Ch. 30 Murim Psychopath Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Do Heo-ok

Tang Wu walked past Do Heo-ok toward the exit of the pavilion. Normally, the distance indicated by the Spirit Eye should have kept increasing until it finally disappeared.

Yet instead, the distance the Spirit Eye warned about was shrinking.

That meant the new high-level enemy was…

'That man.'

Meaning, Do Heo-ok.

Then which of the three choices was he?

Should he be eliminated, avoided, or deceived?

The answer had already been decided.

With a level difference of more than ten, the first option had already disappeared. The moment they entered the Namgung Family, the second option had also vanished.

Only one choice remained.

He had to deceive him.

It was the most common option and also the hardest to carry out. Especially if the enemy belonged to the same kind of person as himself, he could not afford to let his guard down for even a moment.

And…

In his judgment, Do Heo-ok was…

The moment Dong Bong-su saw Do Heo-ok, he sensed an indescribable feeling of incongruity. At first, he couldn't identify what it was. But when the distance between them closed to only a few meters, he realized the source of that discomfort.

It was an incredibly subtle characteristic that an ordinary person would never notice. Even if someone did notice it, they would find it difficult to think anything was strange.

'Perfect. Too perfect.'

The source of the unease Dong Bong-su had discovered was…

Perfect symmetry.

Every human possessed some degree of left-right asymmetry in their appearance. The only difference was how much. Not only the face, but the lengths of the arms and legs, the height of the shoulders, the arrangement of the teeth, the degree to which the chest or hips sagged, even the shape of the genitals exhibited left-right asymmetry.

However…

Do Heo-ok was perfect.

Not only were his appearance and physique flawless, but his bilateral symmetry was also perfect. Even with the plastic surgery techniques of the modern Earth where Dong Bong-su had lived, creating a perfectly mirrored human face was nearly impossible.

And yet, in a world where surgery was practically nonexistent, such flawless symmetry had naturally come into existence?

Impossible.

It was so perfect that it became unnatural instead.

It had been made.

His instincts told him so.

His judgment quickly reached its conclusion.

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

That was the conclusion he arrived at.

Dong Bong-su realized that, for the first time in a long while, he had encountered a genuine predator.

He began observing Do Heo-ok more closely.

However, Do Heo-ok's attention remained solely on Tang Wu. He focused only on the greatest supporting actor in the theatrical performance he was about to stage, completely unaware that the monster named Dong Bong-su was watching him.

"What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and follow me."

Tang Wu, who had been walking as though he intended to leave alone from the beginning, stopped at the entrance of the Temporary Reception Pavilion.

Then he turned around and shouted loudly at the group.

Dong Bong-su and Tang Hwa immediately followed him.

Gi Dae-hyo and the members of the Danri Family, however, hesitated. They were unsure whether they were included among the people Tang Wu had meant by "hurry up and follow me."

Originally, Tang Wu had only promised to accompany them until Yeoro was handed over to the Namgung Family and to help Danri Kang Hae become an outer-surname disciple under Namgung Byeok.

Yeoro and the congratulatory gifts had already been handed over to the horse stable hirelings and servants outside the Namgung Family estate.

Now, the only promise Tang Wu still had to fulfill was recommending Danri Kang Hae to Namgung Byeok, and there was no particular need for Danri Kang Hae himself to accompany him for that.

Furthermore, those who entered the reception pavilion were originally required to sign the visitor register and have their identities verified before they could enter the Namgung Family grounds.

That fact only made them hesitate even more.

If they were included among the people Tang Wu had called over, then Tang Wu himself had effectively vouched for their identities, making the verification process unnecessary.

Otherwise, they would have to go through various identity verification procedures before being allowed inside.

While the Danri Family members wavered in uncertainty, Tang Wu shouted again in irritation.

"Hey! What are you doing? Didn't you hear what this old man said? You lot hurry up and follow too. Otherwise, how am I supposed to do what I promised last time?"

Color immediately returned to the faces of Gi Dae-hyo and Danri Kang Hae.

Those words implied that Tang Wu wasn't merely going to keep his promise, he was going to let them meet Namgung Byeok personally.

There was an enormous difference between becoming an outer-surname disciple through a simple recommendation and making a personal impression on Namgung Byeok himself.

"As for the visitor register, just leave one of you behind to fill it out. Write down ours, and that fellow's name too."

Tang Wu personally indicated Dong Bong-su, referring to him as "that fellow."

He had now openly declared him to be one of the Tang Family.

Having said everything he wanted to say, Tang Wu lowered his hand, immediately turned around, and left the Temporary Reception Pavilion.

Dong Bong-su, Tang Hwa, and the Danri Family members followed behind him one after another.

Do Heo-ok also hurried after Tang Wu.

In truth, from the moment Tang Wu arrived, there had been no further reason for him to remain in the Temporary Reception Pavilion.

"Hero Tang, I shall escort you to the Hall of the Emperor."

The Hall of the Emperor was located in the heart of the Namgung Family estate, where the Namgung Family Head and his direct family resided.

"Do as you please."

Even from far ahead, Tang Wu apparently heard him and replied coldly.

Do Heo-ok's eyes flashed with a chilling light for an instant before he disappeared from the Temporary Reception Pavilion.

Only one member of the Black Five Division remained behind.

Following Tang Wu's instructions, he wrote down everyone's names one by one.

Then he came to a stop at the very last name.

It was Sosam's turn.

He still wasn't certain whether the man's name was actually Sosam.

