What You Gain, You Must Also Lose (6)
“Huff! Huff! Huff! Huff!”
Lee Jeong-bang, the Bitter Fox, ran and ran until it felt as if his legs would snap.
I have to, have to get away.
The other bandits might get captured and only get off with a fitting punishment. But not him.
He had been Go Hong’s closest man; he could not be treated like the rest. If he was caught, he would undoubtedly die.
Even if Mount Hua spared him, there was no chance that Im So-byeong would let him live. When it came time to be cruel, that man was even more merciless than Go Hong. So he had to run—run until his legs broke if that was what it took—and escape their pursuit.
That damned idiot.
The more he thought about it, the harder it was to swallow his curses. If only Go Hong had listened to his advice and fled after withdrawing from Green Forest Main Fortress, none of this would have happened. But that fool had dismissed his counsel as nonsense and ended up losing his head for it.
But then just who in the world…?
Who had the “him” been that the man kept talking about?
If someone had told Go Hong to ignore Lee Jeong-bang’s words, then the “him” Go Hong had spoken of must have known about Lee Jeong-bang’s existence as well. Worse, it sounded like he had even predicted, more or less, what Lee Jeong-bang would say.
Then just who…?
“Huff! Huff!”
No, this was no time to think. First he had to make it somewhere they couldn’t possibly follow—
Whoosh!
Crack-crack-crack!
“Aaaagh!”
Without warning, Lee Jeong-bang let out a scream that tore his throat raw and pitched forward.
By all rights, given the speed he had been running, he should have gone tumbling headlong for quite some time. But his body didn’t move even an inch farther. A long spear that had come flying from somewhere had pierced his thigh and driven deep into the ground.
“Ah! Aaaagh! Aaaagh!”
Still sprawled on the ground, he reached back with trembling hands and clutched at the spear embedded through the back of his thigh. But no matter how much strength he poured into it, it wouldn’t budge. If anything, it only deepened the pain.
W-what…?
What unsettled him even more than the agony from the wound was the identity of the one who had thrown the spear. If Mount Hua had caught up, they would have used swords, not hurled spears.
And then, at that very moment—
Step. Step. Step.
From the brush behind him came the sound of approaching footsteps, and a group of people emerged.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I told you to just scare him a little. Why go and hurt him?”
The voice was soft, languid, and full of ease.
Yet Lee Jeong-bang froze like a frog before a snake. There was no overt malice in that voice, and yet it carried a power that made anyone hearing it feel sheer terror.
Step. Step. Step.
Only after a few more leisurely steps did the sound stop before him.
Lee Jeong-bang rolled his trembling eyes sideways and saw a pair of shoes so flamboyant they seemed to blaze with five colors.
They were absurdly ornate, almost indecently so for a man to wear.
His heart shrank of its own accord.
He couldn’t breathe. And yet, as if drawn by some invisible force, his gaze slowly rose.
Under a blood-red robe, a vivid tiger had been embroidered in gold thread. Beneath the scarlet sleeves, pale hands gleamed with luminous rings and gaudy bracelets.
A woman?
No. No, that was impossible.
The figure’s build was far too broad and sturdy to be a woman.
Then…?
“H-heh… hhh…”
Lee Jeong-bang’s mouth fell open in helpless terror.
He hadn’t even seen the face yet, but one person had already risen in his mind.
This outrageous attire, these excessive ornaments—there was only one man in the world who could wear such things.
At last, Lee Jeong-bang’s eyes reached the man’s face.
His thin lips were red as though painted with blood, making them look almost wickedly enchanting. In contrast, the bridge of his nose was straight and smooth, yet undeniably masculine. Beneath brows as fine and delicate as brushstrokes, his eyes sat deep-set and unreadable, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.
And when Lee Jeong-bang finally saw the golden coronet perched atop that neatly swept-back hair, a broken groan escaped him before he could stop it.
“J-… Jang… Jang Il…—”
“Tsk.”
The man crouched lightly before Lee Jeong-bang’s face and tapped his forehead with one elegant finger.
“And here I thought better of you. Is that any way to call my name?”
Lee Jeong-bang hurriedly clapped both hands over his own mouth.
Even then, a muffled, choking sound kept leaking out.
He couldn’t help it.
