Hyeonjilmusin - Chapter 68



Only Krnovel

68. I always have you (6)

“… … You, what are you?”

Yi-Hwan came down through the ceiling to the floor. The feminine tone of speech disappeared, and only a sharp aura remained in his sharp voice.

“What’s so special about a merchant welcoming guests?”

“You knew I was coming?”

“I’ve heard from my classmates that they handle their work from the beginning. They say that if you make even the slightest mistake, you get angry.”

“Where did you hear such nonsense?”

Lee Hwan’s beautiful lips formed a curve. It was an intense laugh, unlike the gentle smile that Muk Hwi-yeong was wearing.

“But it’s embarrassing and shameful as a classmate to say that it’s not wrong. It’s like my clothes have been taken off.”

“I don’t really want to imagine your naked body.”

“Can’t you tell by my face? I was quite popular in the palace. Even people who would be surprised to hear about me were after me.”

“I have no interest in blue.”

“Well, for a merchant, he does seem like a person who plays around a lot. He’s a bit of a bad guy who ruins the mood at drinking parties.”

“It’s better to work than to play. In that sense, I don’t like playing.”

“You got it exactly right. I’m good at reading faces. Now that I look at it, it looks a little small.”

“Me? My nickname when I was little was ‘Red Hare on the Bed’.”

“Stop talking nonsense. That’s a lie.”

Mok Hwi-yeong flinched at the sight of Hwan’s eyes turning venomous as he sensed the lie. Soon, Mok Hwi-yeong admitted it without hesitation.

“That’s right. That’s a lie. But he’s not smaller than the Admiral, is he? Should I say he can’t be smaller?”

“There’s a storage room called Yukgeunham in the palace. It’s where the eunuchs store the things they cut up. My stuff is still there. If they see it, they’ll be really scared.”

“What would Lu Bu and Akbi do if they were alive? They are dead bodies.”

“Haven’t you ever heard the story that the dead Zhuge Liang chased the living Sima Yi?”

“Doesn’t it still sting when it rains? Eunuchs always castrate themselves on rainy days to drown out their screams. Why are you making such a fuss when you’re cutting them off because you wanted to?”

Yi-Hwan’s expression wavered. It was a slightly bitter expression, and he seemed to feel a phantom pain in his lower abdomen.

After suffering mental pain, the corners of Yi-Hwan’s mouth straightened again. Soon, blue energy exploded from Yi-Hwan’s body. The light in his eyes turned into blue flames and burned fiercely.

“Say whatever you want. You’re going to die soon.”

The blue light in his eyes that had been swaying suddenly became a flat, thin line like a thread. The blue line created by his eyes quickly drew a curve and covered Muk Hwi-yeong’s back. Before he knew it, the dagger he had pulled out from under his sleeve was in Lee Hwan’s hand.

“asleep!”

With an ear-piercing, sharp scream, the dagger was pointed at Mukhwiyeong’s neck.

For a moment, Lee Hwan doubted his eyes. The neck of Muk Hwi-yeong and the dagger in his right hand, which had been getting so close, seemed so far away. That was why Muk Hwi-yeong slowly moved and looked back.

Yi Hwan met Muk Hwi-yeong’s eyes as he looked back. Oddly, Muk Hwi-yeong did not look at the flying dagger, but at Yi Hwan. In Muk Hwi-yeong’s eyes, instead of the blue aura that many sect members would accumulate, there was a purple aura that should be called ghost aura.

Most people would just think it was a strange feeling, but Admiral Lee Hwan, a fellow student, knew what that feeling was.

“Magi!”

Lee Hwan, whose spine was covered with goosebumps, withdrew his dagger and stepped back far away.

“So, you really were a spy of the Demonic Cult?”

“Why? You were sure that you were a spy of the Demonic Cult. That’s why you turned the tables on them, right?”

When Muk Hwi-yeong started to babble, Lee Hwan was speechless. No matter what, Lee Hwan never thought that Muk Hwi-yeong was a demon. Since they were classmates, he had thoroughly investigated Muk Hwi-yeong. Who would think that a disciple of the shamanist faction would be a member of the demonic cult? He just needed an excuse to stop the group.

“But he is not a spy of the Demonic Cult. He just has demonic energy in his body for some reason.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“I also think it makes no sense when I say it. But what can I do when it’s true?”

Mukhwiyoung laughed brightly. He seemed satisfied with Lee Hwan’s surprise.

In fact, Yi-Hwan was almost fainting. The Demonic Cult, which had been destroyed long ago, was still an object of fear for the people.

The thought of overpowering and killing Muk Hwi-yeong had long since disappeared. The last time he pulled out his sword at the Hwiyoungsangdan and held it to Muk Hwi-yeong’s neck, he was convinced that he was inferior to him. According to the information he had confirmed, he was also a disciple of the Shamanist faction who had only recently entered the world.

But if Muk Hwi-yeong was a mine, then it was all a lie. Hwan, who was certain that Muk Hwi-yeong was a mine, or more precisely, a spy of the Demonic Cult, was just watching to see how she would escape.

“When they actually barged in without permission, now they’re thinking of running away again.”

Mukhwiyoung pierced through Lee Hwan right away. Lee Hwan flinched as he was hit in the heart.

“Don’t even think about running away. You’ll die before you leave this building anyway. In that case, I think it would be better to at least rebel once.

Yi Hwan wondered if the Demonic Cult’s strange magic had penetrated his mind, but it was just that Yi Hwan was so agitated that his thoughts were showing on his face.

“You, you. Do you think you’ll get away with killing your classmate?”

“I heard some good information recently.”

Mukhwiyoung’s eyes drew a curve.

