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“Captain!”
At Cheong-yeon’s suggestion, Neung Je-gang requisitioned the three most trustworthy Capture Bureau agents among those he had worked with in the past.
Looking at the three who had been assigned, he nodded.
He didn’t know how their skills compared, but their sense of duty had always been unshakable.
They were men with temperaments much like Cheong-yeon’s.
“Our first target is the Field Agents Lord.”
“Gasp!”
“T-that… what do you mean…?”
“I’ve finished discussing it with the Director, so don’t overthink it. If there’s one thing you should know, it’s this—he has already betrayed the Eastern Depot.”
“The Field Agents Lord, sir?”
“From now on, the people we kill will be exactly that kind of person. Those who betrayed the Eastern Depot and rejected their duty as subjects of His Majesty. So no matter who the target is, don’t let it shake you. Understood?”
“Yes!”
Neung Je-gang leapt into the darkness with them.
They were only there for appearances.
Sneaking in and cutting down the Field Agents Lord would be his task alone.
“You have just one job—make an appropriate amount of noise, then flee.”
“B-but… didn’t you say we were killing the Field Agents Lord?”
“I’ll do that. You make things loud and create an opening for me. Cheong-yeon will command—make noise for about half a quarter-hour, then withdraw. Be careful. There may be pursuers.”
“Understood.”
Neung Je-gang glanced over them once, then shot forward.
His figure slipped over the wall of the Field Agents Lord’s residence like a shadow.
“Ho—! That’s an incredible lightness art.”
True to their training as Capture Bureau agents, they first expressed admiration for the movement technique Neung Je-gang had used.
“Let’s go too. Ah—everyone brought their headscarves, right?”
“Of course.”
“We’ll rough up the gate guards or a few others, then run once people start pouring out. It’s nothing difficult, so don’t mess it up.”
“What could we possibly mess up?”
“Just don’t let your headscarves get torn off. All right—let’s move.”
Not long after, the Field Agents operatives guarding the front gate were beaten into pulp under the overwhelming martial prowess of the Capture Bureau agents.
Hearing their screams, dozens of people rushed out from inside.
But all they saw were comrades with cracked skulls and broken limbs, screaming as they died.
At the same time, Neung Je-gang had already slipped into the Field Agents Lord’s bedchamber.
The Field Agents Lord, apparently unconcerned about assassination attempts, had posted no particular guards near his sleeping quarters.
“Well, he’s been killing whoever he’s told to. Why would he worry?”
Smack, smack.
Neung Je-gang slapped the sleeping man’s cheek a few times.
“W-who…?”
The Field Agents Lord’s eyes opened—and he nearly stopped breathing.
Someone stood by the bed, tapping his face.
In the darkness, he couldn’t even make out the figure clearly.
“I thought about killing you quietly, but figured you should at least know why you’re dying. That way, when you get to hell, you can tell King Yama why you ended up there.”
“S-someone, help!”
The Field Agents Lord screamed.
Neung Je-gang didn’t bother stopping him.
By the time anyone arrived, it would all be over.
The only complication was that a young woman sleeping naked beside him woke up, forcing Neung Je-gang to use his hand once more.
“When you reach hell, be sure to apologize to those who died because of the information you sold to So-hee.”
Thud.
A single dagger pierced the Field Agents Lord’s throat, dyeing the bed crimson.
Neung Je-gang slipped back out of the residence just as quietly.
On the way out, he saw crowds gathering near the front gate; with all that commotion, it seemed no one had heard the Field Agents Lord’s screams, and no one rushed toward the bedchamber.
On the first day, the Field Agents Lord died.
The next day, the Secret Institute Lord was attacked on his way home after court by five masked men, and before many witnesses, his head was severed.
The five killers carried out the deed in the blink of an eye and vanished without a trace.
Shortly afterward, Cheong-yeon and the three Capture Bureau agents appeared at the scene and conducted a perfunctory investigation.
No one imagined that they themselves had killed the Secret Institute Lord and then returned.
Thus, every day in the capital, high officials died one by one.
