The carriage raced swiftly toward the Sado Alliance.
Bi Sa-in silently gazed out the window, thinking about who might be behind this affair.
An enemy plotting against the entire murim. How grand.
Looking back through the history of the murim, people who caused incidents on this scale tended to appear once every few generations.
Normally, they would have continued weaving their schemes. But because of one man, they had been exposed. Of all times, they had chosen to plot in an era when that man existed.
Bi Sa-in’s gaze turned toward Geom Mu-geuk, who sat across from him.
Geom Mu-geuk had his eyes closed. Even while conversing with him, whenever there was the slightest gap, he would recite some mnemonic verse and sink into training. He seemed like a man made entirely of talent, but through this opportunity, Bi Sa-in had learned that he was in fact made entirely of effort.
Bi Sa-in’s gaze shifted to the seat beside Geom Mu-geuk. The box containing the Sun-Moon Sword, which he had given him as a gift, stood there. Though he had told him to load it into the carriage’s baggage compartment, Geom Mu-geuk had stubbornly insisted like a child that he would keep it beside him.
Just then, the carriage lurched violently with a loud rattle.
The passengers’ backsides bounced up, and the sword box beside him floated into the air.
It seemed as though the box would slam down onto the floor, but instead it hovered in midair before quietly settling back into place.
Geom Mu-geuk had protected the sword box with Void Grasping. Bi Sa-in had thought he was circulating his qi or asleep, but even in the midst of that, he had been paying attention to the sword box.
“I’m grateful that you treasure my gift so much, but wouldn’t it be more convenient to throw away the box and just carry the sword?”
Geom Mu-geuk answered with his eyes still closed.
“I’m going to give the sword as a gift. Wouldn’t it be better if I gave it in its box?”
Because it was the official box for storing the Sun-Moon Sword, the sun and moon were magnificently engraved upon it.
“Who are you giving it to, that you’re taking such care?”
“To my heart.”
When Bi Sa-in looked at him with an expression asking what sort of joke that was, Geom Mu-geuk opened his eyes.
“There is someone as important to me as my own heart. Do you think I would give such a precious sword to just anyone?”
The sight of him sincerely caring for someone suited him, but at the same time, Geom Mu-geuk was also the sort of person who gave off this impression.
“Somehow, you seem like the sort of person who would hand a treasured sword to a stranger passing by on the road.”
“Then you misunderstand me. I hate taking losses. If I gave a sword to someone I didn’t know, it would be because I was aiming for something ten times more precious that person possessed.”
“Then what are you aiming for by giving it to that heart?”
“The heart is an exception. Even if I aim for nothing, that person is someone who would try to give me everything they have.”
At those words, Bi Sa-in wondered who he himself would give a gift to.
No one came to mind.
If he absolutely had to give it to someone, perhaps he would give it to the First Wolf among the Sado Thirteen Wolves. Thinking about it, he realized that he still did not have a friend to whom he could readily give such a precious gift.
It would be troublesome if the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult became his only friend.
Bi Sa-in looked at Geom Mu-geuk again. Geom Mu-geuk was not wearing his usual glib expression, but was gazing at the passing scenery with calm, deep eyes.
Just as Bi Sa-in turned his head toward the window on the opposite side, Geom Mu-geuk suddenly spoke.
“My demonic path and your unorthodox path both have a long way to go. If they’re built wrongly, we build them again. If a better idea comes to mind, we tear them down and build them again. So let’s not rush too much.”
“Why say that all of a sudden?”
“It just came to mind. I’ve found that if I think, I’ll say it later, I end up forgetting and never saying it. So these days, I’m trying to say everything when it occurs to me.”
“So that’s why you talk so much.”
“Isn’t a chatterbox Young Cult Leader better? Better than a taciturn Young Cult Leader whose thoughts you can’t read?”
“The problem is that even though you’re a chatterbox, I still can’t read what’s inside you.”
