Baek Woo Jin returned directly to the campsite.
“What’s going on?”
Tang Seon Yeong who felt a presence from afar sharpened her senses. She was ready to engage in battle at any moment.
“Let’s wake everyone first.”
“Okay.”
Baek Woo Jin woke Jang Sam and Gu Wang Soo, while Tang Seon Yeong woke Jegal Yeon Ji and Shin Ye Hwa.
It took only a brief moment for the team to gather in one place.
“A visitor came in the middle of the night.”
“A visitor…?”
Jegal Yeon Ji repeated the words in disbelief, but after sensing a presence nearby, her wariness rose rapidly.
“They said there’s a village in the mountains, and if we want, we can rest there.”
“A village… in these mountains?”
“There wasn’t one.”
The expressions of the team members who had been listening to the conversation grew heavier.
“That man seems to be the clue we’ve been searching for.”
“It seems that way…”
Baek Woo Jin’s mind was racing furiously.
The fact that the man had boldly appeared in the middle of the night likely meant that their side had also finished preparing to hunt them.
“From now on, stay sharp.”
Doubt everything, and doubt it again.
“If you make a careless move, your life will be taken in an instant.”
The energy that was released from Baek Woo Jin’s body began to engulf the crew members who still looked uneasy.
“Ugh…!”
“Haa…”
It was killing intent. An intense and overwhelming energy that none of them had ever experienced before.
The energy that enveloped them immediately awakened their dull survival instincts.
As fear began to settle on the faces of the team members, Baek Woo Jin withdrew the energy he had released.
“Haa, haa…!”
“Cough! Cough!”
The team gasped for air. They started coughing as they struggled to regain their composure.
In their gazes toward Baek Woo Jin, a faint trace of fear lingered.
If there had been more time, a detailed explanation would have been enough, but in such a rapidly shifting situation, there was no room for that.
It was a drastic measure to make sure his comrades didn’t lose their lives.
“Remember, all of you. We are students from the Jeongmu Academy and we are traveling to find the Qinghai Province for our assignment.”
“…Understood.”
“U-Understood.”
This was an act meant to lower the man’s guard, even just a little. If Baek Woo Jin had been alone, he would have crafted a more elaborate identity, but since he didn’t know how well his team could act, he made only slight adjustments.
The camp preparations were finished. After double and triple-checking that the embers from the campfire had been completely extinguished, Gu Wang-soo rejoined the group.
“Let’s go.”
Baek Woo Jin took the lead, with his team following behind him.
The middle-aged man stood exactly where they had parted. He was there holding a torch in his hand.
“Sorry to have kept you waiting. It took longer than expected to clean up the campsite.”
“It’s fine. Shall we get going then?”
“I’ll lead the way.”
The man turned and began walking.
Despite wearing straw sandals, he strode confidently through the rough forest.
His movement was something only possible for someone who had lived in the mountains for a long time, which only deepened Baek Woo Jin’s suspicions.
It’s clear he’s been in the mountains for a long time, but…
He still couldn’t bring himself to believe there was a village out here.
Hiding his growing doubts, Baek Woo Jin matched the man’s pace as they ventured deeper into the forest.
The darkness was so thick that relying solely on the man’s single torch became difficult.
Baek Woo Jin and Tang Seon Yeong expanded their energy, which allowed them to perceive far beyond what their eyes could see; so they could react swiftly and precisely. However, the rest of the team who were not yet accustomed to spreading their energy outside were not able to do so.
“Give us a moment to make some more torches.”
“…Go ahead.”
After a brief pause, the man responded.
Since everything needed for the camp was already prepared, it only took a short while to make the torches.
Fwoosh!
When flames sprang to life in the hands of the team members, the suffocating darkness began to retreat little by little.
It felt as though the darkness was a predator pulling back for a moment. Just to savor its prey right before the attack.
“Let’s get moving again.”
Their halted steps resumed.
A much colder wind than before began to blow. With their clothing lighter compared to the winter, the chill seeped into the faces of the team members.
“Everyone, put on something from your bundles.”
The cold made their bodies tense, and that naturally led to a loss of fighting power.
While maintaining their pace, they began to pull out items from their packs to shield themselves from the wind.
Baek Woo Jin pulled out a thick coat from his bag and draped it over the shivering shoulders of Jegal Yeon Ji.
“Th-Thank you….”
Jegal Yeon Ji’s face flushed red, not from the cold, but from embarrassment.
And it didn’t stop there. He took off the long coat he was wearing and wrapped it around Shin Ye Hwa.
“W-Woo Jin-ah.”
He deliberately avoided her emotional gaze.
“Wrap yourselves up and keep your body temperature stable. There’s no use having a warrior who can’t fight properly.”
“M-Mhmm!”
After checking on his team members one by one, Baek Woo Jin returned to find Tang Seon Yeong looking at him with a peculiar gaze.
