Chapter 63

“Are you joking right now?”

“I’m being completely serious. Look into my eyes.”

“Impossible! I don’t know where you heard such strange rumors, but if you mention this one more time, I’ll have no choice but to hold you accountable for tarnishing the honor of the Jincheon Martial Arts family!”

As expected of martial siblings, Jin Yi showed the same reaction as Wi Jinmu, and Yuseong responded with a firm voice.

“There is a definite witness and evidence. Do you remember Sa Taeryeong?”

“Why is that bastard’s name suddenly coming up here?”

“I was so curious about why he used black magic in the sacred martial arts competition that I went to meet him last night. And he mentioned there was a traitor among the senior martial brothers.”

After briefly reading the atmosphere, when Jin Yi showed no particular reaction, Yuseong spoke rapidly.

“He made an offer to reveal the traitor’s identity and provide concrete evidence if we promised to help him escape prison and provide suitable compensation.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“This matter is too big for me to handle alone, and I need help. I couldn’t bring it up with Master for fear it would shock him too much, and I couldn’t trust the other senior brothers. I thought I could only trust you, Senior Brother Jin Yi, which is why I’m telling you.”

“…”

After a brief silence, Jin Yi spoke with a face that seemed to have aged several years.

“At dawn, we’ll go to where he is and hear the details.”

“Thank you for believing me.”

“No, thank you for trusting me. Get some rest.”

Only after sensing Jin Yi’s presence fade away did Yuseong finally release his tension and lie down on the bed.

“So it wasn’t him either. Only one left?”

The fishing strategy wasn’t anything special.

It was simply a strategy of calling people one by one and throwing out bait that a traitor couldn’t resist biting.

However, this strategy had one major problem.

‘Hey, say something. It’s boring with just me talking.’

-….

That problem was that if no traitor emerged, Wi Jinmu’s reputation and credibility would hit rock bottom.

What would happen after calling each core member of the Jincheon Martial Arts family one by one, grandly speaking about the existence of a traitor and having witnesses and evidence, saying they could only trust that person, and then the next day saying ‘Actually, there was nothing like that, it was just fishing to find the traitor. Hehe.’?

Wi Jinmu was providing the answer to that right now.

-For deceiving and insulting the senior brothers, at minimum a severe punishment… No, it could even be seen as inciting division and civil war in the family, so I might be expelled after having my major meridians cut and martial arts crippled. Since I share the same fate as the Jincheon Martial Arts family, should I be happy about this? Haha, hahaha!

‘Hey, get a grip. If no traitor shows up, we can just die cleanly and start over from the beginning, right?’

-Are you telling me to believe such an absurd thing?

Though he had explained several times that multiple retries were possible, perhaps because the time loop was a transcendent concept on a different level from skills like Thorny Vine, Wi Jinmu showed no signs of accepting it.

It wouldn’t make sense to use a precious C-rank retry just to convince Wi Jinmu.

In the end, Yuseong had no choice but to endure Wi Jinmu’s anger and criticism throughout the fishing operation.

Creak!

The sound of the door opening.

Instantly reverting to a calm expression, Yuseong greeted for what felt like the umpteenth time.

“Over here, Senior Brother!”

“I’m sorry. I should have come earlier, but I was too busy with Five Great Sects matters to find the time. How are your injuries?”

“As you can see, I’m fine. The physician said I can remove the bandages tomorrow.”

“That’s truly wonderful. Are you confident you can win the remaining martial arts competition?”

“I will do my best to show a performance that won’t shame the name of the Jincheon Martial Arts family.”

Jin Il, who patted his shoulder with a kind smile, was the very picture of a benevolent eldest senior brother.

-Please, please, please!

Suppressing the urge to ask whether Wi Jinmu’s ‘please’ came from hoping Jin Il was the traitor or hoping he wasn’t, Yuseong looked at Jin Il with a serious expression.

“I had to be rude and disturb you late at night because there’s something I must tell you, First Senior Brother.”

