Poison Master (7)
"Just one more thing."
Docheol looked at the other man's face and smiled. Then he shrugged, nodded, and replied.
"Ask."
"If you were worried about the Poison Human's safety, could you not have simply extracted them quietly? Why cause an incident like this? Was it truly necessary to go this far?"
"At first, I thought the same."
Docheol pulled over a chair. The sight of a lone chair sitting by itself in the desolate clearing was deeply strange. Docheol sat down and continued.
"But when I actually considered just extracting the Poison Human, another thought occurred to me. Wouldn't extracting them be the same as openly announcing that an outside force knows the Poison Human's identity? Wouldn't the ones studying the Poison Human have prepared their own defensive measures, giving them time to brace for an attack? And besides, if the Murim Alliance used this incident to rally the sects, wouldn't that put me in an inconvenient position?"
*******
"At that moment, the Family Head elder announced that the Poison Human had escaped."
The servant who had been working in the kitchen at the time spoke with a slurred manner and could not properly move one side of his face, due to injuries he had suffered in that incident. Even as drool trickled down his face, he did his best to explain the situation in detail.
"I didn't understand what that meant back then. The Poison Human escaped? How could the Poison Human in the underground have escaped? I could not make sense of it either, so I looked at Tang Man-ho, the young master. And the young master, with his eyes wide and round, stared right back at me. He set down the papers he was holding and hurried outside. I just ran after him without thinking."
The servant spread out a map of the clan compound and pointed to a building in the corner. It was a storehouse set apart from the other structures.
"The young master said things were kept in this storehouse, prepared in case the Poison Human ever escaped. He said if the Poison Human escaped, we had to get the things from this storehouse first. But when we followed the young master there, we found Elder Tang Yeong-hwan already ahead of us. The young master said, 'Elder! The Poison Human has escaped. We must open the door quickly and take out the things inside!' But do you know what Elder Tang Yeong-hwan did when he heard that?"
The servant raised a trembling arm and made a slicing motion through the air.
"He took something out from his chest and flung it wide, like this."
******
Docheol extended his hand. The motion sliced through the air, making a sound like wind.
"So I decided to shift direction. I decided to craft a story of my own. Think about it. Even if I claimed the Poison Human had escaped, what sect would dare to intervene if I framed the whole affair as an internal family matter?"
"So that is why you had Tang Yeong-hwan put himself out front?"
Docheol nodded.
"You catch on quickly. That is right. I coordinated with Tang Yeong-hwan in advance. What happened at the Tang Clan that day was not a disaster caused by outside intervention making the Poison Human escape. It was simply Tang Yeong-hwan enticing the Poison Human and staging a rebellion from within to devour the clan."
*******
"That son of a bitch deserves to be torn apart and killed! After the Tang Clan so generously took him in! He forgot that kindness and betrayed us!"
A servant lay wrapped in bandages. He was the one who had been in charge of the storehouse. His injuries were so severe that he could not move a muscle, and according to the physicians, he was unlikely to survive the month. Even with his life hanging by a thread, he spewed his fury with passion.
"Tang Yeong-hwan! That damn bastard! I was against it from the very beginning! I knew it was disrespectful to the Family Head, but I spoke up anyway! There is no precedent for bringing people who have lived outside for so long into the main house! You should not bring in a man whose research results are not even clear! But the Family Head just laughed me off, even when I gave such loyal counsel."
The servant caught his breath. Every time he exhaled, a violent, rattling cough burst out. Only after coughing so hard his whole body trembled could he barely continue.
"A commotion had started in the front courtyard, and that bastard Tang Yeong-hwan came running. Wondering what was happening, I asked him. What is all this about? And then the bastard did not even hesitate—he flung a fistful of black powder right in my face! Black powder! Good heavens, the moment I breathed that in, my breath stopped and my body stiffened solid so I could not move. After I collapsed like a wooden log, the bastard rolled me with his foot like trash and shoved me into the brush."
