Chapter 30
There's nothing more to see.
Yeo-il readily admitted it. "Yes, you're right."
Did he think they were going to keep up this pointless power struggle? Namgung Jeok-myeong, who had been silent with a slightly embarrassed look, murmured, "From now on, call me 'brother'."
"Alright, Jeok-myeong."
"I knew it from the start, you're a real handful."
"Is that so? Then, what's the real reason you called me out here, brother?"
If he just wanted to sweet-talk her, he wouldn't have dragged her up a mountain in this rain.
In the pitch-black darkness, as the rain grew heavier, Namgung Jeok-myeong moved away from the pine tree he'd been leaning against, took Yeo-il's hand, and knelt.
Something that shouldn't have been there lay in the wet soil, leaves, and broken branches.
It was the corpse of an unfamiliar man.
"This guy... he's been with me a long time, like a brother. He's the one who gave me this scar on my arm."
A man like that would be a servant or a bodyguard.
"You killed him?"
"Yes. Just yesterday. All of a sudden, he looked at me like a total stranger, hell-bent on hurting me. He even grabbed a sword, and he's never used one in his life."
He sighed, a deep, bitter sigh with every word.
"Chu-myeong also changed like this, out of nowhere."
Namgung Chu-myeong.
As soon as the name left his lips, Yeo-il, while Namgung Jeok-myeong was distracted, checked the corpse's neck.
"Like a totally different person... Not the little brother I knew at all. He just kept getting further and further away."
The blood and mud made it difficult, but even a cold body couldn't hide anything from Yeo-il's expert touch.
"I've looked everywhere for some kind of disease that messes with your head, or even some kind of magic that controls people, but I haven't found anything."
"..."
"If even Hee-myeong's closest men start changing like this... it'll be a disaster."
Namgung Jeok-myeong, muttering to himself in the rain, looked completely exhausted.
She could tell without him saying a word.
Namgung Jeok-myeong was hoping that Yeo-il would figure out the truth he hadn't yet grasped. Even taking her hand and placing it on the corpse's face...
His boldness was strange, but it showed how desperate he was.
Was his sudden change in attitude after seeing Jin Cheong-ak in the daytime also because of his third brother?
As one of the best up-and-coming fighters in Gangho, he must have recognized Jin Cheong-ak's strength and presence.
With their father, Namgung Je, seriously ill, Namgung Hee-myeong was the only family Namgung Jeok-myeong had left.
To protect someone so important, he probably decided to team up with one enemy to get rid of a bigger one.
Yeo-il let out a laugh without realizing it.
"Why are you laughing?"
"Ah. That is..."
Namgung Jeok-myeong was truly a lucky man, wasn't he?
"Looking at it like this, I think I know why you couldn't figure it out, Jeok-myeong."
Out of everyone, she happened to be the one to connect with him and find the rot that had taken root in his family.
"...What are you talking about?"
He had gained an opportunity to protect his precious family.
Yeo-il, raising her head, smiled brightly with her eyes closed.
"It's a mask... made of human skin."
"...What?"
"It's better made than Namgung Chu-myeong's. It looks like it was put on recently."
Yeo-il pulled Namgung Jeok-myeong's unresponsive—or rather, unable to readily respond—hand and placed it on the area of concern.
"You can hardly feel it, but it's the mark of a human skin mask. You'd never know unless you were looking for it."
Yeo-il gently scratched the edge of the human skin mask with her fingernail. Then, a thin membrane lifted, like a snake shedding its skin.
"Want to peel it off and see?"
"...This skin."
In a voice choked as if he had swallowed sand, Namgung Jeok-myeong asked, "This skin... is it actual human skin?"
That depends on the artisan.
"Some mask makers, the ones with some decency, wouldn't touch a corpse. But the ones who only cared about perfection, they'd rip the faces right off dead people."
In the case of Namgung Chu-myeong and this man...
It had to be the second one.
But she wasn't about to say that. No way.
"I can't tell you that much."
"Then, this guy I know and my younger brother Chu-myeong..."
"..."
"Stupid question. Of course, they're dead."
Yeo-il could feel Namgung Jeok-myeong's hand clenching into a fist.
His fist was shaking, as if he were holding back a flood of emotions.
It took him a while to get his breathing under control. He didn't peel off the mask. He just muttered, his voice hollow and bitter, "Damn it! I knew what Chu-myeong was like, but I just stood by like an idiot... If I'd figured it out sooner, I might have been able to save this guy..."
Namgung Jeok-myeong kept cursing and swallowing, then he stood up, as if he couldn't take it anymore.
He lifted his chin as if he were going to scream, but nothing came out.
He just stood there, letting the rain pour down on him from under his gat, and then said, almost as an afterthought, "Thank you, sincerely."
Yeo-il replied by silently standing up as well.
"...Haha. It's creepy as hell. How did you know that Chu-myeong, that bastard imposter, was wearing my brother's skin if you can't see?"
He's really asking that? Does he actually think I'm blind?
She touched his throat. "Like this."
She tapped it gently, so he'd know it wasn't a threat, but he remained stiff as a board.
"You can feel it. Easy, right?"
Namgung Jeok-myeong, stunned for a second, quickly turned back to the body.
"Hold on. I need to take care of this before we go."
After he'd hastily buried the body.
The two of them held hands again and descended the mountain. In front of the inn that was gradually getting closer, Yeo-il asked Namgung Jeok-myeong, "Brother, if the current Namgung Chu-myeong is a fake, where did this fake come from?"
He didn't hesitate. "I'm not sure, but I have a pretty good idea. At first, I thought they were just working together... but it looks like they killed Chu-myeong themselves."
"Is it related to them mistaking me for a Salmak?"
"Yes. Perhaps... it might even be related to the Eight Ghosts."
If Namgung Jeok-myeong was right, these guys were serious trouble.
"I'll tell you everything when we get back to the estate."
The next day, they headed back to Anhui Province as soon as the sun came up.
