Absolute Regression - Chapter 346



Only Noblemtl

Absolute Return Episode 346

Episode 346: Let us kill first.

The carriage raced quickly towards the Apostolic Alliance.

Visain stared out the window in silence, thinking about what was behind this incident.

He’s an enemy plotting against the entire martial arts world. How grandiose.

If you look back at the history of martial arts, there are bound to be people who cause such big troubles once every few generations.

If it had been the original plan, they would have continued to plot, but they were caught because of one person. It was unfortunate that they plotted during that person’s time.

The visage’s gaze turned to the swordsman sitting across from him.

Geommu-geuk had his eyes closed. Even when he was talking to himself, whenever he had a little free time, he would recite some kind of verse and get absorbed in his training. He seemed like a person who was full of talent, but I was able to find out through this opportunity that he was full of effort.

The gaze of the visage turned to the seat next to the swordsman. The box of the Ilwolgeom sword that he had given as a gift was standing next to him. Even though he had been told to put it in the carriage compartment, he insisted on leaving it next to him like a child.

At that moment, the carriage shook violently.

The person’s buttocks also snapped open, and the sword box next to him also floated up.

I thought the box would hit the floor with a bang, but it floated in the air and quietly came back down to its place.

Geommugeuk protected the sword box with Heo Gongseop’s water. I thought he was in the middle of a training session or sleeping. Even in the midst of all this, he was paying attention to the sword box.

“I appreciate that you treasure my gift, but wouldn’t it be easier to just throw away the box and take the sword?”

Then Geommugeuk answered with his eyes closed.

“I’m going to give you a sword as a gift. Wouldn’t it be better if you put it in a sword box?”

The box used to store the Sun and Moon Sword had a beautiful sun and moon engraved on it.

“Why are you so concerned about who you’re giving it to?”

“I will give it to my heart.”

When I looked at him with an expression that said, “What kind of joke is that?”, Geommugeuk opened his eyes.

“There is someone who is as important as my heart. To whom will I give this precious sword?”

It’s fitting that he genuinely cares for someone, but on the other hand, Geommugeuk is the kind of person who gives off this kind of feeling.

“You seem like the kind of person who would hand out a sword to a stranger on the street.”

“You misunderstand me. I hate to lose. If I were to give a sword to someone I don’t know, I would be giving him something ten times more valuable.”

“Then what are you aiming for in giving that heart?”

“The heart is an exception. Even if I don’t aim for anything, it is a person who gives me everything it has.”

At those words, Visain thought about who he would give the gift to.

No one came to mind.

If I had to give it to him, I thought I would give it to Ilrang among the thirteen apostles. Then I thought to myself that I still didn’t have a friend who would be willing to give such a precious gift.

The leader of the Demonic Cult should never be your only friend.

Visain looked at Geommugeuk again. Geommugeuk wasn’t in his usual playful state, but was looking at the passing scenery with calm and deep eyes.

As Visain turned his head to the opposite window, Geommugeuk suddenly spoke.

“My magic sword and yours, we have a long way to go. If we build something wrong, we build it again. If we think of a better idea, we tear it down and build it again. So let’s not rush too much.”

“Why are you suddenly saying that?”

“I did it because it suddenly occurred to me. If I say I’ll tell you something later, I end up forgetting it and not being able to do it. So these days, I try my best to tell you everything when I think of it.”

“That’s why you talk so much.”

“Isn’t a chatty cult leader better? Than a taciturn cult leader whose true intentions are unknown?”

“The problem is that even though you are a chatterbox, I can’t read your mind.”

Geommugeuk looked out the window again with an inexplicable smile.

The non-signer would not know how lonely his life was before his return. How precious this chatty life feels.

“What did the master of the Yugeommun confess?”

Geommugeuk guessed that Taejo, the lord of the Yugeommun clan, had revealed something.

“The person who arranged for the rescue of the children from the secret checkpoint was said to be Pyo Gi-gwang, the former leader of the Black Dragon Group.”

Notation light.

This is a character I don’t remember from the Sword Dance Theater. He is probably someone who was used as a consumable and then abandoned.

“He was forced to step down from his position as the leader of the Black Dragon Corps more than ten years ago due to a serious injury, and has been living like a wreck ever since.”

“Someone recruited him.”

“That seems to be the case. Considering that he has provided various benefits to the secret police, the person behind the vote must be someone with power.”

I naturally thought that the sword dance would be like that.

“Maybe it’s someone you know well.”

Bisain agreed with the words of the Black Magician. If he was someone in power within the Apostolic Alliance, there was no way he wouldn’t know. The question is, who?

“Why did you need children?”

