Is There Anyone in the World Who Knows Me? (3)
Is There Anyone in the World Who Knows Me? (3)
At my gesture, one of the men untied the prisoner's gag. The moment the prisoner saw me, his eyes flared with killing intent and he shouted.
"Do your worst! I'll tell you bastards nothing!"
"If you played around in the Hao Sect and then came to the Zhongnan Sect, aren't you already well acquainted with switching masters? That Lü Bu of the three surnames changed his three times and still made his name as a peerless general under heaven—what's two times matter? How about you just open your mouth?"
My words genuinely seemed to piss off the Zhongnan Sect henchman. The others writhed like caterpillars, convulsing, while the one whose gag was removed ran his mouth as ungagged mouths do.
"Shut up! Even in this business, there's such a thing as loyalty!"
I raised the corner of my mouth and replied.
"I figured you lot had no bottom at all, so hearing you talk about having a bottom is fascinating."
"You think I'll talk just because you provoke me? Go ahead and torture me! No matter what torture you use, I won't open my mouth! Don't you dare disregard the pride I've upheld all this time working as an informant!"
"I've no intention of disrespecting you. It's only regrettable that we meet in such unfortunate circumstances."
"What?"
I rolled up my sleeves. At my signal, just as prearranged, a cauldron filled with water was hoisted onto the firewood. Beside it, another cauldron was being prepared. Watching the cauldron being hoisted, the man looked slightly flustered.
"Do you happen to know who I am?"
The man studied my face closely, then narrowed his brow and answered.
"...Aren't you the Crimson Ring Sect Leader, Docheol?"
He was clearly a capable one after all. I nodded and said.
"These friends here have decided... to abandon this operation. So they've handed your custody over to me. You see, I have something of a twisted hobby. Either entertain my hobby. Or obediently spill your information and meet a comfortable death. I'd be grateful if you'd pick one or the other."
The man hesitated for a moment as he eyed the cauldron, but without yielding, he shouted.
"Fine! Do your worst! Let's see what kind of bullshit the Crimson Ring Sect's Docheol, famed as a great hero, is up to!"
"...Could you say that again?"
I spoke, fighting the urge to grin.
"What?"
"Who's up to what kind of bullshit?"
The man tilted his head and said.
"The Crimson Ring Sect's Docheol, famed as a great hero..."
"Mm. Good."
Satisfying. My good deeds were already known to the world, and I was being called a great hero. I grinned and waved my hand. Following my gesture, men swarmed in and hoisted the Zhongnan Sect henchman up. He seemed to have foreseen his end from the moment he saw the cauldron. He shouted.
"Fine! Do your worst! I will never! open my mouth!"
"Please do keep it that way. Boil the water!"
They threw him into the cauldron and lit the firewood. Slumped inside the cauldron like a chicken being boiled, half his body submerged, the man only writhed and couldn't resist at all. The self-proclaimed martial artist who came with me spoke in a flat voice.
"We've severed the tendons in his limbs and suppressed his pressure points, so he can't do anything. Proceed without concern."
"Perfect. Thank you."
Now the waiting time had come. The men bound on the ground blinked and glared at me with tense expressions. The man inside the water clenched his teeth, breaking out in cold sweat as the water heated.
"Keuk... keuk...!"
When the water warmed enough to start steaming, he began reacting. His body writhed and he started letting out groans. I waited for him to react more.
The water began to boil.
"Aaaaargh! Aaaaaargh!"
The man thrashed inside the water like a live fish, struggling desperately. Even martial artists suffer the same agony when thrown into boiling water. For a martial artist whose pressure points were suppressed and couldn't use inner energy, that agony would be multiplied several times over.
"Aaaaaaargh! Uwaaaaaargh!"
The screaming was so horrifying that I turned my head away for a moment. When I turned, the other operatives were glaring at me, eyes bulging. It was the kind of look that said if they survived this, I'd be the first one they killed.
I raised my hand and said.
"Pull him out."
Since he'd been hung from a wooden pole and lowered in like smoked meat to begin with, just lifting the pole was enough to fish the man out of the water.
"Keuuu...! Keuuueuk...!"
A martial artist is still a martial artist even when thrown into boiling water. Even if his face and body were cooked bright red, he didn't die that easily. The man glared at me with his burned face and spoke.
