novelraw Chapter 171 : Byeok Nara
Chapter 171 : Byeok Nara
Chapter 171: Byeok Nara
A blinding flash and an ear-splitting roar swept across the ridge.
Judging by the lack of flying shrapnel, it really must have been Byeok Muji’s older sister.
After stealing away our sight and hearing, the woman of the Byeok Clan swiftly rushed into my arms, trying to reclaim her brother.
I quickly caught her wrist with a snap.
“You’ve got to be kidding. You’ve already regained your sight?”
She looked at me in disbelief.
“I’ve fallen for that trick before.”
That’s why I’d wrapped my eyes in internal energy beforehand.
Hearing that, the woman seemed even more certain that I was the one her younger brother had fought, and her expression turned all the more ferocious.
“So it really was you! You’re the one who beat Muji to a pulp like this!”
“Geez, you just don’t believe anything I say, do you?”
Apparently unwilling to listen, she struck my chest with a palm technique, then quickly retreated and pulled something out from inside her coat.
As her thick outerwear opened, a bundle of genuine Thunderburst Bombs hanging like ornaments was revealed.
“You bastards…! Either hand over my brother, or we all cross the Yellow Springs together! Take your pick!”
“…You crazy bomb freak.”
I had a hunch she looked unusually bulky — who knew she was hiding all those black powder weapons inside her clothes.
“No matter how skilled you are, if these Thunderburst Bombs go off, there’s no surviving. So, think carefully.”
Just from that one brief clash, she must’ve sensed the gap in our skills. Instead of using martial arts, she now resorted to threatening me with explosives.
She even warned me that these were experimental bombs without fuses — they’d go off mere seconds after an impact, so I’d better not try anything.
“Maybe you should think carefully. We’re not the ones who knocked this boy unconscious. In fact, we saved him.”
“And why should I believe that? It’s already been exposed that this is the meeting point!”
Right, I could tell from how she came up the mountain after dealing with the attackers. I also understood that this situation had spiraled because of that.
But at this rate, we were just going in circles.
“Young Lady Byeok Nara of the Byeok Clan. Do you happen to remember me?”
At that moment, Jo Harang, who had once been hired as a wanderer by the Byeok Clan, stepped forward.
“Remember you? Who are—?”
“I’m the wanderer who served as this young master’s escort four years ago. You might not recall my face, but perhaps you remember this large blade?”
As she dug into her memories, her eyes lit up at the sight of the broad blade, and she slapped her knee.
“Ah… ah!”
Upon seeing a familiar face, the wariness and suspicion in the woman’s — Byeok Nara’s — expression began to ease.
I stepped forward and let my Sword Flux bloom clearly before her.
“If I were going to subdue you, I would’ve done it already. So please, calm down.”
“……”
Apparently, she hadn’t realized I was this skilled. She gulped hard and nodded.
Now we were getting somewhere.
“And would you mind putting those nasty bombs away as well?”
She looked exactly like a terrorist in a bomb vest, so I gestured toward them to encourage her to do something about it.
She said they were impact-triggered bombs. One wrong bump, and we’d all be blown to hell.
“Alright, I’ll put them away for now.”
Hesitating, she cautiously closed her coat. But one of the grape-like bombs hanging from her coat seemed loose and fell to the ground with a soft thud.
“……”
The single bomb rolled across the ground as everyone fell silent. Didn’t she say they exploded shortly after impact?
“Ah…”
Byeok Nara’s face twisted into an expression of sheer doom.
“Son of a—!”
The moment I saw it, I hurled myself forward.
BOOM!
A short while later, at the edge of the ridge swept by the real explosion.
In a spot clearly marked by the blast, a young woman was groaning in a strange posture.
“Um, excuse meee…”
With her face turned upside-down and flushed bright red, Byeok Nara struggled to speak.
“What is it?”
“I was told I’d be forgiven if I did this, but… what exactly is this pose supposed to be…?”
She wore a pained expression as she voiced her confusion.
“It’s a Grand Apology Bow. The most sincere way to express one’s remorse.”
With her arms and head pressed to the ground and her legs stretched skyward in a handstand — it was a pose more sincere than any bow.
“I-I really am sorry. I had no idea you were the ones who saved my brother.”
