Chapter 66: Welco, It's a Trap (2)
The Purple Haze Dust Poison — that is, the Chivalrous Hero's Secret dicine — had serial numbers assigned to them in advance.
Gap was exclusively for Gukmubon, Eul was for Goryeo Sword Sect, and Byeong was for Changbai Sect. Anticipating the possibility of leaks, I had deliberately assigned separate serial numbers and instructed Chief Han to strictly distinguish their distribution.
Eul-127. So it had leaked from the Goryeo Sword Sect — and that was precisely where the Choi brothers served as Elders.
"There's a spy within the Goryeo Sword Sect who's been colluding with the Bell Tower Sect."
If used well, this could further strengthen the Choi brothers' standing. Since they were distributed in batches of fifty at a ti, number 127 would be the last serial number issued to the Goryeo Sword Sect.
I exited the parking lot and imdiately placed a call.
"Jae-jun. Is now a good ti to talk?"
"Yes, Senior. What is it?"
"The Goryeo Sword Sect distributed the Chivalrous Hero's Secret dicine to the Elders in three separate batches, just as I instructed, correct?"
"That's right."
"Which faction received the most recent batch of the Chivalrous Hero's Secret dicine?"
"Elder Bong."
"Tell more."
"Elder Bong's side is the second most powerful faction within the Goryeo Sword Sect. They are the ones who clash with us most fiercely."
I see. This couldn't be better. It seems I can catch two birds with one stone.
"Why do you ask?"
"Elder Bong has been colluding with the Bell Tower Sect."
"What? Is that really true?! Those bastards!"
Choi Jae-jun's fury burned not just at the collusion itself, but even more at the re ntion of the Bell Tower Sect. It was the Bell Tower Sect that had struck Chairman Choi — his father — with Ice Energy.
"I'll capture Elder Bong and kill him at once!"
By now he trusted completely, so even my shocking words didn't give him a mont's pause. I cald him down for the ti being.
"Now is not the ti."
"Then when?"
"Wait until it ripens red."
Choi Jae-jun fud for a while before letting out a long sigh and deciding to hold back, as I had said.
"……Understood. That said — how did you co to know this?"
"Just monts ago, Lee Won-ryong of the Red Dragon Gate t with the Bell Tower Heavenly King. Lee Won-ryong was carrying a bag containing the Chivalrous Hero's Secret dicine. It was dicine that had been distributed from Gukmubon to the Goryeo Sword Sect."
"Elder Bong, that traitorous son of a…… Still, the Bell Tower Heavenly King wouldn't have simply handed it over. The Bell Tower Sect surely has sothing they're after."
"Their objective is obvious enough."
"……That would be you, Senior."
"That's right."
"Those bastards. How dare they!"
He raged like fire. I gave him a word of caution.
"If it's Lee Won-ryong, he'll co after the two brothers first."
"Yes. That's likely. The only known connection points are the two of us."
"How many security personnel are currently at your residence?"
"Three n on three rotating shifts. I'll increase it to twenty for the ti being."
"Keep it at one. Reassign the other two elsewhere."
"Pardon?"
"We'll have a visitor coming — so we should clear the path and welco them in. And."
I spoke to Choi Jae-jun in a composed tone.
"Lend one empty room."
***
[Red Dragon Gate Headquarters]
Lee Won-ryong downed a harsh shot of liquor.
"Damn it. How did things end up like this!"
The humiliation of being dominated by the Bell Tower Heavenly King he had once looked down upon.
Glug, glug, glug.
He slamd another pour of expensive whisky into his glass. Rage surged to the top of his head, but now was the ti to think clearly.
"I need to retrace the cause first."
The trendous pressure from Gukmubon at present. It had all begun with that eting with Minister Han Seung-pyo.
"Back then, the ti remaining on Korea's Murim Tower was only shrinking. Minister Han ca to and asked for my help."
Himself and Minister Han. A battle of wits between the two had begun, and he had played his trump card.
"I demanded the release of my n locked up in prison. And I said I'd naturalize as Japanese if he refused."
……Damn it. At the ti it had seed like a sure move, but it had been a painfully bad play.