The servant's face was twisted with rage. He ground his teeth for a long while, unable to contain his fury, before he barely managed to collect his emotions and keep talking.
"And then I heard the voice of our young master, Tang Man-ho. I tried to scream for him not to be deceived, but my voice would not come out. And do you know what happened next? I heard the sound of another handful of powder being thrown, and the young master began screaming. It was a truly horrible scream. I do not know how long he had been scheming, but that bastard had been plotting to betray our clan from the very beginning! Ungrateful son of a bitch!"
******
"In the end, Tang Yeong-hwan was nothing more than an old man who never properly learned martial arts. Tang Man-ho, even if he had ingested poison, was not someone who could be subdued by an ordinary old man. There was someone else who actually subdued Tang Man-ho."
At the question, Docheol nodded.
"Tang Man-ho had indeed learned some martial arts to a certain degree, so he was not a man Tang Yeong-hwan could subdue alone. As you likely already know, is there not a peak master right here? A man who can simply butcher someone who has clumsily learned a bit of martial arts."
"...When did he infiltrate the manor?"
"Think back. Did the testimonies of the manor servants not clearly report an explosion sounding from underground? What in the world could have exploded? And in that chaos, who could have gained entry to the underground?"
******
"There was an accomplice. Yes. He was wearing servant's clothes, but his face was covered with a mask, so I could not tell who he was. It was clear he was not one of ours. The moment the young master breathed in the black powder and started coughing, he burst out from behind us and brought an axe down on the young master's head."
The servant's body trembled violently as he spoke those words.
"The young master did not die on the spot. His eyes turned blood-red, and he clutched his head and screamed. The bastard left the screaming young master there and punched me in the head. My vision flashed bright, and I remember nothing after that."
******
The old servant let out a deep sigh. He clutched his head, took several deep breaths, and finally managed to open his mouth.
"The Family Head kept shouting. He screamed, demanding to know why no one was coming from the storehouse. Meanwhile, the Poison Human was slaughtering every servant who tried to block her path. It was a truly horrifying spectacle. When the servants and warriors rushed at her with clubs and swords, she merely swung her arm once, and a poison mist spread, causing everyone caught in it to collapse after only a few steps."
He spoke, clenching his trembling hands.
"I was just sitting in the corner, watching the situation unfold. The Family Head screamed that there was no other choice and ordered everyone to throw down their weapons. People who had belatedly fetched spears and bows began surrounding the Poison Human and leveling their weapons at her. Seeing that, the Poison Human was startled too, and her body stiffened. Since she had not properly mastered martial arts yet, she seemed weak against suppression from a distance. I thought that might be the end of it."
The old servant turned his head. Sunlight was pouring in through the window. Facing the light with his bleary eyes, the servant blinked hard and continued.
"But then, Elder Tang Yeong-hwan suddenly appeared and shouted. To stop. Because he shouted in such an urgent, high voice, both the servants and the Family Head turned their heads. The archers lowered their bows, and only the warriors with spears remained on guard, their eyes fixed on the Poison Human."
"And what happened next?"
"...I still remember. While everyone's eyes were on the elder, a man suddenly burst out from the side. He was wearing servant's clothes, but he was no servant. He swung a two-handed axe toward the place where the archers and warriors were densely packed and struck the ground. The earth split apart with a sound like an explosion, sending the Tang Clan warriors flying in every direction."
The servant trembled violently, waving his hand in the air.
"And then the Poison Human did not miss the opening and scattered poison into the air, and the warriors who had lost consciousness and collapsed were all swept up in the poison and perished. It was a truly horrific sight. And there, in the middle of it all, the Family Head stood alone."
******
Docheol spoke with a satisfied smile.
"I can still vividly hear the Tang Clan Family Head's voice shouting at Tang Yeong-hwan. 'Brother, why in the world?' It truly sounded as if he could not understand at all."
Docheol looked at the questioner, who was at a loss for words, and spread his hands. Then he said this.
"Evil deeds are always repaid in kind someday. But the Family Head seemed unable to grasp that."