Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Martial Discipline Office

At the center of Kunlun stood an area filled with dozens of halls and training grounds.

And in the middle of all of them...

there was one building that looked completely ordinary.

Gray walls.

A black tiled roof.

Nothing about its exterior looked especially impressive.

But everyone living beneath Kunlun's roof understood the heavy authority hidden behind that plain appearance.

An old signboard hung above the main entrance.

Two rough characters were carved into it.

[Martial Discipline Office]

The organization responsible for Kunlun's rules and punishments.

A symbol of terrifying authority.

People passing nearby walked more carefully than usual.

Lowering their voices and bowing their heads as they passed had practically become custom.

And right now...

I was walking directly toward its entrance.

Surprisingly...

I wasn't alone.

Sogwang, Wang Dusik, and several other Event Hall workers were following behind me.

"S-So this is..."

Sogwang swallowed.

"the Martial Discipline Office?"

"My back feels cold just looking at it...."

"M-Mujin."

One of them whispered.

"Are we really going inside?"

Their voices trembled with fear.

I glanced backward.

"If you're this scared, why did you follow me?"

"I told you to stay quietly at the Event Hall."

"W-Well..."

Sogwang lowered his voice.

"If you came here alone and something happened to you..."

Wang Dusik nodded.

"Y-Yeah."

"If all of us explain what happened together, maybe nothing bad will happen."

I waved my hand dismissively.

"Relax."

"There's nothing to worry about."

"I can handle everything."

"B-But this is the Martial Discipline Office."

Sogwang looked terrified.

"People say you can walk in normally and come out half-dead..."

"Half-dead, my ass."

I snorted.

"We didn't commit any crime."

"What is there to fear?"

"Still...."

"Enough useless worrying."

I turned forward again.

"If you're going to keep following me, stay quiet and remain behind me."

The Event Hall workers nodded at the same time.

I had spoken to them harshly...

but honestly, I was a little moved.

They actually came with me.

They had overcome their fear of the Martial Discipline Office and followed me because they were worried something might happen to me.

They're loyal, at least.

My memories briefly returned to my previous life.

The days I suffered as a test subject in the Shadow Corps' underground prison.

Back then...

I could never form a deep connection with anyone.

Even if I occasionally met someone I got along with...

the relationship rarely lasted.

Someone who dreamed about escaping with me today might become a cold corpse tomorrow.

I always longed for human connection.

At the same time...

I feared losing people too much to truly accept it.

Those were sad and cruel days.

Maybe that was why...

seeing the Event Hall workers follow me despite their fear made something tighten inside my chest.

"Huu..."

I took a breath and steadied myself.

Then continued forward.

Soon...

we reached the main entrance of the Martial Discipline Office.

There wasn't even a guard standing outside.

Naturally.

Almost nobody came here voluntarily.

There was no reason to guard a place everyone feared entering.

I placed both hands against the gate.

Creeeeak.

The thick wooden doors opened.

Without hesitation...

I stepped inside.

Cold air brushed against my face the moment I crossed the threshold.

The first thing I noticed was how simple the interior looked despite the organization's terrifying reputation.

Bare gray walls surrounded the space.

There wasn't even a single decorative scroll.

The coldness inside only made the atmosphere more unsettling.

In the center of the wide room...

there was a single chair made of red sandalwood.

Someone sat upon it.

In front of that chair was a long rectangular space resembling a courtroom.

Martial artists wearing gray uniforms stood in lines on both sides.

Bright red bands wrapped around the ends of their sleeves.

Everyone in Kunlun knew what those bands represented.

The symbol of those who enforced Kunlun's laws.

Members of the Martial Discipline Office.

Unlike the plain room...

the solemn pressure radiating from them created a strange tension.

Then...

a sharp shout echoed from deeper inside.

"That's him!"

"He's the one who ambushed me at the Martial Training Hall and injured my fellow disciples with evil sorcery!"

I turned toward the voice.

A familiar face appeared.

