They’ll Handle It Themselves (1)
Thud! Thud!
Anchors as large as a human torso dropped into the water one after another. The sound of iron striking the surface rolled across the shore like cannon fire.
Even someone who didn’t understand what this meant would have felt a shiver run down their spine at the sight.
“Military strategist! The ship has been anchored.”
One of the men hurried into the cabin and knelt to report. But Ho Ga-myeong’s eyes, fixed on the ledger in front of him, did not move.
“Hm.”
Only after a short pause did Ho Ga-myeong close the ledger with a quick motion of his hand.
Click.
Without a moment’s delay, he rose and stepped out of the cabin. Passing through the narrow doorway, he was met by the sight of the island spread out before him, vivid and blue.
It was clearly different from the Central Plains. But Ho Ga-myeong merely moved forward with a blank expression.
Creak.
With every step he took, the deck complained beneath him. He walked to the bow and swept the shore with emotionless eyes before asking, “The fishermen?”
“They were all too busy running to have stayed on the shore. It doesn’t look like anyone remained there.”
“But those who were on the shore would have seen us.”
Ho Ga-myeong gave the ships anchored along the coast a passing glance before speaking again.
“The Hainan Sect will know soon enough. There’s no good in letting them prepare defenses. Disembark.”
“Yes, Military Strategist!”
The man bowed sharply, turned, and bellowed, “Disembark!”
“Yes!”
Those waiting on each ship sprang over the side.
Splash! Splash!
As nearly a thousand men leaped into the sea at once, the blue surface was instantly covered in white foam. Those who landed spread out in perfect order and rushed forward to gather on the white sand.
Ho Ga-myeong watched them with cool eyes, then stepped down from the bow and leaped lightly onto the beach himself.
He straightened his back and turned his gaze, seeing the Myriad Man Sect warriors arranged in formation before him. His eyes narrowed slightly.
A moment later, someone who had joined them a little late lowered his head.
“Military Strategist!”
“You’re late.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
Ho Ga-myeong gave a short shake of his head, clearly dissatisfied.
If another evil sect had seen the scene unfolding along this shore, they would have been so stunned they’d been left speechless. In truth, these men were organized with such rigid discipline that they looked less like martial artists than soldiers.
Only the Myriad Man Sect among all the evil sects under heaven could display such a sight.
And even that was not enough to satisfy Ho Ga-myeong.
“Military Strategist! Preparations are complete! Give the order!”
“Hm.”
Ho Ga-myeong nodded.
In fact, anyone would feel their chest swell a little when a force of this size waited for only their command.
But there was not the slightest sign of excitement in Ho Ga-myeong’s eyes. As always, he merely assessed the situation with utter coldness.
“Do we advance?”
“Wait.”
Ho Ga-myeong lightly rubbed his left sleeve with his right hand, as if caught in some deep thought. Only after a long moment did he speak in a calm voice.
“Strange.”
“Pardon?”
“There’s too little reaction.”
“Pardon?”
At those words, Munbang blinked in confusion and asked, “They couldn’t have predicted we’d come, so it’s natural that they weren’t prepared, isn’t it? Even if the fishermen saw us, word shouldn’t have reached the Hainan Sect yet…”
But Ho Ga-myeong shook his head and said coldly, “There are no footprints.”
“...Pardon?”
Munbang, Ho Ga-myeong’s deputy, looked back over the white beach at those words. Sure enough, just as Ho Ga-myeong had said, there were no footprints to be seen.
But why was that strange?
“Military Strategist. Isn’t the lack of footprints actually a good thing?”
Ho Ga-myeong turned and stared at Munbang.
“A good thing?”
“Yes. It means there were no people on this shore, doesn’t it? That means they still don’t know what we’ve done…”
Ho Ga-myeong’s brow creased slightly.
“There are ships anchored here, but you don’t think it’s strange that there are no footprints?”
“...Ah!”
Munbang finally flinched and looked back at the shore. Beside their ships, other vessels were anchored as well. If a ship was anchored, that meant someone had disembarked. And yet no trace of human presence remained on this beach.
It was, indeed, strange.
“...Could the tide or a storm have washed them away?”
“Sailors always check their ships after a storm passes. If the ones repairing the boats saw us, they would have fled at once. In that case, there should still be footprints left on the shore.”
“...”
“It’s unnatural.”
Ho Ga-myeong lifted his head and looked at the island before him.
“Then it means they knew we were coming and set a trap in advance… But do you really think those hillbilly bastards on that island are capable of that?”
Ho Ga-myeong slowly turned his gaze to Munbang. At the frost in those eyes, Munbang’s face went pale in an instant.
“So the Nine Great Sects really are a joke.”
“M-Military Strategist. That’s not what I meant…”
“Do you know when people are at their ugliest?”
“Not really…”
“When they mistake something they got by luck for something they achieved through skill.”
Munbang fell silent, as though he had no words left even if he opened his mouth. Ho Ga-myeong said in a chilling voice, “If not for the Alliance Lord’s grace, those wretches would have ended their lives as trash from Guangdong. The moment they start acting haughty as though they’ve become something, they make me want to kill them.”
Munbang hurriedly lowered his head.
Ho Ga-myeong rarely lost his temper. He was the kind of man who would only sigh and let it go, even if a subordinate was openly rude. Not because he was kind. It was simply his belief that even such trash was better kept than discarded.
But there was one exception.
The instant anyone so much as scratched a speck of Jang Il-so’s authority, Ho Ga-myeong transformed from a cold strategist into a demon who cared for nothing else.
