Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 216 - Secret Mission (2)
Chapter 216 – Secret Mission (2)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“If the headcount absolutely has to match, would it not be fine to reduce it by one while we are at it?”
‘!!!!!!’
At Mok Gyeong-un’s calm smile and words, not only Ok Gi but even Gan Yang, the leader of the advance party, could not hide his bewilderment.
‘What in the world is this brat?’
Was he really someone the Society had sent?
How could he say something like that so casually?
It was then.
-Creak!
“Kek kek!”
“Hey, master. Then should this bald monk kill this one and take his place?”
Ja Geum-jeong, the vow-breaking monk, sneered as he tightened his grip even further.
His breath cut off, face turning red, Ok Gi flailed with all his strength trying to pry open Ja Geum-jeong’s hand, but it was useless.
The gap in their internal power was too great, and he could not budge him at all.
“Keh!”
Ok Gi’s eyes were starting to roll back.
‘I-I am really going to die!’
Gan Yang, thinking that death was only one step away, panicked and tried to stop him.
Yet before he could step in, someone else intervened.
“It will not be a problem if one more person is added. So please stop.”
It was Yu Bong, one of the advance party.
Apparently annoyed by the coquettish tone of Yu Bong, whose face was painted and manner effeminate, Ja Geum-jeong raised one eyebrow and said,
“What is that appearance on a man?”
“Hohoho. I am not exactly a man.”
“What? Then are you saying you are some kind of woman?”
“Not a woman either. In any case, now that I understand you are the Demon-Subduing Fist Warrior, I would appreciate it if you would release your hand.”
At those words, Ja Geum-jeong let out a cold snort and said,
“You are not the one who gets to decide that.”
As he said it, Ja Geum-jeong’s gaze turned to only one place.
It was toward Mok Gyeong-un.
Seeing that, a gleam flashed in Yu Bong’s eyes.
He had been quietly observing and taking stock of the situation from earlier.
And the result of that observation, puzzling though it was, was that Mok Gyeong-un, the youngest and not even past his teens, was the central figure of the rear group.
‘That one is the core of the rear group.’
He did not know why the weakest among them had been made the leader, but if he could overpower that one here, the entire rear group would have no choice but to obey their control.
Especially that mad vow-breaking monk as well.
So,
-Pat!
Yu Bong launched himself forward, intending to subdue Mok Gyeong-un.
If he could just subdue him, the entire rear group would have no choice but to fall under their control.
Especially that mad vow-breaking monk as well.
-Papapak!
In an instant, Yu Bong reached right before Mok Gyeong-un and stretched out a hand to wrap around his neck.
But before his hand could touch him,
“Where do you think you are going!”
-Slash!
Seop Chun’s Gwangmu Saber was already trying to cut through Yu Bong’s wrist.
In response, Yu Bong bent his elbow and skillfully struck the body of Gwangmu Saber with hidden force.
-Taeng!
The blade of Gwangmu Saber, light and thin, bent momentarily from the recoil.
-Parrrrr!
The blade trembled violently.
That hidden force even reached the palm gripping the saber hilt.
‘Kuh.’
Not missing that instant, Yu Bong kicked toward Seop Chun’s abdomen.
-Pak!
But Seop Chun was not someone to be taken down so easily by an attack like that.
Rather, he kicked upward to lift Yu Bong’s incoming leg, and then
-Thud!
with the reverse side of Gwangmu Saber, still springing from the recoil, he struck the prisoner’s palm and dissipated the hidden force.
At the same time, using that upward rebound, he leapt his body and evaded Yu Bong’s spinning kick from the other leg by simply arching his head back.
-Paak!
The spinning kick barely grazed the hair on Seop Chun’s head as it passed.
Not missing the opening, Seop Chun used Gwangmu Saber, from which the hidden force had been dispersed, and unfolded Returning Circle Butterfly Warning, the second form of the Butterfly Saber Method.
-Chwachwachwak!
“Huh?”
As the blade rotated in a broad arc and came for his neck, Yu Bong hurriedly escaped by using a strange lightness art, his movements like those of a fox as he sprang repeatedly over it.
-Tatatatak!
‘What kind of lightness art is that?’
‘His handling of the saber is no ordinary thing.’
Having exchanged several attacks and defenses in that brief moment, both Yu Bong and Seop Chun retreated more than four paces, widening the distance as each marveled at the other’s skill.
There was one more person startled by their clash.
Gan Yang, the leader of the advance party.
He had always thought himself the strongest in martial skill among the advance party.
Yet he had never imagined that Yu Bong, who had supposedly spent nearly two years in the imperial palace as a eunuch, would possess martial prowess this astonishing.
‘To think he had hidden his martial skill.’
Gan Yang clicked his tongue inwardly.
At that moment, Yu Bong looked at Seop Chun as though troubled.
