Chapter 38

Chapter 38:

It was a scene as if a massive wave made of hand shadows was crashing down on Wei Yan-ho.

“Kyaaaaaak!”

Moon Eun-ji also let out a scream without realizing it.

Wei Yan-ho’s precarious body looked like it would be swept away and shattered by the wave at any moment. However, Wei Yan-ho remained calm and composed as he watched the scene, casually shouldering his wooden sword and tilting his head.

“Hmm?”

Even while watching the Hand Shadow technique covering him, Wei Yan-ho didn’t move, as if deep in thought about something.

Moon Eun-ji was startled and shouted toward Wei Yan-ho.

No, she tried to shout.

But before the words could even come out, Nok Mok-pung’s hand shadows completely engulfed Wei Yan-ho.

Moon Eun-ji squeezed her eyes shut.

‘He’s… he’s dead.’

Anyone who took such a fierce attack with their bare body would die. Even she, who didn’t know much about martial arts, could guess as much.

Moon Eun-ji covered her mouth.

Otherwise, she felt like she would scream.

No, she felt like she would burst into tears.

‘Because of me…’

If he hadn’t come to this place, he wouldn’t have died.

No, if she hadn’t called out to stop him when he was trying to escape, he could have lived.

‘Because of me…’

Moon Eun-ji couldn’t even think to wipe away the tears that flowed down.

“I’ve seen this somewhere…”

Moon Eun-ji’s eyes snapped open.

She heard his voice.

“Huh?”

The scene before her eyes was utterly strange.

Wei Yan-ho stood there looking exactly the same as before.

As if Nok Mok-pung’s attack had been an illusion, Wei Yan-ho appeared completely calm and composed.

But Nok Mok-pung’s shocked face showed that it hadn’t been an illusion. Nok Mok-pung stared at Wei Yan-ho with a dazed expression for a long time before weakly opening his mouth.

“H-how did you do that?”

Wei Yan-ho replied calmly.

“You saw it, so why are you asking?”

“…”

Nok Mok-pung drew in a breath.

He had definitely seen it.

The moment his Hand Shadow technique covered Wei Yan-ho, he had calmly moved through the extremely tiny gaps between the attacks.

In a situation where thousands of hand shadows were attacking simultaneously, Wei Yan-ho had slipped his body through the minute intervals.

And very slowly at that.

Moon Eun-ji thought it was amazing, Lee Wang-ya was impressed, and Nok Mok-pung was shocked.

You see as much as you know.

Moon Eun-ji, who didn’t know martial arts, was merely amazed. Lee Wang-ya, who knew martial arts, was impressed by Wei Yan-ho’s level. Nok Mok-pung, who knew what level his own martial arts were, could feel how incredible the footwork Wei Yan-ho had shown was, so he was shocked.

‘Where on earth did such a monster appear from?’

Nok Mok-pung couldn’t even imagine what level of martial learning Wei Yan-ho possessed. Even Nok Mok-pung himself had martial prowess where he couldn’t find an equal among those of similar age.

Yet Wei Yan-ho, who was much younger, possessed martial prowess that Nok Mok-pung couldn’t even imagine.

‘Did he eat a Wish-Fulfilling Pearl or something?’

It was an absurd story, but there was no other way to explain Wei Yan-ho’s martial prowess.

The certain fact was that Wei Yan-ho’s martial prowess was beyond what Nok Mok-pung had imagined, and Nok Mok-pung couldn’t handle Wei Yan-ho.

Just by showing a single step, Wei Yan-ho had broken even Nok Mok-pung’s fighting spirit.

“Strange, really.”

Lee Wang-ya asked.

“What do you mean?”

Wei Yan-ho tilted his head.

“I’ve seen that somewhere before.”

“Just now?”

“I definitely saw the martial art that gentleman used somewhere before. But I can’t remember where I saw it.”

At those words, Nok Mok-pung’s face hardened.

“You’ve seen my martial art?”

“So I definitely saw something similar before, but where was it?”

Wei Yan-ho looked quietly at Nok Mok-pung with a troubled expression.

“Where did you learn that?”

“…”

Nok Mok-pung sighed with a hardened face.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Hmm, then that’s a problem…”

Wei Yan-ho continued to ponder. Seeing Wei Yan-ho deep in thought, Nok Mok-pung lost the will to attack first and spoke with a slightly distorted face.

“I have a request.”

Wei Yan-ho looked up.

“For me?”

“That’s right.”

“Go ahead.”

“If I withdraw like this, would you let me go peacefully?”

Wei Yan-ho glanced at Lee Wang-ya.

“That won’t do.”

Lee Wang-ya was firm.

“He says no.”

Nok Mok-pung looked at Lee Wang-ya.

He had grasped that the one with decision-making power was Lee Wang-ya, not Wei Yan-ho.

“Please let me go, Your Highness.”

“Have you ever seen a Censorate official let a traitor go?”

“If I don’t return, Father will think things have gone wrong.”

Lee Wang-ya’s mouth clamped shut like a clam.

“And he’ll make a final gamble. Whatever the result, the imperial family will suffer irreversible damage.”

“…Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I know it will fail. Because I think it’s better to gain an opportunity to plan for the future.”

“Why should I give you time to plan for the future?”

Nok Mok-pung spoke calmly.

“At least Your Highness would be able to immediately prevent the troubles that will befall the imperial family. A greater storm might blow in the future, but Your Highness would gain the opportunity to turn it into a gentle breeze.”

“Cunning bastard.”

Lee Wang-ya frowned.

