After learning that Jeok Wigang was an ordinary civilian, Im Baekmun grew arrogant.
“Now, tell me. How would you like me to kill you?”
Jeok Wigang gave a faint laugh.
“You laugh? I’ll tear that mouth apart first.”
The moment Im Baekmun reached out to grab Jeok Wigang—
Thud.
His hand was caught.
“Oh? You caught me?”
He tried to pull his hand free, but it did not budge.
“Ggh!”
He even used his inner qi to pull away, but it was no use.
Then he felt the pressure growing stronger around the hand that had been caught, and pain began to rise.
“Gghhh!”
The pain was so intense that Im Baekmun lost all reason and struck Jeok Wigang’s face with his other fist.
“Die!”
It was a fist filled with inner qi.
If it struck an ordinary person, it had enough power to kill instantly.
CRAAACK—
It landed cleanly, but the hand gripping him remained exactly where it was.
What?
When he raised his head and looked at Jeok Wigang, Jeok Wigang was perfectly fine.
“You said you were top first-rate... No, you aren’t, are you? That was not a top first-rate punch.”
He was right.
In truth, Im Baekmun was at the eight-star first-rate level.
He had been bluffing.
Even so, it should have been more than enough force to deal with an ordinary civilian, yet for some strange reason, Jeok Wigang was completely fine.
“You said you didn’t learn martial arts.”
“Yeah. That’s right. I have no inner qi either.”
“Then how did you take my fist...”
“Come now. Even without inner qi, a cottony fist like that does not hurt when it hits.”
CRACK—
“Gaaaah!”
With a dull sound, a tremendous pain surged through the arm that had been caught.
Dangle.
The released arm dangled, broken.
“Does it hurt?”
Im Baekmun instinctively stepped back.
“Why? You were so full of yourself a moment ago. Keep going.”
At Jeok Wigang’s mockery, Im Baekmun gritted his teeth and drew up his inner qi.
WHOOOOM—
The instant Im Baekmun’s clothes fluttered, he attacked Jeok Wigang with his intact hand.
“Overlord Blood-Striking Palm!”
CRAAACK—
When his attack struck Jeok Wigang’s chest, a smile rose to Im Baekmun’s lips.
“It seems you trusted in your sturdy body and simply let yourself be hit, but that attack just now strikes not the outside, but the inside. Soon, your heart will twist, and you will die in agony.”
He expected Jeok Wigang to clutch his heart and suffer.
But unlike his expectation, Jeok Wigang was smiling as he casually brushed dust from his chest.
“I told you, a cottony fist like that will not work. Like this.”
BAM—
WHUMP—
“Kuhhhk!”
Before he knew it, Jeok Wigang’s fist had buried itself deep in his abdomen.
“You have to throw it properly. That is the only way they feel pain. Isn’t that right?”
He spoke to Im Baekmun, who was suffering as he gasped over and over, unable to breathe.
“Does it hurt?”
Im Baekmun drooled as he nodded.
“How much do you think the people you hurt suffered? Isn’t that right?”
Im Baekmun nodded again.
CRACK—
“Ggghhhk!”
The shin Jeok Wigang struck broke cleanly and bent backward.
“You still do not know their pain. Why are you nodding as if you understand anything?”
THUD—
Im Baekmun collapsed to the ground in agony.
“This must be the root of all this, right?”
Jeok Wigang’s gaze fell toward Im Baekmun’s most important place.
Even in the midst of pain, Im Baekmun seemed desperate to protect that alone, and he thrashed as he tried to flee.
“Where are you going? You cannot leave.”
CRACK—
Even the remaining leg that had been flailing was shattered.
“Gaaaaah!”
“Oh dear. You cannot break down already.”
Jeok Wigang lifted the suffering Im Baekmun and met his eyes.
Im Baekmun looked at Jeok Wigang with trembling pupils.
He felt an extreme fear of Jeok Wigang, who handled him like a toy that could be broken whenever he wished.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Are you scared?”
