3
9
0.
It isn’t visible on the outside, but inside, they must be combining poison and hidden weapons to kill them instantly.
Zhuge Tianqi had already drawn his sword.
“Seeing them like this makes me feel reassured. It was a good thing they came in together. You commendable ones.” I firmly suppressed the urge to pat Dang Seo-hui and Jegal Cheon-gi’s heads and instead calmly shook my head.
“Calm down, Senior Tang. Calm down, Cheon-gi.”
I didn’t come in here to fight.
It’s to solve the problem.
Even if Dam-ak holds a grudge against the Murim Alliance, he should take it out on those bastards. Why should I become the one carrying the insults on his behalf?
“You should pay them directly. I’m not even in a position to represent the Murim Alliance.”
I tried to soothe Damak, but the blackness wouldn’t go down.
“…….”
What’s up with this? Are you seriously planning a fight?
That won’t do.
“I know the Chief Military Commander holds a grudge against the Murim Alliance, but even so, this isn’t a problem that can be solved like this.……”
As I rack my brain, Damak gives a dry smile.
That’s not funny. Why are you taking it so seriously?
As Damak lowered his hand, the members of the Saheukryeondo attending as envoys simultaneously withdrew their weapons.
As I just blinked in dumbfoundation at the current situation, he continued speaking.
It was a joke. A joke.
“joke?”
Fuck, you’re joking around with such a serious atmosphere in this critical situation?
I am speechless at his absurd words.
However, Damak even has a faint smile on his lips.
As expected, the White Path warriors are boring. At times like this, a prank like this is all the more fun.
No, since when did he become a Black Sage?
At this time in his previous life, he was a person holding an official position in the royal court!
“Still, it’s later than I expected. I thought you would come in as soon as you received the letter…”
How can I get in with a letter that has nothing but numbers on it?
“Hmm… Didn’t you say you could freely move in and out of the Infinite Indestructible Soul Annihilation Formation? I thought someone like that would be able to easily pass through the Black Ghost Soul Annihilation Formation.”
That’s thanks to mindlessly cramming the route into my head with my memory…
So you weren’t as smart as I thought.
Why does this person keep provoking me so gently?
Saying things that didn’t need to be said.
“Hmm, it doesn’t seem like you received help from the unemployed priestess… did you receive help from a friend afterwards?”
Damak’s gaze turns toward Jegal Cheon-gi.
Cheon-gi looked at me, so I nodded.
I am Jegal Cheon-gi of the Taeeulmun.
Zhuge Tianqi, who maintains only an appropriate level of politeness—neither excessive nor insufficient.
Damak tilted his head.
“Is your last name ‘Zhuge’ by any chance?”
“It is true that I am from the Zhuge family.”
Damak nodded a few times at Cheongi’s answer.
“How amusing. To think a member of the Jegal family would refer to himself as a member of the Taeeul Sect…….”
Then, he looked at me with a strange gaze.
“Young Master Jin is truly a man of many extraordinary talents.”
I did not answer otherwise.
That’s not what’s important right now.
I walked past the guards, who were still on high alert, and looked around.
“What on earth is going on? Did you fail to destroy the ancestral rites?”
How could I unfold a formation that I cannot dismantle?
Then why didn’t you come out?
Damak took a beat to catch his breath, then slowly opened his lips.
Because the danger hasn’t disappeared yet.
As expected, Damak had not yet let his guard down following the previous day’s raid.
He surely wouldn’t know the full story.
The Chief Military Advisor of the Murim Alliance was also attacked. The culprit has not yet been identified.
“Hmm… was the commotion that day due to the matter of the Chief Military Officer?”
“Within the alliance, the culprits were tentatively identified as ‘them.’”
Those guys who appeared before Damak as ‘Gun Yuhyeon’ even in the Saheukryeon.
It is truly a lamentable matter.
Damak let out a small sigh.
“So, why don’t you leave now? The entire martial arts world is in an uproar because of General Dam’s siege here.”
I cannot leave.
A firm answer returned immediately.
My head is starting to throb a little.
“Why?”
What are you talking about?
He couldn’t have lost his mind from all the hunger and starvation, and judging by the prank he pulled, it’s not like he didn’t understand what I said…
“By any chance… are you still joking?”
I stared at him blankly, unable to find any other way to explain it, but Damak, having wiped the smile from his face, answered indifferently.
We aren’t that close, are we?
Why are you suddenly distancing yourself? It’s hurtful.
Then what on earth do you mean that the danger hasn’t disappeared?
