Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 267 - Office of Penal Service (2)

Chapter 267 – Office of Penal Service (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Thousand-Household Commander Mara Hyeon

frowned and slowly turned his head aside.

That was only natural,

because Mok Gyeong-un was flaying the skin from the face of Cadet Bae Ji-seok while the man was still alive,

though unconscious.

Seeing a healthy face peeled away like that was naturally difficult to look at,

no matter how strong one’s stomach might be.

As Mok Gyeong-un carved away the skin of the face,

he spoke to him calmly.

“It seems hard for you to look at.”

“It seems your stomach is weaker than I expected.”

“……..”

It was not only a matter of stomach.

The problem was that the man was not even dead yet,

and still his skin was being peeled away like that.

Of course,

Mok Gyeong-un had explained the reason.

[Once he dies, the skin quickly begins to necrotize.

Before that happens,

it is far better to do it while it

still has elasticity and freshness.]

It was a valid enough reason in its own way,

but it still weighed on the mind.

Clicking his tongue inwardly,

Mara Hyeon at last left the interrogation

room in order to avoid the sight.

Coming outside,

he let out a long sigh.

“Haah.”

Ordinarily,

this was something he could never have accepted.

Yet he simply could not refuse what Mok Gyeong-un wanted.

Even though the man was doing something so horrific.

At least,

one could say he had chosen someone on whom

laying hands was unlikely to cause trouble.

Even so,

it was truly a cruel thing.

[Yes.]

[He is an orphan.

Before entering the Imperial Guard Bureau as a training cadet, he was a street thug who threatened and extorted elderly merchants and bullied the weak in the market.

Had he not been taken in through influence when one of the Four Powers,

Grand Preceptor Hang Yun-pa’s faction,

gathered in those thought to possess martial talent,

he would have been weeded out before this.]

[So you mean he is hardly of good character.]

[…Among them,

that is true.]

[Good.

Then let us use this one.]

In any case,

he was not even one of the people heavily backed by Hang Yun-pa’s faction,

so there would be no real problem,

and in the first place he was someone who did not

deserve to enter the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Still, there was something pitiable about him.

By misfortune alone, he had fallen into the hands of that evil ghost-like bastard and now looked doomed to die in such a horrible state.

* * *

Early the next morning.

Once the period of basic instruction in the Embroidered Uniform Guard had ended, the cadets, now beginning their real apprenticeship, were led by the Thousand-Household Commanders of the squads to which they had been assigned and moved to their respective departments.

Among them, the total number assigned to the Office of Penal Service was eleven.

Of those, the one with the highest result was Cadet Ju Un-hyang, who had taken second place in the first examination.

There was someone watching Ju Un-hyang closely from behind.

It was Cadet Bae Ji-seok, no, Mok Gyeong-un wearing Bae Ji-seok’s face skin as a human skin mask.

A faint light entered Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes.

‘His energy has increased quite a bit.’

Ju Un-hyang’s innate true qi had increased from before.

It seemed he had either trained tirelessly after fighting Mok Gyeong-un, or stumbled across some small fortuitous encounter.

Yet Mok Gyeong-un’s demonic aura had progressed to a degree incomparable to when he had crossed hands a few nights earlier with Ju Un-hyang or with Deputy Thousand-Household Commander So Ye-rin.

Perhaps because of that, the level of Ju Un-hyang’s qi now no longer troubled him much.

Mok Gyeong-un clicked his tongue lightly.

‘I thought he might at least notice a little.’

Like the other cadets, Ju Un-hyang failed to notice his presence.

Of course, it could simply be that the gap in their strength had widened that much, but compared with what he had expected, it was something of a disappointment.

Before long they arrived at the main hall of the Office of Penal Service under the Six Service Offices.

The Office of Penal Service was the department that managed all prison cells within the imperial palace.

The Thousand-Household Commander of the Office of Penal Service, Mak Myeong-bo, who had been walking ahead, pointed at a building and said,

“Now then. This is the lodging where you will stay for the next five days.”

It was somewhat smaller and shabbier than the dormitory of the Six Service Offices main compound, where they had been assigned temporarily.

Most of the cadets apparently thought the same, as their expressions were far from pleased.

Then someone came walking out from the main building of the Office of Penal Service with his hands clasped behind his back.

The moment they saw the red ceremonial robe, everyone brought both hands together and bowed.

The one who had emerged from the main building of the Office of Penal Service was none other than Im Gyu-wol, the Deputy Thousand-Household Commander in charge of this place.

He was a man with slit-like eyes and a pale face.

His overall impression was rather like looking at a white snake.

Then Im Gyu-wol abruptly opened his mouth.

“It is I.”

Ju Un-hyang answered politely with his head lowered.

Then Im Gyu-wol smiled and walked forward toward him as he said,

“I heard you took second place in the internal energy measurement during the selection process. That makes you quite an excellent talent.”

At this praise, Cadet Yeom Gyeong, disciple of Mount Hua, bit his lip.

That was because he felt jealousy at Ju Un-hyang receiving attention from the very start of the apprenticeship.

But unlike his jealousy, those words had not been spoken with good intentions.

Im Gyu-wol came all the way up to Ju Un-hyang and laid a hand on his shoulder.

At that instant, Ju Un-hyang, who had been bowing his head, flinched.

Watching this from directly behind, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.

‘Hmm.’

It seemed that this man called Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol had not merely placed a hand on his shoulder, but was applying pressure with internal energy.

That expectation was correct.

