Chapter 62

“That’s impossible.”

The inspector refused outright.

If Wi Jinmu hadn’t been a victim of black magic, asking for time alone to speak with a black magic user would have certainly led to his arrest and interrogation on suspicion of having an interest in black magic.

“I don’t have any impure motives. As one martial artist to another, I just have something I want to ask Sa Taeryeong. It will only take a moment.”

“No means no, whether it’s a moment or not!”

“If you could show some flexibility, I would provide a suitable reward.”

“How dare you think I would…”

The inspector, who was about to explode in anger at the shallow attempt to bribe him, instantly changed his attitude at the next words.

“I’ll casually mention your name to Elder Hwangbo. I’ll say there’s an excellent and upright inspector, you see.”

“…Is that true?”

For a mere later-stage practitioner to meet the Head Inspector of the Murim Alliance and recommend someone – it should be impossible.

However, the inspector who had seen with his own eyes Hwangbo Seong smile twice at Wi Jinmu and speak to him kindly during the last martial arts competition couldn’t help but hesitate.

“I swear to heaven and earth.”

“Hmm hmm.”

The inspector stood up with an awkward expression and slowly walked outside the prison.

“The night air is chilly and making me shiver. I should go have a warm cup of tea. It will take about…”

“About one quarter hour (15 minutes) wouldn’t it?”

“That seems about right.”

The inspector nodded and muttered in a voice too quiet for Sa Taeryeong to hear.

“Don’t be too rough with him.”

Though it seemed there was some misunderstanding, Yuseong didn’t feel the need to correct it and simply nodded as he saw the inspector off.

-How exactly are you planning to clean up after telling such an outrageous lie?

‘It’s not a lie if you don’t get caught. How would he verify the truth? Is he going to go to Hwangbo Seong and say “I let this slide because I was promised praise, could you check if that promise was kept?”‘

-What about the oath then?

‘Ah, don’t worry about that. That was my oath, so it has nothing to do with you.’

After silencing Wi Jinmu with a few words, Yuseong turned around feeling the burning gaze on the back of his head.

“…”

If looks could kill, he would have died thousands of times over by now.

Yuseong pulled up a nearby chair, sat down to meet Sa Taeryeong’s gaze, and spoke with a bright smile.

“You’ve changed so much in the short time we haven’t seen each other.”

“Aaaargh! Wi Jinmu! Wi Jinmuuuu! You despicable bastard! Are you satisfied after defiling the sacred martial arts competition with your filthy black magic and winning? Tell the truth right now! I said tell the truth!”

A desperate cry as if coughing up blood.

However, Yuseong spoke calmly without even blinking.

“A filthy bastard with no pride as a martial artist? That sounds more like you than me.”

“What nonsense!”

“The methods to counter Jincheon Martial Arts family’s martial arts, information about the people in the competition. Where did you get them?”

For a moment, Sa Taeryeong’s eyes trembled slightly.

“There’s a traitor, isn’t there? Within Jincheon Martial Arts family. I’d like to hear about that traitor.”

“…The methods to counter the martial arts were researched and discovered by the masters of our Five Great Sects. Information about the competition participants? What are you talking about?”

“I already know everything, so there’s no need to act. The traitor’s name. That’s all I need.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

‘As expected, he won’t talk easily.’

Using black magic and receiving martial arts countermeasures and information about martial artists through a traitor were issues of completely different magnitudes.

The former could somehow be buried as an individual’s transgression, but the latter was a massive scandal that could destroy the Green Clothes Martial House and even the other allied sects entirely.

“If you won’t talk, I have my ways.”

“Are you going to torture me? Go ahead! Do whatever you want!”

“Torture? There are more effective methods than such crude approaches. Take a look at this.”

Yuseong’s palm was completely empty.

However, moments later, a thorny vine suddenly began sprouting from what was clearly an empty palm.

“Th-that…”

“You haven’t forgotten already, have you?”

Yuseong gently stroked the thorny vine while wearing a sinister smile.

Of course, the thorny vine, having no intelligence or emotions, couldn’t actually respond to his touch, but it wasn’t difficult to act out vivid reactions through precise control.

Naturally, to Sa Taeryeong who didn’t know the details, this plant could only appear to be a supernatural creature capable of understanding human speech.

Gulp!

Though Sa Taeryeong had endured countless tortures, he couldn’t maintain his composure when faced with a terrifying creature that seemed to belong in old tales or nightmares.

“As you know, I learned black magic. And this is a special life form created through black magic.”

“E-even if you torture me with that thing, I absolutely…”

“I told you I’m not going to torture you?”

Yuseong approached Sa Taeryeong who was sweating cold sweat and whispered in a small voice near his ear.

“I’m going to put this inside your head. Want to know what happens when this thing enters your head?”

“…”

“You’ll lose your will and become my puppet who only follows my orders. With just one command, you could become a murderer who kills family and brothers without hesitation, or I could make you say you used black magic. It’s a shame to use this precious thing on such a gloomy man, but if you insist on keeping your mouth shut, I have no choice.”

“Th-that’s impossible!”

“Believe it or not.”

Shlick!

Something was entering through his ear canal.

Trembling at the horrifying foreign sensation he had never felt in his life and the spine-chilling sound made each time the vine moved, Sa Taeryeong screamed when the vine touched his eardrum.

“I-I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything I know, so stop!”

