Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Truth
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"...How can I trust you guys? What's to stop you from killing me after you hear my story?"
"There isn't any, obviously."
"......"
Jo Woon-chil looked utterly dumbfounded by my answer.
Seeing his expression, I smiled and spoke.
"You seem to be misunderstanding something. You're not in a position to negotiate with us right now. Word of the massacre at the gambling den will spread across all of Hefei soon enough, and the Tyrant Heaven Fortress will be scouring the area for you with fire in their eyes. Do you really think you're in any state to be picky?"
"......"
Jo Woon-chil had no rebuttal to my words.
Even after I'd shoved reality in his face, his mouth still wouldn't open easily.
He seemed to grasp that this standoff wasn't doing anyone any good, so he cautiously spoke up.
"...If I side with you, can I live?"
In the end, your life is what matters most to you.
I shrugged and replied.
"It'll be a hell of a lot better than sticking with the Tyrant Heaven Fortress."
"...I understand."
Jo Woon-chil nodded heavily.
Finally, I might get to hear something useful.
Having made up his mind, he let out a deep sigh and looked up at me again.
"What exactly do you want to know?"
"The Tyrant Heaven Fortress's goal. Why are they targeting the Namgoong family?"
At my question, Jo Woon-chil hesitated for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.
"...I don't know the details."
"I wasn't expecting you to. Just spit out everything you do know. How you got involved, and how deep you're in."
And so began Jo Woon-chil's explanation.
According to him, he'd been living diligently and faithfully as always (at this point, Go Hyeong couldn't hold back a scoff) when, about a year ago, he first met Sa Gong-chan, the leader of the Celestial Light Corps.
"He showed up at my gambling den out of nowhere and said it. Why scrape by on the filthy coppers from the riffraff when I could make real money, big money."
"And you fell for it hook, line, and sinker?"
"...Yeah."
Jo Woon-chil nodded uncomfortably and continued his story.
From then on, the plot against the Namgoong family began.
They started attacking the Namgoong Escort Agency's caravans.
"To pull that off, I passed information on the caravans to that bastard Sa Gong-chan."
"For reference, how did you even get that information?"
"...One of the Namgoong Escort Agency's caravan leaders was a regular at my place."
Regular? More like a sucker.
It seemed he'd demanded internal agency info in exchange for forgiving gambling debts.
On top of that, Jo Woon-chil was the one who'd leaked the caravan routes.
He was more deeply involved than I'd thought.
"The attacks on the caravans began just like that. I heard they killed every Namgoong warrior they captured and burned or ruined all the cargo."
I glanced sideways at Go Hyeong, who nodded silently in confirmation.
Jo Woon-chil's words checked out.
"As the caravan failures piled up, the Namgoong family started deploying their renowned experts. They had no idea that was exactly what the Tyrant Heaven Fortress wanted."
The Namgoong side—and the experts escorting the caravans—never once suspected it was a trap.
They couldn't even imagine someone plotting against them.
Was complacency the right word for it?
Tragic, if true.
But it was all in the past now.
I clicked my tongue briefly and pressed Jo Woon-chil.
"So they succeeded in weakening the Namgoong family's forces that way. We already know that. The problem is what came next."
Yeah, what came next.
"The chief steward's assassination and the warehouse fire. What were the goals behind those two?"
At my question—or rather, at the moment I called it an 'assassination'—Jo Woon-chil looked slightly surprised.
But the surprise was fleeting; he soon nodded.
"...Well, yeah, you'd have to know. That bastard Sa Gong-chan said as much himself."
"What are you talking about? Know what?"
I'd caught something ominous in his mutter, so I pressed him, only to get an utterly ridiculous answer.
"I asked Sa Gong-chan once before. Why go about it so sloppily when we could handle things more discreetly?"
"...And?"
"He said it was on purpose. To show the world the Tyrant Heaven Fortress's power and make an example of what happens if you don't bow your head."
Wait... so they weren't leisurely operating with some powerful backer? They were deliberately making it obvious that Tyrant Heaven Fortress was behind it?
I turned to Go Hyeong in disbelief, and he was shaking his head.
His face was hidden by the mask, but we were probably wearing the same expression.
"...Those guys are insane."
"I told you, total bad luck bastards."
While Go Hyeong and I bonded over Sa Gong-chan's mental state, Jo Woon-chil's story went on.
"From what I heard, the goal wasn't much different from the caravan failures. Reduce the Namgoong family's available resources so they can't replenish their forces."
"...So in the end, everything was just to weaken the Namgoong family?"
It didn't add up.
Why this obsession with depleting the Namgoong family's strength? What for?
"...They're not really planning to raid the Namgoong family itself, are they?"
Go Hyeong shook his head firmly at my question.
"We talked about it with Lady Ye earlier today, but the odds are next to nothing. Plus, if they wanted to hit the family directly, they wouldn't bother with caravan ambushes. Framing them would have been way easier all around."
Go Hyeong shot me a look that Jo Woon-chil wouldn't catch, and I remembered something I'd forgotten.
