Ten Paths of the Master - Chapter 93

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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 93. Why did you become a Hyeonwi?
Choi Eon General’s Residence.
When uninvited guests suddenly fell from the sky, the Gwanggun soldiers guarding the inner quarters rushed out in a flood.
Yi Choong, a byeoljang, immediately drew his Hoengdo and cried out.
“Who are you!”
The man slowly drew his Hoengdo and answered.
“Myeoldo.”
The man calling himself Myeoldo then leaped like a tiger and descended upon the Gwanggun soldiers.
As Myeoldo rushed into their midst, the sound of blades striking one another never rang out once.
Slash—slash—slash!
Only the sound of steel cutting through flesh multiplied endlessly.
Myeoldo, having passed through the Gwanggun ranks, flicked his Hoengdo through the air.
Droplets of blood clinging to the blade fell to the ground with a wet patter.
At the same moment, a dozen Gwanggun soldiers collapsed like severed logs.
The woman watching with impassive eyes stepped forward.
In the next instant, her form was already standing on the veranda.
Just as she reached for the door.
The door suddenly burst open and a blade shot out.
Before the steel could pierce her, the woman’s body flowed backward in retreat.
Three martial officers sprang onto the veranda after her.
As the officers took position before the door to defend it, Nangin guards who had heard the commotion late came pouring out from the Woldong Gate.
Their number reached thirty.
Yet Myeoldo, standing in the courtyard, did not so much as blink.
The Nangin guards spread wide and pressed toward Myeoldo.
The officers who had emerged on the veranda kept watch on the woman while casting glances at the courtyard below.
The fate of the inner quarters would be decided by the outcome of the Nangin guards’ battle.
The Nangin guards then surged forward like a tide toward Myeoldo.
What had befallen the Gwanggun soldiers moments before was repeated.
Myeoldo, plunging into the mass of thirty-odd Nangin guards, moved freely among them as if swimming.
From left to right, then from right to left again.
The faces of the three officers watching from the veranda grew steadily harder.
The man moved like one gathering a harvest.
Where he passed, the guards collapsed as if they were made of paper.
When the man returned to his starting point, no guard remained standing.
The officers, steeling themselves for death, hurled themselves toward the woman.
Or tried to—but they took one step and fell to their knees.
Astonishingly, the three officers died sitting upright.
The woman approached them and slowly withdrew fine needles, thin as steel filaments, from their temples.
Myeoldo, passing by her, entered the room first.
Choi Eon, who by then had drawn his Hoengdo, shouted at the man.
“You! Are you a puppet of Cheonryeon!”
“Choi Eon, you know your crime well!”
“Those who call me a criminal are nothing but rebels like you! I have acted to place the empire on solid ground—”
“No. Everything was done to feed your greed. You’ve done nothing of merit while hoarding all credit, blaming your failures on subordinates and ruining countless families. You sent displeasing generals to the frontier to die, forcing the children left without fathers back to the battlefield, extinguishing their bloodlines. And you played money games against families left with only women, swallowing them whole.”
“You slander me! That is merely the tragedy born of the Chonggwan’s misguided loyalty—it has nothing to do with me!”
“And yet you kept that Chonggwan at your side your whole life, forgiving him for everything he did.”
“Bah! Don’t twist words. If you mean to kill me, then kill me. I do not fear death.”
“Whether you fear death or not matters nothing to me. I will see if you keep that arrogance even after your limbs are severed and only your torso remains.”
“Bah! You’re a traitor who’ll run with tail between your legs the moment Geumowi arrives—spare us your bluster!”
“Is that so?”
With those words, the Dogwang gleamed once.
Choi Eon’s hands, still gripping his Hoengdo, fell to the ground with a dull thud.
The Dogwang flashed again.
This time, both his knees were severed.
Choi Eon flailed in a growing pool of his own blood, thrashing among his severed limbs.
