Episode 391
“Oops! It’s sacking.”
Lee Myung-hak patted his back and looked at the horizon.
He was currently aboard a small fishing boat.
On the fishing boat, his subordinates disguised as fishermen were diligently moving.
It wasn’t just imitating fishermen.
The appearance of walking the net and rowing was no different from a real fisherman.
All the subordinates led by Lee Myeong-hak knew how to do boat work skillfully. Before being dispatched to Lake Poyang, he actually learned how to work on a boat.
Knowing that doing anything clumsily will quickly get caught, Lee Myung-hak made his subordinates learn the real job of boating.
The easiest way to get out of Lake Poyang was to use a fishing boat.
Since Poyang Lake is so vast, it was not easy to find it by boat. Moreover, it was even more impossible to find when it was completely disguised as a fishing boat.
Lee Myung-hak’s subordinates were like real fishermen. So other fishing boats did not suspect them.
Lee Myung-hak looked around and said.
“If I do this, I think I can run away with all my might. Let’s spread the sails wide and sprint with all our might.”
“yes!”
The subordinates moved busily with strong answers.
They gathered all the nets that had been cast on the bottom and spread the sails wide. Thanks to the sails full of wind, the ship moved forward at a frightening speed.
“Phew! I think I will live now.”
Lee Myeong-hak muttered as he wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead.
Smiles appeared on the faces of the subordinates as well.
“As expected, Danlord. Thanks to you, I will be able to return safely this time.”
“It’s still too early to be relieved. Don’t let your guard down.”
“haha! What are you worried about in the middle of Poyang Lake? Even the pursuers won’t be able to follow us this far.”
The subordinates answered with a smile as if they were worried about everything.
Lee Myung-hak also laughed at him.
Because he also thought the same as his subordinates.
It was difficult to get out of the workshop and get on the fishing boat, but since they had pulled the fishing boat all the way to the middle of Lake Poyang, there was no threat to them.
“Anyway, I don’t know if Ye Seol escaped safely. What would you have done well? He’s a kid who knows how to secure that kind of retreat.”
He is a retired assassin, but Hong Ye-seol was an active soldier on the front line. His sensitivity is much sharper than himself and his ability to respond to crises is also excellent.
Maybe he got out of Poyang Lake before he did.
“Let’s head to the safe house of Nanchang. Run at full speed.”
“yes!”
Nanchang was a large city located in the southwest of Poyang Lake.
There was a safe house prepared by Lee Myung-hak.
Lee Myeong-hak planned to rest for three months with his subordinates at the safe house. By then, Kang-ho will be quiet again.
It was then.
“what! Sovereign Lord.”
Suddenly, one of his subordinates called him.
“why?”
“Look at that ship.”
“ship?”
It was only then that Lee Myung-hak looked in the direction the subordinate was pointing.
A large ship was approaching at high speed toward the ship they were on.
Lee Myung-hak’s expression hardened.
Because the shape of the ship was unusual.
A streamlined hull and three or four times more masts than a normal ship. It was indeed a ship that focused on speed to the extreme.
At first glance, it was far from an ordinary ship.
The ship was approaching the ship where Lee Myung-hak and his men were riding.
“Shit! Increase your speed.”
“yes!”
The subordinates increased the speed of the fishing boat. Then the speed of the approaching ship also increased.
This made it clear.
It means that the target of that ship is the fishing boat they boarded.
Lee Myung-hak focused his energy on his eyes. Then I saw the figures of those who were riding in the streamlined boat.
All of them had weapons.
It was clear that they were unmanned.
“Who is it? Are you the pursuer who was attached to Ye-seol?”
There was a deep gap between Lee Myung-hak’s forehead.
It has been many years since I retired from the front line and led the support team, but this is the first time I have been stepped on like this.
It was a retreat that I thought was perfect.
Even if they knew that they had escaped to Lake Poyang, they could never follow if they did not know the ship’s route in advance.
‘Do you mean that the ship knows where to go in this vast Poyang Lake and blindly follows it? There must be someone who knows our escape route.’
The problem is that we don’t know where the information leaked from.
If you think about it carefully, you might be able to infer it, but there was no time to think leisurely right now.
Even at this moment, the streamlined boat was rapidly approaching the fishing boat.
It was impossible in the first place to shake off a boat specialized in tracking with the fishing boat they were on.
Lee Myung-hak shouted.
“Everyone prepare for battle.”
“Shit!”
“It looks like this place will become a tomb.”
The subordinates grumbled and picked up weapons such as harpoons and jigsaws.
They also felt that the atmosphere around them was unusual.
The ship approached terribly and rammed the fishing boat Lee Myeong-hak and others were riding.
Quaang!
The side of the fishing boat exploded with an explosion.
“Keugh!”
“Shit!”
Lee Myung-hak and his subordinates, who did not know that they would crash into it, groaned.
In the meantime, the unmanned people on the boat that had crashed jumped to the fishing boat.
“Kill them all.”
“Chaa!”
They attacked Lee Myung-hak’s subordinates as they were.
Lee Myung-hak bit his lip.
It’s because I didn’t expect the opponent to attack without any dialogue.
‘Is there no need to negotiate?’
Then the opponent’s intention was clear.
It was to kill them.
At that time, the leader of the other ship, who appeared to be a warrior, approached Lee Myung-hak straight away.
Even at a glance, it was an unmanned man whose momentum seemed unusual.
There was redness in both eyes, and a sharp spirit as if looking at a well-forged sword naturally radiated.
He looked at Lee Myung-hak and asked.
“Is this Lee Myung-hak, the leader of Baek Guryun’s support group?”
