Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 268 – The Fourth Office (4)

“Mmph.”

Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol groaned and tried to twist his body.

The moment that poisonous needle flickering in front of his eyes pierced his eyeball, he could even become mentally disabled, so he wanted to avoid it at all costs.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un chuckled and slightly pulled out one of the needles embedded in his spine.

As the needle was pulled out, Im Gyu-wol’s waist, which had been arched like a bow, straightened.

“Gasp… gasp… Y- you bastard!”

“Bastard? You better be careful with your attitude.”

-Grind!

At Mok Gyeong-un’s low warning, Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol gritted his teeth.

He wanted to subdue the guy and make him pull out the needles right away, but if he made a mistake and ended up paralyzed, his life in the Imperial Palace would be over.

“…What the hell are you doing this for? Aren’t you afraid of the consequences?”

“Consequences? Did you just say consequences?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

“I’m curious about how you’ll repay the consequences if you become mentally disabled.”

“…”

Im Gyu-wol couldn’t say anything to Mok Gyeong-un’s mocking words.

As the guy said, if he became unable to even recognize anything, he couldn’t do anything about consequences or whatnot.

Im Gyu-wol glared at Mok Gyeong-un as if he was resentful and opened his mouth.

“What the hell do you want?”

“I’m glad you’re someone who can be reasoned with.”

“…”

What did he mean by being reasoned with after sticking needles in his spine and holding a poisonous needle to his eye?

His insides were boiling, but Im Gyu-wol tried hard to suppress it.

If he could escape this crisis, there would always be an opportunity for revenge.

“Before I tell you what I want, let’s hear what Thousand-men Commander Im was trying to do first.”

At that question, Im Gyu-wol flinched for a moment.

That was because, before coming here, he had plotted with the fake Prison Battlefield Maps to trap Mok Gyeong-un, who had Trainee Bae Ji-seok’s face, and Trainee Joo Woonhyang.

Naturally, he couldn’t help but be perplexed when asked about it.

So he played dumb.

“…What are you talking about?”

“You surely know what I’m talking about.”

“What do you mean? I’m the examiner testing you apprentice trainees. Are you saying that I, as the examiner, was trying to do something to you guys?”

“Hmm.”

“If you think it’s because of what happened earlier, I’ve already forgotten about it. So…”

-Squeeze!

“Ugh.”

Mok Gyeong-un grabbed his cheeks with his hand.

And he slowly applied force to his hand.

Then…

“Uuugh!”

Due to the force applied to his cheeks, his cheekbones and teeth hurt as if they would break.

To the suffering Im Gyu-wol, Mok Gyeong-un whispered in his ear:

“For someone who has forgotten, your eyes have been bad the whole time, so it’s been bothering me. Someone with such eyes wouldn’t just let it go without doing anything.”

“Nnoo… I… ddin’t.”

“I can’t trust you. It seems too much to make you paralyzed, so if I end it by making you mentally disabled, I won’t have to worry about the Thousand-men Commander either.”

-Shwip!

Mok Gyeong-un brought the poisonous needle to his eye.

Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol, who thought it was a threat to make him speak, vowed to endure it no matter what.

However, that didn’t last long.

It was because of Mok Gyeong-un’s expression as he smiled at him.

He was smiling as if he was enjoying it, and that smile was filled with nothing but malice.

‘He’ll do it. This bastard will definitely do it.’

Normally, one would think it was a simple threat.

Because anyone who wanted to become an Embroidered Uniform Guard would know that they shouldn’t make enemies with the examiner testing them.

But this bastard’s expression and eyes showed that he didn’t care about that at all.

So Im Gyu-wol hurriedly spoke:

“Gi- gib me bonus… points… to fail… selection…”

“You tried to give bonus points to fail us in the Embroidered Uniform Guard selection?”

“Ye- yes.”

Im Gyu-wol lied as plausibly as possible.

If he told the truth according to his real plan, not only would this bastard not leave him alone, but his revenge for what he had done now would also fly away.

Still, he thought he had spoken plausibly, so he might be deceived, but he couldn’t help but feel nervous.

