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| CHAPTER 318 |
Chapter 318
He was once a handsome man who received compliments for being more attractive than Pyowol.
He was a beautiful man with delicate facial features that could make any girl let her guard down just by looking at him.
However, his old appearance was nowhere to be found on his face now. It had been horribly disfigured to the point where even looking at it would make one feel disgusted. Although it was unclear what he had been through during that time, he was still alive and breathing despite his ruined face.
Even so, Pyowol recognized him in an instant.
"Goshinok."
"I knew you would remember me."
"What happened to your face?"
"This? Should I call it the price I paid for escaping from the Cheonra Maze that day?"
Goshinok brushed off his face nonchalantly. The texture of his skin felt rough and dry like tree bark at the tips of his fingers. Nevertheless, Goshinok smiled.
Even though his face was ruined, he was still alive and breathing.
"It's all thanks to you, Pyowol. Thanks to you shaking the Cheonra Maze, I've been able to escape and survive until now."
"What about Soyeowol and Song Cheonu?"
"I don't know."
"Weren't we all moving together?"
"Because the Cheonra prison was not lenient enough to allow everyone to escape together."
The Cheonra Prison was guarded by soldiers from the Four Heavenly Kings.
The children who were raised as criminals died miserably one by one as they were caught in the Cheonra Maze.
Goshinok was also destined to die in the same way.
During the crisis, So Yeowool and Song Cheonwoo abandoned him and fled together, leaving Gosinok to fight for his life.
The warriors of Sachunsung saw him as their prey and Goshinok was hunted mercilessly. In the end, someone threw poison onto his body, causing his skin to melt away.
If Pyowol had not killed the enemy leader who was the target of assassination, causing chaos in Cheonraji Fortress, Goshinok would have lost his life.
As a result of Pyowol's counterattack, the warriors of Cheonraji Fortress were shaken, giving Goshinok a chance to escape.
Goshinok fled desperately, but his wounds caused by the poison were so severe that they could not be treated.
Despite the agony he endured from the poison, Goshinok was grateful to be alive and joked about wearing bandages all over his body.
"The poison left me no choice but to wrap myself in bandages, but I'm still alive." Goshinok laughed as he spoke.
"Pyowol silently watched Goshinok. His appearance irritated Goshinok's nerves.
"What happened? Your face has become even more beautiful."
"There were as many things happening to me as to you."
"Hehe! That's right. That must have been the case."
Goshinok nodded his head as if he understood everything.
There was a strange madness in him.
"Pyowol! Have I ever asked you for a favor?"
"No, you haven't."
"Then let me ask you for the first time today."
"Don't."
"What?"
"I don't have the desire to listen to any request or want to fulfill any. So just don't ask."
"You unlucky bastard. You haven't changed at all."
Goshinok stared at Pyowol with a crazy look in his eyes.
It was impossible to think of the old Goshinok in his current state.
Goshinok had changed too much.
Pyowol asked, "What happened?"
"What?"
"Why are you on this boat? Are you also related to the Nine Dragon Robe?"
"Huh!"
Without realizing it, Go Shin-ok let out a laugh.
It was because of the way Pyo Wol had said "huh."
His face hardened immediately.
"How much do you know?"
"Enough... "
Go Shin-ok glared at Pyo Wol.
Ordinary people could read thoughts to some extent just by looking into someone's eyes, but Pyo Wol was impossible to read.
He had always been that way.
Even when they were all adrift in the underground bunker, Pyo Wol seemed to see through and prepare for everything without any hint of hesitation.
Although they breathed the same air in the same space, he seemed to be living alone in a different space.
Pyo Wol was such an alien presence.
It seemed impossible to keep any secret perfectly intact in front of those emotionless eyes.
"How did you find out? There are hardly any who know that name in Gangho."
"I happened to find out."
"Happened to find out? Don't play with words. Guryong Salmak is not that easy to penetrate even by chance."
"It's not easy, but it's not perfect either."
Pyo Wol shrugged.
Every action he took was unsettling to Go Shin-ok, from the beginning to the end.
From breathing to small actions.
Everything in Pyowol stimulated Goshinok.
It was also what Pyowol intended.
Pyowol didn't know that the Ghost Fleet was really related to the Guryong Salmak. However, just by poking around because of a bad feeling, Goshinok reacted more strongly than expected.
They had to stimulate Goshinok as much as possible to uncover many truths.
"I've always been curious. Where does Guryong Salmaek raise all those skilled warriors? To raise warriors of that caliber, real combat is necessary. But as you know, the Kangho region has been peaceful for decades. As a result, most of the warriors in the current Kangho region lack a sense of crisis. But the warriors of Guryong Salmaek are different. They all seemed to have been tempered through fierce combat."
"Go on."
"They must have experienced real combat somewhere, and it must have been intense... So I thought, if there's no such place in Kangho, it must be outside, like Saewae. Seoyeok is a typical example. It's where countless people died during the civil war."
"...."
Gosinok tightly sealed his lips. Although he tried to act calm, Pyowol noticed his eyes were slightly trembling.
They strengthened their power with Gu Ryong Salmak there. They improved their skills by putting the soldiers into action. To properly increase their power, the internal conflict had to continue for a long time. So they must have shaken things up to prevent the civil war from ending. The Ghost Fleet was probably created for that purpose. They pillaged while moving between the central and western regions, incited unrest, transported soldiers, and looted goods to increase their power."
"..."
Gosinok's pupils shook uncontrollably.
This was because what Pyowol said was close to the truth.
