Absolute Regression Chapter 499

499
Jin Ha-gun looked outside from the window of the office of the head of the Chungking District Office.

Martial men were lining up to enter the training ground. They were martial men who had come to support the Moorim Alliance’s Seomse Branch. Martial men were gathering one after another from all the branches and divisions adjacent to Junggyeong.

Their expressions were stiff because they had already heard the news from here. They seemed prepared for a fight with the Demonic Cult. They weren’t the only ones.

Now, news of a quarrel between the political faction’s members and the minions was heard all over Chongqing. The atmosphere was truly tense.

A little distance from Jin Ha-gun stood the palace of Jidanju.

“The Lord has given the decision-making authority regarding the Heavenly Kingdom to the Great Lord.”

It means that you should judge for yourself.

Jin Ha-gun could feel that if he handled this matter wrong, he might not be able to become the successor.

Because your grandfather is not the kind of person who forgives mistakes just because you are his grandson. Rather, he will evaluate you with stricter standards. So you have to make a good judgment and handle it.

“If you want to spread the net of heaven and earth, you must do so now.”

The lifeblood of the Heavenly Net is time. It would be of no use to spread it after the enemy has escaped.

Although Ju-gwol was anxious, Jin-ha-gun thought differently.

‘Whether the beast is a bloodthirsty man or not.’

Jin Ha-gun’s gaze turned to the far side of the wall.

‘They are all here.’

Both those who plot and those who are the victims of the plot.

‘They have no intention of running away. They intend to end it here.’

If that’s the case, rather than spreading out the net and dispersing the troops, it would be easier to prepare for future incidents by gathering them in one place.

At that moment, a subordinate came into the office and reported.

“We found an informant who witnessed the beast.”

Jin Ha-gun and Ju-gwol were shocked.

“Bring him here right now.”

At the king’s command, his subordinate returned with a man.

He came in with a very nervous and scared face. He was a man selling things at a stall in a market.

“The day before the disaster, there was a man asking where the main gate was.”

The king asked him.

“Do you remember what kind of person he is?”

“He was short and of small build.”

“How old are you? Are you old?”

“No. He was a young man.”

Ju-gwol was secretly disappointed at the mention of being young. This was because he had expected it since he had witnessed the Bloodthirsty Demon.

“What were you holding in your hand?”

“He had a large sword on his back.”

At the mention of the great sword, Ju-gwol’s eyes brightened again.

“Do you remember that person’s face?”

“Yes, I remember it because it had a unique face.”

The king ordered his subordinates to immediately take him to a painter and have him draw a portrait of Yongmo Pagi.

“It is a well-known fact that Bloodthirsty Demon passed on his martial arts to his disciple. Perhaps Hyeongsu is that disciple.”

Jin Ha-gun actually thought that it wasn’t true. It was rather strange that the evidence was being revealed like this.

“Do you think that when Lord Jidan went to exterminate someone, he would ask for the location on the way?”

Ju-gwol had nothing to say to that, but he had something else to say.

“If he is the disciple of the Bloodthirsty Demon, then do you think that the demon who learned that martial art might accidentally visit a place that was destroyed by the demonic forces for some other reason?”

It was the same for Jin Ha-gun, which was difficult to refute.

If he were to be revealed as the disciple of the Blood Heavenly Demon, everyone would think that this incident was the work of the Demonic Cult. As Ju-Gweol said, such a coincidence could not have happened.

“First, draw as many of the descriptions of the suspect as possible and post them all over the city. Finding him is the priority.”

Regardless of my belief in the Sword Dance Theater, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that a disciple of the Bloodthirsty Demon had committed this disaster.

“You must spread your net.”

“I’ll decide that myself. For now, just focus on finding him.”

“All right.”

The main character went out.

Jin Ha-gun said to his subordinates in the Destruction Corps.

“Tell the young sect leader that I will watch over him secretly.”

* * *

The soft moonlight fell on each blade of grass.

The sword dance stood alone in a wide open field.

Although he was sure that Seodaeryong would be okay, Geommu-geuk was worried about Hyeolcheon Doma. He was even more worried because he knew that he was strong. He had lost contact with that strong man.

‘Elder.’

I wanted to see him. I pictured him planting his sword in the ground and drinking alcohol while leaning on his sword.

‘When we’re done, let’s lean against that sword and have a drink together, sir.’

At that moment, a person appeared there.

The person who walked slowly and stood next to the sword dance was Jin Ha-gun.

