Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 121

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#121

Whether it was the excellence of her Lightness Skill, or simply the padding she’d stitched into the soles of her shoes doing its work, Se-hwa made no sound whatsoever.
Seven steps in, just as Se-hwa was about to take a careful breath, Yeon Geum-hong’s sharp Telepathic Transmission cut through her mind.
—Don’t even breathe!
—Master, if I don’t breathe, I’ll die.
—People don’t die so easily. Look at me—I’ve lived nearly a century without issue.
‘But Master is one of the Bloodwind Four Lions!’
Se-hwa barely suppressed the urge to shout back.
Holding her breath carefully, she climbed onto the roof. The tiles were indeed exposed, just as Do Pyeong-su had said.
She’d come to understand the roof structure during the construction of the Oseong Pavilion, and what she could see of the interior didn’t differ much from her memory.
Inside, wooden beams two fingers thick were laid out in a dense lattice, giving her plenty of places to step.
She placed her foot where two beams crossed and tested her weight carefully.
The Bloodwind Four Lions had spared no expense—the finest timber and the most skilled carpenters—so there wasn’t a creak or groan of complaint.
‘Truly an excellent decision.’
Se-hwa pressed herself flat against the ceiling, offering herself this absurd praise.
“Ahem-hem, ah!”
Seo Seok-san’s humming drifted up from below.
At least he had the good grace to keep humming without pause—when a man makes his own noise, the sounds around him tend to fade into the background.
After crawling roughly ten feet, a rectangular gap appeared in the ceiling, just barely large enough for Se-hwa to squeeze through.
Seeing that the opening was tailored to her body, it became clear that the three members of the Bloodwind Four Lions had planned this operation with her in mind from the start.
The harder she tried not to breathe loudly, the more her anxiety seemed to amplify the sound.
‘Stay calm. You can do this.’
Se-hwa’s fingertips trembled faintly as she reached toward the wooden board.
And of all people, she had to steal from Seo Seok-san while avoiding his notice.
Her heart was pounding so violently she thought it might burst through her ribs, yet Seo Seok-san remained in place, shirt and all removed.
‘They wouldn’t actually kill me, would they?’
They’d said they wouldn’t, but the thought crept in that maybe they would. At the very least, she’d endure something close to death.
‘If I backed out now and said I couldn’t do it…?’
The thought stalled.
Seo Seok-san was only one man, but the Bloodwind Four Lions pushing her forward were three.
Moreover, Yeon Geum-hong was her direct master.
No need for mathematical genius to calculate the odds—it was simple arithmetic.
‘There’s no reason I have to get caught, is there?’
With far more reasons to be brave than fearful, Se-hwa carefully shifted the wooden board’s position.
The pace felt frustratingly slow, yet remarkably, she made not a sound—a fact that even impressed herself.
Se-hwa gathered all her courage and peered down into the bathhouse. Seo Seok-san’s bald head came into view.
If not for the thick mist rising from the water, the sight would have been blinding.
Fortunately, she was looking from behind, so the critical areas were mercifully obscured by his body.
Seo Seok-san lay with the back of his head resting against the edge of the tub, his eyes covered with a white cloth.
That elderly humming continued without pause, and strangely, it was pleasant to hear.
Seo Seok-san was a master of his craft—whether playing any instrument or singing any song, his every note rang with brilliance.
If she dropped through the ceiling opening, her feet would land roughly two feet behind him.
As she prepared to lower herself, her heart suddenly began racing like a mouse’s.
‘Stay calm! You can do this!’
Raising her body halfway, Se-hwa extended her left foot. A faint creak echoed—or did it?
The sound she feared most might have been only in her mind, or it might have genuinely come from where the beams overlapped.
Frozen in place, Se-hwa’s eyes fixed on Seo Seok-san’s gleaming head.
Still humming his tune, Seo Seok-san gave no sign of having heard anything.
‘Phew!’
Se-hwa swallowed even her sigh of relief and, drawing upon the courage of a hundred men, leapt down into the bathhouse.
