An alley laid over in pitch darkness.

Not even the common sound of insects reached it.

The mouth of the alley. The tops of the eaves. The shadow of the wall.

Everywhere he looked there was nothing but dark.

And where Muk-yeong was, that too was inside the dark.

Muk-yeong crouched in the shadow of the wall with his eyes closed.

Every sense he had was narrowed down to hearing and smell.

‘Five on the left. Five on the right. One of them is where Chief is. And the other four?’

Taking his own position as the center, they were split exactly five and five to either side.

One was over where Bae Seokjin was coming from, so Bae Seokjin would deal with that one.

The problem was the other four.

‘They did say one of the Blood Breaker Tenth Squad was skilled at concealment.’

Warriors do not, as a rule, put much effort into the arts of concealment.

They think of hiding as a petty business fit for assassins.

That was a well-fed way of thinking.

In the years when survival was the whole of it, the advantage of fooling an enemy’s eyes and working in close to his throat could not be traded for anything.

‘The ones I can see, first.’

Muk-yeong moved.

The instant he moved left along the base of the wall, his body went indistinct.

Where he appeared was on the eaves of an old tiled house.

A man in Blood Breaker uniform lay flat there, watching the surroundings.

Muk-yeong scattered a white powder around him without a sound.

It was one of his own preparations, made to erase smell.

Only when he had put down enough of it did Muk-yeong move.

He closed on the Blood Breaker warrior in an instant, covered his mouth, and drew the short blade across his throat.

He held that position without moving at all.

The raw smell of blood reached the tip of his nose, but his preparation cleared it away quickly.

When the warrior’s spasms had eased and every trace of life had gone out of him, only then did Muk-yeong take his hand off the man’s mouth.

And Muk-yeong moved on again, without a moment’s regret.

This time toward the one lying at the foot of the wall.

And so Muk-yeong, slowly.

But surely, thinned the enemy’s numbers.

Muk-yeong shouldered the body of the last warrior he killed and stepped out into the moonlight.

Thud.

After throwing the body down carelessly.

He waited a little.

And.

His provocation worked all too well.

Four presences he had not been able to feel at all came through clearly.

Two were rushing him.

The other two were running toward the gambling den.

Muk-yeong threw himself high into the air and sent throwing knives after the two running for the gambling den.

Shhhhhhk! Thuk! Thuk!

The knives went through the backs of their necks exactly.

The two men, still at a run, went sprawling forward.

Tak.

And when he landed on the ground again, two Blood Breaker warriors stood in front of him, looking at him in astonishment.

Muk-yeong looked from one to the other and took the short blade in his hand again.

And he breathed out, deeply.

His figure went indistinct once more.

“Khaa—! Pah!”

The man who spat let out a small curse, boredom all over his face.

“Damn it. How long are we supposed to wait?”

The other man standing beside him somehow caught it and scolded him.

“Idiot. Keep it down. We don’t even know where the Blood Breaker gentlemen are hiding right now. If they hear you, I’ll get chewed out along with you.”

“Jeonggu. Jeonggu, you thick-headed man. Use your head. Would the Blood Breaker gentlemen be hiding here? Look behind you.”

The man called Jeonggu looked behind them.

Their fellows — the Gok Clan’s rank-and-file warriors and the Hangzhou thugs called up separately — were spread out at their leisure.

A rough count with the eye cleared a hundred easily.

“If something happened here, what do you think would follow? It’d be an uproar on the spot, wouldn’t it? And then the Blood Breaker gentlemen would come on their own! Which means they’re obviously watching somewhere quiet right now!”

Jeonggu seemed embarrassed and gave a cough.

“Ahem. Even so, all I’m saying is watch your mouth. Chilgyeong, it isn’t as if your mouth has never gotten you in trouble before.”

That happened to be true, so all Chilgyeong did was push his lip out.

“Tch. I got a raw deal that time too. And I say a thing is boring because it’s boring. What else am I supposed to say. How many shichen has it been already. It’d be simple enough to just go and hit the place.”

Clank.

A metallic sound, out of nowhere.

Chilgyeong, who had been pouring out complaints without a pause, gave a violent start and turned his head toward where it had come from.

Jeonggu had heard it too, and was just as tense.

“What was that? You heard it too, right?”

“Yeah. One of the Blood Breakers?”

Where they stood was a wide clearing. And the only way into it was one narrow alley.

Which was probably why only the two of them had heard it. The two of them were standing watch at the entrance.

Jeonggu coughed a little and raised his voice, carefully.

“Wh-who’s there!”

But there was no answer.

The two of them looked at each other and tilted their heads.

“Did we mishear?”

At the same moment as he finished saying it.

Whip! Splat!

Something came flying out of the dark.

“Hiik—!”

The two of them recoiled in horror, backing away and backing away.

Only then did the others, who had been resting, react.

“What is it.”

“What’s all the fuss about.”

But the two of them could not hear those voices.

