The Legend of Red Cloud - Chapter 6

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 6. Hardship is Etched into Bone
Thus, with the door barred firmly shut, Hui Jun spoke to the shadowy figure before him.
“Dong Pil?”
“Oh! Hui Jun, you’re up earlier than I thought. And Jang the squad leader and Ryang as well?”
“Early? The sun’s already risen and set, and darkness is falling again. And me—am I invisible?”
“Ha ha ha, that can’t be right. Did you sleep well, Yi Song?”
The cheerful greeting faded from Dong Pil’s face as he spoke, the smile draining away slowly.
“Sir… I…”
He hadn’t expected the other man to be awake, and when Dong Pil caught sight of the figure watching him, his expression crumpled with embarrassment.
But that tension dissolved almost at once at the sound of a shout from beyond the door.
“Squad Leader Jang! Squad Leader Jang!”
The door Dong Pil had blocked shook from the force of the yelling, and Jang Min Soo’s gaze turned toward the figure on the bunk.
But he had already rolled into bed, covering himself with a blanket.
Finally, Jang Min Soo sighed and moved toward the door Dong Pil was guarding.
“Step aside.”
“Squad leader, if you just ignore it and wait—”
“I have no intention of tangling with the Gyuchwal Group again.”
At those words, Dong Pil looked to Yi Song and Jwa Ryang for support—and was rebuffed.
Whether his heart broke at the rejection or whether he simply admitted he could resist no longer, Dong Pil stepped aside weakly, and Jang Min Soo passed him to open the door.
Outside stood Nam Gon, the squad leader of the Hwangyeon Group—one of the five squads that made up Hwangsan Dae—along with three of his subordinates, their expressions savage.
Those inside the dormitory could see them through the opened door, and Hui Jun’s mutter carried faintly.
“Damn it. There goes our snack run.”
The Hwangyeon Group controlled security for the dining hall used by the Alliance members.
They could hardly block anyone during regular meals, but they had every justification to bar visits when someone came seeking food between meals.
Jang Min Soo, as quick to grasp the situation as Hui Jun, asked with the gentlest tone he could manage.
“What brings you here?”
“What brings me? You really don’t know?”
“I’m not the sort to pretend ignorance when I understand something.”
“So your group truly knows nothing of this matter?”
“Must I repeat myself?”
“Good! Fine, then I’ll assume you knew nothing—now hand him over.”
“Hand whom over?”
“Dong Pil. That shameless bastard. Give him to me.”
“What has he done?”
“He… he… I don’t even want to speak it. Just hand him over at once!”
“I cannot surrender a squad member without knowing what crime he’s accused of.”
“So you refuse!”
“Not refuse—I cannot comply. If you seek the surrender of one of my men, surely there must be sufficient reason and explanation accompanying such a request, would there not?”
Dong Pil, lurking behind the door and listening to the exchange, let out a nervous chuckle.
“The squad leader’s tongue really is something.”
Hiss.
At Jwa Ryang’s disapproving sound, Dong Pil stiffened and fell silent, and the voices outside resumed.
“So you’re saying I’d demand another squad’s member without good cause!”
To Nam Gon’s angry voice, Jang Min Soo replied calmly.
“Since you clearly have a reason, state it. I need to hear it before I can either hand him over or summon the Gyuchwal Group, wouldn’t you agree?”
“The… the Gyuchwal Group!”
Noticing how Nam Gon flinched at the mention, Jang Min Soo asked quietly.
“It doesn’t seem to be an incident grave enough to warrant their involvement.”
“That is… well…”
He could hardly report to the Gyuchwal Group that Dong Pil kept making advances toward his younger sister, let alone that the bastard had been spying on her while she bathed.
Even in the Jianghu, where distinctions between men and women were fewer than among ordinary folk, such a rumor could destroy his sister’s reputation entirely—people would whisper that she was wanton, or that she’d been careless enough to bathe where outsiders could peek. The damage would fall on her as much as on him.
So Nam Gon, for all his indignation and shame, had no choice but to withdraw.