Her feet touched the ground without sound, and not even the whisper of her robes betrayed her.
Having demonstrated the very pinnacle of her Lightness Skill, she crouched low and studied Seo Seok-san.
The few remaining strands of his hair clung pathetically to his bare scalp, darkened and wet.
As she turned slightly, Seo Seok-san’s clothes came into view on the wall.
Se-hwa began moving forward with the deliberate slowness of a slug.
Seo Seok-san’s humming actually reassured her. As long as that sound continued and he didn’t draw near, she was safe.
Se-hwa carefully rifled through the blue garment.
She didn’t need to search long before her fingers caught the substantial weight of something in the upper robe.
She brought her hand toward what was unmistakably a book, careful not to turn her head.
Seo Seok-san’s humming persisted in that same spot, holding the same pitch.
Se-hwa withdrew the book without so much as a whisper of fabric.
Now, if she could just slip out the way she’d entered, it would be the perfect crime. A perfect crime, except….
“Hmm. So it was the book you wanted. I might have guessed.”
Thud!
The book fell from her grip and struck the floor—a sound that felt like her own heart dropping.
Seo Seok-san had been singing in the wooden bathhouse just moments ago. She’d heard the splash of water, and certainly no sound of him approaching.
Yet his voice came from right beside her ear. Se-hwa turned her head slowly, like a broken wooden doll.
Seo Seok-san’s face was inches from hers.
His smile somehow looked more terrifying than any demon or fiend.
“M-Master….”
“So you were trying to steal from your own master’s belongings?”
“N-no, that’s not… it’s not like that….”
“Then what is it?”
She’d tried to deny it, but there was simply no way out of this situation.
“W-well, the theft is finished now. I’ve been caught, so. Hehe!”
Seo Seok-san slowly raised his hand.
Yeon Geum-hong had promised he wouldn’t kill her, but Se-hwa couldn’t trust those words now.
Who was Hyeolpung Saja?
Never mind being called the Greatest Master of Murim—wasn’t he also the Greatest Villain of Murim?
She’d tried to steal something he cherished, and she was his own disciple on top of it.
In other words, it was betrayal by a disciple.
Hyeolpung Saja didn’t seem like the type to let a traitorous disciple live.
Watching his hand approach, Se-hwa squeezed her eyes shut.
His hand might split her skull open.
But time passed—a long stretch of it—and her head remained whole. Only a soft rustling sound reached her ears.
Se-hwa cracked one eye open cautiously.
She’d been so frightened she hadn’t even noticed he was naked, but now he was dressed.
Seo Seok-san extended his hand toward her.
Not understanding what it meant, she asked.
“A-are you t-telling me to… to take my own life…?”
“The book.”
“Oh!”
Se-hwa picked up the fallen book and placed it respectfully in Seo Seok-san’s palm.
Once Seo Seok-san had tucked the book into his robe, he asked.
“Do you have a reason I shouldn’t kill you?”
Se-hwa’s answer came at once.
“I’m just a pitiful wretch, Master. Did I come to steal your book because I wanted to? Because I chose to?”
With her life at stake, words tumbled from her mouth as though her tongue had been oiled.
“So the one who paid for the theft has the guilt, and the assassin bears none?”
“But I didn’t come to kill you, Master!”
“A sin is a sin.”
She couldn’t argue that theft wasn’t a crime.
“In some places, they cut off a thief’s wrist, I’ve heard.”
Se-hwa quickly hid both hands behind her back.
“You can kill me, but you won’t get my hands that way.”
“I’ve no use for them. Those hands can barely play the Gayageum properly.”
What Seo Seok-san dismissed as mediocre was praised as celestial music at the Oseong Pavilion.
“Do you acknowledge that you’ve committed a crime?”
Se-hwa felt genuinely wronged.
The other masters had prepared everything—from the shoes to the entry route—and she’d merely been shoved along.
It was like a shrimp’s back breaking in a whale’s battle, and it had broken thoroughly. Yet she couldn’t muster the nerve to claim innocence.