“Wh-what is…”

What had come flying out of the dark was a person. A person soaked in blood, to be exact.

They knew the uniform he wore.

“Bl-Blood Breaker…?”

Clatter.

The metallic sound again.

And then.

Shhhhhhk!

Something came rushing in with a harsh tearing of air.

And the two of them never did learn what it was.

Thwack! Shhk—! Crunch!!

The meteor hammer struck Jeonggu’s skull first, and the head of it turned in a short arc and came back to crush Chilgyeong’s as well.

“Wh-what—!!”

“E-enemy!!”

The warriors who had been resting comfortably scrambled to their feet and pulled out their weapons.

Step. Step.

And then the slow sound of footsteps approaching.

Under the moonlight that lit the dark, a giant of a man showed himself.

That fearsome face might have belonged to an asura of the Eight Legions.

“Hah! Th-the Iron Dragon?”

Someone recognized him, and the voice rippled the air.

Chink.

The sound of the chain as he drew the hammer in came through skin-crawlingly clear.

The Iron Dragon, Bae Seokjin.

His raw-edged eyes went over them once.

“A pity.”

What was a pity?

The same question came up in every head.

But the question was answered soon enough.

“Since all of you have to die here.”

Killing intent, whole and undisguised.

Someone shouted as though thrashing against it.

“Damn it—!! Kill him—!!”

At that voice the warriors threw themselves at Bae Seokjin.

Bae Seokjin gave a small snort and turned his body. The chain turned with him.

Shhhhhhhhk!

CRAAASH!

The hammer on the end of it blew three or four charging warriors away in a single stroke.

While that happened, one warrior who had closed on Bae Seokjin thrust with his sword.

Bae Seokjin stepped back once and swept his left hand fast.

There are many kinds of meteor hammer.

Among them is a weapon with a heavy head on one end and a throwing dart on the other.

It is commonly called a rope-dart meteor hammer. Bae Seokjin’s weapon followed that basic form as well.

Only, instead of a dart, there was a sickle.

Shhwaaaaack!

The neck of the nearest enemy came off in one stroke.

Blood shot up like a fountain and covered Bae Seokjin.

The warrior following behind, having witnessed that ghastly sight, stopped where he stood without meaning to.

“A chain-sickle…?”

And the warrior stood there murmuring stupidly.

He was right.

It was modeled on a strange weapon that had come over from Japan.

Only, heavier and keener than that one.

Shhhhhhk!

Bae Seokjin took the chain up short, drove forward, and swung.

CRAAASH!

And so the man who had stood there stupidly had to die for nothing.

That was the beginning.

Bae Seokjin moved through the enemy exactly like an asura.

The hammer was as fast as a meteor.

And its fall was as fierce as lightning.

Wherever the sickle passed, it left blood painted behind it without fail.

The enemy’s will to fight went out of them fast.

And then.

Only one was left.

“Why… why aren’t the Blood Breakers coming—!!”

He dropped to his knees and cried out.

There was a despair without end in his voice.

Chink. Thud.

The hammer dropped to the ground and sent a heavy ring through the air.

At the sound, the sole survivor flinched.

Bae Seokjin looked at him and spoke.

“Are you curious?”

“…Yes?”

“About why the Blood Breakers aren’t coming to help.”

“D-don’t tell me…”

The answer came soon enough.

Whip—! Splat.

Out of the dark Bae Seokjin had come from.

Just as Bae Seokjin had done at the start, someone threw something.

Only, not once.

Twice. Three times. Past five, the man gave up counting.

What they had in common was blood at the throat, and Blood Breaker uniforms on every one of them.

And last of all, a man showed himself. It was Muk-yeong.

“Do you understand now.”

Bae Seokjin’s low, settled voice drew the survivor’s eyes.

The quiet anger his gaze gave off seemed to go straight through the lungs.

Clank.

Scrape. Scrape.

Keeping pace with his approaching feet, the blood-stained hammer dragged along behind him, impossible not to see.

Only then did he understand.

What it meant to put a hand on the Four Black Dragons.

“All of you are the start of it. I’ll see the price paid in full for daring to touch the Four Black Dragons.”

Shhhhhk! Thwack! Crunch!

With a horrific pain across his skull as the last thing.

His breath stopped for good.

Bae Seokjin looked once around the carnage he had made and turned away.

“The Blood Breakers?”

Muk-yeong pointed once at the place he had thrown the bodies from, then moved his hands.

— Fourteen. All dealt with.

Bae Seokjin had taken one, which meant exactly half of the Blood Breaker Tenth Squad was gone.

Bae Seokjin gave Muk-yeong his order.

“Send word to Cheongeum. Ask them to clean up after us. I’ll go and help Biryeong.”

Muk-yeong gave a small nod and disappeared into the mouth of the alley again.

Chink.

Bae Seokjin gathered up his own weapon as well and started walking, slowly.

It was still not enough.

Not to put out the fire of revenge burning in his chest.

Not to wash away the self-reproach of having failed to save Yoo Geonwoo.

