Chapter 36 – Do Not Blame Others!

Across the desk, Park Seo-geon, who had been radiating the vibe of an ‘ordinary-looking but actually underworld boss,’ sprayed a nosebleed and fell backward.

Before the subordinates could rush in, Se-min grabbed the desk and threw it backward.

While the men were being blocked, Se-min grabbed Park Seo-geon by the collar, hit him once more, and then gripped him by the neck.

“Hey, back off if you don’t want to see your boss die.”

The subordinates hesitated and stepped back.

Park Seo-geon said while blood streamed down.

“Y-you, what on earth are you doing right now…”

“Shut up.”

Park Seo-geon shut his mouth immediately. Perhaps because he had difficulty breathing due to the nosebleed, he gasped through his mouth. Se-min’s sleeve was soaked with blood.

“Don’t come closer. Or your boss dies.”

“This bastard!”

“Yeah, I’m a son of the Lee family.”

Once he actually committed the act, the number of enemies was large. Although there was no expert who reached Se-min’s level, because they were guys who did business with Raiders in their own way, quite a few aura-compatible individuals were mixed among them.

They threatened Se-min.

“Release our boss if you don’t want to die!”

Se-min smirked.

“Guys. I am a Platinum Mark.”

At those words, the subordinates fell silent.

“Why don’t you guys step aside if you don’t want to end up dead?”

Se-min was a South Korean Platinum Mark Raider in name and reality. That meant he was at the very top of the Raider pyramid, and there were only five Raiders officially recognized as stronger than him.

Half-baked ones would die in a single strike.

“To commit such an outrageous act!”

“If you have a problem with it, call the police. Should I call them for you? Should I have the Raider Mobile Unit big brothers run over with clubs?”

“Grrr…”

Se-min had the upper hand in both justification and force. Se-min became triumphant.

“How is it that you have nothing else to sell, so you sell drugs! Do you not know that drugs are a cancer that eats away at society!”

Se-min shouted and walked toward the entrance, dragging Park Seo-geon. The subordinates backed away. A few stubborn ones glared at Se-min with resentful eyes and did not budge.

Se-min patted Park Seo-geon on the cheek.

“Hey. Tell them to step aside. If they don’t want to die. And tell them to bring my weapon too.”

Aura gathered in Se-min’s palm. Park Seo-geon, completely cowed, spoke.

“Do as this guy says.”

The claymore was returned to Se-min.

When he left the room, the hallway was tangled like a cave. Se-min, who was about to leave this place, paused for a moment.

“Where is the Gift? Bring it out.”

“Ugh…”

Se-min decided to grab a box of Gift to present to Kim Gyu-jin.

Park Seo-geon pointed in one direction without a word. Se-min walked toward that direction. The gang members followed stealthily. Se-min left them alone.

Soon, they arrived at a room. Unlike other places, it was firmly closed with an iron door. It was even equipped with a security system that did not suit a basement, and they could enter only after Park Seo-geon verified his iris and fingerprint.

The door opened.

Inside, plastic-sealed boxes were stacked, and other than that, it was empty.

Se-min opened a box and put a pack of gathered Gift into his chest pocket.

“Now, let’s go outside.”

Park Seo-geon nodded.

An anxious look could be felt.

Se-min whispered to him as they passed through the subordinates lining up outside again.

“What, are you anxious because your reinforcements are late?”

“…”

Looking at Park Seo-geon’s expression, his guess was correct.

The fact that they dealt with Raiders meant they had the confidence to face them in times of emergency. The one who opened the trade with him was Kim Jeong-hwan, and he was also a top-class Raider.

In that case, what kind of opponent would be their backer? A Platinum Raider in the same boat as them, or perhaps Kim Jeong-hwan could come.

Anxiety and expectation were strangely mixed.

“Lead me outside.”

Se-min put strength into his hand gripping Park Seo-geon’s neck. Park Seo-geon’s pace quickened. They soon climbed the stairs and reached the outside.

It was a ruin.

Their facility was hidden under the skeleton of a building whose construction had been suspended.

Se-min slammed Park Seo-geon onto the concrete floor. Then, he aimed the claymore at his neck. Park Seo-geon took a step back.

“What is your relationship with the Limitless Association?”

“The Limitless Association?”

“Yeah.”

“W-what are you talking about. I don’t know what it is, but it has nothing to do with me.”

“So you’re keeping your mouth shut.”

Se-min pulled something out.

It was a throwing star.

It belonged to the guys who had attacked Se-min when their tailing was caught in the past. Although there was no specific marking, Se-min had kept one.

“Some guys threw this at me.”

His eyes widened.

