Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: TrueDetective
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: 18. Trap (5)
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Instead of stopping Jaha, I quietly watched the Alliance Leader.
The Alliance Leader's face was filled with utter bewilderment, and his eyes showed confusion toward me and the Heavenly Demon for leaving Jaha alone.
"What do you... mean? What's a Masked Expert?"
"Hyung does acting too, so this could all be an act. But I'll tell you everything because I trust you, hyung, who's been our leader all this time."
Jaha seemed determined to spill it all. He carefully laid Taekgyeong's head on the floor and stood up.
"You probably didn't know, hyung, but the CEO is a really, really bad guy. The CEO fooled all of us. Here, we were being raised as martial artists! All to bring Heavenly Demon hyung here!"
The Alliance Leader's gaze toward Jaha wavered.
It didn't seem like acting, but in this situation, Masked Expert or not, that's the only reaction he could have.
"And among us... there's someone helping that CEO... I think the reason Taekgyeong hyung collapsed is that person's doing too."
The Alliance Leader was filled with confusion but seemed to be trying hard not to show it.
The Alliance Leader asked calmly.
"...That person is the 'Masked Expert'?"
"Yeah. And we think it's either you, hyung, or Nahani."
"......"
The Alliance Leader fell silent for a moment, lost in thought.
Jaha continued without pause.
"I'll believe you if you say it's not you, hyung. I'll believe Nahani if she says it's not her. I don't want to hurt anyone by doubting and suspecting. Better to trust, and if I'm betrayed... I'll handle the consequences."
Better to trust and get betrayed.
A very Jaha-like choice.
The Heavenly Demon standing beside me let out a scoff.
"What a wild misunderstanding, what a wild one. How could you, who can't even properly perform lightness skills yet, handle that? Trying to take on things beyond your ability will only make you lose what's already in your arms."
"I'll just get stronger."
Jaha replied without backing down.
"I'm Heavenly Demon hyung's one and only disciple!"
"You're that wild because you're this seat's disciple?"
"Yes!!"
The Heavenly Demon seemed pleased with Jaha's answer and smiled softly.
"Good. If you've taken this seat as your master, you need that kind of guts."
"Right?!"
"So no matter what happens, this seat will personally train you until you can handle it."
"Tra... train? Not like earlier, just poking qi in bit by bit?"
"What a cute thing to say. Whatever you imagined, it'll be beyond your expectations."
By the time Jaha realized he might be heading down the wrong path.
The Alliance Leader spoke up.
"Actually......"
As all our gazes turned to him at once, the Alliance Leader smiled awkwardly and continued.
"I already know a fair bit about the current situation."
"...You know?"
"You knew, hyung?"
It was such an unexpected statement that my retort came a beat late.
The Alliance Leader smiled in embarrassment.
"Jaha probably didn't know, but I was the third person in this world after Soeui hyung and the CEO to learn that Heavenly Demon-nim is the real Heavenly Demon."
"What! Ilgeom hyung knew too?"
"And how could I not know? That internal energy appeared in my body. That we're different from other idols."
Jaha, who had learned demonic arts from the Heavenly Demon instead of cultivating internal energy through the Nine Great Sects' method, looked puzzled by the Alliance Leader's words.
But the Heavenly Demon, as if expecting such a reaction, responded nonchalantly.
"Hmph, if you had that much internal energy and noticed nothing, that would be even more suspicious."
"What? Nahani said I have considerable internal energy too, right? Does that mean Nahani knows about this situation to some extent as well?"
"Couldn't you tell that the bald donkey was blatantly showing it? He even seemed to know that this seat is the Heavenly Demon."
No way, so that was him really showing his dislike?
The Alliance Leader waited for our conversation to end before speaking again.
"Of course, besides that... I know about what happened to the exiled disciples. And about the 6th floor too."
"What?"
The exiled disciples thing could be looked into if one tried, so that was fine.
But even I had only learned about the 6th floor just recently.
Yet the Alliance Leader spoke as if he'd known about it for a very long time......
The surprises didn't end there.
"If you let the question of how I know all this slide, I'll cooperate."
