Chapter 42

Chapter 42.

The sound of a heavy object being dragged along tore through the silence of the forest path.

“Keugh... kek....”

A man covered in blood, unable even to groan properly.

It was Muk Yeonggi, the Hall Master who, until just an hour ago, had been commanding the assassins of Venom Fang Hall with great dignity.

After being subdued, Muk Yeonggi had been beaten mercilessly by Head Instructor Ma Chung until he was a complete wreck.

“Tsk. He was nothing special...!”

“You are hardly one to say that, considering he even gave you internal injuries.”

Behind that miserable figure, two men were following while bickering with each other.

“What! Look here, Senior Head Instructor Yajin. If I had not tied down his feet, would you have been able to catch him? My Blood Wind Leg was decisive!”

Ma Chung thumped his chest as though feeling wronged.

At that, Yajin snorted.

“Tied down his feet? Who was it who subdued the bastard when he was fleeing while you were getting beaten up and rolling around? If not for me, he would already have escaped. Hmph. Instead of being grateful....”

“Y-you...! I created the opening by taking his palm force with my own body, and that is why we caught him!”

“What do you mean, you took it? From the look of you, it seems you were struck squarely. Tsk, tsk... tend to your internal injuries. What am I supposed to do about the fact that you failed to subdue him...?”

The sight of two Head Instructors arguing over whose contribution was greater.

Uncheon gave a faint laugh and turned his gaze to the two assassins following behind.

They were the ones who had lost their will to fight after seeing their leader try to flee, thrown away their weapons, and surrendered.

“Walk properly.”

At Uncheon’s low remark, the assassins’ shoulders flinched.

“You are witnesses. If you answer my questions without lies, I will let you keep your lives.”

The assassins trembled and bowed their heads.

“B-but... if the main family learns that we confessed....”

Uncheon stopped walking and looked back.

“Do you think they will save you if you keep their secret? On the contrary, they will try to silence you with their own hands.”

“.......”

“If you want to live, there is only one way. Confess without lies instead, and request protection.”

It sounded cruel, but that was reality.

A captured assassin.

Not only was he useless, he had put fatal evidence in the enemy’s hands.

“If you don’t like that either... I will cut you down here.”

SHING.

When Uncheon shook off the saber in his hand, the blood gathered on the blade pattered down to the ground.

Though he had a youthful face, Uncheon was a master who had cut down the necks of several assassins.

Remembering that again, the assassins’ faces turned white as sheets.

“If he says he will do it, he will....”

The boy before their eyes was colder than an assassin.

The Sagal Muk Family’s retaliation was a matter for the distant future, but the boy’s blade could cut off their heads right now.

“I-I will remember! I will testify!”

Uncheon turned his head, seeming satisfied.

“Let us go. The Hall Master is waiting.”

***

The Demonic Martial Hall Master’s office.

As Gal Muheun listened to Uncheon’s explanation, a heavy cracking sound rang out from his hand.

SNAP—!

The brush he had been holding snapped in half.

“......How dare they.”

His voice was low, but the anger contained within it was boiling like an active volcano.

“They released assassins on the road to the Demonic Martial Hall, and to Demon Physician Hall at that?”

Gal Muheun’s gaze fixed on Muk Yeonggi, who was sprawled on the floor.

SPLASH—.

Muk Yeonggi, who had been unconscious, coughed and opened his eyes after being splashed with cold water by the adjutant.

“Damn it, I have been captured...! Rather than live and suffer humiliation, I should...!”

The moment he grasped the situation, he instinctively tried to bite his tongue.

“Urghuh....”

But his jaw joint already would not move.

Only a bizarre sound flowed out instead.

“Do not try anything foolish.”

Baek Rihyeon, who was standing beside him, was looking down at him coldly.

“I have sealed the acupoints of your entire body.”

It was an Acupoint-Sealing Technique he had learned directly from Gal Muheun, no less.

“Well done, Hyeon. I thought that face looked familiar... You are the Venom Fang Hall Master, Muk Yeonggi.”

