Where did it all start to go wrong?
No matter how far I delve into my memories, I can’t pinpoint the source.
Clearly, everything was going according to plan when I first initiated my schemes. There were a few obstacles, but my resources and planning smoothed out all the barriers.
So, I believe I was unaware.
Unaware that I was standing in an endless mud pit.
I didn’t harbor any hatred towards Namgung Cheolbin. In fact, I rather liked him. Regardless of being nothing more than a ‘character,’ it was natural to feel something after spending ten years together.
However, when my vision clouded with disdain for this martial world’s ‘author’ and my life’s goal became vengeance, that’s when I began dabbling in taboos.
I twisted the course of the world. I tampered with the Blood Sect and changed the ‘comedy’ that was supposed to end into a ‘tragedy.’ My purpose was one and only: To bring down Namgung Cheolbin and seize Soeun Yu.
Namgung Cheolbin trusted me entirely. Fair enough, after all the countless episodes he’d been through, I must have never betrayed him.
Primarily, the plan in this episode was also simple: ‘Whether it fails or succeeds, do not betray Cheolbin.’ Anyway, he would save the world eventually. It would be pointless to entertain any other thoughts and risk being killed by Cheolbin in some other episode.
Incredibly trusting me, he even intended to pass on the position of the family head to me. To someone filled with black-hearted ambitions against him.
After that, things progressed swiftly. Self-weakening Namgung Cheolbin, and me, slandering and undermining him. The always-worried Soeun Yu and Namgung Su-a easily fell for the false rumors due to their strained relationship. The world, disturbed by prolonged warfare, needed a scapegoat.
Above all, Namgung Cheolbin did not violently protest his false accusations. The war-weary Cheolbin had become mild-tempered and ended up being expelled from the Namgung family.
I achieved everything I intended to and became increasingly arrogant. Overestimating myself, I began dabbling in increasingly risky endeavors.
It was probably around that time when things started to unravel.
When exactly did I first feel uneasy? When I expelled Namgung Cheolbin and soon after confronted the Three Respected Ones? No, that wasn’t the real problem. They were pitiful people I could deal with. It was later, when I faced Sal Seong (Swordsman), that I first felt uneasy.
Why did Yu So-eun and Namgung Su-a, who were once staunch supporters of Namgung Cheolbin, suddenly change so easily? I’ve been curious about their reasons, but I still haven’t unraveled the mystery.
I should have noticed when Sal Seong cut off my ear—her favorable feelings toward Namgung Cheolbin were evident in the way she readily accepted her orders.
Afterward, how much I suffered at Sal Seong’s hands—I lost my ear, my plans were disrupted, and… fuck, reflecting on it all just makes me feel pathetic.
Regardless, I didn’t give up hope and somehow arranged for a trial. Though the Hwa Mul no longer existed, I still aimed to win over Soeun Yu’s heart. Believing that as I mastered Blood Cult techniques, my appearance gradually changing, if I could just extinguish her lingering feelings for Cheolbin, it would work.
But.
Yu Soeun knew everything.
I didn’t realize when it happened, but she knew it all. That all the crimes attributed to him were false accusations and that the one framing him was me. She discovered the journal Namgung Cheolbin had written, hidden somewhere I didn’t know about, and found out everything.
All my efforts, my hard work from the past four years, cultivating my skills to the extreme.
Fell apart.
And the meticulously prepared trial as a final desperate attempt?
It failed. The witnesses turned against me, and the assassin I sent to assassinate Po Cheong-cheon turned into a dagger aimed at me. Even my secret meetings with Gwan Joon were disclosed.
Now, I have nothing. No hope, no purpose left, no reason to live.
… …
An unpredictable future terrifies me to no end.
*
“Pha, Judge! This is a fabrication! That’s a lie!”
“Iwon Bang, you fool! Are you daring to frame an investigator appointed by the Emperor?”
“…! That’s not what I mean! Damn it…! Someone intentionally placed those documents in my quarters in my absence!”
Gwan Joon refused to admit his crimes even with the evidence revealed. No other choice existed.
Had this judge been someone else, the high-standing position of the Head of the Gwan Department, his past achievements and abilities might’ve resulted in lenient punishment. But, as chance would have it, this judge was Po Cheong-cheon.
The iron-faced judge, Po Cheong-cheon. No mercy exists in his scale of justice. Rather, the higher one’s position, the more exemplary the punishment needs to be, and thus, few among the officials in Central Plains don’t fear Po Cheong-cheon.
So, admit guilt in front of Po Cheong-cheon? It would be no different than willingly confessing death.
“The one who authorized the search of your residence, it was done solely by my judgment today. Surely, you aren’t accusing me?”
“What, what! Didn’t the Emperor command it?”
“Of course! My power is nothing but the Emperor’s!”
“…!”
However, such struggles by Gwan Joon were easily shut down by Po Cheong-cheon.
There doesn’t exist a person in the world who can win a verbal duel with Po Cheong-cheon, a fact momentarily forgotten in extreme panic. Gwan Joon bit his lower lip.
“Hey there!”
All at once Po Cheong-cheon used a voice he’d never shown till now—a powerful, roaring voice.
“Bind those two criminals immediately!”
As soon as Po Cheong-cheon’s orders rang out, the police surrounded Bin Namgung and Gwan Joon with a perfect circle.
Despair enveloped Bin Namgung’s face, and on Gwan Joon’s, a desperate will to live surfaced.