It is literally true. After all, the arrow aimed at me is still on the bowstring.
“I told you. The one who attacked us was…….”
stomping
Suddenly, Damak takes a step forward.
“It must have been ‘them’ who attacked the Murim Alliance. But it was ‘they’ who attacked us.”
And staring intently as if piercing right through me, he added.
It was the ‘Moorim Alliance’.
His attitude of conviction, as if speaking the truth of the universe.
Even so, our side isn’t exactly a complete mess…
Isn’t that right?
When I turned my head, Dang Seo-hui’s face was stiff for some reason. Dam-ak, accompanied by the delegation and warriors, guided us to the back of the annex.
I don’t see that person from back then.
“Who are you talking about?”
Isn’t there that reason?
The cuckoo that kept sending telepathic messages at the graduation ceremony, saying, “Our Commander-in-Chief said…”
Damak nods as if he knows who is being referred to.
“He is behind.”
Regardless, wasn’t that person Damak’s chief attendant?
Just when I was thinking that the trust in and stability of the Black Mugong Soul Formation were so great that a Guardian didn’t even need to be by its side.
I arrived at the backyard.
However, the hand signal was still not visible.
“Are you a shy person? I’d like to say hello. Well, we do have a connection in our own way.”
Even if I merely conveyed the message, a conversation was still a conversation.
Just as I was about to laugh involuntarily at past memories coming to mind.
“Isn’t that person right over there?”
Damak pointed to one side with a calm gesture.
On a small marble-paved courtyard where guests can lightly stretch their bodies.
There.
This is the person.
A corpse covered with straw lay there.
Was this the reason why the hand signals, which must not be missed for even a moment, were not visible?
“He was a wasted talent. He could have been of even more help to the Black Alliance than I was.”
Damak spoke indifferently, but within him was clearly a cold and chilling anger.
And his attitude of not expressing this as if it were nothing felt even more chilling. ‘It is dangerous.’ The anger Damak harbored was extraordinary.
The reason he felt relieved even though he became the commander-in-chief of the Black Alliance instead of the Murim Alliance was.
It was because he thought he could fight against the Demonic Cult with such outstanding talent.
In his previous life, when the Murim Alliance fought against the Demonic Cult alone, the outcome was destruction; however, he hoped that in this life, with a friend named Saheukryeon by his side, they would face a different result.
However, that outstanding friend was now shooting hostile feelings at us.
I had to clear up the misunderstanding quickly.
The Murim Alliance is also perplexed by this matter. After all, three of Zhuge Xiaoming’s personal guards have passed away.
Damak, who had been looking down at the corpse on the hand signal, stares at me blankly.
“……
Is your logic that the Murim Alliance is not an enemy simply because they were also defeated?
It’s not that I’m being unreasonable…
Shall we go this way for a moment?
Damak headed toward the annex without even waiting for an answer.
There were three corpses covered in straw, just like Damak’s messenger.
These are the ones who attacked us.
At the same time, Dang Seo-hui pulled my arm and looked up at me.
I nodded, thinking she meant to check the body, and she immediately approached and threw open the straw.
A strong stench wafting in.
The grayish-white corpse, having been dead for a long time and drained of blood, remained intact.
“The Demonic Cult leaves no corpses behind to the point of being obsessive; didn’t you give it much thought?”
Even if that weren’t the case, Damak, having already faced Jegeumhak, would have been able to tell whether his opponent was a demon or a White Daoist unless it was a special circumstance.
No, even if it weren’t for these corpses, I had nothing to say. ‘Fuck.’ I know their faces.
These are people who have never met in this life, but met on the battlefield in a past life.
Uncontrollable profanity bursts out from inside me.
He tries to hide his trembling fists, but it is not easy. ‘Jeong Do-hoe…!’ These are the ones who each hold ties to the secular martial arts sects of the Nine Great Sects.
These are special forces members who were separately selected to work for the Jeongdohoe.
What is the reason that those who officially become members of the Alliance after the death of Jegal Somyeong are already being found dead in the Murim Alliance?
Damak’s subdued voice cracks in the silence.
Even after seeing this, do you still not admit that the Murim Alliance did this?
I cannot answer his question.
The Murim Alliance is not the Jeongdohoe, but you can’t say that the Jeongdohoe isn’t the Murim Alliance.
Moreover, the Jeongdohoe is the most powerful force influencing the Murim Alliance.
Saying that they are not the Murim Alliance is nothing but mocking Damak.
And then Dang Seo-hui added, as if delivering a verdict.