“That…”

“It seems you know what it is? The guys working under you threw it.”

Park Seo-geon did not open his mouth further with fearful eyes. Se-min stepped on his chest and pointed his sword. Park Seo-geon’s subordinates, who had followed them out, began to surround them.

Se-min did not care and pressed the claymore against Park Seo-geon’s neck. Blood spread in a thin line. He shook his head with a blood-stained face.

“I really don’t know anything about it. I have no connection with a place like the Limitless Association.”

“Then why did your subordinates tail me?”

“They are not my subordinates.”

“Then?”

“They are…”

Park Seo-geon could not bring himself to open his mouth further. Se-min put weight on his foot. He let out a suppressed groan. The subordinates hesitated. Se-min saw Park Seo-geon stealing a glance in a strange way. He was waiting for something.

Should he leave like this, or should he meet the opponent Park Seo-geon trusted in?

Se-min thought for a moment.

His dilemma was interrupted by others.

Se-min stepped back. A dagger flew and embedded itself where he had been standing. Park Seo-geon, who was grazed by the throwing star, was startled.

“He’s here! He’s here!”

Park Seo-geon ran to his subordinates. Se-min did not stop him. Instead, he stared in the direction the attack had come from.

A man was walking over.

He was a man around Se-min’s age wearing black pants, a black shirt, and a completely black outfit. The scabbard he held was also entirely black.

The force Park Seo-geon trusted in was that guy.

“Hey.”

Se-min called out to him. He did not reply and drew his sword. It was a traditional Hwando. A cold sword light shone.

“Are you ignoring me?”

He said nothing.

After drawing his sword and scanning it once.

He swung the sword right in front of Se-min’s nose.

It was an immense speed that pried into space. Se-min raised his claymore and blocked it. As if he had already anticipated it, the man twisted the blade and thrust into Se-min’s opening.

He dodged to the side but was slightly cut on his flank. His Sukajan was torn apart and a stream of blood flowed down.

Se-min shook his claymore and looked at him.

He was strong.

In terms of Raiders, he was definitely at the level of a Platinum Mark.

Se-min had no idea where such a man had appeared from. The Platinum Mark was not a very common stage. Those interested in Raiders could memorize Platinum Mark Raiders by heart like memorizing soccer players. And as far as Se-min knew, there was no such thing as a Platinum-grade powerhouse who was not active as a Raider.

But Se-min did not feel that this man was a Raider.

“What a brutal bastard.”

Technique.

It was a technique trained to kill humans.

A Raider’s mission was always to deal with magic beasts. Player-versus-player combat and raids were different. Thus, even when sparring with Hyeon Jae-yeong or other Raiders, he felt a sense of mismatch somewhere.

However, this man’s sword targeted humans thoroughly.

“Where are you from?”

Se-min asked while scanning him, but he was still silent.

Park Seo-geon’s group was now standing far away and watching their fight.

No matter the situation, they would not want to miss this fight. A Platinum Mark Raider positioned at the very top of the Raider ranks and a powerhouse corresponding to that level held swords to kill each other.

It was a scene hard to witness even if one paid a thousand gold.

Se-min smiled.

Since there was an audience, it rather livened up the mood.

Se-min focused on the enemy in front of him. The man’s eyes were quiet. He was someone accustomed to life-or-death battles. He had probably killed many people as well.

An ordinary Raider would not be able to cope with this man and would offer their neck. Raiders were those who dealt with magic beasts cooperatively after taking procedures and preparing, not fighters who clashed swords to kill people.

But Se-min was different.

He was a survivor of another world.

Se-min raised the claymore with one hand and swung it widely. Aura spread in a fan shape. The man leaped. Se-min also kicked off the ground and followed.

The claymore advanced straight toward the man’s abdomen. The claymore was longer than his Hwando. Se-min’s sword would reach first.

However, the man kicked off the empty air to change direction and avoided the attack. Se-min’s sword pierced the empty air.

Se-min’s face stiffened.

Se-min looked back. The man, after stepping on the empty air again, was attacking Se-min’s back. Se-min did not just take it either. He jumped up one more time.

Their expressions overlapped.

The two were in the middle of being surprised after realizing the same thing.

A lightness skill that allowed one to kick the air and move freely in empty space.

Cloud-Ascending Steps.

The two were using very similar martial arts.

Se-min and the man stared at each other in the air.

“Who are you?”

He opened his mouth for the first time. His pronunciation was slightly clumsy. Se-min noticed that he was a foreigner.

“I am Lee Se-min.”

“Where did you learn that?”

Rather, Se-min wanted to ask. The man’s momentum became ferocious. A will to hear the answer even by force could be felt.

