“Huff...! Huff! Gah!”
He ran with all his might.
Branches and leaves scratched his face and body, leaving nurous wounds, and running barefoot ant he was stepping on sharp objects.
But even so, he didn’t stop.
Whizz - !
“Eek!”
The sound of sothing slicing through the air ca from far behind, causing him to panic even more and push himself to run faster.
But no matter how fast a person could run, they were no match for an arrow.
“S-Soone... help …!”
Thud.
“...!”
In the end, an arrow pierced the back of his head, causing him to fall forward.
“Guh... urgh... ugh...”
He lay there lifeless, his eyes staring at the arrowhead that had punctured his forehead, taking his last breath.
Monts later, a man in a black suit erged from the direction the man had run.
He examined the body and checked the location of the arrow, then imdiately reported in.
“Direct hit to the center of the forehead. Death confird.”
Without offering any form of respect to the dead, he roughly stuffed the corpse into a body bag.
Beep - !
“Direct hit to the center of the forehead! 11 points!!”
A man shouted from atop a large vehicle specially designed for hunting.
At that, the n in suits, who had been cautiously watching, all clapped and cheered loudly.
“Nice shot, Director!!”
“As expected of the Director! Truly amazing!!”
Clap clap clap clap.
The scene of nearly ten people cheering and clapping with all their might was bizarre and grotesque.
Especially their expressions.
Though they were smiling and cheering, it was all so forced that it ca off as pitiful.
Nevertheless, the star of the show, the woman who had shot the arrow, laughed heartily as she continued to pull her bowstring.
“Oh, you’re all too kind. It’s all because my teacher is so good.”
She smiled brightly, placed her large bow and arrows down, and twisted open the cap of a chilled drink.
Fssss!
“To my invincible gold dalist teacher, let offer you a drink~.”
“Ah… th-thank you, thank you….”
A woman in a uniform, her hands trembling, lifted her glass.
She was trying her best to suppress her trembling, terrified of spilling the drink.
“Cheers!”
“C-Cheers…!”
‘Crazy bitch…!’
When they had ntioned hunting, I had followed along without a second thought, assuming it would be typical animal hunting.
But no—this hunt involved living people.
And they were even keeping score.
A direct hit to the center of the forehead, the area between the eyebrows, was 11 points.
A hit anywhere else on the head was 10 points.
The neck was 9 points.
They assigned points to each body part and competed against each other.
‘At least stop smiling like that.’
What shocked most was her ability to laugh while doing all of this.
She acted with such a naive, innocent expression that it gave chills.
“Well~, now that we’ve had a drink~, let’s move on to the next target~.”
Stretching her body and cracking her knuckles, Go Minji picked up her bow and arrows again.
“Excuse , Director.”
At that mont, a man with a troubled expression approached her.
“There’s been an incident in Nonsan.”
“Hmm? What kind of incident?”
“One of the apprentice knights was found with his testicles and genitals ruptured. Though his life isn’t in danger, he is now… sterile—”
“Wait, Nonsan? You an the knight training center?”
“Yes.”
Her previously cheerful deanor instantly beca serious.
“Isn’t that where Mooyeol went? Was there an accident? Did he get hurt?”
“Well, it’s not exactly an accident, but…”
“Speak clearly. Is he hurt or not?”
“No, no. The Young Master is fine.”
Go Minji let out a long sigh.
“You should have said that first, idiot…. But.”
“Uh… it’s suspected that the one who caused the apprentice knight’s injuries was the Young Master. He ordered his exclusive knight to do it.”
Go Minji set down her bow and arrows.
“So, Mooyeol had his newly appointed exclusive knight turn an apprentice knight into a eunuch, huh?”
“Technically, it’s a love triangle involving the exclusive knight Baek Seol and the apprentice knight, but all signs point to the Young Master orchestrating the situation.”
The man handed her a mind scan report on Jin Guok.
“Hmm.”
It was clear that Baek Seol had been the one to physically rupture the apprentice’s testicles.
But judging by Mooyeol’s enthusiastic clapping and provocations before the incident, it was easy to conclude that it had been Mooyeol’s intention.
Especially that scene.
When the apprentice knight visited Baek Seol’s quarters, Mooyeol had deliberately started having sex with her.
Isn’t he your stalker? It feels like he is.
Won’t he co out if we do this?
Hmm, not coming out?
From Jin Guok’s perspective, he could only see Baek Seol’s face peeking out the door, but the sounds and Mooyeol’s dialogue made it clear.
He had purposefully had sex in front of him to taunt him.
Everything after that was no different.
Mooyeol had continued to provoke the apprentice knight intentionally.
Go Minji let out a deep sigh.
