Pat, pat. I shook my body this way and that.
Pain still lingered in my body.
It usually didn't hurt this much. The recoil this time was severe.
"Ugh."
I let out a groan and endured the recoil.
My bones still ached, and my muscles were screaming.
"Ah, shit."
This was a mistake. I thought about giving it a try, and now I was regretting it immensely.
"Is it too much to replicate another person's body?"
Modifying my existing frame was possible, but completely changing to a different frame seemed difficult.
I had to change my height, of course, along with wrinkles and physical characteristics. Maintaining it also consumed an immense amount of qi.
If I had been even a little later, the Flesh Transformation Art might have dispelled.
No, it definitely would have dispelled.
"...Haaa..."
I let out a sigh and wiped away the sweat.
I thought my proficiency had improved, yet attempting to change resulted in this. Did this mean I still couldn't use this level of technique?
It was a shame about this part, but there was at least one saving grace.
'...It's just not yet.'
I couldn't use it yet. But wouldn't it become easy someday? That was the hope I held.
Crack! I rubbed my shoulder and adjusted my bones.
They were areas that hadn't settled properly because they couldn't keep up with the speed of reversion.
This also meant that my earlier disguise had a very low level of completion.
Considerably so.
'If I had stayed any longer, let alone the transformation dispelling, the chances of getting caught would have been high.'
Since it was a hastily thrown-together situation, Ilcheonggeom would have definitely noticed.
Because the bastard had better intuition than I thought.
'He said he noticed it as soon as he arrived.'
He immediately noticed the anomaly spreading throughout this forest.
That alone meant he was quite a perceptive bastard.
That was only natural, considering the one who had meddled with this forest was none other than Amwang.
"...You can come out now."
"Yes."
The answer to my words came from right beside me. It was Amwang, without even needing to look.
"It went well thanks to you. Thank you."
"It is nothing."
Amwang reacted as if it were no big deal, as always. Without him, I wouldn't have attempted this in the first place.
As I mentioned earlier, transforming into another person had a significantly low level of completion.
Even if I managed to make it look somewhat similar, the fine details were different.
The number of wrinkles, the delicate corners of the eyes, and even the contours of the body.
Nothing could be perfect, and to masters who constantly read their opponent's physique, it would be enough to give off a sense of dissonance.
Then what should I do?
Should I just choose a different method? I pondered this, and fortunately, there was a way.
The method was simple.
If the low completion made it easy to see through, then I just needed to obscure it so they couldn't perceive it.
'Of course, that didn't mean I could just wear a mask.'
The method I chose wasn't to cover my face, but to cover Ilcheonggeom's eyes.
To be precise, rather than covering his actual eyes...
'I would blur his five senses.'
Lowering the clarity of his five senses so he wouldn't be able to perceive things properly.
That was my goal.
There were several ways to achieve this.
Using formations, spreading qi pressure to suppress the opponent's qi sense, or even using poison.
If I looked, there were countless methods to try, but none of them were options I could take.
I didn't know how to properly use formations. Spreading qi pressure would be instantly noticed by Ilcheonggeom.
Poison was no different.
Then what method was left? The answer was simple.
'If I can't do it, I ask someone who can.'
Since doing it myself would inevitably leave traces, I just needed to ask someone who could do it without leaving a trace.
Fortunately, I had an expert in this field by my side like no other. I immediately asked Amwang for his help.
At my request to subtly lower Ilcheonggeom's qi perception without him noticing, Amwang immediately went to work.
At first, it looked like he was doing something around the mountain, but I couldn't figure out the details.
What's important here is,
'Whatever it was, Ilcheonggeom couldn't keep his wits about him.'
The moment he stepped into this mountain. That was when it began.
From the moment he set foot here, his qi perception slowly decreased. Slowly, so that he himself wouldn't even notice.
'When he said he sensed something slightly off, I was a bit tense.'
I heard he noticed something strange, but fortunately, he didn't seem to register it as a major issue.
'Thanks to that, things went smoothly.'
With his qi perception lowered, Ilcheonggeom couldn't see through my flawed disguise.
Using this, I was also able to cover up my poor acting. Furthermore,
'I also realized this was a trick I couldn't use a second time.'
I confirmed that it was something I couldn't pull off again anytime soon.
'Not bad.'
I tried, and I didn't fail.
Moreover, I even gained something from it, so it was undoubtedly a significant profit.
However, if there was one thing I was worried about,
'It's questionable whether he believed all of it... but this should be fine.'
Even if he didn't believe it, I just needed to react as if he did. What mattered was that Ilcheonggeom must have been sufficiently shaken.
I recalled Ilcheonggeom, whose gaze had wavered just a moment ago.
'How far will you fall?'
It was laughable to even say he was up high to begin with, but since he seemed to believe he was flying, I was simply curious.
How far would Ilcheonggeom, who had broken his own wings, plummet? Would he crash into the ground and die?
'Or else...'
Would he realize he wasn't flying in the first place and choose self-destruction?
Of course, whichever the case may be.
His end wouldn't change.
******************
It was still a bit early for dawn to break.
Night had fallen, so the lanterns were illuminating the branch office.
Rustle.
I was sitting in my room, examining two letters as if comparing them.
"...It's the same east.... The directions they identified are similar..."
Was there anything different?
