Chapter 44
The Truth (4)
『 Translator – Divinity 』
“S-So… it seems that he died from his own weapon piercing his heart after he was pushed back. And judging from the various marks, it seems he was overwhelmed without even putting up much of a fight…”
“The Heavenly Radiance Squad Leader… was overwhelmed?”
Chil-ji couldn’t help but ask back in surprise.
Encouraged by her reaction, Tak Cheol-u berated the autopsy specialist again.
“The Leader is one of the top experts in Paecheon Fortress! You’re saying that he was overwhelmed? That’s nonsense!”
“I-I’m just telling you what I saw…!”
The autopsy specialist trembled under Cheol-u’s intimidating aura, which seemed ready to strike him down at any moment.
He was clearly terrified of Cheol-u.
He didn’t seem to be trying to deceive or mock Cheol-u.
“Deputy Leader, that’s enough.”
Chil-ji stopped Cheol-u and dismissed the autopsy specialist.
Cheol-u glared at the autopsy specialist, who hurriedly bowed and left as if fleeing, then turned to Chil-ji and questioned her.
“Why did you let him go like that! We need to have him re-examine the body…!”
“Deputy Leader, calm down. Why would the autopsy specialist lie? Denying the truth and being stubborn won’t help this situation.”
“…Kugh.”
Cheol-u, who couldn’t deny her words, grimaced.
“Then what? Do you expect me to believe that the Leader was unilaterally defeated and killed?”
“If that’s what the autopsy specialist concluded, then we have to accept it.”
“This…!”
Cheol-u, unable to contain his anger, raised his fist.
Chil-ji stared at him with a cold gaze.
A gaze that dared him to try something.
“……”
Cheol-u, who had been glaring back at her with a menacing look, momentarily twitched his face, then slowly lowered his fist.
“Huu…”
Cheol-u took a deep breath to calm himself.
Seeing this, Chil-ji also let out a short sigh and then asked one of the Heavenly Radiance Squad members standing next to her.
It was the one who had come to her room and personally informed her of the Leader’s death.
“Did you find anything about the culprit?”
“Well, we did catch the thugs working under that Jo Un-chil guy, but…”
“Jo Un-chil?”
She spoke as if she had never heard the name before.
The squad member was momentarily flustered and then explained about Jo Un-chil.
“The owner of the largest gambling house in Hefei. The Leader died at his gambling house.”
“I see. And?”
“What do you mean ‘and’? Lead the way. Where are those bastards?”
Cheol-u interrupted.
Fortunately, he seemed to have calmed down, as his voice was much more composed compared to earlier.
Following the squad member’s guidance, Cheol-u and Chil-ji arrived at the prison within the government office.
They looked up at the two with fear in their eyes, trapped in the cell.
Bang!
“Eek!?”
They almost fainted as Cheol-u smashed the cell door with his fist.
In the end, Chil-ji stepped forward, pushing Cheol-u back.
“We want to hear the details. If you tell us the truth, we promise not to harm you.”
Perhaps the contrast between the beast stepping back and the beauty stepping forward had an effect.
Jo Un-chil’s subordinates visibly calmed down and began to tell their story hesitantly.
The story continued for about half an hour.
After hearing everything, Cheol-u couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
“A masked man? A gentleman on the beam? An assassin? What nonsense is this!?”
“I-It’s true! A young man with a mask appeared, spouting nonsense about being a gentleman on the beam and an assassin, and in the blink of an eye…”
“Don’t give me that bullshit…!”
Just as Cheol-u was about to step forward in anger again, Chil-ji stopped him once more.
She pushed him back and approached the thug who was desperately explaining.
“Gasp…!”
The thug blushed despite the fear for his life as the most beautiful woman he had ever seen came right up to him.
A voice as beautiful as her face reached his ears.
“Those words just now. Can you swear they’re true?”
A red glint flickered in her eyes as she looked at the thug.
Feeling strangely dazed, the thug nodded.
“Yes, I can swear… It’s true…”
“…I see. Deputy Leader, you’ve heard it all, so let’s go.”
“What? Hey, do you believe what he’s saying?”
Chil-ji left the prison without hesitation, as if she had gotten the answer she wanted.
Cheol-u glared at the thug, grumbled something, and then followed her.
***
“Hey, are you really believing those guys? Really?”
Outside the prison.
Cheol-u grabbed Chil-ji, who seemed to be lost in thought, and questioned her.
Chil-ji, looking at him with an annoyed expression, sighed and nodded.
“At least they believe they’re telling the truth. That much is certain.”
“So you’re saying the Leader was really defeated by some young guy?”
“That’s uncertain. It’s impossible to gauge someone’s age just from their voice.”
