How on earth did you figure it out?
When an unexpected woman’s name popped up, it felt like my heart had dropped.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I chuckled awkwardly, pretending to know nothing.
Calm down.
Murong Family is located in Yodong Province. Right now, I’m in Hubei Province. It’s like going on a trip to Vietnam and having a local say, “Isn’t that the clueless Kang Yoon-ho?” It’s like being recognized.
How did you know! I could be surprised, but it doesn’t seem like the fortune teller came to talk about my looks, nor was she curious about when I’d get my first girlfriend.
It must be a simple deduction. I have black hair and the same name, so it’s probably just a hunch.
“I’m the one who created your Impeachment Gate.”
Baek Myeon-ho-ri smashed my expectations with one sentence.
“What…?”
Oh no. Baek Myeon-ho-ri saw my distorted face and smirked knowingly.
“Was it two years ago? While hiding in Yodong Province, I received a request. They needed someone to urgently make an Impeachment Gate within a few days.”
That’s my story. I asked someone to get the Impeachment Gate as quickly as possible.
“I was feeling restless, so I accepted the request. When I arrived at the meeting place, there was a Joseon fellow with a worried look sitting there. He said he needed the face from the painting made within two days.”
It’s Dolsoi.
He’s the servant of the Kang family and one of the few friends Kang Yoon-ho could open up to.
“Why so many demands? In the end, he even ordered me to just take a sleeping guy and slap the face on. If I hadn’t been hiding from the bothersome Ho Pil or if I had enough pay, I would’ve split that guy’s head open.”
I’m talking about a death row inmate.
That Dolsoi. Was he more capable than I thought, or did he use the Kang family’s funds? He brought in the death row inmate and disguised me with the Impeachment Gate.
“Later, I found out that just days after, one death row inmate had gone missing, and there was an uproar. At the time, I thought someone was just trying to break out a death row inmate; I didn’t think much of it. Hehe.”
Baek Myeon-ho-ri, with a pale face, coughed lightly while looking at me with seemingly great interest.
“Ha…”
A laugh escaped me.
I had originally adapted the method Baek Myeon-ho-ri used in the source material.
“Now that I see your face, I understand. The one you were trying to disguise wasn’t a death row inmate; it was your own death…!”
Who would have thought fate would lead here?
—
“I thought you were only after my life, but now I see you are my benefactor.”
I quickly organized my emotions and chuckled.
“Hehe, cough, cough! Damn bastard.”
What are you gonna do if I glare at you with anger? Even if you notice it later, what can you do? You’re in a solid prison made of steel bars, and I’m the one interrogating you.
“No wonder no one suspected anything. Truly, the skills of a professional are different.”
It was amazing that he had deceived the experts of the Murong Family and the inspectors of Joseon as well.
That Dolsoi, he brought in the top expert to disguise my death.
“What’s going on?”
Baek Myeon-ho-ri glared at me as if he couldn’t understand.
“What do you mean?”
“The news of the Kang family’s demise must have reached you on your wedding day. How on earth could you prepare to escape in advance? Hehe!”
Baek Myeon-ho-ri coughed up blood as he asked me.
This guy’s really dying.
“It’s about time you should be thinking of excuses in front of King Yeomra. You’ve only got a day or two left, and you shouldn’t be so concerned with worldly matters.”
I don’t know which river in the underworld I’ll cross, but I hear the ferryman Charon is waiting. Wouldn’t it be better to worry about how to gather fare for the underworld?
“Huhhh. I’m merely kindling thrown to brighten the coming world. Since I’ve become a fire to illuminate the world, why should I think of excuses after death?”
Baek Myeon-ho-ri smiled at me as if death didn’t faze him at all.
“Say that to those you’ve eaten in the underworld.”
“Hehe. They’re people who lived a false life in a false world. Being sacrificed as an offering for a new world, they ought to be thanking me instead, right?”
What a shameless guy. Honestly, I shouldn’t interact with zealots.
