Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Chapter 7: Foothold (4)
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I walked along the unpleasant forest path.
I moved without stealth, letting my footsteps echo. I sensed four presences around me. Two were familiar, and two were unfamiliar. The familiar ones were from the espionage squad. The other two were likely from the Inspection Division, and that turned out to be correct.
Oho raised his hand, signaling with a hand sign to hold position. The hand signals were the same for both espionage and inspection.
The espionage squad members' auras immediately settled.
The Inspection Division's auras sharpened instead. They were used to giving orders, not receiving them. It was understandable that they wouldn't take kindly to Oho's signal.
Deeper in, a clearing appeared in the middle of the forest.
More precisely, it was the ruins of a shrine.
The shrine that had apparently enshrined the Flower Queen Mother looked long abandoned. No one seemed to offer devotions anymore. It was on the verge of collapse.
"Were you waiting for me?"
Oho asked.
In the center of the shrine ruins stood a single figure.
It was Soyul, standing with his back turned.
"The Captain came in person."
Soyul didn't even turn around. Naturally, there was no bow of respect.
Oho focused on the voice.
The tone itself was crucial information.
He felt an ill omen.
This wasn't simple defiance. Soyul's voice was steady. There was no trace of panic or fear. It sounded like the voice of someone who knew exactly what they were doing.
"Then who should come? Me, of course."
"Thank you. I thought you might leave without seeing me."
'Leave? To where?'
Oho kept the question flashing through his mind from escaping his lips.
The leisure in Soyul's tone was strange.
Soyul had to know. They'd openly mobilized up to the Golden Division. Oho was here, with espionage squad support. This wasn't a situation where he could just go wherever he pleased. Yet Soyul spoke as if being here was his own choice.
"Tell me why you're doing this. I'll listen sincerely."
"You're the same as ever, Captain. You seem half-hearted about everything, but in truth, you're earnest about it all."
"If you know that, turn around. When a superior comes like this, you at least show your face before talking!"
"You're right."
Soyul snapped to attention as if coming to his senses, glanced up at the sky once, then slowly turned around.
The atmosphere in the shrine ruins was still foul in the pitch-black night.
I looked at Soyul's face.
It was pale. Our eyes met.
'This guy!'
Oho had been wrong.
He had misread the voice.
Soyul's pupils weren't normal. His aura was murky, not clear. He looked possessed by something.
"Who got to you?"
Oho asked directly. Soyul tilted his head.
"No one did anything to me."
"You came here of your own will?"
"Of course."
Soyul answered confidently.
Oho saw that his pupils didn't waver in the slightest.
That made him even more certain.
Espionage squad members weren't quick to trust people. No, they shouldn't be.
Those not to be trusted or guarded against weren't always others. Sometimes it was oneself.
Walking the murim path of slaughter could make everything ambiguous at times. In those moments, even choices one thought were one's own might not truly be. Thus, the espionage squad was taught to doubt even themselves at times. They had to.
But Soyul showed no such doubt.
It meant he hadn't properly questioned himself even once.
He should have hesitated, even for a moment.
Since he hadn't, since he was so assured, Soyul wasn't normal. That much was clear.
"I'll ask again. Why?"
"Why do you think?"
Look at that.
Even now.
This wasn't the Soyul he knew.
"We didn't teach you to talk back like that."
"I decided to set aside those teachings."
Did he even know what he was saying?
"You're no longer an espionage squad member?"
"Yes. That's the point."
"You can't just quit on your own whim."
"That's not true. We can freely start and end anything we want."
"That smells like bullshit. Who stuffed that crap into your head?"
"Is it wrong?"
"It's not about right or wrong. You're just parroting what someone told you. This is ridiculous. What trick turns an espionage squad member's brain to mush like this?"
Oho's words grew blunt.
The situation was that serious.
"Now you sound more like the Captain. You brought the execution squad, right?"
"Yeah."
"And if needed, kill me?"
"You know it, so why ask."
"I don't have the Tongcheon Dao or Taehaeng Sword annotation commentaries."
Soyul patted his chest and waist, gesturing that he had nothing hidden.
His lack of a travel satchel had already been bothering Oho.
Espionage squad members needed keen observation. They could tell from clothing alone. If he had a single booklet hidden anywhere, they'd spot it. Soyul's light uniform left no room to conceal items.
"Where'd you sell them off?"
"I didn't sell them. You think I'd do this for money?"
"Money's the most common reason."
"Not for me."
"Then what?"
"I delivered them to the main family."
"What?"
"You didn't know?"
"Who in the main family?"