Standing opposite the sandalwood chair and shouting like a madman...

was none other than that bastard Myeonghun.

One hand pointed directly at me.

And beside him stood the same group who had fled earlier.

He recovered already?

The bastard had been unconscious and coughing bloody foam.

Yet somehow, he had already recovered enough to come here and report me.

Maybe I should've broken his jaw completely.

I regretted holding back earlier.

"The people behind him are all accomplices!"

Myeonghun shouted.

"They conspired with Han Mujin to attack us..."

Then...

his eyes met mine.

His face instantly turned white.

Scared little bastard.

Apparently seeing me again reminded him exactly what had happened earlier.

It seemed Myeonghun needed one more lesson.

I pointed at him.

"Hey."

"Stay right there."

I was about to move toward him when...

the Martial Discipline Office warriors standing along the sides simultaneously stepped forward.

Their hands moved toward the swords on their backs as though rehearsed.

If I moved any farther...

they looked ready to draw and cut me down.

I paused to consider my next move.

Then...

"It's fine."

A low voice echoed through the room.

"Let him through."

At once...

the Martial Discipline Office warriors stepped back.

I turned toward the voice.

The person sitting in the sandalwood chair had spoken.

Is he the one in charge here?

Now that I knew they wouldn't stop me...

there was no reason to hesitate.

I walked forward.

The Event Hall workers cautiously followed behind me.

As I approached...

I could see the man in the chair more clearly.

He appeared to be in his mid-forties.

Several strands of gray ran through his black hair.

Deep wrinkles between his brows made him seem more burdened than his age suggested.

One arm supported his chin.

His eyes calmly observed me.

Clear...

yet cold.

His gaze carried a strange pressure.

Unlike the other Martial Discipline Office warriors...

his sleeves had three red bands instead of one.

Everyone in Kunlun knew what that meant.

The number of red bands showed rank within the organization.

One band meant an ordinary enforcer.

Two bands meant a middle-ranking officer.

Three bands meant...

the Hall Master of the Martial Discipline Office.

As expected.

My gaze naturally moved to someone standing beside him.

A young martial artist.

He looked around my age...

perhaps somewhere in his mid to late teens.

He had refined, handsome features.

Anyone would admit he was good-looking.

But as a man, I had no reason to care about another man's face.

Something else caught my attention.

...Two bands?

There were two red bands around his sleeves.

That meant he held a middle-ranking position inside the Martial Discipline Office.

At his age?

Of course that caught my attention.

Then the Hall Master spoke.

"Is that him?"

He looked toward Myeonghun.

"The one you claim used sorcery?"

Myeonghun nodded furiously.

"Yes!"

"That's him!"

"He's the one who used evil sorcery to ambush me and my companions!"

"Hmm..."

The Hall Master remained silent for a moment.

"Sorcery...."

Then he leaned away from the backrest and looked toward me.

"My name is Hyeonyul."

"I am the Hall Master of the Martial Discipline Office."

His voice carried heavy authority.

I didn't immediately respond.

I simply waited.

Hyeonyul continued.

"According to Taoist Myeonghun's report..."

"one week ago, you ambushed him during a Martial Training Hall lesson."

"And today, you attacked his fellow disciples as well."

Ambushed?

Attacked?

What bullshit.

They were the ones who did everything.

"There are also witnesses claiming you used sorcery during the incident."

Hyeonyul pointed toward Myeonghun's group.

I turned and glared at them.

"Eek!"

The moment our eyes met...

several of them jumped backward.

Pathetic bastards.

Hyeonyul and the young martial artist beside him watched both sides with strange expressions.

Then Hyeonyul spoke again.

"Although they are only testimonies, suspicion of sorcery cannot be ignored."

"And if you truly ambushed a Taoist assigned to teach at the Martial Training Hall..."

His gaze sharpened.

"that would be a serious crime directly violating Kunlun's laws."

The air inside the room suddenly turned icy.

Several Martial Discipline Office warriors moved their hands toward their swords again.

