'Just what is this bastard...' It wasn't just that his breath was caught, a chill ran down his spine. The look in Mok Gyeong-un's eyes, smiling so wide his mouth gaped open, was strangely horrifying.
Now he understood why his senior brother, Guard Gam, had said what he did.
[He's not a man you can easily control.]
He had thought they were just words. But experiencing it firsthand, he was clearly different from an ordinary person. Despite not having learned any martial arts, this immense strength, and the ominous pressure in his eyes, were crushing his spirit to a pulp. -Squeeze!
"Guuuh."
The grip on his neck tightened. He held on with his internal energy, but it was getting harder. His eyeballs grew hot, a sign that he was about to lose consciousness.
It was at that moment. -Ssk! The hand on his neck loosened.
"Cough, cough!"
His blocked breath was released, and he coughed as if he had choked. Even so, he was puzzled.
'Why?'
Mok Gyeong-un, who had been grinning from ear to ear, wiped the smile from his face. Then, he spoke as if disappointed.
"I almost killed you."
"Cough, cough... What?"
"If I kill you like this, becoming Mok Gyeong-un would be meaningless, wouldn't it?"
At Mok Gyeong-un's words, Go Chan's eyes wavered. It felt like he was being played with. Just what is this guy?
Anger surged within Go Chan. His lips trembled as he spoke.
"... Are you doing this because you're confident you can handle the consequences?"
"The consequences?"
"Without the antidote, you will die. And very painfully at that."
Go Chan brought up the poison Mok Gyeong-un had taken. He figured this imposter must have stopped because he knew about it. But it was already too late.
He had seen this man's unsettling side. Just as his senior brother had said, this man was absolutely uncontrollable. He didn't know what would happen in five days, but if he were to switch sides, it was better to kill him one way or another.
'If I leave him be, he'll surely stab me in the back.' But for now, this man held the knife, so he had to make him realize his own situation. Go Chan said in a low voice.
"If Guard Gam finds out, he won't let you go."
"I suppose so."
"... However, I'll consider this an impulsive act."
"What does that mean?"
"I'll assume you did this out of frustration from being cooped up, so go back to your room now."
"Go back to my room?"
"Yes. If you go back quietly on your own two feet, I'll pretend what just happened never happened."
At those words, Mok Gyeong-un smiled gently and said.
"If I was going to do that, I wouldn't have bothered coming out."
Go Chan frowned. Does this bastard really not understand the situation? Why is a guy whose life is held hostage by a poison pill acting so selfishly?
"If my senior brother, no, Guard Gam finds out..."
"Yes, yes. He won't just let it slide."
"And yet you're still standing here..."
"If Guard Go Chan just keeps his mouth shut, nothing will happen. What's the problem?"
"What?"
Go Chan was dumbfounded by Mok Gyeong-un's nonchalant words. It seemed he really was uncontrollable, just as his senior had said. Go Chan suppressed his anger and said.
"I told you that if you don't take the neutralizer or antidote by the hour of the ox, your life is over, but you still haven't come to your senses..."
Before he could finish his words.
"Scammony, Angelica Root, Adonis Vernalis, Pinellia......" '!?'
At the medicinal herbs, no, poisonous herbs coming from Mok Gyeong-un's mouth, Go Chan's expression hardened in an instant. Those were all the herbs that went into the poison pill.
"Pokeweed, Toadstool, Fennel Herb. Is that about right?" '...
Impossible.'
Go Chan was completely stunned. He could have gotten one wrong, but he was precise. He had named all the poisonous ingredients in the poison pill.
The reason he was so shocked wasn't simply because he had named the ingredients. A poison pill is made by mixing, brewing, and drying these ingredients to form a pellet, so it wasn't something you could identify just by tasting it.
"Who, who in the world are you?"
Could even the Ten Thousand Poison Emperor, Jo Ak-gyeong, or the Medicine Saint, Mun-no, do this? 'Didn't they say he was an ordinary death row inmate?' He was becoming curious about this man's true identity.
While he was marveling, Mok Gyeong-un spoke.
"Since I was a child, I've eaten all sorts of things, medicinal herbs and poisonous herbs alike. I've eaten them brewed, I've eaten them dried."
"What? You ate poisonous herbs?"
"They said an herb gatherer must be able to recognize their effects." '...
That wasn't the only reason, though.' He knew the other reason, but it didn't matter now. In any case, Mok Gyeong-un could distinguish herbs with a sensitive palate.
No, he remembered anything he had tasted himself or even smelled a little of. It was to the extent that even his grandfather was left speechless.
"An herb gatherer?"
"Oh, you didn't know? I used to live by gathering herbs."
"Nonsense! How can a mere herb gatherer identify the ingredients of a poison pill just by tasting it?"
It was simply impossible.
"Seeing you so flustered, I guess I got it right."
Mok Gyeong-un approached the flustered man. As he suddenly closed the distance, Go Chan unknowingly took a step back. Go Chan said urgently.
"Even if you know that, what do you think you can do? Making the antidote is harder than making the poison pill."
