Mercenary Black Mamba

"Not my fault? Kukuku!"

He couldn't help but giggle out loudly in glee. These were the rantings of a desperate man getting hunted down in deadly pursuit by a ghostly specter. He did rough him up quite aggressively in that forest in Hajoongdo. He must have been truly terrified about getting chased by a ghost all night racing wildly through a pitch-black forest.

He might seem fine, just reading from facial expressions, but driver Lee actually suffered internal damage from the incurred injuries and will potentially see blood in his stool for the rest of his life. It was simply karma for ruining a young student's future and making a flowering young girl take her own life with him pressing her ruthlessly for petty cash.

He was not truly concerned about whether Hwaja took drugs, or Wootak turned into a thug, or whether Jangpilnyeo was plotting and stealing with her family. Just the fact that his uncle had come down with terminal illness arrested his attention.

Pulmonary emphysema is a terminal disease in which the terminal bronchiole distal airspace gradually gets constricted or destroyed. In other words, the pulmonary alveolus loses tension and ceases to function. The cells, being deprived of oxygen supply, simply died off. resulting in blue-tinged skin, irregular breathing, and compulsive coughing, which caused immense, searing pain.

If it's been 6 years since the disease had been diagnosed, the person in question would also be on his deathbed. He saved him from being poisoned by his wife and now he had contracted a terminal illness. His uncle's life was filled with adversity and grim challenges.

"Damned master, so this is why you told me not to hurry. Is this the unfolding of karmic forces!"

He felt indifferent to the news that his uncle was terminally ill. The uncle that he had resented so intensely. He had experienced a multitude of deaths in a row. He had become desensitized, numb to the vagaries of life and death itself.

"No, you need to pay the penalty for all your sins. You can't die this irresponsibly."

A flock of birds flew up into the air spooked by the reverberations, shrieking sounds of piercing howls. If his uncle were to die here, a piece of truth about his mother's disappearance would be buried into silent secrecy along, sealed along with him. The real truth would then be concealed with fabricated lies to cover up. That could not be allowed to happen.

'No, maybe it's better for it to fade away, die miserably in silence, in this way.'

Mu Ssang fell into a state of turmoil, anguish, confusion. He could outline most of the truth of what he overheard from Lee Gangchul. But he was afraid he discover something else amiss. The truth that was concealed within another truth could work as a double-edged sword. He didn't want to bleed excessive blood just trying to get down to, discover the truth. The side of him that wanted to keep him alive and make him pay for his sins collided/ clashed with the side of him that hoped he could simply be silenced through death and being killed off.

[A wolf and a lynx could appear very similar, but they are actually distinct breeds and are destined to compete for their own hunt. When faced with a difficult puzzle to solve, let time work things out for you.]

Mu Ssang was reminded of his master's words from 6 years ago. Events were unfolding just as he had predicted. Thanks to his master he avoided hurting a member of his family with his own hands and solved his problem without making any real effort. What can you say, his master was some truly remarkable old man who was very much larger than life, a mythical figure.

This felt right. There was no need to hurt his own. He just needed to let things remain as they were. Mu Ssang rubbed the papers rigorously between his palms. The worn pages vaporized into dust and flew away, floating adrift upon valley winds. And his dark past that had always occupied a deep recess of his heart was swept away, along with it.

"The fight between the wolf and the lynx should be nearing the end at this precise moment, then."

If his uncle was the wolf, then the Jang family was the lynx. By helping the losing side every now and then, one could thoroughly annihilate both parties. The fight that began 6 years ago had already turned into a brutal, violent feud.

In a capitalist society, power does not come from force or feuds, but from money, cashflows, profits. Mu Ssang estimated his wealth. Even if he excluded Novatopia there was Dova Oil, the fees he received from Total and Areva, and the compensation he received from the French government totaling about 10 billion dollars. He was also now earning around 700 million dollars each year. It just came to reach this status quo.

The Jang family's wealth was derived from their land ownership. The worth of Jangkyungju's land, which is considered a Mansukjigi(person who owns enough land to yield 1.5 million kg of crops), was estimated at 3.5 million dollars with a yearly earning of around 200,000 dollars or in the nearby approximation.

An astounding amount of riches for the average person, but as insignificant as a grain of sand in his sight. The audacity to have been so pretentious and arrogant when they and all their wealth could be so easily dissolved, destroyed with his hands.

'How should I handle Jangpilnyeo and the Jang family in a way that would bring my parents' great glory?'

This was the thought that had always been bothering, distressing him. Jangpilnyeo was an evil witch who threw his parents out onto the streets for some inheritance, abused her nephew, and tried to poison her husband. It was more than likely that she was involved with him being imprisoned, his father's grave being unearthed, and his mother's disappearance. Even his master never said anything about forgiving this witch.