"…Ah, whatever."

After hesitating briefly, he scrawled two crude characters onto the register like a worm crawling across the page, then followed the lower-ranked martial artist in charge of receiving guests toward the Hall of the Emperor.

The two characters he had written…

Were still Sosam.

● ● ●

The Namgung Family was vast.

As though personally demonstrating why it was one of the Five Great Families of the Central Plains, its estate was incomparable in scale to that of the Danri Family.

Every single pavilion was larger than any building within the Danri Family estate, and there were so many of them that one could not easily determine their number without touring the entire grounds.

Moreover, as the Namgung Family's distinctive symbol, a sword nearly one jang in length had been embedded atop the roof of every pavilion, with the words House of the Emperor painstakingly engraved upon each blade.

The sight made it seem as though they gazed down upon the world through swords.

It was easy to understand why they were called the greatest family in Anhui Province.

Danri Kang Hae, Gi Dae-hyo, and even the most distinguished members of the Danri Family from Bongyang quietly followed Do Heo-ok with their shoulders tense, completely overwhelmed by the Namgung Family's majesty.

Tang Hwa, in contrast, walked with complete ease, as though she were in her own home.

Her attitude alone made it abundantly clear that being a descendant of the Tang Clan was a background hardly inferior to that of the Namgung Family.

Dong Bong-su walked slightly behind her.

He, too, now moved as though he were a member of the Tang Family.

Although it had not been intentional, he ended up walking at the very rear of the group.

While memorizing the layout of the Namgung Family estate, he never stopped observing Do Heo-ok.

Even without the Spirit Eye continuously sounding its warnings, his instincts kept signaling that Do Heo-ok was dangerous.

'Who is he?'

Had there originally been a real Do Heo-ok whom someone killed before assuming his identity?

Or had someone created the fictional "character" called Do Heo-ok and raised him into what he was now?

He still didn't know which.

The only certainty was that it had to be one of those two possibilities.

From behind, Do Heo-ok's gait showed the same subtle asymmetry as any ordinary person's.

That proved his original body should have possessed the natural asymmetry all people had.

Such a gait inevitably produced a dominant leg.

In truth, everyone had one.

The only difference was whether it was barely noticeable or glaringly obvious.

And yet, Do Heo-ok's legs were exactly the same length, without the slightest discrepancy.

There was no doubt about it.

He was hiding something.

Without anyone noticing, Dong Bong-su's eyes sharpened as he accelerated his analysis of Do Heo-ok.

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

Just as his mind began working at full speed,

"We've arrived."

"We have. This is the Hall of the Emperor."

Tang Wu and Do Heo-ok, walking at the front, announced simultaneously that they had reached their destination.

The entire group came to a stop.

The Hall of the Emperor.

True to its name, an unbelievably magnificent structure towered before them.

In truth, they had already recognized it from a great distance before arriving.

Everyone had known that building was the Hall of the Emperor.

But seeing it up close was vastly different from seeing it from afar.

Unlike the other pavilions, each of whose rooftops held only a single sword, the roof of the Hall of the Emperor held thirty-three swords.

Every one of them was ancient, covered in thick rust.

Yet they were swords of immeasurable value.

They had been the personal swords of the previous Namgung Family Heads.

When a Namgung Family Head sensed death approaching, he embedded his own sword atop the Hall of the Emperor in this manner.

It marked the completion of the Way of the Emperor, after which he departed from the world.

It was a tradition above all traditions.

That very tradition stood as proof that the Namgung Family had survived upon the battlefield known as the Murim for over a thousand years.

The members of the Danri Family looked up at them, so overwhelmed that their hearts seemed to shrink.

Dong Bong-su, however, merely glanced at them without the slightest emotional reaction.

To him, death was the end of everything.

In his eyes, all of this held no meaning whatsoever.

Tang Wu, however, appeared irritated by the sight.

"Tch. Every time I come here, I feel annoyed. Who do they think they are, casually calling themselves 'emperors' while looking down on everyone from up there? They ought to stay peacefully asleep in their graves instead. Hmph."

Even as he complained, his eyes remained fixed upon the very last sword embedded in the roof.

Do Heo-ok looked at him briefly before speaking.

"Then please wait here for a moment. I'll go inside and—"

"No need. Didn't I already tell you they've been waiting all this time anyway?"

Tang Wu brushed past Do Heo-ok and walked straight into the Hall of the Emperor.

Clang.

The martial artists guarding the entrance drew their swords and blocked Tang Wu's path, failing to recognize him.

Although 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 smiled coldly.

Even so, there was no hostility in his voice.

If anything, it sounded as though he were actually in a good mood.

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

"…!"

Only after hearing Do Heo-ok's words did the guards realize whose path they had blocked.

Their faces immediately turned deathly pale.

They hurriedly lowered their swords.

"Haha. There's no need to worry so much. My Soul-Chasing Flying Butterflies don't chase just any soul."

Tang Wu lightly patted the guards on the shoulders before walking into the Hall of the Emperor.

Needless to say, their bodies flinched.

Perhaps because they had experienced Tang Wu's methods not long ago, the members of the Danri Family also shuddered before following him into the Hall of the Emperor.

Do Heo-ok and Tang Hwa followed immediately behind them.

Finally,

Dong Bong-su stepped into the Hall of the Emperor.

His eyes remained fixed on Do Heo-ok's back.

They were the eyes of a predator measuring the timing and method of its hunt.