Watching Jisaeng force the poison down, Daeho felt inwardly relieved.
One more person had ended up in the same situation as him.
‘They’re treating a subordinate of Yelü Han, the second-in-command of the Sado Alliance, like this?’
It was truly a sight hard to believe even as he watched it.
Naturally, another question arose. Just who were these people?
Geom Mugeuk said to Jisaeng,
“If you don’t take the antidote every day, your internal organs will melt and you’ll die. You’ll probably suffer the greatest pain a human can experience. So if you want to scream, go ahead.”
Geom Mugeuk released Jisaeng’s mute acupoint. Jisaeng’s mouth, clamped shut like a clam, did not open.
Jisaeng was so shocked and bewildered that his mind seemed to go blank. He, too, had only the same thought as Daeho.
‘Just who are these people, to do this to me?’
The next instant, one thought flashed through his mind.
‘Ah! Could this be a test of loyalty?’
Once he thought of it that way, it seemed possible. They would tell him to spill the Alliance’s secrets, torture him, and test his loyalty.
But the next moment, his gaze turned to his four subordinates lying cold and dead.
‘They would sacrifice them just to test me?’
There was no way. Then why on earth?
Just then, Geom Mugeuk approached and held out a box he had not expected.
“Open it.”
When Jisaeng opened the box, inside were three top-quality night pearls. They were the very night pearls Geom Mugeuk had once received after saving the Golden Manor Lord, his daughter, and his grandson.
Jisaeng could not understand what situation this was at all.
At that moment, Geom Mugeuk said,
“Take them to him. To the real Jisaeng. We know your coachman is the real Jisaeng.”
The fake Jisaeng was so shocked he could not say a word.
“You were going to kill us and take these, weren’t you? No?”
That was true, but he had never imagined he would receive them like this.
“Either simply take these to him as we tell you, or give them to him and reveal everything that happened just now. The choice is yours.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Why were they giving him a choice?
“Know this before you choose. The poison you took has no antidote to be found anywhere. Only that esteemed person over there possesses the antidote.”
The Poison King was sitting where he had been, merely fanning himself lightly. He paid no attention to what was happening here.
“Ah, one more thing. Think about how your master will react if you reveal the truth. Will he really risk danger and come find us to negotiate in order to save you? He’ll think he has to return these three night pearls, of course, and hand over other things as well.”
Jisaeng’s face remained stiff throughout the explanation. He knew best what choice the real Jisaeng would make.
“Die after offering your loyalty, or live after handing over the night pearls. I’m not telling you to kill him. I’m just telling you to give him the night pearls.”
“You aren’t trying to harm the elder?”
“Wouldn’t that be even better for you? The higher-ups would probably seat you in that position in Jisaeng’s place.”
“!”
It would be a lie to say he had never once imagined such a situation before. Perhaps because this was an opportunity that had come in the worst possible circumstances, those words sounded all the more tempting.
“Think it over on the way back.”
Geom Mugeuk did not give him time.
‘They’re going to let me live? They’re giving the night pearls to the elder? Why on earth?’
In his current confusion, his mind was not working properly.
As if driven out, Jisaeng left the building and walked toward the carriage in the yard. The real Jisaeng was seated on the coachman’s seat as always, blankly looking up at the night sky.
The fake Jisaeng climbed into the carriage.
“Let’s go!”
The carriage set off. The real Jisaeng paid no mind to the fact that the direct subordinates who usually followed him were nowhere to be seen. He assumed they had stayed behind to dispose of the corpses of the Four Iron Sword Tigers.
The real Jisaeng’s voice transmission came.
—How did it go?
—It was resolved well.
Jisaeng handed the box through the small window leading to the coachman’s seat.
Jisaeng knew. The real Jisaeng was absolutely not the sort of man who would suffer financial loss in order to save him. Even if he worked under him for a hundred years, that truth would not change.
Jisaeng on the coachman’s seat opened the box containing the night pearls and broke into a radiant smile. His two eyes looked as if they might be sucked into the night pearls.
Even at that very moment, the fake Jisaeng was agonizing.
‘What exactly are they after?’
They were just giving away the night pearls like this? Why on earth?
But the moment he uttered the words that it had been resolved well, this matter became irreversible.
Even if he revealed the truth belatedly, he would be killed for having harbored the thought of betrayal, even if only for a brief instant.
And so, carrying the opposing hearts of the two Jisaengs, the carriage returned to their residence.
* * *
There are moments when Jisaeng returns from being the coachman to being the real Jisaeng.
When he meets Yelü Han, and right now.
A secret space prepared beneath the stable.
In a space of a little over ten pyeong lay everything that belonged to him.
There was a small chair in the center of the room, and in display cabinets on all sides were several dozen supreme-quality night pearls.
They were the fortune he had gathered over his lifetime.
Jisaeng added the three night pearls to his collection. His hands were trembling. Having gathered so much wealth, he should have become indifferent by now, but he loved this moment too much.
Each time a night pearl was added, he felt the rapture of being alive. Nothing else gave him this much joy. Especially when he put out the lanterns and looked at the night pearls shining in the darkness, he would sometimes let out mad, monstrous cries.
