Chapter 621: The Demonic Cult May Be Heartless, But...

TL: FoodieMonster007

The air was heavy and murky. Though it was called an interrogation room, it was in reality a torture chamber. Shackles and iron chains were suspended from the walls. On one side, a long desk displayed an array of torture instruments.

What purpose could so many iron needles of varying thicknesses possibly serve? There were also sharp saws, throwing knives, and a collection of other unsettling tools with unknown functions.

The brazier and branding iron placed next to the desk were clearly not intended for roasting sweet potatoes.

The moment Gwak Yeong saw these things, her entire body began to tremble uncontrollably. It was a kind of fear that willpower alone could not suppress.

She forced her gaze away, only for it to land on red stains covering the floor. A closer look confirmed her fear. It was blood.

No matter how strong her disposition was, staying composed in such an atmosphere was difficult. She could not shake the terror that she might be tortured, die a miserable death, and be buried somewhere in the backyard.

However, she soon slapped her own cheeks.

"Get a grip, Gwak Yeong! This is the path you chose."

She had not run on the first day she met that man, even when she could have escaped with the White Dragon Commander's help. She had not informed them about him either.

Returning to the teahouse to meet this man had been entirely her own decision. It was a conclusion she reached after a sleepless night of deliberation.

What was her reason?

When she had looked back while walking away with the White Dragon Commander, he had been watching her. His gaze was indifferent, revealing no emotion.

Perhaps it was that very expression. He could have justifiably shown irritation or anger, but he remained indifferent. It was a situation where his anger or laughter would have been equally unpleasant.

Just then!

KIIIIIIK.

The sound of the iron door creaking open startled her. Her heart pounded as if it would burst from her chest.

The thick iron door swung open, and two people entered. A flicker of disappointment crossed her mind. She had hoped he would be the one to walk in, but it was Branch Manager Ho Myeong and his subordinate instead.

"If you follow instructions, this won't take long."

At Ho Myeong's words, Gwak Yeong pleaded.

"Please bring me the man from before."

"He is a person of high status."

"Please bring me that person of high status. I'll tell him everything."

Gwak Yeong felt an instinctual warning that she should not speak to these men.

What would happen if she revealed everything to them?

They would simply take all the information and then kill her. Yes, they were members of the Demonic Cult. They were more than capable of doing such a thing.

That was why she had to bet her fate on the man from before, not these two. She needed to get a promise directly from him.

However, Ho Myeong did not listen to her. He took a small bottle from his robes and set it on the table in front of her.

"Drink it."

"What is this?"

"It's a truth serum."

Although she had not learned martial arts, she worked for the Murim Alliance. She had heard rumors about this particular truth serum.

"I've heard that those who resist confessing until the end can die from the side effects, or become invalids."

Ho Myeong nodded. The side effects varied. Someone might just be unlucky and die even after spilling everything, and as she said, the side effects were more pronounced in those who refused to reveal the truth.

"There aren't many people with that kind of willpower."

"There's one right in front of you now."

Gwak Yeong was not bluffing. She truly intended to tell these men nothing, and she had faith in her own willpower. This was why she was genuinely worried she might die from the side effects.

"You don't want me to die, do you?"

Gwak Yeong tried to push her fear aside and appear confident.

"So please, bring him here."

Of course, her attempt had no effect on Ho Myeong. He could have simply suppressed her acupoints and forced her to drink the serum, but Ho Myeong did not do that.

At his glance, the subordinate who had entered with him lit the brazier and placed the branding iron on top of it.

CHIIIII.

A moment later, the branding iron was glowing a fiery red.

"Don't think you can scare me with fire. I've helped out in the smithy since I was young, so I'm not afraid of it. You could say it's like a friend to me."

"It will hurt more when it's done by a friend."

Ho Myeong gave an order with his eyes. The subordinate picked up the branding iron and approached her.

He brought the hot iron toward her face. The face was the most effective part of the body to use for intimidation, especially with a woman.

