It’s Not Like I’m Doing This For You. (2)

I felt dizzy. Everything began to blur together, as if I had downed a whole gourd of strong liquor.

‘Poison…….’

The martial arts of the Confucian scholars were pure and orthodox. They allowed no wickedness. Under normal circumstances, he would have been able to suppress a poison like this somehow. But being able to suppress the poison and having to fight these people while suppressing it were two entirely different matters.

But what tormented Jwa Go-Hak now was not the situation he found himself in. It was the fact that those people had toyed with him completely, leading him to this point. That fact tightened around Jwa Go-Hak’s throat.

Back when he had been a scholar among those Confucian scholars, he had been a man with nothing in the world to fear. He had been an outstanding man who carried everyone’s expectations on his shoulders.

But from the moment he set foot in Beijing, he had been unable to accomplish a single thing properly. Even that young Yu Han-Bin had been more helpful than he was.

‘Was I always this inadequate?’

Jwa Go-Hak forced his blurring eyes open. If he lost consciousness now, he would not even be in a position to take his own life. While he was still conscious, he had to cut his own throat with this sword…….

“Can’t let you do that.”

Kang!

At that moment, a flexible sword that flew in with razor-sharp precision cleanly knocked the sword from his hand.

Bang Hwi, who had personally knocked Jwa Go-Hak’s sword away, wore a sneering smile.

“Criminals like you all think alike. Especially fools who mistake themselves for doing something great.”

Jwa Go-Hak bit down hard on his lip. But he no longer even had the strength to vent the indignation boiling inside him.

“Don’t worry. You’ll soon learn your place. Your shallow convictions will be stripped away the moment you enter the Eastern Depot’s underground prison.”

Jwa Go-Hak’s back flinched beneath that gaze, so bleak it seemed capable of freezing him solid.

“In the end, you’ll spit out everything you know. Once you’ve given up the names of your relatives along with your own, you’ll clearly understand what kind of man you really were.”

Bang Hwi lowered his sword with an expression devoid of emotion and jerked his chin.

“Take him away. He’s a traitor, so make sure he doesn’t take his own life.”

“Yes!”

The Eastern Depot warriors surrounding Jwa Go-Hak quickly moved in to subdue him. Since the poisoned Jwa Go-Hak was on the verge of collapsing, there was no particular reason to remain wary of him.

But the moment the Eastern Depot warriors grabbed Jwa Go-Hak by the shoulders, his hand moved like lightning.

“Gah!”

The Eastern Depot warriors had been through every kind of hardship, and even then they perfectly guarded against the incoming hand. But they had not been Jwa Go-Hak’s target in the first place.

Grab.

Jwa Go-Hak’s hand seized the hand of the retreating Eastern Depot warrior. The flexible sword caught in that man’s hand whipped violently, as if startled.

“Don’t look down on me!”

Jwa Go-Hak shouted like a man howling in anguish.

If it were merely a matter of enduring through sheer willpower, it would not be difficult. Even if his body were torn into a thousand pieces, they would never hear a single word from Jwa Go-Hak’s lips.

But Jwa Go-Hak knew. The Confucian scholars had opposed the Eastern Depot for as long as anyone could remember, so he knew that their interrogations included methods impossible for human willpower to withstand.

Therefore, there was only one best choice for anyone captured by the Eastern Depot.

“Haap!”

“What?”

Without the slightest hesitation, Jwa Go-Hak stabbed his own throat with the flexible sword he had seized.

Just then, perhaps because they had never imagined he would make this choice, the eyes of the Eastern Depot warriors bulged wide.

“That lunatic……”

Fwoooosh!

A sword came flying from somewhere, spinning fiercely, and cleanly cut through the sword that was flying toward Jwa Go-Hak’s throat.

Crack!

Even after cutting through the flexible sword, the other sword retained enough force to bury itself in the ground almost up to its hilt. Jwa Go-Hak stared blankly at the sight, then whipped his head around.

