MTL NOVEL Chapter 17
The next day, I told Jin Gwangwoo that I would take his side.
Gayoung Jin told me to stay put, but I was also curious about what Gwangwoo might be plotting.
Of course, I naturally made sure not to forget to ask for the position of Inner Hall Chief, the second highest role after the head of the family, to avoid raising any suspicions.
This way, I could also get closer to the center of intrigue and machinations.
“The Jin family meeting will be held soon.”
Of course, Gwangwoo isn’t a fool to completely trust me just because I said so.
Thus, I provided some fake information from Gayoung Jin’s side to Gwangwoo.
These were pieces of information that were hard to distinguish from the truth at first glance, requiring a detailed investigation to discern their falsity.
Simultaneously, after removing my mask, they believed me without a doubt.
“You’re planning to settle this at the Jin family meeting, I assume.”
“The family chief will be Gayoung. Since she was the heir, there’s nothing we can do about that.”
“I see.”
The next words from him were predictable.
Even if not being the family chief, there’s a way to hold the power of the family chief.
“I plan to take on the role of acting family chief.”
That’s all there is to it.
“Acting family chief?”
Pretending to know nothing, I put on a poker face.
It’s too familiar of a task to me already.
“As you know, Mr. White Blade Wanderer, Gayoung hasn’t reached the age of majority.”
“You’re planning to act as the substitute family chief until she becomes of age, right?”
“That’s the idea. Isn’t it a common practice?”
This is where you shouldn’t easily let it go.
Because doubt often sprouts from trust.
Didn’t it happen with Soeun Yu and Su-a Namgung?
“Wait a moment, then we need to revisit our discussion, don’t we?”
“Excuse me? Is there some issue?”
“Miss will reach adulthood in just two years. So, in two years, am I going to be out of the picture?”
“Ah, well…”
“If you promised me the position of Inner Hall Chief and I trusted you to join, that position will be cut off in two years, right? Then, I have no reason to side with you, Mr. Jian Tianjian (Sword Saint). I’ll just live comfortably by Miss’s side.”
I spoke with a hint of anger.
Exactly like a petty man who only has strong martial skills.
“Ho ho, Mr. White Blade Wanderer. I didn’t know you had such a fiery temper. Don’t worry.”
“Do you have any countermeasures?”
“That’s something I’ll explain.”
The door that had been closed opened, and the girl who had been waiting outside came in.
Jin Yeryeong, the younger miss of the Taewon Jin clan, whom I had met a few times during the past three days.
“Why is the younger miss here…?”
Pretending to be surprised, I gave her an act.
“I’ll explain about Uncle’s and my plan. Is that okay? Uncle?”
“Uhh.. Yes, of course…”
Jin Yeryeong naturally sat at the table where Jin Gwangwoo and I were seated and started speaking.
Jin Gwangwoo seemed uncomfortable with her.
“In the two years that Unni will be the acting family chief… Within that time, Uncle and I will use the power of the family chief to frame her.”
“Frame?”
“Yes, to drive her insane and send her to the Sachon Tangja’s Medicine Hall under the pretense of rehabilitation. It’s essentially a prison.”
“I see.”
“Next, I will take over the temporary family chief position. Uncle will continue as the acting family chief. Then, when I reach the age of adulthood, I will become the official family chief.”
I thought Jin Yeryeong was only Jin Gwangwoo’s rival, but it seems they’re in cahoots.
“Mr. White Blade Wanderer, you don’t have to worry about anything. Whether Uncle is the acting family chief or I am the family chief, I will give you the position of Inner Hall Chief. However, there’s just one thing I need you to confirm. Since you are Unni’s closest confidant, when the time comes, could you testify once that Gayoung Jin has a mental illness?”
“Hmm…”
“We’ll prepare the entire stage for you. All you need to do, Mr. White Blade Wanderer, is to say that one word. Got it?”
My strategy of demanding unreasonable rewards bore fruit.
I uncovered Jin Yeryeong hidden within Jin Gwangwoo.
On the side, I also learned their plan.
“Understood. Truly, you and your niece are brilliant strategists. I, Mr. White Blade Wanderer, am deeply impressed.”
