Chapter 1641
Even beasts know gratitude. (6)
He couldn’t stop trembling. Perhaps it was from excitement or guilt.
His hands were already covered in filthy blood.
But Ho Gamyeong held no regret in his heart. The actions he had taken were too just for him to harbor the luxurious emotion of regret. Even feeling a hint of hesitation felt sinful.
As he took rough, deep breaths, Ho Gamyeong looked down at the flesh that had once been called Wangsa.
The body that had borne the full brunt of Ho Gamyeong’s vengeance was now a hideous wreck beyond words.
The tingling sensation in his fingertips, the heaving breaths, and the acrid smell of blood.
The taste of revenge was neither as refreshing as he had hoped nor as dirty as he had feared. It flowed quietly, like the mixed feelings of slight emptiness, small satisfaction, and sadness that come from finishing a long-held task.
Regardless, his revenge was over. Whether it took the form he had wanted or not, what was done could not be undone.
What remained…
Ho Gamyeong’s gaze shifted to the side. There stood Jang Ilso, who had silently witnessed the entire process.
Jang Ilso looked at him with his crescent moon-shaped eyes. His gaze was inscrutable.
“How is it?”
Jang Ilso’s voice echoed with a strange resonance.
“How does it feel to have achieved the revenge you desired so much?”
Ho Gamyeong glanced absently at his blood-soaked hand. The initial strangeness of the red hand had already dulled. Absorbing everything he experienced, Ho Gamyeong responded calmly.
“I thought you would understand. If anyone, you would.”
“That’s quite an unpleasant assumption.”
Jang Ilso sneered.
“Believe it or not, I’ve never had a taste for revenge.”
“…Is that so?”
“Revenge is something only those with something to lose can pursue.”
It was an answer surprisingly easy to accept.
Jang Ilso was indeed right. Those who have nothing to lose – or those who cannot comprehend the value of what they have lost – are forever unrelated to the concept of revenge.
This realization brought another truth to Ho Gamyeong.
‘I, too…’
He might have become someone who can no longer seek revenge. For he, too, had nothing left to lose.
“May I ask you something?”
Jang Ilso raised an eyebrow. Taking his silence as approval, Ho Gamyeong spoke.
“Why did you help me?”
No answer came. So Ho Gamyeong rephrased his question.
“What would you have done if I had accepted his offer?”
“Hmm?”
This question seemed to pique Jang Ilso’s interest.
Despite the rough expression he wore, a closer look revealed a distinctly youthful face with a peculiar look in his eyes.
“You said it would be easier for me, but anyone with half a brain would know it wasn’t sincere. Wealth, power, convenience… None of what he could offer would truly interest you.”
Ho Gamyeong stared directly at Jang Ilso.
“So, were you planning to take my head instead? As a price for disappointing you?”
“…Your head?”
For a moment, Jang Ilso’s expression cracked. More accurately, it completely crumbled. With wide eyes and a look of utter disbelief, he burst into laughter.
“Hahahahahahahaha! Your head? Really?”
Jang Ilso shook with laughter, then looked at Ho Gamyeong with a mix of amusement and contempt.
“I thought you were smarter than this… But I guess not. You idiot. What possible value could your cheap head have?”
Ho Gamyeong’s mouth shut involuntarily.
“Do you still fancy yourself a noble scholar flitting in and out of the Hanlin Academy?”
At the blatant ridicule, Ho Gamyeong reflexively looked down at his hands.
A laugh escaped his lips.
There wasn’t a single flaw in Jang Ilso’s words. He was no longer a scholar or an official.
He was merely a murderer.
From the perspective of the state, he was nothing more than trash that needed to be caught and beheaded. Ho Gamyeong had become the very type of person he once despised and shunned the most.
What value could such a head possibly have to Jang Ilso?
“It was a foolish question,”
Ho Gamyeong admitted, slowly nodding.
He realized anew that reasons didn’t matter. What mattered was that he owed Jang Ilso and now had to repay that debt.
“Regardless, it’s time for you to collect your due,”
Ho Gamyeong said, taking a deep breath and looking directly at Jang Ilso.
It didn’t matter how harsh the payment might be. Ho Gamyeong had nothing left to lose.
“Whatever you desire of me…”
Ho Gamyeong spoke with a cold, resolute voice.
“I will give my all.”
His voice was firm, leaving no room for doubt. Jang Ilso’s long eyes curved into a satisfied arc.
“…It’s been a while since I’ve heard something so pleasing.”
What an unusual person, Ho Gamyeong thought.
When he first met Jang Ilso, he seemed like a typical rough mercenary. But now, the Jang Ilso before him was different.
His slow, measured speech was overwhelming Ho Gamyeong without any threats. Ho Gamyeong, who had seen countless powerful and noble people in the palace.
In that moment, a thought crossed his mind.
Was this man lacking compared to those he once deemed great and believed would become truly magnificent? Perhaps the one who truly had the qualities to stand above others was the very person before him now.
It was a laughable notion. The one he had longed for the most was actually among the filth and squalor of the world, somewhere he wouldn’t have dared to glance at.
And so, Ho Gamyeong couldn’t help but be curious.
“What do you want from me?”
What could this person possibly desire? How did Jang Ilso perceive him?
The response he received was not quite what Ho Gamyeong expected.
“What I want from you, huh…”
Jang Ilso’s lips twisted.
“There’s nothing like that.”
Ho Gamyeong stared at Jang Ilso in silence.
“A foolish scholar who doesn’t know what the world or people are like can’t do anything worthwhile. You’re not even fit to be used as fertilizer.”
