"Thank you! Doctor Baek. I-I will not forget this kindness!"

"Just keep your promise."

"Don't worry! I will go down every day and inquire about your disciple's whereabouts!"

At Cheon Suhye's repeated requests, Baek Yoonjun had no choice but to follow.

'Anyway, being cooped up in the mountains is more comfortable than being in a place with a lot of people, and she said she would help me find Yuhwa's whereabouts.'

Although he was a little reluctant to have a companion named Cheon Suhye.

'The more I look at her, the more trivial she seems, so it seems a little okay.'

Thinking of Cheon Suhye as a shrew-like human who pretended to be strong, she seemed manageable, so the burden of their first meeting had lessened.

Baek Yoonjun and Cheon Suhye left Luoyang and set foot in a nearby mountain.

"But Doctor Baek, what will you do for a place to stay when you go into the mountains?"

"I have a plan."

As soon as they entered the mountains, Baek Yoonjun thought of a place to stay.

Although he was thinking of building a house himself if there was no place to stay.

'I don't think I'll need to do that now.'

Baek Yoonjun's senses felt the presence of several people deep in the mountains.

'To be cooped up in the mountains when a proper city is right in front of you, they can't be good people.'

It was the thought of a human who had been cooped up in the mountains all the time.

This was just a hunch.

Therefore, it could be wrong.

But either way, it didn't matter to Baek Yoonjun.

'If they are good people, I'll entrust this woman to them and stay nearby, and if they are evil people, I'll just cut them all down.'

Baek Yoonjun climbed the mountain with a light heart.

"Doctor Baek, is it right to go this way?"

In contrast, Cheon Suhye was nervously looking around and struggling to follow Baek Yoonjun.

That appearance, reminiscent of a meerkat on guard, made Baek Yoonjun let out a chuckle.

"Since it's a road I know, don't worry and follow me."

"Ah, I understand."

Cheon Suhye tried to look as dignified as possible and followed Baek Yoonjun.

And so, Baek Yoonjun arrived at his intended destination.

A crudely built fence and building were visible in the distance.

"This place is?"

Cheon Suhye, who had discovered the fence and building, asked with wide eyes.

"It seems to be a bandit's den."

"A bandit's den, when Luoyang is nearby, even if they are not conspicuous?"

Cheon Suhye asked as if she were dumbfounded.

It seemed she half-doubted Baek Yoonjun's words.

If it were the usual Baek Yoonjun, he wouldn't have been able to think of anything to say at this point, but for some reason, it came to him right away.

"They must have bribed an organization in Luoyang."

"An organization in Luoyang..."

"Wouldn't it be either the military or the Martial Alliance?"

"Th-that's!"

Cheon Suhye strongly agreed with Baek Yoonjun's words.

"There's no way! The military, maybe, but there's no way the alliance would look after such bandits!"

It was a statement filled with conviction.

Perhaps because it was filled with conviction, a faint anger towards Baek Yoonjun was also contained in it.

Baek Yoonjun chuckled inwardly as he looked at Cheon Suhye.

'Look at this innocent lady.'

Leaving behind the denying Cheon Suhye, Baek Yoonjun moved his feet towards what looked like a mountain fortress.

"Where are you going?! Doctor Baek!!"

Cheon Suhye chased after him in a fluster.

"D-Doctor Baek! It's dangerous!"

Cheon Suhye was startled as she saw Baek Yoonjun walking confidently towards the front of the mountain fortress.

She was so flustered that she followed him, wondering what on earth Baek Yoonjun was thinking.

"Who are you!"

"How dare you approach the Usan Fortress!"

The rough-looking men at the front gate of the mountain fortress aimed their weapons at Baek Yoonjun and shot at him. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"D-Doctor Baek!!"

Baek Yoonjun, who stood face to face with the rough-looking men with a nonchalant expression that made it impossible to know what he was thinking.

Cheon Suhye was startled and blocked Baek Yoonjun's path.

"Hoo? Did you come to offer a woman?"

The rough-looking men scanned Cheon Suhye's body with a sticky gaze.

"Take your dirty eyes off me!"

Cheon Suhye shouted with a trembling voice and drew her sword.

The opponent was two.

Although she didn't know the level of their martial arts, she thought she could block them if there were two.

"What's the commotion!"

But that thought did not last long.

From inside the mountain fortress, men who were just as rough as the men at the gate came flocking out.

A rough count of several dozen men.

Cheon Suhye's pupils shook violently.