“Oh, now you’re sorry? I shouted it was a misunderstanding, but you didn’t even pretend to listen.”
“It’s just… I thought you were with the ones who ambushed us on the mountain…”
As I grumbled, brushing the singed holes in my robe, Byeok Nara stammered out her excuses.
“Tsk, all you’re doing is making excuses. Aren’t you gonna stretch higher?”
When I told her to show sincerity through action, not words, her legs extended even more toward the sky.
It was the very definition of a textbook-perfect Grand Apology Bow.
Even those trained in martial arts struggled to maintain it. In other words, it was a painfully demanding pose that made sweat pour like rain.
“Ugh…”
That’s when the boy finally seemed to regain consciousness, rubbing his eyes as he awoke beside Jo Harang.
Byeok Muji, eyes open, stared blankly at the bizarre sight before him.
“What the heck is this…”
While his sister trembled with her head buried in the ground, her eyes lit up in joy upon seeing her brother wake.
“Muji! You’re awake! Thank goodness…”
She rushed to him and embraced him tightly, overcome with relief.
It was a heartwarming family reunion.
But while the sister breathed a sigh of relief, her brother remained puzzled.
“This smoky black powder smell… and your charred clothes… don’t tell me… did you two fight?”
Considering the scorched state of my clothing, it was no wonder he immediately suspected something.
“No, rather than fighting… he saved me.”
“Then why were you doing that punishment pose after being rescued?”
“Because I nearly killed him.”
“…?”
His face clearly said he had no idea what was going on.
I calmly explained everything that had happened while he was unconscious, along with the misunderstandings that had piled up.
As the story went on, the boy scratched his cheek with a sheepish look.
“Even so… thank you for saving my sister.”
I’d thrown myself toward the bomb in desperation. It exploded near me, blasting shrapnel and force all in my direction.
But thanks to that, I managed to prevent harm from reaching anyone else.
“Anyway, now that the siblings have reunited, that’s one commission completed, right?”
Byeok Muji and Byeok Nara replied with thanks once again.
But this wasn’t the end. The real task would only be complete once we restored order to the Byeok Clan, which had been caught in a conspiracy, and received the family’s gold stored in the vaults as payment.
“So, what’s the next plan? You’ve come up with something, haven’t you?”
The joy of reunion was short-lived. My question reminded the siblings of the cold reality chasing them, and they opened their mouths.
“Our next target is the returning prodigal son, Byeok Jinsang.”
His name literally means pain-in-the-ass. I could already imagine the type.
The Clan Head of the Byeok Clan had been taken away by the Royal Guards, so he was off-limits for now. It made sense to deal with the easier matter first.
“But boss, is this really going to be easy?”
“Mujin, that place is riddled with bombs and artillery. It won’t be a walk in the park.”
Considering how every commission we’d taken so far had turned into hellish trouble, Ilhong and Jo Harang took turns expressing their concern.
Bombs carried no killing intent or bloodlust, and once they exploded, even swords couldn’t block them. One wrong hit and even a master could be blown to bits.
Given that, the two of them seemed seriously worried about this powder-keg of a job.
“It’s fine. We’ll blow things up too.”
But such weapons were something I was very familiar with.
Back in the military, I had handled quite a lot of them.
“…What exactly are you planning to blow up?”
“Oh, this and that.”
Assaulting a well-defended family estate with just a few people—I'd done something like that back in Sichuan, too.
And this job… somehow, it felt like it was going to deliver a deeply satisfying impact.
“Well then, let’s go.”
The strong stench of bitter herbal medicine and rotting pus filled the chamber of the royal infirmary.
Second Prince Ju Gachi silently gazed down at the man who was once called the Crown Prince.
Here lay a living corpse, barely clinging to breath—patches of skin peeled away, red flesh exposed, pus seeping out endlessly no matter how many times it was wiped clean with fresh cloth.
He had once been the perfect older brother, someone he couldn’t help but resent due to constant comparisons. But now, pitifully enough, the man was struggling just to survive one illness.
“Life sure is unpredictable.”
Because of this, the Empress’s attention and that of those around her had shifted back to him.
But those gazes were far colder than the ones once given to the Crown Prince.
Even so, if he wanted to keep even those cold gazes on him, he had to pour his soul into meeting his mother’s expectations.
