WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: Abstract
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Episode 46: Imperial Palace (3)
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The grand hall of Golden Emperor Hall was supported by countless pillars known as Dragon Horns.
Emperor Hong In-se sat upon the Dragon Throne, the highest seat in the hall, watching the four people enter.
At their head stood a middle-aged man.
It was King Jin.
Perhaps because it had been about ten years since he had last seen him, King Jin had far more gray hair and wrinkles than before.
Even so, strength remained in his stride, and his eyes had not lost their fire.
‘Even after all this time, he hasn't changed.’
Emperor Hong In-se had always feared and hated King Jin.
Just as an awl in a sack would eventually pierce through, King Jin was not someone who tried to hide or downplay his abilities.
That was why Emperor Hong In-se had believed he would only find peace by killing him.
Now that he saw King Jin again after about ten years, that thought had only grown stronger.
‘Is that Princess Seo?’
It had been a long time since he had seen his niece.
Seeing that she had grown into a fine woman filled him with pity.
‘Her crime is having the wrong father.’
Emperor Hong In-se's path to the throne had not been smooth.
Neither the Former Emperor, the Empress Dowager, nor the powerful ministers had recognized him. To strengthen his legitimacy, he had tried to change that atmosphere during his reign.
That was why he had valued justification, but the Right Commander and the Minister of Rites had been correct.
This was no time to concern himself with justification.
The moment the attempt to eliminate King Jin had failed, justification had become meaningless.
-Swish!
Emperor Hong In-se looked at the Chief Brigade Leader of the Flying Horse Brigade standing beneath the steps of the throne, their face concealed by a white mask.
They were the finest supreme master the Imperial Palace had raised with countless resources, even opening its secret treasury for them.
Today, they would serve as the executioner.
The hall was already filled with ambushers. Brigade leaders, squad leaders, and higher-ranking masters of the Flying Horse Brigade, along with the finest masters from the Eastern Eunuch corps, Western Eunuch corps, and Embroidered Uniform Guard, had been selected and hidden throughout.
‘King Jin, this place will be your grave today.’
No matter what master King Jin had brought with him, the Emperor intended to settle matters here.
Even if one of the Four Immortal Masters, said to stand at the peak of the present martial world, protected him, Emperor Hong In-se was certain King Jin would not leave this hall alive.
The force gathered here was, without question, the strongest possible.
-Thud. Thud.
King Jin and his group walked toward the raised platform bearing the throne.
The white mask's eyes swept over everyone besides King Jin, one by one.
First came Princess Seo, Hong Na-yeon.
‘Her martial talent is quite impressive.’
Her ki was greater than expected.
Then their gaze moved to Agong, the Double-Saber Wanderer King.
‘One of the Ten Great Masters of the Force of Justice... No wonder the Deputy Chief Brigade Leader had trouble with him.’
They had seen three of the Ten Great Masters of the Force of Justice before.
Yet it would not have been an exaggeration to say the Double-Saber Wanderer King's Martial Arts surpassed theirs.
Still, he was no match for them.
‘Is that the man?’
A middle-aged man with a fierce face and well-developed muscles.
He matched the reports almost perfectly.
He was the man every surviving member of the Gale Force Unit had described while trembling in fear.
‘He killed the Deputy Chief Brigade Leader in a single move...’
At first, it had been hard to believe.
Without those reports, they might have dismissed him as a weakling.
According to their Ki sense, he was only near the Advanced level.
If he could conceal his ki, he could have hidden it all. Revealing only that much seemed more troublesome.
‘Either way, he's certainly close to the Grandmaster level.’
Perhaps he was deliberately trying to make his opponents underestimate him.
If so, he might be troublesome not only because of his Martial Arts, but because of his tactics as well.
This time, though, it would not work.
The Imperial Palace's greatest force had gathered here.
-Thud. Thud.
Their footsteps drew closer.
‘One hundred and three steps.’
‘One hundred and two steps.’
‘One hundred and one steps.’
-Tap!
At that moment, King Jin and his party stopped exactly one hundred steps from the platform.
A yellow line had been drawn across the floor before them.
It was a distance dictated by Imperial Palace protocol.
Though it was called protocol, it was really a safety measure meant to protect the Emperor.
-Thump!
King Jin knelt, clasped his hands, and bowed at the waist.
“King Jin of the fiefdom pays his respects to the Emperor.”
Princess Seo and the others immediately knelt and offered the same greeting.
“We pay our respects to the Emperor!”
The four remained kneeling with their heads lowered.
After quietly watching them, Emperor Hong In-se slightly raised a hand.
