Jegal Clan's Second Young Master's Conspiracy (1)
At the stroke of midnight, Wang Yi Sam rose slowly from his bed as if possessed by some spirit.
He glanced over to confirm that Seo Baek and the blue-robed man were sleeping soundly on the adjacent beds, then slipped out of the room.
He trudged down the corridor.
Twisting and turning through the hallways, Wang Yi Sam eventually arrived at the latrine.
His old habit of being unable to hold it in at night had kicked in.
After relieving himself with great satisfaction, he stepped out.
But as he turned to head back to his room, he realized he couldn't remember the path he'd just taken.
"What did that Jegal Clan servant say again?"
Earlier that day, the servant who had shown them to their room had said:
—From your room, head right down the corridor, then left, and finally right once more, and you'll reach the latrine.
Wang Yi Sam had recalled the servant's words in his half-asleep state and found his way there just fine.
Yet now, after finishing up, his memory had grown hazy.
"Right, then straight ahead, left, and right again..."
Muttering the directions to himself, he shuffled along the corridor.
He hadn't noticed in his drowsy state when leaving the room, but the hallway was pitch dark and hard to navigate.
There were oil lamps at each corner, but they were few and far between, leaving the rest of the passage shrouded in gloom.
"The Jegal Clan has plenty of money, yet they skimp on oil? Rich folks really are the stingiest."
A sudden thought struck him.
He had turned right, left, right to get to the latrine—so to return, shouldn't it be the reverse: left, right, left?
He had completely forgotten that and wandered off in the wrong direction.
"What kind of messed-up house is this from the Jegal Clan? Is this a home or a maze?"
Ignoring his own confusion, he blamed the Jegal Clan.
But no matter how far he walked, his room never appeared.
Wang Yi Sam grew increasingly anxious.
"Why is this damn corridor so long?"
It felt off no matter how he thought about it.
He was sure he'd walked several times farther than it had taken to reach the latrine from the room. Yet his room stubbornly refused to show up, leaving him with a strange sensation.
As if he were going in circles on the spot.
"Could this be..."
Any martial artist knew the rumors of the Jegal Clan's bizarre schemes.
An endlessly looping corridor.
What else could this unheard-of oddity be?
That was when it happened. As Wang Yi Sam tensely scanned the hallway, he halted upon spotting something red attached to a pillar.
Looking closer, it was a talisman drawn in red dye.
Red was a color ghosts despised.
Which meant the talisman warding against them implied ghosts haunted these halls!
Something gripped his shoulder with a thud.
"Gaaah! Who's there? A ghost?!"
"It's me, Senior Brother."
"Junior? You nearly scared the piss out of me!"
The hand on Wang Yi Sam's shoulder belonged to Seo Baek.
Too fixated on the talisman, he hadn't noticed Seo Baek approaching from behind.
"What are you doing here, Junior...?"
"You didn't come back after leaving, so I came looking."
Wang Yi Sam had seen Seo Baek fast asleep when he left the room. Yet somehow, he'd sensed it and followed.
"But ghosts? Really?"
"Can't you see that talisman? It's for exorcising evil spirits!"
"There are no such things as ghosts in this world. And even if there were, what happened to the guts you showed fighting revenants?"
"Humans and revenants can be hacked down with a broad dao, but ghosts are a different story."
"Guess someone boiled up that guts of yours and served it for dinner."
The two shared a warm exchange after some time apart.
"Still, why's there a talisman here?"
"No idea."
As Wang Yi Sam hesitantly examined it, another voice came from beside his shoulder.
"Don't look at the talisman too closely."
"Eek!"
Wang Yi Sam froze and whipped his head around to find the blue-robed man standing right there.
"Why not?"
"You didn't see it during the day, so they must have put it up at night. This is the Jegal Clan, after all. It seems infused with an energy that bewitches the mind—best not to scrutinize it."
"Got it. But why'd you leave the room? Got business in the middle of the night?"
"I went to the latrine."
"Ah..."
Wang Yi Sam realized his foolish question and shut his mouth.
The blue-robed man glanced at him and added:
"Scouting the enemy camp every night just to take a piss—truly exemplary reconnaissance."
"Exactly."
The blue-robed man and Seo Baek subtly teased Wang Yi Sam.
Back at Wang Family Fortress, he'd discovered the Wang clan's flight while relieving himself at night, and now he'd spotted the Jegal Clan's talisman the same way—hence the scout analogy.
Of course, the straightforward Wang Yi Sam missed the jab entirely.
"The Jegal Clan must've rigged the corridors with some prank."
"Seems like it."
Overhearing them, Wang Yi Sam snapped to attention and asked:
"Is this corridor like those lion statues—an mechanism formation from the Jegal Clan? I thought I was lost."
"This is more like Qimen Dunjia than a mechanism formation."
"Qimen Dunjia? Isn't that the same thing?"
"They both deceive the eye, but their principles are entirely different."
Seo Baek explained slowly as he walked the corridor, with the blue-robed man and Wang Yi Sam following.
"You couldn't find your way back from the latrine because the path loops endlessly, right?"
"That's right."
"The oil lamps are only at corners, keeping the halls dark."
"The stingy Jegal Clan bastards skimped on oil to save coin..."
"This wasn't to save money—it was deliberate."
"Huh? Why?"
"To make intruders wander the corridors lost."
Seo Baek suddenly stopped.
Wang Yi Sam, right behind, couldn't halt in time and bumped into his back.