Geom Mu-geuk smiled an inscrutable smile and looked back out the window.
Bi Sa-in would not know. How lonely his life had been before his regression. How precious this chatterbox life felt to him.
“What did the Lord of the Yugeom Sect confess?”
Geom Mu-geuk had guessed that Taejo, the Lord of the Yugeom Sect, had revealed something.
“He said the one who arranged the job for the Bigeom Sect to bring in children was Pyo Gi-gwang, the former leader of the Black Dragon Corps.”
Pyo Gi-gwang.
He was not someone in Geom Mu-geuk’s memories. Most likely, he had been used by someone as a disposable pawn and then discarded.
“He suffered a severe injury over a decade ago and stepped down from his position as leader of the Black Dragon Corps. Since then, he has been living like a crippled wreck.”
“Someone must have recruited him.”
“It seems so. Considering that he secured various interests for the Bigeom Sect, the person behind Corps Leader Pyo must undoubtedly be someone with power.”
Geom Mu-geuk naturally thought as much.
“It may even be someone you know well.”
Bi Sa-in acknowledged Geom Mu-geuk’s words. If it was a person of power within the Sado Alliance, there was no way he would not know them. The problem was who it was.
“What did he say they needed the children for?”
Bi Sa-in hesitated for a moment over whether he should answer this question. What if this affair had nothing to do with the mysterious organization said to have infiltrated the Demonic Cult and the Murim Alliance, and it was truly a secret organization within the Sado Alliance? Then he would be revealing the Sado Alliance’s secrets to the Young Cult Leader of the Demonic Cult.
“Did he say they were creating some secret organization?”
Bi Sa-in flinched for an instant. Truly, Geom Mu-geuk was so perceptive that even if Bi Sa-in wanted to deceive him, he could not.
“That’s right.”
Bi Sa-in answered honestly. Geom Mu-geuk had read Bi Sa-in’s concerns precisely.
“Are you worried that this secret organization might not be connected to the organization I mentioned?”
“That’s right.”
“Even if that is the case, if it is a secret organization being prepared without your knowledge, wouldn’t it be a problematic organization? As much as you leak information to me, there will be advantages for you as well. So think of it positively.”
Normally, Geom Mu-geuk would have had every right to be angry, saying that he had come all the way to the Sado Alliance to help, and yet Bi Sa-in intended to hide information from him.
But Geom Mu-geuk was looking at this matter with consideration for Bi Sa-in, his counterpart.
“If it truly bothers you, handle that part discreetly. If you need help, say so.”
He was still making Bi Sa-in the protagonist.
Yes. If he had intended to calculate profits and play petty tricks with this kind of Geom Mu-geuk, he should never have brought him along in the first place.
“No. I will share all information, so please help me.”
Geom Mu-geuk smiled. It was the same smile he had shown earlier when he handled the matter with Taejo openly.
You’re doing well.
It was a smile that seemed to say just that.
Whether he knew Bi Sa-in’s feelings or not, Geom Mu-geuk began narrowing down who was behind this affair.
“If a secret organization is actually being created within the alliance, who would be in a position to know?”
“Most information of any significance is supposed to reach me as well. But if something was carried out without my knowledge, then the Alliance Leader and the Chief Strategist would have been the ones leading it.”
The two most difficult people to deal with in the Sado Alliance had been mentioned.
They were connected to the ones behind this?
Geom Mu-geuk first ruled out one person.
The Sado Alliance Leader. He had been killed by Hwa Mu-gi before the regression, so there was no way they were on the same side.
“What sort of person is the Chief Strategist?”
“He is someone with truly strong loyalty toward the Alliance Leader. If you suspect the Chief Strategist, I would like to tell you that it is a waste of time. Not only to the Alliance Leader, but to the Sado Alliance as well, his loyalty runs very deep.”
One could never know the hearts of men. But if, for now, they excluded even the Chief Strategist as Bi Sa-in said…
“Who else is there?”
“What do you mean, who else?”
