Chapter 41
Beep.
"5,700 won."
"...A cup ramen costs 5,700 won?"
"Ah, it's the location. Prices are a bit... like that here."
What kind of location excuse is that for a convenience store in Hanseong's central layer? I narrowed my eyes and shot back, but the clerk just shrugged like it wasn't his fault.
Fair point. He didn't set the price on the cup ramen, and kicking up a fuss would just make me look like a problem customer. In the end, I poured hot water slowly over the overpriced junk that cost three times what it should.
"Still, calling someone out in a hurry and then showing up this late yourself?"
I muttered that, thinking of the guy—Imaetal—who'd specified the meetup spot via Chorangital. He'd dragged me here saying it was urgent, but the promised location was some random convenience store I'd never seen before, and the one who'd summoned me hadn't even bothered to show.
Sure, we'd just wrapped up a big job, but this was next-level leisurely.
"Should've just let Yu A-rin die back when we rescued her."
I grumbled that, picturing Imaetal's prolonged silence. Meanwhile...
[Emergency Breaking News] Pungyang Jo Clan's treason splashed across every screen on the street, under a blood-red headline that looked ominous even at a glance.
[Breaking News] "Last night, a battle broke out between the Royal Guard and clan members at the Pungyang Jo Clan main house in Namyangju. Reporter Han Ye-won is on the scene..."
[Ongoing Coverage] "Pungyang Jo Clan's heavyweights are demanding a reinvestigation, and Namyangju is effectively in a state of civil war..."
"Those ruthless bastards. They've already pushed into Namyangju?"
Who else but Kim Jung-heon? The man processed things with chilling speed.
Well, sure. Even if they've lost their heir, with monster research charges hanging over them, it's not easy to refute outright.
Public support for the Pungyang Jo Clan had hit rock bottom, and all the Sedao Clans tangled up with them were getting stripped bare wholesale. And with the Andong Kim Clan—second only to them in the rankings—personally hammering away, it was no contest.
For the media, gagged by court directives, this was a rare chance to actually do their jobs.
With public opinion, the press, and even fellow vested-interest Sedao Clans piling on the Pungyang Jo Clan... in this chaos, who stood to gain the most spotlight?
Right on cue, the screen filled with Kim Hyun-woo at a press conference, fielding questions from reporters.
"The Pungyang Jo Clan and their faction have committed an outrage that shakes heaven and earth. As fellow Sedao Clans, it is our duty to suppress them swiftly..."
A voice so curt it made the reporters awkward, an intimidating aura, and now he wasn't even bothering to hide the aura leaking out.
No matter when I see him, what a pain in the ass.
I thought that as I cracked open the fully steamed cup ramen lid.
Having uncovered the monster research truth and personally executed Jo Seong-hwan, who ran the labs, Kim Hyun-woo was basically a hero to the people of Joseon.
I eyed him indifferently for a moment.
"Mind if I join you for a bit?"
As I shoveled ramen into my mouth while staring at the screen, an old man spoke up.
A hat pulled low, fishing vest, shabby clothes caked in dust. And the plum blossom badge on his chest.
Spotting it, I slid over a bit.
"Veteran?"
"Veteran? Nah, just a doddering old fool."
He waved it off casually and plopped down next to me, twisting open his green soju bottle.
"...I didn't say it was okay to sit yet."
"Gwahhh! Good—!"
Deaf as a post.
Gulping straight from the bottle without a glass, he was the picture of a drunkard. I gave up and buried my face in my ramen.
Why did every "new product" taste so off? As I chewed the noodles...
"All of Joseon's media reciting Yongbi Eocheonga like they've rehearsed it."
His gaze fixed on the building's screen. I glanced up at his face. The wrinkled skin flushed red—not just from the booze.
"Kim Jung-heon must've pulled strings."
I chimed in on his grumbling.
"It's a fact they committed heaven-shaking crimes. Kim Jung-heon might not like the mess, but he won't let a gift horse slip by."
He always picked the most efficient path in any situation—even if it went against his own will. That was the father from my memories, Kim Jung-heon.
"Thanks to that, the Andong Kim Clan gets to suppress their rival, and heir Kim Hyun-woo claims the glory as Joseon's hero. Heh, what a..."
The old man chuckled darkly, his eyes turning to me.
"From your perspective—or ours—this is just feeding the dog after all that work, isn't it?"
Ours. I paused at that, scanning the room.
The bored clerk at the counter and the customer arguing with him. A young monk picking snacks while holding his master's hand. Gisaeng chattering loudly, spit flying everywhere.
