Episode 1500. How dare you not follow it? (5)
“execution. “Yeontong came from Shaolin.”
The old man sitting at the head of a large, old and faded desk quietly raised his head.
In front of you is a letter handed out by an elderly beggar.
The words ‘Yongdu Ark Friendship’ were clearly written on the red paper. A letter sent to the Ark of Openness. In other words, it means that it is a book that only the Ark of Openness can open.
However, neither the person holding out the letter nor the old man looking at it showed any sign of discomfort. The old man is by no means the ark of openness.
“Leave it there.”
“It’s urgent…”
“It would probably sound obvious anyway. “Now, I guess they’re telling us to stand in a clear line.”
The elderly beggar silently put down the letter on one side of the desk. It was an odd location, neither too far in the corner nor too central.
The old man’s eyes darkened as he glanced at the writings.
‘Court…’
There is no way he doesn’t know the circumstances of the opening. Nevertheless, it is obvious why he bothered to send a letter with the words, “A friend of Yongdu Ark.”
‘You’re doing something trivial.’
A look of disapproval flashed across the old man’s face. What I really don’t like is not the court’s provocation, which is unbecoming of a Buddhist. He was secretly getting heated by that trivial provocation.
I asked with a short sigh.
“Is there any news about new things?”
“Not yet…”
The old man’s face became slightly distorted.
“You’re late. “I can’t believe that openness has become so ineffective.”
“execution. Please understand. “Due to the nature of the item we are looking for… we cannot use beggars at will.”
That’s obvious.
The moment the word spreads that the beggars of openness are busy trying to find the new thing for openness, it is certain that they will be ridiculed by former Kangho.
That’s what new things are. It must never be lost or taken away.
“Moreover, that…”
“done. Know.”
The old man’s voice was a little loud as he stopped talking as if there was nothing more to hear. If it became known that the person who hid the sacred object was none other than the Ark of Openness, it would not end up as a mere laughing matter.
As the old man remained silent with a displeased look on his face, the middle-aged beggar glanced sideways at the letter on the desk.
“Are you not planning on answering this time?”
“⋯⋯.”
“The cycle of Shaolin urging is accelerating. Doesn’t this mean that opening up is no longer a situation that can be avoided? Of course, Shaolin and the court are no different from wolves… but aren’t they at least powerful wolves?”
“⋯⋯.”
“If the Ark commits something foolish while hesitating like this, the entire opening could be ruined…”
“Since when did you start talking so much?”
“⋯⋯I’m sorry, death sentence.”
The elderly beggar flinched at the momentum the old man gave off for a moment and quickly lowered his head.
A short sigh came from the old man’s mouth.
There is a pile of documents on the desk.
An office that only Ark can use, and orders that only Ark can approve. Currently, the person in charge of all this is not the Ark, but the old man, Ilhosingae.
However, even though he gained omnipotent power, Ilhosingae’s expression did not seem to brighten.
“Whoa.”
The opening was already almost in his hands. The priests all follow him, and the Bunta lords are also accustomed to him leading the opening rather than Ark, whose whereabouts are unknown.
Now there is only one thing left.
I quietly traced the dents in the desk with my fingertips. The place where the sacred object symbolizing the Ark of Openness should be.
“It’s not that I don’t want to get on the ark right away. However, we cannot do this in a situation where neither the new object nor the traces of the ark have been found.”
“Openness is already following death penalty. No one will object.”
“It’s not that I don’t object, it’s that I can’t object. “Just like I couldn’t oppose him when he took his place on the ark.”
“⋯⋯.”
“Power that fails to follow legitimate processes and procedures inevitably creates problems. “You can’t repeat the same thing.”
“But, the death penalty. There is no time. “If we don’t secure the chain of command before that scammer moves again…”
“know.”
Ilhosingae slowly massaged the area around my eyes.
What he wants is one of two things. He was able to pass on the place of the Ark to him and now the Ark. Or a god of openness with similar authority.
The reason why Ilhosingae hung on one of these was very simple.
This is because there is no way to find the Ark of Openness.
“⋯⋯Muheungae.”
