Chapter 122
Chapter 122
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: Uninvited Guest (3)
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In the original story, the protagonist's generation never faced an assassination attempt by killers at this point.
'Well, to be fair, none of the original events have played out exactly as they did anyway.'
Using my knowledge and arrangements, I'd orchestrated similar incidents to occur around the same time.
And I'd maneuvered things so that the protagonist's generation would encounter them.
However, the experiences my younger siblings and the other protagonists had gone through were definitely different from the original.
'That's why I've always thought something like this could happen at any moment.'
But regardless, the assassination attempt by killers that had just occurred wasn't from the original story.
So, to figure out why it had happened, there was no choice but to use traditional methods.
'Autopsy.'
In other words, we had to examine the killers' corpses and gather clues.
To do that, we selected the most intact bodies from the forty-odd corpses and dragged them into the command tent.
In the midst of this, Dang Ok-gi approached me with a smug look on her face.
"How was it?"
"...? What are you talking about?"
"The stuff I brought. It was useful, right? I brought it well, didn't I?"
Ah.
That was it?
Well, it had definitely been helpful.
From the moment they failed to capitalize on the element of surprise, the killers had already ceded half the advantage to us.
But the pits I'd had dug near the campsite, along with the iron wires and traps Dang Ok-gi had laid inside them, had played a major role.
'Some of them stepped wrong, fell into the pits, and got skewered by the hidden weapons at the bottom.'
The rest had clearly panicked at how prepared we were.
That panic made a huge difference in moments where life and death hung by a thread.
Thanks to that, we'd repelled the assassins without major casualties, so Dang Ok-gi could be considered the top contributor.
"Yeah. It helped a lot."
I nodded toward her in acknowledgment.
"Heh heh. You mocked me for going off to war or whatever!"
This made her nose stick up half an inch higher.
But Dang Ok-gi's elevated pride was soon deflated by the words of Jeong Hyeon, Eun Ha-seong, and Woo So-rung standing nearby.
"As I recall, it didn't even reach the level of mockery. Young Master Eon only said those things, but he actually had us share the load of Miss Dang's baggage, didn't he? And as the saying goes, even a string of jade beads is worthless unless strung together, and even a mighty tree must be felled with an axe to be useful. In the end, it was Young Master Eon who decided Miss Dang's items were necessary."
"......"
"It was Big Brother Yong-un who had us dig the pits around the campsite and place them strategically."
"And there's more! It was Big Brother Eon who noticed the assassins' approach and threw them into panic!"
"...I really hate you guys."
I spoke up toward them.
"Jeong Hyeon, So-rung, that's enough. Miss Dang Ok-gi, who now dislikes them, come over here and help examine these bodies."
"Examine?"
"Yeah. We need to find out who's behind this. Check for clues like tattoos that could point to their origins. You're the most knowledgeable about medicine among us, so you'll spot more."
"Got it."
"I'll help too! Sister Ok-gi!"
And then.
One by one, people who had regulated their qi and blood through meditation, led by Myeong Tae-seong, began gathering.
"You're doing an autopsy?"
"Yes. Would Leader Myeong assist as well?"
"Of course."
"Thank you."
Among the gathered, I turned to Myeong Tae-seong, the most experienced.
"Miss Eun and Miss Je-gal, join them and take a look too."
"Understood."
"Sure."
I added Eun Ha-yeon, well-versed in underworld factions from running her merchant group,
and Je-gal Seol-ji, knowledgeable in many fields.
'What a solid lineup. Makes my chest swell with pride.'
With the autopsy team formed, I pondered the mastermind behind this while they worked.
'The Sea Release Room is completely gone, so they can't be behind it.'
Ha Ryu-bak, who had moved on Bo-ju's and the kids' money?
But they wouldn't have this kind of manpower.
'Right, Master?'
-What do you mean?
'The assassins weren't pushovers, were they?'
-True enough. Elite assassins aim solely to kill or injure their targets.
Master was right.
They charged with suicidal resolve, while any injury on our side was a loss.
That was a massive gap.
-In an ambush outside the training grounds, assassins should be rated thirty percent above their apparent skill. They all wielded sword qi, so if we'd been caught off guard, your peers might have suffered greatly. They weren't amateurs.
Exactly.
We'd trapped them completely with our preparations, but every assassin could wield sword qi.
And even after things went south, they pressed on relentlessly to kill the students.
'Ha Ryu-bak doesn't have experts like that.'
Plus, after the Bo-ju incident, they'd gone completely quiet—no jobs taken or given, vanished like smoke.
So Ha Ryu-bak was an unlikely culprit.
'Father cleaned up the grudges former Yong-un piled up in Ha-buk, so not them. Hmm. No clues, no guesses.'
But I wasn't the only one mulling over the reason.
From the Qingzhu Hall peers blankly watching the autopsy team, Gok Jun-pyeong's voice leaked out.
"...Could it be Vice Chairman Baek Bon's man?"
At Gok Jun-pyeong's words, many heads among the students turned toward Namgung Yun.
Namgung Yun furrowed his brows and gritted his teeth.
"What are those words and looks? You can't mean... you're suspecting my little uncle?!"
It wasn't entirely incomprehensible on either side.
Qingzhu Hall students had heard plenty of seniors' complaints, souring their view of Hyangran Hall.
And having witnessed Vice Chairman Namgung Uk's schemes during their stay at the Murim Alliance, it was easy to jump to conclusions.
'And I get Namgung Yun too.'
He'd confronted Namgung Uk at the abbreviated inspection incident, questioning if that was really his grandfather he'd known, and even volunteered for the Alliance's prison.
But he likely believed his little uncle wouldn't stoop to hiring assassins out of grudge.