Blood Burst Technique.
Come to think of it, they already had the perfect excuse to raid the Namgoong family without repercussions.
Yet they hadn't used it, opting for another approach?
There had to be some other purpose.
Not framing and wiping out the Namgoong family, but something else.
"And as for that real purpose... you wouldn't know it."
I stared coldly at Jo Woon-chil's blank expression.
"What the hell were you thinking, cooperating with Tyrant Heaven Fortress? Even if you're money-grubbing, you had to know they were dangerous."
At my scolding tone, Jo Woon-chil bristled and raised his voice in protest.
"You think I didn't know it was risky?! But refusing would've gotten me killed on the spot! Those are the guys who even assassinated the Sword Sovereign...!"
"...Wait, what did you say?"
I couldn't believe my ears.
What did that bastard just say?
"What did you just say?"
"Huh? What did I...?"
"You said Tyrant Heaven Fortress assassinated the Sword Sovereign. What the hell does that mean?"
I grilled Jo Woon-chil over the unbelievable claim.
But the actual answer came from Go Hyeong's mouth instead.
"Oh, that? It's just baseless rumor, so don't sweat it."
"...Baseless rumor?"
Go Hyeong nodded at my question.
"Yeah. It's confirmed the Sword Sovereign passed recently, but there was this hushed rumor floating around even before then."
The rumor went that shortly after Tyrant Heaven Fortress forces entered Hefei, the Sword Sovereign vanished. Maybe they'd done something to him...
"Recent intel lines up timing-wise suspiciously, but it lacks credibility."
Jo Woon-chil vehemently objected to Go Hyeong's response.
"It's not just a rumor! The Sword Sovereign, who was always coming and going, suddenly goes into seclusion, and not long after, Sa Gong-chan shows up at my door! They had to have taken out the biggest obstacle first!"
Go Hyeong squatted down in front of the staunchly convinced Jo Woon-chil and said.
"Hey, you idiot. You think the Sword Sovereign is some neighborhood mutt? He's the Sword Sovereign—one of the Ten Great Masters of the World, one of the Ten Venerables. Unless the Tyrant Heaven Lord himself showed up, you really think that's possible?"
"Th-that's..."
Jo Woon-chil was at a loss for words.
Go Hyeong stood up and waved him off like it wasn't worth discussing further.
"Anyway, it's total bullshit, so forget it. Sword Sovereign assassinated? I'd sooner believe the Branch Pavilion Master got assassinated."
I nodded at Go Hyeong's assertion, though a vague unease lingered.
Truth be told, in a world where clowns like Sa Gong-chan passed for experts, I couldn't gauge how strong one of the Ten Great Masters really was.
Without knowing that level, I couldn't fully buy Go Hyeong's certainty that assassination was impossible.
Was there really no connection between those two events?
*
Hefei County Office.
The Tyrant Heaven Fortress warriors, led by the Celestial Light Corps, had been dispatched—at least nominally—at the local magistrate's request.
Thus, those whose "support duties" had wrapped up were staying in the annex lodging within the compound.
-Bang!
A loud crash suddenly erupted from one of those lodging rooms in the annex.
"Ugh, this is boring as hell. Can't even go whore around, how long do I have to keep up this crap?"
The booming voice echoed through the room.
Its owner was a massive brute whose physique matched the thunderous tone perfectly.
Great Power Overlord Tak Cheol-woo.
As vice leader of the Celestial Light Corps, he was growing sick of this grueling mission that had dragged on for nearly a year.
Sa Gong-chan's strict orders to keep their conduct impeccable during the mission meant he couldn't even hit the brothels.
That unwanted celibacy was pushing his irritation to the limit... or so that was the setup he'd cooked up before barging into this room.
"Why are you complaining about it in my room first thing in the morning?"
"Why do you think? Can't bed a woman, so at least I gotta look at one. Though... if you threw yourself into my arms, that'd be even better."
The reason he'd schemed his way into this room was the room's occupant: an outsider who'd ended up on this mission with them by chance.
Chilji.
A name that didn't suit a woman and screamed fake—like "Seven Branches" or something.
Tak Cheol-woo leered at her beautiful face, spouting vulgarities on purpose while watching her warily.
'...She looks like just a pretty girl on the surface. Not even in the same league as Chae-hyang.'
Tak Cheol-woo compared her to his favorite courtesan, eyeing Chilji sharply.
Faced with his gaze that bordered on hostile, Chilji responded with an utterly emotionless expression.
"I'm not a whore. If you need to vent your lust, go to a brothel."
"That's why I'm here staring at your face instead, isn't it?"
He kept up the crude taunting, but deep in his eyes, tension never slackened.
Seeing this, Chilji let out a small sigh and spoke.
"Drop the acting that doesn't suit you and be honest. You're just wary of me, aren't you?"
"......"
Tak Cheol-woo fell silent for a moment, staring endlessly at Chilji, then smirked and shrugged.
"How could I not be? After all, you're the amazing one who killed the Sword Sovereign—one of the Ten Venerables."