Gal Muheun rose from his seat and slowly approached Muk Yeonggi.

“......!”

“It seems the Sagal Muk Family holds this Hall Master in great contempt.”

Ferocious killing intent burst from Gal Muheun’s entire body.

Under that overwhelming pressure, Muk Yeonggi could not even breathe properly and gasped for air.

“As if colluding with the Inspectorate and attempting to buy off one of my people was not enough, now you release assassins in the Demonic Martial Hall’s front yard? You bastards must be out of your minds, desperate to die!”

Gal Muheun immediately gave an order to the adjutant.

“Summon the instructors and Head Instructors at once! We will strike the Sagal Muk Family bastards’ base....”

“Hall Master, please calm yourself for a moment.”

Uncheon stepped forward and restrained Gal Muheun.

“Move aside, Uncheon. This is not merely your problem. It is a challenge against the Demonic Martial Hall.”

“I think so as well. However, there is no need for you to stain your hands with blood personally, Hall Master.”

Uncheon’s eyes were calm.

In contrast to Gal Muheun, who was filled with anger, he was already surveying the entire board.

“Rather... how would it be to make the Inspectorate bite into the Sagal Muk Family?”

Gal Muheun’s eyebrows twitched.

“The Inspectorate? Those bastards must have grievances against the Demonic Martial Hall and this Hall Master, no? Above all, are they not in league with the Sagal Muk Family?”

Due to the previous incident with Sado Myeong, relations between the Demonic Martial Hall and the Inspectorate had become somewhat uncomfortable.

In that state, moving the Inspectorate sounded like absurd nonsense.

But Uncheon shook his head.

“The Inspectorate may have grievances against us as well, but more fundamentally... they will be far angrier over the fact that the Sagal Muk Family played them.”

“Hooh...?”

Uncheon looked down at Muk Yeonggi and continued speaking.

“Sado Myeong took a bribe from Elder Muk Wigyu and cooperated with the Sagal Muk Family, but when the truth was revealed, Muk Wigyu ambushed him. The Inspectorate was used by the Sagal Muk Family and nothing more.”

Uncheon’s eyes gleamed coldly.

“We need only quietly pass the results of the investigation to the Inspectorate, then hand Sado Myeong over to them as though doing them a favor.”

“Hmm....”

“Then, in the end, the Inspectorate’s blade will be aimed at the Sagal Muk Family. The Inspectorate will not forgive the Sagal Muk Family for deceiving them.”

Uncheon’s words were logical.

Gal Muheun stroked his chin and sank into thought.

“Hmm... However, I wonder if that alone will truly make the Inspectorate draw its blade. The opponent is one of the Twelve Guardian Families, at least in name.”

“If the results of the Demonic Martial Hall’s own investigation are made public, the ones losing face will be the Inspectorate. This incident is not simply an attack on a cadet. A single family called the Sagal Muk Family attempted to buy off both the cult’s official inspection agency and the Demonic Martial Hall, its educational institution, so this is plainly a crime of collusion and corruption.”

Uncheon was reshaping the board of this incident from “Uncheon versus the Sagal Muk Family” into a confrontation between “the cult’s official organizations versus the Sagal Muk Family.”

“Ha...! If you structure the board that way, the Inspectorate cannot help but move!”

“The price of challenging the authority of the cult’s official organizations... the Inspectorate will make them pay that price most painfully.”

“A strategy to strike an enemy by borrowing another’s blade with a single word. Truly, it is a plan of borrowing a knife to kill!”

Gal Muheun marveled at Uncheon’s scheme.

“This child is not only outstanding in martial arts. To think he even possesses eyes that can read the board and move forces....”

And he had no choice but to raise his evaluation of Uncheon even further.

In the atmosphere of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, where one’s own martial prowess was highly valued, martial artists with profound martial arts poured forth in abundance.

However, talents who even possessed political insight were rare.

“You possess a mind no less sharp than your blade. Good. Let us do as you intend.”

