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Chapter 46
“Do you know him?”
I answered slowly, shaking my head.
Taewoong asked, and I turned my face slowly.
“He’s someone I know well.”
“Oh? Well then.” — It was unexpected. And a face I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Gu Jeong-hyeok.
When I went down to Busan to switch out the Pungyang Cho Clan’s test subject, he was the executive from the trading company who watched me every second. We parted ways, vowing never to see each other again, and now, of all places, he’d wriggled his way into Hanseong.
“Did the Pungyang Cho Clan catch a whiff of this?”
“If they had, a tactical-grade combat module would’ve flattened this whole place, or Lord Cho Gang-woon would’ve personally come to tear my limbs apart. This one’s acting on his own.”
I had a fair idea why he was like this. The moment he delivered the cargo, the laboratory went to hell, the clan must have driven him mercilessly.
He’d even been ambushed by the Japanese while receiving the goods; there were plenty of places for suspicion to land. But he wouldn’t dare blurt that out. After all, I was the one who covered up that ambush.
“To clear his name, he’d have to expose the very fraud he himself committed…”
“Not bad, huh? Delightfully twisted.”
So what he had left was to hand over the real culprit from the archives, me, to the clan. He planned to frame this whole affair as a staged plot by the Andong Kim clan, remove the pin treason on the Pungyang Cho Clan, and so strip them of the rebellion charge.
“What about Gu Jeong-hyeok and his bodyguards? Who are those people around them?”
“From the way they’re dressed… looks like the Cheongwoo Association.”
As I muttered while watching the sword factions in the footage, Min Jeong-hwan, who rose to his feet, spoke.
“They’re the ones who take the nobles’ dirty money and clean up after them. It used to be Dok Go-seong’s racket, but when he died, they took the empty seat.”
“So the fox rules the tiger’s territory now?”
“Exactly.”
Already they were reaping the benefits of recruiting those sword factions. From a quick glance, the organization’s name and some basic info spilled out. The two growling groups had joined forces for one reason: money.
“That could’ve gone very wrong.”
If we’d been grabbed by him now, the incident we’d worked so hard to hide could’ve come spilling out again. Who would’ve guessed the butterfly effect of not cleaning things up in time would appear like this, an obstacle we hadn’t expected.
“I’ll take care of it right away. He can’t have gotten far, if we strike by surprise, I can handle him alone…”
“No.”
I said at once.
“You’re my officially registered bodyguard— if you go in yourself, the Pungyang Cho Clan main house will notice me.”
We intended to hide and grow stronger in the chaos of war, but that plan would be ruined if the clan’s attention shifted to us. If I’d used Moo-yeong to handle it, that would expose the Moo-yeong card I’d hidden from the Pungyang Cho Clan.
Moo-yeong was the secret technique that could assassinate a positional talent, far too valuable to display just to catch small fish. There’s a difference between the knife for mice and the knife for oxen.
And in my hand now was an excellent card to use in Moo-yeong’s place.
“Just after joining the company and already this big a mess— how do I even apologize?”
“Don’t be silly.”
Min Jeong-hwan strode to the door and opened it. This wasn’t a casino building but the hideout Taewoong had prepared.
In the front yard of the hideout, roughly fifty sword-faction men, summoned by Min Jeong-hwan, stood in rows.
“You’re about to test the performance of your murderous squad’s blades.”
As if they had already signed contracts, dozens of sword-faction men turned to face me.
“The target is an executive of the Pungyang Cho Clan who’s currently falling apart! A notorious hanger-on of the Pungyang Cho Clan and a typical corrupt official.”
Members of the Sal Group organization who once killed nobles alongside Min Jeong-hwan. While I looked over their faces, a huge trailer rolled down the back road.
Screech—!
With a heavy mechanical sound, the trailer opened slowly. Inside, new reinforced suits, rifles, and countless weapons were lined up in perfect order.
“I’ll supply whatever equipment you need. With this, how long will it take?”
