Chapter 33

Chapter 33:

It was a mistake.

Before coming here, he should have thought about how Nok-gi would move.

‘I never thought he would even grasp my movements.’

The fact that he had grasped even his movements while being protected by the Internal Affairs Army meant that Nok-gi’s abilities were far superior to what he had thought. And the price for not anticipating that was painful.

All these people were going to die because of him alone.

His death wasn’t the problem. If he died in such a manner, the Martial World would suffer tremendous damage, and a massive purge would unfold in the imperial court as well.

In the end, it could result in Nok-gi seizing control of the imperial court.

Prince Lee, who had guessed all of this, trembled with rage.

“Heaven will not forgive you!”

“Yeah, go ahead and pray for that.”

Nok Mok-pung giggled as he laughed.

“And…”

Nok Mok-pung glared at one spot with a cruel face.

“Among these people, there’s someone who should die first.”

Nok Mok-pung’s eyes went to Moon Eun-ji and pierced her.

“Moon Eun-ji.”

Moon Eun-ji glared at Nok Mok-pung with cold eyes.

“I warned you that I would handle things my way. This is the result of you rejecting me. Thanks to you, everyone will die.”

Nok Mok-pung slowly approached and brought his face right in front of Moon Eun-ji’s.

“How about it, even now…”

“Ptui!“

Moon Eun-ji spat toward Nok Mok-pung’s face and shouted in a sharp voice.

“Rather than marry someone like you, I’d rather die here!”

Nok Mok-pung wiped his spit-covered face with an expressionless look.

Then he stared quietly at Moon Eun-ji for a moment before suddenly relaxing his expression and smiling in circles.

“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you.”

“…”

“I’ll make it so you think dying would be better. Think of the worst case you can imagine. I’ll give you pain dozens of times worse than that.”

“Hmph, do you think I’ll be in that state? I’d rather die than suffer such humiliation from you.”

Nok Mok-pung cut off Moon Eun-ji’s words.

“If you commit suicide, your father will suffer that fate.”

Moon Eun-ji looked at Nok Mok-pung with trembling eyes. At that, Nok Mok-pung slowly turned his head toward Moon Yu-hwan.

“And if he kills himself, others will suffer that fate.”

Moon Yu-hwan’s face turned pale.

“Don’t think those here are all there is. Treason extinguishes nine generations of kin. If you want to kill yourself, go ahead. Then others will receive the punishment you should pay. Hahahaha!”

Nok Mok-pung laughed so hard the estate shook.

Moon Eun-ji trembled with a face drained of color. According to Nok Mok-pung’s words, she couldn’t even commit suicide. The moment she killed herself, unrelated people would suffer.

“Kill yourself. Go ahead and kill yourself. Rather than ending with just you, I prefer having more entertainment. Giggle giggle giggle.”

Nok Mok-pung grabbed Moon Eun-ji’s hair.

“Kyaaak!“

“Eun-ji!”

Nok Mok-pung dragged Moon Eun-ji out while grabbing her hair.

“I told you to kill yourself, didn’t I?”

Moon Eun-ji glared at Nok Mok-pung with eyes full of resentment without any response. Even while receiving her gaze, Nok Mok-pung just giggled and laughed.

“Well then, shall we begin?”

Rip!

Her upper garment was torn away, revealing white shoulders. Moon Eun-ji instinctively knew what was about to happen to her.

Her mind went completely blank with fear.

If only she could bite her tongue…

Tears flowed from Moon Eun-ji’s eyes.

“You wicked bastard! My daughter!”

Thwack!

Moon Yu-hwan, who had tried to rush at Nok Mok-pung, was kicked by a black-clothed man and rolled on the ground.

“Father!”

“U-Eun-ji…”

Moon Eun-ji shed tears with a devastated heart.

“Kekeke, it would be nice to just pass everything off and commit suicide. What’s so important about the resentment the dead might hear? But that wouldn’t be fun, would it? So I’ll make one promise. If you don’t commit suicide until the very end, I’ll spare your father.”

Moon Eun-ji looked at Nok Mok-pung with a blank face.

Just how much more cruel could this man become?

At that moment, Nok Mok-pung’s hand slithered like a viper into Moon Eun-ji’s front garment.

Moon Eun-ji turned her head away with a resigned face. Tears flowed from her eyes, and blood seeped from her tightly bitten lips.

Then, a strange sight entered Moon Eun-ji’s eyes.

It was so out of place that it was like watching a scene from an opera. Some man was rapidly approaching them with a face full of irritation.

The man tried to shout something but flinched, then closed his mouth and glanced over them.

The man’s face, having grasped the situation, slowly hardened.

The man stealthily backed away, then grabbed the wall that appeared behind him.

He was trying to escape over the wall.

Having watched up to that point, Moon Eun-ji couldn’t stand it and finally shouted.

“Wei Yan-ho!”

Everyone’s gaze focused on one spot.

“What are you doing!”

Wei Yan-ho, who had one leg over the wall as if he would climb over at any moment, turned around with an awkward face.

“Ha, hahaha, haha…”

Wei Yan-ho’s awkward laughter slowly echoed through the estate.

The scene was so awkward that people were speechless for a while.

Nok Mok-pung, coming to his senses, took his hand off Moon Eun-ji and turned around with an angry face.

At the same time, a black-clothed man quickly approached and stood before Nok Mok-pung.

“I told you to kill everyone, didn’t I?”

“I apologize.”

“Are your eyes just decorations?”

The black-clothed man hardened his face and bowed his head.

But how could they have thought someone would be lying under the bed?

