Episode 140
Before dawn had even broken, in the dark early morning.
Baek Ho-il and Lee Dae of the Ha clan arrived at a forest called Heukwoongrim, located along the path from the Sunwoo clan’s estate to Danga Village.
“According to the intel, Sunwoo Jung and Sunwoo Seong should pass through here in about an hour. You, Lee Dae, take an ambush position on the left side of the forest. I’ll take the right.”
“Understood, Il Daeju.”
They planned to ambush Sunwoo Jung, the head of the Sunwoo clan, and his eldest son Sunwoo Seong from all sides as they passed through.
Heukwoongrim was the perfect spot for an ambush—remote, with only a single path cutting through it.
The intel said that Sunwoo Jung would leave early, before sunrise, to avoid any unexpected trouble.
But he probably never imagined that this decision would lead to their deaths without a single trace left behind.
On the right side of the forest, Baek Ho-il Daeju Gan Jong-chi quietly addressed his men.
His voice, charged with powerful internal energy, carried clearly to their ears.
“You all know well—the key to an ambush is silence! I trust none of you will make the rookie mistake of ruining the mission with noise!”
“Yes, Daeju!”
Gan Jong-chi smiled with satisfaction at the disciplined response from his men.
They were, after all, the elite warriors he had personally trained for the Ha clan.
He gave a brief command.
“To your positions!”
At once, the Baek Ho-il men moved swiftly, spreading out into the bushes along the path.
Their movements were quiet yet rapid.
What they didn’t know was that far more stealthy and dangerous figures had already arrived in the forest before them…
Jang Yi, the newest and youngest member of Baek Ho-il, watched his experienced seniors set up the ambush with a twinge of envy.
Everything was new to him, and he had never done an ambush before.
Trying not to draw the Daeju’s attention, he moved to the farthest spot and mimicked the senior beside him.
Rustle!
The sound of leaves brushing against his collar made his heart drop.
Despite his careful movements, it felt like he was the only one making noise.
He cautiously glanced around at the others.
Fortunately, no one seemed to notice him.
A sigh of relief escaped him.
Worried about drawing a senior’s glare, he carefully settled into the bushes, curling up.
That must have been enough to complete his ambush.
Feeling a bit more at ease, Jang Yi glanced around.
Outside the forest, dawn was beginning to break.
But inside the dense, shadowy woods where they hid, it was still pitch black.
Thick foliage blocked the light, allowing only vague outlines nearby to be seen; just a few steps away, it was total darkness.
‘We have to stay still here for an hour?’
Already, his chest felt tight.
Having been afraid of ghosts as a child, he was deeply uncomfortable in such darkness.
The oppressive blackness seemed to hide lurking dangers, and the buzzing mosquitoes that had started to swarm only made it worse.
‘Well, mosquitoes are better than snakes. Please, no snakes.’
He recalled a senior bragging about how, during a previous ambush, a snake had bitten his foot but they hadn’t broken position.
Jang Yi doubted he could be that brave.
The thought made him anxious.
His whole body itched with nervous energy.
It was frustrating.
He looked toward the senior a little distance away.
Unlike him, the senior sat perfectly still, like a rock.
So it seemed he was the only one acting clumsy.
Jang Yi took a deep breath and tried to focus again.
Then—
“Huh?”
Just as he was about to look forward, his eyes flicked back toward the senior.
He thought he saw something strange.
A shadow—moving slowly, almost alive.
In the darkness around the senior, the blackest shadow slid silently toward his back.
At first, Jang Yi thought he was imagining things and blinked hard.
But no, what he saw was real.
His heart pounded.
‘A g-ghost?’
It had to be a ghost.
And not just any ghost, but the evil spirit he’d only heard about in stories.
If it continued, that demon would completely overwhelm the senior.
He had to warn him.
‘But I can’t make a sound!’
A fierce internal struggle raged inside him.
Still, after a moment’s hesitation, Jang Yi summoned his courage and began to move toward the senior.
Then, as he shifted slightly—
He looked down at his feet and froze in terror.
Suddenly, his own shadow reached out like a hand and tried to grab him.
It was an unreal, nightmarish sight—like the evil spirit he’d only imagined as a child was attacking him.
He forgot he couldn’t scream and tried to shout.
“!”
But no sound came out.
It seemed the ghost’s arm had already wrapped around his neck.
The next moment, a sharp pain stabbed the back of his head.
That was the last sensation Jang Yi felt while still alive.
Unlike the others, Sunwoo Jin, who had been the most distracted among the ambushers, quickly dealt with his target and sent a message to Jeon Ma-hyeok and Gyeon Jung.
—Continue.
At that, the two shadows that had paused began moving again.
Sunwoo Jin sensed the ambushers’ presence slowly fading.
Like ink soaking into paper, the lives of the Baek Ho warriors were quietly extinguishing.
Though the ambushers were completely unaware, from the moment they entered this forest, they had already half stepped into the afterlife.