Engulfed in terror and despair, Choi Eon seemed half-conscious.
Myeoldo asked him a question.
“Shall I let you live?”
“P-please, spare me! If you spare my life, I will do anything, anything at all!”
“Yes. Now that is the real Choi Eon.”
Myeoldo, smiling faintly, drove his blade slowly into Choi Eon’s mouth.
“Guh—guh—guhhhh—”
From the veranda, Bulyeom Seonja retrieved her needle and watched Myeoldo speak.
“Your nasty habits never change.”
“It’s entertaining.”
Bulyeom Seonja clicked her tongue—then her eyes flicked sharply toward the courtyard.
Jang Ho Pokwae and Gok Un, who had been peering over the wall with their heads tilted just above the rim, suddenly shoved their faces down out of sight.
Jang Ho Pokwae then whispered to Gok Un.
“Run.”
Jang Ho Pokwae and Gok Un bolted from their positions, each sprinting in a different direction.
It was the move they’d agreed on beforehand if they were spotted.
After running a distance, Jang Ho Pokwae showed his wits—he vaulted over the nearest house’s wall.
Gok Un, meanwhile, his mind gone white, ran blindly forward without so much as a glance back.
He figured that the farther he got, the safer he’d be.
Just before his legs gave out, he collapsed into the shadow of a wall and gasped for breath.
“Hah! Hah! Hah!”
At that moment, a tiny point appeared on Gok Un’s forehead.
He felt a sharp prick and, without thinking, brushed his palm across his brow—then slumped sideways.
Bulyeom Seonja had no chance to retrieve her needle; she was already flying in the opposite direction.
But what was this?
Where she’d expected to find the other official, there was no one to be seen.
“Damn!”
Myeoldo dropped down beside her as she scanned the area.
“What’s the matter?”
“I think I missed one.”
“Ha! Even the great Bulyeom Seonja has grown old, letting her quarry slip away.”
“This isn’t the time for jokes. We may have left a trail.”
“About time one caught us, I’d say. Does it matter? It’ll only be Pokwaes or Pojols anyway.”
“The Hyeollyeong might ask Chendohoe for help.”
“You’re rattled—your mind’s not working. Even if the Hyeollyeong makes such a request, Chendohoe will only feign assistance. Chendohoe and Cheonryeon aren’t enemies. Not yet, anyway.”
At his words, Bulyeom Seonja’s composure returned.
He was right—Chendohoe and Cheonryeon had not yet turned on each other.
Myeoldo continued.
“Besides, Chendohoe’s movements are already in our palm. Losing them would be child’s play. Come on.”
The two figures shot upward into the void, then abruptly changed direction at a height of five zhang and vanished.
It was the lightness technique known as Eogichungso.
***
Dan Yeop and Do Gyeom, the Hyeonwi posted to surveil the house of the Wang family patriarch in Anhung District, heard news of Choi Eon General’s assassination and rushed at once to Yeongmu District.
As the two men entered the General’s residence, Jang Ho Pokwae ran out and bowed his head.
“Forgive us. While we were keeping watch, the culprits discovered us—and Gok Un is dead.”
Do Gyeom’s eyes widened in shock.
“Tell me exactly what happened.”
“After the culprits scaled the wall, we heard screams from inside, so I peeked over the wall to see. I should have withdrawn then, but I was too eager to get a clearer look at their faces, and I ended up locking eyes with the woman. Gok Un and I immediately fled the position and ran in separate directions—so that at least one of us could survive to report. I hid in another house and managed to escape, but when I came out a short while later, I found Gok Un lying dead in the alley as if asleep.”
“Terrible business. But don’t blame yourself—it wasn’t your fault. This was a dangerous mission where any casualty would have been unremarkable. Tell me what you remember of their appearance and the method of killing.”
“They were a man and a woman, both middle-aged. The man used a Hoengdo, and the woman appeared to wield an Amgi.”
“An Amgi?”