“Today, you’ve stopped me with your silver tongue, Jang. But if this happens again—if I’m humiliated once more—I swear I will not let it pass without retaliation.”
Spitting out his rage, Nam Gon glared for a moment at the Jeoksa Group’s quarters where the door hung open, then turned to leave.
“We’re going!”
At Nam Gon’s command, the Hwangyeon Group’s fighters, standing with furious expressions, followed him away.
Once Jang Min Soo had sent Nam Gon off without incident and returned inside, Dong Pil slipped out from behind the door and gave the squad leader’s shoulder a playful punch.
“Now that’s what I call a sharp tongue!”
Jang Min Soo shook his head at Dong Pil, who was giving him a thumbs-up.
“This won’t be the end of it.”
“What if it doesn’t end?”
“Then we’ll find another way. If that were the end of it, Nam wouldn’t have come looking for us with his entire unit in tow.”
“Then why did they leave?”
The answer came not from Jang Min Soo, but from Yi Song.
“Because you mentioned the Gyuchwal Group.”
“If the Gyuchwal Group steps in, it’s their problem, not ours, isn’t it?”
“Of course it is. But given everything you’ve done up until now, even they would find it difficult to disclose publicly. So I’m asking—what exactly did you do this time?”
“It was just… a few words, that’s all.”
“A lie that transparent? You should have stopped that long ago.”
Despite Yi Song’s rebuke, Dong Pil merely shrugged.
At that, Jwa Ryang rose quietly from his seat.
“I’ve been saying this all along. That bastard can’t be handled with words.”
Officially, Jwa Ryang was the strongest master in the Jeoksa Group.
He carried rumors that he might be the strongest person in all of Jeokseol Dae—such was his mastery.
Naturally, he outranked Dong Pil in skill.
Yet that difference was not so overwhelming as to be insurmountable.
When Dong Pil wielded both his Dual Swords, even Jwa Ryang could not subdue him within a thousand heartbeats.
Thus Dong Pil was the Jeoksa Group’s second-strongest fighter.
A voice cut through the dormitory, stopping Jwa Ryang in his tracks as he approached Dong Pil.
“Military Order from Chamnyeong Gak!”
At that call from beyond the door, everyone’s gaze snapped toward the entrance.
Yi Song’s brow furrowed as he reviewed the order left by the warrior from Chamnyeong Gak.
Jang Min Soo turned to him with a question.
“Is something troubling you?”
“It’s… too easy, perhaps? It’s completely different from the missions we’ve handled before.”
“That may be, but we’ve only just returned from the last operation. Perhaps they’re being considerate of that.”
“Considerate. I wish that were the case…”
Following Yi Song’s gaze as it swept across the five newcomers, Jang Min Soo’s expression hardened.
“You think it’s connected to them?”
“I’d prefer it wasn’t, but the timing of this order is far too convenient.”
Before Yi Song could finish his worry, Jwa Ryang cut in sharply.
“See? Now we’re about to get stabbed in the back.”
Though Yi Song’s face tightened with displeasure, he said nothing this time—a change from before.
For a similar worry had already taken root in his own heart.
Jang Min Soo then asked carefully of Yi Song.
“Then… should we refuse?”
Ordinarily, orders from Chamnyeong Gak cannot be refused. In the Cheolhyeol Alliance, refusal of orders is treated as a grave crime.
Yet Jang Min Soo could speak of refusal only because, as special reward for their recent military achievements, the Jeoksa Group had been granted a single exception—the privilege to refuse one Military Order.
That was precisely what Jang Min Soo was weighing now.
“That would be one option…”
A voice from the corner cut through Yi Song’s visible conflict.
“Get ready. We’re going.”
At those words, Yi Song and Jang Min Soo turned, as did all the others who had been waiting for their decision. Without hesitation, they began to move.
The Jeoksa Group’s dormitory soon filled with the bustle of people gathering supplies.
Hwangbo Jangseong sat alone on an empty bunk, watching the flurry of activity around him with eyes that registered nothing but confusion.
