Chapter 257
Chapter 257
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 71
>Chapter Title: Mark (3)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Looks like I don’t need to wait around after all. Captain Mara-hyeon.”
‘This voice?’
The familiar tone and voice rang in his ears.
The moment he heard it, Captain Mara-hyeon of the Brocade Guards recognized the owner instantly.
“You don’t mean Mok Kyung-un?”
“Hoh. Good memory for voices.”
‘!!!!’
Mara-hyeon couldn’t hide his shock at the response.
A man wearing the face of Eunuch Ho, the head of the Western Depot, smiled faintly.
It was Mok Kyung-un.
“.......You’re alive?”
As a member of the prosecutorial Six Selection Bureau, he had mourned Mok Kyung-un’s supposed death.
Having suffered severe injuries from clashing with Master So Ye-rin, the head of the Six Selection Bureau and his benefactor’s mentor, and then being ambushed, he hadn’t doubted for a second that he was dead.
Yet seeing him alive like this, he couldn’t help but be astonished.
As Mara-hyeon stared at the face wearing Mok Kyung-un’s human skin mask through the gap in his own mask, his eyes narrowed.
“Ha...... What the hell is that face?”
“Didn’t you just call me Eunuch Ho?”
“That’s true, but how are you wearing that face......”
Mara-hyeon trailed off.
Eunuch Ho, the head of the Western Depot, wasn’t just any eunuch with a high position—he was a trusted aide to Prince Jingqin, one of the real powers in the court.
Wearing the face of such a man and wandering around was incredibly dangerous.
If he were ever found out, the imperial palace would erupt in chaos.
“Worried it might cause problems?”
“Problems aside, you know there’s something I still need from you.”
“Ah. That, yeah.”
Mara-hyeon had made a deal with Mok Kyung-un.
In exchange for information on the underground Golden Prison and assistance when needed, the price was removing the gu poison in his body.
“There’s a bit of a story behind this face, but it won’t cause any issues, so don’t worry.”
“........”
“More importantly, it looks like this gentleman here was threatening you. Or was I wrong?”
The person Mok Kyung-un pointed to with his finger was the unconscious goateed Brocade Guard captain.
Mok Kyung-un had stopped by with a request, but when this man appeared, he hid himself. Realizing the man knew about the gu poison in Captain Mara-hyeon’s stomach, he revealed himself.
Though Mara-hyeon inwardly felt satisfaction at seeing the man collapsed, he quickly masked his emotions and spoke.
“.......Even so, that was rash.”
“Rash?”
“What do you plan to do when this guy wakes up? How are you going to clean up the mess you made?”
“You’re worried about the aftermath?”
“.........”
Of course he was.
This man was a subordinate of ‘that person’ and knew about the gu poison in him.
If he woke up, Mara-hyeon’s plan to play along obediently while plotting a reversal would fall apart.
With that, Mara-hyeon said to Mok Kyung-un,
“.......You could end up suspected and lose your life.”
“Hmm. Has it gotten that bad?”
Mara-hyeon ground his teeth at Mok Kyung-un’s nonchalant words.
Was he just meddling because it wasn’t his problem?
If ‘that person’ behind him grew even slightly suspicious and decided to eliminate him, the gu poison could activate in an instant and kill him.
“You don’t seem to grasp how serious this is......”
“It must be serious. Stuck unable to act because of what’s in your gut.”
“You know that and still......”
“Calm down. Anyway, I came because I have an urgent request.”
Mara-hyeon looked at him with eyes full of disbelief.
He was the one in a hurry right now.
After provoking someone he shouldn’t have touched, now he wanted to handle his own business first?
His irritation boiling over, Mara-hyeon lowered his voice menacingly.
“With my life hanging by a thread, you have the gall to ask for my help.”
“You must be really anxious.”
“Then keep your promise so I won’t be.”
Mara-hyeon stated what he wanted from Mok Kyung-un.
The only way out of this situation was for Mok Kyung-un to fulfill the deal and remove the gu poison from his body.
“That’s a problem.”
“What?”
“I can’t do it until my own business is finished. If you lose your weakness and decide to do your duty as a Brocade Guard captain and report me, it’ll ruin everything.”
-Crack!
Mara-hyeon ground his teeth at Mok Kyung-un’s words.
From the guy’s perspective, it made sense, but the fact that everyone was using his weakness to exploit him filled him with rage.
He wanted to flip the situation, damn the consequences.
-Tight!
His fist clenched hard.
