The Traitor Among the Nine
"Do… Do-ha, that claim of yours…"
"Yeah. It's true."
When Song Ho, Sect Leader of the Cheongseong Sect, asked the same question Namgung Je-u had, Do-ha answered without hesitation. As if he would suddenly appear just to mess around.
"I heard it straight from a noble-class demon."
"Do-ha. Are you seriously casting suspicion on the Nine Great Sects and One Guild based on something you heard from a demon?"
Gang Mu-gi, Sect Leader of the Jeomchang Sect, glared at Do-ha with open distaste. Absolute Being or not, this was going too far. Of all people to take at their word — a demon?
A single demon's claim could set the Nine Great Sects and One Guild at each other's throats.
"Do you not realize this story will sow chaos? I am beginning to wonder whether you are truly the Absolute Being we once knew. You never made mistakes like this before…"
"Is it you?"
"Excuse me?"
"I'm asking if the one from the Nine Great Sects and One Guild who crawled into bed with the demons is you. The second this comes up, you start muddying the waters? What, afraid you'll get caught, so you have to change the subject?"
Bang!
"What on earth are you—!"
A low, grinding pressure filled the air.
The moment Gang Mu-gi slammed the table and shot to his feet, Do-ha let his killing intent spill free.
"Bare your teeth at me one more time and I'll yank every last one out and wear them as a necklace. Got it?"
"…"
Gang Mu-gi's scowl collapsed; his head dropped before he even realized it. That killing intent. He had tasted it far too many times decades ago. He had been proud of how much stronger he had become — until Do-ha's aura dragged the old terror right back up.
"You all know how much I hate demons. You think I'd take a single word from one at face value and show up here like this?"
"…"
None of the sect leaders could answer. If they had been meeting him for the first time, perhaps. But every one of them knew exactly what kind of man Baek Do-ha was.
"I heard it from a demon bound to me by a soul contract."
"A… soul contract…"
The sect leaders who already understood what that meant nodded one after another. If that was true, the demon could not have lied. Under a soul contract, only the truth could leave its mouth.
What kind of idiot demon signs a soul contract with the Absolute Being…
Even mindless monsters wouldn't do something that stupid…
His life is over. Wait — he's a demon, so is it 'his demon-life'? Either way, poor bastard.
Unaware that the contracted demon was Baal, the sect leaders each felt a flicker of pity. Of all people to bind yourself to — Baek Do-ha.
"So one of us is a traitor."
"Yes. That's right."
Do-ha nodded at Grandmaster Bongma's words. Some bastard out there had sold himself to the Demon God for personal gain.
"What are we to do about this…"
Grandmaster Bongma fingered his prayer beads and let out a long sigh. The sects might check and counter one another, but he had always believed they shared the same will to protect the murim.
"Whoever it is, once they're caught they'll say the same thing. 'It wasn't for my own greed. It was an unavoidable choice to protect the murim.' Or, 'I did it for my sect.'"
"…"
"I don't know who you are, but don't think that garbage will work on me. The second those words leave your mouth, I'll spin your jaw clean off."
He was talking like a street thug, and not a single person in the room could stop him.
The chair scraped back.
"You'd better hide well. Because I will find you."
Do-ha rose and looked over the silent sect leaders one by one. Some were flustered. Some wore carefully blank faces. Someone among them was acting — but it would not take long to root them out.
"If you want to live, I'll give you one way out."
"?"
Every head turned toward him.
"Attack me right now. I lost my power fighting the Demon God. So if you want to survive, hit me here and run."
"…"
The sect leaders' faces went blank in unison. He said he would give them a way out — and that was it?
"If you were the sort of man who would fall for a lie like that, you never would have taken the Demon God's hand in the first place."
Grandmaster Bongma snorted and shook his head.
"I'm serious, though…"
Watching the others' reactions, Do-ha scratched his cheek. He really had gotten weaker — why wouldn't they believe him? There were even sect leaders here who had reached the extreme of the Hwa-gyeong. That meant they could sense his energy. And even they did not believe a word of it.
Crunch.
"Haa… So what now?"
Back in the Alliance Leader's office, Namgung Je-u stared at Do-ha. You start a fire like that and then stuff snacks in your mouth? As if things weren't already complicated enough — he needed the sect leaders' cooperation on the Western Continent support issue.
"What do you mean, what now. Find the one who crawled into bed with the Demon God and cut him down."
"Fair enough. Hey, Je-u — where did you buy these? These aren't Eastern Continent snacks."
Canteas, sprawled on the sofa, pointed at the bag.
"Huuuh… These damn idiots, I swear…"
Looking at the two of them acting like nothing was wrong, Je-u felt a headache blooming. When he had thought Do-ha was dead, he had missed him desperately. Now that the man was back, his head was ready to split. Before, he hadn't been Alliance Leader, so he could just let it slide. Not anymore. Every time that bastard caused a scene, Je-u's heart dropped through the floor.
"Don't stress so much. You've got to cut the sprout before it grows."
"What you did today didn't cut a sprout — it grew one. Once the sect leaders start watching and doubting each other, the cohesion of the Nine Great Sects and One Guild falls apart. And that makes them easy prey for the Unorthodox factions, the Blood Cult, and the Demonic Cult."
