Chapter 154 – Imperial Palace (5)

Among the Six Departments, there was a Military department.

In one of its offices was a young man wearing the official uniform of a 5th ranked officer. He was the one in charge of the inner palace’s guards, and he was resting his chin on his desk by wiggling his fingers.

In the imperial palace, he is known as Il Mu-Hyung, a guard captain, but his real identity was Hyun Muil, the owner of the jade plaque and one of the five who received it.

Originally, it was during work hours, but he was thinking that there was something strange happening in the current situation.

‘The True King came to the palace, so why is there no report yet?’

Of course, there was a report. However, the report came from one of the low ranking officers, and not his men.

‘Strange.’

The fact that the True King entered the palace was no different from the story of the imperial palace’s hidden troops failing the mission.

Up to that point, the True King might have been in a hidden ambush with trump cards on all sides, but right now he and his daughter were within the palace together.

‘This means that not just the hidden troops but many more here had failed their missions to kill them.’

Obviously it had to be as such. However, Oh Muyang didn’t report anything.

Oh Muyang was being cautious with everything, and he was the one who was good at ploys and would respond to any irregularities swiftly. But there was something suspicious about him not reporting anything.

At this point, the situation felt hard for the emperor or hidden troops to move, then what is Oh Muyang doing not coming to him?

‘This cannot be.’

In the end, Hyun Muil decided to visit the man himself and was ready to head out of the inner palace, but a crippled old eunuch came to the entrance. Seeing that, Hyun Muil snorted as he said,

“I guess the item did you good. You couldn’t even walk right until a moment back.”

“…”

“Don’t be suspicious of snooping here and there and focus on getting back to health.”

With those words to the eunuch, he tried to pass by until the old one said.

“Are you heading for Oh Muyang?”

Surprisingly, the voice of the old eunuch was quite young, not matching his appearance at all.

Even his eyes were overflowing with energy. Hyun Muil, who tried to pass by the old eunuch, stopped.

“… What are you trying to say?”

“If you are trying to go for the person I think you are, then I recommend not to.”

“What?”

Hyun Muil turned his head and frowned. And he looked at the old eunuch and said,

“Are you being cocky for a person who cannot even use his body right?”

“I am not being cocky.”

“Then to whom do you think you are to tell me to not go?”

At his angry tone, the old eunuch bowed his head and said,

“How can I forget the grace that you have shown? I am just telling you this to repay the favor.”

“Repay?”

“Yes.”

At those words of his, the glare of Hyun Muil sharpened.

“What do you know?”

“The Warrior of Super Strength has entered the imperial palace.”

“What?”

At those words, Hyun Muil’s eyes widened.

What now? Who came?

“You mean the one called Mumu?”

“Yes.”

“What nonsense is this? He should be in the academy…”

“He showed up as a guard.”

‘!?’

At those words Hyun Muil looked shocked. But this old eunuch was supposed to be with Oh Muyang and was the one who takes care of the tasks Oh Muyang gives. So this isn’t someone to easily ignore.

Hyun Muil thought that he had to go to the office of Oh Muyang, but he was stopped.

“Do not go.”

“Who are you to tell me…”

“Calm down. Muoh is in his hands and he was betrayed by the descendant of the Wicked Spear Clan.”

“What?”

Hyun Muil was at a loss for words at this. Did the Wicked Spear Clan which he asked to capture Yu Jin-sung, betray him?

“Do not talk nonsense, he is a man who’d rather die than succumb to the pressure of…”

“He referred to the academy student as lord.”

“Lord? What is that…”

“And Kang Mui was with him.”

“Kang Mui?”

Hyun Muil was now even more confused at this.

It felt difficult to even understand what kind of situation this was with all this new information coming in.

Why would a man under him betray him and refer to a child as his lord? And Kang Mui was here? Did it mean they were working together?

Clench!

Hyun Muil clenched his teeth. It was difficult to figure out exactly what was happening here with the information he held. What was certain was that what he built up until now had begun to shake one after another.

“Fucking dogs!”

Hyun Muil thought that he had to catch them right then and there, but the old eunuch said,

“Calm down. There may be some hidden plan, he boldly invaded the palace and is aiming for you.”

“Secrets and whatever else do not matter. There is that student there and if he can be dealt with then most of the variable factors will vanish.”

An accurate decision to kill. However, the eunuch tried to dissuade him.

“Two of the Four Great Warriors have suffered in the hands of that child. That means he also is around their level or stronger than them.”

“So you are saying I will lose to someone like that?”

Woong

As soon as he said it, the clothes of Hyun Muil fluttered with a strong wind coming up. The bookshelves around began to shake.

The force was so strong that the old eunuch’s breathing turned rough.

“Huk… huk…”

Even before his dantian was destroyed, enduring it would be difficult. Hyun Muil looked at him and said,

“Do not act up. You are a thing to be used.”

“Kuk… Bumping… to him… might… not… be…”

Clench!

“Kuak!”

Hyun Muil grabbed the eunuch by the throat.

“You seem to be wishing for death first.”

“T… they lost… life… due… to… carelessness… please… calm down…”

“Ugh.”

The old eunuch’s eyes were rolling back as breathing turned difficult.

Hyun Muil, who was glaring at him, relaxed his clenched hand.

Pak

“Cough cough…”

The old eunuch collapsed on the ground coughing. Hyun Muil, who was glaring at the man disapprovingly, calmed his anger.

He almost did something bad, unable to hold back his anger, but there was a point in the old eunuch’s words.

‘Carelessness…’

There is a high chance that this notorious guy had something up his sleeve, and he was said to be unmatched in strength, being so bold that he came to the palace, so he must be more prepared.

