Chapter 5: Blood in the Moonlight
The Ironwood Forest was not kind to the weak.
Thick fog blanketed the ground, curling around roots like pale snakes. Owls watched in silence. Somewhere deeper in the woods, something howled—a low, guttural sound that made lesser men freeze.
But Jin Mu-won was no lesser man.
He moved barefoot, shirtless, with only the pendant on his chest and bandages on his arms. Each breath released faint steam as his body slowly adjusted to the effects of the Crimson Pulse Body Tempering Art.
His muscles ached. His bones throbbed.
Perfect.
THUMP.
A heavy paw pressed against the forest floor. Then another.
It emerged from the fog: a Steel-Fanged Night Wolf—a mid-tier beast known for killing hunters in seconds. Its fur was silver, its eyes glowing green, and twin fangs curved like sickles from its upper jaw.
Mu-won stared it down calmly. "You'll do."
The beast growled, sensing no fear in the boy before it. That made it angrier.
It lunged.
Fast.
Most people would scream.
Mu-won grinned.
He side-stepped with perfect timing, letting the wolf pass by a hair's width. As it turned, he delivered a brutal fist to its ribcage. A crack echoed in the silence.
> Thump-thump-thump.
The Crimson Pulse activated. His heart accelerated unnaturally, pumping blood with explosive force.
He felt it—his body burning from the inside. Every strike stronger. Every movement faster.
The wolf lunged again, this time smarter. It feinted left, then pounced right.
Mu-won let it come.
He ducked under its swipe and slammed his palm under its jaw, launching it skyward. As it fell, he pivoted and drove his elbow down onto its spine.
CRACK!
The beast twitched.
Silence.
Blood soaked the ground. Mu-won stood over the corpse, panting slightly, but smiling.
This was the feeling he missed.
Raw combat. Risk. Growth.
His body trembled—not from fear, but from excitement.
He dragged the wolf's body back through the trees, emerging just as the first light of dawn touched the village sky.
Seo Hana blinked at the bloody corpse he dropped in front of her shack.
"You're insane," she said again.
Mu-won wiped blood from his lip. "No. I'm just warming up."
To be continued.....