A place where travelers could eat, sleep, drink, and rest.

That was what an inn was.

Some guests stayed just one night, others came daily for cheap liquor. It wasn’t luxurious in the slightest, but precisely because of that, it was comfortable. If someone asked me whether I’d prefer to sleep in a nobleman’s guest chamber lined with silk or in an inn like this, of course, I’d choose the nobleman’s chamber.

But since that was never the case, I went upstairs to a room and tried to get some sleep. It was comfortable enough, though the bedding smelled a bit like spit. People can tolerate their own smell, but not someone else’s. That’s human nature.

I threw the pillow aside and used my arm as a pillow.

“......”

Staring up at the damp ceiling soaked with rainwater, a thought crossed my mind. This place was the Villain Inn. An inn where good people couldn’t survive.

The Lecher was in the room next door.

The Drunk was in the room in front.

Somewhere across the hall, the Sword Demon would be lying down.

After stationing the rather unreliable Cha Seong-tae downstairs as guard, the rest of us got some rest.

Perhaps this was the very reason I had given Cha Seong-tae the Hundred Battles Tenfold Technique?

If an enemy appeared, a crackling—buzz would echo from his hand, and that would wake the Four Villains in an instant.

To think thunder energy could be this useful...

That’s something ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) ice techniques could never achieve.

Of course, since I’d been out in the rain all day, caught in all that madness, I couldn’t fall asleep right away.

I thought of the Black-Clad Person who had kept watching me through the downpour.

‘Pitiful, but one who must die...’

Truthfully, there weren’t many cases where I genuinely wanted someone dead.

The Jo Brothers, the Great Rakshasa, Master Su, the Lord of Black Line Pavilion, the owners of the gambling den and auction house?

Now that I think about it, that’s actually quite a lot.

But I hadn’t fought them with the sole intent of killing them. I killed them because that was how the situation had to be resolved. Once I believed the situation was settled, I rarely pursued an enemy to the end or continued unnecessary killing.

Because what I wanted was to solve the problem—not to keep killing people endlessly.

That’s why people like the disciple of the Great Rakshasa, Dokgo-saeng of Black Line Pavilion, Ho Yeoncheong, the Lord of Namcheonryeon, Lady Cheolseom, the Lord of Namyeonghui, the Third Young Master and Sam Bok, the White-Faced Lord, and Pavilion Lord Hwang—ended up surviving.

Now that I think about it, I spared quite a lot of people.

Of course, it’s not like I see their faces anymore. They’re all living their own lives now. It wasn’t as though I spared them to make them my slaves.

If the Four Heavenly Kings hadn’t shown up with their ghostly forces...

Perhaps some of those I spared are out there somewhere, thinking of me?

Thinking that way reminded me—Red King was still alive.

Would he return to the Demonic Cult?

Or would he conceal his identity and start a new life?

Naturally, whether they’re allies or enemies, I hope they live new lives. The moment one starts wanting a new life is when their life truly changes—and those changes affect the fate of others too.

Just like the eldest brother who willingly gave up the position of Left Guardian.

I killed without discrimination and spared without discrimination.

Even by that standard...

I couldn’t give the Black-Clad Person a chance. It left a bitter taste. The reason was simple. To my standards, he was the most pitiful one of all.

Living a life waiting for the day he’d be absorbed by the Cult Leader... Like a puppet tangled in the threads of malice—I understood that feeling.

The Black-Clad Person’s very existence was malice given life.

That’s why I had trouble sleeping.

I fell into a shallow sleep, not knowing whether I was actually asleep or sinking into a swamp, thinking of the Black-Clad Person.

In the dream, I was dancing a sword dance all night, my body pierced by threads. I was used to nightmares, so I spent the whole night cutting away the threads clinging to me.

...I opened my eyes to the light leaking through the window crack.

“......”

Staring at the wood grain illuminated by sunlight, I couldn’t tell whether this was Zaha Inn, Cheolli Inn, or Chunmong Inn. Either way, having made it through the night safely, I felt some sense of familiarity.

That’s when I remembered—this was the Villain Inn.

Yesterday, we were soaked by relentless rain.

We watched blood spray like storm showers.

We spent a day drenched in the killing intent of ghosts—and yet now, in the morning, the beautiful sunlight was gently spilling through the cracks. That was oddly strange.

Am I the only beautiful thing here?

I got up, did a cat wash, and went down to the first floor, where I saw Cha Seong-tae dozing off.

“......”

He was snoozing on a chair, his neck bent downward as if broken. Was he a guard, or had he become some wandering vagabond of Jianghu? I used Cat Footwork to quietly approach him from behind, joined my hands, and activated the Hundred Battles Tenfold Technique.

Crackle—buzz!

“Uagh!”

Cha Seong-tae jerked awake with a loud crash, then got into a stance and blurted nonsense.

“What the—was that a dream?”

I met eyes with him and replied,

“Go upstairs and sleep.”

“Understood.”

I sighed with relief as I watched Cha Seong-tae head upstairs. The guts to sleep so deeply even with the Demonic Cult’s forces possibly nearby... He was disqualified as a guard, but as a Jianghu man, not bad.

When did I start seeing only people’s good points?

I didn’t know.

I stepped outside to take in the unusual morning scenery.

It looked as if a typhoon had swept through overnight. Broken wood floated in pooled rainwater, shattered weapons, corpses, and garbage were all mixed together—it was practically hell.

Who could even live in a place like this?

Everyone had probably fled like refugees.

With no food to eat and nothing to do...

I picked up a broom leaning next to the inn’s door and began to clean. I figured even if I cleaned until sunset, it would be impossible to clear this whole street.

