Chapter 112
Beomjung’s business should have ended there, but the real reason he called Jin Cheong-ak out was something else.
When Jin Cheong-ak followed them into an old house tucked into a corner of the market, he saw a man bound to a stick in the posture for flogging.
“He got caught trying to secretly approach Physician Hwang and swap the medicinal ingredients. Danghong put him under hypnosis with incense, but he fought back pretty hard. He’s an assassin from Yeonghwang Yuse.”
Jin Cheong-ak walked closer and bent his knees, stared into the man’s unfocused eyes, then clicked his tongue.
“To think he went after Physician Hwang’s things. That old man’s been living on that kind of work for thirty years longer than you.”
Physician Hwang was a famed physician with people everywhere trying to recruit him, but in truth, he was an agent the Jin family had planted to monitor the Nine Great Sects and One League and the Five Great Clans.
He had arrived in Hubei Province recently to treat Jegal Ihwa, who had been poisoned by an assassin’s toxin (which was how Beomjung and Danghong could infiltrate the Jegal Clan using Physician Hwang’s status as a shield). Along the way, they had also taken the opportunity to get prescriptions to kill the gu inside Jin Cheong-ak’s body, but as one would expect, it still had not shown any effect.
“Let’s see… If he tried to swap the medicinal ingredients, was the objective to assassinate Jegal Ihwa?”
“Physician Hwang checked the ingredients and said there was a very faint scent of Hongyu. He probably meant to push Jegal Ihwa into a critical state and shake Jegal Hyeonmun.”
“After the second young lady, now the eldest daughter too? Salmak’s infamy never goes anywhere.”
Which also meant Yeonghwang Yuse rated Jegal Hyeonmun very highly.
To use not only his top disciple Mo Yong-sanghwi, but even the Jegal sisters, in order to draw Jegal Hyeonmun out of the clan estate—there was no greater devotion than that.
“The hypnosis hasn’t worn off yet. If you need it, I’ll torment him more.”
At Danghong’s addition, Jin Cheong-ak looked at the assassin and spoke.
“Is Jegal Seonhwa alive?”
No answer came.
Judging by how his lips did not tremble and his eyes did not roll back, he seemed genuinely ignorant.
Hadn’t it been said Salmak rarely shared missions even among assassins? Then even if he questioned him about the Jegal Clan incident, he would not get anything useful.
“Do you follow Cheonmu Ryeong, or Wolgeom Ilsal?”
This time, an answer came.
“Wolgeom… Ilsal.”
“Hm? That’s odd. Did our Yeo Il secretly gather up nothing but trash and found a sect or something.”
Of course not.
If he recalled what happened at the Murim Alliance, these people followed Wolgeom Ilsal because they mistook her for Yeonghwang Yuse’s leader, but in reality they were nothing more than puppets being played with by Cheonmu Ryeong.
Then why Wolgeom Ilsal, specifically?
Why did it have to be Wolgeom Ilsal, and not Thousand-Faced Demon, not Red Dragon Black Blade?
Jin Cheong-ak’s expression cooled.
Cheonmu Ryeong…
So he had chased all the way here in the end.
“Like bugs.”
“…Yes? I’m sorry, my lord. What did you just say?”
“Beomjung.”
“Yes.”
“On the way from Anhui Province to Hubei Province, how many of Yeonghwang Yuse did we deal with?”
“Five. By the time we reached Hubei Province, it seemed they had noticed our presence, and they stopped approaching.”
“And in Anhui Province?”
“…There were so many that if I count them all, it’ll take some time.”
Ah.
Those countless bugs that made his head ache just thinking about them…
It had not been a chance encounter. Every single approach had been aimed not at “Namgung Soyo,” but at “Yeo Il.”
He had blocked them from Xinjiang for a full half-year, yet there were limits to hiding from Cheonmu Ryeong’s eyes.
She should really wear a veil more often.
After undergoing the transformation, Yeo Il recognized her face—freed of scars—as the face of a completely new person, so she felt no sense of danger that she needed to cover her face or lower her voice to hide the identity of Wolgeom Ilsal.
