Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 262 - Clue (1)
Chapter 262 – Clue (1)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“Ughhhhhh!”
At the needle piercing into the middle of the fingernail, Gyeom-chang let out a groan of pain.
He wanted to scream if he could, but because of the wad of cloth stuffed into his mouth, he could not.
He had steeled himself in his own way, yet he could not endure the continuing pain.
He had prided himself on possessing the mental strength to break through a wall, but it had taken barely one sicheon for that to collapse.
“Mmph… mmph… mmmph… mph…”
“What was that-”
Mok Gyeong-un yanked the wad of cloth from his mouth.
Then Gyeom-chang, breathing raggedly, barely managed to open his mouth.
“Haa… haa… pleaje… pleaje… kill… kill me…”
“That makes five times now. Not yet.”
Mok Gyeong-un stuffed the wad of cloth back into his mouth again.
Then he slowly pushed another needle in beside the nail again.
“Ughhhhhh!”
Gyeom-chang twisted his whole body as he cried out in pain.
But without a single change in expression, Mok Gyeong-un shook open his fingernail with the needle he had driven in.
At last, while writhing in agony, Gyeom-chang lost consciousness just like that.
The moment his head tried to droop downward,
Mok Gyeong-un smacked his forehead upward with his palm.
At that, Gyeom-chang, who had been about to faint, came to his senses again.
Seeing Mok Gyeong-un’s face dimly through his blurred vision, it felt as though his heart might stop in his chest.
For an instant he wished he would not wake again, but it was a meaningless wish.
‘Th… this bastard is truly an evil ghost.’
This was the first time he had ever seen someone this vicious.
He too had interrogated people many times, but he had never gone this far.
This man was torturing him to the very brink of death, yet giving him neither room nor rest.
It was as if he were venting his anger.
That was why he could only yearn desperately for death.
He had already realized that with both arms severed and his body reduced to this state, only death could be peace.
“Mmphhh…”
He mumbled in a feeble voice.
Then, without a word, Mok Gyeong-un tore off one of the fingernails where he had stuck the needle.
“Ughhhhhh!”
The human body was a truly strange thing.
One would think that after pain continued long enough, a man would grow used to it, but that was not the case at all.
New pain merely overlapped the old pain and multiplied the suffering all the more.
Then Mok Gyeong-un whispered sweetly into his ear.
“You want to die, don’t you-”
“………”
“Do you not want to close your eyes peacefully just like this-”
“……..”
It was indescribably strange.
Never before had the words that someone would let him die sounded this sweet.
If only he could be freed from this pain right now, it felt as if he could do absolutely anything…
At that moment Gyeom-chang bit down on the wad of cloth filling his mouth.
For a moment he had weakened and nearly fallen for the bastard’s temptation.
No matter how much he suffered, at the very least he could not do anything for the one torturing him and driving him toward death.
Then in his dim vision he saw Mok Gyeong-un’s face.
The corners of his mouth were split so wide they seemed ready to reach his ears.
The moment he saw that, a chill ran down Gyeom-chang’s spine.
Instead of disappointment at his renewed resolve, the man was showing delight.
Why was he pleased-
Why was he smiling with a face like some evil ghost-
As he filled with questions,
Mok Gyeong-un laid a hand on his shoulder and whispered softly.
“That is a relief. I was worried you might give up because your heart had weakened.”
‘What-‘
“Please endure a little longer. I want to watch you suffer and writhe in pain. The night is still very long.”
The moment he heard those words, it felt as if Gyeom-chang’s heart would shatter.
It seemed this man did not merely want to obtain the information he wanted from him.
He was enjoying his pain and torment themselves.
‘An evil ghost… this bastard is an evil ghost that crawled up from Avici Hell itself.’
He could think of it in no other way.
As fear coiled itself around his whole body and mind, the resolve he had built up collapsed in an instant.
Even if he held out, would anyone truly acknowledge it-
In the end, if he died, everything would be over, would it not-
At that thought, bitterness surged up inside him.
Why did he alone have to suffer this kind of pain-
Even if he upheld loyalty and duty here and died in agony to the very end, would they truly acknowledge it-
In the end, even if he died, the only ones who would enjoy glory and benefit were them, not him.
Once his thoughts reached that point, Gyeom-chang’s body sagged as though he had given up on everything.
“Hmm. It would be troublesome if you give up already.”
“………”
Seeing Gyeom-chang hanging limp and giving no reaction, Mok Gyeong-un smacked his lips as though disappointed.
