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Chapter 102 - Dark Ploy (1)
Sa Muheo, a member of the teachers of Heavenly Upbringing, was lying on the prison floor.
He recalled the conversation he had for a moment in the past.
[Which side do you want to be on? Of all the brothers.]
At that question, Sa Muheo had managed to calm himself down and then said.
[I will repay this debt twice over.]
Without that man’s help, he would not be able to escape this situation. The man in front of him was the last gamble he could make.
Oh Muyang then left after saying that he liked his decision.
[As expected, I like you. If we can get rid of this useless friction between us, we can always go down the same path. Well, your decision makes sense.]
[There are two things.]
[Say it one at a time.]
Actually, there was one thing he wanted the most, which was to get out of this academy as soon as possible. However, his current condition wouldn’t allow that to happen.
[Firstly…]
[Of course, you want out of this place, right?]
[… right. And…]
[And the second is to restore your body to normal quickly?]
Oh Muyang stroked his beard and smiled. At that, Sa Muheo snorted.
[My body isn’t important; there is something more urgent than that.]
[More urgent?]
[That guy has to be killed.]
[That guy?]
[Mumu!]
He didn’t know if it was Mumu’s skills or the items he had on him, but his power was beastlike and beyond common sense. The whole academy would be turned upside down if Mumu was left alone.
The variables would also only increase with his continued presence. At that request, Oh Muyang smiled.
[Your second request… is already in progress.]
[What?]
‘Dealing with your enemies with force isn’t the only answer. I will teach you that this time.’
In the end, the stage had been set properly. Oh Muyang then glanced over somewhere.
Tatak.
As he walked through the crowd, a member of the guards knelt in front of him, put his hands together, and reported politely.
“Supervisor, we have a problem!”
At those words, everyone looked at the guard. Oh Muyang then asked without changing his expression.
“What is the problem?”
“Inspector Noh Ik-bong, who had been resting in the dorms, died due to his wounds.”
“What!?”
Oh Muyang reacted as if he was shocked. But of course, he already knew about it. It was he who planned it after all.
‘What?!’
On the other hand, the headmaster was genuinely shocked.
If the guard’s report mentioned Noh Ik-bong, then wasn’t that the man that was hit by Mumu’s power? How could he die now?
This could lead to a severe misunderstanding.
‘They might think it was because of Mumu.’
No, that was what they would definitely say.
The headmaster’s gaze then turned to Oh Muyang whose shock turned into anger, his face reddening.
‘This is bad.’
At this, the headmaster decided to act and said,
“Supervisor. Please do not get angry right now. Something wrong must have happened. You cannot let your emotions…”
“An inspector died at the hands of a student! How can you even say that I shouldn’t let my emotions control me!”
Oh Muyang shouted, cutting off the man’s words. Everyone was shocked at this outburst.
“What was that?”
“Someone died at the hands of a student?”
Oh Muyang was enjoying this situation internally. In some situations, one could get things done better using their heads and schemes. This was one such situation.
‘How many situations can someone create? This is both a ruse and a dark choice.’
Right now.
That was his method of achieving his goal.
Oh Muyang continued to use this atmosphere and pointed his finger at Mumu.
“I don’t know whether or not the student is learning martial arts. However, at the time, I couldn’t help but be concerned when I saw the inspector receive the student’s blow to his head. Surely the headmaster had said then that there would be no problem, right?”
The headmaster frowned at Oh Muyang’s demanding attitude.
At that time, he inspected Noh Ik-bong’s condition and concluded that the man wasn’t severely injured. However, his sudden death wasn’t what made Oh Muyang act like this.
‘Something else is happening.’
This man had a goal.
He decided to speak as they were being dragged and targeted like this.
“Supervisor. Please listen to what I have to say. We all checked the deceased’s condition then, and his life wasn’t threatened…”
“No matter how much you dislike this situation, the academy’s headmaster cannot do such things to prevent us from investigating!”
“…what is that supposed to mean?”
Oh Muyang looked at the official who had reported to him and said.
“Tell the headmaster who you are.”
‘Who he is?’
The headmaster was slightly puzzled by that demand, and the guard said.
“Supervisor. I am called Jong Gak, the physician in charge of the Imperial Family.”
‘A physician!’
The headmaster frowned. He didn’t know that they had brought physicians with them.
If he was the royal physician, then he had to be skilled. It could be said that those who took care of the Imperial Family were guaranteed to be very skilled.
Oh Muyang then said,
“Tell me. What did Noh Ik-bong’s condition look like? Please give us the details.”
“Inspector Noh Ik-bong had informed me that he had received a strong impact to his face and head. Damage to this body part could impact two key blood regions, all of which could put someone’s life in danger.”
“Hear that?”
Oh Muyang asked him so clearly, which only increased the headmaster’s doubt. Although he wasn’t a physician, most martial artists would know various blood points and the flow of blood in human bodies.
A warrior who was skilled enough would be able to simply use their hands to check for any injuries.
‘They are aiming for this.’
However, his own words wouldn’t mean much when put against a physician’s. It was also quite suspicious that the person who had come to report was a physician in a guard’s uniform.
This was intentional, and their purpose was something else.
‘Is it to forcibly increase their influence over the academy as well as demand the resumption of the investigation?’
The headmaster could think of a few things the Imperial Palace would love to have their hands in. The resumption of the investigation was clearly a target from the start, so that’s an obvious demand.