If it were an ordinary person, there would at least be some presence, but finding Wei Yan-ho, who had been suppressing even his presence to avoid Moon Eun-ji, was impossible for them.

Nok Mok-pung snapped sharply and then looked at Wei Yan-ho.

Wei Yan-ho made an awkward smile and then stuck to the wall again.

Moon Eun-ji shouted sharply.

“What are you doing!”

Wei Yan-ho grimaced and frowned.

“Can’t you see? I’m running away!”

“How can you say you’re running away?”

Wei Yan-ho got angry instead.

“Why! I’m running away, so why can’t I say I’m running away! Are you unhappy with the expression because you’re from a learned family? Should I say I’m in the middle of the thirty-six stratagems of retreat?”

Heat rose to Moon Eun-ji’s face.

Moon Eun-ji glared at Wei Yan-ho with an incredulous face. He was the type of person who could say such things in this situation.

“You should help!”

“Who should I help! I’m having a hard enough time just staying alive!”

“You learned martial arts!”

Moon Eun-ji exhaled roughly.

Moon Eun-ji wasn’t a fool, so she couldn’t not know.

The strange abilities he had shown.

And combining the words he had said in front of Prince Lee and her father, the conclusion was very simple.

Wei Yan-ho was definitely a martial artist who had learned martial arts.

“You learned martial arts! You can help!”

Wei Yan-ho waved his hands while keeping his leg over the wall.

“Stop it. If you act recklessly trusting in meager abilities, you won’t die a natural death. In times like this, the shortcut to a long life is to pretend you didn’t see even when you saw, and pretend you don’t know even when you know.”

Wei Yan-ho smiled obsequiously and nodded to Nok Mok-pung.

“I didn’t see anything. Well then, continue what you were doing.”

Having finished speaking, Wei Yan-ho climbed up onto the wall.

At that sight, Moon Eun-ji’s anger reached the top of her head and she shouted.

“Hey, you rotten human!”

But Wei Yan-ho acted as if he couldn’t hear and picked at his ears.

“I think I hear some noise from somewhere…”

Prince Lee was almost losing his mind at this unprecedented sight.

If he didn’t want to help, couldn’t he just leave?

Since his own life was at stake, he had no intention of blaming him for not helping.

But if he was going to leave, why couldn’t he just leave gracefully instead of provoking people until the very end?

There was no human scum like this human scum.

But Prince Lee, like the seasoned person who had experienced all sorts of things, didn’t lose his thread of reason.

“Stop it.”

“But!”

“These are people that even the Internal Affairs Army and the officials of the Inspector General’s Office couldn’t handle. What could that young man do alone? It would be better for him to at least preserve his life.”

Everyone’s life is important.

So it would be better to reduce even one drop of blood spilled in such a futile place…

Then, Wei Yan-ho smiled slyly and said.

“Old man, you understand well.”

Prince Lee revised his thoughts.

It might be better for the world if such a human died here together with them.

Wei Yan-ho pretended not to hear and climbed up onto the wall.

Moon Eun-ji shouted in frustration.

“If I die, I’ll become a ghost and torment you!”

“I know a skilled shaman.”

“Ahhh!“

Moon Eun-ji felt like she wanted to grab the back of her head and collapse if only her hands were free. How could he only pick words that made people angry?

Nok Mok-pung, unable to watch anymore, shouted.

“Stop!”

Wei Yan-ho flinched and looked at Nok Mok-pung.

“…I didn’t see anything though?”

Nok Mok-pung smiled coldly.

“Then at least leave your eyes behind.”

It was a cruel statement.

“And before that, if you also pull out the tongue that was insolently mocking me in front of me, I’ll let you go.”

Wei Yan-ho glanced back.

“I think I could just go…”

Nok Mok-pung laughed.

“Escape? You’re already involved in treason. The world will chase you, and you can’t escape anywhere in the world.”

Wei Yan-ho chuckled.

“Well, I’ll have to go and see about that.”

“They say the world is vast, but is there anywhere without officials? Finding just you is nothing.”

“Yes, yes. Then I’ll go for now, so look for me later.”

Veins bulged on Nok Mok-pung’s forehead.

Nok Mok-pung pointed at Wei Yan-ho with his chin.

“Catch him.”

“Yes!”

As soon as Nok Mok-pung finished speaking, the black-clothed man standing behind him gestured.

Then one of the black-clothed men surrounding the middle-class people flew toward Wei Yan-ho at high speed.

“Huh?”

Wei Yan-ho stared blankly at the black-clothed man flying toward him.

Moon Eun-ji unconsciously shouted.

“Run away!”

Until now she had been asking for help, but now that trouble was upon them, Moon Eun-ji was telling him to run away. Wei Yan-ho found Moon Eun-ji amusing and looked at her with a grin.

“What a strange woman.”

The black-clothed man instantly flew to Wei Yan-ho’s front and swung his fist.

Thwack!

“Kuhek!“

With an intense impact sound, Wei Yan-ho… no, the black-clothed man who had charged rolled on the ground.

And Wei Yan-ho looked at the black-clothed man collapsed on the ground and shouted in surprise.

“Are you okay?”

A groan burst from Nok Mok-pung’s mouth.

“What…”

Why was his subordinate lying there?

He had clearly seen the black-clothed man’s fist strike down at Wei Yan-ho’s head, but what had happened in that short time?

And why was that guy worrying about the person he had knocked down!

If he was going to do that, he shouldn’t have hit him at all.

Wei Yan-ho sighed.

“I was beaten to death by a con man-like gentleman growing up, so whenever someone tries to hit me, I reflexively counterattack without knowing it. It wasn’t intentional, so please understand.”