“It starts now.”

And as he had muttered.

Bae Seokjin went on, quietly.

To punish them.

Gok Taejun could not hide his laughter. He had never once guessed that the pleasure of gambling while knowing your opponent’s hand could be this great.

As the silver piled up beside him, the space beside his opponent emptied out.

The delight of it was hard to put into words — it rang through him thrillingly, down to the marrow.

And in the end.

“Heh heh. Mine again.”

Gok Taejun finally stripped the last of his opponent’s wealth.

The man’s face was setting hard, and he looked as though he might kick his chair back and stand at any moment.

“Well, what a shame. Looks like the stake has run out.”

Bang.

He struck the table and pushed his chair back.

He glared at Gok Taejun as though to kill him and forced the words out through his teeth.

“I’ll go and raise my stake again, so don’t you move from here.”

Gok Taejun’s eyes lit up.

He turned a piece of silver over in his fingers and spoke in a leading tone.

“How am I supposed to know when you’ll be back. Let’s not do that. Let’s do this instead.”

“…?”

“I hear that last time you put something other than silver up as a stake…”

The Murim Alliance warrior’s eyes went straight to Mun Seok.

His killing intent looked ready to cut Mun Seok down where he sat.

“So my warning that spreading it would get you killed without a soul the wiser was funny to you?”

“N-no! It wasn’t! We really didn’t—”

Mun Seok waved his hands and denied it.

Gok Taejun let a sneer show and helped him out.

“That’s right. I didn’t hear it from him, so don’t get so worked up.”

The Murim Alliance warrior’s eyes, full of killing intent, turned to Gok Taejun.

Gok Taejun kept his composure and tipped his head.

“Putting on a serious face when you’ve already put information on a gambling table once. Cut the crap and hear my offer.”

“…”

There was no answer, but Gok Taejun paid it no mind and went on.

“Proof that the Dark Alliance Lord has been colluding with the Murim Alliance. Do you have it?”

“Damn it.”

The Murim Alliance warrior spat the curse.

The conflict in him showed plainly on his face.

Whether or not to clear this place out.

Gok Taejun smirked and gestured behind him.

At that, Wi Jinho, standing at his back, snapped his fingers.

Snap!

And Blood Breaker warriors came in through the curtain.

Gok Taejun wore a thick smile and shook his head.

“Don’t try anything brave. You’re the one who could end up buried here without a soul the wiser.”

“…”

Gok Taejun waggled a finger and leaned forward.

“But don’t worry. I don’t intend to take the information by force. Instead, let’s put that proof up and play one last hand. If you win, I’ll give back every coin you’ve lost tonight. Well? You’ll want to take your last chance to turn it around, won’t you?”

Only then did the man’s eyes change.

He glanced at the silver piled up on the other side of the table and sat back down.

“Your arithmetic is off.”

But what came out of his mouth was not what was expected.

“What?”

“If it’s a chance to turn it around, shouldn’t your stake be on the table as well?”

Gok Taejun was thrown, and a hollow laugh came out of him.

“Greedy, aren’t you?”

He let the warning out low, but the man did not waver.

“Isn’t a gambling table where a man is supposed to be as greedy as he likes?”

The man drew a letter envelope from inside his robe. An ordinary envelope with nothing distinctive about it.

“Do you know what this is? Secret orders from the Murim Alliance Lord to the Dark Alliance Lord. My superior entrusted it to me. Tomorrow I’m to meet the Dark Alliance Lord’s man and hand it over in person.”

Greed spread through Gok Taejun’s eyes.

“You won’t need to check what’s inside it, I imagine? You’ll be able to check it if you win.”

Gok Taejun swallowed and then grinned.

“You gambling bastard. You know how to gamble.”

He looked at Mun Seok.

“What are you waiting for. Deal. And you’re out.”

Mun Seok nodded over and over, fear all over his face.

“U-understood.”

His hands shook as he gathered the tiles, and he dropped them on the floor by accident.

“Aigoo!”

He bent quickly at the waist and picked them up.

“S-sorry.”

Clack, clack.

He barely got the tiles into the cup, shook it, and held it out.

Gok Taejun glared at him as though to kill him, but only clicked his tongue and drew his tiles.

The man opposite drew his as well.

And there they were, clearly — one line and two lines.

‘I have three and four. Seven.’

A perfect win.

Gok Taejun threw down his tiles.

“Mine this time too, you gambling bastard.”

He signaled Wi Jinho with his eyes, ordering him to bring the envelope.

But Wi Jinho could not move.

“You were right.”

A cold voice drove itself into his mind.

Gok Taejun slowly turned his head.

And the Murim Alliance warrior. No. Seo Woojin showed his tiles.

The numbers on them were five and four. Nine.

“I’ve gone and taken the chance to turn it around.”

The deeper Seo Woojin’s smile grew.

The further Gok Taejun’s mind plunged, without end, toward the bottom of a sheer thousand-foot drop.

(End of Chapter 56)