Chapter 94: Chapter 94

“Don’t bluff!”

Maeng Won-won shrieked. What she held in her hand was the Broken Moon Wheel, a divine artifact bestowed by the Cult Leader.

Whether in terms of distance or speed.

Jang I-seo couldn’t possibly be faster than her killing Mao.

In short, Mao would die first, without question.

“If that’s what you think, then throw it.”

Jang I-seo spoke as calmly as the surface of a placid sea hiding a massive sea dragon beneath.

‘What in the world is he relying on to run his mouth like this!’

Rage flared within Maeng Won-won.

No matter how impressive he was, wasn’t he just an adjutant for an heir? And not just any heir, but the idiotic Seventh Young Master Mao’s adjutant.

‘It’s a bluff. He’s playing with me. I’ll kill him. I’ll kill them all.’

Sparks flew from Maeng Won-won’s eyes, and tendons bulged in the fingers gripping the wheel.

And the moment she was about to throw it.

Ping!

Maeng Won-won’s pupils turned pure white, and a single scene flashed through her mind like a panorama.

The root that made her an heir of the Heavenly Demon, a privilege that appeared intermittently only in those whose upper dantian had been partially opened.

The Eye of Wisdom.

An extremely heightened sense of danger had drawn the image of what would happen moments from now into her mind.

And the scene that unfolded was…

‘Dieeeeeee!’

Herself, hurling the Broken Moon Wheel with a venomous scream.

And Jang I-seo, watching with a gaze cold enough to make one’s blood freeze.

『White Thunder』

Flash!

Black lightning shooting from his right hand.

Thwack!

And then, blood streaming down between her brows, pierced clean through in the blink of an eye. Thud. Her field of view flipping skyward as she fell backward.

It was her own death.

Instant death.

“Gasp!”

Maeng Won-won expelled a choked breath and returned to reality.

Her pupils darkened again, and the sensation of being alive registered against her skin.

When she collected herself and looked ahead, he was standing there. The owner of that monstrous black lightning who could end her in a single strike.

“J-Jang I-seo…”

Maeng Won-won trembled like someone who had been locked in a freezer for ages.

From her jaw to her arms, legs, and heart. There wasn’t a single part of her that wasn’t shaking.

There was only one reason.

‘I’m scared…’

Jang I-seo was terrifying. He was like a great demon hiding immense power. Above all, his ruthless nature, willing to truly kill her, rendered her completely powerless.

“Are you not going to do it?”

“Hic!”

Now, even just meeting his eyes felt like staring into a dark flame that would devour her whole.

‘Jang I-seo is… a monster…’

Yes, that was right. He was a monster bearing the Heavenly Demon Ghost that the Heavenly Demon had embedded in his heart.

If she had known her place, there was only one course of action she could take.

Clatter.

Maeng Won-won dropped the Broken Moon Wheel and collapsed onto the ground.

Complete loss of fighting spirit.

The fight was over. Though she was an heir, Maeng Won-won was only sixteen years old, and she was no match for Jang I-seo as he was now.

And this moment would become a turning point in her life.

The moment a crease appeared in what had been a smooth-sailing life.

‘Good thinking. Not throwing that is what saved your life.’

Jang I-seo looked down at her and nodded.

If Mao died, his mission ended too.

Regardless of the consequences, if it came down to surviving, he would cut down anyone. That was his current resolve.

And for whatever reason, dropping her weapon had been a wise choice.

“Seventh Young Master.”

He called out to Mao, who was standing blankly.

“Y-yeah?”

“In war, spoils are only natural. The lives of the Fifth Young Lady and her adjutant now rest in your hands, Seventh Young Master.”

“Mine?”

“Yes. If you order their deaths, blades will be drawn across both their necks. They will collapse bleeding profusely. And they will meet a futile end without so much as a groan.”

Did you really have to explain all that? Jang I-seo, that’s cruel. While Mao scratched his head, tears welled up in Maeng Won-won’s eyes, her terror transcending into something deeper.

