The Crimson Marquis

Flames burst upward with a whoosh.

They looked like the claws of a gigantic bird.

Those claws raked through the empty air.

Screams erupted everywhere, and people fell from the sky like scattered debris.

In truth, calling them people was questionable.

More than half of them were already burned beyond recognition.

“Jeokbaek.”

The fiery claw that had been flicking its tongue in the air suddenly died down as quickly as it had appeared.

Only then did the figure of the man standing beneath it become visible.

“Is that the end?”

Even amid the snowy plains, his bright red hair stood out vividly, like living flames.

Wings of a crimson bird circled around him as if embracing him.

Then they melted away into the air and disappeared.

“…Yes! The ones Lord Jeokbaek just defeated were the last of them!”

The messenger, whose gaze had been involuntarily captured by that sight, answered the man’s question a beat late.

His face had turned pale.

The man standing before him—Hwarun Jeokbaek—was famous in many ways for his fiery temper.

“So those really were the last.”

Unexpectedly, Jeokbaek did not get angry.

“That means the others weren’t just sitting around doing nothing either.”

Clicking his tongue with a dissatisfied “Tsk,” Jeokbaek casually waved his hand toward the messenger.

“Good work. Return to your post.”

“Pardon? Ah—yes?”

The messenger had been bracing himself for a storm of flames.

Naturally, he was bewildered.

He had even replied foolishly in his confusion and prepared himself to be scolded this time for sure.

Who wouldn’t be annoyed!

The messenger came from the outer city and knew very well how cruel the high-ranking nobles of the inner city could be.

If that was the case, then how much worse must the young lord before him—the highest among them—be?

“What are you doing? I said go back to your post.”

However, Jeokbaek merely glanced at the frozen messenger with a puzzled look and said that much.

“Did you twist your ankle or something? Hey.”

The “hey” was directed at someone nearby.

“He must have gotten injured rushing over to deliver the message. Take care of him.”

After saying that, Jeokbaek simply walked off somewhere.

The messenger, left behind, could only stare blankly at his retreating figure.

The military physician who had received Jeokbaek’s order asked him,

“Are you perhaps from outside the city?”

“Pardon? Ah—my father was from the eastern region, so when I was young…”

“Ah, I see.”

The physician released the messenger’s ankle.

“That man from the East is said to be arrogant and cruel, isn’t he. But let me tell you, our young lord is on a completely different level from someone like that. His temper can be a bit quick, but he’s not the kind of person who flies into a rage without thinking.”

The physician bragged that he had been one of Jeokbaek’s close attendants since childhood.

His puffed-up shoulders soon settled back down, though.

“Well, it’s not like there were only one or two people following our lord. People from both the inner city and the outer city all followed him and called him their leader. That means he has great reputation. Got it?”

Yet the messenger still wore a strange expression.

He muttered quietly.

“Then why are the rumors like that?”

“Rumors? What?”

The physician asked back reflexively.

His face twisted immediately afterward.

“Those ridiculous rumors! That our leader ignored his own bloodline, abused them, and even used them before throwing them away—such complete nonsense…”

The physician was practically spitting fire as he spoke.

But suddenly, his expression went blank.

The torrent of words pouring from his mouth stopped abruptly.

After a moment he muttered,

“What was I just talking about?”

The messenger shook his head.

For some reason, his face looked just as blank as the physician’s.

“I don’t know.”

“Must not have been anything important.”

“Probably not.”

The physician straightened the back he had bent while examining the messenger’s ankle and looked toward where Jeokbaek had disappeared.

“It’s a good thing anyway. With this achievement, our lord has risen to the rank of Marquis! Surely our leader will become king someday—!”

Before he could finish speaking, a thunderous boom echoed everywhere.

Boom!

Startled, the physician looked around.

“What was that? Were there still people left? Or did they clash with those from the north?”

He began walking, trying to find someone who knew what was going on.

But he had barely taken a few steps before collapsing.

“W-What is this?”

The ground shook violently.

Both the physician and the messenger turned fearful eyes toward the direction of the sound.

“The central territory? But there shouldn’t be anyone there…”

At that moment, a red figure shot across the sky toward the central territory like an arrow.

It was Hwarun Jeokbaek—Jeok-o.

The current title of the Western Lord, Jeok-o, is Marquis (侯).

“Shall we return to the main base now? The bridge will soon close, Jeokbaek. No—Marquis Jeok.”

