Chapter 16
One week before the Grand Audience Ceremony. The day after a palace maid from the Inner Palace Department delivered a letter to me, I followed the coordinates written in it and arrived at the rendezvous point those bastards had specified. Sitting there was a clunky old radio. A battered model straight out of the early 2000s.
“Kim Chang-un. That you?”
“And who the hell are you?”
“Imaetal. That’s all you need to know.”
My real name, their code name. Talk about a perfectly even introduction.
“Any reason I shouldn’t just hand this radio over to the Uigeumbu right now?”
“Because the sniper’s got your head in his crosshairs. That answer your question? Goodness, yes, my lord.”
I nodded toward the shadow standing on the rooftop of the building across the street.
“I watched that recent ambush on you. Couldn’t do a damn thing while your own brother threatened your life—pathetic situation you’re in.”
“Oh, sure, like you lot wouldn’t get your entire clans executed if you got caught.”
“Positive thinking. I had you pegged right. Not many keep talking with a gun to their head.”
Imaetal muttered that last bit, then continued.
“We’ve got a plan in the works. For the downfall of the Sedao clans. And for this country’s future, it’s absolutely essential. We need your help.”
With that opener, Imaetal laid out the rough outline of their operation. Savior of Joseon, corrupt nobility—stripping away the flowery bullshit, it boiled down to one thing.
“The Iron Tiger commander’s daughter attending the Grand Audience Ceremony is of royal blood, and Hwae needs to secure that royal lineage. So I make prior contact with Yu Sang-hyun, inform him of the plan, and have your Hwae operatives stir up chaos inside to cover the infiltration?”
“Exactly. It’s something we must do for Joseon’s future.”
The plan: Hwae operatives trigger a terrorist attack at the ceremony venue to draw eyes away, then snatch Yu Sang-hyun and Yu A-rin in the confusion.
But after hearing it out, I shot it down flat.
“Nah, pass.”
“…What?”
Imaetal sounded stunned for a moment.
“Why?”
“Plan sucks. Every Sedao noble at the ceremony’s an Aura User, and there’ll be dozens of Royal Guards for protection. You stir up chaos and rush in? They’ll comb the place and that’s that.”
“Some sacrifices are inevitable. This is that important.”
“Maybe for you. But not for me. I wanna live a long time.”
Imaetal’s tone soured.
“…Didn’t you say you had no loyalty to the Sedao clans?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m some bleeding-heart ready to die for ‘social justice’ or the ‘greater good’ like you psychos.”
“Pragmatist, huh.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
When I didn’t roll over, Imaetal went quiet on the other end. Probably thinking I was sharper than expected—a fifteen-year-old punk holding his own in a chat with a dangerous player like him, even flipping the negotiation script.
Something I did a thousand times in my past life, though.
Living as a doormat for the Sedao clans, I’d fulfilled every filthy demand from the power players. And to meet those demands, I’d dealt with even filthier scum—the risky elements they avoided, the criminals they despised, the lowlifes they wouldn’t glance at. I’d wormed into their midst and bargained.
Mind games like this? Child’s play.
But outright rejecting them isn’t the best move either.
I quickly rifled through my past-life memories. Factoring in the situation, these guys desperately needed an inside collaborator who could get into the ceremony venue. They wouldn’t cut the line yet. They’d be scrambling for ways to win me over.
One bounce-back done. Time to lay some bait.
Finished thinking, I opened my mouth in a casual, drifting tone.
“Honestly, from your side, does it even matter?”
“Matter how?”
“That ‘royal blood’ you’re talking about. If she really shows up, she’s a one-of-a-kind monster in Joseon history. Doesn’t sound like she’d go down easy.”
A probing question. But Imaetal bit without hesitation.
“The king’s power in her has just awakened—unstable, full of gaps. A pro could take her out, no problem.”
“Hoo.”
“And we’re not just saving the royal blood.”
Crunch. I crunched down, shattering the candy in my mouth, and pressed.
“Not just the girl? Then what?”
“Her foster father, Yu Sang-hyun. Secondary target, but we have to save him too.”
“Why?”
“He’s the supreme commander of the Iron Tiger Army, holding back the monster hordes ravaging Manchuria at the front lines. Sure, they’re dismissed as a frontier penal unit, but they’re Joseon’s greatest shield. If the linchpin Yu Sang-hyun drops dead suddenly, the border defenses could collapse.”
“Well, well, terrorists worried about the country now?”
“Of course. We want to revolutionize Joseon, not destroy it.”
“…Ah, right.”
Yeah, figures. Especially considering what Hwae really was.
“I’ve told you everything I can. Now give me your answer.”
Imaetal fell silent, like he’d said his piece. I swallowed the powdered candy and asked.
“First question. What if I say no?”
“Like I said, the sniper puts a hole in your head. Can’t have the plan leaking.”
“That won’t work anymore.”
“What?”
I’d stalled enough. My turn now. I spoke to Imaetal over the radio with genuine cheer.
“That sniper? He’s in a little chat with my bodyguard right now.”
“…!”
A sharp intake of breath, pure panic. I waved at the rooftop across the way.
“No way—how the hell did you…!”
“Shut up and wave back. Try anything funny, and he’s dead.”
Moo-young’s drawn curved sword hovered at the sniper’s throat, who’d been waiting in ambush.
[To: Moo-young] Handle him easy. Not an enemy yet.
[Understood, Young Master.]
