Chapter 354
Chapter 354
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 354
Chapter Title: The Chief Strategist's Demise
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In an instant, the assassin's body moved faster than the wind.
Piiit-.
A dagger catching the moonlight stabbed toward Jegal Dancheon's heart. No matter who was at his back, he had decided to kill his target first.
But just a fraction quicker, Jegal Dancheon's fan unfurled. He poured his internal energy into the fan and swung it with all his might.
Buuk. The moment the fan tore into the dagger.
Flash-!
A blinding light, bright enough to swallow the lantern's glow, filled their vision.
There was no sound. No sharp sensation of the blade piercing his heart.
When his sight returned, the assassin lay collapsed on the floor before him.
"Are you alright?"
At Soo-hyuk's voice, Jegal Dancheon snapped back to his senses.
He hadn't seen it with his own eyes, but he knew. This man had saved him.
"Thank you. You saved my life."
"No need to mention it."
"Who are you?"
Soo-hyuk closed the door letting in the breeze and stepped inside. For a moment, Jegal Dancheon thought that if the man before him had been the assassin, he would surely be dead by now.
He was right in front of him, yet his movements carried no presence, like an assassin's.
Soo-hyuk answered by removing his mask and bamboo hat. Jegal Dancheon was taken aback by the unfamiliar face.
'He's young.'
He had assumed the guest of the Murim Alliance Leader would be a seasoned master of advanced age, but surprisingly, he was a young man.
Moreover, Jegal Dancheon didn't recognize Soo-hyuk's face right away. An expert whose face he didn't know? He had memorized the names and faces of virtually all high-rankers.
"You should ask that question to him, not me."
Soo-hyuk pulled off the mask from the fallen assassin.
As expected, an unfamiliar face. Jegal Dancheon felt the same.
But one thing stood out.
"The blood-tear mark under his eye. An assassin from the Blood Shadow Sect."
"For him to target the Chief Strategist of the Murim Alliance, he must be one of their elite."
The Blood Shadow Sect was known as the pinnacle among assassin groups.
Among them, their top ten could assassinate even rankers, and the three great assassins could take down high-rankers.
Yet even so, something nagged at Jegal Dancheon.
"Even the Blood Shadow Sect's best couldn't infiltrate the Murim Alliance like it was their own home."
"Doesn't the Chief Strategist have some idea?"
Indeed, no deep thought was needed. Jegal Dancheon nodded. Soo-hyuk was voicing what he intended to say.
"Someone let him in. This assassin."
The Murim Alliance might already be in Jin Do-ha's hands, for all intents and purposes.
"You knew an assassin was coming."
"You could say I knew, or you could say I didn't."
"What do you mean?"
"The Alliance Leader asked me to watch over you."
"The Alliance Leader?"
Jejal Dancheon was startled.
He never imagined the Leader would make such a request. If that was true, then Namgung Hwa-yeong had saved his life as well.
"Yes. She said since you're firmly on her side, you might become their target."
During the daytime meeting, Soo-hyuk had asked Namgung Hwa-yeong to double-check trustworthy people.
It didn't matter if it was baseless intuition. Since it had all started with intuition, he decided to trust hers.
Fortunately, Namgung Hwa-yeong's instincts were still sharp. Saving Jegal Dancheon like this proved it.
'No ordinary expert.'
Jejal Dancheon glanced alternately between the fallen assassin and Soo-hyuk's face.
He still didn't know Soo-hyuk's identity. As the Murim Alliance's Chief Strategist, he knew the faces of nearly all high-rankers, yet Soo-hyuk's wasn't in his memory.
Thus, one person came to mind.
"Could you be...?"
The masked streamer who always hid his face, once shaking the tower to its core.
"You're thinking of the right person, Chief Strategist."
At that moment, the scattered puzzle pieces in Jegal Dancheon's mind clicked together.
Why Namgung Hwa-yeong had brought him here. And why he was here at all.
"So it really is you... the true Lee Soo-hyuk."
Jejal Dancheon's tone grew markedly more respectful.
It was the courtesy due to the greatest player who had once stood at the top of this tower.
"I've thought so for a while. All the events and actions since your appearance make sense if you're the real Lee Soo-hyuk."
Soo-hyuk was impressed.
As expected of the Murim Alliance's Chief Strategist. Even from afar, observing events before they met, he had pieced together Soo-hyuk's identity.
"Your presence here now fits too. Have you come to take down Jin Do-ha?"
Soo-hyuk nodded.
"Yes. Among other things."
A response implying it wasn't the only reason.
Jejal Dancheon realized Soo-hyuk was seeing much farther ahead. And thanks to that foresight, he lived, and the Murim Alliance had hope.
If the Lee Soo-hyuk before him was real, then the crisis of Jin Do-ha was nothing.
"I need your cooperation on one matter, Chief Strategist."
"Name it."
He was prepared to grant any request from Soo-hyuk.
"Let's say you died here."
The news that the Murim Alliance's Chief Strategist, Jegal Dancheon, had been assassinated spread like wildfire.
Jejal Dancheon lay dead, his torn and bloodied fan dropped beside him. The scene was preserved as the investigation proceeded.
Numerous residents of the Alliance gathered at the site. Some strategists who revered him wailed and collapsed to the floor.
"What in the world is this?!"
From among them, Jin Do-ha shouted loud enough for all to hear.
