Chapter 63
Yeo Un-hwi's eyes were neither gleaming nor particularly angry.
He was simply slicing people's necks as naturally as if he were pouring water into a glass.
That fact made the Scholar Forest Group members' skin crawl even more.
"I don't care at all what judgment the Alliance makes. I'll simply judge based on what I've seen with my own eyes."
"Wh-What?"
The Scholar Forest Group members gasped.
Who would dare refer to the Murim Alliance as merely "the Alliance"!
Unless they were one of the Twelve Venerables of the World. No, even they wouldn't carelessly utter such words.
The Murim Alliance was one of the greatest pillars supporting the martial world and essentially the face representing the Orthodox Faction.
Making them an enemy was tantamount to making half the world under heaven an enemy.
Yet this man uttered those words without any hesitation.
Moreover, it wasn't an act.
Above all, it seemed sincere.
No matter how skilled an actor, one's true feelings cannot be hidden.
The Scholar Forest Group sensed the sincerity in that man's words.
To them, who had lived their whole lives viewing the Murim Alliance as the sun, Yeo Un-hwi's attitude was utterly shocking.
He didn't even seem to hesitate in the slightest about killing people now.
From the Black Kill Squad of the Demonic Cult onwards, his manner of cutting people down looked so natural and comfortable.
Suddenly, a small smile appeared on Yeo Un-hwi's lips.
"Are you afraid?"
In that moment, every hair on the Scholar Forest Group members' bodies stood on end.
Those who had been shouting without any sense until now finally began to feel true terror from Yeo Un-hwi.
Their skin crawled.
Though facing death was no different from before, they felt death more acutely now with Yeo Un-hwi's sword pointed at them than when facing the Demonic Cult members.
It was unbelievable.
"P-Please spare us! We want to live!"
"We'll shave our heads and enter a temple, living a life of repentance! So..."
"We'll do anything you say! If you tell us to become dogs, we'll gladly..."
To their wailing, Yeo Un-hwi had only one answer:
"Denied."
Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash.
Soon Yeo Un-hwi's sword flashed, and quite a number of heads fell to the ground.
They all died ugly deaths, faces full of resentment as they shed tears and snot.
The place that had been filled with screams gradually grew quiet.
And now only one remained.
"Is this why you saved us?"
Jo Min, who had been the leader of the Scholar Forest Group, spoke with the most dejected face and eyes of all.
At his words, Yeo Un-hwi smirked.
"Who said anything about saving whom?"
Yeo Un-hwi had never once said he would save them.
Yet they kept saying such nonsensical things.
They were getting angry in reverse after jumping to their own conclusions.
"I simply cut down the Demonic Cult members that appeared before me, and then cut down the trash who were trying to join them."
"Th-That was... I mean, for me... it was unavoidable! Don't you understand!"
"No, I don't. And can you parrots say anything else?"
"It's the truth!"
Jo Min shouted in a frenzy.
"We're still young! It's too unfair for us to die so miserably before we've even bloomed! What could we have done in the face of such overwhelming force and violence! We'd even lost our internal energy!"
"Is that why people who know that oppressed the weak and powerless so much?"
Jo Min flinched at Yeo Un-hwi's words and shook his head.
"Th-That's a different story."
"No, it's exactly the same."
Jo Min was left speechless at Yeo Un-hwi's words.
They cut too deep to the bone.
They had always violated the weak, then mocked and ridiculed them.
And those weak who were violated by them faced a hellish reality, unable to even cry out properly.
After freely wielding such overwhelming violence against innocent and weak people, now that they found themselves in that situation, they claimed it couldn't be helped and that it was unfair and unjust.
It was truly detestable beyond compare.
"I'm not telling you to uphold grand ideals like chivalry or justice. But you should have at least maintained basic human decency. Moreover, you so easily abandoned the Alliance that raised and nurtured you."
"Th-That was to survive somehow and bide our time."
"How? By swallowing Gu poison, acting as spies to your heart's content, and causing the deaths of countless innocents?"
"I-I..."
"Or when you were safe and no longer in danger? Can such things as human decency be calculated and maintained like that?"
Jo Min had a mouth, but no words to speak.
Looking at Jo Min like this, Yeo Un-hwi spoke in an ice-cold voice:
"If you had at least tried to maintain your principles to the end, you would have lived. I mean this sincerely."
Jo Min's eyes widened.
And his whole body trembled.
Yes, everything that man said was correct. But!
"Heaven gave us power, so we wielded it! And faced with death, I simply wanted to live! Isn't that human! What did I do wrong!"
Jo Min shouted in a frenzy.
"If you had saved us earlier, we wouldn't have made such choices! Who are you to judge and test me! What right do you have!"
"This is ridiculous. Now you're blaming me?"
Yeo Un-hwi laughed as if in disbelief.
"Don't speak as if I forced you into that decision. You made those choices. All of them."
In fact, Yeo Un-hwi already knew that Jo Min would become a spy for the Demonic Cult.