At that moment, Mok Gyeong-un nodded and said:

“Well, you used your brain to some extent. Such a way of revenge…”

-Shwip!

Mok Gyeong-un let go of the hand he was gripping.

“Phew… phew…”

Then, Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol inwardly felt relieved.

He was worried that this bastard might not believe him and probe further, but fortunately, he seemed to have been deceived.

But at that very moment…

-Flick!

Mok Gyeong-un was seen curling his middle finger towards his forehead and fixing it with his thumb.

Seeing this, Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol furrowed his brows.

‘A flick?’

-Smack!

The flicked middle finger struck his forehead with great force.

At the tremendous impact that seemed to pierce through his forehead and penetrate his brain, Im Gyu-wol’s eyes widened as if they would tear, and a scream was about to burst out of his mouth.

Of course, Mok Gyeong-un covered his mouth, so he couldn’t scream.

“Uuugh.”

To the suffering Im Gyu-wol, Mok Gyeong-un said with a smile:

“Did you think I would believe that? If you had planned to take revenge in such a childish way, you would have given me penalty points instead of bonus points earlier.”

“Uuugh.”

“I can’t believe it. Tell me what you originally had in mind, step by step. I’ll only let it slide once.”

With those words, Mok Gyeong-un held up the poisonous needle and waved it.

Im Gyu-wol, who had lost his senses from a single flick, drooled and blankly stared at it.

The force behind the flick was so strong that he even had the illusion that his forehead bone was cracked, no, shattered.

“Your answer is late.”

“Un- underground prison… give wrong Prison Battlefield Map… to get lost.”

“Wrong Prison Battlefield Map?”

“Yes.”

Come to think of it, he had heard that the underground prison was so vast that it was like a maze.

Without the Prison Battlefield Map, one could even lose their life by wandering and falling into the prison’s mechanical trap.

At this, the corners of Mok Gyeong-un’s mouth slightly rose.

“Now it sounds more plausible.”

“…”

“Where is that wrong Prison Battlefield Map?”

“In… Fourth Office… office.”

“If it’s not there, I might as well stab this needle into your eyeball without wasting time. It’s bothersome to talk more.”

“It’s not a lie. There are two maps marked with red thread, different from the other Prison Battlefield Maps. Those are the ones.”

At his words, Mok Gyeong-un was convinced that it was true this time.

Words alone certainly couldn’t be trusted.

But if there was something prepared like this, it was definite.

Moreover, not one, but two maps.

The targets were also clear.

‘Me and Joo Woonhyang.’

So Mok Gyeong-un placed his hand on Im Gyu-wol’s shoulder and said:

“If you had told me this from the beginning, we wouldn’t have had to go through this trouble.”

“…I absolutely won’t do anything reckless. So please end it here. I won’t give you penalty points or do anything like that either.”

“Of course you shouldn’t. But I haven’t even gotten to the main point yet.”

“Main point?”

“Yes. Actually, I have no interest in the Embroidered Uniform Guard selection or whatnot.”

“What?”

What the hell did this mean?

The Imperial Guard training was the Embroidered Uniform Guard selection process.

If he participated in it, what did he mean by having no interest?

To the puzzled Im Gyu-wol, Mok Gyeong-un nonchalantly said:

“Rather than that, I’d like to quietly take out the person I want from the underground prison. It would be much easier if Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol, the head of the Fourth Office who manages it, helped me.”

‘!!!!!!!’

At Mok Gyeong-un’s completely unexpected words, Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol’s eyes widened.

Wasn’t this saying to help a convicted criminal imprisoned in the underground prison escape?

And he was asking him, the one who managed the prison, to help with that?

So Im Gyu-wol spoke in a flabbergasted tone:

“Are you crazy? Even though I’m suffering like this because I made an enemy out of you, I’m the head of the Fourth Office. Do you think I would help a prisoner escape from the underground prison?”

Im Gyu-wol showed his pride and spirit as an Embroidered Uniform Guard for the first time.

He even showed a strong determination, as if this was something he absolutely couldn’t help with.

To him, Mok Gyeong-un said with a smile:

“I told you there wouldn’t be a second warning.”

“Th- this is something I can’t do. Even if you threaten me.”

