Emperor of Steel

Late in the night, the massive slums in Dearyang capital.

There was a well which was used for public uses in the slums, which were all lined with shacks.

One well was provided to each district, it was an important source of drinking water for the residents of the slums.

Therefore, the residents of the close vicinity would take turns to protect the water in the well.

It was because if some prankster with ill intentions threw dirt into the well, and the waters couldn’t be used for a while.

“Look here, Mr. Dong. A few days ago, didn’t you say that the General, Red Dragon King himself led the army out?”

A man in shabby clothes spoke to a neighbor who was on duty with him.

The neighbor immediately began to give him the news.

“Have you heard about it? The 3rd prince who joined hands with the Northern barbarians came all the way to the point that the entire capital is being flipped.”

“Isn’t it irrelevant who is on the throne, right? Whoever becomes the Emperor, our lives don’t turn out any better…”

“What you say is right… this is a world for the rich!”

The two men continued their conversation and kept shifting topics to ward off drowsiness.

The deeper the night, the slower the time seemed to move.

“By the way, have you heard of this rumor?”

“Rumor? Which one?”

“You know I am pretty close to Mr. Kang who lived two streets from over here. The one who works hard at the construction site along with me.”

“I know him.”

“Well, this is something that I heard from Mr. Kang yesterday, it seemed that one of the residents suddenly became a Kangshi.”

“What? Kangshi?!”

The man was startled.

It was because of the stories that he had heard in his childhood, the name itself brought fear into human bodies.

“Yeah, he suddenly turned into Kangshi and went into havoc.”

It was a time when the poor were being helpless in riots and Kangshi.

Suddenly, the Eorim troops emerged and suppressed the people who turned into Kangshi or were bitten by it and took them far.

In addition, it was said that if people spread rumors regarding the matter, the entire locality would be arrested.

Of course, that warning didn’t help much in blocking the spread of rumors.

“Huh, but the nation is so noisy with all the war going on, and now a Kangshi is raging around! How on earth can a Kangshi even appear in Daeryang?”

“I understand how you feel. Well, it seems like some crazy bastard infiltrated the capital. Anyway, just be careful when you are moving around. Because we never know where and when a Kangshi would come out.”

“Fine.”

It was when two of them were talking about it.

A long shadow stretched behind them, and a man appeared there.

He was tall—wearing a black hood and holding a dagger.

The man who showed up swung his dagger and cut off the necks of the two men.

“Kuak!”

“Gag!”

The man, who killed the residents in an instant, clicked his tongue and wiped the blood off his dagger.

“F*ck! Because of those northern warlocks, only dirty blood is being spilled onto my precious dagger.”

The grunting man was one of the second class murderers who was hired by Hwang Bo-kwang.

Not long ago, a warlock from the Northern Continent was said to have poured a liquid into the food and alcohol of the Imperial family.

It was said that the warlock made a mistake, however, it was believed that the liquid was mixed into the food for the purpose of experimentation.

Anyway, those who ate the food turned into Kangshi.

And since the existence of the Kangshi shouldn’t be noticed by the people of Daeryang, Hwang Bo-kwang gave out orders to Salmek and Eorim troops to collect those who turned or were bitten by Kangshi.

“But this is being done today.”

From his sleeve, a porcelain bottle was taken down.

He had to sprinkle the liquid from the bottle into the water well, and the slum would turn into hell.

“Ki ki ki! I wonder why he suddenly changed the policy, well, it doesn’t matter if I can get a large amount of money for it.”

It was when the cap of the bottle was opened to pour it into the well.

“Stop!”

Swoosh!

From an alley on the left, a loud scream and something flew in and cut off his hand.

It was a sword that had energy all around it.

“Kuak!”

The murderer groaned and took a step back.

The man who appeared like lightning took away the bottle and looked at the murderer.

“What is in here?”

“…”

“If you don’t want to answer. Well, I should just feed you with my sword so I’ll know what this is.”

The man who intercepted the bottle being opened was Hwang Bo-yun.

After he rescued the Emperor, he and Zegal Shin hid him somewhere near the capital.

It was to avoid the pursuit of Jo Won-gyun and Hwang Bo-kwang.

However, they didn’t stop monitoring the capital.

