Chapter 324
Chapter 324
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 324
Chapter Title: Masked Laughter
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Soo-hyuk's question made Mersian laugh once again. Having spent the past few days together, Soo-hyuk knew that his laugh was different from others.
Mersian's laugh wasn't born from joy or amusement. It was, in a word, a mask.
A mask he wore when he didn't want to reveal his true feelings. When he needed to evade.
He laughed to hide his inner thoughts.
Watching it only left one confused. Soo-hyuk deliberately averted his gaze from Mersian's face.
Was he amused? Angry? The answer certainly wasn't on that face.
"Yes. I'll kill them. Very painfully, too."
The response was given, but there was no killing intent.
In other words, it was a joke.
Soo-hyuk shook his head as if there was no proper answer.
To think someone could say something like that as a joke.
And coming from the Black Tower Lord, it was even harder to take as mere banter.
"I was trying to be funny. Wasn't it amusing?"
"If the Black Tower Lord says something like that anywhere else, no one will take it as a joke."
"But Mr. Soo-hyuk seems to be taking it as one?"
"I'm naturally fearless."
Soo-hyuk shrugged and resumed sweeping. Mersian joined in the cleaning as well.
Though spoken in jest, both meant it sincerely.
The surveillance. And the intent to kill.
A single Big Mouth article had set the world abuzz.
The story of the Archmage and Red Tower mages rescuing children kidnapped to the Black Tower.
With the Red Tower's recent subjugation of the Blood Howler still fresh, the world's attention naturally turned their way.
"Do you even grasp what's happening here?"
Murray was in Neila's room, decked out entirely in red.
He had returned unscathed from the Black Tower. That alone would have been understandable, but unexpectedly, he had come back making a huge splash by spreading unintended news.
"The Black Tower impersonating the Archmage? Does that even make sense?"
"I confirmed it with my own eyes."
"What if it's true? What if the Archmage kidnapped the children? Then what?"
Murray's eyes gleamed as he bowed his head to Neila's angry words.
Did she even realize what she was saying?
"The article hasn't even specified what impersonation occurred yet."
Neila realized her slip. She could pass it off as speculation, but there was no need to leave the impression that she knew such details.
"Anyway. This incident has pushed the Black Tower and Red Tower across an irreversible river. From our position, we must punish the Black Tower for impersonating the Archmage."
"Then why not do just that?"
"What?"
"What's there to hesitate about? Are we supposed to fear the Black Tower and let them get away with whatever they do? Pretend we didn't see it?"
Murray relayed exactly what Soo-hyuk had said.
"Is that the Red Tower's justice?"
"Chief Mage Murray."
"Yes, Tower Lord."
"You're crossing the line today. Unlike your usual self."
Neila had chosen Murray as the envoy to the Black Tower. The Murray she knew was exceedingly just and rigid.
For such a man to voice an opinion even at the risk of war.
"Have you been swayed by Hailez?"
"That's..."
"I am quite charming, after all."
The heated air in the room shifted.
Neila turned toward the voice. The door had opened unnoticed, and Hailez was entering with his hat in hand.
"First time in the Tower Lord's room. You should tidy it up a bit before living here."
Until now, the room had been Neila's domain. In an instant, control of the stage shifted.
Even Neila, whom all feared, was no exception for Hailez. No matter her status as Red Tower Lord, she couldn't treat the Archmage lightly.
"I heard the news. The children said you kidnapped them?"
"The Black Tower plotted it. Whew, really. If not for Chief Mage Murray here, I almost got wrongly framed."
"Oh dear. That would have been a disaster."
Neila approached Hailez, patting his shoulder as if truly sympathetic.
Up close, their eyes met, but neither face held a trace of amusement or goodwill. Caught between them, Murray felt the suffocating, scorching air.
"So, about that. I have something to say."
"What is it?"
"I'm going to wipe out the Black Tower."
Neila's eyes changed at Hailez's words. A flicker of conflict crossed her face as she patted his shoulder.
Should she really do this?
She had been worried about her ties to the Black Tower being exposed. But if Hailez took the lead and eradicated them?
And perhaps...
A smile crept onto Neila's lips at the following thought.
And then, she bit.
"Need any help?"
The two had simultaneously cast their bait.
It was exactly what she wanted, but Hailez shook his head.
"Why would you step up yourself? It'd look bad."
"The Tower Lord should lead by example in such matters."
"No need. I'll take Chief Mage Murray and the kids."
Neila panicked at the firm refusal.
