The Ruler Of Darkness - Chapter 605



Only Noblemtl

Episode 605

Part 5 Motive

“The devil’s cult… is that what you’re talking about?”

Oewonju Hakunhyung nodded.

“Yes, it is the Demonic Cult.”

A senior elder, as senior as Elder Hojung, could not help but understand the words of Hakunhyung, the head of the household.

“Now, what the Lord of the Outer Circle is saying is….”

He swallowed dry saliva and looked up into the deep eyes of the head of the household, Hakunhyung, as he continued speaking.

“Are you saying that there are demonic cult members in our swordsmanship?”

The foreigner, Hakunhyung, answered immediately.

“yes.”

“… … !”

Elder Ho-jung held his breath without realizing it.

He stumbled and almost lost all strength in his legs for a moment, but he held on to the back of the chair and held on.

“This….”

To that kind of elder, the head of the household, Hakunhyung, offered a cup of cold tea.

“…it’s okay.”

But Elder Ho-jung raised his hand to refuse the cup and controlled his breathing.

Without realizing it, my breathing had become ragged.

‘Let’s calm down.’

He corrected himself by recalling the hardships he had experienced and overcome throughout his life.

“then-.”

“Elder Hojung.”

When Elder Ho-jung started to speak, Hak-un-hyeong, the head of the household, cut him off.

“When you met the previous head of the elders’ house, Wi Ji-sang-gal. Was there anything strange?”

“… … !”

Elder Hojung’s eyes grew wide.

The Demonic Cult and the Elder of the Jeonjeon Dynasty.

As he became aware of the two existences at the same time, the faint questions that had been lingering in his mind began to take on a clear form.

“…pus.”

The eyes of Hak-un-hyeong, the head of the household, widened slightly at the words that came out of Elder Ho-jung’s mouth.

“Pus, you say?”

“Yes, that’s right, no… .”

Elder Ho-jung shook his head, as if his mind was still confused, and corrected his words.

“To be exact, his condition, which I confirmed today, seemed very serious. It was even more serious than when I first saw him a while ago.”

“…What is that?”

The severity of the illness alone was not enough to tell us anything.

“No, no, my lord. That was just not that serious. That look, even if I die tonight, no.”

Elder Hojung gave strength to his words.

“He was already in such critical condition that it wouldn’t have been strange at all if he had died.”

“… … !”

The eyes of Hak-un-hyeong, the head of the household, trembled as he noticed something in those words.

“Yes, that’s it.”

Now Elder Ho-jung could ask more clearly what he had seen.

“A person who wouldn’t be strange if he fell down dead right now. Whether the Supreme Lord rises or the Grand Duke becomes the Soga Lord. What does it matter?”

“perhaps….”

Oewonju Hakunhyung tilted his head slightly and stated his hypothesis.

“The Supreme Lord has awakened. Perhaps he is afraid that his name will remain in history as a stain.”

“No, no.”

Elder Hojung denied the hypothesis of the head of the household, Hakunhyung, and spoke to him.

“His eyes were not like that.”

“Eyes, you say…?”

“Yes, it’s snow.”

Elder Hojung approached the head of the household, Hakunhyung, and said:

“I may only be an elder at the moment, but I am proud to say that my accumulated experience is more than enough for the Lord of the Outer Circle.”

“Yes.”

“I have seen countless eyes so far. I always look into the eyes of the other person. Eyes burning with ambition, eyes filled with guilt, eyes that have something to hide, but… .”

Elder Ho-jung spoke with strong conviction.

“Those two eyes of the former head of the Jeonjeon Dae Jangrowonju, Wijisanggal, were absolutely, absolutely not the eyes of someone who did not want his name to be tarnished before he died. Rather, they were… .”

His voice became even quieter.

“They were eyes burning with the obsession with life of those who wanted to live. They were the eyes of those who sold the last speck of their soul to power. Maybe.”

He said, pointing to his own eyes.

“Much more than me.”

“… … .”

Oewonju Hakunhyeong seemed to agree and kept his mouth shut.

There was silence for a moment in the room.

Elder Ho-jung opened his mouth while carefully looking at his deep thoughtful appearance.

“Weizhi Shanggal, is he a demonic cult? What else does Your Majesty know about the demonic cult? And…!”