“No, but did you really have to kill yourself?”

“Look at him. He doesn’t even know the value of his own life.”

“This is why scholars are……”

“No……”

Startled by the familiar voices, Jwa Go-Hak blinked. A group with familiar builds slowly emerged from behind the woods.

“You said you weren’t coming.”

“Hmm.”

Then the masked man with the most irritating-looking build among them put a fist to his mouth and gave a dry cough before awkwardly turning his head aside.

“It’s not like I did it for you.”

“……”

“Just…… we happened to be passing by.”

“You…… you bastards.”

Jwa Go-Hak’s lips trembled.

They spoke like that, but it meant they had followed him because they were worried about him, didn’t it? Their connection was less than ten days old, yet they were even willing to stand against the Eastern Depot for his sake.

How could he have been so harsh toward people with hearts so broad?

Just as tears were beginning to gather in the corners of Jwa Go-Hak’s eyes—

“But if he was just going to die so neatly, didn’t we not even need to come save him? Then there wouldn’t be anything to leak.”

“Shh!”

“Quiet.”

“Ahem!”

“……”

The tears slowly welling in Jwa Go-Hak’s eyes dried up in an instant.

Of course. Those damn Taoist bastards. There was no way they had come because they were worried about him.

“……Did you come here to kill me and silence me because you were afraid I’d spill everything?”

“Now, now. Kill you and silence you? What a frightening thing to say. We came to help you. To help.”

“……I’m moved to tears by your gratitude. You sons of bitches.”

It was his fault for expecting anything from these bastards.

As Jwa Go-Hak somehow suppressed the curses leaking through his clenched teeth, Bang Hwi turned toward them with an incredulous look.

“What an amusing little affair this is.”

Bang Hwi gave a slight nod and looked at the disciples of Mount Hua.

“A fish that got away has jumped right back into the net on its own. It seems my luck will be good for a while.”

At those words, the disciples of Mount Hua looked at one another.

“What is he talking about?”

“He says we’re fish?”

“Chung…… Ahem. Hey, what do you think?”

“Fish, huh.”

Chung Myung smiled beneath his mask.

“That’s a rather poor way to treat us. Still, our rank should at least make us whales.”

Impressed by that bold statement, the disciples of Mount Hua began whispering among themselves.

“Have you ever seen a whale?”

“No.”

“How big are they?”

“I heard they’re enormous. In the pictures, they were almost as big as a house.”

“Come on, that doesn’t make any sense. How could an animal be as big as a house?”

“They weren’t just as big as a house. They were nearly as big as a whole hall.”

Chung Myung covered his face with both hands.

These bastards. After dragging them around here and there, their gall had grown beyond all measure; it was practically rolling around at their feet now.

“……Have these fools really lost their minds?”

The fact that he could not really refute Bang Hwi’s words made Chung Myung feel dejected. How had they all ended up like this?

—It’s all because of you! You!

“What did I do!”

“……Huh?”

“No, sorry. Don’t mind me.”

Chung Myung let out a deep sigh and gestured to Bang Hwi.

“Anyway, that’s how things turned out. Even a grudge is a kind of attachment, so it looks like we’ll have to take that guy with us. Why don’t you withdraw here?”

“Withdraw?”

Bang Hwi looked at Chung Myung in disbelief.

“You insolent brat. How dare you tell anyone to withdraw?”

“Tut.”

Chung Myung clicked his tongue as if Bang Hwi were being completely unreasonable.

“Come on. Are you still acting like this after experiencing it once already? You should know perfectly well that refusing to withdraw peacefully will only leave your bones aching.”

No sooner had Chung Myung finished speaking than Hae Yeon stepped forward. Recognizing Hae Yeon from his build alone, Bang Hwi groaned as he recalled Hae Yeon’s might the last time they met.

“Now, now, let’s settle this amicably. We have no desire to cause unnecessary trouble with government officials either.”