This was a famous incident that had happened even before his regression.
And not long after, Jo Min would become a complete "traitor to the Orthodox Faction" and gain notoriety as a member of the Demonic Cult for a long time.
Although Yeo Un-hwi had never met Jo Min before his regression, he was well aware of his infamy.
The Blood Flower Young Master, Jo Min.
Countless innocent people had died by his hand, too many to count.
He continued his evil deeds for a long time until he finally lost his life at the hands of the Sword Emperor.
Even knowing such a future, Yeo Un-hwi had waited and watched.
To see if the Scholar Forest Group, and Jo Min, would make the same choice this time. And he had hoped they would make a different choice.
If they had, despite their arrogant, haughty, and wicked nature, he wouldn't have cut them down like this.
But fortunately, or unfortunately.
In the end, they made the choice Yeo Un-hwi was all too familiar with.
And now it was irreversible.
Evil had to be cut down before it could take root.
He would never gain that infamy in this world.
"You might feel wronged. Maybe even resentful."
Jo Min raised his head to look at Yeo Un-hwi at those words.
"But each person bears responsibility for their own choices. So, farewell."
Without further delay, Yeo Un-hwi's sword flashed.
Jo Min immediately sensed his impending death.
'Why am I here...'
His eyes bulged.
"Damn it..."
The face of the arrogant genius who had dreamed of a brilliant future was covered in despair.
And then,
Slash.
That was the end.
His head fell to the ground with a thud.
Unable to close his eyes even at the moment of death, his face showed utter resentment and indignation.
It was truly laughable.
Only Yeo Un-hwi, who already knew the future, understood alone that he had nothing to feel wronged about.
Whew.
After finally beheading Jo Min, Yeo Un-hwi quietly threw the Demonic Cult's sword to the ground.
"We'll say the Black Kill Squad and the Scholar Forest Group fought fiercely to the end here, resulting in mutual destruction."
Who was he speaking to?
But then,
"Yes... Brother. We'll do that."
Someone revealed themselves there.
It was Peng Seo-jin, the Eldest Young Master of the Hebei Peng Family.
"Heh heh heh..."
At the scene where the Demonic Cult's Black Kill Squad and the entire Scholar Forest Group had become corpses.
Peng Seo-jin, who appeared behind Yeo Un-hwi, let out a bitter laugh.
He wasn't alone.
Behind him were O Chae-mu, Peng Do-hwan, and Gu Tae-san.
They all wore faces of great shock and anger.
No, they were truly dumbfounded.
After all, they had witnessed everything - the actions of the Demonic Cult's Black Kill Squad and the shameless, despicable behavior of the Scholar Forest Group.
"Those damn bastards! How could humans betray so easily!"
"The way they scrambled to save themselves was like a fight between hungry ghosts. It was truly disheartening to watch. And these were the ones who acted so high and mighty with the Murim Alliance backing them. How could they..."
"No matter how precious life is, there are things one should and shouldn't do. These people had already crossed the line. They have no right to complain even if their heads were cut off like this."
It wasn't just anything, but the Demonic Cult.
The Demonic Cult was the worst group, to the point where even uttering their name was taboo.
To beg such people to spare their lives and betray the Orthodox Faction without the slightest hesitation was truly disgusting beyond words.
It was the worst kind of degradation, something they wouldn't want to become even in their dreams.
Everyone present looked as if they had been smeared with filthy sewage.
"But why report it as mutual destruction instead of revealing the truth? If we do that, won't the Scholar Forest Group become heroes of the Orthodox Faction?"
Gu Tae-san simply couldn't understand.
He thought it would be more satisfying to reveal the truth and expose these rotten bastards' true nature.
Peng Seo-jin shook his head.
"That wouldn't be a good choice for the Orthodox Faction or the Murim Alliance. Moreover, if they acknowledge this fact, the Alliance's prestige would hit rock bottom."
Of course, there was no particular need for them to protect the Murim Alliance's prestige.
After all, it was they who had raised rotten individuals like the Scholar Forest Group.
But if asked whose prestige should be protected first in the conflict between the Demonic Cult and the Orthodox Faction, the answer was obviously the Orthodox Faction.
Moreover, the reality was too ugly to reveal as it was.
There was a high possibility that the Murim Alliance would refuse to acknowledge it, and more importantly, they might turn around and accuse Yeo Un-hwi of wrongdoing for executing them on the spot.
In other words, it would become an extremely troublesome situation.
So this was actually the better option.
And the Scholar Forest Group had already paid with their lives anyway.
"But still..."
Gu Tae-san still looked quite displeased.
Yeo Un-hwi patted his shoulder as if in understanding.
"Well, of course it's unpleasant that such honor follows these rotten bastards. However."
Yeo Un-hwi's lips curled up slightly.
"What use is such honor to the dead? Don't you agree?"
They could have all the honor they wanted - it wasn't worth begrudging.
It would only make those humans who went to hell feel more wronged.