A brittle laugh rippled through the air.
“Please keep your dinner slot free, young master.”
Min Jeong-hwan, standing in the middle, spoke on behalf of the group.
“We’ll serve you fresh head meat from this just-caught corrupt official.”
* * *
“Lord! Are you really supplying all of this to us?!”
The factory district of lower Hanseong.
Inside an abandoned plant long since shut down, rough men with artificial limbs were raising excited voices.
“Grade-2 artificial bodies? Damn, that’s insane! Hahaha! These things are even stronger than what Min Jeong-hwan has!”
“That bastard strutted around just because he had a powerful backer… now I might get to kill him with my own hands…!”
But the festival mood didn’t last long.
Thud—!
With the sound of a fist slamming down, the rowdy chatter of the sword faction died in an instant.
“Is this all the manpower you can mobilize?”
“Y-yes, sir!”
The one who flinched was Dok Cheong-woo, who used to be the head of this sword faction. Unlike the old days when he commanded his subordinates with weight and swagger, he was now a sheepish man.
It was only natural.
The man seated before him was a member of one of the political power clans, specifically, the second-ranked figure of the Pungyang Cho Clan’s advisory council.
“We’ve gathered every man from the lower-district residential zone. The rest are the ones managing the businesses, but they don’t even know how to handle artificial bodies…”
“The lowest district?”
“T-that’s been emptied too! Truly! Since Your Excellency gave such a massive order, we’ve gathered everyone down here who can wield a blade.”
Hearing this, Gu Jeong-hyeok lifted his head and surveyed the gathered sword faction.
‘Nothing but trash.’
Harsh faces, grinning over their newly issued artificial bodies. They were no comparison to the main house’s bodyguards, who obeyed every command in perfect order.
“Tsk.”
Still, this was the best he could do.
Seventy sets of Grade-4 artificial bodies.
Twenty sets of Grade-3.
Two sets of Grade-2.
And hundreds of blade-wielding cannon fodder…
A pitiful sight.
‘No… it’s enough.’
These men were expendable anyway. Their only purpose was to pin down Kim Chang-woon’s bodyguards until Gu Jeong-hyeok could catch him. After all, he had delivered artificial bodies these men would never have dreamed of seeing in their lifetime. They could at least buy him some time.
With that thought, Gu Jeong-hyeok slowly rose.
Thud—!
His eyes were now at least half a head higher than before.
Every time he saw his machine-made limbs, Gu Jeong-hyeok was seized by an urge to tear his own body apart.
“You really thought you could deceive me and walk away unscathed, Kim Chang-woon.”
These were unregistered artificial bodies with no safety inspection. Yet their output and capabilities rivaled Grade-1.
That man had made Gu Jeong-hyeok kill his own subordinates and conceal the evidence himself. Then he’d switched the cargo and caused the death of Lord Cho Seong-hwan.
The clan had thoroughly investigated and tortured every person involved in handling the cargo at that time. Gu Jeong-hyeok had lost all his positions and become a fugitive from the clan.
If caught, his brain would be dissected and his memories extracted. Even if his innocence was acknowledged, he would become a living corpse.
‘I can’t end like that.’
How many years had it taken to climb this far? How could he accept such an ending?
He had to survive.
And to do that, he had to catch the true culprit behind the incident, Kim Chang-woon.
‘Wait for me.’
That insect who had shattered the clan Gu Jeong-hyeok had served, forcing him to hide every trace of the crime.
He would peel open that man’s brain and reveal the truth of the incident to the entire world, to restore his honor, his family, his position.
“Have you found his location?”
“Ah! Y-you mean that noble, sir?”
At Gu Jeong-hyeok’s question came a quick answer.
“There’s no need to ‘find’ him. Kim Chang-woon is famous among us.”
“Tell me everything.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Dok Cheong-woo, who had been the Cheongwoo Association boss until two days ago, swallowed dryly and continued.