"Oof! Why'd you stop short, Junior?"
"This is the secret of the Jegal Clan's Qimen Dunjia."
Seo Baek pointed to the wall beside the corridor.
"What's the wall?"
"It's not a wall..."
Seo Baek thrust his fist toward it.
Instead of hitting solid stone, his fist sank into a dark void.
"A passage hidden in the corridor."
"...!"
Wang Yi Sam widened his eyes and looked again—sure enough, there was a passage in the wall, just as Seo Baek said.
The ceiling, walls, and floor were all the same hue, and with the dim light, it had blended seamlessly beside them.
"They spaced the lamps to hide the passages in between. Follow the lights alone, and you'll loop right past them."
"I see."
"You probably trailed the lights, circling in a figure-eight pattern. That keeps you trapped in an endless loop."
"..."
Wang Yi Sam had no retort—Seo Baek was spot on.
At the same time, he marveled once more at his junior.
A maze crafted solely with lights to fool the eye?
Who could even conceive of such a thing!
"The lion statues and gardens used crafted devices, so those are mechanism formations. But this exploits psychological blind spots—like hypnosis, a form of Qimen Dunjia."
The blue-robed man clarified the distinction.
Wang Yi Sam shook his head in a mix of awe and intimidation.
"Too complicated—my head's spinning. I'm simple; swinging my broad dao suits me fine."
"Simplicity can sometimes be the pinnacle of martial prowess."
The blue-robed man's rare praise fell flat on Wang Yi Sam.
The Jegal Clan, bewitching minds with mere lights.
Seo Baek and the blue-robed man, piercing the ruse at a glance.
Wang Yi Sam had seen countless masters in his time.
But these two, with minds like lightning—first he'd ever met. All he could do was admire them.
By then, the group had returned to their room.
"Without you, I'd have wandered those halls forever."
"Not quite. Daylight would reveal the passages. That Qimen Dunjia only works at night..."
Seo Baek's expression turned odd mid-sentence, and he trailed off.
"What's wrong, Junior?"
"The Second Young Master welcomed us warmly at first. But now he's deployed Qimen Dunjia at night."
"To keep us from finding the latrine and wandering lost. Stingy enough to grudge us a piss—the Jegal Clan's pettiness is legendary!"
Wang Yi Sam tossed out what he thought was a witty joke.
To his surprise, Seo Baek and the blue-robed man nodded gravely.
"Spot on."
"What? They're really that petty?"
"Not the latrine—it's to keep us from finding our way at all."
"Why?"
"To trap us inside the Jegal Clan manor."
"...!"
Wang Yi Sam startled and shot back:
"Really? Then let's get out now!"
But the blue-robed man shook his head.
"Leaving the room now would stir up a bigger mess. Like poking a hornet's nest."
"What do you mean?"
"The rooms lining the corridors are filled with Jegal Clan warriors."
"What? I didn't notice a thing..."
The blue-robed man meant they were already surrounded—escape meant fighting their way out.
"So what do we do?"
"Charging head-on into those who've set the trap is disadvantageous. Better to step back, evade it, and strike when they're off guard."
"That's straight out of the art of war."
Seo Baek and the blue-robed man synced perfectly, as if rehearsed.
"..."
Wang Yi Sam was left speechless at their seamless accord.
"Even if we leave this room, who knows what Qimen Dunjia or mechanism formations await in the garden."
"Yeah?"
"Precisely. And even reaching the lion statues would still be within the Jegal Clan's grasp. Walking out won't be easy."
"Ugh."
Wang Yi Sam crossed his arms and grumbled characteristically.
"So we just sit tight?"
"No, there's a way out of here."
"What's that?"
Wang Yi Sam perked up, but the blue-robed man glanced at Seo Baek.
Without a word, Seo Baek read his intent from that single look.
"The escape route is in this room."
Wang Yi Sam exploded in frustration.
"You said we can't go out the door, but the exit's in here? Punch through the ceiling to the sky, or dig through the floor?"
"Close enough."
"Exactly right."
Wang Yi Sam raised his voice in outrage, yet Seo Baek and the blue-robed man nodded solemnly, as if he'd nailed it.
Ignoring his complaints, Seo Baek explained impassively.
"This isn't an ordinary room—it's rigged with a mechanism formation."
"Where? I don't see anything."
"Look closely."
Seo Baek went to the wall without a bed and pointed at the floor with his index finger.
"Traces of movement."
"What?"
Wang Yi Sam looked down and saw faint scrape marks, just as described.
Hard to spot unless staring intently.
"Even the finest mechanism leaves friction marks when moving. The curved groove at the edge means this wall rotates."
Seo Baek scanned the room and muttered:
"There must be an activation device somewhere..."
His gaze locked on one spot.
"Here."
He pointed to a bookshelf crammed with volumes.
"Martial artists shun books, yet they placed them deliberately. In the Jegal Clan, books seem natural. Another psychological blind spot."
"..."
Wang Yi Sam gaped at the explanation, glancing aside to see the blue-robed man arms crossed, feigning indifference.
These two freaks he'd never encountered in the martial world!
"The mechanism won't have dust buildup."
Seo Baek pulled books from a dust-free spot.
And there—a metal ring mechanism gleamed inside!
He yanked it.
Whirr. Rumble.
A heavy vibration rumbled as the wall slowly rotated.
Behind it yawned a dark passage.
Seo Baek extended his palm like a guide.
"Welcome to the Jegal Clan's secret passage."