That expression was so terrifying that Se-min ended up confessing.

“I learned it from Dokgo Cheonma big brother.”

“Who is that?”

“He is a big brother I met on the internet.”

“Arrogant Bangzi!”

But he did not believe it. Se-min was angered by his racist remark and counterattacked.

“You Chinese bastard!”

The two landed on the ground and rushed toward each other.

Sword qi approached each other. The two swords did not meet but crossed. Se-min raised his protective aura and ignored the enemy’s attack. It was right before they would cut each other.

The one who backed off was the opponent. The man eventually gave up the attack and twisted his body. The two swords sliced through the empty air.

Se-min ridiculed him.

“You’re a fellow lacking grit.”

“That is not martial arts!”

The man seemed rather angered by Se-min’s ignorant way of fighting.

“You have no qualification. You are not a martial artist, but a butcher who grapples with monsters.”

He was a guy who cared about formalities and even had an unknown pride despite using a sword that killed people.

Se-min admitted those words because he had never particularly regarded himself as a martial artist.

“That’s right. But you are being beaten by that butcher. So you are less than a butcher…”

Se-min thought of the most insulting word possible. He was about to say untouchable, but it felt like too much of a discriminatory word, so he looked for another word.

“A bug.”

The man’s face distorted.

His aura blazed up.

It was truly an explosion of anger.

At that brutal momentum, Se-min withdrew his statement.

“I-I take it back.”

However, it was already spilled milk.

The man strode toward Se-min with a stiff face.

“Say it again.”

Se-min cleared his throat.

“Sorry. I’ll take it back. Saying bug was a bit too much, right?”

However, he was already filled with killing intent. His sword lunged toward Se-min’s neck. Se-min parried it with his claymore. Using the recoil from being deflected, the opponent spun once and slammed his elbow into Se-min’s abdomen.

Se-min clutched his abdomen and backed away.

Bitter bile rose in his throat.

Se-min smirked and spun the claymore round and round.

“I cancel the cancellation. You are dead today.”

“Shut your mouth. I will show you what true swordsmanship is.”

The man took a stance. Aura gathered on his sword. Although it was a sword made of steel, it fluttered. The principle of ‘softness overcoming hardness’ () was contained within it. No matter how Se-min attacked, it would orbit like a feather and pierce his body.

But it was clumsy.

It was a strangely familiar sight to Se-min.

“Hey, friend.”

Se-min raised his claymore and walked toward him. Tai Chi Wisdom was aligning with Se-min’s will.

It was time to show that guy what the real thing was.

Grand Purity Sword Method.

Se-min’s claymore advanced slowly. The man’s sword, which should have deflected Se-min’s sword and thrust into an opening, was sucked toward Se-min’s sword as if drawn by a magnet. The man lost his balance.

Se-min emitted the energy he had absorbed once again.

The condensed aura burst out.

The man was blown back.

He bled from a cut on his face caused by his own sword.

The man sat on the floor and stared at Se-min. His face was filled with shock.

Se-min smirked with the claymore resting on his shoulder.

“Were you surprised?”

But Se-min was even more surprised by the action the man took next.

He prostrated himself before Se-min.

“I greet the senior of Wudang!”

Just as Se-min was surprised, Park Seo-geon and his gang members who were watching were also surprised.

Se-min called out to the man.

“Excuse me?”

He remained on one knee and did not lift his head.

Se-min kicked the man’s face.

“Keo-heok!”

The man rolled on the ground. Se-min approached him, holding his claymore. The man backed away, shuffling while bleeding from his nose and mouth.

“S-Senior…!”

“I am not your senior, so pick up your sword.”

“That… Otherwise, how could you use the martial arts of Wudang…!”

“Are all the martial arts in the world yours?”

Se-min had a clear master named Dokgo Cheonma.

“Guys who sell drugs in another country certainly care a lot about seniors and juniors.”

At those words, the man could not refute and gritted his teeth. He had a somewhat embarrassed face. Se-min pointed his sword at him.

“Get up. The fight is not over yet.”

He looked up at Se-min, then soon spat out blood once and stood up.

“Fine. What happened can be heard after subduing you.”

Unlike someone who had been kneeling and calling him senior just now, he was acting tough again.

The man’s momentum became fierce again. Although Se-min had countered the opponent’s martial art with the Grand Purity Sword Method, it seemed he still had many unknown martial arts left.

His figure swayed. It was an illusion () to confuse the opponent’s eyes.

His appearance looked as if it had multiplied into several. His blade advanced toward Se-min from all directions.

Se-min twisted the corner of his mouth.