“Your Highness, the Second Prince… why here, of all places…”
Of all places, he’d summoned someone to the Crown Prince’s sickroom, where ears could still hear.
A man in the uniform of the Royal Guards spoke in a troubled tone.
“This is hardly the place for secret discussions. Perhaps we should—”
“He’s unconscious and on the brink of death. Who could be better at keeping a secret?”
“……”
Everyone expected he wouldn’t last long, but saying that in front of him was something else entirely.
The Royal Guard glanced at the ailing Crown Prince but remained silent in response.
“So, you had a report to deliver?”
“Yes… we may have identified the identity of the new eunuch named Muhong who interfered with Her Majesty’s poisoning attempt.”
“Oh?”
That poisoner had been a skilled assassin, handpicked by the Empress herself—there was no way some novice eunuch should have been able to catch on.
That was why there had always been suspicions about this eunuch’s identity.
“Do you recall when the Third Princess suddenly pleaded for permission to let a Beggars’ Union operative enter the palace?”
“Of course. That incident caused quite the uproar in Beijing.”
He’d heard the beggars had swarmed the capital and stirred up chaos. They even turned the tables on those who used to oppress them.
As a result, strange rumors had spread throughout the Imperial Palace like wildfire.
“Upon further investigation, it turns out that the one who made that request was none other than that troubleshooter Dan Mujin… and he appears to be the same man who entered the Princess’s Palace disguised as the eunuch named Muhong.”
Second Prince Ju Gachi’s expression twisted slightly at the Royal Guard’s report.
“So you’re telling me… my mother’s meticulously laid plan was completely ruined by a single damn troubleshooter?”
“……”
Detecting the irritation in his tone, the Royal Guard kept his mouth shut.
But that silence alone seemed to confirm enough. Ju Gachi’s face contorted even more.
“And that Dan Mujin bastard, this isn’t even the end. The more we looked into him, the more outrageous his record became.”
“A troubleshooter from the unorthodox world? How impressive could his record be… Hmph, go on then.”
He scoffed and jerked his chin, gesturing for the man to continue.
But as the explanation grew longer, his expression inevitably hardened.
“Upon investigation, it was Dan Mujin who interfered with Eunseong Trading Company’s sericulture project. He beat down Royal Guards and blocked the recruitment of the Seomok Clan. He even shook the credit of Man Geum Trading Post, our key financial pipeline. All of it—his doing.”
Every single plot Ju Gachi had orchestrated in the background…
“What…?”
Because of the repeated failures, he had already lost a significant amount of trust from the Empress.
It felt like just yesterday she’d scolded him for failing to crush a mere trading company and being outplayed by the princess.
And now, it turned out that a single lowlife troubleshooter had been responsible for all of it?
“…What an amusing bastard. A mere troubleshooter, meddling this deeply in palace affairs.”
He’d assumed the Third Princess had pulled some strings—but that wasn’t the case.
This wasn’t just insolence anymore. It defied belief—it was utterly absurd.
That was how the Second Prince Ju Gachi came to etch the name of a troubleshooter—whom he’d once deemed forgettable—deep into his mind.
“And by the way… it seems the Byeok Clan affair is ripening nicely.”
At the Royal Guard’s words, Ju Gachi reined in his bubbling anger and regained composure.
At least something was going according to plan.
“But, Your Highness… do we really have to go this far?”
Perhaps sensing the prince was plotting something grim, the guard asked with a hint of worry. Ju Gachi responded coldly.
“Do we have to go this far? Do you think that’s a valid question in a war where the loser loses everything?”
This was a brutal war over the fate of the Central Plains.
And a proper war needed blades, bombs, and artillery.
The Third Princess’s side had likely begun moving in earnest after the failed poisoning, so there was no room for retreat.
And if it came to it, that puppet of the Byeok Clan could always take the fall, completely unaware of the crime being pinned on him.
“Just get everything ready by fall.”
So he ordered, looking down at the man wheezing in the bed—his former brother.
The very man who had made Ju Gachi believe that a weak Emperor was a liability to the nation.
Thus began the struggle in the jar of loneliness, to weed out the weak.
“I’ll never end up like this.”
In a corner of the foul-smelling infirmary, one prince burned with an ambition far from ordinary.