Even if they vomit out their anger, they think they’re being oppressed, and if you disregard them, they believe their logic won.
So if I throw logic at them, they’d think I’m just poor fools who believe in false reasoning.
“You should be thanking me then.”
Avoiding conversation might be the answer, but today it’s hard to hold back.
“What?”
“I’ve made you kindling to burn for the future you desire, and I’ve scheduled the meeting with those you killed. So, shouldn’t you be thankful?”
I couldn’t hold back my laughter at the look on Baek Myeon-ho-ri’s face, almost as if he’d been hit in the gut.
“…Hehe.”
“Even you must think this is a joyous situation, right? Thanks to you, the one whose life was saved is about to cut your life line.”
“That black widow woman, her husband, huh.”
Unable to hold back my sarcasm, Baek Myeon-ho-ri frowned and tried to retort.
“I’ve heard that you two are a match that fits perfectly on the wedding day; you don’t need to mention it again.”
Every now and then, when I close my eyes, it pops into my head. I actually realized what it meant to be frighteningly beautiful.
“What a black widow woman.”
“Huh?”
“Does the black widow woman want to take you away even if she dies soon?”
“Are you going to keep calling me the black widow woman in front of her husband who’s clearly alive?”
Didn’t they call her Dong-hyi (螳姬)? I feel a strange sensation every time I hear Murong Sang-a’s alias while I’m still alive.
“Hehe. Cough! Cough! Cough! No, that’s weird. This woman who contributed to the downfall of the Kang family was thinking of saving you. It doesn’t add up. What on earth is going on?”
How I ended up here. Baek Myeon-ho-ri seemed to know the method but not the context.
Well, it does seem strange that Murong Sang-a helped me escape, and it’s also strange that I knew in advance.
There’s an answer, but it’s one that no one can imagine.
This is going well.
“I feel like it’s about time I see the grim reaper in front of me; let’s keep this short.”
“What?”
“I’ll answer your questions if you solve my curiosity. How about that?”
If we both have questions, why not trade? I shook the documents I brought.
“Hehe. You think I’ll just answer you that easily?”
“In this situation, is there another way?”
“….”
“Pay the price like a merchant. It’s an unfair contract, but wouldn’t it be better to die painfully than to die of curiosity? Don’t you think?”
Time in prison is long.
He’s probably been thinking continuously about me while being locked up. Why on earth is he here? Who is he? Why did I get caught, and how could I be trapped?
After much contemplation, he must have thought back to that single Impeachment Gate he made two years ago.
The fact that Baek Myeon-ho-ri came looking for me means he’s curious about me as well. It’s probably a proposal he can’t refuse.
Time went on, but in Baek Myeon-ho-ri’s dying eyes, curiosity showed no sign of fading away.
“Alright. Ask away.”
———
“Where is Ma Yang-baek’s body?”
“No corpses pretending to have identities are left behind. I burned it and tossed it into the river, so it should be fish food by now.”
“What about the relationship between Do-mun Hyang-joo and Dead Arm Ghost?”
“You dumbass. How much did I swallow to become the leader of the Hao-mun? At the last moment, he refused support from the doctrine. If someone who uses demonic arts shows up during the battle, he could lose the chance to become the successor of the Hao-mun.”
No wonder Dead Arm Ghost acted so decisively. He certainly had the Murong Family backing him.
Baek Myeon-ho-ri didn’t speak of anything that could harm the Demonic Cult but spoke willingly of his own exploits.
“Alright. Let’s talk about the Anhui Province incident.”
“How on earth do you know about this…?”
“Just answer the questions. We’ve got a lot to cover.”
Baek Myeon-ho-ri seemed curious about how I knew about incidents resolved as perfect crimes, but he didn’t insist on an answer.
“Is there anything else you want to ask?”
As I closed the final page of the documents, Baek Myeon-ho-ri finally asked, as if concluding this was the end.
