Chapter 187
“Munho.”
“Yes. Master.”
“You were born with truly outstanding talent. In my entire life, I have never seen a martial talent like yours.”
A long time ago, his Master had spoken with a voice full of conviction.
“You will definitely rise to the ranks of the Ten Great Masters within ten years, and you might even covet a seat among the Twelve Venerables within the next fifty years.”
Even a young child who had just begun to understand words would know what an incredible compliment that was.
Furthermore, Munho was a child who believed his Master’s words as firm as iron and stone.
The teacher who had taken him in when he was an orphan in his childhood was no ordinary person.
He was none other than an absolute master who had made a name for himself among the Ten Great Masters long ago and was now living in seclusion.
Since such a Master had said so, what reason could there be not to believe it?
Thus, the training that began in that manner continued for a long time.
It was truly a continuous period of terrible agony.
To the point where he wanted to run away every single day.
But he did not do so.
He endured and endured, imagining himself becoming an outstanding master like his Master and a hero of the Murim one day.
As time flowed on and on, he was already nineteen that year.
Munho could feel it.
He had become incomparably stronger than before.
Thus, Munho finally received his Master’s permission and came down from the mountain for the first time since he began learning martial arts.
Munho descended the mountain, leaving behind his Master’s words to be as careful as possible and to avoid getting involved in any disputes since it was his first time going out into the Murim.
The first thing he felt was, unexpectedly, not a sense of liberation but a terrible hunger.
Was it because of the excitement of a new beginning?
He hadn’t felt hungry the whole time, but as soon as he came down from the mountain, he was simply bewildered by this situation.
In any case, he found a village like that.
What tempted Munho as he looked around for something to eat was the smell of meat noodles leaking out from somewhere.
Drawn by the smell as if possessed, Munho entered the Cheonghyang Inn, and soon began to eat meat noodles like crazy.
The noodles were so delicious that his eyes widened.
The deep broth, the chewy noodles, the generous amount of meat, and the well-cooked vegetables were truly the best.
It was on a different level from the food he ate on the mountain.
Naturally, one bowl was absolutely not enough.
So, even before the bowl was fully empty, he ordered more and more.
Then,
“Hmm, what should I do about this…”
From the moment he emptied his third bowl of meat noodles, he finally began to worry a little.
Why? It was because he had no money.
His Master had not given him a single penny.
He had said that having extra money would spoil his habits on his first journey through the Jianghu, and that this was all for his own good.
No, he couldn’t understand why his Master had worried excessively about other things but hadn’t worried about his starving to death, but what could he do?
He should just be grateful for being fed, housed, and taught martial arts all this time.
Anyway, with these various thoughts in mind, Munho was already eating his fourth bowl of meat noodles.
‘Should I run away saying I’ll pay them back someday? No. That’s too uncool. I can’t let my first step be dining and dashing. Hmm. Or should I say I’ll stay here for a few days and do whatever work they need? Ah. That’s also too lame…’
He couldn’t possibly mop floors and wash dishes before he even got to properly use the martial arts he had trained so hard for.
“Hah. This is driving me crazy, really.”
No matter how much he tried to come up with a solution, he couldn’t think of a way to overcome this crisis without losing his cool.
Just when his head was aching terribly, a commotion suddenly broke out in the Inn.
He knew he shouldn’t have been, but honestly, he was glad.
An opportunity to pay off the cost of four bowls of meat noodles had arisen.
It seemed there was no law saying a person had to die after all.
To think villains would show up as if they had made a promise.
He had been waiting for the moment to show off his strength to the world for the first time anyway, so he figured this worked out well in more ways than one.
With this opportunity, he could fill his belly for free, beat up bad guys, and gain fame - it is truly killing three birds with one stone.
“Alright!”
Thus, Munho provoked that gang of ruffians with words he thought were quite cool.
“This place must be famous, seeing as even wild beasts come looking for a meal.”
At Munho’s words, the gazes of the red-clothed ruffians all turned toward him at once.
They looked Munho up and down, and soon one of them tilted his head crookedly and approached him.
“What are you?”
“Me? I’m just a person passing by. But I also happen to be a person whose whole body itches when I see rotten bastards like you.”
“Hah. What nonsense. By the looks of it, you’ve just been stuffing your face with meat noodles this whole time.”
“Ahem. You guys sure have foul mouths.”
Munho, whose face reddened for a moment, slowly stood up from his seat and walked toward them.
However,
“Ugh.”
Munho was a man of immense height and build.
It was to the point where the man who had been swaggering about having learned some martial arts looked dwarfed.
The ruffians shrank back at that imposing presence.
But that was only for a moment.
No matter how big he was, they had the advantage in numbers.
Besides, there was no strongman who could stand against blades wielded by a multitude.
“Hmph. You must have stepped up trusting that size of yours, but if you don’t want to die right now, get lost immediately. This is your last chance.”
“Hmm? I tend to trust this fist more than my size, though?”
Munho held up his fist.
The man’s fist was as big as a pot lid.
On top of that, his fist was covered in calluses.
They felt that if they got hit by that fist, their bodies would definitely not remain intact.
Munho gave a wide grin.
“Now. Let’s head outside without any more chattering. It doesn’t look like we can have a proper brawl in here anyway. Follow me.”
Munho took the lead and tried to go outside.