Knowing that, Munbang had no choice but to panic.
“M-Military Strategist! That was absolutely not my intention.”
“Then?”
“I was just being an idiot and letting my mouth run. How could I possibly think the Myriad Man Sect’s methods were anything other than those granted by the Alliance Lord? That would be impossible.”
Ho Ga-myeong silently looked down at Munbang, who was still prostrate on the ground.
Despite the blazing sun beating down overhead, Munbang felt a coldness crawl down his back.
“Get up.”
“Yes!”
Munbang rose at once.
“Just this once.”
“Th-thank you, Military Strategist!”
Munbang broke into a cold sweat and bowed his head in a hurry.
It might have seemed like nothing more than a light reprimand, something that happened all the time, but Munbang knew better than anyone that a moment ago he had stepped one foot through the gates of hell and somehow managed to crawl back out.
“W-What do we do now?”
He quickly changed the subject. It would do him no good to keep reminding Ho Ga-myeong of his blunder.
“There’s a trap.”
Ho Ga-myeong looked toward the thick brush and spoke quietly.
The shore was dazzlingly white, and the grass touching it was an equally vivid green. But beyond that, the brush and the mountains stretched darker and denser than those in the Central Plains.
If they were going to ambush anyone, it would surely be there.
“Do we go around it?”
“No.”
Ho Ga-myeong’s mouth twisted in a strange way.
“If they’ve set a trap, then we should go to it.”
Munbang fell silent and watched him. He had questions, of course, but now was not the time to ask Ho Ga-myeong anything carelessly.
“Don’t mistake our mission, Munbang. Our order isn’t simply to tear down the Hainan Sect’s signboard. We’re to exterminate every last thing that calls itself Hainan.”
“Ah…”
“If we go around the trap, the ones who set it will scatter in every direction like a nest of abandoned bugs. Then the cleanup becomes troublesome.”
Ho Ga-myeong looked into the dense forest of Hainan with eyes that showed no feeling at all.
“If the things that must be exterminated are gathered for us, that’s better. It lets us finish the job faster.”
“Yes!”
“Advance as planned. But!”
Ho Ga-myeong glanced back at the ship they had come on. He remained silent for a moment, as though considering something, then spoke again.
“Leave Changgwidae behind to guard the ships.”
His expression was indifferent to the point of coldness.
“Cutting off the retreat is the most obvious move from the perspective of fools who pride themselves on knowing strategy. Losing the ships won’t be a problem, but it’d be a nuisance.”
“We’ll do as ordered!”
“Move.”
“Yes!”
Munbang ran full speed toward the Changgwidae. Relief that he had survived his mistake and another layer of cold dread both swirled together in his heart.
To think we’re being this cautious just to deal with the Hainan bastards…
As Ho Ga-myeong had said, Munbang might not have the right to feel proud of the Myriad Man Sect’s strength. But it was an objective fact that their forces overwhelmed Hainan’s.
And yet Ho Ga-myeong, even while facing that Hainan, was laying plans as carefully as though he were crossing a stone bridge by tapping each step first.
Because a tiger goes all out even when catching a rabbit?
No. That was exactly what made him frightening.
Right now, Ho Ga-myeong’s mind held nothing but how to perfectly carry out Jang Il-so’s orders.
Entering an enemy’s trap was not some display of confidence that he could crush them without suffering any damage.
Ho Ga-myeong was simply willing to accept a certain amount of loss if it meant eliminating the enemy faster and fulfilling Jang Il-so’s order to deal with Hainan quickly. For Ho Ga-myeong, nothing mattered except Jang Il-so’s command.
That reality made the back of Munbang’s neck go cold.
I absolutely cannot make a mistake this time.
Steeling himself once more, Munbang raised his voice toward the Changgwidae.
“Move!”
“Good. Then… huh?”
Yoon Jong, watching the situation unfold along the shore, widened his eyes and snapped his head around to look at Baek Cheon.
“They’re splitting their force.”
Baek Cheon blinked and checked the situation on the shore. Sure enough, part of the enemy force remained behind, taking position to guard the anchored ships.
“King of the Green Forest?”
“Hmm.”
Im So-byeong scratched his head with the tip of his fan, then smirked.
“Looks like Ho Ga-myeong is holding the Hainan Sect in higher regard than I expected. Well, that’s just the kind of man he is. He really is a poison-hearted fox. Impressive.”
“No, the plan’s fallen apart. Is this really the time to praise him so calmly?”
“What are we supposed to do?”
Complaints erupted from all sides.
“Damn it.”
Im So-byeong’s face twisted as he snarled.
“Have you idiots watched too many romances? You think real warfare just flows along exactly the way you planned it to? The basics are to keep making countermeasures to each other and changing your moves as the situation changes!”
“So what you’re saying is Ho Ga-myeong got one over on you?”
“That you got crushed?”
“That you lost?”
“...You bastards.”
Im So-byeong ground his teeth. Just then, Baek Cheon asked again.
“So what do we do now?”
“Not much changes.”
Im So-byeong grinned and said, “As planned, we wait until the enemy has opened enough distance… then we seize the ships!”
“And the ones guarding them?”
“Well, that…”
Im So-byeong turned his head and looked blankly at one man.
“I suppose the most high-performance evil-sect shredder in the Central Plains will handle it himself.”
Cheong Myeong, already with his sword drawn, was staring fixedly at the Changgwidae encamped along the shore. Everyone who saw him shuddered on the spot. The look on Cheong Myeong’s face, his teeth bared, was truly terrifying.