The Three Evil Killing Ghosts (2)
Heh heh…… Just as I thought.
Heukbi let a satisfied chuckle drift from his lips as he slowly swept his gaze around the room and spoke.
"Don't even think about answering that you don't know. There can't be many manors in this backwater of Heung-guk capable of attacking an out-of-town underworld gang just to hire a single nanny. Am I right?"
"……."
Thwack!
……Thud!
"Wh-what are you doing!"
"I asked, 'Am I right?' So you should have answered."
Having just claimed another life, Heukbi ostentatiously clenched his right hand and spread it open for all to see.
Only then did the Baekin Association Leader realize what had been held in that hand all along — an ordinary Go stone — and his face went rigid.
A man flicking a tiny stone, no sharp hidden weapon at all, and punching it clean through a human body without effort? This was no ordinary martial artist. This was something closer to a professionally trained assassin.
"Now then, let's ask again. Where is that manor? Hmm?"
"I…… don't know."
"……You don't know? Truly?"
Shff.
This time, the Go stone leveled itself not at one of the underlings, but at the Baekin Association Leader's head.
Yet the man simply kept his fist clenched and his mouth firmly shut, and sensing that resolve, Heukbi slowly lowered the hand gripping the stone.
"Not even afraid to die? That manor of yours must be quite the remarkable place. Am I right?"
"……."
Hmm…… shall we find out, then?
Crack!
Thwack!
"Gaaaagh!"
Without warning, a single Go stone punched clean through the Baekin Association Leader's right leg.
Before he had even finished collapsing with a scream, a second stone tore through the space between his left chest and shoulder.
Thwack!
"……!"
"You know what? Most people don't kneel before death. They kneel before pain."
Heukbi smiled as he watched the Baekin Association Leader gasp for breath, too wracked with agony even to scream.
"Shall we see…… just how many holes it takes before you open your mouth?"
"Haaah…… I-I swear…… I don't…… know……"
Thwud!
This time the stone punched through his left thigh.
As the Baekin Association Leader lay sprawled on the floor, groping at the ground with trembling hands, yet another Go stone drove through the back of his right hand.
Thwack!
"……!"
"Wow, you're holding up well."
Watching the man barely swallow his scream as his body shuddered, Heukbi ran his tongue slowly across his lips.
"Then this time, let's try a vital point—"
"W-wait, please!"
Just as the smirking man drew back to hurl a fresh Go stone, one of the underlings who had been watching until now raised his voice.
It was the vice-leader of the Baekin Association.
"Th-that's enough! I'll tell you!"
"You know, do you? Know what, exactly?"
"The manor that attacked the Black Blood Chamber! I know where it is!"
"L-Leader……!"
BOOM!
Even in his agony, the Baekin Association Leader shouted desperately to shut his man's mouth.
But Jeokho's foot flew across the room in the blink of an eye and kicked him square in the head, and after a single faint shudder, the Baekin Association Leader lost consciousness and slumped over.
"L-Leader……!"
"Don't worry. He's not dead."
"……."
"You'd like to keep him alive, wouldn't you?"
At Heukbi's question, the vice-leader nodded quickly.
Of course, this was hardly what his leader would have wanted — but there was nothing to be done. He could hardly throw away everyone's lives for nothing, all for the sake of loyalty to the Dark Sky Four Monsters, men he had only known for a few months.
And more than anything else—
If those men are truly the Dark Sky Four Monsters……
Then guiding these fiends to the manor was, in fact, the only path that let everyone live.
It was true that the Three Evil Killing Ghosts had risen as rising powers of the Unorthodox Faction — but even so, they were no match for the Dark Sky Four Monsters.
"I-I'll guide you there myself. The manor's location is……"
"Hm? What's this? Why would you guide us anywhere?"
"Ex-cuse me?"
At the utterly unexpected reply, the vice-leader's eyes went round.
"That manor is their lair. From the way you're clinging to loyalty this hard, you seem to have some ties with them as well…… and you expect me to follow you in, knowing what trap might be waiting?"
"Th-then…… why……"
Heukbi approached the bewildered man and drew a single Go stone from his palm.