Gal Muheun immediately ordered the adjutant.

“Drag out Sado Myeong, who is currently rotting in prison, and send word to the Inspectorate. Tell them Sado Myeong’s investigation has ended, and call a responsible party to discuss his disposition.”

***

A short while later.

Sado Myeong, dragged out from the prison, looked utterly haggard.

“I testified to everything! What are you planning to do with me now... now that it has come to this?”

Uncheon quietly approached him.

“Do you want to die meaninglessly like this? Or... do you want to live and take revenge?”

“Revenge... against whom?”

“The pain you felt when Elder Muk Wigyu ambushed you and struck you with Poison Palm. Have you already forgotten it?”

Sado Myeong’s pupils shook, then life returned to them.

“How could I forget! That pain as though my bones were melting, and that sense of betrayal!”

“The Sagal Muk Family used you and tried to silence you. The Inspectorate cannot save you as things stand.”

“...I suppose not. My bribery charge was exposed in front of every organization.”

At the time, because Sado Myeong had stepped forward to verify Uncheon’s Internal Energy, not only the Inspectorate but the Hall of Myriad Demons and various organizations of the cult had attended.

Returning to the Inspectorate like this was impossible.

“However... what if there is only one way for you to live?”

“What is it?”

“Choose. Will you die as the Sagal Muk Family’s hunting dog? Or will you once again become the Inspectorate’s blade and cut off their heads? I will place the hilt in your hand.”

“......!”

Uncheon’s offer was sweet.

“If you wield the blade properly, not only will you survive, you will be able to restore your honor and return to the Inspectorate.”

Venom began to settle in Sado Myeong’s eyes.

“......I will do it! Give me the blade! If I can cut down the Sagal Muk Family bastards, I will gladly dance with the blade!”

***

And not long afterward.

The Great Hall of the Demonic Martial Hall.

In the heavy air, the Deputy Chief of the Inspectorate arrived in person.

Because he owed the Demonic Martial Hall a debt due to the Sado Myeong incident, he set aside his usual arrogance and entered with a somewhat lowered posture.

“I came because the Demonic Martial Hall Master asked to see me urgently. Sado Myeong’s disposition, you say... So, how do you want the Inspectorate to take responsibility?”

Gal Muheun gestured silently.

Then Head Instructors Ma Chung and Yajin dragged Muk Yeonggi out and threw him onto the floor.

“This man is...?”

The Deputy Chief asked.

Gal Muheun rebuked him in a cold voice.

“Muk Yeonggi, Hall Master of Venom Fang Hall, the Sagal Muk Family’s secret private organization. This man led assassins and attacked a warrior of the Demonic Martial Hall.”

“What?! The Sagal Muk Family? They have gone utterly mad!”

“They attempted to buy off the Inspectorate and the Demonic Martial Hall at the same time, and when that failed, they tried to silence witnesses by killing them. These are the poisoned swords and Hidden Weapons they used.”

The adjutant poured out the weapons seized from the assassins in a clattering heap.

The Deputy Chief’s expression gradually hardened.

Then testimonies that drove in the wedge followed.

“This Head Instructor is a witness! The Sagal Muk Family bastards came with a pouch of gold coins and told me to sell information on a cadet. How dare they, as if they knew what kind of man this Head Instructor is. Hmph!”

The testimony of newly appointed Head Instructor Ma Chung, and even letters from Instructors Jeok Mugwang and Ga Cheonak.

[The Sagal Muk Family proposed a transaction to this instructor. As this is a grave incident that disrupts this cult’s system, I request that they be punished severely.]

At Last it was Sado Myeong’s turn.

“Deputy Chief. Elder Muk Wigyu of the Sagal Muk Family approached me, a member of the Inspectorate. Seeing this as an opportunity, I sought the Demonic Martial Hall Master’s cooperation and laid a larger board.”

The Deputy Chief’s eyes widened.

Sado Myeong’s appearance was more intact than he had expected, and there were no traces of hardship on him either.

