BSA Ch 24

Gwanchang saw a snake today. That Lee Hwanmae was truly a genuine snake. A snake that seduced people with a beautiful face and a refined plum fragrance.

“Give me even a basis that what Lee Hwa foresaw is true. Isn’t it just a novel hastily concocted to shake me up even though she didn’t foresee anything?”

Gwanchang shook off the temptation.

A confident sneer hung on the corners of Lee Hwanmae’s lips.

“Curious? Then go. I won’t stop you. Return to your father and trample your mother’s homeland. And commit suicide. Be mangled to the point where not even a trace of your corpse remains and be forgotten in everyone’s mind. But you are lucky. You won’t die. Because you met me. Because I appeared before you. The moment I ambushed your unit with the thought of keeping you alive, your fate changed to survive and cooperate with God.”

Gwanchang almost threw a punch at Lee Hwanmae. His way of speaking was terribly annoying. With a soft, gentle, and dignified tone, as if looking down on people—no, as if determining this side had already been placed in the palm of his hand—Lee Hwanmae’s gaze, lips, gestures, everything was terribly annoying. To the point where the impulse to rape surged uncontrollably.

“The cornered rat is Lee Hwa. Seeing you guys talk about a million-strong army makes me think you’ve reached the end of the line. Don’t act all high and mighty. You’re the one struggling desperately to live, aren’t you? If you didn’t want to live, there’s no way you’d stand at the vanguard of that kind of dirty show, you pseudo high priest.”

At the insulting words, Lee Hwanmae gave a cynical chuckle.

“Do you think someone who has abandoned being human possesses a survival instinct? Writing the pledge of slaughter together, my younger brother and I swore. We are already dead.”

Younger brother?

Even amidst the boiling anger, Gwanchang paused. A younger brother who wrote the pledge of slaughter together?

It was puzzling. In the profile of Lee Hwanmae handed over by the patriot, there was no younger brother grown up enough to write the pledge of slaughter together. Even though there were stepbrothers of an age difference that felt like sons.

Soon, Gwanchang brushed aside the doubt. He remembered Lee Hwanmae calling his subordinates brothers. “Younger brother” seemed to refer to Yoo Nanoh, a colleague and one year younger who had written the pledge of slaughter together.

Gwanchang stared intently at Lee Hwanmae. The only thought that came to mind was that he was a hardcase exceeding expectations. Someone without a survival instinct does not fear death. Is there any reason for someone already dead to fear death? Only the living fear death.

“That’s right, only the living fear death.”

At Lee Hwanmae’s words, Gwanchang couldn’t help but be startled this time. Is this a coincidence? The words I thought of came out of Lee Hwanmae’s mouth again just like that?

“Scared? Want to live? Then kneel before me. Press your lips to God and change your destiny. If you do not obey, you will die.”

“The tribe called fortune-tellers might be good at guessing the past and present, but they are pretty bad at guessing the future.”

Gwanchang denied his death once again.

“My, my. It’s troublesome if you compare God to some ordinary fortune-teller. You heard it from the secret agent, so you should know it well, right? The reason God’s bloodline has ruled this land for such a long time. Isn’t 860 years enough as a test period?”

Lee Hwanmae denied Gwanchang’s denial. Gwanchang denied that denial once more. That is a lie to make me betray. It’s propaganda. It’s incitement. It’s an incitement to propagandize my death and remodel my ideology. Lee Hwa is an experienced propagandist. A genius of propaganda and incitement. The temptation of plum fragrance is merely an incitement trying to spin a spider’s web of doubt in this side’s heart.

“If you die, it’s the end. If you die as a loser, you are forgotten in everyone’s mind. It is not the strong who survive, but those who survive who are strong. So live, Gwanchang. Survive and laugh at the very end. The moment you laugh at the end, the strong ones will kneel at your feet and swear loyalty.”

Lee Hwanmae incited persistently. Gwanchang shook off the incitement.

“Take me for a fool? The reason you appeared here was to save me? It wasn’t because you wanted to live that you came looking for me? Look here, stop talking nonsense and hurry up and spill where Lee Hwa is. I know everything, he’s right here, isn’t he? You’re the one who should offer his head to me and kneel. You’re only thirty-two years old.”

“Do you think your dad will let you live if you take God’s head?”