"This is simple intelligence gathering. How many of them live in that manor and who they are — and that woman they call a nanny, the one they went to rescue. Who she is, and where she lives."
"……!"
"Well, at least that's a relief. Seems you lot know them fairly well. Which means from now on, until we've wrung out information that satisfies us, you won't be able to die even if you want to. We'll make sure of it."
"Th-that can't……!"
Only then realizing his mistake, the vice-leader's face went rigid — and Heukbi flashed a twisted smile as he continued.
"Don't be too frightened. If the information proves valuable enough, we might even let one of you live. Now then — shall we begin?"
Eyes glittering, Heukbi addressed the despairing vice-leader.
"Start with how many of them live in that manor."
"Uuuhh……"
……Crump.
Under the unrelenting torture, one of the Baekin Association's men let out a groan and collapsed to the floor.
He had been knocked unconscious and revived more times than anyone could count.
Across his body, easily a dozen or more wounds marked where flesh had been seared with fire and forced cauterized.
"Tch…… passed out again? What a bother."
Heukbi clicked his tongue, shaking his head as he glanced around.
The only ones still faintly stirring now were the Baekin Association Leader — drained dry after all his roaring defiance — and the vice-leader, whose face had gone hollow and blank.
"Well, at this point I'd say we've gotten everything there is to get, no?"
Jeokho, who apparently found waking the prisoners up again to be too much trouble, cracked his neck as he spoke from where he stood off to one side.
"Why not just kill them all now? We've heard roughly where the manor is, how many of them there are, and where that nanny woman lives. What else is there worth finding out?"
"Well…… still, we ought to at least verify whether what they've told us is the truth or—"
"That's quite enough."
Just as Heukbi and Jeokho were trading words, a rough, deep man's voice rolled out from deep within the manor.
The Baekin Association Leader and vice-leader, who had been staring blankly at the scene until now, turned their eyes toward the sound.
Thud. Thud.
A hulking giant of a man draped in crimson silk.
He looked at a glance like some common brigand, his face flushed with drink, a golden wine bottle dangling from one hand.
"We've gathered all the information worth gathering, and we've been treated to fine wine — there's no need for unnecessary suffering, is there?"
"We obey your command, Chamber Head."
As Heukbi and Jeokho bowed respectfully toward the man, the corners of the Baekin Association Leader's eyes twitched faintly.
……Chamber Head, did he say?
The leader of the Three Evil Killing Ghosts.
Manso, the Mad Cry Heavenly Ghost — called the unofficial disciple of the Blood King.
With every unhurried step he took toward them, an oppression rolled off the man thick enough to choke the air from a man's lungs at a single glance.
It was said that rumors always exaggerated the truth — but the pressure radiating from the Mad Cry Heavenly Ghost surpassed every tale the Baekin Association Leader had ever heard of him.
Before long the man stood before him, curling one corner of his mouth into a smirk, and spoke.
"……Choose."
"Ch…… choose…… what, exactly?"
"I'll let one of you live."
"……."
"As thanks for the fine information and the fine wine."
At the Chamber Head's matter-of-fact decree, the Baekin Association Leader swallowed a dry gulp.
One of us……
For a single instant, the primal desire to survive surged up hot in his chest.
But then his eyes met those of the vice-leader watching him from one side.
His loyal man, who had opened his mouth about the Dark Sky Four Monsters' manor to save his leader's life.
But also his steadfast friend, who had held his silence to the very end, refusing to reveal the Monsters' true identities out of loyalty.
That man was looking back at him now with eyes blended of fear, despair, and relief all at once.
Guilt toward him made the Baekin Association Leader's lips tremble too much to speak — and yet, before he knew it, the words had left his mouth.
"……Go."
"……Ex-cuse me?"
"Go on…… and live."
"L-Leader…… how can you……"
"That's an order."
"……."
"No…… call it a request. From your leader — and your friend."
The face that had been mottled with dread and terror had, at some point, gone calm.
The Black Blood Chamber Head, who had been watching his decision unfold, tipped his chin toward the Baekin Association Leader.
