The hidden son of the County Magistrate of Giyang County.
An Won-myeong.
He felt as if he was about to lose his mind at the cold reality that he had been kidnapped.
‘No. Papa will definitely come save me.’
As the late-born child of his family, An Won-myeong had grown up lacking nothing, eating only the finest things and wearing only the finest clothes since he was young.
His status as the only son of the County Magistrate of Giyang County.
And though it was limited to Giyang County, the backing of being the eldest grandson of the An clan, a family famous in this area for owning a great deal of land.
The environment given to An Won-myeong had been more than enough for him to spend his childhood looking down on others.
‘Papa, I’m so scared.’
An Won-myeong shook his blessed belly fat and tried to understand the situation.
On the first day, he had been so frightened that he meekly did everything the kidnapper bastards told him to do.
But today, the second day, he was starting to get a little angry.
Among the children who were only sniffling, his own presence stood out far too much.
‘How dare they do this to me?’
Did they even know who I was?
Why did he have to be shoved into a place like this with such lowborn things?
If they were kidnappers, shouldn’t they treat him well until they received the ransom?
It was unfair.
So he boldly shouted.
But what was this?
The kidnapper bastards had no reaction.
The fear that he might be beaten began to fade little by little.
Confidence took its place.
That was when one of the lowborn things beside him suddenly began wriggling closer.
Wriggle, wriggle—
Then.
“Young Master.”
“……Mm? Who are you……?”
With both arms bound, the lowborn fellow spun his body once with surprising skill.
Then he whispered softly into An Won-myeong’s ear.
“I actually came to save you, Young Master.”
“Mm? What? R-really?”
An Won-myeong was truly startled.
Judging by the other party’s shabby clothes, he had not looked that way at all.
But then.
“Yes. The County Magistrate secretly sent me.”
Amazingly, this fellow knew who his father was.
In that instant, light burst from An Won-myeong’s eyes.
“I knew Papa would!”
“Shh! Please lower your voice first.”
“A-all right. No. Very well.”
Il-hyang looked at An Won-myeong, whose build was exceptionally fine and who was already sending him a gaze full of trust, and whispered softly.
“Young Master.”
“Mm.”
“You must listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you.”
“Mm-hm. Go on.”
An Won-myeong seemed to have become fairly serious too.
He curled his fat body like a shrimp and focused on Il-hyang’s words.
The room was actually quite dark, so they could barely see each other’s faces.
But Il-hyang was certain An Won-myeong was looking at him with the most serious expression in the world right now.
He would even be willing to bet on it.
In truth, An Won-myeong was showing boundless trust toward Il-hyang, whom he had only just met.
“That iron bracelet you’re wearing on your hand right now. Please lend it to me for a moment.”
“This? Huh? No. Papa gave this to me. He said it was made by mixing in precious black iron.”
When strong refusal seeped into An Won-myeong’s voice as he subtly lowered his arm.
Il-hyang quickly spoke.
“Shouldn’t we get out of here first? If you could use it to escape, your father would clap and say you did well.”
“Uh…… Is that so? He said this was our family heirloom.”
“There is no way. The An clan has no treasure more splendid than you, Young Master.”
“I-is that so? Well, that’s true! You know a thing or two!”
To Il-hyang, this pampered, greenhouse-flower-like Young Master was truly delicious prey.
Il-hyang drew closer to An Won-myeong, who had fallen for his words completely and was wriggling as he tried to take off the bracelet, then personally removed the iron bracelet and said,
“Then all that remains is for you to prepare to leave, Young Master.”
Escaping was a separate matter.
But getting out of this room was not that difficult.
“Mm. Very well. But what’s your name?”
“My name is Il-hyang.”
“Hmm…… I’ve never heard that name before. Still, if you get me out of here, I’ll make sure to tell Papa and reward you.”
“Yes, yes.”
While conversing, Il-hyang placed one end of the iron bracelet against the floor.
Then, from the opposite side, he pressed down firmly using his entire body.
At that moment.
Snap—
The joint of the bracelet jutted outward and bent.
Using the sharp part of the protruding metal, Il-hyang began rubbing through the rope binding his hands.
