If You’re Scared, You Might as Well Die
Humans were simple yet mysterious beings.
When faced with a crisis, most humans end up doing things they normally wouldn’t.
The funny part is, they aren’t even aware that their actions aren’t true to themselves.
Just like right now.
“Ahem. If you’re so confident, why don’t you eat it first? Once it’s proven to be safe, I’ll eat it too.”
The man, who had been boldly claiming he would stake his life just moments ago, suddenly offered Mu-jin the first turn.
He believed his suggestion was logical, but to others, his behavior seemed quite odd.
Of course, it would be great if he could get out of this situation, but Mu-jin was not someone who would fall for such a cheap trick.
“That wouldn’t be fair.”“What’s unfair about you eating first?”
“This is the heart of the Sichuan Tang Clan. If I eat the Simnyeong Pill first and it proves my innocence, but then this matter is buried, I would die in vain, wouldn’t I?”
“That’s nonsense! Our Sichuan Tang Clan wouldn’t do such a despicable thing. Right, Clan Leader?”
“How can I believe that? Even though I came here with evidence, the Clan Leader and the Dark King senior still don’t believe my claims.”
“!!!”
“So, you’re saying you can’t trust us?”
Mu-jin’s remark left Tang Hyeok-soo momentarily speechless, and Tang Pae-jin, scowling, questioned Mu-jin again.
Naturally, Mu-jin responded confidently.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You insolent wretch!”
“Also! If I die after taking the pill first, the Tang Clan will have to endure the ridicule of all Sichuan martial artists. You all know that everyone in Sichuan is watching us closely after what happened earlier.”
“Our Tang Clan would never abandon a family member because of such baseless rumors!”
While Tang Hyeok-soo breathed a sigh of relief as Tang Pae-jin defended him,
He noticed the ominous expression on Mu-jin’s face.
“Indeed, as the head of the family, your dedication to your kin is admirable. But it’s truly strange. I heard that the martial artists of the Tang Clan would sacrifice even their lives for the honor of their family. Why then, is Tang Hyeok-soo remaining silent even after hearing all this?”
His ominous feeling was spot on.
Naturally, Tang Pae-jin, who had been yelling at Mu-jin, also turned to Tang Hyeok-soo with a puzzled look.
“I was just being cautious not to interrupt the Clan Leader. I was about to step forward.”
“Ah, is that so? Then will you take it first?”
Mu-jin’s taunting question left Tang Hyeok-soo unable to respond immediately.
His mind raced, searching for a way out of this predicament, and he finally came up with a plan.
“Although you claim not to trust our Tang Clan, I too cannot trust you, Kang So-hyeop. If I take the Simnyeong Pill and die, what if you escape? What’s the point then?”
However, a plan devised in a life-threatening situation is not always a perfect solution.
In most cases, a hasty move leads to a fatal mistake.
“Do you think I could escape from here with the Clan Leader and the Dark King senior present?”
Exactly.
From the start, Mu-jin had been risking his life to assert his innocence (though the evidence was fake).
Unlike Tang Hyeok-soo, who had been evading the issue.
“Now I see, Tang Hyeok-soo seems to think he is a better fighter than the Clan Leader and the Dark King senior. Hahaha.”
Just as Tang Hyeok-soo, whose mind was half-crazed by Mu-jin’s provocations, was about to say something,
“Hey. Tsk. Young people these days.”
Tang-gak suddenly stood up and started downing his drink.
For some reason, Tang Hyeok-soo, who was about to speak, froze in his position.
‘Insane… I barely saw it.’
Mu-jin couldn’t hide his astonishment at Tang-gak’s move, which he could barely catch with his eyes.
In that short moment, Tang-gak had launched a needle and struck Tang Hyeok-soo’s acupoints, immobilizing him.
It was a moment that made Mu-jin realize the gravity of the situation.
Not only would a direct confrontation be tough, but if he were ambushed by Tang-gak, he might die without even knowing what hit him.
‘This is the skill of a Seven Kings level master.’
However, regardless of Mu-jin’s surprise, Tang-gak, having gulped down his drink, spoke with a loud burp.
“Bring the Simnyeong Pill. If you are truly confident, you too should wait here.”
Tang-gak glared at Mu-jin as he spoke and was about to leave.
“Father. Do you really suspect Hyeok-soo?”
“Hmph. Regardless of whether it’s true or not, his attitude is intolerable. As a guardian of our family, how can he fear staking his life while the honor of the clan is being insulted like this? Is this truly the behavior of a Tang Clan guardian?”
Tang-gak replied to his son’s question and then turned to Mu-jin.
“That doesn’t mean I forgive you. If your words turn out to be false and Hyeok-soo is innocent, you won’t escape punishment either! Simply taking the Simnyeong Pill is not the end! For deceiving us and causing internal strife with your deceitful tongue, we will pull out your tongue and hunt down everyone associated with you to tear them apart.”
The immense killing intent that Mu-jin had never experienced before weighed heavily on him, but he forced himself to remain calm.
Because he knew neither he nor his associates would be killed by the Dark King.
* * *
Tang-gak, who had left the main hall, returned shortly with a small box.
Inside were two pills.
As promised in the wager, Tang-gak put one Simnyeong Pill into Tang Hyeok-soo’s mouth, who was still paralyzed.
Even though his body was immobilized, Tang Hyeok-soo’s mind was fully functional.
As the Simnyeong Pill approached his mouth, his eyes trembled violently as if an earthquake had struck them.
‘Tsk.’
He didn’t even realize that his behavior was making Tang-gak more suspicious of his heir.