He looked straight into the eyes of the huge, outcast Hakunhyung.

“…What is the true purpose of the Lord of the Outer World?”

“… … .”

The foreigner Hakunhyung is sick and tired of it.

He opened his mouth, looking down at Elder Ho-jung with deep eyes that showed not a single tremble.

“Please let your fellow elders know about the treatment of the Supreme Lord. First of all, let the senior elders know. Your mission has begun.”

The mission is to identify and monitor those who advocate or attempt to implement extreme methods.

Before mentioning the Demonic Cult, it was an important responsibility that the head of the Oewonju, Hakunhyeong, had entrusted to Elder Hojung.

however.

Elder Ho-jung could not possibly be satisfied with the behavior of the head of the household, Hak-un-hyeong, who avoided answering the most crucial question.

“Your Majesty-!”

“-and.”

Oewonju Hakunhyeong raised his finger and firmly cut off Elder Hojung’s objection.

“Keep in mind the story about the Demonic Cult, and watch them. But never. Never. Mention the Demonic Cult to anyone else.”

“… … .”

Without avoiding the eyes of the disgruntled elder, the head of the household, Hakunhyung, asked.

“Do you understand?”

“… … .”

Elder Hojung clenched his teeth.

‘In the end, am I still just a mere elder…?’

For so long.

For that long time, I have been trying to move upward and upward.

When I was appointed as an elder, I was overjoyed.

He soon had to learn that he was just one of many elders in the presbytery.

When he started to be called a mid-level official, people around him greatly congratulated him and supported him.

The weight of the name “Supreme Management Council” only became more real.

‘And even now… .’

The closer you get to the top of the family, the more access you get to their biggest secrets.

The fog called question was only growing denser.

‘This family…! I…!’

Bright red, hot blood flowed from the fist that he had clenched so tightly that it turned white without him realizing it.

“… Elder Hojung.”

Stay still.

The head of the household, Hak Woon Hyung, who had been watching the scene, slowly sat down in his seat and opened his mouth.

“You are truly outstanding. Even among the senior elders of the family, you are one of the few. You have always performed your assigned tasks beyond expectations, and that is still the case today.”

Although he had stopped being polite like usual, the words of the foreigner Hakunhyung were even more gentle.

however.

“Then why…?!”

To the current Ho-jung Elder, that gentleness felt like nothing more than the leisure of someone looking down from above.

“Why can’t I…?!”

“I am.”

It was a cry close to a scream, but the voice of the head of the household, Hak-un-hyeong, was calm.

“I decided to sacrifice everything for this swordsmanship.”

“Sacrifice? That’s-.”

“-and.”

As the head of the household, Hakunhyung, emphasized, he said the word ‘and’ again.

“And then, one day. I became the head of this huge organization called the Foreign Affairs Office.”

He continued speaking without even giving Elder Hojung a chance to open his mouth.

“Not everyone who has risen to this position will agree, but at least I do. I think it is a very important qualification.”

Then he asked.

“Elder Ho-jung. Are you prepared to sacrifice everything for this swordsmanship, instead of pursuing personal gain and power?”

A terribly heavy question.

“… … .”

Elder Hojung looked into the eyes of Hakunhyung, the head of the household, without saying a word.

“… … .”

That moment.

The eyes of the foreigner Hakunhyung that he saw were excessively deep, and.

It was so straight it gave me goosebumps.

“I am….”

Elder Hojung stuttered.

“So, I… .”

A few more times.

Elder Ho-jung, who had been blinking his eyes and opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, soon

He let out a deep breath as if he had given up on something and answered.

“…I will do my best in the mission you have entrusted to me.”

Before I knew it.

Returning to his desk in his office as usual, Wonju Hak-un answered calmly while looking through the documents.

“I’ll be looking forward to it.”

He continued speaking, returning to his original manner as if nothing had happened.

“It seems that we will soon be able to attempt to revise the elder cabinet system again.”

“ah….”

Elder Hojung answered.

“If that news is out there, many people will be expecting it. It will be easier to distinguish those who advocate or practice extreme methods.”

“That’s good.”

“… … .”

Fall, fall.

After that conversation, the only thing that remained in the office was the sound of Wonju Hakunhyung absentmindedly flipping through documents.

“… … .”

for a moment.

