Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 262 – Clue (2)

Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong.

Along with Crying Doctor Hoe Ta, he was known as the greatest physician of the era, and his knowledge of medicine was unrivaled.

Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong had saved countless lives with his exceptional medical skills and knowledge of medicine.

There was an event that made him renowned throughout the entire Central Plains.

It was during the rebellion of the Red Turban Bandits over thirty years ago, which resulted in numerous casualties.

As a result, corpses piled up like mountains everywhere and began to rot, causing a terrible plague of unknown origin to spread.

This plague quickly spread, engulfing the entire Seomseoseong region within just half a month, and chaos overflowed in all directions.

Fortunately, however, the plague ended without leaving Seomseoseong.

It was because Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong had created a cure for the plague.

With this opportunity, Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong, who had been virtually unknown, was able to rise to become the greatest physician of the era alongside Crying Doctor Hoe Ta.

However, despite this fame, not much was known about him.

There were few who even knew where he lived or what his real name was.

“…If the Mun-no you’re talking about is the same name we know, it’s the old name of Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong.”

‘!?’

At Gyeom-chang’s words, Mok Gyeong-un furrowed his brows.

That was because Mun-no was none other than the name of his grandfather who had raised him.

He had asked thinking that this organization might know about him since his grandfather had been killed by Ghost Blade.

But he received a completely unexpected answer.

“What… does that mean?”

“It means exactly that. The only Mun-no I, no, we know is the name Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong used in the past.”

“The name Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong used in the past?”

“…Are you certain?”

“If it’s not a case of people having the same name, the only Mun-no we know is him.”

At his words, Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes narrowed.

What the hell did this mean?

He had come out into the world to find the enemy who killed his grandfather and had learned many things.

Among them, naturally, was the fame of Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong.

Upon learning of his existence, Mok Gyeong-un had simply thought that he was a famous physician who knew more about medicinal herbs than his grandfather.

In fact, he hadn’t paid much attention, thinking it had nothing to do with his revenge.

But this was completely unexpected information.

‘My grandfather is Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong?’

Mok Gyeong-un’s mind became complicated.

Although there was a commonality in his knowledge of medicinal herbs and his ability to handle them well, could he really say that Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong was the same person as his grandfather just based on that?

So Mok Gyeong-un pressed his knee against Gyeom-chang’s chest and said:

“Mun-no had been living in seclusion deep in the mountains for over seventeen years. How could such a person be Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong…”

“Did you just say seventeen years?”

“Yes.”

It was the time he had lived with his grandfather.

However…

“If it’s seventeen years, it’s even more certain that it’s Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong.”

“What?”

“Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong had disappeared and his whereabouts had been unknown since nearly eighteen years ago. If the Mun-no you know had been living in seclusion for that long, it’s definitely Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong.”

“…”

Seeing him becoming even more convinced, Mok Gyeong-un’s mind became more twisted.

‘Is my grandfather really Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong?’

His exceptional knowledge of medicine, to the extent that there was no medicinal herb he didn’t know, was thought to be simply because his grandfather was an herbalist who had lived in the mountains for a long time.

But now that he thought about it, among those outside, there were few who knew medicinal herbs as well as his grandfather.

‘Sigh…’

He had only thought about finding his enemy, not about learning more about his grandfather himself.

It was also because he had never seen anyone who knew the name Mun-no.

Seeing Mok Gyeong-un at a loss for words after learning the unknown truth, Gyeom-chang inwardly clicked his tongue.

‘Mun-no…’

They had long searched for Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong’s whereabouts.

But to unexpectedly meet someone who knew Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong’s whereabouts in this situation was truly ironic.

‘What a pity.’

If it weren’t for this situation, it would have been a great achievement.

But now, all of this was meaningless.

‘Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong…’

The conversation he had with the Poison King Baek Sa-ha flashed through Mok Gyeong-un’s mind.

[Then you really don’t know who that Ghost Blade is.]

[That’s right. What I learned from fighting him is…]

[That he had been severely injured by someone called Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong, known as the greatest herbalist of the era. Is that all you know?]

[…At first, I didn’t believe it. Until now, no one knew that Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong had learned martial arts. He was an herbalist, after all.]

[Well, he could have hidden it.]

[Yes. That could be the case. But one thing is certain: if Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong is truly the one who severely injured Ghost Blade, his poison arts far surpass mine.]

