Chapter 57: Can't We Just Make One?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 57: Can't We Just Make One?
After infiltrating the building, Choi Geon immediately headed for the Sect Leader's Office on the top floor.
‘Dangerous items or documents that could serve as evidence are usually managed directly by the leader.’
In the past, Choi Geon had been the Martial Alliance's Hidden Sword, tasked with uncovering and punishing the corruption and misdeeds within the Orthodox Faction.
Though he possessed more pride as an Orthodox Faction Member than anyone, he had also witnessed countless instances of the Orthodox Faction's duplicity and ugliness.
‘They're the kind of bastards who'd do anything to maintain their power and authority.’
It was only natural that Choi Geon, with his uncompromising nature, despised the Eight Great Sects, and that they, in turn, regarded him as a thorn in their side.
After all, most of the cases he'd resolved in the past, when dug into deeply, were connected to the Eight Great Sects in one way or another.
Ultimately, he'd earned the Eight Great Sects' enmity and was practically expelled, but Choi Geon had no regrets about his past actions.
“...Even with the passage of time, the stench of the sewers still clings to you bastards. The taller and more opulent the building, the stronger it gets.”
Choi Geon muttered to himself, then stood before the Sect Leader's Office.
He then expanded his Qi Sensing Domain to gauge the security level beyond.
‘Infrared sensors, spell detection devices, even mechanical formations. They've laid out all sorts of things, just goes to show how much they're hiding.’
But even the most advanced security systems couldn't prevent Choi Geon's infiltration.
With a soft swish.
His infiltration skills, surpassing even those of a top-tier Assassin, hadn't rusted despite twenty years having passed since his retirement from active duty.
Choi Geon, having slipped into the Sect Leader's Office like a shadow, skillfully deactivated the security devices and began searching for places where confidential information might be hidden.
It didn't take long to find something.
Click.
With his keen senses, he located and pressed a hidden button on the Sect Leader's desk. A section of the wall slid aside, revealing a secret compartment.
A smile formed on Choi Geon's lips as he confirmed the passage leading beyond.
‘Disciple. It seems this master has won the bet.’
Choi Geon was already in a good mood, thinking about bragging to Ki Mu-hyeok.
In the past, he couldn't have even imagined himself making a bet with a disciple.
But after meeting his young disciple, with whom he got along so well, Choi Geon often found himself acting childish, as if he'd returned to his younger days.
‘The problem is that this punk, barely out of his teens, is already trying to one-up his master. When we get back, I'll make him act cute in front of his parents.’
His lips curled into a smile at the thought of watching his un-cute disciple awkwardly try to be adorable.
However, Choi Geon's smile vanished shortly after he entered the secret passage.
“...It's him.”
It was the trace of the Assassin who had shaken him off and fled from the Martial Alliance.
Faint footprints on the floor, a familiar Blood Scent, and most importantly, clothes torn during their fight were discarded on the ground.
‘He changed clothes here and left? That means...’
This must be an exit passage to the outside.
At that moment, Choi Geon felt a strange sense of unease.
The Assassin who had escaped him was a formidable expert, not to be underestimated.
But if he left such clumsy traces in a secret passage...
“Did he leave them on purpose?”
Choi Geon was certain the Assassin wasn't affiliated with the Great Heaven Sect.
If it were his own sect, they wouldn't have left dangerous evidence in the first place.
Instead, the reason for coming all the way to the Great Heaven Sect and discarding the clothes became increasingly clear.
‘His scheme must be to pin the blame on the Great Heaven Sect if pursued, and cut off his own tail.’
In other words, the Great Heaven Sect was a pawn they could afford to discard.
And those who could use a Mid-Sized Sect of this caliber as a disposable pawn could only be the scions of the Eight Great Sects.
Choi Geon quietly ground his teeth and muttered.
“It's you bastards again, this time too.”
However, even Choi Geon, who had deduced various pieces of information from the given circumstances, missed one thing.
That once a pawn was deemed disposable, it could be blown away entirely at any moment.
Grrrind...
“...!”
The moment he felt the Mechanical Formations activate in the passage, a sense of dread washed over Choi Geon, and he turned, unleashing his Lightness Skill at full power.
Whoosh!
He barely escaped the secret passage, then blew his Ultra-Low Frequency Whistle with all his might to alert his disciple.
The explosion behind him followed immediately.
BOOOOM—!
Flames surged with the explosion, engulfing Choi Geon.
