Ch. 34 Murim Psychopath Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Moonlight

[6, 5, 4…….]

Dong Bong-su eventually stepped into the partitioned room.

Just as the boatman hireling had said earlier, there was an oar port on each side of the room. The empty space beyond them appeared to be used as storage, with various boating tools scattered about, and just as the boatman had mentioned, there was also a fairly large chamber pot with a lid.

Since he had not come to use the chamber pot in the first place, he pressed himself as close to the hull as possible.

The left side first.

The oar port was at the very end of the boat. Just as the boatman hireling had said people used it as a toilet, a foul stench stabbed at his nose as he approached it. Dong Bong-su paid it no mind and moved as close as possible to the opening where the oar would have been placed.

Then he checked his Spirit Eye.

[3.]

The parameter displayed by the Spirit Eye now pointed to three meters.

Three meters beneath this oar port, attached to the lower hull, was someone presumed to be an enemy.

'Two for now.'

Including the one he had confirmed at the bow, that made two.

There might still be more.

Dong Bong-su immediately crossed over to the partitioned room on the opposite side. As expected, the distance increased before decreasing again.

At the oar port directly opposite the point that had indicated three meters,

There was another enemy even closer, at a distance of two meters.

'Three!'

Having confirmed three additional enemies, Dong Bong-su left the partitioned room.

He then walked toward the bow.

There might be more there besides the one he had already found.

“Khrr…….”

The boatman hireling who had shown him the way earlier had already fallen back into deep sleep. His soft snoring was proof enough.

Passing by him, Dong Bong-su approached the bow. Once again, the Spirit Eye's warning distance increased before beginning to decrease at the fourteen-meter mark.

There, he confirmed not only the enemy he had previously detected but also another person clinging to the cedar plank directly opposite.

'Four.'

A total of four.

Beneath this boat were four enemies whose levels exceeded his by at least ten.

Including Do Heo-ok, that made five.

One was positioned on each side beneath both the front and rear sections of the hull.

Using the Spirit Eye's sense of distance, he could pinpoint all four of their locations precisely.

Then what was the purpose of their infiltration?

At this point, there was nothing left to ponder.

If their objective had been something like kidnapping Namgung Hye, they would have already done it. The only person aboard capable of stopping them was Do Heo-ok, yet judging by the circumstances, he had been the one who had brought these four here in the first place. Why would he stop them?

Four peak experts simply clinging beneath the boat without doing anything?

'They're waiting for the ship to return to where it came from—the Namgung Family.'

This boat would soon return to the Namgung Family, and no one would suspect it.

Who would ever suspect the boat carrying Namgung Byeok's second son-in-law and second daughter?

That meant the peak experts clinging beneath the hull could infiltrate the Namgung Family without encountering any resistance.

These people were at least ten levels above Dong Bong-su.

The difference could just as easily be twenty or even thirty levels. There was no way to know.

For four such individuals to secretly infiltrate the Namgung Family…

'Overthrow.'

The "major incident" Do Heo-ok was plotting was exactly what his instincts had told him.

The first, third, and fourth possibilities had all disappeared.

Only the second remained.

Do Heo-ok and his faction intended to completely overturn the Namgung Family.

They were not planning to kill just one or two people.

Absolutely not.

'They're planning to erase the Namgung Family from the Jianghu.'

If so, then D-Day was…

That very day.

Do Heo-ok's wedding day.

Everything they were doing now was preparation for the operation they intended to launch then, and this was merely one step in that preparation.

There was no room for uncertainty.

The possibility that Do Heo-ok and these people belonged to different sides was zero.

The Namgung Family was, after all, reputed to be the greatest family under heaven.

When this pleasure boat returned, they would naturally inspect it thoroughly and check whether anyone had secretly boarded.

Ordinarily, the infiltrators would be discovered then.

Even if fortune favored them and they managed to leave the boat and enter the Namgung Family grounds, it would not be long before the family's warriors picked up their trail.

But,

If someone bought them time to hide within the estate and even provided them with a place to conceal themselves, the situation changed completely.

Do Heo-ok had undoubtedly already arranged all of that.

Everything would proceed exactly as planned.

There was no one left who could stop it.

Not even Dong Bong-su.

Even if he returned to the family and claimed there were infiltrators, who would believe him?

And if he went further and accused Do Heo-ok of being the one hiding or planning to hide them?

It would be as obvious as fire that he would only be placing himself in danger.

That was not an option available to Dong Bong-su.

Then…

'What should I do now?'

Do Heo-ok's plan was progressing step by step, and Dong Bong-su had no way to stop it.

Caught between advancing and retreating.

An ordinary person would likely give up in such a situation.

But Dong Bong-su never gave up.

No matter the circumstances, he maintained absolute composure and reason, finding a way through every crisis.

If the path ahead and behind was blocked, he took a side road.

If both sides were blocked, he climbed upward or hid below.

And if even that proved impossible,

He conquered the dilemma itself.

That was Dong Bong-su's way.