At that point, there was no evidence that Gu Ryong Salmak existed. Even Kangho's Myeongsuk did not know of the existence of Gu Ryong Salmak, but Pyowol made a near-accurate inference with just a few circumstantial pieces of evidence.
Gosinok, who was watching, was terrified.
But Pyowol continued speaking at that moment.
"Why did they have to keep the secret so strictly? Perhaps they haven't yet reached the desired level of power. Or maybe they learned a lesson from the downfall of Magyo and Shinmaren. They probably realized that if the revealed forces were attacked by Kangho, they would inevitably collapse. That's why they strengthened their power in the hidden land. What I'm curious about is who made Gu Ryong Salmak and for what purpose."
Although he was looking at Gosinok, it wasn't something he was saying to him. It was something Pyowol was saying to himself.
After Jin Geom-woo's death, he continued to clash with Guryongsalmak.
It had been a question he had since then. But there was too little information to solve the question.
Guryongsalmak thoroughly hid its existence and left only fragmented information to the world.
He had to infer the truth with only fragmented information. But because there were too many missing pieces, he couldn't draw the big picture.
To match countless fragmented pieces, he needed a key part. It was a part that seemed like nothing to others but made those who had been pondering it for a long time enlightened.
For Pyo Wol, it was Goshin-ok that was such an existence.
Goshin-ok did not give Pyo Wol any clues. But to Pyo Wol, Goshin-ok itself was the key part of matching the fragmented picture.
As soon as he saw Goshinok, the pieces he had put together fell into place. "Considering that they learned from the downfall of Magyo and Shinmaran and that their power is not yet complete, Guryongsalmak must have been established only a few decades ago. During that time, Guryongsalmak must have incited rebellion in Saewae while avoiding Kangho's attention and raised its size and talent. Yul is probably one of those who were raised that way."
Now, Yul seemed to realize that he could smell the scent of a military leader from the tribunal he had been attending.
It was made that way from the beginning.
As an organization emphasizing law and order.
Whoever created Guryongsalmak, they were obsessed with law and order to the point of obsession.
They must have experienced a great sense of loss due to the fact that law and order were not being upheld.
Goshinok's eyebrows twitched.
He realized too late what state Pyowol was in.
He was collecting all the fragmented information with his own hands to create a single story.
Even as he spoke, he imagined, recalled, and drew the truth from his head.
If he left it like this, Pyowol would completely uncover the secret of Guryongsalmak, which he had hidden for a long time.
He couldn't leave it like that.
Pyowol may not know what Guryongsalmak means, but to him, it was like a benefactor of life.
Guryongsalmak was the place where he was rescued from the brink of death, treated, and sent on a ghostly expedition to slaughter as much as he wanted, and sent to Seoyeok.
I apologize for the mistake. It should be Go Shinok instead of Ko Shin-ok. Here's the corrected translation:
As he lived in Seo-yeok, his skills improved.
Go Shinok was satisfied with his life.
He couldn't let that kind of life be shattered by Pyo-wol.
"Pyo-wol!"
Shwick!
Go Shinok attacked Pyo-wol, shouting in anger.
In an instant, Pyo-wol's immersion was shattered.
The door of truth, which seemed like it would open when touched, was firmly closed again.
To open the door of truth in the future, there would need to be greater immersion or solid evidence than there is now.
Clang!
Go Shinok's sword was blocked by Pyo-wol's ghostly sword, but Go Shinok was not disappointed.
His attack was just beginning.
Over the past few years, he had shed blood that Pyo-wol could never have imagined.
Thrown into the battlefield without any information, he had to survive alone there.
That was the test of Guryongsal-mak.
There was no mercy or leniency in Guryongsal-mak for those who could not survive.
At first, he despaired. And he wandered.
After surviving many close calls with death, he realized something.
It means the fact that the only one who can help oneself here is oneself.
After that, Go Shinok was filled with pride.
He honed his combat skills even more and succeeded in many expeditions.
Thus, Go Shinok developed and eventually gained recognition in Guryongsal-mak, and was able to take charge of one of the ghost ships in the Ghost Squadron.
Until he reached his current position, the number of dead in his hands exceeded several hundred.
As he shed the blood of so many, his combat skills became increasingly perfect.
He was no longer the Go Shinok of the past who chased after So-yeowol or Song-cheonu in the underground community.
Although he had lost the beauty of his face, his hands had become even more brutal.
He was confident that even if So-yeowol or Song-cheonu from the underground community were to come, they would no longer be his opponents.
Shwick!
The sound of tearing silk spread throughout the cabin.
It was the sound of Goshinok's sword cutting through the darkness.
Like a cat tracking a mouse, his sword was relentless.
If an ordinary person had been on the receiving end of his attack, they would not have lasted a few seconds before becoming disoriented.
His attack was persistent and found weaknesses, but it did not land on Pyowol's body.
"Kang!"
This was because Pyowol had defended himself with a ghost shield.
Even though it was only the size of a child's palm, it was enough for Pyowol.
No matter how long the sword was, it only hit an area the size of a child's palm.
The key was accuracy, speed, and courage, and Pyowol possessed all three.
"Kakakakang!"
Pyowol deflected all of Goshinok's attacks.
When his attacks failed, Goshinok's face twisted slightly.
He disliked Pyowol's indifferent face that didn't change even after his attacks.
No, that wasn't the reason.
He disliked the face that had retained the beauty he had lost.
The feeling of loss for the beauty he once had haunted him even when he pretended to be indifferent.
Suddenly, greed sprouted in his heart.
His greed grew uncontrollably and consumed his heart.
"Give me your face, Pyowol!"
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