From the conversation that had taken place, it seemed some mission had come down and they were mobilizing—yet the people receiving the order were gathering strange equipment.
Dong Pil glanced back at the bewildered Hwangbo Jangseong.
“Hey, recruit—what are you doing? Not packing gear?”
‘Hey?’
Hwangbo Jangseong’s eyebrows shot upward in anger.
When had he ever been addressed in such a manner?
And the man doing the addressing looked younger than he was, at that.
“Your words are few.”
“Want me to say more? I could, but you’ll have a blade through you before I finish the sentence.”
“How dare—”
Hwangbo Jangseong’s outraged shout died in his throat at the cold voice that cut through from beside him.
“Save that strength for actual combat.”
The voice alone was enough to identify the speaker.
That fierce-looking man with the cold eyes—the one they’d called Jwa Ryang.
The one who’d knocked him unconscious with a single blow.
No, it had to be a person.
Why the lack of certainty?
Looking at those inside, it was clear that only Jwa Ryang possessed the kind of ability needed to knock him unconscious with a single sock, yet even after careful consideration, it didn’t seem absolutely credible that he could manage such a feat.
Still, he had no desire to verify it.
One humiliation was enough.
Watching Hwangbo Jangseong, whose spirits had been dampened by a single quip from Jwa Ryang, Dong Pil let out a quiet chuckle and turned his attention to gathering his own equipment.
One missing item would obviously mean hardship down the line.
Among the newcomers observing the bustling activity, Gwak Gi Ryang and a young man named Yun began to move.
They started gathering various items into a backpack that lay in the empty space.
Though most of the activity was Gwak Gi Ryang’s doing.
Yun merely took what Gwak Gi Ryang pointed out and placed it into his own pack.
Now that he thought about it, Gwak Gi Ryang’s manner of packing a military-issue backpack seemed remarkably familiar.
As if he’d done it before.
The other three newcomers, struck by the same thought, exchanged meaningful glances with one another.
After a moment, Peng Jing, one of the three, asked Gwak Gi Ryang with obvious curiosity.
“You seem quite practiced at this. Mind if we ask—what exactly are all these things?”
At Peng Jing’s question, Gwak Gi Ryang, who had finished gathering his own equipment and was helping Yun, offered a bitter smile.
“I spent some time with the military service in the past. And most of these are things needed for field camping—a Single-Person Tent, Jerky, a spare sword, Throwing Stars, Flying Blades and other projectile weapons. Those are Signal Flares and Emergency Medicine.”
“I wasn’t asking because I didn’t know what they were. I was asking why you’re bothering to pack them at all.”
A fair question.
Why was a Master a Master?
Because they possessed enough Inner Energy to remain largely unaffected by cold or heat, and could sleep in the open without difficulty.
And that was just the beginning.
One could go days without eating and suffer no real hardship.
And then there were Throwing Stars and Flying Blades?
Like a user of the Jeok Yeop Sang technique, one could infuse Inner Energy into leaves and use them, making them sharper and harder than any manufactured projectile weapon, so there was no need for such things at all.
Signal Flares were the same.
What use was sound transmission if one was going to use Signal Flares anyway?
“That is…….”
Even Gwak Gi Ryang, understanding the true meaning of the question, found himself at a loss for words.
They were basic equipment, so he’d packed them out of habit, but since reaching a certain level of mastery, he’d never actually used any of them.
Seeing Gwak Gi Ryang’s reaction, Peng Jing, Cheol Ja Ryong, and Hwangbo Jangseong all chuckled softly and packed only a small amount of Emergency Medicine, tucking it away in their clothes.
Though they possessed the ability of Yun Gi Yo Sang, receiving aid from medicine would amplify its effects and accelerate the healing process.
The existing team members said nothing further as they watched the three newcomers.
Dong Pil, who had only briefly prodded Hwangbo Jangseong earlier, was no different.
Only…….
He muttered something to himself—”The hard way always etches lessons into your bones, I suppose”—though what he meant by it remained unclear.
Thus, with each member prepared in their own way, the Jeoksa Group departed the garrison in the dead of night, the moon hanging high above.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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