“Stop?”

“Please stop!”

Yuseong smiled with satisfaction at Sa Taeryeong’s complete change in attitude in just a moment.

‘Indeed, the strongest fear comes from the unknown.’

Something insignificant in one dimension can become something entirely new and different in another dimension.

“Who’s the traitor?”

“I-I don’t know.”

“Hmm, it seems you’re still underestimating me…”

“I’m not trying to deceive you, I really don’t know!”

Sa Taeryeong continued speaking with tears welling up in his eyes as if overcome with emotion.

“I only knew there was someone from Jincheon Martial Arts family communicating with us because I overheard it, but I never heard who it was! Only a select few among the Five Great Sects’ leadership know that person’s identity!”

“Don’t you have any guesses?”

“No. How could I possibly know who it is when I’ve never even seen the traitor’s face? It’s the truth, please believe me!”

“…”

“Ah, no! Stop! Please have mercy! Ugh?”

Sa Taeryeong, who had been frantically thrashing about trying to remove the thorny vine squirming in his ear canal, finally couldn’t overcome his extreme fear and fainted with his eyes rolled back.

“Looks like he really doesn’t know.”

Yuseong removed the thorny vine from Sa Taeryeong’s ear and stood up with an awkward expression.

-What now? Are you planning to seek out the Five Great Sects’ leadership?

‘Do you have a way to secretly contact the Five Great Sects? Even if we somehow managed to arrange a meeting, they wouldn’t simply reveal the traitor’s identity, so there’s no point in trying.’

-Didn’t you say you could control people using the thorny vine? If we use that well, maybe we could…

‘What? How could this simple thorny vine have such amazing abilities? I just said whatever came to mind to go with the mood, don’t tell me you actually believed it?’

Wi Jinmu, who had been silent for a while as if shocked, finally came to his senses and spoke with a trembling voice.

-Then what do we do now? If Sa Taeryeong doesn’t know and we can’t contact the Five Great Sects, haven’t we lost all ways to discover the traitor’s identity?

‘No, there’s still one way left.’

Yuseong had two reasons for coming here.

First was to learn the traitor’s identity through Sa Taeryeong, and second was to lay groundwork for the plan to be executed if Sa Taeryeong didn’t know the traitor’s identity.

However, this plan had one difficult point.

-Ooh! What method is that?

‘I can tell you, but you have to promise not to get angry after hearing it.’

-Huh? Why would I get angry?

‘Don’t ask why, can you promise?’

-If you insist… though I don’t understand…

After hearing Wi Jinmu’s answer, Yuseong spoke one word.

‘Fishing.’

-I don’t understand what you mean. Could you explain in more detail?

‘Ahem, well you see…’

The explanation of the fishing plan wasn’t very long.

And when Yuseong finished speaking, Wi Jinmu broke his promise and exploded in anger.

“This is why I didn’t want to explain.”

While letting Wi Jinmu’s shouting go in one ear and out the other, Yuseong left the underground prison.

* * *

Currently, Jincheon Martial Arts family was under strict security that didn’t allow anyone to approach.

This was because the date for resuming the martial arts competition that would determine the family’s fate was approaching.

Of course, even considering that, it seemed a bit excessive, but their opponent was a group brazen enough to use black magic in broad daylight during a competition watched by countless people – better too much than too little.

Perhaps as a trade-off, they had focused too much on external security and relatively neglected internal security.

And through these gaps in the relaxed surveillance, an uninvited guest approached a pavilion deep within Jincheon Martial Arts family grounds.

Creeak.

The man who frowned at the thick medicinal smell when opening the door looked around and spoke.

“Little brother!”

“I’m here, senior brother!”

“Hey now! Stay still. What if you aggravate your wounds by moving around?”

“Haha, thank you for your concern, but my wounds have almost healed. Look at this.”

The wound on his side had almost completely healed since it wasn’t that deep to begin with, and they had spared no expense on skilled doctors and precious medicines.

Yuseong tapped the bandaged wound with an exaggerated gesture, then discreetly looked around and spoke in a small voice that Jin Yi could barely hear.

“Did you come alone?”

“Yes. As you asked, I came secretly without letting anyone know or notice. What’s the reason for such a strange request?”

Seeing Jin Yi’s expression mixed with doubt and suspicion, Yuseong lowered his head and spoke haltingly.

“Well…”

This kind of thing shouldn’t be said directly.

Yuseong paused briefly, and when he felt the tension had reached its peak, he spoke with a devastated expression as if the world had collapsed.

“I think there’s a traitor communicating with the Five Great Sects.”

Jin Yi showed no reaction.

His brain was refusing to understand because the words were too shocking.

“What do you…”

“Shh! Please lower your voice! Someone might hear!”

Seeing his serious eyes that were too sincere to be a joke, Jin Yi swallowed dryly and spoke in a tiny voice.

“Is this true?”

“Yes. I heard that this traitor gathered methods to counter Jincheon Martial Arts family’s martial arts and information about the competition participants and passed them to someone from the Five Great Sects.”

“Impossible. This isn’t something a mere disciple or servant could do. Unless they were at least a direct disciple who received the family head’s teachings…”

“There’s a traitor among those disciples.”

Intense gaze, pale complexion, trembling lips.

While focusing his entire attention on Jin Yi’s every movement, Yuseong carefully gathered his internal energy.