“How?”
Lee Myung-hak’s eyes shook.
It was understandable that the opponent had pursued him and his subordinates. If someone is really good at tracking, that might be the case.
However, knowing your true identity is a different matter. It means that the information inside Baek Guiryeon is being leaked.
Baek Guryun was the secret of life.
The mission could fail or it could succeed. However, in any case, the identity of the assassin and the support group supporting them has never been leaked.
The fact that the other party knew their identities meant that there was a traitor inside the Baekgwiryun or that they were grasping the internal situation as if they were reading the palm of their hands.
In either case, it was a catastrophic situation for Baek Guryun.
Lee Myung-hak asked with his chin twitching.
“Who are you?”
“They say my name is No Sin-pil.”
“No Shinpil?”
“You’ve probably never heard of it. Because I hardly did any outside activities. However, at the Ugeom Lodge, they call me Blood-Eyed Ghost Sword.”
“Woogeom Lodge?”
Lee Myung-hak widened his eyes.
An unexpected name came out of nowhere.
The name Woogeom Lodge was enough to make him puzzled.
He knew that Jang Ho-yeon of Ugeom Lodge had invited Chilhyeonseosaeng. So, it was not strange at all that Ugeom Sanjang set out to avenge Chilhyeonseosaeng.
But one thing bothered me.
‘too fast.’
No matter how much the woogeom lodge came out for revenge, the speed of finding them was too fast.
As if you knew in advance and waited.
For a moment, Lee Myung-hak felt a shock as if he had been hit in the head with a sledgehammer.
‘Did you know in advance?’
Countless thoughts ran through his mind like a kaleidoscope.
As the thoughts were organized in his head, his expression hardened like a stone.
Lee Myung-hak carefully spoke his mind.
“Did you ask for the assassination of Chilhyeonstudent at Ugeom Lodge?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Noh Shin-pil shrugged and replied. However, he could not completely hide the small smile on his lips.
Lee Myung-hak was convinced that his guess was true.
‘This request was made by the guys from the Woogeom Lodge.’
It was clear that it was the cattle lodge that invited the seven sages, and it was the cattle lodge that commissioned the assassination. And they were now about to commit murder.
“Everyone was playing in the palm of the oxwood hut.”
Even at Lee Myeong-hak’s words, Roh Shin-pil did not answer and only smiled deeply. In fact, it was no different than admitting Lee Myung-hak’s words.
“Cheak!”
“Ouch!”
Even at that moment, Lee Myung-hak’s subordinates were dying.
His subordinates also learned martial arts, but they couldn’t compare to the elite of the Ugeom Lodge.
Lee Myung-hak realized that there was no chance of winning. He threw himself into the lake.
He chose to run away.
“Where?”
Shia!
At that moment, No Shin-pil blocked the path and threw a sword at him.
Quaang!
Lee Myung-hak collided with the sword and bounced back into the ship. At least, I was able to minimize the damage by swinging the sword facing each other right before it hit the sword.
Lee Myeong-hak muttered as he wiped the blood from his mouth.
“It looks like this place will be my grave today. I never thought it would be fish food…”
No Shin-pil was approaching him.
A light of despair fell on Lee Myung-hak’s face.
He too was once a great assassin to the point of dying, but his physical condition was not the same as before due to his long retirement.
Moreover, it was an environment that could not be ambush.
In such an environment, there seemed to be little chance of surviving against an authentic warrior or a swordsman with a higher level than himself.
‘Yes! I guess I’ve come this far.’
He ran towards Lu Shin-pil, praying that Hong Ye-seol had escaped safely.
Shia!
＊＊＊
Hong Ye-seol narrowed her eyes.
It was as if someone had called her name.
She immediately shook her head.
“It looks like I’m weak too. To hear hallucinations.”
Hong Ye-seol blamed himself and buried himself deeply in the chair.
Currently, she was riding in a carriage.
On the roof of the carriage pulled by two horses, a flag with four letters written on it was flying.
Cheolsin Mark was a mark with enemies in Poyang Lake.
Before carrying out the assassination, Hong Ye-seol signed a transportation contract with the Iron Gods Bureau.
The target was herself.
The destination was Songyang, a city hundreds of miles away from Lake Poyang.
The justification was that he was going to see his maternal grandfather in Songyang.
It was not unusual for a woman to ask for a stamp when traveling alone.
Cheolsin Mark Guk readily accepted her request.
Thanks to this, Hong Ye-seol was able to move comfortably by carriage while being escorted by the envoys.
“Whoa!”
Hong Ye-seol let out a sigh of relief.
The process was not smooth, but the assassination request was completed perfectly. Now her work here is over.
“I guess I’ll have to stay inactive and hide for a while.”
Hong Ye-seol knew it too.
The fact that Poyangho and Cheonha were upset because of what he had done. I couldn’t even imagine how far the aftermath would go.
Everyone was looking for her with their eyes on. The most feared among them was the soldier who attacked her at Lake Poyang.
Even now, when I think of him, my body trembles like an aspen tree.
He imprinted the feeling of fear in her as an assassin.
For the time being, I had to live in hiding as if a rat died.
“It’s a pity that I can’t see him again, but I can’t help it if I live.”
His life took precedence over the moon.
It was then.
Suddenly the carriage slowed down and I felt it stop.
“What is it?”
Hong Ye-seol asked the coachman who drove the carriage. But no answer came back.
Only then did Hong Ye-seol intuit that a change had occurred.
Hong Ye-seol carefully opened the carriage window. Then, he saw the face of a person who shouldn’t be here.
“How are you?”
The man who smiled at her was Lee Geom-han.
