Chapter 36
Chapter 36
"What the—?! What the hell is going on?!"
"Communications are down! What in the world...!"
Once the vibrations shaking the entire building finally subsided, even the bodyguards in the midst of subduing the monsters began to panic. The gear they relied on had suddenly been neutralized. Their cybernetic bodies, controlled by intricate electronic circuits and network systems, malfunctioned, refusing to respond properly.
And right then, fresh monsters pouring from the rift lunged at the bodyguards, throwing the once-smooth suppression operation into chaos.
"Damn it, they're coming! Maintain the fire line...!"
"The weapon systems in our cybernetics aren't working!"
Unlike the experimental monsters they'd been handling, these were freshly spawned from the rift. With their cybernetics offline, facing these beasts made any real defense impossible.
"H-Hold on?! At this rate...! Argh?!"
A monster broke through the fire line, slamming its claws into a bodyguard's chest. The hard-won defensive line began to crumble.
At this rate, the bodyguards would be wiped out.
But in that instant—
Thwish—!
A massive spear flew in from somewhere, piercing the lunging monster clean through.
"Reinforcements?"
The bodyguard captain muttered it, but his face drained of color the moment he saw the spear embedded in the beast. The character "禁" (Forbidden) etched into the shaft. The overwhelming aura pulsing from the blade. The oppressive pressure radiating from behind it.
"The Forbidden Army... already here?"
Forbidden Army.
The moment he whispered the name, dozens of long spears hurtled toward the monsters.
Boom—!
The spears struck with the force of tank shells. Where their aura-charged tips embedded, the monsters crumbled to dust.
"Frontal monster cluster neutralized."
"Rift location confirmed. Corrosion level: Stage 1."
"Respond per doctrine. First squad, draw blades."
At Forbidden Army Commander Kang Gam-hyeok's order, a portion of the Forbidden Army stepped forward, drawing their curved swords from their belts.
"Grk?! Groooar—!"
Their targets: the monsters spilling from the rift. The soldiers fixed the beasts with unwavering gazes and swung without hesitation.
Crack—!
Like plaster statues shattering, the monsters threatening the bodyguards vanished in an instant.
"First squad, advance while maintaining aura density. Second squad, switch to spears and suppress the rift."
The Forbidden Army soldiers receiving the follow-up orders scooped up the long spears from the ground and charged the rift.
The spears brimmed with majestic aura. The monsters guarding the rift rushed to intercept, but it was futile.
The Forbidden Army pressed forward smoothly, thrusting their spears into the rift's core.
Fwoosh—!
In a blinding flash, the black maw spewing monsters vanished without a trace.
"H-Huh...!"
"We... we lived... lived..."
The research lab building was spotless now, as if the nightmare had been an illusion. The bodyguards, tension snapping like a cut string, collapsed one by one.
But the captain's face remained rigid.
The Forbidden Army's personal intervention meant the court knew. Researching and experimenting on monsters—hell, even letting a rift open? That was treason, plain and simple. No defense.
And we tried to cover it up. We're guilty too...!
His thoughts reached that point.
Shing—!
The spear in the Forbidden Army soldier's hand transformed. From a single-bladed long spear to a three-pronged partisan.
And that partisan was now aimed at the cybernetically crippled bodyguards.
"Wh-What...!"
"Hear this, bodyguards of the Pungyang Jo Clan."
As bewildered bodyguards groaned, the Forbidden Army commander, Kang Gam-hyeok, addressed them.
"You are suspects in this rift incident and will be remanded to the Royal Inspectorate. Any objections?"
Realization dawned; the bodyguards' faces went ashen.
Defying the Forbidden Army was defying the throne. The captain bowed in surrender, but fired one last question at Kang Gam-hyeok.
"Young master... what of Young Master Jo Seong-hwan?"
Kang Gam-hyeok met his gaze coldly.
"He is currently facing off with Andong Kim Clan's Kim Hyun-woo."
"Hah...!"
The captain slumped to the floor, strength gone.
A rift in the heart of Hanseong. The Forbidden Army suppressing it. And now Andong Kim—Kim Hyun-woo himself—crashing the party.
"It's over."
All the clan's efforts to bury this had gone up in smoke.
"Grk! Groar—!"
A pack of monsters broke free of the bodyguards' fire line, charging toward the breached wall.
Jo Seong-hwan stared in shock, but—
Boom—!
Lightning from the sky incinerated dozens of them on the spot. They crumbled to ash.
Kim Hyun-woo leaped from the hovering helicopter, landing before Jo Seong-hwan.
"Explain yourself."
"...!"
Like a thief caught red-handed, Jo Seong-hwan staggered back.
But only for a moment. Gritting his teeth, he shouted at Kim Hyun-woo, refusing to yield.
"Hwae scum infiltrated our main house lab. Yes, researching monsters was wrong... but they orchestrated this mess!"
"Hwae... Hwae, you say."
A familiar name. Kim Hyun-woo's lips twisted in a strange smirk.
"I see. Invoke the traitors' name, and maybe you wriggle out of this mess."
He'd done the same when eliminating annoyances—dropping names to justify it.
"But how utterly obtuse."
"What?"
The smirk faded. Kim Hyun-woo glared down coldly.
"Even just researching monsters in the heart of Hanseong is unpardonable. But your beasts rampaged and tore open a rift."
He raised a hand. The Royal Inspectorate agents flanking him deactivated their optical camouflage.
"Even when His Majesty the Radiant Emperor purged monsters, this Hanseong held firm. Now it's fouled by monster filth. A rift even opened."
"...!"
"'Hwae's scheme,' 'traitor plot'—those pathetic excuses won't cover it."
That haughty gaze, looking down like he owned the throne. Jo Seong-hwan ground his teeth, forcing a grin.