“Thank you for understanding. Then, I’ll take my leave, and you two continue your conversation.”
“Yes, I look forward to working well with you.”
“I also appreciate your partnership.”
After Jin Yeryeong left with a faint smile,
Once alone with Jin Gwangwoo, he wore an even more sinister smile than the one Jin Yeryeong had shown earlier.
“Mr. White Blade Wanderer, don’t get too cozy with Young Lady Yeryeong.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Hey, someone who knows everything, why are you playing dumb? Those young ones, they’ll break down quickly if they’re sent to the psychiatric ward, but people like you and me, we know there’s no better option than cutting the weeds at their roots, right?”
“Yes?”
“Just saying it out loud is embarrassing, but… what I’m saying is, isn’t there no difference between Gayoung and Yeryeong from our perspective?”
“What are you trying to say?”
Jin Gwangwoo made a gesture of cutting his throat with his finger.
The meaning behind that action was clear.
“I’m proposing that we split them between us. Both Gayoung and Yeryeong, we’ll deal with them. Of course, since we can’t afford to raise suspicions when I become the next family chief, we’ll eliminate Yeryeong first.”
“Ho.”
“Can I take it that you understand my point fully?”
It seems Jin Yeryeong saw me as a means to eliminate Jin Gayoung.
But this man saw both Jin Gayoung and Jin Yeryeong as obstacles to eliminate.
Indeed, an old fox is craftier than a young one.
—
A man, robust and bulky, sat with his chin resting on his hand at the center of the Namgung family’s stronghold.
Facing him stood a man with a patch over one eye.
Namgung Bin, the head of the Namgung family, and his right-hand man, the Iron Tiger Wanderer.
They were waiting for news from the hired White Falcon King.
“Hm… The more I think about it, something feels off…”
Namgung Bin wore an uncharacteristically troubled expression.
“Master, what has you so deeply lost in thought?”
“Hm? Ah, I’ve been thinking about something. There’s something I can’t figure out…”
Namgung Bin narrowed his already furrowed brows as he replied.
“Unburden yourself, Master. I’ll listen to all of your worries.”
“It’s not something pondering will solve… but as it seems I won’t come up with an answer myself either, I might as well hear your thoughts on it.”
“Please speak your mind.”
The matter troubling Namgung Bin was thus disclosed.
“Isn’t everything going too smoothly?”
“Excuse me?”
“In other words… it’s unnatural. Since three years ago, everything we’ve attempted has gone strangely well…”
“Isn’t it a good thing for things to go smoothly?”
“It’s not that… especially concerning Iron Tiger.”
Iron Tiger couldn’t easily grasp Namgung Bin’s worry.
If things are going well, why should that be cause for concern?
“Think about it. Deceiving the world isn’t exactly hard, so we could push Iron Tiger as the evildoer, which was pretty much a foregone conclusion.”
“Isn’t it because of Master’s brilliant strategy?”
“Ahem, I have yet to finish. Anyway… the problem is, why did his family members seem so easily deceived?”
“Are you referring to Soeun Yu and Su-a Namgung?”
“That’s right. They are the only direct family members within the Namgung estate. Yet… even if Iron Tiger secluded himself after the war, could his family really believe such rumors? After all the years they’ve lived together?”
“Isn’t that so? My wife betrayed me and had an affair with another man…”
“Are the marital ties of Iron Tiger and Soeun Yu similar to yours? Both were somewhat curt individuals, but even so, there was no room for distrust. No matter what was said outside, seeing her husband daily, could she really not trust him?”
No matter how Namgung Bin explained it, Iron Tiger couldn’t seem to understand.
“Hm… Could it be because of the lip mark you drew on the Sword Sage’s cheek that day? You even hired an expert painter to make it look real, didn’t you?”
“That’s true, and that’s when Soeun’s attitude towards him began to change. But isn’t it strange for someone’s heart to change so suddenly? From what I know, people’s hearts aren’t so easily swayed.”
“Who knows? People vary, don’t they?”
“Eh, tsk. That’s why you end up marrying women like your wife.”
“Uh…!”
