How To Kill A KingCh103 - Sabotage The Mission

In the end, Cheol had no choice but to let his consort tag along. At least with a drunk Min-jun, they drew less attention. Just a man helping his drunkard friend make his way through the city. 

They spotted their target shortly after they agreed to work together. A man of average height passed by the alley. He dressed in noble attire but was undoubtedly the same man who had been described by the locals as a likely member of the cartel. Same sunken eyes, same uneven jaw. He was limping, however, which had not been the case in any of their descriptions.  QHG8sa

Min-jun kept up surprisingly well, his drunkenness hardly dampening his awareness. Not once throughout the night did Min-jun let go of Cheol. He kept his hand in his, or otherwise took hold of the fabric of Cheol’s sleeve or the back of his hanbok. Cheol did not mind, for keeping track of Min-jun and their target would be a bother. 

“I bet he’s going to one of those nobles’ manors on the outskirts,” Min-jun said, swaying on his feet and into Cheol’s arms. 

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“How do you know?” Cheol asked. He had been thinking along the same lines, but Cheol had been given dozens of pages of intel, while Min-jun had only stumbled upon this now. 

“You said they were members of a drug trafficking circle from the Northern Kingdom,” Min-jun said. “No poor person would have dealings with the Northern Kingdom and bring those dealings all the way to Hanseong. The King must’ve angered your more powerful enemies, and so they’ve decided to join hands with people from the Northern Kingdom to sow chaos in the capital. If the King has an active trafficking circle right in his backyard, then people will start to doubt him, and he will have to resort to harsher methods to keep them in check. Rebellion. Coup. And the rest will fall into place. Tch. Nobles are so childish, really.” 7RAmyV

“And why would they gathering be on the outskirts of Hanseong.” 

“So meddling nuisances like us don’t eavesdrop on them, I suppose. They always use the same tricks, you know, but people think they won’t. That’s where most people go wrong. They follow mere evidence without considering the criminal’s behavior.” Min-jun missed a step, nearly falling onto his face had Cheol not held him close. “Ah, I think we lost him.” 

“That’s alright. Sun’s been keeping track of us from the rooftop. He’ll be able to keep an eye on him.”

“We should do this more often,” Min-jun whispered, burying his face in Cheol’s chest. A strange tightness formed in Cheol’s throat. He could not reply. Something akin to hope had begun to stir in his chest ever since Min-jun had called him by his false name. You remember me, don’t you? 

dljSUD

And from that hope, sprung another thought, more sinister. Cheol wasn’t trying to win Min-jun back because he wanted to help his people. He was trying to win him back for far more selfish reasons. How quickly his emotions had escalated. Cheol couldn’t remember being so in love with Min-jun before, and yet, he felt the uncanny sensation that he should’ve known this would happen. That he should’ve known these emotions would only grow in intensity. 

I feel like I’ve been missing a part of me this whole time. And only with Min-jun’s arrival had he gained any semblance of it back. But it still wasn’t enough. His memories, his feelings from that time escaped him. Why?

His hand moved to settle on Min-jun’s cheek, running his thumb along the slope of his cheekbone. He really had grown to be so beautiful. And so clever. Cheol’s heartbeat sped up. Fear gripped him, and he could not understand why. What was it that he feared so much?

“Is it nice to be lazing about like this, Your Majesty?” Hye-jin had joined them, her face unimpressed. Min-jun had turned his head to look at her, his face visibly confused. To Cheol’s chagrin, Hye-jin did not care for the fragility of the situation and decided to carry on as normal. “If you are done playing house, I suggest we go to meet Sun at the appointed place.” 5d8HLq

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Despite his ability to solve intricate cases while drunk, Min-jun did not show any hint of a great realization that Cheol and Ha-jun were, in fact, the same people.

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. . .

Vec ugffafv atfw, gfrqfmaoeiis, jcv bcmf jujlc, Zlc-pec vlvc’a rb wemt jr gjlrf jc fsfygbk ja atflg yftjnlbg.  8UQFuL

“They’re on the outskirts,” Sun explained. “Manor of one of the lower-ranking nobles.”

Cheol sat down at the table set up in one corner of the room. Everything in this place was rundown and dreary, but at least no one would care to bother them here. Beside him, Min-jun scrunched up his nose, much opposed to sitting on a dirty floor. 

With more effort than usual, Cheol turned his attention to Sun. “Do you know which family they belong to?”