“There are no traces of fraud on these people. Baek Do-in is right.” I separated from Dam-ak’s group for a moment to sort out my thoughts on this fucked-up, idiotic situation.
Jeongdohoe’s intention is clear.
– A clash between the Black Alliance and the Murim Alliance is inevitable.
Dam-ak is a formidable figure who united the Black Alliance, just as Je-gal So-myeong holds status within the Murim Alliance.
– Just as it would be a disaster for the Murim Alliance without Zhuge Xiaoming, it would be a disaster for the Saheukryeon without Damak.
“So let’s kill him when he comes to the Murim Alliance!” “You idiot…” These are truly reckless actions that are so simple and clear-cut that their true intentions are transparently revealed.
The problem is that Jeong Do-hoe made the mess, but I have to clean it up.
While I was dazed by this situation, unable to even begin to figure out how to handle it.
Dang Seo-hee said.
It was strange.
What do you mean?
The people guarding the Bonganjeon Hall. There were simply too many of them.
It was also too fast to have rushed over at the sound of the explosion.
If I look back on my memory, most of the people who were there were directly or indirectly connected to the Jeongdohoe.
Why didn’t I notice this sooner?
Furthermore, the timing is extremely exquisite.
To think they actually planned this amidst the chaos of the civil war.
Did they actually consider that situation a favorable development?
At this point, I’m starting to wonder if I should just accept stubbornness as malice and stupidity as individuality.
I quietly looked at Cheon-gi, who was sitting next to me.
“Cheon-gi.”
“yes.”
“What do you think would be the best way to do this?”
I simply don’t understand. You, the grandson of the Commander-in-Chief, please think about it.
And Zhuge Tianqi immediately gave an answer.
“It seems the best course of action would be to inform the General Staff of the situation here and identify the culprit.”
An exemplary answer typical of him.
This is probably the most correct answer, or rather, the closest thing to the standard.
But that wouldn’t be the solution.
In desperation, I turned my gaze to Dang Seo-hee.
What about Senior Dang?
You have to listen to the author’s intention first.
“Huh?” I expected an answer like, “I just need to give you some sweets.” But an unexpected response comes back.
“If I were invited as a guest to a certain family and ambushed them… I would wipe out that family on the spot.”
Should I call it unexpected? Or should I call it a very instinctive and obvious answer?
It was simply surprising that such an answer came out of Dang Seo-hui’s mouth.
While I was dumbfounded and speechless, Dang Seo-hui continued speaking.
“Now is not the time to worry alone. It is best to ask directly.”
It’s best to ask directly…
It was worth feeding the straw sweets.
After much deliberation, I headed to Damak.
As Dang Seo-hee said, you can’t come up with an answer just by thinking alone anyway.
“First, I will report the situation here to the Commander-in-Chief and the Alliance Leader. And find the culprit…….”
I will refuse.
“yes?”
Damak straightened his back and opened his eyes with a calm expression.
“If it were possible to catch the culprit, they would have been caught long ago. And instead of food, they would have put the culprit’s head into the siege.”
“I am also against revealing the situation here. The moment the villains find out I am alive, they will realize their mistake and try to eliminate me once again.”
Damak continued speaking as if still convinced.
I have no intention of being fooled by their shallow tricks.
If I catch the culprit.
“That is no different, either. The fact that you are stirring up the whole place to catch the culprit is no different from an act of letting people know that I am alive.”
I can’t see an answer at all.
Just then, Dang Seo-hui, who had been quietly watching our conversation, nudged my arm.
He looked down at her vacant gaze for a moment, then spat out at Damak.
“What do you want?”
Damak closes his eyes tightly.
I thought it wouldn’t matter if I died here.
“What is that…….”
“Coming here myself was an act of taking on a risk and reaching out to you first. I thought it was inevitable that I might be beheaded if things went wrong.”
The alliance between the Black Alliance and the Murim Alliance.
Damak put his own life on the line for that dangerous gamble.
“I thought it was a good deal if I could unite the Black Alliance with just my life.”
He quietly opened his closed eyes and turned his gaze toward the corpse on the hand signal.
But now I have changed my mind.
And that still calm gaze shifts toward me.
flinched
– A gaze so composed that one could not even tremble.
I must get revenge.
To those who think nothing of human life for the sake of their own gain.
In that gaze, a hot flame was burning that had never been seen in him, who had always maintained a sense of calm.
“Please help me escape. From the clutches of the Murim Alliance.”
It was the look of someone prepared to burn everything down.