“Someone may have proceeded with the matter without those two knowing.”
If the matter had been carried out without the Sado Alliance Leader or the Chief Strategist knowing, then this affair could be called treason. In that case, there was a high possibility it was the doing of the people Geom Mu-geuk had spoken of.
“If it was power sufficient to grant interests to the Yugeom Sect, then it could be someone at the level of a pavilion master or corps leader. It could also be an elder-level figure.”
“Let’s keep various possibilities open and think about it.”
“First, I will investigate Corps Leader Pyo discreetly.”
At Bi Sa-in’s words, Geom Mu-geuk shook his head.
“There’s no time for that. By the time we arrive at the Sado Alliance, the one behind this will also know that the head of the Yellow Dragon Escort Agency is dead, and that even the Lord of the Yugeom Sect has been escorted to the Sado Alliance. The one behind this will think that not only can he no longer obtain children, but that his own identity might be exposed as well.”
He was right. Investigating discreetly would only give the other party time to prepare.
“Let’s break through head-on. The martial prowess of those active in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, the Murim Alliance, and the Pungcheon Cult was nearly at the level of a Demon Venerable. Their methods of infiltration were also far from ordinary. Unless we push through swiftly and decisively, they will cut off their tail and vanish.”
Bi Sa-in also agreed with Geom Mu-geuk’s words. But there was a problem.
“It would not be difficult to seize Corps Leader Pyo and investigate him. But there is something he said that troubles me. When the Lord of the Yugeom Sect confessed, he said Corps Leader Pyo had told him this: that the fate of the Sado Alliance rested upon the secret organization he was going to create. If he truly believes he is carrying out a secret operation for the alliance, he will not confess easily. He may even kill himself.”
That was not his only concern. Bi Sa-in voiced one more worry.
“The one who ordered this may kill Corps Leader Pyo to cut off the tail.”
Geom Mu-geuk had a solution to that concern. Though it was a method Bi Sa-in could never have imagined.
“Then let’s kill him first.”
“What?”
Bi Sa-in stared at Geom Mu-geuk with wide eyes, but the incomprehensible words continued.
“Let’s cut off that tail and take it first.”
* * *
“Just how long are you going to live like that?”
At someone’s shout, the noisy surroundings fell quiet. Everyone’s gaze turned to the two people in the banquet hall.
“There was a time when I respected you, and yet how did you end up so ruined?”
Pyo Gi-gwang had once again gathered martial artists in the banquet hall today and was boasting of his exploits from when he had been corps leader. Perhaps because he had gotten drunk and grown too excited, someone had stepped forward to rebuke him.
“Aren’t you ashamed before your juniors?”
The other man was none other than a martial artist who had once served under him in the Black Dragon Corps. Just as his words implied, he had once been someone who followed Pyo Gi-gwang’s orders well.
Ashamed before his juniors? Of what? What was so shameful about getting drunk and telling a few old stories?
He wanted to shout angrily.
‘I devoted myself so much to the alliance! And you can’t even listen to a few stories?’
But he could not bring himself to say it. The gazes around him were all looking at him pitifully as well. After all, this was not the first time he had shown such a side of himself.
Pyo Gi-gwang staggered out of the place. He was not that drunk, but he staggered on purpose. If he did not do even this, it felt as though he would become even more miserable.
In the past, he had truly acted like a crippled wreck. But recently, he had been acting out the life of the ruined man he used to be. In order to show that he was still a useless person.
Yet after experiencing something like this today, his heart sank coldly. At the very least, he had not intended to receive such reproach and humiliation from a former subordinate.
If he had truly been a ruined man, he would have smashed a liquor bottle, shouted, and caused a scene. But now he was simply turning away like this with a bitter heart.
‘If my martial arts were still what they used to be, would any of you have dared act this way?’
So long as that thought arose, his bitterness could only deepen.
That was when he entered a quiet footpath.
Suddenly, a masked man blocked his path.