“Yes. Our men suddenly collapsed, and it looked as if the woman was extracting something from their heads.”
“Did you see their faces?”
“Yes. The man had a goat beard and a fierce, unyielding expression. The woman’s face was full and kind, like that of the Goddess of Mercy—yet seeing her kill without hesitation was my first glimpse of true horror.”
Dan Yeop listened that far, then went to examine the bodies strewn across the courtyard.
Afterward, he climbed onto the inner veranda and inspected the heads of the fallen officials.
The woman had seemed to extract something from their heads—and on one official’s temple, he found a tiny scab no bigger than a millet seed.
He checked the temples of the other officials, but the killer’s work was so masterful that no other scab could be seen.
Just then Ma Han Pokwae burst from the room, suddenly doubled over, and retched violently.
When his eyes met Dan Yeop’s, Ma Han Pokwae spoke with a sickened expression.
“He’s dismembered the General in the room.”
Dan Yeop, having examined the officials’ causes of death, belatedly entered the room himself.
But he too could not endure it long and quickly withdrew.
Back on the veranda, his stomach churning, he clenched his teeth and held back his revulsion so as not to appear weak before Do Gyeom and the Pokwaes.
Finally, Do Gyeom entered the room.
He emerged after a considerable time, his expression nearly unchanged.
***
Though the night was deep, Dan Yeop did not head to Son Taek but returned to Jang’an County Office with the Pokwae.
He needed to examine Gok Un’s corpse, which had been moved to the Autopsy Room.
Jang’an County Office.
Autopsy Room.
While examining Gok Un’s corpse, Dan Yeop discovered a tiny scab on his forehead—the size of a millet seed, like what he’d seen on the dead official’s temple.
On impulse, he touched the scab with his finger, and it fell away with a soft click.
He then spread Gigam across Gok Un’s forehead and felt an odd, foreign sensation.
Dan Yeop used a small pair of pincers from the autopsy instruments to extract it.
‘What is this? A needle?’
Yet it was far too thin and supple to be called a needle.
Dan Yeop carefully wrapped it in Baekpo cloth.
Just then, Hyeonwi Do Gyeom entered, saying he wanted to see Gok Un’s corpse.
“Did you find something?”
“Yes, sir. It appears to be an Amgi. This was removed from the forehead.”
Dan Yeop handed the Baekpo containing the needle to Do Gyeom.
As Do Gyeom opened the cloth and examined its contents, a low whistle escaped his lips.
“Hmm, there’s only one place in the city capable of crafting something this precise from iron.”
“Which place is that, sir?”
“The Mannyeon Ironsmith in Seonin District.”
“I’ll investigate the Mannyeon Ironsmith as soon as dawn breaks.”
“Yes, and I’ll look into who among the masters of needlework might be capable of this. Go and rest now. You look exhausted.”
“Very well, sir. Please rest yourself as well.”
“I intend to. I’ll sleep here at the Pobang tonight. The other Pokwae and Pojol involved in this task have been told to sleep here too.”
“And you, sir?”
“I’ll manage in a corner of the administrative quarters.”
……
Watching Do Gyeom, Dan Yeop thought that no official should have to work like this.
Day after day spent with corpses, never properly rested.
And he wasn’t even earning much coin for it.
As Dan Yeop turned to leave, a question suddenly escaped him.
“Why did you become an official, sir?”
“That’s simple enough—I wanted to work for the people. What other reason would there be?”
“The dead officials probably began with that same intention, didn’t they?”
“No doubt.”
“Then what was it that transformed them into monsters?”
“Until recently, I thought I understood that. But these days, I’m not so sure. Since I’m curious too, why don’t you think it over, clever one, and tell me what you discover?”
“My goodness, I shouldn’t have asked such a thing. Forgive me—I’ll take my leave now. Please rest well, sir.”
Dan Yeop bowed hastily and left the Autopsy Room.

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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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