The three men who had mastered the legendary Cheonsal technique of the Wuyeong Assassins—once called the supreme killers a century ago—were like grim reapers in this environment.
An hour later, Baek Ho Lee Daeju Guk Sa-hang spotted two riders approaching along the forest path, now brightening with dawn.
Sunwoo Jung and Sunwoo Seong—their targets—were unmistakably coming.
Clop, clop!
They were rapidly closing in.
Guk Sa-hang was just about to spring the ambush.
‘Now!’
But no matter how long he waited, there was no signal from Il Daeju Gan Jong-chi.
‘What’s going on? Why isn’t he giving the attack order?’
Growing impatient, Guk Sa-hang, who always acted high and mighty as Il Daeju, lost his temper.
Unable to hold back, he shouted first.
“Attack!”
And charged forward, yelling.
“Sunwoo Jung! We will avenge Danga Village!”
In his eyes, he saw Sunwoo Seong’s startled face and Sunwoo Jung, a master swordsman, drawing his blade and leaping from his horse.
“Hah!”
Crash!
Sunwoo Jung’s purple energy clashed with Guk Sa-hang’s white aura midair.
They were evenly matched.
Both were warriors at the peak of their early mastery, so a single clash couldn’t decide the outcome.
After exchanging one technique in midair, they both retreated.
But as Guk Sa-hang stepped back, he was shocked.
Gan Jong-chi, the Baek Ho Il Daeju, who he expected to appear and assist, was nowhere to be seen.
Not just Gan Jong-chi—the entire Baek Ho Il unit seemed to have vanished, leaving an eerie silence.
And it wasn’t just that.
The number of Baek Ho warriors following him was also strange.
“W-what is this…?!”
There were fewer than thirty men left, far less than the fifty they should have had.
Only a handful of confused subordinates surrounded the two, exchanging bewildered glances.
Something was definitely wrong.
Then, Sunwoo Seong, the eldest son of the Sunwoo clan, shouted anxiously to his father.
“Father! It looks like Danga Village is ambushing us!”
Sunwoo Jung scoffed and pointed far ahead.
“Nonsense! If these are Danga Village’s men, then who are those?!”
Sunwoo Seong looked where his father pointed, puzzled.
From the direction of Danga Village, over a hundred warriors were charging fiercely toward them.
At their front, a warrior shouted.
“Clan head Sunwoo! We’re here to help you!”
Their ochre uniforms and gray hero’s cap clearly marked them as Danga Village’s soldiers.
Already flustered, Baek Ho Lee Daeju Guk Sa-hang was thrown into complete confusion.
How did they know to come here?
Everything was falling apart.
The Baek Ho Il unit had disappeared, his own men were halved, and now Danga Village’s warriors were attacking.
At that moment, a thought struck Guk Sa-hang’s mind.
‘Could this be a trap?’
It seemed the only explanation.
‘But who? And how?’
Though he was closing in on the truth, Guk Sa-hang couldn’t think further.
Sunwoo Jung suddenly charged at him.
“You! Reveal your identity!”
Swish!
“Ugh!”
Startled, Guk Sa-hang drew his sword hastily.
Escaping this situation was his top priority.
And he believed he could manage it.
Danga Village’s warriors were still some distance away, and he still had nearly thirty men left.
But it was at that very moment that everything changed.
Suddenly, from within the forest, three figures clad in black masks burst forth.
Whoosh! Swish!
“Gahhh!”
“Aaahhh!”
Once again, Guk Sa-hang was thrown into chaos.
The three masked men scattered hidden needles that flew like beams of light, ruthlessly slaughtering his men.
Though it seemed they were just scattering them casually, their speed and precision were astonishing.
‘Where did such masters of hidden needles come from?!’
Judging by the panicked expression on Sun-woo Seong’s face, even they didn’t recognize these attackers.
And then, in an instant—
“Hah!”
Shing!
“Ughhh!”
Guk Sa-hang’s right arm, gripping his sword, was severed.
It was a strike from Sun-woo Jung, who took advantage of Guk Sa-hang’s distracted state amid the chaos.
Though both were at the early peak of their abilities, Sun-woo Jung’s skill was slightly superior, and he seized the opening without hesitation, ending the fight swiftly.
Immediately after, Sun-woo Jung pressed the vital point on Guk Sa-hang, securing him as a prisoner. He exchanged a nod with Sun-woo Jin, one of the masked men.
At that signal, Sun-woo Jin sent a covert message to Jeok Ma-hyeok and Gyeon Jung, and together they slipped away from the battlefield, melting back into the forest.
Then, in the next moment, the warriors of the Dan family stormed in.
“You scoundrels!”
“How dare you impersonate the Dan family!”
“We will not forgive this!”
Though individually the Baekho Unit warriors of the Ha clan were stronger than the Dan family’s men, having lost their leader and reduced to barely a dozen, they stood no chance against the hundred or so Dan warriors.
They were slaughtered in an instant.
