The old man’s name was Mok Yonggi, and his granddaughter’s name was Mok Hwaran.
When their names were called, the two of them clung tightly to each other and began trembling.
Jeok Wigang reassured them.
“You don’t need to be so afraid. I’ll stay by your side.”
“No. B-Benefactor, please just stay inside. I’m afraid they’ll harm you too.”
After saying that, he sprang to his feet and hurried outside.
When he stepped out, soldiers were standing around the house with frightening expressions.
“What took you so long to come out!”
One of the soldiers must have been angry, because he tried to strike the old man in the stomach with the butt of his spear.
At that moment—
Thud.
A hand that appeared from nowhere caught the spear.
Startled, the soldier looked up and saw Jeok Wigang standing there, holding the spear.
“What the hell? He had an accomplice?”
“The magistrate ordered us to bring in anyone connected to these people. Arrest him too.”
“You heard that, didn’t you? Let go right now and submit quietly to binding.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You bastard. Are you saying you’re going to resist?”
“Yeah.”
“You won’t come to your senses until you’ve tasted pain! What are you all doing? Teach him a lesson!”
As the soldiers charged toward Jeok Wigang all at once, someone stepped in to block them.
It was Ye Yahyeon.
“Don’t kill them. Just make them obedient.”
“Yes.”
At Jeok Wigang’s single remark, Ye Yahyeon grinned and moved toward the charging soldiers.
WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP—
“Guh!”
“Kek!”
The soldiers were sent flying in an instant.
The moment they tried to gather themselves—
A heavy impact, accompanied by a flash like exploding stars, struck them with the sensation that their heads and bodies had been split apart.
CRAAACK—
A soldier hit in the temple by Ye Yahyeon’s kick foamed at the mouth and collapsed unconscious on the spot.
The soldiers who were getting back up were all knocked out by Ye Yahyeon’s attacks as well.
“I told you to make them obedient. What are you doing knocking them unconscious?”
“I hit them gently. What am I supposed to do when these bastards are weak?”
“Wake them back up.”
“Yes.”
With a face full of complaint, Ye Yahyeon began waking the unconscious soldiers.
Tap tap—
After he tapped their bodies a few times—
“Aaaagh!”
The soldiers jolted awake with hideous screams.
Then they began writhing madly, like earthworms dragged into the sunlight.
“Gaaaah!”
Ye Yahyeon left the suffering soldiers where they were and watched them.
They were in such agony that it was almost impossible to keep one’s eyes open and look at them.
Mok Yonggi and Mok Hwaran squeezed their eyes shut and turned their heads away.
After some time passed—
“They should be obedient now.”
Ye Yahyeon released the soldiers’ sealed pressure points and asked,
“You’ll listen properly, won’t you?”
The soldiers answered the instant his words ended.
“Yes! We will!”
“Just give us any order!”
“Good.”
Satisfied with their response, Ye Yahyeon spoke to Jeok Wigang.
“They’re ready.”
“Stand up.”
At Jeok Wigang’s command, the soldiers sprang to their feet.
“Who did the magistrate tell you to bring?”
“Th-That old man....”
SLAP—
CRASH—
“You should call him the elder.”
Ye Yahyeon grinned as he corrected him, and the fallen soldier sprang back to his feet and said,
“Yes! He told us to escort this elder and the young lady!”
“He said to bring the people connected to them too, didn’t he?”
“Yes! He told us to escort any suspicious people near the elder as well!”
“Why?”
“He suspects the elder had someone torture Lord Im Baekmun, because Lord Im Baekmun keeps saying strange things!”
“Really? Let’s go for now. I’m curious what he has to say.”
“Yes! We’ll guide you!”
“We’re just going like this?”
“Yes?”
“Are you making the elder walk?”
“Th-That is...”
“Looks like you still haven’t come to your senses. What happened?”
When Jeok Wigang spoke with a displeased expression, Ye Yahyeon’s gaze turned terrifying.