Anyone would have reacted the same way if they were standing before this man now.
The reason was very simple.
Because the one in front of him was Jang Il-so.
Paegun, Jang Il-so.
Leader of Maninbang.
Emperor of All Evil.
There were countless titles used to describe him, but none of them could truly capture this man. Language was too crude, too clumsy, too insignificant to contain him.
Why? Why is he here?
Don’t tell me…?
“Hmm.”
Jang Il-so stared at the terrified Lee Jeong-bang for a moment before speaking.
“Go Hong is dead?”
“……”
“You should answer me.”
“Y-yes! Yes, he is dead!”
“Killed by whom?”
“I-I think it was the Mount Hua Divine Dragon! I’m not certain, but that, that must be him.”
Not certain and must be him were terms that could never coexist. But Lee Jeong-bang, driven to the edge of a cliff, had no room left for such distinctions.
Why the hell is Jang Il-so showing up here?!
His heart pounded so hard it felt as if it would burst. Though there was no reason for tears, they streamed from his eyes all the same.
“And if you’re here, then the bandits must have fled in shame. What about the others?”
Others?
Was he talking about the blood-robed men?
“Th-they’re dead, I think….”
“Hmm.”
Jang Il-so wore an expression of faintly ambiguous meaning before asking again.
“What about Im So-byeong?”
“H-he’s alive. He definitely lived.”
“Then Im So-byeong will return to the seat of Green Forest King, won’t he? Right?”
“Y-yes, that… that should be so….”
“And since I told them not to mindlessly spill blood at Green Forest Main Fortress, Green Forest will settle down before long. Mount Hua, the one that saved the Green Forest King, will gobble up Green Forest. No, Heavenly Alliance will gobble it up.”
“……”
“Just as I expected.”
Jang Il-so smiled faintly. The pressure of his index finger against Lee Jeong-bang’s forehead slowly increased.
“Your name was Lee Jeong-bang, was it not?”
Lee Jeong-bang’s eyes flew wide, his heart leaping straight up into his throat.
H-how…?
How did Jang Il-so know him?
Yes, he might have been Go Hong’s brain, but compared to that tyrant lord, he was less than dust on a boot. There was no reason for a man like Jang Il-so to remember his name.
And yet—why?
“Tsk, tsk. You must have had a rough time, staying beside an idiot like Go Hong. If he’d listened to you, he wouldn’t have died so stupidly. Would he?”
Lee Jeong-bang did not dare answer.
Whatever he said would give Jang Il-so a reason to kill him. If he agreed, he would be insulting the lord he had served. If he disagreed, he would be contradicting Jang Il-so’s words.
“You should answer me.”
“I… I….”
“Honestly, now.”
Watching Lee Jeong-bang tremble without being able to say a thing, Jang Il-so clicked his tongue as though he were pitying him.
“Surely you don’t think I’d seize some trivial excuse to kill you? You’re making me out to be a very terrible person.”
“N-no, absolutely not! Absolutely not, Paegun! I would never!”
“Oh? So you recognized me.”
“Who could fail to recognize the Paegun when he has eyes to see and ears to hear! Such a person ought to have his eyes plucked out and his ears torn away!”
“Hmm. Flattering.”
Jang Il-so smiled brightly, as though pleased.
“But what a pity. The fact that you’re here means this must never be known to anyone.”
“I-I saw nothing. Even if I had seen something, I would never wag my tongue anywhere! If you don’t believe me, then cut out my tongue!”
“Even without a tongue, you could still write, couldn’t you?”
“Then cut off my hands! Paegun! If you don’t trust me, you may do as you please!”
“You fool. Didn’t I say you were making me out to be a terrible person? I’m not that cruel.”
“T-then…?”
“I can tell that you’re sincere enough. I’m rather good at reading people, you know. I trust that you won’t tell anyone what I said.”
With that glimmer of hope, tears welled in Lee Jeong-bang’s eyes.
He was saved.
Even escaping a tiger’s jaws would not have felt as sweet as this. Wasn’t Jang Il-so’s presence a place even more dangerous than the tiger’s belly, far worse than simply standing before a tiger’s mouth?
Then Jang Il-so’s red lips opened again.
“There is only one problem…”
“……Yes?”