“They say that classmates are a place where people who kill people disappear and where the dead people disappear too?”

Before Muk Hwi-yeong could finish speaking, Hwan Lee took out all the weapons and ammunition from his sleeve and shot them.

A large number of iron objects flew between Muk Hwi-yeong and Lee Hwan. There was so much of it that it made one wonder where they had been hiding them. Lee Hwan immediately jumped back, broke the door, and escaped.

‘Okay.’

Yi-hwan thought that he only had to climb over the low wall as he escaped into the yard. Once he climbed over the wall, he would be in a bustling street. It was nighttime, so there would be no people, but it was not enough to make him ooze out magic energy. If Muk-hwi-yeong, a spy of the Demonic Cult, had any thoughts, he would figure out how to hide himself rather than chase after them. He would definitely do that, he thought.

But Muk Hwi-yeong was faster than Lee Hwan thought. Muk Hwi-yeong was right below Lee Hwan, who had jumped high toward the wall.

“I told you not to go out.”

Mukhwiyoung grabbed Hwan Lee by the collar and threw him to the ground.

The back of his head was hit and Yi-hwan’s mind became dizzy. The force and speed were incredible. A sense of helplessness came over him like a tidal wave. This monster was not using any martial arts, but was suppressing him with only its natural strength and speed.

“Ugh, uh-uh.”

Yi Hwan couldn’t even scream properly. Only then did Mukhwiyoung pull out the sword from his waist and thrust it at Yi Hwan’s neck.

Fear swept over Yi-hwan as the cold air touched his neck. His lower body became warm, then cold. It was spring, but the night wind was still cold.

“Please.”

Lee Hwan, looking up at Muk Hwi-yeong, looked like a truly adoring beauty. Lee Hwan, who had a beautiful appearance, lived a life that greatly benefited from this appearance. This was true even when he was a man, and it was the same even after he transformed into a eunuch.

So, Lee Hwan thought that at this time, Muk Hwi-yeong would waver even a little. And that this would be the last chance.

The face of Mukhwiyeong, who had her back to the moon, was not visible to Lee Hwan. As the moon slowly moved and Mukhwiyeong’s face was gradually revealed to Lee Hwan, Lee Hwan held out his last hope.

“hey.”

Yi Hwan flinched. There was not a single bit of warmth in Muk Hwi-yeong’s voice. A coldness that was incomparable to the feeling of dried urine enveloped Yi Hwan.

The face of Muk Hwi-yeong, which was finally revealed, was expressionless. There was no fake smile that he habitually wore as a merchant, nor was there any anger toward the person who had attempted to take his life. He had also put down the formal politeness.

As soon as he saw that face, Lee Hwan lost all hope. Muk Hwi-yeong didn’t react at all to Lee Hwan’s pitiful face.

“The debt has been paid.”

Before Yi-Hwan could even respond, the blade plunged into the white neck. Yi-Hwan’s deer-like pupils shrank in pain and fear.

***

Yi Hwan’s body was buried deep in the ground. Surprisingly, merchants are used to making graveyards. It is an unwritten rule for merchants to bury the bodies of merchants who die on the road. Since they were originally people in a despised profession, you can see the bond between merchants.

With my past life experience of collecting the corpses of countless merchants combined with my current life’s martial arts skills, burying a single person wasn’t difficult. Still, it took an hour just to dig deep enough to bury them.

I dug the ground for an hour, but I didn’t sweat or feel tired. As expected, my honed talents were shining.

I used the remaining silver to change my weapons. I changed my originally 8th-grade solid body into a 7th-grade boneless body, changed my 7th-grade quick movements into a 6th-grade ghostly appearance, and bought a lower-grade 6th-grade martial arts talent. I made up for my shortcomings and changed all my talents into higher-grade ones.

I really thought a lot while holding the 1,500 nyang in my hand, but in the end, my choice was the right one. Considering the speed at which Lee Hwan held the knife to my neck, I thought it would be worth a try if I could just raise my physical talent by one level. My performance was better than I thought, so I had to keep moving my body on my own.

“Phew.”

I looked up because my eyes were dazzled and the sun was rising. The blood and dirt stuck to my hands wouldn’t come off no matter how hard I shook them off.

I killed people, but I didn’t feel any particular emotion. It’s not like I hadn’t killed people in my previous life. I met bandits on my way up and took their lives. The bandits whose lives I lost were killed by a blind sword, so in a way, they were people who had recently fallen from being farmers.

But I didn’t feel guilty. The bandit and I, both of us, did our best to survive. The difference was that I won and survived, while the bandit died and became food for the eagles.

This fight with my admiral classmate was also seen in that way by me. On the single-log bridge between the thousand-foot cliffs, even if I met someone who wasn’t my enemy, I would have to drop him before I could cross. We were just in a relationship where we met by such unfortunate fate.

“May the yang flow again in heaven.”

I mourned in my own way and walked on the dug up ground.

My mouth felt bitter as I faced the old me standing there. After becoming a master of the upper class of Daebang in my previous life, I had more free time, and in this life, I was hanging out with Taoist priests and disciples who were not like disciples, so I couldn’t even remember the other me.

I thought he had long since disappeared, but this sharp merchant had been hiding deep beneath my consciousness, waiting for the right moment to emerge. The saying that people don’t change even after death was true. I was the only one in the Central Plains who could prove this.

I washed the blood off with water and changed my clothes. It felt like a dream that I had been fighting only a few hours ago.

I looked up at the sky blankly and shook my head. It was too early to think like that. The fight wasn’t over yet.

There was one last person left to clean up. I left the warehouse and headed to the port.