What In The World Are You Doing? (1)

“Oh…….”

“He won.”

Chung Myung stood with his sword pointed at the neck of Do-Hyeon, who had fallen to the floor. Seeing that, the Mount Hua disciples let out deep sighs of relief.

They had not thought it possible, but if that bastard Chung Myung had actually lost, they might truly have had to take down Mount Hua’s signboard. Fortunately, it seemed they had avoided the worst.

“This is enough to make my blood run cold.”

“Exactly…….”

Yoon Jong shook his head vigorously.

He realized once again that fighting the Evil Sect or the Demonic Cult was preferable to fighting a person in power. Fighting those kinds of people was simply not worth doing.

“So what do we do now?”

“I wonder?”

The Mount Hua disciples’ gazes focused on Chung Myung. Wasn’t that man always the one who solved things in situations like this?

“Hmmm.”

Chung Myung tilted the sword he had pointed at Do-Hyeon’s neck. Then he let out another long hum.

“Hmmmmmm.”

Chung Myung’s eyes suddenly glinted. His gaze darted rapidly between Do-Hyeon’s smooth neck and his own sword.

“Why is he doing that?”

“I wonder…….”

While the Mount Hua disciples only looked puzzled, unable to understand Chung Myung’s intentions—

“Th-that bastard, surely not.”

Baek Cheon seemed to understand what it meant. He jumped in alarm and spoke in a horrified voice.

“You’re not wondering if it would be better to just cut him down here and eliminate any future trouble, are you?”

“Huh?”

Chung Myung whipped his head around to look behind him.

“Wow, how did you know? Did you learn mind reading in the meantime?”

“You crazy bastard! What the hell are you doing?”

“Well, I mean…… It is true that there wouldn’t be any future trouble that way.”

“How would that eliminate future trouble?! You’d be using a spade to deal with something that could be stopped with a hoe! What do you think would happen if you got caught doing that?”

“Then we just don’t get caught, right?”

“That’s easier said than done!”

Baek Cheon cautiously stretched out a hand toward Chung Myung, as though he were handling a bomb on the verge of exploding.

“Now, be a good boy. Put that sword down first.”

“Grr…….”

“Quit fooling around, you bastard!”

“Grrrrr!”

“Ugh.”

When Baek Cheon clutched the back of his head and collapsed, Jo Gul and Yoon Jong naturally supported him.

“Please calm down, sasuk. It’s not like this has only happened once or twice.”

“That’s exactly the problem—it hasn’t only happened once or twice…….”

“Please don’t cry.”

“Sniff.”

Jo Gul shook his head as he watched Baek Cheon wipe the corners of his eyes.

“It’s not like this is a rare occurrence, but he does seem especially unhinged today.”

“That’s true.”

Chung Myung, who had been growling like a wolf…… No, actually, more like a mad dog, rubbed his chin.

“Tsk. It would be better to have no future trouble.”

“Then you should keep me alive.”

“Hm?”

Chung Myung’s gaze turned toward Do-Hyeon in front of him.

Even with a sword before his eyes, Do-Hyeon looked calmly at Chung Myung.

“If I return alive like this, I will leave you alone. At the very least, I recognize that I owe you a debt for sparing my life.”

“Oh, really? That’s wonderful news. But wouldn’t it be simpler just to eliminate the future trouble?”

“That is foolish.”

“Huh?”

Do-Hyeon looked straight at Chung Myung and spoke.

“If I were an ordinary person in power, you might be right. But I am the leader of the Eastern Depot. The Eastern Depot will not disappear simply because I am gone. Instead, they will do everything in their power to find the person who killed their leader and restore their honor.”

“…….”

“All the power of the imperial court will be devoted to tracking you down, and every imperial army under heaven will pursue you. If you can bear that…….”

“Oh my! How can such an esteemed person be lying in a shabby place like this?”

“…….”

“You’ll catch a chill lying on the cold ground, you know? Come on, get up.”

At a truly dazzling speed, Chung Myung lowered his sword and helped Do-Hyeon to his feet.

Do-Hyeon shook his head at the transformation that naturally brought the words “shameless” to mind. Living in the demon’s lair known as the imperial palace, he had seen two-faced people countless times……

But this man is something else entirely.

And yet, strangely enough, he did not dislike him.

“You lunatic, please…….”

Only then did Baek Cheon let out a deep sigh of relief. He then led his fellow disciples toward Chung Myung and Do-Hyeon.

When the masked men tried to join the two, the Eastern Depot soldiers surrounding the area grew agitated, then raised the flexible swords in their hands.

“Stop!”

Bang Hwi shouted furiously. But his shout was directed not at the Mount Hua disciples, but at the armed men of the Eastern Depot under his command.

“Do not act rashly until the eunuch’s safety has been secured!”

“……Yes.”

Knowing that Do-Hyeon’s life or death still rested in Chung Myung’s hands, they had no choice but to remain still.

Baek Cheon asked Chung Myung, who gave a dry laugh as he watched the scene.

“What are you going to do now?”

“Hmm. I wonder?”

“Can’t we withdraw? He said he wouldn’t forget his debt for having his life saved, so he won’t pursue us, will he?”

“Tsk, tsk. You can’t back down like this.”

“Huh?”

Chung Myung’s face twisted fiercely.

“Officials are the kind of people who go back on what they said in the morning by evening. How can you trust them?”

“……He doesn’t seem like the type to do that.”

“I told you, he’s from the Eastern Depot! Do you have any idea how devious eunuchs are?”

Baek Cheon tilted his head.

As Chung Myung said, trusting an official was dangerous, but honestly, Do-Hyeon did not seem like the sort of person who would do that.

“Then what do you intend to do?”