As the secret passage exploded, the reinforced glass shattered into countless pieces from the impact.
Each shard was no less dangerous than a Hidden Sword.
Who could have possibly anticipated it?
That enough explosives to completely obliterate the Sect Leader's Office would be installed right next to it.
A moment later, the black smoke cleared, revealing Choi Geon, his clothes more than half burned away.
“...Tch.”
He spat out a mouthful of blood, then swung his sword, sending thick black smoke billowing out through the shattered windows.
The force of the explosion was considerable.
The office furniture was obliterated without a trace, and the walls were so thoroughly destroyed that the structural framework was visible.
Choi Geon had sustained significant internal injuries, but his expression, twisted like a demon's, wasn't solely due to his wounds.
“How dare such people claim to be part of the Orthodox Faction!”
To install so many bombs in another sect's headquarters just to eliminate a pursuer?
It was fortunate it was late at night, but what if the Great Heaven Sect's Martial Artists or civilians working in the building had been caught in that explosion?
Even after all this time, the Eight Great Sects' viciousness, still seeing people as mere pawns, made his teeth clench.
‘I don't know who's behind this, but I'll find them and make them pay the price.’
Just then, the Great Heaven Sect's guard Martial Artists, having heard the explosion, ascended from the lower floors and surrounded Choi Geon.
“An—an intruder!”
“Contact the Sect Leader immediately!”
“It's a terrorist attack! He's the culprit!”
He could have escaped immediately, but Choi Geon deliberately watched as the Martial Artists swarmed in.
Because if the alarm sounded, he wouldn't be the only one in danger.
‘Mu-hyeok, that kid, would probably escape just fine on his own, but...’
Choi Geon intentionally caused a commotion to buy his disciple a little more time to escape.
“How dare you! Do you know where you are?!”
“Identify yourself!”
Screeeech.
At the sound of his sword tip scraping the ruined floor, the Martial Artists, who had been closing in, flinched.
Killing Intent, thick and palpable, emanated from the Martial Artist who was once known as the Sword Demon, a name that struck terror into the hearts of evildoers.
“Shall I tell you who I am? I am a demon come to devour you rotten Orthodox Faction bastards.”
The Sword Demon cackled, his eyes flashing, as he surveyed the Great Heaven Sect's Martial Artists, then charged.
The Sword Demon killed no one that day, but he gave everyone present a nightmarish experience.
“...This should be enough.”
Having incapacitated dozens of Martial Artists, Choi Geon turned and escaped without hesitation before the Great Heaven Sect's elites could arrive.
It wasn't that he gained nothing, but he felt a pang of regret.
His conviction that the Eight Great Sects were behind it had grown stronger, but he hadn't managed to pinpoint exactly which one.
However, a short while later, he received surprising news from his disciple when they met again.
“Master? What on earth happened to you?”
“And what about you? Look at the state you're in!”
The master and disciple, meeting again in quite a sorry state, shook their heads at each other's appearance, then shared the information they had each gathered.
[Why is the Sun Moon Sect doing such a thing?]
[We failed? Absurd. Weren't you the ones who failed completely, unable to do anything in the License Exam?]
Choi Geon listened to Gu Ja-seung's voice, saved on the phone, and looked at his disciple with an expression of admiration.
“Ha! You're better than me. Did you really manage to lead him on like that in that situation?”
“It was more like he tripped over his own feet and blurted it out... But anyway, I won the bet, right?”
“Hahaha! Of course! I'll grant you any wish!”
Choi Geon, standing up with a joyful expression, asked his disciple in a subtle voice.
“You said your injuries weren't serious, right?”
“Mostly scrapes, I think they'll heal quickly if I just apply some Golden Wound Ointment.”
“Then let's go somewhere.”
“Where to this time?”
“We're going to see an old friend of mine. Tell him directly what you saw and heard.”
“...What on earth are you two doing, showing up like this at dawn?”
No Gu-cheon looked at Choi Geon and Ki Mu-hyeok, who had suddenly appeared at his house, with a bewildered expression.
He had just woken up a short while ago, having heard the news of a terrorist attack at the Great Heaven Sect.
He was preparing to head straight to the Martial Alliance, when these two suddenly climbed over his wall and entered.
Choi Geon apologized to his old friend and said.
“My apologies for the late hour. But this is important, so please spare us a moment.”
“Oh, for heaven's sake... I need to leave urgently, so make it quick.”
But his grumbling was short-lived. After hearing the story of what had happened today from the two of them, No Gu-cheon's jaw dropped.