Then, just as it seemed the gang of ruffians was obediently following behind him, one of them smiled wickedly and drew his blade.
As expected, despite his size, he looked young, which meant he had no experience in this kind of fight.
It was foolish to show his back so defenselessly like this.
“Hehehe. You stupid fool! Die!”
However,
CLANG!
The swung blade snapped in two.
Before anyone knew it, Munho’s massive fist was thrust forward.
He had broken the blade with just his bare fist.
The ruffians gulped.
Now they could feel it too.
The fact that this lanky giant wasn’t just big for nothing was true.
“Stop fooling around and follow me out.”
Munho chuckled and stepped outside, and the ruffians also came out and stood facing him.
Tension had already settled on their faces.
“What are you?”
“You have been asking the same question since earlier. What do you mean, what am I? I’m the one who’s going to make a name for himself starting with you guys today.”
“Hmph. Don’t make me laugh! Do you think you alone can take on all of us!”
Soon, the red-clothed group glared with gleaming eyes and deployed a Combined Formation.
There was no longer any trace of carelessness to be found in them.
Soon, their numerous blades flew toward Munho.
It was a much better-trained Combined Formation than expected.
To the point where an ordinary person wouldn’t even think of charging in with bare fists.
However,
“Good! Good! You have to come at me hot like this! This is fun!”
Munho instead let out a refreshing laugh.
Then he quickly took the stance of the Fist.
The moment his eyes seemed to flash,
Swish-swish-swish!
All the blades heading toward him shattered, and then,
Bam-bam-bam! Bam! Bam-bam-bam!
His fists struck the heads, necks, and stomachs of the ruffians who had attacked him.
“Kuaaagh!”
Just like that, in an instant, everyone was sent flying spectacularly.
Along with his fast movements, his fists were even more fierce.
It seemed there were no more opponents left to challenge him.
“Oho. That guy, what is he?”
Meanwhile, the White Wolf Unit, which had been enjoying its meal while half-watching the fight outside, put on surprised faces.
Judging just by the way he spoke, he seemed like quite a weirdo, but seeing him fight was astonishing.
In particular, the man’s fists were incredibly exhilarating.
It was clear that the martial arts he had learned were not half-baked either.
Along with curiosity, a competitive spirit began to creep up on the faces of the White Wolf Unit, who had been watching him as a mere spectacle.
At this point, they couldn’t help but be curious about the man’s identity.
Among those White Wolf Squad members, Yeo Un-hwi was wearing a peculiar smile.
It was a look that said he knew something.
“One-Eyed Fist Demon.”
To think I’d see that guy here.
Before his Regression, during his days as the Blood Demon, there were figures who, though not to the same extent as Yeo Un-hwi, were branded somewhat like public enemies of the Murim.
The One-Eyed Fist Demon was one of them.
However, as far as Yeo Un-hwi knew, all he had ever done was beat all the rotten bastards to death.
The problem was that there were quite a few people from the Orthodox Faction among those rotten bastards.
Well, since they were doing roughly similar things, they had run into each other once or twice by pure coincidence, and from Yeo Un-hwi’s perspective, he was a figure with whom he had no particularly bad memories.
To meet him here of all places.
And both of his eyes were perfectly intact, at that.
As Yeo Un-hwi remembered, he was a man quite full of resentment, but seeing that he had such clumsy bravado in his youth made him laugh.
Munho, who overlapped with the image of the One-Eyed Fist Demon in Yeo Un-hwi’s eyes, soon dusted off his hands and grinned at those watching the fight.
“Now then, everything is fine, so you can all relax and enjoy your meals.”
Oooooh!
At his words, the people inside the Inn cheered.
At that reaction, Munho waved his hand.
As nonchalantly as possible.
But on the inside, he was grinning from ear to ear.
“Hah… am I not just too cool?”
Even he thought his appearance just now was enough to fall in love with.
It felt like a dream come true.
How long had he endured and endured, training for a moment like this?
Soon, he looked around.
He was hoping there might be a woman somewhere who had fallen for him.
Then, he spotted a woman with fierce eyes sitting among the White Wolf Unit and flashed her a greasy smile.
However, Do-gyeong’s reaction was the exact opposite of what he had expected.
“Ugh! No, what are you looking at so greasily? Ptooey!”
There was no way Munho, with his sharp hearing, could have avoided hearing what Do-gyeong said.
Snapping out of his narcissism in an instant, he put on an unnecessarily sorrowful face.
It felt like he had been rejected without even confessing.
But right then,
“Hmm? What kind of absurd situation is this?”
Someone appeared behind Munho.
It was a middle-aged man with a peculiar mustache.
The moment Munho, greatly startled by the sudden voice, turned around, the opponent’s hand aimed for Munho’s side.
And,
PAAANG!
Munho’s massive body was sent flying to the other side.
“Keugh…!”
He barely managed to pick himself up after suffering the instantaneous ambush, but a mouthful of blood spilled from Munho’s lips.
“Oho. You’re quite a sturdy fellow, aren’t you?”
The middle-aged man who had just appeared stroked his chin.
A cold smile was already hanging on his lips.
“But you. You’d better be prepared to die right here today because you dared to mess with our Evil Love Palace.”
At his words, the eyes of Yeo Un-hwi, who had been watching the situation, twitched.