And he was the kind of man capable of doing exactly that.

The look in his eyes gradually changed from Sosam's expression back into Dong Bong-su's own empty, emotionless gaze.

What was he thinking?

For now, no one knew.

● ● ●

A short while later.

As though nothing had happened, Dong Bong-su returned to the deck and drank with Do Heo-ok.

While drunk, he rambled endlessly about Sosam's life story. As for what had happened with Tang Wu, he brushed it off vaguely, saying he did not really know why things had turned out that way.

Do Heo-ok found no flaws whatsoever in Dong Bong-su's story.

In the end, he had no choice but to conclude that Dong Bong-su knew nothing.

Afterward, pretending to be thoroughly drunk, Dong Bong-su went down to the lower cabin and fell asleep with his head buried inside the chamber pot in the partitioned room.

Thus, that night's pleasure cruise came to an end.

Even then, clouds still covered the moon overhead.

Yet the moon itself was so large that its light brightly illuminated the world.

The full moon was not far away.

It lay halfway between the half moon and the full moon.

Completely unaware of anything, Tang Hwa and Namgung Hye smiled as they gazed at the moon while returning to the Namgung Family.

Standing beside them with a satisfied smile, Do Heo-ok also looked up at the moon.

But there was one thing they did not know.

Someone else was looking at the very same moon.

Even with his head buried in the chamber pot, breathing in the stench of excrement and urine, Dong Bong-su calmly watched the distorted reflection of the moon shimmering upon Lake Chaohu.

It was not as bright as the moon seen directly in the sky.

But it was more secretive, quieter,

And more beautiful, flowing gently across the rippling waters of Lake Chaohu.

● ● ●

By the time Dong Bong-su, Do Heo-ok, Tang Hwa, and Namgung Hye's boat excursion ended, the night watch had just passed from the Second Watch (9:00–11:00 p.m.) into the Third Watch (11:00 p.m.–1:00 a.m.), which was when the Namgung Family guards changed shifts for the first time.

Their boat soon docked at So-man.

Do Heo-ok and the two women disembarked first.

Dong Bong-su followed, carried off the boat on the backs of the boatman hirelings.

Do Heo-ok ordered the family guards coming on duty to wash Dong Bong-su and put him to sleep in any vacant room within the Heavenly Guest Hall.

After that, he returned to the Hall of the Emperor with Namgung Hye.

Along the route he took, gaps naturally formed due to the changing of the watch.

Within those gaps, four hidden shadows quietly followed behind him.

Having completely forgotten Tang Wu's repeated warning not to leave Dong Bong-su alone, Tang Hwa abandoned him despite the overwhelming smell of excrement and urine clinging to him and entered the West Heavenly Guest Hall by herself.

It seemed like a trivial matter, but Tang Hwa had become even more disgusted with Dong Bong-su.

She believed that any proper martial artist ought to be able to hold their liquor to some extent.

By her standards, someone who collapsed after only a few cups of Apple Bud Wine could hardly even be called a man.

And to think he was supposedly a once-in-a-millennium genius.

She became convinced Tang Wu had definitely misjudged him.

To Tang Hwa, Dong Bong-su was nothing more than a pathetic little worm who had happened to catch Tang Wu's fancy through sheer luck.

After Tang Hwa disappeared, the Namgung Family warriors took Dong Bong-su from the boatman hirelings and carried him into the bathhouse inside the Heavenly Guest Hall, carefully washing him.

Cold water touched his body, yet Dong Bong-su did not regain consciousness.

Or rather, he merely pretended not to.

Their efforts bore fruit.

Before long, he was left alone in the last vacant room of the East Guest Hall within the Heavenly Guest Hall.

The warriors who had washed him, acting under Do Heo-ok's orders, laid him there before returning to their duties.

From their perspective, they should have been able to return and rest immediately after the shift change, yet they had been forced to wash the foul-smelling Dong Bong-su instead.

Naturally, they could not have been pleased.

Nevertheless, as warriors of the Namgung Family, they fulfilled their task properly to the very end.

The East Heavenly Guest Hall stood on the eastern island across So-man and served as the guest hall for men.

Conversely, the West Heavenly Guest Hall, built on the island west of So-man, was reserved for women.

Tang Hwa was probably sleeping soundly there by now.

Even after the warriors departed, Dong Bong-su remained lying on the bed without moving.

There was still one more person who would come looking for him.

Creak.

Just as expected, it was not long before the door opened and someone entered.

Slightly contrary to his expectations, however, it was not one person,

But two.

The visitors were Tang Wu and Danri Kang Hae.

After entering the room and confirming that Dong Bong-su was asleep, Tang Wu clicked his tongue lightly.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. I told her over and over not to leave him alone.”

Lightly reproaching the absent Tang Hwa, Tang Wu left the room again with Danri Kang Hae.

Creak. Thud.

The door closed.

At last,

Dong Bong-su's time had come.

Creak.

Dong Bong-su's eyes slowly,

And unmistakably,

Opened.