"I had no intention of actually naturalizing as Japanese."
He had only ant to provoke Minister Han into yielding what he wanted — so how on earth had things co to this.
"It's because of that man!"
The man who had been wearing a dark indigo jangpo and even a wide-brimd bamboo hat. If only that man hadn't suddenly approached him and introduced himself, saying it was 'a proposal from the Japanese Gukmubon'! Where had that man co from? He had to have been sent from Japan. Should he track the bastard down and kill him?
"No. There's nothing to gain from making more enemies."
He needed to escape the current situation first.
"Stay calm. Huu-uu."
Lee Won-ryong took a long, deep breath. As his cool-headedness returned, a quiet sense of satisfaction washed over him. That's right.
"This is who I am."
Cool-headedness and ruthlessness, an extraordinary mind that layers plan upon plan. A confidence he had forgotten ca surging back.
"When I think about it carefully, my bet back then wasn't wrong either."
Who was he, after all? Was he not Lee Won-ryong — the sect leader who had founded the Red Dragon Gate, one of Korea's Three Great Sects? He was the very embodint of situational awareness, with an uncanny ability to gauge the strength of any opponent.
"It was a coincidence. A staggeringly unlikely coincidence — the Golden Tower appearing out of nowhere, of all tis."
No one could have anticipated that the Golden Tower would erge at that precise mont. The Golden Tower was the work of soone Gukmubon called Ghost. And Ghost was clearly connected to the Naless Hero.
"Gukmubon knows who the Naless Hero is. But they'll never give him up."
Because a treasure who possesses such extraordinary intelligence — like the secret route through Demon Wind Manor or the Chivalrous Hero's Secret dicine — is a treasure among treasures. If only such a treasure could be in his own hands.
"If I could just have him for myself……"
It wasn't too late yet. And it was surely the case that the connection between him and Gukmubon wasn't all that deep. Chief Han, who had visited the Red Dragon Gate not long ago, probing for information about the Naless Hero. And the Naless Hero had gone ahead and openly leaked the information about Demon Wind Manor onto the Black Market.
"Then who was it that connected the Naless Hero to Gukmubon?"
Gukmubon, soone, the Naless Hero, Ghost, Golden Tower. In the end — the point of connection leading back to the Naless Hero. The answer ca easily.
"……The Choi brothers of the Goryeo Sword Sect."
Two deranged individuals who were chaebol heirs of the major conglorate Baekgyeong, yet were still climbing the Murim Tower. They clearly had sothing to rely on.
"The Naless Hero and the Choi brothers are deeply connected. That's what they're banking on as they climb."
Because it was those brothers who had announced the Naless Hero's spectacular debut. And when Gukmubon had begun digging into background information on the brothers and placing people on them — the information about Demon Wind Manor had suddenly surfaced on the Black Market.
"If I get the Choi brothers, I should be able to reach the shadow-like Naless Hero as well—. Hm?"
Lee Won-ryong raised an eyebrow.
"……That's strange."
The shadow that was the Naless Hero. But wasn't it precisely the Choi brothers who had gained the most from his appearance? They had taken positions as Elders of the Goryeo Sword Sect, their martial arts had improved by leaps and bounds, and their recent breakthroughs in the Tower were anything but ordinary. Could all of this truly be possible simply by knowing the Naless Hero?
Wait. A single hypothesis surfaced in Lee Won-ryong's mind.
"What if the Choi brothers…… Are the Naless Hero?!"
Every question would be resolved in one fell swoop! Above all, there was that absurd poison — the Chivalrous Hero's Secret dicine. Creating such a poison would require imnse research and capital.
"With Baekgyeong's money, that would certainly be possible."
Since the Tower's appearance, it was an open secret that major conglorates had quietly been acquiring pharmaceutical companies for research purposes. The Baekgyeong Group had no pharmaceutical subsidiaries, but those two could easily be acquiring and operating pharmaceutical companies under borrowed nas.
"That's it!"
Lee Won-ryong slapped his knee. He was certain.
"The Choi brothers are the Naless Hero!"