Eunuch Go, one of the two Grand Elders and the Commander of the Eastern Eunuch corps, stood to the right in Blue official robes and spoke in a syrupy voice.
“Sit upright.”
King Jin raised his upper body.
Still kneeling, he sat upright.
Once all four had done the same, Emperor Hong In-se looked at King Jin.
King Jin met his eyes.
“...”
“...”
A heavy silence hung between them for a moment.
Emperor Hong In-se spoke first.
“You broke your own word and left your fiefdom.”
His own word.
King Jin's eyes narrowed at the Emperor's words.
When he had left the Imperial Palace, he had sworn to Emperor Hong In-se, who had continually feared and guarded against him, that he would never leave his fiefdom.
Despite that vow, the Emperor's wariness toward King Jin had not cooled.
Instead, he had constantly tested King Jin by creating circumstances that forced him to leave.
King Jin spoke in a heavier voice.
“...Your Majesty. Before I am a member of the imperial family, I am a father. It was an unavoidable choice if I wished to save my only daughter.”
“Did someone try to harm Princess Seo?”
King Jin's face turned cold at Emperor Hong In-se's words.
He had sent his daughter to Changcheon Martial Academy without telling anyone, even concealing her identity.
Yet it had been the Emperor's faction that had lured her out with a false order.
And now the Emperor was openly denying it.
‘How can a man who rules a nation...’
King Jin could not hide his disappointment.
He had endured the Emperor's suspicions and kept his head lowered until now because Emperor Hong In-se was his elder brother, because he understood the Emperor's position, and because of the people.
Then the Emperor raised his hand.
“Bring them in.”
Eunuch Jo, one of the two Grand Elders and the Commander of the Western Eunuch corps, stood to the left, looked toward one side, and gave the order.
Four eunuchs entered, each carrying a tray.
A cup rested on every tray.
-Tap!
The eunuchs set the trays and cups before the four people sitting upright one hundred steps away.
King Jin and the others frowned at the sight of the cups.
What was this?
As they wondered, Emperor Hong In-se spoke.
“Today, I have made a decision for the sake of a great undertaking. To bring peace to all people and stabilize the nation, as Emperor, I order King Jin to drink it.”
‘!?’
Not only King Jin, but Princess Seo Hong Na-yeon could not hide her shock.
She had expected some kind of trap.
But she had never imagined he would openly order them to take their own lives.
The cups before them undoubtedly contained poisoned liquor.
‘How could he give such an order...’
She had thought that, since he valued justification, he would at least not cross the final line.
“Father...”
Hong Na-yeon looked at King Jin with sorrow in her voice.
King Jin gritted his teeth.
He, too, had believed the Emperor would not openly attempt to take his life within the Imperial Palace itself.
That was why he had first gone to pay respects to the Empress Dowager. He had hoped the Emperor would not cross that line.
But even that faint hope had been shattered.
“So in the end... Your Majesty truly wishes for this younger brother to die.”
King Jin spoke with difficulty.
Emperor Hong In-se answered coldly, his gaze utterly unwavering.
“If you truly care for the nation, ease my concerns.”
“...Haa.”
A sigh escaped King Jin's lips.
As his final hope shattered, the last restraint he had struggled to maintain gave way as well.
He had endured for the people and for his only daughter.
But the Emperor wanted not only his life, but his daughter's as well.
-Tap!
King Jin grabbed the cup of poisoned liquor.
“Father!”
Princess Seo Hong Na-yeon cried out and tried to stop him.
Instead, King Jin turned the cup upside down and poured its poisoned liquor onto the floor of the grand hall.
One of Emperor Hong In-se's brows rose.
“You dare refuse my order?”
“Your order? Hoo.”
King Jin rose to his feet.
Then he glared directly at Emperor Hong In-se and raised his voice.
“Before the Former Emperor died, he summoned me in secret and left a final decree declaring his abdication in my favor. Yet for my elder brother, Your Majesty, and for the people, I willingly yielded the throne.”
“What? How dare you spread such baseless rumors...?”
“I was the one who persuaded the Empress Dowager and had the imperial seal handed over to you. Yet even that is not enough, and now you seek to take this younger brother's life as well! How can you still remain trapped in the shackles of fear even after becoming Emperor?”
“King Jin!”
“How can you, in the end, disappoint this younger brother who yielded the throne to you!”
King Jin's voice rang through the grand hall, leaving Emperor Hong In-se speechless for a moment.
But only for a moment.
This was why he had sought to kill King Jin.
King Jin possessed the justification, influence, and power to overturn the situation at any time.
“As expected, you harbored treasonous ambitions!”
Emperor Hong In-se rose from the Dragon Throne and shouted.