"...Cooperate how?"
"I'll do whatever Soeui hyung wants. Whatever it is."
Was he anticipating we'd make such an offer?
Unlike when he first heard Jaha's words, the Alliance Leader's face was now perfectly calm.
I couldn't tell if his initial bewilderment was acting or if this current calm was the act.
"But I'll say this: I want to stop the CEO too."
There seemed to be no lie in those words.
"That had better be true."
Before I could say anything, the Heavenly Demon warned first.
"If your words are false......"
"Stake my life on it."
"No."
The Heavenly Demon's eyes glowed red as he spoke.
"Stake everyone's lives here."
A flicker of hesitation crossed the Alliance Leader's eyes.
The Heavenly Demon curled his lips into a sinister smile.
"If you betray us, I'll kill everyone here. Why, can't you do it?"
To the Heavenly Demon, the Alliance Leader seemed the type who valued others' lives more than his own.
I agreed with that judgment and stayed out of it.
The Alliance Leader glanced at me briefly before answering weakly.
"...I want to stop the CEO. This isn't a lie. So, I'm sorry, but I'll stake your lives along with mine."
If the Alliance Leader hadn't been willing to stake our lives here, we wouldn't have trusted him either.
Only after Namgoong Moo, Jaha, and I nodded slightly did the Heavenly Demon withdraw his demonic gaze.
"Good. I'll believe you."
"...Thank you."
I thought we should discuss roughly what he knew and to what extent.
But Dang Sacheon raised his hand and spoke.
"Can you leave me out? My life doesn't seem that important to Alliance Leader sunbae either. And my life is only for Soeui hyungnim......"
This Dang Sacheon guy really has a distinct personality.
"...On second thought, it's late. Let's head in and sleep. Move Taekgyeong to bed too."
"Yes, hyung."
Everyone naturally ignored Dang Sacheon.
As we dispersed, Dang Sacheon hurriedly blocked the Heavenly Demon's path and asked.
"No, Heavenly Demon-nim. You're leaving this guild leader out, right?"
Even the Heavenly Demon shook his head with a wry smile and entered his room, leaving Dang Sacheon with a dazed expression.
"Dang Sacheon, don't just stand there. Let's go in and rest too."
There were no more empty rooms left in the dorm, so Dang Sacheon was sharing with me.
Dang Sacheon replied dejectedly.
"Yes......"
Sigh, this poor kid......
Still, he'd worked hard today.
"...I'll tell Heavenly Demon-nim to let you off."
"......!! Thank you, hyungnim!!"
"And recharge the Pikac○ again."
"Yes."
I flinched in surprise seeing Dang Sacheon pull the electric shock device from his sleeve.
He brought three of these. This guy's insane.
* * *
The next day, the Alliance Leader spilled everything he knew.
Under the condition that we wouldn't ask how he knew.
The Alliance Leader knew almost everything.
He even knew that Namgoong Joon was someone else.
It turned out he'd noticed the 6th floor's existence and convinced the members to move out of the dorm.
But Namgoong Joon refused to return to the main house and stayed in the dorm, and while checking on him frequently to ensure his safety, the Alliance Leader realized the person had changed.
He even knew that the body found in the Han River was Shin Taeul.
However, he didn't know that the 6th floor's summoning circle was a transposition ritual exchanging this world's bodies with those from the Central Plains.
"That they can get their lost bodies back... that's really... really fortunate."
I noticed the guilt the Alliance Leader carried.
I felt a similar sense of debt, so I couldn't miss it.
We'd started on the same path, yet our limbs were intact.
The guilt that younger kids suffered in our place.
Now knowing he could shake off that guilt, the Alliance Leader said enthusiastically.
"Then we need to finish our revenge quickly and send Heavenly Demon-nim back."
After hearing the Alliance Leader out, I told him about our revenge plan, 'Haomen.'
The Heavenly Demon still didn't fully trust him.
But 'Haomen' was a plan that only meant anything if the Nine Great Sects all refused to renew and moved agencies.
It was something we'd have to tell the Alliance Leader eventually, so he didn't oppose sharing it.
