I Wish They Would All Die. (5)

“Hey, snap out of it!”

“He hasn’t lost consciousness…….”

Smack! Smack!

“Now you’re even spouting nonsense. I told you to snap out of it!”

“I-I am snapping out of i…… Argh! Aaaargh! Why are you hitting me!”

“Tsk, tsk. I guess the shock was pretty severe.”

Yoon Jong shook his head as he watched Baek Cheon enthusiastically slap Jwa Go-Hak’s cheeks at every opportunity.

Well, Baek Cheon had certainly been holding a lot in all this time.

“Get out of the way, you damned Taoist!”

Jwa Go-Hak shoved Baek Cheon aside and snorted furiously.

“You lunatic! Do you really feel like fooling around even in a situation like this!”

“If it felt like a joke, I suppose I wasn’t sincere enough.”

“What the hell are you talking about, you crazy Taoist.”

Jwa Go-Hak clutched his head and caught his breath.

Though Baek Cheon was getting on his nerves, this was no time to waste on him.

‘As absurd as it is, that Taoist is right.’

This wasn’t enough to corner Do-Hyeon. It might sound absurd when the evidence was right before their eyes, but…… power was precisely what could make clearly existing evidence be treated as though it had never existed.

Even if Jwa Go-Hak took these weapons and rushed forward, who in Beijing would risk their life to accuse Do-Hyeon?

“If I’d known it would come to this…… We should have dragged at least one big shot into this.”

“Yeah, all your big shots are off playing at immortals, aren’t they?”

“Grrr…….”

Jwa Go-Hak clutched his chest and trembled. Did those Taoists hole up in the mountains just to learn how to get on people’s nerves?

“Phew, fine.”

“Hm?”

Having barely calmed his churning stomach, Jwa Go-Hak looked straight at Chung Myung and spoke.

“I admit it. Your opinion is correct.”

“Oh?”

“But it isn’t over yet.”

“Hm?”

Jwa Go-Hak’s face hardened.

“As you said, goods of this amount could all be moved and disposed of before a proper investigation even takes place. So these alone are insufficient to call them irrefutable evidence. But!”

Jwa Go-Hak straightened his shoulders and slapped his chest with his palm.

“If it is true that the bastard has been steadily bringing in weapons until now, then there must be a place where those weapons are being stored! If we can find that place, we can truly send Do-Hyeon to the execution ground!”

“Oh.”

The Mount Hua disciples all nodded together.

“That makes sense.”

“Well, that would certainly be conclusive.”

But the responses that came back were strangely lukewarm.

“Exactly!”

Jwa Go-Hak raised his voice again.

“So our plan is to follow this shipment tomorrow when it is moved and find the place where that bastard Do-Hyeon has hidden the weapons! It would be even better if we could find troops rather than weapons! What do you think?”

The Mount Hua disciples smiled faintly as they looked at the triumphant Jwa Go-Hak.

“That is a very good idea.”

“He really is a clever man.”

“Though he is stupid in all the wrong places.”

Just as Jwa Go-Hak was about to continue speaking over the murmuring Mount Hua disciples—

“Right. Then, first of all……”

“Uh, sure. It’s a good plan. But you see.”

“Hm?”

Chung Myung spoke with the most indifferent expression in the world.

“Why is that our plan?”

“……Huh?”

Jwa Go-Hak stared blankly at Chung Myung, blinking.

---

“Master!”

“Ah, get lost. Who’s your master?”

“Then Taoist!”

“Don’t call me a Taoist. What was it you said? Something about us being long-nosed idiots? People who pluck and eat grass in the mountains?”

“What lunatic spouted such nonsense!”

“You.”

“W-Wouldn’t you be mistaken about something? I have always respected Taoists and honored Taoism……”

“Put some spit on that mouth of yours before I rip your lips off.”

“No, please don’t.”

Jwa Go-Hak quickly grabbed onto Chung Myung’s trouser leg and clung to it.

“Let go! Aren’t you going to let go?”

“Oh, Master…… Please!”

Yu Han-Bin stared at Jwa Go-Hak pleading while clinging to Chung Myung’s trouser leg, then slowly turned his head away.

“Taoist.”

“Hm? Uh…… Why?”

Jo Gul flinched and answered in a slightly timid voice.

