Chapter 114. This One's Second Grade
Gi Jangno had volunteered to inspect the Assassin Training Camp not only to expose Bi Jangno's corruption and weed out his faction but also to claim any promising talents for himself. As the lowest among the four elders, Gi Jangno had always come up short when the graduates were divvied up.
So he decided to mix it up with the trainees himself. For an elder to mingle with them went against the rules. Even Bi Jangno, who ran the camp, had rarely set foot there or shown his face to the trainees. It was all to avoid the backlash if word got out about the camp's existence in the jianghu.
Grinding children into assassins was a crime against the martial world. Gi Jangno had dismissed it as churning out trash, but this fifth iteration of the camp had produced solid results, thanks to the experience from the previous four runs.
'Bi Jangno, you've done well... for me.'
With Bi Jangno—the one who'd always sneered at him as an ignorant killer—dead, Gi Jangno felt a rush of satisfaction. The only regret was that he hadn't killed the bastard himself.
He reviewed Won Seung's record again. The kid had scored above average across the board, with standout marks in poetry, calligraphy, painting, and music, as well as assassin strategy. Gi Jangno's own subordinates lacked that kind of cunning.
'This one's got something suspicious about him.'
The practical mission report was dubious, and so was that spar just now. That bizarre one-stroke technique kept nagging at him. He couldn't shake the feeling that the boy was hiding his true skill.
Just then, footsteps approached from outside, followed by Sa Gyo-du's voice.
"I've brought No. 50."
"Send him in."
The door opened, and Won Seung entered. His expression seemed shrunken, bewildered... but it rang false somehow. Gi Jangno trusted his instincts, honed from years in the field. They screamed that the kid was wearing a mask.
"Sit."
Gi Jangno jerked his chin toward a chair. Won Seung approached and sat. Gi Jangno tossed the practical mission report onto the desk with a thud and asked in a flat tone,
"Which one's true?"
One was Won Seung's own report; the other was the verification report from the instructor Sa Gyo-du had sent.
With help from the Sangyang branch, the instructor had uncovered quite a bit about No. 50's activities.
Won Seung glanced at the verification report and felt a flicker of surprise inside. It noted that he'd stayed at Baekhwa Pavilion under the name Pung Un-saeng, selling paintings; that he'd moved with Inspector Jong Bi; that he'd frequented Cheongsu Gate and Gwangeonbang while overseeing the Tripartite Martial Exhibition...
He was impressed anew by Jeokhyeolsan's intelligence network. In truth, Sangyang had been swept up in a whirlwind at the time, and the branch had been gathering every scrap of info for some reason—that's how he'd been caught. He hadn't realized the extent of it.
"Just one question. Why'd your inspector die with Bi Jangno?"
"What? He's dead?"
Won Seung feigned shock.
"I had no idea. He vanished so suddenly, I figured the inspection was over."
Gi Jangno's eyes sharpened. The kid hadn't even flinched at Bi Jangno's name.
"So you knew of Bi Jangno."
"I'd never met him, but my inspector told me the higher-up watching me was Bi Jangno."
Won Seung slipped away like an eel.
"By your account, you didn't accomplish a single practical mission."
"I'm ashamed of it myself. But who wrote this post-inspection report? It differs a lot from the facts."
"You did oversee the Tripartite Martial Exhibition, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"So how were you planning to kill Hwa Cheon-gang?"
"If he died in the exhibition, great. If he survived with heavy injuries, I'd lace his golden sore medicine with poison."
The answers flowed smoothly... which only made them harder to trust. But there was no clear opening to catch him in a lie.
"You're not the Turtle Grand Duke?"
"It was such a coincidence I looked into it myself. Turns out the Turtle Grand Duke had issued multiple murder warnings. I only passed through Jungyang County once on the way to Sangyang."
After that, Jong Bi had handled the warnings.
"Not you who killed the county magistrate of Choyang County?"
"Never even saw his face."
Gi Jangno watched Won Seung's expressions closely during the questioning, but nothing stood out. Still, his keen senses warned again that the boy was lying. The calm demeanor came from mixing truth with falsehood.
Gi Jangno was quietly impressed.
'This kid... his mind's deeper than it looks.'
He resolved to bring him under his wing no matter what, then tore up the verification report with a ripping sound.
"By your word, this is a false report."
Won Seung's face didn't change as the report—claiming he was an elite assassin—shredded before him. Impossible to read.
Gi Jangno masked his thoughts and said indifferently,
"You're dismissed."
Won Seung rose, backed away slowly, then turned at the door—polite on the surface, but Gi Jangno could tell he was on guard.
Gi Jangno summoned Sa Gyo-du.
"Why'd you falsify No. 50's verification report?"
"It's not false. The instructor went himself, got cooperation from the branch, and investigated."
"I just confirmed with the kid—his report's the truth. If he were lying, he couldn't fool my eyes."