“What rudeness? Rather, I’m curious what important matter made you want to meet so secretively. What is it?”

“There’s a traitor in the Jincheon Martial Arts family.”

Since he would have to restart immediately if this fishing attempt failed too, he went straight to the point without hesitation.

“Sa Taeryeong, who’s being interrogated for using black magic, told me. He said there’s a traitor who revealed the Jincheon Martial Arts family’s martial arts and people’s weaknesses to the Five Great Sects.”

“You’re doubting family members based on the words of a mere black magic user?”

“He said there’s clear evidence that no one can deny. He said if we help him escape prison and provide suitable compensation, he’ll immediately reveal the traitor’s identity and where the evidence is.”

“…”

“I felt this wasn’t something I could handle on my own, so I had no choice but to call for you, First Senior Brother. How should we handle this?”

Jin Il’s expression as he listened calmly to the story was emotionless.

However, Yuseong, who had been warily watching Jin Il’s every move from the start, didn’t miss his slightly trembling fingertips.

“It’s the ravings of a madman. Ignore it.”

“Isn’t this too serious a matter for that? Shouldn’t we at least inform Master…”

“I said there’s no need to worry about it!”

After shouting, Jin Il belatedly realized his mistake and cleared his throat before speaking.

“Ahem, ahem, it’s nonsense not even worth telling Master about.”

“That may be true, but considering the competition results, we can’t dismiss it as a complete lie, can we? I think we should at least inform him that Sa Taeryeong said such things.”

“…Have you?”

“Pardon?”

“Have you perhaps told anyone else about this besides me?”

At such an obvious reaction, Yuseong had to struggle not to laugh.

‘Found him!’

He couldn’t ruin things when they’d come this far.

Maintaining his poker face by pinching his thigh, Yuseong shook his head and said.

“Since there might actually be a traitor, I haven’t breathed a word of this to anyone except First Senior Brother.”

“Really? Is that so…”

Now certain that Jin Il was the traitor, Yuseong watched his movements while using Asura Perception Way.

That’s why when Jin Il rushed at him, he could immediately move to defend without hesitation.

Thwack!

Defense and evasion flowing like water.

Though his response to the sudden attack was unbelievably perfect, unfortunately, Yuseong had overlooked one thing.

‘Damn! My position!’

All martial arts begin and end with footwork.

No matter how skilled a martial artist is, if they can’t move, they can’t even display a quarter of their true skill, and while Yuseong had half-raised his body, he was still in a situation where he was lying askew on the bed.

In the end, without even exchanging a few moves, Yuseong was pathetically subdued.

‘Ugh!’

His body wouldn’t move, as if he’d been drugged.

He held onto a thread of hope since his inner energy still moved according to his will, but no matter how much inner energy he circulated or spread around, there wasn’t even a sign of being able to move a finger.

“I’ve sealed your pressure points. You won’t be able to move a muscle for at least half an hour, so don’t waste your effort.”

“First Senior Brother was the traitor?”

“That’s right.”

Jin Il gazed at Yuseong with calm eyes and spoke.

“Truly, nothing went according to plan. You suddenly won in a martial arts match that should have been over, then the opponent suddenly used black magic, and even my identity was exposed. Still, seeing how it ends like this, it seems heaven hasn’t abandoned me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“Why First Senior Brother betrayed us.”

He could understand if it were the other brothers.

But Jin Il was different.

What reason could there possibly be for the legitimate heir who would inherit everything of the Jincheon Martial Arts family, the eldest son who carried on the Jin family’s direct lineage, to betray the Jincheon Martial Arts family?

However, the moment Yuseong spoke those words, anger filled Jin Il’s eyes.

“Why did I betray them? Of course, it’s because of you!”

Under Jin Il’s gaze that looked like it could tear someone apart alive, Yuseong quietly called out to Wi Jinmu.

‘Did you perhaps make some terrible mistake with this person?’

-Absolutely not! Our martial brothers always had a close relationship. We never even argued!

