Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 264 – Clue (4)

“I heard that Fire Faith Order believer could foresee the future by receiving revelations from something called the Holy Fire or something.”

‘!?’

At those words, Mok Gyeong-un raised one eyebrow and tilted his head.

“Foresee the future?”

In response to Mok Gyeong-un’s question, Associate Military Commissioner Sang Ik-seo replied:

“Yes… I don’t know if it’s true or not, but there was quite a lot of talk about it among the higher-ups, enough to make a fuss.”

“Foresee…”

Foresee the future.

Was such a thing really possible?

Beyond being interesting or fascinating, Mok Gyeong-un believed it was completely impossible.

In the first place, if it was truly possible, there was no way the Fire Faith Order believers couldn’t have prevented being persecuted and ending up like this.

‘However… if we assume it’s possible, it would be an ability that everyone would covet.’

Being able to know what would happen in the future was a tremendous ability.

It meant having the advantage of being able to prepare for future events.

‘It’s becoming confusing.’

It became ambiguous whether the Society Leader was targeting the Holy Fire Spirit Orb because he was in league with the organization with the mark, or because of this foresight ability.

Because if it was the foresight ability, it would be a rare ability that anyone would covet.

However, there was something to point out here.

“But didn’t you just say that this person could foresee the future?”

“Yes.”

“That sounds as if that believer can’t foresee it now.”

“…”

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Sang Ik-seo inwardly clicked his tongue.

He didn’t miss even the smallest detail.

“Am I wrong?”

“…You’re right. I don’t know if that believer was able to do it before and lost the ability, or if the believer couldn’t do it from the beginning and was just lying, but currently, that person can’t foresee the future.”

“How do you know that?”

“At first, we thought the believer might be deceiving us with lies, so we tested them several times. For example, we presented a cup with poison and one without and had the believer distinguish between them, and even with tests that could endanger their life, the believer really couldn’t foresee anything.”

“It turned out to be a meaningless act.”

“Yes. However, thanks to that, the higher-ups who had judged that the Fire Faith Order believer had nothing special lost interest. No, it almost disappeared.”

“Hmm. But keeping that person imprisoned is just in case?”

“I think that’s probably the case. If, by a slim chance, they find that Treasure Orb that the Fire Faith Order believer is desperately trying to hide, it might become possible to foresee… ugh.”

At that moment, Associate Military Commissioner Sang Ik-seo stopped mid-sentence, clutched his abdomen, and groaned.

His face was pale and had a purplish tint, indicating his condition was not good.

It was a symptom of the poison spreading beyond his viscera to his entire body.

It seemed he couldn’t endure it any longer.

“Ugh.”

Perhaps due to that influence.

Associate Military Commissioner Sang Ik-seo vomited black blood along with his retching.

A foul smell rose from the black blood that fell to the floor.

“I- I’m going to… die… pl- please save…”

“Hmm.”

Sang Ik-seo, who had vomited blood, looked at Mok Gyeong-un with pleading eyes while crawling on the floor.

Mok Gyeong-un, who was looking down at him with a dry gaze, shook his head and then made a cut on his finger, opening Sang Ik-seo’s jaw.

“Eat it.”

-Drip drip!

Mok Gyeong-un’s blood entered Sang Ik-seo’s mouth.

Although he was puzzled by suddenly being told to drink blood, Sang Ik-seo, with a strong desire to live, swallowed it down his throat as instructed.

Then, the pain that felt like it was burning his viscera and his entire body began to subside.

“Huh?”

“You’ll be fine for a while.”

“For a while?”

“If you don’t do this periodically, you’ll have seizures like now and your breath will stop.”

Strictly speaking, this wasn’t detoxification.

It was the principle of suppressing poison with poison based on the principle of fighting poison with poison.

At Mok Gyeong-un’s words, Associate Military Commissioner Sang Ik-seo’s expression stiffened.

“We- weren’t you going to detoxify me?”

“I never said that.”

“What do you mean!”

-Squeeze!

“Ugh!”

Mok Gyeong-un grabbed Associate Military Commissioner Sang Ik-seo’s cheeks with his hand and smiled, saying:

“There’s a strict difference between saying I’ll save your life and that.”

‘Th- this!’

Did he never intend to detoxify him from the beginning?

Mok Gyeong-un whispered in the ear of the bewildered Sang Ik-seo, who realized he had been deceived.

“Since you’ve tried controlling someone with poison, being controlled in reverse wouldn’t be so bad.”

At those words, Thousand-men Commander Ma Ra-hyeon of the Embroidered Uniform Guard flashed through Sang Ik-seo’s mind.

Sang Ik-seo had used Ma Ra-hyeon with the Gu Poison.

But now, he was about to be controlled by this person, addicted to the poison.

This was literally the consequence of one’s actions.

***

Mok Gyeong-un, who was moving secretly after finishing his business, was lost in thought.

Although he had obtained much more information than before, many things were still ambiguous.

Especially since many parts he didn’t know about his grandfather’s death had been revealed, he was becoming more and more curious.

‘What kind of relationship did my grandfather have with them?’

Why had the organization with the mark targeted his grandfather?

And who had really killed his grandfather?

The key figure who could solve all these questions was none other than Ghost Blade.

‘Ghost Blade…’

Coincidentally, everything was leading to him.

To contact him, the urgent task was to contact the Society Leader.