The targets were random.
One day it was an Eastern Depot figure, another day a Brocade Guard officer, and another day a Hanlin Academy scholar, all meeting brutal ends under assassins’ blades.
As this repeated, the court and the imperial family had no choice but to focus their gaze on one place.
There was only one side that had suffered no losses at all.
The Chancellor and his faction were pushed into a deeply awkward position.
From their perspective, they couldn’t reveal that all the dead had been people they’d bought off—how could they not panic?
“What is this? How can so many die—more than just one or two—and you still can’t even find where the information is leaking from?”
So-hee pressed them coldly.
The Chancellor bowed his head deeply.
The sight of the two made it impossible to call them husband and wife; anyone could see So-hee clearly held the upper hand.
“Tell me. Who exactly compiled the list of those people? No one?”
The Chancellor wasn’t the only one present.
Many figures of the so-called Chancellor’s faction were seated there.
“Fine. You must know that if you step forward, you’ll die—so you can’t, can you?”
So-hee swept them all with an icy gaze, then finally stopped pressing further.
“You may not know this, but in the capital right now, Secret Shadow—the one the Director brought in from the martial world—is here.”
“Ah…!”
Murmur, murmur.
Some had heard Neung Je-gang’s sobriquet and grew noisy; those who hadn’t asked their neighbors who Secret Shadow was.
“Quiet.”
“…!”
“Secret Shadow is universally acknowledged as the greatest assassin. I believe it’s that very Secret Shadow who carried out these acts. Whatever the outcome, it means the list of people we bought has fallen into his hands.”
“So I advise you—starting this moment—to abandon everyone you’ve bought so far.”
Murmur, murmur.
The room grew noisy again.
“Silence! By tomorrow or the day after, people from the Mountain will descend to capture Secret Shadow. You will abandon those you bought—but keep them under watch. Secret Shadow will be somewhere. If you spot anything suspicious, report it. Understood?”
“Can you really catch that assassin? And if you fail? What if he comes after us?”
“So-ho-ho! You must be Left Vice Minister, my lord. Don’t worry about that. It will never fail. If need be, I’ll kill the Director and the Grand Preceptor alike. Ohohoho!”
Hearing So-hee’s dreadful laughter, the members of the Chancellor’s faction shuddered and turned their heads away.
They were afraid even to meet her eyes.
“We desire nothing else. Only that you recognize the Necromancer Cult—our Taepyeong Church. Do that, and you will hold this country’s power forever. But remember—if anyone betrays us, we will erase your Chancellor’s faction from this world first….”
No one but So-hee could even breathe properly.
“You may leave.”
Whoosh.
At her words, they hurried out, desperate to escape even a moment faster.
“Fools! I’ll turn you all into scarecrows. Hohohoho!”
Once they were gone, So-hee revealed her true feelings with laughter.
To her, even the Chancellor’s faction were nothing more than tools.
After a long while, Neung Je-gang revealed himself in So-hee’s quarters.
He’d heard there would be a large gathering at the Chancellor’s Residence and waited just in case—and he’d learned something excellent.
“People from the Mountain who can face me will arrive tomorrow or the day after?”
Neung Je-gang’s eyes shone.
Those who had died by his hand at Aenoe Mountain and Hoe-gye Mountain had been no weaklings.
For them to claim certainty this time meant many strong experts were stationed at the Mountain.
“If even stronger ones come down than last time, this might actually be dangerous.”
Still, he had no intention of avoiding it.
Whatever the Necromancer Cult intended, each clash with those sent down from the Mountain only made Neung Je-gang stronger.
Experience was accumulating; in that sense, the Mountain was helping his training.
“That said, it looks like many bought-off people remain… Should I change tactics this time?”
“The one who questioned So-hee earlier—that was the Left Vice Minister, wasn’t it?”
Neung Je-gang vanished down the corridor.
The next day, the public was finally shocked to learn that victims had appeared on the Chancellor’s faction’s side as well.
But an icy wind blew through the hearts of those in that faction.
