In a Crisis, Hypnosis Is the Answer
"Hm."
Jegal Cheongha's gaze fixed on Bang So-un, who lay motionless on the sickbed. His face was darkened with a sickly pallor, beads of sweat streaming down in rivulets. His lips were parched and lifeless. Beside him lay several cloths stained a dark crimson from wiping up his vomited blood. Anyone could see it was a dire condition.
He's definitely on the brink of death.
Jegal Cheongha reached the same conclusion.
"Please, have a seat here."
"Yes."
Jegal Cheongha nodded and sat down. Even as she did, her mind raced on.
Everything has a cause. What's the chance a young leader like him would suddenly end up like this?
Slim. No, vanishingly slim.
So then?
She couldn't just dismiss it as coincidence. She had to uncover the root.
"Are you the physician?"
"Yes."
Jang Il answered in her place, and I Yeon bowed her head politely.
"May I ask a few questions?"
"You're a guest of the Murim Alliance. Answer her, physician."
"Yes, of course."
I Yeon's eyes met Jegal Cheongha's. Jang Il's heart pounded like a drum.
But fortunately, Jegal Cheongha showed no sign of recognizing I Yeon.
The tension drained from Jang Il as he let out a silent sigh of relief.
"What exactly is the illness?"
"I'm sorry, but I don't know the precise name of the disease..."
"I see."
It wasn't surprising, given how many physicians had already come and gone. If they knew what it was, they wouldn't have needed to summon so many.
"And the treatment?"
"We're doing our utmost, but..."
In other words, it was hopeless. They couldn't outright say it was impossible.
"How unfortunate."
Jegal Cheongha paused in thought, then spoke again.
"Could it be poison?"
"No, there's no trace of any toxin..."
"Is that so? No poison, you say."
Suddenly, Jegal Cheongha leaned in close to Bang So-un's face.
"Ah, no, what are you—"
Jang Il panicked.
"Just a moment."
But he couldn't aggressively intervene when she said it like that. Her status demanded restraint.
What the hell is she doing?
Jang Il's eyes narrowed in suspicion as his mind whirred.
He didn't know exactly what, but something felt off. His instincts screamed it.
Damn it, should I make a move now?
He hesitated, unable to decide. Was this the moment, or not? It seemed like a vulnerability, yet somehow it wasn't—a confusing standoff.
In the meantime, Jegal Cheongha inhaled deeply, sniffing Bang So-un's breath with her senses at full alert. The same acuity that had detected the poison killing the Nangong family head was at work again.
And it caught something now too.
This is...?
Her eyes narrowed.
A sweet scent wafting from within. A critically ill patient shouldn't smell sweet. Their breath should reek of decay and foulness—that was normal.
Which meant...
Poison?
No, not poison. She'd never smelled a toxin like this. Never even heard of one.
The odds of it being poison were near zero.
So the conclusion was...
Faking it?
Jegal Cheongha's eyes flashed with sharp insight.
She hadn't been wrong. There was something suspicious about the Golden Dragon leader.
This guy really is...
For Bang So-un and Jang Il, it was a moment of absolute peril.
But almost simultaneously, Jang Il sensed the grave danger and resolved to act.
Damn it, no more waiting! Let's do this!
"Boo-hoo, young master."
Tears welled in Jang Il's eyes.
But as he wiped them with his forearm, in that instant—
Spit!
I Yeon, disguised as the physician, thrust a needle-sharp dart at Jegal Cheongha's nape.
Thwack! Thwack!
Im So-min as Cold Sword and Seo Yohyeon as Grass Sword lunged in unison, ambushing her.
Whoosh!
Jang Il's massive frame barreled toward her as well.
However.
Jegal Cheongha reacted with blinding speed. Her left hand deflected I Yeon's needle, her right palm repelled Cold Sword and Grass Sword in a single sweep.
And finally—
Thud!
"Guh!"
She spun, slamming a qi-charged kick into Jang Il's chest as he charged.
A feat worthy of a famed young expert from one of the Five Great Families.
"Hmph. In the end, you reveal your ugly true colors."
Jegal Cheongha sneered coldly.
But it wasn't over yet.
"Raaargh!"
Blood poured from Jang Il's mouth after the direct hit to his chest, yet he rampaged on like a wounded bear, pressing the attack with even greater ferocity.
"Urk?"
Caught off guard by his relentless momentum, Jegal Cheongha's ankle was finally seized.
"How dare you. Let go now!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
She stomped mercilessly on him with her free foot. Blows that would shatter bones and rupture organs in any ordinary man.
But Jang Il endured with his innately sturdy frame and peak-level inner energy, teeth gritted to the end.
And the Jeolhwadae struck from all sides without missing a beat.
Jegal Cheongha's hands blurred in defense. Her foot pinned, her mobility was crippled.
And so, inevitably—
Stab!
I Yeon's strike pierced Jegal Cheongha's vital point.
"Ngh... guh?!"
A groan escaped her as her consciousness plunged into darkness.