"That one calling himself a leader may yet prove useful — squeeze a little more information out of him before you kill him. Let the other one go."
"As you command."
Having received his orders from the Chamber Head, Heukbi fiddled idly with a Go stone as he spoke.
"Go on. Be sure to thank the Chamber Head for his mercy."
"……."
"If you're still here by the time I count to ten, I'll kill you…… but—"
"One."
"Ugh……!"
At last, biting down hard on his lip, the vice-leader bolted for the manor's exit.
The torture had bled him freely, but the wounds had been seared shut with fire, so they were more or less staunched.
His legs buckled and staggered at first, but soon he seemed to find his stride, picking up speed bit by bit.
I have to hurry!
They had said they would wring more information from his leader first, so they wouldn't cut his throat this instant.
If he could just arrive in time, he could somehow save him. If 'those men' — the ones his leader had trusted and kept faith with until his very last moment — proved worthy of that loyalty, then—!
And so, once the vice-leader had stumbled dazedly out of the manor, Jeokho turned back to the Chamber Head with a puzzled look.
"You truly meant to let him go?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
"No problem, as such…… but what if the man runs somewhere and calls for help?"
"That is precisely why I let him go."
"Ex-cuse me?"
Jeokho blinked both eyes at the Chamber Head's answer.
Watching him, Heukbi added the explanation on the Chamber Head's behalf.
"Nine times out of ten, that man will have gone running to those men of the nameless manor for help. Their might is the only means anyone has of standing against us — and he'd need to warn them that we're after them, too."
"Then…… all the more reason he shouldn't have been released—"
"Because then those men will send their people here. Say…… to the very ones who rescued that nanny of theirs."
"Yes — and then, quite naturally, their manor will be left empty."
Heukbi had grasped his intent perfectly, and the Chamber Head, evidently pleased, nodded with a satisfied smile.
"Jeokho. You go to their manor and seize the child. That will make everything easier, in more ways than one."
"As you command."
"And Heukbi — you have a separate task."
"A task, you say……?"
"That woman. The one called the nanny."
As Heukbi looked at him in puzzlement, an unmistakable gleam of carnal desire flickered in the Chamber Head's eyes.
"If those manor wretches went to such lengths to rescue her, she must have her own value. If someone tried to sell her to a brothel, her face must be worth looking at, too."
"You mean……"
"Bring her here unharmed. Alive and untouched."
"……."
"Tonight, once everything is finished, we shall enjoy a banquet of victory."
"As you command!"
The night was dark.
When Yeon-ha arrived at the house nestled halfway up the mountain, she bowed her head in thanks to Gwangpae.
"Thank you. Really, you don't have to carry me home this late every night……"
"Does it not tire you, saying the same thing over and over, night after night?"
"E-even so, thanks should be given every time. I do have a conscience, you know……"
As Gwangpae grumbled, Yeon-ha flushed, hesitated a moment, then opened her mouth again.
"It's just…… lately it seems like you can't even go to work because of me. Is your work all right?"
"Worry not about that. It's already been settled with the steward at the government office, and there are men working in my stead as well."
In truth, even when Gwangpae did not go out to the site himself, Yeo Chunggi's crew kept his share of the wages set aside, passing it along whenever he did turn up for a shift.
Having gained new bodies thanks to Gwangpae, Yeo Chunggi's men were earning far more than the ordinary laborers — so even after setting aside Gwangpae's portion, they still took home better pay than anyone else on the site.
"Anyway, spare me the needless worrying and get some rest. I'll come again tomorrow morning."
"Yes. Take car— and he's gone already."
Every time, the moment she bowed her head in farewell, all that greeted her eyes was the empty spot where Gwangpae had been standing.
At first she had felt a twinge of disappointment, but by now even that had grown familiar.
"……I'll have to go a while longer without taking a wage, I suppose."
With a small sigh at the reality of how one-sidedly much help she'd been receiving of late, Yeon-ha stepped inside.
Thinking all the while that tomorrow, she would buy some proper ingredients and cook him a good, hearty meal.