The soldiers who saw that gaze sat down and offered their backs.
“P-Please climb on. We will carry you comfortably to the government office.”
“Hey, are we supposed to walk, then? Why are you all so slow? Do you really need another round?”
“N-No! We’ll get a carriage right away!”
“That’s more like it. Now we’re finally communicating. Go get one quickly. If you run off somewhere else, be prepared. I’ll chase you to the ends of the Central Plains and peel your skin off.”
Jeok Wigang scolded Ye Yahyeon for that.
“What do you mean, peel their skin off? That’s cruel. Use nicer words.”
“Yes.”
Says you...
Ye Yahyeon grumbled inwardly.
“What are you looking at? Aren’t you moving?”
“Yes? Yes!”
The soldiers scrambled away to find a carriage, while the Mok grandfather and granddaughter stared blankly after them.
“I-Is this all right?”
Mok Yonggi asked in a frightened voice, and Jeok Wigang smiled as he answered.
“Yes. You don’t need to worry about anything, so please be at ease.”
Jeok Wigang tried to soothe him, but Mok Yonggi’s unease only grew stronger and stronger.
*****
The soldiers returned with a carriage.
Drenched in sweat, they opened the door and bowed their heads.
“Please get in. We will escort you comfortably to the government office.”
At that, Jeok Wigang said to Mok Yonggi,
“Please get in.”
“A-Are we really getting in?”
“Yes. They said they’ll escort you comfortably. Don’t worry and get in.”
Mok Yonggi and Mok Hwaran climbed into the carriage uneasily.
Jeok Wigang followed them inside.
Ye Yahyeon did not climb in after them. He closed the door instead.
When he looked at the soldiers, all of them were trembling in fear.
If they went like this, the magistrate’s rage would turn on them.
But if they refused, Ye Yahyeon was far too frightening.
Either way, they were in serious trouble.
To the soldiers standing there with wilted faces, Ye Yahyeon said,
“Why are you so gloomy? Don’t worry. The magistrate won’t be able to say anything to you either.”
“Yes?”
Ye Yahyeon showed them his waist.
The soldiers looked puzzled, unable to understand why he was showing it to them.
“This is called the Dragon Emblem Token. Ever heard of it?”
All of them shook their heads.
“They really don’t train you properly. They should have trained you so you could recognize it on sight. This is the tablet given only to the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. I’m that Commander, which also means I hold a rank far higher than some barely seventh-rank magistrate.”
“Th-The Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?”
“That’s right. Do you have a sense of which side you ought to stand on now?”
“Yes? Yes, my lord!”
At Ye Yahyeon’s words, hope seemed to bloom in the soldiers’ eyes, and they nodded violently before changing their behavior.
Then one thought occurred to them.
There was a person inside the carriage whom even the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard could not treat carelessly and had to obey.
A person the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard could not even sit beside.
Then just how high-ranking was that person?
The soldiers no longer needed to be afraid.
Their expressions relaxed, and they set off toward the government office.
*****
The soldiers in front of the government office stared in bewilderment, looking back and forth between the carriage and their fellow soldiers.
“Hey... have you all lost your minds? What the hell is this?”
Their fellow soldiers ignored whatever they said and busied themselves treating the people inside the carriage with the utmost respect.
“We have arrived. Please step down.”
From the carriage emerged Mok Yonggi and his granddaughter, whom the magistrate had ordered arrested.
At that, everyone stared blankly, unable to understand what was happening.
“Please come inside.”
The soldiers personally guided them all the way to the main hall where the magistrate was.
Mok Yonggi and his granddaughter looked around with frightened faces.
When they reached the main hall, a scream rang out.
“Eek!”
It was Im Baekmun.
Im Baekmun, who had been quiet, saw Mok Yonggi and his granddaughter and immediately lost his mind, flattening himself on the floor and begging.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
At that sight, the magistrate became certain.
