Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 258 - Mark (4)
Chapter 258 – Mark (4)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Thousand-Household Commander Mara Hyeon felt his insides clear out.
At this moment, more than anyone, he was filled with a savage sense of satisfaction.
But soon he returned to reality.
That was because Mok Gyeong-un, wearing the human skin mask of Chief Eunuch Ho of the Western Depot, was pressing the other man into a corner with no avenue of retreat, and Mara Hyeon began to wonder how he intended to carry the situation forward.
‘If he presses this hard, then the person behind this man may simply use the gu poison to kill me.’
That much was obvious as fire.
How did he intend to solve anything when he was not even going to remove the gu poison from Mara Hyeon’s body right now?
As Mara Hyeon watched in confusion, Mok Gyeong-un said,
“If you do not want to lose the remaining eye and ear as well, then you had better start giving the answers I want.”
“………”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, the bearded Thousand-Household Commander hesitated, his eye trembling.
He could not know whether the man before him was truly the chief eunuch of the Western Depot or not.
But one thing was certain.
The man was stronger than he was and seemed to know a great deal.
‘What should I do?’
In fact, there had been a standing instruction prepared for just such a situation.
[Thousand-Household Commander U. If the worst should happen and you are caught holding the book, what must you do?]
[There will be no need for concern. I am more tight-lipped than I look.]
[Anyone can say that. But I want certainty.]
[…What do you wish me to do?]
[Nothing difficult. I would like you to keep this in your teeth at all times.]
[And this is?]
There was a small poison pellet set into the upper right molar of the bearded officer.
Though small, this poison pellet contained an extremely corrosive acid that would instantly burn through the tongue, throat, and esophagus and melt even the internal organs.
The moment it touched the tongue, one could say it would kill him before even ten counts had passed.
-Tremble, tremble.
The bearded officer’s hands shook violently.
He knew he had to follow the instruction, but how many men could really end their own lives without hesitation?
No matter how much training one received, fear was inevitable.
“Huu… huu… huu…”
‘I have to do it. I must do it.’
Otherwise this man would continue torturing him.
Just as his breathing grew harsher and he tried somehow to steel his resolve,
“Your breathing is out of control and your eye keeps shaking. You look like a man about to make an important decision. On top of that, your tongue keeps pressing toward your upper left molar with such insistence that it is obvious.”
“What?”
At that, Mok Gyeong-un leaned his face toward the officer’s mouth.
Then he sniffed softly and curled his lips into a dark smile.
Mara Hyeon, watching from behind, had wondered what in the world he was doing, but then Mok Gyeong-un said,
“To hold an acid-strong poison, one needs specially treated stomach lining tough enough to contain it. I can smell that from your mouth. Hmm. I had heard of the method of hiding a poison pellet between the teeth inside the mouth, but this is my first time seeing it.”
‘!?’
At those words, the bearded officer’s remaining eye opened wide.
What in the world was this bastard?
He had already been unable to carry through with the act because of fear, and now that the poison pellet had been discovered, all he could feel was bewilderment.
-Swoosh.
At that moment, Mara Hyeon’s figure blurred and he instantly appeared behind the bearded officer.
-Pak!
“Urk.”
Appearing behind him, Mara Hyeon seized both of the officer’s cheeks in his hands and jerked his lower jaw down, forcing his head back.
Seeing his mouth forced open, Mara Hyeon’s eyes widened.
Sure enough, lodged by the upper right molar was something that looked like a poison pellet.
‘Thorough to the end.’
Mara Hyeon inwardly clicked his tongue.
Even a close confidant like this man had been prepared so that he could be killed or could kill himself at any time.
As he did so, Mara Hyeon moved to insert his fingers into the man’s mouth.
At that point, Mok Gyeong-un stopped him.
“Do not.”
“What?”
“Leave it as it is.”
“…Leave it? What if he bites down and kills himself?”
If that happened, they would learn nothing, and if he died here in the office of the Six Service Offices, matters would become even harder to clean up.
Yet Mok Gyeong-un said with complete indifference,
“If he does, then he does.”
“No. Do you really call that a…”
“For now, release his jaw. If you keep holding it like that, how can he speak?”
“………”
At those words, Mara Hyeon looked at him in total incomprehension.
If the man carried a poison pellet, then he would surely use it to commit suicide.
Yet Mok Gyeong-un seemed not to care in the least.
Even though he wanted to pull the poison pellet out immediately, Mara Hyeon finally released the man’s jaw and stepped back.
With his mouth hanging open and saliva dripping down, the bearded officer’s mind was in chaos.
Inwardly, more than anything, he had hoped they would forcibly remove the poison pellet.
‘Damn it.’
At least then he would have the excuse that it had not been by his own will.
Yet, separate from that, a tiny bit of hope also arose.
Now that they had seen the poison pellet, perhaps they would refrain from pressing him too brutally with torture.
Then Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said,
“Now then. Bite down and die.”
“W-what?”
In an instant, the bearded officer’s expression froze.
“Was that not what you were carrying in your mouth in case things went wrong?”
“………”
It was true enough, yet the man had not extracted any information and was now calmly urging him to die, which left him utterly dumbfounded.
Mok Gyeong-un continued,
“If you are determined enough to keep a poison pellet in your mouth, then you are not going to answer my questions anyway. So we may as well shorten things. Go on. Kill yourself.”
‘What?’