“Are you here?”

“Thank you for coming.”

“You called me, so of course I should come. You must be busy, so why did you call me?”

Then Jin Ha-gun took out a piece of paper from his bosom and handed it to Geommu-geuk.

It was a picture of a person’s facial features.

“Did it look similar?”

Geommugeuk answered Jin Hagun’s question obediently.

“It’s the same. It looks just like the drawing I did while sitting in front of you.”

Those words also acknowledged that the person in the painting was a disciple of Hyeolcheondoma.

“Who reported it?”

“The man asked a street vendor where the main gate was.”

“Isn’t it strange that he remembers faces so accurately when he must have met hundreds of people every day?”

And above all, he really captured Seo Dae-ryong’s characteristics very well. If it hadn’t been prepared in advance, this kind of drawing wouldn’t have come out.

“Is this manipulation?”

“That informant is either gone or dead.”

Since you have already finished your testimony and have even broken your silence, nothing will change. You will only feel more hatred towards the Demonic Cult as you will think that you have killed the witness.

“Let me check.”

A thought like this occurred to Jin Ha-gun in a corner of his mind.

‘Couldn’t you have removed it?’

To fool me in return.

Seeing that I still have thoughts like this, I feel like I still don’t completely trust him.

“Where is the disciple of Blood Heavenly Sword now?”

“You are with me.”

Jin Ha-gun looked at the painting in Geommu-geuk’s hand and said.

“Starting tomorrow, that picture will be posted all over Chongqing. Rumors will spread that the demon is the disciple of the Bloodthirsty Demon.”

Geommugeuk looked at Jin Hagun.

“You must be in trouble.”

The word difficult was an understatement. He was the one responsible for finding the villain, and his grandfather would decide whether or not to appoint him as his successor depending on how he handled this matter.

-Hand that guy over to me.

The words were on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to investigate this myself and make sure of it.

Now, I have nine out of ten faiths in the Sword Dance Theater. The remaining one continues to torment me.

“If I get caught by you, I won’t be able to escape. I learned the method of extermination used to kill the Lord of the Great Gate, and I even visited the Great Gate the day before. But do you know that?”

Geommugeuk said with a faint smile.

“This person was admitted to Hwangcheon-gak at the top of his class. He may look gloomy, but he’s actually quite smart. He’s not the type of person to go around leaking evidence like this to destroy a hardcore sect.”

Jin Ha-gun thinks so too.

“But in the end, the evidence that is revealed has to be the truth. If you want to protect that disciple, you have to find the real villain. And as soon as possible.”

The two stood in silence for a moment.

A gust of wind blew, causing the grass to move like waves, and the sound of insects chirping could be heard from afar.

“What do you think they’re aiming for by doing this?”

In response to Jin Ha-gun’s question, Geommu-geuk answered calmly.

“A war between you and us.”

“!”

Jin Ha-gun was shocked. He thought that they were trying to achieve some goal through discord, but he had no idea that the goal was the Great Battle of Jeongma.

Jin Ha-gun looked at Geommu-geuk with eyes that asked if he was being sincere.

And the sword dance was sincere.

“I think these incidents are just the beginning. After deepening the conflict between us like this, they will cause another incident. I don’t know what the plan is, but when it happens, it will be irreversible.”

Are these horrific events just the beginning?

“By starting a war?”

Isn’t it because there’s something to be gained from it that you want to do something big like that?

“I don’t know. What they want.”

At first, I thought that the sword dance might be a personal favor from Hyeolcheon Doma.

But for that to be the case, they were making things too big. And on top of that, they had even called in Seo Dae-ryong.

‘There’s something more.’

Jin Ha-gun let out a light sigh.

“It’s difficult.”

In the midst of hardship, there was hope that Geommugeuk found.

“But there is one thing they overlooked.”

“What is that?”

“You and me.”

Geommugeuk looked at Jin Hagun.

“The fact that we are closer friends than they thought.”

Jin Ha-gun averted his gaze from the gaze of the swordsman directed at him. He felt that it was now time to say this.

“I only trust you nine times out of ten. Are we still friends?”

Jin Ha-gun took courage. It was something that had always bothered him. The fact that Geommu-geuk thought of me as a friend, but I didn’t completely trust him.

At that moment, an unexpected answer came out.

“Do you trust me nine times out of ten? I trust you eight times out of ten.”

I thought he was joking again, but the sword dance was serious.