“I-I am sorry. I-it was all my fault.”
“What was?”
“Th-that is...”
SLAP—
“Kuhhhk!”
CRASH, THUD, RATTLE—
Im Baekmun was slapped across the cheek and slammed into the ground.
His broken arm and legs dangled, and enormous pain swept over his entire body.
The pain was so terrible that he could not even move.
WHUMP—
“Ggghhhk!”
With a heavy pain in his abdomen, his body rolled sideways.
As he rolled, his broken arm and legs dangled again.
He had only been choking through the terrible pain for a moment when another wave of maddening agony surged over him.
CRACK—
His eyes bulged, and a pain that felt as if his soul would leave his body erupted from his lower half.
He was in so much pain he could not even breathe properly, but he lowered his gaze.
Jeok Wigang’s foot was stepping on Im Baekmun’s precious place.
“Gaaaaaaah!”
A scream that seemed to pierce the lungs spread in every direction.
“We have to remove the root cause. Isn’t that right?”
The pain was so great that he even brought his broken arm toward that place and rolled wildly across the ground.
Then, at last, he foamed at the mouth and fainted on the spot.
Looking at Im Baekmun, Jeok Wigang gave a faint smile.
“I will let you have a pleasant dream.”
He placed his hand on Im Baekmun’s forehead and began reciting a mantra.
Summon the dreamscape of the heart. Let intent and mind shine forth.
Let the soul roam the boundary. Let illusion take root!
Everything would happen in the dream exactly as Jeok Wigang imagined.
A short while later.
Im Baekmun’s body twitched as cold sweat poured down him.
Then, with a desperate expression, he began flailing at empty air and thrashing.
It looked as if he were struggling to flee from something.
Right now, Im Baekmun must have been pursued by countless men inside his dream.
Their purpose was to return to him exactly what he had done to women.
Endlessly, until he woke from the dream.
More and more sweat flowed from him, and his struggles grew even fiercer.
Seeing his lips tremble, it seemed to have begun.
Until he had passed through the hands of every man in that dream, he would not be able to wake.
*****
“I raped Honghwa! I raped Yeonhwa too, and Jin Yeon as well! I raped the granddaughter from the Byeok family, and I raped the daughter of the Jo family too!”
A man walked through the street, shouting his crimes again and again.
It was Im Baekmun.
Even as he shouted his crimes, whenever a man appeared, he flinched in terror, curled in on himself, and trembled with a frightened expression.
Then he would repeat his confession again and keep wandering the streets.
Im Baekmun was a famous figure.
When someone like him suddenly began drooling and going around confessing his sins, people looked baffled.
“What is it this time?”
“Is he drunk in broad daylight or what?”
“Good grief. Now he is openly going around the whole neighborhood shouting that he raped women.”
“That must mean there is still no one who can touch him.”
“Let’s go. If we watch for no reason, we might get dragged into it too.”
People looked at Im Baekmun as if he were a plague and hurried to avoid him.
If they got entangled with him, one wrong move could see them falsely accused and arrested.
Perhaps word of Im Baekmun going around like this reached the military governor’s office, because soldiers came out and seized him.
“Sir Im. You must not do this.”
When a soldier grabbed him, Im Baekmun was startled out of his wits and shook off the soldier’s hand.
“D-do not touch me. I-I will go on my own.”
Im Baekmun’s eyes were filled with fear.
“Understood. We will not touch you, so return home. We will escort you to your residence.”
“No. I-I am a sinner. I have to go around confessing my sins. He told me to.”
With a deranged face, he kept insisting he had to confess his sins and tried to wander the streets again.
The soldiers judged there was no helping it and seized Im Baekmun by force.
At that, Im Baekmun resisted violently.
Im Baekmun was a first-rate martial artist.
WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP—
He sent the soldiers who grabbed him flying in an instant and said with a terrified face, “I-I told you not to touch me!”
