Nano Machine Chapter 268 – Night in the Inn (4)

‘Oops.’

Yeowun then became surprised and turned away. He knew that she wouldn’t take off all her clothes with him here, but it still felt embarrassing. As he waited, he felt Mun Ku coming near him.

‘Huh?’

And when Yeowun turned, he froze. Mun Ku was without her skin mask and was standing a foot away from Yeowun. Mun Ku’s beautiful face lit under low candlelight made Yeowun’s heart pound harder than ever.

Mun Ku looked up to Yeowun who was blushing, and her lips were so tempting. Yeowun became embarrassed and stuttered, “W-why did you take off your mask?”

Mun Ku smiled as Yeowun’s embarrassed reaction felt lovely to her. She still had a pure and beautiful smile just like when she showed herself to Yeowun the first time under the moonlight at the academy. She spoke to Yeowun who was watching her with a mesmerized look.

“Do you… like me?” Mun Ku asked with careful, shaking voice. Yeowun felt her nervousness and looked her back into her eyes. Mun Ku then moved her small lips again to ask.

“Or… do you not like me?”

Her eyes showed Yeowun’s reflection. Yeowun became silent for a while at the question, but slowly raised his hand and placed it over her white cheek. Mun Ku shook when she felt his touch.

“Ah…”

Yeowun smiled at Mun Ku, who was shaking like a small bird.

“I like you.”

“Ah…!”

He had Mun Ku in his mind ever since he saw her back in the academy. But Yeowun had grown without love ever since his mother Lady Hwa passed away, so he wasn’t used to love and affection. Mun Ku smiled at Yeowun who looked embarrassed while he touched Mun Ku’s cheek.

‘Hehe.’

She then pulled herself up by tiptoe and brought her lips against Yeowun’s lips. Two lips met each other and Yeowun’s eyes grew large. Mun Ku’s soft and sweet scent came into Yeowun’s nose.

‘Ku…’

That’s when Yeowun heard Nano’s voice inside his head.

[User’s heart rate is increasing rapidly. Hormone rate is growing…]

‘Nano, go mute.’

[Activating silence mode.]

After a long kiss, Yeowun and Mun Ku let go of each other’s lips. Mun Ku had been holding her breath so she panted.

“Hah…”

Her cheeks were reddened as she stood embarrassed and Yeowun’s heart began to beat harder. Both of them became mesmerized by the sensation of their first kiss. They were never taught how to do so, but they began to kiss again and started touching each other’s cheeks and body. Soon, two of them sat on the bed and began to dive into one another.

About an hour later, Fourth Elder Yang Danwa came out of the dorm room carefully. Hu Bong was inside the room, snoring through his sleep. Yang Danwa held on the fence and looked down. The hall was empty with all of the guests having returned to their rooms. There was only the sound of rainfall outside the building. He had been waiting until all the guests returned to the room.

Yang Danwa quickly jumped off the fence and got down to the first floor. His two feet were so light that they didn’t even make any sound. The skill of superior master level warrior was beyond that of any normal person.

‘Should he be sleeping?’

It was after midnight so it was likely that the old man was asleep. There was no chance that there would be any more guests coming in this late at night with the heavy rain outside. He knew that there was a room for workers to sleep next to the kitchen, so he carefully walked over to it and opened the room door. And…

‘Huh?’

There were two beds, but only one bed had the cooking staff on it. Another bed was empty, with a trace of someone who had gotten up from it recently.

‘Where did he go?’

Yang Danwa used his senses to focus on sensing any human presence nearby. The heavy rainfall was a hindrance, but he felt someone nearby.

‘Barn?’

The person was at the barn. Yang Danwa then quickly moved out of the inn building and went outside. The rain was still heavy with thunder and lightning roaring occasionally. Yang Danwa took steps to avoid getting soaked in rain to run toward the barn. When he got there, he had to hide quickly. He only expected to see the old man, but there was another man there. The old man was talking to a certain man with orange tag in his hand.

‘That is…’

He had heard before coming here that the orange tag was necessary to meet with the Godly Doctor.

‘Is that it?’

The tag looked similar to the one that the special expedition team had taken with them. Yang Danwa decided to he should wait a bit as there was a guest that had come first.

‘Huh?’

Something unexpected happened. The old man used his finger like a sword and quickly penetrated the man’s forehead. The man also hadn’t expected the attack and got killed with his two eyes wide open.

‘How can that be…?’

He thought the man was a normal man, but it seemed like the old man was actually a powerful warrior. And as he was shocked, the old man mumbled something. His lips read this:

“There’s a rat hiding here.”

The old man lowered his body to pick up the orange tag that the dead man dropped. He then put it into his pocket and raised his body up to stretch his waist. It looked like he had been faking his hunched back and stood straight up.

“I wasted too much time in order to get this.”

The old man shook his head. The energy arousing from within him and the air about him changed suddenly and Yang Danwa realized it was dangerous. It was then that the man disappeared into a trace. It was the mirror image technique.

“Ugh!”

Yang Danwa quickly pulled out his blade and swung forward. The old man then appeared in front and backed away to dodge the attack. Yang Danwa glared at the old man as he was getting soaked from the heavy rain. The old man grinned.