Sun shook his head. “Couldn’t get a good look.” 9PMwAz

Min-jun was already in the process of leaving the storage room.

“Where are you going?” Cheol asked. 

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“We all know we’re going to decide to go to the manor. So let’s save time and go.” Min-jun lowered his voice. “And get out of this dastardly place.” Suddenly, he let out a little squeak, flailing his arms around. He’d walked into a spider web.

. . . bToH0A

“Is it all out?” Min-jun asked, touching the edge of his hat for any spare threads of spider web. They walked through the city still, Sun at the front, Hye-jin at the back, and Cheol and Min-jun walking in the middle. No one paid them any mind.

“Yes, yes,” Cheol reassured. “It is all out.” 

Min-jun pouted. “I don’t trust you because you’re a liar.” Min-jun looked over Cheol’s shoulder at Hye-jin, who walked with a small grimace but otherwise hid her contempt for Min-jun under wraps. “Hye-jin, is it really out?” 

“It is out, Your Highness.”  WkShTM

“Ah, you don’t have to call me that.”

“I have no desire to call you anything else, Your Highness,” she replied, tone leaving no room for negotiation. 

Min-jun’s lips puffed out in another pout, as he took hold of Cheol’s arms. “Your friend is mean.” 

Cheol leaned down to whisper back. “Indeed, she is.” 97nkza

“What are you two gossiping about?” Hye-jin asked. 

“We were saying that the manor is close now,” Cheol said. “We should prepare accordingly.”

“Indeed,” Hye-jin said. “We should split up and search the premises for the suspects.”

Cheol nodded. That had been exactly what he’d planned to do.  FKxPZH

“Min-jun should go with Sun.” 

That had not been what Cheol had planned to do. He tossed her a disapproving glance over his shoulder. The grip on Cheol’s arm tightened, as Min-jun pressed his cheek to his shoulder and glared at Hye-jin.

“I don’t want to leave Ha-jun.” 

“Ha-jun,” Hye-jin repeated, her brow raised. “Ha-jun clearly cannot focus with you around. It’ll be much easier for the two of you to be separate.”  HY8QAh

Min-jun considered and then conceded. “I suppose I am rather distracting.” 

“Then it’s settled,” Hye-jin said. “You will go with Sun.”

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Sun did not comment. As far as Cheol knew, Sun had no ill will toward his consort, but he still didn’t like being separated from Min-jun for any length of time, especially during such a sensitive mission.

Shortly after, the four of them went their separate ways, approaching the manor from different directions. While they snuck up to the manor, Hye-jin took the time to lecture him.  E580h6

“You’ve lost your mind, you know that?” Hye-jin asked. 

“In what way?” Cheol knew this topic of Min-jun would come up as soon as she’d decided to split them up. Well, at least she hadn’t picked his consort as a target of her nagging yet. 

“You brought the man planning to kill you on a mission that involves high levels of stealth and secrecy. And he’s drunk!”

“He still has his senses about him,” Cheol said. LV80TO

“Sure he does. It’s just that he can barely walk straight.”

“He wasn’t that drunk,” Cheol reassured her, as they traversed the forest. “He’s just a little tipsy, that’s all.” 

“Yes, I suppose that’s why he walked right into a tree before.” She jumped over a fallen branch. “And what’s this about him calling you Ha-jun? Has his drunkenness made him regain his memory?” 

They were nearing the manor now, with its candlelit rooms and tiled rooftops. And, of course, a gate to keep out intruders.  2JjhCi

“Perhaps we should save this conversation for later?” Cheol whispered, as the two of them climbed over the wall of the gate. All the candles were lit, so they couldn’t let the light guide them to the suspects. There were no guards, only servants who occasionally left the manor to run errands for those inside. 

“Must be quite a party,” Cheol murmured, as a gaggle of maids returned to the manor with dozens of jugs. Wine, no doubt. 

But no sooner had they begun to form a plan, that an explosion sounded. The noise was deafening, leaving only a ringing in the ears in its absence. Cheol’s mind gathered itself after the initial shock, and dread quickly replaced any confusion. His heart grew cold as the blood in his veins. The explosion had come from the northeastern part of the manor.

Min-jun! kQN9lS

A/N: Cheol, what about Sun???? Some friend you are. Tsk tsk. I say Hye-jin is right to be worried. Anyway, I’m back! And better than ever (ig)! I hope you are all ready to plunge back into the world of HTKAK. Thank you all for your patience during the break. If you liked this chapter, please leave a comment down below.