“M-me?”

“Yes, you. Go quickly and tell them: the Yin Yang Twin Monster is waiting here.”

The children’s eyes narrowed to slits.

“…Th-the Yin Yang Twin Monster from Shaanxi?”

Their reputation apparently reached Sichuan.

Even though Sichuan bordered Shaanxi, it surprised Yu Jinsan that these kids knew of them.

“Shut up and go fetch them. If they’re not here within an hour, I’ll kill this brat—whatever his title is—first.”