Ho Gamyeong’s face twitched slightly.
“Then…”
“What you want and what you get are different things. I said you’d have to pay a hefty price, not that I wanted something from you.”
It might have seemed confusing at first, but Ho Gamyeong quickly grasped the subtle distinction.
“Then what price must I pay?”
Ho Gamyeong asked, and Jang Ilso stared at him intently before turning his head. His gaze fell on the burning manor. His bright eyes, reflecting the flames, appeared a blood-red hue.
“Become my dog.”
“…”
“I’m tired of it now. Clinging to those filthy, stinking back alleys and struggling in vain.”
Ho Gamyeong swallowed dryly without realizing it.
Jang Ilso had agreed to kill Wangsa.
Even if the power of the royal family did not reach every corner of the land, he would not be able to avoid pursuit for a while.
And that meant Jang Ilso would lose everything he had. Yet, Jang Ilso didn’t utter a single word about it.
‘…A man with nothing to lose.’
Isn’t that the same as saying he has nothing at all?
“I want something bigger. Burning down this measly estate isn’t enough. If you’re going to burn something, it has to be bigger.”
Jang Ilso, who had been watching the estate burn and collapse, soon lost interest in the sight and looked at Ho Gamyeong.
It might have been a delusion, but Ho Gamyeong felt the same heat in the sunken gaze directed at him as when Jang Ilso first looked at the estate.
“But for that, those fools won’t do. At the very least, I need someone with a working brain.”
Jang Ilso’s eyes blazed fiercely.
“Crawl through the dirt with me. Experience hell while alive. And push me higher. That’s the high price you must pay.”
“…”
“I won’t tolerate any refusal. Your life has already been paid for.”
Ho Gamyeong let out a bitter laugh.
There is nothing he wants. Yes, there will be nothing he wants.
To that person, Ho Gamyeong must seem like nothing more than a naive scholar who doesn’t know the world.
But with the blood on these hands, at least he had earned some qualifications. Struggling in the dirt that person spoke of, someday Ho Gamyeong would become valuable to him.
Having nothing he wants, yet having a price to be paid, must mean that.
“Do you understand?”
The voice was rough, almost boiling.
But Ho Gamyeong sensed a tiny bit of anxiety within it. It was so small that perhaps only Ho Gamyeong could notice it.
In any case, Ho Gamyeong realized. This man, contrary to his outward appearance, might desperately need him.
After a long silence, Ho Gamyeong, who had been staring at Jang Ilso, opened his mouth.
“What do you want from me?”
“To survive.”
Jang Ilso answered without a moment’s hesitation. As if he had already prepared the answer.
“And to be cool-headed. Always, everywhere, and in any moment.”
Ho Gamyeong slowly nodded.
“…Then I have one condition too.”
Instantly, Jang Ilso’s eyes became savage, like that of an enraged beast.
“A condition? Do you think you are in any position to state a condition?”
A murderous intent, as if he could tear out his throat at any moment, poured forth.
Even in the face of the ferocity that sent chills through his body, Ho Gamyeong looked at him directly and spoke.
“Keep it calm.”
Jang Ilso’s movement abruptly halted as if cut off. The boiling momentum and the growling murderous intent disappeared like an illusion.
Jang Ilso squinted his eyes and scrutinized Ho Gamyeong. Ho Gamyeong spoke calmly.
“People aren’t afraid of those who bare their teeth. They think that’s all there is. But they fear those who smile even in crisis. They believe there’s still something hidden.”
“…”
“If you really want to stand at the top, if you want to grasp more, then first, take it easy. Smile more, look down more, become more arrogant. Not as someone who wants to have, but as someone who already has.”
Ho Gamyeong knelt on one knee towards Jang Ilso.
“Then, someday, you’ll get everything you desire.”
Ho Gamyeong’s eyes gleamed.
“Survive, and be cool-headed. I will remember.”
Ho Gamyeong bowed his head. Jang Ilso, looking down at him kneeling before him, turned his gaze away. The burning estate, the black sky, and the man kneeling resolutely.
“Ha…”
His lips reddened with excitement.
“Haha… Hahaha. Hahahahahahahahaha!”
A loud laughter burst forth.
It was different from before. It was a laugh full of malice and confidence, as if mocking the world itself.
The laughter eventually subsided. After a long time of chuckling, Jang Ilso muttered.
“Not as someone who wants to have, but as someone who already has…”
Jang Ilso’s gaze calmed down. Instead of the menacing murderous intent and ferocity, there was now a relaxed composure, and his eyes held a gentle smile.
“I’ll remember. Until the moment I die.”
Ho Gamyeong also gave a faint smile.
This was the price he had to pay and the deal they had to honor.
But perhaps, all of that was meaningless.
Ho Gamyeong watched as if entranced by the burning world and the man standing alone before it. He was so imposing and precarious that it was impossible to look away.
He slowly stood up.
The past, the life he had lived, everything he knew was engulfed in the flames. Soon, it turned to ashes and disappeared.
But it no longer mattered.
“Prepare yourself. It will be brutal.”
“I don’t expect it to be easy. But also…”
“Hmm?”
“It will be fun.”
Jang Ilso silently looked at Ho Gamyeong. Ho Gamyeong looked back at him. In the pitch-dark night, the burning embers scattered in the wind and settled down as if they were enveloping the two of them.
“Let’s go, Gamyeong-ah.”
“Yes, Master.”
That first hesitant step was the beginning of a long journey together.
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