Another coincidence here was the Holy Fire Spirit Orb.

That was because, like his grandfather, the organization with the mark was targeting this Holy Fire Spirit Orb.

No, to be precise, they seemed to want the Holy Fire Spirit Orb’s ability.

‘Foresight ability.’

He still didn’t believe it, but if it was possible, it would be a rare ability that everyone would target, not just the organization with the mark.

The Holy Fire Spirit Orb, who possessed this ability, could also be a clue to solving part of the mystery.

At least, regardless of the truth of that ability, the person himself would clearly know why the organization with the mark was targeting him.

‘If we find out that reason, it will be useful.’

The Sect Leader, the organization with the mark, the Fire Faith Order.

All of them were targeting the Holy Fire Spirit Orb.

If he secured this person’s whereabouts before them, he could use it as leverage to obtain everything he wanted.

He would also be able to find out their hidden relationship.

***

Embroidered Uniform Guard Sixth Office of Selection.

The masked Embroidered Uniform Guard Thousand-men Commander Ma Ra-hyeon was pacing back and forth in the office with an anxious gaze.

What the hell was that Mok Gyeong-un doing?

He had gone saying he would talk, but what he was doing was questionable.

‘Should I have followed him?’

If things went wrong, it was he who would lose his life due to the Gu Poison.

He didn’t know that entrusting his life to someone else would make him so anxious.

But if he thought about it, if he had moved with Mok Gyeong-un and got caught, it might have backfired and he would have been caught instead.

Either way, there was nothing he could do.

As Ma Ra-hyeon was anxiously circling around the guest table, his eyes with the Wall Eye technique trembled.

-Throb!

A sudden intense pain felt in his abdomen.

This wasn’t just a simple pain.

Startled by the intense pain as if something was gnawing at his abdomen, Ma Ra-hyeon clutched his stomach and knelt on one knee.

-Thud!

“Ugh.”

Along with the pain transmitted to his danjeon, he even felt his intestines twisting.

Ma Ra-hyeon instinctively believed that this was due to the Gu Poison.

‘Di- did something go wrong?’

Otherwise, there was no way he would feel this kind of pain.

Had trusting that Mok Gyeong-un become a mistake?

Ma Ra-hyeon gritted his teeth.

If that guy had failed and Associate Military Commissioner Sang Ik-seo had triggered the Gu Poison, he was as good as dead.

If he was going to die anyway, he had to do everything he could.

The pain was so severe that he wanted to curl up and roll around while clutching his stomach, but Ma Ra-hyeon endured it with superhuman patience and sat cross-legged.

‘Let’s try to expel the Gu Poison with true energy.’

That was the only thing he could do right now.

Fortunately, unlike the threat he had heard from Associate Military Commissioner Sang Ik-seo, the Gu Poison was rampaging without touching his danjeon, so it seemed he could draw out his true energy.

“Phew.”

Ma Ra-hyeon drew out his true energy and sent it to where the Gu Poison was rampaging.

He moved his energy as delicately as possible to control the Gu Poison, but…

-Throb!

The moment he sent his energy near it, the Gu Poison became even more violent and injured his internal organs.

It would be painful enough to just be injured, but the Gu Poison was literally a poison.

The moment the Gu Poison bit, a deadly poison spread to his organs.

“Uuugh.”

Ma Ra-hyeon, who had tried to endure it with superhuman patience, eventually broke his cross-legged position and writhed in pain.

He was in no condition to move delicately, let alone use true energy.

-Clatter!

In the midst of that, his mask fell off, but Ma Ra-hyeon was in too much pain to even be aware of it.

His eyes with the Wall Eye technique rolled back, and he convulsed all over his body.

Purple blood vessels were rising on his face, and his condition was rapidly deteriorating.

‘Is- is this how I die?’

Ma Ra-hyeon, whose consciousness was gradually fading, sensed his own death.

As the final moment approached, everything flashed before his eyes like a montage.

[Your father… came from a very far place in the west with a mission… Don’t resent him too much.]

The last words his mother had said about that damned man before her passing also came to mind.

Why was this suddenly coming to mind?

Thinking that he would die without having accomplished anything, everything felt futile.

The only consolation was that he hadn’t caused trouble for his mentor, Soyerin, the Thousand-men Commander.

With the evidence like this, she, being clever, would be able to catch Associate Military Commissioner Sang Ik-seo.

“Ugh…”

His consciousness was gradually fading away.

It was at that moment.

-Shwip!

Someone placed their hands on Ma Ra-hyeon’s abdomen and the Baihui acupoint on the top of his head.

Then something surged into his body.

‘!?’

Ma Ra-hyeon’s eyes, which had been closing, opened wide.

Ma Ra-hyeon’s eyes trembled.

The energy surging into his body was different from the internal energy that exhibited the usual nourishing energy.

This wasn’t the true energy he knew.

It was like an endless darkness entering, reminiscent of an abyss.

And within that darkness…

-Woooosh!

There was something brutal to the point of despair.

‘Wh- what the hell is this…’

Ma Ra-hyeon was gripped by a strange feeling at this unknown brutal energy he had never experienced before.

He should have rejected this dangerous energy, but instead, he gradually became accustomed to it along with a thrill.

No, it was more accurate to say that he was being rapidly eroded.

-Sizzle!

At some point, black haze began to flow out from Ma Ra-hyeon’s entire body.

It was none other than demonic energy.