Recalling this, Mok Gyeong-un organized his thoughts step by step.

It seemed he really didn’t know much about his grandfather until now.

And yet, he had stubbornly clung to a single mark, thinking only of revenge, which felt quite foolish.

‘Fame… martial arts…’

Why had his grandfather hidden all of these things?

The grandfather he knew was a person who was detached from such things.

But was there a reason he had to hide it even from him?

No, it was highly likely that he had hidden all these facts because he knew this would happen.

‘…It’s strange.’

But if his grandfather was indeed Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong, there was something that didn’t add up.

‘Master Baek Sa-ha clearly said that Ghost Blade was defeated by Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong.’

That meant his grandfather’s martial arts skills were stronger than even one of the Eight Stars, known as the best in the current martial arts world.

Could such a grandfather be easily killed by Ghost Blade?

Of course, this wasn’t completely impossible.

Because Ghost Blade could have advanced his martial arts by relentlessly training for 17 years, surpassing his grandfather.

‘This is also a possibility.’

Although he had lived with him for 17 years, he had never seen his grandfather cultivating martial arts.

Of course, for a master who had reached a high level, meditation or mental cultivation could be more effective, but he hadn’t seen him doing that much either.

If one side was training and the other remained the same or regressed, it was possible.

However, there was one more thing to confirm here.

‘The fact that he left a scar on my grandfather means it’s certain that Ghost Blade and my grandfather fought. But this guy clearly said that Ghost Blade doesn’t leave a mark on those he kills.’

Several speculations became possible from here.

One was that this guy was lying, and Ghost Blade killed his grandfather and left the scar.

However, there was no point in leaving a mark on a dead person because it would become a trace.

So that likely wasn’t the case.

Another speculation was that his grandfather was old, so he lost his life after exhausting his energy fighting Ghost Blade.

But could a master of Ghost Blade’s level make such a mistake?

This was also somewhat unlikely.

Then…

‘…A third party appeared and killed my grandfather who had been weakened from fighting Ghost Blade.’

-Clench!

Mok Gyeong-un’s fist tightened.

It was the most likely possibility.

That way, it made sense that the trace left by Ghost Blade remained on his grandfather even in death.

Once his mind was organized up to this point, Mok Gyeong-un stared at Gyeom-chang and asked:

“What is the relationship between your organization and Mun-no, no, Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong?”

“…What does that…”

“Stop playing dumb. You know Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong’s real name, which is not known to the public, and Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong died at the hands of Ghost Blade.”

“What?”

“I said Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong died at the hands of Ghost Blade.”

“That’s impossible.”

“What’s impossible? Your organization’s mark left by Ghost Blade was there.”

At these words, Gyeom-chang frowned and said:

“Didn’t I tell you? Why would Ghost Blade leave such a mark? Besides, Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong is someone the organization must capture alive…”

Suddenly, Gyeom-chang closed his mouth.

He had intended to give the information the guy wanted, but to minimize the information related to the organization as much as possible.

But he had misspoken.

“Capture alive… So there was a third party after all.”

“What?”

Gyeom-chang questioned Mok Gyeong-un’s incomprehensible words.

What did he mean by there being a third party?

To the puzzled Gyeom-chang, Mok Gyeong-un said:

“Nevermind that. Why are you trying to capture Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong alive?”

At that question, Gyeom-chang answered immediately without even thinking.

“I don’t know.”

“…There’s nothing good about not answering.”

“I, I really don’t know. I was just told that we must secure his whereabouts.”

“Do you know what?”

“What…?”

-Crack!

“Aaaaargh!”

With the sound of a collarbone breaking, Gyeom-chang screamed.

No matter which part it was, it was bound to hurt when a bone broke, but he didn’t know the collarbone could hurt this much.

To the suffering Gyeom-chang, Mok Gyeong-un whispered in his ear:

“I can now tell whether you’re hiding something or not. I wouldn’t want to make you say ‘please kill me’ ten times.”

“Uuugh.”

“No answer. Should I break your left collarbone this time? No, that wouldn’t be enough. It would be nice to shatter it into pieces. Let’s start with the right side…”

“St- stop!”

“That’s not the answer I want.”

-Crack!

“Aaaaargh! I, I heard that Medicine Immortal Hae Yeong is hiding something important.”