Breaking through this man would not be easy.
So,
‘It is a waste, but it cannot be helped.’
He pulled something from his robes and flung it like a concealed weapon toward Seop Chun.
-Shuk!
Naturally judging it to be a hidden weapon, Seop Chun swung Gwangmu Saber to knock it away.
But the instant the blade struck what Yu Bong had thrown,
-Papapapak!
‘Gunpowder?’
It was in fact gunpowder.
The moment the powder exploded, scattering red and blue sparks, Seop Chun could no longer properly open his eyes for an instant, and wildly swung the saber to keep Yu Bong from entering his range.
But Yu Bong was not aiming at Seop Chun.
His target was Mok Gyeong-un.
Taking advantage of the sparks, Yu Bong aimed to seize the one he thought the weakest but believed to be the center of the rear group.
But there was one fact he did not know.
“That is a poor move.”
‘What?’
-Pak!
‘Uh!?’
As Yu Bong stretched out his hand to use a grappling technique, Mok Gyeong-un lightly knocked the hand aside, seized Yu Bong by the face, and smashed him straight into the ground.
-Boom!
“Agh!”
With the back of his head slammed into the floor, Yu Bong’s body trembled in pain.
With that single move, Yu Bong realized the truth.
The strongest person here, not only of the rear group but of everyone present, was this very fellow.
‘T-to make such a mistaken assumption…’
To have thought that this fellow was the weakest and tried to subdue him, that had been his fatal mistake.
“Guuuuuh.”
A winded rasp came from Yu Bong’s lungs, but his consciousness did not last long.
Apparently he had suffered a concussion, for his eyes rolled back, foam formed at his mouth, and he blacked out.
After removing his hand from Yu Bong’s face, Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said,
“Let us end this pointless contest of dominance here. I trust you now understand well enough that there is no meaning in continuing.”
At those words from Mok Gyeong-un, Gan Yang, the leader of the advance party, unconsciously swallowed dryly and nodded repeatedly.
* * *
Inside the Temple of Guan Yu, where a lantern had been lit.
The attitude of the three advance-party members, whose spirits had been broken, was now completely shrunken compared to before.
Yet there was something that made them shrink even more.
And that was,
“I am Mong Mu-yak, Deputy Director among the direct officials of the main headquarters.”
“I am Seop Chun, Third Guard Captain of the main hall in the inner stronghold.”
“I am Mok Gyeong-un, disciple of the Shadow Sect Master.”
It was after hearing who they were.
‘This is insane…’
They had already known through the messenger pigeon that promising younger talents of a certain level would be sent as the rear group, as requested by that place.
But this mission had a low chance of success and could be highly dangerous, so they had assumed the Society would send pieces that could be discarded if the worst came.
Yet after learning who these people were, the advance party could not hide their shock.
Was not the Deputy Director among the direct officials of the main headquarters the vice society leader’s son?
And then,
‘A guardian-unit leader of the main headquarters means a direct guard unit under the Society Leader. Ha!’
These were not people one could treat casually based on status alone.
And were not these two among the Five Tigers, said to be the finest of the Heaven and Earth Society’s younger generation?
Yet among the three, the one they had unexpectedly never heard of was Mok Gyeong-un.
‘The Shadow Sect Master took on a disciple?’
If he was the disciple of the Shadow Sect Master, then he was a direct subordinate of one of the high executives.
They had been dispatched outside for this mission for nearly two years at the longest, and at the shortest about a year.
So they did not know well the internal matters that had occurred in the meantime.
Still, hearing that Mok Gyeong-un was the Shadow Sect Master’s disciple, they could not help but be inwardly surprised.
‘Then he must be a recently accepted disciple, but how can he be this strong?’
Yu Bong, who had been taken down in one move by Mok Gyeong-un, felt that more strongly than anyone.
With martial prowess at this level, it would have been hard to believe even if one were told he had been taught under an executive of the rank of one of the Five Kings, rather than simply under a sect master.
‘And from the vice society leader’s son to the main headquarters guardian-unit leader, all of them are calling this fellow my lord.’
What in the world was his true identity?
Was his being the Shadow Sect Master’s disciple merely a position shown on the surface, while in truth he was perhaps even the Society Leader’s disciple?
His doubts only deepened.
At any rate, because of the identities revealed by these people in the rear group, the advance party came to understand two things as well.
The first was that this rear group included the heirs of the Society’s two departments that managed intelligence and spies.
That likely meant they intended to make use of the spies planted within the imperial palace.
The second was,
‘……We absolutely cannot fail.’
The fact that even the Society had dispatched figures like these, men likely to grow into giants in the future, for a secret mission meant not that failure would be tolerated if unavoidable, but that the mission had to be accomplished at any cost.
