“You can joke even in a situation like this?”
Taesu thought it was the last shred of Geom Mugeuk’s pride. He must be trying to cover the guilt of handing himself over with a joke.
And yet, Taesu did not hate this man. This man who boasted about having a thousand horses.
“Was your heart something that could be stolen with a single sentence?”
At Taesu’s question, Geom Mugeuk answered with a smile.
“It was a sentence saying he’d save my life.”
Taesu knew that if he was dragged away like this, he would die in the end. So he spoke his honest feelings.
“I don’t know why I want to save you. I just don’t know the reason, but I suppose I took a liking to you. And I have one request. If, by any chance, you meet my father later, please be sure to tell him I was sorry.”
What he regretted most was dying without seeing his father. He did not want the last words he had left his father to be words that hurt him.
It was right then.
“What a load of shit.”
The one who opened his mouth was the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit. A cold killing intent flowed from his eyes.
“You think I’ll spare them just because you tell me to?”
“If you kill them, I will never tell you the location of the Sword Tomb.”
A sneer formed at the corner of the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit’s mouth.
“Do you think torturing people was never among the things I’ve done? Everyone talks bravely at first, just like you. But there has not been a single person who didn’t open their mouth. You seem confident that you’ll be different.”
The Ten Thousand Evils Hermit proved why he was called Ten Thousand Evils.
“Before that, I’ll kill them all, one by one, right in front of your eyes.”
Taesu was flustered. This was not the situation he had wanted.
“All of you in the carriage, crawl out! Before I blow the whole thing away.”
The Ten Thousand Evils Hermit behaved as if there was no one beneath heaven worth fearing. That was how confident he was in his own abilities. No matter who came out of that carriage, he was sure he could kill them.
Click.
The carriage door opened, and Ilhwa Geomjon stepped out.
She wore neither splendid makeup nor beautiful clothes, but the moment he saw her, lust flickered in the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit’s eyes. Among all the evil deeds he had committed, how could there not have been acts of lust?
“It has truly been a long time since my lust stirred. I’ll kill you last.”
Shrrng.
The Ilhwa Sword was about to be drawn slightly.
But she barely managed to stop her sword. Yes, she could not lose the bet over a bastard like this.
Clack.
After sheathing the sword she had been about to draw, Ilhwa Geomjon smiled and said to Geom Mugeuk,
“It seems the two pills you gave me were effective. Seeing as they even stir the lust of such an ugly old man.”
Geom Mugeuk smiled brightly and said,
“Would the result have been any different if you hadn’t taken them?”
At Geom Mugeuk’s words, Ilhwa Geomjon laughed in good spirits.
Click.
The carriage door on the other side opened irritably.
From inside came the annoyed voice of Hyeolcheon Doma.
“I don’t even want to lay a hand on you.”
Geom Mugeuk and Ilhwa Geomjon could tell that Hyeolcheon Doma was very angry. Of course, they knew the reason as well.
Only then did Hyeolcheon Doma step out of the carriage.
“Just kill yourself.”
Hyeolcheon Doma’s cold gaze shot toward the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit.
There should have been some kind of reaction, whether curses burst out or killing intent poured forth.
But as the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit stared at Hyeolcheon Doma, his eyes gradually widened.
“You are!”
The Ten Thousand Evils Hermit recognized Hyeolcheon Doma. They had met in the past.
“Why are you here?”
His voice trembled violently.
Instead of answering, Hyeolcheon Doma asked coldly,
“You don’t want to? Then I’ll kill you myself.”
Hyeolcheon Doma strode toward him. The moment terrifying demonic energy surged toward the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit—
The Ten Thousand Evils Hermit struck the crown of his own head with his palm.
Crunch!
His skull shattered, and he collapsed where he stood. He had truly killed himself.
“Aaah!”
The one who screamed was Taesu. It was a scream that burst out before he knew it.
‘What in the world did I just see?’
The Ten Thousand Evils Hermit, that wicked man, had killed himself? Why?
The Ten Thousand Evils Hermit he had heard of was the kind of man who, if he could not win in a fight, would resort to every despicable method, and if even that failed, would unleash a self-destruction technique.
Then who in the world was that old man, for the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit to kill himself without even trying to fight?
“Oh my, please stay over there.”
Geom Mugeuk backed far away from Hyeolcheon Doma.
“Just what kind of life have you lived?”
Hyeolcheon Doma smacked his lips, and Ilhwa Geomjon said with a smile,
“He once had quite the fierce temper.”
He had been so terrifying that even the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit trembled before him.
“That temper’s all died down.”
Geom Mugeuk smiled and responded to Hyeolcheon Doma’s words.
“I like you a hundred times better now. So please don’t bring it back to life.”
Meanwhile, Taesu cautiously approached the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit’s corpse. He wanted to confirm that he was dead, but he was too afraid to shake the body. It felt as though the man might spring up at any moment.
“Why did he kill himself?”
To that dazed, absentminded question, Geom Mugeuk replied,
“Because he was scared?”
In the end, Taesu thought of another conspiracy theory.
