Chapter 30 - Do Heo-ok

It was the most common choice, and also the hardest to carry out. Especially when the enemy was the same sort of person as oneself, one could not afford to let down one's guard for even a moment.

In his judgment, Do Heo-ok was...

The moment Dong Bongsu saw Do Heo-ok, he sensed something inexplicably wrong. At first, he could not tell what it was. But once the distance between them closed to within a few meters, he recognized the source of that unease.

It was a subtle feature an ordinary person would never notice. Even if someone did notice it, they would hardly find it strange.

'Perfect. Far too perfect.'

The source of the unease Dong Bongsu had detected was perfect symmetry.

Everyone's appearance was asymmetrical to some degree. Only the extent differed. This applied not just to the face, but to the length of the limbs, the height of the shoulders, the alignment of the teeth, the degree to which the breasts or buttocks sagged—even the shape of the genitals had left-right asymmetry.

Do Heo-ok was perfect. Not merely in his looks, but in his symmetry. Even the plastic surgery of the modern Earth where Dong Bongsu had lived could not easily make a person's face perfectly symmetrical. And yet such flawless symmetry had occurred naturally in a world with no surgery whatsoever?

Impossible.

It was so perfect that it was unnatural. It had been manufactured.

That was what his sixth sense told him...

And his judgment was reaching a conclusion about Do Heo-ok.

[A predator. Different from you, but another kind of predator nonetheless.]

Dong Bongsu realized that, for the first time in a very long while, he had encountered a true predator.

He began watching Do Heo-ok more closely.

But Do Heo-ok had eyes only for Tang Wu. Focused solely on the most important supporting actor in the performance he was about to stage, he had no idea that a monster named Dong Bongsu was watching him.

"What are you all doing? Hurry up and follow me."

Tang Wu, who had strode off as though he intended to leave alone, stopped at the entrance to the temporary reception pavilion. Turning his head, he called loudly to the party.

Dong Bongsu and Tang Hwa immediately followed him. Gi Daehyo and the others from the Danri Family, however, hesitated. They were unsure whether they were among those Tang Wu had told to hurry up and follow. His original promises had been to travel with them until Yeoro was handed over to the Namgung Clan, and to secure Danri Ganghae a place as Namgung Byeok's outside-surname disciple.

Yeoro and the congratulatory gifts had already been handed over to the clan's horse handlers and servants outside the estate. All that remained was for Tang Wu to recommend Danri Ganghae to Namgung Byeok, and Ganghae did not necessarily need to accompany him for that.

Besides, visitors to the reception pavilion were normally allowed into the Namgung Clan only after signing the guest register and having their identities firmly verified. That made them hesitate all the more. If Tang Wu had included them in his command, he had effectively vouched for them, making the identity check unnecessary. If not, they would have to go through the various verification procedures before entering.

As the Danri Family party stood there wavering, Tang Wu shouted again in irritation.

"Bah, what are you doing? Didn't you hear me? You lot, hurry up and follow too. How else am I supposed to do what you asked me before?"

Gi Daehyo's and Danri Ganghae's faces brightened at his words. They implied that Tang Wu would do more than merely fulfill his promise: he would let them meet Namgung Byeok in person. Becoming an outside-surname disciple through a recommendation was an entirely different matter from making a personal impression on Namgung Byeok.

"Just leave any one of your men behind to fill out the guest register. Put down our names, and that fellow's over there too."

Tang Wu singled out Dong Bongsu as he said "that fellow." It was an unequivocal declaration that he now belonged to the Tang Family.

Having said his piece, Tang Wu lowered his hand, turned, and walked straight out of the temporary reception pavilion. Dong Bongsu, Tang Hwa, and the Danri Family party filed out after him.

Seeing this, Do Heo-ok hurried after Tang Wu. In truth, from the moment Tang Wu arrived, he no longer had any reason to remain in the reception pavilion.

"Great Hero Tang, allow me to escort you to the King's Hall."

The King's Hall stood at the heart of the Namgung Clan estate, serving as the residence of the patriarch and his immediate family.

"Suit yourself."

Though he was already far ahead, Tang Wu had evidently heard Do Heo-ok and replied coldly.

A chilling gleam flashed in Do Heo-ok's eyes before he vanished from the reception pavilion.

Only a single Black Crow Unit member remained behind from the party.

As Tang Wu had instructed, he wrote down their names one by one. Then he stalled at the last entry. It was time to write Sosam's name, but he was still unsure whether that was still his name.

"... Ah, to hell with it."

After a moment's deliberation, he scrawled two characters in a wormlike hand, then followed a low-ranking warrior assigned to receive guests toward the King's Hall.