‘Then why is he acting like this? Just looking at his reaction, he’s like a victim who had their entire fortune stolen by a con artist.’

-I, I also don’t know why First Senior Brother is acting like this.

While Yuseong and Wi Jinmu were conversing, Jin Il seemed to have calmed down somewhat and spoke in a lower voice.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know that you deceived Master with your silver tongue and stole the Jincheon Martial Arts family’s secret techniques?”

“…”

-….

At these words that exceeded imagination, both Yuseong and Wi Jinmu were speechless.

Taking their silence to mean something else, Jin Il nodded with a smile that seemed to say ‘I knew it.’

“You seem too shocked to speak.”

“No, I am shocked, but in a different sense. What are you talking about?”

“Pretending ignorance won’t help. At this moment, you will die here.”

“W-wait! There seems to be some misunderstanding, so first let’s calm down and talk…”

“I was planning to make you out as the traitor who leaked martial arts and information and sweep away the Five Great Sects in one go through the Murim Alliance, but given how things turned out, I have no choice but to change plans. You will have died by an assassin sent by the Five Great Sects. Take comfort in becoming a martyr instead of a traitor.”

As Jin Il raised his fist wrapped in blue fist energy, Yuseong desperately racked his brains.

Though he had prepared helpers anticipating this situation, they showed no signs of appearing even after quite some time had passed, perhaps not noticing the commotion inside.

“Master! Help…”

A fist shooting toward his head.

It was already too late to resolve this situation with words.

What was needed now wasn’t words but action.

‘What should I do? How can I dodge this?’

All the skills he had could only be used on the premise that his body could move.

Even the great Eye of Truth was of no particular use in a situation where he couldn’t move his body.

An ordinary person would have given up immediately and tried again.

However, Yuseong didn’t give up and desperately thought and thought again.

For some reason, he had a strong feeling that there must be a way to escape this crisis.

‘I can’t move. But I must move. How?’

Thinking that bordered on madness.

And that obsession that felt strange finally created a small miracle.

‘Surely back then…’

There was a similar situation during his first quest.

There was a difference in that back then he needed to exert strength beyond his physical limits, while now he needed to move his paralyzed body, but at least the concept of assisting a body that couldn’t perform at full capacity was the same.

‘Can I make it in time?’

The fist approached right next to him.

The moment his eyes turned golden, the inner force inside his body began accelerating rapidly beyond its limits.

“What?”

Jin Il couldn’t help but be shocked at the scene unfolding before his eyes.

Not because his attack had missed.

But because of how it was dodged.

“B-black magic?”

Living, moving thorny vines,

Thorny vines identical in appearance to those seen in the martial arts competition a few days ago were wrapped around Yuseong’s arms and legs.

Crack!

‘Ugh! This isn’t as easy to control as I thought!’

The movement felt unpleasantly strange, like a malfunctioning robot.

Of course the movement couldn’t feel natural when he was forcibly moving his paralyzed body with thorny vines like a puppet on strings.

Jin Il couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment at this bizarre sight that defied common sense, and that delay allowed the appearance of a decisive variable that would reverse the situation.

Bang!

“Jin Il, you bastard! How dare you towards the family…”

Jin Giwoo, who appeared with an expression like an evil spirit, froze the moment he saw the scene before him.

“J-Jinmu. What is that?”

“Father! You came at the perfect time! As you can see, this fellow Wi Jinmu has dabbled in black magic! Please give him appropriate punishment…”

“…”

“Father?”

Finding out his son was a traitor was shocking enough, but now his beloved disciple who he treasured like the apple of his eye was said to have learned black magic.

After encountering two shocking facts in succession when even one would have been devastating, Jin Giwoo trembled before rolling his eyes back and collapsing forward.

“Father!”

-Master!

Like Jin Il who ran to Jin Giwoo with tears in his eyes, Wi Jinmu screamed out.

Yuseong summarized this situation in one word.

‘Everything’s a mess.’