“Clumsy tricks.”

The energy of Tai Chi Wisdom rose grandly from his body.

Se-min, and his master Dokgo Cheonma, did not like such trashy techniques. Deceiving the enemy and blinding their eyes was merely a temporary stroke of luck.

True martial arts () cut the opponent’s real body.

He caught the scent of the enemy. Tai Chi Wisdom captured the enemy in an instant. Although divided into multiple afterimages, that guy smiling with satisfaction on Se-min’s left was the real one.

Se-min swung the claymore horizontally. The opponent’s sword was deflected. The afterimages scattered. Se-min raised his sword again and cut vertically.

He blocked it desperately.

Se-min thrust his sword.

Three attacks.

A horizontal cut, a vertical cut, and a thrust.

Three Talents Swordplay.

The man’s neck was caught on the tip of the sword. The man’s eyes trembled. As Se-min pushed the claymore forward, blood trickled down from his neck.

“Not bad, but it lacks depth.”

“Kh…”

“Drop your sword.”

He dropped his sword.

Once the man was subdued, the rest went smoothly. Park Seo-geon and his gang also gathered according to Se-min’s instructions.

Se-min gathered them and crossed his arms.

“What is your name?”

The man whose sword had been confiscated had a face as if he had lost everything.

“I am Cheongmyeong.”

“You speak Korean well. Did you learn it at a language school?”

“I attended the Global Language Institute in Beijing.”

Se-min nodded.

“So you, Cheongmyeong, are a gangster bastard from China, right?”

A look of resentment appeared in Cheongmyeong’s eyes.

“Confess about your organization.”

“I cannot speak.”

“Pretending to have grit despite being a gangster bastard.”

Cheongmyeong sprang up from his seat.

Se-min stared back at him and raised his chin.

“What?”

“…”

Cheongmyeong slowly lowered his eyes and crouched on the floor again. Since he had even lost his sword, he could not win no matter how much more he fought. Se-min hit him on the head. Cheongmyeong gritted his teeth and vowed revenge.

Se-min turned to Park Seo-geon.

“Park Seo-geon. How do you guys supply this thing called Gift?”

Having seen Cheongmyeong being subdued, he answered smoothly.

“We smuggle it by ship.”

“It’s a drug, but you don’t get caught?”

“We’ve already bribed everyone. We just receive the goods and sell them. It’s true.”

“Talk about that at the police station.”

“Please let me off just once. If it’s money, as much as you want…”

When he clung, Se-min kicked him away. He tumbled to the floor. The gang members supported him. It seemed he had some popularity among the gang members.

Se-min shook his head. The world was like this. Everyone lived pretending to be a good guy in their own domain.

Like that bastard Jin Bu-sik.

“Do you only deal in Gift? You don’t do organ trafficking or human trafficking, right?”

“We don’t do things like that.”

“That means there are guys who do. Good grief. Then what do you guys do?”

“We handle things sold on the black market. Stolen goods, smuggled goods…”

Se-min kicked Park Seo-geon.

“Eok!”

“You do every single illegal thing.”

He gestured to the gang members with his chin.

“All of you guys crawl back into the basement, and you and Cheongmyeong, you bastard, guide me.”

“To where are you referring?”

“Your warehouse.”

Se-min furrowed his brow.

“I must see with my own eyes what on earth you guys are doing.”

Threatening them with his sword, Se-min locked the gang members in the basement and put Cheongmyeong and Park Seo-geon in the car.

Park Seo-geon drove, and Se-min and Cheongmyeong sat in the back. Se-min grabbed Park Seo-geon’s neck from behind.

“If you do anything funny, I will kill you immediately.”

Park Seo-geon nodded with a pale face.

Cheongmyeong, who had been quiet, spoke.

“Fasten the seatbelt for me.”

Because he was a dangerous person, his hands were bound with cable ties by Se-min, so he could not fasten the belt himself. Se-min shook his head.

“Are you afraid of an accident?”

“It’s the basics.”

“If an accident happens, just die. You gangster bastard.”

Se-min said as he fastened his own seatbelt. Cheongmyeong’s eyes grew even more furious. Se-min did not care.

“Now, let’s go.”

Park Seo-geon stepped on the accelerator. The car moved forward. Se-min closely watched where he was going.

Park Seo-geon drove steadily.

***

They arrived at an unexpected place. Se-min’s eyes widened. It was a place where containers of all sorts of colors were stacked.

The container yard of the port.

They got out of the car and entered inside through a back path. The employees there pretended not to see Park Seo-geon even when they saw him.

Although it was easy to get confused because only similar containers were stacked, Park Seo-geon guided them to the destination without any sign of difficulty.