“You’re all in on this and acting, aren’t you? You’re acting because you’re after my treasure map, right?”
And so he imagined that the moment he entered the Sword Tomb, all the people who had died until now would appear, stand in a line, and mock him.
“There’s one more actor over there.”
Geom Mugeuk looked to one side and waved.
Then a masked man who had been hiding far away revealed himself. The one who appeared, his eyes as startled as Taesu’s, was Jihan. Taesu thought he would immediately use his movement technique and flee.
But Jihan launched himself toward them.
Jihan landed in front of Geom Mugeuk. Just like that day, Geom Mugeuk was smiling at him today as well.
On his left stood Hyeolcheon Doma with his arms crossed, and on his right stood Ilhwa Geomjon with calm eyes.
These were people who had made the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit kill himself without even drawing their swords.
After bowing his head in greeting, Jihan revealed his identity.
“I am Jihan, captain of the Soul-Chasing Unit of the Sawangmun.”
As he did, he removed the mask he had been wearing. His appearance suited his calm eyes.
Geom Mugeuk asked him,
“If you’re the captain of the Soul-Chasing Unit, then are you the one who applied the Soul-Chasing Scent?”
“Yes. That is my work.”
“Why did you come to me instead of running away?”
Jihan looked at the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit’s corpse and let out a sigh.
“Cheon Daeung, the leader of the Fire Dragon Unit and the one responsible for obtaining this treasure map, will never believe that the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit killed himself without even fighting. Since he has always found me displeasing, he will frame me by saying I colluded with the enemy and killed him.”
One way or another, he would place the blame on him. Someone had to take responsibility for the deaths of the Blood Wind Four Swords and the Ten Thousand Evils Hermit.
He then revealed another reason.
“Because I treated someone with courtesy for over ten years, I was able to obtain one piece of information.”
He was referring to the information broker Elder Song.
“He absolutely did not sell your information. And he advised me to leave. If I could not leave, he told me to run headlong toward death.”
Jihan stared at Geom Mugeuk.
“I intend to stake my life and my future on that man’s advice.”
Jihan desperately hoped that the death before his eyes would be a merciful one. That it would be a death with enough breadth to embrace him.
Throughout his speech, he kept thinking that this was madness. He was trying to entrust himself to someone without even knowing who the other party was.
Geom Mugeuk quietly stared at Jihan. Those calm eyes did not suit the Sawangmun.
“Why did you enter the Sawangmun?”
“From birth, I was sensitive to smells. Even when all kinds of scents were mixed together, I could distinguish them one by one, and even if a scent grew distant, I could follow it. I liked the many scents of the world. Then I met my master and learned the Scent-Chasing Art, the study and pursuit of fragrances. My master belonged to the Sawangmun. I was young, so I did not know what kind of place the Sawangmun was, and back then, it was not as infamous as it is now.”
Geom Mugeuk sensed that he was not lying.
“Have you ever killed an innocent person?”
“My duties mostly involved chasing down and bringing back those who fled from our sect. In the process, there were times when I had no choice but to kill those who attacked me, prepared to die.”
“Other than that?”
“None.”
A person who could handle the Soul-Chasing Scent was certainly someone the Ghost Shadow Unit needed.
“What do you want?”
“Please take me in as your subordinate.”
Hyeolcheon Doma and Ilhwa Geomjon looked at each other. Taesu was one thing, and now this man named Jihan as well.
—Why does everyone like the Young Cult Leader so much?
At Hyeolcheon Doma’s sound transmission, Ilhwa Geomjon replied,
—Ask yourself.
Hyeolcheon Doma turned his head away with a huffing expression.
Geom Mugeuk did not immediately accept his request.
“Do you even know who I am?”
“You are the person whom someone who has regarded me favorably for ten years told me to throw myself toward. I trust that man’s eye. And I have nowhere to return to.”
In truth, there was one more reason.
After spending a long time studying and pursuing scents, he sometimes smelled something from people. Not a real smell, but a kind of imaginary scent.
If Cheon Daeung gave off a stench, then this person gave off a pleasant scent.
At last, Geom Mugeuk made his decision.
“Fine. I accept.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s ready answer, Jihan was actually startled. He had not expected to be accepted so easily. He had thought there would be all sorts of conditions. Bring this back, or prove your loyalty.
“From now on, you are one of my people.”
“!”
He had used the expression not subordinate, but my people.
“Do you trust me?”
Geom Mugeuk shook his head.
“I don’t know who you are, so I can’t trust you yet.”
“Then why take me in?”
“When you first chased me, why did you stop the pursuit?”
When three men died, he had given up the pursuit.
“I judged that if we went any farther, all my subordinates would die.”
“Because I trust that wise judgment. Because I trust the heart that cherishes your subordinates.”
Cheon Daeung had mocked him and scorned him as a coward for the very same fact that he had returned after only three men died.
Geom Mugeuk, looking at the exact same fact, was saying that his judgment had been excellent.
Jihan hesitated no longer. He respectfully cupped his fist and paid his respects.
“Jihan greets my new lord. I will serve you with loyalty.”