‘Such a poisonous man.’
The headmaster didn’t like this.
Even if this was done on purpose, killing an inspector seemed too much just to get such a task done.
“Will you still deny it?”
“Supervisor. Of course, if the palace physician checked, it is likely accurate, and the probability of misdiagnosis is low, but at that time, the deputy and I were…”
“This cannot be. You can’t be asking us just to let this go?”
“…what?”
“Our officials came here on official duty, and now one of them is dead. How could you think about asking us just to let this pass? Hear me, all inspectors! Arrest the academy student who killed our man!”
“Yes!”
Srng!
As soon as he said that, the imperial officers there pulled their weapons out.
As they began to encircle Mumu, Yu Jin-sung came forward and hurriedly knelt on one knee, clasped his hands together, and exclaimed politely.
“Please wait for a moment, supervisor!”
“Inspector Yu, stop that!”
“There seems to be some misunderstanding. At that time, I, too, checked the condition of Noh Ik-bong. His injury wasn’t to that extent…”
“Uh! How could a person who receives payment from the Imperial Palace take the side of a criminal simply because he is family?”
Yu Jin-sung went silent at this. He realized that this was his trap.
‘Is this it?’
He had guessed that the investigation had a different purpose. He had been careful to avoid the obvious traps, but this man had created another situation, resulting in Yu Jin-sung coming and falling by his own actions.
But,
‘I didn’t become an inspector for the sake of wealth or fame!’
Yu Jin-sung, who thought that resolutely, put his hands together again and said.
“It is not so! Although there was no chance that the Royal Physician could make an error in his diagnosis, everyone there, including the headmaster, the deputy and myself, had checked his condition immediately. Perhaps someone else had come over and done this to Inspector Noh.”
At those words, Oh Muyang laughed inside.
At this point, even if the truth was revealed, Yu Jin-sung was clearly willingly siding with his family.
‘You are sacrificing yourself for someone who isn’t even your blood.’
This was touching.
He thought Yu Jin-sung wouldn’t interfere unless it involved his real brother. While this was unexpected, Oh Muyang then said.
“Our men were guarding inspector Noh Ik-bong. Who would go and touch him?”
“That…”
Yu Jin-sung couldn’t answer.
‘It could be the work of an insider.’
But if he said that, he would be casting doubt on his own people. He, too, would become suspected of being a treacherous insider.
Oh Muyang’s goal was becoming clearer.
Time seemed to pass too slowly now.
Yu Jin-sung looked at Mumu, who was standing there.
‘Even if we don’t share blood, you are my younger brother and a member of our family.’
If the older brother didn’t protect him, then who would?
And so he said,
“This…”
‘Right. Say it.’
Oh Muyang was enjoying this. Yu Jin-sung was looking like he was giving in.
“Stop this!”
A loud shout could be heard.
Everyone turned their gaze towards the source of the voice, and through the crowd walked the deputy, Dan Pil-hoo.
Dan Pil-hoo, who came in this manner, approached Yu Jin-sung and then looked at Oh Muyang with a polite expression.
Yu Jin-sung was quite puzzled. But Dan Pil-hoo didn’t look at him again and said,
“Don’t try stepping into the dirty water. This is something that I excel at.”
‘!?’
What did that mean?
Why was a deputy acting like this? Well, Dan Pil-hoo answered that silent question.
“I have something to tell you.”
“I know what you will say, so I have no interest in it. We need to arrest the murderer right now.”
“It is an urgent matter.”
‘Urgent? Huh.’
Oh Muyang snorted. No one would be able to stop this now.
If they tried to stop them by force, it would only give him more reason to intervene. Dan Pil-hoo then continued.
“Supervisor Oh. I am not sure how to tell this news to you, but… all of the officers guarding the dorm room where Inspector Noh Ik-bong had been resting were all killed.”
‘!?’
Whisper!
This statement sent ripples of shock through the crowd as well.
What could it mean when an entire group of guards who had overseen the dead man were also killed? So it wasn’t just one victim?
At those words, Oh Muyang narrowed his eyes.
‘This… bastard!’
He was shocked.
Dan Pil-hoo looked flustered at the situation and looked regretful, but his eyes were anything but.
He was staring right into the eyes of Oh Muyang.
A short moment ago.
No. 6, who had been asked to monitor around, went into the deputy’s room.
[Deputy. We might have a problem on our hands.]
[A problem?]
[Noh Ik-bong seems to be dead.]
[What? Was it confirmed?]
Dan Pil-hoo frowned at that report.
If Noh Ik-bong had died, it would be impossible to know what Oh Muayng would do by using it as an excuse.
The most certain thing was that he would aim for Mumu, who had hit Noh Ik-bong.
[However, the strange thing is that even if he died, the reactions of the guards around him were dull. It was as if they knew that this would happen.]
This made the shocked expression on Dan Pil-hoo’s face change.
[I see. That happened?]
He smiled.
This made No.6 recall a time when Dan Pil-hoo was notorious for his mind and tactics.
[How shall we deal with this?]
[Kill all the guards who had been guarding that room.]
[All?]
[If possible, kill them, similar to how Noh Ik-bong was killed.]
‘It’s not common sense to deal with a dark ploy by using another dark ploy, after all.’
Dan Pil-hoo kept his gaze on Oh Muyang.