Why Has It Come to This? (1)
I was in my room.
The room was dark, unlit by any lamps, because officially, I wasn't supposed to be here at all.
"Fire! Fire!"
"There's a fire!"
Using those shouts as my cue, I silently counted in my head.
One, two, three…
Exactly at fifty, the door creaked open, and Palgap slipped inside.
But I hadn't sensed a thing.
Had I been looking away, I might not have even noticed him enter.
That was why I'd asked Palgap to handle this job.
The guy had the talent of a King of Killing.
"Young master, I brought what you asked for."
"Thanks."
Palgap handed me a pair of shoes—the very artifacts that bastard Gongho had been wearing.
I quickly stashed them in my secret pouch.
"Alright, just like we discussed—handle it."
"Yes, sir. Please take care of yourself."
"You too."
I headed to the prison with the Seo-u Warrior, the same one we'd visited yesterday.
Thanks to the blaze raging fiercely, everyone was frantic putting out the flames.
Everything was going according to plan.
Only the traitors and the warriors Gongho had brought were left in the annex, so I'd set it ablaze without hesitation.
Yeon Yu-mun had been staying there too, but thanks to the heads-up I'd given him, he'd stepped outside.
We slipped through the chaos and reached the prison unscathed.
From there, we used the secret passage Yeon Yu-mun had told us about and entered.
Soon, we arrived where the prince was held.
I drew my sword and sliced through the iron chains binding him in one stroke.
Thud.
The Seo-u Warrior caught his body before it hit the ground.
The prince's eyes fluttered open from the jolt, but his gaze was still unfocused.
He opened his mouth to speak, but I quickly covered it and whispered,
"Whatever you have to say, I'll hear it later. Stay quiet for now, please."
I stripped off his bloodied clothes and applied the Golden Spirit Salve to his wounds.
The injuries began healing rapidly.
Golden Spirit Salve really is the best.
Then I dressed him in the spare clothes we'd prepared.
We couldn't exactly sneak him out covered in gore, even if we were moving in secret.
I hoisted Prince Juhyeon onto my back.
—Let's go.
—Yes.
The Seo-u Warrior had offered to carry him at first, but he couldn't keep up with my pace, so I took the job.
We escaped the prison and made our way stealthily to Chunggyeong Fortress's gates.
Hanseok Daehyeop was waiting there, having knocked out all the guards.
"Did you rescue His Highness the Prince?"
"Yes. We just need to escort him to Beijing, but given the situation, we'll have to ride nonstop. Are you prepared, daehyeop?"
"Of course. I'll give it everything I've got."
I nodded and kicked off the ground.
Several hours later, the fire at the fortress lord's mansion was finally extinguished.
Only then could people catch their breath.
"My shoes! My shoes!"
Gongho, who had been more desperate than anyone to douse the flames, rushed back to his room.
He began searching frantically for his shoes.
But no matter how hard he looked, they were nowhere to be found.
"W-where did they go? My shoes…"
He couldn't hide his bewilderment. One of the envoys asked him,
"What's wrong?"
"My shoes are gone!"
"What's the big deal over a pair of shoes?"
Stung by the rebuke, Gongho shouted in frustration,
"Damn it! They're not just any shoes! They're artifacts! The One Step Thousand Ri Shoes!"
"A-artifacts?"
Just then, someone pointed to a corner of the room.
"There's something here that looks like shoes…"
Gongho bolted over. But what he saw was a charred ruin of a pair.
In truth, it was a decoy—ordinary shoes that Palgap had placed there on my orders.
Unaware of that, Gongho had no choice but to believe they were his precious artifacts.
Thud.
He collapsed right there.
His treasure, as dear as his own life, had burned away.
His vision whitened as grief welled up. He stared blankly into space, dazed.
That's when the prison warden came running, yelling,
"B-big trouble! The prince imprisoned there—he's gone!"
"What?"
"The chains were cut. Someone must have broken in."
At that, everyone forgot about artifacts and fires, rushing to the prison in a panic.
Sure enough, the chains were severed, and all that remained where the prince should have been was a blood-soaked undergarment.
Another man came sprinting up with a report.
"The gate guards were knocked out! Someone definitely infiltrated."
"Then who the hell…?"
"Let's think calmly. Knocking out the guards to escape means they'd have to take them down on the way in too, right?"
"But we confirmed the guards were fine just before the fire broke out."
"That means someone inside betrayed us?"
"Who? Who would do this?!"
The first suspects were the newcomers—me and my group.
But…
"Our young branch leader met with the strategist earlier and left right after."
"Is that true?"
"The guards saw it, and you saw him off yourself. Why ask?"
"Hmph, r-right."
"Then who…"
That's when the Yeo Eung-am Warrior spoke up.
"Th-there was one guy acting suspicious earlier. The one with the scar on his cheek."
"Dae-cheol?"
"Yes. Don't know his name, but he was carrying a bundle, glancing around nervously, heading somewhere in a hurry. It was odd."
"Find him."
At Gongho's command, they scattered to search, but the man was nowhere.
Gongho exploded in rage.
"That confirms it. Jin Dae-cheol—that Gold Guard traitor!"
It was settled: Gold Guard Jin Dae-cheol was the traitor. A couple of hours later.
In a shadowy corner of the fortress lord's mansion.
Jin Dae-cheol was bound to a pillar in the room I'd rented—a place known only to the fortress lord and Yeon Yu-mun.
Where am I? What's happening?