“Your ability is more important than any other. I look forward to working with you.”
As the resentment of all the years he had been treated like a hunting dog within the organization surged up, his eyes reddened. These were words he had wanted so badly to hear all this time.
Watching them, Taesu suddenly found himself envying Jihan. In that moment, Taesu realized that he had wanted to do work that someone would acknowledge.
Perhaps the reason he had always been angry and dissatisfied with everything was not simply because of his father’s rule to steal only the possessions of the wicked, but because his own work was not something that could be recognized with pride.
And yet now, before his eyes, someone was changing his own fate. He was showing that fate could be changed like this, if one tried to change it.
Jihan looked at Taesu and said,
“I cannot completely erase the Soul-Chasing Scent on that man’s hands, but I can make it faint. Then we should be able to gain enough time to shake off the pursuit.”
Even without him, the subordinates of the Soul-Chasing Unit would come after them.
“Do so.”
Jihan took several medicine bottles from his robe and poured them over both of Taesu’s hands in order.
“Now we won’t have to cut off your hands.”
At Geom Mugeuk’s joke, Taesu smiled broadly in delight. All this time, he had felt uneasy, as though his hands had become shackles on everyone.
Geom Mugeuk said to Jihan,
“Guide us.”
“To where, sir?”
The place Geom Mugeuk wanted to go was somewhere he had never expected.
“To where the Fire Dragon Unit Leader is.”
“!”
The reason was even more astonishing.
“He tormented and tried to kill one of my people, so I will kill him.”
Jihan could tell. Geom Mugeuk meant it sincerely. And also that he might truly be able to kill Cheon Daeung.
Taesu, on the other hand, jumped in shock as he listened.
“You want to strike the Sawangmun’s martial artists first? Absolutely not!”
“Didn’t you hear the information broker? If you want to live, throw yourself into death!”
Taesu tried to stop him because he was afraid, while Jihan tried to stop him for a different reason.
“You must not kill him.”
“Why?”
“If he fails to recover this treasure map, he will fall into great trouble anyway. On the other hand, if you kill him now, the Sawangmun will become fully involved in this matter. I believe the correct choice is to leave a fool in the enemy camp alive.”
Geom Mugeuk smiled pleasantly at Jihan's sound judgment.
“I shall follow your wishes. However, you must die.”
“!”
Jihan was startled, as was Taesu.
Of course, he did not truly intend to kill him.
“Do you still have any of the Chuhonhyang that was applied to the Jangbodo?”
“Yes, I do.”
Geom Mugeuk looked at the Manaksanin's corpse and said,
“Apply it to that man’s hands.”
Jihan did as he was told and applied the Chuhonhyang to the corpse’s hands.
“That bastard killed everyone here and seized the Jangbodo.”
Only then did they understand Geom Mugeuk’s plan. He intended to make it appear that the Manaksanin had intercepted the Jangbodo. Since he was a man who had committed all manner of evil deeds, no one would doubt it.
Geom Mugeuk let out a long whistle.
At that, a martial artist revealed himself. He was a martial artist who had traveled between Geom Mugeuk and Tongcheongak, delivering information. He was a master whose skills in qinggong and stealth techniques were enough to be called an expert.
“Take this corpse and head toward Seomseo.”
Seomseo was in the opposite direction from Jeolgang, where they were currently headed.
“There will be people chasing after you. Go as far as you can, leave the corpse behind, and get away. The Chuhonhyang has been applied to the corpse’s hands, so you must never touch them.”
“Yes, I understand.”
The man bound the corpse’s hands behind its back to secure them, then hoisted the corpse over his shoulder and left. Since a qinggong expert was departing first, there would be no chance of him being caught by pursuers later.
“If the corpse is found with Chuhonhyang on its hands? They’ll think he fled all the way to Seomseo, had the Jangbodo stolen by someone else, and then died.”
Jihan marveled. It was an excellent plan.
First, it would sow confusion that the location written on the Jangbodo was in Seomseo.
Next, since he would become a dead man, he would be able to avoid the organization’s pursuit.
In the end, Cheondaeung would have to take responsibility for having entrusted this matter to the Manaksanin.
Taesu asked cautiously,
“Who is that man who took the corpse? Is he a guard? Or a porter?”
At the word “guard,” Jihan looked at Taesu with a puzzled expression.
Taesu felt a useless sense of pride that he knew more about this Geom Mugeuk than Jihan. A needless competitive spirit was arising.
But Jihan could instinctively tell. That Geom Mugeuk and the two experts were by no means people from an escort agency.
“Now, let us be on our way too.”
With Geom Mugeuk between them, the two sat on either side.
“One is a master of fleeing, and the other is a master of pursuit. Isn’t this perfectly balanced?”
Taesu and Jihan looked at each other. Never in their dreams had they imagined that after constantly chasing and being chased, they would end up sitting side by side in the same carriage.
“Now, let those Sawangmun bastards suffer to their hearts’ content in the wrong place.”
The carriage once again began to race toward Jeolgang Province.
“Let’s go eat five-spice braised pork!”