“Ha! Damn it! How did things come to this!”
“Hey there, Gwan Joon, how about dying manfully?”
Spitting back at Gwan Joon with his bitter complaint, an offhand remark from Bin Namgung.
There was no trace of hope in his voice.
“Don’t spout nonsense! How dare I, who have ascended so high! Am I supposed to just watch the tower I’ve toiled to build collapse into nothingness! None of this would’ve happened if your snake-like tongue hadn’t tempted me!”
“Ha! That is laughable. The man who killed his own mother for greed. And from this day forth, you are no longer an official. Stop speaking nonsense.”
“Shut up! Just shut up! You’re the one who’s the root of all these calamities!”
While Gwan Joon raged against Namgung Bin, the police with their weapons drawn, gradually tightened the circle around them.
Namgung Bin cast a disinterested look at them for a moment and then collapsed to the ground.
“…tie him up.”
“You, cursed Namgung bastard! What are you doing right now?”
“Pointless resistance? Cease. It’s futile, you see.”
“You do the same! Me? I absolutely refuse to give up!”
Infuriated, roaring, at the moment the police came very close, Gwan Joon powerfully pushed against the ground.
Paaaang-!
It was an attempt to break free. Though he would lose all his honor, fortune, and power, he had to preserve his life. With martial skills, if his identity could be concealed, a rebound wouldn’t be impossible.
Thinking this while soaring into the sky.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Jeon Cho! Catch that man!”
“Understood!”
The wolves waiting in the air, Hong Ryun and Po Cheong-cheon’s right-hand man, Jeon Cho, soared up simultaneously. In the blink of an eye, catching up to Gwan Joon, they reached out with their hands towards his right and left foot.
However, Gwan Joon was someone ranked among the top five martial artists in the world.
“Bunch of pests!”
Kwaang-!
In a short span, Gwan Joon focused his counterforce to the extreme on his feet. Unable to withstand the fierce resistance, Hong Ryun and Jeon Cho were flung away.
“Man of the government! Just give up! Why make things complicated!”
“Keuq…! Gwan Joon! Do not waste your effort! Do you believe you could escape the eyes spread throughout the world?”
Having pushed away Hong Ryun and Jeon Cho trying to catch up, Gwan Joon stomped on empty air harder to fly further away. Even if he couldn’t defeat Sal-seong, he could definitely evade him.
Escaping somehow in this way might provide a path. As it always had.
“–Thought so, eh?”
“…! Yo, you!”
“First time we meet like this, Gwan Joon.”
In front of Gwan Joon blocked a figure descending from the higher sky.
It was a man with snow-white hair, Byul Rak. He’d traversed through the air unnoticed by Gwan Joon, taking the prime position along the way.
Though Gwan Joon, extremely agitated, had not anticipated this, it was too late.
“Get out of the way! Sword Sage!”
Wooong-!
Focusing power at Gwan Joon’s two hands, two spheres began growing.
A sphere with a transparent hue. Beyond the spheres, the warped sky appeared unreal. Onlookers, unable to shut their mouths, realized this wasn’t an average force.
“Thousand Explosive Thunders!”
Their intuition turned out accurate. The opponent was the Sword Sage, the strongest person in Central Plains’ martial community. Gwan Joon gathered every ounce of power and was about to unleash his strongest attack.
Staring emotionlessly at Gwan Joon’s spheres, Byul Rak muttered.
“Heavenly thunder breaking apart, not bad concept-wise.”
Byul Rak’s azure gaze flickered ominously. A blue streak of lightning rose above his palm.
Between the drifting clouds, a storm-baring Blue Dragon revealed itself upon Byul Rak’s palm, showcasing its majesty.
“How dare you use lightning martial arts in front of Namgung! Audacious!”
Gwan Joon pushed out the spheres held in his hands, and Byul Rak brought down the lightning hovering high in the sky.
Byul Rak’s lightning struck Gwan Joon directly on the crown, and Gwan Joon’s palms collided right with Byul Rak’s chest.
Kaaaaang-!!
“Kraaaagh!!”
The outcome was disastrous.
Gwan Joon, struck by the lightning conjured by Byul Rak, let out violent screams before collapsing onto the ground. Repeating residual convulsions while coughing up bloody phlegm, the police quickly bound Gwan Joon.
Beside him, Namgung Bin who had earlier resigned himself to his fate, muttered blankly.
“What… did the fight not even properly take place? Whether it be Sal-seong or Gwan Joon, killing Cheolbin itself was impossible from the start… Ha!”
He then addressed Gwan Joon, whose eyes were bloodshot.
“Which is why, why didn’t you stay calm like me? There’s no need for unnecessary suffering.”
“Keuq…! This son of a bitch…!”
“It’s over. Do not make it uglier, and accept it calmly. We’ve come to the end.”
Struggling to rebel with the last ounce of strength, but his body wouldn’t respond. Brought by the police to the center of the public court, Gwan Joon.
Po Cheong-cheon, raising his eyebrows, looking like a ferocious demon, solemnly spoke.
“First, I will announce the verdict of this trial.”
Everyone in the courtroom gulped. Watching all the proceedings until now, they had a general idea of the verdict, which flowed out of Po Cheong-cheon’s mouth.
“The accusations against Blade Master are all false, the witnesses gave perjured testimony, and the evidence presented lacks practical impact. Therefore, this judge…”
“…!”
“…declares innocent, the wrongfully accused Namgung Cheolbin.”