Before Pyo Gi-gwang could even ask who he was, the masked man drew his sword and charged.
Pyo Gi-gwang tried to draw his own sword to block, but the opponent’s movement was too fast. So this is how I die! Despair swept over him at that very moment.
Clang!
Someone stepped in front of Pyo Gi-gwang and blocked the attack.
Having failed in his ambush, the masked man fled from the place in an instant.
The man who had blocked the attack turned toward Pyo Gi-gwang. When Pyo Gi-gwang confirmed the identity of the person who had saved him, he was startled.
“Young Alliance Leader?”
Several martial artists of the Sado Thirteen Wolves shot forward in pursuit of the fleeing masked man.
“Are you all right?”
“Thanks to you, I live.”
“I’m glad I wasn’t too late.”
Pyo Gi-gwang was inwardly startled and puzzled.
“Young Alliance Leader, why are you here?”
“I did not save you by chance while passing by. I was on my way to meet you, Corps Leader Pyo.”
“Me?”
It was truly unexpected for Pyo Gi-gwang.
Just then, the Sado Thirteen Wolves who had pursued the masked man returned.
“We lost him. His lightness skill was extraordinary.”
But Pyo Gigwang did not know. He did not know that the number of warriors who had pursued him had returned increased by one. The masked man who had attacked Pyo Gigwang earlier was Geom Mugeuk.
He had pretended to flee, changed into the attire of the Sado Thirteen Wolves, and returned together with them.
Of course, there was no way Pyo Gigwang could know that now. He was wondering why Bi Sain had come to see him.
“Who was the one who tried to kill you, Unit Leader?”
Pyo Gigwang shook his head.
“I don’t know either.”
One thing was certain: whoever it was had undoubtedly been trying to kill him. The sword that had flown toward him earlier had been filled with killing intent, aimed precisely at his heart. If it truly had not been for Bi Sain, he would be dead.
“Why have you come to see me?”
“While investigating the incident in which the Heuksa Corps kidnapped children and handed them over to Yugeommun, Unit Leader Pyo’s name came up. I have also heard that you asked the Yugeommun sect master to save the children. They said it was to create a secret organization. Is that true?”
Pyo Gigwang was flustered. He had never imagined that Bi Sain would suddenly come to him and ask about such a matter. Just as Geom Mugeuk had said, Bi Sain was charging straight in without wasting time.
“It seems the assassin earlier was sent to silence Unit Leader Pyo because I uncovered this matter.”
Bi Sain deliberately emphasized the words “silence.” Geom Mugeuk’s plan was to make it look as though those who had entrusted Pyo Gigwang with the task were trying to kill him, and thereby draw out his confession.
“What kind of secret organization are you creating? What is happening without my knowledge?”
Pyo Gigwang said nothing.
He did not suspect in the slightest that this attack had been arranged by the Young Alliance Leader. There was no reason for him to do such a thing. And most decisively, Pyo Gigwang had always anticipated a moment like this.
‘If the secret operation is leaked, they will try to eliminate me. So that day has finally come.’
A sacrifice for the great cause. Because of that, he instead thought that what was bound to come had finally arrived.
“I know that Unit Leader Pyo has devoted himself to our Alliance. I also know you are not someone who deserves to be treated like this. So please allow me to protect you.”
Because Pyo Gigwang had resolved to sacrifice himself for the Sado Alliance, he merely lowered his head and gave no answer.
“Very well. For now, I will withdraw. Instead, I will assign one of my subordinates as your guard.”
“Do not needlessly sacrifice your subordinate.”
“If you are worried about that, then tell my subordinate everything.”
Bi Sain turned to his subordinate and said,
“Protect Unit Leader Pyo well.”
“I shall obey your command.”
The person who stepped forward after receiving the order was Geom Mugeuk.
It was the moment an operation began: seizing a tail that did not even know which body it was attached to, and using it to find that body.
“I will protect you.”
Absolute Regression, Chapter 347