Mok Yonggi must have done something to Im Baekmun.
More importantly, the soldiers’ behavior was strange.
Were they not bringing Mok Yonggi and his granddaughter in as though they were honored guests?
Had those bastards gone mad?
Behind them were two more men he had never seen before.
“Who are those men?”
“They are connected parties.”
“Parties?”
He had ordered them to bring in anyone connected to the case, but why were they using such extreme honorifics?
At that moment, Jeok Wigang stepped forward.
“Are you the magistrate?”
“Hah.”
That one did not seem sane either.
Between him and Im Baekmun, why were there so many insane people today?
The magistrate pressed a hand to his forehead.
“What is your relationship with Mok Yonggi?”
“We met by chance while I was passing by.”
“By chance? Then do you also know Lord Im Baekmun over there?”
“I do. I’m the one who made him like that.”
The magistrate stared at Jeok Wigang as though the statement was absurd.
“Are you confessing to a crime right now?”
“A crime? That bastard committed the crime. I only gave him the punishment he deserved.”
“This country has proper national law. Harming another person over private feelings is illegal! You falsely accused Lord Im Baekmun, who had been acquitted, and ruined him. Do you understand how grave a crime this is?”
“I don’t know about that. Why did you do it?”
“What?”
“You knew too, didn’t you? You knew these people were innocent.”
“Silence! This is contempt of a magistrate! Men! Arrest that bastard and give him one hundred strokes of flogging!”
The soldiers started to move, but Ye Yahyeon stepped forward.
“Don’t move another step. Unless you want to die.”
With those words, an enormous killing intent erupted from him, and the soldiers froze in terror.
The magistrate felt that killing intent as well and stammered with a startled face.
“Wh-What are you doing right now?”
“Answer the question. Why did you falsely accuse innocent people?”
“I never did such a thing!”
“Really? I knew you wouldn’t talk easily. Thank you.”
What was he thanking him for?
The instant the magistrate had that thought, Jeok Wigang was already beside him.
Startled out of his wits, the magistrate backed away and shouted,
“What are you doing! Stop this bastard! No, kill him! Kill him right now!”
The moment the soldiers moved at the magistrate’s command—
WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP—
THUD— THUD— THUD—
Ye Yahyeon subdued them all in an instant with movements too fast to see.
The magistrate shouted toward the outside.
“Intruders! These bastards are trying to harm the magistrate!”
At that cry, soldiers came rushing in a swarm.
Ye Yahyeon sighed and said,
“I’ll go handle them.”
“Do that.”
Jeok Wigang looked at the magistrate.
“How many people must have suffered unjustly because of your wrongful rulings?”
“Wh-What nonsense is this! I have always handed down fair and impartial judgments—Guh!”
“This tongue is the problem, isn’t it?”
Jeok Wigang had seized the magistrate’s tongue.
Then he began pulling.
“Aaaaaagh!”
A chilling scream filled the main hall, and Mok Yonggi and his granddaughter stared in horror.
Im Baekmun covered his ears and lay flat on the floor, trembling.
RIIIIP—
Blood flowed between the magistrate’s lips with the sound of his tongue tearing.
SHAAAK—
With a sound of something being ripped apart, the magistrate’s tongue was torn out.
Hack! Hack!
“Ghhh!”
The magistrate clutched his mouth and writhed in pain.
His face was drenched in overflowing blood.
“Now there won’t be any more unjust victims, will there?”
Jeok Wigang met the suffering magistrate’s eyes and said,
“The people come to you with their desperate hopes because you are the one person they believe in. Yet you not only trampled that desperation, you falsely accused them and punished them instead. What punishment should be given for that?”
The magistrate’s pupils shook.
Had that not been the punishment just now?
Reading his gaze, Jeok Wigang gave a faint laugh and said,
“Ah, pulling out your tongue wasn’t punishment. It just looked like a part you didn’t need, so I kindly removed it for you. The punishment starts now.”