“Yes. I apologize.”
At her simultaneous admission and apology, Seo Seok-san nodded.
“Then you can accept your punishment gracefully.”
“What sort of punishment… will it be?”
“I’ll need to think about what punishment fits. Judges do take their time rendering verdicts, after all.”
Once Seo Seok-san left the bathhouse, Se-hwa’s legs buckled beneath her and she crumpled to the floor.
For now, nothing had happened.
But what about tomorrow? The day after?
Seo Seok-san would never let this slide.
If he were the sort to forgive so readily, he’d never have earned the epithet Bloodwind Four Lions.
“Sigh. That’s just my fate.”
Until Seo Seok-san delivered his punishment, nothing would taste like food, nothing would feel like laughter.
“The other masters will help me somehow.”
They would have to.
They’d pushed her this far—they wouldn’t abandon her now.
Se-hwa scrambled to her feet and rushed outside.
She needed to find them, to beg them to help smooth over the failed theft.
But the three members of Bloodwind Four Lions were nowhere to be seen.
The three who had shoved her forward vanished as if they’d never been there at all, leaving only empty space.
“Master! Master!”
Of course.
No matter how far away Bloodwind Four Lions had been, they couldn’t have missed that her theft had failed.
The moment they realized it, they’d slipped away without a trace.
She’d been naive to believe that people wouldn’t simply pretend they knew nothing.
Bloodwind Four Lions were perfectly capable of exactly that.
‘You miserable bastards!’
Se-hwa cursed only in her mind.
She’d just escaped Seo Seok-san’s hand—she couldn’t afford to slip now and thrust her own head into the tiger’s mouth.
As she trudged deeper into the Back Garden, she found three figures huddled together, heads bowed close.
“Masters…….”
“Ah? You’re back? You look fine to me.”
Apparently they hadn’t heard the exchange between Seo Seok-san and Se-hwa after the theft was discovered.
That made it clear—the moment they learned she’d been caught, they’d run.
They’d left her alone, helpless as a fledgling fallen from its nest.
She’d wanted to demand, ‘How could you do this to me!’
Even if she couldn’t curse them, surely she could lodge that complaint. But Yeon Geum-hong spoke first.
“What punishment did Seok-san impose? He never lets things go that easily.”
“He said he’d think about it.”
“You’ll need to be careful. Treat Seok-san well.”
“I’m sorry—what do you mean?”
“What? That’s excellent advice.”
“Masters, could you possibly ask Master Seo to forgive me?”
“Ha! We’d ask him to forgive what he means to forgive. You tried to steal something he treasures—why would he forgive you?”
“But you three asked me to do it!”
“That’s right. Now that I think about it, shouldn’t we hold you accountable for the failure?”
Do Pyeong-su nodded.
“That’s fair. We prepared everything perfectly, and you couldn’t even complete such a simple task. You deserve punishment for that.”
“Truly?”
“Ah, I couldn’t be so heartless to a beloved disciple. Just treat Seok-san well.”
“Thank you—no, wait! Masters, you’re being horrible!”
Se-hwa left the spot with tears streaming down her face, while the three exchanged bewildered glances.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She must feel guilty for not completing the mission.”
“Fair enough. But how will Seok-san steal that book?”
Jang Man-dok, who had been mulling this over, leaned forward eagerly toward Do Pyeong-su.
“What? Use a dog instead of a person? How? Oh! That’s not a bad idea, actually. Though there might be some structural damage. Well, that’s a cost we’ll have to bear. Just make sure the main hall doesn’t collapse.”
Yeon Geum-hong, growing impatient, asked a question.
“What exactly is this plan?”
After hearing it from Do Pyeong-su, creases formed across Yeon Geum-hong’s brow.
“Will it work? If we’re not careful, it could damage more than just one wall. And if the main hall goes down, he’ll have a fit.”
“If Seok-san’s plot is to be uncovered, we have to take risks like this.”
“When do we execute it?”
“Tonight.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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