Scrape, scrape—
Until he cut through the rope with the iron bracelet.
It took exactly about as long as one deep breath.
Il-hyang was something of an expert in this line of work too.
“Phew.”
If he used mana, someone might come out in response to it.
So he had no choice but to use such a classical method.
‘There’s another reason too.’
Strangely, the mana flow throughout this entire room was abnormal.
It was certain that something had been tampered with across the whole room.
‘It seems like they divided the boundary with a magic circle.’
He felt he would be able to draw a more accurate picture of its form once he went outside the door.
In any case, after quickly regaining the freedom of both hands, Il-hyang immediately lifted the iron bracelet and freed the bindings on both feet as well.
Scrape, scrape—
Once he cut the rope like that.
The stuffiness was clearly gone.
Through the dim light seeping in from the crack of the door, all the children in the room watched the entire process.
“You…… You really are amazing!”
An Won-myeong could not help but feel genuinely impressed as he watched the suspicious lowborn fellow’s skill before his eyes.
So he said something unnecessary.
“Should I take you on as my subordinate?”
“……?”
For a moment, Il-hyang looked at An Won-myeong as if he were insane.
Then, realizing that the boy’s gaze was filled with pure goodwill, he smirked.
‘He’s going to be my source of money, so I can’t bring myself to say anything.’
Money was a very important resource no matter what world one went to.
So even if this fat little brat spouted that kind of bullshit, Il-hyang had to let it slide.
“Please think about that after we get out of here, Young Master.”
“Mm!”
After he untied An Won-myeong’s rope.
He noticed the other little brats who had been captured with them staring at him with faces full of expectation.
‘I should untie them too, right?’
When he was first captured and brought here.
He had no choice but to abandon the children who had shared the fate of becoming sacrifices with him.
Back then, he had been too busy taking care of himself.
‘But not now.’
Now, if things went well, ways to escape seemed likely to appear.
Rather, having more people might be advantageous.
With that thought, Il-hyang approached a grubby little brat nearby and was about to untie the rope.
When An Won-myeong suddenly scurried over and blocked Il-hyang’s way.
“Ahem!”
“……?”
When Il-hyang tilted his head.
An Won-myeong stopped his action with a look.
From the start, he had no intention of going along with lowborn fellows.
When Il-hyang stared at him for a moment with a dumbfounded expression, An Won-myeong opened his mouth.
“Ahem. If we all run away together, won’t we get caught? Leave these lowborn fellows as they are.”
What a little thing.
His consideration was truly transparent.
Perhaps having his rope untied had given him some mental leeway.
Il-hyang watched An Won-myeong, who had suddenly begun speaking like an adult, then readily nodded and said,
“If that’s what you mean, then having more people run away would actually be better.”
“Why is that?”
“If we scatter in every direction, wouldn’t the bastards outside be unable to chase us all?”
“Oh……?”
This seemed fairly persuasive, as An Won-myeong immediately nodded.
“Your opinion is quite plausible.”
“Then I will untie the children.”
“Ahem, ahem. You lot should know that you’re lucky.”
“Th-thank you, Young Master.”
An Won-myeong clasped his hands behind his back.
Then he watched from the side as Il-hyang untied the children’s ropes.
Because there were so many children, it took a considerable amount of time just to cut their ropes.
‘Eighty-two, including me…….’
The number of kidnapped children was far larger than he had expected.
Still, the fortunate thing was that perhaps because the children were mature for their age, or perhaps because they were frightened.
Though they sniffled, they did not chatter loudly.
“What now?”
An Won-myeong asked while keeping his distance from the children.
Il-hyang glanced at the door and opened his mouth.
“Now you must do what you do best, Young Master.”
“What I do best?”
What is that?
Looking at An Won-myeong’s expression, Il-hyang quietly curled up the corner of his mouth.
***
“You damned pieces of trash! Do you know who I am, acting like this?! Does it make sense to feed me a rat-shit amount of food and not even bring it properly at every mealtime? Bring me food at once!”
THUD—
THUMP—!
“Are you not bringing food? I’ll just smash my head against the wall and die right here, then. Huh? If I die, that’s your loss, isn’t it? Huh?”
Standing beside the door.