In an instant, Im Baekmun had sent the four soldiers surrounding him flying.
Leaving the suffering soldiers behind, he ran off somewhere as if fleeing.
Though the soldiers were in pain, they rose and chased after Im Baekmun as he drew farther away.
But chasing Im Baekmun, who was running with lightness art, was no easy task.
Still, what could they do?
If they lost him, they were the ones likely to die.
So the soldiers chased after Im Baekmun desperately.
*****
The soldiers who had desperately chased Im Baekmun felt hollow.
The place he had fled to was none other than the government office.
Inside the government office, chaos broke out because Im Baekmun had suddenly barged in.
The magistrate, who had been in the middle of hearing another lawsuit, wore a troubled expression.
“Lord Magistrate! I am a sinner! Punish me!”
“Sir Im Baekmun. Why are you acting like this? Did I not already rule that you were innocent?”
“No. No. I am the sinner. All the people who testified until now were people I paid to give false testimony. Every time I was found innocent here, it was all because of false testimony.”
At Im Baekmun’s continued testimony, the magistrate hurriedly struck the baton.
“Due to the disturbance, court will be adjourned for the moment. Everyone withdraw.”
Despite the magistrate’s words, everyone’s eyes remained fixed on Im Baekmun.
“What are you all doing? Get out at once! Guards! Remove them immediately!”
At the magistrate’s shout, the soldiers hurriedly drove the people out.
The magistrate pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed.
“Sir Im Baekmun. If you behave like this, what becomes of my dignity? What do you think they will go out and say? Will they not go around saying I had your back?”
“I-it does not matter. I-I must be punished.”
Feeling something strange about the way Im Baekmun kept insisting he had to be punished, the magistrate looked at him closely.
He kept drooling, his eyes darting this way and that as if something were pursuing him.
On top of that, he was extremely wary of the soldiers.
Anyone could see that he was not in his right mind.
Someone had clearly tortured Im Baekmun or given him a mental shock.
Who could it be?
The magistrate began calling out, one by one, the names of those Im Baekmun had wronged until now.
But there was no reaction.
Last were the old innkeeper and his granddaughter, the weakest of all the cases that had been brought until now.
Surely not?
When he called the names of the old man and his granddaughter, Im Baekmun was horrified and flattened himself on the floor.
“I-I was wrong! I will never do it again! P-please do not call those men!”
Whom was he asking him not to call?
From the situation, it seemed the old man had sent someone to take revenge on Im Baekmun.
The magistrate had thought the old man was of no account, but apparently, he had been mistaken.
He would know the details once he summoned the old man.
The magistrate ordered the soldiers, “Go at once and drag the old man and his granddaughter here.”
*****
In a single day, the wounds left by the flogging had healed completely from the old man and his granddaughter.
“I failed to recognize you as a divine physician.”
The old man bowed to Jeok Wigang and expressed his gratitude.
Jeok Wigang waved his hands and said, “No. I healed you with sorcery, not medicine, so I am not a divine physician.”
“This lowly one knows nothing of such complicated matters. In any case, you healed me, so to this lowly one, you are no different from a divine physician.”
Feeling that further explanation would be meaningless, Jeok Wigang scratched his head.
Perhaps the granddaughter had regained some of her senses as well, because she bowed together with the old man.
But she still did not speak.
Though wounds of the body could be healed, psychological shock could not be cured even with sorcery.
That was a problem only time could resolve.
“My lord must be busy. I worry that this lowly one has taken up your time.”
“No. I have more time than anything.”
“I do not know how I can ever repay this grace. I would not want you to spend any more of your precious time because of this lowly one.”
“It is not time for me to leave yet.”
“Pardon?”
What was he talking about?
It was then.
“Criminals Mok Yonggi and Mok Hwaran! Come outside at once and submit to binding!”
At the sudden shout, Jeok Wigang grinned and said, “The ones I have been waiting for are here.”