“You are truly a man destined to become a great swordsman. You trust nine out of ten people, yet you think that they are not enough. Hey, buddy. You are the leader of the Demonic Cult, and I am the leader of the new religion. And yet you trust me nine out of ten?”

To Jin Ha-gun, faith was a word that could be used only when one had faith with all one’s heart.

“Let’s go with the relationship of about eight out of ten. Those eight will work really hard to the point of death. Instead, let’s leave the remaining two as a spare. We’re also human, so don’t we have to doubt and hate each other sometimes?”

Jin Ha-gun stared at the sword dance without saying a word. The words suspicion and hatred were completely inappropriate for him to say such things.

“What if the other two betray you?”

“How can two betray? There are eight others.”

“!”

Jin Ha-gun had never thought of trust between people in this way. He thought that the remaining one, which was not fully fulfilled, was a betrayal.

“If Eight is strong, the rebellion of those two will be more of a disappointment than a betrayal. If Eight is strong, you can free yourself from the burden of having to completely trust someone. Besides, isn’t giving trust more difficult than trusting? Complete trust? Let’s not live such a tiring life. Let’s make mistakes and be hated to some extent, and live like that. Just trusting Eight is enough.”

Jin Ha-gun couldn’t figure it out.

Did the swordsman know that he had been struggling with this problem for a long time? If not, how could he put people’s minds at ease like this? How on earth?

“Then we must be friends.”

“Of course. In that sense, would you like to take a look at the bait?”

“bait?”

Geommugeuk looked back. Then, a man came walking towards him from behind a tree in the distance.

Jin Ha-gun realized that the person who arrived there was the Seo Dae-ryong in the painting. He was secretly surprised that Geommu-geuk had brought him here.

Instead of greeting him, Geommugeuk asked Seodaeryong.

“How much do you trust me in your work?”

What would you ask? Of course it was ten. Because he was the person I trusted more than anyone else in this world.

Of course, if I were to answer straight away at this opportunity to play a prank, I wouldn’t be Seo Dae-ryong.

“Wouldn’t it be about seven?”

Geommugeuk said to Jin Hagun.

“Even though he is my right arm, he is called Chil.”

“It started as a job from our first meeting, so it’s a great development. I really didn’t believe in it at the time.”

A cult leader who wants to change the religion?

Geommugeuk handed the paper he was holding to Seodaeryong.

“Here, take this as a souvenir.”

And then he said to Jin Ha-gun.

“You don’t have to spread this picture tomorrow.”

Jin Ha-gun was surprised by Geommu-geuk’s words. He realized that he meant that he would be entrusted with Seo Dae-ryong.

“Are you serious?”

The sword dance nodded.

“The reason I’m entrusting this person to you is not because he’s a villain. He’s my right-hand man. If he’s a villain, then I’m a villain too.”

He is such a trustworthy person.

“Why, knowing that it won’t come out easily?”

The reason for leaving it was something that Geommugeuk had not thought of.

“If you don’t find this guy, they’ll wipe out another family.”

Jin Ha-gun could tell. If Seo Dae-ryong was captured by him, at least he wouldn’t cause any new incidents. It was a decision for the sake of the Jeongpa martial arts world.

Of course, that wasn’t the only reason why Geommugeuk brought Seodaeryong.

“I’m thinking of catching them off guard.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“They probably expected me to never give up my right arm. They knew my relationship with this person. But what would happen if I gave it to you?”

They’re trying to throw bait with an unexpected move.

I intend to find a clue to pursue them through their reactions and responses.

“I wonder. If they had dragged Thomas in, why would they drag his disciple in as well? What role did my right-hand man play in their plan?”

Is it just a role to cause conflict between the school and the Murim Alliance? Or is there another reason?

Geommugeuk said to Jin Hagun.

“You could be in danger in the process of solving that curiosity.”

Because I didn’t know how to deal with Seo Dae-ryong, who was captured by the Murim Alliance. Just being with Seo Dae-ryong meant that I could be in danger.

Although he warned of danger, Jin Ha-gun smiled faintly instead.

“If Chil-do is brave enough to come forward like this, am I not a fool?”

It had been a long time since he had heard a joke, so Geommugeuk happily accepted it.

“Then all seven or eight are gathered here.”

The three of them laughed together.

After relaxing like that, Geommugeuk looked at Seodaeryong and said.

“O wicked man, now is the time to be punished.”

Absolute Return Episode 500