He had hoped he would last a little longer, but it seemed meaningless now.
So he pulled the wad of cloth from his mouth.
“Haa… haa…”
After the wad of cloth came out, Gyeom-chang caught his breath and spoke weakly.
“If… there’s… anything… you want… I’ll say it… just kill me. I don’t… even… want to live… anymore…”
Then Mok Gyeong-un grabbed his jaw.
“Uh-”
He fixed Gyeom-chang’s head with one hand, shoved the jaw inward, and lifted it upward.
Then,
with the sound of bones grinding together, Gyeom-chang’s dislocated jaw joint was set back into place.
When his face had been ground up, not only had all his teeth been broken, but his jaw joint had also been knocked out.
That was why he had not been able to pronounce anything properly.
But once his jaw was reset like this,
“Now speak.”
“Haa… haa… how much… longer…”
Though his speech still slurred because he had no teeth, it was far more understandable than before.
But he was not happy in the least.
In the end, one way or another, to meet a comfortable death he had no choice but to tell the bastard what he wanted.
Still, before that, there was one question he wanted answered himself.
“…Before I answer… I want… to ask just one thing.”
“It seems you still have a long way to go.”
At that, Mok Gyeong-un reached again for the wad of cloth.
Gyeom-chang was startled and hurriedly spoke.
“I… I only wanted to know how the Sichuan Tang Family found out about our existence.”
“The Sichuan Tang Family-”
At those words, Mok Gyeong-un frowned.
What was this supposed to mean now-
Why was this man suddenly connecting him to the Sichuan Tang Family-
As he found it odd, Gyeom-chang said cautiously,
“At present, in the martial world, the only ones who have reached the level of a poison-man are Gu Yang-so of the Eight Venomous Snake Staff and Tang In-hae, the Thousand Poison Hands, the head of the Sichuan Tang Family.”
“So-”
“Of those two… Gu Yang-so could never be here, so naturally that leaves only the Thousand Poison Hands.”
“Why are you so certain Gu Yang-so could not be here-”
“That is…”
Seeing him hesitate, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.
Thanks to that attitude, he was able to grasp one thing easily.
“Ah. So it seems you know Lord Gu Yang-so very well. Or perhaps he is with your side.”
“………”
‘Damn it. I did something stupid.’
Gyeom-chang inwardly cursed his own foolishness.
He should not have mentioned Gu Yang-so of the Eight Venomous Snake Staff in the first place, but in trying to confirm whether his guess was right, he had instead handed over needless information.
“Do not worry. I am not particularly interested in that. I would rather hear something else.”
“Something else-”
“The mark on your blade. What is it-”
At that question, Gyeom-chang frowned.
He had thought the man was acting this way because he knew something about the mark, but did he actually know nothing-
Then Mok Gyeong-un gripped his shoulder hard and said,
“Ugh.”
“I would prefer it if you answered immediately the moment I ask. Do not try any pointless tricks.”
“It… it is the mark that symbolizes the organization.”
“The organization-”
“Th… that is right.”
‘As expected, it really is a group.’
It matched almost exactly what he had expected.
So Mok Gyeong-un asked another question.
“I understand that it symbolizes the organization, but what exactly does this mark mean-”
“…That…”
“This will not do. It seems you are not ready yet.”
With those words, Mok Gyeong-un moved to stuff the wad of cloth into his mouth again.
Startled, Gyeom-chang hurriedly said,
“I… I do not know the exact meaning either. I only know that it is one added to two.”
“One added to two-”
What was that supposed to mean-
Mok Gyeong-un turned those words over in his head.
If it was one added to two, then the symbol that had looked like [two], with the lower stroke longer, really must have meant the character for two.
But if the vertical line running through it meant adding one, what did that signify-
‘Why not simply add another horizontal stroke-‘
Then it would become the character for three, and the meaning would fit.
Why run a vertical line through it and say that was the meaning-
Was there some hidden implication-
“Do you think that makes sense when the character for three already exists-”
“…I truly do not know. I was only told that what cannot exist was added.”
“What cannot exist was added-”
“Hmm.”
Mok Gyeong-un stroked his chin.
The words were too vague to understand the meaning from that alone.
But that did not matter.
Once he found out what these people did, the answer might come naturally.
So Mok Gyeong-un moved on to what he most wanted to know.
More than anything else, this was the most urgent.
“Is the one called Ghost Sword also on your side-”
At those words, Gyeom-chang’s expression tightened slightly.