"Sometimes cohesion needs to break."
"What?"
"Hey, Namgung Je-u. You sit in the Alliance Leader's chair and suddenly turn into a brick wall? Wake up. That 'cohesion' you're talking about is the poison. The rot has already started from the inside — and you're still clinging to unity? This is exactly when you put distance between yourselves."
Do-ha, still chewing, fixed Je-u with a steady look. He understood the position Je-u was in. But this was not the time to talk about sticking together. It was the time to pull apart. That was why he had said it out loud in front of everyone. When the rot is already inside, staying close only means you rot with it.
"The Unorthodox factions, the Blood Cult, the Demonic Cult — yeah, you have to watch them. But you know what you have to watch even more carefully than them?"
"What."
"A traitor among your own. They're a bomb, plain and simple. That cohesion of yours is just hugging the bomb to your chest."
"I know that. I'm not an idiot…"
Je-u exhaled hard. As if he lacked even that much judgment.
"You ever think about handing the Alliance Leader seat to someone else?"
"Where did that come from?"
"Ever since you sat in that chair, you think too much. No — you worry too much."
Do-ha knew why Je-u had changed. His friend Tunrad had died betrayed by his own comrades. The Demon God Cult had reappeared and seized the Northern Continent. And not long ago, Dimerof had nearly been killed. All of it had driven Je-u into a corner. Even simple decisions, he twisted over and over, hunting for some different outcome. Look at him now. He knew there was a traitor inside the Nine Great Sects and One Guild, and still he couldn't make a clean call because he was fretting over outside enemies. If even one of the Nine fell, a massive hole would open in the murim — and the outside enemies would pour straight through it.
"I get what you're saying, but don't worry. I haven't gone that stupid yet."
"I'm not worried. If you do get stupid, I'll beat the sense back into you. Call it a pressure-point treatment."
"That's not pressure-point treatment. That's just beating someone up."
"If you put your heart into it for a friend, it's treatment."
"Anyway — what are you actually planning to do? You said it so openly, they'll just dig in deeper."
Wouldn't it have been better to move in secret and gather evidence? Traitor or not, they were still sect leaders who ran entire schools. Their minds were sharp. With Do-ha coming at them like this, they were surely running a thousand calculations already.
"Relax. I already laid the bait."
"Laid the bait?"
Namgung Je-u tilted his head at Do-ha's confidence. When had he laid any bait? All he had done earlier was play the thug.
A few days later.
Footsteps hammered the rock. A rush of wind.
Someone came flying up the cliff on light-body technique and landed beside Do-ha, who was looking down over the village from the heights.
"Hah… hah… Why are you even up here?! I nearly fell and died climbing this!"
"You actually made it. I figured you might not."
Do-ha, nursing a drink on the cliff edge, smiled at Dokgo Man, Chief of the Beggars' Sect. The place he had chosen was nearly vertical — a cliff he himself had sheared clean years ago to halt a demon advance. There was no path up. And Dokgo Man had climbed it anyway.
"You really are the Chief."
"Heh. Of course I am."
Dokgo Man grinned and shrugged. His martial arts might be on the weaker side, but his light-body technique was excellent. If you were going to wander around begging for a living, you needed fast feet.
"Did you find anything?"
"Yes."
"Let's hear it."
Do-ha looked back down at the village and took another swallow. Before he had shown himself to the sect leaders, he had brought Dokgo Man with him to the Martial Alliance Headquarters. He had set a formation and hidden the man so thoroughly that no one had known he was there.
"After you… caused a scene in the reception hall…"
"Caused a scene?"
"Ah— after you made your, uh, bold move, I spent the next few days moving through the region and watching. The places that went quiet, just like you said they would — there were six of them."
All six had cut back their sect activities and were lying low as if the dead had risen. The remaining three were carrying on as usual — sending support, even holding village festivals.
"So the one that sold out to the demons is one of those six."
"Why one of the six, and not one of the other three?"
"Because they have something to hide, so they're keeping their heads down."
"You're never going to be Beggars' Sect Leader. Not if you're this thick…"
"…"
Dokgo Man's face scrunched into a sulk.
"It's not one of the six you named. It's one of the three."
Not the ones that went quiet — one of the three still acting like nothing had changed. They had judged that suddenly going quiet would look suspicious, so they kept doing exactly what they had always done.
"Which three didn't change their behavior?"
"The Ami Sect, the Hwasan Sect, and the Kunlun Sect."
"Hmm."
Do-ha nodded at Dokgo Man's report.
"Shall I dig deeper and find out which of the three it is?"
"No need. I already know."
"What?? How—"
Dokgo Man nearly jumped out of his skin. The man had been sitting up here drinking the whole time — how could he already know?
"You're in a place packed with beggars, chatting with your friends. Then the people around you suddenly go quiet. What do you do?"
"Well… I'd glance around, catch the hint, and go quiet too."
"Exactly."
Do-ha pointed down at the village below the cliff. Martial artists who should have been spread across the whole region had been vanishing one by one, until only those with critical duties remained.
"They figured if they kept acting the same as always, no one would notice. But then the friends next to them start going quiet, one after another. Only then do they sense something's off — and they go quiet too. Awkwardly."
The city spread out below them was doing exactly that.