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Join the ServerIt was Lee Jihyun. She was one of the Woohwa Guild hunters who had joined for this raid. Ju Uiryeong had painstakingly searched for and bought off this merchant hunter, who was also one of the few holders of a rare skill.
To move according to his plan, he needed to gather people with solid foundations. And sometimes money supported those solid foundations. That was why he could trust her with his back more than Geon Ita.
“Why is Miss Lee Jihyun…” A grinding sound escaped through her clenched teeth as she blocked her opponent’s fist with all her strength. It seemed they had already clashed once. Bloodstains were scattered all around.
‘Th, that person…!’ The man who scowled at Lee Jihyun had eyes that glinted like a viper hiding in the night forest. It was Han Dokyeom’s tamed beast.
“Growl!”
“Where do you get off making beast sounds at a human!”
Lee Jihyun shook off his fist with all her strength, and Agon was pushed back by the recoil. Skidding to a stop, Agon rolled his wrists, eyes glaring. The moment he drew his claws, his body shot forward without warning.
“Ah, damn it!”
Cursing, Lee Jihyun threw herself out of attack range. Every time his strikes, which were impossible to track, grazed the air, sparks flew like from flint.
Where blood fell, the ground was gouged. The dense trees fell like they had been chopped by an axe.
‘What, what do I do?’ Ju Uiryeong couldn’t see their movements either. All he could do was hide behind a tree, straining his eyes to follow the occasional afterimage. Yet in the end, he couldn’t step out for Lee Jihyun.
After a tearing noise, Lee Jihyun clutched her belly and sank down. A punch had exploited the gap and aimed for her head. ‘I’m done for!’ Sensing death, Lee Jihyun squeezed her eyes shut. So she didn’t even notice the ground trembling ominously beneath her feet and the terrain warping grotesquely.
Boom boom boom! What saved her was a massive rock that reeked of the sea. The moment she saw the moss-covered boulder right in front of her nose, Lee Jihyun’s legs gave out and she plopped down on the spot.
“Haah, ha…” On the other hand, Agon, whose attack had been blocked, glared at the rocky hill with piercing eyes. Someone was standing on top of that hill.
“I told you, you shouldn’t attack people recklessly, Agon.”
“Growl!”
“…If you keep doing that, Dokyeom will scold you.”
Beom Yeonhu, who had descended from the rocky hill, scratched his eyebrow awkwardly, then gave Lee Jihyun a short nod. It was his way of apologizing.
She had been chasing the monster to kill it when they met, and it seemed Agon had perceived her as an enemy. Adding fuel to the fire, Lee Jihyun also showed hostility, and the situation escalated out of control. They had brawled and ended up here.
“Get rid of that beast first, then talk.” Lee Jihyun panted, glaring at Agon. “That bastard is C-class?”
The publicly known rank of Han Dokyeom’s tamed beast was unequivocally C-class. Until she had crossed fists with him, Lee Jihyun had never doubted that. Now that she had exchanged blows, all she could do was laugh bitterly.
‘How chilling.’ What Han Dokyeom raised was a monster disguised as a loach. At least AA-class or higher. That meant the publicly known rank was a lie.
Lee Jihyun stepped back one foot, then two, as if seeking an opening. Agon’s icy eyes followed her.
It was the moment when the smell of blood was about to fill the air. But Agon, who had been flicking blood off his claws, suddenly stopped and stared somewhere. Toward the forest path thick with trees.
His eyes, which had been scanning around as if searching for something, fixed fiercely on one spot. After his dilated pupils groped at something, Agon suddenly moved his body swiftly without warning.
Swoosh! “Miss Lee Jihyun!” At that moment, Ju Uiryeong, who had been hiding behind a tree and watching the situation, called out at the top of his lungs. When Lee Jihyun’s head turned toward him, Ju Uiryeong was already running toward her.
It was the moment when his outstretched hand was about to grab Lee Jihyun’s wrist. At that instant, the tips of their fingers touched.
“
Beom Yeonhu let out a short sigh, tapped the rocky hill to dispel it, and immediately followed after Agon. Hoping this time he would be able to meet Dokyeom.
After even Beom Yeonhu left, only the corpse of a tiger remained in that stump-filled place. Ju Uiryeong, who had been watching from the cliff above, whispered softly to Lee Jihyun, who was catching her breath.
“Let’s follow them too.” Han Dokyeom would definitely be where they were heading. Ju Uiryeong faintly curled his lips. Meeting them here was a stroke of luck. Especially since they had encountered Lee Jihyun, and while confronting them, she had ‘touched’ them once.