Pungyeongsingae, the Ark of Openness, is always doing the opposite. That in itself is not a problem. Because Pungyeongshingae’s reversal skills are not that great. Anyone with a high level of inertia and a sharp eye could easily recognize that he had used a reverse tactic.
Even though he knew this fact, Pungyeongsingae always used the reverse. Stay steadfast even if you face ridicule.
And one day, Ilhosingae realized a ridiculous truth.
This means that he does not know the true face of Poongyeongshingae.
It may sound absurd, but it is true. The last time he saw the real face of Pungyeongshingae was forty years ago. No, maybe even that isn’t true. Because I’m not even sure if the face I saw back then was the real one.
But now, how can we recognize the face of Pungyeongsingae?
That wasn’t all. An even more shocking fact was waiting for Ilhosingae. Within this opening, there was not a single person who knew the true face of Pungyeongshingae.
He has completely hidden his identity for decades. He is even in the open seat of his ark.
How could that be?
How can a person hide himself from others for not just ten but forty years? Even when he ascended to the position of the Ark, he lacked both experience and ability.
“It’s deplorable…”
Openness can be discovered by anyone in the world. But there is no way to find someone you don’t know. Even Pungyeongsingae… No, even if Mu Heun-gae were to wander around this group with his normal face, no one in the public would know that he was Bang Joo.
So realistically, all you can find is new stuff. Muheungae is literally someone without a trace.
“The whereabouts of people and things are unknown… I have to find them.”
“⋯⋯.”
“We don’t even know what kind of person he is, and there are only a handful of people who have seen the new object with their own eyes.”
“⋯⋯Death penalty.”
Ilhosingae chuckled and laughed.
“It’s like he was preparing for this situation to happen from the beginning. From the time that young Muheungae climbed onto the ark… No, maybe even before that…”
Fatigue flashed across Ilhosingae’s face as he let out a long sigh.
Neither the leadership ability to lead a large number of people, nor the analytical ability to sharply understand the enemy, nor even the military power that can be considered the best in open warfare, are of no help in solving this problem.
“This will only end when I catch the intangible ghost with my own hands. A ghost that can’t be caught… for a moment!”
But at that moment, Ilhosingae suddenly raised his head as if struck by lightning.
“execution?”
Ilhosingae opened its eyes wide and muttered like someone possessed by something.
“There is no substance…? Is it real? “You don’t recognize me?”
“⋯⋯Death penalty?”
“Huh… haha. “Hehehehehehehehehe.”
Ilhoshingae suddenly burst into laughter.
“Fine, death penalty. “Why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
“It has no substance. Hahahaha. Yes, it has no substance!”
He sank down in his chair as if he had lost strength and kept chuckling.
“I hate to admit it, but I think I know why my teacher didn’t give me the place in the ark. “I never thought I would be so stupid!”
“What the hell…”
“Gather the elders.”
Ilhosingae smiled as he gave a firm command. It was an extremely confident smile.
“You left the easy path and only looked for the difficult path. Now everything will be resolved smoothly.”
The elderly beggar just looked at Ilhosingae blankly with questioning eyes.
❀ ❀ ❀
“⋯⋯Are you really out of your mind?”
Hong Dae-gwang looked at Cheongmyeong with a bewildered expression, as if he could no longer be surprised. Then, the others also looked around. One hundred thousand, to be exact.
“It’s the same with seals. No… The whole world knows that that person is out of his mind, but isn’t it the seal? “If they were going to do something like this, shouldn’t they have stopped it?”
“Would you like to hear me stop you?”
“Then at least you shouldn’t agree! “What the hell is that?”
Baekcheon, who was at a loss for words for a moment, avoided his gaze and looked at the distant mountains. Because it was a small secret room, I couldn’t even see the mountain.
“Even if you go crazy, you have to be crazy enough… Yes, monk. The wig is crooked. what the.”
“Ah, Amitabha Buddha.”
Hyeyeon had her hair up to the nape of her neck and was fiddling around with her troublesome wig. She seemed to not be bothered to listen to Cheongmyeong any more and stuck in with her sword.