Gwanchang’s struggle to clear away the spider’s web of doubt was mercilessly trampled.

“I thought your insight was quite superior, but you’re helpless when facing death, too. Trying to preserve your life by merely achieving a feat? Submit to God. Listen well to God’s words. That is the way for a human born with a miserable destiny to live.”

Propaganda, incitement scattered like plum flower petals. Plum flower petals covered Gwanchang. A tingling dizziness pierced his entire body.

“Do you want to become like Wang Hui, too? Ah, you have no idea how much God regretted it. If Wang Hui hadn’t been arrogant and listened to God’s words to the end, the tragedy of his cherished great-granddaughter’s neck being cut right before his eyes wouldn’t have happened. Nor would you and I be facing each other’s faces on a night with clear moonlight like this.”

“Stop writing fiction.”

“Tonight you are destined to follow God’s words. God asserted so. You are destined to follow me.”

“I told you to stop writing fiction.”

“There is a man born with a special power strong enough to blow away even high-rise buildings in a single bound. But unfortunately, he was born with a tragic destiny. In the end, falling into a crafty trap, he faced the destiny of dying while holding his beloved cat tightly in his arms, facing a hail of submachine gun fire and getting hit by hundreds of bullets. Fortunately, because he was wise, he believed in God to the end, survived, and laughed at the last. God said you are just as wise as that man.”

Gwanchang didn’t open his mouth anymore and gazed quietly at the high priest. The leader leading the ice-cold men, Lee Hwanmae, was a religious fanatic.

It felt like being hit somewhere. He had been convinced that the absolute loyalty the border slaughterers offered to Lee Hwa was solely due to her outstanding abilities. He had also concluded that Lee Hwanmae must be a cold, rationalist who dismissed Lee Hwa merely as a competent superior. But it wasn’t so. Lee Hwanmae was indeed a religious fanatic. Gwanchang was left speechless at Lee Hwanmae’s terrifying religious fanaticism toward Lee Hwa.

Gwanchang tried to think logically. Lee Hwanmae is a cold and clever man. Seeing Lee Hwa up close, he must have clearly realized her abilities.

“Let me meet Lee Hwa.”

Gwanchang said. The corners of Lee Hwanmae’s eyes twitched slightly.

“Does it make sense to tell me to obey someone whose face I don’t even know? Even if I am an illegitimate child who couldn’t even inherit a family name, I am still the king’s son. Lee Hwa is demanding betrayal from the king’s son. Shouldn’t we at least see her face first?”

“…God dislikes showing her face. You know that well, don’t you?”

“You get to see her face, right? What big deal would it happen even if I get to see it too? Anyway, once I leave this place, I’ll never have a chance to see Lee Hwa for the rest of my life. With that great foresight of hers, she already knows whether I’ll slash her or not, right? Let me see her face just once, that old woman.”

Plum flower petals fell scattering heavily onto Lee Hwanmae’s white face as he remained silent.

“She was an old woman I wanted to see at least once. Meeting her in person, I’ll gauge whether Lee Hwa is truly a vessel worth betraying my father for.”

“If it’s that, you can do it by looking at me. A subordinate is the mirror of their monarch.”

Gwanchang unconsciously shook his shoulders in a start. A subordinate is the mirror of their monarch. It was Gwanchang’s habitual phrase and something he often muttered.

“Did Lee Hwa teach you those words, too? Did you think I’d cower just because you chatter like that?”

Gwanchang feigned a sarcasm. A deep sneer hung in Lee Hwanmae’s gaze.

Gwanchang distorted the corners of his lips.

“You guys are truly incorrigible. Yeah, I admit it. I’ve seen countless fellows struggling to survive, but hardcases like you guys are a first. I now understand how effective a cornered deployment is. Well, how else could a cornered rat survive against countless snakes without doing that?”

“You too are a cornered rat, Gwanchang.”

The sneer Gwanchang threw turned into a boomerang and returned. The sound of a bell tolling four in the morning echoed through the barracks. The heavy bell sound was swept away by the wind along with the plum fragrance and vanished without a trace. The remaining time until the conquest was a mere five hours. If it was short to plot betrayal, it was short, but it wasn’t a long time. A decision had to be made. This decision did not require long deliberation. The cornered rat resolved to become a hardcase and survive.