“So, what will you do?”

Jang I-seo’s bloodthirsty question fell. Maeng Won-won looked up at Mao pitifully, like a child, and Mao smacked his lips and muttered lightly.

“Hmm. What to do. Should I just let them go? I feel like we’ve punished them enough. And, well, she’s my sister on the family registry, so killing her is a bit…”

“That would be unwise. They’re the ones who attacked first. Letting them go would only make us look easy. We aren’t the righteous path, are we?”

“Obviously not! Right. Then let’s kill them!”

“No. That would be a hasty decision.”

Fuck. Then what? As Mao smacked his lips again, Jang I-seo spoke calmly.

“Let us ask the Fifth Young Lady.”

“Huh? Her?”

Jang I-seo leveled his gaze at Maeng Won-won and asked.

“To reiterate, the Fifth Small Palace struck first. Moreover, the night is late, the forest is quiet, and there is no one here but us.”

“Wh-why does that…”

“I’m saying it doesn’t matter if someone dies.”

“H-hic!”

Her once-clear eyes crumbled completely, soaked in terror.

Jang I-seo concealed a smile within and spoke.

“Do you want to live?”

“I-I want to live! Spare me!”

“If I spare you, what will you do for me?”

At his question, Maeng Won-won beamed and answered frantically.

“An-anything. I’ll give you anything!”

“Anything?”

“Y-yeah, anything! So please spare me. Once we get back to the Maeng Family, I’ll talk to my uncle and give you whatever you want. Money, anything. Okay?”

As Maeng Won-won looked up with tearful eyes, Jang I-seo approached her step by step and stood before her.

Then he replied in a low voice.

“…Very well. Then go back and wait as if you were dead. Until I come for you again. Do you understand?”

At his chilling killing intent, Maeng Won-won, pale as a sheet, nodded repeatedly.

“O-okay. I will! Thank you!”

Maeng Won-won pleaded her thanks repeatedly. Jang I-seo, as if to say that was enough, looked back at Mao and Hong-ran.

“And apologize to those two.”

“Huh? Oh… Why? N-no, I’m sorry…”

Maeng Won-won apologized hastily and bowed her head.

But in her eyes, resentment had already resurfaced as if the terror had never happened.

‘Why should I apologize to those wretches? Just wait until today passes. I’ll pay back every ounce of this humiliation. I won’t let any of you get away with this!’

Indeed, people don’t change easily.

She was grinding her teeth inwardly.

However.

‘Maeng Won-won. You can try to hide your true nature behind a gentle face, but you can’t conceal it. You’ll likely plot revenge the moment you return. But do you know?’

A cold smile blossomed in his mind.

‘I’m the Counter-Espionage Squad Leader, the demon who used to strip snakes wearing dozens of masks down to nothing. And that’s me, Jang I-seo.’

Sharing a bed but dreaming different dreams.

She would never know.

Just how deep the swamp called Jang I-seo was, the one she had just stepped into.

Jang I-seo shifted his gaze to the wheel lying on the ground.

“For now, let’s take that as a token of trust.”

It was a token acknowledging her as the Fifth Young Lady, and a divine artifact.

The Broken Moon Wheel.

“There’s no such law!”

Maeng Won-won shrieked, her voice thick with outrage.

Naturally.

A divine artifact was a divine token symbolizing one as a child of the Cult Leader.

Having it stripped away was tantamount to putting one’s life up as collateral.

“How can I trust you, Fifth Young Lady? I don’t even trust myself.”

“I apologized like you asked earlier!”

“That was something you were supposed to do anyway.”

“Believe me. I mean it! Do I look like someone who would lie? I’m not that kind of person!”

The Fifth Young Lady looked up with tearful, innocent eyes. Jang I-seo studied her for a moment before answering.

“Seventh Young Master, collect the divine artifact.”

“N-no!”

“If not, you die.”

