บท 9: The way back
Chapter 9 The way back
…
The sun rose high up in the sky as it spreads its influence all over the lush and green forest giving life and energy to everyone around it. As the trees enjoy the life-giving energy that the sun gives, those below its wide and lush leaves also enjoy the blessing of the shade it gives.
However, as the forest grows the shade also becomes darker… and in the darkness also lays the danger within.
Inside a rock cave, there are three figures facing each other.
Two men and a woman are holding weapons in their hands while looking at each other with menace in their eyes.
"Woman, surrender now and we will make things easier… Hehehe…" one of the men said while licking his lips.
The man looks brusque and fierce with a long knife scar on his face. He is known in his profession as Scarface John.
He and his companion have been working as bounty hunters and poachers for many years now. The scar on his face was caused by a bounty he had a few years back. That bounty is a middle-aged man who has offended a rich family and escaped.
After a few years, that man built a family and lived a peaceful life. However, the rich and noble family did not forget nor forgive even after those long years.
They hired Scarface John to hunt the guy and asked to make that guy pay for his crime to the family.
Scarface John found the man and his family. At that time, Scarface John's face was not as scarred as it is now. His face just has a lot of pockmarks due to his youth and his way of living.
But at that time, after beating the guy up as per the request of the family, he found the wife of the man desirable… hence he made a move on her.
But who would have known that the woman was hiding a knife and suddenly slashes his face?
That was the cause of the large knife scar on his face.
Of course, he killed that family after making them suffer because of that incident.
And from that day forth, he has really lived with his name, Scarface John… the ruthless bounty hunter.
Right now, he was given a task to hunt down a woman who escaped after killing the son of a nobleman.
According to what he has learned from this incident, the woman was forced to marry the son of the nobleman. She was kidnapped and brought to the mansion. However, she escaped and wounded the son of the nobleman.
But who would have known that the doctor would make some error and instead of healing, the doctor actually killed the son of the nobleman?
In his rage, the nobleman killed the doctor and gives a bounty to the head of the woman.
And now, after a few months of tracking, Scarface John has finally found the woman in a nearby village.
The chase leads them to the cave they are in right now and are now facing each other at knifepoint.
The woman on the other hand is holding a revolver with only a single bullet after a few rounds of a shootout with the two men.
"Make things easier for me? Do you think I'm crazy to believe your words?" shouted the woman who showed a fierce expression while pointing the gun at Scarface John.
"Woah! Relax… I'm just saying the facts here… If you surrender now, then maybe we can talk about this…" Scarface John showed a sly smile on his face.
The man beside him also showed a crafty smile on his face while looking at the woman. He seems to know what his companion is talking about.
As bounty hunters, they are used to these kinds of deals. If the victim will negotiate with them, then they can arrive at a compromise that would gain the two more coins. However, if the bounty giver is someone they cannot offend, then there is no need for negotiations.
While looking at the two men, the young woman could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva as nervousness could be seen in her eyes.
From the way they look at her, she knew what the two men needed.
In fact, all of her life, she has encountered such perverted gazes just because she is a bit prettier than most women. His figure is also something that most men wanted in a woman.
At first, she thought that being beautiful and having a good body would give her an edge over other women, but ever since she was kidnapped and was almost forced to marry someone made her think otherwise.
With trembling hands and an anxious heart, the woman could not help but grit her teeth in shame and anger.
Glaring at the two men, she now has two options… to be shamed or to die with her honor intact.
She knew that if she followed what the two men wanted, her life would not be hers anymore.
She did not know if the two men would follow their condition and spare her life.
While having such a thought, the two men saw her reaction and looks at each other.
With a tacit understanding, Scarface John suddenly rushes towards her and with a stretched hand tried to grab the revolver in her hand.
The woman was jolted to awakening upon seeing this.
She wanted to react but it was already too late.
Bam!
The woman's body was thrown to the ground as Scarface John grabs the gun the woman is holding with his hand.
With a wide grin on his face, he showed a mocking expression while looking at the staggering woman as she pushes herself to stand.
"Hehe… Do you think that things would be easier after killing the son of that nobleman?" Scarface John grinned as he twirled the revolver in his hand.
"We will enjoy you first and then… your pretty little head will be taken by us…" he added with a grin while running his thumb on his neck.
The woman's body shivered in fear while looking at him with a horrified expression.
Tears began to flow down her eyes as she did not know why this is happening to her. Her parents have already abandoned her the day she was kidnapped by those people.
Now that she is alone in this world, why would she want to still live?
Her eyes landed on the blade in her hand which she is hiding behind her.
She is now feeling really horrified at the options before her as both options lead to her death.
The two men showed sly smiles on their faces as they know that the woman is now really at the end of her ropes.
They wanted to give her time to think as the pleasure of taking down those that are helpless and destitute is really satisfying as per their experience.
"Hey… why are two grown men bullying a single woman?" a seemingly playful voice interrupted the group.
Startled by the voice, the group looks in the direction where it came from.
Sitting calmly at a tall rock near the entrance is a figure clothed with animal skin.
The figure looks like that of a young man but his clothing and the aura around him seem a bit peculiar. The two men knew by instinct that the guy is dangerous.
It is like an instinct of a predator upon meeting another predator.
The young man clothed in animal skin is, of course, Han Jin.
In fact, he just arrived in this place a while ago after traveling for many days. After just killing another beast, old Onyx told him that there are three humans in the vicinity.
Excited by the prospect of seeing other people after a long time of staying in the forest, Han Jin did not listen to the other words that old Onyx was about to tell him as he just rushed to the cave.
He wanted to greet them but when he heard what the three are talking about… he stopped in his tracks and decided to listen for a while.
But the conversation made him frown as it seems that these guys are not something good. Han Jin is not that naïve to think that everyone in the world is good.
As someone who has experienced the world himself while working at different jobs before, he knew how dark society really is.
Before he became a soldier and was trained, he had tried helping others too. But that caused him to be beaten by them and even almost lost his life. There was a time too when the person he was helping even accused him.
But that did not deter him from helping others.
And right now, in front of his eyes, two men are about to do something really bad to the young woman before him, so how could he just let this happen when he is already aware of it?
Of course, if he is not here, then he could only lament the luck of the woman, but since he is here, he decided to play the knight saving the princess.
With that thought, a slight smile crept on his face as he suddenly jumps down from the tall rock he is sitting on.
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