The internal energy flowing from Im Gyu-wol’s hand entered through Ju Un-hyang’s shoulder and inflicted pain.

As he sent internal energy into him, Im Gyu-wol smiled blandly and said,

“I have very high expectations of you.”

At that, Ju Un-hyang inwardly found the situation absurd.

He was a ridiculous man.

While saying he had high expectations, he was trying to subdue him through true qi.

Ju Un-hyang did not know the reason, but unless the man felt some dislike toward him, there was no reason for him to press down with such overwhelming internal energy.

So he raised his head slightly and looked at his face, and though the man wore a smile, his eyes were looking down at him as though despising him.

Ju Un-hyang could not hide his puzzlement.

He did not know the reason, but Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol was clearly acting toward him with emotion.

That guess of his was correct.

Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol had fallen for the beauty of So Ye-rin, who held the same rank, from the very first moment he saw her and had admired her for a long time.

But she, called the Ice Flower of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, had always treated him coldly.

Whenever he showed interest, she rejected him mercilessly.

It was something he could not tolerate.

‘I do not know what sort of remarkable talent you have, but I will make you regret being assigned beneath me.’

He could not leave alone anyone who drew even a little of her attention.

He would make this cadet understand his place.

To begin with, he intended to suppress him with internal energy, inflict internal injuries, and show him hell throughout the five days he would spend here in the Office of Penal Service.

‘I will eliminate him right here at my own level.’

This place, after all, was his own territory.

There was no one who could blame or question him if he tormented the boy to his heart’s content and then failed him.

Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol raised his inner power further.

Even if he had taken second place in the internal energy test, this brat was still no more than a cadet.

‘You will feel your insides churning to ruin.’

Yet something was strange.

At this point, Ju Un-hyang should naturally have collapsed under the pressing internal energy or at least screamed.

And yet there was no reaction at all.

At that moment, cracks spread across the floor where Ju Un-hyang was standing.

Seeing that, one of Im Gyu-wol’s brows rose.

This was a phenomenon possible only if Ju Un-hyang was channeling the internal energy that had been forced into him down through Yongquan point and out into the ground.

He was still not even twenty years of age.

At that moment, Im Gyu-wol’s power rose.

Ju Un-hyang started at that.

“Deputy Thousand-Household Commander!”

Thousand-Household Commander Mak Myeong-bo called out when he noticed it.

He had wondered what the man was doing while still holding Ju Un-hyang’s shoulder, but he had never imagined he was applying this sort of internal-energy pressure against a mere cadet.

But Im Gyu-wol had no intention of stopping here.

‘Then endure even this.’

Im Gyu-wol raised his power still further.

As he did, Ju Un-hyang’s body finally began to tremble.

‘Tch.’

Ju Un-hyang tried to protect his shoulder with innate true qi and disperse the incoming inner power, but as the man’s power increased, that gradually became more difficult.

The cracks in the floor had already spread to the other cadets standing nearby.

Startled, they all stepped away from the side.

By now everyone’s gaze had turned toward the two men.

No matter who saw it, Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol was pressuring Ju Un-hyang with internal energy.

Judging by the way Ju Un-hyang’s complexion was worsening, the matter might soon turn serious.

At that point Thousand-Household Commander Mak Myeong-bo moved closer, trying to stop him.

“Deputy Thousand-Household Commander. Please stop…”

“Do not interfere.”

Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol snapped at him quietly and waved his hand.

It meant not to intervene.

At that, Thousand-Household Commander Mak Myeong-bo could not hide his discomfort.

Because he had served Im Gyu-wol for a long time, he knew his temperament better than anyone.

If he tried to stop him here, that anger might well be turned upon himself.

“Hngh.”

For the first time, a small groan escaped Ju Un-hyang’s lips.

It seemed he had finally reached his limit under the continued pressure of Im Gyu-wol’s internal energy.

As someone in the position of an apprentice undergoing the Embroidered Uniform Guard selection process, he could not rebel against an examiner, so for Ju Un-hyang there was no choice but to endure this one-sidedly.

‘Heh. So this is your limit at last.’

The corner of Im Gyu-wol’s mouth lifted viciously.

It was admirable that someone so young had endured his internal energy this long, but now that too was over.

Im Gyu-wol was just about to raise his power again and finish things decisively.

As he raised his power further, the floor split even farther away.

Ju Un-hyang’s complexion worsened, as though he had finally reached his limit.

It was right at that moment.

Then someone seized his right wrist.

Im Gyu-wol, who had been drawing up almost seventy percent of his power, instantly wore a fierce expression.

There was no cadet here who ought to have the level needed to stop him.

Naturally, he assumed Thousand-Household Commander Mak Myeong-bo had interfered.

So,

The one there was Cadet Bae Ji-seok, no, Mok Gyeong-un wearing Bae Ji-seok’s face as a human skin mask.

Seeing this, one of Im Gyu-wol’s brows lifted.

At that, Im Gyu-wol tried to shake the hand off in sheer disbelief.

But he could not.

Im Gyu-wol’s eyes shook.

That was because he could not shake off the brat’s hand.

Even after raising his power up to eighty percent, it still remained almost completely unmoved.

To the bewildered man, Mok Gyeong-un smiled pleasantly and said in a polite voice,

“You…”

His internal energy was far stronger than even Ju Un-hyang, who had taken second place in the internal energy examination.

Deputy Thousand-Household Commander Im Gyu-wol’s eyes rapidly swept the surroundings.

All the apprentice cadets were watching him, and if he continued this contest of force here, there was a danger he would make a fool of himself.