“So you told me that…… learning Confucianism and becoming an official was the best life…… right?”

“……That wasn’t necessarily my own opinion.”

“I believe you said that no matter how one lived by throwing punches or being a Taoist, one would end up groveling before officials eventually.”

Jo Gul couldn’t bring himself to meet Yu Han-Bin’s eyes and silently stared ahead.

Over there, that Confucian scholar was clinging to a Taoist’s trouser leg and groveling.

“……He isn’t an official yet.”

“But he is someone who will become one soon.”

Jo Gul covered his face. Why did that lunatic have to make a scene in front of a child of all people…….

“There are always exceptions.”

“Those exceptions seem to happen rather often.”

“…….”

Jo Gul fell silent and sighed as he watched Jwa Go-Hak practically wailing now.

“Let go! Aren’t you going to let go? Ah, my pants are coming down, you bastard!”

“Taoist! Even so, this is too much! How can you suddenly pull out like this! Have you forgotten all the friendship we shared, however briefly?”

“Don’t give me that friendship crap!”

Chung Myung yanked hard on the trousers Jwa Go-Hak was holding and lost his temper.

“Pull out? When did we ever stick our foot in to pull it out! Is this our job? It’s your job, isn’t it?! From the beginning, the job we were given was to find evidence of whatever that eunuch’s business was. And we found it. What more do you want us to do!”

“Y-You were the one who said this wasn’t conclusive evidence!”

“Yeah. I did say that. But what does that have to do with me? When did you ask me to find conclusive evidence?”

“……”

“Whether it’s irrefutable evidence or evidence that can fly away, once I found it, my job was done! If you feel wronged, you should have made the contract properly!”

“Ghk.”

Tears welled up in the corners of Jwa Go-Hak’s eyes.

No matter how talented he was, how could he have known the situation would turn out like this and made such a contract?

‘No, in the first place, I wasn’t even the one who made the contract!’

It was unfair. Incredibly unfair. But what good would arguing about it do?

“Master!”

Jwa Go-Hak shot forward like a streak of light and clung to Chung Myung’s trouser leg again.

“It is treason! Treason!”

“Yeah, I know.”

“If this goes wrong, the country will fall!”

“I said I know.”

“B-But how can you be so carefree? As someone who has benefited from the country’s grace, shouldn’t you at least do something……”

“Where the hell did this bastard grind his conscience away—along with his food—in an inkstone!”

Chung Myung kicked Jwa Go-Hak with all his emotion.

“Gweeeek!”

Jwa Go-Hak went rolling away after being kicked and slammed into the wall with a dull thud.

“These bastards oppress us whenever they feel like it for being martial artists, and mistreat us for being Taoists! What? The country’s grace?”

“No……”

“I’ve never even seen the emperor’s face in the first place, so what does it matter to me whether the emperor changes or not!”

Jwa Go-Hak’s mouth fell open in shock.

“H-How can you say something so irreverent……”

“Don’t give me that irreverence crap. It’s relevant to you lot whose heads will be chopped off, not us, got it?”

Jwa Go-Hak turned toward the other Taoists in horror. But the Mount Hua disciples looking at him were all nodding as if they agreed with Chung Myung.

“Well, he’s not wrong.”

“Now that we’ve already left the secular world, why should we care whether the emperor changes or not?”

“What has the country ever done for us in the first place, that we should be loyal to it?”

“Amitabha. It may sound cold, but that is what leaving the secular world means. Cutting one’s ties with the mortal realm. Heh heh.”

Of all things, the monk’s entirely well-intentioned words turned Jwa Go-Hak’s stomach the most.

“Enough.”

Chung Myung waved his hand dismissively.

“We’ve more or less finished what we came here to do, so we’re leaving now.”

“L-Leaving?”

“Tell your old men this clearly. If they don’t keep their promise, I’ll bring the cliff down and fill the entire lake, so they shouldn’t try anything funny. Got it?”

Jwa Go-Hak’s shoulders drooped helplessly.

He felt like stripping off his clothes and lying down right there. If they refused to help, he would have to give up the clue to Do-Hyeon’s downfall that he had barely managed to seize. On his own, there was no way he could get past the Eastern Depot’s surveillance and find the weapons Do-Hyeon had hidden.

But Jwa Go-Hak also knew this well.

