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Chapter 30: Do Heo-ok
Since Tang O was walking past Do Heo-ok toward the tent's exit, normally the distance Spirit Eyes announced should increase and then be cut off.
Yet the distance Spirit Eyes was warning about was rather decreasing.
That meant that the new high-level enemy was……
'That person.'
Meaning Do Heo-ok.
Then, what kind of enemy was Do Heo-ok among the three options?
Should he be eliminated, avoided, or deceived?
The answer was already decided.
In a situation with a level difference of 10 or more, the first option had already disappeared. The moment he entered the Namgung Family, the second option also disappeared.
Only one option remained.
He must deceive.
The most common option, yet also the most difficult option to execute. Especially if the enemy was a similar kind of human to himself, he couldn't loosen the string of tension for even a moment.
And.
In his judgment, Do Heo-ok was……
The moment Dong Bong-su saw Do Heo-ok, he felt an inexplicable sense of dissonance. At first, he couldn't quite tell what it was. Then, when the distance with Do Heo-ok narrowed to within a few meters, he could identify what that dissonance was.
It was a subtle characteristic that ordinary people could never discover, and even if they found it, it was a point difficult to find strange.
'Perfect. Too perfect.'
The identity of that dissonance Dong Bong-su found was.
Perfect symmetry.
Everyone has left-right imbalance in their appearance. There's only a difference in degree. Not just faces, but limb lengths, shoulder heights, dental arrangements, degrees of chest or buttock sagging—even genital shapes have left-right imbalance.
But.
Do Heo-ok was perfect.
Not just perfect appearance and form, but his left-right symmetry was perfect. Even with modern Earth's plastic surgery that Dong Bong-su had lived with, making a person's face into perfect decalcomania was nearly impossible.
Much less in such a world completely without surgical techniques—could such flawless symmetry occur naturally?
It was impossible.
Too perfect, thus rather unnatural. It was made.
His sixth sense was saying so.
And his judgment quickly reached a conclusion.
[A predator. Different from me, but another form of predator.]
He concluded.
Dong Bong-su realized he had met a proper predator after a very long time.
He began watching Do Heo-ok more closely.
However, Do Heo-ok was only looking at Tang O. He was only focused on the greatest supporting actor of the performance he would stage, completely unaware that the monster named Dong Bong-su was watching him.
"What are you all doing? Hurry up and follow."
Tang O, who had been walking as if to leave alone, stopped at the temporary reception hall's entrance. Then he turned his head and shouted loudly to the group.
Dong Bong-su and Tang Hwa immediately followed him.
However, Gi Dae-hyo and the other Danri Family figures hesitated. This was because they were confused about whether they too corresponded to the 'people not hurrying to follow' that Tang O mentioned. In the first place, what Tang O had promised was to move together until handing over Yeoro to the Namgung Family and to have Danri Jiang-hae entered as Namgung Byeok's Outside Surname Disciple.
Yeoro and the congratulatory gifts had already been handed over outside the Namgung Family to this place's grooms and servants. Now all Tang O had to keep was recommending Danri Jiang-hae to Namgung Byeok, and that was something that didn't require Danri Jiang-hae to go along.
Also, people who entered up to the reception hall originally could enter inside the Namgung Family only after writing their names in the guest book and having their identities clearly confirmed.
That was an even greater factor making them hesitate. If they were included in the subjects Tang O mentioned, it meant Tang O guaranteed their identities, so there was no need to go through identity confirmation stages. Otherwise, they had to go through various identity confirmation processes to enter inside the Namgung Family.
When the Danri Family personnel were wavering like that, Tang O got irritated again and shouted.
"Ugh, what are you doing? Didn't you hear this old man's words? You all hurry and follow too. Otherwise, how can I grant what I mentioned before?"
Color quickly returned to Gi Dae-hyo and Danri Jiang-hae's faces. Those words implied that Tang O wasn't just granting the promise, but would let them meet Namgung Byeok directly. Just receiving a recommendation and becoming an Outside Surname Disciple versus directly making a face impression on Namgung Byeok were completely different matters.
"Just have any one of you stay and fill out the guest book. Ours and that fellow's name over there too."
Tang O directly designated Dong Bong-su and expressed him as 'that fellow.' He had now clearly declared he was completely a person of the Tang Family.
Having finished everything he had to say, Tang O lowered his hand and immediately turned around and left the temporary reception hall. Following after, Dong Bong-su, Tang Hwa, and the Danri Family personnel filed out one after another.
Do Heo-ok also hurriedly followed Tang O. In fact, from the moment Tang O arrived, there was no need to be at the temporary reception hall.
"Great Hero Tang, I shall escort you to Emperor King Hall."
Emperor King Hall was at the center of the Namgung Family, where the Namgung Family Head and the Head's direct family members stayed.
"Do as you please."
Even while going far ahead, whether he heard Do Heo-ok's words, Tang O answered coldly.
Do Heo-ok's eyes gleamed bleakly once and he disappeared from the temporary reception hall.
Now only one Black Five Group member remained of the group at the temporary reception hall.
As Tang O had said, he wrote down the group's names one by one. Then he got stuck at the last. It was when it came time to write Sosam's name. He still couldn't be certain whether it was Sosam.
"……Ah, whatever."