Il-hyang silently applauded An Won-myeong’s masterful performance.
‘As expected, the one who’s eaten meat knows how to eat meat.’
Indeed, the one who had thrown a fit before knew how to throw a fit well.
An Won-myeong continued hurling curses and abuse without pause for nearly one quarter-hour (15 minutes), causing a disturbance in the room.
The other children were simply frightened by him.
Only Il-hyang kept silently exclaiming in admiration.
In the middle of that, Il-hyang’s eyes gleamed.
He could sense the proportion of irritation gradually increasing in the conversation of the people standing guard outside.
Then.
‘They’re coming.’
He sensed the people keeping watch outside finally failing to hold back and approaching.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Perhaps they were very angry, for they snorted as they walked down the corridor.
After confirming this, Il-hyang lowered his hand toward the floor at the children, gesturing for them to lie down.
‘One chance.’
Strangely, the mana flow inside this room was somewhat unruly.
But if he could not overcome even this much, he could not call himself an Archmage.
RATTLE— THUD—!
“You fucking bastard! Do you think this place is an inn?! This place must feel just like your own bedroom, huh?”
A man, enraged to the tips of his hair.
He stepped into the room huffing, a club in his hand.
Beside him, a middle-aged man whose face had likewise turned bright red followed inside.
Both of them failed to notice Il-hyang hiding in the blind spot beside the door.
“What took you so long, you bastards? How do lowborn bastards like you expect to earn your meals when your hands and feet are this slow?”
“W-what the hell is with this crazy bastard? Can’t you read the mood right now?”
A huge lump directly in front of them had properly gathered their eyes.
Thanks to that, Il-hyang was able to pounce on the watchers’ backs with great ease.
SQUELCH—
Il-hyang leaped lightly and used the sharply protruding part of the iron bracelet.
He accurately stabbed the vital point at the nape of the middle-aged man’s neck, who had been following behind with a sigh.
“Kghk! Grrrrrrgh!”
With a phlegm-rattling sound, the middle-aged man sprayed blood like a fountain from the nape of his neck.
“Huh?”
Il-hyang moved swiftly next.
He stuffed cloth into the mouth of the club-wielding man, who had yet to grasp the situation.
Then he dragged the iron bracelet beneath the man’s throat in a long cut.
SPURT—
Hot blood gushed out, and that was the end of it.
Neither of them could even scream.
They merely lay on the floor, writhing with bloodshot eyes.
After granting those men a peaceful death.
Il-hyang rose to his feet.
“U-uh…… gulp.”
An Won-myeong, who until just moments ago had been putting on an arrogant expression and acting like a nuisance, swallowed dryly, his face filled with fear.
“It is over, Young Master.”
“Huh? Uh…… Yes. Of course.”
Covered in blood, Il-hyang looked like a little demon.
But An Won-myeong tried hard to pretend he was calm.
HIC—
But An Won-myeong’s body hiccupped regardless of his will, and when he tried to spring to his feet, strength suddenly left his legs and he had to collapse back down.
An Won-myeong floundered unsightly and tried somehow to rise.
That sight looked as pitiful as a newborn deer.
“Are you all right, Young Master?”
“Huh? Of course! Of course I’m all right! Y-you don’t need to support me! Ahahahahat!”
His mouth twitched because he was forcing himself to laugh.
But An Won-myeong tried his hardest to laugh anyway.
Il-hyang stared quietly at him for a moment, then turned his head toward the children gathered almost as if they had fled into a corner and smiled.
“You all should get ready to leave now too. Hurry.”
“……Yes, yes!”
The smell of blood filled the room so thickly it made one’s head spin.
Several children had apparently fainted, their eyes rolled back.
The rest were all looking at Il-hyang with frightened faces and nodding repeatedly.
Whether they did or not.
Il-hyang stepped into the corridor and was examining the situation.
Then, feeling a strong stench of urine brush the tip of his nose, he turned his head.
A clear wet stain could be seen where An Won-myeong had been lying just a moment ago.
“W-well now, did I drink too much wine?”
“…….”
It was absurd bullshit that made no sense.
But Il-hyang did not say anything in particular.
He merely stared toward the end of the corridor, lost in thought.