He remembered passing out. When he came to, he was here.
His pressure points were sealed, eyes blindfolded—he had no clue where he was or what was going on.
As he waited in fear for his points to unseal, the door opened.
A familiar voice reached him.
"Good to see you like this."
"…!"
Light flooded his vision, revealing the speaker.
His fellow Gold Guard, Kwon Jik, glaring at him with a cold expression.
"Had a nice dream, did you?"
"…"
"Time to wake up. Oh, right—you tortured His Highness the Prince, didn't you?"
He was the one who'd personally tortured Prince Juhyeon.
Kwon Jik's group had learned of it during today's chaos and were furious.
But they quickly regained their composure.
They realized why I hadn't told them outright.
'Don't act rashly.'
They'd worried he might cause a scene, but the mental training I'd given them held; they just bit their lips.
'He's probably angrier than us…'
Kwon Jik said to Jin Dae-cheol,
"To snap you out of that dream, looks like we'll need to lend a hand."
He drew a dagger. Seeing it, Jin Dae-cheol shuddered.
He knew full well Kwon Jik was even more skilled at torture than he was.
"And it'll take that kind of help to get the answers we want."
Agonizing pain followed.
His pressure points sealed, he couldn't even scream.
But no one pitied him.
Kwon Jik's voice whispered in his ear.
"Don't worry. We won't go as far as killing you. His Majesty the Emperor will judge your crimes."
Prince Juhyeon's hazy mind gradually sharpened.
He gritted his teeth.
Another round of torture-laced persuasion and threats was about to begin.
His original retainers hadn't started that way.
They'd tempted him with far greater wealth and honor than before.
Establish a kingdom in Chunggyeong Fortress and become king.
But he couldn't.
He knew it was time to stop exploiting Chunggyeong—and he knew how terrifying his father, the Emperor, truly was.
When he resisted, they resorted to extremes.
They'd subdued him by force and thrown him in the prison.
In the process, the eunuchs and warriors who'd tried to stop them and protect him were killed.
No time to mourn them before hellish days began.
Tortures he'd never heard or imagined, inflicting unimaginable pain on a person.
He endured them firsthand but never gave them the answers they wanted.
His father's wrath as Emperor terrified him more than any torture.
As a father, he was kind, but as sovereign—terrifying.
He'd witnessed it up close, so he knew.
And he trusted his father.
Believed he'd surely come to save him.
But the tortures intensified, his body reaching its limit.
Still, he never spoke.
He held on through sheer willpower.
His mind grew foggy; he thought this was the end.
Then someone fed him something sweet beyond words.
Like the nectar of legends.
He felt his ravaged insides healing.
A voice in his ear:
"You absolutely cannot die. Hold on till the end. Your reward for this suffering is coming soon."
That voice kept him steadfast the next day, though he fainted again.
Sensing something off upon waking, he opened his eyes.
A breathtakingly beautiful face swam into view.
He thought her a fairy.
Tried to beg for help—but her hand covered his mouth.
The voice again:
"Whatever you have to say, I'll hear it later. Stay quiet for now, please."
It was the same voice urging him to endure.
Relief washed over him; he passed out again—and now awoke.
Huh?
Something felt strange.
No stench of earth and blood—just a medicinal scent.
No pain.
Am I… dead?
His mind cleared; he felt needles in his body, voices nearby.
"Why hasn't His Highness regained full consciousness yet?"
A familiar voice—one of his eunuchs who'd stayed in the palace.
"His vitality was severely depleted. But thanks to the elixir we gave him beforehand, he's still alive."
Holding onto hope, he croaked,
"Ugh…"
"Your Highness!"
"Your Highness! Are you awake?"
"Ma-Manung?"
"Yes! It's Manung! Do you recognize my voice, Your Highness?"
"W-where… am I?"
"This is the palace, Your Highness's chambers."
"H-how? My chambers?"
He'd been captured in Yunam—opposite end of the empire from the Beijing palace.
"Gold Guard daehyeops, under His Majesty's orders, rescued you."
"Then who carried me?"
He vaguely recalled waking midway, someone running with him on their back.
Sweat-drenched effort.
And someone saying, "Young branch leader, let me carry him."
Eunuch Manung answered,
"Eun Seo-ho, the young branch leader."
Eun Seo-ho—he knew the name. His father doted on him.
"According to Gold Guard Hanseok Daehyeop, he played a decisive role in your rescue."
"Where is he now?"
He needed to thank his savior, explain Chunggyeong was innocent—they were wronged, ask for help.
"That's… he's not here."
"Not here?"
"He led the Gold Guard back to Yunam Province."
Shocked, Prince Juhyeon bolted up, shouting,
"N-no! The Chunggyeong lord is innocent!"
"Yes. We know."
"Huh? You… know?"
"Yes, Your Highness. They're heading to Yunam to punish the shameless traitors behind this and honor the fallen fortress lord and citizens."
"Ah… I see."
Tension drained; he collapsed back onto the bed, unconscious.
I was heading back to Yunam Province.
Aigoo, what a fate.
Back and forth from Beijing to Yunam how many times now…
At least we'd saved Prince Juhyeon before he died.
Without Seo Hyang Sojeo's advice, it would've been a disaster.
But the job wasn't done.
Palgap and the guards were still in Chunggyeong, and the traitors needed dealing with.
The Emperor had told me to name my reward later.
I already knew what I wanted.
Just leave me alone.
I'm a merchant, not a Gold Guard.