Oh Muyang, no Yang Muoh was confused.
Like Sa Muheo, this man should have been detained in the academy as one of the culprits for arson and murder of a student.
There was no way the academy would let Kang Mui out, so then how is he here?
‘No!’
In an instant, all kinds of thoughts went through his mind. Come to think of it, didn’t the East River Sword Star lose to the one called Mumu?
Actually, there was no reason for that man to even fight with a sophomore at all. It was a fight with nothing to gain. And having all his thoughts come together—
‘Is he protecting him?’
Then it made sense.
Mumu fought to protect Kang Mui. It might sound stupid, but it fit. As a result, Yang Muoh managed to infer it.
‘Something must have happened between the two, then?’
For example, they must have allied together. But stil,l the story had gaps in it.
If Mumu was being kept as a hidden card, then there was no way he was being used in this manner. Besides, wasn’t Mumu the one who defeated Kang Mui?
‘What does this mean?’
Yang Muoh couldn’t understand the situation, and while thinking about it, Mumu said,
“You seem to be curious about a lot of things?”
“You… what are you? Why are you with Kang Mui…”
“We will talk about that later.”
“What?”
“I have something with him and in the meantime this is a way to make sure you don’t do something useless.”
“Useless?”
“We can talk again when we are done. It won’t take long.”
“What are you…”
Pak! Paaaak!
“Ughhh!”
Before Yang Muoh could say anything, Mumu shook his head.
Yang Muoh’s eyes rolled in pain at the hand around his head, and it was to the point even saliva was dripping down his mouth.
‘… This is no exaggeration.’
Young Jeon, who was watching this, only clicked his tongue. From what he knew, Yang Muoh was someone who reached a level no one could when he was in his twenties.
And to subdue such a person as a child?
Mumu was such a monster. And he had felt miserable a while back with the choice he made, but not anymore.
Maybe this choice had saved his clan.
Golden Political Palace—
In the huge Imperial Palace there were the six departments, the City Supervising Department, the Imperial Academy, and the Hanlin Academy.
In addition to them, there was the throne room where meetings were held. The warriors and people in charge of appeals to the emperor, along with those who announced the orders of the emperor, all resided close in the Imperial palace as well, and there are the concubines who stayed there in addition to those part of the internal affairs department too.
At the center of the palace were the emperor’s office and residence, and the Golden Imperial Hall was the place of the Emperor.
Bang!
Someone hit the desk decorated with dragon horns with a fist.
The middle-aged man with long earlobes and wearing a jade dragon robe embroidered with golden dragons was the current emperor, Hong Inse.
Bang!
The emperor, unable to hide his anger, hit the desk again. Seeing him like that, the three people there couldn’t lift their heads.
Looking down at them, Emperor Hong Inse opened his mouth,
“How can it be that the True King is able to come to this palace, alive as well!”
“…”
“What did you all tell me? Didn’t you tell me that in half a day we will get the news of his death? Then what is this?”
The reason why the emperor was so angry was because of the return of his sibling. This was something he wanted to be dealt with before entering the palace.
However, if the man entered the palace completely fine, then supporters of the Emperor and the forces on his side would falter.
“Are you doing this because you don’t really know what will happen if he uses our attacks on him as an excuse to show his power?”
“Your Majesty.”
“Right, military captain, you tell me, what do we do? The hidden troops who you believed in so much are a mess.”
At that question, Nam Young-ki, who was bowing with his face down, raised his head and said,
“Your Majesty. The task this time had a huge unknown show up.”
“Unknown?”
“Yes. Neither our plan nor the captain of the hidden troops had noticed that the True King had a skilled great warrior by his side.”
“Great warrior?”
“There must have been someone on the level of Hwang Suk.”
“What!”
At those words, the emperor frowned.
Even if he hadn’t mastered or learned martial arts, he still had a clear idea on what happened 17 years back, and he knew how terrifying Hwang Suk was.
At this, the emperor spoke in a low voice.
“… And this is the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Then, did Hwang Suk intervene?”
“I didn’t mean that.”
“Then who else would protect that man? Did the North Heavenly Fist leave Sichuan for this?”
“We are not sure of it. However, the reason we came to see your majesty is because this might be our last chance.”
“Last chance?”
When Emperor Hong Inse asked back—
Geum Jong-shin on the side raised his head and said,
“Yes. Your Majesty, as the military captain said, this is a situation where the True King entered with the intention to rebel against our actions.”
“How dare he!”
Kwang!
The emperor kicked the chair he was sitting on and stood up.
If such a situation as informed did occur, then the position of the emperor would be the worst.
This was why he always tried to kill his brother.
Emperor Hong Inse pushed the desk roughly and approached Geum Jong-shin and pressed on his shoulder.