"The Chief Strategist murdered right in the heart of the Murim Alliance!"
As former Alliance Leader, he wielded more influence than the current one.
Perhaps that's why?
No one found it odd that he was demanding accountability in this situation.
"Guard Captain! Escort Captain!"
"Yes!"
"How negligent must the guards have been for this to happen?"
If blame were to be assigned, it fell to the escorts and guards. They were responsible for the Alliance's security day and night.
Among them, the guards bore the heavier fault. The escorts protected specific individuals, not locations.
Yet oddly, the response came not from the Guard Captain, but from the Escort Captain, Im Mu-gwang.
"No suspicious persons were spotted overnight."
"You didn't miss anyone?"
"Absolutely not. Even if we had, traces would remain."
He added one more thing.
"If it's an outsider's doing, only the Dark King could pull it off."
Dark King Kim Ye-ryeong.
She was the tower's top player in stealth. No matter how tight the Murim Alliance's security, detecting her was nearly impossible.
"Kim Ye-ryeong again..."
Jin Do-ha furrowed his brow and repeated her name loud enough for all to hear.
She had killed the Poison King in the heart of the Sacheon Tang Clan and vanished. Because of that, relations between her and the Murim world were strained.
Now, the Chief Strategist was assassinated in the Alliance, and Kim Ye-ryeong was mentioned again.
"We can't conclude yet. I only said that assuming it's from outside."
"Not from outside?"
Jin Do-ha's eyes narrowed. He glanced at Namgung Hwa-yeong, who trembled while staring at Jegal Dancheon's corpse.
"Then it must be from within."
He walked toward Namgung Hwa-yeong. The people between them parted left and right, making way.
"I heard you brought two guests yesterday. Where are they now?"
As it was a public matter, Jin Do-ha maintained decorum toward Namgung Hwa-yeong. But his courtesy hid sharp barbs.
"Why do you seek them?"
"They were inside the Alliance. Is their identity confirmed?"
"Are you suspecting my guests?"
"Don't take it badly. The matter is grave, isn't it?"
Without waiting for more, Jin Do-ha ordered the guests brought in. Namgung Hwa-yeong realized he intended to pin the crime on her guests no matter what.
That way, it would look like the Alliance Leader had brought in the Chief Strategist's killer. It would be the button to unseat her.
Soon, Alliance guards brought the two guests as ordered.
"What's this about?"
Of the two, Soo-hyuk stepped forward.
Soo-hyuk and Unhyang wore bamboo hats and masks, just as when they first entered the Alliance. Suspicious to anyone who saw them.
"See for yourself."
Soo-hyuk's eyes fell on Chief Strategist Jegal Dancheon's corpse. The piercing gazes from those around treated them as the culprits.
Of course, Jin Do-ha knew. He couldn't frame them this way. There was no solid evidence or proof.
He had merely staged the scene.
For the moment he reclaimed the Alliance Leadership. Adding a single line of pretext that the Leader might be involved in the Chief Strategist's death.
But.
"I think I know who did it."
"What?"
The gathered warriors were stunned by Soo-hyuk's words, uttered after a brief pause.
Before the shock faded, Soo-hyuk strode forward.
Walking through the interior of Cheonryong Pavilion where the Alliance strategists resided, he headed to one spot.
Jin Do-ha, following behind, sharpened his gaze. Namgung Hwa-yeong, who had been watching his expression, noticed he seemed unusually flustered.
Soo-hyuk drew his sword. As the weapon came out, the escorts reacted first.
But Soo-hyuk's blade aimed at a narrow passage for carrier pigeons.
Slash-.
As he sliced through the passage, feet appeared in the cross-section. A corpse of an assassin, neck broken, jammed in the tight space as if trapped while fleeing.
"Looks like he died while escaping."
"Who killed the assassin?"
"The Chief Strategist, probably. No wounds on the assassin, so maybe he took him down with some technique before collapsing."
Everyone except Soo-hyuk knew that. Jegal Dancheon's martial art, Flowing Shadow Fan Dance, wasn't one that drew blood.
"How did you find this one?"
"No bloodstains, but other traces remain. Faint footprints leading this way, here and there."
Soo-hyuk shook his head with a tsk, as if to say they couldn't even find this.
"Show some sincerity before suspecting us."
For an instant, killing intent filled Jin Do-ha's eyes. His glare at Soo-hyuk said it all.
Who else looks more suspicious than you?
But he couldn't voice it. It was true he had tried to frame the Leader's guests, and now Soo-hyuk had even found the assassin.
Soo-hyuk continued, as if mocking him.
"You're not about to say we commissioned the hit and crawled here ourselves, are you?"
Ending with a jab implying Do I look that stupid?, Soo-hyuk turned with Unhyang.
"Then we'll be going."
With those irritating words, Soo-hyuk and Unhyang left the scene. A bold exit signaling they wanted no part in this.
At that moment, Jin Do-ha's voice transmission reached Soo-hyuk's ear.
-Soon, I'll make sure to check that face of yours.
Soo-hyuk glanced back at Jin Do-ha, casually conversing amid the crowd.
Faint anger laced the voice. Given the situation, his restraint was palpable.
He stood watching Jin Do-ha hurriedly manage the chaos.
He probably had no idea.
Who was truly holding back more. Whose chest boiled with greater rage.