Just in case, he gathered his internal energy at his dragon spring point to use a light body technique. This man was nothing but unsettling. He had to be prepared, not knowing what he might do.
'Even if he's stronger than a normal person, he hasn't learned martial arts. If I use a light body technique, he'll never be able to catch me.' He figured he just had to avoid a direct confrontation.
It was at that very moment. -Crack! The moment Mok Gyeong-un stepped forward, the wooden floorboard buckled. It was incredible leg strength.
'Damn it!'
Like a pouncing tiger, Mok Gyeong-un closed in on him in an instant. He threw himself backward, but it was useless. Mok Gyeong-un's speed was too fast to create distance. -Phat!
Mok Gyeong-un's hand shot forward. Thinking he would naturally aim for the neck or head, he tried to defend by crossing his arms. But that wasn't it. -Papak!
"Ugh!"
Mok Gyeong-un's fingers struck his vital points on his chest. Go Chan's eyes widened. He had been certain this man knew no martial arts at all.
Indeed, there was no sign he had cultivated internal energy, so he'd believed it, but the points he just struck were the paralysis points that stiffened the body and the mute point that stopped speech. 'Could it be that it was a lie?' He had struck the points accurately.
Once the vital points were struck, he shouldn't be able to move or speak. But though his chest throbbed and his body felt stiff, he could move.
"What is this..."
As he stood there, baffled, Mok Gyeong-un tilted his head and muttered.
"Wasn't it like this?"
"What?"
"I tried to copy what Guard Gam did, but I guess it didn't work. I thought if I did this, you wouldn't be able to move or speak." '!?'
Mok Gyeong-un said it so casually. At his words, Go Chan was beyond bewildered; he was utterly flabbergasted. If this was true, didn't it mean he had just done what had been done to him?
'He copied what he saw?' If he didn't know any better, he would have thought he'd learned it. He might have even thought he'd practiced it dozens of times.
Because he had struck the vital points with near-perfect accuracy. 'Just what is this guy?' If he had internal energy, the vital points would have been sealed.
He had just jabbed with brute force, so it ended with only a momentary stiffening of the body. He was stunned speechless for a moment. -Grab!
"Gak!"
In that moment of carelessness, Mok Gyeong-un seized his neck. Since he was standing, he tried to kick his groin, but— -Crunch! His neck was twisted slightly.
A little more force and it would snap. With his life in danger, Go Chan couldn't move an inch.
"... S-stop. Don't you want the antidote..."
"Ah, that. It's still a secret from Guard Gam, but... I don't actually need it."
"What?"
What on earth was he talking about? He doesn't need the antidote? While he was trying to understand, Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said.
"Since I was a child, I've eaten so many poisonous herbs that I've developed a tolerance."
"A t-tolerance?"
"Well, my stomach burns when I eat them, but a clumsy concoction like the one Guard Gam gave me doesn't even register."
'A clumsy concoction?' Go Chan was aghast. Calling a poison pill still used by the Society clumsy?
This was a poison pill so potent that if even a first-rate internal arts master took it, they wouldn't be able to easily detoxify it even after half a month of energy circulation and breath control. 'Just what is this man?' If anyone else had said it, he would have dismissed it as nonsense.
But strangely, it was hard to deny the man's words. Then, Mok Gyeong-un did something strange. -Bite! He suddenly bit his own index finger.
Not knowing why he did it, the man suddenly brought the bleeding finger he had just bitten to Go Chan's mouth.
"W-what are you trying to do—mmph!"
He couldn't refuse. Mok Gyeong-un's finger pushed into his mouth. A drop of blood wet his tongue and trickled down his throat.
Feeling uneasy, he tried not to swallow, but with his neck in a death grip, he had no choice. But not long after swallowing the blood, "Gah!" His chest grew hot.
A burning pain suddenly consumed his body. Even after Mok Gyeong-un let go of his neck, the pain was so intense it felt like his five viscera and six bowels were being twisted.
"Guuuuh!"
'P-poison?'
No matter how he thought about it, this had to be poison. Otherwise, there was no way it could cause such pain. Go Chan hurriedly tried to perform energy circulation and breath control, but as he tried to sit in a meditative posture, Mok Gyeong-un kicked him.
"Geuk!"
Thanks to that, he rolled across the floor. As he writhed in agony, Mok Gyeong-un bent his knees and said.
"My grandfather warned me not to do a few things. This is one of them. It's not just that I've developed a tolerance from eating a lot of poisonous herbs, he said my blood has become poisonous too."
"What?"
"The dog I was raising happened to lick my blood once and had a seizure. It was chaos, vomiting blood and everything."
"You... you..."
The twisting pain was so great he couldn't speak. Ignoring him, Mok Gyeong-un just snickered as he looked down at him. -Ssk! While he was in agony, Mok Gyeong-un grabbed his chin and lifted it.
And he spoke as if placating a child.
"It's alright. My grandfather did this and that, and it got better."
"Guuuuh!"
Go Chan clung to his knees. Unable to speak, he looked at him with a pleading expression. Then, Mok Gyeong-un smiled brightly and said.
"I trust you'll be a great help from now on."