However, Gwak Yeong did not close her eyes. She did not scream. She stared directly at the approaching branding iron, her eyes wide open as she clenched her teeth.

Just before the branding iron could touch her face, a voice came from behind.

"Wait."

Thankfully, the branding iron stopped before it could sear her skin.

The person standing in the opening of the iron door was Geom Muyang.

As he stepped inside, the subordinate holding the branding iron went out, leaving only Ho Myeong behind.

Geom Muyang walked over and stood before her.

"Why did you ask for me?"

Geom Muyang had been listening from outside the door. He could tell by instinct that no amount of torture would get the words he wanted from her.

With this much resolve, she would really die from the truth serum's side effects, just as she had said.

"I told you in the carriage. I bet my life and fate on you."

Geom Muyang's reaction was still cold.

"What do you know about me?"

"I told you, I trust my feelings."

Geom Muyang looked at the truth serum on the table and said, "Drink it."

Her eyes trembled. Gwak Yeong looked down at the truth serum and picked it up. Then, after uncorking the bottle, she looked straight into Geom Muyang's eyes and drank it all.

After a short while, her face flushed as the drug began to take effect.

Now, the real questioning began.

"What was your reason for approaching me?"

He could not rule out the possibility that she had approached him with intent.

"You're the one who approached me. You came to my table, didn't you?"

Her voice was languid, as if she had just awoken from a deep sleep.

"Weren't you ordered to approach me?"

"I wasn't."

"Then why did you come to the teahouse again the next day?"

Gwak Yeong's eyes were unfocused and hazy.

"I thought you could help me."

"The reason?"

"It was a feeling. I was glad that this was the person who came to capture me."

Gwak Yeong frowned slightly and said, "Is this what it feels like to drink a truth serum? I'm dizzy and so nauseous."

Normally, a person who takes a truth serum answers from an unconscious state. The fact that she was aware she had taken the drug meant her mental strength was extraordinary. In this situation, at least, that was not a good sign.

Geom Muyang looked down at her in silence for a moment.

Gwak Yeong gave a bashful smile and said something unexpected.

"You're handsome."

Geom Muyang scoffed with a look of disbelief.

"Don't be the only one asking questions, let me ask one too. This scar, is it very ugly?"

She was not in her right mind. She had started to say whatever came to her from her subconscious.

"Don't you dare laugh. This is my scar of glory. Do you know how scary it was back then? Do you?"

JUREUREUK.

Blood trickled from her nose.

"Huh? I'm bleeding. I wasn't lying, but I'm bleeding."

Ho Myeong quickly said, "The side effects are starting to appear."

"Give her the antidote."

"……"

Ho Myeong gave Gwak Yeong the antidote, a medicine that neutralized the truth serum's effects.

After a short while, Gwak Yeong came to her senses.

"What happened?"

"The side effects appeared, so we gave you the antidote."

She was relieved at the thought that she had escaped death.

"Thank you."

"It's not over yet."

"No, it is over. It was already over when I came to find you the next day. The only thing left is whether or not you'll make a promise to me."

"What promise?"

Earlier in the carriage, she had asked him to make one promise since she had not fired the Jingeuk.

"Please save me."

He naturally thought she was referring to herself.

"Please save my younger brother."

Only now did Geom Muyang understand. He understood why she had forged the hidden weapons and why she had sought him out, trying so hard to make an absurd promise. She was not trying to save herself.

"My younger brother is being held hostage by them."

She clenched her fists tightly.

"After my parents passed away, my brother is the only family I have left. There's no one in the world as good as him."

A question naturally arose.

"Why didn't you inform the Murim Alliance?"

As a master artisan of the Murim Alliance smithy, the Alliance would have surely moved to save her brother.

"They told me. They said they have an ally in a high position within the Murim Alliance. They said no matter how secretly I reported it to the Murim Alliance, they would find out first."

"Did you believe them?"

He thought she was too smart to believe that so easily.

Then she said something surprising.

"I had no choice but to believe them. The place where I heard it was my own residence inside the Murim Alliance's inner court."