Jangpilnyeo is mentally dependent on her family, and money means everything to her. A person's life without some means that can provide for its very sustenance is a fate that is worse than death.

"Jangpilnyeo, we've been enemies for far too long. It is about time to end this bitter feuding."

Mu Ssang put on a cold, icy, indifferent expression. He wasn't aware that Park Inbo had beaten him to it in dismantling the Jang family and demolishing all that remained of familial bonds.

"Who the hell are those guys?"

Mu Ssang activated his penetrating vision sight function. His eyes zoomed in like a camera zoom honing in on the campsite. He could see someone horsing around upon a beloved snakehead mast. There were five people in total - someone with a cigarette in his mouth, someone who kept spitting upon the ground coarsely, and another one constantly squaring his shoulders and putting up artificial, contrived poses.

They were definitely mere local thugs, drifters, louts, as one could discern by their just looking at their beer bellies and shaved heads. Ssamdi, who despises rude, slovenly people, would have completely demolished them and buried them six feet under.

His classmates of 11 female students and 19 male students were on a confrontational standoff with these five thugs. They had 30 people and yet were huddled together in fear. Well, one should not expect a herd of gazelles to competently be able to take on hyenas on an even scale. Herbivores and carnivores are vastly distinct, considered on a genetic level.

"Looks like they need a good bashing up to snap them out of their delusions to come to their senses."

Mu Ssang glided down the steps. The thugs focused on Mu Ssang as he strolled over with a limping gait and wobbly step.

"Big Hyung, did you finish your business?"

Sungshik's red, swollen face lit up. It seemed he had stood up to them as the representative and was slapped around.

"What happened to your face?"

"Hyung, most people are telling us to pay 2 dollars each to pitch our tents. They hit us when we told them there was no way we'd do that. Myungsoo also got hurt."

Sungshik tattled to him like a little kid who had just lost a fight in humiliation.

"Alright. I'll talk to them, don't worry."

Mu Ssang bared his teeth as he grinned from ear to ear. He was thankful to have come across some thugs to let out some steam on, but he didn't want to create a violent scene in front of the girls. Sungshik backed off quizzically. Thugs wouldn't be thugs if they were that considerate.

"Man, look at this scrawny loser. What are you actually?"

Nupchi felt animosity towards Mu Ssang's genteel, cultivated demeanor. It appeared that he was some mommy's boy still coddled around in swathing cloth fabrics. Mu Ssang nonchalantly examined the one who was seated on his saddle. Discerning from his smashed nose, misshapen ears, and the sheer volume of muscles bulk built up, resting upon his shoulders, one could tell instantly discern that he was trained as a wrestler. The rest were just morbidly obese thugs, fat, rotund gangsters.

"Huh, few lucky bastards who managed to flee from clutches from the Sam-Chung Education Squad."

Mu Ssang shook his head.

"This little nuisance. Nupchi Hyungnim, it looks like he's truly brave, audacious. Should I slash him wide open and examine his innards?"

One of the thugs stepped forward, triggered by the mention of the Sam-Chung Education Squad.

"Careful, Muldae. It seems this gentleman is impervious, impermeable, impenetrable of getting mortally wounded."

The thug holding on to the snakehead mast bickered. The other four surrounded Mu Ssang, each armed with a weapon. One was tossing a pocket knife back and forth in his hands, one was cutting his nails with a Japanese slicing knife, and one was twirling a motorcycle chain around, causing a scene and ruckus.

"Kya!"

The female students rushed behind Mu Ssang to take shelter. They say females instinctively gravitate towards those with power in times of crisis and turmoil. It turned out to work wonders, move mountains.

"Oppa, what do we do!

The girls trembled in fear and wild panic.

"Ha, audacity and illiteracy are two sides of the same coin."

He may have been restraining his magical powers but it was astounding to be this dull and stubbornly inert. The fact that this thug was perched upon his beloved motorcycle was an adequate rationale to end his miserable wretched existence.

"Eh? Look at this guy swaggering around like he is a king when he is nobody. Do you want me to gorge your eyes out?"

This Nupchi who was resting upon the snakehead mast started glaring at him. Mu Ssang whipped out a silver cigar case from his front pocket without making any reply. This wasn't Africa. This was just home. He just wanted to talk some sense into them if he could.

A stick of Cohiba Siglo popped out at the press of a button. He nipped the bud, lit the cigar, and inhaled the smoke in slowly. The perfect mixture of savory and sharpness calmed him down rapidly.

"Woah, looking good this guy. Hey, Bulgom, ain't that what you call a cigar?"

Nupchi asked.

"Yes. They say the best cigars that are made in this country are from Cuba."

Muldae answered, rubbing his hands together ecstatically,

"Muldae, come over here so for a second."

