Chapter 37
“...What kind of bullshit is that?”
“This brat. Listen to how you talk to your older brother.”
Smack.
I told him we were going to attack Bijo’s group together.
My youngest brother responded with words no younger brother should say to an older one.
I lightly smacked the back of his head to teach him manners.
Cheon Gangwol’s eyes became sharp again.
The confusion remained too.
“Is this supposed to humiliate me? Or are you saying that because I lost, I should obey you now? Neither is happening.”
After using what little brain he had, Cheon Gangwol confidently presented his conclusion.
I barely held back a sigh.
“Haa. Stop overworking that useless brain, Gangwol. If I tell you to go fight, just go fight. Do you still not understand the situation?”
“...You want me to fight for you? Kill me instead.”
“Do you think I can’t?”
Maybe I had been too gentle until now.
I gave Cheon Gangwol a more serious look.
Only then did he seem to properly consider my words.
The brat actually had a decent eye for people.
He clearly understood just how far I was willing to go.
“If you’re going after Bijo’s group, then simply attack them. Why involve me?”
“I thought about it. Right now Bijo is defending, but once he becomes pressed for time, he’ll have to move. If he learns you’ve already been robbed, he’ll become even more desperate. I think the correct answer is to strike him before that.”
“Why? Isn’t defending better?”
“Because guarding this many prisoners while defending sounds annoying. We don’t have many people. But if I release you, you’ll obviously try something again. Right? Our Gangwol has determination. You’ll challenge me again, won’t you?”
“...”
Cheon Gangwol had no easy answer.
If I released him, he would obviously regroup and attack again.
He was exactly that kind of person.
“...So the best idea you came up with is forcing me to fight? Ridiculous. Fine. Release me. I’ll attack your back the moment you do.”
“You should have kept that thought to yourself. Do you seriously think I’ll release you without insurance?”
“What?”
“Jintae, Jinsu.”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
Naturally, I had no intention of releasing Cheon Gangwol without restraints.
Who would remove the leash from a wild horse without putting on another one?
Today, I had prepared a very effective leash.
At my gesture, Jintae and Jinsu brought it over.
One of Cheon Gangwol’s helpless captured group members was placed in front of me.
“You will go with my people and attack Bijo’s group. I’ll stay here holding your people. Naturally, the moment you do anything suspicious, all of them die. If you fail to defeat Bijo, they all die. If you fail to finish before time runs out, they all die. Starting now, every time you refuse, one dies. How does that sound?”
“...!”
“Should I demonstrate by killing one first?”
“S-Stop...”
The easygoing atmosphere instantly turned cold.
I held my dagger in reverse grip and raised it above the captured group member.
Ready to stab down at any moment.
Cheon Gangwol knew.
I really would do it if I had to.
His widening pupils proved it.
Ever since I confirmed how much Cheon Gangwol cared for his people, I had been planning this method.
Cheon Gangwol’s weakness was not only himself.
His weakness was the weaker people who gathered around him.
An even bigger weakness was that he had actually grown attached to them.
Not very Demonic Cult-like.
“This is low. Cowardly.”
“Once again, it’s efficient.”
Cheon Gangwol had fifteen captured members.
That was a lot.
What would happen if I simply released them?
They would become another source of trouble.
We could imprison them.
We could guard them.
There were gentler methods.
But all of those required manpower.
There was actually one perfect solution.
Kill all of them.
That would be clean.
No chance of betrayal.
No need to dedicate people to guarding them.
Historically, that had often been the answer.
When you could not control something, destroy it completely.
Kill everyone.
Then there were no future problems.
International law prohibited that sort of solution.
But this was the martial world.
And we were literally inside the place known as the Demonic Cult.
Even so, I chose the far more humane method.
Naturally, that was not because I was kind.
This time, it was not even because of efficiency.
The most efficient solution would have been returning to our stronghold and defending it.
There was one reason I refused to do that.
Experience event for my group members.
My people needed real combat experience.
Ma Cheonho, Na-gak, Myeonghwa, Jintae, and Jinsu.
They had endured excellent training for the past month.
What they lacked now was true battle experience.
Training was useful.
But soldiers always grew the most in real operations.
I believed martial artists were the same.
Bijo’s group was an excellent opponent for that purpose.
Except Bijo himself.
Bijo was too strong to ignore.
He had faced five clay soldiers in Amwolmagwan and was an A-rank trainee.
Ma Cheonho and Na-gak were strong, but I did not think they could handle him yet.
It was better for those two to fight the other members.
Normally, I could fight Bijo myself.
But this time, I generously decided to give up my own experience.
My absence would also make the threat against Cheon Gangwol more convincing.
You could call it a concession.
A concession to my younger brother.
If he had ability, he would make good use of it.
If not, that was the end.
Besides, Cheon Gangwol and I still had an unfinished deal.
The one that began with, “If either one of us reaches the seat beneath the Sacred Moon...”
Perhaps this could become the opening chapter of that deal.
If Cheon Gangwol defeated Bijo.
And if I kept every one of Cheon Gangwol’s people alive.
For that to happen...
“You need to defeat Bijo with your own hands if you want to see your people alive again. I’ll say it again. Killing all your group members would benefit me anyway. They’re competitors.”
Cheon Gangwol had to prove something.
He had to accomplish something.
That would be the beginning of our deal.