"We... we did it!"
A bear's roar echoed through the room.
"Mmm..."
How much time had passed?
Bound tightly, Jegal Cheongha regained consciousness.
"Heh, you're awake."
The first thing she saw was Jang Il.
Jegal Cheongha blinked rapidly, assessing her predicament.
Captured by the enemy. A dire crisis.
Yet she didn't panic. She had her ace up her sleeve.
"You think this gives you a way out?"
"What nonsense is that?"
"You know there's a Murim Alliance investigation team outside, right?"
"Hmph, obviously."
"It's not just me—they suspect all of you."
It was a bluff. One that had to land. No, even beyond bluff, her failsafe made it inevitable truth.
"And if I don't come out? Use your head—you'll figure it."
"Ah, I see. So if you don't show, the Murim Alliance dogs won't sit idle."
"Hmph, at least you get that much."
Her gaze pierced Jang Il sharply.
She wasn't the one cornered now. They were.
The Murim Alliance's power was absolute.
"Eh, doesn't matter. We'll let you walk out on your own two feet anyway."
An unexpected response. Jegal Cheongha's brow furrowed, unable to read his intent.
But nothing changed.
"You think we'll just let it slide?"
"Ah, of course we'll educate you first. Make sure you never suspect us again. Ever."
"What bullshit—"
"Eat this first."
Jang Il nodded to the Jeolhwadae.
Cold Sword and Grass Sword pried open Jegal Cheongha's mouth, forcing the San-gong Poison down her throat.
"Kuh, poison? Threatening me with poison?"
"Heh heh, you think I'd waste time on something so petty?"
Jang Il's hulking form loomed over the bound Jegal Cheongha.
"Look into my eyes, and you'll see."
"More nonsense..."
Her words cut off abruptly.
The moment she met Jang Il's deep, abyssal gaze—pulling her in like a bottomless void—vertigo hit hard.
"Uh... ugh...?"
Her vision spun wildly.
"That's right. Keep looking. Stare deep. That's the void where your consciousness will be utterly sucked away."
Con... sciousness...?
Wha... what...?
"It's pulling you in. Deeper and deeper. The more it pulls, the more unbearable the drowsiness. You cannot resist. Yes, your eyelids are already heavy. Too heavy to hold open."
Her awareness blurred. Maddening sleepiness crashed over her. Her eyelids weighed like mountains.
Over half her eyes were already shut, like a drunkard nodding off. And those lids sank further, now just the thinnest slits.
Ah... no... can't...
"Once your consciousness is fully sucked in, your eyes will close completely. Plunging you into hypnotic slumber from which you can never wake. Yes, close them. Shut them and fall into eternal sleep."
"..."
Jegal Cheongha's eyelids sealed shut.
The strained resistance faded from her face, expression vanishing.
Thud.
Her head lolled limply downward.
That defenseless posture seemed to foretell her fate ahead.
"Ah, I see. You suspected Young Master and me as the culprits behind the Sagong family massacre?"
The suspicion that had led Jegal Cheongha all the way to the Golden Dragon Battlefield.
A question she could only affirm.
"...Yes... that's right...... Master......"
Affirmation, yes—but profoundly strange.
A dazed, emotionless tone, yet utterly subservient. Topped with the extreme deference a lowly slave might use for a godlike master.
It fit nothing of the highborn lady of the Jegal family.
"I command you: Erase every last shred of that garbage suspicion from your idiot skull of a head."
Absurd words.
Commanding her was absurd; calling the suspicions of the world's sharpest genius "garbage" was absurd; insulting that brilliant mind as an "idiot skull" was absurd; ordering the suspicions wiped clean was absurd.
Words Jegal Cheongha would die before accepting. They denied everything she'd built.
But.
"...Yes... Master...... Jegal pussy bitch obeys the command...... She will erase every last shred of that garbage suspicion from Jegal pussy bitch's idiot skull......"
Jegal Cheongha obeyed like livestock.
Even a slave couldn't stomach such humiliation.
"Puhaha!"
Jang Il burst into satisfied laughter, clearly pleased.
"Good. Asking again: Do you suspect Young Master and me as the Sagong family culprits?"
"......I have no suspicions at all...... Master......"
Her mind seemed truly scrubbed clean, not a hair's breadth of doubt left.
"Hahaha, perfect. Just perfect."
Jang Il laughed again.
"But hey, you mentioned something about a time limit earlier?"
"...Yes... Master...... If Jegal pussy bitch doesn't return by the appointed hour, the Murim Alliance investigation team will contact the Murim Alliance Hangzhou branch......"
Spilling her own failsafe to the enemy like a fool.
Her vacant expression proved why she called her head an idiot skull.
"Then we've got plenty of time. No need to rush."
A sleazy grin curled Jang Il's lips.
"Proper education requires the right attire."
"......"
"Stand up and strip everything off. Not a thread left."
"...Yes... Jegal pussy bitch obeys Master's command... She will stand and strip everything off, not a thread left......"