If things continued like this...

I would soon be treated as a criminal and judged immediately.

But I wasn't intimidated.

I looked directly into Hyeonyul's eyes.

"Everything he said is false."

"The incident at the Martial Training Hall was the opposite."

Hyeonyul's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Myeonghun tried to ambush me from behind."

"My master was the one who stopped him."

"...Your master?"

Hyeonyul raised an eyebrow.

Myeonghun immediately started shouting.

"Master?!"

"That's nonsense!"

"You're nothing but an Event Hall servant! How could someone like you possibly have a master?!"

Sogwang immediately stepped forward behind me.

"That's not true!"

His voice shook...

but he raised it anyway.

"Mujin is telling the truth!"

"Someone else defeated Taoist Myeonghun!"

Hyeonyul turned toward Sogwang.

"Who was it?"

"Who defeated Taoist Myeonghun?"

"That..."

Sogwang looked frustrated.

"I don't know."

"I'd never seen him before."

"He was an enormous man, almost built like a bear."

"After defeating Taoist Myeonghun, he carried Mujin away and flew into the sky."

"Everyone at the Martial Training Hall saw it."

It was only natural that Sogwang didn't recognize Jin Gwangung.

The old man almost never appeared in public.

And Event Hall workers, who handled Kunlun's lowest chores, had practically no chance of meeting someone at the level of a First Elder.

I was different.

From the moment I reincarnated into the martial world...

I had been obsessed with somehow learning martial arts and shaking the world.

So whenever I had the chance, I listened for information about Kunlun's major organizations and famous experts.

That was why I knew the sect's structure and martial artists unusually well.

Regardless...

I was genuinely moved by Sogwang speaking up for me.

Even ordinary Taoists often became too frightened to speak properly after entering the Martial Discipline Office.

Yet Sogwang, an ordinary worker, had overcome that pressure and testified.

That wasn't easy.

Hyeonyul seemed to find Sogwang's statement reasonable.

He turned toward Myeonghun.

"Do you have anything to say?"

"According to them, someone else attacked you at the Martial Training Hall."

"They even claim there are many witnesses."

Myeonghun smiled maliciously.

"Hall Master Hyeonyul."

"If what that boy just said is true..."

His voice became dramatic.

"then Han Mujin may be an even greater danger to Kunlun than we thought."

"A danger?"

"Yes."

Myeonghun pointed directly at me.

"You heard him."

"Someone else attacked me, and that person took Han Mujin away afterward."

He raised his voice.

"Han Mujin is an Event Hall servant."

"How could someone so insignificant defeat me and my fellow disciples in a single blow?"

"And he used bizarre sorcery none of us had ever seen!"

Hyeonyul's gaze shifted slightly.

Myeonghun noticed and became even more excited.

"After Han Mujin disappeared from the Martial Training Hall..."

"we searched all of Kunlun for an entire week."

"But there was no trace of him anywhere inside the sect."

Myeonghun took a breath.

"Which means..."

"Han Mujin was outside Kunlun."

Hyeonyul's voice remained short.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

Myeonghun gave an exaggerated sigh.

"Haa..."

Then his expression became serious.

"Hall Master, you know them as well."

"Those who secretly build their strength near Kunlun while threatening the peace of the martial world...."

Hyeonyul's eyes hardened.

"...You mean?"

Myeonghun smiled.

"The Demonic Cult."

The entire Martial Discipline Office fell silent.

Myeonghun continued with a meaningful expression.

"Han Mujin is a spy of the Demonic Cult."

Then he pointed at me again.

"And the so-called 'master' who took him away..."

"must also be one of the Demonic Cult's people!"

The moment those words fell...

the atmosphere inside the Martial Discipline Office turned freezing cold.

Every gaze immediately focused on me.

Fear.

Shock.

Suspicion.

All of it was mixed together.

I faced every one of those looks head-on.

Then...

I sighed internally.

Haa...

This bastard really did it now.