We exchanged quick messages like that, then I turned back to the radio. Now I held all the cards in this deal.
“Now I could actually drag you lot to the Uigeumbu.”
“…”
“So spill. If I don’t join, what’s your move? Scrap the op?”
Sensing the tables had turned, the leisure drained from Imaetal’s voice.
“We’ll push ahead ourselves. Somehow.”
“Somehow, huh.”
I echoed him with a sigh. Yeah. Like he said, with or without me, Hwae somehow pulls off extracting the royal-blooded Yu A-rin from the Sedao ambush.
But it’s only half a win. Worse, even.
They fail to save secondary target Yu Sang-hyun, and key operatives get nabbed.
In my past life as a Sedao lapdog, I’d accessed the Uigeumbu database and seen the footage. Yu Sang-hyun collapsing while shielding his daughter from the Royal Guards. Yu A-rin, drenched in her foster father’s blood. Hwae members sacrificing themselves to get her out.
Touching stuff, in hindsight.
And the first Hwae operative the Sedao nabbed in that raid? That was Imaetal himself—Kwak Jae-hyun.
Not this time, though.
I knew better now, having dealt with them directly. Their intel network stretching into the palace itself, their espionage chops. These were too valuable an organization to blow on a stunt like this.
“You’d throw away the whole group to protect the king’s bloodline? That the pitch?”
“That’s how it shakes out.”
I asked without tipping my hand, and the answer shot back instantly. But I twisted my lips into a smirk.
“You idiots.”
“…What’d you call us?”
“That’s why you’re branded terrorists wallowing in the gutters.”
The curse slipped through my teeth, and Imaetal’s vibe shifted. For the first time, I could almost see his face through the radio.
“Got the knife to our throat, so you’re gonna toy with us?”
“Toy? Your ‘plan’ looks more like a joke to me.”
I sneered exaggeratedly.
“We gotta save the royal blood, so let’s ditch every espionage edge and charge the Sedao head-on. Success or failure, all our embedded agents get rooted out—but hey, important cause, right?”
“What the—?”
“Even if it flops and one guy gets captured alive, dragging the whole org down? Worth it for precious royal blood. Let’s all hold hands, charge the wall, and die happy!”
Crackle.
Static burst from the radio. Sounded like he’d unconsciously gripped it too hard.
“You call this a plan?”
I dropped my voice low.
“Selfless loyalty, saving the nation, courage against evil—fine, noble as fuck. I get it, you’re saints.”
But listen.
I cut off Imaetal’s retort and kept going.
“If you’re gonna do good deeds, do ’em smart. Ditch the pointless martyr bullshit. Find a way we all live.”
“…What are you saying?”
“What else?”
Imagining Imaetal’s intrigued face, my smile deepened.
“I’m not joining your plan.”
“…!”
“You’re joining mine.”
“Body double… you’re saying prep one?”
“Yeah.”
Imaetal sounded incredulous after hearing my plan.
“The Welcoming Ceremony the day before the Grand Audience. I’ll make contact with Yu A-rin there, harvest her bio-data. Saliva, hair, blood—whatever.”
“…”
“Then use that to craft a double. Modeled right off the op target.”
You mean… make a clone?
Clone. Human replica.
Imaetal balked, but…
“It’s a Grade 1 restricted tech. The stuff out there’s defective—cells divide unevenly, dies in a month.”
Toy for commoners at best, but for this op, more than enough. All I needed was a meat puppet convincing enough as Yu A-rin. Slap on some marrow, teeth, blood, hair—a flesh lump in human shape.
“Facilities are ready on my end. Tested it on myself—pumps out a decent fake in an hour or two.”
“…Then what do we do?”
“Buy time. For securing Yu A-rin and swapping her with the prepped double.”
Hwae, Joseon’s top traitor outfit. Small numbers, but elite as hell. They could stall even the Royal Guards—Joseon’s peak fighting force—for a bit.
Get them on board, and success odds skyrocket.
Moo-young swears he can handle it… but pitting him against Royal Guards solo still feels iffy.
“While you tie up the Royal Guards, we swap the real Yu A-rin for the puppet at the rendezvous. Blow up the vehicle with the puppet inside to fake her death.”
“If that works…”
“Your org—and your intel nets embedded in the Sedao—stay intact. Makes grabbing Yu A-rin way smoother.”
“…”
“Better, right?”
He kept probing, suspicious of the sweet deal.
“Why should we buy into your op?”
“Don’t trust it? Stick to yours and all die hand-in-hand. Not my problem.”
That much was dead serious. If they couldn’t see that far, they weren’t worth using.
“No matter how much it’s ‘for Joseon,’ you don’t wanna sacrifice your own blood either.”
“…!”
I prodded, and Imaetal went quiet, mulling it over. But only briefly.
“One more thing.”
“Shoot, customer.”
“Yu Sang-hyun? What about the secondary target?”
Seemed he’d weighed it and was ready for next steps.
Hook, line, and sinker.
Fell for not sacrificing comrades, huh. Yeah, this was the Imaetal I knew.
Backing from ‘Hwae’ of all groups? Opens up real options.
Even targeting Yu Sang-hyun alongside the original goal.
Done thinking, I replied lightly.
“No worries there.”
Securing Yu A-rin made me a revolution hero anyway.
“I’ll handle it on my end.”
No way I’d let a heavyweight like Yu Sang-hyun die just like that.