The fact that an outsider could freely enter and exit the Murim Alliance's inner court meant that, just as they had claimed, someone in a high position was involved.

"They said if I made it for them just once, they would release my brother and never seek me out again."

She let out a sigh of regret.

"They broke their promise. How stupid! It was a promise they never intended to keep in the first place."

Not releasing her brother was likely a way to force her to make other hidden weapons.

"Why did I bet my fate on you? Because I can't keep being dragged along by those bastards. Even if I let them, they'll eventually kill my brother. I became certain of that when they broke their promise this time."

Geom Muyang nodded slightly, his expression indicating that she had judged correctly.

"You can use me, or you can kill me. You can brand me with that iron, or make me drink ten bottles of truth serum. I'll tell you everything I know. In return, please, you must save my brother."

She did not hide her emotions. She felt it was better to be honest with this man than to use shallow tricks.

"I should be negotiating with you using the information I have, but I can't because you people are too scary."

Geom Muyang did not answer.

Gwak Yeong pleaded again.

"Even if the Demonic Cult is heartless, without blood or tears, you must have siblings, right? If you do, you must understand how I feel, right?"

Geom Muyang, who had been silent the whole time, said to her, "I am someone who once wished for my younger brother to die."

For a moment, Gwak Yeong flinched.

"Please, pretend you didn't hear what I just said."

She tried pleading in a different way.

"Then I'll do whatever you command for the rest of my life. I'll make whatever you tell me to make. I don't know how high your position is, but if you take me with you, you'll even get a promotion."

Watching them, Ho Myeong laughed silently.

"My career is over anyway. How can I continue to live as an artisan after disgracing the honor of the Murim Alliance smithy? I'll make things for you. You saw it, right? That little Jingeuk? I made that myself. I'll make anything you want."

Still, Geom Muyang said nothing.

Finally, Gwak Yeong burst out.

"You heartless man! If someone begs this much, you could at least make an empty promise!"

Geom Muyang stated bluntly, "I don't make promises I don't keep."

Yes, it was because she had a feeling he was this kind of person that she had taken this gamble.

"If you don't help me, I'll die, become a ghost, and appear in your dreams every night to torment you."

She tried threatening him and appealing to his goodwill. Appealing to the goodwill of a member of the Demonic Cult.

"If you're not the type to help others, then just try helping someone once in your life. Who knows? When you fall into hell, maybe King Yama will forgive you because of that one good deed."

However, Geom Muyang was unmoving. She realized this impregnable fortress would not crumble from her pleas or persuasion.

Right, I must be crazy. A demonic cultist is just a demonic cultist. What kind of premonition was that.

She looked down at the back of her hand in silence for a moment.

"Do you know what's really infuriating? It's the fact that all of this happened because of my hard work. The effort I put in, staying up all night, hammering away by myself… that effort ultimately became the effort that will kill my brother. I'm so frustrated and feel so wronged."

She had endured even when the hot branding iron was about to sear her face, but now, for the first time, a single tear fell from her eye. The fallen tear traced a hot path over the burn scar on the back of her hand.

I'm sorry. This Noona is sorry. Still, even if we're reborn, please be born as my younger brother again. I'll never become an artisan then. I'm so sorry, truly.

It was truly a misfortune that had struck her life like a natural disaster.

However, as if to say that the world was not only filled with disastrous misfortunes, a single phrase was heard in a low voice.

"I will save your brother."

Gwak Yeong's head snapped up. Geom Muyang had only said that one sentence and added nothing more. Because of that, Gwak Yeong knew. This man was someone who truly kept his promises.

Geom Muyang gave an order to Ho Myeong.

"Get the rest of her statement regarding those bastards in detail. Don't miss a single thing."

"Yes, I understand."

Then, Geom Muyang turned and walked toward the iron door.

Just before he opened the door to leave, Gwak Yeong shouted a question.

"……"

Asking for a reason when he had offered to save her brother probably was not a good choice, but she was too curious.

Without looking back, Geom Muyang left her with some unexpected words.

"Let's just say it's because some good iron came in today."