“So he is.”
‘Just what is this bastard-‘
The reason Gyeom-chang reacted like that was because until now, no one had ever realized that Ghost Sword was connected to their side.
To the flustered man, Mok Gyeong-un asked the thing he most wanted to know.
“When the one called Ghost Sword kills someone, does he leave your organization’s mark behind-”
“When he kills someone-”
“Yes.”
If this became certain, then Ghost Sword was without question the culprit.
Mok Gyeong-un stared at Gyeom-chang.
But to that question, Gyeom-chang gave an answer Mok Gyeong-un had never expected.
“Do you think that makes any sense-”
“What-”
“If someone has already killed a man, why would he leave a mark behind-”
“…What are you talking about-”
“The dead tell no tales. And a corpse rots and disappears. Our organization leaves no traces. Then why would he leave a mark on someone he has killed-”
At those words, one of Mok Gyeong-un’s brows rose.
If this man was lying, it was still not a foolish point.
An organization that operated in secret had no reason to boast of itself by leaving traces behind.
So Mok Gyeong-un asked,
“Then why did those who were killed, or someone else, leave such a mark behind-”
“…I think you are misunderstanding something.”
“A misunderstanding-”
“We do not leave our mark on those we have already killed. And the one who leaves such a scar as a mark is…”
“The one who leaves it is-”
“The very one you know as Ghost Sword.”
At that, Mok Gyeong-un instantly seized Gyeom-chang by the collar and dragged him forward, speaking in a murderous voice.
“Are you playing games with me right now- The one called Ghost Sword left that mark on someone already dead, and now you expect me to believe this-”
“I… it is not a lie. The mark Ghost Sword leaves is a kind of warning.”
“A warning- What is that supposed to mean-”
“I do not know exactly. I only heard that Ghost Sword leaves such scars as warnings to those connected to our work. If that warning is ignored, then they are made to pay with their lives, and then the scar is erased…”
“Urgh.”
Before he had even finished speaking, Mok Gyeong-un slammed him to the floor.
Startled, Gyeom-chang cried out,
“It is true.”
“I checked with my own eyes that he left that scar and then killed him, and yet you are still trying to deceive me.”
“He left the scar and then killed him- That cannot be.”
“Cannot be- I confirmed it with my own eyes.”
“It cannot be. Did I not tell you- Why would Ghost Sword leave a trace in a place that could become a clue for pursuit- This is… aaaargh.”
A scream of pain burst from Gyeom-chang’s mouth.
Mok Gyeong-un had driven his fingers into the area above his collarbone.
As he suffered, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes sharpened to an almost cutting intensity.
‘…He says he does not leave traces on the dead-‘
Mok Gyeong-un’s mind became complicated.
If he followed the clues up to now, then Ghost Sword should be the culprit who killed him.
But this man said Ghost Sword left no traces on the dead.
Yet on his dead grandfather’s body there had remained a scar like that mark.
‘And it was not something left long before death either.’
The blood on the scar was clear proof that the wound had been carved in the very moment of death.
Yet this man was denying that strongly.
That meant one of two things.
Either this man was lying to throw him off, or else,
‘…Could it be-‘
The focus in Mok Gyeong-un’s pupils shrank.
Then, gripping the collarbone with the fingers he had already driven in, he dragged Gyeom-chang closer.
Being pulled by the bone itself could not help but be painful.
“Ughhhhh!”
Ignoring that, Mok Gyeong-un asked,
“If the one called Ghost Sword belongs to your organization, then you at least know whether he killed someone or not, do you not-”
Even in pain, Gyeom-chang shook his head hard.
“Ughhh. I… I do not know.”
“Shall I help you know-”
“It is true. We are a cell structure from the start. We move only according to the orders passed down to us, so each of us cannot know exactly what work the others do.”
“…You cannot know exactly-”
“Th… that is right. Unless it is information one truly must know, it is not shared at all.”
“Hmm.”
He was insisting too desperately for it to seem like a lie.
So Mok Gyeong-un stared at him and said,
“Then you have never heard the name Munno.”
“Munno- Did you just say Munno-”
“Until a moment ago, did you not say information was not shared-”
At those words, Gyeom-chang’s body trembled.
Seeing that, Mok Gyeong-un found it strange and asked,
“You know something, do you not-”
At that question, Gyeom-chang hesitated for a moment with a grimace before opening his mouth.
“…If the Munno you speak of is the same name we know, then it is the former name of the Camp-Dissolving Medicine Immortal.”