Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Nine Divisions - Mission, Intelligence (6)
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The boy opened his eyes after the sun had fully set that day.
“Ugh….”
A groan laced with pain.
Mok Ri-won snapped his head up at the sound and spoke with a beaming face.
“You’re awake?”
His tone brimmed with delight.
Even as his entire body throbbed with pain, the boy lifted his eyelids and looked at Mok Ri-won.
He flinched in surprise.
*Whoa….*
It was due to Mok Ri-won’s striking appearance, which stood out even amid the haze of fatigue and pain clouding his mind.
The boy could confidently say he had never imagined a person could be so handsome.
“Is anything hurting? No, everything must hurt. I’m sorry. How’s your mind? Feeling clearer? Here, want some water?”
As Mok Ri-won floundered about looking around, the boy belatedly recalled the previous night’s events.
His encounter with the demon.
And how it had dragged him out and locked him up.
Even the words it spat out after beating him senseless for a while.
*-There are these half-brothers called the Three Half-Blood Brothers. They’ve been infamous around here lately. Go find them. Beg them to save you, and if they agree to help, lead them here.*
The moment he recalled the demon’s blood-red eyes, the boy’s breath caught.
*-Lure them over the wall behind the manor. Then I’ll let your mother live.*
*Mother!*
The boy jolted up in alarm.
But his body wouldn’t obey.
Crack!
His fractured ribs screamed from the sudden movement.
“Gah…!”
“Calm down! You can’t move like that!”
Mok Ri-won startled and gently laid the boy back down.
Panting heavily, the boy lowered his gaze with a frightened look.
Mok Ri-won then spoke.
“Right, I was too flustered to ask anything. What’s your name?”
Mok Ri-won’s voice was warm.
The boy flinched but soon answered in a trembling voice.
“…Seon-u.”
“Seon-u. Seon-u! What a pretty name. So, can you talk now?”
“Y-Yes….”
The boy, Seon-u, rolled his eyes in panic.
And not for no reason.
*Th-this man is one of the Three Half-Blood Brothers?*
It was because Mok Ri-won was being too kind.
It felt strange.
By all the rumors he’d heard, the Three Half-Blood Brothers were utterly vile villains who never showed mercy to anyone, yet this man seemed far too good.
They were supposed to be wicked enough to deserve death, which was why he’d planned to trade them for his mother, but now he felt guilty even thinking it.
*Someone like this…*
Was he really supposed to hand him over to that demon?
Seon-u’s face paled.
Unaware of the boy’s inner turmoil, Mok Ri-won simply startled at his pallor and said,
“Wh-what’s wrong? Is it hurting somewhere again? Wait here. I’ll fetch the young lady….”
“N-No! It’s not!”
Seon-u urgently grabbed Mok Ri-won.
His racing mind steadied his wavering heart in that moment.
*…No. I have to save Mother. No matter what kind of people they are!*
He was the only one who could save his mother.
The demon had clearly said it would release her if he led these people to the wall behind the manor.
Seon-u recalled the previous night once more.
That night, the demon had definitely shown him his mother’s pinky finger.
Seon-u’s hands trembled.
He couldn’t afford any other thoughts right now.
“…Pl-please help me.”
To Seon-u, his mother’s life was worth more than the lives of strangers.
*
It didn’t take long for the unit members to gather.
The words Mok Ri-won had shouted in a fluster when Seon-u woke had echoed outside the room.
A not-so-large room.
With the unit members seated around Seon-u, Mok Ri-won spoke.
“So, tell us now. Where are you from, Seon-u, and why were you in such a state?”
Mok Ri-won’s attitude remained warm, but the others were not.
Seon-u felt himself swallow dryly.
It was because of the blue-eyed man staring at him with particularly fierce intensity.
Seon-u knew someone with such blue eyes.
*The Sword Dragon.*
It had to be Namgung Jincheon, one of the most famous young experts in the martial world right now.
Realizing that, he could guess the identities of the others too.
They were the Dragon-Phoenix Squad.
The rising stars who had the Central Plains martial world abuzz.
Only now did Seon-u understand the full picture.
What the demons were after, and why they had told him about the Three Half-Blood Brothers’ misdeeds yet still demanded he seek their pity.
*The demons are targeting the Murim Alliance!*
His resolve wavered at the thought.
If these people belonged to the Murim Alliance, couldn’t he just explain and ask for help?
The brief hesitation arose, but Seon-u quickly dismissed it.
*No. If I ask for help and the demons find out, Mother…*
She would surely meet her end.
The atrocities the demons had committed over the past month had been that merciless.
The boy lacked the courage to champion justice amid such risks.
Seon-u’s eyes turned to Mok Ri-won.
His heart wavered again at the patient wait for his answer, but Seon-u steeled himself.
And spoke.
“…I’m from the Seo Manor.”
“Seo Manor?”
Answering Mok Ri-won’s question was Jegal San.
He had gathered local rumors over the past few days and knew about the manor Seon-u mentioned.