Iron Tiger scrunched his face, feeling his weakness had been exposed.
Regardless, Namgung Bin continued to vent his relentless uneasiness.
“And most of all, what baffles me is Iron Tiger.”
“You mean the Sword Sage?”
“I’ve never seen anyone better at reading people’s hearts than Iron Tiger. Up until the war, I didn’t dare harbor any other thoughts in front of him. He always read my mind.”
“…Is that so?”
Iron Tiger, who had only cultivated his martial arts throughout his life, didn’t quite understand the concept of ‘reading hearts,’ but he just let it slide.
After all, his master had never misjudged anything.
“But… when was it? Around when he stopped reading my mind. That’s when I started to make plans and pushed him into ruin. It started with spreading rumors, fabricating evidence, and gathering witnesses step by step.”
“That’s right. But why is the Sword Sage odd?”
“He … didn’t resist.”
“Pardon?”
Didn’t resist?
It was a concept that never crossed Iron Tiger’s mind, so his mind momentarily went blank.
“Wasn’t he vigorously explaining his innocence? It’s just that no one listened.”
“That’s the strangest part. A martial artist defending himself? I expected at the very least that he’d draw his sword and create a commotion. In fact, I was worried about that the most, because there would be no one to stop him.”
“That’s… because of his personality, isn’t it? Even if he wanted to create a commotion, he lacked the justification… thus, he only vigorously explained himself, right?”
“Personality? What kind of personality is that?”
“Isn’t he gentle… values righteousness… and doesn’t draw his sword lightly, right?”
“Who? Him?”
Namgung Bin asked back with genuine disbelief, wide-eyed.
Iron Tiger could only be naturally perplexed.
“No… Master… it’s terrifying if you look at it that way…”
“Well, given how you see it, that could be possible. But his true nature is different.”
After adjusting his tone and clearing his throat, Namgung Bin continued.
“During the war… as his closest confidante, I was able to see things that most couldn’t. The Sword Sage… He didn’t just value righteousness. He was mad for it.”
“Excuse me…?”
“Did you think his nickname of Sword Demon among the Blood Cult members was given for no reason? He didn’t leave a single Blood Cult member alive in sight, chasing them down to the end, and when he had spare time, he enjoyed killing them as cruelly as possible.”
“Did the Sword Sage…?”
“He once constructed a mountain of organs from Blood Cult members. When I asked him why, he simply said ‘to relieve frustration.’ The atmosphere at the time was so terrifying that I couldn’t ask further. In any case… why did such a person respond so gently?”
“Hm…”
“The man who showed no mercy to evildoers, yet accepted our conspiracies against him without much resistance… how could he have acted so weakly if not insane? Shouldn’t he have acted more aggressively?”
“Th… at is so?”
“Even when he left, it was the same. He only shouted and didn’t break anything, did he? The door wasn’t even broken. I would’ve at least kicked the door on my way out. Of course, from the opposite side, he might’ve been too scary to do so.”
“…”
The more he listened, the more Iron Tiger unconsciously nodded in a daze.
As he did so, Namgung Bin’s uneasiness, which grew the more he spoke, weighed heavier on his heart.
“Indeed, it’s strange… After all, this plan was initiated in the hope that he wouldn’t resolve it with force…”
Namgung Bin’s finger once again moved towards his chin.
“As for me, it’s fine… but it’s strange… definitely strange…”
“…”
“Su-a believing the rumors so easily is strange, and the sudden change in Soeun Yu is also strange…”
“Hearing you out, I feel my thoughts might change a bit as well…”
Just as Iron Tiger tried to place his arm on Namgung Bin’s shoulder in empathy,
Trud-trud.
“!”
“!”
Both men simultaneously lifted their heads and looked in one direction.
In the senses of Namgung Bin and Iron Tiger that spread across the entirety of the Namgung estate,
A single presence was detected.
The former White Falcon Corps member and current Namgung Bin’s left hand, White Falcon King.
And…
“He’s come…!”
Even without any sound or trace,
“Is this… Could this be the sort of killing intent a human can possess…?”
An endless, colossal aura that clearly signified “he’s approaching.”