"I'm the Pungyang Jo heir. A Forbidden Army member. You won't believe my testimony?"
"You're the lab's owner who bred monsters. The prime suspect who botched the cover-up. Cry 'Hwae' all you want—it sounds like desperate bullshit."
No comeback. Pungyang Jo had researched monsters. This disaster was on them.
No escape. Absolute peril.
Yet Jo Seong-hwan's mind fixated on one question.
Why... so fast?
The rift was real, but info control had been airtight until then. No reporters, not even an ant had sniffed around. The court couldn't know.
So how? How did Kim Hyun-woo arrive at this perfect moment? With a full Forbidden Army company, no less?
It's like... they were waiting for the rift to open here.
That thought led to one person.
The only one deep in his plans who could tip off Kim Hyun-woo about the lab: Kim Chang-un.
The Andong Kim bastard who'd killed Dugoseong—human trafficking head—to sabotage the clan event, then wormed his way in.
"Hah... haha! Hahahahaha...!"
Realization hit; Jo Seong-hwan laughed like a madman.
"I rescued that discarded trash from my clan... and he repays kindness with betrayal?"
Yes. It had to be him.
He'd swapped the cargo, sicced Hwae on him to pin him here. Let monster corpses pile up and rip the rift open, paving the way for Kim Hyun-woo to swoop in.
And what comes next is crystal clear.
Kim Hyun-woo would pin the rift blame on him, charge treason. He'd be dragged to the Inspectorate, tortured. Pungyang Jo crippled without an heir.
No one backs a treason-tainted clan.
Who gains most? Andong Kim.
With Pungyang Jo—their rival for supremacy—toppled, they'd rule Joseon unchallenged.
And I danced in their palm, blind to it all.
That naive thought: An Andong Kim bastard makes a fine pawn.
That naivety had cornered him. What a disgrace.
"Teaming with traitors to topple a rival clan? Andong Kim's hit rock bottom."
"What?"
Kim Hyun-woo's face twisted at Jo Seong-hwan's mutter.
Teaming with traitors? What nonsense?
He'd only gotten a tip about the lab from Chang-un; he didn't know the full story.
But Jo Seong-hwan couldn't know that. To him, Kim Hyun-woo was the puppetmaster, Chang-un his string-puller.
"Young Master Jo Seong-hwan. As a key witness, you'll accompany us to the Royal Inspectorate."
"Resistance is unwise. Please comply..."
The Inspectorate agents approached politely, restraints in hand—devices to seal aura use.
If those clamped on, he was done. Aura-less, he'd be their torture doll, spilling whatever Andong Kim wanted.
A fool kneeling to his daughter's killers. Like Iron Tiger Commander Yu Sang-hyun.
Can't end like that.
Boom—!
The aura storm that had crushed the Immortal earlier swirled anew.
Facing Andong Kim's heir meant going all-out.
Jo Seong-hwan unleashed his aura at maximum.
"Y-Young Master Jo Seong-hwan?!"
"What is this?! Defy orders, and it's treason...!"
Crunch—!
His mace pulverized the shouting agents' faces. Headless bodies toppled.
The chopper couldn't withstand the storm, smashing into the opposite building and exploding.
Kaboom—!
Flames, blast, corpses. Kim Hyun-woo's eyes narrowed.
"Resisting treason charges defies the court. You know that, yet still raise arms?"
"The court? Don't make me laugh. You mean Andong Kim's puppets."
Monopolizing key posts, lording aura over the groveling masses.
Andong Kim's marionettes.
"Such trash thinks they can frame me for treason? Drag me, Pungyang Jo heir, to the Inspectorate?"
Unacceptable. His clan. His plans. He couldn't abandon them!
"Very well, then..."
Teeth bared, Jo Seong-hwan's mace targeted Kim Hyun-woo.
Aura overwhelming the space. A storm blinding vision.
Deadly arena. Yet Kim Hyun-woo's face was serene.
The threatening aura. The raging gale.
Like a child's tantrum.
Enraged, Jo Seong-hwan growled, weapon steadying.
"You insist on bloodshed."
Crackle—!
Majestic thunder rent the air. Dense aura crushed the space, breath itself a struggle.
Output dwarfing Jo Seong-hwan's. At its center, Kim Hyun-woo radiated untouchable majesty.
"Kim Hyun-woo, don't tell me...!"
Joseon's mightiest aura wielder. Jo Seong-hwan gritted his teeth against it.
He saw the killing intent in that overlooking gaze.
"You never meant to arrest me... you planned to kill me from the start?"
"...Who knows."
No straight answer.
"Dragging you to the Inspectorate alive? Your clan's lawyers swarm."
Endless court battles. "I didn't know." "Rogue employees." "Young master uninvolved."
Wriggling free with excuses.
"And Father would bargain your release, use it to curb Pungyang Jo."
Even heinous crimes get swept under for noble houses.
"But I'm not Father."
Here stood not Kim Jung-heon, but Kim Hyun-woo.
New lord of Andong Kim. Future shaper of Joseon.
And his Joseon had no room for Jo Seong-hwan's ilk.
Noble-born, yet sunk in base lusts. A pest devouring the future.
"Pungyang Jo Clan, 24th generation of the Wuigong branch, Jo Seong-hwan."
Kim Hyun-woo intoned gravely.
"You researched monsters and spawned a rift in Joseon's capital, Hanseong—a capital crime. You murdered Royal Inspectorate agents dispatched to arrest you and drew arms against a fellow noble."
"...!"
"Thus, as a guardian of Joseon..."
The curved sword at Kim Hyun-woo's waist gleamed white. Jo Seong-hwan's pale face reflected in the blade, blue lightning coiling, ready to erupt.
"I hereby behead you... to uphold Joseon's law."