“This project is worth how much, and he’s playing around with it like that? Five years in the research lab, fifteen years in training. A twenty-year project… Ugh, I swear, I just want to stretch his cheeks out and make him cry, ‘I apologize~!’ like a child. The nerve of him.”
She waved her hand to dismiss the hologram.
“Send this irregular to the lab.”
“Should we reset the brainwashing? If we leave it as is, the backdoor might fully unravel.”
Go Minji shrugged indifferently.
“Why bother? Leave him be. If he isn’t brainwashed, he’ll just suffer more.”
“….”
“They’re all knights—if they’re told to fight, they fight, and if they’re told to die, they die. We’re spending money on this brainwashing for their sake. If they dare harbor treacherous thoughts, do you think I’ll treat them kindly?”
“….”
“There’s no need to restore his genitals either. Just use him for experints. Maybe then the fool will realize how much of a blessing brainwashing was. We gave him life, abilities, and even brainwashed him so he wouldn’t feel bad. What more could he want?”
The non-brainwashed man standing by hesitated before replying.
“…Understood, Director.”
“You’ve arrived, Young Master.”
“Ongya.”
We arrived at the house in Ganghwa.
Though calling it a house is an overstatent—it’s really just the top floor of Koryo Entertainnt’s office.
Thanks to the AV, the trip took only about an hour, but the distance still left feeling a bit tired.
‘Or maybe it’s because of the sex?’
“Ah. Let introduce you. This is my exclusive knight, Baek Seol. And this is Seo Eunmi, my secretary.”
“Baek Seol, at your service.”
“…Seo Eunmi, sir.”
Baek Seol introduced herself confidently, while Eunmi looked sowhat uneasy.
In fact, she seed tense upon closer inspection.
‘Is she being cautious? Well, of course, she’s a National Intelligence Service spy. She has no choice but to be on guard when there’s suddenly a knight around.’
Now that I had a loyal knight whom I could trust completely, it was ti to deal with Eunmi.
Up until now, Seo Eunmi had been the most qualified among my subordinates, including Sua, which made her the only person I could entrust with certain tasks.
But turning her over to Prestige would have caused too much of a stir.
Now, however, I had a knight.
I had soone I could fully confide in and give any order to.
After introducing Baek Seol to several people, I brought her to my room alone.
“There’s no wiretapping or anything like that, right?”
Baek Seol scanned the room before answering.
“No, there’s nothing.”
I patted the spot beside on the bed.
Whatever she was thinking, Baek Seol blushed as she approached, starting to undress—
“Just sit down.”
“Ah, y-yes, sir.”
I had already slept with her in her room and the AV, so now she seed to think of as so kind of sex-obsessed maniac.
I wasn’t that bad, though.
“Do you rember the woman I introduced earlier? Seo Eunmi.”
“Yes.”
“She’s a spy.”
“??”
“But I have no evidence. Keep an eye on her and report to if you notice anything suspicious. If you think you can get solid proof, then act at your discretion.”
“Shall I kill her?”
“No. Once we have the evidence, we’ll capture her and retrain her.”
“….”
She seed confused.
“If you’re so sure, couldn’t you just capture her now? There are plenty of ways to get her to confess.”
“That’s true, but if we arrest her without any visible cause, it’ll unsettle the others. They’re already nervous enough.”
“Ah.”
“Like I told you yesterday, they’re basically slaves. Unlike you.”
“Yes, you did ntion that.”
“Exactly. So keep a close watch on her. And don’t tell anyone about this. I’m only telling you.”
“Yes. I will rember.”
After we finished our conversation, I called for Sua.
“You called, Master?”
“Baek Seol will be setting up the rcenary company. As a knight, she’ll have a lot of free passes in that area, right?”
“It won’t be entirely free, but things will definitely be much easier. Basic training, at least. I’ll need to check the details.”
“Baek Seol will establish the rcenary company, and I’ll hire the rcenaries. That sounds perfect. Start preparing now; once I sell the stocks, we’ll set up the corporation.”
“Yes, Master.”
“And get ready for a trip to Sinan this Saturday. We’re taking all the slaves.”
“Sinan? You’re taking everyone?”
“Yeah. I have sothing I need to find. Plus, it’ll be good for bonding with the slaves.”
“….”
Next week is Chuseok.
Grandfather gave a knight as a gift, and my sister gave an AV, so I can’t just show up empty-handed, right? I need to bring sothing too.
Grandfather loves Go, so I’m thinking of getting a Go board made by a master craftsman from Sinan. As for my sister, I’m not sure what to get her yet, but I’ll figure it out during my conversations with the won.
___________________
TL Notes: Go is an ancient board ga that originated in China over 2,500 years ago. It's a strategy ga played by two players, with the objective being to control more territory on the board than your opponent.
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