The aide who asked this looked extremely pleased.

And for good reason.

This had been a fruitful harvest.

With this, the Western Territory had taken the lead in the race for the throne alongside the Northern Territory.

“Marquis Jeok? What is it?”

Yet Jeok-o, now Marquis Jeok, couldn’t shake off an uneasy feeling.

“Is it because of the South?”

His aide tried to guess the reason for his lord’s bad mood.

“The results were indeed unsatisfactory. Either Benchel never participated in the battle, or he may be hiding an injury. I’ll send spies to investigate.”

However, Jeok-o didn’t seem to be listening.

“The Central State…”

Seeing that, the aide mentioned the last remaining region.

In truth, the central territory was more suspicious than the south.

After all, the rebellion on this side had supposedly been instigated by Zhongzhou itself.

“Still, the central lord OZ has always been unpredictable, hasn’t he?”

The aide barely swallowed the honest thought that OZ is basically a madman.

“He’s the type who causes trouble without thinking about the consequences…”

But then the aide suddenly stopped speaking.

“Could it be because of that person?”

There had been information that Candidate 13, who had once handed over his shares to Jeok-o on Day 1, had now sought refuge under OZ.

Almost nobody believed that rumor.

Who in their right mind would seek refuge with OZ of all people?

Even if you accomplished great deeds, that lunatic could still cut off your head simply because he felt like it.

Yet when recalling the method OZ had used to provoke the Eastern Lord Imok, it certainly didn’t seem like something a madman alone could have devised.

Could it be that 13 had betrayed Jeok-o to use OZ instead?

If that were true, it would explain Jeok-o’s displeasure.

“Or perhaps…”

“That bastard.”

Jeok-o suddenly spoke.

The aide fell silent immediately.

When Jeok-o spoke in that tone, it was always about one specific person.

“He’s nowhere to be seen.”

“The last time I saw him was when he was with me. Ha! What, did he fall into the ground and vanish? What about the possibility that he sought refuge in another territory? Did you check?”

“Would that even matter?”

The aide knew who Jeok-o was referring to.

A man whose very selection as a candidate was questionable.

The very definition of incompetence.

Did he use some kind of trick to get selected?

“Or maybe he died quietly somewhere?”

Perhaps he ran away from the battle and was struck by a stray blade.

Or crushed by falling rocks during combat.

Or maybe he tripped on a stone and had his head stomped by a “Post-Apocalypse Creature.”

In the aide’s mind, that kind of death suited him perfectly.

But suddenly, a chill ran down the aide’s spine.

Confused, he looked up and realized Jeok-o was glaring at him.

“Marquis Jeok… did I say something wrong?”

“That bastard isn’t dead.”

Jeok-o cut off the words he had barely managed to say.

“No, there’s no way he’s dead. No way. Even now, at this very moment, he’s probably hiding somewhere like a rat, plotting to stab me in the back. Yeah, I haven’t seen him since that day, but that bastard…”

Jeok-o muttered as he repeatedly pushed his hair back.

He began pacing around in circles.

He didn’t even seem aware that he was doing it.

“Damn bastard.”

His muttering was filled with hatred.

Yet at the same time, it sounded anxious.

“There’s no way he’s dead. The more insignificant the bug, the longer it lives. That bastard too will definitely…”

The aide felt something was strange.

Jeok-o’s behavior made it seem almost as if…

As if he’s afraid that the bastard might actually be dead…

The thought never finished forming.

Boom.

A sudden thunderous explosion.

Everything around them shook violently.

The aide froze, forgetting his thoughts entirely.

What was that?

A strange wave of power spread through the air.

The moment he felt it, his fingertips, toes—even the tip of his tongue—froze.

It was fear.

Trembling, the aide barely managed to turn his head toward the direction of the sound.

The central territory?

Then he heard a chilling grinding sound of teeth.

It was Jeok-o.

“That bastard…!”

Only one person could make Jeok-o speak like that.

The very person they had been talking about.

The aide couldn’t understand.

How could that weak, worthless man possibly be connected to the terrifyingly powerful wave they had just felt?

Maybe it’s a Post-Apocalypse Creature.

After all, OZ had destroyed the city walls himself, allowing creatures from the neutral zone to enter.

Perhaps a third-grade Spirit Beast or even a second-grade Divine Creature had appeared.

He had to stop Jeok-o.

They needed to return to the walled territory immediately.

But…

“My tongue…”

Without even turning back, Jeok-o gave a command.