Ha! The corners of his mouth curled up, and a laugh burst out of its own accord. He couldn't contain his pride at having deduced such a staggering conclusion himself.
"You fools! How dare you try to deceive eyes like mine!"
Now, what remained was figuring out how to bring the Choi brothers to heel.
"……That's out of the question."
They were brothers who lacked for nothing — no money, no power.
"There's no choice but to eliminate them."
But they were elders of the Goryeo Sword Sect, under the protection of Gukmubon, and chaebol heirs. The burden was imnse.
"I can't do it with my own hands."
I'll have to use soone else's. People who won't leave loose ends afterward. And on top of that……
'Try changing your nickna. How about Ashtray.'
"Ideally, a thod that also properly makes that crazy fat woman eat crow."
He turned his mind over rapidly, then snapped his eyes open.
"There's the perfect man for this!"
Outstanding martial arts of one's own, a personality that stops at nothing to reach a goal, a blade to be used once and discarded without regret. Lee Won-ryong imdiately placed a call.
"Hey, Manager Seong Chu-hyeon. Been well? I have sothing urgent to discuss with you."
***
[Near the Choi Brothers' Residence]
Seong Chu-hyeon sat in the van with his arms crossed, eyes shut. Six others were riding with him in the van. All of them were combat sports athletes who had been discharged from special forces, and climbers in the twentieth-floor range.
They were all also equipped with Artificial Dantians sourced from the Black Market — in terms of combat power, they were more than enough to sweep through the entire area.
Despite being accompanied by such formidable warriors, Seong Chu-hyeon had a throbbing headache.
'Assassinate the Elders of the Goryeo Sword Sect, the Choi brothers…… Is this really the right move?'
When Sect Leader Lee Won-ryong had first issued the assassination order, he thought it was a joke.
"Sect Leader! The Choi brothers' backing is no joke."
"Can you only ever deal with easy little insects?"
"……"
Seong Chu-hyeon fell silent at those words. In order to be absorbed into the Red Dragon Gate, Seong Chu-hyeon had been handling the dirty work Lee Won-ryong ordered. Make this person disappear, bury them, deal with them, and so on. If discovered, a death sentence would be inevitable. In exchange, he had been promised the position of branch leader within the Red Dragon Gate. But Lee Won-ryong was now demanding sothing even greater from him. He deliberated before answering.
"I'm afraid the Choi brothers are going to be difficult—"
"Then the rger and the branch leader position never happened."
"Sect Leader!"
"It was I who lifted you, a man with a dirty past, to where you are now."
"I am grateful for that. Which is why I handled so many matters for you."
"This will be the last one."
"……"
Lee Won-ryong had thrown him a greater reward.
"Handle this matter well, and I'll give you the position of Elder. With treatnt equivalent to a deputy sect leader."
"……!"
Seong Chu-hyeon's eyes flew open. Deputy Sect Leader of the Red Dragon Gate! This was power that made even the president of a major conglorate envious. Lee Won-ryong didn't stop there.
"I understand your concern. It's the worry about handling the fallout afterward."
"……That's right."
"Don't worry. I've made certain preparations."
There was confidence in the way Lee Won-ryong spoke. And what Lee Won-ryong had provided — Seong Chu-hyeon glanced back at the cargo truck parked behind the van he was riding in. The person loaded inside that cargo hold.
One of his subordinates asked him.
"Manager, what exactly is that thing loaded in the cargo truck……?"
"……"
"You haven't said a word since earlier."
Instead of answering, Seong Chu-hyeon looked at his watch. 2:30 A.M. He asked.
"What's the state of the inside of the house?"
"The lights have been off for a long ti."
"Have the security systems been handled?"
"The sensor on the steel security door — the wire's already been cut."
"The guard?"
"One person. Been dozing off since earlier."
"What?"
"They were running three-man rotating shifts, but it dropped to one man two days ago, apparently."
Seong Chu-hyeon looked at him with eyes that said sothing was off. The subordinate answered.
"Since a few months back, the Choi brothers have had friction with Elder Bong of the Goryeo Sword Sect. So apparently the brothers' security detail is guarding their Goryeo Sword Sect office."
"Looks like they've got sothing valuable stashed at the office."