It looked like any convenience store... but.
"Tch."
No doubt about it. They all pretended to mind their business, but every eye was on me.
So the contact's already happened without me knowing.
Imaetal just hadn't shown in person. Specifying this store meant they were using the whole place as a hideout. How they'd dodged the Royal Guard's eyes was beyond me. The more I thought about it, the more absurd they seemed.
"What do you think, kid? That's my take."
"Short-term, yeah."
The old man set down his bottle. This wasn't drunk rambling anymore.
I chose my words carefully before speaking.
"But if the Andong Kim Clan monopolizes power like that... you think the other noble houses will sit still?"
"The other Sedao Clans will start checking the Andong Kim Clan?"
"Exactly. And right on cue—there."
I pointed at the screen.
Live news scrolling: Gyeongju Kim Clan, Pungsan Hong Clan, and Yeonan Lee Clan demanding public hearings on the investigations.
"They committed heaven-shaking crimes, yes—but dragging the whole clan down with guilt by association is wrong!"
"We must clarify the purpose of the monster research and exactly what was studied. Bullying them without full disclosure is no way to treat a clan!"
"What bullshit."
Propriety, courtesy. Defending a case that could've fed millions in Hanseong to monsters, and spouting that crap.
These nobles got more astonishing by the day. Sure, technically it was all my doing, but whatever.
"They say even the rich last three years after ruin. They'll hunker down now with their crimes exposed, but the Pungyang Jo Clan won't fall to this level of scrutiny."
Tens of trillions in cash alone, intangible assets too vast to tally.
"While Patriarch Jo Gang-un and the elders stall... the younger generation will slip the noose slickly."
"In a decade or so, the Pungyang Jo Clan will rebound, hungry to reclaim what's lost."
If nobles even exist in this country by then. I swallowed that last bit and slurped some broth.
"Gwah!"
Thinking of the Pungyang Jo Clan getting pulverized made the spicy broth hit even harder.
"Kim Jung-heon knows it too, so he's rushing. If he doesn't wrap this quick, Hanseong'll drown in civil war."
Online chatter painted Namyangju—their home turf—as a warzone already. If it spread, even the Andong Kim Clan couldn't quash it all.
"To crush the chaos early, the Andong Kim Clan ramps up pressure on Pungyang Jo. And the harsher the crackdown..."
"The more noble houses wary of Andong Kim Clan's power multiply."
The old nobles on TV bellowed at reporters. Rage masking fear. Obvious why—they figured if second-place Pungyang Jo got crushed, they were next.
"Houses opposing Andong Kim will back Pungyang Jo's rebuild. Andong Kim can't let that slide."
"They'll hunt supporters, real or secret, and those houses will push back."
"Spawning more opposition..."
"Gwah!"
The old man drained his bottle with an admiring grunt.
"A perfect vicious cycle."
"Spot on."
That's why I'd insisted on killing Jo Seong-hwan this op. Pungyang Jo Patriarch Jo Gang-un—unlike Kim Jung-heon—was a real doting father.
With Kim Hyun-woo as the killer, Andong Kim and Pungyang Jo were now blood enemies under the same sky.
Andong Kim grows stronger, no rivals left? Nah, opposite. Their rise breeds rebellion among the nobles—and their sharpened blade turns on those nobles.
"In-fighting where nobody wins, like sharpening knives to carve your own flesh."
News and papers wallpapered with Jo Seong-hwan's death. The old man gazed at them with delight, setting down his empty bottle contentedly.
"You didn't just kill Pungyang Jo's heir—you cracked the solidarity of the entire Sedao Clan system."
He eyed me like a proud parent.
"And now that I've explained my side..."
I turned to him.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Guess."
He met my gaze steadily, the drunkard gone, replaced by a solemn stare.
Any Hwae execs I remembered like this? Nah. I'd scoured the Royal Guard database on them...
......
.......
"...No way?"
The Hwae exec I couldn't ID. It clicked.
The one whose identity evaded us even as we purged every Hwae agent in my past life. Manager of Hwae's vast data trove—the reason Hwae was Joseon's top traitor.
The "Great Elder" the agents revered.
"Yangban-tal."
"Sharp one."
Shrrrrk—!
The transparent store window fogged opaque, the old man's optical camouflage peeled away.
Revealed: a kindly elder beaming brightly.
I swallowed hard.
"Pleasure to meet you, Young Master Kim Chang-un."
The man beside me was Joseon's #1 traitor for centuries.
Hwae's leader, Yangban-tal.