“You’re so caring.”
Baek Woo Jin chuckled softly and replied.
“Guess you haven’t seen what real care looks like yet.”
“Hmm…? Then show me yourself.”
When she responded like that provocatively, Baek Woo Jin reached out and grabbed her hand as if he had been waiting. Then he pulled it into his embrace.
Tang Seon Yeong’s face instantly flushed.
“W-What are you doing?”
“This is what you’d call being caring.”
“…I get it, so let go already?”
When Baek Woo Jin loosened his grip, she quickly withdrew her hand. With a face that looked endlessly conflicted, she held the hand that still felt warm tightly with her other one.
Though she acted as if she was ready for anything, the moment he became assertive, she shrank back which was both cute and pitiful at the same time.
Knowing why she had no choice but to act that way made it all the more so.
I’ll have to end this for her soon.
Invisible shackles were hanging from her. To break them, he had to become stronger.
“Leader, are you sure there’s actually a village?”
“Th-That’s right, we’ve been walking for a while, and there’s no sign of it.”
“Ugh, it’s so cold.”
Jang Sam and Gu Wang Soo spoke through chattering teeth as they shivered from the cold.
The mountain was already as deep as it could get. They had twisted and turned so much in the darkness that it was hard to remember how to get back.
It was then.
The man who had been walking silently stopped and turned around.
Despite walking for a long time, his breathing remained steady. He spoke.
“From now on, stick close behind me and step only where I step.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Remember this: you must only step where I step. If you don’t, I can’t guarantee what might happen.”
At his ominous warning, Baek Woo Jin gathered the team and closed the distance between them.
“Since it looks like everyone is ready, let’s continue.”
The man’s steps became more cautious. Each one was taken with great care.
Baek Woo Jin who was following right behind placed his foot precisely where the man stepped.
The rest of the team followed in a line, with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front.
As they carefully walked like this, Jegal Yeon Ji who was right behind whispered softly.
“Yo-Young master Baek, this… it feels like a formation.”
“You think so too?”
Baek Woo Jin had already started to suspect the same thing.
If one had to be cautious of where they stepped, it usually meant there was either a trap, a mechanical contraption, or a formation.
At first, he thought it might be a trap, but considering that the village was still nowhere in sight, he suspected it was a formation that was deceiving their eyes.
“You don’t know what kind of formation it is, do you?”
“I-I’m sorry. This is the first time I’ve seen a formation like this…”
“There’s no need to apologize.”
The Jegal clan was well-versed in formations, but it wasn’t possible for her to know every formation in the world.
“Still… I think I can tell what its purpose is…”
After all, formations had specific uses. Having studied formations to some extent inside the Jegal clan, she seemed to have figured out its function.
“It’s an illusion formation… It’s projecting the surrounding mountains to deceive our eyes. If we don’t follow a predetermined path, we’ll keep circling the same area…”
She added that the formation likely had the ability to block out any internal presence as well.
Its functionality was more impressive than expected. It was too much to hide a village in the mountains.
“This kind of formation isn’t common, is it?”
“No, unless someone is highly skilled in formations, it would be impossible…”
“Then, could Mis Jegal set up something like this?”
“I-It would take quite some time… but I think it’s possible.”
He felt proud for no reason. If she had the time, she could actually set up such formation.
This is a treasure, a real treasure.
It felt like he had stumbled upon a hidden gem that others had yet to discover.
It was around the time they had taken roughly three hundred steps.
The atmosphere surrounding them, and even the air, began to stir violently.
“Don’t panic and follow behind me.”
After a few more steps, a new world unfolded within the darkness of the mountain.
“This, this can’t be!”
“What is this…!”
Lights flickered and unfamiliar scents, ones that couldn’t be found in the mountains, started wafting in. For the first time, they began to sense the presence of other people.
What appeared before them was a small, unimpressive village.
But that was enough to leave the team with their mouths wide open in shock.
“A formation.”
“A… formation!”
Formations were already being used in more places than one might expect. In reputable martial clans, it was common practice to call a formation master when constructing their buildings to make sure key locations were set where formations could be activated in times of crisis.
However, since most formations were designed to be activated only in times of crisis, it was rare for them to see the effects firsthand.
This was the power of a formation…
“Amazing…!”
While the team marveled one by one, Baek Woo Jin stared intently at the middle-aged man.
A village hidden deep in the mountains. A village that was tightly concealed by the formation.
No matter how you looked at it, it was strange and suspicious.
In a place like this…
It was easy to understand how someone could disappear without leaving a trace.
“This is the village where I live. You must be tired, so let’s head inside.”
As the man led the way, the team began to follow as if they were under a spell.
Whoosh.
Baek Woo Jin passed through the entrance, where two large blazing torches were mounted, and stepped into the village shrouded in mystery.
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