“A larger board?”

Sado Myeong, dressed neatly, recited according to Uncheon’s proposal.

“Even though the Twelve Guardian Families are families that must devote themselves to the cult, they tried to use the cult’s organizations however they pleased for the family’s private interests.”

Sado Myeong’s explanation was as follows.

The Sagal Muk Family had tried to buy off the cult’s official organizations, the Inspectorate and the Demonic Martial Hall, with money, and had attempted to poison an Inspector and a warrior of the Demonic Martial Hall.

When things did not proceed as they wished, they had even released a large number of assassins and tried to silence witnesses by killing them.

Just from hearing the explanation, one could understand how thoroughly the Sagal Muk Family had ignored the cult’s system and abused their power.

“Grrr... Sagal Muk Family, those bastards...!”

The Inspectorate was a place that inspected corruption within the cult and upheld discipline.

If his words were true, this was a large-scale corruption case in which the Inspectorate had to act directly.

“And if one of the Twelve Guardian Families is the target, no less...!”

At that moment, Gal Muheun made a timely proposal to the Deputy Chief.

“Deputy Chief. Why do we not forget the old feelings between us and have the Inspectorate handle this matter strictly?”

“...Gal Muheun, you? By those words, you mean...?”

“The Demonic Martial Hall is, in the end, an educational institution. If a large-scale corruption case is investigated and corrected, would that not all be the Inspectorate’s achievement?”

“......!”

“Of course, as the Demonic Martial Hall Master, I also promise to provide my full support.”

It was a proposal he could not refuse.

The restoration of the Inspectorate’s honor, and even a massive prey called the Sagal Muk Family.

It was a stage prepared so that all they had to do was draw their blade.

“...This is an opportunity to break the arrogance of the Twelve Guardian Families.”

To the Inspectorate, the Twelve Guardian Families, who enjoyed immense authority despite being vassal families, were eyesores.

However, even among the Twelve Guardian Families, which had not been easy to touch, not all were equal.

If it was the Sagal Muk Family, which ranked last and had a terrible reputation, there would be little backlash.

“I had left them alone because there was no suitable pretext... but you have been caught perfectly, you bastards!”

It was more than enough justification to strike the private soldiers of the Sagal Muk Family.

“...With this, not only can we wash away the Inspectorate’s humiliation, we can even raise our status!”

The Deputy Chief’s eyes flashed.

Could there be better conditions than this?

In an instant, the Deputy Chief’s face brightened.

“......Good. The Inspectorate is the blade that protects the cult’s law. We can no longer overlook the arrogant Sagal Muk Family.”

He immediately ordered the Law Enforcement Captain who had come with him.

“Prepare at once to raid Venom Fang Hall! Search every one of their bases thoroughly, and arrest everyone involved!”

“As you command!”

After the Law Enforcement Captain accepted the order and left, only then did the Deputy Chief ask Gal Muheun about something that had piqued his curiosity.

“Gal Muheun, you... have changed a little. Has something happened recently?”

It seemed different in nature from Gal Muheun’s way of doing things in the past.

“...Heh heh. Is it not the way of the world that the rear waves of the Yangtze River push forward the waves before them?”

“The rear waves...? Is he talking about a junior from the Demonic Martial Hall? Just what kind of fellow could have moved a rigid scholar like Gal Muheun?”

At Gal Muheun’s answer, the Deputy Chief’s eyes shone with curiosity.

“...Let us meet again.”

After the Deputy Chief left.

Gal Muheun summoned Uncheon and praised him.

“Your scheme fit exactly. Truly, it is like blowing one’s nose without using one’s hands.”

As Gal Muheun praised Uncheon, he also sensed something on the other hand.

“Martial arts, strategy, and even the cause to move people. This child is not a sapling meant to remain beneath my shade. One day, he may become a vine that devours even the great tree called the Demonic Cult.”

As planned, the Inspectorate had drawn its blade.

Now it was time to strike the Sagal Muk Family.