But reality wouldn’t allow it, and that infuriated him.
He hadn’t repaid his benefactor’s grace or found that person.
So he had to endure, steeling himself with the resolve to bide his time.
Seeing Mara-hyeon barely suppressing his anger, Mok Kyung-un smirked.
This made Mara-hyeon snap irritably.
“Are you mocking me?”
“No. You just look really pissed off.”
“You know that and still poke at me on purpose?”
“Not on purpose. But if I’m going to ask for your help, I suppose I should tidy things up a bit.”
“What?”
What was he talking about?
As Mara-hyeon puzzled over it, Mok Kyung-un bent down and began rummaging through the collapsed goateed captain’s body.
“Stop! What the hell are you doing? You trying to make this even more complicated?”
Mara-hyeon was finding it harder to hold back his anger.
Not only would he not remove the gu poison, but he was making things worse.
Then, ignoring him, Mok Kyung-un pulled out a wooden box the size of a book from the goateed captain’s robes with a grin.
Seeing it, Mara-hyeon frowned.
‘What’s that?’
It was none other than the storage case for a human skin mask.
He knew it because he had received one from the craftsman containing special preservatives.
Mok Kyung-un held it up and said,
“This looks exactly like a human skin mask case.”
“........”
“Why did he bring this?”
Mok Kyung-un opened the case.
Inside, soaked in preservatives, was a single human skin mask.
But the moment he saw the face, a glint flashed in Mok Kyung-un’s eyes.
It was very familiar.
This was,
“.......It resembles the face of Deputy Commander Jang from the Eastern Depot.”
Deputy Commander Jang of the Eastern Depot.
He was Consort Seo’s trusted aide who attended her.
Mok Kyung-un tilted his head, then looked at Mara-hyeon and said,
“Why does this guy have the Eastern Depot’s Deputy Commander Jang’s face—no, his human skin mask?”
At the question, Mara-hyeon sighed and muttered,
“Haa.......He planned to use me with this too.”
“What?”
“It’s the human skin mask I got from the craftsman.”
“You, Captain Mara-hyeon?”
“Not something I ordered......”
Mara-hyeon subtly gestured toward his abdomen.
To signal that it was ordered by the one who had implanted the gu poison in him.
Of course, Mok Kyung-un understood immediately.
“I see. The one who planted the gu poison in you must have plans for this.”
“Judging by him bringing it here, he intended for me to wear it.”
Mara-hyeon had sensed it instinctively.
Why else would he bring back the human skin mask case he had delivered himself?
“Is that so? Can you guess what he wanted you to do with it? I have a rough idea.”
He could tell it was to sow chaos.
But he didn’t know exactly how.
Shaking his head at Mok Kyung-un’s question, Mara-hyeon said,
“I don’t know precisely. If you hadn’t knocked this guy out, I probably would have found out by now.”
“So it’s my fault in the end.”
“........”
“No helping it then. We’ll just wake him up and ask.”
What the hell was he saying?
Waking him now would make things impossible to fix.
Mara-hyeon reached out to Mok Kyung-un and said,
“Stop it. You’re not even helping me—why keep escalating this?”
“I’m not escalating. I’m helping.”
“What?”
“I said I’m helping.”
Mara-hyeon furrowed his brow at the words.
What was this out of nowhere?
As he puzzled, Mok Kyung-un grabbed the hollow of the unconscious goateed Brocade Guard captain’s collarbone and said,
“I can’t have you getting manipulated by these guys, or you won’t fulfill my request properly. No deeper meaning—just watch.”
-Tight!
As soon as he spoke, Mok Kyung-un applied pressure with his fingers.
In that instant, the goateed Brocade Guard captain awoke in agony from his stupor.
“Gahhh... Mmph!”
Mok Kyung-un clamped his other hand over the man’s mouth as he tried to scream.
Then, smiling faintly at the now-awake goateed captain, he said,
“You’re awake?”
The goateed Brocade Guard captain’s eyes widened at Mok Kyung-un’s greeting.
And for good reason—Mok Kyung-un’s face was that of Eunuch Ho, head of the Western Depot and aide to Prince Jingqin.
No Brocade Guard was unaware of that face.
‘Eunuch Ho? Why is he here?’
The goateed captain wore a look of utter incomprehension.
Why was a eunuch from the Western Depot in the Six Selection Bureau’s office?
As he puzzled, Mok Kyung-un continued,
“I’ve sealed the sounds around us with qi. I just didn’t want to hear your screams, so I covered your mouth. Shall I let go?”