'In this case, Namgung Yun's faith is probably right.'
For good reason.
The assassins had targeted Namgung Yun too.
Not feigning it—they meant it.
'I saw it.'
And with Gong Son-mu-geol and Je-gal Hye watching his every move, Namgung Uk couldn't hire assassins.
'Besides, crows don't perch where egrets fly.'
Political maneuvering in the Alliance under the guise of family benefit was dirty work one could stomach.
Hiring assassins was drinking sewage.
No one from Namgung family, self-proclaimed eldest sons of Orthodox Murim, would easily imagine that.
'So at this point, Namgung Uk can't be the mastermind.'
Anyway.
We couldn't let this slide.
More attacks could come anytime.
And for future crises, we couldn't let needless grudges fester between Qingzhu Hall peers and Namgung Yun.
I spoke up to mediate.
"It's not Vice Chairman Baek Bon. He's under close watch by the Alliance Lord and Military Affairs Department right now—impossible for him to pull this off."
Namgung Yun gave me a complicated look.
"What? Something on my face?"
"...No."
Meanwhile, Gok Jun-pyeong, embarrassed, sought confirmation again.
"Ah. Really?"
"Yes."
He then awkwardly apologized.
"...Uh. Namgung Yun. Sorry. Your grandfather seems to hate and look down on Yong-un and us so much, my thoughts just went there."
Namgung Yun didn't say 'it's fine.'
"Hmph."
But that was huge.
Rivers and lakes had many taboos.
Couldn't take personal insults, sect insults—martial artists were hot-tempered, intolerant of much.
'Mentioning family was a big taboo.'
By this world's norms, Namgung Yun could demand a life-or-death duel right then.
Yet the prince of Hyangran Hall brushed it off with a 'hmph.'
'Alliance prison water must be potent.'
Works wonders.
Joking aside about prison.
It proved Namgung Yun acknowledged his wrongs at the Alliance, felt shame, and understood why peers thought that way.
Anyway.
As I smoothed over the brief conflict,
Dang Ok-gi from the autopsy team spoke first.
"Different spots, but all assassins have burn marks like from heated iron chopstick tips. Look here—like water droplets or flames?"
Je-gal Seol-ji followed.
"Number of burns might indicate rank. More means higher. These two have two each, others one."
The one she pointed to included the leader-type I'd kicked first.
"But no assassin group I know uses burns for hierarchy."
Je-gal Seol-ji shook her head, unable to guess the culprit.
Eun Ha-yeon and Myeong Tae-seong nodded similarly.
"No black path sects, mountain strongholds, or river gangs south of the Yangtze mark affiliation this way."
"I only follow Alliance Lord's orders, so my knowledge is limited—not as certain as Student Eun Ha-yeon—but north of the Yellow River, no groups like that either from what I've heard and seen."
The peers furrowed brows at the team's consensus, and Paeng So-cheon asked me.
"What now?"
If I had no clue, I'd throw it back, but.
The team's ignorance,
and Dang Ok-gi's clue sparked a name in my mind.
'Demonic Cult.'
The name forgotten in the ensuing peace.
Two days after the Righteous Martial Academy students faced assassins.
"That Snake Young Master won again! Another win!"
"No kidding. He's the Gambling God incarnate?!"
In a gambling den in Taiyuan, Shanxi's busiest city.
Gamblers wore masks by rule here.
A man in a snake mask revealing only his mouth, riding high, got a whisper from an approaching man.
"Hm. So that's how it went?"
"...Yes."
The so-called Snake Young Master twisted his mouth artificially and declared withdrawal.
"Haha. Sorry, everyone. Family emergency—I have to bow out."
"Where's that fair?! I was just getting cards! Winner can't just leave like that—keep playing!"
"Right! Gambling has its etiquette! You can't bail after winning big!"
"Sorry, sorry. I'll take half my winnings; the rest for the table."
With generous house pooling, he quelled complaints and moved to a back room deep in the den.
Dropping his earlier grin, he spoke coldly to the whispering man.
"So, all contacts dead but one?"
"Yes. Turns out a Murim Alliance Lord's strike team leader was among them—must've been his ingenuity. My apologies."
"Tsk tsk. Expected some failure risk, but hoped at least one soul for the afterlife."
"Apologies."
"No matter. Main goal was to scare Orthodox fools into hiding brats at the Academy."
The masked youth truly didn't mind the failed assassin op.
But one curiosity lingered.
"So, verified rumors about that Eon Yong-un?"
"Yes. Survivor contact checked bodies and site after students lit signal flares and left. Fatal wounds: strike team leader's sword marks, Tang poison traps, Wudang, Namgung, Je-gal swords, and Dragon Subduing Palm."
"Excluding the leader: Jeong Hyeon, Namgung Yun, Je-gal Seol-ji, Cheon Jang-ho, right?"
"Yes. Eon Yong-un doesn't seem exceptionally skilled."
"Then what's this about him beating Paeng family's prodigy daughter?"
"Ah, reports say Paeng So-jin, whom he beat in Academy spring tournament, abandoned Tao for sword under Alliance Lord."
"Paeng prodigy quits Tao? Opponent was weak, huh?"
"Yes."
"Figures. My eyes don't lie. Eon Yong-un I saw in Ha-buk was a pathetic trickster. Thought 'flying high' rumors were bullshit."
"Academy area's hard for cultists to infiltrate, so info gets distorted through chains."
Curiosity sated, the masked youth smirked.
"Good. Eon brothers unlikely to poke Shanxi claiming blood ties, and even if, no threat."
"Yes."
"Perfect. Let's slowly stew Shanxi's golden carp. Cult Lord and Master expect big from this."
"Yes! It will be done."
"Divine Cult Invincible."
"All Demons Bow!"