The Terminally Ill Young Master of the Baek Clan

This place has no official name.

It is simply called the “Underground Dog Fighting Arena.”

Enjoying dog fights or cockfights was usually something done by idle farmers or gamblers who had lost everything.

But who would have thought that such a secretive and lavish dog fighting arena would emerge beneath Beijing? No one could have known.

This was possible because of the status of those who created this place.

The children of powerful families banded together to create it.

Of course, it wasn’t just their idea; the unorthodox sects they mingled with while indulging in pleasure caught the scent of money and offered their help.

Officially, there were no martial sects in Beijing, but wherever there’s dirty money, there were always those who would sniff it out.

The martial artists guarding the entrance to this underground dog fighting arena were also such unorthodox members.

They looked down the stairs in confusion.

It was too dark to see anything.

“…I’m getting confused.”

“No, I definitely heard something.”

The low thud of a drum was faintly audible even here.

But that drumbeat had abruptly stopped just moments ago.

Until then, they hadn’t noticed anything strange.

“Aaagh, Huaaagh!”

That kind of scream was heard again.

A chill ran down their spines.

The screams echoing from the dark underground sounded like the wails of ghosts rising from the underworld.

One of the martial artists asked his companion.

“There are people down there too, right?”

“There are four of them, and even the boss is there.”

“…Then why is there such a commotion?”

“Maybe one of the captive beasts escaped.”

“This is why those arrogant young masters… We should have known when they started playing around, wanting to run a dog fighting arena without knowing a thing about the real world.”

No matter how much they cursed, in the end, they were still stuck cleaning up after them, getting paid for their troubles.

“Shouldn’t we go inside and check?”

“…Yeah.”

They suppressed their unease and descended the stairs.

Luckily, they had brought torches with them.

The lamps on the walls were extinguished beyond a certain point.

Even if the beasts had escaped, the lamps wouldn’t be extinguished like this.

The expressions of the martial artists, tinted orange by the torchlight, were tense with anxiety.

“Gyaaah!”

“Grrroar!”

“Move! W-where’s the exit?”

The further they descended, the louder the screams of the people became.

The roaring sound in the middle was definitely from a tiger.

The tension grew even more intense.

The one leading the way suddenly screamed, “Argh!”

He almost dropped his torch.

“What is it? What happened?”

“M-my foot!”

“Ah, damn it!”

Something like a rat or a weasel brushed past their feet.

It was coming up from below.

As was usually the case in emergencies, the animals were the first to flee.

It was clear that for some reason, the gates of the cages holding the animals had been opened.

Not only small animals like rats but even packs of injured wild dogs began rushing towards them.

They climbed the stairs eagerly, as if overjoyed by their sudden freedom.

The martial artists, despite their confusion, continued to descend.

“Damn it, what the…?”

“Ugh, watch out!”

This time, a large boar brushed past them.

Smaller ones, presumably its young, also followed their mother up the stairs.

If nothing else, there would likely be chaos in Beijing. Suddenly, wild animals would appear and rampage through the streets.

Only then did the two martial artists realize the gravity of the situation.

“Hey… what about the tiger?”

“Haven’t seen it yet.”

The underground space, which should have been brightly lit, was strangely dark.

Probably, these two holding the torches were the only source of light.

In such a narrow passageway, what would happen if a tiger suddenly charged at them? That fear stiffened their bodies with tension.

Naturally, when someone suddenly appeared, they were startled and almost swung their swords.

“It’s the exit, it’s the exit!”

The masked figure was supporting someone on one shoulder.

The martial artist was startled when he saw the face of the person the man was carrying.

“W-what happened?”

“Can’t you see? It’s chaos!”

Although the man was wearing a mask, an arrow was lodged right through the cheek of the man he was dragging.

As the martial artists hesitated in confusion, the one supporting the injured man shouted angrily.

“Move aside! Unless you want to take responsibility!”

“Y-yes!”

Everyone here was of a distinguished status.

Moreover, the condition of the man with an arrow through his cheek wasn’t good, and the martial artist was frightened.

“Grrrk, Guhhh…”

“Young Master! Are you all right?”

“Guhhh!”

“You’re not all right! I’ll take you to a physician immediately!”

He couldn’t utter a single coherent word. It seemed he was half out of his mind.

“P-please, go ahead.”

“Tsk!”

The one supporting him didn’t look in good shape either, yet he managed to drag the young man, who was of similar build to himself, up the stairs.

However, the martial artists could no longer pay attention to them.