Visan hesitated for a moment to answer this question. What if this incident had nothing to do with the organization that had previously infiltrated the Demonic Cult and the Martial Arts Alliance, and was really a secret organization within the Apostolic Cult? It would be like revealing the secrets of the Apostolic Cult to the leader of the Demonic Cult.

“You said you were going to create a secret organization?”

Visain flinched for a moment. He really is so quick-witted that he couldn’t fool me even if he wanted to.

“exactly.”

Visain answered honestly. Geommugeuk read Visain’s worries accurately.

“Are you worried that the organization I mentioned might be related to this secret organization?”

“exactly.”

“Even if that’s true, if it’s a secret organization that you didn’t know about, isn’t that a problematic organization? The more information you leak to me, the more it will benefit you. So think positively about it.”

If it were true that he had followed the Apostle Alliance to help, and was planning to hide the information, then even if Geommu-geuk got angry, he would have nothing to say.

However, Geommugeuk was looking at this incident with consideration for his opponent.

“If something really bothers you, deal with it privately. If you need help, just let me know.”

He was still making himself the main character.

Yeah, if you were going to calculate the profit and use your brain to get this kind of swordplay, you shouldn’t have brought him in in the first place.

“No, I will share all the information, so please help me.”

Geommugeuk smiled. It was the same smile he had shown when he had publicly dealt with Taejo earlier.

You are doing well.

That smile that seems to say something like this.

Whether he knew his heart or not, Geommugeuk began to investigate the truth behind this incident.

“If there is actually a secret organization being formed within the Alliance, who would know about it?”

“I have been receiving most of the information. But if something happened without my knowledge, it must have been led by the leader and the military commander.”

The two most difficult people to deal with in the Apostolic Alliance were mentioned.

Are they connected to the background?

The sword dance excluded one person for now.

Apostolic Leader. He was killed by the Fire Weapon before his return, so he can’t be on the same side.

“What kind of person is the General?”

“He is a man whose loyalty to his lord is truly strong. If you doubt the general, I would like to tell you that it is a waste of time. He is a man whose loyalty is deep not only to his lord, but also to the Apostolic Alliance.”

The human mind is unpredictable, but if we exclude the military as Visain said.

“Who else could there be?”

“Again?”

“Couldn’t it be that someone was doing this without the two of you knowing?”

If this was done without the knowledge of the Apostolic Lord or the General Staff, then this incident could be considered treason. If so, then it is highly likely that it was the work of those people that Geommu-geuk spoke of.

“If there is a person with the power to grant vested interests to the Yugeommun, it could be a person at the level of a footnote or a single-headed person. It could also be a person at the level of an elder.”

“Let’s keep our options open and think about them.”

“First, let’s secretly investigate the first paragraph.”

At Visain’s words, Geommugeuk shook his head.

“There’s no time for that. By the time we get to the Sado Alliance, we’ll know that the master of this incident, Hwangryongpyo, is dead, and Yugeommunju has been taken to the Sado Alliance. Whoever is behind this will not only think that they can no longer save the children, but they’ll also think that their identity might be revealed.”

That was true. Investigating secretly would only give the other party time to prepare.

“Let’s attack them head on. The martial arts skills of those active in the Cheonmasingyo, Murimmaeng, and Pungcheongyo were almost at the level of the Demon Lord. Their infiltration methods were also unusual. If we don’t push them through quickly, they’ll cut off their tails and disappear.”

Bisain also agreed with Geommugeuk’s words. But there was a problem.

“It’s not hard to capture and investigate Pyo Dan-ju. However, there’s something that bothers me. When Yugeommun-ju confessed, Pyo Dan-ju said this. He said that the secret organization he was creating was under the influence of the Sadomaeng. If he really believed that he was carrying out a secret operation for the Alliance, he wouldn’t confess easily. He might even commit suicide.”

That wasn’t the only worry. Visain had one more concern.

“The person behind this might kill Pyo Dan-ju to cut off his tail.”

There was a solution to that worry in the form of a sword dance, but it was an unimaginable method.

“Then let us kill them first.”

“What?”

Visain opened his eyes wide and looked at Geommugeuk, but he continued to say incomprehensible things.

“Let’s cut off that tail and take it first.”

* * *

“How long are you going to live like that?”

The noisy surroundings became quiet at someone’s shout. Everyone’s eyes turned to the two people in the banquet hall.

“But he was someone I respected at one time, so why did he become so ruined?”

Pyo Ki-gwang was bragging about his heroic deeds from when he was a single man to the people gathered at the banquet hall today. Was it because he was too drunk and excited? Someone scolded him.

“Aren’t you ashamed in front of your juniors?”

