Chapter 1641
Even Beasts Know Gratitude (6)
He could not stop trembling.
Whether it was excitement or guilt, he did not know.
His hands were soaked in filthy blood.
Yet Ho Gamyeong felt no regret. What he had done was too just to allow the indulgence of regret. Even a trace of hesitation felt sinful.
Breathing roughly, he looked down at what had once been called Wangsa.
The body that had received the full weight of his vengeance was now a grotesque ruin beyond description.
The tingling in his fingertips.
The uneven rise and fall of his chest.
The acrid stench of blood.
The taste of revenge was neither refreshing nor foul.
It was quiet.
Like the faint emptiness, the small satisfaction, and the dull sadness that follow the completion of a task long carried in one's heart.
Regardless of how it had unfolded, his revenge was over.
What had been done could not be undone.
What remained—
Ho Gamyeong turned his gaze.
Jang Ilso stood there, having silently witnessed everything.
Those crescent-shaped eyes watched him, unreadable.
"How is it?"
Jang Ilso's voice carried a strange resonance.
"How does it feel to finally obtain the revenge you desired so much?"
Ho Gamyeong glanced at his blood-soaked hand. The strangeness of the red no longer unsettled him. Absorbing everything calmly, he replied,
"I thought you would understand. If anyone would."
"That's an unpleasant assumption."
Jang Ilso sneered.
"Believe it or not, I've never enjoyed revenge."
"…Is that so?"
"Revenge is a luxury reserved for those who still have something to lose."
The answer settled easily.
Those who possess nothing—or who no longer understand the value of what they have lost—are strangers to revenge.
That realization brought Ho Gamyeong to another truth.
I, too…
Perhaps he had already become someone incapable of seeking revenge.
After all, he had nothing left to lose.
"May I ask you something?"
Jang Ilso raised an eyebrow. Taking the silence as permission, Ho Gamyeong continued.
"Why did you help me?"
No answer came.
So he asked again.
"What would you have done if I had accepted his offer?"
"Hm?"
The question seemed to amuse Jang Ilso.
Despite his rough demeanor, his face—on closer inspection—was young, his eyes carrying a peculiar sharpness.
"You said it would be easier," Ho Gamyeong continued calmly. "But anyone with sense would know it wasn't sincere. Wealth, power, convenience—none of that truly interests you."
He met Jang Ilso's gaze.
"So would you have taken my head instead? As payment for disappointing you?"
"… Your head?"
For a moment, Jang Ilso's expression collapsed entirely.
Then he burst into laughter.
"Hahahahahaha! Your head?"
He shook with laughter before looking at Ho Gamyeong with open contempt.
"I thought you were smarter. What value could your cheap head possibly have?"
Ho Gamyeong's mouth closed instinctively.
"Do you still think you're some noble scholar drifting in and out of the Hanlin Academy?"
Ho Gamyeong looked down at his hands.
A quiet laugh escaped him.
Jang Ilso was right.
He was no longer a scholar.
No longer an official.
He was a murderer.
To the state, he was nothing but refuse to be hunted and executed.
He had become the very thing he once despised.
What worth could such a head hold?
"It was a foolish question."
Ho Gamyeong admitted, nodding slowly.
Reasons did not matter.
What mattered was that he owed Jang Ilso—and that debt had to be repaid.
"Then it's time for you to collect your due."
Ho Gamyeong said, lifting his head.
"No matter how harsh it is."
He met Jang Ilso's eyes steadily.
"Whatever you desire of me… I will give everything."
The firmness of his voice left no room for doubt.
Jang Ilso's eyes curved in satisfaction.
"… It's been a long time since I've heard something so pleasing."
Ho Gamyeong studied him.
When they first met, Jang Ilso had seemed like a crude mercenary.
Now, he was different.
His measured speech carried weight without threats.
Ho Gamyeong had seen countless powerful men in the palace—
And for the first time, a thought crossed his mind.
Perhaps the one truly suited to stand above others was the man before him now.
It was laughable.
The greatness he had sought his entire life existed amid filth and blood—somewhere he would never have dared to look.
"What do you want from me?" Ho Gamyeong asked.
Jang Ilso's lips twisted.
"There's nothing."
Ho Gamyeong stared.
"A foolish scholar who doesn't understand the world or people can't be used. You're not even fit as fertilizer."
Ho Gamyeong's face twitched.
"Then—"
"I said you'd pay a high price. Not that I wanted something from you."
He understood.
"What price, then?"
Jang Ilso turned away, gazing at the burning manor. The reflected flames dyed his eyes blood-red.
"Become my dog."
"…"
"I'm tired of crawling through stinking alleys, struggling over scraps."
Ho Gamyeong swallowed.
Jang Ilso had slain Wangsa.
Which meant pursuit was inevitable.
And yet he spoke as if it didn't matter.
A man with nothing to lose.
Or rather—
A man who already possessed nothing.
"I want something bigger," Jang Ilso continued. "If you burn something, burn the world."
He looked back.
"But idiots won't do. I need someone who can think."
His gaze blazed.
"Crawl through hell with me. Push me higher. That's the price."
"…"
"I won't accept refusal. Your life has already been paid for."
Ho Gamyeong let out a bitter laugh.
He wants nothing.
That is why there is a price.
"Do you understand?"
The voice was rough, boiling.
Yet Ho Gamyeong sensed something else beneath it.
Need.
After a long silence, Ho Gamyeong spoke.
"What do you want from me?"
"To survive."
The answer came instantly.
"And to remain cool-headed. Always."
Ho Gamyeong nodded.
"…Then I have one condition."
Jang Ilso's eyes turned savage.
"A condition?"
Murderous intent surged.
Ho Gamyeong met it calmly.
"Stay calm."
The killing intent vanished.
Ho Gamyeong continued evenly.
"People fear those who smile in crisis. They believe there's something hidden."
"…"
"If you want the top, smile more. Look down more. Act not as someone who wants—but as someone who already has."
Ho Gamyeong knelt.
"Then you'll gain everything."
"Survive. Stay cool-headed. I will remember."
He bowed.
Jang Ilso stared—then laughed.
"Hahahaha…!"
A laugh brimming with confidence, mocking the world.
After it faded, he murmured,
"Not as someone who wants… but as someone who already has…"
His gaze settled.
"I'll remember. Until I die."
Ho Gamyeong smiled faintly.
This was the price.
The world burned.
He stood.
The past turned to ash.
It no longer mattered.
"Prepare yourself," Jang Ilso said. "It will be brutal."
"I know. And…"
"…Hm?"
"It will be fun."
Embers drifted through the dark as they faced each other.
"Let's go, Gamyeong-ah."
"Yes, Master."