Meanwhile, Baek Yoonjun calmly looked at Cheon Suhye, who had drawn her sword in front of him.

The level of the bandits and Cheon Suhye's martial arts seemed similar.

However, the number was a bit large.

'Hmm, it seems okay, but should I see her skills first?'

Since he thought they were evil people, he wasn't burdened, and since it was a number he could cut down with a single stroke if necessary, Baek Yoonjun chose to watch.

"D-D-Doctor Baek, st-st-step back!"

However, that observation did not last long.

Although Cheon Suhye had drawn her sword, her body was trembling so much that he was worried if she could even swing it properly.

'Sigh.'

Baek Yoonjun let out a deep sigh inwardly and stepped forward.

"D-D-Doctor Baek!!"

Although Cheon Suhye was worried, she couldn't stop him because her body was trembling.

Baek Yoonjun, who had stepped forward, stealthily brought his hand to his sword and decided to talk first.

"Are you evil people?"

At Baek Yoonjun's somewhat random words, a silence fell on the place.

But the silence did not last that long.

"What if we are?"

"That frail-looking arm of yours, are you going to kill us with it? Pfft."

"Hahahahaha! There were many brats like you! But they all died."

The bandits all laughed at and ridiculed Baek Yoonjun.

"I see."

Baek Yoonjun said nonchalantly and brought his hand to the hilt of his sword.

Clank.

The sound of the sword being drawn echoed quietly.

Slice.

The necks of the bandits who had been laughing at Baek Yoonjun until just now all fell at once.

Cheon Suhye just blinked her eyes.

Her head couldn't follow, and she couldn't judge what had happened.

"What are you doing? Let's go."

"What? Yes!"

She just answered unconsciously at Baek Yoonjun's urging and followed him.

"Who...!"

Slice.

"How dare you...!!"

Slice.

After that, it was like autumn leaves falling.

However, what was falling was not autumn leaves, but necks.

In the midst of that, Baek Yoonjun, wearing a bamboo hat, walked nonchalantly.

There was not even the motion of swinging a sword.

He was just resting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Cheon Suhye could not come to her senses at that sight.

Her mind was in a crazy mess.

'Didn't he say he was a doctor?'

Baek Yoonjun had not particularly said he was a doctor.

'Didn't he say he didn't know martial arts?'

Baek Yoonjun had not particularly said he had not learned martial arts.

'He was definitely a frail-looking, refined young master at our first meeting.'

To Cheon Suhye, this whole scene came as a shock.

'What on earth is his identity?'

Although Baek Yoonjun had not particularly hidden his identity, because the sight in front of her was so shocking, the thoughts in her head about him were being assembled at will.

"St-stop!"

Baek Yoonjun's seemingly unreal progress was gradually coming to an end.

The man who blocked Baek Yoonjun.

Baek Yoonjun stood face to face with a man of a huge physique that seemed to exceed three chi.

The man was so large that Baek Yoonjun was covered in his shadow, but perhaps because of his progress so far, his presence was the opposite.

The man was trembling like crazy as if he had seen a ghost.

"H-how dare you! D-do you know who is behind me! I-if you touch me, the a-alliance will not stand still!!"

Slice.

The huge man's neck also flew away as soon as Baek Yoonjun brought his hand to the hilt of his sword.

At that, Cheon Suhye was horrified.

'The alliance was said to be their backer! Doctor Baek... no, is this person not afraid of even the alliance?!'

Although the sight of him cutting down the large man and wiping out all the bandits inside was very cruel.

'It's beautiful.'

Perhaps because it was such an unrealistic and transcendent sight, it even felt beautiful.

Perhaps because it was the season when plum blossoms bloomed, every time Baek Yoonjun moved, plum blossoms fluttered around, making it look even more beautiful.

After being lost in a daze for a while, Cheon Suhye came to her senses after Baek Yoonjun had just cut down a hiding bandit and carefully opened her mouth.

"Great Hero Baek, are you not afraid of the alliance?"

"I am afraid."

"Then how could you cut down the man who said the alliance was his backer without hesitation?"

At Cheon Suhye's question, Baek Yoonjun turned around.

A nonchalant face as if he were out for a walk.

The appearance, without even a single drop of blood, was even noble.

Baek Yoonjun opened his mouth nonchalantly as usual.

"Because he is an evil person."

That one word pierced Cheon Suhye's heart.

'This person would cut down even a great enemy if they were evil.'

At that, Cheon Suhye's face became hot.

'I have been bound by appearances until now... This person is the true great hero.'