In the end, as Tang Hyeok-soo ingested the Simnyeong Pill under Tang-gak’s hand, his eyes began to lose focus.
“It seems the medicine is taking effect.”
Saying so, Tang-gak retrieved the needle stuck in Tang Hyeok-soo’s acupoint. Seizing the moment, Mu-jin urgently posed a question.
He preempted Tang Pae-jin or Tang-gak from questioning the evidence he presented, as that would spell trouble.
“Did you know that the Divine Thief Bi-dong was a trap?”
“Hee. Y-yes, that’s correct.”
Though Tang Hyeok-soo answered in a slurred, intoxicated manner, it was still understandable.
“Then, did you deliberately involve Tang So-mi in that trap?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
With just those two questions and answers, the situation was almost completely clarified.
Even Tang Pae-jin and Tang-gak, who had been glaring at Mu-jin as if they wanted to kill him, were now looking at Tang Hyeok-soo in shock.
However, Mu-jin wasn’t satisfied with just this.
“Who gave you those orders?”
“Hehe. It was father.”
Tang Hyeok-soo’s answer made Tang Pae-jin and Tang-gak’s eyes widen to the point where they seemed ready to pop out.
“The inner elder planned such a thing?”
“Sigh…”
Tang Hyeok-soo’s father was actually an elder of the Sichuan Tang Clan.
But Mu-jin already knew this. That elder was merely a spy planted in the Tang Clan.
What Mu-jin aimed for was the person behind the elder, the one pulling the strings from the shadows.
‘Maybe this time, I can get more information than I read in the novel.’
However, things didn’t go exactly as Mu-jin intended.
“Then, what does this code mean?”
Suddenly, Tang Pae-jin presented the letter Mu-jin had given and asked Tang Hyeok-soo.
“Don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“Huh?”
“Isn’t this the letter you gave to the Taeeulmun?”
“This is my first time seeing it.”
As Tang Hyeok-soo, drugged and slurring, spoke, an awkward silence filled the main hall.
After a brief but tense standoff, Tang Pae-jin asked with veins bulging on his forehead.
“What is going on, Kang So-hyeop?”
Various thoughts raced through Mu-jin’s mind in that short moment, but he ultimately decided to confront the situation head-on.
“My apologies, Clan Leader. I was certain that Tang Hyeok-soo was a spy, so I used it as bait to induce this situation.”
“…So you’re saying you risked your life by lying because you were sure Tang Hyeok-soo was a spy, just to make him take the Simnyeong Pill?”
“Yes.”
“Because once he took the Simnyeong Pill, his identity as a spy would be revealed?”
“Yes.”
“…You risked your life on a gamble with nothing but circumstantial evidence?”
“Yes, but…”
Of course, Mu-jin knew Tang Hyeok-soo was a spy from the novel, but he couldn’t reveal that.
Thus, Mu-jin had no choice but to pretend he had staked his life on uncertain information.
Silence once again enveloped the main hall, but it was brief.
“Kuhahahahaha.”
Suddenly, Tang-gak burst into mad laughter. No, it was more fitting to say he laughed in a way that suited his lunacy.
“In my eighty years of life, I’ve seen countless madmen, but you’re the craziest of them all.”
Mu-jin frowned at Tang-gak’s words.
‘To be called the craziest by a lunatic who killed his own heir for being a spy.’
Mu-jin, labeled the world’s craziest by a madman.
“This is not the time to be laughing. Shouldn’t we be capturing this inner elder right away?”
Mu-jin quickly spoke to prevent them from thinking about the fake evidence.
“You’re right.”
“We need to interrogate him thoroughly to find out why he betrayed the clan.”
Tang Pae-jin looked somewhat bitter, while Tang-gak, uttering the word ‘interrogate,’ revealed a manic gleam in his eyes.
* * *
Since it was a matter of capturing a spy, Mu-jin, Tang-gak, and Tang Pae-jin moved secretly to the inner elder’s quarters with the clan leader’s bodyguards in tow.
It didn’t take long to capture the inner elder, Tang Min.
Though Tang Min was a renowned master as an elder of the Five Great Families’ Tang Clan, he couldn’t withstand a surprise attack from the Dark King.
“Elder Tang Min! This is too much! I’m also an elder of the Tang Clan now!”
Whatever Tang-gak usually did, the inner elder considered this ambush a prank.
But seeing Tang Pae-jin and Mu-jin follow, he felt an inexplicable unease.
“What is this about?”
“Tsk. What were you thinking, plotting such a scheme as an elder of the great Tang Clan?”
Instead of explaining, Tang-gak took out the pills he brought.
Seeing the pills, Tang Min quickly grasped the situation.
“I’m innocent! I did it for the clan!”
“Many children of the clan, including So-mi, nearly died. How was that for the clan?”
“It was a necessary sacrifice for the greater growth of the clan!”
“How can the clan grow by causing a bloodbath in Sichuan?”
“If we unify Sichuan, the clan will become stronger!”
Listening to a few words from the enraged Tang Min, Tang-gak clicked his tongue.
“Tsk. I’ve heard enough.”
Then he subdued Tang Min’s acupoints and forced the Simnyeong Pill into his mouth.
Like his son Tang Hyeok-soo, Tang Min’s eyes turned hazy, and Tang-gak released the acupoints he had subdued.
“Who ordered you to do this?”
“The Head of Unhyangwon.”
The Head of Unhyangwon.
A title that had never appeared in the novel.
Mu-jin instinctively sensed something significant.
‘Finally, the mastermind emerges!’
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