After pondering briefly, he soon scrawled two characters in worm-like writing and followed the low-ranking martial artist in charge of guest reception toward Emperor King Hall.
The two characters he wrote were.
'Sosam.'
***
The Namgung Family was vast.
As if to teach in person that they weren't called the Five Great Families of the Central Plains for nothing, it was incomparable in scale to the Danri Family's size.
Not only was each and every hall larger than any building in the Danri Family, but their number was so tremendous it would be difficult to know easily before going through the entire Family estate.
In addition, as the Namgung Family's unique mark, a sword reaching 3.33 meters was embedded in each hall's roof, and the characters 'Imperial Family' were carefully engraved one by one on those sword blades.
That appearance truly felt as if looking down upon the world with swords, showing it wasn't called Anhui's First Family for nothing.
Even figures of the Danri Family who were prominent in Bongyang, like Danri Jiang-hae and Gi Dae-hyo, were overwhelmed by the Namgung Family's majesty and followed Do Heo-ok quietly while thoroughly shrunken.
In contrast, Tang Hwa walked leisurely as if in her own home. One could fully feel from her attitude that her background as a descendant of the Tang Clan wasn't greatly inferior to the Namgung Family.
Dong Bong-su walked slightly behind Tang Hwa. Though not particularly intentional, he ended up walking at the very back of the group.
While putting the Namgung Family's structure into his mind, he didn't stop observing Do Heo-ok. Even without Spirit Eyes continuously sending warning sounds, his sixth sense was continuously sending signals that Do Heo-ok was a dangerous person.
'Who is that person?'
Was there really a person originally called Do Heo-ok whom he killed and disguised himself as Do Heo-ok? Or did he create a virtual 'character' called Do Heo-ok and was 'raised' as now?
He couldn't yet tell which. What was certain was it was one of the two.
Do Heo-ok's gait examined from behind was subtly imbalanced like any other person. Evidence that his original self must have an asymmetrical body like ordinary people. Such a gait inevitably creates uneven legs. All people in fact must have uneven legs. Only the difference of whether very subtle or severe exists.
Nevertheless, Do Heo-ok's leg lengths matched without the slightest difference, so he was undoubtedly a human with suspicious corners.
Dong Bong-su's eyes gleamed sharply without anyone knowing, and he began accelerating analysis of Do Heo-ok.
'Who are you? And why have you come here?'
Just when his brain began operating rapidly.
"We've arrived."
"We have arrived. This is Emperor King Hall."
Tang O and Do Heo-ok, who had been walking at the very front, simultaneously announced their arrival at Emperor King Hall.
The group all stopped in that place at once.
Emperor King Hall.
Befitting that name, one insanely magnificent building was blocking their path. In fact, since it had already been visible from afar before arriving, everyone already knew that building was Emperor King Hall. But there was a big difference between seeing from afar and seeing up close.
Unlike other halls with just one sword embedded in their roofs, thirty-three swords were embedded on Emperor King Hall's roof. Though all were old and heavily rusted, they were swords whose value shone.
They were precisely the main swords used by previous generation Namgung Family Heads. When a Namgung Family Head's death approached, they embedded their swords on Emperor King Hall's roof like that. Commemorating completing the Imperial Way and departing from the world in that manner was a tradition among traditions.
That tradition itself was proof the Namgung Family had survived for over a thousand years in the battlefield called the Martial World.
The Danri Family figures were overwhelmed while looking up at it, feeling their hearts shrinking, but Dong Bong-su naturally just glanced at that sight once without much emotion.
To him, everything ended when one died. In his view, all such things had no meaning.
However, Tang O seemed irritated by that sight.
"Ugh, every time I come here I feel bad. Who do they think they are, arbitrarily using words like emperor or whatever and looking down like that? They should sleep peacefully in their graves. Tsk."
Even while saying that, his eyes were staring piercingly at the sword embedded last.
Do Heo-ok looked at him once and said,
"Then please wait here for a moment. I'll go in and……"
"No need. You said he's been waiting continuously anyway, didn't you?"
Tang O walked straight into Emperor King Hall, passing Do Heo-ok.
Shing.
Martial artists guarding Emperor King Hall's entrance didn't recognize Tang O and drew swords to block him. Though he appeared with Do Heo-ok, their role was to prevent anyone from entering without Namgung Byeok's permission.
"Must I use my hands?"
Tang O smiled coldly. That said, it wasn't a tone with hostility. If anything, it was rather a smile that seemed pleased.
"This is Soul Chasing Poison Hand, Great Hero Tang. Let him pass through."
"……!"
Only at Do Heo-ok's words did the martial artists realize whose path they had blocked, their faces turning black. They urgently lowered their swords.
"Hehe. Don't worry too much. My Soul Chasing Butterfly doesn't chase just any soul."
Tang O lightly patted the martial artists' shoulders and entered Emperor King Hall. Needless to say, the martial artists' bodies flinched.
Perhaps because they had the experience of being hit by Tang O recently, the Danri Family personnel also trembled their bodies once at that sight and moved their steps into Emperor King Hall.
Do Heo-ok and Tang Hwa also immediately followed behind them.
Lastly,
Dong Bong-su entered Emperor King Hall.
His eyes were still looking at Do Heo-ok's back.
They were the eyes of a predator measuring hunting timing and method.