They remembered that the Left Vice Minister had dared question So-hee the night before.
And they remembered her cold laughter.
They couldn’t help but suspect whose hand had killed him.
“This can’t be happening.”
Whenever the Chancellor’s faction gathered—even a few at a time—they slowly began venting the resentment they’d been harboring.
“What is that woman, anyway? Does she think she’s truly the Chancellor’s wife? She’s a fake who seized the seat after the real lady died—nothing but a demonic enchantress of the martial world. Necromancer Cult or not, we should first execute that witch and show her she can’t treat us however she likes.”
Gradually, signs of discord appeared among them.
They had bowed before So-hee’s cruelty and power, but they held the nation’s authority.
If they mobilized even just the capital’s troops, erasing the Necromancer Cult’s shadow from the city would be easy—though the future consequences were worrying.
“Right. Exactly.”
Whenever someone delivered a fiery speech, others inevitably echoed it.
But all of this soon reached So-hee at the Chancellor’s Residence.
“Ohoho! So the Left Vice Minister’s death bred such people?”
“Yes.”
The man who came scurrying to tattle was clearly one of those who had agreed loudly during the rant.
“Ohoho! Good work. You may go.”
“Yes, heh heh heh!”
Once he left, So-hee’s expression turned icy.
“These insects really need to taste some heat.”
Clink.
“You called?”
“Tell the children we need the head of the Sixth Assistant Inspector of the Judicial Inspection Office immediately. Insolent fool—sitting in an Assistant Inspector’s seat and thinking nothing can touch him?”
So-hee barked coldly.
“Understood.”
The response faded, and the surroundings grew quiet.
Then—
“Who made you so angry?”
A man’s voice suddenly echoed from nowhere.
“Huh—? Could it be… Hwangbo Ryeong-ju?”
“You recognized me at once, I see.”
Sssshk.
The man who appeared before So-hee was a middle-aged figure with a slightly short, thick dao strapped at his waist.
“Did the Mountain Lord really send Hwangbo Ryeong-ju here?”
So-hee brightened.
This was a man she knew—one who could dispatch someone like Secret Shadow in a single stroke, a true transcendent master.
“No. I came down on my own to find Secret Shadow.”
“Then you came without permission?”
So-hee’s face went cold.
“Hahaha! Your expressions really are endlessly varied. If I hadn’t known what kind of woman you were, I might’ve been fooled by them.”
He spoke and dropped down cross-legged before her.
“This is no time for jokes. You really came down without the Mountain Lord’s permission?”
Nod, nod.
The man nodded.
“Are you insane? Do you know how much the Mountain Lord hates that? Go back at once. Go back now and beg forgiveness.”
“It’s already too late. I’ve been down here for over two months.”
“Y-you really are insane. Truly insane. Aren’t you afraid of death?”
“What choice do I have? All my subordinates were killed by Secret Shadow. Do you think I could sit calmly on the Mountain and train alone? Have you forgotten my nature?”
“Ah… you fool. They were just subordinates—you could always get more….”
So-hee sighed.
She knew it too.
After two months, the window for forgiveness had already passed.
“But is it true that Secret Shadow is in the capital?”
“And how did you know that?”
“Haha! I’m not dead yet—I could still pick up some of the Cult’s information.”
“It’s true. Secret Shadow is definitely here in the capital. But we don’t know exactly where.”
“Then we’ll have to search.”
The man stood.
“Hwangbo Ryeong-ju!”
“Heh heh! With so little life left, you still want to call me Hwangbo Ryeong-ju?”
His voice trembled faintly.
“Elder Brother Chu!”
So-hee’s voice trembled as well.
“Heh heh! I still prefer that name from long ago. Farewell. I’ll deal with Secret Shadow.”
With that, Hwangbo Chu walked out.
Left behind, So-hee remained seated for a long time, her expression sorrowful.
“Master… could you not forgive your disciple just once?”
She murmured to herself.
But she knew it was a futile wish.
From the moment they became Mountain Lord and subordinates—master and disciples—there was no such word as forgiveness between them.
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