As soon as they descended the stairs, the people inside, seeing the torchlight, began rushing toward them.

“It’s the exit!!”

“This wayyyy!”

“Move, moveee!”

Those who normally acted as if they didn’t know how to run were now swarming like a pack of dogs.

“Don’t push! Slowly, ugh!”

“Aaagh!”

The martial artists, overwhelmed by the rushing crowd, couldn’t keep their composure.

The surge of people and animals trying to escape in the darkness was overwhelming.

They were trampled by both humans and animals and completely forgot about the two who had just passed.

The first to escape were Dam Hyun and Il Wi-gang.

“Hehe.”

Once out of the martial artists’ sight, Dam Hyun quickened his pace.

Even though he had lost much of his martial prowess, he was still incomparable to an ordinary commoner.

He could easily carry someone like Il Wi-gang up the stairs.

Soon, they emerged into a butcher’s shop, with slabs of meat hanging around.

Only then did Dam Hyun remove the mask covering his face.

A refreshed expression appeared.

“Should I take off your mask too?”

“Grrr…”

“Oh dear, I guess I should remove the arrow first.”

Thwack.

When he mercilessly pulled out the arrow, a spray of blood splattered out.

Despite this, Il Wi-gang couldn’t even scream; he just rolled his eyes back and groaned.

“Why do you look so unwell? Is it because of the pressure point strike?”

“Grrr…”

“I’ll be taking the gold coins you have on you.”

Dam Hyun snatched a pouch filled with several gold coins from Il Wi-gang’s chest.

“Just consider yourself unlucky. I was planning to stay quiet, but those guys asked me to get revenge for them.”

“…”

“That boar, you see. It made a request to me.”

“Y-you crazy b…”

“Seems the pressure point strike wasn’t done properly.”

Dam Hyun jabbed Il Wi-gang’s throat with his finger.

His two finger joints sank in deep and came out.

“Gack, gack.”

“Let’s go.”

Dam Hyun dragged Il Wi-gang, who couldn’t speak and could barely walk.

It looked exactly like he was helping a heavily drunk person, so no one looked at Dam Hyun with suspicion.

They were probably too distracted by the animals that suddenly appeared on the streets at night.

“Ah, the weather is nice, isn’t it?”

“…”

Dam Hyun smiled.

And Jin Mu cried.

“Aaaargh!”

When Dam Hyun brought someone into their shared room.

When he realized it was Il Wi-gang, who had left with Dam Hyun a while ago.

When he heard that the holes in both cheeks were Dam Hyun’s doing, and that Il Wi-gang was actually the child of the Vice Minister of Personnel, Jin Mu let out a gasp each time, as if he were on the verge of death.

“Every time you get so startled when I speak, it makes me not want to talk anymore.”

“Is there… anything more you need to say?”

“No.”

Jin Mu steadied himself, forcing strength into his trembling legs.

As the leader of the group, he bore a significant burden.

However, he never expected things to go awry like this even before meeting Yi-gang.

He felt like beating up his daytime self, who had briefly thought of Dam Hyun as reliable.

“I thought it was a brilliant idea.”

“You fool! What if things go wrong?!”

Jin Mu’s concerns were valid.

Until now, they had been waiting for Yi-gang to make the first move.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t thought of making contact with Yi-gang first.

The problem was that the method to do so had been elusive.

This place was Beijing, where they had no connections. Moreover, there was absolutely no way to contact Yi-gang inside the Forbidden City.

“If it’s someone like the Vice Minister of Personnel, we could at least send a message.”

“Yeah, and then he’ll probably kill us!”

“You worry too much.”

“Is there anyone who saw us bring him here?”

“No, there isn’t.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely sure.”

“Hmm… well, that’s a relief.”

Jin Mu, who had looked ready to devour Dam Hyun, surprisingly accepted this with ease.

What he didn’t trust was Dam Hyun’s character, not his skills.

For Il Wi-gang, lying stiff as a log with his mute and paralysis acupoints blocked, it was an absurd sight.

“Alright, let’s set aside the tracking issue for now. How exactly do you plan to use him? Explain clearly.”

“Well, ideally, I’d like to cut off one of his wrists and send it, but that would be too troublesome in many ways. Instead, we’ll persuade this guy to ask his father for help.”

“As if he’d quietly go along with that. What if he holds a grudge and goes crying to his father, accusing us?”

“What do you mean?”

Dam Hyun looked shocked and turned to Il Wi-gang.

“Is that really what you’re going to do, Il Wi-gang? Really?!”