According to the thug, the culprit was wearing a mask.
It was foolish to assume the opponent’s age just because their voice sounded young, without even seeing their face.
Besides, that wasn’t what was important right now.
“I’m more concerned about something else.”
“Something else?”
“That the Heavenly Radiance Squad Leader suspected the culprit was from the Namgung family before he died.”
Cheol-u frowned at Chil-ji’s words.
“Isn’t that a bit off? The Namgung family lost most of their titled experts due to our schemes over the past year. And the remaining ones were all deployed on escort missions with the family’s young warriors.”
The Namgung family had lost many experts and suffered failures in their escort missions due to Paecheon Fortress’s schemes.
Normally, they would close down the escort agency and stop the missions, but the Namgung family couldn’t do that.
Since the Namgung Escort Agency practically monopolized half of Hefei’s distribution, the continued escort failures had an immediate negative impact on the city’s logistics.
In the end, all the Namgung family could do was to deploy even more warriors to protect the escort missions, gritting their teeth.
Just as Paecheon Fortress had intended.
“Do you think they have an expert capable of killing the Leader left in that situation? Even if they did, why would they deploy them now? And how did they even know the Leader went to the gambling house?”
“The problem is the motive. Is there any other faction in Hefei besides the Namgung family who would dare try to kill the leader of a Paecheon Fortress squad?”
“That’s… true.”
Cheol-u couldn’t refute Chil-ji’s sharp point.
But Chil-ji wasn’t finished yet.
“Moreover, according to the autopsy specialist, the Heavenly Radiance Squad Leader was overwhelmed and defeated in a contest of strength. Since the masked man wasn’t particularly large, it seems likely that the opponent possessed more internal energy than the Squad Leader.”
The reality was a bit different, but she had no choice but to reach that conclusion since she didn’t know about the concept of heavy swordsmanship.
It was the same for Cheol-u.
“If the Leader, whose internal energy exceeded sixty years’ worth, was overwhelmed, just how much internal energy did the opponent have?”
Cheol-u, muttering in frustration, suddenly seemed to remember something and cautiously asked Chil-ji,
“…Don’t tell me the Sword Saint is still alive or something?”
“……”
Chil-ji looked at Cheol-u with a dumbfounded expression.
Feeling offended by her gaze, he raised his voice.
“That doesn’t make sense! The sword pierced the Leader’s shoulder and reached his heart! To penetrate the Leader’s defensive technique means the opponent struck with tremendous internal energy…”
“Everyone in Paecheon Fortress knows that the Heavenly Radiance Squad Leader neglected his defensive training to focus on swordsmanship. And wasn’t it the same for the five squad members who went with him?”
Cheol-u’s mouth snapped shut again.
He knew better than anyone that Sa Gong-chan had stopped practicing his defensive techniques, which were considered the basics of the basics, to focus solely on swordsmanship.
And the five squad members who had accompanied Sa Gong-chan to the gambling house were personally trained by him.
Those five, who could be considered Sa Gong-chan’s disciples, also tended to neglect their defensive training, following his example.
Cheol-u’s claim that the one who killed Sa Gong-chan must have been the Sword Saint, or someone with comparable internal energy, naturally lost its credibility.
“Then what? Is there no way to find out who the culprit is?”
“……”
Chil-ji remained silent as Cheol-u spoke, scratching his head in frustration.
As he said, there was currently no way to find out who the culprit was.
They needed more information.
‘I need to visit the scene myself.’
There might still be clues left at the gambling house.
If she moved quickly, she might be able to find something.
As Chil-ji was thinking that, she noticed one of the Heavenly Radiance Squad members running towards them.
“D-Deputy Leader!”
“…What now?”
Cheol-u frowned at the urgency in his subordinate’s expression.
And as soon as he heard the report, his frown deepened into a scowl.
“What, you bastard!?”
***
The next morning.
I spent the night at the Changcheon Teahouse and returned to the Namgung family estate early in the morning.
I was greeted by Hwa-ryeon, her expression strangely cold.
Uh, why is she angry?
“…You’re finally back.”
“Oh? Uh… things got a bit complicated…”
As I hurriedly made excuses, I noticed the dark circles under Hwa-ryeon’s eyes.
And she seems strangely tired…
“…Did you wait for me all night without sleeping?”
“……”
She didn’t answer my question and just turned her head away.
So she really did wait for me all night without sleeping?
“…Sorry. I didn’t think you’d actually wait for me without sleeping.”
“Sigh, it’s fine. As long as you’re back safe and sound.”
I apologized immediately, and she turned away with a small sigh and went inside.
…Is she not angry anymore? It doesn’t seem like it.
I cautiously entered the room, and the others were already gathered there, waiting for me.