“Gahhh!”
“Ahhh!”
“P-please spare me!”
Seeing this, Sun-woo Jung approached the masked man he had captured and removed his mask.
Then, as if confirming his suspicions, he shouted loudly:
“Baekho Unit Leader Guk Sa-hang! So you really are part of the Ha clan’s faction!”
“Baekho Unit Leader Guk Sa-hang! So you really are part of the Ha clan’s faction!”
Hearing my father’s shout, I let out a small, knowing smile.
Everything was unfolding exactly as planned.
Not long ago, when I spoke with my father, he asked me:
“If we create the impression that we’ll submit to the Jegal clan, then propose to fairly decide the successor based solely on martial skill, surely the other wives won’t dare rebel. I understand that much, but I don’t see how that helps us fend off the other factions.”
I smiled slyly and asked him in return:
“All of them want the Sun-woo clan’s leadership, right? So, who do you think believes they have the best chance of winning?”
“Hmm… it’s probably the Ha clan. They’re in exile like us, and they wield the most influence within our clan.”
“Exactly. Now, if by some twist the eldest brother were to become the successor, and even the Sun-woo clan, which they thought was almost theirs, were to fall to the Jegal clan, what do you think they would do?”
My father hesitated to answer.
But his expression clearly showed he knew the answer.
I pressed on.
“They’d want to overturn the whole game. Even if it means killing you and eldest brother.”
He sighed deeply and nodded.
“Yes, the Ha Gu-yang I know would certainly do that. But no matter how strong the Ha clan’s forces are, they’d hesitate to attack the Sun-woo clan head-on. So it won’t go as they wish…”
At that moment, I grinned mischievously and asked:
“Of course, a frontal assault would be risky. So how about you and eldest brother go out alone once? Just the two of you. That way, they won’t feel threatened.”
My father was startled, his face showing concern.
“You mean, knowing they’re after us, you want just the two of us to go out alone?”
“Yes. And if we tell them where we’re going, they’ll be all too eager to lie in wait, won’t they?”
“Isn’t that too dangerous?”
He asked, worry etched on his face.
I replied calmly:
“A trap that’s already known isn’t really a trap anymore.”
That’s why we left quickly, ensuring no other factions besides the Ha clan could interfere.
They probably thought it was a secret ambush no one knew about, but in reality, I had been receiving real-time intel from the Hao clan all along. The entire operation was playing out right in the palm of my hand.
“Lord Sun-woo, are you unharmed?!”
“Thanks to you arriving on time, nothing happened. I’m truly grateful.”
The Dan family warrior greeting my father was Dan Ha-seon, the older brother of my late friend Dan Ha-sang.
Ha-sang used to boast to me about his brother’s character, wisdom, talent, and martial prowess—how he was the finest among them all.
Back then, I envied how close he was with his brother, unlike me.
When I first arrived at Guiju Fortress, after taking over the Hao clan’s exile branch, I went straight to the Dan family.
I asked Dan Ha-seon, who drew his sword with eyes full of hatred, threatening to kill me:
“Ha-sang often spoke highly of you. He said you were very wise. So I assumed you knew the truth. But it seems his praise was exaggerated. Do you really believe I killed Ha-sang? Or that I was even capable of it?”
He froze on the spot.
I’m sure he had his doubts too.
After all, I was Ha-sang’s closest friend—even arranged a match for his sister—and yet suddenly, I was accused of drunkenly killing him. It was hard to believe that someone like me, who didn’t even seem like a warrior back then, could have done such a thing.
Anyone with common sense would question it.
Still, he asked me, his expression fierce:
“Are you saying you didn’t kill Ha-sang?”
“I was an outcast in the clan at the time. Why would I kill my only friend? And the Ha-sang you knew—was he so weak that a mere pig like me could kill him?”
He didn’t answer.
Or rather, he couldn’t.
But when his hostility faded, I knew he accepted what I said.
To him, I made a promise:
“Help me. I will find the real killer of Ha-sang. And I will bring that person to you. Also… I will put the Dan family on high alert.”
It took some time, but he eventually agreed to join my plan.
So the Dan family had been part of my scheme from the very beginning.
And now, they had an even more important role to play.
My father, speaking loudly so everyone could hear, asked Dan Ha-seon:
“I intend to punish the traitors within the Sun-woo clan and punish the Ha clan for trying to kill me. Can I count on the Dan family’s support?”
Without hesitation, Dan Ha-seon replied:
“Of course! We will never forgive those who dared to impersonate the Dan family and frame us! We will be your strength, Lord!”
“Thank you!”
The two clasped hands firmly.
It was a truly heartwarming sight.
…Of course, that would have been the case if they hadn’t known it was all prearranged.
Having seen that, I sent a covert message to Jeok Ma-hyeok and Gyeon Jung.
Let’s go. From now on, it’s a race against time.
Yes, sir!
Understood.
We started running toward the Sun-woo clan ahead of them.