Chapter 166 – Breaking Dojos (4)

I picked up the business card that had fallen from the collapsed monster.

The familiar symbol engraved on the back was definitely that of the Gwangun Sword Family.

Even when I flipped it to the front, the contents did not deviate from my expectations.

[Gwangun Sword Family, Black Moon Unit, Lee Sang-yeop]

It was a strange occurrence.

No matter how human-like this creature looked, for a monster to even be using a human’s identity.

The fact that it even had a wallet and a business card in its pocket was even more surprising.

I had experienced countless monsters until now, but I had never even heard of a case similar to this.

‘Why?’

It was natural for a disharmony with existing common sense to occur,

and two hypotheses immediately came to mind to resolve this sense of incongruity.

One was that the Gwangun Sword Family’s warrior, Lee Sang-yeop, had been attacked by this monster and had his clothes stolen.

Although I hadn’t yet heard of a monster taking a human’s belongings, I thought it wouldn’t be entirely impossible if this monster’s intelligence was far superior to that of monsters known so far.

For monsters, too, the existence of humans could be a subject of inquiry.

‘Hmm.’

However, I soon shook my head.

This hypothesis did not explain one crucial question.

Why did this monster take Lee Sang-yeop’s clothing and not his weapon?

Even if the monster lacked the unique rationality of a human, it would be more natural and the correct choice to instinctively take the sword.

Visually and intuitively, there was no reason to exclude the sword.

So, this hypothesis was put on hold for now.

‘Actually, the next one is even stranger…’

The second hypothesis was that this monster was Lee Sang-yeop of the Gwangun Sword Family.

This was an idea I came up with to fully explain the strangeness of the monster wearing human clothing.

Of course, it was very strange.

There was no way the Gwangun Sword Family would raise such a monster.

Even if, for the sake of argument, the Gwangun Sword Family raised this monster for some unknown purpose, it would have been kept strictly secret. They would not have let it roam the Abyss so carelessly.

Especially not with an ID card kindly tucked away.

But strangely, my intuition was more drawn to this side now.

If asked why, I couldn’t pinpoint it, but that’s just how my heart felt.

And my hunches, when activated in this way, tended to be quite accurate.

Of course, one premise remained to be resolved.

If the Gwangun Sword Family had never raised a monster, and the identity of this monster was Lee Sang-yeop, then how to bridge that gap.

In the end, I had no choice but to arrive at the most bizarre conclusion.

There was no way to explain this situation other than that Lee Sang-yeop had, for some reason, turned into a monster.

“Kueeeeeeek!!”

At that moment, the fallen monster charged at me again.

The lack of life in its eyes, and not an iota of humanity to be felt.

I felt something unusual from this unidentified creature.

Pooow!!

My fist struck the monster’s abdomen, and a pained groan escaped its lips.

Blood poured from its mouth.

But it was black, not red.

The stench of rotten blood vibrated everywhere.

The monster raised its head and looked at me.

Meeting its gaze, those empty eyes, an even more bizarre feeling washed over me.

If I had to find a similar feeling, it was the aura of a Skeleton Soldier-type monster, not a typical one.

“Kueeeek!”

The monster’s mana went berserk.

Instantly, the sense of disharmony I had been feeling with my ‘Mana Eyes’ grew stronger.

That method of mana manipulation was neither human nor even that of a monster.

It felt as if the mana was being spewed out without even passing through the heart.

In fact, I could not hear the beat of a heart from that monster.

Dadadadada!

The creature charged again.

I stretched out my hand and grabbed the monster by the scruff of its neck.

Caught by me, the monster couldn’t move an inch and just thrashed its feet.

‘Its physical strength is not weak.’

On the contrary, a much stronger resistance than I expected followed.

The monster ferociously bared its teeth, trying to bite the hand that gripped its neck.

Of course, it had no chance of succeeding, but its biting was desperate.

Paaaaak!

I threw the monster to the ground.

There was no longer any reason to hold it by the scruff.

Because I had confirmed what I needed to confirm.

‘As expected, its heart isn’t beating.’

There were more than one or two strange things about this monster.

I felt that I absolutely had to capture it alive.

***

“Unit Leader, you seem to have a lot on your mind.”

“Does my expression say so?”

“Yes.”

“What’s wrong with my expression?”

“It’s very different. Compared to your usual self when you returned after healing in the spring.”

The one who greeted me as soon as I returned from the Abyss was Choi Ho-joong.

But he was particularly sharp today.

But had I been making such a serious face?

“Ho-joong, it must be because I’m worried about you.”

“Pardon?”

“The Bimu is soon. I can’t know if you’re preparing properly, so I must have been concerned.”

“If it’s about that, you don’t have to worry! For the past few days, I’ve been able to concentrate on my swordsmanship so well that even I’m surprised.”

That was to be expected.

It was the time when the effect of the recent awakening was at its peak.

“You seem confident. Well, we’ll talk about the Bimu later. I have something to ask you.”

“Yes, please speak, Unit Leader.”

“By any chance, the Abyss ghost story that’s been going around recently, have you heard of it too?”

“Are you talking about the man-eating monster?”