“Do you have any idea how shocked I was to hear the report of a terrorist attack at the Great Heaven Sect! And you're telling me you two were behind it? You should have at least given me a heads-up!”
No Gu-cheon fumed, then eventually sighed.
It was because he knew the personality of his old friend, Choi Geon.
“Ask you, and then get approval from the Alliance Leader? If we'd waited until all the evidence disappeared, we wouldn't have gotten anything.”
“...Never mind. Anyway, you both went through a lot. Mu-hyeok, you too.”
Regardless of the process, they had secured recorded evidence that the Sun Moon Sect was behind the incident at the License Exam.
However, rashly exposing this evidence could backfire.
No Gu-cheon muttered with a worried expression.
“A Rising Star from the Sun Moon Sect almost became a victim, and the culprit is the Sun Moon Sect itself... If I hadn't heard the recording, I would never have believed it. They could even claim it was fabricated.”
“Why wouldn't they believe it? The Sect Master is from the Yang-Dominant Martial Arts faction, and the child who almost became a victim is from the Yin Energy Faction. It's entirely plausible for those power-hungry bastards of the Eight Great Sects.”
“Even so...”
Ki Mu-hyeok, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, asked a question.
“I'm not really interested in that sort of thing, but what exactly are the factions within the Sun Moon Sect?”
“How should I explain it...? Among the Eight Great Sects, the Sun Moon Sect has a somewhat complex structure.”
No Gu-cheon began to explain about the Sun Moon Sect.
Sun Moon (日月).
A term referring to both the sun and the moon, it began as an organization of Martial Artists seeking to cultivate martial arts encompassing Yin-Yang.
However, over time, it transformed into a sect where members chose either the Yang-Dominant Faction or the Yin Energy Faction, focusing on researching and mastering one of them.
Naturally, the power within the sect also split into two.
“Ultimately, a tradition emerged where the Sect Leader position alternates between the two factions.”
The current Sect Leader of the Sun Moon Sect was Jang Jin-myeong.
His alias was Flame Lord (火焰君).
He was an Absolute Master of Blazing Sun Art, a figure said to wield flames as if they were alive.
Choi Geon chuckled and added to the explanation.
“The problem is that the Sun Moon Sect's current strongest expert isn't the Sect Leader, but the Grand Elder, the Glacier Goddess. Jang Jin-myeong doesn't measure up to her in either skill or reputation, but it just happened to be the Yang-Dominant Faction's turn, so he got lucky and became Sect Leader.”
Hearing that, Ki Mu-hyeok recalled the Glacier Goddess he had seen in the Martial Alliance infirmary.
‘She was Yang Ha-yun's master.’
Though he'd only seen her briefly, he'd felt a presence so significant it could rival that of the Martial Alliance Leader.
“It's common knowledge among those in the know that the Sun Moon Sect Leader harbors an inferiority complex towards the Glacier Goddess. Isn't that why he tried to kill her disciple? To weaken the Yin Energy Faction's influence in the next generation.”
At Choi Geon's aggressive remarks, No Gu-cheon's expression hardened as he spoke.
“Ha! Even so...”
“Do you still not understand? The leaders of the Eight Great Sects aren't people who deserve to be called Orthodox Faction Members. They're the kind of individuals who would commit acts worse than beasts to protect their power.”
“Are you suggesting we make such claims without concrete evidence? We could easily be framed as the culprits ourselves!”
“So, we're just going to pretend not to know, like before?!”
Amidst the escalating conversation, Ki Mu-hyeok quietly fell into thought.
The relationship between the Great Heaven Sect and the Sun Moon Sect.
The two factions supporting the Sun Moon Sect.
The best method would be to make them fight amongst themselves.
‘But they're not fools; they won't clash easily.’
Unless there was a truly major incident that could spark significant internal conflict, they would likely avoid direct confrontation.
‘...Wait a minute. If there isn't one, why not just create one?’
Suddenly, Gu Ja-seung's face came to mind, how he had immediately mistaken Ki Mu-hyeok's Ice Art for that of the Sun Moon Sect.
-So... you are from the Sun Moon Sect?
If an elder of a Mid-Sized Sect could be so mistaken, wouldn't others also see it that way?
Whoosh—
Suddenly, a pure white wind swirled around Ki Mu-hyeok's body, causing Choi Geon and No Gu-cheon, who were still arguing, to turn to him simultaneously.
“If I play this right... I think I can set the stage for them.”