Slap- Nupchi suddenly struck Muldae across his face.

"Ah!"

Muldae held his face in his hands after getting hit out of nowhere then quickly stood back up erect.

"You fucker, I asked Bulgom did I not?"

Bam- Bam- Nupchi pounded Muldae without holding back.

"AH, Nupchi Hyungnim, I'm sorry."

"You low life, I didn't ask you. Losers who take others' chances to answer are the worst of them all."

Muldae's face had bloated swollen, bleeding mess when they were finished. The students' faces blanched as pale as a ghost. They were at a loss for words at the insane reason that took him to beat his subordinate in that way.

A look of satisfaction appeared on Nupchi's face. This was the ideal atmosphere to threaten people and bend them to his will. He steeled his face and began glaring at the troublesome-looking guy who was still smoking away.

Mu Ssang drew a deep breath of smoke. He couldn't help but snicker at the thugs who clearly couldn't tell their left from their right. Their textbook thug threats almost seemed cute.

"How cute. Come on then. Get down from there."

Nupchi felt exasperated. This guy didn't even bat an eye.

"This yours? It's nice. I'll buy it."

Nupchi rapped on the snakehead's frame.

"Ha! Did you get the money? It's about eight thousand dollars."

Mu Ssang sniggered. This Nupchi was clueless. Then again, it had to be hard to discern objects with his tiny squinting eyes.

"Whew, darn that's expensive. Hand the keys over. I'll take it for a spin and I'll buy it if I like it."

Nupchi put his hand out.

"Hahaha!"

Mu Ssang feigned a laugh. Now he was asking for a beating to come to his senses.

"Fuck man, hand over the keys. I'll try it before paying for it."

"Stop here, apologize to the kids, and just get lost. You won't live long if you don't know what is good for you."

"What in the world are you talking about, didn't you hear me? You better hand it over or-"

Fwip- the wallet that was in the thug's back pocket appeared in Mu Ssang's hand. No one knew what had just happened. Nupchi looked confused as Mu Ssang pulled out the contents of the wallet. The wallet seemed oddly familiar.

"Get out of here for goodness sake. Man, how can you even joke about buying a BMW motorcycle with thirty dollars in your pockets?"

Mu Ssang snickered then tossed the wallet back to its owner. Nupchi finally caught on to what was happening after guessing it intuitively. His face flared up in fury.

If he was a person with a background in martial arts or even half a brain he would've frozen still with alarm. Nupchi could only think that Mu Ssang took his wallet from him when he wasn't looking. This was the limit of a common thug.

"Huh, you son of a bitch, you think you're funny? Come here. I'm going to beat you to a pulp."

"A pulp(jelly), huh? It's quite complicated to turn someone into a pulp you know? You have to remove the keratin and increase the gelatin. Going to need a lot of moisture as well. Would you use carbonation or acids to melt the bones? Ah, whatever! It's too much. Hey, Nupchi, you don't understand a word of this, do you?"

"Hahaha!"

"Fufufu!"

"Cough, cough"

The students erupted in laughter as Mu Ssang muttered to himself with a solemn expression. Some female students coughed from laughing so much. Nupchi's face flared up again. He didn't know what he was talking about, but it was clearly meant to mock him.

"You little dummy, you know something you fool?"

"Man, you didn't specify what you're talking about. Even linguistics teachers wouldn't know what you're talking about."

"Hahahaha!"

The students burst out laughing again. The girls were about to fall over. The dangerous situation they were in had become a comedy. Nupchi, who wanted to say he was going to kill him if he kept stepping out of line, was stopped dead in his tracks.

"You fucking, eh, I mean, uh-"

Nupchi stammered.

"Hey, crooked nose, you want to say something threatening but can't think of anything good to say right? Stop trying and go home. This Hyung doesn't want to show anything violent with these lil' pretties around."

Nupchi exhaled through his nose after bring hit with a dose of truth. He couldn't handle him with words alone. As he was about to lunge at him another thug rushed forward and grabbed Mu Ssang by the collar.

"You braggin' about being a nerd you little shit?"

"Man, you're asking for it."

The thugs hands reached out for Mu Ssang but grabbed no object but air. Mu Ssang swatted him away like a fly. Crack- the sound of an ax splitting a log reverberated.

The thug was struck in the face, spun around like a top, and with a thud fell in front of the snakehead. He quivered then went limp- his soul halfway fleeing from his body.

"Cheeky fool. Interrupting me like that."

Mu Ssang dusted off his hands with exaggeration.

"Wh, what!"

The thugs surrounded Mu Ssang. The male students tried to step in with shovels and tent poles. Mu Ssang waved them away.

"You guys sit still. These people really don't know what's good for them. Let me teach them a lesson."

"Darn, kill him!"

Nupchi yelled, gritting his teeth.