For this joy, he had lived a merciless life. Because he had to offer money to Yelü Han, he had been forced to become even more vicious and cruel. Pangs of conscience? He did not think he had ever felt them once. Whenever someone spoke of guilt, this was the first thought that came to mind. Who told you to live like such an idiot? If you feel wronged, then live like this too.
Just as he was sinking into ecstasy again today, Jisaeng sensed a presence behind him.
Startled, he spun around with lightning speed, and someone was standing before the door. It was the fake Jisaeng.
Only now did the fake Jisaeng finally understand.
Why they had given the night pearls to the real Jisaeng. They had been aiming for the moment those night pearls were brought here. In order to discover where this secret vault was. But how on earth had they known he collected night pearls?
The real Jisaeng, for his part, was terribly shocked.
This secret space beneath an old, shabby stable was a place no one could have imagined. Who in the world would guess that treasure was hidden in a place like this?
Moreover, in order to enter this place, one had to correctly operate, in succession, the secret mechanisms hidden throughout the stable before the door would open.
Of course, Jisaeng had checked and checked his surroundings several times before entering. There had definitely been no one. With that fake Jisaeng’s skill, he should not have been able to approach so closely. Unless someone had night vision as keen as a beast’s, even if they saw him, they would not have known what he was doing.
‘Damn it! Damn it all!’
A wave of self-reproach swept over him, telling him that because nothing had happened for so many years, he had unknowingly let down his guard.
In any case, one thing was certain.
Betrayal!
If he had been coveting Jisaeng’s wealth and preparing for a long time, perhaps he could have infiltrated this secret place.
Instead of asking how he had entered this place, or why he had come in—
Swish!
A dagger flew in a surprise attack from Jisaeng’s hand. He was a master of throwing knives. Since he did not have to carry a sword or saber, it had been easier for him to pose as a coachman.
The dagger flying toward the fake Jisaeng’s throat stopped in midair.
Someone had reached out from behind him and caught the incoming dagger. It was none other than Geom Mugeuk.
Rage surged up in the fake Jisaeng.
He had devoted more than ten years of loyalty to him like a dog. Yet he tried to kill him without even asking a single question. At the very least, he should have asked why he had betrayed him before killing him.
Behind the fake Jisaeng, Geom Mugeuk revealed himself, and after him, Seo Daeryong and Daeho appeared.
“You damned bastards!”
Seeing Daeho, Jisaeng mistook the people who had appeared for the Four Iron Sword Tigers. In this situation, he had no choice but to think so. That this fake Jisaeng and the Four Iron Sword Tigers had conspired to steal his wealth.
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!
Daggers flew from his hand once more.
But every dagger he had boasted never missed was caught in Geom Mugeuk’s hand.
Jisaeng was horrified. That had not been an attack the likes of the Four Iron Sword Tigers could block.
Geom Mugeuk did not give him a chance to throw the next dagger. Closing in with the Nether King Step, he sealed Jisaeng’s paralysis acupoint. In a flash, his body stiffened, and Jisaeng was seized by fear as he saw Geom Mugeuk standing before his eyes.
“You’re not the Four Iron Sword Tigers!”
“Of course we aren’t. How could the likes of the Four Iron Sword Tigers deal with you?”
Geom Mugeuk passed him and looked over the display cabinet behind him.
“You collected quite a lot.”
“Who are you? Who the hell are you!”
When Geom Mugeuk did not answer, the sparks of his rage flew toward the fake Jisaeng.
“You useless idiot! You absolute moron!”
The fake Jisaeng shouted back.
“I was loyal to you like a dog for fifteen years! And yet you threw a dagger without even asking why? You should have asked first. Asked whether I was threatened and dragged here, you… you dog of a bastard!”
Their relationship, which had seemed so good in ordinary times, shattered in an instant. The dignity and composure befitting an elder vanished as well.
“Because you must not be in this place!”
“Why not? This is filthy wealth gathered by taking, deceiving, and killing. Why can’t I come to a place like this?”
“Was I the one who did those things? You committed them all.”
“You call that an argument?”
The two raised the veins in their necks as they shouted.
“You pathetic fool. Do you think they’ll let you live?”
“I’m going to take your place.”
“Do you think the main Alliance is that naive? They won’t leave you alive, but even if you survive, the main Alliance won’t let you live. With me dead, why would they go out of their way to leave you, an unpleasant loose end, to keep handling the work? They can just clean everything out and set up a new board. Like how we created Sinseonchae anew.”
The fake Jisaeng could not retort. He had dragged out the fear the fake Jisaeng had buried deep in his heart, pretending not to know it was there.
“So in the end, I’m being devoured. I was so careful to avoid ending up like this.”
At Jisaeng’s lament, Geom Mugeuk now stepped forward.
“If you were truly anxious, you shouldn’t have increased your caution. You should have reduced your greed.”
Geom Mugeuk sent out finger winds in succession. Now the fake Jisaeng and Daeho had both had their paralysis and mute acupoints sealed. It meant that from now on, everyone was to shut up and listen.
