Chapter 137
Chapter 137
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 137
Chapter Title: Shadows of Corruption
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"......."
"......."
The air grew heavy. Clouds veiled even the moonlight.
I gripped my blood sword. The famed blade I'd reinforced based on the one left by Seong Ja-myeong.
It wasn't a spirit sword. It held no special powers.
But it was the most comfortable. We'd spent so much time together.
Above all...
This was luxury enough for them.
"Attack."
The ruffian spat the word like it was chewed gristle. In an instant, figures smashed through the wall and charged at me.
At their forefront, I caught the scent of blood. The stench of blood they'd piled up.
"......."
I stepped forward.
But before I could, a white shadow flashed past me first.
---Kaang!!
The swords they'd drawn tangled in the air for a moment. Four figures were flung back, and Suryeon, now at the center, exhaled softly.
---Charruk.
Weapons of every variety sprang from all over her body. Without a hitch in her breathing, she asked me,
"Shall I leave one alive?"
"Make it two."
I aimed my sword tip at the ruffians.
Those who draw their swords must be prepared for death.
"We need at least two survivors if we're to get them talking."
"Wise words."
The enemies moved amid the chill. Suryeon and I threw ourselves at them.
If Shaolin had one miscalculation,
it was not knowing who they were up against.
"......"
I split the incoming swords. Severed the throats of those crying out in shock.
Blood coated my blade. At its tip.
There was no reason to let any live.
. . .
「White Child.」
Gongbaek halted the wooden staff he'd been tapping in the emptiness. He erased the voice from his mind.
Someone had come to see him.
"....Wasn't our appointment set for daytime?"
He glared into the darkness. He sensed the presence beyond it.
Impressive. What kind of absurd aura was this?
The man he'd glimpsed through the shadows before. The Murim Alliance inspector.
Red Cloud.
But the nickname "Silent Sword" he'd heard didn't do him justice.
Behold.
That gait piercing the darkness. Those precise movements.
This... is remarkable.
No detectable internal energy, yet the depth of his training was extraordinary.
No, not training.
Discipline, perhaps.
How...
Many brushes with death had he survived?
"I've made no separate promise for a night meeting, Inspector."
"You know my face."
"I'm no blind man. I heard late that you'd come and did some simple checking. One must know who they're speaking with, no?"
"Quite right."
Red Cloud.
An enigmatic man.
He opened the box he carried.
The stench of blood filled the air. Gongbaek frowned as he peered inside.
Two men's heads lay neatly arranged within.
"Daring to shed blood within these walls... Have you come seeking death?"
"These are the ruffians who targeted me."
"You'll need to explain why you brought their heads to show me. If you don't wish to pay the price for breaking Shaolin's precepts."
"Shaolin's precepts. They exist, yet seem to lack any value worth upholding."
"...You bastard. How dare you question our discipline...!"
"Then does Shaolin..."
The man cut him off, asking calmly.
"...count sending assassins to cover up the truth as one of its precepts?"
"...What?"
Gongbaek carefully examined the heads in the box.
Strangers. He swore he'd never seen them before.
"These are not men I sent!"
"That's why I came to you, Abbot-because I believed you didn't send them. I'm currently investigating the disappearances in Henan. No one from Shaolin cooperated, but I uncovered something very close to the truth. I requested a private audience to ask about it, but even that was refused."
"......."
"Yet fortunately, this meeting was arranged. But the night before, amid the ruffians' attack, I saw clear moves to eliminate me... What do you suppose that means?"
"What... are you trying to say?"
"The disappearances are tied to Shaolin. Deeply so. And it's happening beyond your knowledge, Abbot. The attempt on my life was surely meant to blind your eyes and ears."
"...That... can't be. This is Shaolin. The pride of the Nine Great Sects. We are the purest justice, Buddhist practitioners who must save all sentient beings. Why on earth would we kidnap people?! We're pursuing the culprits separately!"
"Any progress?"
...None.
They'd sent people, but no one brought back solid information.
"Abbot. I was attacked by those ruffians. Faced four in total, killed two like this."
Red Cloud calmly closed the lid.
"From the other two, I extracted information. Removed the poison capsules hidden in their teeth, pried open their stubborn mouths. And from them, I got one name."
"...Whose..."
"Damyang."
Damyang?
Why would that name surface here?
"Th-that... can't be... It makes no sense... D-Damyang is an exceptionally upright boy! For his name to come from assassins' mouths? Something's deeply wrong here!"
"I merely relayed what I heard. Of course, I don't think Damyang acted alone."
"What do you..."
"How much power could a young Shaolin monk wield? I've already crossed paths with Damyang. He didn't seem to have the authority or strength to dispatch elite assassins."
"...You mean someone backs him?"
"It has to be. Someone desperate to block this investigation. Someone who could blind your eyes and ears while advancing their schemes. Their influence must reach throughout Shaolin to cover it all up so neatly..."
Two names flashed through Gongbaek's mind.
"You're speaking of the Scripture Repository Chief and the Arhat Hall Chief...?"
Shaolin's two pillars.
The true power holders managing Shaolin's affairs in his stead.
"Abbot. All I want here in Shaolin is to find the missing people."
"......."
"I'm not fabricating facts. I'm merely bringing hidden truths to light. And for that, I need your help."
"...What drives you to pursue Shaolin's darkness?"
"Does doing what's right require a reason?"
It was irrefutable.
But how many in today's martial world could utter such words so naturally?
Gongbaek pondered deeply.
In the end, only one answer emerged.