“What is this chance you are speaking of? Do you mean to kill him within the palace?”
“…”
Geum Jong-shin didn’t answer, which meant he agreed to it.
“Haa.”
At this, Emperor Hong Inse was speechless.
“Was this the only thing you could come up with? Are you proposing to take his life in the palace, especially when he has just returned to the palace?”
Thud!
“Your Majesty! You need to make a decision.”
Man Young-ki banged his head on the ground.
“What! You of all…”
“Even your own thoughts know how well we value your honor. But, now is the only chance we will get, even Hwang Suk is not here, no officials are around.”
“Only chance we get?”
“If we miss this chance we cannot stop the plan of the True King and his intention to rebel here. Then the justification we spoke of until now will turn meaningless. Please make a decision for this!”
“…”
These words made him go speechless.
Actually, the emperor was also aware that it was no longer a situation where he could consider the justification at the time he openly used the hidden troops to assassinate his brother.
The emperor sighed deeply as he straightened his body and spoke while looking down at them,
“Then what will you do?”
At those words, Man Young-ki shouted,
“I admire the decision of Your Majesty!”
“I admire the decision of Your Majesty!”
The captain of the hidden troops, who had a white mask on, also shouted. The emperor looked annoyed.
“Enough with the nonsense and talk about the countermeasures.”
At this, Man Young-ki spoke, raising his head,
“Please call the True King to the throne room.”
The grand entrance of the throne room—
Hong Myung-in, the True King, was dressed in official clothes while Hong Nayeon was wearing sky blue ritual robes. Ah Gong was on the side, and Mumu with the rough looking middle-aged man face was there too. All of them were being inspected by the guards.
They had been inspected before entering the palace, but in order to enter the Golden Imperial Hall where the emperor was located, they had to get through another physical examination and examination of their personal belongings.
But a problem arose.
Normally the members of the imperial family were exempt from such inspections.
“What?”
“I apologize. Even if you are a close relative, you must all leave behind your belongings.”
“But this was his emperor’s orders.”
“I apologize again, this is the order of his emperor this time.”
“Ha.”
The True King sighed at this.
Because he had the right to be exempted from inspection, he tried to enter with Ah Gong.
And knowing there was nothing to be done, Ah Gong nodded.
‘As I thought. Suspicious.’
He said it was fine, but he couldn’t be of help and was more wary as he wouldn’t be able to do much without his twin blades. Ah Gong glanced at Mumu.
‘Should I believe in him?’
If it wasn’t for Mumu, he wouldn’t have even allowed the True King to enter the throne room.
Actually, the True King also tried to refuse even if it was a royal order, but the emperor said bringing in escorts was fine, so he changed his mind.
“This is a precious bow. Keep it safe.”
“Yes. Princess.”
Hong Nayeon handed her bow over to them. She was anxious because her means to protect her father was gone, but she felt alright.
Of course, it was because she had Mumu on her side.
And after checking their belongings in and being examined, they moved in. When they fully entered—
Kiik! Thud!
As they entered the palace, the door was closed.
‘…’
This made the True King frown. It was rare for the entrance of a throne room to be closed as soon as one entered.
‘Is this a trap?’
Everything was happening just how he hoped it wouldn’t.
The True King looked ahead to see the emperor on the throne with his arrogant expression and two aged eunuchs on the side.
‘Huh.’
Ah Gong already felt tense as he felt the internal energy around him.
He heard that in the palace, there were two warriors who can be considered great warriors. And this seemed to be true.
‘… Strong.’
He could feel the sharp force of theirs, and intimidation was making its way into his mind. All of this made it clear that they were one step above him.
But the problem wasn’t just them.
There was a warrior with a white mask and a uniformed guard on the right side under the throne steps.
The aura which rose from him said he couldn’t be touched.
‘So they are coming out.’
She didn’t feel it as thoroughly as Ah Gong did, but Hong Nayeon couldn’t hide her surprise at the sight of two skilled people on the side of the emperor.
It was very surprising to see all this.
‘Strong… way too strong.’
It was to the point where it was difficult to even guess how strong they were.
It didn’t seem like it was for nothing that the emperor was confident in his reign.
Mumu whispered to Hong Nayeon, who was looking nervous.
“Is that the emperor?”
“Yes.”
She gave a small nod and a light answer. And Mumu pointed to the emperor with a glance and said,
“Dealing with that one person will work?”
‘!?’
Hong Nayeon, who had no idea about this, had gone silent.
She looked surprised at Mumu. The last time he said that, she thought it was to comfort herself.
But—
‘… Was he being serious?’
Looking at Mumu’s eyes, she realized this was no joke.