As if interrogating him, Dam Hyun spoke forcefully, and Il Wi-gang desperately shook his head.

But Dam Hyun just grinned.

“Of course he would. That’s why we need to be prepared in advance, right, Senior Brother?”

“What kind of preparation?”

“Brainwashing, of course. We need to clear up any misunderstandings he has about us through brainwashing.”

“Brain… washing?”

Brainwashing.

Jin Mu hadn’t expected to hear such a word from the mouth of an Azure Forest Taoist.

“Brainwashing… B-brainwashing! Is that something a Taoist should be saying?”

“Huh? Why do you think I got the Star Mist Alarm Bell, then?”

“This isn’t the time to be dodging the issue…”

“Why do you think the Forest Lord went out of his way to lend us the forbidden Treasure? He lent it so we’d use it, didn’t he? When else would we use it if not now?”

“That’s…”

“Don’t tell me you misunderstood the Forest Lord’s intentions… how could you misinterpret it like that?”

Just as Jin Mu was about to lose his temper again, he briefly held his tongue.

“Let’s first see what this guy thinks.”

Dam Hyun released the mute acupoint on Il Wi-gang.

Of course, he did so while keeping a dagger close to Il Wi-gang’s throat, making it clear he could kill him at any moment.

Il Wi-gang spoke urgently, “…If you let me go now, I’ll overlook everything that has happened.”

“These types always say the same thing.”

“I don’t know what kind of sorcery you’re planning, but brainwashing will never work on me…”

Dam Hyun twirled the dagger and said, “If brainwashing doesn’t work, you die.”

Jin Mu simply crossed his arms.

“We could just slit your throat, dump your body in a ditch somewhere, and that’d be the end of it. If we peel the skin off your face, no one will be able to recognize your corpse. We’ll find another way to contact Yi-gang.”

“…”

“What will it be?”

“Please brainwash me,” he spoke urgently, as if in desperation.

Perhaps, inwardly, he thought he could pretend to be brainwashed and not truly believe Dam Hyun’s threats.

Only then did Dam Hyun smile, and Jin Mu let out a sigh.

“Well then, let’s see…”

Jin Ri-yeon suddenly burst through the door.

“Senior Brother!”

She had been keeping watch outside the door just in case something happened.

Jin Ri-yeon’s expression as she entered was far from good.

“Suspicious individuals have entered the first floor.”

“What?”

“They’re wearing official uniforms and are armed. There are some skilled masters among them. It seems they’re looking for us.”

Men in official uniforms, armed.

Jin Mu glared at Dam Hyun, but Dam Hyun remained indifferent.

“Hahaha! I knew this would happen!”

Il Wi-gang’s spirits surged instantly.

His face was filled with joy. Finally, the officials had come to rescue him.

It was undoubtedly his friends who had sent the constables through their connections at the government office.

“None of you will die easily!”

Thump, thump, the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs could be heard.

“Especially you!”

Il Wi-gang tried to point his finger at Dam Hyun, but when that didn’t work, he stuck out his tongue to indicate him.

Dam Hyun smirked, amused by something.

Bang!

The door burst open.

Martial artists holding swords stormed into the room.

“Here! Here…”

Il Wi-gang, who was about to call for help, fell silent.

What appeared were not constables.

And those uniforms, those black uniforms—they were unmistakably…

“…Eastern Depot?”

The ominous-looking black uniforms were worn by the imperial guards of the Eastern Depot.

They were not people who would come to rescue Il Wi-gang.

Even if the Vice Minister of Personnel himself, not just his third son, had been kidnapped, the Eastern Depot guards wouldn’t have come.

“Hmm.”

The name Eastern Depot, feared by even the boldest, made Jin Mu extremely tense.

However, the Eastern Depot guards did not show any hostility.

They merely glanced at the bound Il Wi-gang without paying much attention.

One of the Eastern Depot guards approached Jin Mu.

“Jin Mu, Dam Hyun, Jin Ri-yeon. Is that correct?”

Jin Mu replied cautiously, “…That’s correct.”

“Good, we found you,” the Eastern Depot guard said and then stood silently.

And soon after.

Step, step.

A strangely light sound of footsteps could be heard.

A young man in red appeared at the open door.

“…It’s not Beijing; it’s Fujing, I tell you.”

It was none other than Yi-gang.

He frowned when he saw Il Wi-gang lying on the floor.

“What kind of trouble have you caused this time…?”

He looked around at the second-generation disciples.

“Youngest!”

“Yi-gang.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

Different reactions burst forth from the second-generation disciples.