Sa Gyo-du ground his teeth. As if your eyes are some magic truth mirror.
"Listen, Sa Gyo-du. There's a limit to inflating results. No wonder this camp's only produced trash under you."
"......"
"Recommending a kid who didn't complete a single mission as a Ten Perfect Assassin? Ridiculous. These scores aren't credible either."
Gi Jangno wrote "Second Grade" in the final recommendation slot.
"This one's second grade. Rewrite it to match."
To snatch him from Yi Jangno's clutches, greedy as he was, second grade was the play.
Then he tapped the stack of operational ledgers on the desk.
"You've skimmed plenty over the years. I'm confiscating these as evidence. You'll have to report to headquarters soon."
Sa Gyo-du's face darkened instantly.
"This is unfair. I only took over at the end..."
Thwack!
Won Seung's grade ledger flew and smacked his pig-like face.
"Shut your trap and await judgment."
'This isn't good.'
Won Seung sensed danger after meeting Gi Jangno. He could tell the elder didn't buy his story. Those piercing eyes felt like they were peering into his guts.
I've gotta hurry.
Won Seung headed to Dok Sabu's cabin. On the way, he stopped by the upper kitchen for food. The upper kitchen's rice was definitely better than the lower one's.
"Why do you keep coming here for meals? Sa Gyo-du finds out, he'll whip you."
A familiar kitchen hand cuffed Won Seung's head. But he heaped extra pork stir-fry anyway.
"Is the poison formation being dismantled?"
Dok Sabu's cabin, the kitchen staff quarters—they were closest to the poison formation. The workers were always on edge, so they welcomed the news of its dismantling.
"Almost done."
Dismantled? Hell no—it's peaking.
The poison formation involved planting toxic herbs everywhere and setting up channels for the miasma to flow along the terrain. As the herbs grew, the miasma thickened, drawing snakes, centipedes, venomous spiders. Day by day, it grew stronger.
Try to clear it physically from outside, and the formation breaks, spreading poison everywhere. Couldn't touch it carelessly.
Won Seung had mostly dismantled it from within. Now, smashing the central boulder would release the pent-up miasma in all directions.
He planned to lure Sa Gyo-du into the formation and take him down. The camp's top expert and biggest threat—no need for a fair fight. He'd adapted Hyeol Hwa's scentless powder sprayer into a poison dispenser, packed tight with Chwimimonghonju.
The scattering powder he'd mixed with saltpeter into small firebombs. After fleeing Cheon Seok-san and realizing scattering powder was useless against experts, he'd devised these after much thought. Untested, but on explosion, it'd blanket a zhang and a half—hard to blow away with just palm wind.
The other instructors were already handled. Every time he entered the lower kitchen, he'd dosed the drinking water with trace poison—undetectable by taste or smell, minimal effects. They'd feel a slight sting in their kidneys during qi circulation, nothing more.
But force their qi, and the pain ramps up. Mix with another powder, and the kidneys burn, doubling them over.
Gwak Gyo-du tailed him like a shadow, but how could he spot the poison dust hidden under Won Seung's nails when he pretended to drink?
Today too, he faked a sip, dusted some poison into the water, then climbed to the cabin.
Inside, he was free from prying eyes. Won Seung recalled the method of that man—surely one of the four elders.
One hand behind his back, he'd whipped his dangling sword like lightning to subdue the kids.
Won Seung had mimicked it a few times, but it felt off.
'Only someone who's swung a sword tens of thousands of times can do this.'
The perfect path—no more, no less. Not following sword forms, but the heart's way.
That man had reached the pinnacle of the sword.
'The elder won't stay long.'
He was too much to handle. Once gone, time to blow the camp sky-high.
Won Seung checked his Soul Oblivion Pills and Reality Loss Pills, took half, hid the rest.
Leaving the formation, heading to the lower kitchens, Won Seung paused.
The spot where he'd stood leaving the lower kitchens on Dok Sabu's final day. The master had shouldered his bundle and trudged down that path with effort... who knew it'd be the last.
'Master, the Assassin Training Camp's done for. Cheondaemun will wipe it clean.'
He shot a final glare at where Gwak Gyo-du lurked in hiding, then descended.
Gi Jangno left for headquarters the next day, taking the financial ledgers, trainees' grade sheets, and final recommendations.
Sa Gyo-du, facing reprimand instead of promotion to branch head, snapped. The moment Gi Jangno left, he drowned in liquor and curses.
"Fuck this. I've rotted in these mountains for ten years, plus how many more... and now they discipline me?"
Cornered, Sa Gyo-du went all-in. His lecherous nature surfaced. By dusk, drunk since noon and lust rising, he ordered his lackey.
"Bring No. 55."
No. 55 was a stunning female trainee. Her beauty had kept her alive—male trainees had thrown themselves into helping her survive the brutal training.
The moment No. 55 entered Sa Gyo-du's office, she knew what was up.
"Heh heh..."