The opponent was none other than a man who had been a subordinate of the Black Dragon Corps. As he had said, he was someone who had followed his orders well.

Aren’t you embarrassed in front of your juniors? What? What’s so embarrassing about talking about old times while drunk?

I wanted to scream.

‘I’ve devoted so much to the cause! Can’t you even listen to this story?’

But he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Everyone around him was looking at him with pitiful eyes. This wasn’t the first time he had seen something like this.

The signer stumbled out of there. He wasn’t that drunk, but he staggered on purpose. He thought it would be more miserable if he didn’t do this.

I used to act like a total loser. But lately, I’ve been acting like I used to be a loser. To show that I’m still a useless person.

But when I experienced something like this today, my heart sank coldly. At least, I didn’t intend to receive such reprimands and humiliation from my former subordinate.

If I had been a real loser, I would have broken a bottle and screamed. But now I was turning around with a bitter heart.

‘Even if my martial arts skills were the same as before, would you have been able to do this?’

As long as this thought crossed his mind, his bitterness could only deepen.

It was when I entered that quiet, secluded path.

Suddenly, a masked man stood in front of him and blocked his path.

Before I could ask who he was, the masked man drew his sword and rushed at me.

He tried to block by drawing his sword, but his opponent was moving too fast. This is how he will die! At that very moment, despair overtook him.

Chae-Ang!

Someone blocked the signpost and blocked the opponent’s attack.

The masked man, whose surprise attack failed, quickly fled from there.

The man who had blocked the attack turned towards Pyogi-kwang. Pyogi-kwang was shocked when he saw the identity of the person who had saved him.

“Your Majesty?”

Several of the Apostles’ Thirteen Wings’ unmanned units jumped in pursuit of the fleeing masked man.

“Are you okay?”

“Thanks to you, I survived.”

“I’m glad I’m not late.”

The sign writer was secretly surprised and puzzled.

“Why is the Lord So Myeong-ju here?”

“I didn’t just happen to pass by and buy a ticket. I came here to see you.”

“Me?”

It was truly unexpected for the notation enthusiast.

At that time, the thirteen apostles who had been chasing the masked man returned.

“I missed it. He was a great fighter.”

However, Pyogi-kwang did not know that the number of the unmanned people who had chased him had increased by one and returned. The masked man who had attacked Pyogi-kwang earlier was Geommu-geuk.

He pretended to run away, then changed into the attire of the Thirteenth Apostles and returned with them.

Of course, Pyogi-kwang couldn’t have known that fact. He was wondering why Bisain had come to see him.

“Who tried to kill Danju?”

The sign language writer shook his head.

“I don’t know either.”

One thing was clear: he had definitely tried to kill himself. The sword that had flown toward him earlier had a strong will to kill him and was aimed squarely at his heart. If it really wasn’t Bisain, he would have died.

“Why did you come to see me?”

“During the investigation into the incident where the Black Death Group kidnapped children and handed them over to the Yugeommun, the name of Pyo Danju came up. I also heard that he asked the Yugeommun to rescue the children. He said that he did it to create a secret organization. Is that true?”

The sign-maker was flustered. He had never thought that Bisain would suddenly come to him and ask him about something like this. Bisain was indeed charging forward without wasting time, just as Geommu-geuk had said.

“I think the assassin sent me to kill and destroy Pyo Dan-ju because I found out about this.”

Visain deliberately emphasized the word murder and destruction. The plan of the Geommu Theater was to get a confession from him by making it seem like those who had assigned him the job were trying to kill Pyo Gi-kwang.

“What kind of secret organization are you forming? What is happening without my knowledge?”

The sign language writer said nothing.

He had no doubt that this attack was planned by the minor lord. He had no reason to plan such a thing. And crucially, Pyogi-kwang had always anticipated such a moment.

‘If the secret operation gets leaked, they’ll try to eliminate me. That day has finally come.’

A sacrifice for the greater good. That’s why he thought, “It was meant to be.”

“I know that Pyo Danju is a person who has devoted himself to the cause of the blind. I also know that he is not someone who deserves to be treated like this. So please allow me to protect Pyo Danju.”

The light-hearted man simply bowed his head and said nothing in response, as he had decided to sacrifice himself for the Apostolic Alliance.

“Okay, I’ll step aside for now. Instead, I’ll assign one of my men as your escort.”

“Don’t sacrifice your subordinates for nothing.”

“If you have such concerns, tell your subordinate everything.”

Visain looked back at his luggage and said.

“Take good care of the table lord.”

“I will obey your orders.”

The person who stepped forward after receiving the order was Geommugeuk.

It was the moment when the operation to find the body began, by grabbing the tail without even knowing which body it was attached to.

“I will protect you.”