Or rather, what was the same? I checked and scrutinized them closely.
The letters were none other than mission reports, sent by the members tasked with reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.
If there was a difference: one was sent by the dispatched squad members, and the other was sent by the volunteered members.
I had been receiving reports in this manner ever since the mission started.
"Hmm..."
After checking the contents, I couldn't help but frown in discomfort.
'The intelligence is too similar.'
The reason was that the intelligence sent from both sides was exceedingly alike.
"It seems they've caught on."
I chuckled and folded the letters.
Having overlapping intelligence might not seem like a bad thing on the surface. The problem was that, from my perspective, it gave me a lot to consider.
I had originally taken measures to ensure the intelligence wouldn't overlap.
The reason being,
'Muddying the waters is the easiest approach.'
Most of the intel sent by the bastards from the Meng was fake anyway. More than half of it was.
They didn't find it strange. I was the one who told them to do so, after all.
Weeding out the useless trash was easy with this method.
Because it allowed me to filter out all the idiots.
But.
'The fact that the intelligence is now becoming identical'
Meant one of two things.
First, they sensed danger and subtly pulled back. Or,
'They caught on belatedly.'
If they realized that intelligence gathering had been tasked to multiple people.
In my view, it was one of the two.
'Hmm.'
I had already weeded out those who needed to be weeded out, so there was no need to do anything further, but one thing bothered me.
'How did they figure it out?'
How exactly did they catch on? That was what grated on my nerves.
The fact that I had tasked multiple people with gathering intelligence was unknown to anyone but me.
I had even taken measures to ensure they couldn't ask each other about it.
The fact that they noticed in this situation...
'Did someone leak it?'
Had someone intentionally leaked this fact? The thought crossed my mind.
And if the intel had been leaked,
"Was it you?"
As there happened to be a suspicious person nearby, I immediately looked at him and asked.
"...Pardon?"
The man panicked at the question. The man's identity was none other than Mun Do-hyeok.
"About these letters. Are you the one going around blabbering about them?"
"N-No...!"
Mun Do-hyeok recoiled in sheer terror at my words.
"It wasn't you?"
"I mean it.... I-I knew nothing about the reports."
"Hmm..."
Flap.
I fanned myself with the letters in my hand and stared at Mun Do-hyeok. As my gaze fell upon him, he immediately dropped his stiffly frozen head toward the floor.
I could feel how intensely tense he was.
"Whether you did or didn't. It doesn't really matter. I was just asking, quite literally."
As I said earlier, it's too late now. I've already identified everyone who needed to be identified.
And that included this bastard.
Which made it even stranger.
"It's truly unexpected."
"Pardon...?"
"Why did you betray them?"
"..."
Why did this bastard come to my side?
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't understand his reason.
"...As... I mentioned before..."
"No, I'm asking because I genuinely don't understand."
I heard what you said. But I still don't get it.
"'Because he couldn't remember my name'.... Even you have to admit that's a bit flimsy."
"..."
The reason Mun Do-hyeok betrayed Ilcheonggeom and ratted out his operations to me.
Was merely that.
Because he couldn't remember his name. The fact that Ilcheonggeom couldn't remember his own name was his reason.
'What the hell is that?'
I was dumbfounded.
Betraying someone just because they couldn't remember his name?
Ah, maybe since he was a spy to begin with, anything went? No, even then, betraying the Cheongryongdae and siding with me was strange.
To an outsider, it would look like my side was clearly at a disadvantage.
Just then.
"...I..."
Mun Do-hyeok cautiously spoke up.
"...I've been a part of the Cheongryongdae for the past few years."
"I know."
He said it had been four years, right?
It wasn't a long time, but it wasn't a short time either.
"I was only a grunt, but I believe I was loyal to my duties and worked hard.... But."
"Ilcheonggeom couldn't remember your name?"
"...Yes."
Hearing that, I couldn't even muster a scoff.
What kind of ridiculous complaint was that?
He probably wasn't expecting anything by saying it, but there was only one thing I could say in response.
"Well, that's because you were so useless that there was no need to remember it."
"..."
Mun Do-hyeok's head dropped even further at my words.
Seeing a grown man reduced to such a state was somewhat pitiful, but...
"Look at yourself now. Just the fact that you sided with me over something so petty. It shows that you aren't exactly a trustworthy person."
Coming over to my side simply because someone didn't know his name.
It was far too trivial to be a reason for betrayal.
Did he think I would welcome him if he betrayed the other side and came to me?
I was pleased to have a use for him, sure. But as a person, I only felt disgust.
Did that distaste show on my face? Mun Do-hyeok glanced at me and hurriedly continued speaking.
"Th-That's not all."
"Then?"
"...I-I don't have a definitive reason, but..."
He started to speak, then stopped, his lips parting as if hesitating. Then, barely opening his mouth, he spoke to me.
"...I thought it would be better to side with the Commander."
"With me? Instead of Ilcheonggeom?"
"Yes..."
"For what reason?"
"...I'm sorry. It was purely a hunch."
Hearing his words, I nodded slightly.
His reason was solely a gut feeling. Not remembering his name, combined with following his gut, led him to my side.
At those words, I nodded again.
'Hmm.'
Perhaps his intuition was better than I thought.
The thought suddenly crossed my mind.