"Having power always ans having sothing dirty to hide, doesn't it."
"Heh heh heh. True enough."
Seong Chu-hyeon set aside his suspicions. He spoke to his subordinates.
"Move out. Everyone take one of these."
He pulled masks and necklaces from a bag and handed them out to his subordinates. The masks weren't the kind they usually wore. Military gas masks. And the subordinates' expressions beca peculiar upon seeing the necklaces.
"……These? Aren't these the Bell Tower Sect's symbol?"
"Put the gas masks on. Unless you want to die."
Slide. Seong Chu-hyeon opened the van door and walked around to the rear of the cargo truck. After confirming all his subordinates had their gas masks on, he hauled the cargo hold door open —
Creeeak!
"……!"
Inside lay a person who had been poisoned by the 37th floor's toxin in the Murim Tower, collapsed and little more than a living corpse. A face his subordinates knew as well. It was a climber from the Bell Tower Sect.
***
[The Choi Brothers' Residence]
I sat cross-legged and quietly extended my energy sense. With all five senses sharpened to their peak, the direction my hearing reached was the security booth.
Snore, snore.
I could hear the soft sound of the guard quietly snoring.
"Understandable. He's been going solo on full rotation for forty-eight hours straight."
Even with ironclad stamina, enduring this long was remarkable.
"Don't hold it against . This is what keeps you alive."
If the Red Dragon Gate was targeting the Choi brothers, they'd deal with the guards first. The guard had to be completely dead asleep so the Red Dragon Gate wouldn't slit his throat with a blade.
There was a consideration in it — wanting to spare an innocent life — but honestly, it was also a asure taken because having one of the Choi brothers' people die might invite unnecessary investigation.
The Choi brothers, keeping their footsteps hushed, spoke to with tense expressions.
"Senior."
"Shh."
I quietly raised my index finger to my lips. The brothers dropped their voices as low as they could.
"Tonight…… Is it true the Red Dragon Gate is targeting us?"
I gave a nod and answered.
"The birdsong that had been crying for two days fell silent tonight."
"Aah! So it seems."
"They'll be here soon. Get ready."
The brothers checked their equipnt with resolute expressions. Well, with here there's no need to be that tense, but there's no harm in being careful. The brothers, fully ard. The equipnt was excessive. Steady hands gripped bows, quivers full of arrows hung on their backs. They were also wearing armor, leg guards, and helts.
I smiled and quietly asked.
"Where did you get the helts? There shouldn't be helts in the Murim Tower."
"We lted down blades and swords from the Tower to make them."
"How is it? Pretty good, right?"
"Why did you put wings on the helts?"
"……Because they look cool."
I burst out laughing. The brothers bit their lips, and Choi Jae-hwa shook his head and said,
"Those people are out of their minds. We are the second-generation heirs of the Baekgyeong Group. Even if it is the Red Dragon Gate, I can't believe they'd target us."
At that, Choi Jae-jun clicked his tongue and shot back.
"They must be confident they can handle the fallout."
"Still, brother……"
"Senior told us. The Red Dragon Gate has joined hands with the Bell Tower Sect. We may be chaebol, but there are other chaebols in Korea besides us. And these days, a massive sect holds more power than a chaebol family in so ways."
"And yet they'd co for us, even knowing we're elders of the Goryeo Sword Sect?"
Unlike the composed Choi Jae-jun, the hot-tempered youngest, Choi Jae-hwa — though he understood it, unable to contain his rising fury, ground his teeth.
I looked at the clock on the wall. 2:30 A.M. I asked them.
"The steel security door — you said it can be operated manually?"
"Yes."
"Go outside now. When the assassins co in, activate the security door."
"Understood. But……"
Choi Jae-jun continued in a worried tone.
"Once the security door activates, those people will be completely trapped inside the house. We can shoot through the holes drilled in the outer wall from outside, but you, Senior……"
"Will end up locked in with them. In this house."
"Will you be alright?"
The brothers, worried about . I shrugged and answered.
"? Or them?"
"……"
"I should apologize in advance."
"Pardon?"
"This house is going to be soaked in blood."
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