Emperor Namgung Mu of the Thousand Years - Chapter 92

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#092

Lower Village of Mount Cheonju, entrance of the bustling area.

The street where dusk was beginning to fall was bustling with people who had finished their day’s work and were looking to unwind.

“Fresh skewers for sale!”

“The weather’s getting chilly, have some noodles before you go!”

Steam was rising in puffs from the street stalls, and in one corner of the alley, a blind musician was plucking a two-stringed instrument, an erhu.

Amidst the lively noise, I waited with my back against the wall.

From the entrance of an alley shrouded in deep shadows, a familiar figure emerged silently.

“My lord.”

It was Guk, a member of the Namgung Family’s elite guard unit, Baekjao.

Heavy bundles were carried in both his hands, but there was no sense of weight in his footsteps at all.

I quickly scanned the surroundings and nodded quietly.

“Sorry for asking such an urgent favor as soon as we meet after so long.”

“Not at all. This much is no problem.”

“Has anything happened in the meantime?”

“Nothing on my end, but…”

Guk examined my face carefully. A strange emotion flickered in his eyes.

“You’ve changed quite a lot in the meantime, my lord.”

“Is that so?”

“Your bearing has completely changed. The aura you emanate is incomparable to before.”

I smiled faintly.

“Guk really has excellent perception.”

No matter how elite Baekjao might be, Guk’s foundation was that of a martial artist.

For a martial artist to maintain such excellent perception in daily life, separate from their martial arts level, was not easy.

Training aside, this must be Guk’s particular characteristic.

I gestured to one side.

“It’s awkward to talk while standing, so let’s finish our business at an inn.”

“I was thinking the same thing. There’s a place nearby that I always go to. Let’s go.”

We made our way to a large inn in the center of the bustling area.

As we entered, a boisterous heat rushed toward us.

Escorts gathered in small groups clinking their cups, servers shouting about their day’s earnings, and the glances of information brokers secretly trading intelligence in corners.

The inn, called a microcosm of the martial arts world, was truly alive and breathing.

“Welcome! Ah, two guests?”

“Our usual spot, please.”

At Guk’s words, the server narrowed his eyes.

“Ah…! It’s been a while since you’ve come. Understood. I’ll escort you to the second floor!”

We took seats by the railing on the second floor.

Through the window, the setting sun was turning red.

Guk unwrapped and placed the medicine bundles on the table.

“As you instructed, I visited four different medicine shops to make purchases. I moved with time intervals so the routes wouldn’t overlap.”

Then he placed a black bundle beside them.

“And this is the Blood Thirst herb. For this one especially, I took particular care to bury it among the other herbs, securing small quantities from each herb shop.”

“What about the additional actions I instructed during that process?”

“Those were also perfect.”

Guk reported without hesitation as I quickly checked the herbs he handed me.

“Each time I made a purchase, as you instructed, I mixed completely incompatible items like licorice with dried centipedes and deer antler. Furthermore, when the shop owners asked ‘What are you buying these together for?’, I rotated through one of the five different excuses for each herb. Based on the ledgers or future testimony from the herb merchants, it would be impossible to deduce any intent.”

“Well done.”

I nodded with satisfaction.

Then I extended my hand and quietly gestured for Guk to stop talking.

I also gestured toward the medicine bundles.

“Under…stood.”

Guk’s eyes widened slightly, then he quickly gathered everything into one bundle and lowered it under the table.

Exactly three breaths,

After three moments passed, a server came waddling up the stairs carrying a large tray.

“Food’s here!”

I calmly pointed to the empty table.

“Please set it here.”

“Yes! Don’t worry. Nice view here, isn’t it?”

“Thanks to you. We were so busy looking at the scenery outside that waiting for the food wasn’t boring at all.”

“Hehe, right? The view here is really beautiful around this time.”

I looked out the window.

The red lanterns hanging in the street were beginning to light up one by one.

Flowers were starting to bloom on the trees along with the leaves, and below them, lovers and families were walking around in small groups.

Feeling the spring breeze seep through the window gap and brush past my cheek, I said,

“…It really is.”

Guk poured tea into a cup and offered it to me.

“However, my lord. If I may be so bold, there’s something I’d like to ask.”

“What is it.”

“Why did you go to such trouble to act so complicatedly? Given my background, I would have noticed if there was any surveillance, and I would have acted appropriately for the situation. But to spend additional time making the overall route so intricately complicated.”

“Did it seem like a waste of time?”

“No. I thought you would naturally have considered what I know as well. I was just curious. Also, you briefly mentioned earlier that while I was at the medicine shops, you stopped by a gambling hall and even deliberately caused a disturbance.”

Guk looked at me intently.

“If word were to spread, it could tarnish your reputation, my lord.”

“The reason is simple.”

I opened my mouth while fidgeting with the teacup.