And to be swayed by him would be like playing into his plan. So he asked,

“What do you mean then?”

The old eunuch’s mouth, which had been bent down from coughing, twitched and glared at him. The eunuch said while hiding his appearance,

“Haa… ha… leave the palace right now.”

Papapak!

At a forest hill to the southwest about ten kilometers from the capital—

Hyun Muil and the descendants of the Eight Evil Families led by himself were using footwork.

‘Damn it. How did things get this twisted?’

Although they managed to move from the palace, their pride was hurt by this. They had been running until now.

However, everything was messed up because of that one guy. Hyun Muil turned his head and looked at the old eunuch, not liking his sight.

[I am not asking you to give up on the Imperial palace.]

[Doesn’t this sound like it though?]

[For a very short time… you just need to disappear.]

After all, isn’t this like saying to avoid that kid and hide?

In order to evade being pursued as much as possible and not leave any trace, he escaped with as few people as possible, but he couldn’t meet their eyes either.

[Until now, we have endured all kinds of humiliation through the process of trying to rebuild the name and family. Everything is for the greater world. You shouldn’t consider this as humiliation.]

Clench

Greater world—

If it wasn’t for that, they would have fought with Mumu no matter what the outcome was. If they lost to him, then it will be over.

Hyun Muil eventually chose a safe path.

‘Enjoy the moment. Both you and the Four Great Warriors will die in my hands…’

Hyun Muil narrowed his eyes as he vowed to himself.

It was because they could see someone come. However, the form was different from normal people.

It was walking with its head lowered like a doll losing its string. This was a bizarre sight.

“Phew.”

Well, they were quite annoyed with it so—

Srng!

He pulled out the sword from his waist. He had to vent his anger out on something. But just then—

Pak!

The form which was walking while staggering straightened its body and immediately raised its head and looked ahead.

‘!?’

“Ahhh…”

The old eunuch knelt down. Holding his head, he looked ahead in wonder and frustration as he tore the skin off.

The skin began to show off the face hidden under it.

It was Sa Muheo, a member of the academy brought in as a criminal and brought by Oh Muyang.

Prrr!

And in his eyes, there was a weird light. Hyun Muil was said to have the most amazing talent among the five who held the plaque.

Even though he hadn’t shown a serious side, he was someone who had a strong body, but with his body suffering too much in the past, he collapsed.

“Kuak!”

He clutched his chest as if his heart hurt. And from a place about ten steps away, a monster with its right upper body blown away staggered to him.

It was a terrifying image to see him move without dying despite part of his upper body gone, and the monster which appeared gently stroked the head of suffering Hyun Muil and said,

“I am reaping the harvest, my alter ego.”

At the same time in the throne room—

In the throne room, there were many struggling to protect the True King, who had been surrounded by the uniformed guards.

With the best warriors of the palace being brought in, Mumu had been able to handle them all.

“Ahh!”

Kwaang!

The blade energy used by the twin blade wielder Ah Gong cut through the place. At his chaotic attack, three men had fallen back with huge wounds on them. Normally one would be afraid of this sight…

“Do not give them a chance!”

“If the True King is caught, victory is ours!”

They were anxious to catch their target. Since they were now in the palace and the hidden troops’ captain was defeated, they had to capture the True King to win now.

Only then can that monster be stopped.

‘Need to catch the True King.’

‘Before his majesty is defeated, we must strike first.’

They didn’t have the talent to withstand a monster like Mumu. Therefore, in order to protect the emperor, it was considered that the only answer was to take the True King as a hostage.

“If not, get the princess!”

The weakness of the True King was his daughter. But Hong Nayeon wasn’t just any girl, but a 3rd year student at the academy.

And she wasn’t standing out because of Mumu and Ah Gong, but she was quite skilled too.

“Haa… haa…”

But the problem was the number of opponents. Despite having skilled people on the side of the True King, the number on the side of the emperor was too much.

And unlike them, these people were more trained to protect a person.

‘… Still?’

She thought that it wouldn’t take too long to catch the emperor if it was Mumu, but this was taking longer than he thought.

Was something happening outside?

As she was puzzled—

Bang!

At that moment the ceiling of the room had shattered and landed on the floor. Everyone stopped fighting and looked there.

One of the uniformed guards looked there and shouted in pain.

“Y-your Majesty!!!”

At the place where they landed, there was Mumu with his human skin mask and the emperor who was shocked, being clenched by the robe he was wearing. Despair flooded onto the faces of the people of the palace, at the sight of their emperor being taken captive.

Tak!

“Euk!”

Then when Mumu let go of the hand, the emperor fell, stumbling down.

“T-this…!”

“How dare you!”

At that appearance, the eunuchs and more couldn’t hold back their anger.

However, they were still shocked with the emperor’s robes being stained yellow and the tears flowing from his face.

How terrified was the man?

Tremble

One uniformed guard couldn’t stand it and yelled,

“How dare you do this to…!”

“S-stop!”

The emperor screamed at him.

“Your Majesty?”

“H-how dare you scream with my safety on the line?”

On the contrary, the members of the palace, even the skilled warriors who all wanted to shout out at the man were now left dumbfounded.

As if he didn’t care about the reaction, the emperor noticed Mumu.

“I-I think they are still like that because they don’t know how great your power is. P-please don’t be angry.”

‘Ha!’

They were speechless at how humiliating the actions of the emperor were. The great emperor of the empire was giving into a man in fear.

Seeing the emperor act like this, Hong Nayeon, the princess, smiled.

[Then will the problem be solved if the emperor is dealt with?]

‘Ahh.’

She thought they were words to comfort her, but it actually happened.