"You agree not to renew... and to move agencies?"
The Alliance Leader's response was straightforward.
"I already said I'd do whatever Soeui hyung wants."
He really planned to do everything I said?
But it seemed the Alliance Leader hadn't agreed to the Haomen plan lightly.
"And I think it's a good plan. Until now, no agency dared fight Kichi to take us. But if it's the agency set up by hyung, who's been our manager all along, that's different. The CEO won't touch hyung's agency recklessly either."
Come to think of it, weirdly, a lot of people think the CEO will go easy on me?
He won't lose the bet with Lion CEO, will he......
"If we claim we left Kichi due to unfair treatment and inhuman conditions, no one from Kichi will debut as idols following us. As you know, this is something that ends only by breaking the chain....... Heavenly Demon-nim will leave, and the CEO will start it all over again."
Perhaps because he knew similar things to us, his thoughts aligned with ours.
"We have about half a year until renewal. Let's squeeze everything we can from Kichi and leave."
No... maybe because he'd agonized over this longer than me, he seemed somewhat fueled by anger.
"First, we need to talk to Nahani."
"Because of that Masked Expert?"
"Yeah."
"I don't think Nahani is the Masked Expert."
I was slightly surprised by that.
I hadn't expected him to say that.
The Heavenly Demon scoffed derisively.
"If so, that means you're the Masked Expert. Are you confessing now?"
"If it's not me, isn't it strange to insist Nahani is? It's true Nahani is odd. Nahani had internal energy even before joining the Nine Great Sects."
"Even before joining the Nine Great Sects?"
The Alliance Leader nodded and continued.
"But that energy is so pure, it's clear she hasn't done anything shady like a Masked Expert. Talk to her, but not to expose her as the Masked Expert—convince her to join Haomen. You'll see once you talk... you can't hide anything from Nahani."
I'd only spoken more than two words with Nahani a handful of times, so I couldn't easily imagine conversing with her.
"I've already talked to Nahani a few times."
"Talked? About this?"
"Yes. As you suspect, Nahani knows about this to some extent too."
I'd thought maybe, but it was true.
Then Jaha really is the last one to know everything.
"I wanted to know why she stayed here despite knowing it all. But she said she couldn't tell me because the one who needs that answer is someone else."
"Someone else? She's waiting for someone?"
"Yes. From what I know, even the exiled disciples approached Nahani, but they got nothing out of it."
The exiled disciple who approached Nahani... Shin Taeul?
It'd be great if Nahani knew something about Shin Taeul's whereabouts.
The Alliance Leader glanced at the Heavenly Demon and said quietly.
"I think the person Nahani's waiting for is Heavenly Demon-nim."
"Heavenly Demon-nim?"
"Yes. So it might be good to hear her out. Nahani goes to Bukhansan every dawn like clockwork, so ask to go with her. If it's something for Heavenly Demon-nim, she'll accept right away."
Nahani went to Bukhansan every dawn?
This was news to me.
These guys, with their internal energy, have been sneaking around without the manager knowing?
Just then, my phone blared with KakaoTalk notifications.
Lion6 had become a sword-proof vest, so this was my old phone.
"Come to think of it, Heavenly Demon-nim, you managed to ditch the new phone well?"
"Hmph. This seat has already bonded with this Cherry. I can't discard my main Cherry and chat with some outsider Cherry."
-That's right, Master. Old habits die hard, right?
...My Cherry doesn't act like that. Why is Heavenly Demon's Cherry so high-spec?
As I thought that, I checked the recently arrived KakaoTalk.
It was from Woochi.
[Thief Bastard: You really put in a good word with the CEO for me?]
What's this about?
I replied concisely.
[Me?]
[Thief Bastard: Playing dumb, you tsundere punk]
[Thief Bastard: The CEO even gave me a gift! (Dinosaur emoji throwing a mad party)]
[A gift?]
[Thief Bastard: Choreography for the next Nokrim activity!]
[Thief Bastard: Keep practicing and it'll make your body healthy and full of energy?]
[Thief Bastard: Dumpling? Why no reply? Read and ghosting?]