“Retreat!”

Then he leapt upward.

Before anyone could stop him, he shot toward the central territory.

In the blink of an eye, the scenery around him changed.

But Jeok-o didn’t look at his surroundings at all.

His mind was burning red with a single thought.

It was definitely that bastard.

The terrifying wave that was still shaking the earth.

Within it, he sensed a familiar aura.

When that bastard escaped from me…

That day, when he chased the man sneaking back into the dormitory.

The blue flames that suddenly appeared in the air and snatched the man away from him.

The aura within those flames…

It’s that son of a b*tch.

Logically, it made no sense.

He knew that.

That guy was weak.

Something capable of paralyzing people with just a wave of power couldn’t possibly be him.

But reason had already collapsed.

It’s definitely that bastard, damn it!

That thought filled his mind.

He had to catch him.

Capture him, bind him by his side no matter what.

And then?

Jeok-o suddenly paused.

Then what?

What exactly would he do after capturing him?

“I should get rid of him…”

He muttered.

It sounded like he was deliberately saying it aloud.

Yet he himself didn’t realize that.

Only after hearing the words did it feel right to him.

“Yes. If I leave him alone, who knows what he might do.”

That was correct.

“Cunning bastard.”

Like a fox, like a raccoon—an inscrutable bastard whose thoughts no one could read.

What trick had he used this time to create such a terrifying…

“So you came as well.”

Jeok-o stopped when he saw someone he hadn’t expected.

“Seolya.”

“Perhaps only people like us were able to move.”

The man speaking had hair and features as white as the fruit of the Snow Kingdom, except for the clothes he wore.

He didn’t even turn to look at Jeok-o.

“The weak ones didn’t feel anything at all, while those with even a little strength had their souls frozen by it.”

The Northern Marquis—Seolya.

“Damn it, what face do you have to show up in front of me?”

Jeok-o bared his teeth.

“If it weren’t for you back then—!”

Flames ignited in his mind again.

“I wouldn’t have lost that bastard!”

“How noisy.”

Only then did Seolya look at him.

“…Huh?”

When their gazes met, Jeok-o realized something unusual.

Seolya’s eyes were usually indifferent.

But this time there was a faint difference.

“Ha.”

A sound escaped him naturally.

“Do you want your skin peeled off, you white weasel bastard? You interfere in other people’s affairs and then look down on me?”

“He seems to have a different opinion.”

Seolya turned his gaze away and began walking.

“You’re already known for being empty-headed, but you should at least understand the situation before speaking. Right now…”

“Where are you going, you bastard? I’m talking to you!”

Jeok-o rushed forward and grabbed Seolya by the collar.

He growled.

“Let me make this clear. I only let you off once last time.”

“From what I see, you don’t even know how to use words properly. You destroyed half the dormitory and say you ‘let me off.’”

“Don’t ever interfere between me and that bastard again.”

“And what are you to him?”

“What?”

“Do you even have the right to demand that?”

Seolya brushed Jeok-o’s hand away.

“Is he your subordinate?”

“Who would keep such an idiot as a subordinate?”

“Then is he your friend?”

“Listen to this bastard spouting nonsense…”

“Your lover?”

Jeok-o’s face twisted even further.

He was too dumbfounded to answer.

But Seolya didn’t care.

“Then perhaps your family?”

“Hey.”

“If he is none of those things, why did you make that demand earlier?”

This time it was Jeok-o who was left speechless.

The questions Seolya had thrown tangled like a web inside his head.

Subordinate? Friend? Lover?

Of course not.

That kind of bastard? Never.

But if he admitted that, then he would have no choice but to agree with Seolya.

“…What about you then?”

Jeok-o spoke sharply.

“If I have nothing to do with him, then you have even less connection to him, don’t you?”

“….”

“Did you even know he existed before coming here?”

A mocking smile twisted Jeok-o’s lips as he looked at the silent Seolya.

Strange.

Jeok-o secretly clenched his fist.

Seeing Seolya unable to answer strangely thrilled him.

Even though there was no reason for it.

“I know him.”

Seolya suddenly muttered.

Jeok-o frowned.

“What?”

He thought he had misheard.

That sentence made no sense in this situation.

But in the next moment, Jeok-o forgot everything he had been thinking.

“Ugh!”

He gasped and spun around.

His body froze stiff.

“What the hell is this…?”

Woooong.

A strange wave resonated through the air.