Abolition of the Wicked - Chapter 200

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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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#Episode 200

Geom U-bin returned to the inn as dusk settled, and Yeon Geum-hong and Jang Man-dok joined him shortly after.
“There doesn’t seem to be a Third Agent in the Ya-wang Sect.”
A furrow deepened between Geom U-bin’s brows.
“Then our only hope now is Hak Jin-pung.”
“Do you think he’ll know anything about the Third Agent?”
“He’s well-versed in Sae-oe’s affairs, so he’ll know more than we do at least. Fortunately, I’ve managed to join the pursuit party, so let’s place our hopes there.”
“But how will we even know where Hak Jin-pung is in this vast grassland, let alone pursue him?”
“They’ll have intelligence, so they’ll pursue him. You two should shadow the pursuit party from a distance.”
“That sounds as frustrating as an eagle chasing a dung beetle.”
“Which is why we need to prepare for several days of camping.”
They parted ways that night, and at dawn the next day, Geom U-bin headed for Sang Geon-ho.
He’d expected the numbers to be small, but a considerable force had joined from the Ya-wang Sect’s main stronghold, bringing the total to nearly three hundred.
They were divided into ten squads in total, and Geom U-bin ended up in the tenth.
From the look of it, they were ranked by martial prowess, and Geom U-bin was treated almost like a pack mule.
“Move faster! Hurry up or the sun will set while we’re still preparing!”
The one shouting to rally the pursuit party was the middle-aged man he’d met at the restaurant yesterday.
“Huh? So you’re that fellow from yesterday. You managed to get a Pursuit Permit, did you?”
“Hak Jin-pung will fall into my hands.”
The middle-aged man let out a hollow laugh and tapped Geom U-bin’s cheek twice.
“You just mind the supplies. Lose them and you’ll taste the rod.”
The horse assigned to Geom U-bin was loaded down with blankets and dried rations.
The Mongol horse was only slightly larger than a donkey, but its stamina and agility made it perfect for the grasslands.
“Is everyone ready?”
It turned out the middle-aged man was Gu Baek-gong, the squad leader of the tenth squad to which Geom U-bin belonged.
Hearing a resounding affirmative, Gu Baek-gong reported to Yang Pan-mun, the pursuit party’s commander, that preparations were complete.
With that, they set off toward the north before the sun had even fully risen.
True to their roots as people who lived on horseback since infancy, the Sae-oe riders were masterful in the saddle.
Had Geom U-bin not lightened his body to reduce the load on his mount, he would have struggled to keep pace.
As Geom U-bin rode, he was startled to see someone approaching from the side.
“What? How did you get here?”
It was Na So-myeong, the man who had sold him the Pursuit Permit.
“I bought another Pursuit Permit from someone else for a silver coin, just like you did.”
“Why?”
“Call it a man’s instinct when ambition stirs in his heart.”
Geom U-bin let out a soft chuckle.
The pursuit party rode hard for nearly the entire day. The only rest came after each double hour of riding—a quarter hour to catch their breath.
Even that wasn’t for the riders’ sake, but for the horses’.
Within that quarter hour, they attended to nature and ate dried rations while in the saddle.
They stopped at other times only when a falcon alighted on Pursuit Commander Yang Pan-mun’s forearm.
When that happened, they changed direction about half the time.
“It looks like Hak Jin-pung keeps changing direction.”
Na So-myeong answered Geom U-bin’s remark with an indifferent tone.
“Does he? I hadn’t noticed.”
“That falcon must be someone’s way of relaying Hak Jin-pung’s position, and the constant changes in direction mean Hak Jin-pung also knows where the pursuit party is. Hmm. So both sides have spies among the other?”
“Why do you care so much about all that? Just think about how you’ll get a piece of credit when we catch Hak Jin-pung.”
Na So-myeong’s words came sharp, and then he spurred his horse ahead.
As evening began to fall, even the hardy Mongol horses were exhausted beyond measure.
“We make camp here for the night!”
The pursuit party, worn from a day in the saddle, quickly began setting up camp.
Geom U-bin was spreading out his sleeping bag when someone tapped the back of his head as they passed.
It was Gu Baek-gong, the squad leader of the tenth squad.
“Why did you hit me?”
“No reason. Your pale face just bothers me.”
As Na So-myeong unrolled his sleeping bag beside Geom U-bin, he thought to himself, ‘Poor bastard—getting roughed up just for his face.’
It was a mercy that Jang Man-dok and Yeon Geum-hong hadn’t witnessed that spectacle.
