Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: The Truth
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“That, so... it looks like his own weapon, pushed in by his shoulder after being overpowered in strength, reached his heart and killed him. Plus, judging by the various traces, it seems he was overwhelmed without even being able to clash a few times...”
“The Cheon-gwang Division Leader... was overwhelmed?”
Chilji reflexively blurted out in confusion.
Emboldened by her reaction, Tak Cheon-u berated Ojak once more.
“The Division Leader is one of the top experts in Tyrant Heaven Fortress! Him being overwhelmed? That’s nonsense!”
“I-I’m just telling you what I saw...!”
Ojak trembled violently under Cheol-u’s menacing aura, as if he’d be beaten to death any moment.
It was clear at a glance that he was utterly terrified of Cheol-u.
He didn’t seem like he was mocking or deceiving Cheol-u in the slightest.
“Vice Division Leader, that’s enough.”
Chilji stopped Cheol-u and sent Ojak away.
Cheol-u glared at Ojak’s retreating back as he bowed hastily and fled like a rabbit, then turned to Chilji in protest.
“Why let him go like that! We need to do another autopsy...!”
“Vice Division Leader, compose yourself. What reason would Ojak have to lie? Denying the truth and being stubborn won’t help this situation at all.”
“...Tch.”
Cheol-u knew she was right, but his face twisted anyway.
“Then what? You want me to believe the Division Leader was unilaterally defeated and killed?”
“If that’s Ojak’s assessment, then we have to accept it.”
“This...!”
Unable to hold back his anger, Cheol-u raised his fist.
Chilji stared at him with cold eyes.
Eyes that said, *Go ahead and try it.*
“......”
Cheol-u met her terrifying gaze, his face twitching for a moment before he slowly lowered his fist.
“Hoo...”
He took a deep breath to calm himself.
Seeing this, Chilji let out a short sigh and asked the Cheon-gwang Division member standing right beside them.
He was the one who had entered her room to personally inform her of the Division Leader’s death.
“Have you learned anything about the murderer?”
“Well, we caught the thugs who worked under Jo Woon-chil...”
“Jo Woon-chil?”
Her tone made it clear she’d never heard the name before.
The member hesitated for a moment before explaining.
“He’s the owner of the largest gambling den in Hefei. That’s where the Division Leader died.”
“I see. And?”
“What do you mean ‘and’? Take me to them right now. Where are those bastards?”
Cheol-u cut in midway.
Fortunately, he seemed to have calmed down; compared to before, his command came in a much cooler voice.
Following the member’s guidance, Cheol-u and Chilji arrived at the jail cells within the government office.
The two men and women locked inside looked up at them with eyes full of fear.
-Bang!
“Eek!?”
When Cheol-u’s fist shattered the cell door in one blow, they nearly fainted on the spot.
In the end, Chilji pushed Cheol-u back and stepped forward.
“We want to hear the full details. If you tell us everything without lies, we promise not to harm you.”
With the beast held back and the beauty stepping forward, the contrast seemed to take effect.
Jo Woon-chil’s underlings visibly calmed down and began to speak sporadically.
The story continued for about half a shichen.
After hearing it all, Cheol-u couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
“A masked man? Yang Sang-gunja? Assassin? What nonsense is this!?”
“I-it’s true! Some young guy wearing a mask over his face claimed he was Yang Sang-gunja, that he’d switched to being an assassin, and in the blink of an eye...!”
“You bastards are spouting rubbish...!”
Cheol-u flared up again and tried to advance, but Chilji blocked him once more.
Pushing him back by force, Chilji approached the thug who had been explaining desperately.
“Gasp...!”
As the face of a stunning beauty he’d never seen before came right up to his nose, the thug flushed red even amid his fear for his life.
A voice as beautiful as her face whispered into his ear.
“What you just said. Can you swear it’s not a lie?”
A faint red glint passed through the pupils of the eyes staring back at him.
For some reason feeling dazed, the thug nodded.
“Yes, I swear... It’s really true...”
“...I see. Vice Division Leader, you heard it all. Let’s go.”
“What? You’re seriously believing these guys?”
Having gotten the answer she wanted, Chilji left the jail without hesitation.
Cheol-u gave the thugs a murderous glare, grumbled something, and followed behind her.
*
“Hey, you’re really believing those guys? For real?”
Outside the jail.
Cheol-u grabbed Chilji, who seemed lost in thought, and pressed her.
She glanced at him irritably and nodded with a sigh.
“At the very least, they believe they’re telling the truth. That much is certain.”
“Then the Division Leader really got taken out by some young punk?”
“That’s impossible to know. You can’t judge someone’s age just by their voice.”