They secretly held hands with Lee Yong-mu, and mobilized the Haomun’s men and Zegal clan’s intelligence members to monitor the movement of Jo Won-gyun and his family.

As a result, they managed to discover that a group of men wearing black clothes was carrying out missions for Hwang Bo-kwang.

Accordingly, Hwang Bo-yun followed the men along with Zegal Shin and was able to get a few down.

“Eiik, die!”

The murderer threw his dagger at Hwang Bo-yun and began to try and run away.

It was because he knew that Hwang Bo-yun was a strong person, and he couldn’t win over him.

He would be in trouble if Hwang Bo-yun got hold of him.

“Where should I try this?”

“Ehh! uh!”

Hwang Bo-yun peeled the cap of the bottle and poured the contents into the mouth of the murderer whom he caught up.

“Kuak, kuak… gulp!”

Something shocking happened.

Life was extinguished from the body, while he was groaning and rolling on the ground in pain and died.

“Poison?”

Were they trying to poison and kill all the people in the slums?

But why?

It was when Hwang Bo-yun wasn’t able to find an answer to his curiosity.

The murderer’s body which went pale suddenly got up and rushed towards him.

Kikkkkik!

‘Wh-what?! He turned into Kangshi?’

Shocked, Hwang Bo-yun hurriedly swung his sword and cut off the hands of the Kangshi which were coming for him.

However, the Kangshi didn’t even care and kept moving ahead to bite him.

And thanks to the quick response of Hwang Bo-yun, the Kangshi bit his sword.

Clink! Clink!

‘This is terrible!’

Hwang Bo-yun’s sword was made of steel alloys, it was similar to the armor of the Iron Giants of the northerners.

No matter how strong it was supposed to be, the Kangshi seemed to have enough power to put cracks into the sword!

“Sky wave!”

Hwang Bo-yun, began to gather energy into his left hand and cut down the Kangshi’s neck.

The Kangshi who got separated from its head from the body struggled for a while and fell to the floor.

“Tch, I was in trouble.”

The other day, he received a report from Haomun that something was being spread in the slums which turned people into Kangshi.

There was also a rumor that the Imperial palace too was given something like that, so the Emperor fell ill, which made everyone doubt Jo Won-gyun.

“They are trying out something more dangerous than I imagined. If I don’t stop them…”

If the disease spread, many people would turn into Kangshi and those bitten would spread it around.

Just thinking about it made his body shudder.

Hwang Bo-yun, who recovered from the sudden shock, immediately hurried over to another place.

He stopped the current one, but there was no guarantee that the other wells weren’t touched yet.

“Hwang Bo-yun? Why are you here…”

When he ran over to the other slum which was close to his vicinity, the warriors of Zegal clan were gathered.

As if properly handled, the assassins were on the ground bleeding, and the bottles were in the hands of Zegal Shin.

Pop!

Hwang Bo-yun hurriedly took the bottle and threw it into the bonfire which the residents had lit.

The bottle smashed into the fire and the liquid evaporated.

Zegal Shin, who covered his nose because of the terrible smell, asked.

“Was it some kind of poison?”

“It is a lot more dangerous than what we imagined.”

Hwang Bo-yun gave out the details of what he saw a moment back.

Zegal Shin’s expression changed at once.

“This can’t be! They are planning to turn everyone into Kangshi!”

“Before the day starts, we need to hurry up and figure out a way to take action!”

Hwang Bo-yun and Zegal Shin contacted the subordinates who were in a hurry to protect the wells.

Soon after, a report came in.

They managed to block some wells, however, some wells were already poisoned due to the late arrival.

Accordingly, Hwang Bo-yun instructed that he contaminated wells to be covered up.

Since there was no right way to cleanse off the water, and it was inevitable to block the water for the people.

“Phew, we have it under control for the moment.”

“I don’t know. The underground water sources are connected and there is no guarantee that the poison won’t spread elsewhere.”

“Then what should we do?”

“Once the information comes that the Kangshi has appeared, we must prevent the spread as soon as possible. We need to actively prevent the use of water wells by spreading the information to the people.”

And the rebel army too was approaching the capital, so they had to prepare for it.

Hwang Bo-yun talked about the tactics in detail and Zegal Shin nodded his head.

Forgetting that they had to sleep, they kept on taking walks on the streets of Daeryang till sunrise to prevent anymore problems.