-Swish!
As he removed his hand, the goateed captain’s eyes darted around, scanning the surroundings.
Then he spotted Captain Mara-hyeon behind Mok Kyung-un.
His eyes sharpened at the sight.
“Captain Mara, what’s going on? Just to be sure, you haven’t......”
-Slap!
Before he could finish, the goateed captain’s head snapped to the side.
The reason was simple.
Mok Kyung-un had slapped him.
Slowly turning his head back, the goateed captain opened his mouth, rage burning in his eyes.
“Eunuch Ho. What is this? How dare you come here......”
-Slap!
Before he could finish again, another slap sent his head whipping sideways.
It felt like just a slap, yet his face burned as if it were scorching.
Gritting his teeth through the pain, the goateed captain said,
“Haa...... Eunuch Ho. This is overstepping. I don’t know how a Western Depot eunuch is here, but......”
-Slap!
His face whipped sideways once more.
After the third slap, his left cheek was swollen, and blood vessels had burst in his left eye, turning it red.
Snapping his head back, the goateed captain glared at Mok Kyung-un.
Mok Kyung-un smiled and said,
“Now it’s quiet.”
The goateed captain was dumbfounded by Mok Kyung-un’s words.
He slapped him just to shut him up?
Even as head of the Western Depot, he couldn’t humiliate a fellow Brocade Guard captain like this.
Yet,
“Now, shall we talk?”
‘What?’
Something felt off to the goateed captain.
He’d never conversed with Eunuch Ho, but as Prince Jingqin’s aide, he’d heard his voice in passing a time or two.
It was a eunuch’s typical cloying tone, but this voice was different.
‘No way?’
The goateed captain rolled his eyes to look at Mok Kyung-un’s hand.
His eyes narrowed at the sight of the smooth skin on the back.
As far as he knew, Eunuch Ho appeared middle-aged due to deep inner energy and makeup, but was actually in his sixties.
At that age, the back of the hand should be wrinkled, yet there were none.
This confirmed it for the goateed captain.
‘A fake.’
The man before him was definitely not Western Depot’s Eunuch Ho.
With that,
“Who the hell are......”
-Slap!
Before the question ended, his head snapped again.
His cheek turned bluish-purple, and blood trickled from his mouth.
The pain went beyond stinging—his head spun.
Smiling at him, Mok Kyung-un said,
“Just answer my questions.”
“.........”
To the now-silent man, Mok Kyung-un held out the human skin mask case and said,
“What were you planning to do with this?”
‘!?’
The goateed captain’s eyes wavered at the sight of the case.
He didn’t know the intruder’s identity, but something had gone terribly wrong.
Desperately, he racked his brain.
How to escape this?
Then he glanced at Mara-hyeon watching from behind Mok Kyung-un.
‘I don’t know who this bastard is, but he’s definitely connected to that dog Mara-hyeon. In that case......’
The goateed captain shouted hastily.
“Touch me, and Captain Mara-hyeon dies too!”
He figured reminding him of the situation was the way.
Mara-hyeon couldn’t have blabbed about the gu poison due to the ban, but if this guy was helping him, he’d realize he couldn’t touch him recklessly......
-Slap!
His head snapped sideways again.
Blood streamed from his reddened left eye.
His left eye was blind.
Even his left ear rang with tinnitus—he’d lost vision and hearing on that side.
Amid the agony, the furious goateed captain yelled,
“No. You’re saying it’s fine if that bastard Mara-hyeon dies......”
“You don’t even have a command gu in you, so how do you plan to threaten Captain Mara-hyeon’s life?”
‘!?’
The goateed captain’s right pupil shook as if struck by an earthquake.
He knew of the gu poison’s existence and thus what a command gu was.
A command gu was the paired female gu that controlled parasitic gu poisons.
‘H-How does this bastard know?’
In shock, the goateed captain looked at Mara-hyeon.
Something was very wrong.
The guy was banned from revealing the gu poison’s existence, by word or any means.
The moment he did, the gu would rampage and kill him.
So how did this fake Eunuch Ho know?
‘Damn it!’
Realizing things had gone awry, the goateed captain’s breathing grew ragged.
-Tight!
Watching from behind, Mara-hyeon’s clenched fist tightened.
Because of the gu poison weakness, he hadn’t rebelled once, enduring humiliations as ordered.
Seeing the goateed Brocade Guard in such a pathetic state filled him with vengeful glee, consequences be damned.