Chapter 236

“Oh no. Young Lady Mo Yong, are you alright?”

“Why, why are you only here now!?”

Mo Yong Joo-hee yelled as she rushed into my arms.

The stench that hit me made Qing scrunch up her face for a moment before she sighed heavily and gently rubbed Joo-hee’s back.

“Why, why have you come so late? I-I thought I was going to die! I’m so scared. It hurts so much, and I hate being in pain. Why did you take so long to arrive?”

In truth, Qing only just found out about Joo-hee’s capture through some casual gossip not long ago.

But it’s not like she could claim ignorance about Joo-hee being captured—no one up there seemed to know anything.

Luckily for Qing, she wasn’t from the Central Plain, so while the savagery may be the same in both the Central Plain and the modern world, she at least had a random collection of useless knowledge at her disposal.

As Qing tightly embraced Joo-hee and whispered in her ear,

“I’m sorry for being late. You endured a lot, didn’t you? But you held on well until now. Thank you. You’ve done amazing. I know I was really late. It’s all my fault. Young Lady Mo Yong, you did nothing wrong. I’m sorry…”

Empathize and agree with the client while suggesting alternatives. Suggest? Or not suggest?

It’s been so long since I messed up my course registration and sat in a psychology class that I barely remember anything.

“Ugh…!”

In the end, Mo Yong Joo-hee finally burst into tears.

Despite that, the pathetic sound she tried to suppress was quite heart-wrenching.

As Qing patiently waited for what felt like a long time, holding her in her embrace,

“…You’re Seomun Qing, right?”

“Young Lady Mo Yong? Have you calmed down a bit?”

Only then did Qing release her tight grip. Joo-hee leaned back to look at Qing’s face, her expression blank.

Then, in the blink of an eye, her face twisted into one of utter hatred.

“Who are you? Why are you so pretty? How can you have everything while I… How could you do this to me!? Because of you, I… it’s all because of you……!”

Suddenly, Mo Yong Joo-hee unleashed a torrent of complaints. The sobbing turned into a messy noise, making it hard to understand, but it seemed she had a story to tell.

After being humiliated at the Dragon and Phoenix Association, her only way to restore her honor was to bring Qing down at the Champions’ Competition.

However, after losing to a ronin, she became the laughingstock and even caught snippets of her own faction gossiping about her on the steps of the Phoenix Association.

She thought highly of herself, belittling the likes of Geomhwa and White Lotus, but losing to a mere ronin—well, honestly, it comforted her to think she wasn’t the only one without fame. So, she ended up following them around like a maid…

Eventually, filled with resentment, Mo Yong Joo-hee decided to leave home, leaving behind a letter, and fled in the dead of night.

Qing found it quite absurd.

How is that my fault? No matter how prestigious you are as a lady of one of the Five Great Families (a so-called master), sneaking out at night in this dangerous world made it seem like she was begging for trouble from those Blood Sect bastards.

Besides, if she left behind a letter saying she was returning home, wouldn’t the Mo Yong family think she got kidnapped?

“Young Lady, please calm down a bit. You look like a ghost. That scoundrel probably has food…,”

It was the middle of the night, and those on duty had packed food for the night shift. The secret was six rice balls.

As Qing spoke and started to rise,

Mo Yong Joo-hee, who had been pouring out her grievances, suddenly clung to Qing’s legs like a desperate clingy child,

“No, don’t go! Please don’t abandon me, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it, thank you for coming to save me! Don’t leave me behind!”

“I’m not abandoning you. It’s that filthy, scummy—no, disgusting, pathetic creature that I’d leave behind.”

“No! I’m not pathetic! I’ve endured so much! I didn’t do anything shameful! So please, don’t throw me away—if you do—”

“What the hell! What’s going on! Get off! What the hell!?”

Just then, a guard woke up and shouted, causing Mo Yong Joo-hee to scream and finally bash her head into the ground.

“You filthy pig! Today’s the day you die!”

“No! I was wrong! I’m so sorry! Please, no! Aah! Gah!”

Mo Yong Joo-hee floundered like a fish out of water. Her eyes rolled back, and saliva and snot streamed down her face, nearly choking her.

Ah, I should’ve dealt with that solitude before this.

Qing rushed at the guard.

With one hand grabbing his neck and pushing him down, the other hand dove into his stomach, breaking through the skin.

Even as the guard gasped and struggled, he was no match for the strength of a martial artist.

Focusing on the sensation through her fingers, Qing could feel the hot blood wrap around her fingertips, a rhythm beating beneath the skin, thump, thump, thump.