Pointing at King Jin, he cried out.
“Hear me. King Jin has revealed his treasonous heart. Subdue these criminals at once!”
As soon as the order fell, the troops roared in response.
“Loyalty!!!!!!!”
-Rumble!
The masters of the Eastern Eunuch corps, Western Eunuch corps, and Embroidered Uniform Guard, who had been waiting in ambush behind pillars and even on the ceiling, revealed themselves.
Every one of them was at least an Advanced martial artist.
“Just as expected.”
Agong, the Double-Saber Wanderer King, rose and assumed the opening stance of a fist technique.
He had already seen through the ambushers.
“Block their retreat!”
“Loyalty!”
-Rumble!
The masters of the Eastern Eunuch corps, Western Eunuch corps, and Embroidered Uniform Guard began to surround them, forming an encirclement.
Hong Na-yeon truly hated the Emperor.
It was not enough that he had tormented her father, King Jin, for so long. Now he was driving them into a dead end like this.
-Clench!
She bit down hard on her lip, then spoke with reddened eyes.
“...Can you really do what you said earlier?”
Mumu, who wore one of the Skin Masks that gave him the face of a fierce middle-aged man, straightened his knees and rose from where he had been sitting upright.
He rolled his neck as though he felt stiff.
-Crack! Crack!
“If that's what you want, senior.”
“...Help us. Please.”
-Trickle.
A tear ran down Hong Na-yeon's right cheek.
Mumu inhaled deeply and exhaled, then turned the adjustment screw on one of the Ki-Restraining Bracelets on his left wrist without hesitation, all the way to level one.
-Whirrrrr!
-Creak! Crack! Riiip!
Mumu's muscles swelled, ripping apart his upper garment.
His tightly packed muscles turned black with heat, and steam poured from his entire body.
-Fwoooooosh!
‘!?’
The eyes of the surrounding masters from the Eastern Eunuch corps, Western Eunuch corps, and Embroidered Uniform Guard widened.
The same was true for the two Grand Elders guarding the Emperor.
Mumu's sudden transformation changed the pressure he gave off, and wariness filled their eyes.
-Step.
Mumu took a step forward.
The masters from the three groups flinched and instinctively stepped back.
Enraged by the sight, Emperor Hong In-se shouted at them.
“What are you doing? Capture those traitors at once!”
Startled by his shout, they came to their senses.
Yet they could not bring themselves to attack.
The pressure coming from Mumu was so overwhelming that it made it hard to breathe.
Then the Chief Brigade Leader of the Flying Horse Brigade, wearing the white mask, shouted.
“Move aside!”
At the command, the masters of the Western Eunuch corps and Embroidered Uniform Guard parted to either side.
-Shing!
The Chief Brigade Leader of the Flying Horse Brigade drew a white sword decorated with ornate patterns.
The moment it left its sheath, sharp ki weapon filled the hall.
The Double-Saber Wanderer King's expression hardened.
‘...I had hoped otherwise.’
He could not suppress his inward shock at the ki pouring from the Chief Brigade Leader.
They were nearly at the Grandmaster level.
They were a supreme master beyond even Agong's ability to face, despite his standing as one of the Ten Great Masters of the Force of Justice.
Agong glanced at Mumu.
‘This is troubling. That one alone is enough of a threat, but if the two Grand Elders who guard the Emperor join in, even Peerless Herculean Strength could be in danger.’
The situation was far too unfavorable.
The two Grand Elders were still observing, but they could launch a combined attack the moment they judged the situation critical.
If that happened...
-Flash!
At that very moment, like gunpowder whose fuse had reached the detonator, the Chief Brigade Leader shot forward with lightning speed.
The movement was so fast that even Agong, one of the Ten Great Masters of the Force of Justice, lost track of it. It was almost like watching an afterimage.
Then,
-Smack!
‘!?’
Something unbelievable happened.
Mumu caught the charging Chief Brigade Leader's head in one hand as though snatching it out of the air.
Startled, the Chief Brigade Leader tried to cut off Mumu's hand with a sword carrying sword ki manifestation.
-Crunch!
Before the Chief Brigade Leader could do so, their head was completely crushed.
‘!!!!!!!!!’
It happened so quickly that the entire grand hall fell silent.
No one had expected it.
‘A... a supreme master close to the Grandmaster level...’
Who could have imagined they would be defeated so absurdly easily?
It was utterly shocking.
-Thud!
Indifferent to everyone's shock, Mumu released the corpse of the Chief Brigade Leader, their head crushed.
Then, with his hand dripping with blood, he gestured for Emperor Hong In-se to come down from the throne.
Footnotes:
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