"You, you son of a bitch...!"
"Now, move him to the cauldron beside it."
Following my order, the man, flushed bright red, was relocated to the other cauldron. The moment he plunged into the cold water, the man shuddered as if undergoing some other form of torture entirely.
"Kuuuuuu! Uuuueuk!"
I looked at the other men. The bound men flinched, but still stared at me with fierce eyes. I gave them a smile, then snapped my fingers. At my command, our collaborators brought out white sacks from deeper inside the cave.
Both the man inside the cauldron and the men bound on the ground focused their gazes on the sacks. The ones who'd already guessed the contents couldn't hide their horror, while the man lying in the cauldron, preoccupied with his wounds, had no attention to spare for what was in the sacks.
I spoke.
"Pour it into the cauldron."
At my order, the sack was carried toward the other cauldron holding the man. As a shadow fell over his head, he raised his head with a bewildered look even through the pain.
And the moment the white sack opened and the white grains revealed themselves, that expression surged into horror and terror.
"It's salt."
"Uwaaaaaaaargh! Aaaaaaaargh!"
Salt poured over the burned man's body. Like a fish being salted, the man screamed again, his whole body trembling violently. The saltwater seeped into his wounds, and whenever he tried to escape, the salt grains were roughly scrubbed over him.
Amidst the unbearable agony, the man began screaming again and again.
"Uwaaaaaaa! K-kill me! I said kill me! Uwaaaaaargh!"
"Tell us what information you know, and I'll let you die."
"Kuuuuuueuk! Aaaaaaargh!"
When I told him to give up the information, he answered with screams instead. I'd thought I was using a fairly harsh method, but was it still insufficient to break the spirits of martial artists? I spoke quietly to the assistant beside me.
"This could take about three days."
"That's fine. The effects look promising."
I was relieved he had a more straightforward temperament than I'd expected.
I gestured. The salt-cured Zhongnan Sect henchman was dragged out of the cauldron. His entire body was cooked bright red, salt had been dashed over it, and he was shriveled up completely. Yet he was still alive, and I tossed him down right beside the others as if to show them.
Then, several people came from inside carrying medicinal herbs and bandages. When they showed them applying medicine to his body and wrapping bandages around him, the bound Zhongnan Sect henchmen froze, unable to even blink properly.
Looking at them, I spoke.
"Don't worry. Martial artists don't die easily. So, I'll give you another chance to choose from now. Will you entertain my hobby? Or will you face death preserving your dignity as martial artists? Since you can't use your hands or feet anyway, if any of you have something to say, just nod your..."
"Mmph! Mm! Mmph! Mmmmph! Mmph!"
"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph-mmph! Mmph!"
Before my words even ended, the Zhongnan Sect henchmen nodded desperately. Their eyes were bloodshot, and cold sweat streamed down their faces. The Zhongnan Sect henchman who'd been selected as the first batter, his body cooked bright red, ground his teeth watching his comrades betray him.
"Y-you traitors... bastards... as informants... are you not... ashamed...!"
I thought that guy was something else. If he'd met the right era and the right people, might he not have made a name for himself as a hero?
Since there was no reason to torment them further, I decided I'd just kill them all cleanly once we got the information.
*******
"After interrogating them separately in isolated areas and cross-referencing their testimonies, their accounts matched. It's hard to imagine they would have fabricated two different methods to decipher the code, and indeed, the coded messages we obtained could be decrypted using the method they gave us."
Beheaded corpses rolled about the cave. In their final moments, what had the men who honestly spilled their information been thinking? With our backs to the corpses, we were scanning the documents. I spoke to the assistant standing beside me.
"You've worked hard following my instructions."
"Not at all. It was only what had to be done. Anyway, now that we can decrypt the code and have inserted one of our agents into their communication network as an informant, tracking down Jong Yuseop's whereabouts is only a matter of time."
"I look forward to it."
I wanted to torment Jong Yuseop quickly.
How fulfilling must the days be, tormenting a peak-level master with a master of unfathomable realm at my back?
Behind my face full of anticipation, the assistant muttered while taking notes.
"By the way, I learned something new. Martial artists weaken when boiled in water..."
Since it was true that they weakened, I decided not to quibble.