Thud.
Then his finger pierced straight through Lee Jeong-bang’s forehead.
Lee Jeong-bang stared at him in disbelief, eyes wide and unblinking, before his body went limp. His breath had stopped.
“The problem is that I don’t trust people.”
Wiping the blood from his fingertips with a handkerchief, Jang Il-so slowly straightened.
“Mount Hua must have treated you well.”
Then Ho Gamyeong, the Poison Heart Rakshasa, approached and said in a placid voice, “Sect Leader.”
“Hmm?”
“I do not quite understand. Training the Hungry Ghost Unit cost a considerable amount of money and effort. Was there any need to waste one here?”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Gamyeong, Gamyeong.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
“That’s your problem. Haven’t I told you this before? Hmm?”
“……”
“If there is something to gain, then something must be lost.”
With his hands folded behind him, Jang Il-so gazed quietly at a distant mountain peak before speaking again, his voice slow and measured.
“Go Hong looked bold, but in truth he was little more than a coward. If he’d truly had confidence in his ability, he’d already have been devouring Im So-byeong. But the fact that he kept himself in check until now doesn’t mean he was prudent. Doesn’t it just mean he was unexpectedly timid?”
“……Yes.”
“If I hadn’t given him the Hungry Ghost Unit and fed him poison to show him that betrayal was impossible, he would never have moved at all.”
No, Ho Gamyeong did not think so.
Even if Jang Il-so had given him something more than the Hungry Ghost Unit, Go Hong would have refused. At least, he would have—if the one speaking had not been Jang Il-so.
Green Forest and Maninbang were at war. In that situation, the enemy leader personally appears and sweet-talks him, and he takes those words at face value?
Absurd.
It was something only Jang Il-so could make happen. Something only Jang Il-so could do.
“For someone as dull-witted as me, I cannot fathom what picture the Sect Leader is painting.”
“It isn’t difficult. I’m merely keeping things in order.”
Jang Il-so lifted his fingertips and examined them. A shadow fell faintly across his white face.
“Where there is gain, there is loss. Where there is light, there is bound to be shadow. If those fools insist on making themselves the light, then tossing them a little firewood to burn is no bad thing. Would that not make the shadow deeper still?”
“……”
“From now on, Green Forest has become Mount Hua’s friend.”
“Isn’t that simply helping their enemy grow stronger?”
“And that is precisely why it has meaning, is it not?”
Ho Gamyeong shook his head as though he had lost the argument.
He too was well versed in military strategy, but Jang Il-so was a man who found his path not through strategy, but through instinct. Every time this happened, Ho Gamyeong was forced once again to realize how trivial learning and knowledge were before one who was born with such talent.
“Let’s go. I’d like to send them a gift, if I could, but that would only spoil the whole surprise, wouldn’t it? I’ll have to congratulate them in my heart instead. What a pity.”
Jang Il-so slowly turned around.
Ho Gamyeong let out a quiet breath and followed after him.
“Ah, and one more thing.”
“Yes.”
“Did you check the families of everyone in the Hungry Ghost Unit?”
“Half of them came from orphanages, and most of the rest aren’t on good terms with their families. Wasn’t that the whole point of gathering such people in the first place?”
“So you did check.”
Then make sure their families are given a considerable sum of money.”
“……Is that really necessary?”
“Tsk.”
When Jang Il-so frowned slightly, clearly displeased, Ho Gamyeong hurriedly lowered his head.
“I will see to it at once.”
“It’s a fine bargain if a few coins can buy someone’s heart.”
“Yes, Sect Leader.”
Jang Il-so drew a purse woven with gold thread from within his robes and tossed it lightly to Ho Gamyeong.
“Add this to what needs to be paid out from the house.”
“Yes!”
Having truly said everything he meant to say, Jang Il-so walked on with his hands behind his back. Ho Gamyeong glanced once toward the distant peak where Green Forest Main Fortress stood.
Pitiful fools.
None of them would even realize whose palm they were standing in. And by the time they did, they would already discover that there was no escape from the snake that had coiled itself around their bodies.
But that was not their fault.
It was simply because Jang Il-so was that kind of man.
Paegun Jang Il-so.
The serpent that toyed with the world had broken its long, long silence and begun to move.
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