In the end, words spilled out of Gyeom-chang’s mouth.

“Something? What is it?”

“Aaaaargh. I really don’t know that. I only know that he deceived that person and ran away with it, nothing more…”

“Ran away with it?”

Was it something important to this organization?

But was there anything important that his grandfather could have hidden?

He remembered everything that was in the house, but there was nothing particularly important.

“Do you really not know?”

“It’s true. Please believe me.”

Gyeom-chang sincerely pleaded.

“Hmm. What’s not believable? I feel like I could squeeze it out of you.”

Mok Gyeong-un’s fingers, which were digging into his flesh, were about to move sideways.

Startled by this, Gyeom-chang hurriedly said:

“I, I’m just a mid-level executive in the Second Division. But Ghost Blade, a high-level executive in the First Division, might know.”

“First Division?”

For a moment, Gyeom-chang’s expression stiffened and distorted.

‘Ah…’

Having revealed even the organizational hierarchy, Gyeom-chang now truly gave up.

Since he had disclosed this much, there was no point in trying to withhold information anymore.

To him, Mok Gyeong-un asked:

“Is the First Division the highest rank in your organization?”

“…Yes.”

“The organizational structure goes First Division, Second Division, Third Division… like that, right?”

“…Yes.”

“How many divisions are there?”

“There are a total of five divisions.”

“Oho.”

If he was a mid-level executive in the second division out of five, it was a high position.

After all, it was unlikely for someone with this level of martial arts to hold a low position.

But if even he had such limited information, this organization was definitely operating as a cell structure.

“If you’re a mid-level executive in the Second Division, that’s quite high. Is information restricted to that extent?”

“Haa… haa… being a mid-level executive is nothing special.”

“I see. Then do the high-level executives in the First Division know many things?”

“They definitely know more than me.”

“In the end, you’re telling me to ask a high-level executive.”

“…”

“Alright. Then where can I meet that high-level executive named Ghost Blade? I’d appreciate it if you could tell me his identity.”

“I really don’t know that. Do you think someone like me in the Second Division would know the revealed identity or whereabouts of a high-level executive in the First Division?”

“I don’t understand. Then who do you report to regarding your missions?”

At that question, Gyeom-chang was momentarily at a loss for words.

It seemed he had asked the right question.

No matter how much of a cell structure it was, there had to be someone to report to and a connection to operate.

Saying there wasn’t any didn’t make sense.

“Tell me. Who do you report to? Is it the one you mentioned earlier as ‘that person’?”

“Th- that’s absurd. How could someone like me directly report to that person? That person is a noble being that even we in the Second Division cannot meet.”

“A noble being?”

Tilting his head, Mok Gyeong-un asked:

“What is the identity of that noble being? No. If you don’t even know Ghost Blade, who is directly above you, you probably won’t know this. Then how do you refer to that being you call ‘that person’? You don’t just call him ‘that person’, right?”

“That’s…”

Gyeom-chang hesitated for a moment.

He had pretty much told this guy everything already.

Even if he told him how they referred to that person, it wasn’t like this guy could find that person.

To the hesitating Gyeom-chang, Mok Gyeong-un said:

“If you’re thinking of testing my patience…”

“I, I was going to tell you. We call that person this. I don’t know exactly why we call him that, but the third… Ugh!”

It was at that very moment.

Before he could even finish speaking, the blood vessels in his neck and face swelled up.

‘!?’

Realizing something was wrong, Mok Gyeong-un grabbed his head and face to calm the swollen blood vessels.

However…

‘What?’

He tried to control the energy, but something was strange.

It was different from the usual case of energy flowing backward or blood vessels going out of control due to a sudden swelling.

This was…

-Splat!

“…”

In an instant, Gyeom-chang’s head exploded.

There was no time to do anything.

As a result, Mok Gyeong-un’s hands, face, and even clothes were covered in blood.

-Thud! Plop!

Mok Gyeong-un’s eyes sharpened as he pushed away the dead Gyeom-chang’s body.

The fact that he died while trying to say something meant he had been subjected to a taboo.

But this wasn’t a taboo caused by martial arts.

The unpleasant and ominous energy rising from the corpse of the dead Gyeom-chang was none other than the curse power containing a cursing technique.

The implication of this was simple.

‘A taboo by sorcery.’