Had they seen it, Gu Baek-gong would have vanished without a trace.
The pursuit continued into the following day.
With Lightness Technique deployed, the distance would have been covered in three or four double hours, but the horses moved with maddening sluggishness.
That day too, they rode all morning, constantly shifting their course, before making camp as dusk fell.
“Brother, there’s a low mountain to the west—let’s get a better view from there.”
At Yeon Geum-hong’s Telepathic Communication, Geom U-bin slipped from his sleeping bag and bolted westward. Within a quarter hour, he sensed the tail.
“Brother, someone’s followed us. Looks about your age.”
Of all the pursuers, only Na So-myeong matched Geom U-bin’s years.
“I’ll handle the tail myself. What did you want to show me?”
“I missed you.”
“There’s something urgent I needed to discuss, but I should deal with our shadow first.”
“I hope we don’t have to keep doing these tedious games.”
“Agreed.”
“When you catch whoever’s following us, be careful. His Stealth Technique is formidable—you know the saying, don’t you? Even a tiger gives its all to catch a rabbit.”
“Understood.”
With that assurance, Geom U-bin stopped and turned back the way he’d come.
Na So-myeong’s presence had grown faint because he’d deployed the Ear-Closing Concealment Technique. But his mastery of it wasn’t quite refined enough to fool Geom U-bin’s senses.
As Geom U-bin ran, he suddenly dropped his waist and thrust his hand into the earth.
His fingers easily tunneled through the soil, and when he withdrew them, Na So-myeong dangled from his grip.
“Ugh!”
Hurled several spans through the air by Geom U-bin, Na So-myeong hit the ground rolling, then scrambled to his feet.
“Don’t even think of running.”
Na So-myeong drew the blade sheathed at his back.
“So you really did join the pursuit party with another agenda!”
“Same could be said of you.”
“What do you want?”
“Let’s make this simple—I ask the questions, you provide the answers.”
Geom U-bin drove his foot into the earth and closed the distance between them in a blur.
Caught off guard, Na So-myeong tried to swing his blade, but before his arm had fully extended, his body went rigid.
“How—how are you so fast?”
For Na So-myeong, Geom U-bin must have seemed like a true master of a caliber he’d never encountered before.
“We’re far from anywhere—no one will hear you scream. This is the perfect place for interrogation.”
Fear flickered across Na So-myeong’s face.
“The disciples of Hyecheong Sect never yield to violence!”
“You really are a disciple of Hyecheong Sect?”
“Of course! I’ve been one since I was seven, and I’ll remain one until the day I die!”
Though Na So-myeong spoke as if resigned to death, his resolve felt unripe, half-formed.
“As far as I know, Hyecheong Sect and Hak Jin-pung are quite close. So why did you join a pursuit party sent after him?”
Na So-myeong clamped his mouth shut, his silence a declaration of refusal.
“You’re the one feeding him information about the pursuit party’s position, aren’t you?”
A tell flashed across Na So-myeong’s face—the unmistakable expression of a man caught in his own contradiction.
“Thought so. You’ve been his informant all along.”
“And what’s your purpose? I sensed something was off from the start—are you in league with Ya-wang Sect?”
Geom U-bin released the Pressure Point binding Na So-myeong’s meridians.
Bewildered, Na So-myeong found a silver coin placed before his eyes—the one Jeon Mi-ryeo had given.
“What? A Hyecheong Token? How do you have the Sect Leader’s credential token?”
“That’s a Sect Leader’s token? I didn’t know that.”
“Where did you get it?”
“From Jeon Mi-ryeo.”
“The legendary Sect Leader rumored to be in Zhongyuan?”
“Yes. She’s with me now. I can’t tell you where, so don’t ask.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?”
“Believe it or not—that’s your choice. But wouldn’t the Sect Leader’s token itself be proof enough? More than that, right now I seem to be the only one who can save Hak Jin-pung.”
Na So-myeong, wrestling with his doubt, finally spoke.
“Why are you looking for Hak Jin-pung?”
“The one I’m truly after is someone called the Sam Gongja. Jeon Mi-ryeo said finding Hak Jin-pung would help.”
“You really mean to help our Sect Leader?”
“Sect Leader?”
“You truly know nothing about Hak Jin-pung, do you? He’s the Sect Leader of Pae-do Gumun, one of the Saeoe Five Kings.”
“I told you. I’m looking for the Third Agent, not Hak Jin-pung.”
