By Zephyria 
Jin Geum-ryeon’s reaction of laughing as if it were amusing was a bit unexpected. Did that mean he hadn’t ordered that play knowing Namgung Mun’s entire past? Ak Mujin looked at him and asked.
“That play… wasn’t it you who ordered it?”
“It is true that I did, but while looking for an excuse to tease him, I simply chose what I thought was the most ridiculous rumor Haoh Gate had obtained. It was merely for the purpose of mocking the Martial Alliance Lord, I didn’t think it was true. But… to think it was real….”
Jin Geum-ryeon, who wiped away the tears that had welled up in his eyes from laughing so much, still chuckled as he muttered.
“How amusing. To think that the Vice Leader of the Demon Cult, of all people, could defeat me, whom even he couldn’t stand against.”
Ak Mujin agreed with that statement. He stared at the crumpled letter and pondered.
“…The Martial Alliance Lord also has a brain, so he wouldn’t have expected that much from Joo Mu-jeong.”
Joo Mu-jeong wouldn’t have blindly accepted the Martial Alliance Lord’s absurd proposal either, but in reality, Joo Mu-jeong was in a precarious situation where he wasn’t trusted by the Cult Leader, so he would have wanted to grab at even a rotten rope.
Thinking that way, it wasn’t too difficult to grasp the Martial Alliance Lord’s intentions. After the Martial Alliance Lord lost to Jin Geum-ryeon, the common people’s faith in the Martial Alliance had long been shattered. In times like these, the Evil Cult Lord appeared in Anhui, and then Demon Cultists appeared indiscriminately. The Martial Alliance Lord’s position must have become precarious day by day.
In this situation, subduing even one of them would make it easier to handle public sentiment. Moreover, whether the Sandow Union slapped the Demon Cult’s face, or the Demon Cult slapped the Sandow Union’s face, the Martial Alliance had nothing to lose. If one of them weakened in the process, it would be quite a successful free ride. And if, in that process, the Demon Cult, including Joo Mu-jeong, inflicted even a little damage on Jin Geum-ryeon, all the better.
However, now that evidence that the Martial Alliance Lord had contacted the Demon Cult had fallen into Jin Geum-ryeon’s hands, the situation wouldn’t flow very favorably for the Martial Alliance Lord in the future.
“Anyway, after this, it would be best to go to a safe place and discuss things.”
Jin Geum-ryeon nodded once, as if agreeing with Ak Mujin’s words, and left the small hut.
Outside the hut, a different kind of chaos was unfolding compared to inside. Joo Mu-jeong’s subordinates, whom he had sent out of the hut, had all been slaughtered by Jin Geum-ryeon, who had been waiting outside. Surely, at this distance, the screams should have been heard inside the hut, but Jin Geum-ryeon had dealt with them without giving even a single one a chance to scream. Ak Mujin was amazed by his skill, but on the other hand, he once again realized that he was different from the protagonist of the original story due to his cruel methods.
Ak Mujin walked while looking at the corpses of the Demon Cultists, and found Beon-hu, Joo Mu-jeong’s servant, among them. Still, facing the corpse of someone he had once known within the Demon Cult made him feel uneasy.
But think about it. What had the Demon Cultists done to the residents here while coming here? Rather, leaving such people alive was even more dangerous. Ak Mujin had to slowly accept it. Since the worldview here was martial arts, such deaths were inevitable.
Even while thinking that way, it wasn’t easy to calm his mind, so Jin Geum-ryeon, who saw Ak Mujin’s pale face, grabbed his hand with one hand.
“If it’s really uncomfortable, you can close your eyes.”
“It’s okay.”
Ak Mujin said it was okay, but he didn’t let go of the hand that was reaching out to him. He obediently held his hand and walked through the corpses.
“I also made an effort.”
At the sudden words, Ak Mujin turned his head and looked at Jin Geum-ryeon.
“You hate harming others, right? So I tried to deal with them as painlessly as possible. Considering what those guys did to the people, I didn’t want to do that, but….”
Ak Mujin, who had been blankly staring at Jin Geum-ryeon’s voice as he defended himself as if talking to himself, chuckled.
“Such a deep meaning?”
“So you shouldn’t think I’m too cruel.”
In any case, Jin Geum-ryeon seemed to care quite a bit about how Ak Mujin would view him. Ak Mujin thought he was cute after all.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For waiting until I finished my work?”
It was certainly reckless to go into the hut alone. If Joo Mu-jeong hadn’t acted rashly and sent his subordinates out, he didn’t know how the fight would have turned out. Well, at that time, he would have done his best to call Jin Geum-ryeon, who was outside.