Seeing that it came out right away, it seemed to be a fairly well-known story.

“You seem to know about it.”

“Yes. It’s a popular ghost story on the internet these days. Well, I’m sure it will just be a flash in the pan and disappear.”

Choi Ho-joong seemed to think it was no big deal.

I would have thought so too.

If I hadn’t seen it myself.

“But why is the Unit Leader suddenly asking about a ghost story?”

“It piqued my interest. Gather all the related stories and report back to me in two hours.”

“The man-eating monster ghost story?”

“Why, don’t you want to?”

“N-no, sir. It’s just a bit unexpected.”

“This story is strangely interesting.”

It had to be interesting.

It was a bizarre incident I had just experienced in the Abyss.

In the end, I had failed to capture the man-eating monster alive.

In fact, it had been impossible from the start.

Because that monster had been dead from the beginning.

An hour ago. After subduing the monster, I had dragged the groaning creature to the Spring of Elixir and submerged it.

To heal its wounds here and there, and also to wash its contaminated body that reeked of rot.

But the result was completely different from the picture I had expected.

The Spring of Elixir reacted violently, rapidly changing the monster.

The monster’s unique, bizarre aura gradually disappeared, and conversely, its human nature began to grow stronger.

The end of this surprising transformation was that the monster eventually became a human.

Of course, there was nothing to change in its form.

From the beginning, the monster had the appearance of a human.

The only thing that changed was its nature.

‘But.’

The monster that had been moving and alive had, at some point, become a dead human.

It was a surprising event.

In other words, it meant that an already dead human had become a living monster.

‘Does this story even make sense?’

In any case, the hypothesis I had predicted was correct.

The identity of that monster was indeed the Gwangun Sword Family’s warrior, Lee Sang-yeop.

At first, it was simple curiosity, but I decided I needed to dig deeper.

The fact that there were many eyewitness accounts related to the man-eating monster meant that it was highly likely there were more cases besides Lee Sang-yeop.

Two hours later, Choi Ho-joong came to my personal training room.

“Did you bring all the related materials?”

“Yes. But actually, there’s not much to call materials. It’s all just unreliable stories circulating on the internet.”

“Recite them one by one.”

“Before that, it seems there’s someone in our Haewon Sword Family who thinks they saw the man-eating monster. He’s waiting outside the door now, shall I let him in?”

“Of course!”

The person Choi Ho-joong brought was a warrior from the Manwol Unit, Kim Sang-won.

Perhaps because he was a twenty-year-old newcomer, he seemed a bit naive.

“You saw a man-eating monster in the Abyss?”

“Th-that’s not certain!”

“It’s okay, just tell me.”

He hesitated for a moment and then finally started to speak.

“There was a time I followed someone in the Abyss, thinking it was my cohort.”

“And then?”

“It was suspicious seeing him rush towards a secluded place, so I secretly followed him, and eventually I made eye contact with him when he turned around. And I couldn’t help but get goosebumps right away.”

“Why? Because his gaze wasn’t human?”

He nodded his head vigorously.

“Although the distance was far, the feeling at that time is enough to send a chill down my spine even thinking about it now!”

“Judging by the way you’re talking, you ran away immediately.”

At my words, he flinched for a moment.

Seeing that he didn’t deny it, it seemed he really did run away.

“Don’t misunderstand, I’m not trying to blame you. You did well to run away. When you have a bad feeling, that’s the best thing to do.”

“Th-thank you.”

“By the way, that cohort you said you mistook him for. Where is he affiliated now?”

I wasn’t expecting anything when I asked.

It was just a casual question.

But the answer was surprising.

“I heard he recently joined the Gwangun Sword Family.”

“Gwangun Sword Family?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

What an exquisite coincidence.

The feeling was strange.

This person was saying that he was mistaken, but it was probably not a mistake.

It must have been a warrior from the Gwangun Sword Family.

It was a moment when I could no longer just let this slide.

***

The day before the Bimu.

I summoned Choi Ho-joong.

I checked his swordsmanship and observed his condition.

It wasn’t bad.

Choi Ho-joong still looked confident.

“I will definitely win.”

“Without even knowing the opponent’s level?”

“Instead, I know my own level well.”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

These were words that no one but me could ever say.

It seems Choi Ho-joong had been by my side for a long time.

To even resemble me in this way.

The high from his awakening hadn’t worn off yet.

Compared to before, he had made a leap that was close to a breakthrough, but his current high tension needed to be brought down a bit.

Because nothing acted as a bigger variable in a fight than immature emotional control.

“It would be troublesome if you were to lose.”

“Of course, Unit Leader. The Chamryongdan has never lost before, has it?”

I had no intention of losing anyway, but another reason to win had just appeared.

Since I was visiting the Gwangun Sword Family, I planned to look for clues about the man-eating monster.

I was thinking of making a deal with the Gwangun Sword Family’s head, Kang Jae-gu, tomorrow, and what I could get would probably depend on the result of the Bimu.

What I needed to do now was to equip Choi Ho-joong with humility before the Bimu.

“Come at me. This is the last spar.”

I raised the holy sword.

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