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| CHAPTER 316 |
Thud!
Pyowol and Yura-yeon landed on the deck at the same time.
Yura-yeon immediately hid behind a large box nearby upon landing.
She sprained her ankle upon impact.
Despite her exceptional martial arts skills, jumping from nearly twenty feet high was not without danger. However, she managed to control her landing to minimize the damage, and if it were someone else, they would have likely broken their ankle.
"Be vigilant and keep an eye on our new family members"
"If there is anything strange, report it immediately in case there are pursuers."
Immediately after Yura-yeon took cover, the sailors poured out onto the deck.
They took their positions on the deck and the masts, scanning their surroundings.
"We almost had a big problem if we were even a little late."
Yurayeon let out a sigh of relief, but suddenly realized that Pyowol was nowhere to be seen. Despite jumping off the ship almost simultaneously, she couldn't see him anywhere. Come to think of it, the only sound she heard upon landing was her own footsteps - she couldn't hear Pyowol's.
"Did he manage to infiltrate first?" she thought, shivering.
She was amazed at how skilled he was in both stealth and invisibility. Even though they had jumped together, she hadn't noticed his trace.
If he had changed his mind during the jump, she would have already lost her life.
"Why didn't I pay more attention to him?" She regretted not taking a closer interest in him as a passing acquaintance.
Yurayeon decided to learn more about Pyowol as soon as this was over.
But it was too late to look for him now.
Yurayeon decided to move alone and infiltrated the corridors of the ship.
Fortunately, there were no guards on duty except on the deck.
The unmanned crew on the ship didn't think that someone else would have already invaded the ship. Even if it were themselves, they couldn't imagine outsiders wandering around freely inside an isolated ship in the middle of the sea.
Yura-yeon hurried through the cabin at a very fast pace.
She had not learned the art of infiltration like a spy.
Martial arts may be powerful, but it is a gem for sneaking around like this.
She had only one option left.
To escape as quickly as possible and find the Mahondo that was waiting on the ship.
Creak!
Then she heard the sound of a door opening from the deepest part of the hallway.
Almost instinctively, Yura-yeon stuck to the wall.
She held her breath and completely suppressed any movement.
Eventually, the door opened and a white-haired man came out. It was Jin Yoo-geon.
He immediately approached where Yura-yeon was.
For a moment, Yura-yeon's heart felt like it was going to burst.
'What should I do?'
Right now, the darkness is covering her body, but if someone gets closer, she'll surely get caught.
In a moment, countless thoughts passed through her head.
That was when it happened.
Jin Yugeon, who was approaching Yura-yeon straight on, turned to the left.
He thought it was a dead end, but there were stairs leading down there.
Yura-yeon had heard from Pyo Wol that a white-haired man was walking on the sidewalk.
"Let's follow him."
She followed Jin Yugeon.
The stairs going down were even darker. And a stench that made her head ache was blowing in.
It smelled like a mixture of rotting fish and feces.
Just breathing made her want to throw up.
Yura-yeon carefully went down the stairs while forcing down her urge to curse.
As soon as she arrived in the unknown space below the stairs, Yura-yeon unknowingly widened her eyes.
"Oh my god!"
The underground cells were full of big and small cells. Many people were trapped inside the cells with walls made of iron bars.
The people trapped in the narrow cells, naked and wounded, looked just like animals. Their origins and races were diverse.
They had a despairing expression, as if they had lost all hope.
"This can't be happening!"
Yura-yeon's shoulder had a sudden spasm.
She had never seen such a gruesome sight before in her life. The shock she felt was even greater because she had never witnessed one human treating another like an animal. She felt a strong sense of disgust towards people like Jin Yoo-geon, who were responsible for such inhumane acts.
She walked deeper into the dark alleyway, and the stench grew stronger as she went. The conditions of the people trapped there were dismal, with many of them crouching and wandering aimlessly. The ground was littered with their excrement.
Under normal circumstances, Yooa-yeon would never have come to a place like this. However, at this moment, she was so consumed with anger that she didn't even notice her clothes getting dirty.
"Ugh!"
Suddenly, a loud moan came from up ahead.
Yooa-yeon crouched behind a nearby crate and peered in the direction of the sound.
Jin Yoo-geon was standing there with his crewmen. The crewmen's clothes were stained with red blood, and Yooa-yeon quickly understood why.
In front of them was a man who had been transformed into a pile of meat. He was the man who had stolen from them and fled. He had been captured and brought here, where he had been subjected to cruel torture.
"Kill... Cha... Lari..."
The man begged them to kill him.
Jin Yoo-geon crouched down and met the man's gaze. In his hand was a small knife.
And then...
Jin Yoo-geon grabbed the man's arm with a dagger.
"Argh!"
"Who said you could run away? And with the mahondo too."
"Well...."
"Oh, I get it! You were trying to take something with you since you had a chance to escape, right? But that was not a good idea. Do you know why?"
"I, I don't know..."
Thunk!
At that moment, Jin Yoo-geon thrust the dagger deep into the back of the man's hand. The man, who was already badly beaten, could not even scream and only trembled uncontrollably.
"Do you know how many people have died because of you? More than ten. More than ten people died because of you. You went up to the mountain without even preparing to catch someone like you, and they died because of you. Only because of a human like you..."
"Ugh! I'm, I'm sorry..."
"Don't apologize. I don't want to hear your apology. Do you think I will be relieved by your apology?"