Realizing that, Mok Gyeong-un asked them,
“Now then, can you tell us what mission exactly we are to carry out?”
The one who answered that question was Gan Yang, the leader of the advance party.
Kneeling, Gan Yang spoke in a much more respectful tone.
“Then I shall explain the mission. Before that, may I ask how much the rear group has already been told?”
At that, Seop Chun answered.
“We were told that we are to seize a certain figure being held in some place and bring him back to the Society.”
“So you truly heard only the roughest outline.”
“I assumed it was to prevent information from leaking before we reached the gathering place.”
“It seems that is indeed the case. Then I shall tell you what the mission is. The first place we are heading is the imperial capital, Kaifeng.”
‘……As expected.’
At those words, Seop Chun nodded.
From the moment the gathering place had been set in Anrak, Henan, near Kaifeng, he had already roughly guessed as much.
Of course, unlike Seop Chun, Mok Gyeong-un and Mong Mu-yak, who had already received the exact mission in advance from the Shadow Sect Master and the vice society leader, showed no particular reaction.
On the other hand,
“Kaifeng? Surely you are not saying the mission is to brazenly enter the imperial palace?”
Ja Geum-jeong, the vow-breaking monk, who had sworn loyalty to Mok Gyeong-un but knew nothing of the details, asked in a joking tone.
Gan Yang nodded in affirmation.
“That is correct.”
“What? The imperial palace? You mean we are really going into the imperial palace?”
“That is correct. Our mission is to enter the imperial palace and seize a certain figure imprisoned in the underground prison vault of the imperial palace.”
‘!?’
At those words, Ja Geum-jeong wore an incredulous expression.
He had already been fairly surprised when he learned these people were from the Heaven and Earth Society, but he had never expected that their mission was truly to infiltrate the imperial palace.
Clicking his tongue, Ja Geum-jeong said,
“You are all properly insane. If you pull something like that, then no matter what talk there is of not violating certain boundaries, you will be branded rebels.”
Ja Geum-jeong was one of the Three Mad Ones, known as the lunatic vow-breaking monk cast out by Shaolin.
Yet even to him, this crossed well past mere madness.
The imperial palace was not merely the place where the Emperor resided and the affairs of the state were conducted.
It was also the place where the power of an entire nation was concentrated.
To seize something from such a place went beyond unthinkable and was outright impossible.
“You lot are mad to the bone if you want to die.”
Ignoring his dumbfounded reaction, Gan Yang said,
“Of course, if we fail, that is indeed what will result. However, with regard to that, we have fully planned the operation while considering numerous variables.”
“Hah. To think I would live to hear someone suggest robbing the imperial palace.”
Ja Geum-jeong still clicked his tongue, thoroughly unenthused.
Ignoring that as well, Mok Gyeong-un asked,
“All right, but we are not simply going to charge into the imperial palace blindly, so how exactly are we going to enter and by what means are we going to seize that person?”
“The matter of entering the imperial palace is precisely why we called all of you to the gathering point at some cost. Exactly three days from now there will be the martial examination of the Imperial Guard Bureau.”
“The martial examination of the Imperial Guard Bureau?”
The Imperial Guard Bureau referred to the imperial palace’s guard warriors.
But what exactly did the martial examination of the Imperial Guard Bureau have to do with this?
Seeing their puzzlement, Gan Yang said,
“The martial examination of the Imperial Guard Bureau is essentially a promotion evaluation held within the Imperial Guard Bureau.”
“A promotion evaluation? And what does that have to do with infiltrating the imperial palace?”
“It has everything to do with it. Because if one passes the martial examination of the Imperial Guard Bureau and is promoted, one is elevated into the Embroidered Uniform Guard.”
“Ah!”
The Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Like the Imperial Guard Bureau, they were palace guard warriors.
But the decisive difference was that the Embroidered Uniform Guard also served as the Emperor’s direct personal guard and as a special service organ.
They even possessed supra-legal authority, because they oversaw the Six Ministries on behalf of the Emperor.
And the Embroidered Uniform Guard managed every prison vault inside the imperial palace.
‘So that was it.’
Only now did the general picture become clear as to how they intended to infiltrate the palace and seize that person.
Then Seop Chun, nodding in understanding, suddenly frowned and said,
“Wait. But we are not warriors of the Imperial Guard Bureau, so how are we supposed to take the martial examination of the Imperial Guard Bureau?”
The one who answered that was not Gan Yang but Yu Bong.
“Hohoho. Sharp indeed. Naturally there is a solution for that.”
“A solution?”
“Yes. From here, we will go to Kaifeng and meet a very important person. And we will ask that person for help.”
“A certain person? Who is that?”
Was it someone with enough power to let them enter the Imperial Guard Bureau?
While they were puzzled, Yu Bong answered with a smile,
“Her Ladyship Imperial Noble Consort Seo.”