“Oh, you are quicker than I thought.”

If the raindrop hadn’t splashed in front of his eyes, Yang Danwa would not have realized the old man had come for him. The old man was at least stage stronger than Yang Danwa himself.

“Old man… what are you?”

“Me? Hahaha. I’m just an owner of the inn.”

“Lies.”

There was no way that a mere inn owner can be this powerful. The skin over the old man’s face began to flap over the heavy rain.

‘Is that a skin mask?’

Even if the mask was highly-skilled in craftsmanship, there was no way it could hold onto the face under this heavy rain. The old man charged at Yang Danwa and Yang Danwa swung his blade to defend.

‘The energy’s so powerful!’

The energy coming through the old man’s finger was tremendous. Yang Danwa was able to defend himself but he was pushed back about five steps. The old man then came in further, attacking in different angles to get Yang Danwa’s weak points. Yang Danwa then spun and created a blade barrier to deflect the attack. With sword qi being thrown at him deflected, the old man was already upon Yang Danwa, and came after his forehead.

“Huh?!”

Yang Danwa pulled himself backward in shock and the old man kicked his leg.

“UGH!”

Yang Danwa was thrown off balance and fell to the muddy ground. He then rolled on the ground to dodge the old man’s next attack that came down at him. A sharp energy shot past him, almost cutting him in half if he didn’t move faster. Danwa then placed his hand on the ground to push him up like a spring and sent blade qi toward the inn.

The blade qi shot past the inn’s wall, destroying it on its way. The old man shook his head.

“Hah. So, you are choosing another step.”

“Hah… Hah…”

The reason for the blade qi was to wake people up within the inn. Yang Danwa wished for Chun Yeowun to notice the most. The old man scoffed.

“Do you think the weaklings inside will save you? Hahaha. You are just increasing the number of deaths.”

“Weaklings? Well… we will see about that.”

“You’re just bluffing.”

The old man then disappeared and divided into two and came at Yang Danwa in different directiosn. His movement was so quick that it looked like there was two of him.

‘Which one is it?’

Only one of them was the real one, but none had a weakness. Yang Danwa then focused his energy on the blade to create force qi, and swung it widely to attack both enemies. The first trace that he came into contact with was an illusion. The real attack came from the left.

‘Quicker!’

Yang Danwa swung his blade again, but it was too late to defend. The blue sword force qi came across Yang Danwa’s blade and couldn’t penetrate the heart where it came for, but went through Yang Danwa’s left shoulder.

“Aargh!”

Yang Danwa grimaced at the pain. The old man then looked at Yang Danwa dwindling and tried to finish.

“I’ll send you to hell.”

The old man then zoomed toward Yang Danwa’s head to penetrate it. That’s when the old man felt sudden energy and jumped back. A blue blade force qi shot past him on where he stood. The force qi exploded as it went down into the ground, throwing debris up. The old man swung his fingers and the debris that came to him was deflected by the sword barrier created by his finger.

That’s when someone appeared in front of Yang Danwa. Yang Danwa was still in pain, but he immediately brightened by the person’s appearance.

“M-master!”

It was Chun Yeowun who saved him. It seemed he had come out quickly, so his upper clothes just hung there and his face was a bit red.

‘Who is that man?’

He wasn’t sure what was going on as Yeowun had just gotten out, but it seemed the old man wasn’t just an ordinary inn owner after all. He was at least powerful enough to avoid getting struck by blade force qi that was thrown as an ambush.

“Hmph.”

The old man became grim.

‘I just thought he was a mere kid… was he hiding his power?’

Yeowun was at the end stage of the superior master level, so he could control his energy fully. That’s why the old man only considered Yang Danwa to be the most dangerous.

‘So, he was trying to call this young man.’

The old man now understood why Yang Danwa threw blade qi toward the inn. Yeowun aimed his White Dragon Blade at the old man and asked, “You. What are you?”

“…”

The old man did not answer. He was thinking if he should fight Chun Yeowun or run. That’s when he heard the crowd coming out of the inn.

“Hmph. You saved your life.”

It was a good reason. He left the words to Yang Danwa and jumped.

“Stop!”

Yeowun threw force qi bullet toward the old man, but the old man didn’t even look back and just simply dodged and disappeared. He disappeared toward Sword Creek that he insisted where no one should go. Yeowun hesitated if he should chase after the old man, but gave up. He couldn’t feel the old man’s energy, meaning the old man was either as strong as or stronger than Yeowun. And…

“Yang Danwa. Are you okay?”

“I-I’m okay, master.”

Yang Danwa replied, but he was pale. His pain must be severe as his shoulder was penetrated from the force qi. Yeowun then pressed on the blood points around the shoulder to stop it from bleeding. At that time, warrior groups including the Mudan clan came out of the inn. They all seemed to be tense from the blade qi that penetrated through first floor of the inn. Monk Mu Jinja first ran toward them and asked, “Lord almighty… what happened here?”

It was hard to explain how, and Yang Danwa quickly made up an explanation.

“Ugh… Monk Mu. I was ambushed.”