Still, someone had to clean.

I wasn’t the one who shit here. But I was guilty of blowing up the outhouse, so to speak. I started with the area in front of the inn.

I pushed pooled rainwater into the sewers, gathered wood and trash in piles, and dragged nearby corpses into an open lot. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Just cleaning in front of the Villain Inn took over an hour.

My stomach growled during the cleaning, and even though I cleared and cleared, the garbage wouldn’t disappear, which brought back old memories.

Something inside me started boiling.

There are times when cleaning makes your temper flare—this was one of those moments.

Even so...

I deliberately used martial arts to clean even more obsessively. I kicked corpses into the open lot, incinerated miscellaneous garbage with flame arts on the spot, and stomped down mud puddles flat using foot techniques.

I cleaned the neighboring shops, across the street’s smithy, every piece of trash in sight—burned it, erased it.

All morning, I raged alone as I cleaned, but no one appeared.

Had I already fallen into cleaning hell?

Eventually, the Four Villains, now awake, sat around the inn and stared at me.

The Drunk asked me,

“What are you doing? First thing in the morning.”

“Cleaning.”

“Why are you cleaning?”

“Because no one else is.”

As I looked at the Four Villains, a thought struck me.

Cleaning is done best by those with experience. Those three had never cleaned in their lives. That’s why they were the Four Villains. Their temperaments were so rotten they’d never even cleaned once in their life.

Just from their expressions, it was clear they were the kind who should never be tasked with cleaning.

“......”

I gathered the surrounding corpses again, fetched firewood from an ownerless shop, tossed it in, and set it ablaze.

In times like this, cremation was the only choice.

While watching the fire burn, I looked across at the shops on the other side of the lot. I had worked hard, but there was still too much trash to handle alone.

It felt like staring at farmland devastated by a typhoon.

I could finally understand the hearts of farmers.

Facing a natural disaster too big to fix alone, my legs gave out.

I sank to the ground and sighed like a farmer mourning a ruined crop.

‘Ah, damn bastards...’

In that hollow mood, as I watched the fire flicker, someone approached and called to me.

“Gate Lord, it’s been a while.”

“Oh, Deungnyang.”

I looked up to see Deungnyang of the Muga standing there, carrying a large bundle. I suddenly understood why village dogs liked their owners so much—it was because owners fed them. Honestly, it was nice to see Deungnyang show up out of nowhere.

Deungnyang looked around and said,

“Gate Lord, I came quickly after receiving word, so I didn’t prepare a set meal. Have you eaten?”

“Ah, not yet.”

Deungnyang nodded and gave a slight bow toward the Four Villains in front of the inn.

“It’s a complete mess. Looks like everyone left?”

“As you can see.”

“Very well. I’ll go around, inspect the ingredients, gather what I can, and cook something myself in the inn. Please wait a bit.”

I voiced a concern.

“There might be Demonic Cult forces nearby.”

Deungnyang smiled as he replied,

“I’m cautious enough for that. Don’t worry.”

Suddenly, Deungnyang looked kind of cool. A martial chef who could cook even on a battlefield...

Deungnyang said to me,

“Other friends will be arriving soon too. I’ll prepare the meal first.”

“Thank you.”

Who were these other friends? After Deungnyang disappeared somewhere, I tossed a few more logs onto the fire, then stopped and looked down the road.

A group of farmers was pouring in, disorderly. Some held farm tools, some carried sacks of rice.

The moment I saw this farmer militia, I had no choice but to rise.

“......”

I had just been feeling like a ruined farmer staring at a wrecked field, after all.

The farmer soldiers halted, and one man stepped out from the center.

His face was sun-darkened. One glance, and I could tell he was a man who farmed every day.

Jianghu men usually didn’t have that kind of skin, those lines, that look.

The man walked closer, then grinned and spoke.

“Gate Lord, I’m from the Han Family Trading Group, which supplies rice to Lord Yeo Un-byeok of the Unhyang Sect.”

Yeo Un-byeok was the master of Muga.

I figured this man was the head of the farming clan. I straightened up and greeted him properly.

“Chairman.”

The farm clan’s leader looked around and then said to me,

“You’ve been cleaning? Burning corpses too. We have plenty of hands—we’ll help.”

I couldn’t quite get the words out, so I just nodded.

The farm leader glanced over his forces and signaled silently. The soldiers fanned out, set down their farm tools and rice sacks, and started cleaning with practiced movements just like mine.

Was it because I had cleaned all morning?

Or because I witnessed the alliance of the farming clan and Muga?

Strangely, my legs gave out, and I collapsed to the ground.

The farm leader sat beside me and spoke in a relaxed tone.

“Gate Lord, you’ve gone through a lot. I heard there was a major battle in Dongho. I regret not being able to help.”

I looked at him and, seeing that he seemed much older than me, answered politely.

“Yes. What brings you here?”

The farm leader looked at me.

“Our group’s main office is near the Murim Alliance. I feel a little bad saying this, but it’s the safest area, which is why we’re based there. But I received a message from an unexpected person...”

As I listened, arms crossed, the farm leader met my eyes and said,

“The White-Robed Scholar sent a request for support to the entire scholar faction. That’s not something that happens often. And the one he wanted help for was the Lord of Haomun. That’s why we rushed over.”

Hearing that gave me a strange feeling.

“......”

Apparently, the farm leader felt the same way. He chuckled through his nose a few times, then muttered,

“For the White-Robed Scholar to offer help to someone... guess I’ve lived long enough to see it all.”

I met the farm leader’s eyes and nodded.

“Indeed.”