"...What must I do?"
"Simple."
Red Cloud glanced back briefly.
"Help me plant someone inside Shaolin."
"Someone...?"
---Rustle.
Gongbaek startled. Even at a distance, he should have sensed the presence immediately, yet he'd only noticed now.
What? They pierced my senses and hid in the shadows? Even from afar, to conceal themselves this perfectly...?
"...You?"
"Greetings, Heavenly Fragrance Elder. I am Suryeon."
Her upturned eyes were emotionless.
"Grant me the chance to observe Shaolin from within. In return, I'll uncover all of Shaolin's secrets."
"......."
"You must know. Everything Shaolin holds dear is built upon the tower of 'desire'-the very thing Shaolin guards against most."
".......!"
"If you're truly above reproach, why not join me? Perhaps..."
Suryeon glanced back.
"...this is the last chance to set everything twisted back in place."
"......"
Gongbaek reflected on the self-doubt that had plagued him endlessly.
The day he'd executed his master, who had entered his deathbed meditation, Gongbaek believed he'd lost all qualification to become abbot.
Think of it. A disciple killing his master and taking his seat.
Even if the world forgave it, he could never forgive himself. Yet everyone implored him, so he ascended to the position...
But in the end, he let go.
Believing himself unworthy, he refused to wield power, limiting himself to advising his disciples' training.
He did what was necessary, but nothing more. Because he felt unqualified.
Yet... because of that... because of the power he'd relinquished...
If Shaolin had stooped to kidnapping and even tried to murder an inspector to cover it up...
Wouldn't it be his fault?
His fault for deeming everything his own inadequacy and refusing to stand at the forefront.
"The last... chance..."
He gazed at the moon. It had been like this that night too. A cloudless, starlit sky.
The night he'd fought his master in deathbed meditation and ended his life. Perhaps from that day, he'd been standing still ever since.
But even so.
If he must bear responsibility as Shaolin's abbot, belatedly...
"...Suryeon, was it?"
"Yes."
"I'll give you a chance to watch from the shadows. With your skill, hiding in my shadow should be effortless."
Gongbaek stared steadily at the inspector.
Heavy eyes. Truly heavy. Their weight was plain to see.
"Murim Alliance Inspector."
"Yes."
"Come tomorrow night, late."
Gongbaek slowly turned the rosary in his hand.
"We'll meet again then. I'll review all my records. And the moment my own eyes uncover Shaolin's cancerous side... I'll aid you directly. For the victims, and for this rotting Shaolin."
. . .
Heavenly Fragrance Elder Gongbaek.
He was a bit different from what I'd expected.
Those who'd reached the Profound Realm I'd seen were all coldly sharp and brilliant.
The First Demon was like that. The Heavenly Demon even more so. Even Murim Alliance Leader Namgung Hyeok was razor-edged, his inner thoughts impenetrable.
Compared to them, Gongbaek...
Felt somehow subdued. Indecisive, even.
His aura lacked sharpness. The type innately distant from violence, perhaps.
No drive in his eyes. Utterly different from Namgung Hyeok, called the Invincible Sword.
But at the end, something shone through clearly.
A sharpness befitting one in the Absolute Realm.
He'd made his resolve.
Gongbaek summoned me. I headed to Shaolin at the promised time. Of course, Myochoa and Geumpyeong came along.
But the two following me were soon blocked by the Arhat monks.
"The abbot wishes to see to the two donors separately."
"What...? We're part of the inspection team too."
"He requested a private audience. Since you've come to Shaolin, follow Shaolin's rules."
"...Tch."
Geumpyeong and Myochoa fell back. Gongbaek's courtesy, perhaps.
I ventured deeper inside. Heavenly Fragrance Elder Gongbaek received me in a building even further in than before.
"You were right."
Gongbaek said calmly.
As if he'd already made peace with it.
"All I could see were the surface ledgers. But this child helped me. She slipped into places I couldn't reach, examined the ledgers and fund flows. And there, I glimpsed records of businesses under Arhat Hall Chief and Scripture Repository Chief-far more than I'd imagined."
"......."
"If that were all, I might not have been disappointed. Some businesses even dabbled in usury. That explains the abundance of vagrants in Henan. Tricking innocent civilians out of their money. And that's not all? Gambling dens, brothels... Ha! Monks who should cultivate pure hearts were more entangled in worldly vices than anyone! How laughable!"
Gongbaek's shoulders shook.
"Even that Damyang boy I thought so virtuous was pocketing money behind the scenes... Heh heh... No wonder they didn't welcome you. With all their illegal dealings, a Murim Alliance inspector would naturally be loathed. Stirring things up would expose their crimes inevitably."
"...Any leads on the missing people?"
"I'll handle that part."
Suryeon emerged from the shadows.
"Among some businesses, certain people were charged extra for no reason. And those locations are very close to where disappearances occurred."
"So they're the culprits."
"I've already sent people. News should come in a few days..."
---Flutter.
A butterfly pierced the darkness and flew into the hall.
"...Ghost Butterfly Death."
The butterfly touching Suryeon's fingertip burst silently.
All that remained was a black character 'Move' hanging in the air.
Suryeon turned to us.
"They're moving faster than expected."
"...We'll have to go ourselves. What will you do?"
"I'll follow, of course."
We moved out with Gongbaek immediately. Leaping between buildings, we swiftly reached the destination.
Assassin. Her face masked, she silently pointed inside.
"...A butcher shop?"
A bad feeling hit me.
A nauseatingly bad feeling.