“I think that within three months at the earliest, or within half a year at the latest, someone will reconstruct all our actions today, even down to what food we were eating right now.”

“By reconstruct, you mean…”

“Yes. Whoever it may be, when something happens soon and I become prominent, there will be almost no information about me. That wouldn’t make sense. So the first thing they’ll do is reconstruct that person’s past actions. Due to practical constraints, within half a year is the most transparently verifiable period, and beyond that becomes difficult. And whoever the opponent is, they’ll pay particular attention to investigating today.”

I looked down at the bustling people on the lower floor.

“Today is the first day I’ve taken independent action since coming down from Mount Cheonju. When I was with Hwirong and Yeomjak, there were constraints on investigating, so it would have been ambiguous, but moving alone is different. In any case, I’m currently the weakest group among those competing for the Young Master position.”

Guk’s eyes narrowed.

“You deliberately planted flaws in all your routes and actions, thinking someone might be watching.”

“That’s right.”

There was a wine bottle beside me.

“Guk, do you like alcohol?”

“I drink occasionally.”

“Empty half the bottle so there are traces of drinking. It would be strange to order it and not touch it at all.”

“…I’m not sure whether I should be happy about this or not.”

With an expression wondering if this was okay, Guk kept glancing at me while pouring alcohol into his cup.

“But I still don’t understand. If you had simply looked around the market and eaten at an inn, that wouldn’t have aroused suspicion, would it? Why did you deliberately stop by the gambling hall and cause a commotion?”

“That’s a mistake people commonly make when acting in preparation for reconstruction.”

“A mistake?”

“Imagine you’re someone commissioning an investigation. There are records of the target’s activities, but those activities show they just ate, drank at an inn, talked, and went back?”

Guk’s eyes widened.

“…Unless they’re amateurs, they’d dig deeper. Thinking there must be something more. I’d probably do the same.”

“In other words, if they discover satisfying dirt on their opponent and the reconstruction has some difficulty to it, they’ll usually stop there. Whether it’s assassins or spies, the people who pay and give orders don’t understand the realities of the field, so they think that if they pay money, results will automatically follow like rain and snow naturally falling with the seasons. But that’s not true. In the end, it’s a result harvested by people. You must never forget that. Whether you’re preparing or giving orders.”

“…!”

Guk nodded his head.

“So that’s why it’s a gambling hall. Since Young Master’s visit here cannot be hidden anyway, it’s better to plant an obvious weakness. That weakness being falling into gambling, losing money, and even causing trouble… This would be a convincing weakness for anyone.”

Guk was impressed.

“So this is the ‘not flying, not crying’ strategy, like when King of Chu spent three years indulging in alcohol and women while sharpening his blade.”

I smiled slightly.

“Speaking of that, as history proves, the best deception to make opponents let their guard down would be visiting pleasure quarters and mingling with courtesans, but I rejected that idea.”

“Why did you do so?”

Guk tilted his head.

“Wouldn’t that be the most certain bait? Like Young Master secretly keeping a concubine, or struggling while infatuated with a courtesan.”

“What crime would the other party have committed?”

“…Pardon?”

I spoke calmly.

“No matter how much money changes hands. Making someone pretend to be friendly with an ugly bastard like me. What crime would the other party have committed?”

Guk’s hand stopped.

And I spoke first.

“Haha, just kidding. Why are you making such a stiff face? The measures to cause confusion seem sufficient already, and I just didn’t find enough reason to execute that additional plan.”

“…”

“Let’s eat. It’ll get cold.”

Guk asked no more questions.

However, I didn’t bother to confirm what emotion was reflected in his eyes.

After staring at me silently for a long while, he slowly bowed his head.

“…I understand.”

“That’s it. Any questions? Since our business is done anyway, we’ll finish today’s tasks once we eat this and return to Mount Cheonju.”

Guk hesitated before carefully opening his mouth.

“Do you always live thinking and preparing for such things, my lord?”

“I can’t say completely, but I try to. Why?”

“…It’s impressive and also.”

Guk’s lips twitched.

And with a short sigh, he faintly shook his head.

“No. It was a presumptuous thought.”

“Huh? How bland. Hurry up and eat. What are you doing? I received a lot of support from the Monthly Political Assembly this time. You worked hard too, so I’ll pay. Eat a lot. Order more if it’s not enough.”

“Then I’ll eat a surprising amount. And I’ve prepared your usual plum syrup separately, so please let me know if you need-“

“My words don’t even sound like words, you damn server bastard!! Don’t block the way!”

A sharp sound.

The clattering sound of plates being smashed.

-Thump, thump, thump.

The sound of roughly climbing stairs echoed. The commotion in the first floor inn quieted as if cut by a knife, audible even from the second floor.

When I turned my head, a group dressed in luxuriously embroidered silk clothes was entering majestically.

At the front was a young woman.

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