“How’s your body, Miss Jihyun?”
“Barely tolerable. Ha… They’re crazy bastards.”
“Um… Miss Lee Jihyun. You didn’t meet Mr. Kang Taesan and Mr. Geon Ita, did you?”
“Haah… No, I looked around but couldn’t find them.”
“Let’s go for now. At least we need to figure out the situation.”
Ju Uiryeong silently tailed Beom Yeonhu. He ran for a long time, keeping just enough distance to barely see him. When he reached the edge of a cliff, he finally spotted a shabby but sturdy thatched cottage in a clearing on the mountainside. It was identical to what he had seen in that ‘scene’.
“They’re going there.” Lee Jihyun’s finger pointed at the backs of Agon and Beom Yeonhu entering the yard. Agon, who had been sniffing around, looked around the house and then headed toward a sliding door. Ju Uiryeong thought he was going to tear the door off roughly. And indeed, he was reaching his hand violently toward the door.
But before his hand could touch the door, the door flung open first. Someone’s leg stuck out through the doorway, as if it had kicked it open. And then a round head popped out.
“…Ha.” It was Han Dokyeom. As expected, he was there. He had grasped the most advantageous position faster and easier than anyone else.
See? As expected, the starting line was different. Even though he had expected it, his mouth tasted bitter.
“How can he be such a… cheat?” No matter how hard he struggled, when he looked ahead, Han Dokyeom was always standing there, having taken everything. Even when he reached out to grab something, when he came to his senses and looked, there was nothing left.
What Ju Uiryeong chased was always an empty shell. Only traces remained.
If all this was the benefit of being the original author, wouldn’t someone who started from the same starting line feel wronged?
“What are we going to do? Even if we two charge in now, it seems impossible… But just staying here feels like we’re losing.”
“Just the two of us isn’t enough. At least until Mr. Kang Taesan joins, it’s not worth picking a fight.” Ju Uiryeong murmured as if mesmerized, staring at the shabby cottage. There was no need to burn down the whole thatched house to catch a bedbug. At the center of that group was always Han Dokyeom, and if he poked it wrong, he would get stung like a hornet’s nest and suffer counterattacks.
He could tell from the rumors and situations he had observed. During the Snow Mountain raid and the China Gate incident, hadn’t the media been played by Sahyeon Guild?
To get one step ahead of Han Dokyeom, he had to find a way.
“Ah, I don’t know. Anyway, I can’t move even if you beat me to death!” Unable to bear it anymore, Lee Jihyun lay down on the snowfield. Ju Uiryeong reflexively looked up at the sky. Dusk had already fallen, filling everything with gray darkness. Letting out a sigh, Ju Uiryeong realized he was hungry and plopped down as well.
“It’s hard, isn’t it? I also have some thinking to do, so let’s rest for a bit.” If even she turned her back on him, Ju Uiryeong would have nothing left. So he waited. Enduring the cold, satisfying his hunger, until the night came when clear smoke rose from the chimney and covered the moon.
Ju Uiryeong was dozing off, unable to bear the cold. But he snapped his eyes open at the sensation of someone tapping his arm.
“Get up for a moment, Mr. Ju Uiryeong.”
“Ah… What’s going on?”
Rubbing his eyes, he looked around. In that time, snow had piled up a handspan deep. Lee Jihyun put a finger to her lips and gestured with her eyes toward somewhere. It was the dark, gaping forest path.
Ju Uiryeong saw a black figure leisurely walking out of the darkness. It was a tiger. An excessively huge one.
“!” Fearing he might make a sound, Ju Uiryeong froze. The beast dragged its heavy body toward the shabby cottage. It stopped in front of the fence and stared endlessly at the door, which was reddened by the lantern light.
That back looked excessively lonely. It seemed heavy and oppressed, as if carrying an immense burden.
“…I, I should get closer.” Ju Uiryeong used
[…Uh, Eomdong… I’m here…] Ju Uiryeong heard a sound passing through his mind.
He didn’t know why he could hear this sound, but he could tell it was the tiger’s heartache.
[Did a person increase? Uh… There’s something strange too.] The tiger tilted its head and blinked its eyes like a deer. It stole glances at the flickering shadows, eavesdropped on the conversation, and listened to Eomdongi’s voice. Then, suddenly, within the people’s conversation, it realized something.
You’ve got to see this next! There Is a Monster in The Imperial Palace will keep you on the edge of your seat. Start reading today!
Read : There Is a Monster in The Imperial Palace