At that moment, a chill ran down her spine, like electricity; no, concentrate, concentrate…

Finally, Qing carefully pulled her hand out.

Checking the solitude in her grasp, a two-lined black poison known as a Humble Worm, she tossed it to the ground and stomped on it.

“Haa, ha, huff, huh…”

From inside the Thunder Prison, Mo Yong Joo-hee gasped for air. Qing continued to choke the still-twitching guard until he fainted before approaching Mo Yong Joo-hee again.

“I was wrong… I was wrong…”

“Young Lady Mo Yong, you’re alright now. It’s okay.”

“I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong.”

Hmm. She’s in really, really bad shape.

As Qing looked down at Joo-hee’s head buried in her hands, repeating that she was wrong with an apologetic look, she couldn’t help but feel awkward.

Pain makes people sick.

After being beaten by that Supreme Being Representative, Qing was completely in bad shape.

But Qing didn’t exactly feel angry or annoyed when she thought back to that time.

Qing understood why.

“Young Lady Mo Yong, would you come here for a moment?”

“I was wrong! Please, not more pain!”

“Come on. You’ll enjoy this too.”

Qing picked Mo Yong Joo-hee up and headed outside the Thunder Prison. The moment they stepped outside, Joo-hee began screaming that she couldn’t go out, flailing around and causing a scene.

It was slightly embarrassing, but as Qing stood there, firmly holding her in her embrace, it seemed Joo-hee began regaining her senses.

“Is it okay for me to go out? Livestock can’t go out. I… I…”

“Young Lady Mo Yong. I’m Seomun Qing.”

“But I don’t want to be in pain. I really don’t.”

“It’s okay. Look over there! That scoundrel can’t hurt you anymore. And now it’s time for Young Lady Mo Yong to take her revenge, right?”

“Revenge.”

There was a glint of venom in Mo Yong Joo-hee’s eyes.

Thanks to that, her focus seemed to have returned sharply.

“That bastard! That son of a bitch!”

Mo Yong Joo-hee shoved Qing aside and lunged at the guard’s neck.

Qing, taken by surprise, quickly tried to stop her.

“Young Lady Mo Yong? You shouldn’t do that!”

“Why! This bastard! Let go! I’ll kill him!”

Qing grabbed both of Joo-hee’s wrists, pulling them apart. Despite trying hard to resist, she had the strength of a toddler compared to Qing.

“Why! I have to kill this bastard! If you talk about forgiveness, go away! I—”

“Young Lady Mo Yong, choking him to death would be such a waste. He’s already a dying man without solitude, so we should make him suffer as much as possible.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s wake him up first, shall we? Just watch what I do.”

Qing turned the guard upside down, untying his clothing and firmly holding his shoulders.

There was a dull sound, but considering the sight of a person’s shoulder collapsing like a crumpled piece of paper, it rang like thunder.

“Gah!”

With the pain jolting the guard awake, he screamed as loud as he could again. Despite his shoulder being wrecked, he still tried to muster whatever strength he had left, a truly pitiable sight.

Then, Qing swiftly tied his clothes around his mouth like a gag.

“I love hearing screams, but it’s too noisy, so I’ll stop it for now. Hmm. Young Lady Mo Yong? How about we start by pulling out his nails? Normally it’s best to start with the thorns before pulling out the nails, but we have plenty of fun in store.”

“Huh? I don’t—”

“Let’s start with that.”

As Qing held Mo Yong Joo-hee from behind, she tightly gripped her hand, kindly guiding her on what to do.

“Hold it here, and slowly pull upwards, wanna put your strength into it? A bit more at this angle. Can you see it? Ta-da. Nice and clean.”

The guard’s body flopped as if in disbelief.

Mo Yong Joo-hee, who had shrunk back from the horrifying sensation, was entranced by the guard’s suffering in pain.

“See? It’s nothing special, really. He’s nothing more than that. A worm if you take away his solitude.”

“Yeah…”

“Should we be afraid of something like this?”

Mo Yong Joo-hee shook her head.

“Then take your time and enjoy. You can systematically break down the body, starting from the tips of the fingers and toes. Right here where the nail was, press hard. Can you see it wiggling?”

In truth, Qing felt a bit giddy.

It’s a fundamental human desire to share activities they enjoy.

“It might be a bit noisy, but I recommend removing the gag. You’ll hear all sorts of desperate pleas for mercy if you let him scream. What do you say? Want to take off the gag and just go for it?”

From a Central Plain perspective, it sounded more like a demon; from a Western perspective, a devil’s whisper.

Hence, Mo Yong Joo-hee nodded, entranced.