“Since keeping a warehouse or something will get caught eventually, we rotate containers.”

Park Seo-geon stopped. He opened the container door. Then, items stacked inside could be seen. There were also several Gift boxes like the ones Se-min had seen.

“Is this all?”

“Right now, there are three containers, so there are two more.”

“How do you handle these items?”

There were unidentified antiques, gold bars, and bundles of cash. Se-min looked at Park Seo-geon. He shook his head.

“I don’t know either. Other than the Gift, I only play the role of delivering them…”

“Delivering? To where?”

“…”

Perhaps because he could not answer that, Park Seo-geon bit his lip.

Se-min smirked. It did not matter. Anyway, Kim Gyu-jin would handle the details.

Se-min went inside and examined the goods. Artworks and such were also well-packaged, but he could not tell how precious they were.

“So all of this is smuggled goods?”

“Yes.”

Se-min glanced at Cheongmyeong.

He was quietly watching Se-min with his arms crossed.

Somehow, his expression was different.

Rather than a resentful face like earlier, it was a look of suppressing his emotions. Se-min thought he was a guy who easily swung between joy and grief, and tore open a box placed in front of him.

Martial arts books came out. They were not worn-out volumes like those in movies, but cleanly bound items. A USB was also included. He wondered if these were being handed over to the Limitless Association. Se-min opened a book.

It was entirely in Chinese and he could not understand it, so he closed it again.

“Hey, Cheongmyeong.”

He did not reply.

“Hey?”

Cheongmyeong was not looking at him.

Se-min realized.

He immediately ran outside holding the claymore.

“Arrogant Bangzi.”

Cheongmyeong prattled again with a triumphant face.

Outside, a man dressed in the same outfit as Cheongmyeong was standing. Se-min instinctively realized that he was stronger than Cheongmyeong. The momentum radiating from him was extraordinary.

Would he be able to win if they clashed?

He raised the claymore.

He could not know.

Not knowing meant the probability of losing was greater. For Se-min, he could not guess what stage that man was at.

He looked to be around middle age, and there was no expression on his face. It was not a look of forcing it hidden like Cheongmyeong, but of being truly calm.

He drew his sword without a word. It was the same Hwando as Cheongmyeong’s.

“Then again, there’s no way they would have dispatched only a weakling like you.”

In Raider terms, he would be in the upper ranks of even the Platinum Marks. Perhaps he was at the threshold of the Black Mark. Se-min slowly aimed the claymore. Tai Chi Wisdom flickered.

He said something in Chinese. Cheongmyeong translated.

“He asks where your sect is.”

“There is no such thing.”

“He says not to lie. Where did you learn that aura method?”

Se-min smirked.

“I told you. I learned it on the internet.”

Cheongmyeong conveyed his words. The man’s expression distorted minutely. He shouted something.

“He calls you an arrogant Bangzi!”

Before Se-min could snap back at Cheongmyeong, the man rushed in. He was fast. Se-min barely managed to raise the claymore and block.

The swords of the two clashed.

Se-min kept getting pushed back.

Se-min looked around. There were civilians in the container yard. Clashing swords would soon catch other people’s eyes.

As aura blazed from Se-min’s and the man’s swords, the employees working in the yard screamed and fled.

“You, where did you learn the martial arts of Wudang!”

Cheongmyeong shouted from behind the man.

Even while exchanging offense and defense with the man, Se-min gave the middle finger. Cheongmyeong flew into a rage and shouted something in Chinese.

Se-min clicked his tongue inwardly as he backed away.

The man was strong.

He was a man who seemed exactly like what Cheongmyeong would become if he evolved in every aspect. His killing intent was stronger, and his swordsmanship was also sophisticated. He did not rely on clumsy tricks and swung his sword steadily.

Se-min’s back touched a container.

There was nowhere else to retreat.

Se-min gritted his teeth and stepped forward. He loaded the aura of Tai Chi Wisdom to the maximum. His claymore vibrated. He tried to suppress it as much as possible, but unable to withstand the output, the aura leaked out and billowed.

The man also prepared his own move.

They clashed with everything they had.

The opponent kicked off the ground, flew, and struck down toward Se-min, while Se-min slashed upward from below.

The two swords clashed.

An explosion sounded.

The world slowed down. In a state of extreme concentration, Se-min witnessed his sword breaking apart. His claymore, which had endured even while facing magic beasts in another world, was shattering into pieces.

He heard some sound.

It also felt like it was saying ‘goodbye.’

Perhaps as a final return favor, the shattered claymore fragments rather flew toward the man’s face.