“Hmm. I think we can decide what to do later.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s first check what we came here to confirm.”

“What?”

“……Is this really all right?”

“I don’t know either.”

“I don’t think even riding on the back of a running tiger would feel like this.”

“You can beat a tiger.”

“That’s right, Sago.”

The Mount Hua disciples shuddered.

Their gazes turned toward the two people walking ahead. Chung Myung was walking with his sword planted squarely on Do-Hyeon’s shoulder.

“How much farther do we have to go?”

“We’re almost there.”

“I think I’ve heard you say that at least three times. You’re not just leading us around in circles, are you?”

“Do I look like I have that much free time?”

“Well, now that you mention it, no. But for someone like that, you did come all the way here just to catch a few rats.”

“That isn’t funny coming from someone who got beaten up by those rats. You’re excessively modest for someone with your skill.”

“I am rather modest. Hehehe!”

Watching the two men make idle conversation as if they had come out for a stroll, Jwa Go-Hak looked up at the sky.

“……Is this really right?”

“I understand how you feel…… But as someone who experienced it first, let me advise you: it’s easier to give up. Trying to understand only makes things harder.”

At Yoon Jong’s explanation, the Mount Hua disciples all nodded in unison.

But even those words did not comfort Jwa Go-Hak. He could still see the decrepit sword pressed against Do-Hyeon’s neck. That sword, which looked incapable of properly cutting even a reed, was touching the neck of the most powerful man in the country.

They threatened Do-Hyeon, took him hostage, and made him guide the way?

The Ceremonial Affairs Head Do-Hyeon?

What kind of human being could even come up with such an idea?

Had they forgotten what power was and what consequences meant after living in the mountains and grazing on grass, or had they decided that, after becoming one with nature, they might as well be buried in the ground and become one with it for good?

“If I associate with Taoists even after this is over, I’m no longer human.”

“What did you just say?”

“……Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”

Jwa Go-Hak hid the tears that had begun to leak from his eyes.

Would even the great Confucian scholars who sent him here not call upon the gods of heaven and earth if they saw this scene? Confucius had warned against strange phenomena and spirits, but Jwa Go-Hak himself felt like praying to the gods of heaven and earth right now.

“I merely want to understand what on earth we are doing.”

“What are you talking about? Who was it that insisted we absolutely had to confirm it?”

“No, that was—!”

That was before Do-Hyeon came here himself!

They were supposed to expose Do-Hyeon’s corruption, but what meaning was there in confirming it in front of Do-Hyeon? It would be faster for him to cover up the matter than for him to bring people here.

“Then do we just leave?”

“Grrrrrrrgh.”

Jwa Go-Hak groaned as he tore at his hair.

But he was equally troubled by the thought of returning without examining the evidence before his eyes. Even if the evidence would vanish without a trace, it was still better to confirm it first……

“Oh, over there.”

At that very moment, Tang Soso’s sharp voice rang out from ahead of Jwa Go-Hak.

Jwa Go-Hak’s gaze snapped forward.

Is this the place?

What had been the reason he came here in the first place?

Do-Hyeon had been secretly gathering weapons. For the purpose of plotting something in Beijing.

Then one of two things had to exist.

A large quantity of weapons stockpiled without being used, or Do-Hyeon’s private soldiers armed with those weapons.

As it turned out, Jwa Go-Hak’s reasoning had not been far off.

Beyond the dense forest lay a vast basin. There, without a doubt, was what Jwa Go-Hak had been looking for.

Large warehouses.

The warehouses that came into Jwa Go-Hak’s view had been built lightly, not for long-term use, but simply to keep out the rain and wind.

There was nothing strange about it. It was exactly what he had expected. What exceeded his expectations was not the fact that warehouses existed here, but the number of warehouses built here.

“Five, six…… Seven…….”

Jwa Go-Hak muttered blankly.

Eight warehouses.

No fewer than eight enormous warehouses had been built, each seemingly large enough to house at least a hundred people at once.

Jwa Go-Hak stared at the sight in a daze, then moved forward as if entranced and flung open the door of the nearest warehouse.

He slowly raised his head.

Countless chests. Chests that could never possibly be empty filled the warehouse up to the ceiling.

Jwa Go-Hak stared blankly at the chests before him, then turned around.

The next warehouse, then the one after that.

Even after opening them all, the contents were no different.

Every warehouse here was filled with weapons. An astonishing quantity—calling it massive did not begin to describe it.

“……All of this is weapons?”

“This is absurd.”

“Wait…… These can’t be all the warehouses in the first place. Considering that the carts split up earlier, doesn’t that mean there are at least two more places like this?”

“……Surely not.”

At this point, even the Mount Hua disciples could not hide their bewilderment.

If people who had followed a stream in search of a river suddenly came upon the sea, they would probably react similarly.

But the Mount Hua disciples’ astonishment still paled in comparison to Jwa Go-Hak’s.

Jwa Go-Hak stared silently at the weapons filling the warehouses for some time, as if frozen in place. Then he suddenly turned and strode toward Do-Hyeon.

Do-Hyeon calmly faced Jwa Go-Hak as he approached.

Grab.

Jwa Go-Hak seized Do-Hyeon by the collar in one swift motion.

“Gasp.”

The Mount Hua disciples stared at Jwa Go-Hak in shock.

Even though Do-Hyeon was their enemy, Jwa Go-Hak was the one among them who respected him most. And that same Jwa Go-Hak had suddenly grabbed Do-Hyeon by the collar.

“You…… you bastard.”

Jwa Go-Hak glared at Do-Hyeon through clenched teeth.

“What in the world…… What in the world are you doing?”

Do-Hyeon’s impassive gaze met Jwa Go-Hak’s seething eyes in midair.