SHRING! Jang I-seo drew a dagger from his waist.

“Hic…”

Tears finally spilled from Maeng Won-won’s eyes. But whining would only work within the Maeng Family.

Mao sidled over and picked up the fallen Broken Moon Wheel.

He even waved the Azure Dragon Blade around in case she tried to attack.

But Maeng Won-won merely stared blankly, taking no action whatsoever.

Her spirit had been thoroughly broken.

“I have one request. If anything should happen to the Sixth Young Master from now on, I will consider it entirely the Fifth Young Lady’s doing. And at that point, don’t even think about seeing that divine artifact again. I won’t tolerate any tricks. Revenge? Don’t even dream of it. If even one of us gets hurt, I’ll send the artifact to a place so remote no one will ever find it.”

“A-are you crazy? The Cult Leader bestowed that!”

“Which is exactly why you should treat your younger brother well. Don’t entertain any other thoughts.”

“Other thoughts…?”

Maeng Won-won’s face turned as white as a sheet of paper.

He already sent him to the Iron Horse Bandits?!

For the first time, she felt genuine worry for her cousin. Though it was purely for her own sake.

Jang I-seo turned away without mercy, signaling for her to leave.

Then.

“J-Jipha Village!”

Maeng Won-won cried out urgently. Hong-ran, who had been watching silently, and Mao, who had been examining the Broken Moon Wheel, and even Jang I-seo, who had turned away.

Everyone looked at her with eyes full of questions.

Then she spoke tearfully.

“Maeng Hwi… went there alone.”

To Jipha Village? Why.

“To find the Iron Horse Bandits…”

It was the first moment Jang I-seo’s eyes wavered.

* * *

After Maeng Won-won and Wang-u departed.

Jang I-seo, Hong-ran, and Mao, the three of them gathered in the second-floor office of the annex.

The sun had already fully set.

Hong-ran lit the candle on a painted candlestick. Despite having no tools, the moment her fingertips touched the wick, a flame bloomed.

The profound mystery of the Samadhi True Fire, a technique that could only be wielded upon reaching the upper tier of the absolute realm.

“You’re not even hiding it anymore.”

In the past, she would have used another method because Mao was present, but it had already been discovered. Hong-ran offered an awkward smile and took her seat.

Anyway, that wasn’t what was important right now.

“What’s the Iron Horse Bandits? Could something really happen? And the Maeng Family will probably move. At best, they’re just bandits, aren’t they?”

Mao was the first to speak, setting the Broken Moon Wheel down on the table with a clatter.

The Iron Horse Bandits.

He had never even seen them, yet they kept getting entangled with him.

From the Slaughterhouse to Ma I-sin, and now Maeng Hwi.

But the connection didn’t end here.

“Actually…”

Hong-ran began in a hesitant voice. When Jang I-seo nodded as if to say it was fine, she continued.

“The man I mentioned before, Gu-yu.”

“Gu-yu? What’s that?”

“The man we intended to bring into our fold with the Hundred Commander’s Seal.”

“What? There was someone like that?”

At Mao’s question, Hong-ran nodded. She briefly explained the situation up to that point to Mao, then returned to the main topic.

“That man, Gu-yu… it seems he is the one leading the Iron Horse Bandits.”

“Wh-what?”

“Mm…”

Both Mao and Jang I-seo were surprised at her words.

Gu-yu, the man they had wanted to recruit, was the Iron Horse Bandits.

“Tell us more.”

“It’s not certain, but the Flying Dragon Hall has recently been making extensive inquiries about this man, Gu-yu. They mobilized on a massive scale under the Hall Master’s orders, so it definitely isn’t false.”

“I see…”

Since Ji Dae-ho had requested the Flying Dragon Hall’s cooperation, the timing matched up perfectly.

“But mobilizing on a massive scale… The Hall Master isn’t someone with that much free time, is she?”

“Her members were attacked.”

“Good heavens…”

The situation had escalated.