“Today, this is what will happen here. You hired the Four Iron Sword Tigers for Sinseonchae. But those bastards betrayed you. From the beginning, they were after your wealth.”
Geom Mugeuk looked back and forth between Jisaeng and Daeho.
“Of course, there’s a difference in martial skill between you. But that problem can be solved with this.”
Geom Mugeuk opened a small bottle right in front of Jisaeng’s nose.
Sssssss.
Smoke from the bottle was forced into Jisaeng’s nose.
“You were struck by Paralysis Powder. You know it, right? It’s what you unorthodox faction people mainly use. It’s also a poison that remains in the body if an autopsy is done later. Poisoned, you stagger and collapse.”
Geom Mugeuk moved him, whose paralysis acupoint had been sealed, as though moving a puppet.
“At this moment, Daeho stabs you in the back with a sword.”
Seo Daeryong likewise moved Daeho’s body. After placing a sword in Daeho’s hand, he moved his body. Daeho’s sword stabbed into Jisaeng’s back.
Jisaeng’s face twisted in pain, but because his mute acupoint had been sealed, he could not even scream.
“You were poisoned and stabbed with a sword, but you’re not the sort to simply suffer it. You throw a dagger and counterattack.”
This time, Geom Mugeuk took a dagger from Jisaeng’s robe and threw it.
The dagger lodged precisely in Daeho’s heart. He died on the spot and collapsed.
“You succeed in killing Daeho, but the wound from being stabbed in the back is fatal. In the end, you collapse here and meet your death. While watching someone steal away the fortune you spent your whole life gathering.”
In reality, Seo Daeryong began putting every night pearl there into the sack he had brought.
“That must be something you hate even more than dying, right?”
Jisaeng’s eyes were bloodshot red. He tried hard to shake his head, as if begging them not to.
“Everyone had things taken from them by you in exactly this way.”
This would not resolve the resentment of the many young people who had suffered because of Sinseonchae, but he intended to inflict the greatest anguish he could.
“Yayulhan will send men because of your death. In the end, the culprits will be revealed as the Four Iron Sword Tigers. There will be testimony from your subordinates that you tried to hire them, and Daeho’s corpse will be left here.”
Jisaeng looked as though he had a great deal he wanted to say, but Geom Mugeuk did not release his mute acupoint.
“We’ll be taking everything you spent your life gathering. We’ll put it to good use in your place! Thanks!”
Jisaeng’s entire body trembled. As he died, he was filled with nothing but rage and resentment. Geom Mugeuk wanted him to die that way.
Now Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned to the fake Jisaeng. He was staring at Geom Mugeuk with eyes that swore he would never reveal what had happened today.
His face was full of hope that he might live, and expectation that he might even become the real Jisaeng.
But Geom Mugeuk shattered that expectation.
“However, there is one problem with this plan. The Sado Alliance won’t believe Jisaeng was done in by the likes of the Four Iron Sword Tigers. So we need a plausible mastermind behind it. Someone who knew his true identity, who could poison him with Paralysis Powder, and who could find out about a secret warehouse. What do you think? You, his right-hand man of fifteen years?”
Bewilderment and anger bloomed across the fake Jisaeng’s face. But the words that followed drove him into even deeper despair.
“Yes, that’s right. The one who ran off with these night pearls will be you. And they will never find you.”
Geom Mugeuk’s fist slammed into his chest, and with that single blow, his insides were shattered and he died on the spot. From the beginning, Geom Mugeuk had never intended to spare a man who had committed every manner of evil. He would be buried somewhere he could never be found.
The dying Jisaeng smiled as he looked at the fake Jisaeng’s corpse, as though it served him right. The sight of him laughing while blood flowed from his mouth was grotesque. But he was certainly not fated to die laughing.
Just then, Seo Daeryong, who had recovered all the night pearls and was standing to one side, let out an affected sigh and said,
“Is this always how a right-hand man meets his end?”
“My right-hand man is smart, so I don’t think he’d fall for something like this.”
“If you keep saying things that make me feel this good, how am I supposed to quit being your perilous right-hand man?”
“That’s how everyone falls for it and ends up like this.”
After joking like that, Seo Daeryong approached the dying Jisaeng.
“But why did you keep looking over there? When you were busy enough dying as it was?”
In that instant, Jisaeng grew flustered. Blood suddenly gushed from his mouth.
“Now this really looks suspicious.”
If he had simply glanced, they would have thought nothing of it. But Jisaeng had looked at the wall with eyes full of regret. And that happened to catch Seo Daeryong’s eye.
Geom Mugeuk and Seo Daeryong gave each other a nod, then began examining the wall.
As Geom Mugeuk slowly inspected it, the moment his fingertips caught on something, a crisp metallic click rang out.
In that instant, Jisaeng despaired as though the heavens had collapsed. It was an even greater despair than when the night pearls had been taken from him earlier.
With his mute acupoint sealed, no words came out, but the shape of his mouth was saying this:
‘Not that. Anything but that.’
Bzzzzzz.
The floor in front of the wall opened, and something began to rise.