“Oho. You want to show me your will? Then shall we change that method of threat a little?”

“What?”

“You’ve been embezzling funds all this time whenever you moved departments to help the Grand Preceptor Hang Yoon’s faction, right?”

‘!?’

At those words, the eyes of Im Gyu-wol, who had shown his will, trembled.

He had been collecting funds by manipulating the ledgers as much as possible to avoid detection.

No one had noticed until now, so how did this bastard know?

“Wh- what are you talking about?”

Im Gyu-wol strongly denied it.

Then, Mok Gyeong-un took out a book from his bosom.

Seeing this, Im Gyu-wol’s expression stiffened.

It was none other than the secret ledger he had hidden in his office.

‘Wh- why is that?’

In that bastard’s hand?

Of course, this was…

[This is a part of the secret ledgers hidden in a secret place in the Fourth Office. I took it because I thought it would be useful.]

It was something Mok Gyeong-un’s subordinate, Mong Mu-yak, had secretly entered the Fourth Office’s office and took.

They thought the embezzlement ledger could be used to pressure him as the head of the Fourth Office.

And now it was being used usefully like this.

“If the higher-ups of Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol find out about this, it doesn’t seem like it would be good for you. If you’re unlucky, you might end up imprisoned in the Imperial Palace’s prison. It would be interesting. The prison manager being imprisoned in the prison he managed.”

These words from Mok Gyeong-un eventually became the deciding factor.

Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol finally surrendered and lowered his head deeply.

After agreeing to everything Mok Gyeong-un wanted, he wrote a document and stamped it with the Fourth Office’s official seal and his own seal.

Of course, Mok Gyeong-un didn’t stop there and also made him addicted to poison, just like he had done to Associate Military Commissioner Sang Ik-seo.

At this level of thoroughness, Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol clicked his tongue.

As Mok Gyeong-un was about to leave his quarters, he asked out of curiosity:

“But why are you targeting Trainee Joo Woonhyang?”

He was already curious about this.

He knew that Joo Woonhyang had quite a few enemies, but he suddenly wondered why he was targeting her.

At Mok Gyeong-un’s question, Im Gyu-wol didn’t want to answer, but he had already been caught by his weakness, so he reluctantly replied:

“…Because of Thousand-men Commander So Yerin.”

‘!?’

Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head and asked again:

“Thousand-men Commander So Yerin?”

“Yes.”

“Did you have a problem with her?”

“…I have no problem with her. I was just annoyed that Thousand-men Commander So Yerin, who is strict in public and private matters, was paying attention to that bastard Joo Woonhyang.”

“Ha!”

Mok Gyeong-un burst into laughter at the unexpected answer, thinking there might be another reason.

The reason he had suddenly acted emotionally turned out to be stemming from emotions.

‘Jealousy.’

Humans seem inefficient because of their emotions.

Mok Gyeong-un shook his head and left his quarters.

***

Not long after Mok Gyeong-un left, Thousand-men Commander Im Gyu-wol, who judged that he had completely disappeared, couldn’t contain his anger and vented his frustration by breaking everything in his quarters.

-Bang bang!

This was the first time in his life that he had experienced such humiliation.

Not only was he threatened and had his weakness caught, but he was even addicted to poison.

If he didn’t vent this anger somewhere, he felt like he wouldn’t be able to endure it.

-Bang!

He even smashed his own bed.

Only after breaking almost everything inside did he seem to calm down a bit. Im Gyu-wol, who sat on the floor, gritted his teeth and muttered in a small voice:

-Grind!

“Don’t think this is over. I will definitely pay you back somehow.”

He made a vow for the future.

Even if it took ten years, it wasn’t too late for a man’s revenge.

To the bastard who had given him such humiliation, he would definitely repay it equally, no, twice, three times…

“What will you repay?”

‘!?’

At that moment, Im Gyu-wol’s expression stiffened at the voice coming from behind.

There was no presence felt behind him at all.

Had he heard an illusion?

As he turned his head with a tense expression, Mok Gyeong-un was standing at the door of his quarters, holding two scrolls of the fake Prison Battlefield Maps.

‘Ah…’