“About two months ago he suddenly showed up and started building a casino in the special management district. Originally there were two sword faction factions here. But once the casino construction began, they fought over who would control it.”
“And?”
“Dok Go-seong, the giant sword faction that dominated this area, disappeared. The rival, Pyeong-un Tavern, washed its hands of the business and left entirely… and now everyone’s working as employees in that casino.”
The information matched exactly what was in the report, nothing new.
When Gu Jeong-hyeok frowned in obvious displeasure, the terrified Dok Cheong-woo racked his brains desperately. A moment later—
“Ah, ah! The orphanage!” someone blurted. At that unfamiliar word, Gu Jeong-hyeok turned his gaze to him.
“What did you say?”
“Ah, yes! There’s… an orphanage behind the casino run by Kim Chang-woon. It used to be supported by the tavern boss, who was the head of Pyeong-un Tavern, but if we seize that place first—!”
Just as Dok Cheong-woo, the leader of the Sword faction, was about to say more—
KUKWAAAANG—!
A side wall of the warehouse they were sitting in blew outward as if carved away, accompanied by a familiar voice.
“What the—! What’s happening?!”
The Cheongwoo Association members scattered in panic, hurriedly drawing weapons. They chambered rifles, activated their artificial bodies. Amid the chaos, the face of Gu Jeong-hyeok warped like a fiend. That trademark casual tone. That voice.
“You bastards…!”
How did they find him? The question flared, but situational awareness came first. He activated the tactical scanner built into his artificial body; dozens of figures lit up before his eyes — men in black suits and overcoats, dozens of Sword faction members with their black caps pulled low.
“I heard about them, Captain. I thought they were corrupt officials, but these are worse than I imagined, real sonsofbitches.”
As the ranks of the Sword faction formed, the faces of several Cheongwoo Association members twisted.
“Sa-, Sal faction?! Why the hell are these lunatics after us—!”
“Grab your weapons! Move!”
They shouted and leveled guns, but the cry didn’t last.
“Dogs that wag their tails for nobles.”
With a short sneer, Min Jeong-hwan— the captain— raised one hand without hesitation.
“Open fire.”
At his words, the Sal Faction members who had been lined up opened fire with their weapons.
BOOOOM—!
A large-caliber gatling cannon, not comparable to regular rifle rounds, shredded the warehouse’s outer wall without leaving a trace.
Reinforced concrete was pulverized like tofu. The Cheongwoo Association’s ordinary members who had been taking cover behind it crumpled in a line, unable to mount any real resistance.
“Ugh, arrrgh?!”
“Heavy weapons?! This is impossible — why the hell do the Sal Faction have such high-end gear?!”
“Covers are useless! Run—!”
Crack—! With a sound like a melon bursting, the head of a fleeing Cheongwoo Associationmember exploded.
“Those who run die.”
Standing where the headless corpse had fallen was Gu Jeong-hyeok, his body entirely covered in artificial parts. At the sight of his fiendish face, the Sword faction members of the Cheongwoo Association went pale.
“Out of ammo.”
The Salbang Faction’s firing had just ended. Thinking they might have a chance in close quarters, the Cheongwoo Association members surged toward Gu Jeong-hyeok one by one.
“The minnows are mostly dealt with, Captain. The rest won’t kill him with that.”
“Yeah. Probably not.”
As if in reply, the Sal Faction members dropped their guns to the ground.
“Draw your swords, boys.”
At Captain Min Jeong-hwan’s order, they bared razor teeth and, as if they’d been waiting for this moment, slowly drew their blades. A pregnant silence fell just before the clash — as if time itself held its breath — and the two groups stared each other down.
“Let’s go kill the nobles.”
At Min Jeong-hwan’s single command, a howl of screams and bloodcurdling cries filled the shabby warehouse. Above, nobles were slaying each other for petty reasons; below, the underlings acting on those nobles’ orders had begun killing one another under their separate commands.
---The End Of The Chapter---
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