If Lee Wang-ya captured Nok Mok-pung here, Nok-gi might think the situation had gone wrong and attempt to overthrow the imperial family. Even if he failed, considering the forces Nok-gi possessed, tremendous chaos would ensue. And even if they suppressed it, the imperial family would certainly suffer enormous damage.

If it ended at that level, it would be fortunate, but the Nok-gi that Lee Wang-ya knew was someone who could corner them with even more sinister schemes.

“Are you telling me to watch with my own eyes as traitors run rampant in the imperial family?”

“Isn’t that politics?”

“You bastard…”

Lee Wang-ya let out a deep sigh.

Without power, justice has no meaning.

Lee Wang-ya knew this better than anyone.

Nok Mok-pung’s words were utterly cunning, but they accurately pierced reality.

Yes, this was politics.

“If the Censorate gains one weakness of the Eastern Palace, I think it’s not a bad deal.”

“Is this idea from your own head?”

Nok Mok-pung gave a subtle smile.

Lee Wang-ya ground his teeth.

“They say eunuchs are like rats, digging ten escape holes…”

Lee Wang-ya quietly glared at Nok Mok-pung before finally opening his mouth.

“Get lost.”

Nok Mok-pung bowed deeply toward Lee Wang-ya.

“Thank you. And I trust you’ll certainly seal the mouths of those present here.”

Lee Wang-ya didn’t respond with his brow furrowed. Nok Mok-pung smiled faintly and looked at Wei Yan-ho.

Nok Mok-pung’s gaze toward Wei Yan-ho was extremely complex. Because of this one person, everything today had gone wrong. If not for this person, there would have been no need to suffer such humiliation.

Feeling Nok Mok-pung’s gaze, Wei Yan-ho quietly opened his mouth.

“As a return for the advice I received earlier, may I also give you one piece of advice?”

“Speak.”

“Shrinking Bone technique is a great martial art, but when you’re simultaneously using Bone Shrinking technique, its power is bound to decrease. If you really want to face me, it would be better to undo that transformation.”

For an instant, a strange light flashed in Nok Mok-pung’s eyes.

“I’ll keep that in mind. For next time we meet.”

“I don’t want to see you again.”

“That’s how it will be. Not in this form, anyway.”

Nok Mok-pung quietly looked at Wei Yan-ho, then turned around.

“I’m going.”

Black Darkness followed behind him.

“Hmm…”

Wei Yan-ho stood quietly watching Nok Mok-pung moving away.

Moon Eun-ji approached Wei Yan-ho and asked a question.

“What are you staring at so intently?”

“I was thinking what an interesting person he is.”

“What do you mean?”

“I know people’s tastes are all different, but I never thought there would be someone who liked such a fat appearance enough to force themselves to look that way. Indeed, humans are unknowable beings.”

“That’s not his real appearance?”

“Right.”

“Then how much is his real appearance…”

“I don’t know.”

“Could it be as big as a house?”

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho turned his head to look at Moon Eun-ji. Moon Eun-ji was looking at Nok Mok-pung with a horrified expression.

It seemed a strange misunderstanding had occurred.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’

If Nok Mok-pung knew, he would beat the ground in frustration, but Wei Yan-ho just brushed it off.

“Well, anyway…”

Wei Yan-ho glanced around.

Moon Yu-hwan looking at him with a pleased face as if to say ‘I told you so.’

Lee Wang-ya with a half-frowning face, making an expression as if this wasn’t quite satisfactory.

And the middle-class people looking at him with faces mixing admiration and shock.

“Mm…”

Wei Yan-ho shrugged his shoulders.

“Anyway, I’m going to go sleep, so I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Wei Yan-ho tried to quickly escape from that place.

“What are you sleeping for again!”

At Moon Eun-ji’s words, Wei Yan-ho said firmly.

“I have a full board-and-lodging guarantee! You’re not going to go back on your word, are you?”

“Tch!”

Wei Yan-ho quickly ran into his room, worried other words might come out.

“Don’t wake me up! I clearly said so! I’m going to keep sleeping until tomorrow! Don’t wake me up!”

Bang!

As the pavilion door closed, Moon Eun-ji muttered quietly.

“What kind of person is that?”

Lee Wang-ya and Moon Yu-hwan nodded heavily.

“Indeed.”

Anyway, that’s how Wei Yan-ho successfully prevented the crisis that had befallen Hanrim Grand Academy.

And that the incident at this time would begin to draw him into even greater affairs was something the current Wei Yan-ho could not know.

***

“So there’s the Eastern Palace, the Censorate, and something about treason…”

“That’s what happened.”

“…”

“Why are you acting like that?”

“It’s certainly true. It is true, but Wei Yan-ho didn’t actually do anything, did he? It just happened that such events occurred at the right time.”

Guangqushen nodded heavily.

“That’s right.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“Yes, that’s the most frightening thing. Don’t you understand?”

“Pardon?”

“He doesn’t particularly do anything, yet wherever he goes, such things inevitably happen. Sometimes he becomes the trigger, sometimes he becomes the key that twists the flow of events. Anyway, somehow he gets involved in situations and makes them worse. Without even knowing it himself.”

“This incident was the same. If you think about it, if Wei Yan-ho hadn’t been there, influential people wouldn’t have gathered, and then Nok-gi wouldn’t have had reason to use such extreme measures from the start. Wei Yan-ho did nothing, but just because he was there, things became tremendously big.”

“Now that I hear it…”

“Isn’t it scary?”

Sa-ga couldn’t answer.

“It’s scary, really scary. What if there were such a person around you?”

“I should avoid associating with them.”

“Right! That’s the correct answer!”

Guangqushen said sadly.

“But we didn’t know that back then.”

For the first time, Sa-ga looked at Guangqushen with sympathetic eyes.