“It’s the largest manor in this city. I hear they took in a new son-in-law a month ago.”
Seon-u flinched at the words “son-in-law.”
Dang Hwa-seo, who had been closely observing his reaction, asked,
“Child, is that why you got beaten so badly? Because of the son-in-law I just heard about?”
“Y-Yes….”
Seon-u shrank and nodded.
Then wove his words as instructed.
“Th-the son-in-law was threatening and imprisoning my mother! I tried to rescue her, but he caught me….”
Tears welled up in Seon-u’s eyes.
It wasn’t acting.
Seon-u was genuinely overcome with deep sorrow thinking of his imprisoned mother.
Mok Ri-won let out a pitying sigh.
“You must have suffered greatly.”
“Pl-please help! Save my mother! I know the door to the manor’s secret passage….”
As those words were about to continue, Dang Hwa-seo made her move.
Her hand struck Seon-u’s acupoints with such speed it left an afterimage.
Seon-u drifted off into sleep.
Mok Ri-won turned in surprise, and Dang Hwa-seo said,
“He’s lying.”
Her tone was filled with certainty.
*
At the same time, in the inner quarters of the Seo Manor.
There lay a man gazing languidly at the ceiling in a room smeared entirely in blood.
The man’s appearance was utterly wretched.
Dark, clotted blood covered his entire body, as if he had been steeped in this sea of blood for who knew how long, and his breath reeked with the metallic tang of gore.
That wasn’t all. Scattered around him were corpses. And what he was chewing on was a human finger.
Cannibalism.
The man was engaged in the act right now.
“…Lord Flame Demon.”
Amid this, a figure in pitch-black night clothes rose silently from the shadows like a ghost.
The reclining man, Flame Demon O Gang-ak, rolled his eyes to look at his subordinate.
The subordinate bowed his head and said,
“The kid seems to have entered the manor safely.”
“Good.”
“But….”
“Hm?”
“Is that alright? What if he tells them the truth and they call for Alliance reinforcements….”
O Gang-ak chuckled.
“Chun-ah. Do you know why I personally beat that kid black and blue before sending him there?”
“…Please enlighten me.”
“Because he’s cowardly. And selfish.”
“What do you mean…?”
“Cowards can’t make rational judgments. Selfish ones weigh people on scales. That’s exactly what the kid was. Hiding in the outhouse to save his own skin, clinging to me begging for life after the beating, and meekly accepting when I said I’d return his mother if he offered up someone else.”
O Gang-ak spat out the finger he’d been chewing.
It hit the ceiling with a smack before falling, splattering long trails of blood.
“Perfect fit. And he’s dim-witted too. He’ll definitely get caught lying for sure.”
The masked man called “Chun” flinched.
Staring at O Gang-ak in shock, he said,
“Th-that’s dangerous, isn’t it? If word reaches the Alliance and they send support….”
“Isn’t that what makes it fun?”
O Gang-ak’s smile deepened.
He spoke as if encountering the most amusing thing.
“We get to be the audience.”
“Audience? What do you….”
“See what kind of righteousness those hypocrites preach. That’s the show.”
O Gang-ak brushed off the blood crusts clinging to his face.
“Now, those hypocrites will face two choices.”
O Gang-ak’s skin was revealed.
His face bore a thick, massive scar as if someone had raked it with fingers.
“One is to come here tonight. The kid’s a cheeky one trying to deceive them, but his mother really is captured. If they truly uphold their vaunted righteousness, they can’t hesitate to save an innocent in peril.”
“The other choice….”
“Request reinforcements from the Alliance and wait. But that’ll take a few more days. Meanwhile, the kid’s mother dies. Because I’ll make it so.”
Chun clamped his mouth shut and stared at O Gang-ak.
He felt an unease at O Gang-ak humming contentedly in delight.
Yet O Gang-ak’s words continued.
“They’re all the same. Trash who rule by force yet wrap it in pretty packaging. I’m dying to know how long they can keep up that facade. Whether they’ll keep preaching righteousness even with a blade to their throats. Or if they only spout it when it suits them. That’s what I want to see.”
“The risk….”
“We fight if they come. What’s there to worry about? Hm?”
O Gang-ak looked at Chun.
Madness gleamed in his eyes.
His following actions were grotesque.
Still sprawled on the blood-smeared floor, he flailed his limbs exaggeratedly and shouted,
“Heavenly Demonnn~ Save meee~ All Demonnss~ Aaangbooook~.”
Then he stopped abruptly.
In that instant, O Gang-ak’s face was blankly expressionless.
“Why not scream like that while tearing them apart? For our great Little Cult Leader, of course.”
This was blasphemy.
An act deserving severe punishment, showing no loyalty to the cult or respect for its next leader.
Yet Chun could not call him out.
“…I shall obey your command.”
He knew too much about this man.
He knew how deeply this man hated the Little Cult Leader.
Flame Demon O Gang-ak.
He was the man who had held that position before the current Little Cult Leader appeared.