According to the thugs, the murderer had worn a mask covering his face.
It was foolish to guess his age based solely on a young-sounding voice when they hadn’t even seen his face.
Besides, that wasn’t the important part right now.
“What bothers me more is something else.”
“Something else?”
“That the Cheon-gwang Division Leader suspected the murderer came from the Nangong Family before he died.”
At Chilji’s words, Cheol-u furrowed his brow.
“That doesn’t add up. Over the past year, our operations have stripped the Nangong Family of most of their titled experts. The ones left took a bunch of the family’s young warriors out on escort duty.”
Thanks to Tyrant Heaven Fortress’s schemes, the Nangong Family had lost countless experts, and their escort operations had failed spectacularly.
Under normal circumstances, they’d close up shop and halt escorts, but the Nangong Family couldn’t afford that.
The Nangong Escort Agency had practically monopolized half of Hefei’s logistics, so repeated escort failures immediately damaged the city’s supply chains.
In the end, all the Nangong Family could do was grit their teeth and pull even more warriors for escort duty.
Just as Tyrant Heaven Fortress had hoped.
“With all that, do you think they’d have an expert left who could kill the Division Leader? Even if they did, why deploy them now? And how’d they know the Division Leader was heading to the gambling den?”
“The issue is motive. In current Hefei, who besides the Nangong Family would dare try to kill Tyrant Heaven Fortress’s Division Leader?”
“Well... no one, I guess.”
Cheol-u couldn’t rebut Chilji’s sharp point.
But Chilji wasn’t done.
“Plus, according to Ojak’s assessment, the Cheon-gwang Division Leader was overwhelmed in a contest of strength. The masked man wasn’t particularly huge, so we have to assume the killer had more internal energy than the Division Leader.”
The reality had been slightly different, but unaware of the concept of Heavy Sword, she could only conclude thus.
Cheol-u was no different.
“The Division Leader’s internal energy surpassed one jiazi, yet he was still overwhelmed. Just how much internal energy did the killer have?”
Grumbling irritably, Cheol-u suddenly thought of something and cautiously asked Chilji.
“...It’s not like the Sword Venerable is still alive or something, right?”
“......”
Chilji looked at Cheol-u pitifully.
Offended by her gaze, his voice grew louder.
“I’m saying it doesn’t add up! The sword pierced the Division Leader’s shoulder and sliced to his heart! Breaking through the Division Leader’s Protective Art means the killer used overwhelming internal energy to strike with...”
“It’s common knowledge in Tyrant Heaven Fortress that the Cheon-gwang Division Leader neglected his Protective Art training to focus on swordsmanship. And wasn’t it the same for the five members who went with him?”
Cheol-u’s mouth shut again.
No one knew better than he did that Sa Gong-chan had abandoned the basic Protective Art training in favor of swordsmanship.
Moreover, the five members who had accompanied him to the gambling den—ones Sa Gong-chan had personally trained.
Those five, practically his disciples, had followed his lead and neglected their Protective Arts as well.
Cheol-u’s claim that the killer was the Sword Venerable or someone with comparable internal energy naturally lost its weight.
“Then what? We have zero leads on the murderer’s identity?”
“......”
Chilji fell silent at Cheol-u’s words as he scratched his head in frustration.
As he said, they currently had no way to uncover anything about the murderer.
They needed more information.
*I need to check the scene myself.*
There might still be clues at the gambling den.
If she moved quickly, she could find something.
As Chilji thought this, she spotted a Cheon-gwang Division member running toward them in a panic.
“V-Vice Division Leader!”
“...Ah, damn. What now?”
Cheol-u scowled at his subordinate’s urgent expression.
And upon hearing the report, his face twisted from a scowl into something demonic.
“What, you say!?”
*
The next morning.
After spending the night at the Changcheon Escort Agency, I returned to the Nangong Family early.
The one who greeted me was Hwaryeon, with an oddly cold expression.
Huh? Why’s she mad?
“...You’re finally back.”
“Huh? Oh... uh, things got a bit complicated...”
As I scrambled to make excuses, I noticed shadows under Hwaryeon’s eyes.
And she looked subtly fatigued...
“...You didn’t sleep waiting for me, did you?”
“......”
At my question, she clamped her mouth shut and turned her head away sharply.
She really stayed up waiting, didn’t she?
“...Sorry. I didn’t think you’d wait up without sleeping.”
“Haa, whatever. As long as you’re safe and unhurt.”
My immediate apology earned a small sigh before she turned and headed inside first.
...Is she over it? Doesn’t seem like it?
I sneaked glances at her mood as I entered the room, where everyone else was already gathered, waiting for me.