That must be why she could not imagine anyone would recognize her.
Even Cheonmu Ryeong.
Our Yeo Il is sometimes naïve and stupid in the strangest ways. It doesn’t suit her…
That side of her was so cute it made his teeth grind, but sometimes it was suffocating too—especially when the bugs of Yeonghwang Yuse approaching her increased.
Hey, Yeo Il.
Why do you think Cheonmu Ryeong won’t recognize you?
On what basis—when you’re Yeo Il—do you stake yourself on that hopeful possibility…?
[…What is this supposed to be?]
The day Yeo Il’s memories, when she fell into deviation, flowed into Jin Cheong-ak—
[That is Six.]
[Six… a number I like. Name?]
[Her real name is …, but at some point she began using the name of the dead Five. The name is Yeo Il.]
[Yeo Il.]
The day he learned the one who helplessly toyed with her inner self was an overwhelming man—
[Did you throw away your original name? Right… people throw away many things as they live. If your name is Yeo Il, then from now on, I will call you Yeo Il.]
[…Ah.]
[Shh.]
[Ah, aaaaah…!]
[Shh. Pain is an illusion, Yeo Il. This isn’t a wound.]
The day he learned when and from whom the long, clear scar crossing her face had come—
[It is the mark that I chose you, and…]
[Ah—ngh, aah!]
[Your heart, and…]
[Hngh…!]
Jin Cheong-ak realized immediately.
Unless Yeo Il killed herself,
it would be difficult to escape this man’s hand.
[It is only obedience.]
And that day was also the first moment Jin Cheong-ak truly recognized the person called Cheonmu Ryeong, the First Evil.
Before he knew Yeo Il, Cheonmu Ryeong had been, to him, nothing more or less than a martial artist equal to the Cult Leader.
…Without even knowing what kind of eyes that man is looking at her with.
Yet she walked around so boldly, barefaced. How could he not worry?
Unable to stand it, Jin Cheong-ak had Beomjung and Danghong clean up Yeo Il’s surroundings.
Where she stayed. Or where she had stayed.
They removed every suspicious person who approached.
Sometimes Jin Cheong-ak personally went out to tidy things up, and when he did, it often took a long time because he used the chance to make contact with the Jin family.
Maybe because of that, at some point Yeo Il began reacting sensitively to his absence—and to Jin Cheong-ak, it was a change that gave him an incomparable fullness.
Even if there was still a long road ahead.
Jin Cheong-ak asked the assassin.
“Do you know the Wolgeom Ilsal you serve is a fake?”
“…Not fake…”
“And that Namgung Soyo is the real Wolgeom Ilsal?”
“……”
“And that Wolgeom Ilsal is the number-one beauty under heaven?”
“……”
“Ahem.”
“You don’t even know that?”
“……”
“Pathetic bastard. What do you even know?”
“……”
“Were you born just to swap Physician Hwang’s medicinal ingredients? I get why Salmak and Yeonghwang Yuse banned mission-sharing. This is pointless—if I torture you, only my eyes and hands will hurt.”
Taking Jin Cheong-ak’s grumbling literally, Danghong’s eyes sparkled and she raised her hand.
“My lord! If you plan to torture him, leave it to me, Wi Danghong—aaagh!”
At the instant a shrieking scream rang out—
Beomjung drew his sword and stepped in front of Jin Cheong-ak to protect him.
But only a moment passed as Beomjung swept the surroundings with wary eyes.
“Aaaagh!”
“…Danghong.”
“B-Beomjung! There’s a ghost behind me—g-given how it appeared without even a trace, it has to be a ghost—!”
“It’s not a ghost. It’s Yeo Il. Stop making a filthy scene and calm down.”
As Beomjung said, the woman standing there like a ghost—holding Danghong by the nape—was Yeo Il.
In an instant, hot heat flooded Jin Cheong-ak’s head.
He panicked—no, he broke into a cold sweat, sinking into a self-loathing so great he wanted to tear his own hair out.
Wolgeom Ilsal… number-one beauty under heaven…
Did she hear that?
Damn it.
What kind of nonsense did I just spout like an idiot…