"They told me to keep silent. That's one reason I'm quitting the espionage squad."
Oho suddenly recalled Un-eon's dying face.
Peng Un-eon, who died as an espionage squad member to the end, had spoken of a traitor's existence.
That traitor wasn't Soyul.
Someone higher up.
The one who took the annotation commentaries.
No such report existed in the espionage squad files.
Now it hit home viscerally. Diving in recklessly would be dangerous. The darkness was thick and deep.
Now he truly understood why he spoke of "fires across the river."
The Flame Jade Merchant Guild incident, the Shanxi Five Rivers chaos, Bang Jung-heon's organization, the bizarre masked group, Soyul's defection. They weren't separate.
Everything was connected.
Even without clear evidence, conviction outpaced suspicion.
"What disappointed you so much?"
Amid his racing thoughts, Oho never lost focus on Soyul.
This question was right and precise.
Soyul answered.
"There's no one trustworthy when fronts and backs don't match."
"That's the nature of espionage."
"I'm not talking about the espionage squad."
"I'm not just talking about the squad either."
"Even if the murim world is like that, a prestigious clan should at least know what the greater good is."
"So it's ultimately about the subversion operations?"
"As if digging up other sects' weaknesses. Like you said, Captain, if it were money, it'd be more convincing. With Peng family techniques, we could rival any sect in the world. Inferiority complex about being at the bottom isn't justification."
Straight talk.
Oho agreed.
Soyul's pupils were steadfast.
His face looked dazed, but the words he spoke calmly bordered on eloquence.
It was unfamiliar, a special experience.
As if only his suppressed true self had emerged. If Oho stripped away his own rationalizations and looked at his heart, he might say the same.
"You're right. But is the murim world a place where everyone can live righteously?"
"Captain. I know you. Don't say what you don't mean."
"And the purpose of subversion operations isn't that simple. It's not just collecting commentaries."
"Whatever the true goal, if the process is like that, what justification is there for the outcome?"
"I understand your doubts. It's a concern you should have."
"You didn't seem that troubled, Captain."
"You're right about that too. But I'm not one for deep worries anyway."
"I'm envious, Captain."
"Sounds like sarcasm."
"The Peng family is on the wrong path. Built on deception, it's a castle in the air that could collapse anytime. The elders know it too. That's why they made half-baked choices like subversion operations out of fear. At least you, Captain, don't turn from the truth."
"Who's spouting that nonsense now?"
"Even if you use crude language on purpose, you're not that kind of person, Captain. And this is all my own conclusion. No one told me. If anyone taught me, it's the lessons from the clan elders, the main family."
"You're thoroughly twisted. At your age, it happens. You feel like you've reached the real answer. But you know better. Everything has its flip side. Let's find the true answer again. I want to know too. If this is right."
"My role in the Peng family is over. There's no path for me here."
"That's not true. There's always another way. I'll walk it with you."
"Captain. You can't join me."
"I'll handle the Inspection Division. The fault's mine, so I'll take the discipline. The Inspection Division Chief opposed the subversion ops from the start. Your case has room for leniency. Don't worry, head to the main family. I'll sort the rest."
"Inspection Division, discipline— that's not the issue at all. Look at yourself first, Captain. Is that what you want?"
"What?"
"Is cleaning up after an immature squad member your job, Captain? Weren't you meant for greater things? I thought you'd pass through something like Espionage Leader as a stepping stone, compile the Peng arts, and rise above the family head."
Oho's eyes narrowed involuntarily. Madness glinted in Soyul's eyes now.
"Get a grip, you lunatic."
"I'm more sane than ever, Captain."
"Talking won't cut it. Looks like it."
"Yeah. You've listened too much already."
Oho prepared to strike.
The espionage squad members in the surrounding woods entered combat stance.
"Don't resist. Just come quietly."
No need to draw his sword. Eight Boundaries Golden Claw would suffice.
It was as Oho was about to kick off the ground.
"Too late, Captain."
Soyul said that.
As if those words were a signal, a shriek rose from the depths of the forest darkness.
Kiiiiieeeeeeeek!
It was an excruciatingly sharp wail.
Not a human sound. A ghost's cry fit better.
Oho's body froze instinctively.
It was a ghostly wail that chilled the spine of any internal arts practitioner and sent shivers down to the bone.
Shwaaaaa! Fwoooosh!
He heard wind and wingbeats.
Something tore through the black night, flying in.
'What the hell is that...!'
It was an enormous bird.
Its body was larger than a man's. Its fully spread wings seemed over ten feet across.