“….”
Should I ask?
One question was lingering on my tongue, never voiced until the very end, leaving a dull pressure in my mouth.
Was there really any need to ask? There’s no benefit to this question. But it’s something I can’t ask anyone else.
What should I do?
“It’s my turn now.”
Seeing Baek Myeon-ho-ri smile widely, I finally couldn’t hold it in.
“Is she doing well?”
The question that had been tormenting my tongue finally burst forth.
“Hehe. Curious, huh?”
“What…?”
I curtly dragged out my words, but how can I express the feeling that I can’t deny?
I don’t even know myself.
“She’s living in pain day by day. The fear of not knowing when she’ll die and the anxiety of not being able to take over the family is killing her slowly every day.”
Baek Myeon-ho-ri spat out words bordering on a curse, as if he had prepared for this moment.
“As a leader of a group, it seems she keeps a suitable tension while handling the schemes of the Demonic Cult.”
“….”
So she’s living fine. The Demonic Cult has grown strong enough that the worst they could curse her with is a few harsh words.
For some reason, I struggled to hold back a smile while continuing.
“That person from the west ends up trying to devour all the way to the east’s Murong Family. It’s a waste of manpower, it’s slow to communicate, and financially draining. Isn’t that why they keep failing?”
Those Demonic Cult members hatching plots in Yodong Province, located at the far eastern end. It was never going to go smoothly.
“Who do you think a barbarian like you is to talk about the grand scheme?”
“Probably a Sound of the East, Strike the West tactic.”
“……!”
Why? Do you think I wouldn’t know?
“Yodong Province is the land of the Jurchens. It looks like the government and Murong Family have suppressed it. If the Murong Family succumbs to the Demonic Cult? The world outside Shanhaiguan becomes Jurchen territory. The royal court will have its eyes on the east. Once the Jurchens rise, naturally, the Martial Arts World will also draw troops, leaving the west as a barren wasteland?”
This had been repeated countless times in actual history. If foreign tribes run rampant, concentrating troops at Shanhaiguan, they’d have no time to deal with internal troubles.
The Demonic Cult members stirring chaos in the Central Plains and the Demonic Cult rampaging from the Tian Shan. Secretly or proudly, it was all part of the plan they bragged about.
“How did you know that?”
Baek Myeon-ho-ri wore the most amusing expression I’d seen today.
“Who do you think I’m married to?”
It’s because I know the original setting. Honestly, there was no need to answer, but I referenced my not-giving-up title even in a long separation.
“The successor of the infamous Ho Pil and a key figure of the Man Geum Battlefield… Hehe. I’ve heard your husband was a worthless rogue. Did the Kang family hide a dragon after all?”
“A dragon, really.”
The reckless Kang Yoon-ho couldn’t compare to a土龙 (earth dragon).
“Hehe. Now I understand. Yes. Thinking back, it’s all making sense. That’s how it was!”
Baek Myeon-ho-ri smiled as if he had solved some age-old mystery.
“What is?”
“Concerning the Hao-mun and the Man Geum Battlefield! Looking back, it struck me as strange how you were intertwined in everything. Hehe! Yes! We’ve been played by that wretched black widow woman and you two!!”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Don’t think of denying it. To bring Dead Arm Ghost under control for the Doctrine’s grand plan, you managed to seize the Hao-mun and commandeer the Man Geum Battlefield to fund the Doctrine’s operations. Who was it that obstructed all of it?”
“…….”
Me…?
All the way from the Hao-mun to the Man Geum Battlefield. Thinking about it, I thwarted every conspiracy the Demonic Cult made in Wuhan.
Wait a minute. So what he’s thinking is…
As I looked at Baek Myeon-ho-ri, who seemed to expect this, he pointed at me and shouted.
“This entire scheme!!! You two were trying to swallow the Man Geum Battlefield! You disrupted the Doctrine’s plan while simultaneously trying to support the Murong Family!!!”