Their opponent was none other than the Investigating Eunuch Do-Hyeon. The day they were discovered while investigating his corruption, it would not end with merely risking the lives of everyone here.

Insisting that they continue helping with such dangerous work was not the conduct of a gentleman, either.

“Phew……”

Once he set aside his impatience, he could see it. Just how great a risk they had taken to come this far.

If he claimed to be a gentleman, he could not force any more danger upon them. Rather, he was in a position to be grateful that they had done this much for him. And Jwa Go-Hak claimed to be a gentleman more than anyone else in the world.

Jwa Go-Hak cleared his throat softly and politely bowed to the Mount Hua disciples.

“I understand. Then, for now……”

“Ah, I said we’re not doing it!”

“No, that’s not what I meant……”

“I said we’re not doing it!”

“The thing is……”

“Can’t you understand what I’m saying? We’re not doing it!”

“But……”

“Bleh-bleh-bleh! Bleh-bleh-bleh! I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you!”

“……”

Damn long-nosed bastards…….

If I ever associate with Taoists again, I’ll change my family name. Seriously.

“But even so, I won’t go……”

“Ah! You don’t have to come! Don’t come!”

Jwa Go-Hak shouted angrily and ground his teeth.

“You don’t have to help me! I can do it alone!”

“Huh? That sounds dangerous.”

At Chung Myung’s words, Jwa Go-Hak hardened his expression and replied.

“When it is a matter of serving the country, how could I value my own life?”

“Wow…… Is he insane?”

“……I should just stop talking.”

Jwa Go-Hak shook his head vigorously.

They had fundamentally different ways of thinking, so continuing the conversation would only frustrate him.

“Regardless, thank you for helping me until now. I will make sure to convey that child’s matter, so you needn’t worry.”

“Hmm.”

“Then!”

Jwa Go-Hak politely bowed once more, then turned and walked outside.

Chung Myung watched him leave, then shrugged and said,

“He’s got some fire in him.”

“If you provoked him that much, even Buddha would hit you with a wooden bell.”

“Amitabha. I agree.”

“……Aren’t you a monk? Shouldn’t you disagree?”

As the Mount Hua disciples scratched their heads in the awkward situation, Yu Han-Bin, who had been watching them, tilted his head.

“Um, but……”

“Hm?”

“Is it really okay to send him off like that?”

At those words, Baek Cheon patted Yu Han-Bin’s shoulder.

“Are you worried about him? I understand how you feel, but getting any more involved would be too dangerous.”

“No…… It’s not that.”

“Then what? Is it because of your family? Of course, if Do-Hyeon isn’t completely dealt with, restoring your family’s status may become somewhat difficult. But it isn’t as though there are no options, so you don’t need to worry too much about that.”

“No, it’s not that, either.”

“Hm? Then what is it?”

Yu Han-Bin tilted his head.

“I mean, he’s gone to investigate the Investigating Eunuch alone, right?”

“That…… is true?”

The Mount Hua disciples looked at Yu Han-Bin as if wondering what the problem was.

“But he doesn’t seem exceptionally capable, so it would be difficult for him to succeed alone.”

“Probably.”

“He was a good man.”

“May he rest in peace.”

“We should hold a memorial rite for him, shouldn’t we?”

Watching the Mount Hua disciples neatly sever their connection with him, Yu Han-Bin stammered.

“I mean, that’s not it.”

“Why do you keep saying it isn’t?”

“If he dies, then it can’t be helped, but what if he gets captured?”

“……Hm?”

“Do you really think he will uphold his loyalty to us until the moment he dies?”

“……”

“I hear the Eastern Depot’s torture is notoriously brutal. Do you really believe that, while enduring such vicious torture, the two words ‘Mount Hua’ would never escape his lips?”

As if they had made an appointment, only silence answered him. Yu Han-Bin shook his head.

“Whenever I look at you Taoists, you really seem full of faith in people. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived too harshly, but I don’t trust him at all. Don’t you agree?”

The Mount Hua disciples stared blankly at Yu Han-Bin with expressions as if they had been struck hard on the backs of their heads, then looked at one another.

“Um…… Sahyung, is this really something a child can think of?”

“Don’t ask me. I don’t know anymore, either.”

That kid is really going to go far.

Truly.”