Cheon Suhye was thrilled.

There would be no human who would not be moved in front of the ideal they dreamed of.

And looking at Cheon Suhye, Baek Yoonjun.

'Why did this human's tone suddenly change?'

He was just puzzled by Cheon Suhye's suddenly polite tone.

'It's a good thing. Since they were evil people, I could cut them down right away, and since I wiped them all out, there's no one to go and tell on me.'

And he recalled the fact that he had not been able to talk about at length earlier and looked around.

'There are no survivors, right?'

Extremely wary that a survivor might have succeeded in escaping and his news would reach the Martial Alliance, Baek Yoonjun, who had scanned his surroundings.

'There are none.'

He was relieved that there were no surviving bandits.

"Well, then, let's roughly clean up the bandit corpses and stay here for the time being."

Saying so, Baek Yoonjun moved his internal energy and threw the bandit corpses outside.

Looking at that, Cheon Suhye had a complicated heart.

"Is it okay to just dispose of the corpses like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't you going to make a grave or something...?"

"Why should I waste my energy burying evil people?"

At Baek Yoonjun's firm words, Cheon Suhye shut her mouth.

She felt as if she had glimpsed an unknown firmness and sadness in Baek Yoonjun's eyes under the bamboo hat.

'He hates evil people so much, is there a reason?'

Having arbitrarily accepted that Baek Yoonjun must have a reason, Cheon Suhye quietly watched the scene of him disposing of the corpses.

He threw them far into the deep mountains, so they wouldn't be seen by human eyes, and they would just return to the earth or become food for wild animals.

Having disposed of all the bandits' corpses, Baek Yoonjun shook his hands as if shaking off something dirty, even though it was not a task he had done with his hands.

Cheon Suhye looked at Baek Yoonjun with a complicated heart and then carefully asked.

"Who on earth are you?"

"Who am I?"

"How on earth can you use such a high-level martial art?"

At Cheon Suhye's question, Baek Yoonjun answered immediately without any hesitation.

"I'm just a third-rate martial artist."

"Ha."

At Baek Yoonjun's answer, Cheon Suhye let out a futile laugh.

"Hahaha, if Great Hero Baek is a third-rate martial artist! Then there would be no martial artist above third-rate in this world!"

Cheon Suhye continued to laugh.

It was a laugh as if something that had been weighing on her had been washed away.

Looking at Cheon Suhye, Baek Yoonjun.

'Why is she laughing? Is third-rate funny!?'

He was fuming inwardly, but he did not show it on the outside. To be precise, he couldn't.

"A third-rate... Seeing Brother Baek, I feel like I'm not even a third-rate, no, not even a martial artist..."

After laughing for a long time, Cheon Suhye smiled bitterly.

Looking at that, Baek Yoonjun.

'What's with the obvious statement?'

He just shut his mouth with a dumbfounded heart.

That day, Baek Yoonjun and Cheon Suhye chose a suitable place to stay, ate, and went to sleep in their respective rooms.

Although the night was deep, Cheon Suhye could not fall asleep and tossed and turned in her seat.

What had just happened kept coming to her mind.

The sight of Baek Yoonjun slaughtering the bandits.

Although it was a very cruel hand, since she thought the opponent was an evil person, although it was a little difficult, she could accept it.

No, beyond acceptance, it was even respectable.

A movement without any hesitation that contributed to his conviction.

And overwhelming strength.

'Great hero.'

The very being that suited the title of 'great hero' that Cheon Suhye had dreamed of.

"Ugh..."

After recalling the scene for a long time, Cheon Suhye let out a groan at the sudden pain in her chest.

'Why does it suddenly hurt? Is it because I'm ashamed of myself?'

Cheon Suhye thought that the pain had arisen because she was not upright.

And so, Cheon Suhye tossed and turned all night, and the next day.

"Great Hero Baek. Please give me your teachings."

Cheon Suhye politely bowed her head to Baek Yoonjun.

The conclusion she had reached after tossing and turning all night.

Cheon Suhye had judged that she could not become the great hero she dreamed of with her own strength.

Therefore, she had asked for teachings from Baek Yoonjun, whom she thought of as a great hero.

She was not greedy for the teachings of his profound martial arts.

Just a small teaching, just a mindset would be good.

With such a feeling, Cheon Suhye politely bowed her head in front of Baek Yoonjun.

And the answer that came back to such a Cheon Suhye was.

"I refuse."

A firm refusal.

(End of Chapter)