“Well, that’s fair enough. All right. I’ll try to get word to the Sect Leader. Whether he meets you or not will be his decision. Hand over the Hyecheong Token.”
Na So-myeong took the token and reached into the pouch hanging from his waist, drawing out a dead mouse.
It was so desiccated there was no risk of rot.
Na So-myeong tucked the token inside the mouse’s belly, painted it red, and sprinkled it with pungent spices.
“The red color will make trained hawks carry it. The spices keep other animals from touching it. Let’s get back to the pursuit party.”
Na So-myeong tossed the mouse carrying the letter not far from the camp.
“Tomorrow night I’ll slip away from the pursuit party and go meet the Sect Leader.”
“But doesn’t the Sect Leader have spies too? Isn’t that risky?”
“I’ve told him about that. The Sect Leader will handle it.”
“You trust the Sect Leader quite a bit, don’t you?”
Na So-myeong let out a thin sigh.
“If he just weren’t so lazy by nature, the Ya-wang Sect would never have left Sae-oe in such a mess. Here’s a man of rare talent in this age, yet the one thing he lacks is diligence. Isn’t that ridiculous?”
Hak Jin-pung was a walking testament to the truth that no amount of talent matters without the effort to match it.
The two of them slipped through the sleeping pursuit party and lay down to rest themselves.
The next day brought nothing but relentless pursuit.
If they’d moved in a straight line instead of constantly changing direction, they might have already escaped Mongolia.
Four days in the saddle was exhausting labor that drained even the heartiest of men.
Most of the pursuit party collapsed into sleep the moment they entered their sleeping bags. Na So-myeong, who’d slipped away to find Geom U-bin, suppressed a long yawn.
“Let’s go.”
“Where are we supposed to meet?”
“If we head north from here about half a double hour, there’s a small village with a river running through it. We’ll meet at an inn there. Though I can’t say for certain the Sect Leader will actually come.”
It was a one-sided message—more hope than certainty.
When they’d covered about a quarter hour using their Lightness Technique, Geom U-bin stopped short.
“I think we’ve been spotted.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re being followed.”
Na So-myeong soon heard the faint sound of hoofbeats himself. From what he could tell, there were more than thirty horses.
“Damn! We can’t lead them to the Sect Leader!”
Na So-myeong drew his sword as he spoke.
“I’ll hold them off here. You go to the Sect Leader!”
“You’re going to hold them alone?”
“If one of us has to be sacrificed, it should be me. Just promise me one thing.”
Geom U-bin didn’t really need to ask, but she did.
“What?”
“Tell the First Mistress that I, Na So-myeong, kept my promise to her. When I entered the Hyecheong Sect at seven years old, I swore to her that I would train in Martial Arts for more than one double hour every day. Until this pursuit party business started, I never missed a single day. And one more thing! That promise I made when I was ten—that I’d marry the First Mistress. That was absolutely not a joke.”
Na So-myeong’s grinning face showed both awkwardness and resolve at once.
Geom U-bin grabbed his ear and pulled.
“Ow, ow! What are you doing!”
“Stop talking nonsense and run. The pursuit party will be gone soon.”
Na So-myeong followed Geom U-bin as she deployed her Lightness Technique, asking, “What do you mean they’ll be gone?”
“What are you talking about? The pursuit party disappearing?”
“There are people looking after us from behind. They’ll take care of it.”
The moment Geom U-bin finished speaking, a scream echoed from the distance. As Na So-myeong started to slow, Geom U-bin spoke.
“There’s no need to stop and look at the corpses.”
“You’re right.”
Shortly after, Yeon Geum-hong and Jang Man-dok caught up.
“You’ve done well.”
“Well? They were too weak—I didn’t even get a proper feel for the combat. And I caved in the skull of the one who hit you from behind.”
It turned out they’d been watching the whole time, even when Na So-myeong thought they hadn’t noticed.
The fact that the Bloodwind Saja had shown such restraint until now meant their patience had grown considerably.
“Little one.”
At Yeon Geum-hong’s call, Na So-myeong jumped and answered.
“Yes?”
“How stupid are you?”
“I—I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You’ve trained in Martial Arts for more than one double hour every day since you were seven, and this is what you’ve achieved?”
“That’s not—argh!”
Na So-myeong’s protest turned into a scream when Yeon Geum-hong tucked him under her arm and deployed her Lightness Technique.
In doing so, a half-double-hour’s distance vanished in just a quarter hour.
And then a village came into view—one where Hak Jin-pung might possibly be.

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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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