“ah! “I’m done with nagging.”
Then he gestured towards Hong Dae-gwang.
“What are you going to do? “I answer.”
Hong Dae-kwang chewed his lips and looked at Cheongmyeong.
“⋯⋯Is everything I heard true?”
“I’m not the kind of person who is so leisurely that I suddenly grab a beggar and talk nonsense, right?”
Hong Dae-gwang let out a long sigh and rubbed his face with his grimy hands.
“So, the king’s ark that I knew was actually an ark, but rather than a real ark, it was more like a puppet of the dark side, and the dark side was a dark side, but it was not a bad dark side, but the legendary ark of the predecessor, and that’s how the ark worked. “The reason I did it was a bad thing, but it was actually a good thing, and the Ark I saw may have been a clone, and the clone was also bad…”
“Stop it, Lord Bunta.”
“… Well, it seems like that, even if it’s just me.”
“Amitabha Buddha. “You say it’s fate.”
Hong Dae-kwang looked up at the ceiling with a bewildered expression on his face.
“⋯⋯What kind of bullshit are these?”
It felt like the world he knew had collapsed all at once.
What makes him even more upset is that the Cheongmyeong he knows is a person who talks nonsense but doesn’t lie.
“No, I’ll think about that later.”
“⋯⋯How can you think about this later, you crazy person?”
“What is bygones is bygones. What’s important is the future. So, first of all, you have to become the ark…”
“Why did you decide that again, you crazy person…?”
“No, how many times? “There’s no one else in particular?”
“Why are you judging that…?”
Tears welled up in Hong Dae-gwang’s eyes. How on earth should we accept this situation?
“Anyway, since I don’t have time, just follow me. “I’ll think about it after the ark is built.”
“…Uh, what do you plan on doing?”
“What should I do? Anyway, they only have power and no authority, so they can’t do anything. At times like this, we scream! And…”
It was that moment.
“stamp!”
The door to the secret room where they were hiding slammed! It opened with a sound.
“what!”
“Are you an enemy?”
The swordsmen of the volcano all drew their swords and aimed at the door.
However, the person who opened the door was none other than Lee Song-baek.
“W-what is it, Sohyeop! “You were surprised!”
“No, please open the door…!”
“Wow, we’re in big trouble!”
“huh?”
Only then did everyone look at the transfer bag. I didn’t notice because I had no time to control my shocked heart, but Lee Song-baek’s generally calm face was noticeably pale.
Baekcheon asked quickly.
“What’s going on, Sohyeop?”
“One hundred thousand degrees… No, long story short! This is a big deal. Now the rumor has spread outside.”
“What rumor?”
“Bah, Ark! “The Ark of Openness!”
“Yes, Ark?”
“They say you have passed away!”
Hwasan’s disciples were startled and asked back.
“Eh? “He died?”
“No, what are you talking about? He was alive and well just a little while ago? “You just got hit?”
“Is that possible?”
“Then what is this situation?”
Everyone murmured, unable to hide their embarrassment. Baekcheon calmly asked again.
“Is that true?”
“yes! It is said that this is news that came from the General Assembly a little while ago. “That’s all they’re talking about out there right now.”
“⋯⋯What is this⋯⋯.”
Everyone who was dumbfounded naturally turned around. When I didn’t understand something, my eyes naturally went there.
However, the person they met, Cheongmyeong, was staring blankly into space as if he had been suddenly hit in the back of the head.
“Cheongmyeong?”
“Uh…”
Cheongmyeong, whose mouth was wide open, smiled awkwardly.
“Hey… He’s not an ordinary person who thinks he’s an elder or something. “You’re saying it goes like this?”
“What situation is this?”
“Well, the situation isn’t important… If we don’t resolve this within today, we’re doomed.”
“huh? haha. This bastard is trying to scare me again… “Cheongmyeong?”
Baekcheon’s eyes widened. I saw thick drops of sweat pouring down from Cheongmyeong’s forehead like a waterfall.
“Cheongmyeong…”
“⋯⋯Isn’t it? “Maybe it’s already ruined.”
No, this is a real crisis…