Jin Yoo-geon's eyes were now red and bloodshot.
All the people he lost in Hae-mun were his loyal followers.
Because they had been through countless battlefields together, they had a deeper bond than anyone else.
If the man had not tried to escape, there would have been no need to enter Hae-mun, and they would not have lost their people.
Everything was because of the man in front of them.
If he was going to escape, he should have done it alone, but he tried to cause a disturbance by escaping with the mahondo.
Jin Yoo-geon spoke to his followers.
"Open the door."
"Yes, sir!"
The followers answered and opened the door on the side of the hull. Then, the dark and seemingly bottomless sea appeared.
The black sea, whose depth could not be known, maximized the man's fear.
He was even more afraid because he knew that there were giant fish with teeth swimming in that sea.
"Oh, no!"
The man's face was filled with fear.
Jin Yoo-geon sneered at the man.
"Why, you want me to kill you? I will kill you."
"Still, this isn't it."
"What isn't it? Whether you die by getting stabbed by a sword or being eaten by a fish, death is all the same."
Jin Yugeon laughed sarcastically.
"Aah!"
The man struggled to resist being dragged away, but it was in vain. Jin Yugeon's subordinates quickly took him away.
"No, please! Just kill me with one strike."
The man pleaded tearfully, but Jin Yugeon couldn't change his mind.
Just as Jin Yugeon's subordinates were about to throw the man's arm into the deep sea, a voice suddenly echoed from the other side. It was one of Jin Yugeon's subordinates.
"Who's there?"
Jin Yugeon looked in the direction of the voice with suspicion.
"What is it?"
"Somebody sneaked in."
Yura Yeon walked out from where she had been hiding.
Her face showed signs of disappointment.
Jin Yugeon had been too focused on his surroundings to notice the man sneaking up from behind.
"Who are you?"
Yura Yeon didn't answer Jin Yugeon's question, and instead looked at the man who was about to be thrown into the sea.
Although his face had been disfigured from torture, Yura Yeon could tell who he was.
"Are you one of the Sambyungju(Master of the Three Law)?"
"Ugh!"
The man couldn't answer and closed his eyes tightly.
His reaction confirmed Yura Yeon's suspicion.
A mournful look crossed Yura Yeon's face.
There were three judges under the Chief Justice in the Mara Law Court. They were like three pillars supporting the great furnace of the Mara Law Court.
If Tarha, Yura-yeon's step-grandfather, was a symbol of power, then the judges were the embodiment of mental will.
A while ago, when a rebellion broke out in Seoyeok, the Samjudges disappeared mysteriously. Many believed that they had lost their lives in the rebellion.
However, they were found on a ghost ship in a distant Central Plains.
"Was it you who made Mahondo disappear?"
"Ugh!"
The man, Samjudge, could not answer.
That alone was enough of an answer for Yura-yeon.
"Why did someone as noble as you commit such a deed?"
At that moment, Jin Yu-gun stepped forward and spoke.
"Being noble is only an outward appearance."
"Is that so?"
"If he was such a person, he wouldn't have accepted our proposal and stolen Mahondo."
"Did you propose it? Why?"
"Why? Because Mahondo is valuable enough."
Jin Yu-gun smiled coldly.
Did you really think you could dominate the Mara Law using the Mahondo? The Mahondo is a symbolic treasure, not an authority-bearing document
"But it can still shake things up internally depending on how it's used. That should be enough."
"What's the point of that? Why would you want to shake up the Mara Law?"
"So that we can maintain the confusion in Seoyeok for as long as possible."
"What for?"
Yura-yeon's expression became confused without her realizing it.
She didn't quite understand what Jin Yugeon was saying.
"Why do you want confusion in Seoyeok? Why would you do something like that?"
Her thoughts became tangled, and her words faltered.
She was usually a calm person, but at this moment, she couldn't maintain her composure.
That was exactly what Jin Yugeon wanted.
While he was talking and buying time, his subordinates had filled the cabin.
They were holding harpoons used for catching fish and cutting knives used for slicing them. Their clothing was worn and tattered, reminiscent of sailors or fishermen. However, their entire demeanor exuded an air of calmness.
Even in this situation, they showed how much elite training they had gone through by not faltering.
"Who are these people?"
Yura-yeon couldn't hide her confusion.
At that time, the Samboeju (Lord of the Three Laws) shouted loudly
"Their desire is to keep the turmoil in Seoyeok going on for a long time, without ever being resolved, so that they can profit as much as possible from the confusion. I also regretted betraying them too late, Yul Sojo! "
Tears stained Samboeju's messed-up face.
He sincerely regretted his actions.
He cursed his own foolishness for stealing Mahondo in a moment of greed.
In the end, he was paying the price, but that didn't make his guilt disappear.
"Yul Sojo! I pray that you will recover Mahondo."
Samboeju shouted loudly and jumped into the sea.
As soon as he went underwater, a school of fish rushed towards him as if waiting.
"Krraaaak!"
His desperate scream echoed over the sea.
His body was torn to pieces by the sharp teeth and disappeared into the belly of the fish.
Yurayeon closed her eyes for a moment at the terrible scream.
She heard Jin Yugeon's contemptuous voice in her ear.
"You'll end up like that too, woman!"
"No, you'll be the ones to pay the price."
Yurayeon opened her eyes.
Her blue eyes shone brightly in the darkness.
Jin Yugeon shouted, "Subdue her!"
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