Elder Hojung, who was looking at the appearance of Hakunhyung, the head of the household, with complicated eyes, put his hands together, bowed respectfully, and left the room.

Crunch.

At the sound of the door closing, Hak-un-hyeong, the head of the household, placed the documents on the desk.

“… … .”

He is calm.

I prepared to go out, walked over to the bookshelf, and pulled out a thick book.

Okay then.

Yeah, yeah.

With a small noise, the bookshelf slid open like a door, revealing a dark passageway.

It was a secret passage to the office that only the lord of the house knew about for generations.

* * *

A little later.

“… … .”

The foreigner Hakunhyung arrived at some external location.

It was a well-kept garden.

There was no light, not even the slightest sound, as if entry was strictly controlled.

The garden was eerily dark, with even the moon hidden behind the clouds.

“Phew… .”

He opened the collar of his coat in the chilly autumn night air and waved the oil lamp he was holding in his hand in a small wave as promised.

It was a signal.

“… … .”

And a little later.

The sound was so blatant that even Hakunhyung, a foreigner with no internal energy, noticed it.

He opened his mouth and said hello without looking back.

“The nights have gotten a lot colder now.”

“… I see.”

And so the answer came back in the darkness.

It was the voice of the person I had been waiting for.

The foreigner Hakunhyung immediately got to the point.

“Jeonjeondae Elder. It has become more certain that Wijisanggal is related to the Demonic Cult.”

“… Is there any basis for this?”

When the voice asked, Hak-un-hyeong, the head of the household, nodded.

“Elder Ho-jung said that he said that the Supreme Lord and the Northern General were both deceived by the same method.”

“Is there more?”

“His condition has worsened significantly since then, but he does not look like someone who is about to die.”

The owner of the voice clicked his tongue softly in agreement.

“The information I obtained through separate channels also matches that. He should have already died.”

“ha….”

In that regard.

Oewonju Hakunhyeong looked up at the dark sky and sighed softly.

“… It seems that he has somehow accepted the strange power of the Demonic Cult and is maintaining that filthy lifeline.”

“But, looking at the fact that his condition has been worsening recently….”

“Yes.”

Oewonju Hakunhyeong continued speaking on behalf of the owner of the voice.

“Maybe. As his condition worsened, he held his hand to keep him alive. And that ultimately meant… .”

This time, the owner of the voice heard the words of Hak Woon Hyung, a foreigner.

“At the time when the lord collapsed. So he wasn’t a member of the Demonic Cult…?”

“I guess so… .”

“… … .”

A cold wind blew strongly across the garden.

As the clouds cleared, the sight of falling leaves became more visible.

“…Your Majesty the Supreme Lord.”

The foreigner Hakunhyung opened his mouth.

“How is your Majesty the Supreme Being’s condition?”

“… … .”

When the answer did not come right away, the head of the household, Hak-un-hyeong, turned toward him and called out to him.

“Naewon General (內院總管).”

In that place.

Just like the foreigner Hakunhyung.

The chief of staff, wearing a thick coat, opened his eyes and answered.

“…The King of Medicine is doing his best to treat the lord.”

“Is the difference there yet?”

When the head of the external affairs department, Hakunhyung, asked, the head of the internal affairs department answered.

“They say it took a lot of time to treat the Northern General.”

“Wasn’t that the first treatment? You said it took a lot of time, but most of that time was spent finding a treatment method?”

“I originally said that it was a treatment that would require time.”

It was an acceptable answer.

However, it seemed that there were some parts that the foreigner Hakunhyung was not convinced of.

“Right now, it must be because the Medicine King is treating the patient alone…!”

A rare ferocious expression appeared on his face.

“Why on earth don’t you ask the Grand Duke to join in the treatment…?!”

“… … .”

The wrinkled face of the Chief of Staff was distorted.

Oewonju Hakunhyung raised his voice as if to push him even harder.

“Your Highness, your medical skills are equal to or greater than those of the Medicine King, and also-!”

“-he is.”

When the chief of the inner court made a growling sound, the chief of the outer court, Hakunhyung, closed his mouth.

The Chief of the Naewon General looked at the head of the Naewon Province, Hakunhyung, and said:

“Grand Duke Yeon So-hyeon. He has the same power as that hateful demonic cult.”