If he could not even do that, I had no need for him.
“Do you truly have no compassion...?”
“Why? Did you think you were facing a saint? This is the Sacred Moon Divine Cult. Brothers send assassins after one another. Fathers throw sons who lost their martial arts into Ammajeong. There are probably even worse things if you look around. Compared to that, I’m pretty mild.”
“...”
“Now it’s time for your answer.”
Without international law or treaties restraining me, my negotiation skills had become terrifying.
Apparently, hostage negotiations suited me extremely well.
My words came without hesitation.
Cheon Gangwol bit his lip.
But the possible answers were limited.
Eventually, he spoke.
“...Fine. I’ll follow your conditions. But if even one of my people...! If any of them gets hurt...”
“As long as you complete the mission.”
“Stop talking around it. Promise clearly.”
“I promise.”
“Damn it. Even after getting a direct promise, I still don’t trust you.”
Naturally, he agreed.
If he had refused, there might have been blood.
The remaining problem now belonged completely to Cheon Gangwol.
As his final comment revealed, a promise was only words.
The last question was whether he could trust me.
But even that answer was fixed.
Whether he trusted me or not, there was nothing else he could do.
“What exactly do you want me to do?”
“The other seven will be handled by my five people. Your target is Bijo. Only him.”
“You’re confident. Don’t blame me if your people die or get hurt.”
“Of course. I don’t expect you to handle anyone else. My people need to practice fighting together anyway. That’s one reason I’m staying out.”
“...Must be nice.”
“The moment you defeat Bijo, all your people are released. I’ll personally give them antidotes too. My people will unseal your pressure points near Bijo’s base. And if you act unexpectedly, Myeonghwa will fire a whistling arrow. The moment that whistle sounds, say goodbye to your people.”
“...Watch that mouth of yours.”
I explained Cheon Gangwol’s mission kindly and in detail.
He kept a bitter expression.
All he could do was nod.
“Last piece of advice from your older brother. When you fight Bijo, don’t behave like you did against me. Ask yourself what matters more, the method or the result. Stiffness isn’t the same thing as strength. Think about why you lost to me.”
“...You talk too much. Move.”
Before sending my younger brother on a difficult mission, I even gave him advice.
At this point, I might be in the top one percent of older brothers.
I almost felt proud of myself.
Unfortunately, my younger brother’s response was not very affectionate.
“You should hurry. The sun sets early inside Ammajeong.”
Cheon Gangwol was taken away by Jintae and Jinsu.
The rest of my group headed toward Bijo’s base with him.
The sun was already past its highest point.
Moonrise was not that far away.
“...What a troublesome job.”
Cheon Gangwol muttered bitterly while walking with his arms tied behind him.
It was unclear who he was speaking to.
Perhaps he was simply throwing empty words toward the unfamiliar people around him.
Fortunately...
“Try looking at it positively.”
Someone answered.
It was Ma Cheonho, the spearman with whom Cheon Gangwol had exchanged blows earlier.
“Your tone changed.”
“Well. On the battlefield, people can speak casually even to a king, can’t they?”
“Hmph. A king, huh? Empty flattery.”
“I wasn’t saying you’re the king. I’m only being polite because you’re our lord’s younger brother.”
“Younger brother? Have you ever seen an older brother treat his younger brother this way?”
“I’ve never seen a younger brother scream at his older brother like that either.”
“Hmph. I never considered that underhanded bastard my brother.”
“It’s efficient. You’ll understand when you look at the results.”
“...Cheon Sowol must recruit people based on how well they argue.”
Cheon Gangwol had been stronger in martial arts.
But not in verbal combat.
Unable to beat Ma Cheonho’s endless logic, he finally shut his mouth and focused on walking.
Then he noticed something strange.
None of Cheon Sowol’s people hesitated.
They moved as if they already knew the exact route.
“...You know the way?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Obvious? Why?”
“We’ve been scouting every camp once every three days since we settled in. Young Master ordered it. We learned the exact locations long ago.”
“Not approximate locations?”
“Of course not. That’s why we successfully attacked your camp. Want me to tell you what you were doing last week?”
“...”
The foreign-looking girl gave him an answer he never expected.
Cheon Gangwol could not bring himself to verify whether she was telling the truth.
If it was true, then it made his own preparation look far too pathetic.
He realized that the reason for his defeat had begun long before today.
“We’ll unseal your pressure points from here.”
When they drew close to Bijo’s base, Na-gak released Cheon Gangwol’s pressure points and untied his hands.
Myeonghwa immediately placed a hand near the whistling arrow at her waist.
Cheon Gangwol shook his head as he rubbed his wrists.
“Your sword!”
“Here!”
“...Take your hand off that whistling arrow. You won’t need to use it.”
Even after receiving his treasured sword, Cheon Gangwol did nothing strange.
He could not.
The faces of his group members were clearly floating in his mind.
All he could do was tighten his grip.
“Where is Bijo?”
Everyone nearby could see that his eyes had changed.
Only then did Myeonghwa remove her hand from the whistling arrow.
Instead, she drew an ordinary arrow and aimed in one direction.
She pulled the string in her unique posture.
Energy gathered around the arrow.
Without hesitation, she released.
The powerful arrow tore through the wind.
Fweeeeng!
BOOM!
There could be no better sound to announce the beginning of battle.