"Ah, no! When the Archmage is moving, you can't do it so sloppily. It'd tarnish the Red Tower's reputation."
"That would start a war, wouldn't it?"
"If we're doing it, better to do it thoroughly. You alone? Who knows if you'd do it right."
Was she really planning to erase the Black Tower this time? Or did she have ulterior motives?
Hailez stared at Neila's face for a moment before nodding.
Curious as he was about her intentions, Hailez accepted her view.
"Fine."
And he didn't forget to grate on her nerves a bit more.
"Auntie."
"Au, aun... "
Neila clutched the back of her neck at the irritating title. Ignoring her, Hailez spun around and left the room.
This had successfully dragged Neila into the depths.
Out in the hallway, Hailez turned.
Actually, Hailez had a different question he wanted to ask.
'Why on earth do you do such things?'
What could they possibly gain from sacrificing powerless children? What made it so valuable?
Hailez swallowed the words. Asking would only lead to denials, wasting breath.
Above all, seeking answers wasn't his role.
For days, Si-woo had kept watch over the orphanage.
Not too far, not too close. With his face altered by a disguise mask, Si-woo sat alone in a restaurant across from the orphanage, eating.
Drag-.
Then, someone pulled out the chair opposite and sat down.
The face was different, but unmistakable.
"Find anything?"
"Let's eat first. I'm hungry."
It was Ye-ryeong. Joining him, she ordered the same menu as Si-woo.
It was a simple meal: hard bread and soup, with a single piece of low-quality meat paste ham.
"Ugh. Tasteless. Why eat here?"
"It's a tough neighborhood. Food's scarce. This is a feast."
Ye-ryeong couldn't complain further at Si-woo's words. Truth be told, after days of barely surviving on plain rice, it wasn't that bad.
"Something's in the Black Tower basement."
"What?"
"Couldn't confirm what. If it were just guarded by people, I could've slipped in somehow, but it's sealed with magic."
Quietly eating, Ye-ryeong shared what she'd uncovered over the past days.
"Seemed hard to breach?"
"Didn't test it. But trying would get me caught."
"Why?"
"Lots of guards. Some skilled mages too. Even I couldn't evade their eyes, dismantle the magic circle, and peek inside."
Ye-ryeong finished her meal quickly. Despite calling it tasteless, she was starving.
Si-woo, sipping coffee, pondered before asking.
"Related to this incident?"
"Who knows? Only way to tell is to go in."
Something hidden in the Black Tower basement wasn't unusual. Could be magic research or hidden treasures.
"But what's Soo-hyuk doing there?"
"With Mersian."
"Mersian? The Black Tower Lord?"
Ye-ryeong was startled.
Shocked not just by the company, but that he was there with that guy.
"Why with him?"
"The kids went to the Black Tower."
"Then just grab them? Or kill him outright?"
Ye-ryeong's solutions were always straightforward. And perhaps the easiest.
But not this time.
"If he were that easy to kill, the Black Tower wouldn't control half the Abyss."
Her lips pursed at the warning not to underestimate. Fortunately, it showed she didn't take the Black Tower lightly.
Anywhere else, maybe. But this was the Abyss. Mersian was its king.
Opposing him meant preparing to fight everyone in the Abyss.
Moreover.
"He said there's something to investigate."
"Like what?"
"What they're using the kids for. And whether to kill Mersian or not."
"What?"
"I don't get him either. Does he really think he can learn something from the Black Tower Lord that way?"
Still, Si-woo trusted and waited for Soo-hyuk.
His head couldn't comprehend, but he believed Soo-hyuk wouldn't do anything pointless.
He must have sensed something from Mersian that others couldn't. And judged he could uncover it by probing there.
"Huh?"
Then, Ye-ryeong, who had finished eating and was watching the orphanage with Si-woo, narrowed her eyes.
"See them?"
"Those guys?"
Si-woo nodded. They were the ones he'd already spotted.
A group of five lurking around the orphanage before quietly slipping in through the back door.
"They've been sniffing around since yesterday."
"Not petty thieves, huh?"
Weapons aside, their movements were unnatural. Skilled operators.
"Not mages. Operating in this sector... probably Nine Dragon Flags."
"How do you know that?"
"I've been prowling for days. I know the lay."
Ye-ryeong was sharpest in moments like this. She hadn't just hidden; she'd gathered intel on the Abyss's underbelly.
"No worries, right?"
"Worries? About who?"
Si-woo meant the kids inside, but Ye-ryeong thought differently.
"Those idiots barging in blind?"