Anyway, Ak Mujin, who thought that he should finish the Demon Cult’s work himself, was pleased that Jin Geum-ryeon had patiently waited instead of intervening until he took Joo Mu-jeong’s life.
“…But I couldn’t hold back until the end.”
Jin Geum-ryeon’s eyes darkened. He blinked once. Before he knew it, they had walked out into a space that wasn’t stained with blood.
“If what Joo Mu-jeong said is true,”
Jin Geum-ryeon, who had stopped abruptly, said while looking at Ak Mujin. Ak Mujin could feel the strength in the hand that was holding his.
“I am ready to go to Heavenly Mountain at any time.”
Those few words weighed heavily on Ak Mujin’s heart.
*
The place where Ak Mujin and Jin Geum-ryeon found the Demon Cultists was certainly not far from the Sandow Union branch in Hebei. They had been blindly following the traces of the Demon Cultists and heading north, but after realizing that there was a Sandow Union branch nearby, they changed direction to check on Chun-wol’s condition as well.
Seo-mok’s condition was getting worse and worse, so she was rambling and talking nonsense all the way, most of which was either apologizing to Ak Mujin for her mistakes or repeating words of gratitude. It seemed that the cruel Demon Cultists had even broken Seo-mok’s head.
As soon as Ak Mujin arrived in Hebei, he entrusted Seo-mok to a doctor, and after hearing that she needed to rest, he hurriedly looked for Chun-wol.
“My Lord!”
Ak Mujin had been reported that Chun-wol’s health was not very good before, so he was very happy to see his healthy appearance. Chun-wol grabbed Ak Mujin’s hand with tears in his eyes. Jin Geum-ryeon began to watch them with subtle, sharp eyes.
“How did you come to this place? Are you safe? Perhaps Joo Mu-jeong….”
“I’m fine for the time being.”
Ak Mujin smiled and shook his head lightly at the worried questions that poured out. Only then did Chun-wol realize that he had been holding his hand tightly without realizing it, and he blushed and let go of him. Even so, he looked all over him to check his condition.
“Really? Did you shake them off cleanly?”
“…He’s dead. So calm down and sit down to talk.”
Only after Jin Geum-ryeon intervened did Chun-wol raise his head in a start, as if waking up from a dream.
“Joo Mu-jeong… is dead?”
Ak Mujin nodded instead of Jin Geum-ryeon. Chun-wol trembled slightly at his fingertips and almost collapsed into the seat where tea and refreshments were prepared.
“…That son of a bitch is dead?”
For some reason, Chun-wol seemed relieved, but on the other hand, he also seemed unstable, so Ak Mujin was worried about him. He sat down opposite him and examined Chun-wol’s face.
“Are you okay?”
“…I’m fine.”
Chun-wol’s complexion, who answered that way, was not very good. Ak Mujin’s face quickly darkened and he questioned him.
“What did he do to you?”
“…….”
Chun-wol hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth heavily.
“…He didn’t care about the means or methods to gain the Cult Leader’s trust. In the process, many believers died.”
The following low voice trembled.
“Thanks to showing that you can die even if you show loyalty to him, there are fewer and fewer people who are truly loyal to him. So, from Joo Mu-jeong’s point of view, the number of subordinates he could trust had no choice but to decrease. He soon found my parents at the safe house that you had prepared for me and brought them back to the Demon Cult. He believed that he needed hostages for everyone under him to be loyal to me.”
Ak Mujin was hearing this for the first time, so he was very embarrassed and taken aback. He wanted to ask why she hadn’t told him that fact, but the moment he opened his mouth, he realized that there was no point in Chun-wol telling him that. It was something that happened too deep within the Demon Cult. Even if Ak Mujin knew, there was nothing he could do.
He gritted his teeth, calmed his mind, and asked.
“Are your parents still in Heavenly Mountain?”
“…They passed away.”
Ak Mujin felt like his heart was sinking. He lowered his head and said to Chun-wol.
“…I’m sorry that I couldn’t be of any help when you needed it….”
“No. It was a situation that even I couldn’t save. They were already very old….”
A moment of silence followed. Joo Mu-jeong was already dead and gone, but the Demon Cult was not just Joo Mu-jeong who was particularly vicious, so Ak Mujin’s heart was heavy.
He asked.
“Have you ever seen Joo Mu-jeong communicating with a suspicious person while in the Intelligence Division?”
At those words, Chun-wol widened his eyes as if surprised, and soon narrowed his brows and pondered.
“…Well. I don’t go in and out of Heavenly Mountain often, so I don’t have anything that comes to mind. I’m sorry.”
Ak Mujin lightly shook his head as if telling him not to mind the apology, and Jin Geum-ryeon took out a piece of paper he had put in his arms and handed it to him.
“Then, have you ever seen this mark?”