The officer lost his voice.
This was not how it was supposed to go.
Things were moving in a direction completely different from the one he had expected.
As he stood in confusion, Mok Gyeong-un smiled lightly and whispered into his ear as though it meant nothing,
“If you kill yourself, I will promise you one thing. If I track down your relatives, your blood kin, and the rest connected to you, I will send every one of them after you without leaving a single one behind.”
‘!!!!!!!!’
No sooner had those words ended than the face of the bearded officer turned deathly pale.
Seeing the face of Chief Eunuch Ho of the Western Depot smiling as though the thought itself thrilled him made every hair on the officer’s body stand up.
* * *
A quarter of an hour later.
The bearded Thousand-Household Commander lay unconscious, and in Mok Gyeong-un’s hand was the pouch that had held the poison pellet from the man’s molar.
Watching this, Mara Hyeon inwardly clicked his tongue.
As a man of the investigative department, he too had interrogated opponents using countless methods.
But Mok Gyeong-un had driven this man to the edge in a way he had never expected.
It was as if he knew exactly how a person ought to be frightened.
“It seems Thousand-Household Commander Mara was close to becoming the spark that would set the Second Prince and Imperial Noble Consort Seo against each other.”
“…Yes.”
That had been the command delivered to the bearded officer.
Mara Hyeon was to wear the human skin mask of Junior Supervisor Jang of the Eastern Depot, a close subordinate of Imperial Noble Consort Seo, and attempt the life of the Second Prince, the Palm King.
The aim was not truly to kill him, but to trigger a war between the two sides.
“It must be infuriating to be able to do nothing but suffer because of the gu poison in your belly.”
“Do nothing but suffer?”
“Is that not so?”
At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Mara Hyeon gave a sharp snort and went into one corner of the office.
There he opened a safe marked with his own name and took something out.
It was another human skin mask case.
Mara Hyeon opened the lid.
-Click.
“Oh?”
A strange light entered Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.
Inside was a human skin mask identical to the one the bearded Thousand-Household Commander had brought with him. The face of Junior Supervisor Jang of the Eastern Depot.
“So you had a fallback plan.”
“Not the best kind of plan. It would have required me to throw away my own life.”
“That is true enough.”
The second human skin mask existed so that even if the one who had plotted the scheme destroyed the mask actually used in the incident, there would still remain another piece of evidence.
Yet the moment Mara Hyeon produced such evidence, that man would use the gu poison to end Mara Hyeon’s life.
In the end, the human skin mask Mara Hyeon had prepared had been a tactic of mutual destruction.
Looking at Mok Gyeong-un, Mara Hyeon cautiously opened his lips.
“If I had no weakness hanging over me, then with this man’s person and the evidence at hand, I could request that he be transferred to the Six Service Offices.”
“And?”
“I have no intention of obstructing your work or stabbing you in the back. If you want me to sign a written oath, I will. I can swear it.”
“So you want me to remove the gu poison, is that it?”
“……..Yes.”
“And what shall I do? I happen to be a rather timid and cautious person.”
“You!”
Mara Hyeon nearly raised his voice, then swallowed it again.
What timidness?
Was it not simply that Mok Gyeong-un did not fully trust him?
Keeping his voice forcibly calm, Mara Hyeon said,
“Then what exactly do you intend to do? If we keep his close confidant locked up, that person will become suspicious. If we let him go, the result is obvious. Do you mean to say you wish me dead?”
“Why would I?”
“Then do you at least have some kind of plan?”
“You ask as though you have entrusted me with a bundle of goods.”
“Haah…”
Mara Hyeon let out a sigh.
Since he was the one in the weaker position, even when Mok Gyeong-un spoke like this, he could not really afford to get angry.
If things continued like this, it might even be better to drag that bastard down together with him before the situation grew any worse.
He had reached the point of such extreme thoughts when
Mok Gyeong-un suddenly stood up and handed him the poison pouch.
“Why this?”
“Keep it. I will be going.”
“Going? After causing all this, you mean to just…”
“I never said I was just leaving.”
“What?”
“I thought I might go meet Superior Commander Sang, the one who has been making things difficult for Thousand-Household Commander Mara, and speak with him.”
‘!?’
At those words Mara Hyeon, who had been about to grab him, froze.
Sang Ik-seo, Superior Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a fourth-rank official.
If the Left and Right Commandants were the summit of practical command, then above them stood the Commander, the Associate Commanders, and the Superior Commanders.
Among them, Sang Ik-seo, who held the office of Superior Commander, was effectively the third-most powerful man of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the very one who had placed the parasitic gu poison in Mara Hyeon’s belly.
‘What in the world is this bastard thinking?’
To suddenly say he would go meet Superior Commander Sang made it impossible for Mara Hyeon to read Mok Gyeong-un’s intent.
So he moved to ask why, but
“What exactly do you intend to do once you meet…”
-Srrr.
Before the question could even leave his mouth, Mok Gyeong-un’s figure blurred and vanished.
“Damn it!”
What a self-willed bastard.
Mara Hyeon could not help but feel troubled.
He understood that Mok Gyeong-un did not mean merely to meet the man, but intended to do something.
And that contained a grave problem.
Mok Gyeong-un’s martial ability was extraordinary, that much was true, but at the side of Superior Commander Sang stood an unknown supreme master who had defeated Mara Hyeon himself in only a handful of moves.