The two characters he had written were still "Sosam."

The Namgung Clan estate was vast.

As though the estate itself were declaring that the clan was not counted among the Five Great Families of the Central Plains for nothing, its scale defied comparison with the Danri Family's. Every one of its many halls was larger than any building at the Danri estate, and their number seemed impossible to determine without touring the entire grounds. Moreover, as a distinctive emblem of the Namgung Clan, a sword a full zhang long was planted in the roof of every hall, its blade engraved with the words "House of Kings."

The sight made it seem as though the clan looked down upon the world through its swords. Clearly, it was not called the foremost noble clan in Anhui for nothing.

Even Danri Ganghae, Gi Daehyo, and the other Danri Family members, who were such important figures in Fengyang, were cowed by the Namgung Clan's grandeur. They followed Do Heo-ok in subdued silence.

Tang Hwa, by contrast, walked at ease, as though she were in her own home. Her bearing alone made it clear that her background as a descendant of the Tang Clan was scarcely inferior to that of the Namgung Clan.

Dong Bongsu walked a little behind her, conducting himself as though he, too, were now a member of the Tang Family. Though he had not particularly intended it, he ended up at the very rear of the party.

Even as he committed the estate's layout to memory, he never stopped observing Do Heo-ok. Quite apart from Spirit Eye's continuing warnings, his sixth sense kept signaling that the man was dangerous.

Who was he?

Had there originally been a real Do Heo-ok whom this man had killed and impersonated? Or had he invented a fictional "character" named Do Heo-ok and "developed" it into what it was today?

Dong Bongsu could not yet tell which. What was certain was that it was one of the two.

Viewed from behind, Do Heo-ok's gait was subtly uneven, just like anyone else's. That was evidence that his original body had to be asymmetrical, like an ordinary person's. Such a gait inevitably produced unequal legs. In fact, everyone's legs had to be unequal; the only difference was whether the disparity was minute or severe.

Yet Do Heo-ok's feet were exactly the same length, without the slightest variation. There was indeed something shady about the man, beyond any doubt.

Unnoticed by anyone, Dong Bongsu's eyes gleamed sharply as he redoubled his efforts to analyze Do Heo-ok.

'Who are you? And why have you come here?'

It was at that very moment.

"We're here."

"We have arrived. This is the King's Hall."

Tang Wu and Do Heo-ok, walking at the head of the party, announced their arrival at the same time.

The party came to a simultaneous halt.

The King's Hall.

A building of outrageous grandeur stood before them, fully worthy of its name. In truth, everyone had already known it was the King's Hall, since it had been visible from far away as they approached. But seeing it from a distance was very different from seeing it up close.

Unlike the other halls, each with only one sword planted in its roof, the King's Hall bore thirty-three. All were ancient and thick with rust, yet their worth still shone.

They were the swords wielded by former patriarchs of the Namgung Clan. When a patriarch neared death, he would plant his sword in the roof of the King's Hall in that fashion. Thus he commemorated the completion of his Path of Kings before departing this world.

The sight alone was proof that the Namgung Clan had survived for more than a thousand years on the battlefield called Murim.

The Danri Family members gazed up at them, so overwhelmed that their hearts seemed to shrivel. Dong Bongsu, naturally, merely gave the sight a cursory glance without any particular feeling.

To him, death was the end of everything. In his eyes, all such things were meaningless.

Tang Wu, however, seemed irritated by the sight.

"Bah, this place puts me in a foul mood every time I come. Who do they think they are, throwing around words like 'kings' and looking down at everyone from up there? They ought to just rest quietly in their graves. Tsk."

Even as he spoke, his eyes remained fixed on the last sword to have been planted there.

Do Heo-ok glanced at him, then spoke.

"Please wait here a moment, then. I'll go inside and..."

"No need. Didn't you say he's been waiting for me all this time?"

As ever, Tang Wu was utterly unrestrained. He walked straight past Do Heo-ok and into the King's Hall.

SHING!

The warriors guarding the entrance to the King's Hall failed to recognize Tang Wu and drew their swords to bar his way. Though he had arrived with Do Heo-ok, their duty was to prevent anyone from entering without Namgung Byeok's permission.

"Must I take matters into my own hands?"

Tang Wu spoke with a cold smile. Yet his tone was not hostile. In a way, his smile even seemed pleased.

"This is Great Hero Tang, the Soul-Chasing Poison Hand. Make way for him."

Only at Do Heo-ok's words did the warriors seem to realize whose path they had barred. Their faces darkened, and they hastily lowered their swords.