“……Haven’t you already caused more than enough trouble?”

“……”

With nothing to say, Chung Myung looked away. Bang Hwi let out a derisive laugh and glared at him.

“I can certainly see that you’re not ordinary.”

Although they had broken an Eastern Depot warrior’s flexible sword, Jwa Go-Hak was still surrounded. Even so, the way they behaved as though they could rescue him whenever they pleased made the source of their confidence obvious enough.

They did not look particularly old, yet there was no choice but to acknowledge their skill.

“But…… you’ve underestimated the Eastern Depot.”

“Hm?”

At that moment, one of the warriors surrounding Jwa Go-Hak pulled a signal flare from inside his robes and launched it into the air.

Fweeeee!

The spark shot from the small tube soared into the sky, then exploded with a tremendous bang.

“……Oh.”

“We set this trap to capture all of you in the first place. Surely you didn’t think it was such a shoddy trap that your arrival alone would let you break through it?”

“Well, I suppose that makes sense when you put it that way.”

Chung Myung scratched his cheek and shrugged.

“But I wonder if you know this.”

“Hm?”

“A net cast over heaven and earth is made to be broken through in the first place.”

“……”

“I don’t know how many people you’ve mobilized, but we’re also rather good at running away. I’m not sure this will really be enough to catch us.”

The disciples of Mount Hua began whispering again.

“Since when were we good at running away?”

“He must be talking about himself. He always loosely describes his own stories as though they’re ours.”

“Then when did he run away so often that he can call himself an expert?”

“Maybe getting beaten all the time when he was a beggar made him an expert at fleeing.”

“That sounds plausible.”

“……”

Chung Myung silently raised his head and gazed at the distant sky.

What riches and glory did I think I would gain by sticking with these people……

“Ahem. Anyway.”

Chung Myung shrugged and spoke.

“For someone speaking with such a puffed-up tone, you’re not very threatening. I suppose that’s something we’ll have to prove. In any case, it looks like we should start running soon. What will you do? Will you hand him over quietly, or do we really have to fight?”

Chung Myung stepped forward. It was as though he would draw his sword immediately if he did not get the answer he wanted.

But Bang Hwi watched the scene without flinching and burst out laughing instead of being frightened.

“Hahahahahaha!”

“……Why are you suddenly laughing? Have you lost your mind?”

“Certainly…… yes, you’re certainly audacious. Then again, I suppose you have reason to be confident.”

“Hm?”

Chung Myung tilted his head. He had the feeling that things were unfolding differently from what he had expected.

“But you’ve made one major mistake.”

“What mistake?”

“When did I ever say I had set up a net cast over heaven and earth?”

“……”

“The Eastern Depot is an elite organization of only a few. Mobilizing an army to capture a handful of people isn’t the Eastern Depot’s way.”

“Then what was that signal flare for?”

“A signal, just as I said. To call in a tiger, not a swarm of rats.”

“A tiger?”

Chung Myung narrowed his eyes. He was just about to snap, ‘You’d have a hard time pretending to be a tiger in front of us unless you called in someone extraordinary,’ when—

“He isn’t exactly a great man worthy of being called a tiger.”

A huge man slowly walked toward them, his heavy voice coming from ahead of them.

“Huh?”

“But I can certainly play the part of a cat capable of catching a few rats.”

“Huh?”

Chung Myung stared blankly at the man who had appeared and blinked. That man was definitely……

“Do-Hyeon? Chief Eunuch Sa?”

“Yes. It’s me.”

Chung Myung’s mouth fell wide open.

“If you suddenly show up here……”

“‘You’?”

“I-I mean, my lord.”

“……”

The disciples of Mount Hua narrowed their eyes when they saw Chung Myung hunching down and shrinking into himself.

“Looks like we’re in trouble, doesn’t it?”

“It certainly seems that way.”

A collective sigh escaped their lips.